Test, test... trying for bigger picture sizes on the blog

And a sneak peek of my August class at Stampin'Cat... Wanna come and play?

Happy Birthday Joel!

This is the man I married nearly 17 years ago. Our first date was just a bit more than 19 years ago. I’m happy to report that it’s still going strong.

He usually takes very goofy pictures like this:

There’s something about having a camera in front of his face that brings out the goofy mischievous side of him. I finally had to tell him that “we deserve to have some good pictures of you!” I’m still working on that.

My favorite picture of us:

This was taken when we went to Boston in May 2006. What a great trip! I am longing for another—especially another trip with him. We usually get away for a bit around our anniversary but circumstances prevented that this year. I didn’t realize what a touchstone those trips were for me until I found myself yearning for a getaway with him this spring. Circumstances have yet to materialize to make that possible. It seems we’ll have to make our own.

I love being married to him. Even with the goofiness and so on, being married to him is such a wonderful place to be. Occasionally I dream a night that something terrible has happened to him and I am now alone in the universe. I had such a dream last night. Half asleep, I reached across the bed to make sure he was there and instead of his sleeping form my fingers closed around the small toy left there by my six-year-old when he took himself to his own bed. “It’s okay,” I reassured myself, “he’s just downstairs.” But it was 1:30 in the morning and my paranoid self rules that hour of the night. Half asleep, I reached over again to see if anything had changed. Still nothing. Now my paranoid self was fully awake even though the rest of me was asleep and was imagining all sorts of horrors, from being caught in a videogame world to a heart attack on the couch just as he was coming to bed. I was left with no choice but to stumble to the top of the stairs and whistle our special “I love you” whistle and then listen for the right response. He was alive and well and all was right in my world. My rational self was now able to take over and put my paranoid self in its place and go back to sleep.

I don’t have any big secrets to a long and lasting relationship. It’s full of ups and downs. I do know this though—it’s easier when you grow together. When the rocks in his head fit the holes in my head. I know that I could ask him for anything and he would do everything in his power to provide it for me. So I try not to ask. And I try to give enough back to him on a daily basis to stay worthy of the asking, should I decide that I need to. It works for us.

It’s his birthday soon. He’ll be the same number as I am. He loves to lord it over me during those three months or so between our birthdays that I am, indeed, his “old lady.” I stopped being bothered by that awhile ago, but I play along—it’s fun to be all harrumphy about it, and besides, soon enough, the calendar catches up to him and all is somewhat equal again.

We are good together. I’d choose him again. Each time. Every time. I look forward to our future together.

Nelson Family Reunion 2009

Just the Grandchildren (and a few GREAT grandchildren!)
The entire family! (hubby is one of 9 children--this is his immediate family)

And a good time was had by all....

Feeling Krafty with Tim Holtz and Chalk Inks

I also used some stamps from Hot off the Press and the "Tiny Wise Words" set from Wordsworth. These are fast becoming my go-to gift when I need something quick--especially when packaged into sets and these terrific clear boxes from the Paper Zone. Very classy, quick, and easy!

One of my favorite Kristen Wiig videos

I hope you like it too!

300 Words--inspired by Anne Lamott

random picture from April's self-portrait session

I just finished reading Anne Lamott's book titled "Bird by Bird"--thoughts on writing and life. Loved it. Really got a lot out of it. In it, she recommends that people who want to be writers need to write at least 300 words a day. For practice, for creating the habit, for improving their skill, and so on. I am intrigued by this idea and want to use my blog for some of that writing practice. I wish there was a word counter here! I'll have to use Microsoft Word and do some cut-n-paste finagling instead. Either way, I've been thinking about possible 300 word topics--I hope to have the first 300 word "essay" up later this week.

40/40: I've read two of the 5 non-fiction books (the above mentioned "Bird by Bird" and the new "Peaks and Valleys" by the guy who wrote "who moved my cheese"--his name escapes me at the moment). I'm on Goodreads if anyone wants to follow along with my reading. I read a lot, so there's a lot to discuss there! I've also seen the dentist and my nurse-practioner for my checkups. I hadn't been to the dentist in years so it was good to go and get that up-to-date. The beach was so much fun last week that our plan is to go as a family this friday and just hang out at the beach. I have to say that having this list is good for focusing my attentions. I've been enjoying it overall. I hope it's not boring for you!

Thanks for coming along for the ride! Don't forget to sign up for Jessica Sprague's free class. There are all kinds of neat daily freebies going on this week--I didn't realize it and already missed two of them--don't let that happen to you!

At the beach...first trip for the 40/40 list

How gorgeous is that sky? Seriously! (all pictures taken with my cell phone). That is the windscreen I made, a la Martha Stewart. This was so much fun we are going back on Friday with the whole family, instead of just me and the boys. Plus C wants to see this again:

She's gorgeous, I tell you!

40/40: #24 report

Random picture from my daughter's photoshoot. I just thought it was cool. My daughter is on the left.

So I made it. I wasn't perfect, but I was better than I've been in a LONG time. I was so used to having "a little something" after meals that I was having urges to have dessert after breakfast! Not healthy! It was also surprising how many of our quick "grab-and-go" snacks had sugar as their first or second ingredient. (My personal rule for the week was that if sugar was the first or second ingredient, I couldn't eat it.) Still, it was an interesting week. I was surprised by how hungry I felt all the time! I ate every couple of hours, balancing my carbs with some protein, and trying to eat raw if I could--usually fruits, to try to meet my sweet cravings. And I lost 2 pounds! All in all, I think it was a good thing, and something I want to try to continue. I liked feeling more in control of my body, and I felt less sluggish. So to sum up:

• I liked feeling hungry. I was so out-of-touch with my body's signals that it had been awhile since I felt really and truly hungry. I don't want to go hungry mind you, but it's nice to have those signals still work


• I needed to prepare better: I didn't really have much in the way of fresh vegetables in the house, and no real low-sugar/no-sugar alternatives for my favorite breakfast: cereal. I also ran out of cottage cheese and yogurt half-way through the week. I was eating cottage cheese with banana as a snack or breakfast, and putting the yogurt in smoothies. I also ran out of fresh fruit--everything but apples. Apples are tasty, but boring after awhile


• Dried fruit has a lot of sugar in it. At the beginning of my week, I was grabbing it as a substitute for what I really wanted: chocolate or cookies. By the end of the week, I couldn't really eat it because it tasted uncomfortably sweet to me, and I didn't like it.


• I grabbed a piece of gum after eating to signal the end of my meal and to retrain my body with that signal. Instead of heading for some chocolate to signal the end of the meal. I got a little tired of the gum, and might want to have more than one flavor around for variety. I also started tearing the gum into thirds--all of the strong mint was getting hard on the inside of my mouth. I knew that my retraining was working when I wanted something minty and fresh after my meals instead of chocolate. I also really began to enjoy fresh fruit as dessert.


• I definitely liked how I felt--far less sluggish, and far less "fuzzy-cotton-headed" feeling. I liked it so much that I really want to continue avoiding sugar in my daily life. I have a friend who can only have dessert-y type foods on Fridays (her choice). I'm thinking of following a similar plan.

Next on my list? I'm going to tackle cleaning off my desk and removing clutter from my room this week. I might even start going through my closets. (numbers 19, 32, and 18, respectively). I'm also reading a couple of non-fiction books (number 9). My daughter leaves for a week at a church youth camp and I'm not quite sure how the week will go without her help. She helps me a lot, and I'm grateful for it. I may throw things out the window and just go with the flow. Did I mention that my dryer is broken? Hubby thinks he can fix it, but that adds another wrinkle to my week. It's also the first week of summer vacation. Our equilibrium is going to re-adjust in the next couple of week as it is. Might be better to just go with the flow!

Free Photoshop Class!

I am s0 taking this class! I've done a class with Jessica Sprague before and it was pretty amazing! She makes sure you have EVERYTHING possible to be successful in the class. I can happily encourage everyone to sign up for it. Make sure you are registered with her site first--after that all you have to do is sign up between June 22 and June 28. It'll be fun! I'll "see" you there!

#24 is still going strong. Well, I will admit that I've grabbed a graham cracker here or a granola bar there, so it's not perfect. But I have felt a big difference in myself this week. I'll blog about what I learned later. It's been interesting, and definitely worth it!

#24 on the forty before forty list

This week, I am tackling #24--avoid sugar for a week. So far so good! I made a batch of brownies Saturday night because I wanted a brownie before it started. Well, my resolve was sure tested by that 2/3 pan of brownies on Sunday afternoon! Luckily, my kids took care of that problem for me. I also started on one of my favorite holidays--National Chocolate Ice Cream Day! (good thing it was fast sunday--where we fast for two meals and donate that money to help others less fortunate than ourselves). I'll be twittering and facebooking the minutiae of this challenge if anyone is interested in following along. I can always use cheerleaders!