Although we didn't hunt easter eggs, the easter dinner was a huge success. Seems like the entire family finally agreed on the main course: BRISKET!! Add Corn bread, mac and cheese, broccoli rice casserole, potato salad, deviled eggs and baked beans . . . we were STUFFED! The biggest hits with the kids (Chili and Atilla) were the peanut butter cookies that Robert made!!

Day 101 of 365

We don't have kids to hide easter eggs for, and I don't think the dogs would get it! LOL . . . but what would easter be without a couple hard boiled eggs?!

Day 100 of 365

Living with 2 men, and a male dog . . . being the only female . . .it's TOUGH keeping this house clean. I really think men are missing something in their brain, where they don't SEE the mess, the filth??! So, I bought some new dish towels. As I write this, one already has car grease on it from when they had to work on Ian's car yesterday . . . that's what OLD towels are for, not my pretty NEW ones!!! siggghhhhhhh, MEN!

Day 99 of 365

I'm struggling with keeping to the picture a day commitment. On Thursday, I turned my computer on, and then 2 minutes later turned it off. I go thru phases . . . I had the bigfishgames.com phase, the jewelry making phase, the scrapbooking phase, and I kinda not feeling the picture a day phase anymore. I'm really concentrating on the loosing weight and working out phase right now.

Day 98 of 365

Apparently, I didn't leave my 12 hour visit with Robert to the ER empty handed . . . they sent me home with STREP THROAT! I woke up this morning, and it felt like I had a rubber ball stuck in my throat. I took a look, and my tonsils were HUGE and had white spots all over them! I went to work anyway, since I missed yesterday. My boss talked me into going to the doctor, so I made the last appointment of the day he had. He confirmed my diagnosis, gave me a shot, more antibiotics, diflucan (ladies, don't ya just LOVE what antibiotics do to us?!), and liquid pain meds to soothe my throat. . . . .oh yeah, also got my monthly bead kit in the mail today, but after a swig of the pain meds, I think I'd rather take a nap than make jewelry!

Day 97 of 365

Atilla got his ears docked, so he's pretty loopy still. Poor baby! He's been takin it easy with the rest of us today.

Day 96 of 365

. . . and THIS is the reason I didn't post anything yesterday! Robert called me at 5pm yesterday, and said he was at the ER. He was having chest pains, and his blood pressure was sky high! I left work immediatly, and got to the ER at 6. We didn't make it out of the waiting room until 10pm, and didn't leave the hospital until 4am!! They ran a ton of tests, and he didn't have a heart attack (thank GOD!). They think it might have been a reaction to a supplement he took, added to the stress of finding out his company is going to a mandatory 4 day work week. Great Monday, huh??

Day 95 of 365

. . . and because time and tequilla took ADVANTAGE of me, here's another picture my mom sent me. It's my dad and Janice in the go-cart. I, on the other hand, spent ALL day Sunday in bed with the hangover from HELL!

Day 94 of 365

Apparently, I have a couple of days to catch up on around here. I'll explain why as I catch up. This is a picture my mom sent me of her (on the right) and a great friend that came to visit her (on the left). They've been friends over 40 years. So, why didn't I take any pictures on Saturday? Well, I had the best of intentions. We had a friend of Robert's over to hang out and play cards, and time and tequilla got away from me . . . the rest is history! LOL

Day 93 of 365

Next time we see Atilla, he'll have his ears cropped. Ian is taking him tomorrow to get them done. I took this in memory of his floppy ears, tomorrow he'll look like a Dobie!

Day 92 of 365

I went and saw the doc yesterday. Since I started my "exercise plan", I had gained 5 lbs!! I was BEYOND frustrated, so had him take blood and run some tests. Haven't got the results back yet, I'm hoping he calls tomorrow?

Day 91 of 365

SEEEEEEeeeee Dad!!! I cleaned it!! LOL And this picture was before I did half of the laundry in the hamper!

Day 90 of 365

It's WAY past time to clean my closet. Shoes, purses, dirty clothes . . . all piled up so bad I couldn't find a thing. See, this is where I let my self be messy . . . I just throw everything in the closet, and shut the door. I throw Robert's stuff in his closet too, and shut the door. That way atleast it LOOKS cleaner. I cleaned it right after I took this picture, and drying a 2nd load of laundry now. I'll post the after pic tomorrow (unless something better comes along! LOL)

Day 89 of 365

My serving tray is done!! I LOVE it and had so much fun doing it. The handles are black (match all the iron stuff on our furniture). The wood is painted "barn red" then I washed on the black, and sanded it off in spots to see the red and bare wood underneath. Then I painted the design on the top (traced in from the pillows on the couch!). THAT was the hard part. Then Robert spayed a coat of clear and screwed on the handles for me. Ain't it PURTY?!

Day 88 of 365

Robert figured out what's wrong with Chili . . . he as AAD (not ADD). AAD stands for Attention Abundance Disorder! Basically, spoiled ROTTEN!

Day 87 of 365

Here's my next project. I'm stealing the idea from http://www.craftynest.com/2008/12/salvaged-cupboard-door-serving-tray/, but colors and design are gonna be different. We went to http://www.oldhomesupplyhouse.com/ today after I found it on the internet yesterday to get the door and handles. That place is SO cool, I think I found my new inspirational decor spot!

Day 86 of 365

It was my boss's birthday, so I stopped on the way to work and picked this cute little thing up! It smelled SO good (it's jasmine). It's ready to bloom like crazy. I think I'm gonna go by there tomorrow, and see if they have another one for me.

Day 85 of 365

Spring has sprung! . . . in our backyard. Robert has been spreading seed on all the spots that the dogs have trampled. They were bringing in SO much mud, and making a mess. Hopefully this will help . . . this spot was PURE mud a week ago, and look how green it is now!

Day 84 of 365

This picture is a couple of weeks old, but since I was on the treadmill when the dogs were acting like FOOLS and I didn't have my camera, this is pretty much what it looked like tonight. I swear, they must have chased each other around the couch a HUNDRED times. It was making me dizzy!

Day 83 of 365

It's hard to watch this political stuff now after watching the Obama Deception. It all seems like a puppet show now. It's no secret that I'm not an Obama fan, but this documentary makes it pretty clear that it wouldn't matter who is in office! I'm not sure if I buy it 100%, but there seems like there must be SOMETHING to it.

Day 82 of 365

My latest addictions . . . atleast it's HEALTHY junk food! haha I went to the healthfood store last week, to browse and "intensify" this new path I'm taking (haven't missed one segment of my workout plan so far!) Found these chips and trail mix, and had to go back to get 2 bags of each . . one for work, and one for home! mmmmmmmmm

Day 81 of 365

I feel like JELLO . . . worked out HARD at the gym this morning, and don't wanna move this afternoon. I'm doing laundry, but even that is a struggle. Soooo, mom sent me this picture of their yard, and it's just TOO beautiful not to be the picture of the day!

Day 80 of 365

Gosh, I was in SUCH a bad mood last night, and I have NO idea why . . . I was mad at the waitress at the restaurant, I was mad at the dogs, I was mad I had to clean today, just is a horrible mood. Thank GAWD I woke up out of THAT funk! I was fine today, cleaned like a DEMON (and wasn't even mad about it! haha) Cleaned the frig out, the pantry, the rest of the kitchen . . .Robert even cleaned the kitchen floor for me! Only thing I didn't get done today is all of my laundry (did towels and linens today, so it WAS going constantly!), just not any clothes. Need to clean out my closet, do my clothes, put up all my shoes, and clean the bathroom tomorrow. (might even start on it tonight?)

Day 79 of 365

I tired and irratable, so the groceries that didn't have to go in the frig are still on the counter. I see a WHOLE day of cleaning tomorrow, I need to clean the frig and clean out the pantry . . . so the cold stuff got thrown anywhere it would fit, and the pantry stuff is still sitting out, and I'm laying in bed, surfin and watchin TV, and maybe some reading . . .

Day 78 of 365

Exercise plan - TAKE 2: (bear with me, this might be a LONGGGG blog post today) . . . so I was brainstorming the other day, trying to think what actually WORKED when I've lost weight, and it has ALWAYS been a commitment to exercise. In 97, when Lyle died, and I had NO life, I would come home EVERY night and walk for an hour (imagining him pushing me with his hands on my ass! LOL) Last year, it was using activtrax.com (it's kinda like a computerized personal trainer) and going to the gym atleast 3 times a week. It held me accountable, and I could see the progress which kept me motivated. When Ian moved in here, Robert got us a "family" membership to his gym, and I dropped my membership to the woman's gym and activtrax. Then the holidays, and allergies, and more holidays, and more laziness, and I'm back to where I was before activtrax . . .

So, yesterday I went and rejoined my old gym, and logged into activtrax and found that all my old info was still there. The last time I had logged a workout was July of 2008! uugggghhhh I did another strength test last night, and am ready to start working out. I found out last night that I can go to ANY Lady of America gym, and there is one 5 miles from my work (the one by the house is so close I could walk!) I checked out the one by my work today, and said I'd be coming in tomorrow with workout clothes. This afternoon, I came up with my "plan", and put it all in my calendar so that it would remind me thru my cellphone. I told Robert ALL about it, and now I'm telling you . . . so that I have EVERYONE helping me stay accountable. I also printed out the "plan" and put it RIGHT ABOVE my work computer monitor, and hung my next activtrax workout right next to my monitor (see today's picture).

Sooooo . . . here's the plan:
Mornings: Monday thru Friday from 6:20 am to 6:40 am, I'm gonna be on the Treadmill. Nothing to fast, just MOVIN. I'm gonna do a mile, so that's a speed of 3 mph . . but I'm gonna sprint for just one minute right in the middle. Saturday morings I get to sleep in. Sunday mornings, I get to watch CBS Sunday morning (it's my little personal tradition), and get to the gym as soon as they open at 10am to work out. 10 minute treadmill warmup, 30 minute weights per activtrax, 5 minute ab workout per activtrax, 20 minutes cardio (I like the treadmill), and then home.
Lunchtime: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:15 to 12:00, 10 minute treadmill warmup and 30 mintes weights per activtrax. Since lunchtime at work is sometimes unpredictable, if I can't make it at these times, I'm giving myself 23 hours to "make it up" . . . so I either have to go to the gym that night, or I have to get up at 5 when the gym opens the next morning!
Evenings: Sunday thru Thursday (I'm giving my self Friday and Saturday nights off) - at 7:50, I'm doing 100 situps (or the activtrax ab workout from lunch that I didn't have time for on Monday, Wednesday and Friday). From 8 to 9, I'll be on the treadmill. I'm not gonna kill myself, probably just 3 mph with that 1 minute sprint every 10 minutes. I figure as the weeks go by, I might want to increase from 3mph, but this is good for now. Just so that I'm MOVING!

This gives me Friday afternoon thru Sunday morning to be LAZY (and I LOVE being LAZY!) . . . but I also don't think this is too much. I did the math, and I OWE it to myself to spend 12 hours a week to better my health (and my weight! LOL . . . got 40 lbs to loose). Out of my week, it's only 7% of my time . . .

I sleep 33% of the week
I work 27% of the week
I'm gonna workout 7% of the week
I eat 6% of the week
I'm in traffic 6% of the week
I spend 4% of the week on hygeine (LOL)
. . . this leaves me with 17% of my week to do WHATEVER I WANT! This is NOT unreasonable, is it? 17% is 28 hours, so 4 hours a day . . I owe it to myself to atleast spend as much time working out as I do eating! LOLL

Day 77 of 365

Today I got the checks for all the federal, state and city extensions I had to mail out. It looks real pretty here, all ready to go . . . but it literally took me all day (and most of last week) to get them to this point. Got the checks (had to calc amounts, and get check requests last week), copied the checks, made 150 copies of the federal extension to include with each state and local extension, matched up checks with forms or letters (that I prepared last week), copied the signed forms and letters, stuff orginal check and forms in envelopes, stamped "mailed on Mar 18 2009" on copies, seal envelopes . . . and file copies away in the folders. Whheeewwwww!!

Day 76 of 365

Here's the guitar that Robert is re-do'ing. He wants to put a thousand coats of poly on it, and then get some new parts for it. I asked him tonight when he thinks it'll be playable . . . and he thinks by May.

Day 75 of 365

I feel like I've been a little "lazy" on the picture taking, but nothing exciting to take a picture of. I figure as long as I do SOMETHING here everyday, I'm keeping my resolution . . . so, have ya'll heard about stumbleupon.com?? I think I'm addicted! I read about it in a digital scrapbooking magazine, and since then I've "addicted" Robert and his mom to it too! LOL It's a really neat way to surf. I've found so many neat sites . . . .soooooo, other than that, I got the 2nd in the twilight series today, and I'm burning a DVD for Robert of Grand Torino (I watched it last night, but he didn't want to on my laptop). It was GOOOOD!

Day 74 of 365

It took awhile, but I finally got sucked in. Heard all about how it was an easy read, and figured a rainy weekend was a great time for it. Picked it up after lunch at Cheesecake Factory on my birthday, and finished reading it last night. Downloaded and watched the movie this afternoon (the movies are NEVER as good as the books!)

Day 73 of 365

Here's the house at Possum Kingdom lake. It was actually a lot nicer that expected. Only thing it didn't have was internet, which is why I had to post yesterday and today's picture today. We can pretty much use it anytime we want, so I'm looking forward to going back this summer.

Day 72 of 365

The weather sucked, cold and rainy, Robert didn't want to go . . . but we went anyway. Not the perfect 37th birthday! But atleast we got to check out the lake cabin that his company owns that we can use. We definatly want to go back when it's warmer. We couldn't believe how many deer were around! Check out this video . . .

Day 71 of 365

Birthday's at work . . . everyone gets a cake. My boss gets the BEST cakes. This was a strawberry cake from Celebrity Bakery, and 20 minutes later, there wasn't a CRUMB left! My birthday is tomorrow, but since I'm taking the day off tomorrow, we celebrated today.

Day 70 of 365

I spent an hour and a half in this mess this morning . . . probably woulda been 2 hours, if I hadn't taken this service road that I'm leaving here to get back in line. Then I had to park WAY out at work, and get soaked on the way in and the way back out tonight . . AND it's 39 degrees out! brrrrrr ANDDDDD got to sit in this mess for another hour tonight! I just LOVE traffic!! arrgghh

Day 69 of 365

Well, my new knockout roses got "knocked out" by the damn DOGS today! Poor rose bush, and the flowers that were in the front are LONG gone. I put all the soil back in after I took a picture, and I'm hoping it'll be ok.

Day 68 of 365

It's been SO nice out the last couple of days. I cleaned up the patio yesterday, and we've been sitting outside every chance we can! Hard to believe it was 80 today, and it's gonna be 40 at the end of the week.

Day 67 of 365

I had this pot since last summer. I got it for the hose (it's suppossed to wind inside of it), but I never liked the way it worked, but thought it was pretty. So I put some bricks in the bottom to block the hole to put the hose thru, and put some plants it it. They were SO pretty, but I killed it like I do most plants. Today, we had to go to Lowe's and I saw the "double knockout" roses. I've had them before, and they did SO well, that I thought I'd try again. I put some trailing "ground cover" in front to try to keep it from drying out.

Day 66 of 365

We went down to Robert's mom's house today. He had some old guitar parts he wanted to get, and we haven't seen his mom in awhile. She's too sweet!! We helped fix up her computer, and bookmarked my blog so she could see what's going on with us.

Day 65 of 365

Here's my new cube, right outside of my boss's office. Mass Effect Dude is my "door". LOL So nothing too exciting. Same size cube as before, just a different spot.

Day 64 of 365

I'm moved to my boss's old cube today, she moved to my old boss's office (right next to my new cube), and my old boss moved to this cube. They are moving the computer and phones in the morning, so i finished moving these boxes over tonight. Tomorrow I'll be all moved over, but it's the same cube . . . just in a different location, so the picture of the new place won't look much different.

Day 63 of 365

This is my "pantry" at work. I try to keep a bunch of healthy snacks within reach, so I don't succum to the BAD stuff in the cafeteria or the vending machine. Rice cakes, protein bars, etc, etc.

Day 62 of 365

Kinda blurry, but the only picture I took yesterday. We are playing "cube musical chairs" this week, so spent yesterday and today cleaning out my state income tax files of the oldest 2 years. These boxes were full today before I tranferred them to the filing cabinet.

Day 61 of 365

It's finally here . . . the most exciting blog post EVER . . . oh, I mean the most exciting rose ceremony EVER!!! I can't WAIT to see what drama unfolds. 3 hours of this crap-ola tonight, and an hour tomorrow! LOL (dammmmnnnnn . . . my coffee table is DUSTY! . . I don't know what causes all this DUST, I didn't even HAVE to dust but like once a month before I got a dog, maybe it's from having a doggie door?)

Day 60 of 365

Went and saw this movie this afternoon. I was shocked, because I really think it's one of the best movies I've ever seen. I say I'm shocked, because it just didn't seem like the kind of movie I would like . . . boy, was I wrong! GO SEE IT!

February Layout

I've decided to skip the weekly layouts, and just go with more journaling on the blog, and a monthly layout with just pictures. I was just having a hard time being creative enough to come up with a weekly layout, and wasn't able to put as much journaling on it as I'd like . . . sooooo, here's the February Layout:



Template is from http://www.moriginalsblog.com/. Background paper and white button are from http://digitreatsshoppe.blogspot.com/.
Title and numbers are from http://shop.scrapbookgraphics.com/product.php?productid=20322&cat=0&page=1. Metal hearts are from http://misfitsscrapz.blogspot.com/. Red bow is from http://scrappindivaz.blogspot.com/. Heart frame is from http://www.clareysdesignz.blogspot.com/. Year tag is from http://digital-scrapbooking-japan.blogspot.com/. White frames are from http://www.afterfivedesigns.com/.

Day 59 of 365

Went running around today. Got my car a BADLY needed bath inside and out, and Robert browsed the pawn shop across the street while we waited. Then we went to Barnes and Noble, where I get a 30% discount (they used to own Gamestop, so we still get an incredible discount!). I LOVE to buy books, I just wished I finished them more often. The one on the right JUMPED out at me (see day 58!), and I love John Stossel from 20/20, and it was discounted already, so it was only like $5 with my discount.

Day 58 of 365

My annual review was today. 1/2 a percent lower on my increase than last year, which might be expected for most companies, but not Gamestop - they are making money hand over fist. Also didn't get the promotion that I was hoping for. So, I'm a little disappointed. I got the same "grade" as last year, and my review was GREAT . . . did better than the year before actually. Just not as much to "show" for it as I hoped . . .

Day 57 of 365

Hard to believe 12 hour days for 2 weeks only produces these few binders . . . technically, this picture is missing a few, and the purple one is actually next years stuff. We are ALMOST done. Finished the tax footnote stuff today, and my boss and I are gonna finalize it tomorrow.

Day 56 of 365

You wouldn't think eating like this (baked salmon on a bed of greens) and walking 4 miles a day would make you GAIN weight! It's so frustrating. I feel like it's ALWAYS gonna be a "fight" . . . about the only way it seems I loose is to STARVE. siggghhhhhh