Wow...Team Donald is super quiet so far today. I feel like I am always trying to catch up on housework around here. I already put away one load of laundry and have one more to dry and put away (Do you think a mile of laundry would qualify for HH this week? . Dishwasher is running and dinner is in the crockpot (sausages, peppers and onions for sandwiches~although I usually omit the bun). When DH wakes up, I will have to vacuum the whole house (especially the dreaded stairs). I also want to get the bathroom cleaned.
Sounds like you had a productive weekend!
DH leaves for a conference on Wednesday and comes back on Friday just in time to go to work all night. So, I am trying to organize before he leaves.
I also decided that I want to make scrapbooks for my kids for when they graduate and have parties. I have no idea where to start. I did ask a friend at work since I know she use to scrap. Her advice was that it can get pretty expensive. Great. Lol. I have a couple things to return to Pat Catan's, so I may start picking up a few things here & there so I can start this summer. I know we have some super scrappers here on the BL teams. Does anyone have any advice for a newbie? Is there a good website to look at? How about materials? Should I stick to Pat Catan's or are there places online that are better deals? Sorry for all the questions, but I'd appreciate any help.
Okay~off to check and see if the dishwasher is done running so I can put dishes away. Have a great Sunday!
Jill
I know you got some suggestions about digital scrapping. I suppose that is the way to go, if you are starting "new" and are not intimidated by the computer. If you are choosing paper scrapping, let me know and I will give any suggestions I can. But I won't be any help with digi-scrapping, but I do know that there are a LOT of digital kits out there.
I have SO MUCH invested in my scrapping supplies AND I'm a bit computer illiterate, so I have opted to NOT go digital.
My suggestions either way.....
LIMIT your photos..... 1-6 GOOD photos of each individual event or season should be enough. I finally realized I didn't need 50 photos of DS's soccer season or 20 photos of each of DD's swim meet. Just a few GOOD photos of the entire season are usually enough. I TAKE lots of photos to give me many options, but try to limit how many I use in my scrapping.
If you are scrapping concerts or shows, perhaps a few photos of "getting ready" (rehearsals, costume fittings), and then a few of the show and the obligatory photo of the entire cast/ensemble.
Not sure how old your kids are, but if they are still pretty young (elementary age), my suggestion would be to START NOW and keep on top of it! It can EASILY get away from you (although digital scrapping is SO portable, that you could probably bring your laptop along anywhere and work on your project!).
If you are just thinking of a "high school career" type book (high school sports, high school activities, high school awards, prom, driving, etc), then you may want to really streamline it and stick with a single color palette. It will reduce the amount of "stuff" you need to buy and make the pages go quickly. I would suggest 3-4 coordinating colors and maybe 2 patterned papers that go with it.
Definitely check out the scrapping board here. There are some remarkably talented women! Another great sight to check out is twopeasinabucket.com. I don't care for the way the sight needs to be navigated, but there are TONS of pages on there to get inspiration from.
If you are feeling intimidated to even get started, try finding a class in your area. Creative Memories offers both paper scrap supplies and digital supplies. You could probably easily find a distributor (individual sales person, like a Tupperware lady or Avon lady) in your area to help you get started. Or try a chain craft store. Not sure what that Pat Catan's is, but if it is like an AC Moore, Micheal's, or Hobby Lobby, they should offer classes at least once a month.
Sorry to ramble. I love scrapping and could talk about it all day!
Copied from my WISH Journal:
I had a 55 point day yesterday (Saturday). You read that right 55 points.
I am given a daily points allowance of 30. Most weeks, I never use my Activity Points. Additionally, I try not to use all of my 49 extra points. But it is nice to know they are there if you need them. I NEEDED THEM YESTERDAY.
Went to Red Robin for lunch to celebrate a friends birthday. I didnt go too crazy I had a burger, fries and shared an appetizer with three other people. That meal cost me 52 points.
All week, I worked hard to stay within my daily points so that my extra weekly points were available. Yesterday for breakfast I took advantage of fruit being zero points and had a whole banana with my morning tea. For dinner, I loaded up my plate with zero point veggies and spent just a few points on grilled chicken.
Was I a little hungry when I went to bed? Yes.
Was it worth it? Absolutely
Will I do it every week? No, but its nice to know that I could if I wanted to.
But my 55 point day really made me realize two things:
1) Because of the way the WW plan is structured, I CAN indulge every now-and-then without going off program. All it takes is some advanced planning.
2) If I can have a 55 point day on a day where Ive only indulged with one meal, how many points was I eating in the past? Pre-WW, I probably would have had a large Dunkin Donuts coffee (light and sweet, of course) and a donut for breakfast, and would have had a normal dinner. Ill bet I routinely had days where I went over 100 points.
So I celebrate my 55 point day without guilt and without regret. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That being said, I did NOT weigh myself this morning.
I know that the scale would not have been accurate - my fingers were swollen when I woke us, so I know the sodium is still in my system. I'll be sure to get in more water than usual today, so hopefully when I step on the scale tomorrow I won't be like this:
.
- Laura
TWO great reminders there! First the reminder that WW is a great plan that allows these "guilt free" splurges!! Isn't it wonderful??
Second reminder.... YIKES! How much must I have been eating to GET that overweight in the first place? I know I used to fool myself that I had a small meal, small treat, etc etc, but you don't get to nearly 220 pounds eating "small meals"!
When I see NOW what the proper portion sizes are, I get a bit
thinking back to how I ate sometimes!
Thanks so much for sharing that with us here!!
It is sad when vacation ends all around. I think I've only had one vacation in the past 5 years where ds and I were butting heads, and I was regretting taking extra time off.
Glad dd is feeling better and hope she's good to get back to school tomorrow. I'm sure it will be an exciting day sharing their trip detail with the others who didn't go.
I'm sad that vacation is over. But honestly, I was a SLOTH this past week! I guess I had "vacation-itis." I did NOT take full advantage of the free time I had! I got NOTHING done around the house except the basics of laundry, dishes, vacuuming. I did get a few photos into frames for a new collage I am working on, but that's about it! I didn't even get any scrapping done!! Glad I"m not working today.... time to kick my butt into gear!!
I ended up getting called in yesterday for 2 cases. I guess that's karma for trying to blackmail him.
It was all in fun though. When he called me in he said, "do you want to come and party with me?", and one of the cases was not very easy, so after I said, "This isn't really my type of party." Oh well, it interfered with my dis time, but the money is good.
Just keep thinking about the paycheck (well... don't forget the patients! 
). Maybe you could start a small bank account just for something special, like next year's Princess Half. Then when you work "extra" like that, you could make a small deposit. That might make the working a bit more enjoyable.
I am proud of myself for doing the couch to 5k, actually finishing it, and doing the training for and doing the princess half. It goes with the question of when do you feel most beautiful. I honestly don't think of myself as beautiful, but after the princess half, after a shower and rest, we went to epcot and I really felt beautiful with my medal, and some of the pictures from that afternoon/evening are my favorites. Even though I was still over 200 pounds, I didn't feel fat but I felt fit and happy and knew that if I set my mind to do something, I can do it.
And you can get under 200.... just set your mind to it.... create a plan like the C25K plan. Work on it a little more every day, like you did with the running.
I think you are beautiful and you should too!
The other qotd I missed was about your fav souvenir. After each trip now I get myself a disney photopass coffee mug with my favorite picture on it. I love using a different cup every day and reminiscing about that trip.
I'm so happy she had such a great time, and I'd love to see pictures when you can.
I will probably upload the pictures to the computer today myself, as she hasn't yet. She is still feeling really lousy.... stomach is really bothering her. Probably worse now than it did when she first got home. I don't think she should have gone to school today, but I let her make the decision. No fever or vomiting, but frequent bouts of diarrhea. She only had a bit of chicken soup yesterday and some ginger-ale and this morning she would only have a bit of tea with honey. I packed some stuff for lunch (crackers, applesauce, a cheese stick), but she probably won't eat it.
My first scrapbook was a trip we did to mexico. I would suggest maybe doing a smaller project as a first project, a trip maybe, or holidays. I want to make ds a scrapbook too, but find it overwhelming. I started just doing pages for his, as I print out pictures, and haven't put them in books yet. But I have several years of baseball done, a talent show, skiing, and have them in a box, and will figure out how many books it will make one day.
I also think the further out from things the less pages you will do, for instance, I never got around to doing a preschool book, but now I'll just do a 2 page preschool layout.
I agree with that bolded statement. As it is happening, it seems SO important and you think about making an entire BOOK for the event. But as time passes you can look at it a bit more objectively and realize that you don't need 20 pages of 4 year-old preschool! Like I said above, just pick out anywhere from 1-6 of the BEST photos of an event or season, scrap them, and MOVE ON!
I usually buy at ACmoore or Michael's crafts, and look for weekly coupons or sales. I'm guessing Pat Catan's is like them. THere is also a scrapping section here where people post their pages. I'm guessing digital is probably the way to go nowadays, but I'm not the most computer literate person, so I think for me it would not be as easy as scrapping. Plus I have too much stuff to not use up.
It is fun, and can be done without breaking the bank. A lot of scrappers do some very fancey pages and use just a few pictures, but for me, I like to have more pictures per page, and do not get real fancy.
Good luck!! How old are your kids? I think graduation is a good goal too, to get them done by then so you can share them at the parties. I made a book for my nephews graduation, and he really liked it, and it was fun to share and show everyone at the party. I left a couple pages at the end and did the party and graduation pictures after the party. I'm just getting organized now to do my nieces for this june.
I know abut the time crunch. I absolutely MUST get a start on DD's high school book! I've been putting the swim pages in the chronological book as they are done, but I think I need to make a separate "swim" book. Maybe mostly club swim with some HS swim pages at the end?? And of course, then, an entire HIGH SCHOOL book. But it won't be much compared to the swim book. A few field trip photos, a few "first day" photos, NHS induction (didn't get any photos of Latin HS induction and she dropped the Spanish HS), a few Costa Rica photos, jr and sr. proms, maybe homecoming, and that should do it! I've got a bit more than a year to do this. Considering it can take the better part of a full year of my scrapping time to scrap an 8 day Disney trip, I think I had better get moving!!!!!!!!
Good afternoon, Donalds!
We went to friends last night for dinner, and today I am back on track yet again. I gave up chocolate for lent, so that helped me say no to dessert. Ds has a friend over now who just moved and is on the river, so we're going to bring him home shortly and bring the dog with us so we can walk her along the river.
Hope you're all enjoying your weekend!!
You are brave! No chocolate?? I don't eat it much, but I love it when I do!
Oh my gosh...that was basically what we were making - took pizza dough and cut out rounds, and then put Nutella on it, along with baked apples bits and hazelnuts. It was a German recipe for Fasching. Each child was allowed one, DS did not eat one since he does not like chocolate and he brought two back. They went in the trash. They looked incredible (he said the kids loved them), but I don't even want to think about how many points that one little snack would be
.
YOu are far stronger than I would be!!
Wow, wish you could send some of that snow down here! I wanted one good snowstorm before the end of the season. The latest one I ever saw here was around March 15th or so - we are fast approaching that date, so I doubt if we will have a good one this year.
Want it? You can have it all!! We got a few more inches over the next few days and then of course icy rain on top of it. DH didn't clear the last few inches from the driveway so of course now we have a nice icy/crusty mess all over it. Praying for sun this week!
We don't figure we're "out of the woods" as far as snow goes until late April. We've gotten snow as late as early May. I rarely take my snow tires off before the first weekend in May, although DH usually takes his off mid-April. I don't mind this stuff nearly as much in January.... cause that is when it is SUPPOSED to be here.... but by now I'd like to be thinking that Spring is right around the corner!
So glad she is home safe and had such a wonderful time! How long did it take her to settle down enough to sleep!
It probably took you and your DH some time to settle down again as well!
I actually ended up reading a few pages after I went to bed about 3:30 am. I was a bit keyed up. But DH was snoring before he hardly hit the pillow! And I think that DD settled quickly, as I didn't hear any movement from her room. It was such a relaxing relief to finally have everyone under the same roof again.
Had a major weight loss, caused by something I probably ate. Managed to lose three pounds by being sick, not sure how much of that was due to my diet. Of course, it is mostly water weight caused by my illness, and my next Friday, it will probably be a gain again...oh, well. The upset stomach lasted a few days, finally easing up today, so it might have been a virus as well.
Busy at work, working through lunch to make up for doc appts, trying to learn a new accounting system and my vacation is the week they implement it! But I made these plans long before, and sorry, I am out the door that week.
The shots to my knees have started
. I got the first on Tuesday in my left knees, it hurt but not as bad as I remembered, and I limped for awhile but it finally felt better. But on my right knees, that was intense. I could barely walk, had to left it ease up before I left the office. The parking lot was full, had to park way far away and limp to the office. It hurt that whole day
. My office gave me a parking pass so I could park closer when I come in late like that. It still hurt Friday, so I guess my right knee is more tender than my left. She said it was due to the swelling of the joint when she puts in the fluid. Ow, ow, ow...According to DH, he said I complained of the pain last time I got these shots, I do not remember it...maybe it is like childbirth
- I remember the reward, being able to take the stairs two at a time when the treatment is finished. Four more weeks...got to keep on telling myself it is worth it. But until it really starts taking effect, I can't exercise because my knees hurt. Will have to do some upper body work for my arms and maybe crunches for my abs while waiting for my knees to start feeling better. The treatement will be done on a Thursday, and that Saturday we leave for Florida. They should be fine by then though. Now to just find a better route to work, everything is jammed up when I leave the doc office at 8:30.
DB finally sent me pictures of his twins
. They are so cute!
Carol
I have tried to send this twice, too many smilies, then it froze. Hopefully the third time is the charm
SOrry about the knee pain. I laughed about the analogy to childbirth pain. It probably is somewhat like that..... you forget the pain once you have the good results at the end! Hope the knees are wonderful really soon!
Yesterday was better. I was able to get an hour in at the gym and did 30 minutes of weights along with 35 minutes of cardio. Considered trying to do some lunges, but since yesterday was the first day I could get up without unbearable pain, I decided to do the leg press instead which hurt enough. (Pressed 40lbs though!) Running was out of the question too, but I was able to keep a 3.2-3.4 pace which I was pleased with.
But today for some reason, I just wasn't hungry. Had a Fiber One bar for breakfast and ended up eating just some pineapple chunks for lunch. Did end up splurging at dinner since I had only eaten 200 calories at that point. Hot dogs and chili with a small piece of Boston Cream Cake (which wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be.) And even now after all of that, I'm still almost 200 calories under the 1,200 minimum. Which I'm planning on just drinking a glass of milk to top it off.
It's just frustrating that I'm still teeter-tottering on these same 3 lbs... So I'm hoping that since I'm adding in weight training, maybe things will start moving again.
I mean, sure my clothes are getting looser, (the jeans I'm wearing are bagging all around me) the 'back bulge' is practically gone, I swear I've dropped 4 inches on my waist and just today, someone told me that it looked like my stomach was a lot slimmer; all that I'm happy about. I just wish the scale was showing it...
Sorry to be sounding so ungrateful for what I have accomplished and really my problems are miniscule compared to what other people are dealing with. I'm just frustrated, that's all...
Thanks for listening.
Quick question about calories and exercise: If you've eaten 1,300 calories for the day but go to the gym and burn 400, does that mean that you still have to eat 300 calories to get you to 1,200?
I still can't help but feel that I'm not eating enough...
This is my thought, but I"m no expert. I would stick with the 1,200 calories, regardless of your burn. Remember, there is no point in eating back everything you burned! That would keep you at maintenance. But if you aren't eating ENOUGH, your metabolism will slow way down. So be sure to get at least your minimum calories.
I am so sick. I havent gotten out of bed all day and I don't think tomorrow will be any different. I feel bad cause i can tell work is getting pissy at me. Oh well, i need to beat this cold/flu. I just feel so awful
So sorry you are feeling so awful.
Monday Question of the Day
Theme: The Ugly Stepsister
We've talked about what you are most proud of doing. So what task have you been putting off doing, hoping it will go away?
EVERYTHING!!
But the magic fairies haven't come to clean out the basement, the garage, or the attic!!
I'm a pretty good procrastinator at times. But some jobs just make me
worse than others. And since I am usually pretty busy keeping up with the daily stuff, the bigger jobs often get pushed further and further down the list. That said, a LIST is a big help to me! Somehow the actual act of writing things down and crossing them off helps me to accomplish more!
Good Monday morning everyone.
I have been in the costume vortex for the last two day. I spent the last two days at the local high school working on costumes. Our to do list has gone from 7 pages to 2 pages for tonight. I think it is going to work. They are running with costumes for the first time tonight.
Long day planned for today. Classes then a math meet and then back to work on costumes.
I don't have a lot of time this morning .
Just wanted to say I am okay just not able to get on here as much I would like.
Have a happy and healthy day.
Wow! You crossed off 5 pages?! Great job! Love to see some pictures from your shows! Have a great week!
****************
Morning friends! Quiet on here this weekend!
I managed to have a fully OP weekend, except for exercise. I'm afraid that DD's post-trip lethargy was contagious and other than some household basics, I was very lazy this weekend. But I will hit the TM hard this morning, regardless of the laundry waiting to be folded!!
Had a bit of a surprise on FB yesterday. Got a message that I was tagged in a photo and (well, actually DH saw it first) and found myself tagged in a photo from my high school cheerleading years. I am NOT friends with any of these girls, but discovered that since I am friends with my old HS boyfriend, he is the one that tagged me.
I am INTENTIONALLY on FB with only my married name, as I didn't NOT enjoy HS and do not have any HS friends. I have NOT FB friended anyone from HS (other than this boyfriend who found me). I don't really care to have anything to do with these folks. But perhaps I am OVERTHINKING this a bit. My first instinct was to untag myself and kindly ask this man to NOT tag me without letting me know! But who cares. It is an old photo, I look fine, I"m not compromised in any way, and these girls don't seem to care that I was tagged. And it gave me "permission" to FB stalk these girls! And one of them is a (using the term VERY loosely) "model"...... if the meaning of the word
model means to have provocative photos taken of yourself (and occasionally another woman) wearing VERY LITTLE clothing in some questionable positions
"modeling." All I can say is.....
Okay.... DH is up and moving and I hear the TM calling me ever so faintly!
TTYL.....................P
But seriously, good job on the great loss! )
Congrats Rememberthemagic98!!!!!!
