sunday sessions | who you gonna call?

Ghostbusters was on tv last night. And my kids are watching the DVD again this morning. It's one of those movies that to my 39-year-old-brain looks so tacky, but to my 10-year-old-brain was scary! But the music was so iconic of the times! Oh, the memories of 1984!




What have you been listening to this week? Share your links below!

 

#baby5 | 30wks | 5 random notes

 

fabric for the triangle quilt

• With less than ten weeks to go, I have to make a quilt. A triangle quilt, no less. As well as sew all that fabric I bought in February and have done nothing with.
• I've never been struck by the urge to nest. Until this morning, when you would have found me on my hands and knees in the shower, scrubbing the non-slip mats. Wonder if it will extend to the rest of the house?
• I've had a rough week with my BSLs. Trying new foods, food I ate last week increasing my numbers, starving myself so they wouldn't go too high, it has been a journey. I'm actually looking forward to my dietician appointment on Monday, so she can help me figure it out.
• Baby hasn't had hiccups, and only given me indigestion a couple of times in the last week.
• She kicks Riley when he wants to climb on my lap, but he hasn't quite figured out what it is yet.

guest post | a bloggy baby shower for me!

Hello friends of Cate! My name is Deb ~ I blog over at PaperTurtle, and I’m throwing an online baby shower for our dear Cate.

Since Cate lives in Australia and I'm in the US, it would be a bit tricky {if not impossible} for me to host an actual baby shower in her honor. And since we have been blog friends for over three years now, it kind of makes more sense to do it the bloggy way.

You're all invited ~ and you don't necessarily have to have a blog to join in the fun!

There are a few different ways you can participate:

Create an 8"x 8" scrapbook page to be included in a scrapbook for Cate.

Photograph the layout and create a blog post to publish on Wednesday, May 29, 2013.

Link to my Bloggy-baby Shower blog post on that day and join the party!

(I will provide more specific details as that date gets closer.)

or

Create a baby-blog post to publish on May 29, 2013 and link to mine.

Your post should include something mommy-baby related.

Ideas include: helpful tips/advice, a game you've played at a

baby shower, baby photos of yourself or family members...

basically anything random and baby-ish.

or

If you don't have a blog but still want to create a layout for

Cate's scrapbook, you are more than welcome to do that as well.

♥ ♥ ♥

Scrapbook layout specifics ~ Are you ready for a challenge?

In order to have some sort of cohesiveness throughout

Cate's baby album, please use the following guidelines:

♥ The base must be a white, 8"x 8" piece of cardstock. You can use textured or flat, you can embellish it like crazy, but please start with white.

♥ Please leave space on your layout for a 4"x 6" photo that Cate can add later on.

♥ Cate loves the color purple {They don't call her PurpleCrazyMum for nothin'!} so please use purple in your layout, and feel free to incorporate other colors as you see fit. I'm planning to use pink and purple on mine.

♥ If you plan to use a specific theme {i.e. bath time, Daddy time, a nursery rhyme} please let me know before you begin designing your page. I will keep a list of specific page themes so that we don't end up with duplicate subject matters.

♥ When your layout is complete, mail it to me. I will gather all of the pages in a scrapbook to send to Cate. If you plan to do a blog post and link to my blog {PaperTurtle} on the day of the shower {Wednesday, May 29}, photograph your layout before sending it my way. :o)

♥ Please RSVP for the bloggy-baby shower by leaving a comment on this post. Make sure that your comment provides a way for me to contact you {either by way of a link to your blog or an email address}.

I will remind you of this fun event over the course of the next five weeks, but until then, I will leave you to your creative thinking process!

I've tried to cover all the bases, but I'm sure there's something I've left out!

Please leave a comment and let me know if you have any questions,

and also let me know if you plan to "attend" Cate's Bloggy-baby shower.

Ooooh...I'm so excited for us to do this for Cate!

Hooray for baby girls!

{and blog-friend-moms!}

♥

PS: My email address is djturtle{at}cox{dot}net if you need to contact me.

PSS: Thanks, Cate, for having me as a guest blogger today!

project life | ANZAC Day filler card {freebie}

It's ANZAC Day tomorrow. I'm marching again with my scouts, so decided to create a filler card with The Ode to use in my album. You can download the PDF here.

less pinterest more do | carrot fries

I was wandering around pinterest last week, starting to feel hungry and counting down the hour left until I could test my blood sugar and have something to eat, when I stumbled on this recipe for carrot fries.

I've made them 3 times now, and they are just fabulous! (and filling, and good for my BSLs!)

Have you created anything inspired by pinterest in the last week? Share your link below!

 

sunday sessions | settling the {first} babe

When Chloe was a baby, we lived with her grandmother for a while. Being a first-time mum, living with people I had never met until we moved in with them, I tried hard to keep her quiet in a "seen but not heard" manner, like I'd been taught. But sometimes I had to give in, and let her granma help. Priscilla Queen of the Desert was a big hit at the time, and we all loved the soundtrack, but Chloe especially loved this song from Charlene.



What have you been listening to lately?

 

simply a moment | cross country

Day - Wednesday

Time - about 9.30am

Activity - school cross country

"Can you see her?" I said to him

"No" he says

"There, beside the cone, the teacher was in the way"

"Ah, she's warming up" he says

The sky is blue, warm after yesterday's rain. We're standing in a shady spot, amongst lots of other mums and some dads. It's good to see them all here, but I know that later, for the bigger kids, there won't be as many parents watching.

The teacher yells the words "ready" and they all take their positions

"get set" she says, and they all lean forward

"go!"

The girls all surge forward, Nat is passed by the quicker ones, she's in the middle of the pack.

She's not sporty, our girl, but we reminded her to just have a go, do the best she can, and that's what we watched her do, walking with a slower girl when she needed to catch her breath, charging towards the finish line in the last 100 metres. She finished, caught her breath and shared a high five with mum and dad.

It was simply a moment on a Wednesday morning.

Linking to Alexa at Trimming the Sails for Simply a Moment in April

wdyt? | closing the bread

We have this running issue in our house - Steve doesn't close the bread properly.**

He folds the bag underneath the loaf, which isn't a secure seal.

Rather than twisting the end, then tucking it under the loaf.

And no amount of nagging discussion as changed the habit.

How do you close the bread?

** today, when I needed photos for this post (because the originals I took last week were out of focus) for the first time ever, Steve closed the bread properly, in the second photo. Kind-of makes the whole post superfluous, but there's always tomorrow to go back to bad habits.

Linking to Essentially Jess for IBOT

hello monday {afternoon}

inspired by this sketch

hello, scrapping mojo, I've come home from retreat with ideas for more pages

hello, hospital visit, the dietician was happy with my BSLs

hello, still-to-be-started-end-of-year-scouts-books, it's never that hard but I put it off and off

hello, back-to-school-routine, the kids are tired, think it's an early night tonight

hello Monday {afternoon}, a new start every week

Sunday sessions | return to innocence

I'm away from home at the moment, something that has only happened twice (other than birth) in the last seven years. The total absence of sound in my room has my ears ringing. In order to relax and sleep, I turn to my playlists. The album I choose is one that was played often in those tumultuous teen years, blocking out the noise of the world and centering me.



Time to link up your posts! What are you listening to this week?

wordless wednesday

everyone loves the swing

#baby5 | here we go again

This girl threw a curve-ball at me last week. Well, sort of - I was kind-of expecting bad news when I walked into the glucose tolerance test last Thursday, but one can live in hope, right?!

So, I've got gestational diabetes again. And like last time I'm hoping to control it with diet. But that's easier said than done this time, because this time I have fussier children, more evening commitments that require shovel-it-in-as-you-walk-out-the-door-meals, and strained finances. But we'll make it work, cause it's only 12 weeks, right?!

12 weeks of finger-pricking fun.

And doctors stressing about baby's size.

And bending over to tie shoe laces so I can increase exercise.

Finger pricks 4 times a day.

Oh, my, I wonder if I can manage?

hello monday {evening}

hello, unexpected expense

hello, weekend retreat

hello, end-of-scout-year books

hello, big camera

hello, monday {evening}

sunday sesions | currently listening to

I love an eclectic playlist when I get the chance to crank up some music - you'll often find 80s favourites mixed in with current top 20s. It makes for fun listening, and exposes my kids to all sorts of songs.

At Christmas time I overheard a conversation between my mum and brother about Mumford & Sons. The gist of the conversation was that neither of them likes their music! I was devastated! Little Lion Man is much played here, as is I will Wait.



So we agreed to disagree, and I turned the music down a little bit when this song came on.

Sunday Sessions is a weekly link-up about music - share what you've been listening to this week!

Don't forget to check out other posts, you never know what gem you'll be reminded of!

seen around the web

20 Google+ resources from Campfire Chic - Google+ seems to be the way to head these days

4 compelling reasons for Creative People to start using Google Plus from Lateral Action - "if you aspire to do something creative and original, you probably shouldn't do what 'everyone else' is doing"

Ventage Tuesday : you gotta have faith from Katrina Simeck - I loved this list of quotes!

I've been using evernote all wrong. Here's why it's actually amazing from lifehacker - I'm still figuring out Evernote, but I do like it

Project Life posts

weeks 7 & 8 from Tracy Larsen

week 9 from wild blueberry ink

What have you been reading this week?

behind the scenes | in the bathroom

the wall in the shower seems to breed empty bottles! (and razors, it seems)

What's happening behind the scenes at your place?

project life | 4 weeks to share

Still "catching up", but really enjoying the process of picking photos each week, remembering the stories that go with the photos, and making them fit into the album (and slowly learning a bit more about photoshop and the things I like)

week 7

week 8

week 9

week 10

I'm not sure why I decided to add the week number to the review card, but I like how it looks (and it helps me keep track!)

I'm still trying to figure out how to stretch the week out to a two-page spread - I think it looks good, but I'm not sure if it works for me.

I've still got an insert to print out for week 10 about Natalie's birthday.

Linking up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday

hello monday

hello, school holidays

hello, new truck adventure

hello, glucose tolerance test

hello, cooler weather

hello, project life pages

hello Monday, a new start every week

(and this week, start of a new month)