A Late Happy Thanksgiving!

It's taken me a few days to finally get online and update this blog. I sure hope that all of my friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving! For the second year in a row, I was sick. Last year, strep (for the first time in my life) and this year a sinus infection. I ended up at the doctor on Wednesday and she prescriped a Z-pac and rest. I don't get it. I wash my hands constantly, had my flu shot, take a multivitamin every day, eat right and regularly exercise and I still catch crap.

We didn't go out for that Thanksgiving buffet we planned on, Fred ended up fixing our meal here with some guidance from me. My sister and the kids came over and we really enjoyed the meal. Afterwards, we played UNO spin and yelled so loud we woke Fred up from his nap. We also enjoyed watching the holiday movie Fred Claus with Vince Vaughn and Paul Giamatti.

It was such a nice day on Friday and I needed some fresh air that we spent a bit of time in the yard during some winterizing and im hindsight I'm sure glad we did as the weather that came today would have definitely postposed that task.

Saturday was spent very low key, the boys were a big help with the Christmas decorations. They carried the stuff from the basement to the main floor and I took my time going through it and putting our favorites Christmas things out. I pared down this year and I have a big box of stuff to take to the Salvation Army this week. We also did our tree differently. After last year's shenanigans with Kirby and the tree, we are worried about putting up our most fragile meaningful ornaments for fear they will get broke, so I dug into another box and came up with decorations from a tree that we used to put up in the master bedroom. These ornaments really don't have any sentimental value so if Kirby is naughty and knocks the tree over, it won't really matter. We must say that this tree is absolutely beautiful and a nice change from the same tree we've had for almost 20 years.

I've been meaning to post some more of the pages that I've completed over the last month or so.....I did these at a couple of crops that I attended.























Have a great week!

99 things

I thought this would be fun to do. My friends Cheri and Janet both have this list on their blogs and I found it interesting to go through.

Highlight the things on the list that YOU have done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Just got back from seeing Twilight with my sister and niece. It wasn't bad, but it started slow. I don't think I've EVER been to a movie with SO many teenage girls in the audience. I read 3 of the 4 books and I've been dragging my heels regarding "Breaking Dawn" because I wasn't that fond of book 2 and 3, but I suppose I should finish up the series. Maybe I'll start it over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Finally Sharing......

The month of October and November were productive for me, scrapbooking wise. I completed 13 pages in October and so far this month, I've done the same.

I'm taking a bit of a break from pages as I need to finish up the Christmas gifts I'm making and I'm also going to make some gift certificate cards and gift tags.















I'll share some more in a few days! I'm not sure I'm going to take my laptop with me to Omaha. I'm taking the supplies I need to work on the gift certificate cards and the gift tags and I'm afraid if my laptop is with me, I'll waste time on it rather than working on what I should, so I may be incognito until Wednesday night.

Have a good week and thanks for stopping by and taking a look!

The End of BootCamp!

Tonight marks the end of the bootcamp that I have been going to for 6 weeks (minus the week I was in Washington DC, but I walked so much that I made up for it).

Tonight I did 100 push-ups, 100 crunches, 100 TRX rows, 100 squats and 100 toe touches. The rest of the class had to do 200 but that's because they are ALL in their 20's...lol...after bootcamp, Satan took me in the office for my final weigh in and measurements. {{{{{Drum Roll}}}}...Since Oct 7th, I've lost 4 pounds, 1 inch across my shoulders, 1 inch in the chest, 1 and a half inch in my waist, 1 and a quarter inch in my hips, 1 inch in my thigh and 1 inch in my calf. I've lost 9.94 pounds of body fat and dropped my Body Fat Percentage another 2 percent.

I'm going to take a few days off before heading back to the gym. It's been intense and I need a bit of a break. I'm heading to Omaha with a co-worker Sunday for some Cold Fusion training at the Nebraska Clerk's office and I'll get back Wednesday night, so I'll head back to the gym next Thursday.

One cool thing that I'm doing while in Omaha. I'm finally meeting IRL a gal that I met on 2 Peas a few years ago. We've been saying for a while that we need to meet up. She has relatives in Des Moines and comes this way once in a while, but since I was going to be there next week, we've made plans to go out to dinner. I'm excited to finally "meet" her IRL.

I have a WHOLE BUNCH of pages to share, but after my bootcamp, I'm too damn pooped to upload them, so I'll try and get that done this weekend.

Side Note: I'm pretty sure I've finally convinced Fred that we NEED to go out for Thanksgiving dinner this year. He wants a traditional turkey dinner Christmas Day and I don't want to fix the whole damn thing twice, so right now our plans are to go to the Adventureland Inn for their Thanksgiving buffet. Hoo Hoo! no clean-up and I don't care about the leftovers. Worse case scenario (meaning if he bitches enough), I'll buy a small turkey breast to cook that weekend and make some stuffing.....sound good to me!

I've been on such an emotional high since Tuesday that I really don't have much to blog about.

I've been getting myself organized in regards to Thanksgiving and Christmas and today I made two more of the things I'm making for Christmas gifts....I'm almost ready to share...

One of the things I always do is start a small notebook for holiday planning. In it, I jot down gift ideas for giving and a wish list for me (so when the guys ask me what I want, I have something for them to go off of), I write down activities that I would like us to do and I also do all the menu planning in my notebook.

The notebook I use, has pockets and this is where I store coupons to use or recipe or home decor clippings from magazines that I want to try.

I'm an early shopper because I find I enjoy the holidays a WHOLE lot more when my gift shopping is 80% done by the 1st of December. I alway leave Fred and Connor for the end, but usually have a pretty good idea on what I'm getting them, so then it just a matter of going out and finding it or looking for it online.

It's a Beautiful Day!

President Elect Barack Obama. There. I said it and it felt freaking GREAT! I have a renewed hope for our country and a renewed sense of optimism that I haven't had for 8 LONG years.

My hat is tipped to everyone who helped make this historic moment happen!

Oh, and one other thing.......Alaska, you can have your governor back, we don't need her.

On the eve of an historic election....