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No cute pictures today. I'm sans computer and sans internet. . . thank heavens for the Public Library, eh? ( April did a cute job describing our local branch , where I'm sitting right now.) Here is what's happened and what's happening over the last couple crazy weeks: Last week: Wednesday - Drywallers finish mudding and taping, floor guys do prep Thursday - Drywallers prime walls, floor guys lay wood floor throughout Friday - Cabinet installers build cupboards Saturday - tile guy lays tile in bathroom, Saturday - WE MOVE! Phase I, from condo to garage at new house Sunday - First night sleeping on mattress in basement This week: Monday - Finish cabinet installation Tues-Sat - Paint and trim All week - clean and touch up condo Thurs - renters move in to condo May 1! Next week: Monday - My mom arrives to help with Lucy Mon-Thurs? - Floors sanded and finished ? - Countertop installed Appliances arrive Friday - My dad comes in town to help Saturday? - Phase II of the move, f...

No, she's not upset. Nope, she's not crying. That's Lucy's new smile. . . she scrunches her nose up and closes her eyes and flashes those pearly gums. I believe this is her second joke, something she does specifically to get laughs (her first joke was a fake cough). It has been killin' me and I finally got it on film today. Also, hard to believe that she is 8 months old. And in unrelated news, I made Gardenburger BLT's for dinner. . . that's right. Veggie burgers with bacon on top. I felt slightly weird about it. Like smothering a kosher hotdog with nacho cheese, you feel slightly guilty even if you're not vegetarian or jewish, but that somehow makes it taste all the better.

Clarification: On St. Patrick's day, I had a little post and picture about Lucy's beautiful, hand-knit green sweater. . . Some of you mistakenly believed I knitted that sweater and I want to be perfectly clear and honest about this. . . I knit, but I have never successfully finished a knitting project and have certainly never tried anything this ambitious. This gorgeous little sweater and hat were a gift for Lucy when she was born from our fantastic friend, Carrie Snow. It's really the most beautiful thing you can imagine, so soft and cuddly and of course incredibly hip and cool. Thanks, Carrie!

I saw Gene Shallot's movie review for this movie this morning on the Today Show (of course). . . I usually don't agree with his movie reviews AT ALL but this one I think he got right and I can hardly wait to see it. . . This will make you laugh. . . And this will make you cry. . .

That's right, I said blag: to blog and to brag. You heard it first here, folks. Hubby always says blogworld is a Mutual Appreciation Society and so let's mutually appreciate some worthy friends. . . My friend Erin's family just tested portable cribs for a feature in the New York Times! She and I were missionaries together in Madagascar oh so long ago. She and her hubby, Dave, are the most outdoorsy people I know. . . (the same Erin and Dave that rescued a skier out of an avalanche a couple years ago, dug him out, saved his life and were on talk shows all over the country, including the Today Show!) Four kids later, they still spend as much time as possible enjoying the great outdoors, so when the NY Times gear critic asked if anyone knew a family that might be camping this time of year with kids, the Hughes names were given. Of course, I'd hero-worship them anyway because they are just that cool, but anyone who's been on the Today Show and in the New York Times are ...

I didn't do a great job with before pictures, but here are the after pictures! The downstairs apartment is done! New paint, new flooring and carpet, new electrical, new lighting, original 50's tile, original doors and knobs, old green trim which I grew to love and couldn't paint over. . . Loads of thanks to my helpers, Analeis and Annie , and of course the people we paid, but they have their reward. . . Upstairs is looking good, too. Pictures next week.

So just when you thought you'd seen enough cute pictures of Lucy, you get to see more! Lucy got to be a model for the amazing Katherine of Wallin Photography who is organizing and putting on a spring photo shoot for April 26 in Salt Lake City. These are some sample pics to help get the idea across, think: bright, colorful, fun. Anyhow, check out her blog for pricing and details , she's even giving away a session to one lucky commenter, so spread the word and be sure to comment! No segue, lets just jump to another subject. Yesterday in his conference talk, Elder Ballard advised young, busy mothers to "cultivate special interests. . . set aside time for what replenishes you." I almost applauded. I love hobbies! Sometimes its easy to feel like you don't have any time or money or energy to do things just for yourself, but then once you do, you realize how much better you feel, and "replenished" is really a good word for it. I decided that right now, what r...

Trying to get a good shot of the Bed-head. . .

This solitary little card was found lying on the floor of the downstairs kitchen when my friend was there helping me clean. (Annie, did you see where it came from?) I wish the rest of the deck would appear as magically. I want to make a tiny frame for it! I've enlarged it for your screen, its really only 1 5/8" by 2 1/2", just little!

"Like Mr. Holland's Frumpus, but lamer." - Hubby "August Rush: bringing false hope to orphaned children everywhere. Ridiculous." - Me

The beautiful flowers Hubby gave me for our anniversary against a snowy background. That's right, I said snowy. March 27 and its snowy. Sigh. But back to happier thoughts, the flowers are a bouquet of pink star lilies, white tulips and a delicate calico hydrangea which I happened to have in my wedding bouquet. Lovely, huh? From a local florist called Roots.

Here are a few photos of our Easter. . . Lucy in her Easter dress, our nephews and our Easter Egg Hunt. Clever feet photo with candy all over the ground courtesy of Katherine Wallin of Wallin Photography . Oh, and Lucy in her bunny ears with her favorite snuggly bunny (both by Bunnies by the Bay , the softest and cutest baby stuff you can imagine). Ok, cool story. . . after the Easter Egg hunt, our nephews were still kind of in seek-and-find mode so they were going on a treasure hunt around the courtyard of our complex. They found all sorts of "treasures" like a screw driver, petrified gum, a stick that looked like a gun, a lug nut that looked like a bullet, some cool rocks, colorful plastic bits, etc. To make it a little more exciting and to keep them going for awhile I told them there was a real treasure around here somewhere, that the other night when hubby and I came home from who-knows-where, a neighbor we'd never met, poked his head up over the fence and asked if ...

I snapped this little self-portrait of me and Lucy showing off our St. Patty's day greens this morning and moments later she spit up half her bottle. Being the caring mother I am, I diverted the eruption of spewed milk away from my new birthday trench and her hand-knit sweater. . . I know, I know, its only "stuff" and I shouldn't be so concerned with worldly stuff. . . but its green stuff, darn-it, and we are going to wear this beautiful green stuff all day, if it kills me!

So, like I said, we bought a house. A beautiful, little old bungalow with loads of charm and space and room to grow. But it also has room to improve, so we're knocking down some walls to open things up and updating kitchen and bathroom and, well, practically gutting it. Hubby's been hard at work all week doing demo. . . and being incredibly rugged and masculine. Give the man a sledge hammer and a crow bar and he can bring the house down. . . bet you never knew a guy who even irons his clothes to go camping would enjoy getting this dirty.

I started teaching a Flash class today at one of our local colleges and because I'm such a blog nerd, I had to create a blog for the class. Some of you design and animation geeks out there might like to follow along as I link to cool sites, find tips and tricks, and post student projects there. Here's the link to eagats!

I know we're already 11 days into the month, but here is my inspiration board for the month. . . a small collection of things that make me happy when I look at them. I rotate stuff through every month or so, depending on my mood and whatever strikes me. No theme really, except that I like the way it looks together. Oh, and that fortune is possibly the best one I've ever received, it says, "Your talents will be recognized and rewarded." It may stay on my inspiration board all year. . . I'm putting it out there to the universe, Oprah.

So, I'm an artist and I really should draw more. So I'm going to make it a goal to do Illustration Friday with the thousands of illustrator/bloggers out there. And yes, the above illustration is about my birthday this week. . . and my obsession with cupcakes. . . and I think I need to animate it. Make it a little e-card.

I'm behind on three tags so I'm going to try to catch up. Tag #1, the Bag Tag. . . I was tagged by Katherine to share what's in my bag. Well, here is my latest and greatest bag, a gardening tote with all the essentials. . . a fabulous birthday gift from my parents. I can hardly wait to don the hat and the sloggers and get out in my new yard, that's right, I said new yard. We just bought a house and for the first time in a long time I'll have a yard to tinker around in! (Jamshack ladies, let's not bring up the fact that we killed the lawn and several of the bushes way back when in Provo, I'm starting fresh with this house and it will be totally different, I'm more mature now). It has rose bushes and a tulip border and an apricot tree AND an ivy hedge with a picket gate you walk through to get to the back yard, my own secret garden. I'm so excited about it and this bag will get plenty of good use. . . And I tag A. Porter , A. Pratt , J. Geddes , Missy...

This is a fairly modern baby quilt I made for some dear friends' new baby. . . James. I have to give props to Denyse Schmidt for the design (don't you love her?) which is based on her series of Rugby Stripes work quilts. I really enjoyed a podcast I heard a while back where she was interviewed by craftsanity and she said she was glad she's inspired quilters out there and doesn't mind if they mimic her work, it is the greatest form of flattery, right? Anyhow, my dimensions, if you want to know, are: Thick stripes (4 brown and 3 blue) 5.5" x 36" Thin stripes (6 maroon and deep red) 1.5" x 36" one yard of 45" wide fabric for the back 1 1/4 yard of solid red for bias tape, with plenty left to bind another quilt or two Final size is about 36 x 42" P.S. I stick with Denyse's general rule of using mostly solid colors, and then prints and patterns just to add interest. If you run out of a color (or even if you don't) find a scrap in you...