WHERE have I been?

So, I have been very bad at keeping up with my blog. Or very busy? Well, I wouldn't say "busy", but I had other things on my mind and going on in my life, but I think I'm back to "normal" now..lol. Here are some pages I had done in the past month and just hadn't uploaded here yet. Two were for Helen's blog DT call and the two others were more recent ones I got to work on. I did do one more a couple of days ago, but I'm keeping that one to myself since the journaling is kind of private. So, I think I have a total of 5 LOs to add to my count which I believe puts my yearly LO count at 134. I'll have to double check, but I'm pretty sure that is what it's at.
On the workout front, I am FINALLY under 170! Woohoo!!! 168 to be exact last time I checked. God bless a dear friend of mine who said I looked like I weighed 148!! That would only put me 3lbs away from my goal weight! Good to know that I don't "look" like I weigh as much as I do. 23 lbs to go...I can do it...even if it takes me six more months...I CAN do it!
Um...nothing else really to update right now. At least not that I can think of. So, until next time...I hope everyone has an awesome start to a new year full of possibilities!! :)

A Few Good Friends.....

So, we were supposed to have our second church scrapbooking group yesterday, but Cheryl had cancelled it when they were expecting rain/snow. Sadly, it ended up being rather sunny yesterday...cold, but NO snow! :( So, at the last minute, I decided to invite some of the girls over to our house to work on our cards anyway since I was really looking forward to it. Thankfully, Laura, Liz and Yocasta were able to come along with Chon of course! lol We set up one of my 6 ft tables in the kitchen so we had plenty of seating for everyone! We ordered pizza and Laura and Liz brought some yummies :) We had a BLAST! Lots of laughing and chatting and a little bit of card making too! I am really just SO glad that I have made such a wonderful group of friends at church! It is really such a blessing! :) Liz always keeps us laughing. And Yocasta is a NUT...she's my kind of gal! ;) And Laura, well she is just my bestest friend EVAH! lol :) I am just so glad that we got to get together after all! I did about 26 cards...not sure if I'm going to need some more...have to look over my list. Laura was quite the little card maker for it being her first time. And Liz made some CUTE cards with some sequined trees on the front. Chon's of course were very loverly and vintage-y. And Yocasta got one done..lol..but she was just such a blast to have here! I did a mix of stuff, but I was pretty happy with all my cards. I need to take some pics to upload. I also got a page done sometime last week...using some Thanksgiving pics...used one of Helen Croft's sketches for it and I really loved it. Went by M's today and got another box of the DCWV cards, but solids this time. I also got some cute lil Christmas Snag Em' stamps and some Mary Engelbreit dimensional stickers to share w/the girls ;) Oh, and a K&Co pad of paper...Terri Conrad's Sweet Life. It's not a Christmas pad, but I loved the colors and they matched just what I wanted to use to make a Christmas mini using a BoBunny cb album I got from SB.com back on National Scrapbook Day. I had intended on buying this MME pad at M's that had some of the Be Merry papers and some from one of their other Christmas lines, but looking at it more closely, there were more papers that I did NOT like than papers I DID like. Also picked up a pack of these K&Co diecuts from their Evergeen line. We did a little shopping for Mikey's birthday next week, went and got Miguel and Mikey haircuts, and did our grocery shopping. Picked up some food on the way home then just hung out and watched some tv. Right now, Miguel is asleep on the sofa and Mikey is at my table sticking some Spongebob stickers I got him at M's :) Heading to bed in a bit because I am sleeeepy. Chon and the kids stayed here last night and we didn't go to bed until around 1:00. After Miguel left around 5:00, I laid in bed until 7:00 because I couldn't to back to sleep. Then didn't end up waking up until 10:00, but I feel like I didn't sleep well :( It's so nice and warm in here and I'm so drowsy....my bed is calling my name... Nighty!! :)

WHERE have I been???

I have been neglecting my poor blog again! Bad blogger! lol Not much has been going on here....just the usual. On the working out front....haven't done much of it sadly! I'm starting to "feel" it and that is not good because I don't want to undo all the hard work I have put into it. I really need to get back on track with the eating and hitting the gym regularly. My ankle has not bothered me too much the past few days, but haven't really done anything on it either, so we shall see.
I've done a teeny bit of scrapping...two pages, but I'm using them to submit to Helen Croft's blog design team at http://www.scrap-a-little.com/ and I'm not sure if we can post them, so I'll just wait until after to upload them here.
Oh, I want to thank Pam at http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/. She was hosting a Follow My Blog contest and I won...a $20 GC to scrapbook.com...yay!! Used it to get my sis some stuff she was wanting for her Christmas gift :)
This Friday is our second get together for our church scrapbooking group. Really excited about it. I'm hoping we will have more people than last time show up. No one RSVPd to me, but Cheryl said people had been letting her know they were attending and I know of a few people who have said they are going as well, so we shall see. Laura will be going to this one so I'm glad about that. I'm putting a little bit of stuff together for her since she doesn't scrapbook and doesn't really have any supplies.
Thanksgiving was nice. Spent it here at home with Mom, Miguel and the kids and Chon and her family. We went by Miguel's parents' for a bit afterwards and then just came home and watched some movies Miguel had rented. I love when we can just hang out at home and relax together...good times :)
What else? Can't really think of anything else blog worthy...soooo...tomorow is cleaning day...again...hopefully won't take too long since last week I went on a washing frenzy and washed everyone's blankets as well as all the sofa pillows! lol I'm hoping to get our little tree up on Tuesday maybe and then maybe over the weekend, Miguel and I can work on getting some decorations put up outside. Hope everyone has a great week :)

FINALLY...

hadn't scrapped since the church crop! I was itching to create! Finally did a page today...ALL me :) Yep, doesn't happen very often, but once in a great while, I can create a page that I didn't lift! lol

Ideas For Scrapbookers is having a little GC giveaway. Check it out here

http://ideasforscrapbookers.blogspot.com/2009/11/templates-pages-20-gc-giveaway.html

Not much else going on. Went to the gym on Tuesday...2.5 miles on the treadmill...2 on the Elliptical...some running, but nothing to brag about sadly. My ankle is still hurting..having to ice it daily...iced it TWICE today :( Haven't weighed myself in a while so don't know how it's going there, but my clothes is still fitting loose so that's good enough for me for now. It's late and I hate waking up so early, so that's all for now. Nighty!

Some pages to share....

So, the scrapbooking party at church was FUN! There were only 3 others besides Chon and me, but it was still a blast! I got to meet Yocasta in person :) We had been chatting on Facebook prior to that night. VERY nice girl...looking forward to getting to hang out with her more. And got to know Kim a little better even though she was pretty quiet...I know she was very tired! You looked very tired, Kim! But I was so glad that she joined us and stayed until the end :) And Liz of course, who I've known for a while (since our church retreat). She always keeps me laughing! We had some good conversation...some good laughs, got some scrapping done (4 of the 7 pages I packed), and got some much needed "girl" time. It's always so nice to hang out with other women and just have some fun! :) Cheryl said we are going to try to make it a monthly thing and she put me in charge of it...yay! I am really excited about this because this was something I had always wanted to try to get going at our old church, but the opportunity never presented itself. So, I'm just so excited that it's actually coming together at SSFC :) Our next gathering will be on December the 4th. And Cheryl had suggested that maybe we do Christmas cards which I think is a great idea because last year it got too late on me and I didn't do them.

Went to the Chili Bowl on Saturday...it was a good game. Saw a couple of old classmates and finally got to meet Joseph (an old classmate we found on FB). Him and another friend Alex treated us to dinner after the game...very nice of them :) Didn't go to church on Sunday because J (Laura's husband) was on a church retreat and she needed to drive the kids to CCD and stuff, so just hung out at home until Miguel got home and then we had a "date". We went to the movies and watched "Couples Retreat". It was funny. Not as funny as I thought it'd be, but funny enough. We picked up some food on the way home and just hung out. Nice night...much needed alone time ;)

I wen to the gym on Tuesday. Did 2 miles on the treadmill and 2 on the Elliptical. I ran 5 mins then 3 more later, but my ankle was hurting after. Came home and iced it and it feels "ok". I'm going to aim for 4 days a week at the gym....Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Now with the whole time change, it gets darker sooner and don't want to be riding the bus after dark. So we will see how that goes. I really think 4 days should be good if I really watch what I'm eating...which sadly, I have not. I'm not gaining anything AT ALL..which is very good, but I'm not losing either :( I really need to buckle down!

What else? I think that's about all. Here's some pics of the pages I've gotten done. Yesterday, I finished 2 of the 3 I didn't get around to Friday. I think this brings my LO total for the year to 127, but I'll have to double check :)

Warming up...

for tomorrow night's scrapbooking party at church. I did two more pages today....YAY...my mojo is back! Sure did miss it! :) Both were "lifts", one was inspired by one of the sb.com neighbors, Gumpgirl...really love her stuff, and the other was another sb.com neighbor, Delaina Burns I believe her name is...she's got some good stuff too! LOVE the way both of them came out. Didn't do much else today, but hang out at home...scrapping, doing laundry...got my bag packed for tomorrow. We need to all bring a dish to share and I'm going to bring chicken pot pie. Elijah has early release tomorrow, but his dad is picking him up and he'll be staying there for the weekend. He "was" staying here, but decided at the last minute he wanted to go....I knew he would :) Nothing else going on...still no gym...STILL have pain in my ankle...prayers would be greatly appreciated :) Nighty!

Just An Update....

I've gotten lazy about my blog again it seems! What has been going on? Halloween was fun. We ended up going over to Chon's house to trick or treat and hang out. She set up tables in the driveway and we had pizza and McD's. Our cousin Noel, his wife Missy and their kids Austin and Nick went over too. I hadn't seen them in a while...although we do keep in touch through Facebook. The guys and Missy took the kids trick or treating and Chon, Mattie and I stayed at her house handing out candy. The kids had a blast and ran around the yard while we all sat around and chatted. When it got too cold for us, we went in and watched this scary movie On Demand called "Orphan"....was good...and weird..lol while the kids played in Chon's scraproom. Not with her paper of course! lol :) It was a good time :)

I went to the gym on Tuesday....I did 25 minutes (2 miles) on the Elliptical and 2 and some miles (40 mins) walking on the treadmill...NO running whatsoever. Still came home and later that night, my ankle was hurting something awful! It felt like someone was squeezing my ankle REALLY tightly! I iced it and that helped a little, but it's just not feeling right! I'm afraid I might have messed something up with all that running because before I started all that long distance running, even with all my trips to the gym, I was not having pains or problems with it like I am now. I haven't gone any other days this week and I'm not really sure what to do. Going to just wait it out and play it by ear and try to hit the gym again on Monday.

This Friday we have a scrapbooking party at church. So excited about that. Chon is coming too so it will be good to have someone I "know" to talk to, but also looking forward to meeting new people and getting to know some of the women I have already "met" at church a little better. I have 7 pages packed and ready to go. And I managed to scrap one page today. I had not done one scrappy thing in THREE weeks!This puts my count at 119 I think. Had printed out two other pics in case the mood hit me, but it got late on me with baths, dinner, ect...so maybe tomorrow.

Hmm..what else? I can't think of anything else new going on. Oh, going to the Chili Bowl with Laura on Saturday night. That's a Highschool football game against our "rivals". Supposedly, this will be the last one because the school we used to play against will be becoming a "magnet school"...don't know what that means! lol Alot of old classmates are going so I think it will be fun to see who shows up. Definitely taking my camera :)
Okay, think that's all....sharing a few pics :)

Happy Birthday.....

to me and my sis! :) Today we are 25 years old :) lol Okay, no, we aren't! lol But I know we look it! :) Didn't really do anything "big" to celebrate it today since last night I had GNO with the girls. Today I went to church w/Laura as usual and then afterwards when Miguel got home from church w/the kids (he had picked up Lij from CCD), they brought me a small cake from HEB, along with some roses and a FUNNY Hoops & Yoyo card that I just LOVE!! :) We took Lij back home to his dad's to go to the pumpkin patch and then Miguel, Mikey and I went to have lunch at Good Time Charlies. Good food :) Afterwards, we went to M's at The Quarry. Didn't really find anything for myself. Bought Mikey some Halloween finger puppet foam things that were on sale and I got some stamps for Robyn which is my best friend Laura's daughter. Her birthday is Nov.2 and the last time they came over, she was admiring my stamps and all my scrapbooking stuff. So, I'm going to try to get some things together for her :) Which btw, Laura got me some cool scrappy stuff for my birthday along w/THE sweetest card which I just LOOOOOVE!!! Thank you SO much Laura!!! :) Anyway, afterwards we came home and just hung out here. I didn't even get to make my cake because I was kind of lazy to do it! lol But I think I'll try to make it tomorrow and then just "fake" some pics! ;) I NEED some pics of me w/my cake! What else? Oh yeah, the last time I went to the gym which was on Friday, I didn't do so well with my running :( I was only able to run 10 mins non stop because my ankle was KILLING me! Or more like my achilles tendon...I think that's what it's called. Every time I moved my foot to run or even walk, I kept feeling something "pull" back there and it HURT! So I was only able to run that. After that, I ran at 5 minute intervals, so I ran a total of 25 mins, but only 10 non stop. I guess I just over did it. I couldn't really understand why my ankle hadn't been hurting up until then, but I guess maybe I just pushed myself too much. So didn't go to the gym over the weekend. May or may not go tomorrow depending how my foot feels. I had Miguel massage it today and right now it feels okay. But God willing, I'll hit the gym again for sure on Tuesday and will just have to take it easier. I'll just play it by ear. I'm not going to let this discourage me :)

STILL haven't done any scrapping. I have lots of pics I could use, but no mojo whatsoever! I don't know if I had mentioned this before, but two other women from church who I found out scrapbooked and I were discussing starting a scrapbook group at church so we are going to have our first get together on the 6th of November. So maybe instead of trying to scrap, I'll use these next couple of weeks until then to plan some pages and get some stuff together to work on that night. It's going to be from 6 to 10 so I should be able to get a few pages done. Plus, I'm looking forward to getting to know some of these other women I've seen at chuch. Laura won't be able to make it because she's going to have a slumber party for her daughter's bday that night.

Oh, forgot to talk about our GNO. We had dinner at Mama Margies along with a couple of YUMMY Margaritas then we ended up downtown at Pat O'brians. It was fun. Had a couple of drinks there...kind of...lol and alot of laughs. Sadly, I left my camera in Laura's truck...DOH! So, I didn't get any pics! So mad I did that. But one of my friends took a couple of pics on her camera phone, so I'm going to ask her to pass those along to me.

Oh, and yesterday, Chon met us out at Fiesta Texas w/the kids and we did that Fright Fest thing they have going on right now. Mikey wore his Max costume and got SO many compliments. He had a good time riding the rides w/Victoria. I got on a couple w/him. And Miguel and I got one one together. We want to try to go back next weekend at night...just him and me. That would be fun :)

Oh, forgot to say that I also colored my hair. It's alot lighter...has a reddish look to it now. I really love it! :)

Okay, I think that's about it for now!

STILL no scrapping, but it's worth the sacrifice...

I STILL have not been able to find the time or the mojo to get a page done! I am ITCHING to be creative, but every time I sit down to start something, Mikey wants something so the constant interruptions are killing my scrappy vibe! I have these awesome pics of Mikey dressed as Max from Where The Wild Things Are (my sis and her hubby made Mikey the costume and it is AWESOME!) and they have been sitting on my table along with ONE sheet of patterned paper for DAYS!! NOTHING is coming to me! I really love the pics so I don't want to half arse it just to get it done you know? I find that when I'm devoting more time to my working out, I don't have as much time to sit and scrap or peruse the galleries and stuff. By the time I get my "chores" done and Mikey gets settled doing something, it's almost time for me to go to the gym. BUT I know that it's paying off and that I'm seeing results and reaching my goal. So I'm sure down the line when I've finally lost all the weight I want and I can run for miles and miles to my hearts content, I will be glad that I prioritized my health over my hobby :) And speaking of the gym, I went again today....kind of late because my mom went back to work today so by the time she got home, it was kind of "late". I didn't end up getting to the gym until around 5:30 and I was afraid there would be no machines empty because that's usually the time when the gym is pretty packed. And when I got there, I glanced over at the machine and sure enough, there were none available! I was kind of bummed. All the treadmills in the women's workout area were available, but I hate being back there. In my opinion, it bores me to be back there all alone looking at myself running in the mirror! lol I find it ALOT easier to work out in the actual gym because there are so many people and I can easily get distracted from my pain by watching other people working out. So anyway, by the time I had put my stuff away in the locker and went back out, I noticed that my FAVE treadmill to run on...the one WAY at the end was free so I hurried over there before someone else took it! LOL So the running time for today...I was hoping to keep at least my last running time which was 2.5 miles/35 mins, but I was able to add to it today and I ran FORTY TWO mins non stop for a total of THREE MILES!! WOOOHOOO!! Seriously, I am totally blown away by the fact that I am actually doing this! I didn't think I had it in me! But I cannot take all the credit because I have been praying for the strength to do this and I KNOW, it's all Him!! I feel him...pushing me on! And it's SO awesome!! And the thing that makes me feel even more so that God's hands are on me is because my ankle is not hurting me....AT ALL! He is AMAZING! I feel like such a dork sometimes when I'm running and listening to 33 Miles and wanting to smile like a dummy because I know He's there and he's rooting for me!! So just had to share my latest accomplishment. God willing, I'll be hitting the gym again tomorrow then taking the weekend off. Oh, Miguel picked me up from the gym after because it was kind of late and he was on his way home from work anyway, so we stopped at Target for a few things and I bought myself a couple boxes of hair color. Yes, I'm going to color my hair! I used to do it all the time before and I really liked it, but had gotten kind of tired of having to keep up with it. But I'd been wanting to do it again for a while...I feel like I need a "change" so I'm going for it. I hope it "takes" since my hair has gone back to its natural darker color. I'm hoping for a light red color...we shall see :)
GNO is on for Saturday night. We are having dinner at Mama Margies...and some Margaritas :) And then bowling! Yes, I love bowling! Not very good at it, but I do enjoy playing! Miguel and I were going to spend the day together on Saturday, but I feel bad for leaving Mikey at home when he hasn't really gotten out all week, so I told Miguel that if the weather is nice and fresh, I'd like to take him to the zoo...maybe have a little picnic. Mikey is ALL about the outdoors! I like the zoo too...always have, ever since I was just a little girl! So, we'll probably do that during the day then come home and get ready to have dinner. Which reminds me I need to charge my camera batteries!! Okay, it's getting late and I need to head to bed. Nighty peeps :)

It CAN get better!!

I hit the gym ealier today. I got all my "chores" done and out of the way early and had planned to scrap until around 2p.m. then leave for the gym, but Mikey just wasn't cooperating and letting me do anything, so I ended up leaving for the gym earlier. I had also taken an allergy pill because I wasn't feeling very good, so I was kind of drowsy...not good to be drowsy and running on a treadmill...lol But by the time I got there, I was good :) I get so nervous lately when I go...well, not nervous..well, yeah...maybe that is the word I'm looking for...lol...Because I want to do good on my running and I'm afraid I'm not going to do as well as I did the last time or be able to hang in there for very long, ect, ect...So today, I was really hoping to make it to 30 mins....just 1.5 mins more than yesterday. And let me tell you, this running thing is just SO hard! It never fails that around the 10 minute mark...my legs are hurting and my mind starts telling myself that I'm not going to do as well today and that I'm going to have to stop soon, ect, ect...Oh, a million negative thoughts start coming into my head along with the pain, but I just have to push them out and stay focused and think about other things. I really can't imagine having to work out/run without my Ipod. What got me through today? Other than God of course because I know in my heart that He is giving me the strength and endurance to do this. I know that He knows how much my heart wants this. So anyway, there's this song by Flyleaf called "All Around Me" and that song just motivates me so much! Along with my fave..33 Miles like "Jesus Calling" and "There IS a God". Throw in some Kelly Clarkson, Lifehouse and Beyonce and I am good to go! lol Anyway, so yeah...I really have to just keep pushing myself mentally....hit 10 mins and tell myself...just go 2 more mins...hit that mark...go x more mins..ect, ect...it really does have alot to do with your mentality! You just have to psyche yourself out...keep pushing on...so in the midst of this pain, I was still able to run TWO AND A HALF miles NON STOP!! Yes, I know! I can't believe it either!! That was 35 minutes of consecutive running and my ankle was not hurting in the least...thank you God!! I was SO happy! I wanted to get off and run around the gym hugging random people! LOL JK..I wouldn't really do that! I'm amazed that it's taken me so little time to get to where I am now....been running since June, because when I had my treadmill at our old house before, it took me about a year to be able to run 16 minutes and that was only a little over a mile. And I couldn't do it every day either. It was pretty random. But this time around, I've been able to run the same amount of time as my previous run AND add more time on a consistent basis. I am just SO super excited about it because running is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Well being able to run non stop and consistently and I am reaching that goal! And it just totally blows me away that I ran 2.5 miles today because the goal I had set for myself...that I was really hoping to achieve was to be able to run one mile non stop. And I did that AND more!! Happy dance!! LOL Anyway, just had to make note of this and share with whoever reads my blog! lol I tried to get some scrapping done today after the gym, but it wasn't happening. Mikey was too wound up or something. I did manage to make a card so at least I got to be a little creative. Maybe tomorrow. I don't think I'm going to the gym tomorrow. My mom goes back to work...don't know if I'll go later in the afternoon. So maybe I can get some scrapping done tomorrow. For sure, I'm back at the gym on Thursday and Friday, God willing. Oh, and Saturday is our GNO!! YAY!! Can't wait for that. Don't know what Miguel and I are doing during the day, but we are spending it together and doing something as far as I know. Sunday is our actual birthday, but I don't have anything planned for that day. Okay, going to watch some tv before heading off to bed. Nighty :)

I never thought the day would come....

Laura called me earlier today to let me know that Brother James messaged her to say that our exercise classes at church are going to be put off for a while because he needs to concentrate on the Karate classes that he teaches. I'm kind of sad about that because I really liked doing them for my "off" days you know? For the days I didn't go to gym, it was a good workout to do. So now, I guess I'm going to have to go back to just doing the gym. So after she told me, I hurried and did all my cleaning and left to the gym. The last time I went...last Thursday....I ran 22 minutes. So today, I was wanting to push myself the extra 3 minutes to make it 25. And thank you God, I was able to hang in there for 28 1/2 minutes!! Now that I think of it, I could have tried to push myself for another minute and a half to make it 30, but still, I'm SO happy that I was able to do that much. The reason I ran only half a minute extra was because I was so close to 2 miles, so I ran the extra time to get there. I cannot believe that I was able to run TWO miles non stop!! I was SO excited! That has been something I have been wanting to do for SO long! I have been working hard at building up my endurance a little at a time and I am finally seeing the fruits of my labor! I never thought I would actually get here! I sure hope that I can consistently run that length of time from now on and eventually add more time to it too!! Had Hobby Lobby had anything good on sale, I would have definitely treated myself to something! Sadly, there wasn't! Anyway, I was so excited and just wanted to share :)

22 baby!

I just wanted to make note, for my own benefit, that yesterday I ran 22 minutes non stop! WOOHOO!! It was HARD! I was praying for the strength to just keep going because I really wanted to stop like halfway into it! But I did it! And I'm so happy! It was about 1.60 miles...did a total of about 3 miles but I walked the rest! I treated myself to some Hobby Lobby afterwards and this time I remembered my wallet! I got myself this We R Memory Keepers pack of paper that was on clearance, a Daisy D's title rub on for .50 and this new MME pack of paper they had there called "Summer Song" using a 40% off coupon. There was another one I wanted to get, but I'll wait until paper goes half off. Also got Mikey some little Halloween crafts stuff and some orange lights for outside. All the Halloween stuff was 40% off. My ankle was really hurting last night though, but Miguel massaged it and it feels better today. No gym today. I woke up with a sore throat, sinus pressure and sneezing :( Took some allergy pills so hopefully it won't get any worse. Wanted to do some scrapping, but SO drowsy from the meds. Hate to go nap since I only got up a few hours ago, but I think I should. I'll try to scrap later ;)

Here are three more pages I've done in the past few days. This puts my LO count at 118 for the year. The first one is a lift off of one of the neighbors at sb.com-Delaina Burns. The second is a lift from my fave 2 Peas artist April Yap and the last one was all me. I'm not too crazy about that one though. But there it is! lol

Yesterday I went to the gym with a goal in mind. To at least run the 18 minutes I'd ran the last two times I went to the gym, but I was really going to try to hang in there for an extra two minutes to make it 20. Well, I was able to add one more minute for a total of TWENTY ONE minutes of consecutive running! WOOHOO! I was SO happy!! My ankle was slightly hurting, but not too bad and I wasn't really struggling to breathe which makes me think I really could have pushed myself just a little bit more and maybe done 25? Even so, I'm super happy that I have reached my goal!! I think it came out to a little over a mile and a half that I ran non stop which is SUPER for me I think. Oh, and if that wasn't enough....I also lost another 1.2 pounds! So that makes a total of 17 pounds that I've lost since June! I am SOO close to reaching one of my weight goals...only 4 pounds to go and I will be there! After that, I will have 24 more pounds to lose to reach my ideal weight. It's SO close. I know I can do it. I WILL do it!! :) I've also been practicing my pushups. At class on Monday, Brother James was talking about how important it is for us a women to have more strength in our arms and he suggested we do at least 10 GOOD pushups in the a.m. and again at night. So that we can work up to doing "guy" pushups instead of girl ones. So yesterday and today, I did my pushups and I think I did them pretty good too. I'd really like to tone up my arms more so I'm going to keep doing that.

Hmm...not much else going on. We didn't have class today because Brother James had Open House at his daughter's school and I thought about going to the gym again, but my ankle is really hurting today. I guess I kind of over did it yesterday. But I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow so I'm definitely hitting the gym then and Friday...God willing :)

I think we are going to try to go to Lovecreek Orchards this Saturday. I didn't realize how few weekends we had left this month before Halloween. We can't go next weekend because that is our birthday. And the next one will be Halloween. So it has to be this weekend. I NEED my pumpkin patch pics! lol Speaking of birthdays, Chon and I will be turning 38! Yikes! Freaks me out!! It's only two years away from 40! I know that I surely don't look my age and I don't really 'feel' it either, but just the thought of 40 years of my life being behind me...well, that's just alot of time! Makes me realize how fast time goes by and how I should cherish every single moment of life that God blesses me with! I think we are just going to have a girls night out thing that Friday. Laura, my friend Maria, maybe Chon and I are going to see what we do. And on Saturday, Miguel and I are going to try to plan a little get away and spend the day together. At least, that was what I told him I wanted to do....don't know if it's still going to happen. I'll probably make myself a small cake....just to have one...but I promise I won't eat it all! LOL Oh, maybe I'll make myself a big brownie instead? We shall see :)
I think that's all for now. Later :)

Bad Blogger

Oh, I'm neglecting my poor little blog! Sometimes I just get so lazy to come update...lol...don't know why! Hmm...what's been going on? Well, still working out...at the gym and exercise class w/Laura. The last time I went to the gym after not having gone for about 3 weeks because of Mikey or I being sick, I weighed myself and I lost 3 more pounds which makes it a total of 16 lbs since June. That's good I guess. I'm mean, it's better than nothing, but I sure with it would come off faster! I feel like I'm busting my butt and it's just not happening fast enough. Everyone tells me though that it's better to take it off slowly to ensure you don't put it back on. Doesn't look like I'll reach my goal weight by the end of year, but then again...who knows! I still have 29 lbs to lose to get to where I want to be. I'm pretty confident that early next year..God willing, I will be there :) Oh and speaking of working out, the last two times I went to the gym, I was able to run/jog 18 consecutive minutes! I know! I was SO excited!! My goal, aside from keeping up at least the 18 mins, is to try to run an extra two mins to make it a total of 20 mins running non stop. I'd be REALLY happy with that!! Maybe this week?? Today was class and it was HARD! James had us doing sprints and that kicked my butt! I had a headache after..lol Tomorrow, I'll be going to the gym, class again on Wednesday and gym hopefully Thursday and Friday.


I've also done a little bit of scrapping and I reorganized my scrap area yet again! I loved how I had my two big tables pushed together at our old house, but I had never tried doing that here. I don't know why, but I thought it wouldn't fit or there wouldn't be enough room around the tables to walk around. So one day this past week, I had nothing to do so I decided to move some stuff around. Mikey helped me take everything off the shelves and move it to the kitchen island. And thankfully somewhere in the middle of it all, he ended up falling asleep on the couch so I was able to get more done with any interruptions. It looks great! And the kids love it too! I love that they can sit across from me at my table and do their own thing without getting to close to what I'm working on. It's also good for when Chon comes over to scrap because she is a known table hog! LOL So now she has a whole side all to herself! As a matter of fact, she came over on Saturday and we did a tiny bit of scrapping and it worked out just perfectly.
Well, here are pics of the pages I've done recently. This puts my page count at 115 for the year. I have one other page I need to take a picj of and upload, so I'll update when I do that. Good night :)

111

I managed to do this one page the other day. I really love it! I started out trying to "lift" a LO from one of my fave 2 Peas artists....April Yap, but ended up doing this which looks nothing like her page at all. Alot of times, I just need a starting off point to get some ideas flowing. I also really LOVE this pic of Mikey and Victoria. Although, I wish Mikey was looking at the camera, I still love it. Victoria is just so used to taking pics and posing...she's good at it :) I have another page that's been sitting on my table for a couple of days now. I haven't gotten the chance to get any scrapping done. Sadly, it seems that when I start going to the gym, I have less time to just sit and play with my paper :( Today after I got home fromt he gym, I started making dinner, then I had to help Lij with this project he had for school...making some kind of car that was going to be propelled w/balloons. When Miguel got home, he took over and I played Mickey Mouse bingo w/Mikey for miniature candy bars. On the way home from the gym, I thought it would be fun to stop at Walgreens and buy some Halloween candy bars and play Bingo with the kids for candy. Of course with Lij taking longer on his project, only Mikey and I played. It was still fun. Anyway, so now Mikey is asleep, but it's after 11 and I don't think I should stay up too late because then I'll hate waking up in the morning. Miguel is watching a movie, so I just might stay up until he goes to sleep. Tomorrow, I think Chon is picking my mom up so it will just be me and Mikey. Lij will go to his dad's afterschool for the weekend, so maybe I can get some scrapping done then. I don't think I have much to do in the way of "chores", so here's hoping. Anyway, that's all for now. Nighty night :)

Here are all my latest pages in no particular order :) This puts my LO count at 110 for the year. I think Chon is ahead of me by one...I need to catch up!! lol The first three I did yesterday. Chon and I had a little scrapping/shopping day. Didn't even really do much shopping. We went by Target, Hobby Lobby, Big Lots, Scrapbook Heaven and Tuesday Morning, but there wasn't much I wanted. Can you believe that?? I bought 5 sheets of paper and two sheets of stickers at half off @Hobby Lobby, a pack of MM Flea Market line cb and transparent clocks and the 8x8 pack of paper from that same line @Target, got some Lil' Davis Halloween cb letters and journal stickers, some Heidi Grace rubs, and a sheet of quote stickers @Big Lots, NOTHING at Scrapbook Heaven (that is always a disappointment but Chon always insists on going..lol), and a 8x8 pack of Pink Paislee Pop Fashion paper at Tuesday Morning. Okay, maybe I DID buy alot of stuff! LOL What I meant to say I guess then, is that I didn't spend alot of money on these things. The most expensive thing I got was the 8x8 paper pack at Target and that was $4.99. Everything else was less than that. The Pink Paislee pack was only $1.99!!! That is just AWESOME!! And all the Lil' Davis stuff and the other stickers...a dollar!! Can't beat that!! So I got those three pages done and we shopped,had lunch and just hung out...good times :)
Today, we were going to meet up w/Chon and Steve and the kids at Fiesta Texas...a very last minute thing. And when we get there, we are told the park is closed to the public because Valero is having their company picnic! BOOOOOO! So sad! Mikey had been asleep and woke up just as were driving up the parking booth and he was just SO excited! I felt so bad that we couldn't stay! :( :( We ended up meeting up at a park by Chon's house and the kids played for a bit. We did some shopping after and then did our grocery shopping, then came home. I picked up a book yesterday at Wal Mart called "The Shack". A friend recommended it and said it was really good. I started reading it today and so far, I like it. I'm sure I can finish it in a couple of days. I also picked up another book at the Family Christian Store called "Captivating". Don't know if I had mentioned that Miguel had gotten me a present while I was away at my retreat and one of the things in there was a small book with some verses and stuff from that book. I liked the smaller book, so decided to get the other to read as well. I love reading...so glad I started reading again...didn't realize how much I missed it! Oh, at Target today I also picked up the MM Spook Alley 12x12 and 8x8 packs...really like them! The larger pack has 6 of each sheet so I'm going to share that one w/Chon if she doesn't have it already. I also picked up two packs of these Colorbok Transparency Frames they had there for a dollar...SO cool! Can't wait to use those! That's about it. Tomorrow is church w/Laura and afterwards we are meeting up with Chon and our friend Maria for lunch...should be FUN! Last time we got together, we ended up staying at the restaurant for SIX hours! lol So much fun when we get together! Gotta remember my camera :)Until later :)

Lazy....

I have seriously been so lazy about updating my blog! lol Don't know why...just haven't felt like it. I know there were things I wanted to talk about and since it's been a while, can't even remember anymore!
The retreat for one...was SO awesome! For a while there, I thought I was going to have to miss it because I'd been feeling sick and I just couldn't shake it! Not sure what it was/is...allergies, a cold...I'm STILL trying to get over it. The sneezing, coughing, headache...That morning of, I felt SUPER bad...lol, get it? Superbad? Anyway, I really just thought of calling Laura and telling her I wouldn't be going because I didn't want to start feeling worse over there and ruin it for everyone. But I decided to just pack up all my meds and pray for the best :) It rained a good part of the drive up there, but then stopped. This encampment place happened to be just down the road from Garner State Park. And it was so big and very nice...clean too...which everyone who knows me knows this is a BIG deal for me. Our rooms were nice and big and again like I said, VERY clean so I was really happy about that. We all got bottom bunks except for Laura who got the only full sized bed there. And we ended up spending all of our time all huddled on her bed laughing, talking, eating, crying, praying...ect, ect :) We got some time that first day to just walk around the place and Laura, Liz and I went down by the river and stuck our feet in there. And I also happened to get bitten by ants there too! :( I had to take my socks off because they were COVERED in ants and then threw them in the river because we wanted to see them "float" down it...LOL. Laura took some great pics down there. I have to save some to my computer and post them here. I took my camera, but didn't even get any good pics other than one of me and Laura! It was SO nice out there...so beautiful and quiet. It was nice to just be able to think clearly. It's not very often that I get the opportunity to be kid free and just "be"...to think my own thoughts, feel my own things. I know that all of you Moms can totally relate to this. I missed the kids, but boy, I needed that! We had alot of speakers those two days. Heard alot of testimonies. It was very inspiring, eye opening. Hearing alot of these stories and talking to alot of these women, I realized alot of things about my own life. And I made alot of decisions in my heart. I have to say that the most awesome part of the weekend was that I actually felt God's presence. I hadn't felt him in a LONG time and boy, was I needing that! I used to feel him alot when we first started going to church and I started reading the bible, but I feel like I had kind of started to "stray". That weekend brought me to my knees and brought me back to Him. I won't go into details about things that I experienced because it's very private to me, but I will say that I prayed for something that weekend and I honestly believe with my whole heart that He heard me. So many things seemed to just "fall into place" after I came home that Sunday. So many things that led up to that weekend made me see how this "series of events" took place to get me to where I am today. I know this might not make much sense to anyone reading this, but I know what I mean...lol..and really, I just want to document this here so that I don't forget the experience. So...it was a great weekend....lots of fun too...laughing like I hadn't laughed in AGES! Liz is one CRAZY girl! I really feel like I'm making new friends at this church...meeting so many new and different people. I really want to get involved here and do what I can to help where help is needed. I'm SO happy that because of my friend Laura, I have found a home in this church :)
Moving on...after I came home and was still trying to get rid of this "thing", Mikey ends up getting sick, running a fever. We took him to the doc (thank God Miguel was on vaca that whole week) and they tested him for flu and strep and both came back negative. Thank God! The ped said it must be something viral and told us to continue w/the Ibuprofen and watch him for the next few days making sure his cough didn't get worse and that he didn't run a fever for more than 3 days. Thankfully, his fever broke after two days, but he developed this horrible, phlegmy cough that was keeping him up at night. I was sleeping on the recliner in the livingroom w/him on my chest because he seemed to cough less this way. Tonight, I put him down in our bed and so far he's been asleep for about an hour and no coughing yet. I'm praying the worst is over. He's back to his active self, eating and drinking normally, so I'm hoping that is that.
Miguel's vaca was so very nice, but went by so very fast :( We didn't do much because like I said, Mikey was sick and I still wasn't feeling too well, I did get to move the kids beds....took the bunkbeds apart and put Mikey's in our room so he can sleep in it and Miguel and I can go back to sleeping in the SAME bed...NEXT to each other! lol That hasn't happened yet though because of the whole sleeping in the recliner thing. Hopefully when Mikey is better....crossing fingers! I'm glad we got to do that though and got that out of the way. The rest of the time, we just hung out here at home. It was really nice and I missed him terribly when he went back to work on Monday.
What else? Hmmm...can't think of anything else right now...it's late and I really should go to bed. I hate waking up early. And I should take advantage of this time that Mikey isn't coughing. Oh, got some scrapping done...three new pages to add to my total which now comes to 105. I'll upload those tomorrow. For now, I'm headed to bed. Night peeps :)

Short and sweet....

I know it's been a week since I last posted and there's alot I want to write about. Maybe not stuff you want to read about...lol..but stuff I want to document for my own benefit. If you like reading it, that's an added bonus! :) But Miguel is on vaca this week, Mikey AND I are still trying to get over whatever the heck we have (allergies, cold..who the heck knows). He's running a fever right now :( so prayers are greatly appreciated...I HATE when the kids have fevers :( Really quickly, my women's retreat was AMAZING to say the least. So much I want to say about that, but it will have to wait until later. DESPERATELY want to do some scrapping, but sadly....none of that has happened. Maybe this week? We shall see. Lots of things I want to get done while Miguel is on vaca. Things we NEED to get done. So....I will update as soon as I get the chance...night peeps :)

Exercise Update....

Just an update on my working out. Yesterday there was no class for the holiday so I took Laura with me to the gym. Laura did great for never having gone to a gym before...yes, NEVER! lol I started off on the treadmill and I was able to run ELEVEN minutes non stop! I know!! ELEVEN minutes! I was so excited! It was almost a full mile!! Back before "my injury" lol...I was able to run anywhere from 13 to 16 minutes non stop. So I'm not far from that!! YAY!! However, after doing so well on the treadmill, I did not do so well on the Elliptical! By then I was POOPED! I didn't do my usual 2miles/25 mins. I was barely able to do a little over one mile in 10 mins! Running really kicks my butt!! Today I started with the Elliptical and did my 25 mins/2 miles, so I didn't do as well on my running. I did run 4 mins two seperate times and did some other random 2 mins runs. I did 35 mins/2miles. Tomorow is class with Laura and then gym again on Thursday. This weekend (Friday and Saturday) is our church retreat. I don't really know what to expect since all I know of these "retreats" is the VERY little Miguel has told me about his ACTS retreats. But I already know, and just by seeing how different South San is from St. Philip's, that it will be NOTHING like his retreats. Which is good...very good. I'm excited about it...to see what it's all about and to be totally honest, to get some AWAY time..some ME time. TWO whole days without the kids! I can't even remember the last time that happened. Oh yeah....NEVER! That was probably before I even had kids! Don't get me wrong, I LOOOOVE my kids, but us moms know how hard it is to get any kind of privacy, quiet time, ect, ect...so this retreat is a welcome change :) I'm taking my camera so I'll be sure to get some pics of course! I MUST, MUST, MUST scrapbook this experience! :) Okay, I'm pooped and not feeling very well. My throat hurts a bit. I just hope I don't end up getting sick or anything. Don't want to miss the retreat or feel miserable while I'm there! Oh, I believe I have one LO to post...don't think I uploaded it yet. Add another to my LO count :) Night peeps :)

It's coming....

I know Chon will get that! lol My scrappy mojo is slowly creeping back I think! Thank Goodness! I was able to do two pages today that I really LOVED! For one I used a sketch off of a site called Little Shop of Sketches. And the other was a lift off of one of my fave artists on 2 Peas-April Yap. I really wanted to get another done, but I didn't have time before Lij got home and then I left for exercise class with Laura. This puts my LO count at 101! :) And speaking of class, today Brother James let us use the belts and resistance bands for regular class and it was HARD! REALLY! Laura and I "had" planned to stay for the second class which was the new one he was starting w/the resistance bands, but by the time our first class was over, we were both POOPED! Pooped I say! lol But we did stay to watch. And while we were sitting there, Laura says "that doesn't look too hard" and I'm like "yeah, because we are sitting HERE and not out there doing it!" LOL We did weigh in today since we had missed last week and Monday and I FINALLY lost...1.2 pounds! It's SOMETHING and I will take it! That makes a total of 13.2 pounds in about 2 1/2 months. I had plateaud on my weight loss and I know it's mostly because I'm not watching what I eat as closely as I was when I first started doing this. I'm maintaining, but I wasn't seeing any drop in pounds until today. I know that I have to really stick to it again because I'm so close to where I want to be. And I want to really reach my goal weight by the end of the year. I know that it's possible, but I really have to stay commited to it. Other than that, not much else going on here. It's time to get to bed. Still not used to getting up at 6:30, so goodnight peeps! :)

99

I did some scrapping today and yesterday. Still not "feeling" it, but alot happier with my pages. I think I've been focusing my spare time on working out so my hobby is kind of falling to the wayside :( Speaking of working out, I hit the gym today and I was able to run 7 minutes consecutively on the treadmill today!! WOOOHOO!! I was so happy about that! My ankle only hurt me a little. I ran a total of 15 minutes walked 25. I was pooped by the time I got on the Elliptical though and I was only able to do 15 mins/1 mile. I just couldn't get myself to keep going! I usually do the Elliptical first and treamill after, but today I decided to switch it up for the very reason of trying to run more minutes. And I did, but like I said, it kicked my butt! But I was happy. And for my big accomplishment, lol...I treated myself to some scrappy stuff! :) I walked across the street from the gym to Hobby Lobby and bought myself a few sheets of paper. Paper Studio now has some manilla colored ledger paper and manilla colored lined paper. I also picked up a few random sheets: some MME Penny Lane and Breaking Free and some other Paper Studio papers with some cool stars on it. I also picked up an Anna Griffin tag pad and I used a coupon to get a Paper Studio star punch. Very happy with my new goodies :) Here's a few pages I've done recently. This puts my LO count at 99 for the year :)

Happy Birthday .....

I can't believe that it's been 11 years since Elijah was born! It seems like only yesterday that he was just a little boy. I can't even remember what those days were like...they seem SO long ago! And yet at the same time...like it was just yesterday...if that makes any sense at all. Lij was such a good baby. So quiet and easy going. He would sit for hours and hours and just play quietly or draw or read books. I never had to worry that he was getting into something he shouldn't. I loved to sit with him and read or draw or do crafty things (he still loves to do that). Now, he's so grown up. His voice is changing..yikes...he's into music (Michael Jackson), girls (not ready for that), he's so smart and creative. He loves to learn and draw. He's such a sensitive soul...very kind and generous (although not always so with his brother)! I am truly blessed and very proud that this young man is my son :)

Today, Mikey and I made him a cupcake cake. It was actually Mikey's idea. He saw the picture on the back of the cake mix box and asked if we could make it. Luckily, we still had some cupcake liners so we decided to give it a try! I think it came out pretty good! Lij LOVED it! He said it was the best cake I'd ever made! LOVE him for thinking so! We aren't doing anything "big" today...just having cake and icecream after dinner which will be Domino's pizza per Lij's request :) On Saturday, we will have Chon and the kids over and Miguel is getting him an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. We'll order pizza that day too and Lij wanted to rent a movie to watch at home. Nothing big, just us hanging out together which is what I like. I'm so thankful that Elijah is just like that and satisfied with whatever he has. Anyway, here's a couple more pics we took of Lij blowing out his candles :)

Some more pages...I'm at 96 now....

Just wanted to share some recent pages. For some reason, I'm not "feeling" the scrappy mojo and my pages are feeling forced :( I want to scrap so badly, but the ideas and inspiration are just not coming!

Still working out. I still haven't weighed myself so not sure how many more pounds, if any, I have lost. I did do my measurements the other day and took note of those. Too bad I didn't do that when I very first started working out and dieting! I know that I've lost lots of inches, but it would be nice to know exactly how many. Went to class at church w/Laura again yesterday. Brother James wasn't there again so Joe I think his name was led the class. He did show up after class to tell us about some changes to the class schedule and he showed me and Laura this cool new class he's going to start w/resistance bands! I'm really looking forward to that one! Anyway, the workout was HARD! But good! REALLY good workout! My legs are feeling it today. Going to the gym later this afternoon. Also went on Tuesday. I'm hoping to go tomorrow as well as on Saturday and rest on Sunday. What else? Lij started school this Monday. He says he likes it and that he thinks he will have a good year since he knows everyone now. I'm happy to hear that because we had some issues last year with certain kids picking on him throughout the year. We are still getting used to the whole waking up early routine. So far, it's kicking my butt! lol I am NOT a morning person. And last night, I didn't get to bed until midnight because I was watching a Tyler Perry movie on TBS. I LOOOOVE me some Tyler Perry!! I have watched quite a few of his movies and just LOVE them all! I think I'd like to try to buy all the ones I've seen so far. LOL Just another thing to buy!

Well, I think that's all for now! :)

A Little Bit of Scrapping....

I got two pages done yesterday. One was a lift of a page Chon did just a while back...not sure if hers was a lift off someone else. The other was a lift of an sb.com neighbor, Sassy2000. I like the way both of them turned out!This puts my LO count at 93 for the year.
Not much else has been going on. Still working out and going to the gym. I went to exercise class with Laura on Monday and Wednesday. Wednesday was a GOOD, hard workout! We sweated our butts off! I haven't weighed myself in over a week I think. Trying to stay away from that because it's discouraging to not see the drop in pounds when I know I'm working out hard. So I'm just concentrating on the fact that I do see a change in the way my body looks and feels and the way my clothes is fitting way loose! I think I'll wait until the end of next week to weigh myself again.
Lij goes back to school on Monday. My baby is in the 6th grade now! WHERE does the time go? So proud of him! It will still be the same school he was going to last year....it goes up to 8th grade. So it won't be "that" much of a transition. Not looking forward to waking up early again...I am NOT a morning person!
Can't think of anything else new to write so that's all for now! :)