Busy, Busy Week!

This week has been so busy it's crazy! I haven't had much time at all to sit and update my blog...or clean house, or do laundry, or anything else for that matter! So I thought I'd use the few remaining minutes I have of my lunch break to at least post a quick update.

Monday after work I did something I've been meaning to do for a long time: I joined the local hospital's wellcare center and actually worked out! GO ME! I am so pathetically out of shape that it's going to take a while before I get to the point I want to be at, but at least I'm on the right track. I only made it maybe 30 minutes before I had to throw in the towel and go home to shower and DIE, but that's 30 minutes I wouldn't have otherwise done. I'm hoping to get back up there today, but I have so much other going on it might be next week before I can really get a routine of going.

Tuesday after work, I went over to my aunt & uncle's house to set up their new computer. I had to hook everything up and then install all of their software & their new printer. It took a while, but I was glad to be able to do it for them. :)

Like I said, this is a crazy week. We have our year-end inventory here at work tomorrow, and I have a large part in that. I have no idea how long it will take or what time I will get out of here tomorrow, but I'm expecting a late night. I've been trying to get things ready and people trained for that all week, on top of all the other projects we have going on.

The dogs & cats had all run almost completely out of their food by yesterday, so even though I really needed to be getting things done at home, I made the trek to Tupelo after I got off work so I could pick all that stuff at Petsmart. While I was there I also did a little shopping for my upcoming training in Atlanta and got groceries. I was proud of the clothing & shoe purchases I made at New York & Company and JC Penney. I'm gradually rebuilding my "nice clothes" wardrobe after being in our Engineering department here for the past four years and having to wear jeans & t-shirts every day or risk ruining what I had on. Anyway, so I did some shopping and got home late last night.

This weekend is our two-day assembly in Memphis, so we'll have to be up and out of the house early Saturday morning. At some point, I have to finish laundry and pack for that. I already know Friday is shot, so I guess I will have to forgo going back to the gym this evening and get ready for the weekend tonight. The house has really gone downhill this week too. I have too much to do! :op

Project 365 Layouts: Weeks 1 & 2

I finally completed my first two weeks of Project 365 "layouts" and wanted to share them here.  I have journalling printed and photos in hand (as of today) for several more, so hopefully I'll be sharing them soon.  

I should mention that one thing I'm challenging myself to with this project is using up old scrapbooking supplies that have been in my stash for a long time.  This includes small scraps of patterned paper I've been hanging onto, themed stickers, leftover letter stickers, and the like.   That being the case, some of this stuff may look dated to those who know trends and supplies...but hey - down the road who will care? ;o)

Click the pics to enlarge:

Anniversary Gifts

Here I go getting behind on my blogging again! And not just blogging...I'm behind on my Project 365 picture taking too! D'oh! No matter, I'll find something to take a picture of on the couple of days that I missed...It's all good!

Monday I ordered Brandon's anniversary gift, even though our anniversary isn't until March 8th. We had gotten our income tax return and so I wanted to order it while we had the money. What did I get him, you ask? I got him something he's wanted for a long time - a Sony PSP. I ordered it from Buy.com on Monday, and it arrived on Tuesday. Impressive! Not being a very patient person, I was easily persuaded to let him open his gift when he got home Tuesday night. He loved it! :)

After opening his PSP, Brandon got online and ordered his gift for me - an iPod Nano. I've wanted an iPod for a couple of years. Anyway, so he ordered that Tuesday night around 8:00 from Macmall.com, and do you believe it was in our mailbox the next day? How did they do that? However they did it, I was impressed!

What's funny is that we didn't know we had gotten it until early Thursday morning as I was leaving for work. Brandon checked his e-mail and tracked the package, and it said it had been delivered Wednesday. Both of us had forgotten to check the mail that day! So I grabbed my Macbook and the package from Macmall and went to work, where I loaded some music onto my new toy and listened to it the rest of the day instead of the music on my work computer, which was getting old.

Friday I got something done I've been putting off for months. I had Brandon's PC wiped clean and Windows XP reinstalled. That evening, I spent literally hours trying to get drivers, applications, and hardware set back up. The wireless router was the worst. I finally through my hands up and quit after Brandon finally got home from work around 10:00. This morning, freshly caffeinated with my coffee at my side and much more awake than the previous night, I finally got the stupid thing to work. UGH. Remind me to never do that again! LOL

This afternoon, Jeannie & I went on a little shopping expedition right here in town. Well, in the area anyway. First, we went to a furniture consignment sale they are having every Saturday this month. Jeannie was looking for a desk or table for her scrapbook area, but we didn't find anything there. Next we went to a "discount" furniture store that turned out to be pretty expensive on most items. Then we stopped by a local consignment store to see if they had anything, and then we hit a couple more variety/discount/closeout stores in the area. At one of them, we both got several things we were happy with. I bought a copy of Cranium Wow for $12, a set of iPod speakers for $3, and an armband for my iPod for $6, along with a few other goodies. That new Cranium game looks hilarious, by the way, and I'm ready to have some company over to play!

Selling Sizzix & Project 365

Last night I listed my Sizzix Fun Serif alphabet on eBay. You can see the auction here. I am 99.9% sure I want to go ahead and sell all of my Sizzix dies & my machine. I'm trying to convince myself that I don't need them anymore since I have my Cricut and that it's just taking up space...but then I think, "But what if I *need* it later??" I'm such a pack rat...Come on and convince me to get rid of this stuff and let someone else enjoy it!! ;o)

The past couple of nights, I've been trying to spend some time putting my Project 365 album together. I used Photoshop Elements to fix a journaling box that I can use over and over and have been referencing my blog for what I want to say about each photo. Then I'm digging deep into my stash of supplies and using up old stickers and stuff to add a little something to each one where I have room. It's coming together nicely, and it's helping me use up stuff that I probably wouldn't have used otherwise! Here's a pic of my Sammy "helping" me get my journaling cards printed Sunday night. :)

Some Catching Up

I'm slacking on my blog updates!  I guess I need to update what's been going on since our late night out last Tuesday. :)

Wednesday, I finally got my free Cricut cartridges in.  I had mailed in my rebate around the first week of December, so it took a little longer than the 6-8 weeks that the rebate said.  Oh well, one can't complain about FREE, right?   So anyway, I got My Community and Printing 101.  I haven't had a chance to play with them yet, but the My Community cartridge has tons of cute stuff on it.  I see lots of possibilities!

Friday was Brandon's pioneer day, so he didn't get home until 7:30 or 8:00.  I decided to be productive while I was here alone, so I tackled the huge task of cleaning up my scrapbook table.  Over the past weeks, it has become the landing place for tons of stuff.  You could barely see the table underneath!  And I had bags from two different trips to Hobby Lobby that hadn't even been unpacked.  I even did some reorganizing of my supplies.  Here are before & after pictures.  Much better, no?

Saturday morning, I got up early and got ready for a big day of shopping.  I was at Jeannie's by 6:30, and then we headed to Debbie's.  Just a few minutes after 7:00, the three of us were on the road heading for Memphis.  We were looking forward to a day full of shopping & good deals!  

Debbie had printed off a list of consignment & thrift stores, along with their addresses.  Jeannie brought their Garmin, and that helped us find all the stores we wanted to go to.  It was our own little adventure!

We went to six different stores and found great deals at almost all of them.  Among some of the things I got were a raw silk floral skirt by Jones New York ($3), a corduroy Fossil purse ($15), and a Pierre Cardin blazer for Brandon ($6).  Unfortunately, Brandon's blazer didn't fit, but I will find someone who can wear it.  Anyway, I came home with bags of stuff, all of it practically new.  Yay!

For lunch, we ate at Moe's Southwest Grill.  Debbie & I had never been to one before, but Jeannie had just been telling me about how good it was a few days earlier.  After eating there, Debbie & I both agreed with her!  I loved the fact that they let you choose what toppings went on your burrito and it was made fresh right in front of you.  And the salsa bar was awesome!

Anyway, we shopped all day with the exception of a quick lunch at Moe's.  We had planned on having a nice dinner on our way home, but when we reached Corinth and got into the turning lane to pull into Ruby Tuesday, we saw how busy they were and then realized - it was Valentine's Day.  Drat!  Oh well...we were tired and went on home.  

It was 7:30 when we made it back to Tim & Debbie's.  Jace & Zane had spent the night with Lee & Rachel, and so we picked them up.  Talk about two tired little boys!  I was right there with them too!  Brandon had already left for work when I got home, so I heated up some leftovers, got into my PJs and hit the couch.  It was nice to crash after running around all day, but I sure did have fun! :)

Late Night...

We had a late night last night, which is unheard of for me through the week. Come to think of it, late nights are pretty rare for me nowadays anytime. If you know me, you know I am not a night person. Anyway, last night I did have a late night...and I'm paying for it this morning. Ugh.

Mike, Jeannie, and Bobby showed up at our house yesterday at 4:00 and we all headed to Tupelo. We had decided on dinner at Logan's Roadhouse. We love Logan's and they are having a special right now where on Mondays & Tuesdays you can get two full meals for $12.99, which is awesome. So Logan's it was. I was really good and picked out the grilled chicken, dressing on the side, and grilled veggies & mushrooms for my side dishes. I did give in and have a Coors Light, but at 2 points/12 oz, I don't think that's bad. :) So we had a nice dinner at Logan's and I hadn't killed my diet. Go me!

After we ate, we dropped the boys off at Bancorp South Arena for their concert. They were so excited. We were excited to be off on our girls' evening out. :) We headed to Petsmart for a quick catfood pickup then went to Hobby Lobby. They had their paper packs & spare parts embellishments 50% off so we looked around there. I ended up getting some really cute flowers and a paper stack that I love. Now if I can just find time to use them...

Next we went to Belk. It is Clinque Bonus Time and we wanted to take advantage of that. I love Clinique! Last time I was at their counter I tried their touch base for eyes and fell in love. I was running out so I wanted to restock on that. I also go a tube of lipstick that I'm still trying to decide if I like or not. Anyway, that was enough to get me the current bonus, which I was really happy with.

Here's where my diet went to pot. The plan was that we were going to be bad and smuggle in some semi-healthy popcorn for our chick flick. I have a weakness for popcorn and knew I'd have to have some once we got inside. The problem was that by the time we made all our other stops, we didn't have time to go anywhere and buy said contraband snacks before our movie started. So what did we do when we walked into the theater? We bought the jumbo bucket of popcorn, of course! "Would you like butter?" the girl behind the counter asked. (Should they really be allowed to call that stuff butter???) To which I replied a very weak, very guilty, "Yes, please." Jeannie & I did share the monstrous bucket of popcorn, so that should count for something, right? And we did have a tiny bit left that we didn't eat, so that's good too, I suppose. However, I looked up the nutritional information on typical movie theater popcorn this morning and saw that the large bucket contains a whopping 1,238 calories and 78 grams of fat, 49 of them saturated. OMG. According to my calculations, that would be 15 points for my half. Since I only get 22 points per day and had already maxed those out, I pretty much blew my diet last night. Oh well...live and learn, right?

Guilt aside, we did enjoy our trip to the movies. We saw New in Town. I loved it! It was a really cute, clean movie and it had some hilarious scenes, not a few of which involved the little group of ladies in town who were "scrappers". They were ridiculously funny. Of course, we probably appreciated that more than the other 5 or 6 people in the theater since we ourselves are "scrappers". LOL Anyway, I would definitely recommend this one.

Our movie was over at 9:00 and the concert on the other side of town was still going strong, so we headed over to the center of the universe, AKA Wal-Mart. What better place is there to kill time late at night when everthing else is closed? We wandered around there for a while, picking up things we didn't need, which is pretty much the purpose of Wal-Mart. I did score a copy of Pretty in Pink -one of my all-time favorite movies - in the $5 bin, so I was happy about that. I just love that movie!

At 10:30 we finally heard from the guys that their concert was over. By the time we got back over there to get them, stopped for gas, and made it back to our house, it was midnight. UGH. It was around 12:30 when I finally got to sleep. At 4:15 my alarm started going off. UGH again. Boy I'm ready for 2:30 this afternoon so I can go home and take a nap. I've decided I'm too old for late nights out on work night. LOL

Bogart's Vet Trip & A Yummy Recipe

Yesterday morning Brandon dropped Bogart off at our vet's office for an inevitable trip that we've put off for a while. He had an appointment with a knife and will never be the same again. Poor boy. LOL Seriously, though, we're hoping having him neutered will help with his hyper-ness, help him gain some weight, and keep him from marking everything everywhere we go. Besides all that, they say spayed/neutered pets are healthier, and we certainly don't want to contribute to the pet overpopulation problem!

Anyway, we picked our baby boy up just before the clinic closed at 5:30. He had done great and was all wiggly and happy to see us when we got there. Since then, his meds have obviously worn off because he's been moving around pretty slow. It's pretty clear that he doesn't feel good. It's so sad! Hopefully he'll be back to himself soon!

Brandon and I have a little tradition of having "fun food" on most Fridays.  Typically, we either order pizza or Brandon makes some of his awesome hot wings.  Not exactly health food.  Since we've been dieting, however, we made a compromise last night.  He grilled some chicken tenderloins and tossed them in his hot wing sauce.  I made some low-fat blue cheese dip to go along with them.  It was really good and very low in points.  Go us!

This morning, I worked in service with my aunt & uncle and our friend Tommy.  We had a good morning and the weather was beautiful.  When I got home I made a batch of cheese soup from a recipe that I found on a WW message board.  It was great and only 2 points per cup.  I liked it so much I thought I'd share the recipe here.

Healthy Cheese Soup

6 cups fat free chicken broth*
2 lb. frozen broccoli, cauliflower, carrot mix
1 10.5 oz. can Rotel
10 ounces 2% Velveeta, cubed

Mix all but cheese and simmer for 25 minutes or until veggies are tender. Puree vegetables with immersion blender. Add cheese to soup and stir. Simmer only until cheese is melted.

8 servings, 1 cup each
1 cup = 127 calories, 4 g. fat, 3 g. fiber (2 points)

*I used water & bouillon cubes that were 5 calories each & fat free. If you use canned broth you might have to adjust the nutritional info.

Project 365 Pics

Project 365 Day #35 pic is this one I snapped right before bed last night. Duchess & Bogart always follow me to bed at night. They love to cuddle with me until Brandon comes in and makes them get down into their own beds. In this pic, Bogart hears Brandon doing something in the kitchen and is cocking his head to the side trying to figure out what it is. LOL

We ran out of coffee yesterday and weren't able to go to the store and replenish our stock, so I treated myself to one of my favorites this morning - coffee from McDonalds. Large McD's coffee + 3 creams & 1 Splenda = YUMMY GOODNESS. I *heart* McDonald's coffee and wish they would start selling their beans like Dunkin Donuts does. So anyway, this may be my Day #36 pic...we'll just see what else happens today. :)

I'm still doing pretty good with my points. Last night we had a really tasty supper of fish tacos. I blackened some tilapia, and we added that to Mission whole wheat tortillas, baby lettuce, sliced avocados, jalapenos, capers, and some homemade ranch dressing. YUM! It was a really healthy dinner, but we didn't sacrifice any taste. If I can keep planning our meals like this and make sure we have a good stock of healthy snack options, maybe we can keep this up!

Project 365 Day #34

Yep, I'm still taking my pics everyday. Well...almost. I've had to cheat a few times when I forgot. It's all good, though. Here is my pic for yesterday. After a healthy, tasty, and low-point supper, I snuggled up on the couch with my boys and watched American Idol. Bogart just loves to cuddle!

Watched a Great Movie Yesterday (And Other Stuff)

I was feeling pretty yucky when I went home yesterday. I'm not sure if it was something I ate or if I had a touch of the stomach bug that's been going around work. Either way, I did not feel like doing anything beyond laying on the bed. That being the case, I decided to watch the movie that a friend lent me a couple of weeks ago. It's BBC movie called North & South. It is set in 18th century England and is very similar to Pride & Prejudice. If you like that type of movie, I highly recommend this one. I loved it! Now I need to get a copy of the DVD for myself! :)

For dinner, went went for *easy*. I saw these Pictsweet complete meals at Kroger Saturday and bought a couple, thinking they would be low-points and easy. I threw one in the microwave for six minutes and was pleasantly surprised with how tasty it was. The veggies were seasoned up really well and the whole bag (which I didn't eat but definitely could've) is only 180 calories & 2 grams of fat - that's a whopping 2 points for the whole bag. I'll have to stock up next time I see them!

It's just Day #2 of my diet, but I'm doing pretty well so far. I really stocked up on healthy stuff at Kroger, and so that always makes it a little bit easier. Some of my favorite WW-friendly foods I always try to have on hand when I'm watching what I eat are Laughing Cow cheese wedges, plenty of Lean Cuisines, oatmeal, fruits & veggies, V8, pretzels (I dip them in mustard), and baked Tostitos. Do you have any good WW compatible snacks you want to share?

Oh and along those lines, Brandon and I are thinking about joining the local wellness center. I'm supposed to stop for info on that on my way home. :)

Altered Composition Books, Super Bowl Party, etc.

Friday evening, I sat down at my scrapbook table and finished Brandon's beer book and also covered a little composition notebook for myself. I'm starting Weight Watchers (not officially but keeping up with my points) today and needed something for my purse to keep up with what I've eaten. Family Dollar had these little books 3/$1. I used some of my scrap paper, SCAL/my Cricut, and some Mod Podge to fix one up.

Saturday morning, Brandon & I went out in service with Robert, then Jeannie & I went to Tupelo for some shopping. We ate lunch at Abner's for the first time, went to Hancock's, Hobby Lobby, Sam's, and Kroger. I really racked up on the clearance aisles at Hobby Lobby and got a beautiful candlestick for our bedroom, some "leather" covered boxes, and some stone coasters, all for a little bit of nothing. I'll have to post pics of them later.

Yesterday after the meeting, we went straight home so Brandon could finish up the barbecue he was making for the Super Bowl party. He had left it in the roaster while we were gone and had to put it all in the smoker for a couple of hours. Around 4:00, we picked up Mike & Jeannie and went to Tim & Debbie's house.

There was lots of good food to eat, and I enjoyed it as much as possible because I knew I wouldn't be eating Rotel dip, buckeye brownies, sausage balls, fudge, or BBQ anytime soon if I was going to stick to my diet I'm starting today. LOL It was good! The company was nice too. There were lots of people there, and we had a good time. Here are a few pics.

Bobby, Debbie, Ashley (temporarily anyway), Michele, Jeannie, and I played Dominoes while everyone else watched the game. We paused occasionally for the commercials. LOL

Emily & Rachel sat and visited with us for a while.

Robbie, Heather, Brandon, and Mike watching the game.

Not sure what this was all about, but it was pretty funny...