02.24.10

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm officially getting tired of all the snow (and winter in general).  It's very pretty and is also one of my favorite parts of winter.  But I also have to run it and I don't like that.  So it can move on it's way and let warmer temperatures come in.  It is in fact almost March!

There is someone that I don't think will ever mind it (at least while she's being walked)!  And that would be this little lady.

02.23.10

This is a common sight around our house.

Yes, there's usually a stack of mail.  It's inevitable.

I think it is just in my genes to have a stack of mail sitting somewhere.  It was always the case when I was growing up (and hasn't stopped since I moved out of my parents' house).  Therefore, it's not my fault, right?

02.22.10

Maggie and I went for a walk tonight around one of the ponds.  I was rather stupid and soaked my shoes pretty much all the way through.  There was a part of the path around the pond that was essentially underwater.  Except it wasn't just any water.  It was snowy, slushy, ice cold water.  And I think I walked through the deepest part.  Maggie was just wondering why I was having such a cow walking through it and then she decided she needed to start jumping.  Luckily she didn't get me too dirty.  Ahh...such is life.

Scrapbook Sunday XII

02.21.10

Here's the layout I completed this week (again from my trip to Florida with my family).  These pictures are from the "Share a Dream Come True" Parade.

I actually printed the journaling block off of Creating Keepsakes magazine's website.  They have a fair number of free downloads for various scrapbooking things.

02.20.10

Chris and I had a great time in Indianapolis today.  He ran in the 2010 Polar Bear 5-mile Race.  He did good - he placed 3rd in his age group and 8th overall!  It was easy to spot him since he was wearing his orange shirt.

We also got to watch Kaitlyn compete in the Circle of Stars gymnastics competition in the afternoon.  She was able to compete in all of her events even though she had broken her thumb 5 weeks earlier and had only been released for a week!  It was fun watching her since we don't get to do it much.

02.19.10

Necessities in life are not always pretty.

02.18.10

I love the fact that I can take a break from my work in the late morning to throw some roast, potatoes, and carrots in the crock pot, all while being in my pj's.

02.17.10

Today I was so tired of the nasty state of the outside of my car.  It was time for all of that salt and winter yuckiness to be gone (at least temporarily).  So I took it by the manual car wash.  Haven't used one of those in a while.  (Normally we wash cars at home.)  Looks much better now.  Now I don't have to cringe every time I look at it.

02.16.10

My new pj's that I got for Christmas.

02.15.10

There was a little more snow that fell today.  I decided to capture Maggie's footprints next to mine.

Scrapbook Sunday XI

02.14.10

A simple page from my family's trip to Disney World.  (I just slapped the 4x6 pics onto a page from a scrapbooking kit I bought while we were there.)  Even though I was 19 at the time, it was so much fun meeting the Disney characters!

02.13.10

The trees were frosty again this morning because it was so cold (0 degrees)!  I'm glad I decided to take an upclose picture of the branches today because they look like that "rock candy" you can get on a stick.

Yes, I still went on my long run this morning.  It was cold.  I'm just glad there wasn't much wind.  I set out to run 9 miles, but found out that I ran more like 9.5 or closer to 10!  I can't believe I'm already up at this mileage again.  It seems like my training time is going faster this year.

02.12.10

This was the view out our kitchen window this morning.  The trees were kind of frosty because of the cold air (and some freezing fog, I think).

02.11.10

Maggie loves playing with the squeaky beaver her aunt Katie got her for Christmas.

No, I did not put her beaver in front of her (this time).

02.10.10

We had some more snow fall yesterday and last night.  The winds were also blowin the snow everywhere.  This is how the snow formed on the east side of our house.

02.09.10

Today I made some BBQ beef for dinner tonight.

It's really very simple to make.

Ingredients
Really any kind of beef roast (today we used a rump roast)
Onion
Seasoning salt
Water
BBQ sauce of your choice

Sprinkle the roast with seasoning salt and put in a crock pot with about half an onion and about 2 cups of water (depending on the size of meat).  Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  Take meat out of the crock pot, remove fat and bone, and shred.  Remove all of the liquid and onion from the crock pot, but reserve a few cups of the juice.  Put shredded meat back in the crock pot.  Mix a small amount of juice with a larger amount of BBQ sauce.  Pour on top of meat and mix together.  Repeat if necessary until the meat is covered with desired amount of sauce.  Cook on low for another 30 minutes to an hour or until warm.  Enjoy!

02.08.10

We are still claiming the Colts after last night's loss in the Super Bowl.  It was a good game to watch, but the Colts were definintely out-played by the Saints.  We just wish it would've been a little closer.  Nevertheless, it was fun to hang out with our friends and watch our first football game on the new tv.

Scrapbook Sunday X

02.07.10

I made a different type of layout this week.  I made a "month in review" layout for January (and it was my first 2-page layout!).  It tells about the main events from the month.  I had seen this idea in several scrapbooking magazines I've read recently and I wanted to try it.  And I loved it!  It is such a good way to capture everything from each month - from a snippet of big events to everyday life.  I thought it was perfect since I've been taking a picture a day now.  It gave me a place to put some of my favorites.  I think I will continue this at least for the rest of the year.

You might notice that I made a list in the lower right corner.  These numbers are the date the picture was taken and they correspond to the ones on the pictures.  This gave me a simple way to tell what each picture is about.

02.06.10

Today we spent some money we'd been saving for a while.  We took advantage of some sales and traded this old model (beastly heavy and big)...

...for a newer model (weighing less than the old model).

We also had to christin the new tv tonight by watching a blu-ray DVD.  We chose Quantum of Solace since we needed an action movie.  It was a-ma-zing!  The detail was incredible.  We're looking forward to watching more in the future!

02.05.10

This week I decided to do my long run on Friday instead of Saturday like I normally do.  I did this because I didn't want to run 8 miles in several inches of snow tomorrow.  I thought I could pick a time this morning when there wouldn't be much traffic and there would be minimal snow.

I was kind of right about the minimal snow part, but the roads were still kind of slick because it had started snowing and spitting iceballs.  And I was completely wrong about the traffic.  There was much more than I expected.  There were a few times I had to stop running and wait momentarily off in the grass.  Let's just say I was thankful for the times I was running on sidewalks (most of the time) and thankful when I finally reached home after 70 minutes.

02.04.10

Tonight I quickly mixed up some brownies for small group.  I decided to put some pecans on half this time.  I just remember my mom always doing this when I was growing up.  It just adds a little something extra to a box of brownie mix.

02.03.10

The remaining training time I have for the Indianapolis Mini is nearing 3 months.  Today I made sure to map out the rest of my long runs and what mileages they need to be.  Last year the most I ran before the race was a 2-hour run, which was somewhere around 13 miles.  This year I'm shooting for a long run up to 15 miles before the race.  I'm hoping this will give me more "umpf" at the end of the race.  Last year the finish line could not come soon enough - the last couple of miles were pretty hard.

May 8th will be here before I know it!  I can't believe I only have 3 months left to train!

02.02.10

Happy Groundhog Day!  Even though Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow today, I can see that spring is right around the corner.  Our red maple is showing the slightest bit of red color on its buds.

02.01.10

This is what we have to the west of our neighborhood.

It's nice to be near corn fields.  It gives the feeling of the country and it's so quiet.

01.31.10

I was a slacker this week and didn't get a scrapbooking layout done.  And no picture today.  Today was pretty busy between church stuff and getting ready to send Chris off again tomorrow for another week away for work.

Maybe I'll get one layout (or more) done this week.

01.30.10

Chris and I got to spend some time together this weekend after he had been gone all week for work.  We went to see a 5:00 movie and then made dinner at home afterwards.  We were trying out a new recipe from a Pampered Chef cookbook my sister gave us for Christmas.  I was surprised when Chris walked out with his chef jacket on.

It made me smile.  The last time he wore it was almost 4 years ago to cook the food for our dear friends' wedding.

01.29.10

I'm so happy that I'll get to see my better half tonight.

01.28.10

I was loving the blue color of the sky and clouds today against the snow on the ground.