Wordless Wednesday {But With Words} ...on Thursday

  Linking up with Rachel @ And Then, She {Snapped} for wordless-Wednesday-but-with-words.

Except I forgot to post it on Wednesday. So I'm doing it today instead! Can you forgive me?

I finally took 18 month photos!
Behold, Monster's hair. Those gorgeous reddish curls!

 I love that hair. But, I think I may be coming to terms with the idea that we should probably cut it sometime. Maybe even sometime before the new baby comes - which means within the next 7 weeks (AAAHHHH! How can I be that close to my due date?!). I am afraid to chop off all the curls, so we will probably keep some curl. Just trim the whole thing up and make it a bit shorter on the sides & in the back.
I'm just not ready for him to look "grown up", which normally happens after that 1st haircut.

So... I'll avoid it for a few more weeks.
:)

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Things I've Been Meaning to Do - October!

 Wow! Another full month has gone by already?! Crazy. And with the new month brings a new list of things I've been meaning to do.

{Linking up with The Lazy Mom}

1. I've still been meaning to buy some plastic storage bins, so I can put all these bags of baby clothes into them.

2. Frame & hang this picture. It was made by my step-dad's great-grandma (I think?) who painted lots of pictures. A bunch of random ones were kept by a distant family member, who passed away recently 2 months ago, and gave all the paintings to every great-great-grandchild in the family. And even being "just" a step-child, I was included! This will go perfectly in our master bedroom. But it's been sitting here on the floor of our room since we got it...

3. Take Monster's 18-month photo. Thankfully I'm not too far behind on this one... yet. He just turned 18 months on the 1st of October. But I haven't taken a monthly photo since he turned 12 months.

I have a good excuse for that, I really do! The outfit he'd been wearing didn't fit anymore. Remember the outfit?

 When he was tiny, it was too big.

Then he got bigger, and it was too tiny.

So naturally, the right thing to do was completely forget about taking monthly photos for 6 whole months. (oops) But maybe in the end, it will seem purposeful? I mean, 12 and 18 months are the big 'birthday months', and nobody really cares about 13 months or 16 months... right? Right?! 

But now he's 18 months old, and I am going to take an 18-month photo. Hopefully I do it this week!

(Oh, and what should he wear?)

4. Post about going to the Fair. We went to the Puyallup Fair last year - and I put together a nice blog post about it. Well we also went this year - 2 weeks ago. And I started a post about it.... but never added pictures. Or finished writing about it. So maybe I'll actually finish that post sometime this month and share it! We had lots of fun. :)


Well, that's all I can think of for this month's list of Things I've Been Meaning To Do! Do you have a list like mine? If so, please share, and link it up with The Lazy Mom, too!

 

~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Things I've Been Meaning To Do!

Linking up with The Lazy Mom for the September edition of "Things I've Been Meaning To Do"!

1. I'll be completely honest here. I've been meaning to join the "Things I've Been Meaning To Do" link-up since the first month that Stacey started doing it. But now that I'm finally doing it, I guess it doesn't really belong on this list? Oh well, I'm too lazy to go and erase all those words that I worked sooo hard to type out for you. ;)

2. Buy some plastic bins to store all of these baby clothes in.

 I sorted and bagged all of Monster's old clothes a few weeks ago. The bags have been on the chair/couch since. I don't want to put them outside in our shed in only plastic bags - bugs and rodents could get in! Yuck! But I don't have any plastic storage bins, other than the ones currently in the shed, full of Christmas supplies. So I must go to the store, buy the bins, and then put the bags in them.
That, my friends, is the reason it has already been a few weeks since I bagged them up.

3. Make a meal plan.

I actually started writing out meals that I like and that we'd like to eat on a regular basis. The goal is to then create little magnet thingys with them and put this "calendar" on my fridge, and use the meal magnets to plan our weekly meals in advace. We used to use the e-mealz system, and LOVED it, but with the tight budget lately, we decided to take advantage of our church's food bank, which is open to all church members once a month (otherwise they only serve certain zip codes - where we don't live!)
So now we have all this meat and canned goods to use - and no recipes or any clue what to make.

Which is why I've been meaning to make our meal plan...

So, I guess it's not a terribly long list at the moment. Either that, or I'm in denial about some things... haha.
Now let's just see if this post is motivation for me to actually DO the items on this list. :)

Do you have a list of things you've been meaning to do? Please share them so I don't feel so alone in my laziness!

~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

New Blog Button!

I've been wanting to do it for a while... and I finally got around to it!

I made a new blog button! The one I used to have was the sparkly one with the lame stamp on the bottom advertising the website I used to make it... not very cool.

So - I'm proud to introduce the new blog button!

The widget to the left now lets you copy the HTML code for the new & improved button. Feel free to grab it and put it on your blog! (No seriously... please do. If you have my old button, I'm asking you pretty please with a cherry on top to replace it with the new one!)

Thanks!

~If you enjoyed this, don't miss any future posts! Please find a way to follow - options are over on the right side of the page. Don't forget you can also "like" the Urban Granola Facebook page, too! I'd love to see you back!~

Online Baby Pool - Enter Your Guess

I created an online baby pool for the new baby... what is an online baby pool you ask?
It's a place where everyone can enter their guesses for the baby's gender, birthdate & time, weight, and length.

Then, after baby is born, it scores everyone based on how close their guess was to the end result!
Wanna get in on the fun?

Click here to enter your guess! :)

Vote for my photo?!

Howdy... I just entered a photo into Single Dad Laughing's new photo contest - "Real Dads"

I'm hoping to win the grill for Ben for father's day.. would you be so kind as to go to the contest webpag e- http://www.danoah.com/p/photo-contest.html and right above all the photos there is a seach box, where you can search for an image... just type "Lochlan" in the search box, and it will bring up my photo! Then all you have to do is click the Like button.

That's all!

Thanks so much for your help!

The Versatile Blogger Award

My first blogging award!

Last Two Saturdays ago, I had the honor of receiving "The Versatile Blogger Award" from Granola Mommy of 2! I was completely shocked and thrilled when she left me a comment with the news.  It was such a nice surprise to find out that one of my readers likes my blog enough to think it worthy of an award! 

Anyone receiving the Versatile Blogger Award must follow the rules to pay it forward, if you will. The rules are as follows:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post. 
• Tell your readers seven (7) things about yourself.
• Give this award to fifteen (15) recently discovered bloggers. 
• Contact those bloggers and let them in on the exciting news.

First of all, thank you so very much Granola Mommy of 2 for following my blog and enjoying it enough to give it an award. I hope that my future posts continue to live up to your expectations!

 So, 7 things about myself... well, what do you all want to know? I'll try to think of interesting things that you might not already know. So.... 

1. I'm an only child. But I have a half-brother who is 9 years older than me (and I've only seen twice in my life), and I've had a step-brother & step-sister since 10th grade, when my mom remarried. I am excited that Monster will get to have siblings growing up, unlike me. 

2. I married my high school sweetheart (although we never went to school together - met at church). Ben was actually my first real boyfriend. We started dating when I was in10th grade. Broke up twice along the way... and ended up married 4.5 years later!

3. Our family plan was to have 3 kids, all around 2 years apart...so I guess we're on schedule!

4. My favorite animals are donkeys, penguins, and Orca whales. I don't know why - they just are.

5. My favorite food, besides junk food (hehe), is cheese. When I was pregnant with Monster, all I ever craved was cheese. So far, this pregnancy is following the same pattern.

6. I am a SCUBA diver. Ben & I got certified in April of 2009. I haven't been diving much, though, since I got pregnant in July 2009 and couldn't dive while pregnant. Since Monster was born, we only went out diving together a few times, and now... well I can't dive for a while again! LOL. Ben keeps very busy, though, with his other dive friends.

7.I am a procrastinator. A really, really, bad one, in fact. Do you know what day I was given this award? April 16th. Do you know what day I started writing this post about it? April 23rd. Do you know what day I finally FINISHED writing this post?! Today, April 30th! Yikes!
 
But now on to the fun part! I get to choose 15 other bloggers who I think deserve this award. I have discovered so many wonderful blogs in my short 8 months of blogging. Maybe one of them will interest you, too!
In no particular order, here they are!
1. Chill Mama Chill
2. Happenings of the Harper Household
3. The Southern Belle Baby
4. Purposeful Homemaking
5. I'm A Lazy Mom
6. I Heart Things and Things
7. Heather's Hodgepodge
8. Manager to Mom
9. Diary of  Devil Dog Wife
10. A Mommy's Blessings
11. Enjoying The Small Things
12. The Misadventures of a Family of 8 (soon to be 9!)
13. Neck Rolls and Toe Crust
14. A Year With Mom & Dad
15. Thrifty Nifty Mommy

Congrats to all of these bloggers! Thanks for having awesome blogs that I love to follow!

Go check 'em out & give them a big congrats!

Swap-Bot Blog Hop!

Swap-Bot is a website that allows you to create & join swaps with people all over the world. You can swap crafts, photos, writing, art, craft supplies, drinks & candy. There are also online swaps - where you just swap photos or answer quetions in email form, or - like this one - "Visit My Blog & Blog About It"! I had 10 partners in this swap, and the assignment was to visit each person's blog, and then write a blog post about them!

I always love discovering neat new blogs to read, so I was excited for this swap! I got to meet 10 other bloggers and check out their blogs. I even found some that I will be going back to again and again!

So, without further ado, here are the 10 blogs that I visited:

1. ...consiousness collection...

...Consioudness Collection... is an eclectic mix of the random thoughts, ideas, and musings from the blog owner, Em, in Australia. She was recently in Japan, and has posted some beautiful photos of the scenery & food (which made my hungry just looking at it...yum!)
Em also recently opened an Etsy shop, foraged & found, where she sells Japanese MT Washi Masking Tape, which has become a new popular craft supply. Currently, 10% of all profits from her Esty shop will go to help the Japan Tsunami Victims. How great is that!

2. Wallflower DIY

Wallflower DIY is written by Kaatje, a 23 year old art student who lives in Belgium. This is her personal blog where she shares about crafts, DIY projects, sewing, fashion, food... pretty much normal girl stuff! Two posts that stood out to me when I had to do with food... I wonder if that's pregnancy related? *blush* But oh my did they look delicious!

3. Angel In A Glass Creations

Angel In A Glass Creations is a blog by a gal named Angelina Glass, where she mostly shares the crafts the makes and the recipes she cooks. She also has an etsy shop where she sells her handmade scarves, hats, handbags, and even little plushies! She is very talented! (Ok, and I have to ask... did anyone else catch how super clever Angelina must be? Look at her blog name... and look at her name... and her blog name... pure genius I tell you!!! :D)


4. Betwixxt

Betwixxt is written by Gracie, who lives in the US like me! She blogs about projects she is working on, things that inspire her, home decor, and just life in general. She is a wedding planner - which is a job that I imagine must be a lot of fun!


Gracie also has an etsy store, where she sells her homemade bags, wallets, headbands, bows, and other super cute items! My favorite are her Coffee Cozy's. How cute are they?! And so much more eco-friendly than those ugly cardboard ones!
 5. My Frizzle!

My Frizzle is a blog by Rozemarijn, who lives in the Netherlands. This is mostly a crafting/creativity blog (sewing, DIY projects, homemade soap, etc) but I also found a lot of delicious looking recipes that I'd like to try! One really cool aspect of this blog is that it is written in both Dutch and an English translation!

6. Unionvale Mom's Spot & Unionvale Homeschool

I got to check out 2 of Cariann's blogs - her craft/personal blog, and her homeschooling blog!
Cariann's personal blog has a variety of posts, from Swap-Bot swaps, to photos of her children, and yummy recipes. (are you noticing a theme here - apparently I'm drawn to food right now. Wonder why?)
Her homeschooling blog is very interesting to me,  since my degree is in elementary education and I hope to be teaching in the next few years. I have always admired homeschoolers and think they do an amazing job at teaching & raising their kids, so this blog - focused on one mom's homeschooling journey, will be fun to read through.

7. The Journey & Musings of a Single Country Gal

This blog is written by Mindy, and is full of product & book reviews, and fun link-ups such as "Meet Me on Monday" and "Five-Question Friday" where she posts answers to questions about herself, to let her readers get to know her better. And I feel almost embarrased to say this - but she shared this recipe for Creamy Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup that I am now craving for lunch. lol

8. This and That

This is Nasreen's almost brand-new craft blog. She has only been blogging since March of 2011, but is off to a great start! Other than her sharing the blogs she's visited as part of this blog swap, she writes about crafts she is currently working on and other random daily happenings in her life that relate to crafting.

9. BPositive. BFree.

Becca's blog is surely a refreshing one! The vision and mission of her blog is "reaching out to people in positive and uplifting ways through creativity and love." How awesome is that? Her blog is filled with posts that remind me to think positively, see the bright side, and love others. Interspersed with her writing, she shares photos of crafts that she makes (mostly knitting) that go along with the topic of that day's post. I am excited to be following this blog!

10. I Heart Things and Things

The final blog I got to explore was Danie's. Her writing is open and honest, and she writes about, well, whatever she feels like writing about. She just started a 30-day writing challenge, similar to the photo challenge I recently finished, where she answers a promt each day. What a perfect time for me to start following her blog - I will get to learn more about her. And so far, she seems pretty awesome! Oh, and she makes cupcakes! Yum!



So there you have it - the 10 blogs that I had the pleasure of discovering through Swap-Bot. Hopefully one of these blogs also has something that interests you, too!
Happy reading!



30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 30!

30. A picture of someone you miss

This is the picture that I keep in my wallet. It is a photo of my dad, from (I think) 2000. He passed away suddenly/unexpectedly in 2001.

I miss him every day. I wish he could meet his grandson - he would love him. And I know that Monster would adore his grandpa.

We are blessed to have my wonderful step-dad in our lives, but that doesn't make me miss my daddy any less.

Here's a preview of what's still to come:
Nothing! We're done. Yippee!!

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 29

Wow. Day 29... it's almost over! I can't say it's gone by fast, though, since it has probably been more like 50 days than 30, but it was fun! I hope you've enjoyed the photos as well!

29. A picture that can always make you smile

My 2 handsome guys in the first snow of 2010! I can't ever see this picture and not smile - there's just too much happiness in it! :D

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

30. A picture of someone you miss

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 28

 28. A picture of something you're afraid of

Not gonna lie. I actually scared myself trying to find a picture to use. Yes, seriously. I jumped and let out a little scream when Google Images delivered the results of my search.
And because I know that I'm not alone in this fear, I decided to go with a less-scary image instead. Here's what I'm afraid of... in cartoon version:

All you fellow sufferers of arachnophobia, you can thank me later ;)

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

29. A picture that can always make you smile

30. A picture of someone you miss

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 27

27. A picture of yourself and a family member

So... it's not the greatest photo, but I wanted to use a photo with a family member who I haven't already used in one of these 30 day challenges... so I chose my grandma! 

This was taken at my 18th birthday party.... just about 5 hours before I fell asleep at the wheel and drove into a ditch... just in time to go to Senior Prom with a scabbed up face. Ah, fun times....

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

28. A picture of something you're afraid of

29. A picture that can always make you smile

30. A picture of someone you miss

Cute/Funny Baby Video!

This video was shared with me by a friend today... and it is too funny not to pass it on! I don't know this baby... just a random vid from YouTube!

Enjoy!

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 26

 26. A picture of something that means a lot to you

My dad gave this stuffed dog to my mom a LOOOOONG time ago. I'm not sure if it was when they were dating, or when they were first married... but a long time ago nonetheless.

When I was little, I played with it along with all of my stuffed animals. But when my dad passed away, my mom gave it to me. It is one of my 2 favorite stuffed animals. The other one is a giant bear that my dad got for my 5th or 6th birthday. (I don't have it in my house though, so I couldn't get a picture - It's in my mom's attic.)

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

27. A picture of yourself and a family member

28. A picture of something you're afraid of

29. A picture that can always make you smile

30. A picture of someone you miss

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 25

25. A picture of your favorite day

I have two. And they're probably VERY un-original, but hey, they are my favorites.

1. Our wedding day!

2. Monster's birthday!

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

26. A picture of something that means a lot to you

27. A picture of yourself and a family member

28. A picture of something you're afraid of

29. A picture that can always make you smile

30. A picture of someone you miss

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 24

24. A picture of something you wish you could change

Hmmm...

Yup. That about sums it up. The condition of our world as a whole makes me terribly sad. It makes me wonder what the heck was wrong with me to make me decide to bring a child into it. :(

I wish people had better morals - or ANY morals at all in some cases.

I wish people cared more about the environment.

I wish people would have more compassion.

I wish children would never be abused  - physically or emotionally.

I wish people would never have to be homeless.

I wish people would never go hungry.

I wish the TV news had positive stories.

I wish there was less violence.

I wish families would spend more time together.

I wish goverments would care more about the good of the people than the good of the goverment.

I wish people who deserve jail time would get jail time. And stay there.

I wish innocent people would never be convicted guilty of something they didn't do.

I wish our justice system actually brought justice.

I wish all evil in the world could be completely wiped out.

If I could change 1 thing, I'd change the condition of our world.

What would YOU change?

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

25. A picture of your favorite day

26. A picture of something that means a lot to you

27. A picture of yourself and a family member

28. A picture of something you're afraid of

29. A picture that can always make you smile

30. A picture of someone you miss

30 Day Photo Challenge ~ Day 23

23. A picture of your favorite book.

Guess what happens when you ask a book lover for their favorite book? Yup - you get LOTS of answers!!

Favorite book overall? The Bible.

Favorite novel by Dean Koontz - The Watchers

Favorite book from high school- To Kill a Mockingbird

Favorite book series - The Boxcar Children

Favorite book series #2 - Chronicles of Narnia

Favorite book series #3 - Harry Potter

 

Favorite Holiday Book - The Polar Express

Favorite Children's book - The Very Hungry Catepillar

Here's a preview of what's still to come:

24. A picture of something you wish you could change

25. A picture of your favorite day

26. A picture of something that means a lot to you

27. A picture of yourself and a family member

28. A picture of something you're afraid of

29. A picture that can always make you smile

30. A picture of someone you miss