3 pounds and a bracelet

Thursday night I went to Beads and Botanicals to make a bracelet. It turned out better than I thought (I'm still fairly new to the whole beading world)! I used some beads that I had taken off my wedding dress, a couple beads from one of my grandma's old necklaces, and some beads from the shop.

I've lost 3 pounds - yay! If I would just put down the yo-yo's and exercise, I know I'd lose a lot more. I've been doing surprisingly well on this no-Mountain Dew thing. I just have one every once in a while.

Baseball has started. Taylor had practice yesterday afternoon, and I was able to get some yo-yo's done. Last year, I would sit on the bleachers and chit chat with my sister-in-law. But now that she's the girls 12 & under softball coach, she doesn't get to sit and chat!

The rest of my weekend was spent tracing patterns and cutting fabrics - I don't really care for that, but the end products are well worth it!

Strep Boats

Saturday, Taylor had his Raingutter Regatta for Tiger Cubs. He did an AWESOME job, although he didn't get the credit (or trophy!) he deserved. Long story short, they messed up with the brackets and instead of Taylor getting 1st or 2nd, like he should have, he didn't place at all. He was pretty bummed about it, but Grandma and Grandpa are going to surprise him with a little trophy.

Sunday was a lazy day, and I mean LAZY! I don't think anybody really got anything accomplished. Landon wasn't feeling very well, so he and I cuddled on the couch most of the afternoon. Jeremy and Taylor went over to have SIL cut J's hair. When they got home, I made supper, we watched a movie, and went to bed!

Landon had his 4-year check up Monday afternoon, and we found out he has strep throat, although he insists that his throat doesn't hurt. He had a fever Sunday afternoon and broke out in a rash all over his back and stomach.

I'm supposed to go to Chadron this weekend with my parents to pick up some stuff my great-uncle has in storage. My throat started itching yesterday, so I may have to stay home - don't want to expose all those folks in the nursing home!

I've decided that I definitely want to plant a veggie garden, I'm just not sure if it'll happen this year. I like to be able to take my time, measure, and plan everything before starting a project. I want a big, nice garden. I want brick or rock walkways between the different veggies. I want a cute vintage gate, and we'll probably have to use chicken wire for the fencing to keep the rabbits and stray cats out. I also want to have a name for my garden. That's going to be the hardest part, coming up with a name that I like. Breaking out the trusty old tape measure to start planning is on my to-do list for Tuesday.

It rained and snowed yesterday, we're supposed to get more today, but we'll be in the high 60's by Tuesday. Gotta love Nebraska weather!

Is it here already?!

My baby turns 4 today. Where had the time gone? We celebrated with Jeremy's family over Easter weekend (there are 6 birthdays between March 1 & April 20, so we do them all at once!), and with my parents, uncle, and uncle's foreign exchange student, Kevin this past weekend. We went to a local park to eat some cake, open presents, and enjoy the weather (while trying to stay out of the wind).

Sunday was beautiful - we got quite a bit of yard work done. Jeremy finally got the shock fence up so we can take Odin (our St. Bernard) off the chain. Even though our yard is large enough to qualify for holding livestock, it's not big enough for our dog! Monday, it snowed.

My brother's oldest turns four on Thursday, so I managed to finish her birthday present, and got busy cutting fabric for the many, many projects I have lined up. I also ordered Sew and Stow, and started my book wish list consisting of:

A is for Apron

Alabama Stitch Book

Kitschy Crafts

Material World

Pretty Little Patchwork

Pretty Little Potholders

ReMAKE, ReSTYLE, ReUSE

The Pillow Book

The diet is going okay. I quit Mountain Dew - and paid dearly for it Saturday evening through Monday afternoon. I've started drinking more water, and plan to walk 1 mile and do 20 minutes of Pilates this afternoon.

Diet, Day One

Happy April Fool's Day!

I'm determined to lose some weight. I now weigh roughly 80 lbs more than I did 8 years ago, and I'm tired of being fat! My first step is going to be to wean myself off of Mountain Dew - my one true weakness. I've actually already started drinking less soda and more water, so hopefully I can complete this stage in the next week or so.

Time Management

I suck at it. I used to be able to fit a 36-hour day into just 24 hours. That was a little over 2 years ago. The turning point? I believe it's when my grandpa got really sick in September of 2005, and I put my life on hold so that I could be with him as much as possible. He'd been living with stomach/colon cancer for a few years, and they decided to put a port in to make the chemotherapy easier. It was supposed to be a quick out-patient surgery. My uncle took Gramps to the hospital before he had to work, and I was to pick him up around 9:30. I was there for an hour without hearing a single word about Gramps. When I finally asked the receptionist, a nurse came out and said they hadn't realized there was somebody waiting for him. He was still in recovery, and it would probably be another hour before he'd be out. I ran a few errands, came back, and the nurse pulled me into a private room saying that the doctor wanted to speak with me. Long story short, we almost lost him that day. I had to call my mom, who lived 4 hours away at the time, to tell her that there was a very good possibility that Grandpa and Grandma would be reunited soon. Hardest phone call I have ever made. He pulled through, but mom and I kind of wish that he had gone that night. From September 9 - November 7, he was only able to be at home for 5 days. He spent the rest of that time in the hospital before being moved to a rest home. On December 11, the rest home had a Holiday dinner for the residents and their families. My parents, uncle, brothers & their families, I & my family, and even one of Gramps' sisters and one of his brothers were able to attend. He passed away then next day with my mom, uncle, and I at his side, listening to Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".

After he went to be with Grandma, we were busy planning his funeral, and trying to keep the holidays as normal as possible for my boys. Then, I had a family reunion to plan which involved putting together a family cookbook and a video montage along with everything else there is to do for a family reunion. There was always something to plan, I even became CubMaster for Taylor's Cub Scout Pack. I've been in kind of a funk these past couple of weeks, and I'm not sure why. I've got a million projects written down or in my head that I want to get done, but I've just been lazy. I'll have to come up with a schedule for me this weekend that includes some much needed exercise. I've let me goal of losing 30 pounds before my 30th birthday slip (unless it can be done in a healthy way by May 10th!), so I really need to work on losing at least some. I suppose that means coming up with a diet and exercise plan, too!

Now that I've procrastintated for a couple of hours, let's see if I can actually keep myself motivated for the rest of the day!

Wine and Old Letters

I decided to look through my CD collection, and found Deana Carter. I had forgotten how much I like “Strawberry Wine”…ah, the memories. That was a good summer, I had just turned 19 and finished my first year of college. I was working two jobs and was friends with the very different bosses at both places. Things were so simple and free, not a care in the world. That was the summer that Alan taught me how to drive a stick shift. He was a wonderful guy...Memory Lane is a nice place to wander…



I am almost finished with my Grandpa’s “War Letter Binders”. I just have to get some photos developed to add. I can’t even begin to describe the amazing experience of being able to read through all of the letters my grandpa had written home during WWII. I got to know him in a completely different way – as a young man so proud to be serving his country. Times have certainly changed, but there will always be a reason why the Depression/WWII generation is the greatest generation. I am looking forward to transcribing my great-uncle’s letters next. He was in the Army stationed in Europe, while my grandpa was a Navy bombardier stationed in Rio de Janeiro and Africa. Very different experiences.