Date Night Report

OK I am not a meringue person... but this was some pretty good chocolate meringue pie. Darrel and I shared it for dessert last night after enjoying our awesome burgers, fries, and oh so heavenly milk shakes. This place makes milk shakes the way they were meant to be. Real ice cream. A tall silver metal cup to mix in. A cup, which I might add, makes more than the cup they serve in holds, so you get both the serving cup and the metal cup... .this makes me oh so happy... good stuff... And after all that, to top it off with this pie was a bit overindulgent... but I determined I was going to use my ww weekly points for date night so I didn't feel too overly guilty... a good thing.

After dinner we tried to figure out what movie to see. We considered Fair Game, The Way Back, Country Strong and 127 Hours. We decided on 127 Hours. It was a good move.. but I will warn you, you need a strong stomach. The man in the movie is trapped alone in a canyon. He is trapped because his arm is pinned by a boulder. The way he gets himself free is pretty amazing... but hard to watch. I had to cover my eyes and I wasn't the only one. It's' a true story, and like I said, amazing. We had a nice evening. Although.. here is a note to self, it is NOT a good thing when they turn the lights up too much in the theatre. Why? You can see how dirty the seats are... it was grossing me out a little as I stood there trying to figure out how I could sit down without sitting on them. The theatre was decent, it wasn't a dump or anything, but can you imagine how many people sit in those seats and how much stuff is spilled..... Ewwwww....














Over at The Scrapping Spot we did a Winter Blues Swap. Basically we exchanged names, assigned a $25 limit, filled out a little questionnaire on our likes/dislikes and shopped for each other to our hearts content. My gift came today. I have decided my friend Eva is pretty smart and the fact that she is a blog reader certainly showed. Not only did she send me fabulous scrappy stuff.... she sent me a knitting book! It's like the total encyclopedia of how to knitting and I love, love, love it. She stuffed the box with pink tissue. She got me this fabulous Martha heart punch. There was the chocolate I like so much, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and even a beautiful card and tissue flowers she made for me! Eva you are awesome! Thank you.

Speaking of Martha.. and we were just speaking of Martha and her punches... I was looking at all her neat Valentines project ideas here today. Lots of pretty stuff and cool ideas there... I *heart* Valentines Day.. have I mentioned that? Good thing my husband likes it too huh?

Had an awesome walk today. It was 45 degrees, sunny, no snow or ice on the road, perfect! I had a good pace again too and then came home and did my zumba abs workout. One way or another I am determined to get this weight loss train moving again. Have you ever checked out the WW CEO's blog? I like his post here about his "massively upbeat plan for 2011." He has some good thoughts and I like his sense of humor about this whole weight loss deal..... I am also considering myself officially in training for this walk-a-thon to raise money for CF and for our church Carry The Cross in April. Anyone local want to walk with me? The walk-a-thon just consists of walking laps around the park. Each lap is 1/3 mile. I'd like to do a minimum of 15 laps (5 miles) and would be thrilled if I could push myself to 30 laps (10 miles).. I also need to get sponsors. Anyone want to sponsor this lap walking girl? :)

In scrapping inspiration, been loving the posts on this blog, and this one. Such great style and loving all the banners and misting and bakers twine which seems to be all the rage right now. Also... did you hear? Did you see? Hambly is coming out with Washi tape! Oh my... I need all of those. Some of their other releases include new banner rub ons and look at these cool flowers they are doing for make n takes!

And now... I think it is time to sample my winter blues chocolate, read my new knitting book, and perhaps try a little knitting too! Tomorrow is church and La Caretta... and then we will be home so Darrel can steal my computer again... and continue to work his overtime... he tells me there is beginning to be a light at the end of the tunnel at least... perhaps we will complete the bathroom before next winter.... Kidding... Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

OK, so I am officially ready for spring! I mean these are $9 pink sandals... I am thinking that is a pretty good start. Got these from Avenue on clearance! Not to shabby for nine bucks and they are actually pretty comfortable too! I also got this pair. They were only $14 and I may officially love them. Now I definitely need a warm day and a new pedicure to fully enjoy both pairs.

Got to head outside for a walk today! Finally. I can't even remember when my last outside walk was. I have determined that today however I should earn extra credit for a workout within a workout. Why? From all the muscle clenching.. especially leg and rear end muscles while trying to stay on my feet while climbing hills that still had snow and ice on them. I slipped a couple of times, but overall did really well and had a great pace in the 15 minute mile range.. I soooo want to reach 15 minutes. Pace today was 15:53. I will call that a success in cold, snow and ice.

Looking forward to date night tomorrow. I think the plan is dinner and a movie. We might head back to the little diner with the great burgers and shakes OR we might head to the big city to this other restaurant that has a fabulous salad bar and good steaks and chicken. Guess we will see what our appetites are in the mood for tomorrow? Wondering if there are any good movies even playing? I have no idea what is out right now.

Haven't done any scrapping since the Christmas layout. I really need to get back to my 52 layouts challenge. I printed out my pics for the last challenge (to use sheet music or a book page on layout) months ago. Don't know why I can't get with it. I did see some inspiring things in the last day or two that make me want to scrap. Love this Lifestyle Challenge they are doing over at 2 Peas. Saw this mini book made out of a soap box on scrapscene earlier this week I think. Love this valentine embellishment kit and this mini book kit on Evalicious, but sadly.. did not see them till they were already sold out.

On the knitting front, I knitted about 3" of the first 4" block on my scarf project and then... ripped it all out. I keep somehow adding a stitch without meaning too. I finally figured out last night that at times I am somehow wrapping the yarn around the needle between stitches, basically doing a yarn over increase, which is increasing my row when I am not supposed to. From doing this a couple of times and pulling stitches back out to fix it, I then had some places in the yarn where the fibers had split and this left a pulled looking place on my scarf. Not liking that. I decided to just pull it all out and start again. Even though its a beginner, practice project... it will still drive me nuts if it looks like a mess... the overachiever thing rears its ugly head again. :)

For thankful Thursday this week I am glad for the opportunity to look back over my week and be grateful. I've had kind of a rough week emotionally so taking a moment to put things in perspective is a good thing...

Things to be thankful for this week:

• sore butt muscles... ha ha ha.. why? Because they are from walking outside and climbing hills and that kind of soreness feels so good to me. It is also such a good feeling to me when I've had to be indoors for a bit to get back out and enjoy it!
• a nice Chinese food dinner with Darrel last night
• getting my work done at the office this week. Things went better than I expected.
• My ipod. I would so miss walking without it. I got worried today when my battery was at 1/2 just from sitting for so long.
• my new $29 coldwater creek sweater
• cute new sandals
• my ugg slippers... I just might use that one every week from now on
• a very understanding husband who takes such good care of me when I am struggling
• Made to Crave
• God and His answers to prayer and patience with me.
• singing in church
• Jack. I just love him even though loving him somehow still makes me miss and ache for my Gracie.
• Great pizza and movie night at home last date night
• A quiet Sunday afternoon and evening at home
• my new season 2 thirtysomething DVD's
• chips ahoy... suddenly I am really having a thing for them... what is up with that?
• the fact that I WANT to workout and that I actually like Zumba and weight training exercises and that I even manage to want to get on the treadmill somehow.
• diet Pepsi... Currently I am no longer craving my beloved diet cherry vanilla Dr Pepper... I am back on diet Pepsi since vacation time. I think that has everything to do with it.
• our home... unfinished though it is... I still love our home
• having longer hair
• my pretty pink computer... when I get to use it.. when Darrel isn't taking it away from me.. ha ha ha ha.. kidding

Better head to bed. Lots to accomplish at work tomorrow before date night can begin. I vote we all just head straight to date night and the weekend.... Blessings!

Ten on Tuesday

1) Look at him... sitting there looking all happy just working away. Well why shouldn't he be happy? He is working on MY PINK computer... He took it away from me... Yes...a fact I am still currently pouting about. My husband has been working tons of overtime and has been on some major deadlines. Instead of pouting about my computer... which he took away from me... did I mention that??? I should be happy that he is able to work from home. The problem is, with the latest upgrade of the CAD software he uses, his laptop wouldn't run it. My pretty pink computer is newer which is the reason he took my pink computer away had to borrow it. I am glad and blessed that we have a 2nd computer I can use while he has mine, but it's like being told at work that suddenly you have to work at someone else's desk for the next week. Nothing is where you are used to it.... things feel awkward... like you are visiting.. and you just can't quite get stuff done like you normally do. Like blogging. Went to my folder for blog pictures... oh.. oops..not there.. It's on the other computer. Went to my favorites for a link to share... oh... oops..not there.. on the other computer... But I'm not pouting or anything ........














2) Had my eye on this sweater from Coldwater Creek alllll season. I liked the ribbon embroidery on the lapels. Liked the color. Liked the main closure that is an antique looking beaded safety pin rather than a button. Did I buy it? Um NO. It was priced at $129.95. I'm like are they serious? It might be fabulous, but it's not that fabulous. Kept watching for it in the outlet. Finally, it appears and it's marked down. Time to buy right? Wrong.. It was still in the over $70 range. Still no sale here... Then... week before last... it finally showed up for $29.99! SOLD... well almost. Now the reason it's so marked down is because remaining sizes are limited. They had one size left that might work, but I was pretty sure it would be on the small side for me. Figured it was worth a shot at the new price anyway. It came today. The smaller size... IT FIT! And yes... I am quite happy about that!















3) Have you ever heard of or seen these necklaces? I received this one as a Christmas gift from a friend. She said she gave me the one with the most pink in it. :) These are handmade by women in Uganda Africa. They make them to raise money for their village and families. The beads are made out of paper and then coated with some kind of material that makes them shiny and waterproof. Now how cool is that? The necklace is really long too, you can double or triple it and wear it all kinds of ways. Wouldn't they be a cool gift to give?

4) Still been practicing my knitting and I discovered something. Knitting is MUCH easier when you do it the right way. Yes.. that's right.. I've made like 2-3 dishcloths doing it the wrong way. No wonder I was having to do all these hand contortions to keep the yarn on the needle and getting it back thru the loops. DUH... I don't know why I happened to start reading thru my how to stuff again when I realized the example picture looked different than what I've been doing. To knit a stitch I had been inserting the needle into the back of the stitch from right to left. You are supposed to insert the needle in front of the stitch from left to right... Gee.. when you do that its so much easier to push the yarn back thru the loop on the needle.. I guess I need to not get too cocky and pay better attention to what I am doing and what the instructions say until I get better at this for real! Ha!















5) Now that I am knitting in a new way... I needed some more practice because it was like all new again. Decided to make a practice scarf that is just blocks of alternating rows of knit and purl stitches... What is that called? Stockinette? Garter? I am still having trouble remembering which one is which. Anyway... I needed yarn. I have some yarn out in our spare room. This was the room that had a pipe burst and water damage. Then after getting that repaired, it is where Darrel put up the pool table. This left all the things we have stored out there kind of in disarray. When we had to move out there to the bathroom, we sort of quickly got the storage stuff somewhat neatly stacked up and cleaned up. Guess where the yarn is.... In a bin, under another bin, under multiple boxes and crates and all of that is behind like 2 rows of boxes and stuff and crates...Know where this (above) yarn came from? Pamida. I went and bought 3 skeins. The price of those 3 new skeins was way way worth the less stress of not having to deal with moving all that stuff just to get to the stuff in the bins... trust me.

6) I was trying so hard today to be a good girl and follow my weight watchers and eat healthy. For lunch I was eating turkey and veggies and an apple. Good girl right? The whole time I was eating the turkey and veggies and fruit... all I wanted was chocolate chip cookies. LOTS of chocolate chip cookies.... Does that make me a good girl with a dark side?

7) Started season 2 of Thirtysomething while on the treadmill today. Really enjoying it and it really helps me stay on the stinkin thing cause lets face it.. .treadmills are not so fun. I can be walking as hard as I can and just be sure It's been like 20 minutes only to find out it's been like 5 minutes... Hate it when that happens.

8) I have a thing about people being in my personal space. You know what I mean? Like today. I stopped at the grocery store on the way home. I checked out in the express lane. There were only 2 people in line. Me and the man behind me. He was buying one basket of flowers. Practically before my stuff had cleared the belt, he had to get his flowers up there and then while I am still standing there using the debit/credit card machine to pay, he is standing RIGHT behind/by me. I mean close enough I turned to look to see what the heck he was doing. There was plenty of room to stand. He needed to back off. I moved over cause I needed him to back off... makes me really uncomfortable... Just feels rude to me. Now.. on the other hand, I am a very affectionate, huggy kind of girl... so figure that one out. Perhaps I need therapy...

9) What better to lighten the winter blahs than some pretty sandals to make me think warmer days are coming when I can actually wear them? Found these and these online the other day... And I had a coupon code that got me both pairs, shipped, tax, everything for $32. Not bad huh? I am sure you noticed one pair is um pink...

10) Speaking of shoes... because one should always speak of shoes... I received an e-mail announcing the new spring collection of boots from Ugg... Spring boots? Do people really buy boots to wear in the spring and summer months? I am thinking that would be way too hot.. plus, how would anyone be able to see my cute pink pedicure? However I am thinking this little mini kimono boot is pretty cute! Dansko also has a new spring collection out. Check out this cute style that looks like a sneaker!

And there you have 10 for Tuesday... Hope you are having a blessed week.. Mine has been somewhat crabby.. OK.. I've been somewhat crabby.. .but I am hoping to pull it together from here. We can hope right? Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

So here it is... the big reveal. Kidding. Like I am sure you were just on the edge of your seat waiting to see my layout. Not. Well, you get to see it anyway. :) This is the layout I did for layout tag over at The Scrapping Spot. I seldom am a sketch kind of girl, but for this one, I did use this sketch that I spotted on scrapbook.com. Just really like something about it! I added a few more layers... couldn't help myself. I must have my layers on my pages. Pleased with how this one came out. Had fun using my button bits stamps to make my little Santa. Hadn't pulled those out since the 2008 December Daily album! Guess it was about time huh? My title... just to be clear is because we visited Santa Claus Indiana.. not the actual guy... well unless his statue counts. Not too shabby of a layout considering 1/2 of it was done by candlelight... remember?

Have you ever tried to find a little white dog in a snow storm? I swear I was looking right at him today and was still trying to figure out where the heck he went! The snow is like Tanner camouflage... ha! I mean, its deep enough today that his little legs sink all the way in and his belly is touching the snow.. too funny.

Did you get snow today? We must have at least 5 inches out there at this point. Now the temps have dropped and its quite slippery. I was at home today anyway, but Darrel ventured out to work. He made it home safely, but got stuck at the bottom of our driveway, which we expected. He shoveled the whole thing by hand and put down some salt and managed to get the rest of the way in finally. I am wondering how it will be by morning with things so cold. Could be quite slippery. I am supposed to work, but I did bring everything home with me when I left Wednesday just in case. Guess we will see in the AM.

I am beginning to get a bit stir crazy with my walking. It's been at least 2 weeks since I've been able to go outside between the weather and the time making it dark so early. I had hoped to go this past weekend, but there was still snow and ice on Saturday from the last storm. It's not really conducive to walking at a brisk pace when one is trying not to fall on one's behind... I stayed in today and did some Zumba. Still really struggling with the whole weight loss thing but the important thing is I am still trying. I am NOT giving up. I am NOT going back. As I am reading Made to Crave to prepare for leading the study at church, I am realizing that somewhere along the way I lost my initial focus. I think this is part of my problem. When I began my weight loss journey it was because God got a hold of me and showed me that I was accountable to Him for my behavior with food and for how I was treating my body. That was why I started. To be obedient to Him. Somewhere in the middle here I think it got to be more about the next lower number on the scale, and the next smaller size. Those are not bad things in themselves, but I am realizing this has to be about more than that. I want it to be about obedience to God. About not being greedy for food and planning my life around what I can eat and when and how much. Sounds sad... but so true. I want it to be because I want to be healthy spiritually and physically. In Made to Crave, it says shallow desires produce shallow results. Ouch. That is right where I've been. The shallow results are not going to give me lasting victory. I am trying to shift my focus back to Godly desires and lasting, permanent change and results.

For Thankful Thursday, the things I have been thankful for this past week are:

• Getting to take a friend to lunch for her birthday this past Monday
• not having to go out in the snow today... unless going out to knock the snow off the dish or going out for a shower counts...
• pink nail polish... enough said.. right?
• my sweet husband. I've been having a rough time lately and he has been so supportive and caring and he is excellent at the sweet talk which is always a good thing...
• hot chocolate in a favorite mug
• celebrating my nephews birthday with family
• facebook which helps me to be in touch with family and friends on a daily basis and to know how their life is going.
• my new pretty pink Ugg slippers.. these things are amazing.... sooooo warm and comfy. LOVE them
• my new crockpot! Used it for the 1st time today. Our previous crockpot was a wedding gift from Darrel's Mamaw. We used it for 23 years before it croaked...
• knitting! Really enjoying learning and practicing.
• singing! Get to sing Sunday with Darrel. yay.
• quality time with my husband
• my pearl bracelets from Christmas. It has been very fun to mix and match them every day in different color combos to match my outfit.
• getting to scrapbook this week
• going to church with my husband
• my job
• God's patience with me

Better head to bed. Work tomorrow, either here or at the office. Date night at home. Pizza and movie night! Can't wait. Hope you have an awesome weekend planned! Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday

1) Yes, I actually scrapbooked. Perhaps if I completed more than 1 layout every 3 months I might remember that I actually enjoy scrapbooking. When I have these long pauses, and then finally get working on a layout I always have this "oh yeah.. I remember scrapbooking.. this is fun.. " kind of feeling.

2) In case you hadn't figured it out, the picture there is only a small peek of the actual layout. I did the layout for a layout tag challenge/game at The Scrapping Spot. We are not supposed to reveal the whole layout until they are revealed to everyone who played the game... so I guess I will have to keep you in suspense.















3) What is this you ask? This is how it looks if one decides to scrapbook by candlelight. Yes, I actually did that. Last night, as the great water and electrical crisis of 2010 continued, we were without power for 2+ hours while Darrel replaced an old wire. When Duke Energy came and made the other repairs, there was one remaining wire that needed replacing but we thought it would work until we could get to it later. Wrong... found that out when the power was out Sunday and then yesterday it was going out like oh... every 15 minutes... Lots of fun. So while Darrel was working on the repair, I figured I could sit here in the dark and pout, read my Kindle with a book light, or scrapbook by candlelight. Since I had a deadline for the TSS tag game, I picked scrapbooking.

4) When Darrel was done putting in the new wire, and came in to let me know, he declared I was cute when he found me at my scrap table, surrounded by candles and holding my mini pink flashlight in one hand while coloring in a Santa with the other....















5) This is the lavender sweater I bought at Kohl's on date night. I wore it to work yesterday. I spent 5-10 minutes yesterday morning looking for my sleeveless lime green t-shirt to wear under the sweater. I couldn't find it. Know why? Um... I don't own a sleeveless lime green t-shirt. I spent 10 minutes looking for a shirt I don't own.... I am seriously losing it. See, last summer I bought a pink and a brown sleeveless t-shirt at Kohl's while Darrel was in Haiti. I liked to wear a lime green tank top under the pink t-shirt. Somehow in my head this got confused to my owning a green shirt like the pink one. At least my insanity makes a tiny bit of sense...At least while I was looking for the nonexistent shirt I found I did have a green t-shirt from Old Navy that would work. :)

6) It's late. I should be making a grocery list. I should be getting in bed. Instead I am being stubborn and sitting here blogging. I am sure I will regret this in the morning when I don't want to get up and work out.....I got home late from work. Dinner was late. Didn't get to work out. Spent the rest of the evening on my layout. For some reason in my head, when I get no time to sit in my chair and unwind... I still have this need to do that even if it is now past my bedtime... I told you earlier I was losing it right?

7) Remember the spring crops I mentioned? Well here is the plan so far. My friends and I are not going to be able to attend the Evansville Crop for The Cure. There are 2 dates, but the same date doesn't work for all of us at the same time. So, the new plan is to attend "Can't Stop The Crop" in Vincennes on Feb 26th, and then to attend the T. Haute Crop for the Cure in April. I am excited this means we will still get to attend 2 crops together! yay!

8) My friend Lori was telling me that wooden knitting needles are better than the metal kind. This reminded me that when I was shopping for yarn for the cowl I want to make I had spotted these wooden needles on the same site. Look at the cool rainbow color of the wood. Pretty huh? I am wondering if they are good quality. Anyone know?

9) I am beginning to think about Valentines day. I *heart* Valentines day. :) I am guessing you knew that. Trying to decide on a gift for my husband. I've been forwarding Helzberg Jewelers emails to him, you know, just to help him out with a few ideas for me like this or these (which look like they might match my bracelets). Also like this, and OH MY GOODNESS... look at these... I am sure my name must be on those somewhere.. its probably right in the description...

10) For us for a treat at Valentines I am thinking we definitely need some of the iced sugar cookies I made at Christmas, however this time they must be made in the shape of hearts and iced in pink.... We may also need a strawberry cake like Darrel's Mom always made for them, also in the shape of a heart. That also has pink icing, but its made with real strawberries. YUM. Who says Valentines day needs to be all red stuff.

Ok... I guess I have put off bed long enough. I shall now be a good girl and head in that direction. Hope your week is going well. Blessings.

You've Heard Of Debbie Downer?

Is this one of the cutest 10 year old boys you've ever seen? I love this picture of him blowing out his candles today.... well... trying to blow out his candles.. cause here is my favorite picture...















Look at him grinning and giggling over how many candles are still lit after he already used up all his wind trying to blow them out the first time! ha! My favorite moment today though was when I handed him the peanut butter cup cookies that I promised him. I should have had my camera out. He held up the container and peered into the clear bottom part and said "you brought them!" Melted my heart and I loved it that apparently he remembered I had promised him that.

You should have seen his face when he opened our gift. The first thing we gave him to open was 2 bags of mini marshmallows... which you all know was ammo for his new marshmallow shooter. He however did not know that at that point and was looking at us like um why did you give me marshmallows... I think just about everyone had some fun with the marshmallow shooter. I didn't get to shoot it though.. how did that happen? Ethan had a friend with him for the day and when he got shot with the marshmallow he picked it up and wanted to know if the 5 second rule applied... so he could eat it. Way too cute!!!





















Here he is trying out his remote control car. It turned out to be very cool. The wheels do all kinds of flipping around and turning over stunts. Did not know it did all that.

Church was good. Lunch at La Carreta was good. I had that grilled chicken and shrimp salad again and this time I asked for a few tortillas to wrap some of it up in. GOOD decision cause that was quite yummy. Birthday party was good... Came home, turned on the kitchen light.. it didn't come on. Turned on the dining room light, it was doing that dim, yellow, flickering thing again.... I wanted to cry. When we had the great water and electrical crisis of 2010, we knew by the time it was all fixed that another wire was going to need replacing. Well apparently it needs replacing sooner rather than later because that was the problem today.

Can I be honest and OK.. perhaps whiney here for a moment? All of this stuff is stressing... me... out... The main reason? The bathroom and Darrel's work hours and overtime right now. Because of his overtime, there is little or no time to work on putting our bathroom back together. That is about all he can handle right now. Work. Bathroom project. Well that is way, way more than one guy can handle right there OK? So then you add the water and electric issues, the furnace issues, a truck that needs 2 repairs, a dog that needs grooming (and yes, we tried to get him an appointment somewhere... no luck...) , a crack in the good bathroom shower floor, not to mention every day running a house life kind of stuff.... It's a lot to deal with. I am trying to hold it all together. I am trying to pitch in and do whatever I can. I am trying to handle absolutely everything else so Darrel can focus his efforts on the bathroom and his work. It is beginning to get to me. I mean I guess I am a big baby wimp today because all it took was flickering lights again and I was in tears. Why? Because now that wire has to be replaced this week. That means should Darrel get any time other than doing office work, he can't work on the bathroom, he now has to work on replacing this wire. I am sure it won't be a 5 minute job. NONE of it is EVER a 5 minute job. Feels like every time we even approach getting close to diving back in to the bathroom project.... something else pops up to get in line in front of that. Had we known about the overtime, we would not have started the bathroom. But we didn't, so we did... So it is what it is I guess and it will get done when it gets done... I'll just need a little grace and forgiveness on the days when I need to have a little meltdown OK? I should be (and am) thankful for the 2nd bathroom, but can I just say it is COLD to go out to the shower before work in the morning. It's cold to walk thru the snow out to the shower. It's COLD to walk back into the house with wet hair. Let's just say that um... that time of the month.. well its not a picnic either with the bathroom situation and I've dealt with that 4 times and counting. At this point, It will EASILY be the end of Feb. before we get finished and my best guess tells me more likely it will be March. At least it will warm up by then huh?! Ha!! OK.. are you sufficiently disappointed in me for being such a selfish baby? When I was upset about the heat going out again on Friday, and was worried about needing a new furnace, I was quickly reminded how thankful I should be I have such small problems when I heard of a family in town that lost everything to a fire the night before. I am sure they would be thrilled to have a small problem like an out of service bathroom...

I guess on top of that you have to add struggling with this weight loss plateau. TRYING so hard to stay positive. TRYING so hard to try so hard... and its just so difficult. I often feel very discouraged. I often feel like the old me. I often feel like I don't look any different... I don't want to be the old me ever again so that is scary.

So how is that for being Deanna downer today? Did I do a good job? Ha... There was a point a short time ago where I just wanted to go back to lunch with my husband today when we were talking about how much we love each other... yep... don't gag yourself or anything.. I am totally serious.. We were talking about our relationship and it was a good and warm fuzzy kind of conversation and I was needing some warm fuzzy...

Lets all hope for a good and peaceful week! Blessings!

Date Night Report

How is this for the perfect way to start date night? Pink roses from my date. :) I just love him. Have I mentioned that? These rose blooms are huge and gorgeous. Love them. Looking at them across the room now and they just make me smile. I am thinking a smart date starts date night with flowers. Makes total sense to me.

We had a Friday that was pretty much running behind all day long. Why? The furnace went out again. Had I mentioned it went out last Saturday? Well it did, so when I got up Friday to a furnace that was once again blowing cold air... not happy about that. I had to hang around home and wait for the furnace man, who fortunately was able to fix it. I started on my work from home, which helped, but still had to get to the office and get my other work done. Got all done and was about out the door when I realized I forgot to load a video for Sunday to the Sanctuary computer... had to stop and get that done. Got home to meet Darrel and find out he is now running late leaving work. Finally we managed to meet up and head for town...not to be confused with the big city. We planned to get dinner and shop for a birthday gift for our nephew.

First stop was Applebees. Wait was too long... so we headed for Braytens. The food was good, but that place is always cold. When I am cold I find it hard to focus on anything else other than the fact that I am cold! Sat with Darrel's coat over my lap for my whole dinner. :) We wanted to order fried chicken. This night they tell us nope, not on the menu. Wasn't on the menu last time either, but they still let us order it because they do have it for a special on certain days and for Friday's at lunch. Then we get to the salad bar and they have like 1/3 of the stuff off in the kitchen to refill it. Well the kitchen must have been like 10 miles away judging from the amount of time it took to do that. When we were 1/2 done with our salads, well then she comes back with the tomatoes and other missing veggies. Then... the waiter committed one of my main restaurant pet peeves.... not clearing the dirty plates from the table quickly. I am not sure why... but this gets on my last nerve. I am sounding like quite the restaurant whiner aren't I? Ha! Despite all of that we did have a very nice dinner together.

Next stop was Kohl's just to see what kind of after Christmas sales they had going on. I did not expect to find our Nephew's birthday gift there... however we may have hit the jackpot. They had a VERY small selection of toys, but, what they did have was marked 70% off! We got a really cool remote control car and.... are you ready for this... a gun that shoots mini marshmallows! Ha!! I love it. I thought the whole family should have one so we could have a marshmallow fight! (we bought him 2 bags of mini marshmallows for ammunition!!) I also found this sweater for me, and it was marked down to $19.20. I got lavender. These earring also caught my eye... and OK.. came home with me. I liked these too, but I restrained myself. :) Apparently I am a Vera Wang fan.

Next stop was Walmart, but on the way.. we made a little detour to subway for a cookie or three. :) Yummy. I spent way too long in the knitting aisle at WM. I have plans for a new practice scarf. It will be VERY pink. I also discovered knitting needles come in shorter lengths then what I have been using. This was happy news for this short armed person! I was just saying to Darrel the needles were too long and I was getting them stuck on my chair! I came home with several pairs of new needles, some pink yarn and some more cotton for dishcloths since I've been having fun practicing on those.

Today started way too early with of all things... a meeting. WHO thinks its a good idea to have a budget meeting at 8 AM on a Saturday? I definitely did not get a vote in that decision. However I will agree it was good to go and get it done with and have the rest of the day. The rest of the day consisted of 60 minutes of Zumba during which I discovered it is not a good idea to wipe copious amounts of sweat out of your eyes while holding a 2 lb weight because one might smack themselves in the mouth with said weight. DUH. I made a batch of peanut butter temptation cookies for our nephew. He liked them so much at Christmas I promised to make him a batch for his birthday. Darrel says I qualify for aunt of the year with a whole batch of cookies and great toys. Lets hope. I managed to shatter a glass on the kitchen counter which basically proceeded to explode all over my kitchen and after thinking I had the glass cleaned up... got glass in my hand. It was apparently also a self injury kind of day.

A few random tidbits before I go. My new ugg slippers are now my most favorite thing I've worn on my feet ever. I love them so much I like don't want to take them off to get in bed or to put on shoes.... Perhaps I am going to be one of those wander all over town in your slippers kind of people. Maybe one just has to have the right slippers to understand.. could be how I didn't understand how great kissing could be till the right person kissed me. :) And yes... that would be my husband. Yep. I said that. Not taking it back either.

A few months ago I heard someone mention a kettlebell work out. We saw a set marked down at Kohl's Friday night and now I can't get it out of my head that I want to try this work out. Amazon has some similar. Walmart had some too. Now to figure out what size weight I need. Darrel was thinking the 10 lb was too much since I was having trouble lifting it over my head.... Has anyone ever done a kettlebell work out? Like it? Love it? Hate it?

My order from Coldwater Creek came today. LOVE the jackets. They fit great. The animal print shirt... too big. At least this problem makes me happy. :) The t-shirt. Fits pretty good. Another good thing, the one thing that doesn't fit was the most expensive thing. My Christmas money bank account is happy about this development. Trying to figure out which thing to wear to church tomorrow. I am thinking the jacket with the colors of thread running thru it.

Been doing a 20 minute Zumba flat abs work out lately. I have had the DVD for awhile, but hadn't done it before. I really like it... but um can really feel it. I am thinking this is a good thing. Hoping it will help erase this spare tire thing I've got going on....

I know I haven't mentioned many specifics on the whole weight loss thing in a while. I am still trying. The past 5 mos. or more, I guess I've been on a plateau. Whatever you want to call it, I stay the same or go up and down in the same 5-10 lb range. Last year was my most difficult weight loss year. However, I am trying to focus on positives. I am not returning to the old me. I have lost inches. I lost over 4-1/2 inches in the 2nd 1/2 of last year alone. I got off my blood pressure meds last year. I did lose 10 lbs overall. I increased and improved my walking pace. I got into a smaller size. So even though the results aren't what I'd like, I am aware they are probably good and healthy results. I am hoping starting the Made To Crave study that I am going to lead at church will help kick start things again. I have been feeling really more settled and into my work outs again lately. It feels good and I like that and I need that and I love it when I want to work out and eat fruit and things like that because it reminds me of how God has changed me. So I am hanging in there and moving forward however slow the pace. If it takes the rest of my life to continue to get healthier and stronger and hopefully in that process smaller I am going to do that.

Hope your weekend has been good so far. Have an awesome Sunday. Ours will include church, Mexican food and birthday parties among other things. Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

OK so these may be the most amazing slipper EVER. I like don't want to take them off. They are so warm, it's like they are heated, like they are literally plugged in somewhere... LOVE them. I had asked for these for Christmas but did not receive them. Not surprised because they are pricey and there is only so much money in the Christmas budget. Then I had some Christmas gift money to spend and kept debating about getting them and if I wanted to spend the money on slippers. I love, love my Ugg boots and so figured it would follow the slippers would be amazing. I finally spotted them at the mall when we were at Woodfield. I normally wear a size 9, sometimes 9.5 in heels. Just depends on the shoe. When I tried these on in a 9, they didn't feel so fabulous. I mean I was expecting these slippers to feel like WOW and instead they felt too small and therefore also not so cushy. The top over my instep was too tight, toe pushing on the front... just not good. The store did not have a 10. So when I get home I decide to check on Zappos. Since they have fabulous free shipping and return shipping, I figured they would be the place to try a 10. They did not have a 10... bummer. So I asked to be notified when that size/style was available. A week or so later I got an email. By the time I got to the web site.... all gone again. Put my name back on the notify list. Yesterday, got a 2nd email. Wavered back and forth, do I want them... don't I want them... and next thing I knew my fingers had ordered them. They were on my porch this morning! Zappos is fast. How come other places can't be this fast and free?! When I slipped my foot in the 10? Well.. its a little too loose, but oh...my... goodness... they feel amazing. I've been wearing them barefoot all day just so my toes can curl up in the furry goodness on the inside... Plus... how beautiful and pink are they? I am going to have to convince myself not to wear them to bed and to work tomorrow... I do not want to become one of those people who wears their house slippers everywhere and thinks that everyone else doesn't notice... If I did that would I need to wear curlers in my hair too? Kidding...
















Here is my knitting progress. This is another dishcloth. This one has 2 knitted rows and then 2 rows where every other stitch is knitting/purling. It's giving me some practice on the purling thing which I am quickly finding out I need lots more practice on. I think my next practice piece needs rows and rows of purling. I mean is knitting like Zumba? Does everyone get their own knitting style? Cause my hands seem like they are doing some contortions to push that little loop of yarn back thru the loop on the needle and I keep wondering if I am doing it right? For instance, the way they show you to hold your working yarn? I don't do that. I am too used to holding my yarn for crochet. That is what works for me so I finally gave in and just hold it the same way for knitting. Seems to be working so far....

Although I am still quite the beginner, I went ahead and ordered some yarn and needles to try the cowl scarf I showed you. I decided to go with the same type yarn they used in the pattern. It's pretty and I liked that its a blend of wool, alpaca and nylon. I picked Damsel cause it has pinks (fuchsia) in it! Are you shocked? I also ordered myself the circular needles... Now.. lets hope I can figure this out. I may be sitting at my friend Lori's house crying help me! Ha!

Did an hour of Zumba today. Too much snow and ice still on the ground to go out walking. All the outside places I walk have hills... not a good combination with snow and ice. Today's Zumba included doing their Ab workout DVD which I had not done before. I liked it, although I suspect by morning I will be very aware I did a 20 minute Ab workout...

Did you see the new Vera styles and colors came out today? Lots of cool stuff. Looks like they have revamped the all in one wristlet. I love that thing and have given several for gifts yet I do not own one... how did that happen? I also noticed they have an umbrella again! yay!! So excited about this since my current pink Vera umbrella broke! I think I shall need a new one in very berry paisley... which appears to be the pinkest pattern available. :) I think my favorite new pattern though is the folkloric... although I haven't seen it in person. Sometimes that changes my mind. Perhaps we should stop at the Vera store on date night? :)

Well its time to head for bed, but before I go, lets close with our thankful list for this week.

• heat and shelter during all of this snow and cold weather
• ugg rylan pink slippers
• my Vera purse Darrel gave me for Christmas. Loving that thing
• the yummy spaghetti I made us for dinner tonight
• my husband
• knitting! Been fun to learn a new craft
• an orderly house. It isn't all that clean... but things are back in order and I am working on the clean thing
• Jack. He just makes me smile
• the new blu-ray player. Very fun to be able to watch things instantly
• good friends
• La Caretta! Missed going there on Sunday's during our vacation
• Church! Missed our church and church family and friends during vacation too!
• Singing. So enjoy this new song I am working on. It really speaks to me. Excited Darrel can sing some with me too. I love that
• my new craving for fruit. I have been WANTING apples, grapes.. fruit... this is new. I have always liked fruit, but like craving it? Not so much. I am counting this a good thing.
• My faux fur coat. It has been very fun, very warm and I have decided very me. I love that thing.
• my Mom and I both having a Kindle now. It's been fun to share enjoying our Kindles!
• a great dinner and shopping date night last Friday
• our jobs. Darrel and I are blessed with 2 great jobs that we love.

For date night.. plans are up in the air. Will it be pizza and movie night at home? Or going to town for dinner and maybe a little shopping? We couldn't decide tonight. We have an early meeting on Saturday so don't want to be out too late. We decided to figure it out as the day plays out tomorrow. Just looking forward to time with my husband.

Hope you have an awesome weekend! Hope to be back to post on the weekend with some more knitting to share and perhaps a layout too. I am feeling ready to get back up to speed on my 52 layouts challenge and I have a challenge due for TSS also so wow... maybe 2 layouts in one week? That would be some kind of record wouldn't it? Ha! Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday

1) Well I guess I had myself a good old fashioned snow day today. We got about 4-5" of snow here in Pike Country. As I was laying in bed trying to convince myself to get out from under the warm covers I was texting with my husband about the road conditions. Since it was supposed to continue to snow throughout the day, he thought maybe I should stay in. I have only like a 15 minute drive to work, but it is hilly and curvy and our drive way is another issue.... It's got its own hills and curves and one can quite easily either get stuck or end up in the middle of the highway. Neither is a good option. What did I do for snow day? Um I made myself some pancakes... which is an adventure in itself and I practiced my new knitting skills.. and I use the word skills loosely.















2) Be very impressed with my pancakes. I am not the best pancake cook. Why? It's that patience thing. I get too impatient to cook them in a low heat skillet slowly. This means I want them to hurry up so I turn the heat up too much and end up with a pancake which is gooey on the inside and too toasty on the outside. My husband on the other hand is an excellent pancake cook. He often makes me perfect pancakes on Saturday mornings.















3) Here is my knitting accomplishments thus far. I had started the red dishcloth literally YEARS ago. I took a class with my Mom to learn how to knit not too long after we moved here. I tried it for awhile, it felt awkward, I put it down, I forgot how to do it. Now here I am in the mood to learn knitting again so I picked up my old notes and how to books and found some knitting web sites and gave it another try. I was amazed I managed to figure out what I was doing on the red one and finish it. Then I made the blue dishcloth. These are both straight knitting stitch. No purling... I figure a dishcloth is a good thing to practice on because it's quick, you have something you can use, and hey.. its a dishcloth, so if it turns out ugly... who cares right? Ha!!!! I think these came out pretty well but am not sure. I keep wishing I had a knitting expert I could ask. Does this look right? Is my tension too loose? Too tight? What grade would you give me.. .cause um I am needing an A+... I have that overachiever thing going on you know! Ha!!














Here is my current dishcloth. this one has knitting and purling. At first I had NO memory of how to purl. it's fun to do the different stitches. However it is still awkward. I will not be winning any speed knitting contests anytime soon.

4) Should I ever get the whole knitting thing figured out... I would like to try and make this knitted cowl scarf. Problem... there is some language on that pattern I do not yet understand. I do however have a clue so I am thinking this is a good sign. The circular needle thing scares me a bit.... But wouldn't that be pretty in a pink variegated wool yarn? I am thinking I must try this soon. How bad could it be right? Remind me I said that when I am stuck and in a panic about how I've ruined my scarf and am realizing that ripping out knitting mistakes is NOT as easy as ripping out crochet mistakes. Learned that one already. I just decided to never make mistakes. Shouldn't be a problem right?

5) Coldwater Creek has some great outlet sales this time of year. Have you checked their web site? As I have mentioned in the past I love their clothes..but not so much on their prices. I think everything I own from them has been bought on sale, from the outlet, or with a coupon. I hit their web site outlet Sunday and ordered 2 jackets (here and here) , a t-shirt and a shirt. All were marked down 25% from the outlet price and then free shipping too. My total was less than one of the jackets would have been at full price. I mean did you see how much those jackets are marked down? I really like this cardigan too... but um for a cotton poly sweater, it still isn't marked down near enough...

6) Have you heard of Audrey Assad? She had a song on Chris Tomlin's Christmas Album called Winter Snow. LOVE that song. I am up for special music at church on the 23rd and I really wanted to sing that song with Darrel on background vocals. Was very bummed to find that at the moment, there is no accompaniment available. At that point I was stuck about what to sing. Thought of another song, Hallelujah by Heather Williams. Nope.. not available till March something. GRRR... Been praying about what to sing and then today, it goes thru my head to check the praise hymn web site again and maybe I can find something. There on the main page is a new release of another Audrey Assad song. This one is called Restless. Oh... my.... goodness... First time I heard it I was crying. It so spoke to me. It also has some background vocals that I think Darrel can do so I am tickled about that. LOVE singing with my husband. So, now the plan is to learn this song since I had never heard it before this afternoon. The accompaniment is being released a week from today.. just in time! Yay! (After hearing Restless I had to head directly to itunes and buy the whole album that song is on... and it is amazing...wow...)

7) Went to a Lia Sophia party for a friend last night. Their jewelry is very pretty. Their prices..not so much. I get that their point is that you just need to have a party then you will just get all kinds of cool stuff for 1/2 price or whatever.. well um still out of my budget and with the state of our home and bathroom issues, I will not be having a jewelry party any time soon. I did buy one necklace. I like this one because I was wanting something else with brown. I had also considered this bracelet or this necklace.

8) Been watching Thirtysomething while walking on the treadmill. One episode takes 47 minutes and will keep me walking on the treadmill for 47 minutes consistently which is a good thing. Until now we have belonged to blockbuster online and I've been getting a DVD at a time from them. Well now that we have the Blu-ray player, we switched to netflix. They have the DVD's too, but we are only doing 1 DVD at a time with them or instant view thru the Blu-ray. Well that is in the house. The treadmill is in the spare room. The internet signal is weak out there at best. What to do? Well, what you do is mention all this to one's husband and presto he hops on the Internet and orders season two from amazon. What an awesome way to support your wife in her workout efforts huh? There are 4 seasons I think. I am on the last 2-3 episodes of season one right now. I walk about 3 days a week on the treadmill so there is a good possibility this plan will take me thru the year! Love it. I really enjoyed this show when it was on the air. Darrel and I used to watch it together. We realized while researching our DVD purchase that the show started in the fall of 1987. We were married in the summer of 1987 so that would have been one of the first shows we got involved in and watched together. No wonder I have good memories associated with it. :) Funny that when we watched it we were 20 something watching 30 something and um now... we are 40 something...ha ha ha

9) There are some spring crops coming up in our area. Anyone attending the Crops for the Cure in Evansville? I believe its Feb 19 or March 5th. My girlfriends and I are currently checking schedules and trying to figure out if we are going. I am leaning towards March 5th if I go hoping weather would be better then. I need to check my calendar better though. There is also a Can't Stop The Crop at the Vincennes YMCA at the end of February. A friend from church is the hostess for this one I think. Considering if we can attend this one also.. instead... still not sure. Any blog readers attending any of these? Please leave me a comment. :)

10) Been pondering goals for myself for this year and have realized a thing or two about myself. Life tends to get busy and stressful and I tend to only make time for dealing with the busy stressful stuff, and all the other stuff that is supposed to be for "leisure time" just falls to the side. Is that how you think of it too? Like scrapping is only for free time? What I am realizing though is that there are things I need in my life. Things that soothe me and give me peace. Things that make me, me. Things that build me back up so I can face the busy and the stressful stuff. Things that bring me joy. Some of them are

• Reading my Bible and prayer
• Creating things. I am realizing how important it is for me to take time to make stuff! Drawing, knitting, crocheting, scrapping, I have this need in me, this desire to create stuff and it is often one of the first things to go when life gets busy.
• Reading. LOVE reading and this especially is relaxing, soothing and peaceful to me.
• Working out. When I miss too many days of working out, I can feel the stress creeping in. I get overwhelmed more easily and don't handle things as well. The working out helps my physical body, yes, but is also helps my head!
• Darrel time. Even if its just a long hug or two after work and before bed. I need the affection, the contact and some conversation. I need my husband.
• Order. I have a huge need for order. Order in my home, my schedule, my work, my personal life. I need order. Chaos, no plan, flying by the seat of my pants... soooo gives me even more stress.
• Music. Singing, Christian music, classical music... all very soothing to me.

Thinking over my goals, I realize how important these things are to me. When I make time for them and include them in my week, I handle all the other stuff so much better because I am taking care of me. Does this make any sense to anyone? I am realizing rather than viewing these things as things I can only do on vacation or when all the other stuff is done is not the way I want to look at it anymore. I plan to include these things and this thinking in setting my goals (which I still plan to share with you later).

Goodnight for now. Need to hit the bed. Hoping to make it to work tomorrow. Too much to do for snow day number 2 (although we have already heard that is what the schools are doing). Hope you are staying warm and doing well! Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

How about some more zoo pictures? All thru the center area of the zoo, they had little Christmas trees that had been decorated by area boy scouts, schools, churches, etc. They were very cute, especially all covered in snow. So what do we do? Of course we take our picture by the trees. Did you notice in the first zoo picture I posted (the day of the great electric and water crisis of 2010... ha ha ha) I had on a pink and gray scarf? You notice here I don't have on a pink and gray scarf? This would be because for most of the day I did not own said scarf. We had not planned on an outdoor day when packing for vacation because we were just supposed to go to IL to Darrel's family, go to the hotel and Woodfield Mall the next day and then head home on Tuesday. However midway thru the Woodfield Mall visit we decided to add a day to our trip. We were either going to go into Chicago and see the Science and Industry museum or go to the zoo. The zoo won.. but had I know I was doing an outdoor zoo day, I would have had a scarf and maybe some earmuffs and long johns! ha! Turned out my jeans, Danskos and fabulous coat kept me quite warm, but my neck was cold. I jokingly said if I could find a scarf to buy, I'd buy it. Well guess what happened next... found a scarf to buy! It was nice of them to have a pink one on hand huh?
















The animals were great. There is a small zoo in the big city near where we live now, but its tiny compared to Brookfield Zoo. This lion was one of our favorites. He was cuddled up sleeping with his mate when we first went by however, when he woke up? Well I am quite sure the whole zoo was aware.... You should have heard him roar! It was pretty amazing. We walked back over when we heard him just so we could take his picture. Darrel's very partial to the big cats.















We thought this was cute. Apparently this gorilla likes to cuddle. He or she.. seemed quite comfy. It seemed it was nap time in the amazonia rain forest building.















Can you imagine catching yourself a nap like this? He does not seem the least bit concerned about being too relaxed and falling off does he?















There was also a habitat for the penguins. We just happened to arrive at feeding time. That was fun to watch. The un-fun part was that there were also birds able to fly free in this area.. like um free right over your head? Did not enjoy that part too much... how does one know they weren't going to get pooped on? I didn't see any little birdie diapers...

So for Thankful Thursday for this year, I think I am going to change things slightly. I never did very good at completing that album, but I did enjoy posting and focusing on gratitude. My favorite part has been the list of things I was thankful for that week that I did at the end of each post. I am thinking for this year I am going to focus more on those lists and keep doing those since that was the part I enjoyed the most. It was interesting to me that in those lists how big things, like God and family were included as well as little things like um pink stuff or chocolate tower truffle cake... Kind of encompasses the whole me somehow...

Shall we begin our lists for 2011? Lets see... Things I have been thankful for this past week (or maybe the past few weeks since I missed a couple Thursdays) are:

• being able to resolve the great water and electric crisis of 2010 with minimal expense
• the last few days of vacation
• safe travel home from IL
• A fabulous New Year's Eve together
• Getting the house back in order today with Christmas decorations put away, furniture moved and not being annoyed with each other in the process. I consider this a huge success.
• Getting back on track with working out. I missed like 13 days. This is not good. It is a huge relief to me to get back to it! The old me would have gotten off track and stayed there so I count it a huge blessing that I am able to continue on my journey to being more healthy
• A great Christmas and getting to see both sides of the family
• All the amazing gifts and things my husband did for me to um OK... spoil me... which I love... and to make Christmas special. On the spoiling thing... can you blame me?
• So much fun shopping in IL
• The beautiful hotel we stayed in.
• Jack.. he was gone for like 2 days and showed up tonight at the back door.. yelling.. He cracks me up.
• Christmas baking and cooking
• LaCarreta! I was having serious withdrawal. We missed 2 weeks! On Monday, we pretended we were still on vacation and went there for dinner. Very fun.
• New shoes, purses, sweaters and boots.
• breakfast in bed
• Our home. It was pretty scary when we didn't know what was going on with the electrical stuff. Thankful for God's protection.
• my Kindle! Especially since now my Mom has one. It's been fun sharing Kindle stuff with her.
• the good memories we have of our home in IL
• God's patience with me
• um did I forget to mention water and electric! 2 very important things NEVER to take for granted.
• pink hand warmers!
• making stuff. I am realizing lately how much I "need" to create.
• reading... it soothes me...
• Joe's Hot Dogs. SO good.
• Godiva... we might have had a little on vacation. OK.. there might still be some in the kitchen.
• the fact that Zumba came on a TV talk show today and I got all happy and had to get up out of my chair and Zumba with them.
• jewelry... love the new bracelets and earrings and things I got for Christmas
• making chex mix and cookies together. I love doing stuff like that.
• my new watercolor painting by my favorite artist
• family pictures
• Duke Energy and a midnight electric repair

Now I need to be off to bed for work in the morning and then date night! We are going shopping! Why? Um because we haven't done enough shopping in the past week or so? ha! Well... there are after Christmas sales, clearance sales and I still have some Christmas money. Good enough reason? :) Hope you have an awesome weekend. I hope to get back to doing a little creating... scrapbook wise or knitting wise... I haven't figured out which. We will see what time permits after bathroom remodeling and housework... Blessings!

Wednesday Wanderings...

In the mood for a little Wednesday randomness? Although I guess at this point it's actually Thursday so should I count this as Thankful Thursday? ha! Let's just be random for a moment... it's about all my head is capable of at 12:52 AM while fighting a headache...

Took this picture as I was leaving work today. Looked over at my desk, and everything sitting there was pink. It just made me smile. :) My new pink desk blotter calendar came today. Had my Kindle with me because I am thinking of leading a new study at church and I am trying to get the book read. The pink hand warmers are from my very good friend Lori. She made them for me for Christmas. Isn't she good? Then we have the pink calendar, pink notebook, pink phone.. all things pink... it's a good thing.















Here are the hand warmers again. :) I was about to FREEZE to death at work today. I had a cup of hot chocolate. I was wearing a sweater and my warm socks. I was sitting in front of my space heater..... still freezing. Then I remembered the hand warmers in my tote bag. Oh my gosh... they helped so much! I couldn't believe the difference. There is something about keeping your wrists warm. Works the same way when I am walking and get too hot and sweaty, it helps if I pull up my jacket sleeves and let the air get to my wrists. Why is that? Pulse point there? Love my hand warmers. Lori should go into business..

I seriously want to try knitting again. I think it will be one of my goals for this year. I took a class with my Mom and learned the basics from that and from the Internet. I made a few dishcloths. It still was awkward, compared to crochet which is like second nature for me, so I guess I put it down for a while. Now I can't really remember the basics, but am really wanting to knit since getting Lori's gift, and then seeing some scarves one of my facebook friends made. I am thinking how hard could a simple scarf be? Must try this soon... maybe I'll do a trusty dish cloth again first to give myself a refresher?
















As I've mentioned, while we were in Illinois, we went to Brookfield Zoo. We had such a lovely day. It is actually fun to go to the zoo in the winter. So glad we thought of it. We had gone one other time in the winter when we lived in IL. One of our earliest dates in 1984 was to the same zoo. We went with another couple and they took the picture on the right that day. While we were there last week, Darrel set the timer on the camera and took the picture on the left. I just had to put them together... Still so happy and in love 26 years later. Very, very cool... Can you tell we were even standing in the same place in the zoo? :)

Washi tape. Do you have any? It seems to have become my new favorite thing and I've barely used any. Just found this site tonight from a link on Nora G's blog. I might have bought a roll or 10.... Um I haven't even made a layout since like what... November? So why do I have this endless need to acquire new supplies? It must be that sickness we've mentioned before.















While we were in IL, we went shopping at an Outlet Mall in Aurora IL. Um there is a Vera Bradley Outlet there and the day we went, not only were things marked down to outlet prices, all purses and totes were 20% off of the outlet price. I got this adorable little purse. It's original price was $70. I paid $20! LOVE that.

Speaking of Vera... have you seen the sneak peeks of the new spring patterns coming out later this month?! There is a peek on the video here. Loving the one with orange and pink! One of the new bags will be an E-reader case! I think my Kindle will probably need one of those.

While in IL we also shopped at Woodfield Mall and Louis Joliet Mall. Woodfield is one of our Favs, although this time, it was extremely busy and crowded... not my favorite thing. I still managed to find this great pair of Nine West clogs at Lord & Taylor, on clearance and then marked down again! They look great with jeans. At Louis mall, they had this one last pair of PINK boots. They were 1/2 price... OK.. so the sign said they were Juniors. I am guessing I don't qualify for that category... I do NOT care... they are way to stinkin cute and um did I mention they are pink? Pink suede boots for $24... what's not to love about that? I already have a date night outfit all planned which will include..... you guessed it... the PINK boots.















So what else did we do in Illinois? We stayed at our favorite hotel (Oakbrook Hills) which is where the marriage conference was at last spring. We had room service for breakfast in bed. We had our favorite pie (french silk), coffee cake, hot dogs, pizza, and pasta.... You can see the pasta above. It's from a little place called Macianos. Oh my goodness... it was so good. They have this bread nugget appetizer thing called Pizzelle... YUM. It was late on Wednesday when we went. We still had a 5+ hour drive home, yet we still sat there and enjoyed our food and had the nicest most relaxing dinner together. Which turned out to be a good thing after getting home at 3AM to be greeted by the great water and electric crisis of 2010.....

Read this post on Karen Russell's blog. Love the Bible verse she talks about. Love what she says about it. It really speaks to me and goes with some of my thoughts about what I hope to accomplish in my own life this year... I will be sharing more of that with you when I write about my goals.

Just ordered the materials for Made To Crave, which is the study I mentioned above. Just the little bit of the book and devotional I've gotten thru so far REALLY speaks to me about my battle with food. If you are interested in this study too, there is also going to be free live webcasts for 6 weeks, starting Mon., Jan. 10th. Info is on the web site here. (Lysa also has a great blog here.) I am thinking this could really be GOOD although I am realizing I'm dragging my feet a bit about getting into it. Why? Because I think I know its going to hit me right between the eyes with the truth about my relationship with food and some things I need to be surrendering to God. I know it's going to require more change. More giving up things I think I want. More hard stuff.... More of Him less of me... and I guess just maybe I am running a little bit not wanting to have to face the more change. I need to stop running. I need to stop whining about why its not working like I want it to. I need to do what Jesus is telling me to do. I need to do whatever its going to take...... Of just the little bit I've read, Lysa talks about her book helping you to find your "want to." I need to find my want to again. Find my want to for obeying especially when its hard, or it hurts or I think I want something else. Just one little blurb I read in the devotional book today said: "Eating in its proper context is not the problem. God gave us food for nourishment, strength, and even celebration. But when pleasure becomes unrestrained, there's a problem." Ouch... please get off my toes. I've known for awhile now that the food is not the problem. My desire for too much food, my heart that wants more than I need....That is the problem. She says that the word indulge means "unrestrained action." I couldn't have said any of that better myself... Makes me eager to dive more into the study, and makes me want to run the other way all at the same time. I choose not to run....

Goodnight for now. Hope to be back tomorrow for Thankful Thursday