Christmas Shopping Part 2

Vacation Day 6.... how did that happen? I am surprised to realize that many days have already passed. It's been great so far. Darrel and I have spent lots of great time together just relaxing and being together and doing things we enjoy. I have not taken a vacation from my walking though. It's been nice because the weather has been good, and I am home while its light outside so I've been able to get back to my outdoor route. Love that. Darrel has walked with me every day and today he snapped a few pictures. I asked him to take a picture of the park... not me. But, yes, this is my lovely (not) backside walking thru the campground. Here you can see I am going down the hill.... not too long after of course I have to come back up that hill. Well I don't have to but I choose to. Felt good walking today and I am still making good time. Day before yesterday as we passed the tree where I used to have to stop when I first started walking I realized that back then, it took me 15 minutes to get to that tree. Now it takes 6-7 minutes. I am amazed I have changed and improved that much.












Here I'll even be brave and share a front view picture, unflattering hair, no make up, trying to breath and keep moving in all my walking glory! Ha. Ok, and I'll share this too... I am literally surprised when I see pictures of myself. I have only lost 63 and I have a long way till goal. However, when I see a full length photo like this, I am amazed at how much hips and stomach have disappeared. Thank you Jesus for that!

Here is a shot on the way back home.

See the barn up ahead? I live in the house to the right of that. But LOOK at the big stinking hill at the END of my walk. What a dirty trick is that. It's hard enough to get home without the last thing you have to do being a big old hill! ha. I can at least say that I have gotten better and quicker at it. Um and did I mention my driveway is a big hill too?

We had both received some gift money for Christmas so yesterday we took a trip up to Indy to shop at a couple of malls we enjoy. How fun is the going back and shopping for yourself kind of Christmas shopping?! Look what we found.....Usually each year we buy 1 new ornament for the tree. This year, to save $$ we hadn't done that. Of course after Christmas Hallmark has all their ornaments 1/2 price so we went looking for this grinch ornament we had seen before Christmas. We found it, but then Darrel spotted this one. I love pooh bear. And this ornament is called "pound pondering" and he has a little split in his backside... can you see it in the mirror? How cute is that? I might need to keep this one on my desk!












We checked out sears so Darrel could go to "man land" Have you been to man land? You know, the whole craftsman tool area? ha! Every year for Christmas Darrel gives me a list of tools he'd like to have and usually he circles them in the craftsman catalog to show me what they look like. That becomes my map for man land and the tool department to find these things that I am usually unfamiliar with. It's the same thing with the woodworking store. He picks out things he likes at Rockler, and then gives me a list. I walk in to Woodcraft in E-ville and find a worker and say do you have _____ and read him my list. Works like a charm and I don't have to wander around looking like I am lost in man land.

When we first got to the first mall we hit Stir Crazy for lunch. OH my goodness.... YUM... that was good and we had a very nice lunch together. After that we started walking the mall and of course it takes me all of like 5 minutes to need the ladies room.... Is it just me or is it a girl thing? So we went in to Macy's for that reason. On our way back out.... look what was calling my name. I am in love with this purse! Love it!! It has brown leather and this beatuiful twill fabric that has PINK! It's an Etienne Aigner bag and inside it has pockets all the way around the sides and then a deep zipper pouch down the middle. It has been a long time since I've bought a purse that wasn't a Vera B purse. But its also been a long time since I've spotted one and thought "I love that purse! love it!" They had a bigger size (you can see here) but I really liked the smaller one and thought it would fit what I wanted to carry. So I am glad it was 30% off and I was glad to have some Christmas money to use. I had almost purchased a Vera purse just before this store because this other store had a bunch of Vera stuff 50% off for retired styles and fabrics. They had the $90 cargo sling for $45! I just wasn't sure though so I am glad I waited. They had the back sack and backpack marked down too in all the fabrics. That must mean all 3 of those styles are retiring? Anyone know? The cargo sling is my fav.

There was a Crocs kiosk in the mall too! Look what they had?! The new woolly mammoth. I had asked for these for Christmas but they are too new and Darrel wasn't able to find them. Love these. They have fewer holes and a higher heel/different sole so I am thinking they will be even warmer than the regular mammoths. So glad I found these! Now I am trying to decide if I should keep the pair Darrel got me for Christmas or if I should return them... so far I am on the keeping side. I wear the mammoths every day or my feet freeze so I am thinking they will get plenty of use. Can a girl have too many pairs of Crocs?

Bath and Body. My other favorite place. Love, love bath and body shower gel and ANYTHING in the moonlight path scent. They were having their semi annual clearance sale. Gels were 3 for $15 which is pretty good so I got to stock up. There is just something about my favorite shower gels that calms, relaxes and soothes me after a long day or a good workout.

Check out this store. Lisa, I took this picture just to show you all the cool clocks and pictures and things they had. Plus they had like signs with cool quotes on them everywhere. I think it was called Eartly Designs and it was in the Fashion Mall. Very cool store. We bought a couple of small things.

I loved this little plaque with "Home Is Where Your Story Begins" on it and Darrel found this awesome little snowman for our collection. Is he not the cutest with the little earmuffs? Plus he was 1/2 price. Love that.

OK, did you know you can get Fannie May candy in Indiana? We have had trouble finding it since we moved here. There is one drugstore nearby that tends to carry it, but we were happy to find a store in the mall. We just bought a few mint meltaways to enjoy. YUM. Love the pastel ones. Was shocked that they wanted like $11.50 for a 1/2 lb. Goodness... I don't think so. We also got a little Godiva. LOVE Godiva. Didn't hurt that is was 1/2 price either. And yes, I know how many points in Godiva.. was just figuring that out actually. It is so worth it. I think it is so cool that I have lost weight and I have lost it having a little ice cream or chocolate or something I enjoy just about every day. I just make sure and get in my walking, and I make sure I have less of something else during the day to leave enough points to cover it.

As we left the first mall, I was happy to find there was an Archiver's just outside in the commons area. Did a little "Christmas shopping" there. I got a new Hero Arts alpha stamp set, new lines of paper from Basic Grey and Little Yellow Bicycle a glitter pen, some AC flair, a couple of Kaiser rhinestone embellishemetns and some of the sheer frames and journaling spots that went with the little yellow bicycle stuff.

We ended the day at The Cheesecake Factory. I do NOT like cheesecake, but we sure enjoy this restaurant. We had a later lunch so it was after 8PM before we went to have dinner. We thought on a Monday night that would be a good thing and there wouldn't be a wait, restaurant would be quieter, etc. Wrong.... We still waited over 35 minutes for a table and there was a crowd. Plus... have you eaten here? I HATE their tables. I will wait longer just to get a booth instead. At the tables you are too close to all the other people and might as well be sitting at the same table together. It's hard to have any privacy or your own conversation. They are close. I like their booths though so when we put our name in we specifically requested a booth. Well when they called our name, she took us to a table. We said um no, we requested a booth. She kept saying "oh, she must not have heard you." Darrel kept saying, NO I saw her write it down... Still she said the thing about she probably didnt hear you. I got a little irritable with her at that point and she took us back to wait again for a booth. While we are waiting, we are near the dessert carryout area and I can see in the fridge my favorite Chocolate Tower Truffle Cake. I mean getting a piece of that cake was 1/2 the reason we went shopping where we knew we could eat at this restaurant. I looked forward to it all day.. (is that a bad thing? fellow chocolate lovers, you understand right?) Well I notice that there is only a few pieces left and I start to wonder if they have more, or if since its 9 pm now, if they could be running out? Darrel is noticing this too and I said jokingly, I am wondering if we should buy a piece as carryout in case they are running out. Darrel said I was just thinking the same thing. So he gets in line and buys one for me. Is he great our what? Finally they call our table and the same girl was seating us. God had been tapping me on the shoulder about grouching at her earlier so as she was seating us I apologized to her. Why is that so hard? Why is it so easy to snap at someone, but so hard to say I'm sorry I did that. Well I did it anyway, and she was gracious and said it was fine and she knew people were tired of waiting. I thought that was kind of her. We had a great dinner and then at dessert time, we asked about the cake (I was going to get a new piece and bring the extra home. Good plan huh?) Guess what. They were OUT! I was SO glad Darrel had bought a piece from carryout. I would have been so disappointed after waiting all day for it. I think it tasted even better knowing I almost missed out on it! It was SO good. Yum... If you have never tried it, you are missing out. Since all the Cheesecake Factory restaurants are at least 2 hours away from us, this is a treat we only get once or twice a year. Probably a good thing since I am sure there are probably about 1000 calories a piece! Ha.














I took the above picture of Darrel and he took this one of me at the restaurant so I could put them in my December book for the day. Notice my new pink jacket with the cool rhinestones.. LOVE it. Thank you Mom and Dad.

So I am going to go for now and finish my book. Still enjoying The Shack. Lots of good stuff in here and I like the way it makes me think. As I've read farther there have been a few things I am not sure I agree with, or could see being "controversial" but for the most part, and again remembering its an allegory, I think there is some good truth which I've really found enlightening. Think I'll do some scrapping after that... I love being on vacation. What a cool idea.. .who's idea was vacations anyways? Anyone know? Blessings.

December Daily Update

OK, can you believe how thick my album has gotten? Wow! And dang, it is heavy! I'm not even finished yet either. Hope the rest of the month will fit without needing bigger binder rings. So here is an update on the pages I haven't posted yet.














For the 19th I used a picture of our newest snowglobe. This little snowman just makes me smle! Papers are Daisy D's and then used AC thickers and little yellow bicycle clear glitter stickers. LOVE those. The base of the page is a left over page from another mini book.













On the back of the page I added a picture of the cute stuff Darrel added to my stocking and then a little journaling. Day 20 is a picture of our first batch of Christmas cookies. Added some Daisy D's stickers, paper and used my threading water punch for the border under the photo.














The next 2 pages are for day 21. Used some more little yellow bicycle clear glitter stickers and clear glitter die cut frame (on the clear page on the right). Also added some K & Co letter stickers as well as Rusty Pickle letter stickers I had left over from a class at CHA. Sunday was a fun day with several gifts received and some more Christmas baking so I made a little collage of photos for that day. Here is a closer shot of the clear page.













How cute is the little snowman ornament my friend Ashly made for me? I love how Mr and Mrs snowman are even tall and short like Darrel and I and Mrs snowman of course has a pink bow in her hair. You are good Ashly! The pink paper is on the back of the clear page and was part of one of my gifts from Lisa. I put the tags, etc. from my gift on the back along with a tree I cut out of the Daisy D's jewels packaging.














On the right are some special cards that I wanted to save.













For Monday the 23rd I received a couple more great gifts from friends. I used some Rhonna Farrer paper for the background of the page. Rest is Daisy D's and AC thickers. I used my gift card online so I got to keep the actual card.... I liked the colors/design so much, I punched holes thru it with my cropadile and added it to my book too!














Jounaled about that day on the back. I added a page from a MM journaling book and more Daisy D's goodies as well as a strip from a KI Sheer. The 23rd is on a Rhonna F. file folder on the right. Used my Martha Stewart doily border punch to do the edges of the date square. Lines I wrote on are from a Catslife press stamp. LOVE their stamps.














Those few days before Christmas were stressfully busy so I wrote about that inside the folder and took a picture of my computer because I did some work from home those evenings. I also took a pic. of all our stuff packed up to go to Mom's the following evening.














Then finally we arrive at Christmas Eve. Our family has a tradition of getting together for dinner and making homemade pizzas so I got a shot of us all sitting down for dinner. (or I should say Darrel got a shot....)













This was another clear page. Loving the clear stuff. I hadn't worked with it before doing this album. Since Darrel and I opened our gifts Christmas Eve night also, I have a picture of my gifts on the back of this page.













For some reason I didn't get a lot of photos on Christmas day. Bummer. I did like this one though of Cole, Lauryn and Jim playing Lauryn's new guitar hero so I used that for my page. It is really perfect for Christmas day because mainly we end up just visitng and checking out the different gifts that were received and spending time together. I like that. I made the little trees with some torn paper. Added some glitter dots from an old Jenni Bowlin kit and some Daisy D's paper again also. Also used another JB mini bingo card. What is it that is so cool about those?













I journaled about Christmas day on the back. Was feeling emotional that day about Jesus birth and all He did for me/us and how much He has worked in my life this year. On the way to Mom's the song "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" sung by Casting Crowns came on and it just really got to me. (I linked to the song on youtube) Have you ever just known you are going to be asked to pray? Well that day in the car, I knew I was going to be praying for dinner that day. A few hours later, that is exactly what happened with my Dad asked me to pray...I don't recall him ever doing that for a holiday dinner. It was pretty cool, so I wanted to write all that down.













The last 2 pages on the right are for the 26th and 27th. I just haven't finished them yet. We are on vacation now and so the 26th is Darrel playing his new Star Wars video game and then the 27th I took a picture of books I am reading. One of my favorite vacation past times. So I am close to up to date. I need to print today's pic. and finish those 2. Still have not done my title page. Plan on that during vacation! I also have ideas for several LO's. I'd like to do a page about the goals I set in Jan. 08 and where I am at with them. This may be the first year EVER that I actually made progress.... wow. Since I look a little different... I may take a pic. and then show a pic from them to add that to the LO as well. Also have LO's planned for the 5K we did earlier this month, Goals for this year, maybe a LO on a word for this year... I am trying to decide what my words would be. When this was suggested (at the scrapping spot), 2 words came to mind right off and they were faith and focus. I may stick with those. I'd also like to use some of that great Sassafrass Lass stuff that someone sent me and do a LO about Covered Bridge back in October. I have 7 more days off! Yay! Should be plenty of time to get some of that done right?

I finished The Memory Keeper finally! It was pretty good. Not the best book I ever read, but I enjoyed it. I would recommend it. So I finally got to start The Shack. OK, right off I am wishing this was not a borrowed copy. I need my own because there are so many things I would have already highlighted and/or underlined. Good stuff in this book! Quotes like when God tells Mack: "Love always leaves a significant mark." or when He is telling him how He never leaves him and because of the tragedy in Mack's life he is having trouble accepting that and God says: "When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me?" wow. I couldn't read that outloud to my husband without crying. I also loved this about how we tend to envision God: "The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive, which often isn't much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I'm not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think." That so spoke to me. I often realize that I tend to think that God sees me like I see me and therefore is disappointed... I know there is some controversy about this book with people questioning its theology, etc. but I see so much truth here and that you just need to remember that it is an allegory. There is also a really good part about being free and how He created birds to fly. But, if the bird doesn't fly and chooses to walk on the ground, that still doesn't change the fact that he was created to be free and fly.... I almost e-mailed my support group that second with those thoughts because it so transfers to if God created me to have freedom in Christ and have an abundant life, and if I make bad choices and do things that keep me bound and down... I can forget that he created me to fly.... I so want to embrace His plan and give up my ideas of what I think he wants me to be. Am I making any sense? Anyone? OK... see.. I'm only on page 100, just started today and I already have lots to say about this book. I need my own copy.

I had a great walk today. Well the last couple days actually. It's been nice and warmer weather so Darrel walked with me and we walked outside. Love that. I had been missing my old route being stuck on the treadmill on cold/dark days. I threw in some extra distance the last two days to try and get the scale moving again and man, today at the top of that last hill I didn't know if my legs were going to keep holding me up, let alone keep moving. I also have that wave of nausea that hits sometimes from exertion? I hate that. Would NOT like to throw up by the side of the road. Today I took a route that added several more hills... at the end of that route, I could have gone back on the flat road, or the double hill road. My legs were already hurting so of course I cut myself a break and took the flat road right? Wrong... I took the double hill road and I made it quite well thank you. It's amazing about how much more you can do than what you think you can do. Even when I think I am way too tired to go on, I can generally go much, much further.

Have you heard abour the project 365 thing with the CK Becky Higgins kit? There are several posts about it here on Becky's blog. I guess the kit is for sale Jan 1. I didn't think I was interested, but now I am intrigued... However I am seriously wondering if I would keep up with a picture a day for a whole year? I am thinking NOT... Still tossing the idea around though.

Well tomorrow is shopping day. We are heading out to shop and have a nice dinner together. We usually have lots of fun on these days so I am looking forward to it. Hope you have a great monday. Blessings!

Christmas Highlights

Do you notice a pink theme here among my Christmas gifts? I love it!! The pink/black vest and the pink denim and *rhinestone* jacket were from my Mom and Dad. I mean a jacket that is fuschia pink and has sparkly stuff? What could be more perfect? Darrel gave me the pink cardigan and the lime green sweater next to it. I held up the lime green one and thought... that looks too small.... guess what? It fit! I am learning I have no idea what stuff that now fits me looks like... Anyway, Darrel also got me a new pair of mammoth crocs! Yay. I have a black pair and a fuschia pink pair. I needed some I could wear with like navy and other colors like that. They are the only shoes that seem to keep me from freezing! Darrel gave me the Vera Bradley mini hipster in Raspberry fizz and in my stocking was some small scrap stuff, new headphones for my ipod, and bath and body stuff. The package that was hanging off the back of my stocking was the cutterpede pink trimmer (he also got me the scoring blade)! Yay!! I have a portable pink trimmer that I HATE.... the base on the thing that has the measurements is wrong.. So you line up your paper and think you are getting a 3" cut, um wrong... GRRR so annoying. So, very happy to have a new portable trimmer.

Darrel and I ended up opening our gifts late on Christmas Eve night. I am such a night person that if I have my choice between staying up late and opening gifts or getting up early.. well I pick staying up late. I am much more relaxed and feeling good at night then first thing in the morning. To show you once again how amazing my husband is, look at the kinds of things he writes on my presents...... Don't you just love him?












I worked Christmas Eve day and had a LOT to get done since I had vacation time starting after Christmas. Darrel had a 1/2 day of work so when he was finished, he came and helped me finish. He easily saved me an hour and a half of work by putting together our attendance pads and making praise team books. Thank you honey! So after that we were off and headed to my parent's house for Christmas Eve. We have a tradition of getting together for dinner and making homemade pizzas. YUM. So that was all of us sitting down for dinner. After dinner we have been opening our gifts on Christmas Eve as well. It's usually easier with all the different plans and schedules everyone has on Christmas day.

Here is Lauryn in her new hat from her Aunt Deanna and Uncle Darrel. Isn't she cute? And um who can believe how grown up this girl is? Laurn and Lindsay also made chalkboards for me and for my Mom. Here is my Mom with hers.

Aren't they cute? I am thinking of hanging mine on my office door or wall. She made it very cute with pink scrapbook stuff on it. I need to post a picture. She also wrote a very sweet and special note on the back. We had a very good evening and then headed home for our own Christmas time together and that was when we did our gifts, etc. that I shared above. Christmas day we headed back to Mom's for dinner and family time.

Can you guess what Santa brought for Lauyrn? She was very happy to get Guitar hero and it looks like Uncle Jim didn't mind it too much either. Cole (the cute guy grinning in the middle) got some Kawaski stuff for Christmas and was happy about that! Now he has the full uniform for riding the 4 wheeler at Grandma's.














Look what else was at my Mom's house. A new puppy. A few week's ago my Dad came home from town and this little guys came up to him in the driveway. He was cold and wet. My parents live in a forest area and people seem to think its a good spot to dump unwanted dogs. This is not the first addition to the family to have just shown up that way for the same reason. So yes, they are keeping him. His name is Bailey. Isn't he cute? We pulled him inside last night and played with him for a bit. He is very sweet and calm.

So I have several more pages on my December album done. Figured I already had too long of a post to share today so I promise to post tomorrow. I need to finish up my pages for Chrismtas Eve and then do Christmas day and today. We have vacation time now for the next 9-10 days (yay) so I think I am going to run my album right thru the end of the month. We don't have a lot of big plans, but that sounds pretty great to me. I am tired and feeling a little burnt out and I think some time to do nothing more than sleep, read, scrap, play on the computer and do my walking sounds pretty great. We think we might go for a shopping day on Monday with some Christmas gift money. That should be fun. My friend Julia gave me a gift card for CJ Banks! Loved that. There was one sweater I had asked for for Christmas that I did not receive so I ordred that promptly last night. It turned out to be a good thing because it was marked down to $14.99! Cool. This is the sweater. I'd also love to get the small and medium size marvy uchida scallop circle punches like this. We hope to go to some of the malls we went to during our August vacation time so we can eat at Stir Crazy and Cheesecake Factory. It would be a vacation highlight to have a piece of their chocolate tower cake. YUM. And yes, I know how many points are in that.....

I'd love to get in some reading for vacation. I am just about finished (finally) with The Memory Keepers Daughter. I've been reading it forever because I haven't had any time to just read. When I can do that, I am a fast reader and go right thru books in a day or two. After that I want to read The Shack which a friend at church loaned to me. I read a good deal of it in Barnes and Noble one night and really want to get thru the whole thing now. Other than that I have quite a stack of books I'd like to read. I might go with a few I have from Lori Wick or Beverly Lewis. My friend Julia gave me this one for Christmas. It was signed by the author! Cool huh?

Did anyone else out there submit/apply for the Pink Paislee or Prima Design Team call? I did! I am sure they got about a million submissions but it can't hurt to at least try when its two of your favorite manufacturers right? I would LOVE to get a chance to work with them. Sounds like Pink Paislee announces their team next week..... say a prayer for me.

Hope you have a fab weekend. I will try to post more of my December book tomorrow. Blessings!

Problem Solved

And HONEST it wasn't because I was whining... I wasn't whining was I? Look at my stocking now. How cute are these two? I will have to show you a better picture of the snowgirl... she has a little red plaid skirt on to match her bow! Tooo cute!!! We went and finished our Christmas and birthday shopping last night and Darrel found these at the hallmark and brought them home for my stocking. We also found this year's addition to either the snowman or the snowglobe collection. He fits both categories.














Is he adorable or what? Love the look on his face! Ha. We had a good time at the mall. Well, first we had dinner at this Chinese buffet place in E-ville called Crazy Buffet. They have a thing were you can pick all the veggies/meat you want and then he will make you your own stir fry while you wait. It is YUM. Very close to eating at stir crazy and since we don't have one of those, I'll take it! (um and if you click on that link, DO NOT be startled out of your chair by the music.... I'm just sayin..) After dinner we hit the mall. I found the first thing I wanted pretty quickly at the first store. Yay! Liked it so much, I wanted one for me too!! I can't say what it was because said person reads my blog. Then we hit the hallmark store and found some cards we needed, the cute snowman globe, and a gift or two we were looking for. That person reads too... so sorry! Ha. The shopping for those 2 people was our main thing so we were in good shape after that.

We decided to browse a bit and I got to check out a great sale at CJ Banks, my new favorite store. Everything in the store was 50% off, even sale stuff! So fun trying out new stuff when its in a smaller size! I got this one which was marked down to 19.99! It is SO soft. I also got a second one that was marked down to like $25... well after I negotiated it was. See it was the LAST one and I really liked it. It is 3/4 sleeve, cardigan with like 3 buttons and kind of "baby doll" style. It's a mix of navy/green/yellows. Well it has like 4-5 big pulls in it.... I liked it though and thought I could fix the pulls with a small crochet hook. I've done it before. So I asked if they'd be willing to mark it down a bit more due to the pulls and she took another 10% off, so 60% off! YAY.. I think I am wearing it to church tomorrow unless I decide to go with red for Christmas. I can't even find that one online so I am glad I grabbed it. What a blessing too to have received some Christmas money with which to shop with because otherwise the spending freeze is still firmly in place.

On our way out of the mall we picked up the first gift which was being engraved.....see, now aren't you really curious? Hee hee hee... And stopped at Champs to see if they still had these thermal shirts I saw in there the week before during Christmas shopping day. Well they had them and they are nice and thick and 2 for $19.99. Um can I just say, these days thermal tops and pants as well as fuzzy crocs and portable heaters are my new best friend? I am freezing all the time! I guess when you loose 60 lbs 0f insulation you notice....










So today we slept in for a bit and Darrel made us a yummy omelet breakfast. He usually does breakfast for us on Saturdays. I know, I am spoiled... beat you to it! Then I went and walked and Darrel made cookies. YUM. Like I said, he's good. So while I am walking I have a lady pull over and ask me if I need a ride... OK do I look that out of place? I mean goodness I had on fleece pants, running shoes, my fleece (ok Darrel's fleece) pink earband/headband thing, ipod going... um sweating and breathing hard... don't I look like I'm out there on purpose? She was just being nice and I told her thank you twice. She said something about "it's cold!" which I think meant, its pretty darn cold so I couldn't figure out why you'd be out here walking on purpose..." Bwa ha ha ha... Anyway I had a good walk and one of my best times. I am glad. I worry when I can't get outside much, and can only do the treadmill, if I'll still do as well outside. It turns out the treadmill seems to be harder and is making me do better when I can go outside.











Here are some more decorations from around the house. This is my snowman collection. I get these out after Thanksgiving and they usually stay out till spring. I like snowmen because they aren't holiday specific and work for the whole winter. See the cute little one with the pink hat? She was in the top of my stocking 2 years ago. Last year was the little one with the red and green hat on next to her.

I am going to go work on my Dec. Daily book with today's and yesterday's pics. Probably fix my sweater too. Thought I'd close with this video

This is our youth drama team. (before clicking on the video, you probably want to go to the music player on the right and turn off the music, just click on the little double lines) They did this drama at church last Sunday. SO powerful. I can never get thru watching it without crying. The first couple of times I saw it I was asking myself why Jesus doesn't jump in sooner and fight off the things holding the girl back. When I watched it again today, I realized Jesus steps in the minute she hits her knees...... wow. Too often we try to fight the battle ourselves don't we? Thanks to Grant for the video. Grant was with us last sunday as candidate for our Associate Pastor/Youth Pastor position. Really enjoyed meeting you Grant and hope to have the opportunity to work with you. This video is awesome. Thanks for posting it.

Merry Christmas!

Something Is wrong with my stocking...

Of course unless you've been married to my husband for 21+ years you probably can't spot it. I looked at him today and said "something is wrong with my stocking." He said "what?" I said, "there is no little bear or snowman or santa or something sticking out of the top!" He laughed... See my family never did stockings. When Darrel and I got engaged, his Mom made me a stocking (isn't she sweet) for when I was at their house for Christmas. That first year in 1985, Darrel bought me a little stuffed Santa and he was peeking out the top at me. I still have him... see..

Isn't he cute? So when we got married, we kept up the tradition of filling stockings for each other and every single year there has been a little bear or santa or snowman or something peeking out the top of my stocking. He also always manages to have more or bigger stuff than will fit in the stocking..... notice the package hanging off the back. How cute is that?

So here is yesterday and today's pages of my December book. Yesterday was the day I wrapped Darrel's gifts which I think I mentioned was NOT my favorite thing to do. So I focused my page on that. Used some Rhonna Farrer Christmas paper again, my Martha Stewart doily border punch and also got out my hero arts alpha stamps. Love these stamps. They were used on "wrapping." I journaled on the back of the page and added a favorite Christmas Tree stamp.

Also used an Ali E stamp for "today." Today's page was about the stocking like I wrote about above. I had fun using a Rhonna Farrer Christmas file folder to make a mini 4 page spread showing our stockings filled for this year, and the story about the little Santa. Here is a closer look at the front.

I used my crop-a-dile to punch right thru the center of the metal flower so I could put it around the hole for the binder ring. Cool huh? That crop-a-dile will punch thru anything. Darrel thinks its great for making new holes in his belt which he continues to need to make smaller.

Here is the inside with both stockings and some more Rhonna papers.

Then on the back I added the little pic of the little santa. I used one of the Little Yellow Bicycle sheers and another left over piece of a Rhonna die cut Christmas paper. Cute huh?

Here is a view from the side of the book. Love how cool it looks with all the different page edges and colors and cool stuff hanging out!













I wanted to share some of our favorite decorations around the house. This is on our bookcase and there are several special things here. The first being the little choir people. Those are candles and they belonged to my Grandma McCorry. I have pictures from Christmas at her house when I was a toddler and these are on the platform under her tree. I LOVE that. Love the family history of that and that they are now in my home. The church and the santa were painted by my husband! Isn't he good? He likes to do ceramic painting on occasion. So of course these are very special to me too.

I LOVE this. This was a gift from Pastor Mark. Sometimes the office staff exchanges gifts and Mark gave Kay and I one of these probably in 2004 I think. I know it was before the fire in 2005. Pastor Mark found these at a local craft show. A man makes them out of sassafrass wood and the whole thing is cut out of one piece and fits together like a puzzle when its all together. I like to pull the pieces a part like this to display it. Isn't it pretty?

So tomorrow we head to work and then to town in the evening to finish up the last 2 gifts we need. Should be a fun date night. Hopefully the mall won't be too overwhelming huh? Hope you have an awesome Friday and weekend! Blessings.

December Daily 10-16

So last night I was determined to get caught back up on my December Daily book. I had fun! This first page is from last Wednesday. I didn't have a picture, so just journaled on this 1/2 page. I had the polka dot felt left over from a kit from The Scrapping Spot when I was doing DT work for them. I noticed Ali E. had used similar felt which reminded me to use mine! Also added some Bazzill just the edge strips and a circle of Daisy D's paper.













This is last Thursday, the big Christmas shopping day. My sister-in-law Stacy was with us too, but I forgot to take a picture till later in the day and she had already left. Bummer. Anyway, I love these little Jenni B. mini bingo cards. I must get the valentines day ones! The santa label and foil photo corners are from Little Yellow Bicycle. I did the edge of the green card stock with my creative memories curvy trimmer. Doesn't that make a cool edge?














This was Friday (date night) and Saturday from this past weekend. The large clear "noel" and the journaling label on Day 12 are Little Yellow Bicycle. There is that yummy Turoni's pizza again. Man I could go there again this Friday! Day 13 has some Daisy D's paper for the background, Heidi S. journaling spots and then the scallop circle/stamp is my scallop punch/pink persimmon stamp again. Love that stamp! (oh look at this cool one too!)













Next I decided to add in some favorite Christmas cards that we have received. The first one is from friends at church. Bill did the painting on the card. Isn't that awesome? He used to teach art at the local school. The tree card is handmade by a friend from IL. She always sends us the prettiest handmade stamped cards. I love having my book this year which gives me a cool way to save these.

I also added in one of our cards for this year. I was happy when I came up with one I could keep.

Day 14 of course had to be about the awesome gift that was left for me at church. I had some serious fun with the pinks and blues here. The blue paper is Rhonna Farrer from her collection last Christmas. I also added these cool paper/button flowers that I got from Shabby Pink and my pink glitter thickers. LOVE pink glitter thickers! The tag was right off the bag and I used some foam adhesive just at the top to give it dimension and also so I could still read the back of the tag.













On the back of the page, I journaled about receiving the gift. Plus, I loved the tissue and ribbon on the bag so much, I had to use some scraps of those too... I mean it is called "scrap" booking right? The next page is Day 15 and is another clear page. Love the clear pages! I used a photo from our Staff Christmas Lunch at a new Mexican restaurant in town. It was so yum! I also used another clear die cut from Little Yellow Bicycle and some of their clear stickers. The title letters are some old epoxy alphas I had, plus some more left overs from a Scrapping Spot kit. Those were red glitter alphas and were K & Co I believe. Here is a closer view.













I journaled about our lunch on a page from a MM Journaling book from the 5th Ave collection. The label sticker behind the title is actually on the next page which was for day 16.

The base page for day 16 is one of the KI Memories sheers. This also came from Shabby Pink. (Lisa has some great stuff huh?) The picture is of my sweet husband writing cute little notes on my gifts from him. His "to and from" always has some sweet talk. I am a sucker for sweet talk from my husband... I know, you are shocked right? Anyway, he had just finished wrapping my gifts and was finishing with writing and bows, etc. when I took this. I just love him.... I really liked the look of the sheer on this one so I kept it simple. The number is AC thickers and the sticker is from Daisy Ds.

I journaled on the back of the page using a page from a Karen Russell/Creative Imaginations journaling book.

So I just need to go do todays page and I am current! wow. So proud of myself. I normally always get behind and then never finish on stuff like this. This time around I find myself looking forward to working on it. Love that. My picture for today was from me wrapping Darrel's gifts. Yes, as I have mentioned, we buy for each other. We don't have any children, so we have always enjoyed getting several gifts and filling a stocking for each other. Speaking of stockings... I will have to share a picture of mine tomorrow. Darrel has some sort of package tied to and hanging off the back of it...... Um and also speaking of wrapping.... I despise having to wrap gifts. I am so NOT a wrapper.... I think it requires patience of which I posess little to none. It seems no matter how hard I try or how patient I think I am being I end up with wrinkled paper and stray edges. Are there remedial classes for wrapping? Fortunately, my husband does not mind wrapping and he is good at it. He usually wraps all the gifts except his own. See I told you he was good.

On the weight loss front - drum roll please - I hit 60.4 lbs gone! Woo hoo!!! So happy to hit the 60 lb mark! It feels sooooooo great. It would have to or who would keep doing this? It is stinking hard and I fight for every ounce of every pound, trust me. But when you see that number on the scale go down and you can wear something smaller (like I did today - big GRIN) it is GOOD. When you have on PJ pants that tie and have them tied as tight as they go and can take them off without untying... GOOD stuff right there. (oh my gosh, I just totally sounded like Mark...he is seriously rubbing off on me! Ha!!)

Are you doing any baking this year? I have not baked a thing. I don't think I am going to do what I normally do because I don't need it all sitting here calling my name. We might just make a few favorites this year. Maybe toffee, some sugar cookies, those peanut butter cookies with the reeses cup in the middle and I'd love some good chocolate chip. We will see what we actually get accomplished. Really we are in pretty good shape. Just need 2 gifts and thats about it. Everything else is bought/wrapped. Cards are sent out. Decorating is done. Pretty good huh?

Hope you are having an awesome week and an awesome Christmas season. Used this verse at church today in the bulletin so its been on my mind. Thought I'd close with a little bit of Luke chapter 2: 8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”

Blessings!