The List

Here I am sitting in the hotel in Council Bluffs Iowa. the kids are asleep and John and I have our own computers! I should be sleeping because we will have a long day at the Omaha Zoo. I was unable to blog these last couple of days but I definately wanted to do this challenge from TS. So here we go....
1. What did you this year that you’d never done before? Tried out for an online DT
2. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not this year
3. Did anyone close to you die? My favorite cat.....Eli..He was my buddy
4. What countries did you visit? Never been outside this country!
5. What is your biggest struggle within scrapbooking? I think my creativity is lacking. It seems like all my pages look alike!
6. What dates from this year so far will remain etched upon your memory, and why? October 11....the day I gave birth to my last child
7. What is your biggest achievement this year so far? getting on a design team!
8. What is your biggest failure? Hmmm...Can't say anything I did was a failure.
9. Do you suffer illness or injury? That goodness no...other than my weight...I am very healthy
10. What was the best thing you bought so far this year? It is a tie between my cricut and my new camera
11. Whose behavior merited celebration? My daughter Anna...She flew through first grade and was one of three who had an excellent score in every subject!
12. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? No one that I can think of at the moment
13. Where does most of your money go? The house and all the kids schooling or care
14. What do you get really, really, really excited about? Getting scrapbooking stuff in the mail! (either swap stuff or thing I bought)
15. What song will you always remember? You Spin Me Round by Dead or Alive...singing it right now..You spin me right round baby, right round like a record baby right round, round round....
16. Compared to this time last year, are you:a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? I am more down on myself but overall my life is pretty happy. I am defintately fatter, and I am richer. With John's new job and all our debts paid off....we are able to stash more away..at least we think we are!
17. What do you wish you’d done more of? Played more with the 2 older kids
18. What do you wish you’d done less of? Sleeping when I could have been playing with them!
19. How will you be spending Summer? Working mainly. Taking a few mini weekend vacations
20. When did you fall in love? January 1994
21. How many anniversaries have you celebrated? 11 (12 in July)
22. What is/was your favourite TV program? CSI!!!
23. Name one pet peeve and tell us why it bothers you.Rude impatient people. Just today I was in line at Walmart and it was a madhouse and the guy behind me couldn't tap his feet or sigh any louder. I just wanted to turn to him and ask him to just stop it!! They were busy and the check out lady was doing her best. Don't shop on a Friday afternoon!!
24. What is the best book you read?Love all the Harry Potter Books. Can't wait until this last one comes!
25. What has been your greatest musical discovery? That I can still play the flute after not touching it in 15 years!
26. What are your scrapbooking goals? I would love to get published someday but in order for that to happen...I need to submit. So I should make it a goal to start submitting first!
27. What is something that leaves you scratching your head within scrapbooking? Some of the strange things people will alter. I saw something weird the other day but I can't for the life of me remember what it was!
What was your favorite film so far this year? I haven't been to the movies since Samantha was born...if I did...I don't remember the movie!
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I worked and I turned 33
30. What is your favorite all time embellishment? Hmmmm.. this is tough. I love brads and flowers
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concepts? Ha!! What fashion? If I am not in scrubs, I am in denim capris and a tee shirt!
32. What keeps you sane? It should say who because John is the one that keeps me sane. He is usually there for me when I am about to have a breakdown! After him...it would be scrapbooking!
33. Which celebrity/public figure do you fancy the most? I would have to say Rachel Ray. She has the best personality and she is one person I would love to meet
34. What political issue stirred you the most?I try to avoid politics at all cost because it seems like no one agrees with my issues.
35. Who did you miss? My grandma Spitznogle. I haven't seen her in over 2 years.
36. Who is the best new person you met? I can't think of anyone I have met recently. Boy...I need to get out more!
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned. That having a 3rd child will change your world completely!!
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your life. Ugh!! I can't remember word to songs very well and the ones I do know...do not relate to my life at all! So I'll pass on this one
39. What did you want to be when you were little? Ack!! A nurse!
40. What is something that surprises you? How easily it is for kids to remember and recall things. Anna is still able to recite verses from the bible she learned 2-3 years ago. I just have to say the first word and she usually can recite the whole thing. I wish I could remember one verse!

What Journey Means To Me

Treasured Scrapbooking is starting a new blog challenge and today's challenge is to blog what JOURNEY means to me and give an example from our lives. My mind is racing because there are so many ways I can go with this. As much as I hate to do this I am going to go with the one example that keeps running in my mind. First off, when I think of a journey, I think of an adventure that has ups and downs, road blocks, good times and bad times.... all with a goal at the end. I am going through so many different journeys and I am at different stages in each. The one I am going to share is one that I have the most difficult time sharing with people. It is my weightloss journey. I have always been a heavy person. I was the biggest in my class all through school. It really didn't bother me too bad until recently only because I had a brief experience of what it was like to be a normal size! You see...I joined Weight Watchers shortly after I had my second child. I was on it biefly before I got pregnant so I wanted to continue after he was born. 2 years later I was down 92 pounds. I hit a major plateau and stayed there for over 4 months. Then the holidays hit and I gained a little back. No biggie. Then I maintained for a long time. I forget how long. Then I slowly started to gain it back because I started to not care. Big mistake! Well...John and I decided we wanted one more child and boom....it happened really quick! I was very, very sick the entire pregnancy and did more sleeping than anything! So I packed on more pounds but within reason. Samantha was born in October...right before all the holiday foods started in. She ended up very colicy and cried all the time. Sleep deprovation and frustration set in and all I did to deal with it was eat. So now....7 months later...I have put almost everything back on. I look at all the pictures of me and it just saddens me. I have been trying to get back into it but it is just hard. I am at the bottom of the hill in my journey and I am working to go back up hill!! It isn't easy but at least I am trying. I want that 100 lb certificate darn it!! I will get it even if I have to make my own some day.

Memorial Day 2007

Today has been a very short day!! We had plans to have a picnic and then do our traditional visit to the cemetary. Well John and I did some laundry this morning and we were just to slow to go and have a picnic! So we went and had bagels at Panera Bread instead. We then went to price chopper to get our carnations. In the past we bought 3 dozen at 99 cents each. Well this year the carnations looked crappy so we bought these really fun, bright daisys for $7.99 a bundle and we had well over 2 dozen in each bundle!! They were so pretty. We headed to our favorite cemetary and place a flower on all the veteran graves. You see.....we have no family here and John and I are both from military families so this is our little way of saying thanks. We love doing it and the kids enjoy it too. I was bummed because after we put down flowers, I like to take pictures and such. Well it started to rain so no pictures this year. I did get a few while they were laying down the flowers so I am good. Now I am off to work! I will have to type up my challenge when I am there if it isn't too busy!

My very first attempt!

O.k....I finally took the plunge and created a blog. I honestly thought that this would be something I would not get into. Guess I was wrong! The wonderful ladies at Treasured Scrapbooking made it look so easy and I really wanted to participate in the challenges. I also wanted to have a place where my friends and family could come and visit and see my work! I hope the challenges will keep me on board with this blog! It is a work in progress....so work with me on this! :)