Ten on Tuesday, and a menu

1. Emma loves to dress herself. For things like school, the fitness center and other outings, I either help her or veto the crazy outfits. At home, she wears what she wants. This day, that was Christmas present tights, a gymnastics leotard and a cowboy hat. She's awesome.


2. At the game last week, Emma was taking pictures (a favorite activity) and took this one of me and Michael. I'll post some others later in the week, I love seeing what she sees.


3. I stopped at Sweetie's and stocked up on strawberry cheesecake Jelly Belly jelly beans last week. Yum.

4. Not a lot of pictures here. When looking for pictures and things to post, I realized that's because they're over on the 365 blog. Apparently, only one interesting thing a day is happening and that's why I've been neglecting this blog. At least that's what I'm going with.

5. Emma now calls the girls in her class her "girlfriends" and seems to only play with them, not the boys. Also, according to her (and the other girls after talking to the other moms) the boys never listen to their teacher. Does this mean by default the girls always do?

6. We're having success with the no-thank-you bite. Emma's even doing it at school. At least she says she is. I think I'll check with her teachers on Thursday. They've both been doing really well with trying either new things, or things they thought they didn't like. Mackenzie is responding better though. Emma tends to still not want to eat the food after taking the required bite.

7. At my sister's last week, I couldn't find one of Emma's sock. Until my mom remembered where she saw it - on Tara's plant ledge. The two-story plant ledge.


Apparently, Emma was in Rachel's room (to the left of my nephew in this picture) and threw her sock. Magically, it curved and made it all the way on to the ledge. Michael knocked it down.


8. Made my mom's spaghetti today and I think it turned out the best yet.

9. Speaking of cooking,

Monday - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, rolls
Tuesday - mom's homemade spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread
Wednesday - breakfast for dinner
Thursday - fajitas
Friday - chicken muffins, green beans or broccoli
Saturday - a new recipe, but I haven't decided which one yet
Sunday - flank steak, butternut squash risotto, grilled veggies

10. Our new phones came today. And that's about it. Lots of exciting things going on here as you can see.

Scrapbook Sunday

I did actually try to post something between last week's Scrapbook Sunday and today, but I was having some Blogger issues and gave up. Thankfully, tonight it's working. I haven't made much progress on my December Daily album. I thought by simplifying the design this year it'd be easier and quicker, but so far, not so much.

I did this page just last night. I was supposed to be working on my February WCS page, instead this is what I came up with. I've had the cloud paper for a long time, but never knew how to use it. Now that I have, I love it and you'll be seeing it again soon.

(Basic Grey, Making Memories, 7 gypsies, Fiskars and EK Success punches.)


These are pages from Emma's 8x8 album. (Please excuse the dirty scanner.)

Emma's favorite restaurants. If happen to read the list of restaurants, you'll see we mainly go for quick. Less time waiting, the more we like it. Or, at least the more I like it.

(Some older Scenic Route, AC journaling spot, 7 Gypsies stickers.)

So I'm not really sure why these aren't the same size, because they are when they're next to each other in the album. These are from Emma's first day of preschool back in September.

(I've had the apple paper since CKC Buffalo May 2008, I think. Is that right Marie? Charlie was a wee little thing! Stickers are Creative Imaginations and perfect for her album.)

Scrapbook Sunday

This page went up on Write.Click.Scrapbook. last Monday. Jody, one of the WCS Collective members had a flood in her basement, which is also her scrapbook room. So some of us scrapped and posted our our home ownership horror stories. Such as when our furnace went out, our sink clogged, our phone stopped working and our computer crashed - all in 24 hours.


In case you missed it, WCS' Ella e-book is out. A Year in the Life is full of ideas for scrapbooking events, milestones and day-to-day life throughout the year. Bonus: it's full of two-page spreads.


The January theme for the WCS gallery is Favorites, and I scraplifted one of my all-time favorite pages, Running in Circles. (From August 2008)



















And I came up with this. Another page about Emma, but instead of running around, she was jumping. The design was perfect for these pictures.

(Crate Paper and KI papers; AC Thickers; 7Gypsies stickers; Fiskars punch.)

Last night I started my December Daily 2009 album, and I'll post thsoe pages next week once I get them scanned.

Have you seen any of the CHA Winter sneak peeks? I Love Elizabeth Kartchner's AC line - Dear Lizzy. So cute, love the ribbon and can't wait to see the whole paper line. KI Memories has a little peek at their new lines or their blog, here. Have you seen anything you like yet? I love seeing everything online, but then the wait begins until they're actually in stores.

So maybe hate is too strong a word...

Prior to November (and my awesome new Mizuno shoes) I often said I hated running. In fact, it's the name of that other blog that I never update. But, and I can't believe I'm about to type this, I no longer hate running. Yes, Rebekah, I can hear you cheering in Oklahoma. One reason I hated running was it made my knees and feet hurt. Plus, it sucked. It's not really all that fun. Two laps was the most I could do. Then I was able to do four. And then I got my new shoes, and the pain was gone - I ran 8 laps on the track. Then I did it again. And again. Then I ran a mile on the treadmill the other week. This was a big deal to me because before I would jog about 60 seconds and then hit the down arrow as fast as possible so I could walk again. I even carried on a conversation with my friend who was next to me. When I first started running, at two laps I'd be breathing so hard you'd think I was having some sort of attack - no conversation was possible at all. But it's gotten easier.

Thursday I ran 12 laps on the track, just short of 1 1/2 miles. I couldn't believe it.

So now I have a new goal: 2 miles, then 3, then 3.1 miles. Otherwise known as 5 kilometers. As in 5K. As in: I want to run a 5K race.

Ten on Tuesday

1. So much for blogging more often in 2010.
2. This picture makes me smile.


3. I think it's weird how the snow does this, but doesn't fall off.


4. Did you watch the Chuck season premier? Oh, soooo good! If you don't watch Chuck, you should.

5. Also starting up this month - 24 and Burn Notice. Yay!

6. I babysat Caroline and Jack parts of the last two weeks. Jack and Mackenzie were sitting on the piano bench playing together. Very cute. The instant I got my camera out, this happened. She was done.


7. I'm updating my 365 blog. I've been taking the pictures. Just not posting them.

8. We went sledding yesterday at my friend Kelly's. With Kelly's kids being the exception, I think the moms had much more fun going down the hill than our children did.



9. New Sewing Machine project #2 is moving along, albeit slowly.

10. Scrapbook Sunday will go up tomorrow. And so will my Menu Plan Monday. We'll call it's mixed-up Wednesday.

I need to go to Walmart,

to get this:


How cool is that!

Here's where I found the picture:Heritage Dr Pepper

From Wikipedia:
Heritage Dr Pepper (aka Dr Pepper Heritage) (2009-) became available around November 2009 in various outlets around the United States, including major retailers such as Walmart. As its name implies, it is a "rerelease" of sorts of Dr Pepper's original formula, which uses real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, which Dr Pepper and other brands of soft drink started to use around the early 1970s.
United Kingdom's version of Dr Pepper, along with various other countries, is manufactured with sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup (much like Heritage Dr Pepper in the US, as mentioned above). Along with Sprite and Fanta soft drinks, a 'Zero' version was introduced, meaning no added sugar/low calorie, but maintaining a taste more in line with regular Dr Pepper than its diet variant.

"I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper,
She's a Pepper, we're a Pepper,
Wouldn't you like to be a Pepper, too?
Be a Pepper. Drink Dr Pepper."

It finally stopped snowing this afternoon.

For a while, that is. It's snowing again now, although not nearly as heavy as it had been. I did actually leave the house today though. Since our street is a hill, it's tough to get up when there's a lot of snow. So much that it's entertainment to just stand at the living room window and watch the cars attempt this.

Yesterday when we were out, three cars in a row were struggling. It was the craziest thing. Car A stropped in front of our driveway and we about to help push her car when she got going again. The she stopped again and Car B decided to go around her (because that's always a smart thing to do) but slid towards the other side of the road and that's when car C passed them both! All three struggled to the top of the hill but eventually made it, no pushing required.

It's a constant reminder to me not drive when it's like that. Well, that, and our own experience getting stuck and the run-in with the mean tow truck driver that scarred me. I just don't leave when the road conditions, well, suck.

10 am yesterday


1pm yesterday. Michael had a snow day.




Mackenzie is on the sidewalk leading to our front door here.


Next to our driveway.


Our deck at 6pm.

And while I think we've got plenty of snow to last us a while, we're supposed to get more. Awesome.

Scrapbook Sunday

So I've been slacking a bit on Scrapbook Sunday. Really I didn't scrapbook much at all in December. Until this past Monday. Got together with the girls for some scrapbooking time. Okay, for some socializing time with a bit of scrapbooking thrown in.

I did two pages, pretty good for four hours - at least for me. I finished the journaling on this one tonight. I never do the journaling away from home. I need my computer for it. So then what usually happens is I have a page just how I like it, then get home and have to find room for the journaling without messing up the design. If only I liked my handwriting. And it was legible. But I don't and it's not. Two years ago one of my New Year's goals was to work on my handwriting. Yeah. That didn't happen.


(Basic Grey papers, AC ribbon, Fiskars and EK Success punch, 7 Gypsies sticker, Ek Success arrow sticker)

As for the other page, it needs journaling, too. Hopefully I get it done this week and up next Sunday. But I'm also starting New Sewing Machine project #2. (#1 being the girls' stockings that I'll post this week.) Christmas gifts for the women who work at Kid Park (@ the fitness center). Yep. I'm a little late as I can now say Christmas was last year. I'll just call them New Year's gifts. :)

Project 365

I had quite a few friends do Project 365 last year and I loved it. So I decided I'd attempt it this year. I'll be posting the photos here. I also put a link over on the left.

I think the hardest thing for me will be getting them posted. Scratch that, it'll be choosing just one on days when I've taken numerous photos I love. It's that whole indecisive thing I've got going on.

And with that, day 1 down, 364 to go!