Confessions Of A Scrapaholic

Happy Mother's Day!

As promised, here is a happy post for everyone, and a photo of my new hair cut. I still haven't quite figured out the velcro rollers. They make my hair bumpy. Maybe it is the bobby pins? Who knows. What I do know is that it looks exactly the same if I use a round brush while I am blow drying it. More practice is in order. Anyway, this is a picture of Zoë and I while we were waiting for my aunts and cousins at Bloomsday last weekend. The rest of the photos are here. This was my 14th year I think? It's hard to keep track. I am going to have to look through all my pictures (because you know I have pictures from each year.)

I am off to California in about an hour. Zoë and I are heading down there for the weekend. Kelly is in Romania until next week so I figured that would be a great time to go visit my dad and Victoria. (Kel can't be in California from about April-July because his allergies are so bad.) If you ask Zoë where her Daddy is she will tell you that he is in Mermadia. LOL! You've got to love little girls.

We celebrated Mother's Day a little bit early at our house while we were still together. Kel bought me my favorite perfume and a new charger for my camera since mine seems to have disappeared. Yesterday Zoë gave me a key chain that she made at preschool. She is so proud of it. I had to open it immediately and put it on my key ring. She keeps asking me, "Do you like it? Do you love it?!" Of course!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day everyone!

Making A List...Checking it Twice

Nesting has officially begun in the Birr household. I haven't started on the nursery yet, but I am itching too. I need to find a bedding set that I like first. Until I do, there are a few other things that I have been putting the finishing touches on...our final arrangements. I am not a doom and gloom kind of person, but I think that it is important to be prepared and organized, especially when you have children.

The two products that have been especially helpful to me are Quicken Will Maker and The Register or Wallet Protection.  We have had Quicken Will Maker for about three years and I never sat down to put the finishing touches on our documents until now. It really is a great little piece of software. There are loads of document templates, not just wills. In fact, our wills aren't actually done, but our Power of Attorney for Finances, Power of Attorney for Health Care and Health Care Directives are.

I have been enrolled with The Register for years now and it is awesome. You register all of your credit/debit cards with them (you, your spouse, your kids) and if you wallet is ever stolen you call them and they contact all of your credit card companies for you to cancel the stolen cards and order new ones. I can't tell you how awesome it was having them when my wallet was stolen. Less than half an hour after the theft all of my cards had been canceled and reordered for me. They are well worth the $30.00/year. You can also register your important documents (passport numbers, etc.) and the serial numbers of your larger ticket home purchases (like TVs, iPods, Laptops) so that you could report the numbers to the police if they were ever stolen. I just found out yesterday that they also will call and cancel your cards if you were to pass away. Talk about making things easy for your family.

Too morbid a post? I don't mean to be. I personally feel better when all my ducks are in a row. I thought I would pass along the handy information for you. Have a great (and safe!) day!

Cupcake Goodness

We made our first cupcake creations last night. Spaghetti cupcakes. Perfect for carbo-loading before the big race today. (I say that like I am actually going to run. Ha!) The cupcakes were a huge hit with my family and delish! I would absolutely recommend creating these cupcake with your kids. They can squirt frosting all over and make a mess and the cupcakes look fabulous.

Can I tell you how impressed with myself I am? Making cupcakes from scratch?! I am totally domestic. Actually it was really fun. And really, it wasn't that much more work than making cupcakes from a mix. I think that the cupcake baking supplies are going to become a staple in our pantry.

What's That?

We are in Spokane this weekend for Bloomsday. If you are not from the Pacific Northwest you probably have no idea what that is. It is a 7.5 mile race around Spokane. My family does Bloomsday every year. Well, by family I mean my aunts, uncles, cousins and me. Kelly is quite proud of the fact that he has never run Bloomsday and never intends to. My mother feels pretty much the same way, but I think that Zoë will convince her to join us. This will be Zoê's first Bloomsday, can't wait! Zoë and I are going to meet the rest of my family at the top of "Doomsday Hill" and walk the last mile or so with them. (That is much more toddler and pregnant mommy friendly.) After all it is really all about the Bloomsday shirt anyway, not that I ever wear it after Bloomsday.

Here is a conversation Zoë and I had this morning at the hotel as I got ready to iron our clothes...

Zoë: Mommy, what is THAT?!

Me: This is an ironing board honey. You use it to iron wrinkles out of clothes.

Zoë: But why?

Me: That is a very good question.

How funny is that? She is almost four years old and has never seen an ironing board. LOL! That would be because I always send Kelly's clothes out to be laundered and pressed. Trust me, it is worth the $1.00/shirt, especially if you have ever seen a shirt that I have "ironed."

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

An Announcement

I went in for my 20 week ultrasound today and the doctor confirmed that we are indeed having a girl. Woo Hoo! (Good thing, because we would have had a mighty gay little boy with Zoë dressing him up like a princess all the time. Seriously. She has already been asking me if the baby can dress up like a princess with her.) The baby is perfectly healthy and measuring accurately. All good news. Click on over to my pregnancy journal if you would like to see my most recent belly shot and read other pregnancy related tidbits that I tend not to post here.