Monday post for Deeds

I'm not much of an activist. Heck, I'm just not very active, period. lol But I have a cyber friend who is. Her nest of monsters is a groovin' place to be, and she always keeps her eyes open for injustices and people needing help. So if you're like me and want to know more about what's going on in the world of special needs, you should visit her anyway. And if you want to know more about Deeds and his amazing family, please visit today. He's an amazing little boy! And if we can, as a caring world, help him get the autism dog he needs, it will be worth every bit of effort.

I am toodling along in the scrapping. I guess it's because I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this task. I'm almost done with this book! :D And because I know dh, aka Football Fiend Daddy, will love this, here is another pic to share with you all.



I'll have you know, I thought I was done with this layout yesterday evening. Then I showed it to dh, aka Football Fiend Daddy, and he said that he was disappointed that I didn't include that cute pic of Joe "helping" the cheerleader. After all, cheerleaders are a part of football, too. (As if I were arguing that.) And he thought it should be there. Yeah, right about... there. (giggle) Since this is the first time he's taken an interest in editing any of my layouts, how could I refuse? So in she goes. Hope she doesn't mind. :P

The Journey in Weight Loss is going along quite well. I've had some setbacks with an infection that is making me *not* lose weight right now, but I am not discouraged. Check with me later on that one. lol For now, though, I'm just glad that I'm making so many positive changes in my life. Oh, and I've even stopped a couple of times just to say wow to myself. That's pretty amazing in itself. Dh also says that these last two days have been more high energy and feel good for me than he remembers in a long time. That is definitely telling. :)

Keep the faith, my friends! (((hugs)))

Furbaby

Fur
Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

I had a good bit of inspiration in the last few days, and for the first time in a couple weeks, my eyes are killing me with allergy fuzzies. Sooooo.... I have a couple new layouts that I did today alone! :) This first one was inspired by Jacquie's new fantastic Pets - Dogs word art set. Awesome, huh? She finds awesome quotes and stuff. If you haven't checked out her blog before, I highly recommend it, and not just because I'm on her CT. She's fantastic!

I've learned a few new things about GIMP lately, which makes me rather happy. I still feel like a beginner with GIMP, even though I know that I'm probably closer to intermediate. But there is a huge amount of things that one can do with GIMP that I have yet to tap. So, I'm enjoying learning new things, like new Script-fu stuff. There are so many Script-fu settings in the "basic" model of GIMP that I'm not familiar with that are really helpful with sprucing up one's layouts. Besides that, I want to do more designing. I really enjoyed making that first set. (It's still down there, if you want to look at it. Just saying. :P)

I also made a little layout with Daniel and Joe for Easter egg hunting. Joe didn't really get the whole hunting thing. He saw lots of kids running, so he ran after them. He saw one purple egg, so he picked it up. So, Mommy got him a few eggs. After that, he got Daddy to open his eggs. It was precious. I did it with this Font Challenge's font, Happy Days.



I also have a couple of cute baby moments to share. Joe is so funny these days! He's starting to show that he has a sense of humor. For instance, we're not certain if he really does think that unh unh (the no version) mean yes or if he's just pulling our leg. (He shakes his head no simultaneously, and we're pretty sure he knows that means no.) It's really cute, though, to watch him do it. Plus, he is such a player! He loves to do things to get your attention and then pretend like he wasn't doing it. That, and he loves to play kiss and hug. He'll do that over and over. Talk about making your heart melt!

Ok, this is late at night for me. Mommy is getting sleepy! lol So I'll let you wonderful people go. Have a great night!

Easter Madness

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! Ours was busy, to say the least. First up was the Easter egg hunt at Clark Springs Baptist on Saturday morning. Joe was in his finest (as you can see in this video), and Mommy and Daddy were excited to see what he would actually do on his first egg hunt. I didn't get any good pictures of it, but the verdict was that he was more interested in chasing the other kids at top speed than actually searching eggs, so Mommy picked some up for him. Daddy trailed behind faithfully as he waved the one egg he picked up (purple, which is why it caught his eye, I'm sure) and chattered at the other kids. He had a blast. It would have been even better had it not been for Mommy's overprotective streak. I covered him with sunscreen. Unfortunately, some of it got in his eyes. He wasn't a happy camper about that, but since he got more chocolate than he had ever imagined existed, he was ok with it. He also got some cool cars from Nana in his basket. He really liked that. :)

After that, we loaded a (very very tired) baby into the car and went to the park to meet with Aunt Jo. It was a perfect day for Kiroli Park. We piled up on a table and ate fried chicken while Joe had fun on the "fire truck."



We also did the swings and stuff, but I haven't uploaded that video yet. Joe had the best time watching Daddy swing in the swing next to him. Unfortunately, that meant that the yellow baby swing wasn't good enough for him anymore. We'll see if that lasts when we get to the park again. We also did a nice walk through the (shortest) nature trail, and I got some good shots of azaleas and other things. If they turn out well, I'll try to extract them and pass them along for everyone to share. The colors are too awesome not to look great in a spring layout. ;)

As for Sunday, we chilled out. And it was a good thing, too... Mommy hasn't felt her best. Maybe it was the candy, maybe it was her body's way of saying "noooooooooooooooo!" Whatever it was, I could use another Sunday to make up for it. :) I guess I'll have to wait a few more days for that, though. Joe and I played a lot, and Daddy was the only one who woke up early enough for sunrise service. Good Daddy! :)

Oh, and one of my blogging buddies Brandi is supposed to have her third child/first daughter by c-section today. Happy thoughts for welcoming little Karis into the world!

First Haircut

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Originally uploaded by mawkinberd

I've been looking forward to doing this little LO. I can't claim the pictures, because I knew I would be busy and called Aunt Jo to document the event. :) She did an amazing job, as you can see. Kylie also helped with filming. We made a good dinner party with it, and Daniel made his famous chicken and cheese enchiladas. Mmmmm.... I think that was the last time we had those. That was too long ago! 7 months is too long to wait for really tasty food like that. lol

Joe and I had a grand adventure today. We went to the zoo with Uncle Jeremy! Jeremy wanted to go so he could get in some practice for his camera class, which was his Valentine's Day gift from his partner. So, we took lots of aperture experiment shots. Plus, I got some great shots of Joe looking at the animals (as well as just Joe and just animals). I'll probably make a layout of some of them for the birthday challenges at MLAS, which kick back up for another round starting tomorrow. Can't wait!

I also saw something I had never seen before today. I saw something on the road, and I thought it was an animal. But when I got close enough to start swerving, I realized someone had tossed their weave into the road. How bizarre is that? Were they taking advantage of the fabulous weather by riding with the windows down, and the wind blew it out? Or did someone just snatch it off someone else's head and just throw it? I mean, the possibilities for humorous possibilities are endless. I'm still entertained just thinking about it.

Ciao for now!

Learnin' learnin' learnin'...

Man, am I having fun with GIMP right now. I just found out something really cool... you can use .abr (Photoshop brushes) files in GIMP, if you know where to put them. Rock on! I did my first layout with some little droplets all over it. So fun! I'm gonna have to look at a lot of layouts and papers to see what works in designs and what doesn't before I feel comfortable with it (I'm not exactly God's gift to the designing world), but I can do it now! Yay! I also have to come up with a system to organize those brushes. Not to fear; I've got something figured out. Should be a breeze. (Famous last words, right? lol)

Last night was really nice at home. Daniel and Joe both went to bed early, so I stayed up and had some me time with the computer. Nice hot shower, no television, no noise, no stress. Ah!!! I think I like this new habit that's forming. An evening ritual to enjoy. Hope it lasts a little while at least.

I've also been having fun with Trillian lately. I finally figured out how to find the emoticons (yes, sometimes I'm slow). My new favorite is the (woot), which makes a cute woohoo noise. Trillian noises make my day. Now, if only I could find that desktop pet I had ten years ago that made the moop sound...

Rock and roll!