Ten on Tuesday

1. Why are you posting a picture of silverware you ask? Darrel found it in the clearance section at Walmart today and brought it home. Still confused? Well see.. a month or two back we were talking and realized we have these 2 place settings of silverware that we both always look for first in the drawer. We only have the 2 because it was this Oneida set we liked and we started buying a place setting at a time when we were engaged. Then a family member told us no! Don't buy silverware, you will get plenty for gifts. So.. we stopped buying silverware. We did get some for gifts... but 23 years later we discover that we both still like that first set the best and wish we had completed it. It was more simple. It was way heavier in your hand... we loved that set.. So today, when he saw these, a nice simple, heavy weight set... he texted me and asked if he should get it. Now.. 23 years later, we have silverware we like and picked out...

2. It's weird...related to the discussion above, this past year while buying wedding gifts, we realized the towels we have, the dishes we use, etc... They are mostly the stuff we got when we got married. The dishes were a stoneware set that my grandma got for us thru her grocery store. (Dominicks) We really liked them and used them a lot. But now? Now I am in love with Fiestaware. The towels? They were OK. They did the job. But we never had the nice thick department store type towels... Which now here we were buying for someone else. What are we doing about that? Brand spanking new luxurious towels are in the house ready to go in the new bathroom. And the Fiestaware? We've been buying it a few pieces at a time! LOVE that and can't wait to get lots more! We are doing the cobalt blue, yellow and maybe some red.. Heck at this point I am feeling partial to mixing in lots of the colors!

3) Here is another picture from church this past Sunday.  I like the angle of this one!  Our friend Juli took the pics.  Didn't she do a great job?  Have you seen enough?  No?  Good.. cause here are a few more...

4) OK! For Accountability.... I did good today!  I hit my points target exactly.  Ate lots of fruit and some veggies.  Got a walk in!  Yay!  I only did 2.5 miles again, but my husband asked me to take it easy and not do too much right off the bat.  So I am trying to ease my way back into it.  It was great to get outside and walk!  Been waiting to be able to walk outside after work again all winter!  I am 1/2 done with my Made to Crave homework and promise to finish that before bed.  Good girl right? 

5) Quite annoyed at my Nike+ after my walk.  BECAUSE every stinkin time I have to move my sensor into a new pair of shoes, the calibration gets all messed up and it seems to take me a couple weeks to get it all straight again for some reason.  Can't figure out why.  I walked longer today and faster today than my previous walk, but today I moved my sensor into my new shoes.  Today it tells me my pace was 2 minutes slower... WRONG and it says I walked just under the distance I walked the previous time.  um WRONG again cause I actually did extra.  So now... have to mark off a mile with the car or something and re-calibrate the thing and hope that will be the end of it.  It's so frustrating.   I count on that to tell me my distance and progress.  I just get in a place where I am excited about my pace and times and then its time to get new shoes and I have to go thru this all over again.. Annoying... I am not a patient person remember? 

6) Check out the very cool vintage pink fridge on this blog post.  That post led me to this one... more pink vintage goodness... I am thinking Kim speaks my pink language.  Do you think there is some sort of pink support group?  I suppose I could be the founder of one..but I am really not thinking I am looking for a cure...

7) Anyone interested in reading Blind Hope (that I reviewed yesterday) ?? Was thinking maybe we'd do a give away!  I thought it would be fun to send out my copy to one lucky blog reader yes?  If you are interested please leave a comment on this post.  I will pull a winner at random from all the comments received.  Let's make the deadline this Friday, midnight.  I will pull the winner and post it sometime on Saturday. 

8) Why... now that plums and Edy's mint cookie ice cream are two of my favorite things... WHY does that of course mean the grocery store is out of both things today?  Is there some kind of conspiracy that the minute I like something and find it helpful in the weight loss area... everyone runs out of it?  Not happy about this.

9) We have heard official word that the drive in is open on Friday!  Yay! We plan to get there early in case there is a crowd on opening day.  We hope to bring a pizza with us!  Good plan right?  We want to see Source Code.. but the 2nd movie.. not so much.  Especially after I read about it on Plugged In online.  The current plan, is to switch screens and see the 2nd movie on the other screen.  Will this be a problem?  We've seen other people do it.  Is there some sort of Drive In theatre etiquette that we will be violating? 

10) Do you like Audio books?  I have never listened to one... and do not understand the appeal.  Darrel and I got to talking about this after the movie Friday night.  In Hereafter, the main character was listening to audio books.  See... if I am in like a group setting for church or something and am supposed to listen while someone else reads aloud ... Do not enjoy this.  I'm not sure why.  I am a pretty fast reader, so I am not sure if I think the other person is reading too slowly?  Or, if its just that I don't comprehend as well when someone else reads it?  So.. thinking along those lines... my head goes why on earth would I want to listen to someone else read a book to me rather than just read it myself... whats fun about that?  Do not get it...

Don't forget to leave me a comment if you are interested in the Blind Hope book!  Would love to hear from you... a girl gets to wondering if anyone is out there... or if she is just blabbering on to herself.. that would be a bad thing right?  Perhaps crazy sounding and frowned upon?  bwa ha ha ha ha.... Blessings!

Just Another Manic Monday

During church yesterday.. was that just yesterday?  One of our congregation members was taking photos for the new church directory we are currently working on.  This was one of them that she took... me singing on praise team.... at least you can see my shoes.  Is that totally a girl thing to check that out first?  Ha! 

So how has your Monday been?  Mine consisted of...

- work!  Had staff meeting as we usually do on Mondays.  Prepared for and led our week 3 of Made To Crave and then finally got home right about 7 PM

- completed the Book Tour for Blind Hope and posted my review below.

- picked my next book for review from the Waterbrook Multnomah Blogging for Books site.  I decided on Indivisible.  Looks like it could be good!

- made a grocery list for the all important grocery shopping tomorrow.  Darrel will be taking care of that on his way home from work.  I on the other hand plan to finally get in a walking work out!  yay!

- Looked over the books I am judging for the Inspirational Readers Choice awards.  The books in my line up are: The Six Liter Club, Seeds of Summer, Dining With Joy, and Driftwood Lane. Can't decide what to read first.

- checked out the new "bags and shoes" on the QVC site.  Um.. there are some seriously cute shoes there.  Like these sandals or these cute ankle strap platforms! How about these cute espadrilles! LOVE these too.

- Watched Dancing with the Stars.  Ralph Macchio and Kirstie Alley are currently my favs.  I am like amazed Ralph is such a good dancer.  Who knew?

- Listened to my husband snore.. and decided its probably time I hit the bed too...

Accountability wise I did not get in a work out today.  My normal walking time is right after work which is when Bible Study is right now.  I have 3 more weeks of that and then hope to be walking on Monday's during this time.  Had hoped to do the exercise bike or something this evening.. but I pooped out.  Went over on points today.  Not good.  I am still Ok because of the weekly allowance, but need to be careful the next 2 days of my ww week.  I think I will be OK and will be so happy to get back to working out tomorrow.  On a good note.. I did chose to have a plum this evening.. rather than the king size twix bar I wanted to eat.  That is a good thing right? 

See you tomorrow for Ten on Tuesday.. except I might have just told you everything so I hope I will have something to talk about... ha!  Blessings!

Blogging For Books Book Tour: Blind Hope

So finally.. here I am with my Blogging for Books review of Blind Hope by Kim Meeder and Laurie Sacher.  Good book! 

Here is an summary from the publisher:

An unwanted dog. An emotional rescue.
Two lives forever changed.

Laurie's dreams had been shattered before she came to work at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch—the ranch of rescued dreams—where broken horses and broken children encounter healing every day. In an attempt to soothe her aching soul, Laurie reached out to save a dog in need. And she soon began to realize that the dog was rescuing her.

An inspiring true story told through the engaging voice of Kim Meeder, Blind Hope reveals poignant life lessons Laurie experienced from her ailing, yet courageous canine friend. Despite the blindness of her dog—and her own heart—Laurie uncovered what she really needed most: authentic love, unconditional trust, and true acceptance, faults and all.

As Laurie and her dog, Mia, both learned to follow the lead of a master they couldn’t see, Laurie discovered the transforming power of God’s grace even for imperfect and selfish people—and she experienced a greater love than she had ever known.

“Love is a bridge that stands firm through difficulties and connects one heart directly to another, not because of how it looks, but because of what it is.” --Kim Meeder, Blind Hope

This was an excellent book and I think you will in one way find it to be a quick easy read, but on the other hand, may want to go back and re-read some of the many lessons shared in this book.  As I have often found God showing me things and teaching me lessons thru circumstances with my little dog Tanner, Laurie Sacher shares the same thing by telling of all the ways God has taught her thru her dog Mia.  God places a love in Laurie for an ugly, smelly, unwanted dog that changes her life in amazing ways.  Thru her dog Laurie is able to learn about God's love and acceptance of her.  Thru her dog she is able to see how she has been lost in her own life and her own identity.  She learns to accept Christ's love for her and finds so many ways to share these lessons with us thru the writing about this journey with Mia.  Each lesson learned between Laurie and Mia painted such a beautiful illustration of God's love and care of each of us.  I could totally see using each chapter in this book in a Sunday School or small group setting, each as a lesson in itself.  Very good stuff!  You will enjoy it, most especially if you are a dog lover! 

This book was provided for review from Waterbrook Multnomah. 

Wishing it was Memorex & perhaps not live..

So what has this Sunday consisted of?

- being 10 minutes or so late for rehearsal this morning...not sure how that happened. How does that work when one minute you look at the clock and you are running on time and the next minute.. its time to go and you aren't dressed yet? Where do those minutes go?

- Had a good rehearsal and a great church service. Pastor Mark's sermon was awesome.

- Sang a solo for communion. I am still working on getting rid of this respiratory thing so singing on praise team, in choir and then a solo was somewhat of a challenge. My solo was better in rehearsal then during church.. hate it when that happens. Still felt OK about it, even though I know it wasn't my best ever. I knew I sounded wobbly... I posted it for you above. You can be the judge. Felt better about it until...someone told me they could tell when I sang that I was still struggling with my chest congestion... Thank you. What is the purpose of telling me that? Was it supposed to make me feel better? Now I feel like everyone thought wow... Deanna was really struggling today...I know I was.. just didn't need to hear that I guess.

- Had a good lunch at LaCarreta. Love doing that with my husband each Sunday and look forward to it all week.

- Somehow fell on the curb leaving LaCarreta. One moment I am getting ready to step down and am walking next to my husband. Next minute I am sitting on the curb... in the water from the melting snow. NOT happy about sitting in the water in my Chinchilla coat. I did however survive the fall without injury.

- spent some time this afternoon talking with my husband and even shared a good nap

- Watched our shows this evening. We like Ruby, Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice, and Undercover Boss. Good thing for DVR's or we wouldn't fit all that in.

- Enjoyed a turkey sub from the grocery store

- wore the gray patent leather peep toe slings to church.... doesn't that sound just like something Stacy London would say? And no... they had nothing to do with the fall...

- Accountability wise I went over on daily points today, but am still within my weekly allotted points so I am doing OK I think. Weekends, especially Fridays and Sundays are always harder for me. Going to work hard at changing that and doing better. Did decide to have a plum with my sandwich rather than chips. A good choice right?

- No workouts today... still on restriction. I hope to do something before work in the morning since I have Made to Crave study after work which will get me home later.

-thinking I might also start blogging about spring cleaning.. Is that completely ridiculous? It just helps me to have a plan and then motivates me to tell blogdom about it. Trust me... seriously in need of a plan. So much needs done I am overwhelmed. I would like to get a plan and then try to calmly tackle one thing at a time. Could work right?

-thinking about the coming week and hoping to finish up my Blogging For Books selection and then get started on my 4 books I am judging for the Inspirational Readers Choice. I'll have to share the books I received in a later post... need to look at them again.

How was your Sunday? I'll see you back here again on Tuesday if not before. Blessings!

Is It Scrapbooking or Home Improvement?

Pen, ruler, cutting utensil.....lots of cool pink scrapbook tools around him.... must be scrapbooking right? Nope.... working on the bathroom if you can believe it. He is finishing up installing the Kerdi today. He needs strips for the seams. Do you think most men go sit and measure and cut the perfectly proportioned strips that are needed or just my husband?

So date night was supposed to consist of going to dinner, a Sandy Patty concert and then maybe out for ice cream at Zanders. What did it consist of? Home.. pizza.. movies.. and OK.. ice cream. I am STILL fighting this stinking upper respiratory/cold/flu thing and was NOT feeling so great yesterday. I may have bronchitis (not sure.. didn't actually see the DR just gave symptoms to nurse and meds were called in) because at this point I can feel it rattling in my chest when I breath and cough. As the day went on all I wanted to do was go home. The tickets for the concert were given to us by someone else who had bought them and couldn't attend so I hated for them to go to waste. We offered them to another church friend, who it turned out was very excited to get them, and we changed our plans for pizza and movies at home. Is it a bad thing to do that two weeks in a row? I don't think so. Pizza was yummy as usual. Movies on the line up this time around were Next Three Days and Hereafter. Both were good! I was ready for that first one to end because the adrenaline from the action in the movie was getting to my stomach! A little warning on Hereafter (because I didn't know) but the movie begins by depicting a tsunami. That was a little uncomfortable to watch following the recent events in Japan. The good thing about date night at home? The ice cream was the Edy's 1/2 fat mint cookie kind. :)

Another thing about the movies.. in Hereafter one portion of the movie depicts a french woman. She said "bonswa" at one point.. and man.. I was sucked right back in time to when Darrel was in Haiti and I was missing him so MUCH. I was like glued to my cell waiting for his call or text and one night in particular after texting with him, he closed by saying bonswa to me (because the Haitian people use that word and speak Creole) ... that did me in..Was weepy then and last night hearing that word again.. I know.. I'm a sap. Can't help it. Just brought it all back. That was a particularly hard time for me.

So on the accountability report... here is how we are doing..
Food Wise:
- for the past three days I have logged and accounted for my ww points each day
- I've stayed within plan. I did go over yesterday, but am within my week by using my weekly allowed points which I often do on date nights to allow myself a little splurge and/or treat
- I've had cravings and have wanted to eat more than I should today but have been praying thru those and am doing OK.

Workout Wise:
- walked 2.5 miles at a good pace on Thursday
- Friday and today.. not so much. I planned to get up early and do zumba yesterday. Planned to walk today. My illness has not let me do that.. or should I say my husband. Wanted to try walking again today, but since this thing has settled in my lungs my husband was on a big no on that one... so I am on workout restriction till at least Monday... Not happy about that, but thinking he is right.

Jesus Girl Wise:
- I am current with my Made to Crave Homework
- I am sticking to the fasting commitments I made for the Focus 40 (40 days till Easter)

I am wishing the work out thing was better. I am wishing I wasn't struggling with wanting to eat so much when I don't need to.... but I am feeling encouraged and hopeful and ready to move forward and feeling good about that!

On this Saturday while I am being forced to rest.. ha ha ha Kidding... I've been occupied with

• this new song by Laura Story. LOVE... Darrel and I totally want to sing this. However it's not even released yet, so I am thinking we will have to wait a bit.
• watched Knitting Daily on TV and checked out this cool knitted flower they made today on the show.
• tried a new perfume sample that I got in the mail from Sephora with my Bare Escentuals order. I was about to have a foundation emergency.. Anyway.. It's been ages since I tried a new perfume and liked it. This stuff smells great and is now on my wish list.... although I did not care for the picture of Jennifer on the packaging.. Do you have to be partially unclothed to sell perfume? My absolute fav. perfume is still Passion.
• tried a Sephora sample of this Fekkai Glossing Cream when I washed my hair today. LIKING it and will need a tube of this soon.
• read Lisa Dickinson's blog and found several cool links for clothing items also now currently on my wish list like this scarf (or um any of them.. LOVE) these purses and these amazing ruffle shirts and dresses! (on those last two, you might have to sign in to Zulily to see them)
• checked out the new colors and styles on the Vera Bradley site. Did you see the QVC TSV a couple days ago? I also think the new quick draw bag is very cute!

And now.. I must go sing (song I am doing for communion tomorrow) ... read (need to do today's homework)... and then perhaps knit (since I haven't picked up my scarf in a good while) or scrapbook.. if Darrel doesn't think that is too strenuous.. Kidding. I love love love him for taking such good care of me. Blessings!

Thankful Thursday for Jesus Girls

This... is a new favorite. Have you tried this stuff? It is 1/2 fat ice cream.... that is good. The little one.. is one serving and will cost you 5 ww points. The regular carton is my fav. SO good. Tastes like mint cookies and cream. YUM. It will cost you 3 ww points per serving. I am sure you know for an ice cream connoisseur like myself... it is high praise to pronounce a "light" ice cream as good... Am I right?



















So what is a Jesus girl? I am. I've not been a very good Jesus girl... but that is fixin' to change with this post.

The term "Jesus Girl" comes from the Made to Crave study I am going thru with a group of ladies from our church. It was part of our lesson this past week. It's Lysa Terkeurst's way of saying I belong to Jesus. I live for Him and do things His way. Part of our assignment this week was to speak these words over each other in the group. "Remember who you are. You are a Jesus girl. You are not a failure. You are not incapable. You are not a loser. You are none of those things. You are a Jesus girl capable of victory! You are absolutely capable of being empowered. God loves you - head to toe. Remember who you are."

So is that good or what? Lysa is teaching us and challenging us to be empowered by the Holy Spirit in our food battles and issues. That as a Jesus girl we are made for more than being stuck in this endless battle, this endless cycle of fighting with food and being in bondage to this issue. That so speaks to me! I get so excited when I am doing my reading I want to shout! Yes! That is the answer. With God ALL THINGS are possible. I can have victory in this area. He wants me to have victory in this area! I was made for more than being stuck in this my whole life. I want more! I want to win this. I want to move forward and most of all I want it be because I want to be a Jesus girl and do what He wants me to do! Yes, I want the pounds gone and the smaller sizes, but also as Lysa says "shallow desires produce shallow results." I want to do this for the bigger reason. I want to fix my foundation which is where the problem is at.

Today's lesson talked about how as a "Made for more Jesus girl..." that I cannot allow myself to continue to partake in behavior that draws me away from that. I cannot continually be trying to satisfy my heart and my desires with empty things like food... instead of God. That is where the title of the study comes from. God made us to crave... HIM.. not food. I want to get that straight and get my thinking right on that. Some of the notes I wrote today say how I can know I am made for more, I can know His truth and my identity in Christ, I can stay on the path... WHEN.. .I keep asking Him for help. I embrace my identity in Christ. I find the deeper reason.... AND when I operate in His power. Good stuff? Do I hear an Amen? I'm so excited I'll give myself my own Amen..ha! She talks about how it is crucial to have a hope and power beyond ourselves. This is mentioned in Ephesians 1:17-20. The part getting to me today is in verse 19 -20: I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe in Him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the place of honor at God's' right hand in the heavenly realms. OK... wow... that gets me every time I read it. The same power that raised Christ from the dead.... that power.. is available to us who believe. WOW. I have that kind of power available to me.. yet I choose to remain here stuck, discouraged... defeated. Well that changes right now...

The lesson goes on to talk about how having an accountability partner can help, and how important it can be to success. From the book.. statistics say that the probability of achieving a goal is:
10% when you hear an idea
40% when you decide you will do it
50% when you plan how you will do it
65% when you commit to someone else you will do it
95% when you have an accountability appointment with the person you've committed to

I've been at 50-65% with this weight loss journey. Maybe a little better at times. Lately... not so much. Know what? I want that 95%. I want 100%. Here is where you come in.

I am asking you, my faithful blog readers and supporters..if you will be my accountability. Here and now I am committing to check in with you weekly and with complete honesty tell you how I am doing. Have I stuck to my commitment? Have I followed my food plan? Have I been in prayer and devotion about this? Am I working out as I will commit to here below? You will be my accountability.. because let me tell you.. if I put it out there on here that I am going to do it.. I will NOT be wanting to come here and tell you I did something different. But trust me... I will tell you. I know it will affect my choices and my thinking if I know I will have to come here and tell you I made the choice to mess up. Or to tell you I made the choice to go back on my commitment....our commitment. Or, I made the choice to go back to my brokenness and set back all that I've attained.

So before we can get accountable.. lets get honest about where I am at.. and what my commitment is from here.

The first year of this journey I lost 63 lbs. The second year, 24. The third.. 10... Are you seeing a trend here? I hit a total of 97 lbs gone in July 2010. Since then... I've just been plateaued and kind of wandering around. During that time I have been working out... but not as much as I was. I did lose inches, and went down a size.. but the scale is going no where. I like to tell myself it is a plateau.. but that is just a nice word for it. I've done this before. ALMOST get to what I say I really want.. and then sabotage myself. I almost hit that 100... but now I've been wandering around in the other direction. I have been eating too much. I have gotten very lazy about logging my points. I have worked out less. I have been back to some old bad habits... you know those ones where you say tomorrow I will do better... or I already messed up this week.. I'll do better on Monday.. Once I hit 97 gone.. I went up and back down to that 97 mark in a 5 lb range for months. Then Christmas came... then I got complacent and lazy and told myself I'd do better after the holidays... and went up another 5 lbs.. Now for months I've been up and down in a 5-7 lb range from that higher point. DO NOT LIKE IT. Yet... for the sake of honesty and accountability I admit that my poor choices are more to blame than any plateau.

From today forward is a fresh start. No more condemning myself and guilt and whining about what is in the past. From this point forward I am committing to God, you and myself that I will do the following:

1. I will count my ww points daily.
2. I will stay within my plan.
3. I will get back to walking no less than 5 days per week, and hopefully more.
4. I will get back to walking 4 miles on a regular basis. I've been hanging more around 3 miles which is not enough of a challenge anymore.
5. I will blog about this weekly, if not daily to be accountable about how well I have kept these commitments.
6. I will turn my cravings into prayers and seek to remember who I am and whose I am and make choices that honor God.

Some of my immediate (and future goals) are:

1. Complete the 12 mile Carry the Cross on Good Friday
2. Complete 30 laps at the CF Walk in May. This would be approximately 10 miles.
3. Reach 100 lbs lost.
4. Get under ___ lbs... Not comfy in sharing that number publicly.
5. Run 1 mile
6. lose enough weight by our Wedding vow renewal so that I can fit in my wedding dress and wear it to the ceremony.
7. Get into the 2 pairs of pants hanging in my closet that I bought a size smaller...months ago.

I would like to reach most of these goals during the coarse of this year. The wedding dress one, by June 2011.

So are you with me? Can I exhale now? Had to take a deep breath and summon up some courage to post this one.. .It's ironic that as I was contemplating doing this, Lysa TerKeurst posted this on Facebook: "I've learned how dangerous it is to hold up the intimate knowledge of our imperfections against the outside packaging of others." Wow... That describes it perfectly. It's hard to be real, vulnerable and honest with you. It's scary and I know it can be used against me and to hurt me... I'm still going to take the plunge here and trust you to love me, pray for me, support me and help me.. Are you with me? I'd love it if you'd leave me a comment and tell me so...

Oh! The t-shirt above? I made it on Cafepress... The Made to Crave group and I were thinking it sounded like a cool idea to have Jesus girl t-shirts. Cool huh? Trying to decide if I'm happy with it and if I have things centered and lined up and everything..

Well I guess this has been a marathon post but lets do a quick thankful list to close...

• I am thankful my husband just handed me back my pretty pink laptop. Currently I am typing on his cause he stole mine again.. and its making me nuts. Don't like the keyboard.
• Getting in a walk today. It was only 2.5 miles. I didn't want to go. I didn't feel good. It was cold. I was having chest and breathing issues.. but I went and I am SO GLAD ABOUT THAT!
• Chicken and noodles for dinner with Darrel.
• A husband that has been taking care of me for 2 weeks.
• Getting back to work this week.
• Getting to be an IRCC judge again this year. Books are on their way to me. (IRCC is Inspirational Readers Choice Contest)
• the 70 degree weather most of this week
• choir
• getting to sing at church this week
• finally getting out of the house this past Sunday after being in sick all week
• Made to Crave
• a good day at home today
• clean sheets.. just washed them today. love how a fresh clean bed feels
• more progress in the bathroom remodel
• all the pretty spring blooms
• Capri pants and sandals
• getting some scrapping done
• my new curling iron/hair dryer/flat iron holder.. loving that thing
• new hope and determination in my Christian walk and in the weight loss

Hope you have an awesome Friday. See you on the weekend for the Date Night Report. Blessings!

Ten On Tuesday

1) So here is the routine if you are a goofy cat. You climb really high up in a tree so you can spend your day in your favorite spot... which is this big ol' dead limb in the tree. You wait there until your people come home at which time you pop your head out of the tree and start yelling at them. Translation to the yelling seems to mean... "now I am way up in this tree, I want to go in the garage.. .but I really really hate having to climb down from this tree.... even though I am the one that decides to climb up here every day..." You then proceed to sit and continue to yell as you contemplate the trip down.














Next you like go one.. two... three... before you leap to the branch to the right because apparently this is the ladder down. It happens this way every day.. .it must be written down in the cat rules somewhere or something. Apparently one is not allowed to climb down the branch that one is on... you must leap across to the opposite branch and shimmy down... once again yelling the whole way.

2) My calendar says it is March 22nd. Normally on March 22nd, my Forsythia bush would not yet be blooming. I am thinking this year we must be way ahead of schedule because Look! I am hoping the 40 degree temps that are coming the day after tomorrow are not going to stun and kill my beautiful yellow Forsythia blooms. I mean how pretty is that bush? Love it!















3) The Forsythia is not the only thing blooming. I was so surprised to look out and see that my bulbs are coming up already too! This is way early... does this mean we are in for another warm spring and summer?

4)Have become enchanted with many of the clothes and accessories on this site. Liz Kartchner had linked to it from her blog. I mean how many cute ruffley... is that a word?.... shirts, dresses and purses can one find in one spot? LOVE! No wonder Liz always looks so cute in her pics.. she knows some great places to shop!

5) I have heard the Drive In opens April 1st! Since that just happens to fall on a Friday... can you guess where date night will probably be April 1st? Assuming some movie we can tolerate is playing... I mean you remember there is a rule that the 2nd movie always has to stink right? So it would be good if at least the first one could be good. That isn't asking too much right?

6) Are you sick and tired of hearing about me being sick and tired? No? Good... Why? Um cause I am still feeling sick and tired... I am better. I may have coughed only 5110 times today vs. 6110 times yesterday. I got myself to work earlier. I've not yet collapsed in bed... My throat and stomach are hurting some.. but hey.. I am considering this vast improvement.

7) I have decided that one of the next books I want to read is this one. I saw it linked/mentioned on someones blog... and now I must read it. Not sure why. I was never a huge Juila Child fan. However, I found her story in the move Julie & Julia quite interesting. I think I felt something in common with her because of the infertility thing and I liked the relationship she seemed to have with her husband.

8) I seem to be incapable of going to Amazon's site without checking for new free kindle books.. I mean I jumped over there to grab that link above... and left with yet another free kindle book. I mean how can I help myself? Free books.. what's not to love about that? Besides, I think everyone should have a minimum of 200 books at their fingertips at all times.... I noticed they also have Leota's Garden as a free kindle book right now. If you have not read that before grab it now! Loved that book!

9) I'm thinking it was a bad thing to buy new walking shoes. I mean that happened what.. 2-3 weeks ago? I have worn them once. ONCE.. which means I have walked ONCE since I bought them. I am like 1 day away from 2 full weeks of no walking. I am trying not to panic... but I need my walking. When I get too far away from it I begin to imagine every pound I have lost coming back to find me. We do not want that happening ever. EVER... Must get feeling better and back on schedule immediately before my muscles completely revert to their former soft tired selves...

10) There is actual progress occurring right now in the bathroom. Mortar is going on the walls.. followed by the Kerdi (water proof membrane in the shower area). My husband keeps going in and out with big buckets of mortar... I am thinking this is a good thing, but am hoping since it is currently 11 PM that he will actually be coming to bed sometime before work in the morning.

So tomorrow... work.. lots of work.. and more work. Choir in the evening if I can manage it. This week has been killer... Too many long days right after being home and sick is seriously making me quite exhausted... On that note. I shall bid you good night and head for bed. Blessings!

52 Layouts.. Week 12

As promised, on this beautiful spring day, here you have the next challenge for the 52 Layouts Challenge. This time around.. your challenge should you choose to accept it... is to sew on your page in an innovative way. This comes from the book challenge #43, page 131. The challenge reads... and I quote... "Now I know that some of you are a little intimidated by the thought of sewing on your layouts. I was at first too, but now it's one of my go-to techniques. I just love that homespun effect and the versatility of adding my own personal touch to my pages. So even if you hand-stitch, it's time to play with needle and thread."

Cool! I am excited about this. I also used to be intimidated about attempting to sew on a page. So often though, the layouts I'd see online and just love were the ones with stitching. So, I decided I was going to figure this out. Bought myself a pretty pink (and white) sewing machine. Sat myself down. Read the instructions. Practiced, practiced, practiced... and OK.. practiced some more... until finally.. Viola! I managed to sew on a page! Now I love it. I am still not so good at it.. but I am improving.. and even when it looks shabby... I like that kind of look so it works for me. Plus... now I own the new sew easy tool from We R Memory Keepers.. and I am dying to try it out... so get ready for lots of sewing.

So other than picking out a new challenge.. today my day has consisted of....

- being late to work because I still don't feel 100% and am so tired!

- wearing a new shirt to work..

- wearing Capri pants and sandals and no coat to work.. it was gorgeous out today!

- prepared for and lead week 2 of our Made To Crave study at church

- arrived at Made to Crave just to find out that my friend Ashly and I were Twinkies today with practically identical outfits. Black shirt, with fuchsia tank underneath, Pink sandals, jeans, it would have appeared we totally checked with each other...

- spent 20 minutes trying to find money that was left for me in the "key box" only to discover they meant the literal box of keys in my desk... not like the cash lock box.... silly me..

- discovered for like the 3rd day in a row that apparently following the instructions on how to take a steroid pack is too hard for me because yet again... I screwed it up... It will be a miracle if the meds work correctly at this rate.

- got one more day behind on my walking and work out routine.. not happy about this. Sick of this illness that has like brought my life to a halt! Last time I walked was a week ago Thursday... Too long. This hiatus must end now...

- got very scared by how OLD Ralph Macchio looked on Dancing With The Stars... I mean he is the Karate Kid.. if he is looking that old.. what does this say about me? Don't answer that.

- um 2nd scariest thing... seeing Karina Smirnoff trying to do the karate kid crane move thingy... she should stick to dancing..

- did yet another 1 step forward 1 step back on the bathroom project.. Just as we were about to install the kerdi.. we discover the ledge behind the tub cannot have any exposed wood. You can only put mortar on the drywall. This makes said ledge now too tall... so it has to be removed and cut down by 1/2"... At least we discover these things before its too late to fix them.

- discovered Frye wedges... how have I missed these till now. Must add these to my wish list cause they are way too cute!

- managed to find my desk under the week's worth of things that were left for me in my absence last week...

- longed for time to go get a pedicure... it's not looking good for this week.

So that's been my day... How was yours? I hope your week is shaping up to be a good one! Check back tomorrow for Ten on Tuesday. If you choose to scrap along with me for 52 layouts, please leave me a link to see your work. Let's try for a 2 week deadline on this one.. perhaps I have some hope of meeting that.... Blessings!

52 Layouts Week 11... Yes Really...

OK.. so it's been since um... October that I posted my 52 layouts challenge for week 11. Better late than never right? I guess no extra credit points earned this round for prompt completion of my assignment.

The challenge for week 11 was to incorporate book pages or sheet music on a layout. I decided to go with the book pages. I used a vintage dictionary page, as well as several other text printed items like 7 gypsies tape, Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and Jenni Bowlin Cooredinations Text Cardstock. I made the 2 flowers out of tape. The larger one is the tissue tape, the smaller is washi tape. I saw this technique here on the Noel Mignon DT blog. Very fun technique and quick and easy to do.

I also got it in my head that I could draw on and then stitch a spider web that said "some pig" just like in the Charlotte's Web book. I loved that book as a kid. I still remember the day my Dad took me to Printer's Ink and said I could pick out 2 books! The spider web came out OK... but I will caution you, should you choose to draw a spider web and punch holes in it so you can stitch... Don't punch too many holes too close together or you will easily push a big hole right thru your paper when you are trying to stitch it... kind like sewing Swiss Cheese... ha! It came out OK I guess...a little messier then I'd like and I wish I'd used less strands of floss on the web part.

All in all I am pleased with the results, and the whole subject and seeing pictures of books and my Kindle just totally makes me smile. Yes.. I love reading just that much.

So now... shall I pick a challenge 12? I would like too... I am considering it.. just trying to determine with this whole bathroom remodel and life thing going on how much time I have and if I can complete the next challenge in under 6 months! ha! No seriously.. I think I will be posting a new challenge tomorrow... just may not be able to guarantee results in a week. Somewhere between a week and 6 months sounds doable doesn't it?

Friday... Date Night.. yes, despite the illness, we still managed to have Date Night. It was the stay home, sit on the couch, eat pizza and watch a movie variety, but it fit the bill for this week. I was still not feeling up to par but was improving. Darrel brought home dinner, and we already had a few movies on hand from Blockbuster Online. We watched Knight and Day, and Four Christmases. They were both just OK. I was really rather underwhelmed with Knight and Day. It was like supposed to be action adventure that was also funny. Didn't work for me. Especially the action adventure part because none of it looked realistically possible. Maybe I am just way over Tom Cruise? Who knows... We still had a nice evening though.

Saturday I told Darrel I had cleaning and walking on my to do list. He said well then I needed to give him my pen because that needed to be crossed off... Now he knows I hate it when other people cross stuff off of my list.... Despite this house desperately needing cleaning, and despite the very nice weather which was begging me to go walking, I didn't do either. Really did not feel well at all and kind of got worse again as the day went on. I guess the dirt and the nice weather will still be there Monday right? I did finish up the layout I shared and caught up on my Made To Crave homework since I was also behind on that from being ill. Really will need to do something about the dirty house this week... I swear I am seeing dust webs that make me think we are beginning to look like the houses of one of those hoarding people on TV... Do you know how bad dust and dirt can get in your house when you are doing construction projects indoors? Trust me....

Actually got myself vertical today and made it to church. I told Darrel it had been so long since I was dressed with make up and hair done that I was beginning to forget what I looked like! The past week I was out for work and Bible Study on Monday and after that, it was just a quick trip to the DR on Thursday. Other than that it was in the house either sleeping or feeling completely ill... So, it was good to be out today, but it didn't take much to be very tired and ready for home again. Still not feeling 100%... hoping that is coming very soon.

Tune in tomorrow for the next 52 layouts challenge! I am totally in a scrapping mood. Although.. perhaps more a knitting mood today since I am still not feeling much like leaving my chair... Hope you have a great week planned! Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

I love this time of year when all the color and green starts peeking up thru the brown and dead of winter. Not too many daffodils up yet, but spotted this one in our fence line, in the neighbors yard.

It was a gorgeous day here. I would have loved to go walking! Could have totally worn shorts and a tank top. This did not happen. Why? S I C K... Not only did I not feel better today, I got steadily worse. I still have the coughing, sore throat, headache, tired, thing going on. Too add to the fun, today I started feeling achy, then nauseous, then the chills and fever hit me. My fever got as high as 102.8 this afternoon. Not fun. Headed to the Dr. They said I have a viral infection. Got a steroid shot in my hip and a steroid pack to take. Apparently this is supposed to help. I have now been tested for Mono. Yes... Mono. They tell me they have had several cases this year (which is unusual) and I have all the symptoms. I don't have the results back yet. Hopefully will hear something back on that tomorrow. I hate that I have missed so much work this week. Wanted to get back tomorrow, but now I am not sure the fever is gone and waiting on the mono results so I guess I am stuck here. Aren't you supposed to stay away from people until you've been fever free for 24 hours? Beginning to go a little stir crazy.... You know when you are sick and uncomfortable and miserable and nothing makes you feel better, yet you are so tired of sitting or laying and not feeling better.... It begins to feel unending. I think the most fun thing I got to do today was to wear my pink polka dot flip flops to the DR...

So as not to continue being sick Debbie Downer here.. how about we talk about some things to be thankful for this week...

• beautiful weather especially today
• progress on the bathroom! There is a bathtub in there! yay!
• a husband who does laundry when I am sick
• A DR that will get me in quickly when needed
• the lab tech getting blood on the first try today
• pink flip flops
• finally getting crop stuff unpacked
• my green ruffle coat
• a great first Made To Crave Bible study on Monday
• my new Vera purse
• a great church service last Sunday
• great date night last Friday at Olive Garden and then a movie
• getting a new favorite photo of us on Sat. (the one Darrel took.....)
• good friends who have been checking on me all week
• singing in choir again
• new Easter shoes and dresses
• the new garage door opener
• the haircut my friend Alice did for me
• spring!
• my pretty pink Bible
• the approaching Capri pants, summer shoes weather!
• a beautiful card and gift I got in the mail this week from a friend
• pedicures
• toe rings
• my recliner

So with that I think I will take my sick self to bed. I hope your week has been good and that you have a good weekend planned. I hope to be all healthy, get back on my walking schedule, get some scrapping done and get myself ready to head into a busy week next week. Blessings!

Ten on Tuesday

1) Have I shown you the Easter shoes? Yes... they arrived. I think they are perhaps the cutest most fabulous shoes ever. They are fuchsia, they have satin, they have chiffon, they have patent leather, they even have a platform... what's not to love? Now... the challenge is to save them for Easter and not wear them before then. Why? Well because then they wouldn't be new for Easter. It works in my head.

2) I am SICK.... WHY must they torture sick people with medicine packaging? I am coughing my head off.. my throat is raw... I need some cough medicine. I drag my weary sick self to the sink to take my medicine and discover that Vicks thinks its a good idea to put the dosage info. UNDER the label so one has to stand there and peel up a corner and pull up the label to find out how much of the stuff they are supposed to take! Are they serious? I had no energy or patience for label peeling... What did I do? I poured some in the little cup and drank it. It was probably close to the proper dose. It might have been double... Did not care... Was happy to go drop back into bed and go to sleep. I mean be very impressed I did not just take a swig from the bottle.

3) We had our first Made To Crave meeting last night. I was sick then too, but not as much as today. I slept most of the day, got up, cleaned up and went to church/work for that and then came home and collapsed in my chair for the rest of the evening. The meeting went awesome. I admit.. I was a little intimidated about leading. Haven't lead an adult study before. But... God delivered and it went really well. I am looking forward to the next 5 sessions together. We had a great group! 16 people including me, and 3 were absent. So excited to have that many girls interested in this with me.

4) Why when I am sick do I want white rice with butter, sugar and milk on it? Does anyone else ever eat that for breakfast or is it weird? My husband said his family used to eat that too. It's like soothing for some reason. I remember my Mom making it for my Dad for breakfast. He worked shift work, so I didn't always see him at breakfast but sometimes I'd get to eat that with him. Maybe its that good memory that is soothing to me.

5) This arrived in the mail yesterday. I am hoping it will mount on the side of my dresser where I sit to fix my hair and makeup. Why? Because the current arrangement is driving me nuts... Every time I need in my sock drawer, I end up knocking my flat iron and curling iron in the floor. One day while getting my hair done at the salon I was noticing the holders they use for their hair appliances and figured this was the solution for me too! Why not get one of those and mount it to the side of the dresser? It's steel so it will also help if I forget and leave something turned on. Should this all work out according to the plan in my head, I will have to share a picture with you. Of course.. I will need to clean first.

6) How is it possible that I have slept all night, and a good portion of the day and yet I sit here still ready to fall asleep? I am not taking cold meds that make you drowsy. Apparently whatever this illness is, it just zaps all your energy and strength... I am beginning to wonder if I have any hope of being better by tomorrow morning? I really need to go to work....

7) My husband is in the kitchen. Making dinner. He is sweet like that. I am in the living room. I just texted him from the living room to ask for something to drink... I have no voice so I figure that is like the nowadays high tech version of like ringing a bell or something.

8) OK.. the texting idea only works when one keeps their phone with them... which he did not. So, next best thing was flagging him down next time he walked past the kitchen window...

9) I must be ill because I have 2 unopened scrapbooking packages sitting here. One should contain this... and the other one has this.. plus a few more LYB Twig embellishments to go with my kit from The Scrapping Spot. I bought the Sew Easy right from the mfg. in a bundle with the tool, a few heads, the mat and I think some floss? Did you spot those new heads that do pennants, banners, and vines... I need those immediately too! Also loving that bakers twine looking floss!

10) And now... the best part of having a very sore throat... Haagen Dasz. Chocolate Chocolate Chip. My husband brought a pint home for me. I always crave ice cream when I am sick too.... That isn't a bad thing right?

Hope your week is going well! Blessings!

Date Night Report and Beyond..

Is it a bad thing that there were as many points in my dessert as there were in my whole dinner? No? I didn't think so at the time. Well OK, I still don't cause it was really good. For Date night Friday we decided to have a "nice" dinner out and then go to a movie. A real "date." :) We went to Olive Garden. Last time we were there was during vacation last summer so we were ready! Darrel had the Lasagna Classico. I had spaghetti and meatballs. YUM. I usually don't care for restaurant spaghetti... but not true at Olive Garden. We also ordered the marina for our bread sticks and then decided to have some fabulous dessert. I have decided that chocolate ganache is a fabulous invention.. I think it should be a food group. This chocolate strata was not as fabulous as my beloved chocolate tower truffle cake, but it was still quite good. We had a nice, relaxed, yummy dinner and we didn't even have to wait for a table. With the time change between us and the big city, we got seated just before the rush hit.

Afterwards we decided to see the movie Battle Los Angeles. We had some time to kill before the movie... or so we thought. When we bought our tickets we neglected to say we wanted the 7:40 show so the girl sold us tickets for the 6:45 show... which has already started. Hate going in the dark theatre finding seats after it has started... so we got that switched and waited. The good thing about that? You have time to refill your popcorn before you go in the theater. After Darrel got his butter and a little salt added for oh... the 3rd time... ha... we were good to go. The movie was good. Intense! Sort of brought to mind like Independence Day, but there was not near as much story developed about the characters. It was more about the marines and the battle. Date night was great... and yes.. there was no shopping involved...














So Saturday morning we had to get ourselves prepared for church directory photos. I was not excited about this, and probably would have rather submitted one of Darrel's photos of us, cause I like those better, but being staff, I had to be photographed for the staff page. Wow.... was that like a huge run on sentence? We slept in, and then got ourselves dressed in matching attire and headed for the church. If you are looking for us in the directory.... we are the ones in fuchsia... I know, you are totally shocked aren't you? And no... my husband was under no duress on that decision. :)

The photographer was nice and tried his best... but we weren't crazy about our pics. They were fine, and OK for the directory, but we weren't jazzed about needing to buy a bunch of them. I wish I could have had him take like 20 more to chose from, but knew that was not possible. So what do you do? You have your husband take one when you get home... ha ha ha... Here we are post directory pictures..















This is just sit on the porch, hug your spouse and hold out the camera photography... but I like it! This was only take #2... the first one cut off our heads. We were thinking that is not a good thing.

I noticed the purple crocus flowers coming up in the yard and snapped a couple of pics of those. Aren't they pretty? It's always amazing to me that they even manage to come up because we planted them years ago, before piling tons of dirt and rocks on top of them when we built the new flower beds. They still manage to peek their heads thru.















It was also very warm yesterday and first day that I got to wear Capris and sandals! Yay! Love sandals and Capris... although as you can see... Jack was not impressed.















Here is my sweet husband and his favorite cat. He and Jack are quite the buddies... Jack came home with his usual injuries and we were trying to get him to hold still long enough to doctor him up. He must either be always accidentally getting himself in trouble, or perhaps he has another cat "friend" that beats him up all the time? It's weird... because often the injuries are in the same places. Doesn't seem to bother him. He likes his freedom and he likes to hunt!

Guess what happened next? It was finally time for the much anticipated bathtub to make its appearance in the house. Can you believe my strong husband managed to get a cast iron tub in the house, and into the bathroom all by himself? He learned some good tricks and tips back when we both used to work for a moving company.














At this point he was trying to get it to lay down where it goes, yet figure out how to get himself out of the way at the same time. Not an easy task. Finally it was in place...














Well... almost. I am thinking this is not quite how it goes. One would think you just scoot it down and into place now right? Wrong.. I tried to help.. but goodness... cast iron does not just move over when you want to give it a little shove.. Do not panic. We will not be taking baths on an incline... He did manage to get it where it goes very nicely. Not only that, it was level on the first try. Yay!

So now we enter a new week and this week our church starts a "Focus 40" which is a 40 day focus on prayer and fasting in preparation for Resurrection Sunday. I guess it is our version of a time of Lent. I've felt very convicted this year about participating in this time in a big way. As staff, we have already started working on a "Preparation for Renewal" booklet that has been very good and very convicting. I am still working my way thru it, but find I will need to be going back through it to get everything out of it I can. I like the way Lent was described on this blog. Especially the part that describes it as a time of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. That is my desire for what I'd like this time to be. Tomorrow is also the start of our Made To Crave study at church. I did not plan for these things to coincide, but I do not think it is coincidence. God has been working on me. I am in a huge battle with this food issue. It is my prayer that during these 40 days God will work and that I will obey in doing what it takes to break this stronghold in my life. I want to end this battle, this battle that takes away my peace every day. I want to do what it takes to end it now. To move forward. I am participating in the "fasting" or "giving up" in a couple of different ways. However I don't feel its appropriate to share what or when those things are now because of the scriptures like this one. I do hope to share all that I am learning and hopefully the ways I am growing thru this time though as it progresses. Are you participating in Lent or some type of Easter preparation? I'd love to hear about it.

So tomorrow I have work, right to Made to Crave and probably right to a council meeting. I am not liking that schedule especially since I am not feeling so good. I just got over being ill and Friday woke up with I think an ear infection. My stomach has not been great and I have a cough and throat thing going on too. I did get some antibiotics so hopefully I am on the mend. Last Monday 2 of our staff were feeling sick. By Friday another was sick... and then me. Guess we shared whatever this is. Hoping its gone tomorrow or I may at least be heading home before that meeting. We will see how it goes.

Hope you have an awesome week! Blessings!

Thankful Thursday

Yes, my new Vera purse has arrived. Of course this means that I need to fill it immediately. Well actually I waited one whole day which is really impressive for me. And, as you can see, even though the purse is not pink, I managed to fill it quite nicely with lots of pink stuff. Yes, it must also be organized and everything have its place. I cannot be someone who just throws everything in there and rummages thru it to find what they need... that would make... me... NUTS... I don't like it to be messed up on the drive between home and work if I had to grab my sunglasses and couldn't get the case back in the right spot while driving. Serious and yes.. I know I have issues. I like the purse. It's big... but I do like a bigger purse. However I then will usually spend the first week or so obsessing over whether or not it looks too big...see.. more issues. I blame genetics... ha ha ha.. Kidding mom ;)

Why did it take me a whole day to fill my new purse? Perhaps it was due to the great hair crisis of 2011... Can you believe that as of yesterday evening I had 2 haircuts in 2 days? Yes..a fact that I was NOT happy about. Let's see.. Tuesday after work I had my first appointment with a new stylist. My current stylist retired.. I MISS HER. I would have paid her money yesterday to come out of retirement and fix the mess that was my hair. Anyway, back to Tues. night. I decided to give this girl a try because she was close to home, and my friend Kay knew her. Kay and her daughter had also gotten their 1st haircuts by this person within the last week and they did fine. Me.. not so much. First, we had the whole waiting an hour till it was my turn thing. I was nice about it, but did not appreciate that. The cut seemed to go OK, but the lighting was dark, and 1/2 the time I was turned away from the mirror so I couldn't see what she was doing. I told her I liked a razor used on top for texture, but really that was all I saw her use, and she seemed to be spending a lot more time on the left side. It styled a little weird when she did it, but you know how most of us girls don't love a cut till we fix it ourselves. Or is that just me?

So.. Wednesday morning. I wash my hair.. I dry my hair.. I style my hair... and had nothing but trouble. I could not figure out what was wrong, but could not get the top to lay like its supposed to at all. There was much curling, spraying, teasing... to try and turn it into something I could live with for work. Now.. should I also mention I was having major depression and PMS issues on this day? I am sure you can imagine this is NOT a good combination. Um.. I might have thrown my comb at the mirror at one point, or perhaps I just imagined doing that in a hormonal moment of frustration..... When I somehow manged to get my teary depressed self to work, Kay asked how it went and I told her something was wrong. The top of my hair was definitely too long and really the whole thing, except for the bangs right in front seemed like it hadn't even been cut. I didn't think she took off enough, and I don't ever remember her checking to see if things were even. At this point I could not figure out what to do. Do I go back to the same girl and tell her to fix it? Um NO... not giving that a 2nd try. Do I make an appointment with another new stylist and try that? I could I guess.. but who to try? Then a friend from church pops in my head. I remember she cuts hair, and had recently went to the homeless mission in T. Haute to pamper the ladies there and do their hair. How sweet was that? So I call her and ask if she thinks she could take a look at my hair and see if she can salvage it. She agrees to help me out and I ended up heading back to church to meet her there since she was heading that way anyway.

Before going to meet her I washed the copious amounts of hairspray out of my hair and blowed it dry. This time I pay more attention to the cut and um the like front two inches of the top were one length and the rest of the top was longer! It was so weird... Why would she do that? Well when Alice starts combing thru my hair, she finds that not only is the top 2 different lengths, the right side was like 1-1/2" longer than the left side... the bottom was uneven, and there was a whole long weird piece in back that looked like it hadn't been cut at all.... GRRRR Did the first girl have her eyes closed part of the time or something? Well Alice got me all fixed up and now.. yes, I feel like I have had a good trim, and my hair actually looks like normal again. She did awesome! Sooooooo glad to have that dilemma solved.. Well, for the moment, because now I still have the dilemma of finding someone new... I guess I have about 6 weeks to get that figured out at least. Thank goodness for good friends that come and rescue me in the midst of my hair dilemmas that were about to send me right over the edge on a bad day...

I was having a great deal of trouble finding my happy place yesterday. And no, it wasn't only due to the hair. That was just gravy on top of the mess I already was. Apparently I wasn't hiding it too well because my boss told me I looked glum. This of course immediately reduced me to tears.. I told him I couldn't even tell him what was wrong if I wanted to. One of those days where its everything and nothing.. know what I mean? Mark prayed for me and that helped. I was wanting my husband in a bad, bad way though. Talked with him a little thru email and manged to make it till after work time. My happy place got a lot easier to find when He was home and hugging me.















So what is a girl to do when she orders 3 dresses to try on so that she can hopefully like one and use it for Easter and then decides she likes 2.. well OK.. all 3 of them? Well according to my facebook friends, you keep all three. I told Darrel what the other girls said and he wanted to know if they were funding this purchase. Ha ha ha... I also explained how each dress was 1/2 off, and then I had a 15% off coupon which meant I got all three for less than $75. Not bad right? Another friend said I should tell Darrel that then with the money I saved, I could get the shoes.. I had to tell her that um, those will be here in tomorrow's mail. Yes, those Fuchsia ones I showed you. I am hoping they will go with the front or back dress. I think they definitely will go with the front one and I think its my favorite too. Really, the middle dress is black and white and if I added a fuchsia tank under it.. viola! Dress #3 to go with the shoes. See... what a good value right?

Are you noticing there is no picture of a new bathtub in the bathroom? Um that would be because its still in the garage. Add some unexpected work overtime and a meeting to the week and once again we are a day or two behind what we thought we'd be. We have our church directory photos on Sat., but we are thinking we will still have some time to get the tub in the house then!

Apparently at church this evening there was an alarm going off on our fire alarm panel. It sends off tones when one of the smoke detectors or heat sensors needs cleaning or attention. I guess they asked the youth pastor and the SR pastor if they knew how to fix it and Mark said... I don't know.. I usually have Dee do it. Bwa ha ha ha... Should I consider that job security? Darrel thought it was pretty funny too. I was not there at the time... a church friend posted to me on facebook just to tell me about it. Guess I will have to give them a hard time tomorrow about how apparently they are lost without me.

So lets think about things to be thankful for over the past week!

• good friends that are hairdressers that can fix other people's messes!
• pink nail polish... it helped me find my happy place today
• a good book I am reading for Blogging For Books (Blind Hope) Quite inspirational!
• my new Vera purse
• normal hair again... and that I didn't end up bald or something
• thirtysomething DVDs which make the treadmill much more pleasant
• my new pink Bible
• Digorno 200 calorie pizzas. They are yummy
• my husband who helps me find my happy place
• new dresses
• new walking shoes
• new dansko sandals
• focus 40 (which is an emphasis on the 40 days leading up to Easter that our church is participating in)
• God's patience with me
• my job
• emailing and texting with family and friends
• a new garage door opener! Missed it so much when it was broken!
• progress on the bathroom
• some great time Saturday with my husband
• Saturday pancakes with my husband
• zumba
• NOT getting a ticket on Tuesday. Thank you God for nice policemen and warnings.
• getting to sing for the luncheon on Tuesday
• watching tv shows we like together with Darrel
• getting chinese food carryout with Darrel on Monday
• turkey burgers!
• that I did Zumba and the treadmill today!

Better head for bed. Would like to get a work out in before work tomorrow. Date night should be great and I am already looking forward to it.. now just have to figure out what to wear... Blessings!