New

Check out our new baby niece! This is Abby, the firstborn of Matt's little brother Morgan (although his wife pretty much did all of the work). Pretty cute, huh? I only wish they lived closer so Abby and Amy could play together.










I finished this blouse a couple of weeks ago but just recently got around to taking a picture of it (in my smeary bathroom mirror). It's really much, much cuter in person. I got the fabric at Hobby Lobby either right before or right after I had Amy. I was down there on Friday, wearing that exact top, when what should I spy in the paper section but patterned paper in the same design! The background is a different color but it's otherwise identical. They're really getting their money's worth out of that in house designer, huh?

Speaking of which... Michael Miller did it, Amy Butler did it, and now Heather Bailey's Fresh Cuts line is available as scrapbook supplies. That's right, people, just keep feeding the addiction. I'd just better hope that Alexander Henry doesn't clue in to this idea, or I will be COMPLETELY BROKE. (Yes, I know that Alexander Henry is just the name of the company, and not an actual person. Let's not shatter the illusion, 'kay?



And last but not least is Betsy's new 'do. I was getting mighty tired of those wispy bits in her eyes that will not stay in a clip for love or money (she has my uselessly fine hair, poor girl)... so now she has bangs. They're kind of short (although the angle of the photo makes them look shorter, and actually, her head is not that big in relation to her body) and slightly uneven, probably because it was a hack job twenty minutes before we left for church this morning. But I think she's cute enough to pull it off, don't you? She looked at herself in the mirror and said,"I look sweet!"

Roll call!

Have you noticed the 'Swell People' links on the side of this page? No? Then this post is for you. I tend to put a lot of links on my page for my own personal convenience (like, I can never remember if it's Dress A Day dot com or A Dress A Day dot com)but also so that I can share the pages I like with the people I like, mainly the readers of my blog. So let's have a quick run-down of who all is in there, shall we?

Amy (Not the baby one): One of the Scrap Etc. girls, I met her when I was down in Alabama last year and she's a real sweetie. Check out the photography blog too: I am in awe of her camera skills!

Beth and Susan: The fabulous Opel sisters, lately of Fort Wayne (now in Utah) who I met via the late lamented Luv2Scrapbook site. Their love of Meijer, organization and rock music is what endeared them to me in the first place. The girls are real movers and shakers in the scrapping world and their blog is a great read!

Carolyn: Also from Luv2Scrapbook, and I've never even met her (even though I've been through Buffalo kajillions of times). We had our babies on the exact same day! How cool is that?

Disney Scrapper: One of the Scrap Etc. ladies, I met Cyndi (and her daughter) at the Event and she is the nicest person! And somebody who loves Disney World even more than I do (which is really saying something).

Jenny Lynn: My sister-in-law who lives in Texas (sob!) Jenny had a stroke about four years ago but she can use the computer now; at first her husband wrote the blog but now Jenny mostly does it. Jenny was the one responsible for getting me hooked on scrapping!

Katie M: Another Scrap Etc. connection (I hadn't realized until now how many of my links are scrap related!), a librarian, mom of three cute girls and Esther Williams devotee! Her blog always cracks me up.

Laura M: The newest addition to my Swell People lineup (only because I was too lazy to add the link!), she is dating my baby brother Robbie and I will be seeing them next month (yay!) People, Laura IS ALSO A SCRAPBOOKER!

Mark And Anna: I've known Anna since we were tiny! Totally lost contact after high school but she looked me up again (gotta love the internet!) Check out her cute crocheted animals.

Mom: She brought me into this world, and she can take me out of it.

Monique: The Scrap Etc. store blog, and a great place to check out sneak peeks of the latest and greatest scrapping supplies!

Tracey: Another Luv2Scrapbook gal. Check out her story, it's a real tear jerker. (But there is a happy ending!)

I think that's it... for now. But I think I am probably missing some links because I know that there are more than 11 Swell People in the world. Leave me a link in the comments section, if you'd like!

Edited to add... Ladies and gents, we have a late breaking entry to the Swell People roll! My sister in law Mandy has finally hopped on board the blogging train (I'm mixing my metaphors horribly, here, aren't I?) so if you want to see my adorable blonde nephew in the cutest pajamas ever, then clicky clicky!

Nothing to cry over.

We had a pretty fun, relaxed Fourth of July... saw the parade and never did get around to going downtown to see the fireworks. A lot of our neighbors were shooting off pyrotechnics of their own so we had a 360-degree view, and our next-door neighbors had sparklers which they shared with our kids (and we passed around a box of popsicles, later, so it all works out.) And then on Sunday I broke out in HIVES, which was weird because I'm not really allergic to anything, but I Could. Not. Stop. Itching. I took Benadryl which provided relief only in the sense that I took a pretty hearty nap while Matt and the kids were at church. I finally got some real, actual medical advice and they told me to take Zyrtec - only problem with that is that it's a Category B drug, meaning you shouldn't take it while pregnant/nursing unless you really have to. So I've pump-and-dumped the last few days, but the itching (oh, and my eyes were all swelled up - I looked really funny) is all gone so I don't have to do that any more. It's not inconvenient to dump milk down the sink but it is sort of hard, emotionally.

I never did figure out what triggered the reaction - the doctor told me that most of the time, you never know. I do know for sure that I am not allergic to non-adorable, slender babies who can't roll from their backs to their tummies. Because we certainly don't have any of THOSE around here.