Family, Adventures, and Gadgets Collide

I have to admit, this weekend has been nice! On Saturday my daughter had a mid-day soccer game. On our way home we picked up lunch from Rosa's Cafe - delicious! Afterwards, the two of us hung out at home: some computer time, satisfying our munchies, and watched the crowning of Miss America. (The hubby was called into work.) Today, we actually had zero soccer games. A typical Sunday afternoon/night for us is usually spent at an indoor soccer arena. My husband and I play on three, yes 3!, co-ed soccer teams. However, today we somehow lucked out without a single game. Ahh! The comfort of my Snuggie, my laptop, and my reclining spot on the couch! But don't worry, I did manage to get a run in today! So I haven't been completely lazy! I met one of my running buddies at the gym and ran 5 miles on the treadmill. It was WAY too cold to run outside!!! Can you believe my half-marathon is only 4 weeks away!??! Woohoo! Well, all good things must come to an end. This is going to ...

Today I have a simple Saturday craft created using materials I had on hand. The entire project took less than an hour!  A wooden plaque Acrylic paint and scrapbook paper - I cut the letters out with my Cricut. I used Mod Podge to adhere the letters to the sign.   I plan to create a family photo montage on a hallway wall. I think this sign will be perfect to include. I'm linking this up to: Crafts in Bloom - 1st Craft Club Project Finesse Your Nest - Shop the House Sunday !

Decorating for every holiday or season is beyond my domestic abilities. However, I've seen lots and lots of FaBuLoUs ideas for Valentine's decor, even a Valentine's Linky Party hosted by Craftaholics Anonymous . In fact, I've been absorbed by my computer, yet again! I can't stop lurking! There are far too many fun crafts to make for this LoVeLy holiday! So, instead of attempting to decorate my house for this holiday, I dedicated a display case at work. Can you figure out what my day job is? I'm a school librarian by day, and a blog lurker by night. I made the little heart banner with my Cricut! "Books We Love" Do you decorate for Valentine's Day?

"What a man, what a man, what a man, what a man. What a mighty good man!" ~ lyrics from Salt-n-Pepa Should I feel bad that my husband has been asleep for the past two and a half hours in his recliner? While I've been on the couch lost in blogosphere? (Shh, don't tell him.) What if I told you that when he got home from work today at 4:00 he made the kitchen sparkle and finished off a load of towels (folded & put away)? Then he cleaned the dishes after I cooked dinner. Do you think he deserves to nap? I do! I'm very grateful for my hubby! He's quite the man!!! He always finds a way to lift me up and make me feel special. Not to mention, he's an excellent father! Today, coming home to a clean sparkly kitchen was just the pick-me-up I needed. Love this man! You didn't expect to see a picture of him asleep in his chair, did you?

"Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don't worry 'bout what you don't know, life's a dance, you learn as you go." (lyrics from John Michael Montgomery) Well I didn't dance today, ... I ran. In fact I ran 9 1/2 miles; most of the time I followed but what can I say? The awesome ladies I ran with today are more experienced runners and I hadn't ran anything over five miles until today. So today was a learning experience for me. I learned that my body can endure a longer run. (We'll see if this holds true over the next few weeks. Remember I'm running a half marathon on February 27th.) I learned that by wearing a good pair of running shoes versus a cute pair, saves the feet from blisters. Not to mention that wearing running shoes a size bigger than your normal shoe size really does help! (Did you know that your feet expand when running?!) I learned that I really need to get at least 2 decent runs (4-6 mi.) in during the week to help my b...

For many of us the month of January is focused on improvements: home, health & fitness, family, relationships, etc., etc., and when we make those improvements we're gonna "be livin' that good life." As for me, I am doing just that! In 2010, Imma be living that good, good life! (Not that my life hasn't been good up to this point, but I'm finding ways to make it better.) No, I'm not talking (or singing) about New Year's resolutions. I'm making goals for myself and my family; small attainable goals such as training for a half-marathon or my family eating FROM home (not just AT home) a minimum of three (3) nights per week . I've also been working really hard to make sure that my washer and dryer are both EMPTY before I go to bed. And just not washing clothes all together does not count! And neither does taking the clothes out and piling them in a chair. Yes, I admit. I am guilty of both. Or worse, I'm guilty of leaving clothes in the d...

Do you remember reading this post when I turned into the gingerbread man? Well, maybe not quite the gingerbread man, but I was running "as fast as I can" (could). Well let's just say that over the Christmas holidays, the gingerbread man was eaten , whole! *Gasp!* Today I re-baked the gingerbread man and put my running shoes on to get back into my training-for-a-half-marathon. (If you're a regular marathoner or half-marathon runner, please forgive me for veering from my training.) And since I didn't run over the past few weeks, I decided to take this little ball of fur along for the run. Do you think Pepper would get along with the gingerbread man? Let me tell you how the run went, and then you can decide for yourself. Pepper, who is a whopping 10 pound Toy Rat Terrier, gets a litle over-excited when you pull out his leash. It's really quite funny! Once the leash is on, he grabs hold of the leash with his mouth and takes himself for a run through the...

That's right, I'm a winner! Before I ever started my own blog, I was a fan of a dear friend's blog . Kirsten always has something to say, words of inspiration or words that will have you in tears laughing. I guess you can say she inspired me to start my own blog. Recently she made her 100th post ! In her 100th post, she shares her "Word of the Year." Then, as a way to celebrate the success of her blog, she has offered to create and give away a Word of the Year (WOTY) frame for a few lucky followers. This is where my good luck comes into play! Kirsten is going to make me my own WOTY  frame. I'm so *excited!* Once I receive it, you can bet I'll post it here. Go on over to B&K and tell Kirsten I sent you!

Don't you just love surprises? I certainly do! I received this BeAuTiFuL surprise from a sweet colleague. Are you asking yourself why am I (meaning me not you, dear reader) deserving of this little beauty? Don't feel bad, I wondered the same thing. I really didn't do anything special. My friend was creating her classroom website and I provided her some guidance. (Remember, I LoVe technology and gadgets!) Anywhoo, as a little "thank you," she created this lovely little dish soap dispenser. (She let me in on the little secret to this beauty. She took the cross off of a necklace that she will never wear and glued it to the glass soap dispenser bottle from WalMart.) It was also her idea to put the blue Dawn dish soap in the bottle too! LoVe how it looks! Now are you ready for another surprise? I am hoping to be the winner of this little lovely! You could earn a chance to win it too. Go on over to Tatertots and Jello's blog . Just don't win MY watch! He...

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it! I cooked something new and my family liked it! Oh yeah!!! ... Do you want to know what I cooked? It's probably something you've cooked numerous times. I, however, am guilty of cooking the same things over and over again. Actually, if I'm really being honest, I hardly cook. In fact my family eats out or gets take-out on a regular basis. Sad isn't?! Would you think better of me if I told you that I'm working on changing this horrible dining out habit? I'm setting a goal for myself: My goal is that my family eats FROM home (not just AT home) a minimum of three (3) nights per week.  So far this week, we had take-out on Monday, ate at a friend's house last night, and FROM home tonight. I think I can count last night's meal at the friend's house as eating from home, don't you? Yep. So that means, I just need to cook something up tomorrow night and I've met my goal for the first week. =) All ri...

Since we just had our final Christmas gift exchange on Sunday, I decided it's not too late to share the gifts I whipped up on a whim. I always have the hardest time trying to figure out Christmas gifts for all of my cousins' children (without breaking the bank of course!). So the last two years I decided to make them something small and pair it with a small ($10) gift card to Target. This year I made each of them a simple monogram picture frame. (Please pardon the quality of the pictures. I forgot to take them with my camera, and the lighting didn't go well with my phone.)   The two "K"s went to a set of sisters (10 and 7) and the three black and red coordinating frames went to my favorite cousin, for her kids of course. (Okay, so I intentionally used colors that I knew my cousin would like and figured that all three of her kids' frames would end up in her room anyways. Is that wrong?) ;-) I bought the frames in a set of 13 various sized frames for $...