99

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

Happy Birthday .....

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Little Bit of Scrapping....

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

Some scrappy time...

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

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 :)

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...

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...

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....

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.