Our Family Blog

I am really grasping at straws here...

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:06:36 -0500

I didn’t know if there were many of you that had ever been to our website, www.heatherandjustinjohnson.com, so I thought I would post a picture taken of Justin, Rudy, and I on a walk a few summers ago. (That’s not the only reason. I also have absolutely no new pictures on my computer--so I had to look in weird places to find SOMETHING that wasn’t a repeat. All I could come across was our shots from our real estate photo shoot in 2005.)

I looked so much younger then.....sigh.....

I REALLY can’t wait to get a new computer so that ALL of my pictures will be at my fingertips again. There is so much to catch you all up on! I asked Justin how big the harddrive would be in the new one and he said 320 GB. I don’t know what a giga-byte is....all I know is that my computer now has 80 GB, so it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that 320 is a heck of a lot more!

I have worked the past couple of days, and am now getting ready to enjoy a visit from Michelle and Marin today. We love getting the girls together! We also always have dreams of going here and there and doing something fun......but I just know Michelle and I will end up on the sofa, chatting, happily drinking coffee, the whole day passing before us and us not realizing a darn thing.

I couldn’t get to sleep last night, but by midnight I think I did. Holly, of course, had a 530am wake-up (that would be 430am “regular” time) so I am operating on little sleep--and probably a cranky baby come 10am. She hasn’t napped well the past two days, so we have a big over-tired monster in the room.....

WHY? Why does this always happen on days we actually might want to PLAN something and GO somewhere!?!?!?! Grrrrr...

I really wish these blog posts were more interesting. It seems as if I have nothing more interesting to talk about than sleep. I could start talking about accumulated depreciation, but then you’d fall asleep, and then where would we be? (This is a running joke between Justin and I. Whenever I can’t get to sleep I ask him to talk about the benefits of real estate, one of which is accumulated depreciation. Without fail, I fall asleep 3-5 minutes after he starts talking. It’s actually quite funny!)

Here are some more random updates:

Marie, my mother-in-law, is making the skirt for my tables in the craft room--along with the oilcloth top. I can’t wait to show you all that! I also finished both fabric picture frames, and hung my cool Target frames that I am not sure if I have shown off yet or not. All I need to do is get Justin to help me hang a few more things, and the room will honestly be just about done!

What else?

Hmmm....I need a haircut.

My eyebrows look fabulous! I went to this eyebrow salon, and had them waxed by this super talented gal who actually has been on America’s Top Model doing all of the contestants. You would probably pass out if I told you how much it was--BUT you really do get what you pay for. I have tried the Fantastic Sams route, and tried to do a $10 wax, and left with one eyebrow--the lady did them so crappy that I had to partially draw one in for weeks. (Not to mention she didn’t have the wax hot enough--so she ended up doing a lot of tweezing which is 3x more painful. I was so pissed, I could tweeze them myself if that was the look I was going for!)

I need to go to the gym.

Holly is a peach. Despite being cranky lately, she is still the best girl in the world!

That’s all folks!

I can’t wait til Thanksgiving!

Mon, 9 Mar 2009 04:57:21 -0500

Daylights Savings Time is back--and anyone that knows me, knows this does NOT make me happy. I am one of those loony people that not only like colder weather, but also like short days. The longer the sun stays out, the more apt I am to feel I should work or “do something,” and quite frankly all I really want to do in the evening is go to sleep! Now that I have a west-facing bedroom.....well.....it ain’t going to be pretty.

I am already longing for fall, and it’s not even spring yet! Who am I kidding? I am probably just excited to see my family at Thanksgiving and Holly during Christmas!!!

I am up at 5am as usual. I feel like I am an old lady sometimes, I get up at 3am everynight to get a drink and go to the bathroom--and about 90% of the time can’t get back to sleep for two hours. At least now I have gotten smarter and I just bring my computer upstairs!

Hope everyone has a good Monday. I am finally getting sleepy again so maybe I can catch a wink or two before Holly gets up.

My favorite puddle jumping pic!

Sun, 8 Mar 2009 20:07:39 -0500

I am really now that good anymore at blogging am I? I didn’t even realize I hadn’t done anything since Monday--heck I can’t even believe it is the weekend again. I don’t know where the time goes, but it sure goes.

Things are going swell here. Both Justin and I are busy with work, and baby Holly is really on the verge of talking. Sure she says a ton of words, but she only says them every once in awhile when the mood strikes her. (Her favorite nowadays is, “I’m Stuck” or “it’s stuck.”) I don’t know what she is talking about, but it sure is cute. Everything is coming out in somewhat of a sentence structure with different inflection in the voice....I keep bracing myself for when the talking really gets going full force. I have a feeling I am going to have to use Marie’s standby, “Let’s be quiet for awhile, mommy’s ears are tired!”

The newest thing this week, animal sounds. When I ask her what a sheep says, she says, “Baa!” Neigh, neigh for a horse, woof woof for a doggie, and mmmmm for a cow. We are working on the oooooo part of it!

We think she might be getting some more molars or something--she has rosy cheeks, runny nose, and hasn’t been really eating or drinking well the past few days. Last night was the first night she hadn’t woke up at 3 for a bottle. (She wasn’t eating before bed well, so she was hungry.)

Day one of Daylight Savings Time was great! She slept from 530pm to 6am:) I had gone to bed at 6:45 so that I could get a good nights rest. And I did! I think we are going to try and move her bedtime to 6:45 with the time change. That will keep her body clock the same, and give Justin and I a chance to see her on nights we both work late. She has been going to bed at 6pm. (I know that sounds early, but trust me--the girl falls apart if you try to keep her up later. And keeping her up never made her sleep in, so we decided to just go with it and have evenings to ourselves!)

Other than that--nothing much else new. Our Sunday supper ritual is back to normal, Grandma and Grandpa are here today (with a newly constructed table, chair, and doll bed for Holly) so it’s spaghetti, salad and bread for dinner. Hopefully Justin picks up some brownie mix too. We can’t have supper without dessert! Last week we had a birthday party to go to, which was fun, but I missed our little ritual!

Speaking of doll beds.....I really must get Holly on video so you all can see her newest pretend play. This past week she finally noticed and wanted to play with her doll for the first time. I showed her how to hold it, and how to put the dolly in bed (we used a chair for this prior to today) with a kiss good night. When the baby needs something I say “Waaaa Waaaaaa,” and low and behold, Holly is repeating it. Now she carries the doll around saying Waaa Waaaa--and then she tosses it in the bed and buries it with covers until she can’t see it anymore.

I think she has decided babies are too much work!

Amen sister, amen.

Bouncing, Bouncing, Bouncing!

Mon, 2 Mar 2009 19:41:36 -0600

I have so many pictures from weeks ago....that I haven’t yet posted! The above is only the tip of the iceberg!

Holly LOVES her Grandpa. LOVES him. He gives her horsey rides, plays with her on the floor, flies her up in the air like pictured...you name it, those two have a great time together!

The cutest thing is the dinner-time ritual. I don’t know if it happens at their house or not, but on Sunday evenings she always climbs onto his lap after she has finished up her dinner at her high chair.

Just to get a few more bites.

Or a few more minutes with her Grandpa before she goes to bed.

It really is anyone’s guess.......

Summer Dreaming....

Mon, 2 Mar 2009 13:57:11 -0600

This is what I want for Holly in the backyard.

I actually don’t even need windows, or a rounded door like in the picture above, but this gives you the general idea. (I would still put up fake shutters and real window boxes though. I can see Holly with a cute watering can and rain boots now!)

I also like the idea of a door that has a top and a bottom, so she could close the bottom half--for example--and still see out the top. I think that is how this one in the picture works, but I am not sure.

Anyhow, I have been holding onto this picture for a year now, and I think I have Justin finally convinced that Holly would really enjoy a playhouse of her own. She keeps crawling into the dog kennel and doesn’t seem to mind the space, so this has GOT to be a ton more roomier right?

I know just the spot for it too.

Nothing like a little summer dreaming on this COLD winter day. It’s making me want some warm blankets, a fire, some cocoa, and a big pillow. Maybe that’s why I like cold weather so much.....it is so much more conducive to napping!

Almost 17 Months...

Sun, 1 Mar 2009 09:37:39 -0600

This is my Baby Holly this morning....cuddling with her bears, on her favorite chair, watching Baby Einstein.

We just love her! She is too sweet, and just too cute!

Hit the Ground Running....

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:00:17 -0600

Guess I wasn’t kidding when I said I wouldn’t be around all week huh?

We hit the ground running when we got back and have been busy playing catch-up. Couple that with trying to implement new systems and get a handle on what I need to improve....plus find more business, and you guessed it--I am a busy gal!

It was so wonderful to see Holly when we got home. She looked like she had a grown half a foot--and is jabbering new words and acting like such a big, big girl. I don’t know where the time has gone!

She really has settled well into a one nap a day schedule, and thankfully that nap lasts at least 2 and a half hours. (Even 3 hours like today if we are lucky!) She still poops out at 615ish, and has been doing better with her wake-ups, sometimes even lasting past 530am:)

Oh the things we get excited for around here!

We are getting really excited for company in March, my beautiful guest room is now full of junk again since Steph is officially here....so I have that to clean out before Holly and Amy arrive--but for all intents and purposes we are ready to go!

And I am ready to poop out. It’s 805pm.

Night all. Hope to get back to more exciting posts soon! The pic above is from Holly’s day with Grandpa the week we left. They spent all day Monday together, and as always it’s hard to determine who had a better time...Holly or Grandpa!

Update from Orlando.....

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:34:44 -0600

Hello Everyone!

It’s been a few days, but boy have they been busy ones! We start our days pretty early, and end them pretty late and we have the SLOWEST internet connection I have seen in years....so blogging hasn’t really been at the top of my list!

We arrived on Friday and just chilled out a bit in our motel room. On Saturday morning I went on a behind the scenes tour of Disney World (which was really cool) and by 3pm the lectures and classes had started.

We are learning a lot, and are getting really excited to go home and implement some ideas.

Just wanted to let you know we are alive and kicking! Most likely won’t be checking in again until the weekend or early next week--we got a lot to do!

The weather has been okay, they have been having a cold spell so it only gets to 70 during the day and around 40 at night. Surprisingly, it all feels cold!

Best Day

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:09:32 -0600

Today was one of the best days I have had in a long time. I am SUPER, SUPER revved up and ready to create, and managed to do quite a bit while Holly was napping. Despite her early wake-ups, she has lately been a napping champion--predictably going down at 11am and sleeping from 3-4 hours. The picture above shows my new photo printer (I would HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT) and the baby monitor. Totally sums up my afternoon.

Anyway....my idea came to fruition! Introducing the super-adorable fabric photo with fabric mat in a frame:

If you like this, and want to do one of your own, I wrote down the steps, and took pictures along the way. (I have been reading too much pioneerwoman.com!)

Here is what you need:

a frame (mine was an old one that had good detailing that I spray-painted a funky color to modernize it)

a piece of matboard cut to size for the frame (or cardboard that held the old picture behind the glass in my case)

a piece of fabric and a piece of batting cut the size of the board you are using

printable fabric (I found mine at joanns for five bucks, and I used cream to give it an antiquey feel)

a glue gun

a sewing machine (however you could hand stitch it too)

fusible web (also at joanns, and I don’t even know if I am calling it the right thing. all I said to the lady is that I wanted to stick fabric on top of fabric, and then wanted to sew around it. She then cut me a yard of stuff!)

The first thing I did was, of course, paint the frame. My frame was old, and had chippy parts to it, but I kept it looking like that and didn’t bother to fix it. I also didn’t apply the paint that evenly. But that’s ok too. That’s how I like it:

The next thing I did was cut my fabric and batting pieces. I didn’t take a photo of this, I figured you would all know how to do that!

Then I set my printer up. Thing to note: when I put the disc in it said EASY INSTALLATION. Three words for you: BUY A MAC. I had to laugh, the instructions for how to do this on a PC were hysterical. There was twice as many instructions, and a whole troubleshooting section on what to do if it didn’t load right. None of this for a MAC. I was up and running in minutes.

I bo

I bought the cheapest fabric they had, and did it print beautifully. Here it is coming out of the printer. For some reason I started to tear up when I saw it.....perhaps because I was so excited. Or maybe because I remember this autumn day with Holly outside.....she is getting so big.....

Once the fabric has been printed on, I had to let it dry for ten minutes, and then it was time to adhere it to the fusible web. This stuff came with a bumpy (you could tell it was dried glue bumps) side and a paper side, and you simply put the bumpy dried glue side and the back of your printed fabric together and iron. They recommend using a low heat setting, but I would completely disagree. It doesn’t melt the glue and then it makes the iron turn off and run water all over the place. Oh wait, that’s probably my shitty iron. Well--the glue part is true. Use high heat, but a light touch. It would be easy to scorch. You want use a bigger sheet of the fusible web stuff first, once you got the two things sticking together, then you trim it down.

After it’s cut, you lie your picture piece on top of the fabric you want to adhere it to (I will call it the “mat” fabric)--and make sure you have it centered. I sort of measured, and sort of eye-balled it. I always find the more particular I am, the HIGHER the chance of it going down crooked. Once your sure it’s where you want it, make little marks on the “mat” fabric cause you have to pick up the picture fabric and peel the paper off. You should see dry glue on the back of your picture fabric now. (If you don’t, that means your iron wasn’t hot enough when first adhering it down. I learned this the hard way, and hence provided the tip above!)

Once you peel off paper backing off of the fabric picture, lie the picture back down on the fabric “mat” and iron. Be sure to iron from the middle out so you don’t get wrinkles! The dry glue on the back of the picture fabric will now melt and stick to the “mat.”

Because you will have raw edges, you need to do some decorative stitching around the picture. Like I said, you can hand-do this or machine stitch. I happen to like using a machine--it’s faster!

Once you go all the way around, you are done with the “picture” part of the frame. Last step is to hot glue the batting and fabric to your piece of board and stick it in a frame. Here’s a close up of the stitching:

It’s not perfect, but that’s part of it’s charm. I think you will have to agree--this is one cute project.

Michelle, I know your reading this and YES, I will help you make one at your next visit to Casa Johnson!

To close, here is another picture of my adorable Holly-Ho. Am I the luckiest mother in the world or what?