Scrap Happens

Random thoughts....

2012-02-02T12:00:00.002-06:00

***why is it still so hard to run 2 mins? At about a minute and a half...I'm TIRED! lol Today was my 2nd day this week doing the run2mins/walk2mins. I did it, but my ankle was hurting as well as my right knee. Think I'll do this for another week before I try to move on to whatever is next. I did level 1 (run1/walk1) for two weeks as well. We shall see.
**I remember one day before going to the gym, I kissed Mikey and he asked me if I had lipstick on because he felt it on his cheek I guess. I said "no", that it was Chapstick. And he asked why I was wearing it. Miguel said it was "because Mommy wanted to look good at the gym." It's CHAPSTICK not LIPSTICK! lol Besides, anyone who has seen me while or after I have worked out knows that there is nothing GOOD looking about me! I am sweaty, my hair is a mess and my face is RED!
***those green cargo type pants that were my next goal to try to fit into.....FIT! The last time I tried them on, they barely came up on my hips and I couldn't close them. Well, they close, but still a bit tight on my waist....soon, soon :)
***still on the whole exercising thing...I feel GOOD. EVERY. SINGLE. MORNING. I try to talk myself out of going to the gym (yes, STILL...lol), but after I go, I am so glad that I did and I feel SO much better. I have to admit that I feel guilty on the days that I don't go, but I am going at least 4 days a week, no less than 3 with the exception on last week, I only did 2...monthly woman issues :( But my body feels awesome.....I don't feel blah or gross...lol and that's a GOOD thing :)
***I got the idea off of Stephanie Howell's blog to make these "things" lol for Valentine's Day for the kids and Miguel. She used jars that she decorated to put little slips of paper with things she loves about each person and each day up until Valentine's Day, they pick out a slip of paper and read it. I thought it was such an awesome idea! So I made my own version of them. Since I didn't have jars, I made some hanging pocket type things that I decorated with scrappy goodness and a pic of me w/either Lij, Mikey or Miguel. The look on the kids faces after they read their little slip of paper each morning is priceless! <3 I guess Miguel likes it too....I hope! :)
***I've been doing some scrapping here and there whenever I have time and the mojo strikes. I'm up to 12 layouts this year so far. Last year, I didn't reach my 100 layout goal, but that's okay. December was kind of rough with my Grandma passing and just life in general.
***Elijah auditioned and made Glee again. He is getting better and better with his music and his confidence. I love that music is pushing him to come out of his shell more. He amazes me with how fast he can pick up and learn to play a song. I think he needs a little more work on learning how to make the most of his voice, but he does have a voice for singing....just needs more work. I am so super proud of him :)
Well, this morning as I was thinking about this post, I had more things in mind that I wanted to make note of, but they seem to escape me at the moment! I just wanted to make note of a few things going on right now for my own benefit. If anyone reads it....BONUS! :)
***

For The Record....

2012-01-18T14:50:00.002-06:00

It doesn't seem like I have too many people reading my blog...lol, or at least commenting, but I still want to keep track of certain things for my own benefit. Today was day #7 at the gym....last week, I went M-Thurs., skipped Friday, went Saturday and rested Sunday. This week, I skipped Monday because my allergies were KILLING me! I was SUPER stuffy AND runny at the same time....don't know how that happens, but I figured I would do no good running if I had to breathe through my mouth. By Tuesday, I was feeling a little better and went because I don't want to skip alot of days and get off track. I went today and God willing, will go tomorrow and Friday and rest for the weekend. I know that's three days off this week, but I don't think I should go 5 consecutive days. Today, not sure why, my knees were hurting while I was running. Maybe because I didn't stretch today? Possibly. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to start off on the Elliptical and do maybe 10 mins on there and then try to do my 20 minutes of running 1/walking1 on the treadmill. So far, that is all I have done at the gym...walking/running on the treadmill. I haven't been able to move up to level 2 yet which is running 2 mins/walking 2 mins. Not sure why...maybe I just need more time. On the up side, I haven't weighed myself since I started eating better and exercising a couple of weeks back, but I have noticed and felt a definite change in my body. My middle doesn't feel so "blah" as I like to call it or bloated I guess....I think I feel "leaner" if that makes any sense. I have a pair of jeans that I had already started fitting into the last time I had gone on a gym kick (back in August when the kids started school up until about mid November). They had been fitting me a TEENY bit snug around the waist back then, but not anymore!! I am just waiting for them to fit baggy on me...can't wait! Oh, and this morning while looking in my drawer for some unmentionables...lol I dared to grab a size 7 which had NOT been fitting me comfortably for a while and they FIT!! YAY!! So, I went down from a size 8 undie to a size 7!! Small steps....I WILL get there. I already have a new pair of pants that I am going to try to fit into....those pants are my GOAL!
Aside from exercising which is kind of sucking all my energy right now. Only because I guess I go so early (and I HATE. HAAATE waking up early!) to get it out of the way. Then I come home and get all my "chores" done and then I feel so physically tired that I don't feel like doing anything creative. But I have created 8 pages so far this new year and worked on some Valentine's Day cards for a swap I'm hosting on my Facebook scrappy group. I have some orders coming in soon so hopefully it will inspire me to create more :)

I'm BAAACCKKK.....

2012-01-12T11:37:00.002-06:00

with a confession.....GASP!! Yes, I know I've been MIA for quite a while.....stuff going on....nothing going on....just "life" happening. But I'm not going to update or try to remember everything that happened since I last blogged...nope, my brain can't remember that far back. Let's just move on shall we? SOOO, I have once again started going to the gym. Here's my confession......I. HATE. IT. Every single morning, I try to talk myself out of going: I'm too tired, I'm sore, I have SOOO much to do, I just want to relax, I'll go tomorrow, I need a break...ect, ect...you get the picture. I hate everything about it. I hate sweating, I hate the pain (OH, the pain...lol), I hate walking back from the gym (and sometimes to the gym). I lied, there are SOME things that I like about going to the gym, but I think I could do these things just as well in the comfort of my home. I like listening to my music on my Ipod, I like de-stressing and having some "me" alone time where no one is asking me for anything. I like to be alone with my thoughts and clear my head. THAT I do like. BUUUUUT after all the procrastinating and complaining and dragging, once I get there....I'm kind of glad I'm there and when I'm done and walking home, I feel GOOD, I really feel good and I'm glad I went and I wonder why I tried so hard to get out of it. It's only an hour out of my morning and I go early, right after we drop the kids off at school. So I can still come home and get my stuff done and have the rest of the day free to do whatever I want until the kids come home. I've heard people talk about going to the gym and REALLY like it, LOVE it even. I wonder if I'll ever be one of those people.....maybe, but for right now I'm doing it because I NEED to. I need to get back in shape. Not just to fit back into some of my smaller clothes, but to just feel better about myself. Which I do already. I've been cutting back, watching what I eat and drinking TONS of water for two weeks now. This is only my 4th day back at the gym, but already I feel a HUGE difference in my body. I don't feel "yucky" in my middle, my clothes are already starting to fit better. Yesterday while running on the treadmill, I noticed that I had to keep picking up my pants because they were falling down! YAY!! I haven't weighed myself and I don't really want to or plan to because I don't want to be a slave to the numbers. I want to let my body speak for itself. I'll know what progress I've made by the way my clothes fit and the way my body feels and looks and really that matters more to me than a number on the scale. Since I've been back to the gym, I've been using a technique that my friend Kim from church told me about that's used I think for training for a 5K. I'm not planning on running a marathon or anything any time soon, but running is something I've always wanted to be able to do. Don't ask me why, I just do. So I've been doing this thing for 20 mins (some days a bit more) where I run 1 min/walk 1 min. The first day I was able to do 45 mins of that. The next day...not so much...lol I was SUPER sore...so that day I stuck to the 20 mins. Yesterday, I did 35 I think as well as today. It's getting a little easier and I am nowhere near as sore today as I was that first day....thank you God! But I'm not sure if I will be ready to move on to the next level next week which is running 2 mins and walking 1 minute ( I think) for 21 mins. I still kind of have a hard time towards the middle of it all with my breathing or feeling like I didn't catch my breath enough before it's time to start running again. I wonder if my allergies have anything to do with that? Mountain Cedar and other stuff has been blowing around and I've been blowing my nose like crazy! Anyway, I'll be taking the weekend off since the kids will be home and it's harder for me to get to the gym and to let my body rest for a couple of days. God willing, I'll be back at it on Monday. I'll try it out and see if I can handle going to the next level, if not, I might just stick to the first level for another week until I feel more comfortable with increasing the running time. Sooo, that's about it here on my end. Oh, tried brown rice per a friend's recommendation and it is YUMMY.....nice to not have to cut out everything yummy :)

2011-12-18T23:52:00.000-06:00

2011-12-18T22:22:00.000-06:00

2011-12-18T22:18:00.000-06:00

Pictures Of My Grandmother

2011-12-18T21:13:00.001-06:00

My grandmother just passed away two days ago at 89 years old. I'm uploading these pictures here for my sister because she is making a slide show for the funeral home.

Swissgirl Designs 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway

2011-12-01T11:33:00.004-06:00

Check out the sweet giveaway that Rahel is having over on her blog!

http://swissgirldesigns.com/2011/12/01/12-days-of-christmas-day-1/

http://swissgirldesigns.com/

Our Love Story

2011-09-03T13:00:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow will mark one year from the day we said "I do". But when I think about it, I said "I do" to you long before that. I'll admit that I didn't expect anything to come from that Halloween night when we met almost 8 years ago. I spent the next few hours in your company and you made me laugh. By the end of the night when we parted ways, I knew that I wanted to persue you and see where things might lead. The next few months moved very fast. Our relationship was a whirlwind to say the least. Within a month, you were staying at my apartment, three months after that we were getting our own place together, and three months after that we were expecting Mikey. Fast forward about 7 years and here we are....husband and wife. I never thought that day would come...lol, but I see now that everything happened just as it should...in God's time and not mine. I think that in this last year, our marriage has slowly grown into what God has intended for us. Things are not always perfect, but we are learning every day how to deal with our differences and how to communicate better with one another...I feel closer to you every day. I pray that God continues to work in our marriage and that He provides us with the tools we need to grow stronger, closer to Him and closer to each other until we are so close that we don't know where one of us ends and the other begins. I love you so much, baby. After all these years, you are still the person I'd rather spend my time with. You are my rock, my best friend, and my happy place :) And I pray that we have many, many more years together and that God grants us the blessing of growing old with each other. Happy First Anniversary, Shmoopy.

the shopping continues.....

2011-08-16T13:28:00.004-05:00

I couldn't help myself! I am admittedly a patterned paper junkie! It's just SOOOO pretty!! And at half off...how can I not indulge myself? I know, I know....I've purged my paper stash at least 3 times in the last year. And all three times has been anywhere between 1'-3' of paper. Which is good and bad I guess. Good because I'm getting rid of it and passing it along to someone who will use it...hopefully! And bad because well, it's money wasted. But in my defense, I am totally becoming pickier about what I buy and do NOT buy papers solely on the basis of it being "cute" or because it's a "really good deal". I know what I like, what I will use and that's what I buy. In saying that..lol...I hung out with my sister on Saturday and we stopped in at the Crossroads Hobby Lobby and we were lucky enough to find the October Afternoon 5 & Dime! We could NOT believe it! They only had it in the 8x8 pad. And they only had TWO pads left so both my sis and I were able to snag one...YAY! If you can believe it, that was all I bought there. Over by her house, we hit up the Hobby Lobby on Bandera and I was lucky enough to find the Crate Emma's Shoppe collection pack!! WOOHOO!! It was hiding under a bunch of other paper pads waiting just for me :) I also picked up the Echo Park Be Mine collection pack. I really love the colors...not necessarily Valentine "theme". I think I can incorporate it into any kind of "love" layout or maybe other stuff too. I had debated getting the Fancy Pants "It's The Little Things" paper pad. I really wanted it, but seeing as how I've spent a little more than I'd like to spend on scrapbook stuff in a week, I put it back. Hopefully the next time paper goes half off, it will still be there. Or who knows...maybe there will be even MORE new stuff?? :) :)

What else? Oh, Lij had auditioned for this Glee Club group at NYA which is where we take him for his guitar and vocals lessons and he made it! YAY!! We got an email last week and his practices started yesterday. Because they will be performing now, they were advised to begin attending the Advanced Vocals at NYA and Glee Club practices follow that. So on Mondays, he is at NYA from 6:30-8:45. I'm really hoping this doesn't interfere too much with his school work or his bedtime schedule. We will see how it goes. I know this is something that is very important to him (his music), so we want to be supportive so I hope everything goes well. He was really excited about it when he came home last night and Miguel said the parents who happened to be there last night were invited to watch them do a bit of the song they practiced, Proud Mary, and he said it was really neat! Wish I had gone!

So, school starts next Monday. Good thing: the kids are back to school, I have more free time, ect. Bad thing: waking up so darn early! I HATE waking up early! lol But it's a good thing because I'm going to get back into my gym routine. I have been feeling super blah...my clothes are fitting tighter...not good. So back to the gym for me!

Um, can't think of anything else to write for now, so here's a pic of my new papers. Oh, I've been doing alot of scrapping too...lifting of this woman who's blog I visit. Her link is in my sidebar "mugsyboo". I just love her pages! And speaking of inspiration, I love to watch scrappy vids on You Tube and one particular woman whose vids I like to watch is kraftinkate. She does alot of haul vids, but she also shows alot of her pages and she makes the cutest cards! She recently started up a blog, so go on over and check her out http://www.kraftwithkate.blogspot.com/ I think my new pages are uploaded to my scrapbook.com gallery...not too sure. I'm a bit lazy about uploading them here, then there, then facebook...so sometimes I just don't want to do it! lol Okay, that's all for now...bye!!

Women be shopping....

2011-08-07T00:41:00.002-05:00

lol...I remember the comedian on the first Nutty Professor movie where Eddie Murphy and Jada Pinkett go to that comedy club and Dave Chapelle is doing his act and he's talking about how "women be shopping..." lol Anywho! lol I had seen at one of our Hobby Lobbys last week that they were putting out new paper pads. TONS of new stuff...lots of new Paper Studio pads, new MME 180 sheet pads, Crate collections, Basic Grey 6x6 pads, 7 Gypsies 8x8 pads, Glitz 8x8 pads, Jenni Bowlin pads, lots of Graphic 45 pads. I was in awe of all the new stuff. And I lucked out today because they had already put up the signs for next week's ad so I was able to get the pads at half off today when the sale doesn't really start until tomorrow...bonus! I picked up one of those 180 sheet paper pads of MME Lost and Found! O-M-G! They papers are BEAUTIFUL! And I especially love it because it's the flat paper as opposed to the glittery ones they have in the open stock. I'm not too crazy about glitter on my paper. I also got the Glitz Afternoon Muse 8x8 paper pad which is also LOVERLY (BTW, I say loveRly with an R on purpose..lol), and a 7 Gysies 8x8 paper pad from the Lille collection. I cannot wait to do some scrapping with my new papers! And I know the LAST thing I should be buying is paper especially after all the times I've purged FEET and FEET of paper. I can't help it...it's my weakness!! I think I want to get the Crate Portrait collection which they also had, but I think that is all. Even though everything new they have put out is just YUMMY...I think I've learned what I will use and what I won't and I'm just wiser about my paper choices. I think stamps were on sale too...including acrylic and I did notice alot of new cute stamp sets, but nothing that I wanted or "needed"...lol..to buy.
I've also been doing alot of scrapping lately. I actually did a page today and I can't remember which day this past week my sis came over, but I managed to make 3 pages that day. I'm too lazy to upload them here, but if anyone wants to check them out, they are posted up in my scrapbook.com gallery. Anyway, that's pretty much it for now. Oh, last night after I had gotten out of the shower, I heard Max barking up a storm so I went outside to check on him because I saw him pawing at something on the ground. It was a baby possum! And I think he injured it because when I was coming up on him to see what he was doing, he grabbed it with his mouth and ran. I'm pretty sure he punctured some part of it. It was kind of sad seeing the poor thing struggling to breathe. So, now we are thinking of having Max leashed up overnight to keep him from going into the darker parts of the yard where who knows what can be lurking there!
Well, it's late and we have church in the morning...so good night :)

When it rains, it pours....

2011-07-31T00:05:00.002-05:00

Oh gosh...what a week! Mikey and I had our dentist appointments on Wednesday and when I had called ahead of time to get an estimate on how much it was going to be for both of our visits, it was well over $250....YIKES!! But what are we going to do...it needs to get done. Anyway, on Sunday Miguel had been outside cleaning up the backyard for Max and when he came in, he told me that he thought Max was trying to get out of the yard by trying to crawl under the fence because he noticed two "scratches" on his cheek. I asked him if he was okay and he said "yes", so I didn't think any more of it since Sunday mornings are always hectic trying to get out the door in time for church so I didn't even see him until later that evening when we came home after running errands and such. I went out to give him water and food and when I saw his cheek, I FREAKED! My poor baby had a circular patch about the size of a silver dollar if not a tad bigger on his left cheek and it was bloody and his hair was all gone in that one spot. I immediately called Miguel who had left to buy some bags of ice he had forgotten to get. I'm a big time worrier and "mother hen", so what I really wanted to do was call the vet and take him in right then and there. But I decided to bathe him so clean it up and get a better look at it. It looked alot better after I washed it off and I put a whole bunch of Neosporin on it, but no sooner had I left him, he was scratching at it again and got it all messy and bloody again. I cleaned it up again and decided to leash him up on the back porch to keep him from getting it dirty and possibly infected. I did a Google search and from what I read and what it looked like, we came to the conclusion that it was "hot spots". We remembered from the last time he had the skin infection on his leg (can't remember if I blogged about that) that we had seen "hot spot" treatment stuff at the grocery strore so Miguel picked some up. But we had to apply it with a cotton swab and anyone who knows Max knows that we cannot do anything to this dog! He does NOT like being "restrained", so we had a heck of a time trying to get the stuff on him. Somehow we managed to get it on him 2x a day, but Tuesday, it wasn't looking any better. I suggested to Miguel that while Mikey and I were at the dentist, he should take Max in to the vet. So I made Max an appointment for Wednesday at 2:00. So, Miguel dropped Mikey and me off at the dentist at 1:00 and took Max in. And by the way, my root canal ended up being a tiny bit painful. I shudder just thinking of it. There was a couple of times he was "poking around" and I actually felt it so he had to give me some more anesthetic....thank you. I still felt a tiny bit of pain on a couple of other occasions, but I just tried to suck it up and be a trooper. I really, really hope I never have to do that again! Oh, so Mikey and I were done before Miguel so we waited for him to come back for us. Turned out we were right about the "hot spots". The vet said it must have started out as some kind of bite or scratch and Max probably scratched it alot and irritated it and it ended up getting infected. Miguel had to leave him there because they had to sedate him (there's that thing with Max again) to be able to shave and clean the area. He came home with antibiotics and we have an e-collar on him so he can't scratch the area. It looks like it's drying up nicely because it was gross and "wet looking" is the only way I can describe it. Oh, but getting back to the "raining/pouring" thing.....this unexpected vet visit cost us over $1oo, so we easily spend close to $400 in ONE day! OMGosh! I get a headache just thinking about it! But thankfully, no matter what...we always have enough....and a little bit more...thank you God for that! :)
On a lighter note, I did a bit more scrapping two days ago I think. I finished up two of the other pages I had packed that day I went to my sister's house. I just need to take some pics and upload. I have a stack of about ten LOs or more that are sitting on my easel and need to be put in albums. Sometimes I'm so lazy about doing it! I went by Hobby Lobby today just to pick up some grey colored cardstock. I saw the super talented Sasha Farina use grey as her background on a page and LOVED it! It might be my new Kraft substitute! I also picked up like 14 sheets of this Girl's Paperie Ledger paper that I just LOVE and use alot, so I wanted to have enough on hand! lol Only because I know at some point HL will stop carrying it and I won't be able to get it at half off anymore. This happened to me already with this awesome Paper Studio grid paper they had a while back. I even bought what I thought was a good amount to last me a while, but I do use grid ALOT and now I'm down to maybe 6 sheets. And unfortunately, they don't carry that pattern anymore :( And speaking of paper, I looked at the paper pads there and found that they have a few new Paper Studio pads which were very pretty, but just not my style. AND....the MME Lost and Found papers in one of those awesome 180 sheet pads! I could NOT believe it! I SOOOO want it, but I'm waiting until the packaged papers go half off so I can get it for ten bucks!! I filed through it and the papers are LOVELY! I know paper is the LAST thing I need to be buying, but I can't resist...it was SO pretty!!
Hmmm...I think that pretty much covers it. Just really trying to keep this up. Even if no one else reads this, it's nice to look back later and see what was going on in our lives :)

2011-07-25T17:24:00.004-05:00

It is 100 degrees right now! O-M-G! Thank you God for blessing us with a/c because we are inside and nice and cool :)

SOOOO, yesterday...as always, we are in a rush to get ready for church. It never really matters what time I get up, we always seem to be rushing..lol Miguel had been up since around 6 a.m. or so. I later found out he didn't sleep well and had been up all night because he had drank THREE Red Bulls. He asked me to remind him to never do it again. Anyway, he had been out back cleaning up the yard and when he came in, he told me that he thought Max had been trying to squeeze under the fence because he had two scratches on his cheeks. I asked him if he was okay and he said "yes", so I didn't think anything else of it. When we came home later in the afternoon after church and shopping and whatnot, I went out to give him some fresh water and I "freaked" when I saw his cheek. It was not scratches at all. I don't know what it is to be exact, but there is a spot on his left cheek about the size of a silver dollar...maybe a tad bigger. And his hair is gone in that spot. And he has two small flat "dots" about the size of peas in the middle of that area. And it feels like "thick" when I touch that spot. They don't look like punctures in his skin so I don't think anything bit him. I bathed him immediately because I wanted to get a good look at it w/out the dirty face. And then I put a ton of Neosporin on it. But I think he keeps scratching it which makes me think it might be itching him and he had made it bleed and that just looked REALLY bad. I really wanted to cry just looking at him. We leashed him up on the back porch because I don't want him getting it dirty and possibly infected. I really, really want to just take him in to the vet, but unfortunately money doesn't permit it right at this moment. I have another dentist appointment on Wednesday and so does Mikey. Mikey's alone is over $100. Miguel is buying him an E-collar so he can stop messing with it and we are just going to keep putting Neosporin on it and watch him and take him into the vet on the weekend. I washed his face again this afternoon and found another small "patch" under his chin that looks almost like it, so we are definitely taking him in. The "mother" instinct in me is thinking that I don't want to wait and I'm probably going to ask Miguel to take him in on Wedensday while Mikey are I are the dentist. I just do not want to take any chances. We will just have to figure the money part out later. I know that God will take care of us. He always does, so I'm not too worried about it.
So, yesterday after church, Yo and I didn't go to the movies after all :( I was kind of bummed because I was really looking forward to some girl time. Instead we went to drop off a payment and walked around a Big Lots that just happened to be right next door. I had noticed a couple of those carry baskets on top of a shelf in the scrapbooking section so I had asked Miguel to take one down for me. I'm glad he did because I found some COOL American Crafts alpha stickers and some Hampton Arts stamps! I took the other basket down myself, but didn't find anything different in there. In the scrapbook aisle itself, I found a cool American Crafts wood mounted rubber stamp (they had several different ones) and a clear acrylic set that I had actually been eyeing at Hobby Lobby, but I got it there for TWO bucks! I picked up an extra for my sis because I don't think she has it and I think she'll like it :) I only spent $18 :) I also got some happy mail today...some ETSY orders I had made last week...some Jenni Bowlin ink pads and an American Crafts minimarks rubon book. I still have 3 layouts that I took to Chon's that I didn't get to work on so maybe this week. Today was cleaning day and I haven't had much "fun time". I still have blankets washing/drying and colors to wash, fold, iron then put away. Ugh, tired just talking about it! lol But I got alot done today...everything on my list, so I'm happy about that. My mind is just not at rest right now worrying about Max, so for anyone who reads this, prayers for my furry baby would be GREATLY appreciated. AND if there aren't enough things wrong with me/bothering me...lol yesterday and Saturday, I wore these shoes that I bought a while back, but just never wear because they aren't as comfy as my "OLD" ones and oh, are they OLD! The last time I wore them, I pointed out to Miguel how the tops were literally "cracked"! So I decided to wear my newer looking shoes, but OMG, all day long my feet were hurting...BADLY. I forgot from the last time I wore those very shoes that they KILL my ankle....the one I hurt..what was it...three years back? To this day, it STILL hurts and especially if I wear those shoes I found out! So, last night...aside from being worried about Max, suffering a bit from my allergies (BAD headache and sinus pressure AND nausea), my ankle was THROBBING all night long. It literally felt like someone was squeezing my ankle really tightly! It still hurts a bit today, but I swear I will never, EVER wear those shoes again. Lesson learned!

Okay, I think that's all for now. Here's a pic to share of my new goodies and a silly pic the hubs and I took yesterday :)

Tooth Update

2011-07-23T14:33:00.002-05:00

Well, I had my dentist appointment on Wednesday. Miguel went in earlier to work that morning so he'd be able to leave and make my appointment at 11:00 a.m. I kind of wasn't even nervous about it anymore...just wanted to get it done and over with. He did some of the root canal that day and it didn't take long at all. And, it wasn't bad at all. I had charged up my Ipod so I was listening to that the whole time and trying not to focus on the fact that there is a small power tool in my mouth! lol I still have a few more visits to go before the crown is actually in place. My next appointment is next Wednesday, same day as Mikey. He's getting a couple of small fillings and he will be good to go. So after his last visit, I am going to slowly (as money permits) take care of whatever needs to be taken care of with my teeth. Sadly, we just don't always have the extra money, but slowly but surely..it will get done.
What else? On Friday, Miguel got off work early (early for him...6 p.m.) and we went and caught a showing of "Soul Surfer" at the dollar movies. LOOOOOVED that movie! It was so awesome, amazing, inspiring! It is a MUST SEE movie! How people can see someone like Bethany Hamilton and what happened to her and how she overcame it and NOT believe there is a God is beyond me! Her life has God written all over it! It was such a moving film...I cried on several occassions. Not so much because it was sad, but because of how beautiful it was....really good movie! And speaking of movies, I think Yo (bestie) and I are going to go watch the new film with Justin Timberlake and..gosh, I forget that girls name who came out on That 70s Show. It kind of reminds me of "No Strings Attached" which we also saw together, but it still looks like a cute and funny movie and we both want to see it. I think we are going tomorrow afternoon/evening..God willing. Haven't really gotten to spend alot of time with her this Summer so I'm really looking forward to it! :)
Yesterday, I met up with Chon at Crossroads Mall and we took the kids to see that "Judy Moody and The Not Bummer Summer" movie. ( I think that's what it's called) Also showing at the dollar movies. It was a cute and funny movie! Hey, we've been watching alot of movies! Afterwards, we went by Alamo Craft Co. and picked up a prize...some Bo Bunny new release papers I had won from Jane at The Scrapbooking Factory...thanks, Jane :) Then we hit up Michael's where I think I only spent like $10. I picked up a few things from the $1 bins, got a DITTO stamp set that was on clearance and got a pink Sharpie marker because I don't have a light pink. Afterwards, we picked up some food then headed over to my sis's for some lunch and scrappy time. The kids played and I was able to finish two pages. I had packed 5, but I guess I was being a little amibitious in thining I'd get that many done! lol I'm going to leave my stuff packed in my bag though so I can get them done during the week sometime while everything is still together as far as papers and embellies. That's pretty much everything that's going on around here. We have a quincenera to go to tonight as well as a birthday party for one of Miguel's church ACTS brothers. Really don't feel like "getting dressed up" and going out in this horrible heat, but he really wants to go, soo......I wish I had something cute to wear....maybe I should stop buying paper and buy more clothes?? NAH! lol :)

Gettin' Crafty

2011-07-19T19:35:00.004-05:00

I think my scrappy mojo comes in spurts. I'm sure it's like that for everyone. And some days I'm just "itching" to create, but I have no scrapiness in me AT. ALL. I felt like that last night, and while I didn't crank out any pages, I did alter this half sized binder and I think it turned out SUPER cute! I used a calender I had just ordered off Ebay. There are a few ppl who I follow on You Tube (watch their scrappy vids) and this one particular woman had THE CUTEST images on the wall behind her! Turned out she just tore out sheets from a calender she got (Gorjuss girls), so I searched for it and bought it from the same seller...$4 and free shipping! The images are just TOO cute! I love all the different little girls! I am definitely going to cut out alot of those images and use them in different ways. I want to frame at least a couple for my scrappy area too. Anyway, so I used a cute little image of a girl with an umbrella and then I remembered that I had downloaded a free digital scrapbooking kit from...can't remember where, but I remembered it had the cutest quote about rain and rainbows, so it all came together perfectly! Oh, and I just happened to have a couple of sheets of the Crate Seasons collection which just happened to have...yep, rainbows! I just LOVE the way it turned out! I don't know what I'm going to put in it, but for now, it's just sitting on top of my scrap table where I can admire it! :D

Also got a couple of 7 Gypsies stamp sets off of ETSY for CHEAP and CHEAP shipping too! I am loving me some ETSY these days. Alot of these sellers have awesome scrapbooking product and I love that they don't have the same insane shipping charges as some of the scrapbooking sites. I have two different 7 Gyspsies sets coming to me from a different seller in a couple of days. I plan on making some embellishment tags w/them. I'll post pics when I get some done :)

Tomorrow, I have a dentist appointment....eeek. About a week and a half back, my bestie and I went to the movies to see "Something Borrowed" which btw, is an awesome movie. Read the book first, loved it, then saw the movie. Loved that too. Anyway, we got popcorn and I kid you not...it was my FIRST handful...movie had JUST started and I CRACK A TOOTH on a darned popcorn kernel! At first, I thought I just had a piece of popcorn stuck in there somewhere, but the more I messed with it and felt it with my tongue, I knew something wasn't right! Thank you, God that it did not hurt...still does not hurt, but I'm going to need a root canal and a crown put on it which is going to take a couple of visits AND be pricey! :( :( SO sad about that! But...what are you gonna do? It needs to be done. I'm not crazy about the dentist as I'm sure alot of people aren't so please send some good vibes my way tomorrow please :)

What else?? Not much else going on here....will try to keep this blog up better, but no promises :)

2011-07-19T00:36:00.003-05:00

I worked on some pages last week, but hadn't gotten around to uploading them here yet. So, here ya go :)

The one with the tags is a lift off Wendy (blog linked in the sidebar) and the 2gether one is also a lift off of Keandra...LOVE her stuff! Oh, also had a teeny shopping spree at Hobby Lobby this past Saturday. Paper, stickers and some other stuff was half off. I picked up a pack of Kraft paper because you can never have enough of that! And a few random sheets from their open stock. As well as some AC alpha stickers I didn't have and some striped paper clips! I had been searching for these EVERYWHERE! I'd gotten some black and white striped ones weeks back at Office Max or Depot...not sure, but that was the only color they had. These are an assortment of red, black, green and blue I think. Thanks for taking a peek :)

Just keep scrappin'

2011-07-08T22:22:00.003-05:00

I was able to do one more page yesterday and another today. I hadn't worked on any wedding pages in quite a while, but I really love the way this one turned out. That is one of my favorite pictures from our wedding day! :D
I also uploaded a picture I took of Mikey today. The kids have gotten to taking the 3D glasses and popping the lenses out and wearing the glasses like that! No joke! It's kind of like a "trend" or something w/the middle school aged kids...how funny! Anyway, that's all for today!

Me + scrapbooking

2011-07-06T22:18:00.006-05:00

= one happy girl!! I was kind of dragging on getting some scrapping done today. Even though I had kind of planned to spend the day scrapping since I had done all my house cleaning and chores yesterday and had decided I would try to get some pages done. I guess I should say I was feeling LAZY! Yes, that is more like it! lol But even so, I sat down at my table and just started playing with some paper and I was able to crank out THREE pages that I just LOOOOOVE!! Two were very loosely based on other people's pages...and the one of Mikey asleep in his walker, was ALL ME :D I just LOVE that hot air balloon which I just bought in a pdf file from an ETSY shop! I got THE most awesome pdf files from a seller on there. Gosh, I can't remember the name at the moment, but trust me...they were some awesome looking images and CHEAP too! For being able to print these things over and over FOREVER...the price was awesome! Each sheet had 4 images and each file was no more than $2.50. I also uploaded a picture of some library cards I altered which I also got a while back on ETSY. I think they turned out really cute and I could use them for cards or something. Anyway, that's about it...just wanted to share my scrappy yummies with you guys!

Stamps for Trade

2011-07-02T12:00:00.002-05:00

These are some acrylic stamps I have for sale or trade. Both the Autumn Leaves flourishes sets have been used. A few are stained from the ink, but they are still in working condition. The Autumn Leaves scrolly type frames and borders is new and never been used, but I threw the packaging away. The hearts and stars might be Lil' Davis...I can't remember the brand and only a couple of the stamps were used from there...also is very good condition. The scrolly journaling frames are Kaiser Kraft and were never used, but taken out of the original packaging. The Sassafras Lass Edgy Egdes is also new, never been used and still in package. The other Sassafras Lass are the doodled borders and corners. Here is a link because it is a little hard to see without the packaging. Those were used too, but in good condition.
http://www.scrap-mart.com/browseproducts/Sassafras-Lass-Doodled-borders--Acrylic-Stamps.HTML

I really want to sell them all in a lot so that I don't have to pay seperate shipping. I will price them at $25 plus cheapest shipping (will ship in a big enough bubble envelope), maybe $3 at the most....not too sure how much it would cost, but it shouldn't be much. Please post here or send me a private message either here or on Scrapbook Mentor...thanks :)

Scrapbook Mentor Sneek Peek

2011-06-29T17:05:00.007-05:00

Here's a sneek peek of the goodies...bunches of quotes, tickets, some bingo cards, some library cards, a couple of doilies and a mini matchbook. I'm leaving the cover blank so you can decorate it any way you'd like :) Add yourself to my blog followers and leave a comment here saying you are now a follower. Your name will be added for a chance to win this yummy scrappy prize :)

Matchbook Mini

2011-06-28T23:00:00.004-05:00

Sorry about the pics...they are out of order and I am too lazy to fix it! lol :)

Rahel over at scrapbookmentor.com posted a tutorial vid on how to make these cute little matchbooks and I thought it would be an awesome idea to make a mini book out of, so that's what I did today! Since I spent the WHOLE day cleaning, doing laundry, washing fans, bathing dogs...or dog I should say...lol I gave myself permission to do nothing but scrap today and I did! I still have a few pages to fill...about 3 or so, but this is what I have so far. I even made one for Mikey and he filled it with pics too! If you haven't checked out Rahel's You Tube vids, you totally should! I found her on there a few months back and fell in love with her scrapbooking videos and style! Her name on You Tube is swissgirl90. She also started up a scrapbooking website called Scrapbook Mentor. If you haven't checked it out, go on over and join...it's FREE!! She also has an ESTY shop where she sells some of her OWN designed acrylic stamps and her blog is Swissgirl Designs....go...NOW! lol :)

Some scrappy shares

2011-06-23T00:57:00.004-05:00

Not much going on around here. Miguel went back to work this week after being off for a week. We were able to do some stuff while he was home...just hanging out together as a family which we just don't do much of when he's working. He just spends TOO much time at work and when he's home, he's usually asleep! It was good though...lots of fun and I'm already looking forward to his next one which I advised him he should take in September for our one year anniversary...wink, wink ;) lol

I got a few pages done last week I think....or no, maybe the week before Miguel was on vacation, but hadn't gotten around to posting here. One is an 8.5x11 and one is 12x12. I've also done two more pages in my art journal/smashbook, but need to get pics of those.

What else is going on? Not much really. The kids are home, driving me nutty as usual. I really wish Lij and Mikey would get along better. Mikey just ADORES Lij and just wants to be around him and wants Lij to play with him or do stuff with him. And I totally get it, Lij is 12...almost 13, but I think he forgets what it was like to be 6 and look up to an older brother. I remember when Lij was little and he was always wanting to do what his older brother, Josh was doing, but Josh was so different with Lij. If he was sitting at the table drawing, he'd have Lij sit there across the table from him and they would both draw together. He was never really "mean" to him and loved hanging out with Lij and doing stuff w/him. I really wish Lij would just understand how much Mikey looks up to him. I think he'll be going back to his dad's this weekend and will probably be there for a week. His dad gets him for a month in the Summer, but sometimes, we split it up into 4 seperate weeks. Anyway, he (Lij) can pretty much go spend time with his dad any time he wants as long as we have nothing planned. We don't really follow the whole standard visitation thing.

I'm itching to create....have so much stuff that I had gotten a couple months back when we had our tax refund and I just don't sit down to scrap as much as I should or would like to. Sometimes I just feel so darn lazy to get stuff out! lol And speaking of lazy.....sad face...I fell off the gym wagon...AGAIN! Was doing so good too.....for a whole month, but every week, I went less and less days...5 to start with, then 4, then 3, ect, ect. I haven't gone in about two weeks :( It's just harder now with the kids home since I was going after they'd left for school. Miguel hasn't gone either, but he's so busy...I'm surprised he was finding time to go at all! I really just need to find my motivation again which is SUPER hard! We'll see.....

Well, it's late and I can't remember everything it was that I wanted to write soo....until next time. I'd really like to be better at keeping my blog up because there are alot of little daily life things that I would just like to write down and document for later, but I'm just so bad at making time to do it. Another thing I need to work on.....good night :)

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-18T21:12:00.003-05:00

What can I say about you, sweetie? In the 7+ years we have known each other, you never cease to amaze me....and annoy me...ha,ha...JUST KIDDING :) As far as being a father goes, I have the upmost respect and admiration for you because not only are you a great daddy to Mikey, but you are an exceptional dad to Elijah. From the beginning, you never hesitated, second guessed or backed away from entering a relationship with someone who already had a son. You loved me, and from the start....you loved him. You stepped in and stepped up when his own father wasn't around. You have never treated him like he wasn't your own and you do as much for him...if not more...as you do for Mikey. In my opinion, you EARNED the right to be called his father long before you and I were ever married. We have had our ups and downs in our relationship, but in the past few years, I have seen you grown... as a man of God, as a father and as a husband. I see that our boys look to you as an example of what it is to be a good man and I am proud that you are making more responsible choices because of this. You are a hardworker and a good provider for our family and we appreciate all that you do for us. Even though I get frustrated and miss you because of all the time you spend at work away from us, I know that if given the choice, you would be here with us all the time. I know that you do it for us. You make a huge effort to make the most of the time we do have together by taking us to do things as a family or even when we just spend time at home doing what you love best: bbqing and hanging out with the kids at home. Those are the times that I know you love best and so do we :) Thank you, baby, for all that you do. I hope that today and every day, you know just how much we admire, respect and appreciate you. I love you so very much and I don't know what we would do without you. Happy Father's Day, Shmoopy Loopy....I hope you have an awesome day :)

Update with pictures

2011-06-02T14:49:00.006-05:00

My, my, am I bad at keeping up with this thing! Why? I have no idea! I used to be so good at blogging regularly! Anyway....stuff going on here. The most recent thing is that Max got stung by what we suspect was a wasp! OMG...I get a HUGE lump in my throat just thinking of what his little face looked like that morning! It was HUGE! His little eyes, mouth, snout, his entire head was swollen! Miguel immediately called the vet and he took him in and left him there on his way to work. I got a call from them shortly after and they said he had a high fever and they had given him a couple of injections for the swelling and they were going to monitor him. I was SUPER scared and worried for him. I was a MESS the whole day. Thank God, the swelling went down and his fever went away and Miguel picked him up that evening. His face was just a tiny bit swollen still so we were instructed to give him Benadryl until it went down. That was so scary and hopefully nothing like that will happen again anytime soon! I absolutley LOVE that little, furry guy and I don't know what I would do if something happened to him!

I've been creating....some pages, my sis and I started a kind of art journal book that was inspired by the new K&Co SMASH book. Sure, we could just buy one...lol, but I thought it would be more fun to make one. Apparently people have been making them for a while...lol I think I'm just a little late on the trend! lol I bought some half sized binders on Ebay and used those to put my pages in. I used patterned papers, envelopes, tickets, all sorts of things. I altered the cover and still plan on altering the inside pockets and possibly the back cover. My sis and I worked on our first pages in the book last night. She showed me something she thought was cool and had bookmarked in her 2 Peas bookmarks, so we Skyped and did our pages together. I think they came out pretty cool if I do say so myself! :) I worked on another page alone today. Sometimes I think I start too many projects and then have too many things going on...lol...oh well, if it makes me happy, then who cares, right?! Miguel had bought me a book a couple of weeks back called "We Dare You". I believe it has/had something to do with Effer Dares. Anyway, it has alot of cool challenges and I thought I'd maybe do those and put those in my art journal. I was also thinking of maybe posting the challenge here for those of you who might want to play along. We'll see :)

Mikey had an award ceremony yesterday and he received FOUR medals! YAY! We are so proud! I loved that half way of walking across the stage, he stopped, turned to the audience and waved! LMBO! It looked SO funny! He's such a ham! And he was so proud of all his medals! I'll have to take a pic of them and make a page about that.

Oh, Miguel had started a garden a few months back. He actually does it every year...lol and all the years past, the little seedlings never made it. But this year, they have survived even without getting much rain here. But Miguel waters them faithfully every morning and night. We have some tall sunflowers and some of the veggie plants have started growing stuff....he forgot to mark them, so we have a few long, green things we think might be squash or watermelon! lol We also have a tomato! It is so cool! I know he is just so proud! I'm proud of him too!!

What else? Can't think of anything else....it's a little past 3 p.m. and the kids will be getting here soon, so I'd better get lunch started. Until later :)

I'm Such A Dope, WHAT the heck, and other ramblings...

2011-05-15T09:35:00.004-05:00

Ugh, I feel like such a dope! Yesterday after Miguel had gotten home from work, we took Mikey to go eat at Chick Fil A because he loves playing in that little playset. Which BTW, it was a MAD HOUSE in there! TONS of bigger kids, rough housing BIG TIME. And a few little necio kids (don't know how to translate that for my non Spanish speaking friends...irritating maybe?) who kept doing things they shouldn't be doing like blocking the bottom of the slide w/their body. One little kid whose mother was actually sitting right there by the window in full view of him, kept climbing the door handles and hanging there while people went in and out. One man...thank you, sir for being that person who isn't afraid to speak up, actually told him to get down! lol I was telling Miguel because there were alot of Mexicans there (or Hispanics I should say...like us) and he had asked "what side of town are we in?" (1604 and Culebra) and I said it was because this place is nicer and cleaner because of the location that we all come over here! lol But sadly, it's Hispanics like that woman who doesn't watch her kids, who lets them play rough without telling them to watch for other kids that give us all a bad name. Sad, but true because we all know that there ARE those people who will look at those little brown kids and wonder why their mothers don't watch them and then think "oh, those Mexicans." LOL It's true though! You know it is! lol Anyway, I'm getting WAY of subject....We went to the Michael's in the little shopping center there just to look and I picked up a FEW things out of the dollar bins and some awesome stamps my sis had bought a while back that were on clearnance for $2.50! (will post a pic later) and a few crafty things for Mikey. It was only $10. Anyway, the girl rings me up and I start to look in my wallet for my credit card....sinking feeling....I look where I normally have it...I look in all the other pockets and compartments...I can feel my face getting hot and probably a bit red...lol. I apologize to the girl and tell her I'm looking for my credit card, but it's NOT there! Thankfully, Miguel was standing right by the check out reading some book so I ask him if he has it and he says no. So then I ask him if I can use his...lol because I can't find mine. I felt like such a DOPE! Why? Because this is not the first time it's happened to me! The last time, my sis and I were at a craft store and I was LOADED up with scrapbook stuff: papers, stamps, ect and when I went to pay...I didn't have it. And I have NO idea where it was! I had to leave my stuff there and ask the woman to hold it for me so I could come back later, but by the time Miguel got off work, went home to look for it (btw, it was in the pocket of a jacket I had last worn) and went to get us at my sis's house, the store had closed. And I don't really go there unless I'm with my sis. I really need to be more careful with my card. I try to make a concious effort to put it back in the SAME spot after each use, but then I get lazy and just stick it in the first place I come across. It's not like I have TONS of money in there because I don't, but still...I need to be more careful.

After that we had to do our grocery shopping so Miguel had to write a check since I left my card (oh and after we left M's, I immediately remembered where I had left it!). We spent over $120 and we did NOT have enough bags in my opinion. Gosh, the price of EVERYTHING keeps getting higher and higher! The thing that shocked me the most, was the price of the toilet paper we use..lol We hadn't bought any in a LONG time because my mom was pretty stocked up, but we finally ran out, but I remember paying about $5 and change for a 12 pack of Scott and now.....$8.57! OMG...almost NINE dollars for toilet paper! I considered going with a cheaper store brand, but sorry...I'm very picky about my toilet paper! lol We also get these bags of Tyson chicken tenderloins from the frozen food section. I think they were about $6 and change on sale, but then I saw the regular price was over $9!! We are going to have to start eating cheaper I think! lol

Oh, forgot to touch on NSD...Chon had come over to scrap the day away and check out all the online challenges and contests online that day. I hadn't had the chance to plan any pages ahead of time so I didn't really get much done except for two 8.5x11 pages. One of which I did for one of the challenges over on scrapbook.com. It was a random drawing for the winner, but I didn't win :( $135 worth of free scrapbook stuff would have been really nice :) lol But I guess I can't be greedy because I won last year. Maybe next year. I'll post the pic of the page I did for the contest. Oh and of some flash cards I printed out in word and altered a bit.

No church today. Miguel had to go help his parents at their little shop so Mikey and I are home for the day. I miss South San Filidelfia. We went to his church two Sundays in a row (we take turns each week) and today it was my turn. Can't wait until next Sunday. When he gets home, we are going to move some furniture around. With the bad rain we had on Thursday, a corner of our bedroom got a leak and I really don't want to have our bed right by it. So we are switching our bedroom with the kids "play room" (which was my mom's room). I was going to start the other day, but didn't want to hurt my gergin! lol I might try to move what I can before he gets here just to speed it along...just the smaller stuff. Anyway, that's about all that's going on around here. Just wanted to do a small update of my oh so interesting life! lol Smell ya latah ;)

Mother's Day

2011-05-08T19:49:00.002-05:00

Almost everyone who knew me back in high school thought I was going to be a writer. When I was little, I wanted to be a veterinarian. As I grew older and fell in love with reading and writing, I really wanted to be a high school English teacher. God had different plans for me. At times I forget that I am not defined by my lack of a "profession", that just because I don't "work" outside of the house or have a job that pays me in money, that I am worth less than a woman who financially contributes to her family. It's very easy to fall into that trap at times. I have to remind myself at times that being a mother is the highest calling from God and that not every woman is blessed with that honor. I have to remind myself that I do more than wash laundry and make lunches....that I am shaping the lives of two human beings. That the values, ideas, morals I am instilling in my boys will determine the kinds of men they will grow up to be. I know that I am blessed to have this very important job. And although it is nerve wracking at times, scary, confusing, trying, never ending...I wouldn't trade this for the world. Because of my boys, I have become a better person....I strive to be a better person...every day...every minute. Because of them, I have had the opportunity to experience a love like no other. A love so big that at times it literally makes my heart hurt. It's a scary kind of love because two pieces of my heart are walking around outside my body every day and I can't always be with them to protect them and I have to leave that in God's hands and trust that He loves them even more than I do. I'm not going to lie and say that being a mother is always sunshine and rainbows because with a preteen and a stubborn, strong willed six year old...it's NOT! There are days when I want nothing more than to hide in a hole somewhere, in the dark, quiet where no one is calling me "mommy" or asking for something from me because at times I feel like I give and give until there's nothing more of me to give anyone...not even myself. But when I look at these sweet little faces, when I hear their voices saying "I love you", when I feel their arms around me and I know that even though they don't always listen and they may roll their eyes at me and mumble things under their breath, they love me....they really, truly love me. And they depend on me....for everything....I am taken back, and I am honored...and it is all worth it :)

Simple Stories Downloads

2011-05-03T15:32:00.001-05:00

Here's a link to some cool and FREE downloads that coordinate with the Simple Stories stuff :)

http://simplestories.typepad.com/simple_stories/free-digital-elements.html

A layout and a lil' haul :)

2011-05-02T13:54:00.003-05:00

I haven't posted pics of one of my shopping sprees in a good while, so I thought I'd post some today :)

The Simple Stories kits, my sis and I got at a place called Alamo Craft Co. My sis just kind of stumbled upon them as we were making our way out. They weren't marked, but we took them up front to see how much they were. We both had agreed that we would pay $14.99, but no more than that. Well, as it turns out...they were $6! And then one of the women up front told us that if we bought three kits that were priced at $6 or $8, we would get one FREE! She didn't need to tell us twice..lol! So we each grabbed one each of the Life Documented and Destinations. We paid $18 for FOUR kits which averaged about $4.50 each kit! That is a STEAL! Because when we got home, I Googled them and found they retail for $20.50 each! We totally scored!! Happy Dance!! :) I also picked up a couple of sheets of Fancy Pants Daily Grind (love that paper from that line) and some awesome LYB stamps that made me think of a Studio Calico one I had wanted, but didn't get :( And yesterday, hubs took me to our Super Joanns because I wanted to buy some yarn for my mom for Mother's Day because she is teaching herself to crochet. And of course, I picked up a few things for myself :) I had been eyeing these Fiskars stamp sets on their website and since they were 30% off, I grabbed 3 different ones. I also picked up this cute reusable tote. It is SO adorable...I just couldn't pass it up! I also picked up some paints in pretty, bright colors that I just LOVE to use on my pages. I want to try using paint on some of my pages. I also picked up two ink blender spongey thingies..lol Yes, that is what they are called...lol, but I forgot to include them in the pic. Oh, and the wood stamps are from the little shopping trip my sis and I took on Saturday. Mikey and I spent the night at her house on Friday and we did a tiny bit of scrapping...got one page done. Not the one I'm showing here..another that I need to put the finishing touches on. This one I did sometime last week and didn't post yet. Anyway, that's all for right now. OH, today was my first day back to the gym since....GOSH, I can't even remember when I went last. I know it was way before our wedding in September. Anyway, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill and 5 mins on the Elliptical. Not too bad, but I have to ease back into it. It wasn't as hard as I'd anticipated, but I need to work my way back up to at least an hour a day: around 45 mins on the treadmill and 15 or 20 mins on the Elliptical. That's what I was doing before, so that is my goal. I have been feeling really yucky about my body and really just needed to get off my lazy butt and get back to the gym...which is RIGHT across the street now...lol So, here's to getting back in shape :)

Strike while the iron is hot!

2011-04-29T13:35:00.004-05:00

Gotta keep it going....blogging that is! I just finished working on a page and uploaded it to sb.com and thought I'd post it up here too while I was at it. That way I won't get behind in my blogging/posting LOs. I'm VERY excited about this LO because 1.) It was ALL ME :) no lifting of any kind...just picked some stuff and flew by the seat of my pants so to speak ;) 2.) I used a BUNCH of stamps which I never do. So using a whole bunch on this page definitely justifies buying all the stamps that I do! And 3.) I got creative! I've been DYING....I mean DYING for some Japanese masking tape/washi tape and I saw some that have a grid pattern on them that I just LOVE, but haven't gotten around to ordering them yet because it's kind of pricey. So I had the idea to just use regular masking tape and stamp on it with my grid stamp and voila....LOVE the way it turned out! So anyway, I'm just very excited about this page....gonna see if I can crank out another before the kids get home before I lose the mojo!

Kick in the pants....

2011-04-28T12:21:00.005-05:00

I think that's what I need! lol I am just so lazy about blogging these days! And I do spend time on the computer...just not keeping up with my blog! Anyway, can't even remember what's been going on that I haven't talked about. We put Mikey in tball and he just loves it. It's a little unorganized and they haven't even had many practices, but Mikey just has a blast when he plays and goes to the games and really, that's all that matters to us! We have such a good time watching all the little kids run around without a clue! lol

A couple of weeks back, Mikey and I spent the night at Chon's and we had some scrappy time. I hadn't taken much with me as far as different paper choices and what not, so I didn't have alot to work with. I had bought a few things when we were out and about hitting up our usual shopping spots so I had some papers that I could work with for my "base" and I had taken my new Bo Bunny Ad Lib collection stuff, so I actually used that stuff for all three pages that I worked on. I've never done that before. Like only used one line to work on all my pages. I have to say that I liked it alot! I guess it's kind of like when people subscribe to kit clubs and then crank out a whole bunch of pages only using that kit. I wish I could say I used it all up (my Ad Lib stuff), but I didn't! But I used it so that's a good thing!

Not much else going on around here. Mikey is sick again...throat infection and he sounded horrible last night. He was doing that whole gasping for air thing he'd done before when his tonsils were really enlarged because of his allergies. We went back and forth from the bed to the recliner in the livingroom and back to the bed. Needless to say, I don't think I got much sleep last night. I don't know if he did because he didn't wake up any of the times I moved him, but I can't see how he did with all that snoring, gasping, ect... Day two of his anitbiotics today, so hopefully my baby will be back to feeling better soon.

Here are my pages....I did a couple more here at home after that night at Chon's, but I won't upload those here...you can check them out in my scrapbook.com gallery :)

I LOVE this dog....

2011-04-13T18:04:00.002-05:00

Today was the first time giving Max a bath outside. I'd been bathing him in our walk in shower, but it's SO hard to get him inside. I literally have to carry him into the bathroom because he will NOT walk in on his own. He does good for baths once I have him in there. That wasn't always the case though. He used to try to get out by pushing on the shower door so it was kind of hard to bathe him with one hand while holding the shower door with the other. Over time, he got better about it....just sat while I washed him, even looked like he enjoyed getting all clean. It's just getting him in there now. He's a smart dog. He knows I'm about to give him a bath and NOTHING, not even a snack, a piece of ham...NOTHING will get him to come to the door. He'll make me chase him. I literally have to catch him first! lol And then after I bathe him in the shower, I have to go through the whole process of wiping down the bathroom of dog hair, washing/cleaning out the shower, then bathing myself because afterwards, I am ALWAYS full of dog hair! This was just much easier. We leashed him to the window guard on the house and Miguel and I tackled half of him each! lol Piece of cake! I was even able to cut some of the long hairs around his eyes because they are pretty long, get in his eyes, dirt hangs on to it, gets in his eyes, ect. but we could NOT trim the long hairs under his chin. He just WOULD. NOT. LET. US. And boy, did we try! I figured I'd just leave it than risk trying to cut it with him jumping around and possible poke or cut him with the scissors. I am always amazed at how clean and fluffy and gorgeous he looks after a bath. I was able to snap some pics of him right before I let him off his leash. Out of 30 pics, I was able to get this one really good one which is just my FAVE!! Just wanted to share :)

Got my scrappy on....

2011-04-13T17:57:00.003-05:00

I got to have some scrappy time and did three pages. I really love the sisters one. Thanks for taking a peek :)

Some Scrappy Goodness....

2011-04-11T19:34:00.004-05:00

I haven't uploaded any pages here in a while. I get lazy (there's the lazy thing again) about doing it...not sure why because I am uploading them over on scrapbook.com. These aren't "recent" pages...the "Art" one is the most recent...last week, but the others are just some I'd done and hadn't posted yet. I've been wanting to get some scrapping done with all the new goodies I'd been buying with some of our tax refund, but haven't gotten to yet. I got so many things....Heidi Swapp Soiree and Daily Junque lines, lots of new Mister Hueys, some Fancy Pants "It's The Little Things", some Sass Sweetly Smitten, Crate Portrait, Bo Bunny Ad Lib. And I also treated myself to some acrylic stamps that were on clearance at M's the other day. Oh, I also made a trip to Hobby Lobby last week and picked up some sheets of paper because it was half off and everyone knows I just don't have enough paper, right? lol I only bought like 32 sheets I think. LOL I know, I know...32 sheets is still kind of a bit, huh? Oh and btw, our HLs got some new papers in the open stock which is why I wanted to head over there. LOTS of the MME Lost and Found...the ones w/the glitter on them, some Sass (Indie Girl, Count Me In and can't remember the other line..um, Cherry Delicious..was that what it was called), oh and some awesome sheets from Girls Paperie! They also have quite a few new patterns in the Paper Studio stuff. So yeah, I'm kind of wanting to create and use some of this stuff. I'm just so sleepy today. We had some friends over last night for a bbq...my good friend Yo from church and her hubs and kids and by the time they left, got the kids bathed and in bed, I think it was around 11:00 when I went to bed. And then I woke up around 2:30 because of the crazy wind we got here early this morning. Some surrounding areas had warnings for thunderstorms and some tornado watches, but all we got was a sprinkle in some parts and the wind. So after I checked on Max and looked up the weather to make sure I didn't need to take out the candles and flashlights, I went back to bed and my hands started doing this horrible itchy thing they do sometimes. Not sure what it is. It happens once in a while....my hands, mostly my fingers will start to itch LIKE. CRAZY. And they will get swollen...again, mostly my fingers and the itching is just INSANE. Sometimes it happens to the soles of my feet too. Usually if I take some Benadryl, it will clear up. So by the time the meds kicked in...I wasted time on the laptop until I got drowsy, it was FOUR A.M. Which only gave me 2 1/2 more hours to sleep until I had to get up and get the kids ready for school. So I was DRAGGING today! As it is, I am NOT a morning person AT. ALL. I didn't start my cleaning until one in the afternoon, but thankfully, I got it all done before the kids got home except for laundry. So I've had a productive day, just slow in starting. Anyway, here are the pages I've done...enjoy :)

Magic Eraser...

2011-04-08T12:51:00.002-05:00

I've been done with my "chores" since way earlier this morning. The house is spotless, no laundry to do, nothing needs to be cleaned. I want to scrap, I want to be creative. I have all this free time, so many new yummy scrappy things to play with. I have several blogs and sketches bookmarked, but my mind is just so full of "life gunk" and I can't seem to muster up the energy to move from this chair and get some scrapping done. I feel like...I have no energy...like someone sucked the life out of me and all I can do is sit here in a useless lump. I don't like the way it feels. I wonder if a magic eraser could erase all this "stuff" out of my head?

Getting my feet wet...

2011-04-05T22:22:00.002-05:00

OMG...I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged! Sometimes I just get so lazy about writing here...not sure why! I was chatting with a friend earlier tonight and she gave me the link to her new blog and she pointed out that I hadn't updated mine in ages..lol...so I thought I'd give it a try again :) I'm not going to try to update everything that's been going on since I last wrote here because frankly, my memory is just not that good...lol We are all good...thank God...I've been doing some scrapping here and there, but I'm not going to go back and upload my pages either...see, that lazy thing applies here too :D But I will try to make an effort to upload my new pages from here on out. I have also been doing alot of shopping...shhh...lol I think more shopping than scrapping. You know how that goes! We got our tax refund and I got myself a new laptop...yay! I LOVE it! Especially that I can sit on the comfy couch and surf the web instead of on a hard stool when I was using our desktop. Which we still have, but hardly gets used now. I've even caught hubs with my laptop...in the bathroom of all places...lol..ew, huh? I told him not to make a habit of that! Okay, so I'm going to try to be a better blogger...until next time :)

My Cup Runneth Over...

2011-01-06T23:44:00.002-06:00

Elijah and I were having a conversation this afternoon while I was washing dishes...something about age and how time goes by so fast and one day you're 2 then you're 12. And I said that I knew just what he meant and I told him how I knew I was almost 40 (YIKES), but that inside I didn't always feel like a grown up, kwim? Sometimes, it's like I step back...not literally..and think to myself "wow, I'm almost 40, I'm a MOM, I have 2 little people to be responsible for, I have bills to pay" ect, ect. Anyway, he says that he's glad I'm not like other moms because he can talk to me and then he goes on to say that I am his best friend. SIGH! My heart melted! I really wanted to cry, but didn't want to look like the big sap that I am! lol I swear, I just LOVE that kid! He is just SO amazing and kind and loving and talented and beautiful and I can't believe that God chose ME to be his mommy! I am so very blessed! Later at night, I was laying in bed with Mikey waiting for him to fall asleep and now the kids are sharing a room so it has become a "thing" that while we are laying there "trying" to get them to fall asleep, we are going back and forth talking about this and that, saying our good nights and "I love you"s, Lij is doing his "voices" and cracking jokes and making us laugh. And Mikey is saying his crazy, off the wall things that is just typical Mikey. Anyway, tonight while all of this was going on, I'm laying there listening to all the chatter and I am overcome with a huge sense of thankfulness (is that a word, did I spell that right?) Thankful that my two boys are safe and healthy and warm in their beds. That we are all together even if it's a little crowded. That even though they drive me up a wall at times with their bickering, that they are here and they are mine. And I lay there smiling to myself wanting to stay in that moment for as long as I could. I love my boys so much and I just can't imagine what my life would be like were I not a mother. It's truly a calling and I am thankful to God for allowing me this wonderful gift :)

Owls...

2011-01-05T00:12:00.003-06:00

I saw an ad for a Fancy Pants line of paper in my new CK mag and there was a layout with the CUTEST handmade owls! I thought "I could make one of those" and I did! :) I changed mine up a bit and used buttons for eyes and made him a little more "dimensional" so he could "stand" as the ones in the mag seemed to just "lay flat". I didn't use a pattern, just cut the pieces out of felt and sewed it as I went along. It took me about an hour, but now that I made my first one, I think I have a better idea which direction to go as far as what parts get sewed on first, ect. I'm going to make one for my sister and for a friend of mine for Valentine's Day. I thought they could sit them in their scrap spaces or by their computers which is why I wanted him to be able to "sit". He's about 5...maybe 6" tall. Anyway, just thought I'd share. I've done a few pages as of lately, but just haven't gotten around to uploading them here, but if anyone wants to see them, they are in my scrapbook.com gallery :)

A Year In Review

2010-12-30T23:54:00.002-06:00

My goodness has it been THAT long since I've updated my blog? I will not bore you with excuses because frankly, I'm just lazy! lol And I won't promise that I will be better at keeping it up because I probably won't! Ha! Anywho...since the end of another year is drawing near, I figured I'd do a whole "year in review" post....just touch on some stuff that has happened this past year. It probably won't be too exciting, but it will be nice to look back in another years time and remember everything that took place in 2010. I hope everyone has a great New Year. Be safe and I hope 2011 holds nothing but good things for you :)

**Most importantly, or at least the first thing that comes to mind...WE GOT MARRIED!! HUGE milestone! After almost 7 years of living together, it finally happened. I used to think "What the heck is he waiting for?" "Why haven't we done it yet?" ect,ect, but looking back now, I think it happened right when it should have. I have to remember that things happen in God's time...not mine :)

**Mikey started Kindergarten. He LOVES school and thank you, God..we LOVE the school he goes to. We were very nervous about what the school he was going to attend on this side of town would be like, but it is a newly renovated school, so it looks NEW and it's very nice and so far...no problems.

**Sticking w/the school theme, Lij started a public middle school. He came home (thank you, God) and now I get to see him EVERY day and be part of his school stuff and I know what is going on w/him and his grades and all that good stuff. It is such a blessing to see his smiling face afterschool each day and hear all about his day. I can't tell you how much I was missing that. He did a few years of private Catholic school and stayed with his dad, but now he's home for good :)

**We got a dog! :) We had always talked about getting one and one day, Max just came into our lives. I'm not kidding...I always thought it was a bit weird when people talked about their pets like they were kids and went on and on about them, but I TOTALLY understand now. That little dog (and mind you, he is NOT little anymore..lol) stole my heart from the minute I laid eyes on him and I just LOVE him to pieces! So much so that it makes my heart ache sometimes! He is definitely a member of the family :)

**We got a new car! Well, not "new"...new to us :) And it's funny how they say "ask and you shall receive". Well, we had been thinking we needed a new vehicle...our little Ford truck was on it's last leg so to speak and TOOOO small to fit us all. And one day, Miguel comes home and says that his dad found a little...gosh I forget what the heck it is...lol..it's an SUV typish vehicle..anyway..for CHEAP. And he paid half and we paid half. It was truly an unexpected blessing. Thank you, God for always providing for us :)

See, I only listed a few things and already I can't think of anything else! lol Honestly, alot of the year was spent planning for the wedding. It all seems like such a blur now! But it was a good year. Any time that we are blessed with is good. Any time that we get to spend together as a family, time that Miguel and I get to spend alone..time in general is very precious because you never know how much of it you have. We are not promised "x" amount of time, so we must make the most of every day. Let's see..the new year, I hope that the kids continue to do well in school, that they both continue to like their schools and make new friends and be an example of goodness because God knows this world needs it. I hope that Miguel and I still continue to grow closer despite our ups and downs, that our trials make us stronger and that we become each others best friend :) I hope that we all continue our walk with God, that we never stop wanting to know Him, to get close to Him. I hope that we are examples of his love, that we are a blessing in His name to others, and that He continues to work in us and make us the people He wants us to be. Happy New Year everyone :)

Randomness...

2010-11-10T13:52:00.003-06:00

My goodness, have I gotten bad about keeping up my blog! There just never seems to be enough time to do everything I need/want to do! Even with Mikey in school now, the days just seem to FLY by and before I know it, he's coming home and I can't be as productive.
I've been doing some scrapping...finally got out of my rut...YAY! I have about 5 pages to share, but unfortunately, our computer has a virus....AGAIN! And the Kodak software I use to upload my pics isn't working. I sure hope it's only disabled and all my pics have not been wiped out. I would be DEVASTED to say the least! I'm kind of upset because I know it was Lij who downloaded some music off an unsecure site and now we have to pay to get it cleaned when we just did the same thing about a month and a half ago. But what can you do? I NEEDS my computer! lol
I've also been purging alot lately. Cleaning out the closet, looking thru the kids' clothes, ect. It feels too crowded here at my mom's and I feel the need to minimalize. Did I say that right? Or is it minimize? Whatever...I need to get rid of stuff! lol
What else? Geez! I can't even think of anything to write about....how boring is that? My life is so exciting, huh? I promise to go out and do something adventurous and then share...lol..Okay, I probably won't do that! :)
Gosh, Max is getting SO big. I have pics of him to share too! The last time we took him to the vet (about a week ago), he weighed in at 38 lbs! And the woman we got him from said he'd only get to be about 24! YEAH RIGHT! I think he's got a whole lot more Lab in him than Shnauzer! But I just LOVE him to death! I gave him a bath today and he's gotten SO good about it. Just sits there and lets me scrub him. Towards the end, I think he got a little tired of being good and wanted out of the shower, but overall a HUGE improvement from before. We have an appt next week to get him "fixed". I hope he does okay w/that.
Well, I hope we can get our computer fixed soon...I'm hoping next weekend after all our other bills are paid. Then I'll be sure to upload some pics :) More later!

Some Scrappy Time :)

2010-09-29T14:59:00.002-05:00

My sis and I got together a couple of Fridays ago on a day where Mikey had early release from school. And I was able to work on three whole pages! :) Just hadn't gotten around to taking pics of them and getting them uploaded until today. I'm really happy with the way they all turned out. Especially the one page w/the wedding pic of us. It's one of my fave pics from that night.

Speaking of wedding pics, the photographer came by on Sunday and we viewed the pics from the wedding! They are just awesome! It was so cool looking at them all and reliving that night! Now we just have to sit down and make a list of the pics we want printed out...we are getting (200) 4x5's and (10)5x7's. That is going to take some time because there are over 420 pics. But the sooner we get it done, the sooner we can have our prints back. We also got the high resolution disc for printing ourselves so I plan to use that for making copies for friends and family and for printing out the pics I want to scrap. But the pics we get from him are going straight into an album. Those we won't touch.

What else? Oh, we have our 20 year high school reunion coming up in a couple of weeks. I sure wish I was in better shape :( but oh well, what am I going to do. I need to go dress shopping because I do not own ONE dress! It's true! Unless I wear my wedding dress? lol jk :)

Oh, we got the disc drive fixed on our computer so I was FINALLY able to download the softward for my Canon Rebel so I've been using that and getting a little practice...trying to get to taking some better pictures. I'm excited about getting to use it more instead of my little Kodak EasyShare.

That's about it...here's some pics.

At Last...

2010-09-16T21:03:00.002-05:00

After about four months of not touching my scrap stuff....okay, I touched it, but I didn't produce any pages...lol, I finally got around to working on a page today. I actually had it sitting on my table for the past week. I just couldn't bring myself to do something with this picture of us having our first dance at the wedding. I felt like nothing I did would do this picture justice. So, it just sat there...semi completed, until today when I decided to just jump right on into it. I was inspired by the oh so talented Sasha Farina. I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her style. Simply everything she does inspires me to just drop everything and get creative. I believe it was a canvas she had made that had this awesome title that I just ADORED -- "You Are The Love Song In My Heart". When I saw it, I just knew that had to be the title for that picture of us together. It took me a few tries...four to be exact...before I got the end result, but I absolutely LOVE the finished product and will proudly display it in our wedding album. Which btw, I must buy one next time they go on sale at M's or HL. One that will only hold pages I work on from our wedding. I am SO excited and anxious to get the pics back from our photographer. After seeing the ones he posted on his FB page and gave us a little preview, I can hardly stand it!! I just know that they will all be amazing!! It's funny how a picture really "can" bring back so many memories, evoke so many feelings. Just looking at the pic of Miguel and I dancing....it makes me smile..because I can remember what I was feeling, what I thinking....everything that was going on around us. The photographer really did an awesome job of capturing the moment...all those special moments that I want to hold on to forever...sigh...okay, here's the page....hope you like it as much as I do ;)

It's Official!

2010-09-11T09:45:00.005-05:00

It's official! Miguel and I are now husband and wife!! The wedding was just beautiful...just like I had pictured it so many times in my mind. There were a few complications and setbacks, some changes of plan, but we just kept calm and everything went smoothly. It's hard to believe that after all those months of planning and stress and headaches and meetings, ect...it's all over now, but we had such a great time and such great memories of that wonderful day. A good friend of ours hooked us up with two nights at the Marriot Rivercenter downtown and we had a great time just being alone together which doesn't happen very often. We ate and walked down the Riverwalk, went to the wax museum...it was hard to leave when the time came because we were just enjoying it so much! Miguel also had the whole week off from work so even when we came back home, we have gotten to spend alot of time together while Mikey is at school. I am sure going to miss him when he goes back to work on Monday :( Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures. The photographer we hired did an AWESOME job! These are only some of the pictures he posted on his site. We haven't gotten ours yet thus the watermark on the pics. Enjoy :)

TOOO long...

2010-07-03T00:19:00.002-05:00

My, my has it been TOO long! Our computer has gotten a virus and we have sadly been without internet access for over a month! I feel so disconnected from the outside world! lol Something was up with our router too which wasn't letting Lij log on with his laptop. Miguel must have spent about four hours on the phone last night w/AT&T getting all back up and running. We NEED to take our computer in to get fixed ASAP, but just haven't had the extra money with all the wedding stuff coming up. AND, we have added a new member to our family....a four legged one, and that was an extra expense we were not anticipating. His name is Max and I wish my computer was working so I could post a pic of him because he is just THE cutest!! He's part Lab and part who knows what! LOL We got him from some lady at the park about a month ago. She said a stray had the puppies under her house and she was giving them away...7 of them! Max immediately stole my heart with his cute little face and those EYES! He had the saddest little eyes! I could NOT walk away from that puppy! Poor thing was covered in fleas! We brought him home and bathed him about FIVE times with Dawn and literally picked them all off. It was GROSS! But I bet he felt so much better after. We took him in to the vet that weekend, got him checked out and put on a Wellness plan. He already got his 1st vaccine last weekend. He was a trooper and got a new chew toy for being so good :) Yes, he is a tad bit spoiled! I am amazed at how big he has gotten in the few short weeks we have had him and although he is a handful with house breaking him, he is SO worth it :)
Wedding plans are still coming along....got the bridesmaids dresses, changed the reception location to a place we both just LOVE, working on some of the decorations....have to change the inserts in the invites to the new location....need to get my shoes still, my veil, my dress altered....lots done, but still LOTS more to do...I feel very unprepared with only two months away. I am leaving it in God's hands and I know that it will all come together.
I have done NO scrapping since my computer has been out! Wait, that's a lie....I did ONE page a couple of weeks ago at Chon's house and my scrap bag is still sitting unpacked under my scrap tables!
What else?? Can't think of anything else right off the top of my head. Hopefully, we will get our computer up and running really soon! Nighty! :)

Wedding Centerpiece

2010-05-24T21:17:00.000-05:00

Just uploading this here so Chon can see it :)

A page

2010-05-11T23:25:00.003-05:00

Finally, finally scrapped a page! WHEW! That was a long stretch there! And I have to say that it didn't come easily at first. In fact, I started a whole different way, didn't like the page AT ALL and tore it up! lol Yep, I tore it up! I love this a whole lot more. Also included a whole lot of journaling which was to me, the most important part of this page since it talks about how Miguel proposed to me. I wanted to get this page done soon while it was all still fresh in my mind. The journaling is hidden in that tag peeking out from behind the pic.
SO.....still making wedding plans and sadly....haven't hit the gym like I wanted to yet! I know, I know! Not watching what I eat either! I'm stressing out and in turn stress eating! Thankfully, haven't put on one pound, but haven't lost anything either. I need, need, NEED to get back to the gym. If not to lose weight, to at least stay in shape and to destress. We picked a photographer. Miguel and I really love his work. It was actually a toss up between him (Mark) and another guy (Mario), but Mark ended up matching the quote that Mario gave us and we did love his work more than the other, so YAY for us getting Mark! We are meeting up with him this coming Sunday, God willing...to look over the agreement and his portfolio and put down our deposit. Um, what else...oh yeah, I ordered my dress yesterday and it already shipped out today! I should get it in a week or so! SO super excited about that! I am just DYING to try it on! I bought it online at David's Bridal.com, but had gone in to the actual store weeks back to try on a similar dress to figure out my size. I had two dresses in mind, and had decided to go with a white one instead of my original choice, but just my luck, they were sold out of my size :( I'm going to go with my gut and say that the dress I ordered is "the one" because even though I loved other dresses, I kept coming back to this one. I found a really pretty pearl and crystal headband on Ebay that I think will look PERFECT with my dress, so I need to order that too. I need to decide whether I want any other kind of jewelry such as a necklace, bracelet, ect...don't want to overdo it....want to stay clean and simple. I definitely want some simple faux pearl stud earrings....will think about the necklace or bracelet, but if I do, it will be one or the other...not both and will be in pearls too. Tonight Miguel and I sat down and looked over our budget and did some figuring and it looks like we will be okay and have everything covered. I know that God has it all under control...my heart knows this, but it's hard for me to not stress about it...because of the way I am....trying to work on this...need to pray about it more....I know it will all work out...have to keep saying that to myself. What else? Not much else going on. Mikey had been sick...both ears and throat infected REALLY, I mean REALLY badly! Poor thing, his throat looked HORRIBLE....it hurt me to look at it! And he wasn't eating at all because he said his throat hurt and I don't blame him, but I would hear his poor little tummy growl and it just broke my heart! I hate it when the kids are sick! :( Thankfully, he got antibiotics and is back to his old self. Unfortunately, I have it now! Not the throat thing...at least not yet....but sneezing and congestion. Feel alot of pressure on the bridge of my nose. I really need/want to get some scrappy time in. This has been a SLOW year for scrapping...don't even know how many pages I have for the year, but nowhere near the number I had last year around this same time I'm sure. And I don't anticipate getting alot done either with all the wedding plans and then Mikey starting school this year. Excited, but sad about that. I will miss him SOOO much!! :( My baby is growing up! Okay, that's pretty much all for now. Will try to update more often and hopefully will have some scrappy stuff to share soon! :)

The Proposal

2010-04-21T19:18:00.003-05:00

It's official...we are "officially" engaged! I was really NOT expecting this AT ALL! Miguel and I had even discussed this a couple of weeks back when he had mentioned something about needing to get me an engagement ring. And while I thought it was oh so sweet that he wanted to, I told him it wasn't necessary. I mean, we've only been living together for over 6 years and I didn't want him going and spending any money we could use for other wedding stuff. But like everything else...lol, I guess he didn't listen to me. He proposed to me on Sunday. We had just left his best friend Juan and his wife Laura's house. We had gone over to discuss some of the wedding details w/them and get some stuff priced and written down ect. And btw, they along with Juan's family so graciously offered to take care of the costs of the food as well as prepare it. That was a very nice and unexpected surprise! So many people are offering their help financially and physically and we are both quite touched. It just shows us how much we mean to our friends and family :) So anyway, we had left there and were on our way to Miguel's parents' house to tell them the good news because Miguel had STILL not told them! So we were driving along, and we were passing some park and Miguel says something like "I think there's something wrong with one of the tires." We were in his mom's vehicle by the way. So he slows down, pulls over at this park and gets out. The kids were in the backseat and I stayed in the car up front. So, I see him walking around to the front driver's side and looks at the tire, then he goes to the back and does the same on both sides. I started messing w/the radio and next thing I know he was at my door trying to open it, but it was locked. And so I look up at him and he says "Look, come check this out" I'm thinking there must be something wrong with the front tire, so as I'm opening my door to get out, he drops down on one knee and he's holding a box in his hands. I didn't even see where it came from! And so I'm sitting there half hanging out of the car and I'm kind of in shock. I mean, I know why he's down on one knee..I get it..I know what it means, I know what he's doing, but it's kind of...I don't know...surreal. So, he asks "Will you marry me?" and I say "no, I'm just kidding...I didn't mean that. Yes." lol Time Traveler's Wife...remember that line when he asks her to marry him? I can't help it...I couldn't resist! And so I get out of the car and we are hugging and I'm crying and Miguel has tears in his eyes. And I hear Mikey say something from the back seat and Elijah tells him "Mikey, be quiet..this is a very special moment." lolol

And there it is! lol It's a small ring...very small..but I ADORE it because he picked it out. And because I know that he gave it to me with all his heart! :) It's taking a little getting used to. I am not a big jewelry wearing person. Much less rings. And it fits a tad big, so it kind of bugs me from time to time. But I like the way it looks...it's so shiny :D And I like to look down at it and think about what it means and think about the upcoming wedding. And about how I'm going to feel walking down the aisle seeing him standing there at the end of it...waiting for me. And that it means that we will love each other for the rest of our lives. And that we will grow old together and that after all this craziness of planning and budgeting and list making and shopping...it will all be worth it :)

Lists, lists...and MORE lists...

2010-04-13T23:26:00.003-05:00

I feel like I am up to my ears in lists! LOL Lists of stuff we need to buy, guest lists, supply lists, wedding party lists...I usually like writing lists, but right now I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with them all! But it's a good thing. I have to keep telling myself that it will all come together. I am just so scared that it's just going to sneak up on us. Four months can fly by SO fast! And in the middle of all this, Miguel has his upcoming retreat, we have summer with the kids home, we have Mikey starting school, not sure where Lij will be going next year, MY retreat the week before the wedding...so much going on! We start our marriage classes on the 6th of May...don't know if I mentioned that already. I think we meet every Thursday for 7 weeks. Should be interesting.
In case anyone noticed on the invite, I changed my colors...they are now black, pink and white. LOVED the Tiffany blue, but it's so hard finding stuff in that exact shade :( :( Still happy with the new colors :) The girls dresses will be black. I'd love for them to have some kind of pink sash or bow on them. I decided that every girl should pick her own style dress seeing as how I have different sized girls in my bridal party and not everyone will look good in the same dress. This way each girl can feel pretty and comfortable in her own style dress :) I also changed MY choice of dress. It was the one I had originally LOVED, but it was a bit more than the other w/the sash, but I decided it was worth the difference in cost. So, now that the colors have been changed, the cake will not be different. Just the colors. What was going to be the Tiffany blue, will now be pink. My friend Mio...who actually introduced Miguel and I has volunteered to get the cake for us. Her mother works in a bakery and makes all sorts of cakes. My uncle and aunt have volunteered to get the DJ for us. That was a very nice and unexpected surprise! My uncle will also be walking me down the aisle. He is the closest thing we have ever had to a father. So, getting those two things out of the way are a HUGE load off! But there is still a LONG list of stuff that still needs to get done and taken care of! I'm trying to breathe and take it day by day! I am going to try and put the "lists" aside for a couple of days and maybe give myself some scrappy time. I think I need it!! That's all for now :)

You're Invited....

2010-04-13T18:18:00.001-05:00

We decided to make our own invitations to save money. I wanted something simple, fast to assemble and inexpensive. I think this is what we are going with. I got the sentiment off some website and then used my Hallmark card software for the clipart and font, ect, ect. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. We'll see what Miguel says :)

Save The Date

2010-04-09T21:36:00.004-05:00

We met with Father Michael yesterday and filled out the necessary forms. He gave us the new schedule for marriage classes which we will, God willing, start on the 6th of May. And we set a date! September 4, 2010! Yep, it's only four short months away! Can you say "freaking out"? lol Not because I'm getting married to Miguel....hello? We have been living together for the past 6 1/2 years, we have a child together...we are not "new" to each other..lol But because there is SO much planning to do and only 4 months to do it in! I don't know why exactly we decided on September. Well, we did want to get married this year and we needed the time to do the classes, and we figured we didn't want to do it in July..it's TOO hot, August is back to school for Lij, Lij's birthday AND the start of school for Mikey...waaahhhh...lol... October because of my birthday, not November because of the holidays, December is too hectic w/Christmas..so September seemed perfect! Just too soon! We went by the kids godparents' house after to talk to them. Juan, the kids godfather and Miguel's best friend is going to be Miguel's best man so he went over to ask him. His wife, Laura was so excited and already started making plans and writing lists and giving me so many ideas! She is totally a party planner! LOL She is going to be SO helpful to me! Last night, I literally couldn't sleep just thinking about all the stuff that needs to be done, how we are going to fund it all, ect. This is by no means going to be an expensive, elaborate wedding AT ALL, but even cheap costs money! lol Money we don't have! So we are just taking it as we go and starting to save what we can and get people to help us out. But I was browsing davidsbridal.com last night and I think I found the PERFECT dress for me! And even more perfect....is the price!! Only $139 plus $14.99 to ship. It's very simple, yet very pretty and I just LOVE it! The sash in the picture is burgundy though and I think the colors I have decided on are turquoise...kind of like the color of this text...and chocolate brown. Love those colors to scrap with too! LOL :) Maybe throw in some white here and there. Here are some pics to share.....

THE CAKE
I'm thinking I want this in a square cake and not rounds...and of course on a bigger scale because we are anticipating around 200 people...mostly on Miguel's side I might add...I don't even know that many people! In real life that is! I have tons of online friends! lol I love the way each layer looks different! On our cake though, I want the white icing to be chocolate...I HATE white icing. So, it might not look like a "traditional" wedding cake, but it will taste good and I'll eat it :) and then the turquoise accents on this cake, will be turquoise. I think I would also like a big, elaborate turquoise bow on top in place of the traditional bride and groom figure.

THE DRESS

Isn't it beautiful? Simple, but SO pretty! Like I said, the sash will be a different color. I'm not sure about how I want my veil and I think I want a little tiara type thingie. I'm pretty sure I'll wear my hair down...don't like wearing it up. Hopefully it will grow out a bit more by then...shouldn't have cut it and left it long, but oh well!
Okay, so that's about all I have for now. Been working on the guest list and writing down what we need to do, get, ect...I really have NO idea where to start, so looking on alot of online wedding sites. If anyone knows of any neat invite ideas (we will be making our own) or has any nice centerpiece/decorating ideas, please link me up! I need all the help I can get!! :)

WHERE have I been???

2010-04-07T13:42:00.002-05:00

I just realized that it's almost been two months since I last updated my blog!! I'm a bad blogger! I don't know what it is...sometimes I just get SO lazy about updating. Don't know why because I still keep up with everyone else's blogs, just not my own! I don't think I'll try to recap everything that's been going on since I last blogged....just list a few things that have been going on recently.

1. As of right now, THREE of us have a stomache bug...blah! I got it first on Sunday night, Mikey started on Monday morning and Lij started last night...just great! Thankfully (THANK YOU GOD) Mikey was spared and seems to have got it the least. I, the worst :( Lij doesn't seem too bad either although I hate to say that he is THE WORST sick person....EVER! DRAMA! Mikey seems to be back to normal, but I still don't feel 100%...my stomache doesn't feel right...still queasy and can't eat much although it's not coming up anymore. I hope Miguel or my mom don't get it.

2. I got a new camera with our tax refund. It's a Canon Rebel and I LOVE it! Still reading the manual here and there and playing w/it and getting to learn new stuff. Really need to sit down and play with it more.

3. I've been reading. Just finished a book by Don Piper called "90 Minutes in Heaven".....it's an autobiography I picked up at the Family Christian Store....such a good book.

4. Started back at the gym last week and did three days...felt good...then I got sick.... back to it next week God willing.

5. Miguel and I are FINALLY getting married!! Sound the trumpets! lol We have an appointment to meet with Father Michael at his church tomorrow. I really could care less about getting married in a Catholic church, but Miguel wants to. I'd much prefer South San Filidelfia (my church). I think after we speak with Father tomorrow and get a general idea of what we need to do, we will set a date and start the preparations. It will be nothing big or fancy...don't have the funds for that, but I WILL wear my white dress and have my church wedding :) We are thinking early September or early November of this year.

6. Still scrapping. In fact, we got together at Laura's a couple of weeks back and I got three pages done...just been too lazy to take pics and post them! Also been organizing my sb area...AGAIN! I know, I know...it's never ending! I'm waiting on some of that new Basic Grey Basics stuff I just ordered from Stop and Scrap. It's loook AWESOME! Totally my style! Was also wanting to order some of the October Afternoon...Fly A Kite and Thrift Shop. As always...still shopping more than scrapping :( lol

Well, I think that's a good summary of what's been going on. Going to try REALLY hard to keep my blog up! Until next time! :)

Scrapbook group

2010-02-17T11:57:00.005-06:00

So my sis and the girls and I got together last Friday for some scrappy time. I spent the day w/my sis shopping, having lunch and just hanging out while our Mom watched Mikey. I really look forward to those Fridays when I can leave Mikey at home and just hang out w/Chon...good times, good times :) So, we hit our usual spots, but I don't think I got much in the way of scrappy goodies. I did get the kids and Miguel's Vday gifts. And I got myself THE CUTEST canvas print at Target! It was in kids' room decor, but it has OWLS, OWLS I tell you!! HOW could I pass that up?? lol We did go by Scrapbook Heaven which is always such a disappointment to us :( But I did walk out with about 5 sheets of paper and some Sass stitch stamps. At HL I picked up a cute butterlfy punch I'd been wanting and a sheet of stickers w/Scriptures on them. That was pretty much it as far as shopping. Laura wasn't able to stay because of car problems, but she did eat dinner w/us and then we all exchanged little Vday gifts and cards :) I didn't even get as much scrapping done as I'd hoped...only 4 of the 8 pages I'd packed, but I finished up the others on Monday. Probably the most scrapping I've done in a while. With going to the gym, watching the baby now, doing what I have to do around here...I always feel like I don't have enough time to do anything "fun" :( Can't even imagine what it would be like if I had to work outside of the house. Probably wouldn't get anything fun done! Thank God that I am blessed to be able to stay at home w/the kids and have some free time :)

What else? Still going to the gym. Not as much as I'd like to or should. Last week, I only went ONE time :( I know...VERY BAD! But this week, I've gone twice already. Aiming again for tomorrow and then Friday to make four days. That is my goal...to go at least 4 days. Thankfully, although I haven't lost any more weight. I'm still maintaining so that's good. What else? Oh Valentine's Day....was a good day. Went to church...LOVE Sundays and going to church. Miguel met me there and then he took me and Mikey to eat at Chili's. We walked around The Quarry Market after. Even went to M's, but left with nothing. There was actually NOTHING there that I wanted...lol! Miguel got me the cutest Hoops & Yoyo card! I LOVE them! And he really liked the glasses I got him...it was JUST what he wanted! For ONCE I got him a gift he LOVED! He kept saying how much he loved them! :)

Okay, I think that's it for now. Here are my most recent pages. You can check them out in my sb.com gallery too if need to know a specific product! :)

A Case of the BLAHS.....

2010-02-04T11:08:00.002-06:00

I've had a slow going week. We've had some colder, very rainy weather here this week and maybe it's draining me. LOL Blame it on the weather right? It's affecting my allergies that's for sure. As well as Mikey. He's had a cough and sneezing and runny nose on and off since Saturday. Thankfully, it's not keeping him up at night like it did the first couple of nights. I've been giving him cough/cold meds every 4 hours, had the humidifier going by his bed at night, rubbing Vaporub on his chest at night. Anything and everything. Dreading taking him to the doc just to be told it's just a cold or allergies and we leave with less money and no meds. I figure as long as he doesn't have a fever and his cough isn't affecting his sleep or eating, ect. I looked in his throat and it doesn't look red at all, so we shall see. I woke up feeling a little head congestion and I've had a tiny 'sting' in my throat all week. I am pretty sure there's something in the air lately.

Anyway, enough about the weather. I haven't gotten to go to the gym this week. Bad, I know. But since Mikey has a cough, they won't take him in Kids Klub. The girsl and I were going to meet up at the gym on Monday morning, but I had to skip it because of his cough. Last Friday, I went and had a good workout. I was able to run a mile in 16 mins non stop. I know. I'm back to my "running thing". I don't know....I just want to get good at running. It's something I've had in my head/heart for a while and I really want to do it. Right now, this darn cold weather just keeps me from going to the gym as much as I'd like. And the time change....don't want to be catching the bus in the rain/cold OR the dark! lol We have this thing at church going on...The Biggest Loser and we all broke off into teams of 4. Pretty much the same concept as the show. Liz, Yocasta, Diana and I are on a team called the Slenderellas! lol I have 30 lbs to go to get to where I really want to be. Of course losing more than that would be great, but 30 is enough for me. I'm not really concerned about the prize either. Losing the weight is reward enough for me. The added prize is just a "bonus" :)

I was able to get some scrapping done on Tuesday. Did two pages that I really love. Both "semi lifts". One off of Stephanie Howell and one off of April Yap over on 2 Peas. Oh wait, and I was able to do one page yesterday while the baby was playing quietly in her playpen and Mikey was napping. That was also a lift off of Gumpgirl on sb.com. Don't know that I'll get anything done today. I took an allergy pill before the baby came because I didn't feel too well and now I'm drowsy...not good. And I only took one to try to avoid feeling sleepy, but I guess that didn't help any. Okay, enough for now....have a great Thursday everyone...yay...weekend is almost here :)

Some Shares....

2010-01-27T09:47:00.003-06:00

Here are pics of my most recent pages. Three I did last Friday when we all got together here at my house. As well as the cards. The other page, I got to work on yesterday. Not much going on here to talk about. Things are good...we are all good...thank you God :) Hit the gym yesterday w/Miguel. Hadn't gone in a week, but it wasn't too hard. I was able to run 5 consecutive minutes...yay! I know! What is it with me and running? I WILL get back to running those long distances..I WILL! lol It's just a personal goal I guess :) Thankfully, my ankle is not bothering me or hasn't been bothering me lately....very grateful for that. Well, waiting for the baby to get dropped off so until later :)

Getting Together...

2010-01-24T22:26:00.002-06:00

So, I spent the day hanging out w/Chon on Friday before the girls came over that night. I met her early and we hit up our usual shopping spots....Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, Target, Tuesday Morning, Wal Mart and we had a yummy lunch at Mama Margies :) I picked up a cool mag at HL with some pages I really want to lift and some AC alpha stickers, got the DCWV Mariposa pad at J's, at Target I got some little things for some Vday gifts I'm putting together for the girls, and at Tuesday Morning I picked up some cool Love Elsie chip stuff. It was a fun day of hanging out and shopping. Unfortunately, Liz wasn't able to make our gathering this time because her aunt had passed away earlier in the week and her rosary was that night. Laura and Yocasta came and Laura brought Robyn so her and Victoria could play. I did the 3 pages I had planned and made two Vday cards that I need to take pics of and upload. The girls spent most of the night looking through the HUGE pile of paper I had...lol, but we all had a great time hanging out and chatting. I always have such a great time hanging out with these girls. Oh SO thankful for God bringing them into my life :)
Today was church then hanging out at my Uncle Frank's house. Today was my mom's 70th birthday and he had a bbq for her. Very nice time spent with family :) We came home and just relaxed and Miguel ended up falling asleep on the sofa and Mikey played video games while I read some of Dear John while laying on the couch. Such a great Sunday. I always look forward to them because I know I will get to go to church and worship my God, visit w/my new, wonderful friends and spend time with my family :D
I will try to upload pics of my stuff tomorrow. Gotta clean...blah...so I can't make any promises! Also hitting the gym this week and really watching what I eat...I NEED to get back on track!! Nighty peeps ;)

Reorganizing

2010-01-20T09:58:00.004-06:00

So this is what my new paper storage looks like. I got rid of the big, bulky wooden cubbie shelf I've had for over 7 years which was still in really great condition. And I opted for these colored ITSO cubes I got at Target. I already had two white ones and I bought some pink to alternate with the white. One of the pinks is a lighter pink because I couldn't find another hot pink one. It will work for now. Might replace it later. Anyway, they fit perfectly under one of my six foot tables. I think it looks much neater and out of view. Didn't really like having it all out since it's in the livingroom. The first pic is the paper I purged to try to get my paper collection down to fit into 4 cubbies. I had about another 6 inches I added to the stack after I took the pic. It was all paper I knew I wasn't going to use and papers which I had too many of the same sheet. Lots of good stuff in there...K&Co., American Crafts, MM, MME, We R Memory Keepers, Prima...tons of good stuff. The girls are going to have a blast looking thru there! Can't wait to get together on Friday. Already got 3 pages put together to work on and I think I'll try to work on some Vday cards. Or maybe try to get some more pages planned. Malissa is getting dropped on in a bit, so I won't have any time to plan anything until later in the evening. Anyway, that's all for now :)

A mini album....

2010-01-16T17:34:00.012-06:00

This was the mini album we worked on last Friday when the girls got together. Got to finish it up on Tuesday. I'm really loving the way it turned out. And I'm really liking doing mini albums. Really quick project and such a sense of accomplishment! :) Also worked on this one page sometime during the week. Oh, on Thursday. The baby I am watching didn't come that day because she got sick so I ended up scrapping page...glad I got to get some scrapping done!

So the baby...Malissa, came over on Wednesday and overall, it was pretty good. Mikey was having a bit of a hard time sharing me with her...think he just needs to adjust since all my time is pretty much devoted to him during the day. But it went pretty good I think.

Didn't get to go to the gym except for two days this past week :( REALLY need to aim for four days and I really need to watch what I eat more closely. I need to get myself motivated again and step it up.

Chon came over today and we went to Target at Crossroads and I got my ITSO cubes to put my papers in. I got 3 pink ones and alternated with the two white ones I already have. But I need 3 more. They fit perfectly under one of my 6 foot tables and I was able to fit two rows of 4 stacked 2 high. My albums will go in the bottom ones and my paper in the top. I'm giving my cubbie shelf to Yocasta :)

What else? Can't think of anything else going on for now. So, until next time! :)

Bad Blogger....

2010-01-12T22:50:00.003-06:00

For whatever reason, I never have the time, energy or motivation to keep up with my blog anymore! I was so good about it to begin with and for a while there, but now...not so much!
I can't believe we are already almost mid January! Gee whiz, does time just FLY! So far this year is off to a pretty great start. I am feeling so very blessed these days. With all my new friends from church...oh how I love my sisters in Christ! Thank God for sending them to me!! I feel very blessed with where Miguel and I are taking our relationship...working on it, but it's getting better! It's a constant effort though...hard work, but well worth it! ;) I am so blessed for my kids who I just love to pieces!! So many things...good things...going on in my life.
Today after Miguel got home from work, we went to the gym together. We took Mikey too to burn off some energy in the Kids Klub. There were ALOT of people tonight! I mean ALOT!! Had to work out in the Cardio Cinema again, but didn't mind because it was so much "fresher" in there. It literally STANK..is that right? STUNK? I don't know...but it SMELLED really BAD in the gym. Seemed like the heat was on inside and then with all the smelly, sweaty people...ugh....NOT good! So I was very glad to be back there with fewer people and no stench! LOL Plus, they were showing Juno which I really love. I did 3.5 miles on the treadmill and 1 mile on the bike. Ran at 5.0 too with no problems whatsoever. I'm working my way back up there...YAY!!
On Sunday after church (Miguel went w/us again...SO glad he did...LOVE when we go together and not him going to his church and me to mine), we went to eat at Mama Margies and then stopped off at Target because I wanted to pick up some storage stuff to reorganize my scrap area yet AGAIN! It's a constant quest for the perfect "set up". So, after we got home, I started moving stuff and it took me FOREVER! Literally! lol I had stuff all over the tables which I put back in the kind of "C" shape with space in the middle instead of having the two tables pushed together to make one big table. I liked the one "big" table, but it kind of closed the space off. Plus, I've been wanting to find a better way/place to store all my paper because I don't really like having it all "out there" where it can be seen since my scrap area is half of the livingroom. And having the tables pushed together didn't really give me anywhere to store stuff UNDER my tables. This way, I can store tons of stuff underneath and have it still be accessible, but not seen. I'm planning on getting some more ITSO cubes from Target and pushing them underneath one of my 6ft tables and using those to store all my paper. Might be a little harder to get to under there, but I think I can make it work. Also, I'm going to start babysitting for some friends of ours on Wednesdays and Thursdays and the baby is a year old and walking so I kind of wanted to get my stuff all tucked away and IN containers so that she doesn't get anything that might be harmful to her and so that my stuff stays nice and safe :) I remember when Mikey was that little, he just LOVED getting into my stuff! I was always afraid to leave him alone near my scrappy stuff! lol So anyway, I got that all done last night! WHEW! Hopefully, I won't be getting any more reorganizing ideas in the near future!
Oh, and last Friday, the girls and I met up at Chon's house for a little scrappy time. Yocasta wasn't able to make it..boo :( but Liz and Laura did and we all worked on these CUTE little "home" albums using these house shaped cb albums Chon had gotten at M's. Everyone did such a good job on theirs! We didn't get them all done that night, but we got a good start on them! I finished mine up today and I am really LOVING it! I need to take some pics and upload during the day tomorrow. I got a couple more little cb albums at M's last weekend...a circle one and one that looks like a big "tag" I think. I'm wanting one in the shape of a heart for Valentine's Day. I hope I can find one. Also picked up some cute K&Co. Vday stuff and that K&Co Cut and Paste pad which was on sale.
Hmmm..what else? Can't think of anything else at the moment. Need to go dry my hair and go to bed since I need to get up early to wait for the baby to get dropped off. Mikey is excited about her coming over and says he wants to help keep and eye on her so she doesn't hurt herself! I'm hoping that he "will" help me out with her! Okay, nighty!

A New Year...

2010-01-04T22:32:00.002-06:00

Well, so far this year is off to a great start! ;) Laura and I did toddler care at church yesterday. I took Mikey with me and he was VERY good! He likes it SO much! I always enjoy being with the kids...they are so fun/funny! Miguel met us out there after he got out of work to pick us up and as we were leaving, I saw a couple of my new church friends...saw Kim and Joe and Monica and Mario. Mario invited Miguel to join them in their paintball tournament this month and Monica told me she got a Cricut Expression for Christmas! :) Anyway, as we were leaving, I just felt SO very blessed and grateful that I have found a home in this church that I have come to love so very much! I really look forward to every Sunday because I know that I am going to a place to worship MY God, in MY way, that I will be surrounded with uplifting people who I have also come to love, that I will hear music that will inspire me and lift me up...just so many things that I love about this place!

Miguel and I are also off to a great start. We are BOTH honestly making an effort to know each other in a whole different way...kind of like starting over only after six years! It's kind of neat because I feel like it's back at the beginning of our relationship and everything feels "new" again. I am hopeful that we are on the right track and that God will lead us where we need to be.

I scrapped my first page of the year today. Chon and I both lifted this page off of 2 Peas. I am VERY happy with mine :) I wanted to do another, but I'm getting kind of sleepy so it might not happen tonight. Maybe tomorrow. Finished all my cleaning today...don't have much to do tomorrow other than hitting the gym. I hope it's not too cold. Hate going out to the gym in the cold! :(
Anyway, I think that's about it for now. Hope everyone else is getting a great start on this new year! :)

WHERE have I been?

2009-12-30T13:31:00.003-06:00

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.....

2009-12-05T21:41:00.003-06:00

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???

2009-11-29T23:29:00.003-06:00

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...

2009-11-18T23:49:00.002-06:00

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....

2009-11-11T22:05:00.004-06:00

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...

2009-11-05T22:43:00.002-06:00

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....

2009-11-04T22:19:00.006-06:00

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.....

2009-10-25T21:23:00.005-05:00

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...

2009-10-22T23:54:00.002-05:00

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!!

2009-10-20T22:27:00.003-05:00

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....

2009-10-19T18:31:00.009-05:00

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!

2009-10-16T11:40:00.003-05:00

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 ;)

2009-10-14T17:22:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-12T22:33:00.004-05:00

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

2009-10-01T23:02:00.003-05:00

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 :)

2009-09-26T19:15:00.006-05:00

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....

2009-09-22T22:56:00.003-05:00

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....

2009-09-15T21:29:00.002-05:00

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....

2009-09-08T21:28:00.003-05:00

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....

2009-09-02T22:19:00.003-05:00

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

2009-09-01T19:08:00.002-05:00

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 .....

2009-08-26T16:17:00.004-05:00

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....

2009-08-20T14:31:00.004-05:00

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....

2009-08-14T11:53:00.003-05:00

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! :)

Some scrappy time...

2009-08-05T18:01:00.004-05:00

Geez! I hadnt' scrapped a thing since Chon and I had our Scrapapalooza! I don't even know why! I just can't seem to find the time during the day with both kids here and by the time they are in bed, I am pooped and don't feel like scrapping at all! I'm still too lazy to upload my pages from that weekend, so if anyone wants to see them, you can pop on over to my sb.com gallery :)

So I did two pages today...took me a couple of hours, but I'm very happy with the way they both turned out. Both were lifts from some new mags I just got last weekend: the new Scrapbooks Ect and the new CK. I had given up on CK, but I found quite a few pages in there that inspired me. This puts my LO count at 91 for the year.

I'm still working out. AND I lost TWO more pounds...YAY me!! That makes a total of 12 lbs in about six weeks time. I think that's pretty good! I'm dieting too....cutting out breads, rice, pasta...all the good stuff, but it's so motivating to see the pounds coming off and the inches...I am losing me some inches!! I even went with my friend Laura to a work out class at her church on Monday and I have to say, I didn't know that I was going to get a good workout that day since the class was only 30 minutes long and I usually spend about 2 hours at the gym, but let me tell you...it kicked my BUTT!! I think it was because it was alot of jumping....and running in place...alot of impact on my ankle and that was not good! I hit the gym yesterday too and I did AWESOME....really pushed myself and I managed to do 2 miles in 25 mins on the Elliptical. And I did 2 miles on the treadmill in 35 mins, but I am feeling it and paying for it now. I am SO sore and my ankle is hurting me badly! I iced it on Monday and last night and I think I need to again. I "was" going to the gym today, but decided not to. I think I need to let my legs rest and recuperate.

Oh and speaking of my friend Laura...I've known her since Elementary school...1st grade I think and we just found each other on Facebook a while back...well, we've reconnected with alot of our old classmates. But my sis and I got together for lunch with her and another friend we've known since grade school last week and it was a blast! We spent six hours there at Sea Island just chatting and LAUGHING...boy, did we laugh! We talked about so many things...one of them being religion and after saying that I'd kind of lost interest at the church we've been attending (Miguel and I), my friend Laura invited me to her church. So I went with her to a service on Sunday and all I have to say is "WOW!" I can't even describe how moved I was and how much I felt that this was "home". I felt like that was what I had been searching for all this time. And while I liked going to Catholic mass with Miguel and the kids and I loved listening to Father Michael give the sermon, I think my experiences there had become stagnant. I was not getting anything out of it or feeling moved or movitated..nothing. My friend and I even decided to join one of the Women's retreats that her chuch is having!! I know! I'm excited about it! And we get to bunk in the same cabin! This isn't until September, but I'm looking forward to it! So, we have become church buddies and as long as she will have me...lol...we will be going to church together :)

What else?? I think that's pretty much it for now...I think I'm going to try to scrap some more since I have nothing else to do...no chores, no cleaning...nothing. The kids are here playing Xbox so I can watch them and scrap at the same time! More later :)

Scrapapalooza Part Deux

2009-07-28T22:38:00.002-05:00

Chon and I got together this past Saturday for an all day scrapping/shopping day. It was a blast! I met her pretty early so we had a pretty full day of scrapping and shopping fun. We even ate out for breakfast and lunch. It was so nice to just hang out and scrap and shop without the kids around. I was in desperate need of some "alone" time! I can't even remember the last time I did anything without the kids. I managed to finish NINE pages! And I absolutely LOVED every single one of them! I think Chon did 6 and two of the ones she did in her shabby chic style, I just thought were absolutely GORGEOUS! I'll try to upload my pages soon. I'm being lazy about it because it takes so long. But this puts my LO count at 89 pages for the year...YAY! I'm surely going to hit my 100 goal for the year.
Still working out. We hit the gym again today. Did an hour and fifteen minutes of cardio and my usual arm weights and crunches. It was HARD, but good...good work out. That's about all that's going on here. I'm really sleepy so I'm heading to bed "early" for once! Night!

LOs to share :)

2009-07-21T17:56:00.003-05:00

Here are the pages I've done in the last few days. I'm too lazy to put them in order so it goes from most recent to the oldest.

This puts my LO count at 80 for the year :)

Long time coming...

2009-07-20T00:01:00.002-05:00

Has it been THAT long since I've blogged? My poor blog is so neglected! I don't know what I do all day, but time just seems to FLY by and then I don't get to come on here an update on my oh so exciting life! :D
Hmm...don't even remember what I last posted about....hmm..well, last week my sis came by on Tuesday...my nephews birthday and we all went to eat lunch at Jim's. Then we went to M's for a little shopping and found that they are reorganizing and adding SO many things to their scrapbook section! I had a couple of things I was going to get, but ahem...my card was DECLINED because a certain someone who will remain nameless forgot to deposit some money into my account....so ~insert sad face~ I left M's empty handed. On Thursday, Chon invited me over to spend a scrappy day so at the last minute, I printed out some pics, threw some stuff in my bag and Mikey and I met her at Crossroads Mall. We went by M's where I bought the stamps I was going to buy earlier in the week (some CUTE monster ones) and this AWESOME new MME pad they just got in called Complete Boy. It's one of those FAT pads with 180 sheets so with a 50% off coupon, I only paid $10..SCORE! I LOVE me some MME! And all the papers in there are so cool and since I do mostly boy pages, this will be used alot I'm sure! Went back to Chon's and I got two pages done. Two pages that I really LOVE! Got to use my new Cosmo Cricket Early Bird and came up with a page myself :D and then lifted another off of the latest Scrapbooks Ect. magazine. I also did a few more pages over the last few days. I've been buying so much paper lately, I feel like I need to be craking out the pages! SIGH!! Why does this never end?? I just LOVE paper so much....SOOO much...there, I said it...and I'm not ashamed of it either...lol And as if I haven't bought enough paper, I placed an order at Stop and Scrap for some of the Collage Press diecut papers, a Collage Press Knave of Hearts embellishment kit, the October Afternoon Night Light collection AND the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday collection. And yesterday, Miguel took me by M's and I got this cool new American Crafts box of paper (Backyard) and an awesome new K&Co. pad called Lemon Drop. Is it just me or do you all spend more money shopping than actually scrapping? It's not just me, right? Right? lol What else??
Still going to the gym. Last week, I went four days. I am still aiming for 5, but that hasn't happened yet. A friend of mine started going too so a couple of days when Miguel didn't go, I went with her. Been doing my arm weights, crunches, the Elliptical KICKS MY BUTT, but it's such a good workout and I am LOVING the results. I've still only lost the 8 lbs, but my clothes is fitting SO much bigger! Some jeans I had bought back in September or October of last year that were BIG on me when I bought them had been fitting me very tight around the waist. Today I put them on and they were LOOSE around my waist! I can totally see and feel a HUGE difference in my mid section. I'm still dieting too...I'll let myself have a "free day" on Saturdays where I don't stress too much about what I eat, but I also do NOT get out of hand and eat bad all day. I am making much wiser choices and cutting my portions WAY down. It's alot of hard work. I am NOT one of those people who LOVE going to the gym. It sucks, you sweat, and it hurts...lol. I can think of a million things I'd rather do than go to the gym, but I know that if I don't, the blame for not feeling good about my body falls solely on me. So, if I want to feel better about my body and lose the weight I want to, then I have to get my butt to the gym as much as possible and stick to my diet. It's all about motivation and accountability :D
I need to take a pic of a page I just did today, so I'll do that and upload all my other recent LOs tomorrow. It's late and I'm sleepy and if I take a pic now, it won't be very good since it's so dark inside the house. Tomorrow is cleaning day...blah, but hopefully the kids will cooperate and I can knock it out quickly. Chon and I are planning Scrapapalooza Part Deux for next Saturday so I want to get some LOs planned and packed up. Miguel will have the kids so I will have a kid free day of scrapping! YAY!! Haven't had one of those in AGES!! Seriously! AGES!! lol Okay, SOO sleepy...good night! :)

A Couple of pages to share...

2009-07-11T00:17:00.002-05:00

I managed to get two pages done today...some lifts from my BOS on 2 Peas. I really love both of them! This puts my LO count at 75!

I talked to Lij earlier today as well as his dad. He had an appointment today with their family doctor because Lij had been complaining about feeling "something" in his throat and making this noise when he swallowed. Well, wouldn't you know it? He needs his tonsils out too! Yep! Can you believe it? I knew he had really large tonsils just like Mikey because our family doc had pointed that out before and told us that was the reason for his snoring, but they hadn't really bothered him until recently. Or at least I thought they didn't bother him because he never really said anything until recently. So, his dad told me that they did his blood work today and now they need to make him an appointment with an ENT and then schedule his appointment for surgery from there. I'm hoping Lij will get his done before Mikey because I don't know if I could handle BOTH of them recuperating at the same time! I was talking a little bit about the whole surgery thing and the drawing blood to Mikey today just because I don't want him to be in the dark about it and it be total surprise to him and he won't know what's going on. I think I'm dreading the whole drawing blood thing more than the actual surgery. I know how much it can hurt when they do especially when they can't find a good vein. I sure hope that whoever does it knows what they are doing so that it can be as quick and painless as possible for my baby!

Not much else going on here. Miguel has some "church thing" to help out at tomorrow so we'll just be staying home. Chon invited me over, but I know Miguel will be leaving super, duper early and I do NOT want to wake up early when I'm still up so late now. I'll find something to do. Miguel wants to take Mikey to some birthday party in the afternoon at Incredible Pizza, but I don't want to go. So I told him just to take Mikey so I'll have a couple of hours of kid free time in the late afternoon maybe. Okay, sleepy now...nighty night :)

LAZY days of Summer....

2009-07-09T22:55:00.012-05:00

I've been so lazy to update my blog! lol But I'm here now. Not that anything "that" interesting has been going on, but I can't let my followers down! LOL

So, STILL going to the gym...lifting more weight...not getting so tired or out of breath on the elliptical or the treadmill. I'm feeling REALLY good! I see a HUGE difference in the way my body looks...not so blah in the middle...lol...and I lost TWO more pounds! That makes 8 lbs in 20 days! I think that's pretty good! Unfortunately...I still have 35 lbs to lose to get to where I ideally want to be. That would be at my pre Mikey weight and I would be just fine with that....insanely happy with that!

I've done some scrapping....the mojo was high and I finished seven pages! This puts my LO count for the year at 73! The last one I did...with the Wiggles...I'm not really liking. It is too cutesy or something...not sure, but I wasn't "feeling" it. I think the mojo was leaving me at that point! Kind of bummed about that because I really loved those pics of Miguel and Mikey at The Wiggles show at Fiesta Texas. Maybe I'll rescrap them later.
I've gotten SOO much new paper too! I know, I know...I'm bad!! I can't help myself...it's more powerful than me! lol I got like 8 new collections in the past few days. Not necessarily "new" like just released, but new to me because I just got them. At M's I got a pad of Bazzill Dotted Swiss that I just ADORE and can't wait to use! Also got the MM Just Chillin' girl pad. At Big Lots I got two of those 60 sheet AC boxes of paper...the A La Carte and the Metropolitan for $8 each. Pretty good because I think they sell those 60 sheet boxes for $19.99 at M's. Of course those are newer, more recent lines, but whatever. Paper is paper...I don't discriminate...LOL I also got Happy Mail yesterday and today....two Collage Press collections...Knave of Hearts and Sweet Shoppe. And the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird. Also got two Sassafras Lass collections..My Dearest and Pocket Full of Rosies. I love me some Sass!! :) I want to scrap SO badly, but I think I have paper overload! I don't know what to use! lol I guess that's not such a bad thing...having all those paper options. So, that's pretty much all that's been going on. OH, we had Mikey's ENT appointment today...FINALLY..and $365 later, they only confirmed what we already knew...that his tonsils are extremely large and that his adenoids are probably enlarged as well and that is causing him all the trouble with the loud snoring and nasal congestion. So, now we just have to schedule his surgery which I'm not looking forward to because they are going to have to do blood work on him and I don't think that is going to go well. I am definately going to ask them to put that numbing cream on him before they do. I remember that from when Elijah was a baby and in the hospital with Pneumonia. That helped ALOT for drawing blood. I do NOT want to have to hold him down or anything like that. That is just too traumatizing. So we are thinking maybe doing it at the end of August/early September to try to get him on Miguel's insurance at work so that we don't have to pay all this money out of our own pockets. I really just want all this to be done and over with and get back to "normal". Okay, it's late and I'm beat... here's pics of my pages...nighty night.

I'm PUMPED!! :)

2009-07-04T22:40:00.003-05:00

Last night Miguel had decided that he DIDN'T want to get up early and go to the gym today. So I ended up going to bed REALLY late...around 3 a.m. And then this morning around 7:30, he comes to wake me up and asks if I still want to go to the gym. I was really sleepy, but I figured if he was willing to go, I should get up and make the most of it. So I hurried and got dressed as fast as I could. I HAD to flat iron my hair which he wanted me to skip and I was like "NO WAY" am I leaving this house and going to the gym with my jacked up hair! LOL (I went to bed right after I showered and my hair was CRAZY! lol) So, I did 30 minutes on the treadmill (we had other things to do today so we were trying to cut down to an hour instead of an hour and a half). And I ran 10 minutes again...yay! The same...two minutes here...one minute or a minute and half there...I'm building up my endurance though which is good. And I know it's going to take some time, but it's going faster than it took me when I first started running years ago. My ankle was hurting a bit today, but I had to just get my mind off of it and push myself to keep going. I did 10 minutes on the elliptical afterwards then my arm weights and ab exercises. It was an AWESOME workout! I felt really good afterwards :) Oh and guess what?? I lost another 1.2 pounds!! My last weigh in was on Thursday, so in two days I lost that much more! I'm SO psyched about that!! I know it's the dieting...watching what I'm eating, cutting my portions WAY down and cutting out all the carbs. And honestly, I'm not even that hungry. It's made me realize that alot of my eating was simply out of habit or boredom or a thousand other reasons other than hunger. I think that if I keep to my diet and keep losing weight at this rate that I can get back down to my pre Mikey weight in like three months or so. I can't even imagine that. It's like it's been so long that I've been that size, I don't even know how I'd feel you know? It's exciting to think of it....I really,really want to get back there. I have vowed to myself that I am not going to slack off on my diet or exercise and that I WILL fit back into my size 10 jeans by the end of this year. I WILL, I WILL, I WILL :)

I managed to work on a page yesterday. It's a lift off of Kelly Goree's gallery on sb.com. This puts my LO count at 66. I was wanting to scrap today, but I didn't get the chance. After the gym, we came home and had breakfast then Miguel, my mom and Mikey left to Home Depot to pick up a new washer my mom had bought. I stayed home and cleaned up a bit. After Miguel installed the new washer, he fired up the pit and bbq'd. He made me some YUUUUUMMMY grilled squash! I ate it ALL!! At least it wasn't anything bad! I could eat grilled squash every day!! Mikey swam in his little kiddie pool and we just sat outside for a while, but it's just too darned hot!! We started watching Angels and Demons, but Miguel fell asleep so I figured I'd just wait for us to watch it together. Anyway, that's about it. I'm pretty tired so I think I'll hit the sack. Mikey fell asleep on the couch around 9:00, so I should take advantage of this time. Miguel fell asleep on the other couch so I can get the bed all to myself for a while... :) Night!

Music is CRUCIAL...

2009-07-03T00:05:00.002-05:00

to my work out! I bought some new songs off of Itunes today and had an AWESOME workout tonight! I did 3.8 miles in an hour on the treadmill AND I ran TEN minutes! WOOHOO!! Not consecutively, but overall. I'm still only up to running 1 and a half to 2 minutes at a time. I know that it's going to take me some time to get back up to where I was before, but I'm just so happy that I'm making progress! And my ankle didn't hurt at all. And it feels okay now too, so that's another good thing! I'm still at only the five pounds lost, but I'm still sticking to my diet! Trying to figure out how/when I'll be going to the gym tomorrow. Miguel doesn't want to go so maybe I'll have him drop me off in the a.m. and get back home on my own or maybe see if my friend wants to go in the afternoon. I know she wasn't feeling well, so we'll see. I really want to do another day since we won't go on the weekend. If I don't, that will only be 3 days working out and right now...I want to do more!

I managed to work on ONE LO yesterday. It wasn't even that complicated or anything, but it literally took me HOURS! The kids have just not been cooperating and I have gotten very little scrappy time :( I need a ME day. I can't remember the last time I had one...must mean I'm due for one!

Not much else to report here....no big plans for the Fourth of July...just hanging out at home and bbqing. Lij will be with his dad so it will just be us. Might go to church...not sure yet. That's all for now...I'm tired and will probably have to get up early with the kids. Night all :)

Still Going Strong...

2009-06-30T23:19:00.003-05:00

Miguel and I are still going to the gym. We actually woke up early on Saturday and hit the gym at around 8:30 a.m. I know! I was surprised I actually got up that early too! I didn't want to...but I don't want to start slacking off now. We had a good workout! I lost another pound and a half..so that makes a total of FIVE!! I'm SO happy! I'm still "dieting" too so I know that's helping alot. That was pretty much all we did Saturday. We went to church in the late afternoon and afterwards we dropped the kids off w/my mom and Miguel and I went out to dinner. We were supposed to watch Transformers too, but he was too tired :( We didn't go to the gym on Sunday either, but we did go today and yesterday. Tomorrow Miguel has a faith sharing meeting, so I'm going to go w/a friend and then we'll go together again on Thursday.

I managed to get one LO done this week so far. It was a lift off of Scrappy Daisy's gallery on sb.com. It didn't come out quite like I had wanted, but I'm still happy with it. I made it for the July Color Challenge over on sb.com. The colors this time are yellow/orange/red/black. I really love doing the color challenges! This puts my LO count at 64 for the year. I'm hoping to get some scrapping done tomorrow too. This last one took me like three days to finish because I just don't have the time to just sit and scrap with both of the kids here. Maybe tomorrow. Darn housework gets in the way of my scrapping! LOL What else? I think that's about it...it's getting late and I'm tired...the gym really kicked my butt today! I think the a/c wasn't on or something because it was hotter than a hoochie coochie in there! LOLOL I have always wanted to say that! (Like that Allen Jackson song). Anyway...I'm beat so I think I'll hit the sack...night all :)

I Lost....

2009-06-26T19:18:00.004-05:00

3.5 lbs so far!! WOOOHOOOO!! I weighed myself that first time Miguel and I went to the gym and then on Tuesday I think, I weighed myself and I lost 3.5 lbs! I was SO happy! I know it's not alot, but it's something. And it's enough to keep me motivated. I don't think "working out" on the exercise bike was doing it for me anymore. It might have helped alot in strengthening my ankle, but wasn't doing much for toning anything other than my legs. I knew that the treadmill would do it. At the time I was walking/running before I fell down, it didn't seem to me that the treadmill was doing much for me, but seeing my body NOW and seeing it back THEN...it was most definately making a HUGE difference! I know that in time, if I keep at the gym and dieting...I WILL get to where I want to be. I am really LOVING the gym! We went on Monday and Tuesday, but on Wednesday Miguel had something to do after work, so we didn't go. On Thursday, he had a meeting for church, but I went ahead and went w/out him and I did pretty good. An hour and 5 mins on the treadmill, 125 crunches on the ab machine thingy and my 5 different arm exercises on the weight machines. Took another day off today, but we are going early in the morning tomorrow and then again on Sunday when Miguel gets home from work. I would really like to be doing 6 days a week, but if I can get in 5, I'll be happy with that.

This is the last week for the Blog Hop that Chon and I have been hosting and this week, it was her turn to host the challenge. She did a color combo challenge this week and we had to make a page using black/white/hot pink/turquoise/lime green. I had such a hard time with it for some reason! Not so much because of the colors, I guess I just wasn't feeling the mojo. I FINALLY found a page I wanted to lift and I'm pretty happy with what turned out.

Other than that...not much else going on here. Miguel and I might catch a movie tomorrow after church. But other than that...not alot planned for tomorrow. I need to go now...Mikey is tired and fussy and I need to give him a bath to wake him up because he can't go to sleep now...too late for nap and too early to put him down for the night! Later :)

And I ran.....

2009-06-23T13:09:00.003-05:00

LOL makes me think of that "old" song..."and I ran...I ran so far away" WHO is that anyway? So we went to the gym on Friday as well..got on the treadmill right next to Miguel this time. Felt REALLY good...I wrapped up my ankle this time too. I decided to try to run...and I did! Only for one minute...three different times, but I did it!! YAY!! Wasn't struggling to breathe...wasn't in any kind of pain..it was GOOD! This is the first time I have run since I fell back in November. And it felt good! I was so happy! I wanted to scream out to Miguel who had already left his treadmill "I'm running...I'm running!" LOL Did more arm weights with Miguel when I was done with my cardio. Another good workout day. Oh, and with the dieting I'd been doing all week and the exercising, I lost ONE pound! I know it's only one pound, but it's something! And right now...I'll take it! :)We didn't go Saturday or Sunday, but we did go back last night and this time I did 40 minutes on the treadmill instead of an hour and then I did 5 minutes on this stair machine that KICKED MY BUTT! Seriously! Going up and down stairs is still an issue for me with my ankle, so pushing down to get the step to go down was HARD! But I did it! I have to admit, that I felt a little bit like passing out after though! LOL I'll take the treadmill over that thing any day! Also did arm weights and added in some crunches on the "ab thingy" lol...technical term :) I did 80...two sets of 40...that was a little hard, but I've been doing leg lifts at home so it felt the same..definately "felt the burn". We're going back again today. Don't know about the rest of the week because Miguel has "plans"...a church meeting, then inventory at his job. But we'll go again on Saturday and Sunday. I want to go as much as possible and get our money's worth. Miguel doesn't seem as motivated as me...lol, but then I know he's already tired from waking up early and working all day.

On Saturday, we took Mikey to Fiesta Texas to that new Wiggles World attraction. He loved it! I got lots of cute pics. He wasn't as excited about the show as we thought he was going to be..I think Miguel and I enjoyed it more, but I did get a great pic of him and Miguel at the end of the show with all the characters. That was ALL we did there that day....spent about 3 hours there, but it was HOT! I mean HOOOOOOOOT! Hey, that would be HOOT! lol Walking back to our truck afterwards, I really felt like I was going to pass out! And poor Miguel was carrying Mikey on his back!! I bet he wanted to just drop to the ground! And we were even drinking water like crazy too! Mikey fell asleep on the way home and we got back just in time for us to shower up and get ready for the reunion we were having with classmates we graduated with. We met up at a restaurant called Pericos and they had a table reserved for us outside by the band. It was kind of hot at first. Had I known we'd be sitting outside, I might have picked a different outfit! But as the sun went down, it cooled off some and there was a nice breeze so it wasn't "that bad". It was SO much fun seeing some of our old friends and catching up and reminiscing...it was really, such a nice time! I think there were about 12 of us and then some husbands/wives/ect..We want to plan another one and hopefully this time alot of people who weren't able to make it can join us.

On Sunday, we went over to Miguel's parent's house for a bbq, but I spent the whole time inside because it was just too hot...and it was "that time" for me...I didn't feel like being outside and sweating. I was pretty bored, but I knew Miguel wanted us there...me there, so I was. Right before we were about to leave, Adriana showed up with her mom. I hadn't seen her in a LONG time. So we stayed a bit longer and talked and caught up. Then we came home and that was it. It was a great weekend :) Here's some pics to share....

Happy Father's Day....

2009-06-21T00:12:00.003-05:00

to this man....

He is a good father...a great friend, a hard worker. He loves God and his family. He is my strength, my rock and my friend. He plays video games with the kids, he puts up with my "hobby" :), he does all the "dirty jobs" around the house. He is a good man....a generous, kind and giving man. And we are so blessed to have him :)

What's going on??

2009-06-19T13:22:00.003-05:00

Just an update on what's going on in my oh so exciting life :) lol Hmm...where to start. Mikey is still doing that whole "snoring" "gasping" thing at night. The meds the doc had given him which I "thought" were making a difference, don't seem to be doing so now. So I took him off the nose spray and the Singulair and am just giving him the one a day Claritin which is for his allergies and I give him allergy meds on a daily basis anyway. We made an appointment for the ENT, but that isn't until July 9. Which seemed like a LONG time away before when we made it, but is getting closer now. Although at night, when I'm trying to sleep and I'm hearing him make these noises that literally hurt my heart :( each minute seems like an eternity. I applied for CHIPS online and got back a letter early this week that he doesn't qualify. "We make too much money." Really? If that is the case, I'd like to know where all this money is??? So, I guess if he does need surgery to remove his tonsils or adenoids, we will just have to go ahead and do it and get billed and work out some kind of payment plan. Just another bill to add to the oh so long list! But it needs to be done.

I've still been working out on the bike. And earlier this week, Miguel and I went over to Gold's so he can add me on his account. He's had a membership for a while already, but didn't really use it much with his crazy schedule, but we figured that now that his hours have changed, we could both go together in the evening after he gets off of work. After we signed me up, he was also SUPER sweet enough to take me over to Target and bought me some workout clothes...a couple of pairs of shorts, a tee, and a sports bra :) I needed THAT! So yesterday was our first day. There's quite a bit of people working out at that hour and I couldn't find a treadmill that wasn't being used. Luckily, I remembered that the girl told me there was a small Women's Only section in the back with machines and stuff too, so I went and looked back there and found a free one! YAY! So I stayed back there on the treadmill for an hour while Miguel did his thang! lol :) I think I did pretty good. At first, I felt like my ankle was kind of "stiff" and I couldnt' really "bend" my leg right, but after a little while....it loosened up and it didn't even bother me like I thought it was going to...thank God. There were even times where it felt good enough that I thought I could speed up a bit and start running, but seeing as how this is my first day back on the treadmill since back in November when I fell, I didn't want to push it, hurt my ankle and ruin my whole workout. But soon...crossing my fingers...I think I can get back to where I was....I can't believe I'm saying it, but I miss running! I know! It's crazy! Afterwards, Miguel helped me do some arm weights because I really want to tone up my arms too. He's such a helpful boyfriend :) When we walking out the door, they had a scale up by the front desk and Miguel convinced me to weigh myself...I really....REALLY didn't want to...let me tell you, I SHOULDN'T have! :( :( I will not disclose said weight, but I was kind of bummed and I know I'm going to have a long road ahead of me, but I'm commited to it and I WILL get back to where I was before "that day" lol I've been dieting all week. Cutting out all breads, pastas, rice, ect...NO junk...no cookies, candy, cereal..nothing like that. Just good food...chicken, lots of fruits and veggies and a TON of water. So, we will see how things progress :)

Oh, I have some pics of my reorganized scrap area....put a whole bunch of stuff in that shoe organizer I got at Target. I really like it. And I got a page done yesterday. I didn't LOVE it, but I liked it well enough. Kind of bummed about that because it was a picture I really loved! I guess I just wasn't "feeling it", but I really felt like scrapping.

What else? Oh, tomorrow we have a "reunion dinner". A whole bunch of friends I graduated with who I found on Facebook are getting together. Some of us haven't seen each other in at least 10 years if not longer. We've had a good number of ppl RSVP so it should be a fun time! I'm going to be sure to take plenty of pics!

Not sure what else I wanted to talk about...I think that's all for now :)

Name That Stamp!

2009-06-17T20:58:00.004-05:00

Since this week's challenge incorporated stamping, I thought it would only be fitting that the mini challenge should have something to do with it also! What you have to do: name the company who makes each stamp pictured below. Please only post once. The first person with the most correct answers wins! Now GO!! :)

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This....

2009-06-15T10:09:00.003-05:00

:) :) :) :) We have had an AWESOME week! Like I mentioned before, Miguel has a new schedule at work...9:00a.m.-6:00p.m. And with the exception of one day where I believe he got home around 7:30 (he was at his parent's house), he's been home in time for dinner and the sun is still OUT! lol It's just SO nice! We all get to eat together, we sit and watch tv or just talk or he plays games with the kids...he's helping me around the house with stuff I need like bathing Mikey. It has just been SOOO nice!! I really, really, REALLY hope and pray that the new people who have taken over his old "job" will hang in there and keep doing a great job so that Miguel gets to be home with us more. Really, I think that IF something were to happen where they weren't doing so great without him...I don't think he'd go back. Even he has said how much better it is for us all...for HIM...he gets more time to rest..it's just better all the way around! Anyway, on Saturday we had plans to take Lij to Sea World since the weekend before when he was at his dad's, we took Mikey. So we made plans to leave Mikey at home with my mom and to spend the day with Lij. Well, at the last minute Miguel decides that he is going to get us season passes to Fiesta Texas too!! YAY! I thanked him with a bunch of hugs and kisses ;) Lij was excited too although he's not much for getting on rides. Which is why we had gotten the Sea World ones to begin with. But I like getting on rides...not the REALLY scary ones, but I "will" get on some. And there are alot more kiddie rides for Mikey at FT too. Oh and that new Wiggles World which we went and checked out and just know that Mikey is going to LOVE it!! I cannot wait to take him and see the look on his face! I managed to get Lij to get on this ride with me...they're these big "pool balls" and they spin around and you can also make them spin more by turning this "wheel" inside. I thought it'd be okay since it didn't go UP which is something he just didn't want to do...lol...I was wrong! LOL You should have seen the look on his face. I was just praying he wasn't going to puke on me! He did NOT look like he was having fun at all!! It makes me feel kind of bad because he's so afraid of SO many things and I don't want him to miss out on having a good time. We also got on the Ferris Wheel and he looked SO nervous on there too! Poor thing! After a while though, I think he "loosened" up...when he saw we weren't going to plummet to the ground! We did a few more rides including a water ride where I got SOAKED!! So much for spending 30 minutes flat ironing my hair in the morning! It was SO hot though! We all dried off in NO time at all! We had a great time and afterwards we came home and showered and got ready for church. It was a good day :) On Sunday, for the first time in I can't even remember when...Miguel was actually home by TEN a.m. YES, TEN!! lol He goes in at 4:00 a.m. on Sundays and sometimes isn't home until like 5:00. We all got to eat breakfast together and we just hung out all day...we napped on and off on the couch...lol...Miguel played Xbox with the kids. In the evening, after dinner we headed over to Target and I found this really cool metal pail in the picnic section. It's meant for cutlery, but it was PERFECT for all my pens, tools and deco scissors! I forgot to say that Chon had come over on Friday and we hung out and we had also gone to Target and I bought this shoe organizer which was just PERFECT for putting all my diecuts, paper borders, stuff like that in. I purged and reorganized my sb area AGAIN...not quite done yet though. So I'll post some pics when I get everything in its place. Umm...I think that's about it. I woke up pretty early this morning and I've gotten quite a bit of my cleaning done...even got my ironing out of the way so maybe I won't be cleaning the WHOLE day and I can start my page for this week's challeng on our Blog Hop. Here's a few pics from Fiesta Texas :)

Hot Days of Summer Blog Hop Challenge #3

2009-06-14T22:37:00.005-05:00

Wow! I can't believe we are already on the THIRD week of challenges! It's just been FLYING by! Everyone has done a great job and it's been so much fun doing the games and chatting with everyone :) Here's this week's challenge!

Sketch It, Stamp It
　
Almost every single time I scrap, my inspiration comes from a sketch or someone else's page composition. I love bookmarking pages I love, then using them later to take whatever bits and pieces caught my eye and make them my own. One of my favorite places to find inspiration is Pencil Lines. I love the way they have each design team members' interpretation below the sketch because sometimes the sketch itself won't inspire me, but one of the team's LOs might. This challenge will be fairly easy too and open to your own interpretation since there will be no restrictions as to colors, theme, products, ect. being used. The challenge: Use ANY Pencil Lines sketch as the guide for your page. You can flip it on its side, upside down...whatever...this is all about what appeals to you. You MUST state the sketch number you used in your product list when you upload your LO. The other requirement for this challenge....STAMPS. I know I have alot of them....ALOT....and although I've seen numerous people use them on their pages and love the effect, I never quite know how to incorporate them on my LO. So, it's time to dust off your acrylic or wooden stamps and use them on your page. You can make a background using them, stamp and cut out shapes/words, or stamp directly on your page....it's all up to you :)
The Rules:
1. You MUST use a Pencil Lines sketch as your inspiration. Don't forget to list the number of the sketch you used. Your LO must be NEW and not entered in any other challenge or contest. You have until Sunday night to upload your LO (one or two pager) to the sb.com gallery and link here in the comment section.
2. You MUST incorporate stamping on your page.

That's it...have fun and don't forget to look for this week's mini challenge!

Here's my take on the challenge. I used sketch #118 from Pencil Lines. This puts my LO count at 61.

Here's Chon's page:

It's like therapy...only better :)

2009-06-11T08:53:00.002-05:00

LOL I've been trying to scrap more pages that have "meaning", that tell a "story". I love just putting a page together..."just because", as my creative outlet, but once in a while, I feel like there are certain stories that need to be told, certain things I want to remember and pass on.

When I saw my son's step mother post a page on sb.com with a picture of her and my son, I knew I wanted to scrap a page about that whole "relationship". I loved the way Lij looked in that pic and wanted it either way, but I also knew it would be a good pic to use on a page to put some feelings down on paper. She was kind enough to email me the pic and I printed it out myself. Everyone who knows me...well, who is close to me...knows the whole story behind this and how hard it has been for me...and Lij..and well, a lot of people involved. It doesn't have to be like this, but for whatever reason....it is what it is. It's still very hard for me when I know Lij is leaving to stay with his dad. I mean, I trust his dad...well, trying to trust him more. But her...I don't even know her..at all really. All I know of her is what I've heard from Lij or his dad and the little and I mean LITTLE amount of time I have personally communicated with her and that was NOT good! I know that things could be different. It would only make this a million times easier if things were different. Hopefully, in time, things will get better. Anyway....making this page was somewhat therapeutic....I got some feelings down on paper and I really like the way it turned out. This puts my LO count at 60 for the year! Wow! Only 40 to go and we are only halfway through the year!

This makes 59....

2009-06-09T23:05:00.003-05:00

I'm at 59 LOs for this year...YAY!! The first one I did was for the second challenge of our Hot Days of Summer Blog Hop. Chon hosted this one and the challenge was to create a page using diecut papers...no 'square' pages. I love using shaped pages...I have alot of them!! I used some of my new MLS scalloped circle papers...I love the bright colors on those. Also used some of the MLS diecuts. And I cut the beautiful vines and flowers from a sheet of the MME Bloom & Grow collection. I really LOVE the way it turned out and it was all me...no lift :D The second is just a quick page I did using a LO from Chon's gallery. I think hers was a lift..not sure..and not sure from who. Used some of my MAMBI "A Kid Like Me" stuff. That's about it for today. Oh, Miguel has a new schedule. Since Monday, he has been going in at 9:00 a.m. and getting out at 6:00 p.m. None of this crazy 16+ hour days. He's not in charge of closing the warehouse anymore...strictly in office sales now. Even though it's only been two days, it is SO nice having him home while the sun is still out! We get to spend time together and Mikey gets to see him and play with him. It's great! Please pray that things keep going smoothly for the new people in charge of closing because I don't want him to go back to killing himself over that job. Our family is in desperate need of some TOGETHERness!! Good night :)