10 Things: Favorite Baby Products

It is already the 10th of the month! Here are my ten things and other bloggers are sharing their posts at Shimelle.com

Alex is no longer a baby... I did enjoy that phase, but I also enjoy watching him grow and develop. As I watch friends prepare to and add to their families, I thought that I'd share my 10 favorite baby items. (In no particular order.)

Infant car seat aka the Baby Bucket

Crib Mobile

Pack-n-play

Onesies, especially from Carter's

Umbrella Stroller

Sleep Sack

Robeez (shoes)

Jumperoo

Baby Monitor

Glider

We still use the stroller, glider and baby monitor at two and a half. What are your favorite baby items?

Happiness Blog Hop: Gratitude

Welcome to the September Happiness Blog Hop organized by Stephanie at Scrapworthy Lives. If you have been following the hop, then you should have arrived from Take a Picture and Remember This. I will list all of the participating blogs at the end of the post in case you missed any.

In The Happiness Project, Gretchen spends a chapter "Contemplating the Heavens." The part of the chapter on gratitude sticks in my mind the most. Scrapbooking helps me be more grateful for the big and little things in my life. I have scrapbooked the large events (Alex's first birthday) and the everyday (Week in the Life). By scrapbooking, I take time out to examine, record, and remember our lives. It is easy to get busy, but when I stop to think about what I have, then I am grateful.

I could make a long list of what I am grateful for in my life, but I will focus on my family. I love my little family of three and the time spent with "my boys."

Journaling Reads: I am so grateful for my family. I love our family of 3 and spending time with "my boys." Photo taken 3/6/11. (I also added in photos taken 12/14/10 and 8/9/09.)

Supplies Used:
Stmapin' Up!: Whisper White and Riding Hood Red Card Stock; Riding Hood Red Ink; Tag Corner Punch
Basic Grey: Patterned Paper (Oliver) and Ribbon (Recess)
Becky Higgins: Journaling Card
EK Success: Letter Stickers
Papertrey Ink: Buttons
Copic: Black Pen
American Crafts: Slick Writer Black Pen

Thank you for visiting today! Enjoy the holiday if you are in the U.S.! You next stop is Slice of Life.

Here is the full list of participants:
Scrapworthy Lives
Pie for Breakfast
Scraps & Sass
Take a Picture and Remember This
1200 Some Miles (You are here.)
Slice of Life
Abstracts Mixed with Extracts
Your Memory Connection
Kiss & Tell Scrapbooking
My Creative Days in Beijing
Melissa’s Blog

UTSA Football: Still Undefeated!

When I started working at the University of Texas at San Antonio seven years ago, I saw a funny t-shirt in the campus bookstore. It said, "UTSA Football" on the front and "Still Undefeated" on the back. At that time, UTSA Football was only an idea that people talked about and thought, "maybe someday."

The day was today and the bar was set high. The university hired a well-known head coach and will join the Western Athletic Conference in 2012. There was no need to build an on-campus stadium since we have the Alamodome in town, but the dome is huge. (It holds 65,000 people.) Even though the first season does not include well known teams, it would be difficult to win with a team made up of so many freshmen and sophomores.

Today UTSA made history and exceeded expectations! UTSA set a new record for NCAA inaugural football game attendance by packing the Alamodome with 56,743 people. UTSA beat Northeastern State (Coach Coker's alma mater) 31-3.

We had a blast today at the game! Alex did well with the crowds and noise. He was sad to leave the game and was asleep in the car as soon as we hit I-10 on the way home.

UTSA Football is still undefeated! Go Roadrunners!

August Expenses

John and I started a new budgeting system this month, which is working well so far. We each get a cash "allowance" for our wants, and eating out, and I knew that it was time for me to set a craft budget.

I am allowing myself to spend up to $40 a month on crafting supplies. Right now, that includes photo printing, our photo books and classes, but I do have some flexibility in my budget. We get enough money not to feel deprived, but we still have to think carefully about our purchases.

Early in the month, I spent $28 at Papertrey Ink. I split this order with a friend, so we qualified for free shipping. (Yay!) I bought white card stock, pink card stock, buttons, ribbon, and two small stamp sets. This was my first order from this company, and I am happy with the items.

Late in the month, I bought some letter stickers at Target. I did not watch the racks carefully, and they were $4.99, which is more than I like to spend on letter stickers. Next time I will check prices more carefully at Target.

I made it $7 under on my craft budget, but it will be tough to stick to the budget in September. There are a few online classes that I am interested in taking. Do I buy supplies or take classes???

Saturday

We had a fun Saturday with an impromptu trip Downtown. First, Alex wanted to explore the kitchen, and he likes to get his stool and says "high up."

We learned about Dinosaur Quest and headed Downtown to check it out. Alex had a blast running around and wanted to ride the dinosaur models...

We headed to Schilo's for lunch, which was very yummy.

Here is a look back at Alex's first trip to Schilo's in May 2009.

Today

Today is the first day of classes at UTSA. Work has been crazy busy. Today is also my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday Mom! We went out for a yummy dinner to celebrate.

I ordered my mom's gifts from a relatively new site, Paper Coterie. I am really happy with the photo calendar and swatch photo book that I ordered. Ali Edwards and Jessica Turner shared products on their blogs if you are interested. A $40 coupon code is available through the end of the month, and you do still have to pay the shipping and handling. The details are here.

I am still slowly working on the words from the Big Idea Festival. I like that I can go at my own pace with an online class.

Blog Hop Follow-Up

I worked this morning and then visited a friend, so I did not make it through the blog hop until this evening. There were many great layouts, cards, and photos that inspired me to use this color combination. I was able to think about using orange for more than just fall and Halloween projects.

I loved the card at Snaps and Snippets, and here is my interpretation:

Supplies Used
Card Stock: Papertrey Ink White, Stampin' Up! Peach Parfait
Patterned Paper: Stampin' Up! Designer Series Paper Patterns Pack - In Color (retired/hostess)
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Think Big Favorites #3 and Stampin' Up! Doodle This (retired)
Inks: Stampin' Up! Pear Pizzazz Marker, Memento Tuxedo Black, and Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade
Buttons: Papertrey Ink Spring Mix Vintage
Tools: Stampin' Up! Ticket Corner Punch and Square Lattice Embossing Folder
Misc: Flowers

August Color Combo Blog Hop

Welcome to the August Color Combo Blog Hop. If you have been following the hop, then you should have arrived from Sugar and Scrap.

Here is the August Color Combination from Design Seeds:

Now I have a confession... I did not make a new project for this month. Instead, I thought more about the process of using a color combination.

For some reason, this color combination makes me think about fall. It certainly does not feel like fall is coming to South Texas anytime soon! Maybe I will be more inspired to use these colors more when the it cools down here.

I also find it difficult to use the color orange. I do not use it often, but I did find a couple of past layouts using orange.

I mostly associate orange with Halloween and Fall. I am having a hard time breaking away from that, and I want to buy this stamp set mainly to color the pumpkin orange: http://www.lawnfawn.com/products/harvest-season. This is a good pumpkin stamp too: http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/servlet/the-26567/2010-Hero-Arts-Rubber/Detail. I may have to work a pumpkin stamp into my fall crafting budget.

I do have some supplies on hand that will work with this color combination. I have a mix of the card stock and some copic markers and colored pencils. Orange with a hint of yellow would work well when coloring some flowers.

This is as far as I got for now. When I have some more free time, I hope to make a project with this color combination. For now, I would love to hear about how you decide to use different color combinations in your paper crafts. Please leave me a comment and continue on the hop. The next stop is Sue Althouse.

Here is the entire hop list:
http://amysoto.blogspot.com/
http://www.curlyscrapbooker.blogspot.com/
http://www.MichelleRoycroft.blogspot.com/
http://www.snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com/
http://scrapyourlife.net/
http://sugarandscrap.blogspot.com/
http://1200somemiles.com/ (You are here.)
http://suealthouse.blogspot.com/
http://craftygoodies.blogspot.com/
http://adriennefalzon.blogspot.com/
http://alyssephotographs.blogspot.com/
http://digipage-blog.everything-digital-scrapbooking.com/
http://scribblesstickingstitchingstroking.blogspot.com/
http://spud-pickle.blogspot.com/
http://www.scrapworthylives.com/
http://www.vsws.typepad.com/

Thank you for stopping by!