Tired?

Are you tired of seeing my eye? I know I am. Sorry about the absence. This month has been extra crazy with Christmas things. I was also sick for a week so that threw me WAY off! What I have been up to other than Christmas craziness? Here is a list of a few things that have made me happy!


1. NOG! "It's the NOG!" in the words of my 8 year old. Half of our family doesn't tolerate the lactose so we go for this holiday drink. Good thing about this is it's less fat and calories then the normal low fat eggnog. Best part about it is it tastes SUPER yummy and it doesn't upset my tummy!

2. I read this one day while I was sick. Yes I do think it was one day. Well maybe a day and a half. I could NOT put it down. It has all the requirements that I need for a good reading: romance, suspense, and great characters. If you haven't read this- do! I highly recommend it!

3. My favorite show of the year is GLEE! It was a sad day when I heard that no new episode will be shown til APRIL!! WHAT?!? Are you SERIOUS?! Luckily I have the soundtrack on my iPod and I haven't deleted the last few episodes from my DVR. Here is the best rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade" I have EVER heard! (pause the music player before you play this!) EDIT 12/23 -Apparently they took down the video I had on here first. Now we just have the audio and not the video. You can watch the episode on Hulu if you want to see it!



There you go! A few of my newest favorite things. And now you don't have to see my eye anymore! Now I need to go see if my Christmas cards have arrived yet in the mail so I can send them out!!!

Playing Around...

Today instead of making my grocery list (obviously my favorite thing to do), I decided to play around on Photoshop. I wanted to see how the effects work and mess around with them a little. I first took a picture of my eye. Cropped it close up, then tried a bunch of the different effects. Here are my favorite ones. The one on top is called Mosaic Tile. You can select more or less tiles, grout size, and lighten the grout. I like how it turned out.

Next one below is pretty freaky. It's called Glowing Edges. I think it looks like an alien eye or some sort of science fictional character! I can't help but love it!

This one is Rough Pastels. I like how it looks like a painting on a canvas.

This one is my absolute favorite. It's called Dry Brush. I'm pretty sure this effect will be used again. I absolutely love the look it gives to the photo. All the texture in it is smooth and enhances the lines.

This is a slow and steady learning process I am having with this program, but I am totally loving it. I am blogging my progress so I will be able to look back and see how much I grow. Hopefully someday I will be a pro at this and can make great things with my talent. One thing I do know is my grocery list is not growing. I guess I need to focus on that now!

Heavy...

Yesterday my friend asked me to go to a weight training class at the gym with her. I was reluctant at first, but decided that I needed something to motivate me. I hadn't been to the gym in almost 2 weeks, so I had to get my butt into gear somehow!

If you know me very well you know that I am pretty wimpy when it comes to being "strong" or "sporty". I just don't do well in those concepts. You might know also that working my arms at the gym is my least favorite activity. I will work my legs up the wazoo before I do anything with my arms. Going to this weight class I knew there would be arm working, and it freaked me out, but I decided it's about time my arms got some attention.

The class was hard, but I LOVED it! Thanks to Heather for making me go with her. She had to help me, but I felt that I could do most of the stuff (especially after she showed me how)! I had very little weights on my bar, but I feel that with practice I will be able to add on more.

I can't help but think of how parts of our life sometimes gets hard and heavy and we just don't want to work on it. We will carry on with the easy parts, just because it's easier, but the things that are uncomfortable we ignore. There are things in my life I know I have been trying to neglect, but I am going to try to lift a little at a time and hopefully be able to get strong enough I can lift it all. Even if it does mean I may be hardly able to move the next day. :)

Nature...

I love Oregon and I need something to distract me from my kid who is home from school. She is pretty much better from her sickness except for a very persistent cough. I took these pictures when we went there last month. Love the green. Love the trees. Love the water. Love the sand. Oh and I even love the spiders. (Only if they are perched safely away from the house and in the middle of their webs!)

Bathroom Redo...

If you have been to my house you have seen my little tiny bathroom that's at the front of the house. You step up a couple steps and there you have it, a little tiny bathroom. The ceiling is very low, I can even touch it standing on my tippy toes. Oh and the thing I really dislike about it is there is a stinkin' window right to the side of the toilet! I can't do anything about the window, unfortunately, but I can do something to make it not seem like a midget bathroom. With some ideas from my friend and some inspiration from a pillow I have I gave my bathroom a little makeover! Here is the photographic evidence:

Before and during pictures (click to enlarge)

Now for the BIG REVEAL!

Looking into the bathroom from outside it.

Above the toilet some much needed decor.

We installed a hand towel ring for your hand drying convenience.

Towels are a work in progress. I like them but Marshall's didn't have enough of the print I wanted (the big one), so I am trying to see if the other one (the small one) will work.

Rug is also trying to win it's way into my heart. What do you think?

Finishing touch is the window valance I made. Big thanks to Darla, I could never do things like this without her inspiration and drill!

Project complete!

Canning Adventure...

Last week a couple friends and I split some boxes of produce. We got them for a good price that Sara so kindly organized and picked up. Stacie and I decided we would can our portions of produce. Well, my dear friend Stacie had never canned before in her life! I, on the other hand, have canned many a times during my life with my grandma and step mom. That being said I am not used to being the one all knowing about what I am canning. So with a little help from this huge jem:

Stacie and I were on our way! First day we did salsa with our tomatoes and jam with our peaches. The next day we did tomato sauce with the rest of our tomatoes (we had a lot of tomatoes that were VERY ripe). Then the last day I whipped out the pears. Here is a collage of the fruit of our labors!

Who wants to join us next year?

I now declare blog strike -OVER!

I suppose I was on a blog strike. At first it wasn't a conscious decision to be on a strike. I really didn't have anything to blog about. Then came the first day of school. Everyone was blogging about the first day of school. The kids in front of the house with their backpacks on. Looking so cute in their new school clothes. Big huge grins strewn over their faces. We took pictures like that. We really did. But what happened after those pictures were taken was something we didn't really see coming. It may seem like nothing to you, but it is definitely something to me.

Separation Anxiety

No I wasn't the one having this problem, my new 1st grader was. It had been slowly creeping it's ugly head just when the summer had started. We can't even say that there was a real trigger, because it was so gradual. Then first day of school happens, and BOOM, it's ugly head is there in full force taking over my sweet sweet child. Because this child is usually such a sweet, happy, and bouncy kid this thing made her seem like someone I didn't even know. It really scared me.

When it came time to possibly blog about this occasion. I sat down on my computer and looked at the cute pictures of the happy child.

Then I lost it.

That is when the strike truly began. With time and counseling my child is doing lots better. The big ugly head that is separation anxiety only comes up a little now. We are having lots of help with dealing with this from her teacher and a therapist that we are taking her to.

I can now share the pictures from the 1st day of school. But you will have to go to the family blog to see them! Let me know if you need an invite to that.