Organizational Challenge #1

I thought I would put an organizational challenge out there for everyone this month.....recipes....the one area that I have only tackled half ass. Some of you probably have your recipes and cookbooks organized beautifully and if you do, I want photos, ideas, etc.

I actually did weed out my cookbooks last year and got rid of a bunch that I never used and photocopied recipes from a few where there was only a couple I wanted per book. My problem is loose recipes, clippings, computer print outs, etc.

I have a beautiful Longaberger recipe basket that I'm thinking of turning into a "Tried and True" recipe box and then coming up with a idea for "Want to Try" recipes. So, besides tackling the stuff I have in the basement (getting it together for the garage sale later this spring, photographing it to put on Craigslist or pitching it altogether), I'm also going to get my recipes organized.

I'll keep you posted on how and what I'm doing.

Today I have to work. We are installing a new version of our electronic filing software and as soon as I get the phone call from our IT department that it's installed, I have to go into work and do the configuration which is probably going to take 2-4 hours. It's rare that I have to work on the weekend and only happens a couple times a year, so I'm okay with it.

Slept in a bit this morning and then went to Weight Watchers (the scale went down...YEA!) and then did a 55 minute workout at the gym afterward. Did a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical, 25 minutes of strength training and then 20 minutes of high intensity cardio on the treadmill. Got that baby up to a 10% incline today....damn is that hard!

On the iPod playlist today:
Chateau LaFitte 59 - Foghat
Honest to God - Brad Gillis with Gregg Allman
Must Have Been Love - Roxette
Don't Change - INXS
Ticket to Ride - The Carpenters
Saturday's Allright for Fighting - Nickelback
Figure You Out - Nickelback
Yesterday Once More - The Carpenters
Use Me - Hinder
Wide Open Spaces - Dixie Chicks
Something More - Train
Fight For All The Wrong Reasons - Nickelback
Gone - Fuel

Let me know your recipe organizational ideas or link me up to photos!

What a beautiful day!

I was fortunate enough to work from home today and took advantage of the nice weather. Instead of going to the gym, I decided to take a 30 minute walk at lunchtime. It was really nice and it made me feel better, not so down in the dumps.

On the iPod playlist today:
Hand Me Down World - The Guess Who
Right There Now - Jude Cole
Fallin to Pieces - Rob Thomas
Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback
Just What the Doctor Ordered - Ted Nugent
You Wreck Me - Tom Petty
Fire Woman - The Cult
Leave the Pieces - The Wreckers

After work I finally went in and had that pedi I've been wanting to get. My toes are now "La Paz-itively Hot" by OPI....one of my most favorite colors.

This evening I was doing a load of laundry and putting some laundry away when I came upon this:



What you say? Is that a laundry basket in the corner next to the toilet? Why, yes, Kristina, yes it is.....so, what the hell are the clothes doing every where BUT IN THE BASKET?

And if that photo isn't enough, here's one from a couple of weeks ago...



How much freaking easier can I make it?

Discuss.....

I just love this image! I've had it saved on my computer forever. It makes me smile and right now I'm needing things to make me smile. I think it just this time of the year. I'm on a down curve right now and need some warmth and sunlight to swing it back upward. Had a good workout last night. Did 40 minutes of cardio (20 on the elliptical and 20 on the treadmill), did 60 crunches on the stability ball and a few strengthening exercises for my arms. It certainly did my body good as far as sleep goes. I went to bed at 8:30 and slept all the way until this morning when my alarm went off.

On the iPod playlist:
Crazy - Alanis Morrisette
Me and My Gang - Rascal Flatts
Laughing - The Guess Who
Finish What You Started - Van Halen
All Good People - Yes
I Won't Last A Day Without You - The Carpenters
No Souvenirs - Melissa Etheridge
Come On Eileen - Dexy's Midnight Runners
I'm No Angel - Gregg Allman
All I Want - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Rock Me Gently - Andy Kim

I'm going to go get a pedicure after work tonight. My feet and tootsies need help bad! I think I'm going to go with something in the hot pink shade for spring.

Later....

Layout share and other nonsense

I thought I would finally get around to posting some of the pages I completed the weekend I attended a scrapbook retreat.

I'm so glad it's Friday. Even though Monday was a federal holiday, it seemed like a tough week. I've been a bit "off" lately and I'm really hoping that changes soon. I've been really really tired and not really motivated to do much of anything.

I did go to the gym yesterday when Connor was asleep, hoping that it would "jumpstart" me. My eating has been out of control lately and I can't figure out what is up with that. It seems like I'm ALWAYS hungry and the healthy things I eat such as fruit and vegies aren't cutting it. I've probably put 2-3 pounds back on, but that seems to be the way it is.....I'll lose 15, then hit a huge brick wall and then slowly put it on again. It's very frustrating and totally de-motivating also.

The other night I added over 200 songs onto my iPod. I took every compliation CD I had (the stack was at least 6 inches tall) and copied everything over to my iPod, then I got rid of the CD's. Don't need them, don't want them. Fred has over 17,000 mp3s if I ever needed to replace songs. It felt good to get rid of all those CDs.

On the iPod playlist yesterday:
Zombie Dance - Alice Cooper
Son of a Son of a Sailor - Jimmy Buffet
Wrapped Around Your Finger - The Police
Brother's Love Traveling Salvation Show - Neil Diamond
Better Now - Collective Soul
Heart of the Night - Poco
This is How a Heart Breaks - Rob Thomas
For All We Know - The Carpenters
Cracklin Rosie - Neil Diamond
Caught In The Rain - Revis

Okay, enough of me whining......here's some scrapbook goodness...

























TFL!

I am now the proud of owner of......

THESE beauties!



I'm such a dimwit. I've been wondering why sometimes my left hip or my knees hurt a bit after my workouts, well, maybe it's because the shoes I've been wearing to workout in are at least 4 years old. I can't believe that I wouldn't have figured that out a hell of a long time ago. Last week I asked my trainer Chris what brand did he suggest and without hestitation he said "ASICS", so off I went to hunt down a new pair of gym shoes. Of course, when looking for shoes, the first place any shoe loving female should go is Zappos, the mecca for shoes. It you haven't been there lately, check out their new way to search...pretty freaking cool, if you ask me.

Tomorrow Connor gets his 5 teeth pulled. I am taking the morning off to take him and then bring him home. Once he's settled in, I'll probably work from home the rest of the day unless he is having a rough time of it. Fred took Friday off because there is no school on Friday (one of the reasons why we scheduled the surgery for tomorrow) and I'm hoping that Connor feels well enough for them to have some father/son bonding time.

Send us your "have a good teeth extraction" vibes!...LOL

President's Day

and of course that means a day off for me! YEA!

I slept in until 8:00, I didn't even hear the boys getting ready this morning, I must have been tired. I feel asleep on the couch last night and Fred woke me up around 10:00 to see if I was going to bed....I did.

Headed out to the gym this morning since it's dead during the day, I like to take advantage of that when I can. Cardio day today...15 minutes on the elliptical at 10/5 and then 15 minutes on the treadmill at 3.5-3.9 mph at 3% to 7% incline. Sweated my ass off!

On the iPod playlist today:
So Happy - Theory of A Deadman
Flagpole Sitta - Magnificent Tracers
I'm With You - Arvil Lavingne
The Hand That Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
Forever - Papa Roach
Do it or Die - Atlanta Rhythm Section
I Wish You Would - Train
Never Again - Kelly Clarkson
Flash Tan Queen - REO Speedwagon

Well I'm back from my errands and chilling out at my laptop until Connor and Fred gets home. We have Parent Teacher Conferences later today and I think they are going to be quite interesting.

Scored at Kohl's today. I bought $240 dollars worth of rugs for $52 dollars. I bought a new front door run and matching hall runner and I'm going to move the current front door rug over to the den to go over the wires that Fred has running from his computer over to Connor's computer station. I also found a new kitchen rug to replace our current one that happens to lose a couple of inches of fabric every time I wash it...lol!

See ya!

Waking up to alot of snow on Valentines Day!

Waking up to more snow on the ground just when the last batch had completely melted away wasn't fun, the walking/bike trail is completely covered so no walking for me right now.

Hauled my butt out of bed and went to the gym. Got there around 8:30 and very few people were there, so hoping the "newbies" have started to "fall out".

I did a 7 minute cardio warm-up, 25 minutes of strength training and then 20 minutes of high intensity cardio.

On Today's iPod Playlist:
Show Me How To Live - AudioSlave
Bad Girlfriend - Theory of A Deadman
Bang Your Head (Mental Health) - Quiet Riot
Dirty Diamonds - Alice Cooper
I Am The Highway - AudioSlave
Love Song - Telsa
Hysteria - Def Leppard
Follow You Home - Nickelback
Right There Now - Jude Cole
Like A Pill - Pink

Spent the rest of the day helping Connor clean his room and getting the spare room put back together after my Dad's visit. I also took all of my IKEA
FIRA Drawers downstairs and spray painted a white with a really fun watermelon color alternating on the drawer fronts. Once I get the labels done, I'll post a picture.

Fred gave me the perfect card and at the last minute my boys decided to take me out to dinner at one of our favorite dinners. It was good! The Valentine special was a 1/2 rack of BBQ ribs and they were excellent!

We also treated ourselves to frozen custard at Culver's. I don't even want to know how many calories I consumed.

Tomorrow is going to be a chill out day. Get a few groceries in the morning, finish up the laundry and watch some movies. My sister and the kids are coming over for dinner. Steak, Baked Potatoes and Salad sound good to me!

Organizing Tip #1 and #2

For those of you that know me well, know that I am a VERY organized person. Being organized makes my life much less stressful and gives me a feeling of acomplishment. I promised in a previous post that I would start posting organizational tips on my blog this year along with the other random shit I seem to come up with. Today is your lucky day.....

Tip#1
For all of you out there addicted to various blogs like I am, Google Reader is not only a time saver but a life saver. No more wasting time visiting blogs that haven't been updated and I can organize them any way I want to. I can't even begin to tell you how much time I've saving since discovering this little gem.

Google Reader

If you aren't utilizing this genius tool, you must have a whole lotta time to spare!

Tip#2
I just discovered this online organizational tool the other day and am still playing around with it, but I like what I've seen so far.

Delicious

Delicious is a social bookmarking tool that will let you store and organize your favorite sites online. You utilizing bookmarking and tagging to organize things. One useful application would be to use it as your paperless cookbook. The recipes that you find online can be bookmarked and tagged through Delicious for easy reference. Check it out!

I actually had the energy last night to put away 80% of what I dragged along with me to the Night Owls Winter Retreat last weekend which BTW I haven't blogged about because it's taken me 5 freaking days to recuperate from my late late nights BOTH nights...lol...jesus, I remember when I could pull all nighter and then still go to a physically demanding job the next day...getting older is a bitch!...but I digress...

Last weekend was so much fun! The ladies who put this on do such a good job and have fun things for us to do. They also do a silent auction and this year, the reciepient of the proceeds was the National Ovarian Foundation, which of course is an organization dear to my heart because this potentially devastating disease is what took my mother almost three years ago. My friend, Joellyn is an ovarian cancer survivor and is doing great! It was my pleasure to give some of my money to this organization in honor of both of these women.

I finished 17 pages, which is a personal best for me when scrapbooking outside of my room. I must have had my groove thing going...

Got to see lots of faces that I don't regularly see and it's always a pleasure to see Janalee from Utah. Sweet William, the newborn son of my friend Cheri was a perfect angel. He didn't run me out of his room Saturday night, in fact, when he did wake up to be fed, all I did was open one eye, realize that "Hey, I don't have to deal with that" and fell promptly back to sleep....lol

Oh! Pizza's here......so I'm outta here

Nothing to say right now. Too busy at work, too pooped at home.

Saturday Night with Pops!

My Dad is staying with us until Thursday when he returned home to Las Vegas. My Uncle Dic (his brother) is now in rehab for the next 6 weeks, so Dad is going to go home for awhile and then come back once Dic is released home.

Last night we took him out to eat at Tsing Tao, our favorite little hole in the wall asian restaurant across the street from Anderson Erickson Dairy.

Back home we all settled in to watch Lakeview Terrace with Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Wilson. It was a pretty good drama. We all indulged in REAL popcorn, popped in oil and drizzled with real butter. I think I was feeling sorry for myself because I gained .4 pounds back when I weighted in Saturday morning....but hey, this morning I made up for it...

Got up early and hit the gym, I hadn't been there since Wednesday and I could tell.
Did a 10 minute warm up on the elliptical, 25 minutes of strength training focusing on the back and then another 25 minutes of high intensity cardio on the treadmill for a total of an hour workout.

On the iPod playlist for today:
Bye, Bye, Bye - Nsync
Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard
Heart Hotels - Dan Fogelberg
Never Again - Nickelback
Listen to Your Heart - Little Feat
Maybe You've Been Brainwashed, Too - New Radicals
Blame it on Fate - Jude Cole
Fanny Be Tender - The Bee Gees
Never Seen Your Face Before - Maroon 5
No One Else on Earth - Wynonna Judd
Little Queenie - Reo Speedwagon
Hey Baby - Ted Nugent
Hysteria - Def Leppard

Back to work tomorrow, but only for FOUR days, then the annual Winter Scrapbook Retreat that friends host every year out at the Springhill Suites by Marriott in West Des Moines. It's a great time and I'm planning on getting a bunch of scrapbooking done!