Texas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Tournament Results

Tyson did an awesome job at the Travis Lutter Texas Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Invitational. He competed in three separate divisions and won first place in two of them. You can click on the "match" links to be taken to the video on YouTube. Tyson usually walks around between 150 and 155 lbs. He and a friend cut weight on Friday before the weigh-ins. Tyson only had to cut two pounds to make the 149 lb cutoff and be able to fight in the 140-149 division. His friend had to cut seven pounds, so Tyson stayed in the sauna with him for moral support, but he was losing too much weight, so he got out when he reached 147.

The first division was the Men's Absolute Novice. There were no weight restrictions, but everyone who fought in this group was brand new to the no-gi style of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Tyson finished his first match with a triangle choke.
Tyson's second match in the Absolute division was ridiculous. He had to fight a guy who was 340 lbs. Tyson still had to fight in the adult (18+) and the masters (30+) divisions later in the day. I was worried about him getting injured fighting the huge guy before he even had a chance to compete against guys his size. When the match started, the other guy knocked him down and planted all of his weight on top of him, then tried for the next three and a half minutes to twist his arm into a submission. Tyson couldn't even close his legs around the guy to get him in his guard. He finally managed to flatten Tyson completely out during the last thirty seconds of the round, and Tyson couldn't breathe at all, so he couldn't defend well and had to tap out when his opponent was finally able to catch him with an americana.
That eliminated him from the Absolute division, but he was not too upset at losing to a guy more than twice his size with the same level of experience. Usually when tournaments have an Absolute division there is no weight class, but they tend to group people of similar builds together. The first opponent that the big guy had to fight was 149 pounds, then he fought Tyson who was 147. Tyson didn't care, but I thought it was a bit ridiculous the way it was organized.

The third match was in the Men's Novice division. Tyson won this one by triangle submission. (The guy he beat was the poor guy who had to fight the 340 lb guy in the first round of the Absolute division.)
The next match was for first place and Tyson won that one too, but he was unable to finish his opponent by submission, so he won by decision (7-0). He did manage to possibly re-fracture his nose during this match.His fifth and final match was in the Men's Master's beginner division. He had less than 5 minutes to recover from his fourth match before he had to fight this one. There was only one other man who showed up - the rest of the competitors dropped out. They could have gone best of three, but were both tired from their previous fights, so they decided to only go one round. Tyson finished this fight after about a minute by getting his opponent in an arm triangle.
Overall it was a very successful day and Tyson was pleased with his performance. He was also glad that he was able to roll with so many people who were, with one exception, close to his weight. Almost all of the guys that he trains with are more experienced and at least 20 pounds heavier than he is.

I See The Moon, The Moon Sees Me...

Julie, you mentioned trying to look at the moon Wednesday night when it was supposed to appear larger than usual. I read about it in an article on the Yahoo! main page, so I went outside and tried to take some pictures. I am even more convinced that I want to buy lenses for my camera, but I think the results are respectable.My mom used to sing a song to me when I was small, and I sing it to both my kids before bed every night. The tune is something that is unique to this song (meaning I can't say "sung to the tune of...") but the words go like this:

I see the moon
The moon sees me
Down through the leaves of the old oak tree
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love.

Over the mountains
And over the sea
Back where my heart is longing to be
Please let the light that shines on me
Shine on the one I love.

This is LittleMan's favorite activity lately.
He races as quickly as he can to the bookshelf, then before anyone realizes he's there, he pulls as many books as he can off the shelf.

He got his first haircut on Wednesday. I was too busy trying to finish the elements to my kit to remember to blog about it. Here are the before and after pictures.
Before
He's not sure what he thinks about the scissors, but he liked them better than the clippers.
And after, smiling with his favorite hairdresser, Grandma.

New Windows

We had a local company come out an install new windows in half of our house. Tyson previously installed the small bathroom window in the pictures by himself, and he did the windows in the baby's room too. We found such a good deal on windows and installation though that we decided to let this company install the rest of them for us. As soon as we pay off this half of the windows, we are going to have them come back out and do the rest of the house. My house should be so much more energy efficient, and just in time for the hot Texas summer. Next Tyson is going to put more insulation in the attic.

Out with the old...
...and in with the new.

I created a couple of alphas to coordinate with my "Sunshine Day" kit. The one with the dots is a clear epoxy alpha with glitter polka dots. The lowercase letters are in the same font but are solid blue glitter. I also have some bonus punctuation and numbers included in the files. Thanks for all of your encouragement, it makes me excited to design a new kit. Click on the previews to be taken to the download links. *Sorry, these are no longer available as freebies, they are now available for purchase in my Blog Store.

Tagged, and the Long Awaited Elements

Sory created a great layout with the papers from my "Sunshine Day" kit. Check it out on her blog.

HeatherMSU and Michelle tagged me. I don’t usually do these sorts of things, but I thought I'd try something new.

1) I’m only 5’3”. I had to shorten the hem on all of my pants until I finally got smart and started shopping in the petite section of the clothing stores.

2) I love chocolate. I know this isn’t unusual in itself, but my husband can’t stand the stuff and objects to it even being in the house, so I have stashes of it hidden all over the house so that I can get my fix without the teasing.

3) I met my husband at Scarborough Faire, the somewhat local Renaissance Festival. It was not love at first site though, as I was dating his friend at the time,and Tyson and I didn’t start dating until more than a year later.

4) I am very particular about how certain things are done around my house. The other night a friend helped load the dishwasher while Tyson wrote up an appraisal and I bathed the kids. When I came out later to add a cup to the dishwasher, I noticed that the plates were on the wrong side and were facing the wrong direction. I tried to leave it alone, but I ended up reloading the entire machine.

5) I have a thing about the textures of my food. My eggs have to be cooked until they are dry. I like my bacon cooked to a degree that most people would consider burned, but I like to think of it as crispy. I do not like soggy bread either, although I am not so crazy as to freak out about the foods touching on my plate. It is strictly a texture thing, but you are probably thinking I am completely OCD!

6) I do not like to clean the house or do chores when other people are around - which no doubt frustrates my husband, who works from home. :) I prefer to clean the entire house while he is gone, so he can come home and be surprised.

7) I love everything about digital scrapbooking. I am enjoying learning how to create my own kits. I really love collecting other people’s freebies. It is a personal mission of mine to teach any of my friends (and their friends, and their friends) who want to learn. I have already taught seven people since last fall and I can’t wait to learn more so I can share what I know with everyone else!

Now I am tagging:

Jenny - She only learned digi-scrapping a few months ago but she is spinning out layouts right and left. In addition, she just moved far away and I miss her already, so I need a Jenny-fix.

Missy – I am super jealous of her mad photography skills. :)

GingerScraps - She is a collector of freebies, like myself and has her own freebie list to feature other designers.

Mrs. Wresh – I love reading her super long blog posts and feel like I know her family personally. Plus she has amazing template designs and gives away great freebies – and yes, I read to the bottom of each post before I snag the freebie. She is such a great writer.

Andrea Gold - another great designer. I love all of her templates and have even found some great commercial use textures lately. I have seriously bought every template Andrea has ever made.

Michelle Coleman/Little Dreamer Designs - Her kits are full of grungy patterns and bright colors and the depth and textures of her designs are amazing. She is also a budding professional photographer and her pictures are great too.

Misty Cato - I love her style, and her tutorials saved me from chucking my computer out of the window when I first bought photoshop and had no one to teach me how to use it.

Here's the part some of you have been waiting for. I finally finished the elements pack to my "Sunshine Day" kit. It took me forever because frankly, I'm still learning photoshop, and I wasn't sure what I wanted my style to be. I'm also just learning how to use my graphics tablet, so I wasn't entirely comfortable drawing the doodles. I took inspiration from a ton of different people, so the elements are rather eclectic. Several people asked for shovel, pail, sand, and that sort of thing. I did not include those items in this kit because I'm going to use all of those items in a different beach themed kit. The drop shadows are for the preview only. So without further ado, here are the elements.

I love your comments and I read every one. Thanks so much for all the encouragement, and can I just say that I am so glad that I am finished with these - I haven't gotten to bed before midnight in over two weeks!

*Sorry, this is no longer available as a freebie. You may now find this and other products available for purchase in my Blog Store.*

Eight Years

Yesterday was my eight year wedding anniversary. It kind of snuck up on me. Usually I look forward to my anniversaries for a while before they happen, but I woke up yesterday morning and it was suddenly the big day. Tyson and I kept things low key. We spent a lot of time together during the day, and we went to visit my sister in law Breanne and her baby Liam, who came out ahead of Tayton to stay here for the summer. In the evening Connie watched the kids so that we could go out to dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant and the food was good. It was so nice to just sit across the table from Tyson and not have any distractions. We don't go on enough dates, I think, because I can't remember the last time we were out alone without some sort of agenda (like a martial arts tournament or something).

I am working on an elements pack to match the papers, but I'm not sure what style I want to make them. I have a few different things started but it will probably take me a while to finish them.

My First Freebie

Ok, it's not much, but I designed my first paper pack. I might dabble in trying to make some embellishments to add to the kit later, but for the moment this is it. There are 13 papers in the kit. If you have any suggestions or any ideas for elements you would like to see in an add on, I would love to hear them. If you send me your layouts and I will post them on the blog. Please leave some love if you download. :) *Sorry, this is no longer available as a freebie. You may now find this and other products available for purchase in my Blog Store.*
Download Paper Pack Here
*I changed the preview and updated the link to one download instead of two, because the files are not so big that they need to be split up.

Sally

My daughter introduced me to her imaginary friend "Sally" a few weeks ago. She usually joins us at meals, but sometimes she shows up to play dolls with BittyBit. Tyson thinks it is silly to have imaginary friends, but he probably never had one himself. When I was a child I had "Jamie-boy" and we got into all kinds of trouble together. I was more than a little jealous when my younger sister Robyn took over as Jamie-boy's best friend. I had kind of outgrown him, but I didn't want to share. Good times.

LittleMan learned how to wave goodbye this week, and he also learned how to sign "milk". He got so excited when he made the sign and we actually delivered a bottle. Now that he knows how to communicate, he gets extremely impatient waiting for us to prepare his food.

I finished my first digital paper pack today. I might make elements for it later, but for now I'm just going to package up the paper. I'm still getting the preview ready, writing up my terms of use, and getting ready to upload my files to the file sharing site, so it might be a few days before I post it.

Memorial Day Fun

First of all, I want to say thanks to Julie for picking me up for the second time in a week so that I could be part of the festivities. It is driving me nuts having to rely on other people for everything, but maybe the Lord is trying to teach me patience and humility.

Julie came by my house early Monday morning and helped me round up the kids and load them in the car. We camped out at her house in the morning while she prepared food for her BBQ later that day. The food turned out great and I had a wonderful time hanging out with old friends and meeting some new people. My daughter ran around with Shannon and Kelly and the other kids and managed to get completely soaked by a water gun, but it was so hot outside that I bet she was more comfortable than the rest of us. BittyBit and Shannon after a serious water gun fight.LittleMan chilled out most of the day, in spite of being tired.

In the evening we all went over to another friend's house for Jenny G.'s going away party. The gals who put the party together did a wonderful job and we all had a great time. It was nice to be able to get together for one last hurrah before Jenny & her family move far, far away. My only regret was that neither of my kids got much of a nap, and they both pitched fits for a good portion of the party. Especially my eldest child, who realized how slow I am on crutches and decided to take advantage. It is always humbling to have the worst behaved child at a party. Check out Missy's blog for some great pictures of the event (I mean the party, not the tantrums).

Last, but not least, I finished another layout. I've been trying to complete this one for weeks, but I couldn't find papers I liked that didn't clash with the page that will go next to this one in the album. The two pages are of different events, so I didn't want to use the same papers. I finally found a kit that has a similar feel to the other page I did, but isn't too much the same. As always, click on the layout to view it larger.

Credits: Template by Andrea Gold, Papers from Danielle Corbitt's Don't Be Shy kit. Font:CK Stenography. Atomic Cupcake action used on title.

How Firm a Foundation...

...at least it is after today. We had the foundation company who did the repairs 12+ years ago come back and adjust 7 of the piers, as well as install 5 new steel piers. The piers that they previously installed were still under a partial warranty, so we only had to pay 50% of what they cost to install twelve years ago. The other owners never had any supports put on the front side of the house, although the foundation needed them. Because of that the house shifted down several inches on the front side and slid off of the piers that were supporting one side of the house. That is what caused the pipe to burst under our slab several months ago. We are going to fix everything correctly this time, and hopefully we won't have to deal with any more foundation drama while we own the house.This is what the house looked like with all the foundation jacks sticking out from under it.
I thought these jacks looked kinda cool. They must be strong to be able to lift the house.

Rude Telemarketers

I always try to be polite to people who call my house, even when they call me when I am home by myself trying to get both kids ready for bed. I really don't like it when the telemarketers call. I have been getting tons of solicitations recently and only realized last week that it is because my time on the National Do Not Call Registry had expired, so I had to put my numbers back on the list.

I think most sales people take a speed-talking course before they begin the job. As soon as I pick up the phone they begin their sales pitch, not even pausing to breathe, and I am left listening carefully for an opening to tell them, "No thanks". I make an effort to be polite, because I know that they are just doing their job, but as Dear Abby once said, in response to a whiney letter from a telemarketer (I am paraphrasing) - "People have no obligation to talk to sales people on the phone. Hanging up on a telemarketer is not terribly rude, as the call was unsolicited and the caller often doesn't give the person a chance to disconnect politely."

I spent close to a minute listening to the guy who was trying to sell me a termite treatment package. When he finally took a breath I said,"No thank you, I'm not interested." At which point he promptly hung up. No mumbled "thanks" or "bye". So I've decided I'm tired of being polite. I'm not interested in torturing the poor people who try to sell me something(like my brother in law enjoys doing), but I'm not going to feel obligated to listen to their sales pitch either.

I thought I'd list some of LittleMan's accomplishments
words: Ma-ma, da-da, (He said his sister's name once, but he has yet to say it again)
talents: clapping hands - he just learned this skill last week
crawling, pulling up on the furniture, and a little bit of "cruising" along the furniture
giving kisses - the big, slobbery, open mouth kisses that babies give, but he does it on command
moving around on his ride-on toy, Mater (he can do this by himself, but prefers to ride around with his big sister)

He is very happy and laughs a lot. I can tell he's going to have a great sense of humor and maybe even be a joker like his dad.
BittyBit and LittleMan riding Mater

Dinner & a Movie?

Saturday morning Tyson and I packed up the kids and headed to a nearby park for a family picnic hosted by the Priesthood quorum. The guys (and a few girls) played softball while the rest of us watched the kids run around on the playground, then we ate hamburgers and hot dogs and chatted.

Saturday afternoon, Tyson and I asked Connie to watch the kids so that we could go to a movie. At least she thought that was why she was watching the kids. Tyson helped her reface the frame of her kitchen cabinets last fall and they built new cabinet doors together. Connie primed the doors months ago, but between her surgeries, social life, and Tyson's busy work schedule, the doors never got installed. Tyson headed over to her house and dusted off all of the cabinet doors, then lined them up to see which one went where. Then we fastened the hardware and installed the doors, assembly line style. Tyson drilled the holes for the hinges and screws, then I attached the hardware to the door and took the finished door inside and placed it in front of the cabinet to which it belonged. Then I would bring out another door and we would do it again. We had a pretty good rhythm going and finished the project in about 3 1/2 hours. We wanted to affix the knobs to the doors too, but the cabinet doors needed another coat of paint, and I knew if we spent any more time away, she would be suspicious of our "dinner & a movie" ruse.
This is the "before" shot.
Some of the openings are different sizes, so we lined up all the doors to see where they fit.
Tyson drilled the holes for the hinges.
I attached all the hardware - with a screwdriver at first, until I began to get blisters, and we hunted for a spare cordless drill.
I held the doors in place while Tyson marked where to pre-drill for the hinges on the cabinets, then we took turns attaching the doors.
Finally, after all our hard work, the doors were all in place. We couldn't find the drawer panels to go in front of the sink, and we didn't have time to make more this time. Later Connie told us that she already has the wood to make them, she just hasn't gotten to it yet.

We tried to put everything back where we found it, but we almost made the garage too clean. We had to sweep up all the sawdust and beat it out of some carpet runners that she has next to her car. I think I put one of them back in the wrong spot. She told us later that she walked from the garage into the kitchen and thought, "I don't remember leaving the garage this clean". But she was still surprised when she walked inside and was greeted by nearly finished cabinets, instead of open shelves. She was pretty happy that we'd gotten all that done for her for mother's day, but she also was a little disappointed that we hadn't actually taken time to go on a date ourselves. Connie is awesome that way, always looking out for everyone else. I think we did get our date, and it was a service date, which was somehow much more fun than a traditional date.

Haircuts and Treadmills

I got my hair cut again today. I love going to Erik to get my hair done. It always looks much better after he styles it than I can ever get it to look on my own. Tyson's mom was talking to him the other day about how male hairdressers usually make more money than females. If a woman cuts another woman's hair and tells her it looks good, the patron might believe her, or she might think that the hairdresser is just trying to get some repeat business. If a guy cuts a woman's hair, when he tells her that her new 'do looks great, she is more likely to believe him.

I don't know if there is any truth to that, or if it is one of those made up statistics, but I can see how it could be true. Assuming that the guy cutting my hair does a great job, I'll keep going back because I will take a little flattery wherever I can get it (I said flattery, not flirting). Tyson has always been good about noticing when I change my hair, and sometimes a few weeks later, he will notice if I buy new clothing. I think (especially after the relationship is no longer new) that sometimes guys forget that women need compliments. Once you get married, friendships with people of the opposite sex are mostly off limits. You are pretty much limited to your spouse's friends, and if you do remain friends with people you knew before you got married, the dynamics of the friendship definitely have to change.

I walked over five miles on the treadmill today. Tyson's comment that I looked pregnant in the sweater I wore to the wedding finally motivated me to either kill myself or start working out, and since everything else in my life is going ok right now, I guess I'd better start exercising. I watched a Cold Case episode and part of Northanger Abbey (thank goodness for DVR) to keep me busy while I walked. Now I am going to be hooked on all of these Jane Austen movies. I have already recorded over 30 hours of them from PBS's Masterpiece Theater. I wish real life were as romantic as the books. I think after reading enough of Jane Austen, no man will ever be able to measure up!

Here's another scrapbook page I finished yesterday. This page was the last of the June '05 pictures, now I am ready to tackle July.
Credits: Template by Andrea Gold, Spring Garden kit add on by
Mira Designs of The Digichick, Font - CK Stenography

No boots in the house

Last night BittyBit wanted to wear her cowboy boots in the house. We usually take our shoes off while in the house, and it was almost bedtime, so I told her that she could wear them to school tomorrow instead. She looked at me and said, "I don't want to go to school tomorrow". Most of the time she loves school, so I asked her why she didn't want to go. "I don't want to go to school tomorrow because I'm mad at you mom", was her reply. I had to fake a cough to cover my smile. I am glad that she can tell me when she is upset, and even gladder that she can be civil when she tells me. It just surprised me and the expression on her face when she said it struck me as funny.

I started the layouts below about a month ago, but I have not been able to get the second page to look right. I think I'm done messing with it for now though, so I will post it. I can't wait to start scrapping 2006, when I lost the rest of the baby weight. Those pictures are always easier to look at.

Credits: Sketches by Becky Higgins. The papers and elements are from Buzy Bee Scrapper Designs

Tuesday layouts

The weather has been so nice lately. I love to take the kids for walks in the stroller, but I have been reluctant to do so recently because BittyBit is still in the potty training phase. If I'm going to get out and exercise (and sweat, yuck!) then I might as well get my time in. I used to take 3+ hour walks with BittyBit before LittleMan was born, but I don't know where to stop for a bathroom break along my route. I finally decided that I'd walk to a park about a mile and a half from my house, then after BittyBit had played for a little while, I would go to the nearby strip mall and try to find a restroom we could use. Instead I ended up making a mad dash for the nearest elementary school when I saw the look on BittyBit's face that told me I had about a minute to find a potty or it would be too late. It was almost 6pm, but thankfully the building was still open, so our mission was a success. Then we were able to play for a few more minutes on the playground and I was able to take my time the walk home. LittleMan even fell asleep on the return trip, which was nice.

I completed two more scrapbook pages today. My goal is to scrap the rest of my pictures for 2005 by the end of the summer. Then I am hoping to finish 2006 by the end of this year. We will see if that actually happens. Here are my layouts.
Credits: Template by Mrs. Wresh, font - Georgia, papers from Miriam Lima’s LDD Celebration kit, bear sticker from Nancy Kubo’s Hullabaloo kit.
Credits: Template by Andrea Gold, Papers from Mints & Taro kit by
Fei-Fei’s Stuff.

My mom's birthday bash

I have stayed pretty busy since we got back into town at the beginning of the week. I can't think of anything specific that I did, except that I helped a little in putting together my mom's birthday party. I was going to post pictures of my mom's birthday party and how my sister's neighbor's house caught fire, but she beat me to the punch. You can check it out on Jenni's blog.

Jenni and I started thinking and we realized that we couldn't ever remember anyone having a birthday party for my mom. We usually had a little something as a family, but we couldn't remember a party with guests. When we were growing up we didn't have any money for parties, and as adults it was some of the same, plus several of us girls have moved out of state at some time or another, so it just didn't come together. Jenni planned the entire thing, she just delegated a few things to me. I created a slideshow with pictures beginning when my mom was a child, and concluding with pictures from this year. I also made the punch, which Tyson told me it didn't taste very good, but I don't really care because it was pretty. I thought it tasted alright. We met at Jenni's house for cake and punch, then we went out to eat with most of the party guests to a restaurant. After dinner my mom said that this party was the second birthday party she had had in her entire life. The first one was when she was eight. I'm glad that we were able to have this one for her and that so many of her friends and family were able to make it special.

I also have a few more scrapbook layouts to share. I didn't do these a while back, but I'll share them here anyway. Credits: Sketch by Becky Higgins, font-Eras Medium ITC, polka dot paper by DCorbitt, Dreadfully Happy collaboration kit by Digital Crea used for the remainder of layout. Atomic Cupcake action used.

Stupid Computer

I fully intended to post yesterday, after Jenny G. and I had another fun scrapbooking session, but my computer is acting up. The power in our neighborhood has been intermittent since the last big storm. It usually works, but it will surge a few times a day and then my computer turns off and I lose whatever project I was working on. Tyson had a spare battery backup and offered to plug my computer into it so that it wouldn't die if there was another power surge. He also gave me some new RAM for my computer a few days ago. After he plugged my computer into the battery backup, my computer wouldn't boot up. I started stressing out because I knew that Jenny would be coming over soon to learn more digital scrapbooking and my computer wasn't working. He messed around with it for half an hour and finally got it working. He thinks the new RAM might be incompatible with my computer, which would be a shame, because it my computer was running twice as fast as before with the new RAM.

I was so glad when Jenny showed up with her two boys, because the kids entertained each other for the most part. Before she showed up I was seriously considering locking BittyBit in her room and not letting her come out until she was ready to be married off. She kept trying to play with LittleMan, but she was being way too rough and I kept having to pull her off of him. At one point I stepped out of the room to start a load of laundry (my next house will have a laundry room in the house, not in the garage). Tyson was home, so I thought I could step away for a minute, but through the walls of the garage I heard LittleMan crying, so I charged back into the house. When I got to the living room, I found him lying on his back fussing. BittyBit was leaning over him, repeatedly slamming her forehead into the softest part of his stomach. I think I set a land record running across the room to pull her off of him. I was so mad, because I had already chastised her three times for hitting, pushing, and "tapping" him with her foot. She looked at me with this blank look and said, "But mommy, I'm not hitting him, see? I'm just bumping him with my head." Right...I guess I'll have to sit down and consider every possible physical assault so that I can forbid each one individually.

The computer worked the entire time Jenny was here, but almost as soon as she left, my monitor went out. It started blinking, then repeatedly turning itself on and off every few seconds. I finally had to unplug the darn thing. I have a feeling the motherboard is going to go out on my computer soon. So many things are going wrong with this computer. I really wish this would happen at a better time, not when we just got hit with a huge tax bill. That is another story entirely, but one that I don't want to talk about right now.

Well, Jenny told me that I should post more of my layouts, so here are some pages I finished today. The first one I completed several months ago, but I tweaked it today and created the second page. The templates and papers are by Andrea Gold. The rusty brads are from Jennilyn's RustIron kit. The overlay around the edges is from Shabby Princess's Two Soon collection. I used CK's Corral font for the title and journaling.


I am thinking about creating a freebie mini kit of digital papers, and maybe a couple of elements. I have never done this before, so I don't know how long it will take me or how good they will turn out, but if anyone has a specific theme or color request, leave your suggestions in the comments and I will consider them.

New Scrapbook layouts

I thought with all the time that I am spending teaching others to scrap, I really ought to do more digital scrapbooking myself. I am way behind and trying to catch up. Here is a double page spread I did today of a friend's birthday party in June of 2005, when BittyBit was 5 months old. (You can click on the images to view them full size.)


I based my layout on a sketch by Becky Higgins. The papers and embellishements are from Sweet Moon Graphic's Summer Sea kit.

Master Bath progress report

This is the famous master bathroom remodel that is 3+ years in the making.
Here is a picture of what the shower area looked like when we first bought the house. There was not even room to put your arms out to shampoo your hair. Tyson and his dad demolished the old bathroom and discovered termite damage in the sheetrock and studs, so he had to completely rip the bathroom apart. He replaced the studs one at a time and re-sheetrocked the entire bathroom and outer walls. We decided to enlarge the shower, so we took about a foot from the linen closet that was on the other side of the bathroom wall. This picture below shows Tyson's dad helping to install the new window. This picture was taken from the hall before they re-sheetrocked the wall between the closet and the bathroom.
This is what the shower wall looked like after Tyson installed the travertine tile in the new shower and on the floor of the bathroom. He even built in a bench.He poured the shower pan in our master bathroom earlier this week and today he installed the mosaic tiles on the shower floor. Terrence came over to help. Really he usually offers moral support, but it gets Tyson motivated to do the projects, so I welcome all the "help" we can get.
This is the completed shower pan, all ready for the tile installation.
Tyson and Terrence prepping the floor for tile installation...
And here is the floor with the tile. He'll grout it next week, then we're going to pick out a new pedestal sink and faucet and install all of the fixtures and hardware. Tyson still needs to seal all the tile too, but the end is in sight!