Havin' a ball!

Until recently, I was a little worried about Afton's lack of vocab. But she has debuted her first word (besides mama and dada)! She says "BALL" every time she sees something spherical. She loves balls- little balls, big balls, even my big pregnant belly- to her- is a "BALL!". As we walked into the store the other day, she excitedly started reaching for the big red balls along the sidewalk at Target saying "BALL! BALL! BALL!" I guess since it's the only thing she knows how to say, she's enjoying being able to say it. :o)

In other news (does something need to be qualified as news-worthy in order to be called "news"?...), my mom and I recently re-upholstered my couch. YAY us! (mostly YAY for my mom! Who is ridiculously talented and industrious- and generously helpful with her time--- you rock mom!)

Before
(please disregard the super-messy living room, and focus instead on the couch.
If you can't tell, those are reeds, cattails, and loons in the weave of that purple-based fabric)

During...

...And After- Ta-dah!

Oh, and one last tidbit. I got a new MacBook Pro for my birthday! (I'm feeling a little guilty and spoiled just tying that- hehe) So now I get to venture into the world of Mac and see what this little baby can do! So far, I'm impressed (and slightly creeped out) with the face recognition bit in iPhoto... so cool.... how does it do that?!!?

I am dweeb- hear me ROAR!

I am admittedly a huge dweeb. And I find that sometimes, the things that bring me pleasure are just absurd.

Yesterday, after finishing this project and standing back to look at it, I literally chuckled. I thought to myself, "now THIS is a total dweeb moment!".

Most of you who have children know that over the course of that first year, you can go through quite a few canisters of infant formula. For some reason, I saved a bunch of those empty canisters with the intention of reusing them for something. I got this desk from my cousin, who was giving it away, to use as a sewing/craft/hobby desk and storage spot. The side of it has little shelves that are just the right size, and I have a bajillion little craft/hobby items that needed to be organized and put away. And thus, a formula-can storage system was born.

I spray painted the cans & lids white, and used the old paper label strip that was on the formula cans as a template to cut strips of wrapping paper to wrap around them. One can contains cutting utensils (exacto-knife, whole punch, scissors, etc.), another is filled with ribbons. There's a can filled with sewing thread, one with rubber stamps, another with a rainbow of ink pads, one for jewelry-making stuff... and so on.

Now, as I was chuckling, I was also a bit nostalgic. It made me think of my grandpa and grandma Wasche, who both had a knack for making things no one else would think to make. My Grandma could make pretty much anything out of yarn- and she would if she so desired (have you ever seen an air freshener wearing a crocheted dress?!). And Grandpa was just the type to hold onto seemingly useless things (think formula cans) until just the right purpose came along. I loved and miss them, and am thankful for all of the wonderful and quirky things that made them special.