Super Booty-Kick Weekend!!

Note to self:

When a gym advertises that they're having "Special Super Bowl Weekend Classes" they probably don't mean "special" in a "there will be chips and salsa!" kind of way. 

I got the crazy notion to take this "special" class this morning, since I'm trying hard to infuse my routine with some variety. I've been taking classes off and on for a couple weeks and while none of them have been a breeze, this one was KILLER! 

And not only was it torturous, it was led by the teeny tiniest instructor at the gym, who is always super peppy and excited about doing 8 more reps of anything. I really wanna like her...and in any other setting, like if I ran into her at Wal-Mart or a church picnic, I'd probably love her! But when she's up there going, "Come on! We got this! Oh yeah! Can ya feel it? WOOOOH!" with that huge smile on her face, barely even breaking a sweat...well it's just kinda hard to not hate her. Especially because in a past class I took from her she mentioned she has three kids! (Note: I could fit her entire body in my right leg. Smooshed up and rearranged, of course, but the point is that her entire "mass," if you can even call it that, equals my thigh.) She said she stays fit by dancing. Well, I dunno what her definition of dancing is, but she ain't doin' the hokey pokey to get that body. *haha*

Anyway...where was I? Oh yeah, the class. So she said that the class director, whoever that is, told her to amp it up a notch with "hardcore cardio" and include "football style drills." Um, hello, we're all women! What makes you think we wanna do FOOTBALL drills?!? I probably couldn't really pinpoint what was football related and what wasn't. But it was all really, really difficult. The only balls we used were those ginormous bouncy balance balls. I really hate those things. I feel like a fat walrus playing with a ball for the amusement of onlookers. Seriously, SO ungraceful! 

(Can you believe I found a picture of a Walrus with a ball?!? I love the internet.)

She had us roll over on top of it, y'know, belly down, and then expected us to roll all the way out to where just our feet were on it, then pull our knees into our chests. HA! So like this:

...now pull your knees to your chest. (Couldn't find a picture of anyone doing the whole move...guess I should just be grateful I found that walrus!) Well I kept on falling over to the left or the right. I have no balance, my Wii Fit tells me that every day. (Oh I have a bone to pick with my Wii Fit...remind me to blog about that sometime. *haha*) It wasn't pretty. And for some reason, I seemed to be the only person having trouble with this. Even the granny next to me, who had been my "low-impact" cardio buddy during the first half-hour, was rollin' and squeezin' along with the rest of them! Trader. 

Oh well, I survived to be sore for another day. Seriously, when WILL the soreness ever go away? 

Top of the waffle to ya!

I broke out of my breakfast rut this morning. Not that the rut was bad (some kind of Kashi cereal + banana + sometimes yogurt), but I've recently been inspired by those Eggo commercials. Y'know, the ones with the precocious children that have supposedly created their own special (and surprisingly healthy) "signature" waffle? "I'm Elle, and this is MY eggo!" Sure, sure it is. Why don't any of these waffle creations include M&M's or marshmallows? Now that's something a kid would come up with. *haha*

Anyway, apparently Eggo sponsors a lot of things I watch, because I kept seeing those commercials and finally, yesterday when I was at Target, the thought, "WAFFLES! MUST HAVE WAFFLES!" crept into my head.  Just that subtly! But alas, Eggo's commercials backfired on them because I bought Kashi brand waffles instead. Sorry, Eggo. They're a lot healthier (more fiber, fewer calories) and let's face it, just buying something by Kashi makes me feel all cool and backpacker-ish. I got the Honey Oat flavored ones.

To top my own special waffle creation I picked up some strawberries and blackberries. Originally bananas were going to go in the mix, but I've had bad luck with Target bananas. They're always very green on the shelf...but they seem to go straight from too green to BLACK. Yuck! So I stuck with the berry blend. Then, to kick it up a notch (BAM! Anyone watch Emeril? Nevermind...) I got some sugar free honey! How exciting! 

This morning as I was chopping up and mixing the berries, I was really struck by how beautiful they are. Such rich color! It made me feel very Springy. :) I dusted them with a little Splenda to tone the tartness down a bit and Voila!

So, let's do this right.

"I'm SARAH! And this is MY Kashi Honey Oat waffle!" *hehe*

Pretty, isn't it? Drizzled in honey with those lovely berries on it. And DELICIOUS! Scrumptious, even! Guess someone who gets this excited about a waffle should break out of their rut more often. ;) (Gotta tell ya, I'd highly recommend these waffles! They're a little sweet and have a nice texture. Yum!)

Told ya she was smart.

Ok, just a little Auntie Sarah bragging moment, please indulge me. 

My niece is 3 years, 3 months. And she wrote her name. All by herself!  This is IMPRESSIVE stuff, y'all!! Don'tcha think? :) Well we're all certainly proud of her.

Thanks for taking the picture, Mom! I stole it off of your Facebook. *haha*

Who says cheaters never prosper?

Initially when I read about the 20 Layouts for 20 Bucks deal over at 2P's, I thought it would be great motivation to get 20 layouts done. And it was, for a little while. But I think it was less about the motivation and more about the creative spurt I was in. Because this week (the last week before the deadline) I am NOT feelin' it at all. In fact, I feel the opposite of creative for some reason. Maybe it's a little bit of cabin fever setting in? But I just HAVE NOT felt like scrapbooking.

And this was panic-inducing, once I saw what 2P's is selling now! Does this stuff look familiar at all? Well it should, I was raving about it only about a week ago. So it was imperative for me to finish getting 20 projects uploaded to the 2P's gallery ASAP so I can order this stuff guilt-free!

So I cheated. I pulled out my camping book and used a couple of those layouts. *haha* Be ashamed of me if you feel you must, but I didn't really break any rules. They just said they wanted people to upload "new" projects to the gallery. And these ARE new...to the gallery. :) Ha! Mama didn't raise no foo. 

Just so you don't feel left out, here are the pages. Some of you may have already seen them, but I'm sorry. This is all ya get today. :)

Motivation

I decided that maybe I should start "weighing in" on my blog every Monday. I guess I was inspired by the weigh-ins on The Biggest Loser and thought maybe it would give me some extra motivation and accountability, knowing I have to fess up to you fine people. (Although as my friends, I trust you won't beat me up about it...so maybe you won't be the best for accountability after all. *haha* And these weigh-ins will NOT include photos of me wearing a sports bra & bike shorts. Sorry, you must be so disappointed.) 

Last Monday I obviously didn't have the "opportunity" to blog about my weight, since I was on that fantastic road trip, buying scrapbook supplies and eating cheesecake...oh to do that every Monday. *haha* But I did weigh myself that morning so I am proud to tell you that in week one I lost 5 lbs! Mind you, some of those pounds had been bouncing back and forth already, but I'm counting them anyway. :)

And today I weighed in and can tell you that the weight loss for week two is: 2 lbs! So that makes a total of 7 in two weeks, which I'll take! Pretty happy with that...but I do expect the numbers to slow waaaaaay down, due to previous experience. We'll have to wait and see.

My Apple Dumpling Gang

I'm proud to say that I've been eating really healthy the last two weeks (with the exception of "Cheesecake Day," but let's look past that.) I've been tracking all my meals and snacks at Spark People, a nifty little diet site that's absolutely free! I've used it in previous diet attempts and found it really helpful (well, apparently not helpful ENOUGH! *wink*) since it adds up the calories, fat, sodium, y'know EVERYTHING for you...and you can also log how many hours you spend exercising to see how many calories you're burning. There's also lot's of different message boards and support groups you can join if you want. See? Nifty.

On the page where you track your meals, there's a spot at the top where you say how many glasses of water you've had (something I have NO problem with...chug chug chug) and how many fruit and veggie servings you've had (something I have...well...a little more of a problem with.) It's very eye opening to look at a day where you thought you were eating pretty healthy, but realize you didn't come close to the fruit and veggie quota you're supposed to reach. So I've been trying much harder to keep up with that.

But I digress...the entire point of this post is that I've been eating lot's of apples. Probably "an apple a day" which, though cliche, must be a good thing. I love, love, LOVE golden delicious apples, so I bought a bag of small ones and have been going through them like crazy. 

Well, I'm a dog-mom that likes to share with her dogs. I let them lick my plate (Yes,all you haters, plates that I wash and then use again. If you don't like that, bring your own dishes when you come to my house. *haha*), yogurt cups, ice cream bowls....whatever I was eating as long as it's not harmful to them. So the other day I had the random thought, that I would let them taste the apple core after I was done. Not totally EAT it, they're not really garbage disposals, I am aware of that. But y'know, lick it and maybe chew a piece off. What a discovery that was. They LOVED it!! It was hilarious though, because as each dog took his turn, they would first latch onto it like, "Great thanks, I'm gonna go eat this over there..." but then realizing I wasn't going to let go of it, they'd release their grip and just kinda lick it. They've gotten better at this as time has gone on, and today I got such a kick out of them (and my camera "happened" to be right there) so I took some pictures. MoJo was being camera shy, I guess, because he never came and took a bite while I had the thing out.

The last one is my favorite...Wrigley's scrunched up face just cracks me up. He was really serious about it!

Time's a Tickin'

I was on quite a roll pumping out scrapbook page there for a while and then before I knew it, I hadn't scrapbooked in over a week! And I gotta get movin' if I plan on cashing in on that 20 Layouts for 20 Bucks deal over at 2P's. So yesterday I spent some quality time in my scrapbook room getting some things done.

And I actually started scrapbooking pictures from New York! Wow is that an overwhelming project. It doesn't seem like there's that many photos when I'm just looking at them on my computer, but when that BOX of photos showed up on my porch from Shutterfly, I about had a conniption! Yikes! So yesterday I spent way too much time looking at them and sorting through them, trying to decide where to start. I ended up picking some photos from the beginning of our trip.

This layout was a complete and total scraplift of a page from my massive idea binder. The paper is from Junkitz. (May be the only thing I've ever bought from Junkitz. Did they go out of business? Cause I can't find a website for them. Oh well) I bought it right after Jeremy promised me we would go to NYC in 2008 with the trip in mind. *hehe* Glad we got to go, or that paper would be nothing but a bitter reminder now. ;) Anyway, I had a lot of fun cutting up all the papers, especially the one with larger graphics that I used as die cut embellishments.

I'm not completely satisfied with this page...I feel like something's missing. Maybe the yellow is too garish? Something about it just isn't right. But anywho, the paper and embellishments are all from American Crafts.

Then I decided I really wanted to use some of the stuff I bought in K.C. so I dug through my NYC photos looking for one of my many cupcake pictures. And voila!

This is my favorite of the batch, by far. Probably because it consists mainly of my brand new goodies!!! The sticker letters and chipboard embellishments (including the cupcake) are from Colorbok. The scalloped white & clear paper is from KI, picked that li'l beauty up at Archiver's. Yay! 

Adventures in Scrapbook Shopping!

On Monday I was fortunate enough to be invited to Kansas City for a day trip of scrapbook shopping and cheesecake eating! How completely fantastic! :) I went with Mary and Toni, two amazing friends I had the pleasure of working with at the Garden, and Mary's friend Linda. It was a really fun day, but it certainly wasn't without its share of hiccups. 

As we were driving along down the highway, having a good ol' gabbin' time, we suddenly heard this loud screeching noise. At first we credited it to some semi's passing on the other side of the road. But then they were gone, and the noise was getting louder. Toni yelled, "I think you have a flat!" and Mary pulled over. We were all in disbelief but lo and behold when we got out to look, the front left tire was in, well, pretty poor shape.  

My mind immediately traveled back to that morning when, as I was getting ready to leave, my loving husband had said, "Make sure you have your AAA card!" And I had laughed to myself thinking, "Oh you sweet, silly boy. Like we're going to need THAT!" Ha! Major jinx, I guess. But after Mary and Linda had surveyed the donut situation and realized we couldn't even get to the thing (it was attached underneath the rear of the car), I whipped that card out and dialed for help.

After my call was FINALLY handled by the "first available representative," I was giving the woman all of our information and she asked us what mile marker we were nearest. Well none of us knew that, but when we looked out the back window we could all see it and it didn't look that far, so Toni volunteered to run and see. (Poooor Toni. *haha* We had no idea how far it really WAS!) 

As she was running and huffing and puffing, these two gentlemen pulled over and asked her if we needed any help. She was able to convey, through broken speech and motions *wink* that we indeed DID need some help. And since AAA was going to take at least 45 minutes to show up, we were thrilled that these fella's were willing and able.

 They told us they'd actually been driving in the OTHER direction and saw poor Toni running down the side of the road. They both said they would never want their wives or daughters to be in that position, so they turned around to help us. Real gentlemen!!! They wouldn't accept any money for their time and we didn't get their names...but GOD BLESS YOU, you nice men, wherever you are. *haha*

So then we had the pleasure of spending an hour in the Ottawa Wal-Mart getting new tires, since we didn't want to be driving on that donut all day. :^/ But eventually we DID make it to K.C. And the first stop for these weary, starving travelers had to be, beyond shadow of a doubt, The Cheesecake Factory! Possibly my favorite place in the whole, wide world of food. :) I ordered my usual: Fried Macaroni & Cheese Balls (yes they're as decadent and fattening as they sound) and Banana Cream Cheesecake, which I think I could eat every day for the rest of my life and never, ever get tired of it. It is DEEEEEEVINE! Heaven on a plate! Mmm mmm MMMM!!! Ok, enough raving. We all enjoyed our lunch, but LOVED our cheesecake! See? 

Me with my banana DREAM!

Toni got some kind of Reece's/Butterfinger Extravaganza! Delish! 

Mary had her favorite, the Snickers Cheesecake. It had chunks of Snicker bars in it! INSANELY yummy!!

Linda tried the 30th Anniversary special chocolate cake + cheesecake layers...amaaazing dahling.

You might be surprised to hear that the day improved even BEYOND amazing cheesecake! Because then it was time to go scrapbook shopping!!! Our first stop was Jo Ann's, which in Wichita is not a very exciting place. But the K.C. Jo Ann's is HUGE and has a big ol' scrapbook section, beyond even what Hobby Lobby has. But big deal, what were they possibly gonna have that I would need? Famous last words. I rounded a corner and there, before my eyes, were the two lines from Colorbok that I had wanted SO badly, but Kathy refused to order. (Remember that ordeal?) I was able to find some of it on 2P's but they didn't carry it all. Well, not only did Jo Ann's have it all, it was 40% off!! 

Um, this is what the section looked like after I got done with it...*hehe*

As you can see, I was slightly excited.

Jumping for joy! *haha* (Toni & I had talked earlier in the day about how popular "jumping" pictures are these days, so we decided this was an appropriate moment to try one ourselves. Funny stuff.) 

After Jo Ann's we went to Archiver's and while there was no literal jumping up and down, I found some great stuff there too!! Most of which was also on sale, so I felt obligated to take it home. *haha*  So much fun! Thanks for letting me tag along, girls!!

Turkey Taco Meatloaf...Soup?

*sigh* This is why I don't cook.

I decided last night that I would pull out my Hungry Girl cookbook and find something yummy to make. I wrote down the list of ingredients I would need and picked them up on my grocery store run today.

My recipe of choice? "Crazy Good Turkey Taco Meatloaf." I like tacos and I like meatloaf...and I LOVE things that are "crazy good" so it seemed like the one to try. *hehe* The recipe was simple enough, but I, the queen of kitchen blunders, found a way to screw it up. 

The recipe called for (or at least I thought it did) 1/2 can of corn. When I went back and read it again, it said "1/2 cup canned corn KERNELS." *sigh* Hungry Girl, you let me down. You've got to S-P-E-L-L it out for me! "DRAIN the corn, Sarah! DRAIN IT!" But no, I dumped half a can, liquid and all, into the mixture. It didn't look runny...but after I pulled it out of the oven 30 minutes later...oooh dear. My meatloaf was floating in a pool. I freaked a little, angry that I'd spent the time and wasted the money. But after draining off the excess moisture, it tasted ok. I'm excited to try it again because the flavor was really good so I know if I do it right it will be amazing. 

Alas, I had spongey meatloaf for lunch. You think I was gonna go through the effort the make something ELSE after that? *haha*

Lovin' it LOT'S & LOT'S!

So CHA is coming up. (For those of you not in the know, this is a huge convention that happens twice a year where all of the scrapbook companies introduce new products. It's very exciting!) I found a link last night that listed a few sneak peaks and oh boy, oh boy, am I gonna be in trouble! 

Cosmo Cricket alone totally has me excited! I was scrolling through their new products and actually "ooo-ing" and "aaah-ing" out loud! SUCH cute stuff!!! Lookie lookie:

This one is called Girl Friday (which is a weird name, but the stuff is uber cute so don't hold that against it.)  I want, I want, I want.

This one is called Snorkel, and while I can't think of anything I really need it for, when have I let that stop me before? *haha* It's SO cute!!!

Just a Big ol' Loser!

Is anyone else watching The Biggest Loser this season? I admit I missed last season, but I really do like this show when I get into it. And this season is really interesting because they have some of the heaviest contestants ever who are in need of more help than any others before. I'm psyched to see how much weight they'll be able to lose. Inspirational! If they can do it, anyone can do it! Right? I think that's probably the idea behind this show.  It's either that or the heavier the contestant the more viewers they get, but I'd hate to be that skeptical. ;)

Last night one of the contestants (is her name Joelle? I don't know how to spell it) got her head ripped right off by trainer Bob. She was the one who almost dropped out of the competition when the $$$ temptation was offered so of course everyone was questioning how much she really wanted to be there. So then in the last-chance-workout, Bob wanted everyone to run 30 second increments and Joelle kept stopping after about 20. He got SOOOO mad at her! It was pretty crazy. If someone had yelled at me like that I probably (make that definitely) would have started bawling! But she kept pretty calm, telling him she was TOO pushing herself. But she almost struck me as aloof, like his anger wasn't even phasing her. 

And though it was easy for me to jump on the bandwagon, thinking, "Wow, she's really pathetic. So many people would kill to be where she is, having that opportunity. How dare she not push herself harder?" But in reality, how many times have I started cooling down before a song is over? Or hopped off the elliptical with 1 minute or so left on the clock? I'm SO guilty of saying, "Eh, that's good enough," and calling it a day. And I'm in better shape than any of the contestants on that show, so who am I to judge them for being tired and wanting to quit?

So today at the gym I had that thought in my mind and even caught myself thinking, "Oh, I'll just do 45 minutes...what's that extra 15 minutes really gonna do?" But I stuck it out for the full 60 and felt really good about myself when I walked out of that gym. I've gotta get better at sticking with it and seeing it through to the end, not just settling for "good enough." 

On the diet front, I've discovered something really yummy that I wanted to let y'all know about. The folks at Special K decided long ago that conquering the world of cereal just wasn't enough and have branched out into many other kinds of foods, much of which I've tried and enjoyed. At Wal-Mart the other day I picked up a box of their new crackers (so new, apparently, that the things aren't even listen on their website yet!). I got the multi-grain ones but they do have other flavors. These things are good! You can have 17 of them for 90 calories...which, if you're a carb-nut like me you know that this is a much larger portion than other crackers, even "light" Wheat Thins. And that's kinda what they taste like...a Wheat Thin. I had a handful today with my vegetable soup and they were extremely satisfying. Yummalicious! :)

Our Snow Angel

This is a page I did over the weekend. These pictures are from the week before Christmas when we got that nice snow! I went down to play with Lauren and Livvie in their backyard. Liv was SO excited about the snow and all the activities involved: making snow angels, sledding (which was more being PULLED on a sled, but she didn't mind), "Kansas Sledding," aka sliding down a slide covered in snow *hehe* and throwing snowballs. She really, really wanted to make a snowman but the snow was just too powdery for that. We tried at one point, just mounding the "dust" up on top of itself into a little pile but it wasn't very impressive. She kept telling us, "Um...somethin's missin'! I know, a HAT!" It was so cute. 

This layout was very much inspired by THIS PAGE I saw on 2P's. I had to adapt it to make it 2 pages but the first page is much the same. The pink snowflake lace (by KI) was just perfect for this.I love how dainty it looks. Thank you, Lauren, for buying Livvie a pink coat. *haha*  The little bits of pattern paper are from Heidi Grace. I opted to add the sugar-coated brads (from Doodlebug) partially to add more sparkle and also because I wasn't sure how else to attach the snowflakes to the background!

The title is exciting because it's the first time I used my NEW Cricut cartridges that Lauren & Rich got me for Christmas! The word "snow" was cut with Storybook...it's just precious I know I'll be using that cartridge so much. Then the notebook-style block the title is on is from Graphically Speaking. That cartridge has SOOOO much on it!!! I've looked through the little flip book like 10 times and I'm still seeing stuff I didn't see before. I was actually looking for a snow title to cut out when I found the journaling blocks. There's a bunch of different shapes and styles you can cut. Very exciting!

P.S. I made it to the gym today! Spent an hour doing cardio...go Sarah, go Sarah. ;)

We've Got the Beat

Seems like every January (and usually again after I've fallen back into bad habits in like, eh, April *haha*) I resolve to get back into the gym and start eating right. I haven't made a specific New Year's resolution in years, but there's always an unspoken feeling that I need to do SOMETHING. 

Remember the weight I lost before our trip to NYC? (And the extra weight I lost due to the God-given colon cleanse I endured for about a month? I'm kicking myself for complaining about that now, it made it so easy to shed pounds! *HAHA* I'm kidding, people. Calm down.) Well, miraculously I've only gained back about 5lbs of it. Yet apparently it was an important 5lbs because I FEEL and LOOK fatter. So they need to come back off and bring more of their friends with them. :)

This morning I managed to muster up enough gusto to get myself to the gym. (Had a great gab session last night with my friends Courtney & Angie involving many topics, but our discussion about weight loss and working out must have particularly inspired me. Thanks girlies!)  It felt good! Not so much the working out part, but the being there in the gym finally was good. ;) Well I shouldn't say I completely despise working out. It gives me a chance to listen and groove to my awesome workout playlist. I do enjoy hearing the songs and moving to them. I do not, however, enjoy the shade of red my face becomes or wringing out my ponytail when I'm finished. Ewww.

Have I ever told you that I'm a beat-driven person? I get it from my Mom. We try crediting the miniscule amount of Cherokee in our family tree. Y'know, the "hai yai yai yai, hai yai yai yai!" rain dances and stuff. Those ancestors must be the ones we got it from. We hear a beat and we need to move to it. If we don't hear a beat, we have trouble moving at all. Now I'm not saying we're GOOD at moving to the beat (well from stories my Mom tells she used to be, but I can't claim that gene.) I'm just saying that we appreciate a good rhythm and it makes us wanna DANCE! :) 

I know that not everyone in this world is driven by beats. My Dad, for instance, watches the news while he walks on the treadmill. This is something I could never do. I need a rhythm to move me. What am I supposed to do, walk to the news anchor's syntax? No no. And Jeremy is definitely not beat-driven. I knew this for sure when he mentioned putting Billy Joel's "Piano Man" on his running playlist. WHA'???? I would have to sit down on the curb and take a nap! That would never do.

Those of you who have lofty ideas about my taste in music would probably be surprised at some of the songs on my playlist. (Or maybe not, since my tastes were attacked when I called Phil Collin's apparent genius into question...*tsk tsk* Boy did I ever hear about that one!) But really, as long as it's not raunchy or crass, anything with a hard-hitting beat can make the cut. This includes rap, rock, R&B, pop...and yes Angie, even the Jonas Bros and Hannah Montana.  Today, for example, I spent my half hour on the elliptical with:

Damaged - Danity Kane 

I'm not a fan of this group, but this song is one of my all-time favorites for working out. It's sassy, which helps me push through any lung incapacities I might be suffering from. 

I Play Chicken With A Train - Cowboy Troy

Technically country, I guess. First heard this one during a line-dancing-waitstaff moment at Texas Roadhouse. I knew I needed it immediately.

Hey Hey - Superchick

OH YEAH! This song rocks. 

Don't Stop The Music - Rihanna

I discovered this one in an aerobics class last year. Another one that keeps me moving despite myself. This one gives me dancing delusions though, so it's a little dangerous. ;)

SexyBack - Justin Timberlake

Yes, I love this song. I WILL say, just to keep my goody-two-shoes persona in tact, that I have the "Clean" version so there's some bleepage going on. But I find this song inspiring. Doesn't everyone wanna bring their own sexy back? *hehe* 

Girls & Boys - Good Charlotte

Yup, a little more rock. I like the pace of these guys' songs...they're all pretty hyper which is good for a high-energy moment. 

Lady - Lenny Kravitz

One of the best walking beats EVA. I could walk all day to this song. BUM-BUM-BUM-BUM-BUM...I'd be in Winfield before I even looked up! ;)

Oh and P.S.

Don't you LOVE my new blog background? It's my favorite one yet! 

Scrappy Dappy Do!

I should probably apologize to my non-scrapbooking readers out there (are there any of you? *haha*) about how inundated with scrap-crap my blog has become lately. But a blog relates what's going on, and scrapping is what's been going on! *haha* Here are the pages I did today...

Both sets of pictures are from the Christmas party my Bible study girls had last month. We did a sock & cookie exchange: everyone brought a dozen cookies and a wrapped pair of socks. Then we did the "sneaky santa" or whatever it's called, where you draw numbers and get to steal presents. And of course everyone also went home with an assortment of yummy cookies! It was so fun, I foresee it becoming a tradition! :)

Both pages are also entirely constructed from the KI Memory Tins that my sweet hubby bought me for Christmas. He got mine from Target, but they have them at 2P's and they're actually on sale now! (Check 'em out: I used the Christmas one and the Holiday one...they match perfectly! Now I feel like I need the Birthday and Winter kits too...but they're so big I don't know where I'd put them!) They each came with a ton of stuff, I just couldn't believe it! There's paper plus die cuts, chipboard letters, rub ons, stickers and probably a lot more I'm not thinking of. There's four sheets of each paper, which I like, because then I'm not afraid to use up a favorite piece because I know there's more for later! *haha*

I almost forgot, something noteworthy DID happen in our household yesterday. Ever since we put our laminate flooring down, MoJo has paced around the living room like a restless wanderer because he no longer had enough traction to scoot his skinny booty underneath our couches. That was one of his favorite spots, especially when Cubby wouldn’t leave him alone.

Well yesterday they were all playing around on the main floor, running and skidding and sliding around like lunatics. All of the sudden, MoJo took a flying leap off our stairs, ran straight at the couches and slid underneath them like he was stealing homebase. It was hilarious! Cubby and Wrigley went nuts barking, like “What the heck? He wasn’t supposed to be able to do that anymore!!!” Meanwhile MoJo was breathing too heavily from his athletic display to stay under there comfortably for very long. But I documented the incident so I could show Jeremy when he got up, since I knew he wouldn’t believe me otherwise. *haha* (Oh, but by showing you these I'm trusting that as my friends you will IGNORE the dog hair and dust all over my floor. So if you can't do that, please look no further. Thank you. :)