Organization Challenge!

So...I took before pics of my scrapping space and I'm too chicken to post them!!!
It's seriously bad looking. I put everything in cardboard boxes when I moved it from the dining area to the office and then I started making cards and Christmas stuff in that chaos!!! Not pretty. LOL!! I'll post them once I get the space cleaned up. I just can't bring myself to show you the wreckage without giving you something pretty (or at least clean) to look at as well! :D

So, while you're waiting, here's something that is pretty to look at! The afore mentioned Christmas card!!! :D

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!! :D

One extra kid and one extra dog...

...added to the mix shouldn't seem like that big a deal. Oh, lordy it is! :D I babysat my cousin's 5 month old son today and last night we became foster parents to my hubby's nephew's 1 1/2 year old beagle mix! Neither of them are potty trained!!!

Now, Maverick has an excuse (he's a baby) and he wears a diaper so it's much less messy. Bentley, however, should have been trained by now. This is obviously why my sister-in-law got fed up with watching said pup for her nephew and we have been tapped to be puppy foster parents.

So, no shower for me today!!! No scrapping, no putting away of Christmas stuff, nothing!! Oh, wait. I did get a load of whites in the wash. Baby steps! LOL! Fortunately, Maverick was only for the day. Bentley will be here for about six months. I see lots of "accident" cleaning and twice daily loooong walks. Beagles are notoriously high energy according to my dad. I'm trying to stay positive and think of the weight loss this may bring and not about the cold, rainy winters we have here in Oregon.

I can think of no positive side to having to clean up puppy pee so I need some help from you. Have you ever house trained a dog? I haven't. Our dogs were all over a year and already trained by the time we got them. I did take a few classes in college and high school that covered training a dog and I got good grades. There was no practical exam however and I need your tips. Please, please, please help us!!! Bentley has to sleep outside until he's trained, poor guy. It's not too horrible though, because the dog house is heated. (We have a whippet and he can't be outside without a heated house to warm up in.) But, we'd like Bentley to be able to hang out inside without having to go out every few minutes.

Please help!!!

Please!!!

Thanks, guys!!! :D

Five down, one to go!

Yep, I'm talking about Christmas get togethers. This must be a record for us! Here's how it all went down (and will go down)...

Sunday night----"Christmas" dinner at my mom's house with my oldest step-brother and his wife and their three (awesome) kids because they won't be able to make Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The kids are getting older so I was relieved that the gifts I got them went over well. However, according to Nathan, Cody gives the best gifts!!! LOL! Way to go, little brother! :D

Monday morning---I drive out to SE Portland to go pick up my brother. I was supposed to get there by 10:00 and back to my house by 10:30 but due to a few issues (a still frozen ham and a slight delay while Andrew bathed Mickey so he could go with me) I don't think we got back until after 11:00. We ate, opened presents and hung out. My dad got Mickey a four foot fish pillow!!! It's huge! :D And, Cody got Mickey his first Mickey!!! :D Dad got me stuff for my camera; a lens, some filters, a lens cap leash, a new lens and an instruction manual!!! Score!! Cody got me some books and movies. The books he got me are the trilogy that has The Golden Compass and 365 things to do with your toddler (because Mickey now qualifies for that title!!). The movies are Waitress and Knocked Up. Andrew and I watched that and it is so funny and some of it hit sooooooooo close to home!!! Good stuff!

Monday evening---Head out to Silverton to have dinner with Andrew's father's side of the family. We were told to bring desserts but, it turns out we were supposed to bring salads. Ooops! Oh, well. You can never be too rich or have enough dessert options! :D

Tuesday morning----8:00 am...our little family opens stockings and we show Mickey the box that has his high chair in it. He is thrilled. Not really but, Momma is so it's all good! :D We ordered a canopy for our Sport Trac as our gift to each other. My gift to Andrew this year was that he didn't have to buy any gifts at all. So, I got to fill my stocking myself this year. I got socks, an ornament (we all got our initials this year) and some scrapbooking goodies!!! Yeah, baby!!!

Tuesday morning----10:00 am...we head over to my mom's house to open presents with everyone who was at mom's on Sunday night except the five who can't make it. So, it's Andrew, Mickey and I, Cody(my brother), Doug(my uncle), Granny, Mom and Larry(my step-dad). We eat, open presents and take a group picture!!! Yep, I got my Granny to sit still for six pictures!!! I think it's a record! :D

Tuesday afternoon---2:30 pm...we arrive at Andrew's sister's house for Christmas with his immediate family. Four out of his five siblings and their SO's and kids and Andrew's folks waited for us to open presents (due to Mickey needing a nap, we got there a little late to eat with everyone) and then we played games. Andrew's family is big on games and it's a lot of fun! I played Wii Home Run Derby and beat my hubby twice!!! It ruled!! Little man got pretty tired, well, to tell the truth, so was I. So, he and I went home and Andrew is still over there playing cards!! :D

So, that's five out of the six. Our sixth Christmas affair will be with Andrew's mom's side of the family. We go out there the Sunday after Christmas and shocker of all shocks...eat!!! :D

I'm hoping that next year, we'll be in a big enough house to have everyone over. Maybe not all at the same time but, enough that we don't have to drive any where!!! LOL!!!

Hope you all had a fun and relaxing Christmas...or six!!! :D

He walked!!!

Mickey walked today!!! Three steps!!!





Right after I put the camera down!!! LOL!!! :D


Picture or no, it was a great moment!!! :D

Finally!

I finally finished my last Christmas cards today!! :D

I did a huge send out of cards on Tuesday and had a dozen or so more to make. (Note to self-don't make such complicated cards next time!) I was hoping to get them all done yesterday but between being a mom, and a gift wrapper (for my sister-in-law), and a hair cutter (for my dad) and then having my neice come by to visit her cousin, I didn't get as much done as I'd have liked. Oh, well. I always like getting my cards right up until Christmas (and sometimes after) so I'm hoping other people do to! Well, that's my justification, anyways! LOL!

Now, it's on to baking!!! :D

One More Handmade Ornament

I'd forgotten to get a pic of this little one! Sorry little guy! Hope you all like it!

I found the instructions for this ornament on Splitcoast Stampers. It uses the two tag punches from Stampin' Up!!! Totally clever, you must check it out!

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/tag_punch_star/

I used the paper from my star and pinecone ornaments (MME Kaleidoscope Birthday Girl) and a shimmery vellum. This vellum rocks! I can't wait to use it on something else.

Santa Sighting in Canby!

Yep, Santa drove by our house the other day on a fire truck!! The Canby Fire Department was out and about collecting food for a canned food drive. There was a really cool looking older fire truck with lights all over it that Santa was in and another truck (blasting it's horn) and a bunch of people walking next to it.

Since we don't get the local paper, we didn't know ahead of time that it was happening. I ran and got Mickey up (I had just put him down for the night and he doesn't like loud noises when he's by himself) and made Andrew run outside in his bare feet with a bag of food I hurridly gathered.

Such a neat holiday happening! Thanks, Corina, for blogging about your Fire Dept Santa and reminding me about ours!

Oh, and I didn't have time to mess with my camera settings so, what you see is what you get! Sorry about that. I promise to try to be a better photographer!!! :D

Tagged again!!!

I've been tagged again by my vertically blessed friend, Joscie (rhymes with bossy!). :D So, without further ado...here are seven more random things about me!



1. I've never broken a major bone. I've broken fingers and toes but nothing major.



2. I've never had a major surgery. The closest I've come is getting my wisdom's out and having general anesthesia for that.



3. I've never gotten over liking cartoons. I'm a kid at heart and that's the way I like it!!! :D



4. I've shrunk 3/4". I used to be 5'10" and when they measured my height during my pregnancy, I was 5' 9 1/4"!!! Where that 3/4 of an inch went, I'll never know!!!



5. I've always liked kids and animals. Wherever I am, if there's a kid or an animal, I'm usually down on the floor playing with them. Love them!!! :D



6. I've always liked cottage cheese. As a baby, I loved it and I still love it now! Yummy on salad, or with fruit, or with crackers or on it's own. YUM!!!



7. I've always wanted to be a mom. When I was in high school, I said I wanted a dozen kids! Then, I switched to 2 or 3. Now that I've got Mickey, I'd like four! He's a really good kid.

There it is. Seven more random things about me. :D Now, if you want to play along, go to your blog and post seven random things about you.

Tag, you're it!!! :D

Homemade Christmas Ornaments!

I love making ornaments! They are so fun and quick and easy! One of my favorite ornaments is one I made in kindergarten. It's a clay star with a circle in the middle and my picture in it. I painted the whole thing orange and covered it in glitter! I must have known that I was going to go to OSU!!! LOL!

I made star ornaments for everyone in the family (including the cat and the dog) with a picture on one side and our names on the other. I made two extra stars, too. They say "Hettwer Family" and "Christmas 2007".

To make the glittered glass balls, I coated the insides with watered-down Aileen's craft glue and then some Martha Stewart glitter. That Martha's got some great glitter, really fine and gorgeous colors! (Make sure you water down the glue first! I made one where I forgot and added the water after the glue and it's a little uneven! Ha!)

I got the instructions to make the pinecone ornament here. http://inkspirations.blogspot.com/2006/11/its-here-tutorial-for-pinecone-balls.html Very cool, and easier than it looks.

Tears and Squeals...

...were seen and heard by my hubby this morning because, I got picked to be on a design team!!! It's my first ever and I am sooooooo excited! I'll be on the team for four months and I'm soooo excited! (Have I mentioned that I'm excited!!)

The company is Fresh Pages and they have a great take on kit clubs. The kits (and there are a few each month to choose from) are designed not only by them but, you can send in your ideas for the perfect kit!!! And, if they pick your kit to offer that month you get one for free! Screaming good deal and screaming good idea! :D

So, go check out http://www.freshpagesco.typepad.com/ to see my name in lights!!! Well, actually, green type!!! :D

I did it!!!

I put up our Christmas lights all by myself!!! I've never done it before and I did it first time out of the gate without falling off the ladder! My dad came over and played with little man while I did it. It was a great day for putting up lights...sunny and 60!!! Amazing for Oregon in December!

There was one minor snafu. I had checked each strand indoors and then put them up one at a time. Once I plugged them all in, half of one strand was out!!!! Argh!!! Fortunately, my mom was able to stop by on her way home so I could replace that one strand. It went really quick.

I used about 2/3 of a box of gutter clips...of the four boxes of 100 clips and 2 boxes of 25 eaves clips that I bought. Whoops! Wasn't sure how many I needed and didn't want to have to run back to the store. LOL!

Anyway, they are up and on and I can't wait for Andrew to get home and see them!!!

If it stays dry tonight I'll post pics! :D

Go Beavs!!

Today was the Civil War. And, my team won!!! There were like a million overtimes but, I don't know how many because I quit watching at halftime.

Why would I quit watching my alma mater halfway through the game, you ask?? Good question. (You guys always ask good questions! ;D)

Well, it's because I am an OSU jinx. Whenever I watch, they start to lose. They were ahead when we showed up at my SIL's to watch the game and then it started to go back and forth, we'd be ahead, it'd be a tie, we'd be ahead, then back to a tie!!! So, I had to quit watching.

When I was in college, we lost every game I went to!!! I am an OSU jinx. So, I will now wear my OSU shirt, dress little man in head to toe orange and black and not find out the score until after the game is over.

And, that is how I found out we won today. My dad called me!!! I was too chicken to look online and find out myself! LOL!!!