Feel Better Soon, Grandma!!!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

New shoes...

I LOVE the Nike Pegasus Trail and have been running in them for years... but this year, the new model just didn't do it for me. I'd end my run with achy feet and sore toes. This time I'm making the switch... NEW SHOES! There's nothing as exciting as getting new shoes. I started with these.

I loved them, but they didn't LOVE me. I ended up with sore hips and blisters. So thanks to Road Runner Sports 90-day satisfaction guaranteed policy, I traded them in for the Puma Complete Nightfox Trail.

... Very flashy, but I really don't care what they look like as long as they are comfortable. I'm looking forward to trying these out tomorrow!!!

Ring Bling

The first semester of school is almost over... finals are next week! Chris has been making some WONDERFUL rings in his jewelry class. He was filmed during jewelry for the school's 360 video. You can see it here: Capo 360. Also, watch for him in the opening scene. The cross country team was recruited to stand in line.

Here are some of the projects he was working on in jewelry. The ring on the left is rolled with a scarf, the next one is hammered, and the last one (my favorite) is double layered with cut-outs. Here's a close-up:

This one is very cool with a wavy edge. Chris's rings are all size 9.5 made out of nickle and brass. His final project is in sterling silver. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

A card share...

Here it is... my first scrappy project of the year! Circle punches and the Around and About stamp set from PTI, made these super fast and easy! I made up a whole set of these simple little cards for Cheryl to send out birthday thank-yous. Did she send them out? Uh, no...

Joy Captured - Flowers from my girl

My JOY this week was coming home Friday night after a 48 hour work week and finding a BIG bouquet of yellow roses. Cheryl cut them from the backyard; arranged them in a vase tied with a pretty ribbon; and left them in the spot where I would see them immediately after I walked in the door.

Big {{{HUGS}}} and KISSES to my sweet girl!!!

My boy, Chris...

It's been a while since I've blogged Chris. He made the track team by finishing the mile in 5 min 17 sec (3 seconds under the cut-off time). He's really enjoying his jewelry class; the drawing & painting class?... not so much. He has to finish his color picture for homework, and did not want his photo taken (that's why it's so blurry), but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do! And taking photos of her kids is very much in the mom job description.

I did sneak a photo of his picture. {Proud mama here...} It looks really nice if I do say so myself :)

Weekend is almost here! I hope you all have a lot of fun planned. The rain that was in the forecast earlier is GONE! It's going to be a GREAT weekend!

Joy Captured

Here's another new project for 2011. I've joined the challenge on Jill's blog to capture my word for the year on film. I've put a lot of thought into it and decided that my word for this year will be "JOY." Here is my first week's attempt at capturing JOY!

There is nothing like watching Jena play ball. If only everyone could be so happy chasing a ball across a field!

Birthday time again - part 2

I had to share one more photo... my baby girl Cheryl at 4yrs old. Even then she still had that wonderful smile!

Also, want to know how much money was in the soccer dude? There were no quarters in that bank... only pennies, nickles and dimes. Well, I was the closest guessing $35. The total? $183.05! No wonder I never win those "How many in the jar" guessing games...

Look out! Cheryl is going on a shopping spree!!!!

Birthday time again!!!

My baby girl is 21yrs!!! I know I asked this last year, but where does the time go?!!! We had a nice family gathering at my mom and dad's house. Last night, for her birthday, I made her favorite Italian Chicken. She made her own cake... red velvet with cream cheese frosting! Before all that, she had to work. Her little girls had a little party for her after practice with cupcakes and cans of whipped cream. You think the whipped cream is for the cupcakes? NO! The whipped cream is for shooting, and Cheryl was the target, HAHAHA! I wish I could have seen that. I saw the aftermath... she came home covered with dried whipped cream!

We had presents last night too, just a couple. I ordered a couple of things online, which didn't arrive yet. I won't tell you what they are since she may be reading this, shhhh.... Anyway, last night we gave her a package of Flaming Hot Cheetos and the soccer dude.

The soccer dude is stuffed full from his toes to the top of his hat with change. We have no idea how much money is in there. Any guesses? Jim is going to take her to the credit union to cash it out today. Everything in there is hers.

Happy Birthday, Baby! As Grandma and Papa said... the next big milestone is college graduation!

Puzzle Swap...

So, What's a puzzle swap, you ask?... Take a 12-piece puzzle, break it up and separate the pieces between 12 ladies. We each decorate the puzzle piece to match each lady's theme and color scheme. Here are the ones that I did:

* Christmas Theme - Red/Green/White/Gold/Silver
* Angel Theme - Red/Green/White
* No Theme - Orange/Brown
* Sultry Theme - Brown/Cream/Green/Pink
* Fall Theme - Orange/Brown/Yellow
* Snowman Theme - White/Blue
* Patriotic Theme - Muted Red/White/Blue
* Think Pink - Pink
* Vintage Theme - Tan/Brown/Pink/Green
* Love Bird Theme - Brown/Teal/Beige
* Romantic Theme - Green/Brown
My theme was "Tropical Island" in colors Blue/Green/Orange/Red. I have a couple of pieces that I have to do in my own theme, but I'm going to wait until I see how the other pieces go together.

I can't wait to see all the pieces for my puzzle. This was a super FUN swap!

Healthy New Year!

I never make New Year's Resolutions, but this year I'm going to do it! My resolution is to eat healthier this year and to make sure my family eats healthier too. I've never been worried about what I eat... after-all One of the main benefits of running is to eat whatever I want! The problem is that not everyone in my family runs...

Cheryl got me this GREAT cookbook Hungry Girl: Recipes and Survival Strategies for Guilt-Free Eating in the Real World by Lisa Lillien.I'm going to try and make at least one recipe a week from this book and share with you all here. I can't post the recipes, but I'll post the page number for those with the book who want to follow along.

The first recipe we tried is something familiar: Southwestern Suprise on page 65.

This is very similar to the tortilla soup that I posted HERE, but with only 168 calories per serving. There is even enough left over for Cheryl to have for lunch for most of the week!

Sadly the Hungery Girl cookbook is very lacking in photos, so here is a photo of what ours looks like. My family gives this recipe 4.5 STARS! We would definitely make this again!

On another subject here is my niece and Jena again. Jena LOVES cuddling with my niece. Aren't they cute together?