Capture Joy

Project Life pennant banners

2011-12-26T21:08:00.000-05:00

These are some free banners I made when I was playing around in PSE. You can download a full size JPG here: http://www.4shared.com/photo/N_5ENtuQ/long_banners_copy2.html

1st Day

2011-08-24T15:03:00.000-04:00

She was "excited" (her words) and slept in her bed the entire night last night. She was up and dressed by 6:55am. She met her teacher Monday night and decided she liked her.

new backpack

new PackIt lunch box

Her new lunchbox will get plenty of use. We got a menu of school lunches on Monday. While I will admit they do a great job of including fruits and veggies on there (today was whole grain chicken nuggest, tomato and cucumber marinated salad, & some kind of fruit); there wasn't much there that Katherine would eat unfortunately.

waiting for the bus

wanting to know "where is that bus?"

Vacation: Take Two

2011-08-16T13:12:00.000-04:00

Vacation pics from last week at Ocean City...all of Katherine (of course)!

It's a tough life she lives!

Taking the new boogie board for a swim. Check out those waves at Fenwick--needless to say, she didn't venture out!

Actually getting to use the new boogie board in the little waves at Indian River Inlet Beach--much better!

Indian River Inlet

me playing with some camera apps on my new Iphone!

see above

Gone Fishing!

2011-08-01T09:11:00.000-04:00

As much as she loves her princesses and Barbies and girly stuff, she loves going fishing. On the bay in Ocean City....

Something scrappy...

2011-07-17T14:39:00.001-04:00

I found a challenge on another blog to use some older products you may have to create a layout. And trust me, I have plenty of older product to create with! She also offered the chance to win a $10 gift card to Studio Calico--my scrapbooking kit club that I get my stuff from. I rarely buy anything scrapping related from anywhere else! Nothing like a little monetary motivation to get me moving!
I created this layout from some stuff I bought last summer--and it's 2 pages--something that rarely happens around here! I think I deserve extra credit for that! : )

So, thanks for the challenge, Ashley!

New meaning to "doggie paddle"

2011-07-05T09:12:00.000-04:00

If the slip-n-slide were a sport...

2011-06-13T11:13:00.000-04:00

...she'd win a metal based on facial expressions alone!

Not your "normal" Easter miracle(s)

2011-04-21T20:33:00.000-04:00

That miracle would be this picture taken at Breakfast with the Easter Bunny:

Which is the first time since this picture that she's been in the same room with the Easter Bunny without screaming:

Ahhh, the memories! Yes, that's my arm holding her on his lap and yes I'm a terrible, picture obsessed Mom. But what you can't see is that I cropped that picture down from this one, and did a little digital stamping (the Easter Bunny got a little wider to cover up part of Aidan's legs and body):

Apparently the moral learned from these pictures (much like the Tea with Santa pictures from Christmas) is that there's safety in numbers as long as you're with a friend close to your age. Mommy and Daddy (or any other adult who you routinely run to for comfort and safety) don't count.

And the second miracle: she let Miss Tina braid her hair.

And just because I can:

Learning T-ball

2011-04-04T17:49:00.001-04:00

Katherine has her first T-ball practice on Wednesday so we've been practicing at home with her (and when I saw "we" I mean her & Charlie). She's pretty good at hitting off the "T" and does good at hitting when you toss her the ball too. Catching is another story--we just started practicing this. You can click on any photo to see it larger.

what form...what strength!

got this one...

...missed this one

the lesser known strategy of "close your eyes, stick out your glove, and hope for the best"

and my favorite! take note of how she's holding the glove out instead of wearing it--also her own strategy!

in all its glory...

2011-03-03T17:55:00.001-05:00

Here it is, my layout, in all its glory in Scrapstreet.com online magazine

Or here: http://scrapstreet.com/ss11/3m3/easy.htm on page 41 if you want to see it in person.
I just started submitting layouts to print magazines. It can take forever to have one published. The print magazines provide compensation in the form of money or product so it's definitely more competitive. This online pub kinda fell into my lap and I'll still submit there. Some people create layouts for submitting. My goal is to create the layouts I want to and submit them if they happen to fit the call. I would think the other way would feel more like a job!

Have you heard of Pinterest?

2011-02-24T08:00:00.002-05:00

It's a newish site that lets you save ideas and pictures and tutorials and recipes and whatever else you may find on the Internet. It's awesome!! I was using Tumblr (and still am to find stuff to pin!) but this is much more user friendly and I love the look of the boards and how easy it is to "pin" stuff to them and to find the stuff you have pinned. Not that I need more ideas of things to do to pass my time but at least now they're semi-organized!

Here's what I've found to "pin" recently:
a tutorial to make a cute summer skirt:

love this quilt:

crafts for Katherine:

Craftiness at it's best:

pom-poms made from old t-shirts

Need more time! more hours in the day! and apparently more wall space!

Wordless Wednesday: February 23rd edition

2011-02-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

(not so easy to take pictures and tickle someone at the same time)

8 Days Late(r)

2011-02-22T15:49:00.001-05:00

I decided to show my Valentine's home decor today. It's a little late, but it's my blog!
I made this based on something I found in the Pottery Barn catalogue. Honestly I like Pottery Barn's better than mine but that's ok. I think it needs more--more stuff on the hearts or more stuff hanging in general. I can always add to it next year.

The next thing I made with my crafty friends. We get together once or twice a month and try new stuff or projects we find online or in magazines. This was a coffee can, that was slightly flattened in a vice, primed, painted and embellished.

The next two things I made because I signed up for a Valentine swap on a blog I read. I ended up swapping with a military wife stationed in Kuwait so instead of just giving her a card (also pictured below), I made some stuff from ideas I've been saving in my head for a while. I had some free time and it went something like this: one for her, one for me!

Paper Heart Garland made with an old book and a sewing machine

Heart garland made with a red felted sweater left over from last Christmas' crafty gifts (note the craziness going on in the reflection--lovely!)
Both of these garlands were super quick and easy! Nothing like the ordeal I had made them out to be in my head. I free hand cut the hearts and sat on the floor with my sewing machine and fed hearts with one hand and pushed the petal with the other (my desk was, ummm, a little crowded!).

the Valentine card I made for her. It's called a lace cake. You make layers of lace to mimic a cake and then embellsih. I also made her a cute Valentine figure made out of an old wooden spool and a clay head with little hearts for ears. I forgot to take a picture before mailing it but it looked a lot like this:

(from here:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zURKxj9hxHc/S1VdgmrksoI/AAAAAAAAHDk/ZQ3_DevrfNM/s1600-h/valentinespooldollsweettidings.jpg)

Don't worry...there's plenty of ideas left for next year! More on that later!

Really don't feel like writing anything...

2011-02-21T13:40:00.000-05:00

...so here's some pics of some scrapbook layouts I've made recently...(you should be able to click on any pic to make it bigger)

what she said to me a couple weeks ago

had to do a layout of the Thanksgiving cheeseball!

her tooth fairy pillow I made to make the tooth fairy's job easier (there's a pocket on the back for the tooth so it doesn't get lost under the pillow) So glad she emailed me the directions!

Some of these were for challenges at Studio Calico (my kit club) if they seem random. I also don't scrap in order--that would drive me nuts and stifle my creativity. I scrap what a want, when I want!

And the last two pics show her new fashions: her new boots that she got for having her teeth pulled (although we bought them before they actual pulling: we thought it was going to be that day but they just took xrays) and her black skirt from Amy. And her new skirt and sweater from Target (Mommy's a sucker for pretty kid's clothes!). Note the boots again, we can't pry them off her feet.

Random Things on a Wednesday

2011-01-05T16:12:00.000-05:00

1. I cut 2 inches off Katherine's hair at 1:30pm. Afterwards she took a shower and has been walking around naked ever since.
2. I threatened she couldn't go to Grandma's at 4pm if she didn't get dressed--which spurred sudden interest in getting dressed. Then she called Grandma--just to check if she was home yet after her lunch at Oyster Crab. She meant Cracker Barrel--close though! At least she got dressed!

Her hair was still wet here. She's got my "hair takes forever to dry" gene.

3. I've been listening to a stink bug I put in a box 2 hours ago beside me in the trash. Apparently he doesn't like it in there. That's ok with me though because I don't like him and his 4,345,389 friends in my house!
4. For Aunt Bert: This was the picture after I left and walked back into the room about 15 minutes after you left our house:

Thanks for the blanket!
5. What do you mean it's not Christmas anymore?!? I keep finding cute Christmas ideas, so I tried one, despite the fact that it was New Year's Eve....Handprint snowmen ornaments...cover the hand with white paint, press around a glass ornament. The fingers become snowmen to decorate, add snow, and a year...

Super cute idea from the Internet!
6. I made a layout of my New Year's resolutions:

You should be able to click on the picture to see it larger. Basically they involve finishing open projects, more focus on exercise and healthy eating, run a 5K in less than 30 minutes, spend less time on the computer and more time creating/playing/trying the vast quantity of ideas I've seen and have running around my head. Speaking of focusing, I've chosen "focus" as my One Little Word for 2011. It's the idea that the word you choose helps you throughout the year in whatever area of your life you'd like. I've been feeling rather scatterbrained recently and overwhelmed with what I have started. I'd like to focus on finishing and focus on achieving my goals and resolutions. Focus on one or two things at a time because multitasking is slowly driving me nuts!
7. I got an email from someone I "know" from the scrapbook kit club I belong to this morning. She also ran the Marine Corp Marathon so we chatted via email a few times over the course of last year about that and training and how it was going. She contributes to an online scrapbook magazine called Scrapstreet and wanted to know if she could use one of my layouts for her article. ummm, hell yeah!!! One of my resolutions was submit some layouts to magazines for publication (notice the keyword: submit! not necessarily get accepted!). I hadn't even thought about online stuff; but does it count if I didn't even have to initiate it?!? I'm a little nervous though because she said the article was about punches and I didn't even really use that many punches on this layout. I'm afraid she'll get my supply list and change her mind.

he does exist!

2010-12-09T14:50:00.000-05:00

Pictures from Tea with Santa with Katherine's friend Serena (from school)

life lesson: there's safety in numbers

She didn't run screaming from the room when Santa appeared. AND she told him her name and gave him her list when he stopped to talk to her. It really is a Christmas miracle!

Thanksgiving highlights

2010-12-09T14:45:00.000-05:00

Just some pictures from Thanksgiving Day. Katherine took most of the people pictures--not sure why we all look drunk!?!

the all important Thanksgiving Day outfit

and my favorite: the Thanksgiving Day turkey cheeseball!

Because making cheeseballs is what I do now instead of work! I'm thinking reindeer for Chirstmas!

Made: part 2

2010-11-30T11:38:00.000-05:00

I also finished this project recently. It was started well over a year ago (yes, a year!). It's foam core cut into pieces, covered with unprinted newsprint paper (so the paint will have something to stick to), glued together, painted, and decorated. In all fairness I did make one for Mom & Dad last year for Christmas and I did finish that one in a month!

The inside: recognize anyone? heehee

The top: made from embossed aluminum foil
colored with alcohol inks

A Tale of Two Kitties

2010-11-15T20:23:00.001-05:00

get it? A Tale of Two ~~Cities~~ Kitties : )

So this little kitty when to the vet for a checkup that I've been putting off since February. I'm not sure if you've noticed but she's a little let's just say, temperamental. Her chart at the vet is flagged because she's (and I'm quoting the vet from the last time we were there), "one of the worst he's ever seen." Awesome. Well she started losing weight so I figured it was time to do something. They sedated her and I told them to do whatever they wanted while she was out--change the oil, rotate the tires, the whole enchilada! Turns out she has hyperthyroidism. So the treatments are a transdermal gel applied twice a day to her ear, surgery, or some kind of radioactive chemotherapy that means we'd have to separate her from us, the other animals, and especially Katherine for 2 weeks. Awesome. We've decided to try the gel although it does require blood work routinely. Not sure how that's going to go...

$362 on Monday at the vet for Kitty...

This little kitty went to the vet because she has oily fur and issues with excessive licking. She was an angel at the vet no matter what they did to her. ( And apparently vets don't have patient/doctor confidentiality because we saw the other vet with Pixie and he said while he examining her, "she's great, you should have seen the cat we had in here Monday." And I said, "I have, trust me. It was mine too.") Turns out she was negative for all normal causes of oily skin and grooming so we did blood work to rule out metabolic causes--also negative. So now we're trying a diet change to rule out a food allergy. The vet's suggestion: venison and green pea (or rabbit and green pea, we went with venison--yumm!). They should call it kitty gold at $32 for a six pound bag. If this doesn't work, he wants us to go see a dermatologist--awesome!

$282 on Wednesday at the vet for Pixie plus the $32 food plus $30 for Kitty's medication; and Robin and Charlie went wah, wah, wah all the way to the bank!

(don't you just the love the combo of some classic Dickens with a children's tale)

Made

2010-11-08T10:45:00.000-05:00

So while the marathon training did pretty much suck all motivation out of me to do anything else during the last few weeks before I tapered, I did manage to create a few things I haven't shared here.

I saw a tutorial for this online and realized I had everything I needed right here to make one...so I did. I bought the fabric in a jelly roll last Christmas for a potential gift that didn't happen and it was all fall colored. Throw in some random ribbon I had and a wire coat hanger and you get a fall wreath...

(Some of the best and funnest projects are ones using things you already have. I'm sure my credit card and Charlie would agree!)

And some new layouts from the past couple of months:

Right Now

Fourth of July (don't yell at me Susie--it's a cute picture!)

So Proud of You

Just Like Daddy

Photo Reality

9 Months

The Days are Long but the Years are Short

12 Months (I felt like playing with some mists and inks and stamps on this one)

Autumn Bliss (those leaves on the 2nd page are embroidered, this one won me a $35 Pottery Barn gift card from the Crate Paper blog!)

Custom

Up next...a tale of two kitties...and their vet bill...bet you can't wait!

Chuck Norris Never Ran a Marathon

2010-11-04T13:29:00.001-04:00

...and other fun signs I saw along the way: "Your feet hurt because you're kicking so much ass!" "26.2 miles, because 26.3 would just be crazy!" "Waking up early to make this sign was hard work!" "I may be old and slow, but I'm still ahead of you." (As seen on the back of Marine, Staff Sergeant Nuniz's shirt. I was with him for the first 5 miles and it made me smile every time I glanced at it--so thank you wherever you are!)

The marathon was awesome--the crowds, the enthusiasm, the Marines--everyone was so supportive and for the most part cheered regardless of who you were. And with that many people running, there was always someone running past them, so they cheered constantly. A few places stood out to me as having really great crowds and energy: the start and first 2 miles through Rosslyn, Georgetown was great, the second half of the Mall by the old Smithsonian, Crystal City, and of course the finish. Having a Marine put a medal around your neck was an inspiring experience.

To be honest I'm a little disappointed in my time. I went into this saying I wanted to run one marathon and just finish (no time goal). Everyone says, how can you be disappointed, you just finished a marathon? I think after training for 6 months you build up in your mind what finishing will feel like which after 6 months of building up and building up, the reality may have a hard time living up. I posted my thoughts on the Run Like a Mother facebook page which is a book written by 2 women runners and mothers. One of the authors commented that she was only really happy after one of her 7 marathons. A bunch of other women were having the same feelings as me. Another posted this: "Congrats on finishing! I wasn't even across the finish line this past October when I was sure I wasn't happy with my time and was going to do another. I think it fits with the personality type of some of us..." which made me laugh because I'm pretty sure she's onto something. A few days out now, I'm feeling better about it. But during the last few weeks of training I was looking forward to doing something else exercise wise. Now, I really just want to go for a run. Hello Runner's Anonymous....?

Somewhere during all this, something changed for me and it became enjoyable and something I wanted to do it longer. Sure there were really really bad runs, but there were really good runs too. Another marathon isn't completely out of the question for me somewhere down the line. Will it be soon? NO! Probably not next year either but maybe the following (depending on life and other things going on). I'd like to get faster at shorter distances. Run a 5K in less than 30 minutes and a 10K in less than 60 minutes (this one will be more challenging for me). I like having goals or something to accomplish. I'd like to do a 1/2 marathon or 2 or 3 and then see what happens.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to buy a fancy schmancy GPS running watch the tells you your speed and distance constantly with my birthday money--last month I would have said "I don't need that!"

Also got access to the official marathon photos and trying to decide if I want to spend $15 per 5x7 or pay $90 for access to digitally download all of them. I mean I don't want all of them but seriously, $15 for a 5x7? And it goes up from there in cost.

My soreness is gone (and it wasn't as bad as people said it would be) so tomorrow I'm going to the gym for a quick run and some weight training. We'll see where this takes me...

yep, I'm still here

2010-08-31T22:38:00.000-04:00

living life, chugging along, running...or at least that's what I feel like I live to do these days. And most days I feel like that's all I do. 8-1/2 weeks left, which isn't much. But those 8 weeks will contain the longest runs yet--probably up to 22 miles. I eat to run, I sleep to run, I schedule my days to run. And I'm only running 4-5 days/ week so on the computer screen it doesn't seem like much. What hasn't been happening as much as normal? Cleaning and other general chore/household like stuff. Scrapbooking--although there is a layout in progress, maybe I'll finish it sometime soon. Reading. Blogging....well duh. I have bad runs and I have good runs. And I've learned I like running. I want to keep running--maybe not train for a marathon all the time--but 6 or 7 miles is good for me. Unlike when I trained entirely on a treadmill and then ran a 1/2 marathon. I didn't run again for months. I want to get faster at shorter distances. I want to run 5K's and 10K's. So here's the past few weeks with times (mostly for my record, so I can get them out of my head!):

14 hilly miles: 2:52
16 hilly miles: 3:10 (a faster pace than the previous week)
18 flat miles: 3:33 (up to mile 15 I was on pace to beat my 16 mile time which wasn't surprising because it is relatively flat. But I'm not going to lie, those last three miles were a sorry excuse for anything you might call running. There was quite a bit of walking happening. I was done. I blame vacation: bad diet, bad sleep, etc)
14 hilly miles: 2:47 (same course as the first time, 5 minutes faster! I'm not breaking any sound barriers here but I'll take any improvement I can get)

This weekend: 18 flat miles. Different course as the last 18. So we'll see what happens. I now have a mental block to get around since I died at mile 15 last time.

Bragging moment: Because we were on vacation I ran the 18 on a Monday, did speed work on Wednesday, ran on Thursday, took Friday off, and ran the 14 on Saturday. That makes my total mileage for that week: 43 miles!

Birthday pics...finally

2010-07-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

The much requested dress that went to her feet and high heels. We found the dress on Ebay for $20--I couldn't have made anything that cheap.

Birthday dinner at Red Robin--her choice.

And the party. And it rained and rained and despite checking the radar 452 times that morning and it claiming that everything would be gone by 1:15-1:30, it kept raining. Luckily it wasn't storming, the pool was really warm and nobody seemed to mind swimming in the rain.

The Barbie princess cake. No I didn't make it, yes I could have but the fact that I didn't have to...priceless. :)

She told me before we sang she was nervous. She told Aidan he could help blow out her candles.

The pinata...it had ribbons to pull but they wanted to hit it so we did both because it would have taken hours to break that thing.

happy birthday

2010-07-09T11:14:00.000-04:00

Katherine turns 5 today!

And apparently (according to her) you need a name sign to decorate with for your birthday...so I made one. When Charlie asked, "why spend time making one instead of just buying one?" I said because I wouldn't like it as much, because I have the ability to do it, and have you seen the amount of ~~crap~~ supplies I have upstairs--WHY NOT?

Finished it about two weeks ago and it's been hanging here since--have no idea what I'm going to do with it after her birthday--maybe hang it in her room for a while?

And of course I made some of the popular tissue paper flowers. Ok, so they were supposed to be balls hanging from the ceiling but even with Martha's tutorial, they looked weird so we went with flowers instead. What to do with these after the party as well? hmmm...

Here's some more close up shots of the banner...

I cut the template for the banner shapes (there's three different kinds--hard to tell in the photo) using my Cricut and a SCAL file I downloaded. Then I cut the backing out of thin chipboard, covered those in patterned paper, made the paper rosettes and attached them, stuck a punched center in the middle, cut the letters out using my Cricut, attached them, put some random glitter glue on them, punched the holes, strung some ribbon through, & hung it. The flowers were cut by hand using a template found online. I thought it needed a break between the words so it was easier to read.

Be back later this weekend with pictures of the actual party and birthday!

happy 4th (on the 6th)

2010-07-06T11:37:00.000-04:00

or what we did on the 4th....
spent most of the day hiding inside--it was hot. Or at least it looked hot from the window! :)
And then we went to an Aberdeen Ironbirds baseball game with Margaret (aka: Grandma) and Aunt Susie (aka: Aunt Susie). Luckily there was shade and a slight breeze so altogether it wasn't so bad out. Had some cotton candy, Rita's Ice, cracker jacks, a crab pretzel, a beer, hamburgers and hotdogs and french fries--oh yeah, we were watching baseball during all that eating.

Joe Flacco's brother, Mike (I think?)

bejeweled, bedazzled, and bespeckled for the 4th

And we saw some fireworks. I tried a photography technique I had read about for taking pictures of fireworks and took about 50 pictures of them...

I also ran 11 miles in 2:06 on Saturday morning. There was actually a chill in the air when I started and I can't even begin to tell you how absolutely amazing that was. Not to mention how much better I felt when I was finished--come on fall! Total milage for last week: 21-1/2 miles.

A Salute to Reality

2010-07-02T22:26:00.002-04:00

People tell me they think I take great pictures. In reality I take lots and lots and lots of pictures and hope for 1 or 2 that are decent. Sometimes I get lucky, sometimes not. I guess that's one advantage of digital photography--no film to waste, all you have to do is delete. Today, the weather was nice, Katherine had just showered AND was wearing matching clothing--the trifecta of a good kid photo! I wanted to get a nice picture of her with her hair shorter (oh yeah, we cut about 3 inches off--her idea, not mine). The older she gets, the goofier her expressions are. Here's what I got:

Which if it looks a little grainy, it's because I cropped it down from this:

She wanted me to take a picture of her standing on one foot. Check.

Then there's this:

And this:

Really not sure what to say about this one.

And this:

Great smile, but what are you doing with your shirt? (still may end up on a scrapbook page!)

And this tilt her head to one side "look at me, how cute am I pose"

Also seen here:

AND here:

So that's a few of about 35 pictures taken in a few minutes outside this morning. There were a few more, but I had the camera on manual mode since the light was so good but I guess the shade from a tree was enough to challenge the shutter speed when you put an almost 5 year old into the equation--lesson learned!

Of course these can't equal the gems Katherine took:

(although the sky in this one does look awesome--and I didn't touch it in Photoshop!)

There was a lot of talk in blogland and scrapbooking in general about how we (as bloggers and scrapbookers) portray ourselves and only focus on the good, positive perfect lives we lead. When if that's all you see out there, you're naturally going to compare your own life and feel bad you're not measuring up. Instead we should be exposing our realities so we can support and encourage each other. Several bloggers I read regularly did a post about their real life so here's a few from mine:

I never make my bed. It only gets made when the sheets get changed. I'll never make Katherine make her bed either--I'd feel like a hypocrite making her do something I don't.
I donate at least monthly to the Harford County library. These little donations are my way of saying "thanks" for reminding me about my disorganization and/or absentmindedness when I'm overdue.
I question regularly my job performance as a mother and wonder if I put enough energy & time into it or if I spend too much time on my hobbies. Hence my latest two books checked out from the library: "Mitten Strings from God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry" and "Bringing up Girls."
It's a good week when the laundry gets put away before it gets pulled from the basket and worn again.
I compare the cleanliness and decorating of my house to houses on TV and even though logically I know it's a TV set, I still wish my house looked like theirs.
Sometimes I look at the clock and it's only 3pm, Charlie's at work and I wonder how in the world I'm going to entertain Katherine till bedtime.
I watch the Bachlorette--and I like it!

Pheww, that was a long one. Gotta get to bed so I can run 11 miles in the morning!

So few and far between...

2010-06-29T08:56:00.000-04:00

...blog posts that is.

What have I been up to?

A little birthday party planning.

Some running: 9 miles at 1:46, 10 miles at 1:57, and last weekend when I was going to run 11-12 miles I didn't feel well on Saturday and it was really hot & humid even at 6am on Sunday so I skipped it. To make up for it I ran 6 miles this morning. I needed to switch my long run days to Saturday anyway since I joined a training program through Charm City Running and they do long runs on Saturdays. I also learned through this program that the coach doesn't believe you should run more than 20 miles for training (which we'll do 2-3 times). This isn't the first time I've heard of this so he's not making this stuff up. I'm just not sure I can psych myself up at the end of running 20 miles to run 6 more. But I'm all for running less for training! :) So I'm not all that concerned about missing a week with a long run since I was ahead of schedule for the training program I was using and that one went the whole way to 26 miles.

Katherine got to see a real baby yesterday. Which has only renewed her desire to "get one" for us. Since she's decided she wants to marry Aidan, we thought now that he has a brother maybe she'd change her mind and want to marry Peyton instead. Which means these pictures will come in handy at the wedding...

And some recent craftiness:

depressed bunnies, dance recitals, & running (sorry couldn't think of anything else starting with a "d")

2010-06-10T10:56:00.000-04:00

Apparently the bunny world around our house needs some help...like a psychiatrist's help! In the past week or so we've found three bunnies that have commited suicide (bunnicide?) in our pool--THREE! It's a little unnerving to see a dead bunny floating around and kinda feels like a bad omen coming our way or something. Every year we have a bunny nest in the grass above the pool--it's probably a good spot because that grass is fenced and therefore protected from dogs or other predators. Once we know they're there--we stop mowing that grass until the bunnies are old enough to leave the nest and we keep all dogs out of there--that's what bunny lovers we are! So why, I ask, are they killing themselves in our pool?

The much awaited dance recital went well for Katherine. I was hesitant that she would get out there and do it since she's not a fan of being in the spotlight, but she did awesome. And we're really proud of her for doing it! The photos onstage are from the dress rehearsal and we couldn't use a flash...and yes the girls are supposed to be doing the same thing at the same time! :)

Last Sunday I ran 8 miles in 1:34 which wasn't too bad considering it was about 956% humidity. I did get up to go at 5:30 to try and beat some of the heat...The week before I ran 7 miles in 1 hour 23 minutes. But that was guess-timating my distance. I figured out (before I ran the 8 miles) how to use the personal trip odometer in my car (amazing how that there technology works) and discovered my 7 miles was a tad short. I also felt like crap running that 7 miles so when I ran the 8 miles, I was pretty happy with my time. This Sunday--9 miles!

overheard...

2010-06-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

...this morning....to Aidan....Katherine said:

"hey Aidan, I think I've finally got these two convinced to get a new baby!"

ha! little does she know! and in case of confusion I'm assuming "these two" would be referring to Charlie and me and not some random stuffed animals or dolls. I say again, ha!

I'm a dork.

2010-05-19T11:03:00.001-04:00

Just downloaded the theme song from "Rocky" to start running to. I may be a dork, but it seems to work...along with some Nickelback, Snow Patrol, and Green Day. I just ran 5 miles at the gym--54 minutes and technically I only needed to do 45 minutes, no walking, and I even increased the pace at the end (ok so it was only from 5.5 to 5.7, but still!)--so there--I'll take my dorkiness and run with it.

And because I know you'd rather see Katherine than hear about my dorkiness...

twirliness

I told her to smell the flower for the picture. Apparently the flower thingys (the stamen, I believe?) went up her nose.

So innocent...what an actress!

Countdown

2010-05-18T21:32:00.000-04:00

Countdown

Marathon Watch 2010 and other exciting updates

2010-05-18T17:44:00.002-04:00

So yesterday I ran 6-ish miles--from Whiteford firehouse to the 3rd telephone pole past the horse farm on the left past where Old Pylesville Rd comes out on 165 and back (distance was pre-measured in my car, hence the -ish part). Only 20 more miles to add (and yes I know it's 26.2, but if I can get the 26 part done, I can crawl the rest of the way--it'll make a great Kodak moment, don't you think!). It's amazing how flat a road will look in a SUV going 50mph. However when you actually get out and move say 5.5 mph, there's lots of hills you never noticed before. That stretch of road they call "the flats"? Anything but! It took me 68 minutes which wasn't bad considering the pace I've been doing on the treadmill should have clocked me at 65 minutes--and there's no hills there!

Before I ran I was dreading it, questioning why I was doing this. Really wanted to go home and take a shower instead. But I did it and felt great afterwards to have accomplished it (mostly because I ran the whole way--I'm much less likely to stop and walk outside than I am on a treadmill). I need to remember the good feeling at the end and channel that next week when I run 7 miles. Although there was a moment at around 5-1/2 miles when I needed to speed up to get out of the way of a turning car and I'm pretty sure my legs said, "what the hell Robin, you think we're going to sprint NOW?" Yes they have their own personality...

Katherine has been accepted to 1/2 day kindergarten. They save the full day spots for kids who need extra help and we weren't sure with her dog barking if she would qualify for extra help or not. But I guess they were more interested that she could write her name, knew her address and phone number, and knew her letters and numbers and could count to 29 (except for 15, she always misses that one?). According to her preschool spring evaluation they did at school, her points accumulated were equivalent to a 6 year old (except for the reading part, I'm guessing). Which just goes to show, what she'll do when she's comfortable in her environment.

And 2 scrapbooking layouts about Katherine (because blog posts without pictures are just boring!)

(you can click on the photos to make them bigger if you want to read the journaling)

We're baaaacccckkkk!

2010-05-05T14:02:00.000-04:00

And back in the swing of things of normal life.
Here's the highlights (some photos were taken by Mom):
First airplane ride:

Collecting shells at Lover's Key Beach:

The Butterfly House:

The Manatee Park (no real manatees to be found though):

Ice cream cones with more sprinkles than ice cream:

Free water parks and a bicycle built for four:

Katherine's personal quest to drive Pap-pa nuts:

4 generations:

Other fun items not pictured: feeding baby alligators and nonstop swimming in the pool!

Just for me

2010-04-11T09:46:00.000-04:00

Yea! I won a $5 credit at Studio Calico for submitting a scrapbook layout for a sketch challenge. Check it out here!

Other layouts I've made recently because I haven't posted any in a while:

Running Log (I was going to do this in a Word document but then I figured why not here? More accountability to keep going from the 4 people that read this.) :)

Friday, April 9th: 10 minute walking warmup at 3.8mph, 32 minutes running at 5.7mph on the treadmill

Sunday, Spril 11th: Ran ~4 miles on Wiley Road (insanely steep hill at the end and all) time: 47:13

Snap Happy

2010-04-05T07:24:00.000-04:00

Her Easter Dress (1 of 2 anyway)--or Easter themed dress from Grandma who once told me, "I hope you don't think I'll be buying her girly dresses!" Hey if she can bring up the pink comment, I can bring that up! I said before the baby shower I didn't want everything in pink because I knew we would eventually end up with lots and lots--and I was right! :) We haven't tried on the other dress. I had to use reverse psycology to get this one on. "You're right Katherine, it probably won't be very cute once you put it on. We should just take it back." I knew once she got it on, she'd love it.

checking her texts

my favorite

Thanks Grandma!

We also have Curious George this week. Yesterday we went to APG for a cookout...

the thrill of the hunt

2010-03-30T07:55:00.000-04:00

Sunday--cold and wind and all--we went to an egg hunt for Katherine's school. We didn't stay long...

her favorite "Princess" egg

The egg on the spoon race. Look at that determination, the focus, the drive to win...later she told Charlie, "I held onto the egg because they didn't say I couldn't." I didn't see it until I looked at the pictures and it looks like she was using 2 hands--maybe a smidge too close to the egg--but I'm not sure 2 hands was illegal. Oh well, there were prizes for everyone so it's not like she got the biggest one.

I was just happy to be done and go home!

Random Things in My Life

2010-03-24T11:01:00.000-04:00

1. I'm a chocolate snob. Ok, snob might be a stretch since I'm buying Hershey's not Godiva but I had to fill 12 eggs for the preschool Easter Egg hunt and I can't bring myself to buy that cheap dollar store generic chocolate. It's cheaper...they're 3 and 4 year olds who probably don't care (except for mine...who doesn't like that stuff--proof positive that I'm doing something right!) so why spend money on the more expensive stuff? I like to believe in the Golden Rule: treat others as you would want to be treated. Pretty sure that applies to chocolate giving too!
2. "Katherine won't make much of a farmer!" as said by Margaret after they hauled horse manure in the Gator on Sunday morning. Apparently she held her nose for the first 5 loads--Katherine not Margaret that is. I was busy doing some gardening and not present for this fun event. I highly resemble that remark!
3. Things I've been making:

Seriously can't get enough of this scrapbooking stuff lately. I joined a kit club called Studio Calico (shhhh....don't tell Charlie) which I love. Most of these were made for challenges on their site. I've done kit clubs before but for some reason this one is so much better!

And finally because I know you don't really care what I've been doing...a picture of Katherine from the first day of spring and because she loves them, a picture of her new sandals (with socks!)....

(She was dancing I think)

Happy Wednesday!

Confessions

2010-03-15T23:16:00.000-04:00

1. Most of you know I hate worms and if you don't...where have you been? Hiding under a rock...with the worms? Recent downpours have brought out all kinds of worms on our driveway. Saturday night before I went to bed I had to find the dog. Of course she didn't come when I called out the front door. So I had to walk outside. Usually when I go to the top of the driveway she comes. But there were worms all over the place and I couldn't find a flashlight which by the way is a common occurrence around here (in case you need b-day or Christmas gift idea!). And by couldn't find I mean I was too lazy to walk to the basement to get the one flashlight I knew we had. So knowing I was going to be stepping on worms because I couldn't see, I put on a pair of Charlie's shoes--so the worm guts would get all over his and not mine. (I probably shouldn't let him have access to this blog :)
2. I don't think I'm taking this dance recital thing seriously enough. We got our "production packet" on Saturday. We have a dress rehersal at the studio on a Sunday (just hair and costume) and a dress rehersal at the stage on Friday night (hair, costume, and makeup). There's a list of makeup she needs--which probably mostly will come from my collection--mascara is optional for the under 8 crowd--thanks! I do get that she'll need makeup under the stage lighting. There's a 2 hour meeting for parents who want to learn how to do the hair and makeup on some Saturday in May. Now if she were 10 and really, really into this I probably would be too but for a 4 year old, really? Is it necessary? And we have to be there 2-1/2 hours prior to the show? Seriously?

And because I think posts without pictures are boring (and I won't justify a worm's existence with a photo on my blog), I'll leave you with a PSA from Katherine...

Don't eat candles!

eau de skunk

2010-03-10T07:50:00.001-05:00

So it was bound to happen eventually living where we do...last night Kira found a skunk. And apparently close to the house too! I was upstairs giving Katherine a bath and heard Charlie outside yelling at the dog--not really all that unusual. I walked into the hallway to put something back in her room and the smell hit me and I instantly knew why Charlie was outside yelling at the dog. While I finished Katherine's bath, he bathed the dog with some Pert and I did some quick Googling--gotta love Google! Apparently tomato soup baths are a load of crap unless you want a dog that smells like tomatoes and skunk. The most recomended solution was hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dish detergent. I"ll spare you the scientifc reasoning behind it because unless you're me it's probably boring. Unfortunately we only had a half bottle of hydrogen peroxide--I needed 3x's as much but I went with it. Could have been the Pert too but it seemed to do the trick. She still slept in the garage...Charlie wouldn't let me put the space heater out there. Her collar is another story and the house...Kira never came inside but because it was so close to the house the house stunk. After the odor disappated outside we opened every window on the first floor which helped. I woke up several times last night smelling skunk--not sure if it was psycological or it was back? Right now at 7:30am I have windows open, the garage door open and Kira's still outside. I'm on my second shower since last night and after I drop Katherine off at school (hopefully not smelling but I'm afraid we've all become immune to the smell by now and couldn't tell even if it were there) I'll either be investing in bulk bottles of hydrogen peroxide or something commercial when the groomer opens at 9 and a new collar. (Except for the invisible fence one which I guess I'll have to wash--it's nasty and expensive!) I'm thinking one more wash down and Kira will be able to come inside. And then I'll shower again--for the third time! And every once in a while I still get whiffs--is it me or something outside?

In my Google searches I came across this diagram:

from here

Freaking hilarious!!!...there're roses coming out of....oh well you can see and I don't want my blog visited by wierd people so I'll leave it unsaid...Happy Wednesday!

Speaking of dogs with sunglasses...

2010-03-09T13:16:00.000-05:00

forgot I took this picture. What you can't see is she's also wearing a necklace and bracelet. Such the fashionista--that dog of ours!

In scrappy news, I've been busy:

I've had these pictures printed since, well let's say August at least. Feels good to finally do something with them!

this dog puts up with a lot!

2010-03-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

Last night she was wearing a headband, a necklace, and a bracelet. The other day...sunglasses.

My ode to blue and orange & Snow-much fun!

2010-02-23T08:58:00.000-05:00

While watching Project Runway on Saturday night, the judges had just finished bashing a woman (Amy, I think?) who made a blue and orange outfit for both her child and adult model. The child's outfit was cute. The adult pants were just a smidge on the side of hideous (think MC Hammer walking through a blue and orange flower patch). Anyway the guest judge said, "I don't even think blue and orange really go together, they don't compliment each other at all (or something close to that)" at which point I said, "wait a minute, aren't they opposite on the color wheel?" Then I HAD to Google color wheel to confirm my thinking and yes they are! Which means by nature, they are complementary colors. Hello, guest designer, where did you go to design school? (in her defense she could have been the target of some really bad TV editing) So here's some other people out there who, like me, don't think blue and orange are hideous together...
The Denver Broncos:

Syracuse University:

And Pfaltzgraff who made my dishes and inspired my kitchen color choices (yes blue and orange):

Moving on...
Snow Much Fun! (sorry, couldn't help it. I really did try)
We went tubing on Sunday at Heritage Hills with the Williams'. Katherine did really good. She wouldn't go down the big hills by herself (can't really blame her, they looked pretty steep to ME when you're sitting at the top) but she did go down in her own tube if we were holding on to her. Once we got over the steep part, she yelled for us to let go. She also went up the lift system without question or complaint which made the day so much better. We did walk up once and that was enough!

a real ballerina

2010-02-19T10:26:00.002-05:00

Not always grins and giggles around here...

2010-02-18T22:58:00.001-05:00

Most times...

but not always...

And sharing a layout I did because I can! I've scrapbooked more in the past few weeks than most of last year. Probably has something to do with snow and the fact that I moved all my ~~crap~~ stuff upstairs so now not only is it in one spot, it's a lot easier to get to!

Valentine's Craft

2010-02-16T08:51:00.000-05:00

We made these candy heart magnets for Katherine's classmates and a few select other people (if you see your name you can act surprised when they come in the mail). I thought it would be a good winter craft project--little did I know I needed about 15 more craft projects to fill the time. Assuming of course that Katherine will ever go back to school before Kindergarten, she can give hers out a little late (because I really don't have room on the fridge for 15 heart magnets). The others I was planning on mailing last Wednesday, ~~snow~~ a blizzard got in the way--at this rate I'm hoping to get them out tomorrow!

Crafty adventures

2010-02-12T19:16:00.001-05:00

Apparently lots of snow and being stuck inside gets me in the mood to create. I made this layout:

And this card:

I'm also taking a painting class online here called Mixed Media with the Girls. She does fun stuff like this:

and

So when I started the class I thought we were making one painting. Turns out we're doing three! So I started on the first background. She does all the backgrounds and then we go back and do the girls. Here's mine:

No that's not an alien form on there--that's where she'll be. Why, you ask, are the flowers larger than her head and really tall? It's whimsical! I'm going with it. Not sure I really like the flowers but I'm holding out until the end when we put more details on them. But it's fun to play with paint and something I've been wanting to do for a while now!

Happy Birthday Chloe!

2010-02-10T11:40:00.001-05:00

a brief adventure out of the house for the first time since the first snow to celebrate Chloe's 4th Birthday...

They spent probably 10 minutes riding this ride together--it was a rollar coaster simulator where the seat shook and vibrated:

The Day After...

2010-02-08T07:46:00.000-05:00

Profile Update

2010-02-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to clarify for those confused when (if!) they looked at my profile. No, I'm not 1,933 years old...just 33. The mix up came when I didn't enter the "19" on my birth year--I only entered 76 so the computer assumed I was born in the year 76 rather than 1976. Don't you just love technology....

My Wish

2010-02-06T09:52:00.000-05:00

I printed this picture last summer in hopes of scrapbooking it someday and at Christmas I saw an anonymous quote on a picture frame in a catalogue. I liked the quote and thought it would be great to do something with it. So last night I made this layout combining the whole idea of my wish for Katherine and her making a wish on a dandelion. The background and title is a used priority mailing box that I peeled the top layer off of and painted (I don't recomend unless you've got a few hours to kill--it's a little time consuming). I just layered some paper, lots of flowers, buttons, and butterflies and called it done. I wish the picture had been a little smaller so I could make the quote bigger but I'm still thinking I'd like to do a home decor something or other with the quote for her room--just not sure if it'll be more of a painting project or a paper project.

Here's the quote: This is my wish for you...comfort in difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendship to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, love to complete your life. -anonymous

Happy Snow Day!
Robin

Sense of Style

2010-02-05T09:33:00.000-05:00

She's really got her own unique sense of style. She was doing lunch with Grandma so she wanted to wear her sundress (yes, in January!). When I protested she pointed out she had a sweatshirt to wear with it. I told her she needed tights too so she picked these because they were purple and the dress had purple in it-she can rationalize anything she wants to get what she wants. And according to her the shoes didn't matter because they don't have to match the outfit--pretty sure she gets that line of thinking from Charlie. And of course a flower in her hair--it's all about the accessories!

Little Ballerina

2010-02-03T11:17:00.000-05:00

She cracks herself up!

December Daily...finished!

2010-02-02T11:48:00.001-05:00

And before the end of January too! go me! I finished it early last week. My favorite part?...the cover! Not bad for someone who went into it having no clue or idea what she wanted. (no, I'm not one of those people who like to do the album beforehand) I just picked a background and started layering embellishments that didn't make it into the book on a piece of cardstock. Love it!

I took lots of inspiration from the Flickr group, December Daily 2009. The album cover is made of chipboard. I traced some scallops from a stamp storage sheet from some Studio 490 stamps to make the edge.

Here's some pages from the inside:

2010-02-01T10:29:00.000-05:00

Kickin' it up a notch

2010-02-01T10:10:00.000-05:00

That's my new exercise mantra for February! I ran a mile yesterday at 5.5 mph and today ran for 7 minutes at 6.0 mph to warm up for weight training. It's a long road to 26.2 miles in October but you gotta start somewhere right! I like exercising but I like sweating a lot while I'm exercising (makes me feel like I'm doing something good). So I'm going to kick it up a notch to push myself to sweat some more--more running, faster running! Wish me luck!