Project Life Tuesday ~ 10 July

Hello and welcome to Project Life Tuesday!

If you are stopping by from The Mom Creative, welcome & thanks for clicking over! If you are not, you might want to click over there when you’re done here for some more great Project Life inspiration!

I’m using the Clementine Edition of the Project Life kitoffered by Becky Higgins, supplemented by some digital extras and using up the random bits I have from twelve-plus years of scrapbooking. Some weeks are more digital than others and some weeks are full of frills and furbelows. It just depends on my mood.

Still catching up on my Project Life pages. These are from June. I think I will be completely caught up this weekend, but it will depend on what activities we have going on as I’m about two weeks behind as of right now. I’m not worried, though; I feel like I have a good handle on things.

Without further chatter, here are the pages. Simple and sweet, but most importantly – DONE! Or mostly done, anyway. I have a few slots to fill with some journaling or extras, but they are 90% done.

Week of June 10:

Left Page:

I still need to do something on that ruled card, but not sure what I want to do there yet and that “Live Love Laugh” is the back of the card in the previous page, but I liked it so I left it, even though the end letters are cut off.

Right page:

I made my own title card from some paper I had (I think Storyology?) and my journaling card was a take-off of Cathy Z’s card, but I split my journaling into two 4×3 cards in the smaller pockets.

Week of June 18:

Still have some filling-in to do here – I think the flowered paper is good, but not sure yet if I’m happy with it, but I don’t have a better idea and it looks better than nothing!

Left Page:

Right Page:

Again, made my own journal card – used some PL digital papers as the border at the bottom. I liked using the oranges to tie into the card from the play we went to.

And if you made it this far, thank you!

More to come next week!

Project Life Tuesday: 22 May 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday ~ 26 June (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday ~ 3 July (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)

Back to Reality

Well, we’re back.

Back home again.

Back to reality.

Back to work and back to chores.

But it sure was fun while it lasted.

There was the zoo –

The forts –

and the beach –

And now there is laundry, grocery shopping and some neglected kitties who are demanding a week’s worth of attention in one sitting.

Sigh.

But it sure was fun while it lasted.

June Roundup

I started earlier this year doing a monthly round up like Katie the Scrapook Lady does. I loved the idea of a recap of what I did during the month – something that would would make it easy to look back and see a highlight of the month all on one page.

I did great the first few months of the year and then sort of fell off the wagon as the last month or two of school rolled around. Life got crazy and this was not high on the priority list.

Now I am sad because I lost those months, but I am determined to get back on track and start again for June.

So, here is my round up!

What reading/learning did I do this month? (books, blogs, magazines, ebooks, podcasts, classes, etc.)

The Yard, by Alex Grecian (you can read my review here)
Untraceable, Unspeakable & Unforgiveable (books 1-3 of the Tracers series by Laura Griffin)
I also caught up on a lot of my blog reading and began a Bible study with the ladies from She Reads Truth

What entertainment did I watch/listen to this month?(movies, tv shows, plays, music, concerts, etc.)
- My beautiful Little Bit had her dance recitals
- SuperMan and I went to see two plays – Illyria and Much Ado About Nothing at the Georgia Shakespeare summer rep
- The girls went to see Brave and SuperMan saw Prometheus in the movie theater
What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

I made my annual pilgrimage to HQ and got to see my California work friends and spend an evening hanging out with my brother.
We started bowling on Fridays as part of the Kids Bowl Free summer program
Big Girl had her first-ever massage (her 5th Grade Graduation present)
The girls went to art camp with their art teacher

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

For Father’s Day, we gave SuperMan lots of love, rest, and special cooking

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Bought the girls SFO t-shirts on my trip and one for SuperMan from Johnny Garlic’s (Guy Fieri’s restaurant)

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Overall, a healthy month. Trying to get back on track with my eating and exercise.
We all battled a little bit of allergies when the crepe myrtles bloomed but we’ve weathered that storm (metaphorically speaking) and we’re back to the bloom of health. (sorry, I couldn’t resist)

What were my accomplishments this month?

Losing four pounds
Back on more healthy eating
Back to exercising daily
Caught up on my Project Life pages
making time every day to spend a little me-focused time – recharging the battery

What were my disappointments this month?

a few of the new dinners I tried were not so successful – but that’s a pretty small thing in the overall scheme of things

How did I do on my goals for the month? (Or any current short or long term goals)

back on track with exercise & diet

Overall, a busy but productive month!

Pinterest Love

I love Pinterest.

Love it.

I love it for the ideas I find – crafty ideas, scrapbooking ideas, things to do with the kids ideas, but mostly, I love it for the food ideas. I love it so much, in fact, that I have set up several boards that are food related:

And then, of course, I have some seasonal-specific pins on my seasonal boards (i.e. Fall, Summertime, etc) It’s like having a huge online cookbook. With pictures!

I’m determined to, at some point, cook or try most of these things. I usually sit down on the weekend and try to pick out a couple to try the next week. Some are more successful than others. Those, I typically try to share with you.

Here are some that I am hoping to try really soon:

Slow Cooker Sesame Ginger Chicken
Chicken & Noodle Casserole (this one has been on my list for a few weeks)
Homemade Pita Bread
Hand Scrub
Pretty décor

Are you a Pinterest addict? If you are, what are some of your favorite pins? Do you have any that were smashing successes? Or dismal failures?

Share! Please!

The Challenge Never Stops

If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you are already aware of the fact that I had gastric bypass surgery in 2009. If you haven’t read that story and are curious about it, you can read it here.

So, I’m three years out now. Most folks say that once you get to this point, you’re pretty much like every one else when it comes to eating, drinking and diet and exercise. Meaning that if you haven’t set up healthy habits in the first two years after your surgery you’ve probably just wasted a lot of time and money having the surgery because you’ve lost the leg up it gives you in terms of weight loss and getting healthy.

So, how am I doing?

Well, pretty good, I think. I’ll be perfectly honest here. I have slipped some bad habits back in (like sweet treats and some sugar here and there) and, because of that I’ve paid the price. In the past year I’ve gained about ten pounds. Enough to give me a wake-up call. Enough to remind me that this is not what I want and not where I want to be.

Enough to scare me into realizing that this really is a never-ending challenge. That I can’t get to my goal weight and just coast from that point on. That I have to stay vigilant and aware of every.single.bite I put in my mouth. And that I have to remain active (in spite of the heat!) and conscious of the things that trigger me to overeat and seek comfort in food.

So, I’ve given myself a little pep talk, refocused my energies and tried to restart some good habits, replacing the bad ones that have crept back into my life.

I’m back to drinking at least one protein shake a day. I usually have this for breakfast because I found that I was eating lots of carbs for breakfast – toast, cereal, etc. and so having a protein shake helps me to eliminate that temptation and to start the day with a good boost of protein and some fruits, too.

I’ve also been trying to focus more on eating more fruits and salads and less carbohydrates in general. I find that when I eat any carbs, I crave more. It’s like a never-satisfied beast within me. So, eliminating those as much as possible really helps me to stay in control and be less tempted to eat what can quickly become large amounts of pretzels, breads, etc.

On the exercise front, Big Girl and I had planned to start walking for 30 minutes every morning. But that was before the Great Heat Wave hit the South. And walking at any time of the day right now seems like a crazy idea. So, what we’ve been doing instead is swimming every day. Which has actually been really nice. We head down every afternoon after I finish my work day and I swim for about 30 minutes or so (laps) and then just paddle around while the girls swim. We usually spend at least an hour (sometimes two) in the pool every day and I’ve found that the exercise is helping significantly with my energy levels, sleep, and achy joints. And it is way more fun than walking in 100 degree temperatures!

I’ve remained pretty much on plan with my supplements – multivitamins, B12, D3 and calcium/iron supplements. I find that the days I forget to take these I feel like a train with no engine and so it’s just not worth getting lazy or forgetful with these. It truly is the difference, for me, between having the get-up-and-go to live life and not. And I don’t really have the luxury of “not” so I take them. Every day.

All of this has been working well. I’ve lost about four pounds in the last two weeks. So, I realize, yet again, that this is a never-ending challenge. I can’t get complacent or I will find myself with the pounds creeping on again. I realize that I have to stay the course, even if some days it is not very fun to do so. I realize I feel so much better when I do.

The good news, though, is that I CAN do this. And I have proven to myself that I can lose weight by doing this when I do slip up and put on a few pounds. That was actually something I was really worried about – that I would not be able to lose weight if I gained any (It used to be really, really hard for me to lose any weight)

So, I feel much more empowered. I am not going to freak out at a few extra pounds. I’ll just refocus, reset, and do what I know I need to so that I can get back on track.

I’ll just keep swimming – just keep swimming – just keep swimming…

Happy Independence Day!

Project Life Tuesday ~ 3 July

Hello and welcome to Project Life Tuesday!

I’m using the Clementine Edition of the Project Life kit offered by Becky Higgins, supplemented by some digital extras and using up the random bits I have from twelve-plus years of scrapbooking. Some weeks are more digital than others and some weeks are full of frills and furbelows. It just depends on my mood.

Still catching up on my Project Life pages. I am proud of my progress, though. I started my Volume Two and have a pretty new cover page started.

My plan is to put some pictures of us on the blank spots – some from the second half of the year, so I will fill those in as I find some great shots of us.

I am amazed at how many pictures I had for the week of June 4th! I think I ended up with six pages here – but there really weren’t any pictures I wanted to leave out. You will see below that we had a whole bunch from a Sunday outing to Ft. Pulaski and I took quite a few on my trip to HQ as well. I am happy with the pages and have enjoyed puttering along a little at a time for the past week or so on these pages.

Here they are:

This was the beginning of the week – Little Bit’s recital. Again, I ended up with two inserts to fit the pictures and programs and a sweet, sweet note that Big Girl gave to her sister after the recital.

On the back of the insert, I added a few other pictures of the ballerina…

The next set of pages are from the week – my trip to HQ and the girls’ activities/antics at “Ammi camp”

(remember you can click on an image to see it larger)

And that just takes us to Friday of that week! Jeez!

Okay, so then moving along to the weekend – this is our trip to Ft. Pulaski on Sunday and hanging out at Mom’s –

You can read more about our adventure here.

Some closer-up pictures of the pages – this was an 8×10 insert I added:

and I put my journaling in a pull-out card (one of those index card filer cards)

And after the fort, we rode out to the beach for a little stroll (in the rain!)

and the final page (!) of the week of many pictures:

Pshew!

I have more pages to share with you – the remaining weeks of June. I am hoping to share those next week after I put the finishing touches on them.

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life “Tuesday” (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday ~ 24 April 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday: 22 May 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday ~ 26 June (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)

Shredded Beef Burritos

I stumbled across an awesome recipe the other day – I found it on Pinterest – Chile Colorado Burritos. They looked sooo good and I just had to try them. Try them, like, rightthisveryminute. So, I got to rummaging around in my freezer and pantry to see if I had the necessary ingredients.

I did – well, most of them, anyway.

The one thing I didn’t have was the enchilada sauce. So, I decided to make that myself. From scratch. ‘Cause that’s how I roll. I’m impatient. I don’t want to wait for a trip to the store – I WANT IT NOW!

Smile

So that was our dinner the other night. Totally spur-of-the-moment. Totally not on my menu plan for the week. But, oh, sooooo good. Seriously good. So good, I’ve been thinking non-stop about when I can cook these again. They are that good.

So, if you have a hankering for some really, really good beef burritos, give these a try. You won’t be disappointed. And one of the best things is it is 90% done in your slow cooker. You can set it up, go about your day, and enjoy scrumptiousness for supper that night.

And here’s my recipe, just in case you want to try your hand at making them yourself (which I strongly suggest you do)

Shredded Beef Burritos

Ingredients:

2 pounds beef stew meat
Enchilada Sauce (recipe below)
Beef Bouillon cubes (2 small or 1 large)
minced onion
minced garlic
1 can low-fat or no fat refried beans
6-7 burrito-sized flour tortillas
1-2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Instructions:

In crock pot, place your beef bouillon cubes, enchilada sauce, and stew beef.
Add about 1 Tbsp of dried minced onion and about 1 tsp of minced garlic.
Cook on low for 7-8 hours (or 4-5 on high)
When beef is done, fish it out of the enchilada sauce & shred in a large bowl. (save the enchilada sauce)
Preheat your oven to 350 and set up a burrito-making station:
1. In a 13×9 greased dish, put about 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and coat the bottom of the dish so that the burritos won’t stick.
2. Warm your tortillas in the microwave for about 1 minute (wrap in a damp paper towel to help them become softer and easier to work with)
3. Your beef, refried beans – in separate bowls and ready to go.
4. Take one tortilla and spread about 2 Tbsp of refried beans in the middle.
5. Top with about 2-3 Tbsp of the beef and roll your tortilla closed.
6. Place in the 13×9 dish and continue until all of your meat and beans are used. (I didn’t use all the beans in my can, but I probably would if I did it again as they make the burritos that much better to me)
Once all of your burritos are ready, pour the enchilada sauce over the top, making sure you try to get some on all of the tortillas so they don’t get hard on the edges.
Sprinkle with the cheese and bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and melted.

You can serve this with a salad on the side, chips, salsa and sour cream. But, honestly, it’s a meal all by itself and it is so good you don’t really need anything else. It’s very kid-friendly, too. My girls loved it.

You can use store-bought enchilada sauce if you want, but I didn’t have any so I made my own. It’s so easy, I doubt I’ll ever buy enchilada sauce. I also like that I can control the spices and seasoning to suit our tastes.

I based my sauce after Emeril’s on the Food Network website, but I did make some modifications (because I can!) This was super-easy. Little Bit actually did all of the cooking for this sauce. I just did the measuring and she did the rest.

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp (apprx) vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
1 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup (plus more for to-taste seasoning) chili powder
2 –3 cups chicken stock
1 can (12 oz) tomato paste
~1 tsp dried oregano
~2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried minced onion
1 tsp minced garlic
pinch kosher salt

Instructions:

In a saucepan, heat the oili and add the flour, stirring until it is smooth.
Cook for 1 minute and add the chili powder, stirring and cooking for about another minute.
Add the chicken stock (I started with 2 cups and added more later to get the right consistency) tomato paste, cumin, minced onion, garlic and oregano.
Bring to a boil. Be careful here because the boiling mixture is a little like hot lava – don’t get burned!
Reduce head to low and simmer for about 10-12 minutes.
Add more chili powder and cumin if needed.

What they don’t tell you about middle age

I’ve finally hit the stage in life where I have to check that box “40-45 years” when I’m filling out a form, and I’m rapidly approaching the stage when I will be checking the next box down on that list. And, although I really and truly feel like I am at the high point in my life – physically, spiritually and emotionally – there are still a few things that get me some days.

These are the things that no one tells you about middle age. The things, like the little things of parenting (like getting barfed on and how many years you really will go without a good night’s sleep) that you really can’t believe or appreciate until you actually experience it. Event if someone told you, and no one will, these are the things that sneak up on you and smack you in the back of the head with the realization that you really and truly are middle-aged. Even if you still feel 23 in your head… you’re just not. Not anymore.

Here are a few of the realizations I’ve had lately:

Even though the kids are old enough to sleep through the night, I still don’t. I don’t know if it is the conditioning of the last ten-plus years of waking up sporadically to settle little ones back into bed (although, to be perfectly honest, SuperMan usually did that. And that is part of why he is SuperMan to me.) I think, more likely, it has to do with the middle-aged hot flashes I have and the fact that I can’t seem to get comfortable at night. One minute I’m freezing. Five minutes later, just after I’ve drifted back off to sleep, snuggled comfortably under the blankets and cuddled up close to SuperMan, I’ll wake up drenched in sweat and absolutely, positively certain that I have a volcano in my bed. I throw the covers back, run away from the heater that is known as my husband and cling to any cool spot of sheets that I can find. And then, of course, I wake up (what seems like) five minutes later, freezing cold again. *sigh*

And it doesn’t get better in the morning. Middle age is right there waiting to smack me in the head every morning when I get ready for the day…

In the shower, I’ve found that it is more and more hazardous to undertake some personal grooming habits. Now that I am not that good at seeing up close without glasses, things get a little tricky. Glasses are not particularly helpful in the shower, so shaving becomes rather hazardous. Do I go with the stubbly look under my arms or risk slicing my arteries as I try to shave the little hairs away? And have I gotten them all or are there a few stragglers that will be waving along with me at my friends?

Once I’m out of the shower, makeup application becomes a challenge, too. I think I am approaching that point when makeup becomes less of a camouflage and more of a beacon pointing out the wrinkles and lines. I stretch my eyelids to apply my concealer, only to find that when I apply the shadow all the little groves become emphasized. *sigh*

Certain body parts don’t work like they used to, either. My joints seem to have a mind of their own and have become weathermen – announcing the changes in barometric pressure with amazing accuracy. My wrists let me know when I have spent too much time on my computer, which is too bad since that is my job! I’m now good friends with all sorts of ace bandages and splints that I never knew I’d have.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. I really, truly feel that this is the peak of my life. I’m happy, I’m healthy and I’m loving where I am. It’s just that these little things tend to sneak up on me and remind me that even though I feel young in my mind, my body isn’t as young as I wish it was.

Are you finding any surprises as time marches on?

Project Life Tuesday ~ 26 June

Hello and welcome to Project Life Tuesday!

I’m using the Clementine Edition of the Project Life kit offered by Becky Higgins, supplemented by some digital extras and using up the random bits I have from twelve-plus years of scrapbooking. Some weeks are more digital than others and some weeks are full of frills and furbelows. It just depends on my mood.

I haven’t posted in a while (3 weeks!) because I got behind on my album – have been so busy catching up on other things since my work trip that scrapbooking took a backseat to, well, life.

I did get to spend some time this past weekend getting a little bit caught up. Still have two weeks to do, but I feel much less panicked about how much I have to do. I was quickly reaching that critical juncture of “do I even continue?” and I really didn’t want to go there. So, I feel rather proud of myself for jumping back on the wagon.

I finished my January – June album this weekend. I had decided that I needed to split it up into two volumes way back in March or April when I saw how thick the album already was. Thankfully, I had two of the same type of album already so there was no additional expenditure necessary and everything ties in nicely.

I made a cute little card to put in the last pocket so that folks would know to continue on –

I used some of the digital Project Life paper and just added my text on top. Isn’t it cute?

So, since I am catching up, the pages I have to share are from Memorial Day week –

Sorry that one is so blurry. I could not get it focused for the life of me. I don’t know why. The good news is that the rest are clear and crisp. I decided to use a red and teal theme this week and the inserts and photos seemed to fit nicely with that little idea.

and some close ups of the left page:

I made a pennant with some scraps of paper and some twine that I had from a Studio Calico kit.

The Memorial Day insert was a freebie I downloaded.

I also used some washi tape (with little teal hearts) and one scrap of paper that had a pinkish tinge to it and red grid lines. I cut that sucker up and used every single scrap – decorated plain grid journal cards and made a journal card (with washi tape on it) as well. I love that about this project – that I can use even the smallest bits of scraps – makes me feel frugal. (wink wink)

The right page:

Washi tape on the picture to add journaling:

LOVE the picture of Big Girl with the water hose. She looks so ferocious!

My last little scrap of grid paper being put to good use –

And as soon as I finished taking pictures, the girls grabbed the album and went through every.single.page again – from January to June. I love that. I love that they love to look back and remember and that I’m capturing those memories for them.

That’s why we do this, isn’t it?

I’ll be back with more as soon as I find time to do another week’s worth of pages!

Thanks for stopping by!

Project Life Tuesday ~ 24 April 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life “Tuesday” (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)
Project Life Tuesday: 22 May 12 (thoughtsalonglifeshighway.com)

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