Scrapblog

I used to scrapbook with a friend of mine, but it has been years since I really put any effort into it. I'm still working on a project for my dad for Christmas '07...a scrapbook. Yep, I find it time and space consuming, and I just don't deal with it anymore.

So...I was super excited to find Scrapblog!!! Here's a little example of what I created tonight. I know it's not the best, but it's still fun.

Embroidery pattern for a curtain

I know this is a tiny picture...I haven't yet figured out how to scan stuff and have it be normal sized. However, this is an embroidery pattern I am going to do on a curtain for our front door! I'll post pictures as this creation comes to life. The embroidery is going to be close to the bottom of the curtain, and I'm going to use ribbon the same color as the "Love Ribbon" I made for the living room. I'm pretty excited to have something other than a nasty piece of old fabric tacked to the door.

Running Shoes!

Alice from I AM NOT FROM YOUR COUNTRY inspired me to pull out my running shoes.


I got these babies at Runners Corner in Orem, UT a couple years ago. I was so impressed with the store, the selection, and the staff. And I really love these shoes. My feet always felt great when I was out running around.

Since it has been about 1 1/2 years since I last put these on, I had forgotten how good they feel. I'm glad they're a little dirty, though, to remind me that yes, I did in fact run at one point in time for a purpose other than playing softball or chasing a jail-bird kitty. As a matter of fact, when I was running, I dropped weight pretty quick and felt fabulous. That was at a point in my life when my ex-husband was telling me all too often how fat and unattractive I was and that he was done being married. Once I realized that the love was gone, I started running as a form of self-medicating therapy. Good hell, endorphins are freaking amazing. I'd get done with a run, whether on the street or on a treadmill, and I'd feel like I could do anything, including kicking his ass for being such a jerk. :) I slimmed down, felt fabulous, and moved onto much better things in life, including my new fabulous husband, Patrick.

So, my shoes are by my bed. I'm going to start getting up early to go for a jog. I'm too out of shape to say that I'd be going for a run with any integrity. :) It will definitely be a jog for now. I need to get back to Slim in 6, too. I really enjoy Debby Siebers and her workout.

So, thank you, Alice, for reminding me of a tool I have been hiding for far too long!!!!

shopping, weight, and drivers licenses

Patrick and I went shopping a couple days ago. He got some new jeans and shoes, and I got 2 pairs of shoes, these capris, a work shirt, and a sexy skirt. Patrick says my wardrobe is pathetic, so I had him "help" me pick out some things. I don't know if I really like these capris a whole lot, but he said they looked good. I typically don't wear pants, shorts, etc. with the waist at my actual waistline. I feel like a granny. These have that high waistline. Patrick says I'm weird and that the high waistline looks good. Does he realize I have a belly?!?! Oh, boys. I'm sure I'm just being my normal self-conscious self.

I finally got my new Drivers License today. We got married in December, and just now (7 months later) got my license renewed. I probably would have put it off even longer if it hadn't expired on July 14th. :)

I took a good dose of extra time getting ready, because I wanted to look really nice in my picture. When it came down to picture time, I didn't really smile for some reason. When the picture popped up on the screen, I said, "Oh! I have such a chubby face!" (sad tone of voice) The guy taking the picture said, "What??" And I repeated myself. How sad to have a chubby, non-smiling picture on a license I'll be carrying around for awhile. (can you tell I'm having a fat day??)

So, I decided that when I hit my target weight, I'll go in and get a new license...with a new weight...and a new cute picture. And I'll also be able to fit into a super hot vintage leather jacket Patrick picked out for me at D.I.

Check out the cool details! There are two front pockets on both sides.
There is a 1973 penny in one pocket, and the missing button in another pocket.
Too fun.

Anyway, that's the fun we've been up to lately. I'm posting pictures of Patrick's hot rod on our family blog, Family Life if you want to read about that.

Great Quote

Keep your promises.

Maintain your integrity.

Abide by your covenants.

Give the Lord this year and every year your highest fidelity and fullest expression of faith. Do it “on your honor” and you will be blessed now and forever.

Spencer W. Kimball

Childhood Memory

This is kind of a gross/dirty memory, but I'm going to share it anyway...

When I was growing up, the easiest way to solicit praises of being "the favorite child" from my mother was to rub her feet. Sometimes she would even pay us a dollar to rub her feet for half an hour or so. (Little did I know she was scamming us for child labor...haha!)

Attached to that memory of my mom's feet is the memory of all of us always being barefoot. I grew up in Phoenix, our grass was green, and we just didn't really wear shoes unless we had to. I am also deeply in love with sandals as the second best option to being barefooted.

As anyone could imagine, we got our floors pretty dirty. There were 5 kids in our family, Mom, Dad, and occasionally cats in the house, as well as visitors. So, the floors would get dirty. My mom was really big on sweeping and mopping, though, so they wouldn't stay dirty for long. However, on the days the floors didn't get cleaned, the bottoms of my mom's feet would get so black from being up and moving around all day long.

To me, as a child and as an adult, my mom's black-bottomed feet were a symbol of her devotion to being a mother and a homemaker. They reminded me of how much she loved us and how hard she worked to keep our home running smoothly.

Today I sat down at the computer and realized how dirty my feet were. I'd love to say it's because I'm a great homemaker and have been up and moving all day long, but I probably just need to sweep and mop the floors. :) I did do 2 loads of dishes and made an early dinner, though!

Interesting side note: there's a forum dedicated to discussing dirty feet!

My conclusions:

~Dirty feet are happy feet.
~I need to get my feet dirty more often. :)

Nooooo!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh, I just might cry. I upgraded to Firefox3 and lost ALLLLLLL of my bookmarks!!! I had a beautiful list of projects bookmarked, friends' blogs, online music sites, fitness and health articles, and so much more. All of it is GONE. I figured they would have transferred over, but I guess I was completely and unfortunately wrong.

I'm going to go throw a tantrum now...

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday was yesterday, and it was a great day. So great that it's still going. For some dumb reason, I'm still up at 3 am Stumbling through the internet and watching YouTube videos of Santogold. I'm lovin' her music!



So, here's how my Birthday went:

Patrick started his new job today as a Pool Technician, so around or just before 8 am, he kissed me goodbye and told me to enjoy my birthday of sleeping in. Oh, he knows me so so so well. :) So, I went back to sleep after telling him I love him and to call and let me know how his day is going.

At 9:30, Patrick wakes me up. I was so confused, because he was supposed to be at work, yet he was carrying a tray with a plate full of fresh strawberry & blueberry pancakes, bacon, hash browns, eggs, and soy milk...and let's not forget the beautiful peachy colored roses in a vase! It took a minute for my sleepy mind to realize he didn't work at all and had "gone to work" making breakfast for me. What a sweetheart. I can't believe the bacon smell didn't wake me up. I love the smell of bacon.

So, after filling my belly and appropriately thanking Patrick for breakfast, I got up and lounged for a bit then went outside and got dirty. My plants were in desperate need of being repotted. The soil was all crusty, and their roots were circling the bottom of the pots. So, I played with my plants and made my front porch all tidy and welcoming.

Then I showered and got ready for the day. I met my friends Shay, Tia, and Dustin at a nearby restaurant, Mazza, where a friend of ours, Nicole, is a server. We had a lovely lunch...their food is soooooo good!!! I ate entirely too much. Thank goodness it's my birthday, as calories do not count!

After I got home from lunch, Patrick and I went to Ace Hardware. Patrick in that store is like me in a gift shop, bookstore, Mary Kay catalog, shoe store, etc. ...pretty much drooling over every damn thing. It was adorable, really. We got some hardware to hang up some shelves in our kitchen. So, we went home and did that. I am so grateful that I married a handyman. It's a life saver! I arranged stuff in the kitchen and moved some other items downstairs. We're still getting things moved around after holding a Yard Sale, so someday I'll have a cozy home that's not cluttered with cardboard boxes. :)

We decided we wanted to see a movie, so we had a difficult time narrowing it down to what movie we would see. We decided on Wanted.

Lissy, Patrick's sister, stopped by and brought me a birthday cake! How sweet!!! We showed her our new kick ass kitchen table that we got at an antique shop on Saturday, then showed her and her husband, Dan, Patrick's Model A body that he finally brought home and set on the frame.

(Good grief, I have a LOT of pictures to take!)

Around 9:30, we left to go see the movie. It was great...a lot of blood and language...a great story and "lesson" to the plot.

We got home a little after midnight, Patrick went to bed, I started watering the lawn, and got on the internet...3 hours later, here I am. Still enjoying the "do nothing loveliness" of my birthday. :)

Childhood Dreams

I found this video on another blog today. I have so much respect for Dr. Randy Pausch who is giving the lecture. The video is 10 minutes long, but so worth every second of your time!



Wasn't that awesome?!?!

Here's what I got from the video:

~ I need to start dreaming like a child again
~ My life needs to be LIVED...every day
~ I have been sooooooooooo incredibly selfish lately. I know this because I've been a lazy ass.

Laziness = selfishness

~ I can't predict the future, what's going to happen in my life, or how much time I have left. Therefore, I need to take action on each moment I have and be grateful for the multitude of opportunities to be a greater person living a more fulfilling life.
~ I need to express GRATITUDE more often....and really mean it via feeling it
~ Daily Affirmations need to be part of my life...I need to visualize my dreams

So, I'm ready to go to work. Instead of just thinking about being a mommy, I need to actively prepare myself physically, emotionally, financially, etc. Instead of thinking about how successful I could be in Mary Kay, I need to work and put in the effort that will reap the rewards. I need to look inward and strengthen who I am. I need to get to know my spiritual side again. It won't surface if I don't invite it and nurture it.

Cheers to moving forward!

Watching my waistline

Yep, it's time for my post about my health!!!

My waistline is sitting at 35 inches. My BMI is 29.8 or so. And (shhh, don't repeat this, please) I'm weighing in at 166. This sucks because I was down to 161. The recent 5lb gain is due to eating like a crazy woman over the holidays. Too much food, drinks, brownies, etc. Yikes! Yet, still on the happy side, I'm down 12lbs from my ultimate chubby weigh-in!

I went to a naturopathic doctor a few weeks ago, and I have 3 months to get pregnant if I am going to meet my goal of having my first baby before I turn 30. My 29th birthday is on Monday, the 14th, so that gives me a whopping 3 months. :) So, I need to do a cleanse, not a crazy intense cleanse, more of a whole foods/goodness cleanse. It's only 3 weeks long, so I can do that. I better be able to do that, for crying out loud! I wonder if I could healthily get down to 140 or so in 3 months. Is it safe to lose 26lbs in 3 months?

Anyway, that's my update. Improvement, relapse, recommit!!!

I'm going to start biking to and from work on Thursdays and Fridays. It's only 3 miles each way. I'm going to get back in the groove with Pilates and Yoga as well. I hurt my back a couple weeks ago, and now I'm having some scary circulation problems in my left ankle/foot. So I'm hoping that strengthening my core and stretching out my spine will help alleviate the problems.

Lunch needs a new home

For the very few people who actually read my blog, I wanted to let you know that Lunch needs a new home. If you know of anyone who wants a kitty (even people who may not know that they want a kitty...), please pass the word along.

Lunch is a really sweet cuddly kitty. She is super playful, energetic, and a lot of fun. She is a bit mischievous as well. :) She is a polydactyl and looks like she has mittens on her front feet. The extra "thumb" has been declawed on each side. She has been spayed as well.

We have 3 cats right now, and it's just not quite working out. The personalities of the kitties don't always mesh too well, and it feels like I'm doing more cleanup and de-escalating than simply loving the kitties. I really think Lunch would do well as an only-child kitty. I think kids would be great for her, because they would give her a lot of attention and make good use of her energy level.

Lunch has been an indoor kitty, though she has expressed some talent for being an escape artist. Personally, I've had horrible luck with outdoor kitties, so I like to keep them inside. That being said, I'm pretty sure that Lunch would do well outside. The birds would keep her busy. :)