What a Week!

Busy week....great getaway road trip earlier in the week and we got back home a little earlier than we thought we would. I was feeling bad for the hubby and that he was going back to work on Wednesday, so I didn't want us coming home late Tuesday night. There's nothing worse than coming home from a vacation late the night before you have to get up and go to work.

Since we've been home, I've been busy with several home projects. One, I started before we left. I painted Connor's headboard a satin black to match his dresser. It took four coats of paint, but it looks awesome. We went from a plain oak headboard to a plain black headboard...lol



My second home project is a bit more involved and I'm still on Phase #1 of the project and I don't want to show before and after photos until I'm done, although I may tease you with a glimpse.....





When we returned from our road trip Tuesday, we had a bounty awaiting us...





My Helper


and a day or so later, we got our first tomatoes and more cucumbers. I messed up on the tomatoes, I thought Fred had "suckered" them, but he didn't and I didn't so I don't think our yield is going to be very good this year....bummer.....I wanted to make salsa.

I've got more green beans to pick and then I'm going to try my hand at pickled green beans. I bought a package at Hy-Vee and it looks pretty easy.

It was such a nice day yesterday, I decided to head out for a 40 minute walk. I've been wearing my new pedometer (bought in Washington DC) a lot and I like that I can see exactly how much movement I'm getting in a day. When we were on vacation, I walked approximately 9 miles in two days.

After my walk, my pedometer read:

4235 steps taken
2.075 miles walked
222 calories burned

On the iPod playlist:
Dirty Work - Steely Dan covered by Shaw Blades
Space Lord - Monster Magnet
What If - Creed
Whipping Boy - Train
Hollywood - Shooting Star
Leader of Men - Nickleback
Bittersweet - Fuel
Runnin Out - Chickenfoot
It's Not My Time - 3 Doors Down
Hate to Lose Your Lovin - Little Feat
It's Going to Take Some Time - The Carpenters
21 Guns - Green Day

Today, I'm going to finish up with Phase #1 of my project and possibly start Phase #2, but I'm more apt to spend the day at the pool with Connor and Chloe. Chloe is leaving tomorrow to spend the next 3 weeks with her Dad in San Diego, so tonight we're having a pizza party in her honor. I won't see her until the weekend before school starts.

For my fellow "Bargain Betties" out there....you will NOT believe the deals I found while on our vacation....but that's for another post!

This looks amazing....

I'm a huge Tim Burton fan. His vision is amazing and there isn't a movie that he's done that I haven't loved. Can't wait. Besides, it's Johnny Depp also and I'd follow him to the ends of the earth.

SO NOT FAIR!

I just got my June Bug Collection Pack.....love these too and I doubt I'll have much Halloween to scrap anymore and those that know me, know just how much I *love* (not) scrapping Christmas, but loving the papers in these...





Just call me an scrapbook supply enabler.....

Yippee! another Vacation!

As of 4:00pm yesterday, I'm off on another 10 day vacation. You're all probably wondering how in the hell I can have another 10 day vacation within 5 weeks, well, because I've been at my job a long time, I have a lot of vacation time and I like to save it up and take 70% of it during summer. The rest of the year, I take a day or two here or there.

This vacation is a combined project around the house/Iowa road trip. Tomorrow I'm planning on painting Connor's headboard black (to match his new dresser). My boys got it all sanded and roughed up for me today. If I can get it painted tomorrow, then it will have a few days to dry before taking it back up to Connor's room. I also am planning on getting the spare bedroom painted later in the week. It's been 5 years since we moved in here and we've really done nothing to that room.

Fred's been on vacation since Wednesday and seems to be enjoying his down time.

Sunday morning we're off for the Amana Colonies until Tuesday. We're staying at the Clarion Inn in Amana that has an indoor waterpark and a 18 hole minature golf course.

Besides spending time looking in all the shops, galleries, wineries, etc. in the Amana Colonies, we'll be having both our Sunday dinner and Monday dinner at one of the great family style restaurants there.

We're also going to make a side trip to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Williamsburg for some early school shopping and looking for some new flatware.

We all had a great time at Adventureland. Well, all except Fred, he didn't feel good so he ended up going home and leaving Connor, Johnny and I there. We called him later to come back and pick us up. Personally, I think it was his way of having some alone/decompress time and that's okay.

Here's some photos from our day -

The infamous space shot


My son and his friend on the Saw Mill Splash


After splash, my son's on the right


Say Hello to our little friend


The Funnel Cake Factory - my personal favorite amusement park/fair food


The grounds are just beautiful at this park


Lots of geese walking around the park


The Dragon


Since I can't do rides anymore because of my vertigo, I brought my book and when the boys were waiting for a ride, I found a shady spot and read. After a couple of hours, I camped out at Kokomo Kove and let the boys run around by themselves (thank goodness for cell phones)...they would go ride a couple ride, then come find me at camped at the water park, then ride some more and so on and so on.

Last night we a some of our neighbors over for cocktails and snacks. There are two couples that we enjoy getting together with and we haven't been able to yet this summer, so it was great to be able to connect with them last night. We enjoyed Miller Chills, Shock Tops, blue corn chips with salsa and homemade guacamole.

After my bout of insomnia the night before (3 hours sleep, then a full work day), you can imagine after 2-3 beers that I slept like a rock last night and I'm ready to rock and roll today.

On my to-do list:

Paint Connor's headboard
Dust the master bedroom
Laundry
Pack for our road trip

Have a great weekend!

Yea Me!

Went on a great walk/run with a co-worker today during our lunchtime. Gray's Lake is a fabulous place to walk. It's a great wonderful park and Des Moines did a great service by investing in it and renovating it to it's current condition. The trail (by my pedometer) is 1.73 miles.

I was so busy when I got to work that I completely forgot to eat breakfast until 11:00am, so I grabbed my bag of strawberries and bing cherries and gobbled them down. I knew I would need something to get me through the walk/run at lunch time.

For lunch I had a Weight Watcher Smart One Macaroni and Cheese, steamed broccoli and a Crystal Light Berry Splash (I love that stuff).....3 days without a Diet Pepsi...so far, so good.

For dinner, we had grilled hamburgers (no buns), Ore-Ida Frozen Golden Fries and I had asparagus. To celebrate making it 3 days with no soda, I had a Skinny Cow Mint Chip Ice Cream Sandwich for dessert.

I've uped my water intake, but not much...yesterday, I only made it to 48 ounces and today I'm struggling with 32oz. Sure wish I liked water more. I like it when I'm really thirsty, but that is it.

On the iPod playlist:
One - Creed
Holdin On To Yesterday - Ambrosia
Psycho - Puddle of Mudd
How Much I Feel - Ambrosia
Eagles Fly - Sammy Hagar
All I Want - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Hollywood - Shooting Star

Fred's on vacation, lucky dog......I work from home tomorrow afternoon. I gotta start thinking about what we're going to take on our upcoming road trip.

A New Week

Back to the office to work this week. Well, except for Thursday when I'm taking a reschedule flex day off to spend the day at Adventureland/Kokomo Kove with my family.

Yesterday was a good day. I didn't come back to any major issues or problems at work, I made really good choices food wise (I usually do, but I have my days) and got plenty of exercise.

Breakfast was oatmeal, blueberries and a protein shake. Lunch was a salad with hard boiled egg for protein, a yogurt and fruit. Afternoon snack was my favorite Jolly Time 94% fat free butter popcorn and a Crystal Light Raspberry Lemonade. For dinner we had grilled turkey tenderloins, a small baked potato and artichokes (with a light ranch dressing to dip).

I was so damn pooped from my workout that I fell asleep at 8:00pm and slept the whole night through.

Exercise:

20 minute walk in the am
25 minute cardio at the gym
20 minutes of strength training at the gym
15 minute bike ride to and from the gym

Scale - down 3

A Bit About Me

1. What is your current obsession? Home decorating
2. What is your weirdest obsession? I can't think of one, but I'm sure there is something
3. What are you wearing today? denim capris and a t-shirt
4. What would you eat for your last meal? Pizza, Fruit, Ice Cream and Milk
5. What's the last thing you bought? A new pedometer
6. What are you listening to now? Motley Crue
7. What's your favorite ice cream flavor? I like ALL ice cream
8. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished, anywhere in the world, where would it be? La Jolla, California
9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? Las Vegas to see my Dad
10. Which language would you want to learn? I am terrible at languages but I suppose I would choose either Spanish or Italian
11. What's your favorite quote (for now)? Shit happens
12. What's your favorite color? Blue
13. What's your favorite time of the day? Mornings
14. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your wardrobe? a denim jacket that I love
15. What is your dream job? Art Director or Set Director on a major motion picture
16. What's your favorite magazine? Vanity Fair
17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on? Interior Paint
18. Do you admire anyone's style? I love Vern Yip
19. Describe your personal style. Eclectic Cottage
20. What are you going to do after this? Probably go to bed
21. What are your favorite movies? The Usual Suspects, Finding Nemo, Toy Story and Toy Story 2, Serendipity, The Shawshank Redemption
22. What's your favorite fruit? Apples and Pineapple
23. What inspires you? Nature
24. Do you collect something? Yes, art, scrapbook supplies, Jim Shore Santas and Cats

Such a Beautiful, Cool Weekend and A New Challenge (for me)

My body is doing very wacky things right now and I can't figure out what is going on with it. This may be TMI for some, but it's my blog and I can write about anything I want to write about. :)

After 2 years of not having any periods, I started to bleed again at the end of April and it lasted for about 9 days. That is what prompted my doctor's visit, a test of two and a D&C. Since the D&C, I've had a lot of bloating and slight cramping off and on and I a few weeks ago, I had another "period" or something...4 days of bleeding, then it stops. Again, the bloating, etc, etc.....I know that there isn't anything seriously wrong because my Doctor biopsied everything when I had my D&C and nothing came back abnormal. Beside the female shit I'm dealing with, I really need to lose some weight because of my blood sugar and previous history with diabetes (I was gestational and had to give myself shots of insulin the last 8 weeks of my pregnancy).

As most of you know, I've been pretty damn good about being physically active and go to the gym regularly, but it doesn't seem to be working in regards to weight loss. Yes, I am doing my cardiovascular system a HUGE service and I my body is definitely toner but the scale won't move. My doctor thinks I'm focusing too much on the scale and I certainly know that I'm never going to see 135 again, all I'm asking for is to lose 20 pounds.

At the end of June I decided that I was going to weight myself everyday starting July 1st just to track what was going on, well, I stopped on the 15th because by July 15th, I had gained, lost and then gained 10 pounds in a 15 day period. WTF! It's ridiculous!

So while I was in DC, I did a bunch of online reading and bought a couple of books and I'm going to cut out diet soda from my diet (except for one each week on the weekend), I'm going to start planning ALL of my meals (I already plan our dinners), double my water intake from 32 oz. to 64 oz. and I am going to AMP up my exercise to 5 days a week from 3-4 which means Saturday and Monday will probably be my days off....days off may have to be flexible depending on our schedule. My goal is to make these changes for 30 days only (4 weeks) to see how it goes, how I feel, have I seen any apparent changes, was it super hard to maintain, etc? I'm also going to track things on my blog instead of trying to journal things elsewhere. I'm not good about writing things down like some programs what you do, but I'm better if I can do it on my computer.

Tonight is my last hurray and I'm having pizza, because unless I make it myself, that won't be on my regular food list much anymore. I do have a couple of recipes using pitas that I'll probably try, but tonight it's the real thing.

We were busy Saturday and boy I sure didn't need to go to the gym that's for sure. Fred, Connor and I all got down on our hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor with soap and bleach. Those of you who have seen my kitchen might remember that the floor area is HUGE and it's a CHORE. That's why we only do it every 6-9 months. We use the swifter on it all the time, but to really get into the crevices, it's a elbow grease kind of job. It took 3 of us about an hour and 15 minutes to cover the whole area, then we wiped off all of the cabinet hardware, appliances, our bistro table and the chairs with an anti-bacterial cleaner. It looks great!

We're also patching a few spots in Connor's room so that we can touch up his walls with some paint. He has decided that the "May the Force Be With You" that was above his bed is no longer appropriate for a boy his age, so we took the decals down and have those areas to paint also. I had Fred take off his headboard and put in it the garage and tomorrow I'm hoping to get it painted black to match his dresser.

I got up this morning and since it was so nice, decided to do a power walk for 25 minutes. I've still got some strength training to do, but I'll do that later. Fred and I have to run down to Lowe's for a new front door handle & lock, our has broken and it needs fixed quickly.

On the iPod playlist today:
All I Want - Todd the Wet Sprocket
I'm Not Jesus - Apocalyptica
You'll Think of Me - Keith Urban
Energy - Shinedown
I Was Made for Loving You - KISS
Thank You - covered by Telsa

It looks like it's going to be a lovely day!

A Very Sad Note

I just learned today that a dear friend of mine passed away after a 6 year battle with breast cancer. Her name is Debbie Mancini Wharff and I was proud to call her a friend. We met through scrapbooking and we always had a great time when we were able to get together. She also hosted a fabulous crop event while she lived in Iowa where ALL of the proceeds went to the Susan G Koman Foundation. It was such a fun event to attend and over the years the event raised thousands of dollars. I'll never forget her kindness to me when my mother passed away and I was so happy to see her at the visitation.

My heart is heavy for her family and all of us who will miss her. She was a truly beautiful and strong woman and I hope that her husband Mike, kids Matthew, Mari and Nicholas, mom Judi, dad Don and the rest of her family find peace and comfort in the memories that Debbie so lovingly left them with.

Debbie Mancini Wharff

I'm very sad. :(

Back in DC

Got into DC this morning 25 minutes early! I was at my hotel by 10:30 in the morning. Got my suitcase unpacked, changed into my walking shoes and off I went.

First up, the American History Museum. These are some of the things I looked at -

Dorothy's Shoes


Archie Bunker's chair


One of the original chairs from the Dumbo ride at Disneyland


A statue of George Washington


The entrance to the Star Spangled Banner Exhibit


After my museum visit, I walked up to Macy's and found TWO really cute tops for $12.50 a piece...SCORE! and I also bought myself some of my favorite hair conditioner from Origins called Rich Rewards. I love that stuff, the smell is heavenly!

On my walk back to the hotel, I stopped at Chopt for an awesome chopped salad. I got a kick out of the sign in their window that said "Hours of Choperation"...lol I was lucky to get a sidewalk table, so I had an enjoyable 45 minute lunch sitting there watching the DC sidewalk traffic.



Have a good week!

Summer Garden

Over the weekend I planted a few more things. Nurseries and garden center start marking things down and you can get some great deals. Yesterday, when I was at the Farmers Market, I purchased a couple Asiatic Lillies from Lucille's (a greenhouse in Bondurant that I like to visit) and a really cool ornamental grass that I could not tell you the name of, I just liked the way it looked.

I also bought some Russian sage from Lowe's that we deep discounted and since we've harvested all of the peas (I'm not going the pea route next year, all that space for a serving or two of peas), I have more space in the veggie garden, so I planted a few short rows of butter crunch lettuce, a green pepper and a chili pepper. I wonder if the "wasskillee wabbbits" will come and take them away.

Here's our garden transgression over the last couple of months:

From this -


To this -


To this -


and this -


Have a great week! I'm heading to Washington DC in the morning, be back Thursday night, then have Friday off....Yea!

A Summer Weekend

Fred and I had a blast last night at the Government Mule concert. I bought the tickets for him for his birthday and he's been looking forward to it. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants called "The Olympic Flame". A small greek restaurant that we order saganaki and the best ever gyros we have ever tasted. They serve beer and wine also, so we had a couple of beers also.

The opening act was a band from Illinois called Backyard Fire Tire and I was impressed. Honestly, I'm usually bored with opening acts but every once in a while, you see a real gem of a band and these guys were fun. We both enjoyed listening to them.

Government Mule was awesome! Warren Haynes is a hell of a guitar player and I love listening to his voice. They played for about an hour and half, then took a break, came back out and started playing again and then around 11:15, it started to rain and the band had to leave the stage. They were going to hang out and see if the rain stopped and if it did, they'd play some more, but we were pretty damp at that point, so we decided to head home...hell, they had already played over 2 hours, so we definitely got our money's worth.

I can't believe that I actually got back up at 6:15 to head to the Downtown Farmer's Market. I picked Paul up on the way and Peggy was meeting us downtown. I bought a big zucchini and corn on the cob. We all bought the wonderful breakfast burritos that people line up for and for a treat, I had a creme horn drizzled in chocolate...YUM!

I also bought bread. Bread doesn't last very long in our house. Connor will devour a loaf with just slathering margarine on slices. Today, I picked up a baguette and a ciabatta from South Union Bread. The small loaf in the basket is a loaf of beer bread that I made the other night.




Had lots of errands to run....a pet store run for pet food, a scrapbook store run for Basic Grey's June Bug Collection pack. I had a 30% off coupon and a full punch card to use, so I barely spent anything this time. I also stopped at Kohl's to use my $20 I earned when we bought Fred work clothes there a few weeks ago. I found a cute shirt to take to Washington DC with me.

After all the running around and then household chores, I was ready for a couple of hours of hanging by the pool with my book. The water felt wonderful and was very refreshing. Stayed there until dinner time.

I also got my bike back from Rasmussen Bike. They were able to fix it up for me, but he did tell me that she's on her last leg, so I guess I am going to have to seriously look at something like this...



They have layaway. Mmmmm....

Hope your having a good weekend.

A Productive and Satisfying Vacation

Besides chilling out, going to the Farmer's Market, having fun at the local Aquatic Center, spending a little money shopping, celebrating a birthday and anniversary, attending the Des Moines Art Festival and FREE Collective Soul concert, I even found time to scrapbook!

Here are some of my recent pages - (click to see them larger)

Love the way this page turned out
More Basic Grey Lime Rickey and some Fancy Pants Chipboard


I gathered all of the photos of Connor from his first year for this layout
Broke out the Basic Grey Oh Baby Boy that I still have and love for these pages


One of my favorite photos of Connor, around 2 months old
More Basic Grey Oh Baby Boy


I love these photos of Fred and our nephew Gunner
I absolutely adored the new Crate Paper Orbit Collection and was stoked it worked so well on this page


A layout about seeing Kathy Griffin at Carver Hawkeye arena last October. We're big Kathy fans!
Used some OLD My Mind's Eye Bohemian on this one


Our niece Chloe...she's flexible
Got into the old old Reminisce "It's a Girl Thing" collection


My week is flying by fast. Busy at work and just enough time to get some exercise in, eat some dinner, play for a bit (whether that be on the computer, watching a DVD or reading) and falling into bed dirt tired.

A Hectic Week!

Got back to work yesterday....bummer....but the good news is I'm really busy so the days are flying by.

Got in some exercise today. My friend Mani at work and I did a really good walk at lunch and when I got home, I immediately headed to the gym for 25 minutes of strength training and 25 minutes of cardio.

On the iPod playlist today:
Heavy Metal - Sammy Hagar
Machinehead - Bush
You Got What I Need - Alice Cooper
Like You Do - REO Speedwagon
Man of Constant Sorrow - Allison Kraus and Union Station
Strange Way - Firefall
Know Your Enemy - Green Day
Before the Lobotomy - Green Day
All American Girl - Train
Let's See How Far We've Come - Matchbox Twenty
Thoughtless - Evanesence

Took my bike to Rasmussen Bike last night for a tune-up. My gears were working funky and I wanted them fixed. Boy, do they have some nice bikes. My bike is 15 years old. I spend about $500 bucks on it 15 years ago and I take it in to be tune uped every other year, so it has lasted. But, boy did I see some nice bikes....to the tune of about $400-$600 dollars. I'll be getting mine back on Thursday.

I've been very worried about my Aunt Susie (my mother's younger sister). She has not been feeling well for several months, has lost alot of weight and the doctor can't seem to figure out what's wrong. Personally I think it's her gall bladder. The ultrasound didn't show any stones, but it is inflamed. Well, I say take it, but our Doctor (we both go to the same MD) says they won't take it without seeing stone. I say BULLSHIT and I told her that if she continues to feel as bad as she does, she needs to go to the emergency room...screw out doctor. I lost it today when she started to cry on the phone about if something was to happen to her, she needed me to be there for my Uncle and to help him out. My Aunt is not a cryer and for her to get emotional is something. I know that she is thinking about mom and what happened with her and her illness and she is thinking about her own mother (my grandmother) who died at age 63 a few hours after routine gall bladder surgery. Now granted, my grandmother was not a healthy woman, she went through two bouts of rheumatic fever as a child, suffered from "dropsy" and had high blood pressure most of her life. I can't believe that she was still having babies in her 40's. She is 40 when she had my mom and 44 when she had my Aunt. I just praying that everything is okay with my Aunt. I don't know what I will do if I lose her too.

Okay, enough of that....I need to think positive, but it did help typing that all out. I've been teary a good portion of the day.

Looking forward to this weekend with no company and no commitments. I leave first thing Monday morning for Washington DC again and won't be back until Thursday night, so I'm going to spend the weekend with my boys and getting packed.

Later.....

Music Alert......

It's been out for a couple of weeks and I HAD to have it. I've since listened to it several times and you must go buy or download it. It's awesome!

Rob Thomas's Cradlesong

I'm predicting at least three singles if not more....

Happy 4th of July!

We are spending this very gloomy, but cool 4th of July with my sister, my nephew, my niece and her best friend, my brother and his best friend and my cousin from San Diego and her daughter. I'm going from one 13 year old in the house to 1- 13 year old, 2- 9 year olds, 1- 7 year old and 1- 3 year old and 5 adults. Party!! LOL

Spent yesterday unpacking and getting groceries for our barbeque today. We're having the traditional fare of Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Baked Beans, Chips, Corn on the Cob and a Jello Cake for dessert. I also made a Couscous salad with italian dressing and olives...yum!

I guess the gloomy weather is following me. This is pretty much what we had in St. Petersburg last week and it must have followed me north.

We've had the pleasure of having my cousin Jennifer (My Uncle Dic's daughter) and her 3 year old daughter Kendahl staying with us this week while she is visiting her Dad, who most of you know has been ill and in either the hospital or assisted living since February. My house is plenty big and it's been a LONG time since Jennifer and I have got to spend any time together. My cousin is 35 and her daughter is 3. She and Kendahl live in Del Mar, CA which is just north of San Diego. She came in last Saturday, but I had to turn around and leave first thing Sunday morning for St. Petersburg, but she's staying until tomorrow so we had yesterday and today to catch you. She brought a photo album (one of those old 70's sticky albums) and I scanned a bunch of photos of her and her Dad. I also gave her one of my 12 x 12 post bound albums and told her she needed to get her photos out of the old icky album that will destroy her photos. Another scrapbook and photos rescued! LOL

Here's a a couple photos from St. Pete....they're not very good. I only took my Nikon point and shoot and I really did haven't alot of photo oppportunities anyway.


The St. Petersburg Skyline from Cha Cha Coconuts at the Pier


A hungry friend



Got up and went to the gym this morning (I was pretty proud of myself for doing that). Did a half hour strength training session, 10 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes on the treadmill and when I got back home I did an hour of weeding out in the gardens.

On the iPod playlist today:
Taking It All To Hard - Genesis
Bent - Matchbox Twenty
Being Kind Can Hurt Someone Sometimes - REO Speedwagon
No Matter What - Badfinger
You Never Take Me Dancing - Travis Tritt
Unwritten - Natasha Beddington
Dani California - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Strange Way - Firefall
Heard it Through the Grapevine - Michael McDonald
Yelling at the Christmas Tree - Billy Idol
Yesterday Once More - The Carpenter
Where Do the Children Go? - The Hooters

Sure hope the rain holds off so we can do sparklers tonight......later...