The Shape of 49

This is my birthday layout for this year... yes, it's a lot early, but it was the perfect idea for a challenge I entered over at TallyScrapper. Oh, and I am not naked in this photo. My husband thinks it's important for me to point that out.



Journaling reads:
Life is good - enjoy the journey
People tend to fear the BIG-O birthdays. For me the BIG-FIVE-O is just around the corner. Sitting here at 49, I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm happy, I'm healthy, I feel great, and I love my life.
I DO NOT FEAR 50!

I printed my photo and masked title on a transparency. I did my journaling directly on the background paper. After attaching the transparency to the background, I added rub-ons and die-cuts to the transparency to jazz it up.

Progress Map

I'm still in California... 1928.7 miles to go!

Varsity Lacrosse

We have a Lacrosse player in the family!!! Yep, she made the High School Varsity Lacrosse team. Isn't she beautiful? LOL!
(NOTE: This photo was taken under my daughter's protest!)

Book Reviews

It's been a long, long time since I posted any book reviews. It's not that I've been a lazy reader... just a lazy blogger. LOL! Here is a catch-up on the books I've read the last few months.

"Cobra King of Kathmandu" is the third book in the Children of the Lamp series. It has taken me forever to finish this book! I think it was because I really didn't care for book two, "The Blue Djinn." However, once I got into this book, I really enjoyed it. It was much better than "The Blue Djinn." John and Philippa, the twin djinn, help their friend Dybbuk solve a mystery that led to the murder for Dybbuk's friend. I already have the 4th book in this series on order.


I've been hearing about this book for a while, but it was a long time before I finally picked it up. I enjoyed "Twilight" very much! In fact I loved it. Vampire boyfriends in a sappy teenage love story? You bet! LOL! My daughter (who is not a reader) finished this book in two days... she loved it. What extremes will Bella go to to stay with her vampire boyfriend, Edward? What extremes will Edward go to in order to keep Bella safe? What will Bella's "human" boyfriend, Jacob, do to keep Bella alive? You will have to read it to find out. I must admit that "New Moon" irritated me! I found Bella very irritating in that she was so helpless and whiny... but then she is a teenager... LOL!


The Dark is Rising series was written back in the 1970's. It has taken me until now to pick it up. The writing style is very dated. The story seemed to talk down to the reader. It's hard to explain. Imagine the Boxcar Children hunting for the holy grail, and you have "Over Sea, Under Stone." "Dark is Rising" was a lot more interesting and engaging. I may read the other books in this series, just not right away.

"Dragon Slippers" was a fun book! Dragons unlike popular opinion do not hoard treasure. They are collectors... this particular dragon happens to collect ladies footwear. LOL! So ensues a fight between dragons and humans that has a happy ending.





"Wicked Lovely" is a dark fairie book. The evil winter fairies and the good summer fairies are in conflict. The Summer King must find his mortal queen to gain full use of his powers before winter takes over the world. Unfortunately for him, his chosen mortal (a Goth girl) doesn't want to be a fairie queen. This book was just okay. I'd only recommend it to someone who could not get enough of fairies.

I checked this book out of the library because there was a story in it by Stephanie Meyers (the author of Twilight). It looks like the title is "Hello", but it is "Prom Nights from Hell"! This is a collection of bizarre and sometimes disturbing short stories. Definitely give this one a miss.




I picked this up because of the great reviews it got on Amazon. "Magic Lands and the Journey Beyond" has an intriguing title. However the "magic lands" is modern civilization. This is the journey of a young man's trip from his small village into the Beyond as a rite of passage to manhood. There he meets a girl and they run away together. I read this one aloud to the hubby and kids... we all breathed a sigh of relief when I was through. The writing style is very poetic. It's very hard to read and hard to listen to... akin to reading a Shakespearen play. Maybe we're not sophisticated enough to appreciate the story, but my whole family disliked this book. Sorry to end on such a sour note...

Progress Map

Kind of wimpy progress this week due to injury, but my leg is much better and I'll get back to making some miles next week. My current mileage puts me just past Hemet, CA.

He's Baaaack!!!

Hoover's Back!!! I used to think he was adorable... until he started eating all the bird seed, scaring the birds away, and he dug up and ate all my tulip bulbs! What a pest!

Scrapping the Music - It's Good to be Us

I went through tons of old photos and came up with four photos of my hubby and I having fun together. It was hard! There were lots of choose from... I guess that means we have lots of fun. LOL! Patterned paper is from the Basic Grey Recess line.

Journaling from the song lyrics:
It's better than best. Yeah we got it made in the shade, in the sun, in love this way. We got lucky baby. We've been blessed. Couldn't ask for more, wouldn't settle for less. It's good to be us, yeah, it's good to be us. It's good to be breathing day after night after day. This feeling feels the way it should...

Iliotibial Band Syndrome

I had aches in my knee after running. But it's not the knee, it's the ligament that runs down the outside of the thigh from the hip to the shin. When the band comes near the knee, it becomes narrow, and rubbing can occur between the band and the bone. This causes inflammation and pain. ITB syndrome can result from any activity that causes the leg to turn inward repeatedly. This can include wearing worn-out shoes, running downhill or on banked surfaces, running too many track workouts in the same direction, or simply running too many miles. Unlike many overuse injuries, however, ITB pain afflicts seasoned runners almost as much as beginners.

So, the treatment is ice, a patella strap,... and NO RUNNING!
What a bummer!

January 12th - Progress Map

I'm bummed. I really am! I expected to be past Palm Springs this week. I still have a way to go yet.

Aliso South Wilderness Park

I'd like to share another of our favorite running spots. This is the Aliso South Wilderness park. The high school cross country team trains here. When we bring our son to run with the team, we stay and run here too. It's 10 miles round trip to the end and back. It's a beautiful day for running. I wore a tank top and shorts. The temperature is in the high 70's. I hope you like this 60 second video I made. I give you a little history of the area as I show you where we run. Oh, and for those who don't know my daugther, she's kidding about the shirt. LOL!

Happy Birthday!

My little girl turned 18 yrs!

No more braces....

I took my son to the ortho to have his braces tightened. The nurse took him in the back, then the dentist came out and said that they made mistake! I'm thinking, "Oh, no! They're going to make me make another appointment and come back next week." The dentist said, "He's done! Can you bring him back to have his braces taken off tomorrow morning?" Whoa! No anticipation! That's it! DONE! Does he look happy? LOL!

Compact Camera/Phone Printer

Look at this! I thought this was a fun gadget!



Polaroid's new printer is a little bigger than a deck of cards and connects to phones by USB or Bluetooth.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- Once celebrated for cameras that made their own prints, Polaroid Corp. plans to update the concept this year by selling a portable printer for images on cell phones and digital cameras.

And like those old Polaroid instant-film cameras, the new printers should have a wow factor: they require no ink, because they employ a thermal printing technology from startup Zink Imaging Inc.

The 8-ounce printers, a bit bigger than a deck of cards, are due to go on sale around back-to-school time for about $150, Polaroid and Zink announced Monday at the International Consumer Electronics Show.

Once connected to a phone or camera by Bluetooth wireless or the USB port, the printers need less than a minute to churn out 2-inch-by-3-inch pictures, which can be peeled off a backing and used as stickers. Sheets of paper for the device will cost about 40 cents each, less if bought in bulk.

The Zink technology, which uses heat to activate minuscule dye crystals embedded in the photo paper, won raves at the influential Demo conference a year ago. But until the CES announcement, Zink had not lined up any partners who would bring its technology to market.

Polaroid is a natural fit, and not just because of its photo-printing history. Zink was founded in 2005 by private investors who bought many technologies from Polaroid as it was coming out of bankruptcy.

Prices and availability dates were not disclosed.

Progress Map

On my way to Woodsfield! I'm off to a good start!
My current mileage puts me past the Cleveland National Forest and over Sun City... waving "Hello" to all the snow birds there!

My Running Log

Here is the journal that I made for myself to keep track of my miles.



The first page has tallys for the year.


Each month page has a tally for each week and month.There are also pages for race times and scores.


I'm also going to keep track of when I bought my shoes, so I know when to change them out.

Here is Chris' running log... His has an acrylic cover over it.

Running: San Clemente Route - 4 miles

We take the San Clemente Beach route when we want to run, but don't have a lot of time. We still have a lot of shopping to do for my daughter's birthday. I took these photos during our run today:


It's a short run from the parking lot through the sandstone cliffs to the beach.



That's San Clemente pier... two miles away.



The tradtional, have to take, under the pier photo.

Welcome to San Clemente pier.

No seagulls today... only pigeons... that means we are in for a weather change. Our beautiful sunny days are about to end!

See the high whispy clouds (I know they have a scientific name, but I don't remember what it is)... it's another indication of a weather change. I'd expect rain by the weekend. But, for now, it's a beautiful day for running at the beach!

14,000 Miles

Some friends of mine over at Tally Scrapper had this bright idea:

Since there are some of you who have decided to work out would you like to join me on something? ... It is just over 7,000 miles to get to Iraq from where I am and I want to bike to Iraq and back, since the hubby is heading over in June. That would be 14,000 miles and I could use some help!

They setup a blog to help keep track of all the miles. Here's the address:
http://tallyiraqandback.blogspot.com/

I'm part of the Tally Team! So, as I make my way to Woodsfield this year, I'm also on my way to Iraq and Back! Be routing for us!

Happy New Year!

Time to make some personal goals for 2008. Here is my list:
1) Have my kitchen cabinets and counter redone
2) Learn how to use Photoshop Elements as well as I use Photoshop 7.0
3) Post one photo a week to my blog to document my family's everyday life
4) Run from Mission Viejo, CA to Woodsfield, OH

Hahaha! For #4 I don't really mean actually run it, but I want to log enough miles this year running/walking for fitness to reach my best friend in Woodsfield by New Year's Eve. I'm going to keep track of my miles with the ticker at the top of my page.

My son Chris (the cross country runner) is starting his trip around the world. His stop at the end of this year is going to be Potter's Hill, NC. Then he'll start his trek across the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.

Merry Christmas to ALL!

...from our house to yours!



It's my Christmas tradition to wait until Christmas morning to make 2007 Christmas ornament for the families. I use photos that I take on Christmas Eve. Each year they're different. Here's this year's ornaments.

Scrapping the Music - Baby it's Cold Outside

We got our dog from the pound. She's a mutt, but must be some type of warm weather mix.

She hates the cold. If it gets below 50F, you can find her bundled under her blanket.

I add the snowflake and title to the photo. Then printed the photo out, and added pretty patterned paper from Sassafras Lass, bling, and subtitle. The clear snowflake is a QK diecut with the edges painted with a pink paint marker.

Look at my new stamps!

I had clear stamps made of some of my son's cartoons and just got my stamps today. I'm so excited! They came out great! The clear rubber is not as durable as the the store bought stamps. I pulled on a piece of scrap rubber to see if I could break it and I could given a little effort. However, the images stamp clear. I tried using both cat's eye chalk ink and Stazon... both work great.

Here is the original image that I sent in:

Here are the stamps:

 

Hmmm... maybe I should have taken a photo when they were nice an clean, LOL!

If you are looking for a unique gift, I highly recommend http://www.villageimpressions.com/index.htm . The lady that there is named Anna-Mae and she is very very nice. I placed my order on a Monday, and they were in my mailbox the following Monday. How's that for service?!

Mary's Sunday Blog Challenge

Our challenge this week is to pick a layout from our gallery and highlight it on our blogs. Here is my pick by BethJ. Beth takes the most beautiful photos of her children. I like how she did the title and that the large photo is the center of her layout.



Here is another one I found in the gallery. It's not a layout, but it cracks me up everytime I see it. Mary you need to get around to scrapping this picture.

Scrapping the Music - Little Wonders

Here's my layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge, Little Wonder's by Rob Thomas.

This photo just breaks my heart...
My daughter played Varisty soccer last year as a Junior. This year because of repeated ankle injuries, she didn't perform well at tryouts and was cut from the Varsity team (they have a new coach this year).



I used the lyrics from Little Wonders instead of the title. Journaling reads:

All of my regret will wash away somehow...
But, I cannot forget the way I feel right now.

PP is from Basic Grey and We R Memory Keepers. The flower is Prima Essentials collection. These flowers are gorgeous! The doodle is made using a Crafter's Workshop template.

Scrapping the Music - Best Days

This week's song at ScrappingTheMusic was Best Days by Matt White. I've been real busy this week, but I still wanted in on this challenge. This is a hybrid layout... The photo, frame, title and journaling are all one piece printed off the computer. I just added background paper and chipboard.

This is my hubby and me. We used to do a lot of camping in our younger days. The background paper is from the Basic Grey Obsure line I got from the 2ScrappyChixDesigns store.

Double Page Layouts

I see all these great works of art single stand-alone layouts, but I am double page obsessed. Even when I show only one page, I usually have a companion page to go with it. For instance this layout that won the Scrapping the Music contest last month has a second page that I didn't show:



Here are some more two page layouts! I love showing off my photos... and I do have a whole lot of them!

Smoke and Fire

SCHOOL'S OUT!
The entire school district has closed today. They are using the high school gyms as evacuation centers. Some of my daughter's high school friends were packed last night, just waiting for the signal to evacuate their neighborhoods. The smoke is very thick today with the Santiago fire on one side of us and now the Camp Pendleton fire on the other side.

Scrapping the Music - You'll be Here in my Heart

Here is my latest layout for the Scrapping the Music challenge. This week the song is "You'll be in my Heart" by Phil Collins:



This is my daughter, I scanned a few old photos to add to the layout too. I used PP from the new BG Obscure collection, primas and quickutz die-cuts.

Get BG Obsure from 2SCD:
http://2scrappychixdesigns.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&keyword=obscure