Its a Boy!!!

Well thats the plan anyways :) NO I am not pregnant but my dear cousin Nikki is. I tried to make her stand infront of me in all pictures so she looked huge and I look smaller but frankly she is still smaller than me even being 8 months pregnant- damn she looks good (and she happy which is contagious I swear). We found out mid-summer that she is having a boy and since then I have been on the lookout for great deals. So it was July when I challenged myself to do the seemingly impossible... get over a hundred dollars worth of baby treasures for under 25.00 and believe it or not I shot way past that estimate! When Nikki and Michelle visited this summer we went rummaging in Algoma and I got a taste for what she was looking for (every good spy needs intel) and so I was able to make a mental list of what I needed to find. Frankly I got a little bit of everything including sleepers, hats, receiving blankets, hooded towels, crib sheets, hand toys, development toys, poppers, a bobby pillow (with a cover mind you) and bath toys not to mention all the things I can't recall at this particular moment. Slam Dunk! I felt awesome packing it all up for her even in two huge bags I got for 50 cents a piece... will this thriftiness ever stop??? Oh yah... here comes Black Friday.in T minus 16 days and counting. I did have to mention to her before the shower that she probably would not want to open the whole thing infront of anyone for two reasons: I didn't want anyone to feel like I got her too much (and in turn make me feel bad) and number two because some people do not approve of second hand items for babies or children (silly I know) And frankly I did not feel like climbing up on my soap box to discuss the benefits to recycling children's belongings. Reduce, REuse and REcycle... I got the last two covered finally but this girl (myself) is living in excess and lovin it--- that New Years Resolution has been revised.

 When I was in my Grandma's basement taking pictures of all my childhood memories (you never know what the future holds) I came upon my Grandparents slides of their various trips. There were some from Hawaii, Europe including England and Scotland, The Rockie Mountains and more. It was at this exact moment that I decided that she needed to see these again. To haul the 16 trays of slides and the projector up the stairs not to mention not having anywhere to set it up was not an option. I wrangled AJ and we tried to set it up downstairs but the projector was not cooperating. Last spring Timmy got me a slide to digital converter and I have never used it... You know when you have an idea and all of a sudden you are like "why have I not thought of this before!!!" BAM--- my mind exploded with an awesome idea--- why not convert all these slides into digital pics and put them on a DVD so she can watch them??? (Of course that would get complicated but I will get there in good time) So I had Dad and AJ help me load the over 16 trays into the car at the last minute (I asked permission of course) and my plan was in action. It was later that I realized that each of these trays could hold up to 80 slides and the process entailed doing each slide by hand one at a time... 1200 slides and a good 10 hours later I was finished. I had done it. Only to realize that Grandma does not have a DVD player. WTF was I thinking!!! I sent the converted slide show and a DVD player we had here at the house along with my parents for Thanksgiving quick so I am hoping this all works out. I put alot of time and a whole lot of love into this project...but I would certainly do it all over again if it makes my Grandma smile like I hope it will. Although FYI: all other family members that want it done for them (which I am totally willing to do) must pay with delicious treats and free childcare - hahaha