Resolutions

Just three-
Lose 20 lb by working out 4x/week
Read-daily bible and 12 books
Create-scrapbook pages (365) and financial margin (pay off debt)

Resolution check up

This has been a year of alot of growth and balance for me. I'm really happy with where I am in most areas of my life.  I'm looking forward to what the last quarter will bring!!

1 Organizing Clean out the basement. Finish purging and get it to Goodwill by 3/1  Did it and now working on a complete purge!
2 Financial Pay off bills. Keep chipping away and no travel plan probably for another year. Sucky but effective. Get at least 3 medical bills paid off and continue to live on cash.  On track. Debt free in 2011. And got the bonus of an impromptu trip to Memphis!! Have one small medical bill left!!
3 Treat myself Get a pedicure in May, July, September. See 10 movies, and read 12 books Got pedi in July, have seen way more than 10 movies and read 12+ books. Haven't picked one up all summer!
4 Stay in Touch Call Mondays-Judy on the way to work; Melissa on the way home. Thursdays-Michelle. Lunch with Lauren once a month, hang out with Cassie 2x/month Go to Scrap Cabana crops with Theresa  Making the calls, but they don't work out ALOT of the time. No lunches with Lauren and hanging out with Cassie is really hard; she's working and both she and Lauren have schedule opposite of me.  Crops with Theresa have been on track but don't know what will happen in the fall...
5 Give time Continue to volunteer at the Bin, work with small groups and SW office. Step away from RFKC. Ended up stepping away from the Bin instead of RFKC. It was a good decision, but a difficult and sad one at the time. No regrets.
6 Health Be aware of what goes in my mouth; stay on eating plan; work out 30 minutes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays  This is the one I need to focus on the most this fall.
7 Scrapping 365 pages, 12 projects from the tower o'projects and get my pages in albums immediately. Focus on Joseph and Cassie at Scrap Cabana crops. At 490 pages, 2 projects, they are in the albums (at this point anyway!!) and have focused on C&J to the point of them being in the year 2000. LOL Hope to have their school years scrapped by the end of the year.
8 Spiritual Read through the NT this year. Be aware of what is coming out of my mouth..especially when I'm frustrated!  Current with the reading plan; much better about my mouth and attitude. Pastor Joel has even commented on it a couple of time...
9 Marriage Be intentional with Paul…not sure what this is going to look like in action, but something needs to change!!  Being intentional, today, looks like grieving that apparent fact that this is as good as it's going to get. He's "resistant" in his own words, to doing any kind of recovery work. I'll add defensive and resentful. But I think I am accepting it and building a good life with him and zero/little intimacy.  Most of the time it's good. And when it's not, I've learned to focus elsewhere and move on. Letting go daily is a huge step and mourning the belief that he'd step up because he promised he would has been a long journey this year.

Been Scrapping

Watching Ronnie for 10 days, while Chris recovers from surgery and have done more scrapping since he's been here than the month before!! As soon as he takes his nap or goes to bed for the night, I bolt to my scrapbooking room and start going. These are all old portraits found while cleaning the basement. I "deframed" them and scrapped them all!!

All inspired by an old Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine. All made from stash. Some of this stash is 15 years old! My focus for September is to:  Do a layout a day and use alot of my brown stash. It's the only one that is stlll completely out of control!! LOL

Whip it Up Wednesday

I have to go to a potluck Friday, so I'm cruising my healthy meal planning sites and was reminded of this delicious salad I made for Easter. It's Cucumber Pineapple Salad...so light and refreshing. You can cut down on the sugar even more, I think. Like half of that would work. Now to find the strawberry poppyseed one.

Serves 4

Ingredients
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 cup fresh pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and julienne
1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion (I'd also cut this in half...they all got picked out anyway)
4 cups torn salad greens
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

Directions

In a heavy saucepan, bring the sugar, vinegar and water to a boil. Stir constantly until reduced to about 1/2 cup, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and place in the refrigerator until cool. Add the pineapple. Cover and return to the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Add the cucumbers, carrots and red onions to the pineapple mixture. Toss well.
To serve, divide the salad greens among the plates. Top with the pineapple mixture and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

And here are a couple of cards I'm VERY proud of!! I learned how to make shape cards on my Design Studio. These are both from Create a Critter and done completely from scraps.

13 Thursday

I'm going to be chilling at my desk today, so I thought I'd do a desk themed blog. I'm cutting out 250 lightbulb doorhangers for our church...needed this Sunday!! Crazy...

13 things that are around my desk:

1. Bears notepad

2. Pier One coffee cup with tea and peppermint creamer

3. Jacked up blackberry still waiting for my trackball

4. light blue CM pen

5. labelmaker

6. insurance forms waiting to be submitted (forgot the website to download them from!)

7. Quote rolodex with tons of quotes to be put in there

8. cricut

9. camera

10. timer to keep me on task for computer (read: Facebook) time

11. gratitude journal

12. Project Life 2010 Scrapbook

13. bowl with yummy waffles

Whip it up Wednesday

So this is usually a recipe but today, I whipped up some cards. I used Give a Hoot for the Owl one and Create a Critter cricut cartridges for the prince charming one. Embossed the crown and stickled the heart.

Marriage Monday

Paul and I seem to be at a place we can both live with. We are enjoying each other's company alot more than in the past 5 years; we forgive and move on quickly (good thing after that Mother's Day thing!! LOL) and we can talk about things without having fights.

Case in point...he's being very attentive...flowers, cards, dates. I love every minute of them. And yet, little intimacy. Lots of I like you moments but nothing of what is going on in his life or his heart. So I talked to him about it again, for about the 10th time this month, and asked him what's going on. He listened. He responded. Now to see if he acts.

We went to see Robin Hood last night. GREAT movie!! It's worth full price, especially if you're a history lover like me. Two and a half hours of history. I'll definitely see it again. It was great to just be walking in the mall and decide to see what time movies were and be able to go...

He kissed me in church yesterday. And I let him. Maybe we are finding our way back. I pray we are, and honestly, fear that we aren't. That this is just a blip and things will go back. For today, I choose to reject fear and go with faith. Healing is happening. And healing takes time.