Week in Review: February 13-19

Last week I...

...got Valentine happy mail.

...received flowers from the Mr. & the girls.

...made chocolate chip pancakes for the first time ever.

...lacked inspiration, so the Mr. & I drove around town to find it. I got out, walked around, jumped some & then found it.

...wrote.

...celebrated the Mr.'s 40th birthday.

...made a yummy pita sandwich (filled with cream cheese, walnuts, lettuce, tomato, cheese & ham.)

...visited Sidney, NE with the fam while waiting for my hair appointment. We found a cofffee shop & planted ourselves there for a bit.

...got my hair chopped off! (Click HERE for the "before".)

...bought myself a one-sentence 5-year journal.

...jammed with my musician pals.

...made a DELICIOUS meal (that the girls even raved about): Cheesy Chicken Casserole

...mailed orders.

...ate pork tacos from Tacos Mexico. (Thanks, Randy,  for driving 45 minutes to bring it to me & the Mr.!)

...had my Vinyl Lorax Mustache Pillow featured on the The Lorax facebook page, along with the 9 other crafters & their projects as part of the "Get Creative with the Lorax Blog Tour".

...cooked up meals to freeze for the family while I'm gone for the next 6 days. (I'm flying out tomorrow to Washington to visit with my family!)

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: February 6-12

Last week I...

...made Valentines.

...went on a coffee date with the Mr.

...dunked Oreo's in milk.

...took the girls to redeem their Christmas gift cards for manicures at the salon.

...dined on pork tacos from Tacos Mexico.

...tried a new restaurant the fam has never been to.

...crafted.

...wrote.

...got a story I wrote about my recent coyote hunt published on the front page of the local newspaper. (With one of my photos too!)

...watched Zoey play her next-to-last basketball game.

...learned how to embed a PDF on my blog. (This truly excites me!!)

...made Egg Nikmuffins for breakfast on Saturday before the b-ball game.

...walked in the snow around town.

...Skyped.

...shopped for clothes.

...played the Wii. (Lego Indiana Jones)

...attended parent/teacher conferences.

...hosted another Crafty Night.

...went to a dinner/auction with the Mr.

♥



Week in Review: January 30-February 5

Last week I...

...went coyote hunting!

...laughed harder than I have in a very long time.

...went to high school basketball games at WNCC.

...ate at McDonald's.

...yarn bombed.

...wrote.

...crafted with pom-poms, faux fur, & orange & plastic vinyl.

...called my dad on his birthday.

...went on 2 coffee dates with the Mr.

...attended a Speed the Light rally in Alliance with the youth group.

...had a jam session with my drummer & bass pals.

...started watching the Superbowl. But then just waited for the commercials.

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: January 23-29

Last week I...

...went on 2 coffee dates with the Mr.

...ate a toffee almond truffle.

...finished my 13th knitted postcard.

...worked on a secret project. (Sorry, can't tell yet.)

...played Littlest Pet Shops with my girls. (OK, mostly I played.)

...had a jam session with my drummer & bass pals. (I sing & play keyboard.)

...made biscuits & gravy for the first time. (BACON gravy!!!!)

...roasted stove-top s'mores with the little one.

...went to a high school basketball game where I ate nachos & Reese's peanut butter cups for dinner.

...watched Zoey play her 3rd (of 6) basketball game on Saturday. (She's getting so good!)

...almost went coyote hunting.

...wrote.

...dreamed up fun stuff to do with my fam. (Included in the list is a road trip to see a live theater production of something.)

...photographed my youth group playing dodgeball. (I was gonna play, but those boys throw HARD!!)

...ate again at Tacos Mexico. (That place makes bank when my friends, fam & I visit.)

...made meatballs & corn fritters for dinner on Monday.

...made chili, pork-n-beans for dinner on Tuesday.

...clipped all my columns from 2010 & 2011 local newspapers to save in a binder.

...realized the Mr. will be 40 in a couple weeks! Need to start planning a special day for that guy.

Happy Monday!!

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: January 16-22

Last week I...

...attended the Nebraska Minister's Retreat with the fam. It was a GREAT TIME!

...had coffee with my friend Sarah.

...watched the girls swim in the hotel pool.

...knitted some.

...ate, once again, at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Tacos Mexico.

...was pelted by numerous foam balls.

...finally visited a yarn shop I've been dying to go to!

...hippety-hopped in a new dress in the woods.

...enjoyed cooking a big Saturday morning breakfast of French toast. (I'm busy with brekkie in the kitchen for 6 Saturdays in a row to say "thanks" to two young men from our church who are helping the Mr. coach youth basketball.)

...watched Zoey play basketball for her 2nd week in a row.

...enjoyed some inspiring words at the Minister's Retreat.

...took family pics in a photo booth!

...continued a marathon of "Once Upon a Time" with the Mr.

...actually hung out on a couch in a coffee shop. *happy sigh*

...tasted the best potato soup ever.

...caught up on lack of sleepies over the weekend.

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: January 9-15

•Crafty Night

•chocolate spoons

•coffee cuffs

•cupake making

•coffee date

•pumpkin pie truffle

•Zoey's first basketball game (& a win!)

•custom orders

•cleaning house

•packing for a 4 day trip to Kearney, NE with the fam

•Project Runway All-Stars with the Mr.

•Baking cookie bars with the girls

•Ryan Gosling meme (I cannot stop laughing!)

For a photo play-by-play, click HERE.

♥

Week in Review: January 2-8

Last week I...

...put away Christmas.

...continued doodling in my sketch book. (Maybe I'll post my crappy drawings every week in a collage for you to see.)

...went to the Garden County Invite with Susan & took wrestling pictures. I absolutely LOVE wrestling. And getting to sit so close & take pics is THE BEST. At one point, I was literally sitting on the side of the wrestling mat, press pass around my neck, camera by my side, munching popcorn & watching the action take place just a mere 6 feet away. And I almost died several times. (This is an exaggerated inside joke.)

...went to the girls' school with the Mr. & surprised the girls for lunch. Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, rolls, & corn. Then we played recess outside. Well, the Mr. played while I snapped photos & comforted a crying Pazely who kept getting upset that, while she played basketball with the other kids, they all kept trying to take the ball from her. I explained that those are the rules. If your'e not quick, they'll snatch the ball from you. She refused to believe me & called them all "bullies!" & "mean!".

...purchased pony beads. Never in my life did I think I would. But the girls & I have been having fun searching the internet for patterns & making keychains.

...watched as a beaming Zoey crafted with her dad.

...found nutella to-go snack packs that I kept seeing on the www for MONTHS. (At Walmart!)

...took the youth group to our favorite restaurant in Scottsbluff (Tacos Mexico), before heading to the mall for a Mall Scavenger Hunt I planned. I had them skipping through the mall singing the "Happy Birthday" song, cramming their team inside a hurricane simulator, & finding me hidden somewhere in the mall (I can stay hidden in the back corner of JCPenney pretending to look at the fleece blankets for only so long), among MANY other things. 

...had a pumpkin pie milkshake at Sonic. Disappointment.

...got Zoey signed up for youth basketball. Her first game is this Saturday!

...cleaned & purged a bit more. Zoey's closet has never looked better.

...became addicted to MasterChef & watched the first episode of Project Runway All-Stars with the Mr.

...shipped Etsy orders.

...struggled to become adjusted to rising early once again, now that school is back in session.

♥

Year in Review: 2011

For the 3rd year in a row, I've managed to photograph every passing week.

And the highest point of this project is getting to put together the Year In Review.

I love looking back & remembering.

And I'm so excited for 2012!

I can't wait to see what this year brings.

I just know it's gonna be good.

•Click HERE to see the set: 2011 Week In Review.

•To join the Week in Review flickr group, click HERE.

•I also get lots of questions on how I create my photo collages. The answer is simple! Big Huge Labs Mosaic Maker.

♥

Week in Review: Dec 26-Jan 1

The Mr. woke me up last Wednesday morning & suggested we spontaneously take a family trip to Cheyenne for the night. It seems we have been a bit stuffed up in this house since Christmas break began &, though I'm perfectly fine {honestly!} being all stuffed up in my cozy house, I agree it's good to escape the norm & get a change of scenery. Even if only for one night.

Our spontaneous day didn't get started until after the Mr. suggested we clean the house first. Everyone went to work doing laundry, vacuuming, scrubbing, wiping, straightening, making beds, etc. In my book, spontaneity doesn't include housework & chores, but I just played along.

The drive is about 2 hours & when we arrived in Cheyenne, we immediately searched the city for a toy store. Sadly, we didn't find much. Pazely is longing for a teddy bear that she didn't get from her Christmas wish list. I didn't realize it would be so difficult to find a stuffed teddy bear. (We are currently without a cuddly bear friend, & may have to order online. Which makes me nervous. Because you want to squish it & hug it & make sure it can fit in the krook of your arm just-so before calling it "keeps". Ya know?) In our teddy bear searching, the girls did manage to find a way to spend some of their Christmas money.

The girls & I drooled over all the crafty loveliness at Michael's. I was super spoiled with a set of Prismacolor colored pencils. I feel so guilty! But the Mr. says I deserve it.

We ate dinner at the Texas Road House. The girls especially love restaurants with a crunchy peanut shell flooring. After stuffing our bellies with ribs & pulled pork & cheeseburgers & salad, we returned to the hotel & headed for the pool. When we walked into the pool area, two gentlemen were hanging out in the hot tub drinking Corona's. They immediately evacuated. Nothing like a couple of squealy hyper little children to kill the buzz. The hot tub was amazing. Me in my swimming suit, not so amazing.

Wow, I've got to do something to get rid of the excess. I killed several pounds this summer, but once the cooler weather hit, I found it hard to maintain a healthy eating habit. I can't help it. Cookies like me. And I hate having to be a part of jumping into the whole New-Year-New-You bandwagon. But I'm jumping this time! I'm jumping BIG.

*sigh*

Anyway, we watched movies all night in our hotel room. In the morning, we woke up &, as often happens on our hotel visits, the Mr. & the girls headed down to breakfast in the lobby. I stayed back to get myself ready & get our things packed away. Then there was the familiar tiny knock on the door. The girls always bring me breakfast & then scurry back to the elevator to take another ride down to finish their morning meal.

We spent a couple hours at Barnes & Noble before heading home. Each of us had a Starbucks drink in hand. Zoey sipped on a gingerbread steamer. Pazely slurped a peppermint hot cocoa. I had an iced chai latte & the Mr. had a regular coffee. The Mr. secured base next to a lady reading her nook & napping at intervals, while the girls & I ran off to gather our things: I loaded my arms with crafty books & magazines, Pazely found joke books & animal puppets, & Zoey plopped at our feet to play with her new toys purchased the day before.

The severely windy ride home was stressful. We passed several accidents, one included an overturned semi truck. Needless to say, we were all anxious to get home. And I admit, when I walked into the house & smelled the lingering scent of Pine-Sol, it made me smile.

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: December 19-25

The fam & I had a super relaxing Christmas.
It was so much fun to watch the girls open their presents, more so this year than any year I remember. The anticipation, the giddiness, & then the ripping & tearing apart & paper everywhere.
Our house stayed a complete mess of paper & boxes & presents all over the floor for the whole day.
It was great!
And then the day after Christmas??
Oh my.
LAZY to the MAX!
It was amazing, really.
But I've eaten way too many cookies.

I'm SO enjoying having the girls home during their school break. And for the next 3 days, I get them, uninterupted!
No work, no appointments, no nuthin'.
Maybe now we'll finally build that gingerbread house we never got around to building.

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: December 5-11

The weeks keep getting more & more busy, leading up to Christmas...

I LOVE that I get to dive into my Etsy shop. It's been a while since I've gotten to sit & make stuff in such quantities & package them up & ship them off to happy customers. The extra ca$h for Christmas shopping is bonus too! (Although, I'm more likely to buy things like groceries, or even more exciting: gas for the ole ugly van.)

The Mr. & I enjoyed the elementary school children performing their Christmas program. Our little Zoey had some speaking parts.

We enjoyed a splattering of snow. But it's all gone now.

Tacos Mexico, in Scottsbluff, made our week extra happy. Seriously, all I have to do is mention the name of that restaurant & the Mr. lights up. Now, if I can figure out how to stuff some carne asada tacos in his Christmas stocking, I'll be the most awesome wife ever.

This week will be busier than busy-busy, & it includes things like annual Christmas letter-writing & holiday pictures of the girls to photograph. It also includes things like: an ornament exchange & party with the ladies of my church, & some horse-drawn wagon riding, complete with caroling. And then there's a newspaper column to write today, Crafty Night tomorrow, & games to plan for our church Family Fun Night on Wednesday. Finger-foods to make, dishes to bake. Work twice a week, finish holiday shopping, & mail prezzies to family far away. The list goes on...

I'm looking forward to things slowing down after this week. I'm anxious for some fun time with my girls when they get out for Christmas break too. (That's not until NEXT week though...)

For a photo play-by-play, click HERE.

♥

Week in Review: Nov. 28-Dec. 4

Last week I...

...was consumed with crazy holiday crafting for the shop.

...attended the first high school basketball game of the season!

...played with shrinky dinks.

...went on a TTV photo adventure.

...took a spontaneous 45 minute trip to eat pork tacos at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

...received a Crafty Swap package from Argentina!

...ate Chinese food with the Mr.

...Christmas shopped for the munchkins.

...played a prank on my youth group. (Complete with a video starring me & the Mr. Click HERE to view the "Mash the Mush" video. Read the description next to the video before watching.)

...watched my girls play in the snow.

...made an egg casserole for the first time. (Bacon instead of sausage.)

...hung the advent calendar.

For a photo play-by-play, click HERE.

♥

Last week I started crafting like crazy, trying to get ready for the holidays & Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. Owlies, owlies & more owlies. I made 22 of them---I know, weird number. And that's all I'll be making this year.

I ate the last of the Thanksgiving leftovers yesterday. It was delicious. If only the pie would've lasted as long...

Pazely & I spent yesterday afternoon setting up the tree. We drank hot cocoa with mini marshmallows & listened to holiday tunes on Pandora. The Mr.'s face lit up when he looked at the tree one last time before heading to bed tonight. It was cute. It wasn't feeling like "the holidays" until the tree went up. And even then, it's taking its time sinking in.

I spent some of Friday shopping online. I LOVE holiday shopping online. And it was all handmade stuff. LOVE that even more. I bought myself THIS print. And THESE tags. I'm planning on doing lots more handmade online shopping today---& taking advantage of Cyber Monday deals.

My iphone broke last week. That's the pits. Not even sure what happened to it. Thinking maybe it got wet? So weird that I don't k now. But it's going all berserk & I just need to get a new phone & fix all this no-phone nonsense.

Sadly, my friend Susan's dog, Steev (as I now spell it) was lost yesterday. He wandered off while Susan & her hubby were in the garage building a doghouse of all things. She walked & drove & walked & drove looking for him. The Mr. & me & the girls & some friends jumped in our van & we drove around town for about an hour looking for him too. It was so dark outside & he's a chocolate lab, so it was difficult to see much at all. I feel so sick inside. I've been praying & I will keep praying that he shows up, or that some kind person has him in their care & will do the right thing & inform the police or the newspaper or SOMEBODY. He is 4 months old & didn't have tags yet & no collar. It's so cold outside & I hope he is warm somewhere. I feel a terrible knot in my tummy & I feel so sad for how sad my friend feels.

♥

Week in Review: November 14-20

I feel like last week was jam packed full of "firsts".

First time playing with air dry clay.

First time making cabbage burgers.

First time having egg nog {in forevers}.

First time the Mr. & I had a night apart from the girls since we moved to Nebraska 2 years ago.

First time I've ever kept pheasant feet in my fridge.

First time I ate a Mickey D's pumpkin pie.

First time this chilly season that I've gotten a sniffly-sneezy cold.

First time I've ever won a scarecrow-makin' contest.

First time I've ever eaten a candy cane before Thanksgiving.

(Just to name a few.)

It's so close to Thanksgiving & the fam & I still have no idea of our plans.

I'm really wanting to make a traditional meal with the turkey & all the fixings. (For the first time EVER.) But then I get scared.

But then I get un-scared because I'm pretty sure it'll just be a tiny gathering.

And how hard could that be?

But then there's an afternoon Turkey Day Buffet taking place at a local restaurant & I'm sure that'd be just as tasty. (And stressless & messless.)

And then I keep thinking how the holidays are approaching very quickly. And I just wish I were sitting 'round the table at my mom's house with my sister & brother & grandma & parents & nieces & nephew, enjoying our usual Thanksgiving eats. Mom made the turkey, my sis-in-law made the pies, & all I had to do was fill celery with flavored cheeses.

*sigh*

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: October 7-13

Although I missed what sounded like an amazing church service full of gratitude & tears yesterday morning (I needed to stay at home with a sick kidlet), I did get to enjoy a Thanksgiving-style carry-in dinner with my church family. Oh, there were so many yummy foods. For the 2nd time I got to cook THIS twice baked potato casserole & THESE balsamic honey roasted carrots (which I added glazed walnuts to).

The power in our town was scheduled to be turned off for a few hours in the afternoon, so the fam & some friends headed into town to enjoy the electricity. Not so exciting: the Mr. & I purchased a new bathroom scale. But then I got to shop for fun stuff for a crafty swap I'm doing with a friend in Argentina. Then the whole lot of us went to a movie & then out for authentic Mexican tacos at Tacos Mexico.

We drove home, I put the girls to bed & then I cozied on the couch with some chai tea, a red velvet cupcake the girls surprised me with earlier in the day, & my newest favorite show, Project Accessory.

It was a great day. And a great finale to a great week.

Happy Monday!

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: October 31-November 6

For a photo play-by-play, click HERE.

♥

Week in Review: October 24-30

Last week was I...

...made a costume for a grumpy pirate.

...stitched up an owlie outfit for a rather giddy girl.

...went bowling.

...made a scarecrow.

...drank lots of caramel apple cider.

...drank lots of spiced chai lattes.

...started working out on my Wii Fit Plus.

...started drinking lots more water.

...realized that it's getting really cold.

...wished I had more time to knit warm things.

...scoured youtube for more knit stitches to try.

...was blessed by my church family.

...ate too much fast food.

...painted my fingernails.

...jumped.

...continued reading "On the Banks of Plum Creek" to the girls.

...made muffins.

Just to name a few.

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: October 17-23

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: October 10-16

What a week!

My dad is still here (leaves tomorrow) visiting from Seattle. He got here Saturday afternoon, so it's a short visit, but a fantastic one!!

For those of you who don't know, or don't remember, I met my dad 10 months ago, right before last Christmas. He's never met the girls or the Mr. until the visit this weekend. He's pretty much in love with the munchkins.

The visit has been everything I wanted.

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥

Week in Review: October 3-9

Last week...

I enjoyed a big ole bowl of stone soup. If you haven't heard the fable about stone soup, click HERE for one version of the story. The soup supper was part of a farewell  for my boss, John, who is heading out of the country on military leave for a year.

I snuggled with a new chocolate lab that belongs to a friend of mine. The girls & I fell in love with Steve. At least, I think that's what his name will be. But it's not official yet.

I enjoyed the coziness, indoors, of 2 fall days. They were chilly & happened to be rainy as well. All the other days were hot & yucky.

I froze my fingers at the last high school football home game on Friday. Next time I'm bringing out the gloves... & maybe the little hand warmers. I'm totally psyched to be going to the out-of-town games. There are a few left. Mini road trips with my photog pals is always silly fun!

I knitted. I know, what's new? Seriously, I am ever so grateful to  my friend Susan for teaching me this craft. It is something I can plop down & do in a moment's notice without necessary crafty supplies to set up or space to clear out in order to make room for all the necessary crafty supplies. And it's relaxing. I can't believe I was so intimidated by knitting. Well, I suppose I still am, with only a few stitches learned. But I'm conquering this crafty mountain!

I enjoyed a 3-day weekend with the girls, who spent one night camping indoors. We're really taking more advantage of the Wii, now that Netflix is gone. Family times have only gotten better!

I tackled the playroom & am rather proud of myself! It's been purged & decluttered & organized. It looks marvelous! Zoey screamed her head off in excitement when she saw it. (More about my continuing "30 Bags in 30 Days" project in an upcoming post.)

Today I'm running to 'the bluffs' (as they say 'round here), to pick up supplies for Crafty Night, which is tomorrow!! I'm excited! So that means that tomorrow will be busy, completely devoted to setting up & making things all Crafty Night-ish next door. While in 'the bluffs', the Mr. & I will also stop by a shoe store to check out new fall shoes for the girls. I traced their feet on paper this morning before they went off to school. (hee hee!)  And we need a few groceries. And I suppose we'll need a coffee stop in there somewhere...

Happy Monday!

Click HERE for a photo play-by-play.

♥