I just saw this here. It’s the first time I’d seen it and I loved it immediately. In a world where tiny little bodies are put on pedestals…I prefer bodies with some meat on them. How about you?
(Of course, that’s not to say that I wouldn’t prefer a little less meat on mine. But I prefer healthy looking, athletic bodies…just saying).
Kristen
I think I have my Christmas cards figured out…woot woot! I just need to do a little tweaking and printing and then assemble. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. SIMPLE. Yay me!
And I just found these…(via this blog—Celeste always shares the best free printables!)
(click on the picture or here)
and this one…my favorite…
(again, click on the picture to get to the download)
And I think she has a third one on the way. She does the CUTEST set of three frames in her dining room…see here…for the holidays. I just discovered her blog and you can be sure I’ll be wasting some free time there soon.
I’m thinking I might not do the large 8x10 but rather take a three holed 4x6 frame and set them on the entry way table. Hmmmm…we’ll see…
Kristen
Let me just start with this: Woot Woot! PR, baby!
I’m so thankful for my parents…they are amazing grandparents and willingly took my crazy boys overnight AND cooked the turkey so that hubby and I could have a little date run on Thanksgiving morning.
I’m grateful that the weather was clear and sunny. No rain. BUT…man, oh man, this Southern Cal girl (and the boy too) was not loving the just shy of 40 degrees at start time. Thankful for my Nike Stay Warm Mock Turtle neck and a pair of knit gloves and an old ski headband. Obviously I need to up my game in cold weather running gear. I’m thinking long running tights might be in my future…my capris weren’t quite enough.
But once we started running I felt much better. And actually by mile 2 I was almost too hot. If I had been running the 10k I might have actually had to take the top layer off. Sigh…my body doesn’t like temperature extremes. LOL
The course was the same that we ran on Memorial Day. It has a few hills here and there. In May we both weren’t expecting the hills (even though I had run the course before I hadn’t thought about the hills for some reason). But this time we knew what to expect…so much easier to talk yourself through the mental low points when you know what is coming next.
Let me also remind you that I haven’t really run…without walking…in several months. I took the whole month of October off and November has been all about building back up slowly.
So I hit the pavement with a little bit of trepidation. I decided I would just start running…watching my pace carefully so I wouldn’t over do it. And if my knee balked, I would walk as needed. It was crazy crowded with families, dogs, strollers, walkers, kids, you name it. Don’t get me wrong…I was kind of sad I didn’t pack up the family and do it together. But at the same time…I didn’t. So I wanted to run. Once I dodged a few kids running crazy back and forth, I kind of settled into a rhythm.
At the water station I walked through and started running again as soon as I tossed my cup. My pace was where I was hoping. By about mile 2.5 I had a little bit of mental breakdown…like I needed a break…but really my body didn’t need one. My knee, while cranking out during the first mile was warm and doing fine. But I walked any way. After about 15 seconds I said ‘what am I doing?’ and picked up the pace again. When I looked at my watch and realized I was close to a big PR, I picked it up again. Then I walked. What is it with this mental game. LOL. Finally I picked it back up and booked it to the finish line, emptying my tank.
And my watch said I had a personal record! We waited to see if we could get the official results, but they were having trouble with their printouts so I had to check it out online. And later that day it was official. We both had new PRs for the 5k by over a minute each!
And my knee? No pain…it is kind of sore though. I’ve been very nice to it with stretching, foam rolling and icing. I’m supposed to start ramping it up for my Half Marathon in about three weeks…so I’ll be watching it closely.
But for today…I’m feeling that Runner’s High! LOVE IT!
Kristen
I hope you are all enjoying your day with family and giving thanks for all the blessings we have in our lives!
Hubby and I are running a 5k this morning. It’s supposed to be in the high 30s/low 40s at race time. I’m not so sure about that! Ack…that’s cold for this SoCal girl!
I’ll hopefully be back this weekend with some (iPhone) pictures and a report. It’s my first real run since my October 5k…I’ve been building back up on the treadmill, so we’ll see how this goes.
I have some goals in my head…but in reality I’m hoping just to enjoy the morning and cross the finish line without any pain in my knee!
Then it will be back home to get the house ready for family. We’re hosting…5 cousins under 9 get a little rowdy, so it’s good to have it at a house that is already trashed from 3 boys!
Kristen
What? Math is FUN? Yep.
Many of you might not know that in my previous life, I was an elementary school teacher. I taught 2nd grade for 4 years and 4th for 2 years before having our firstborn and leaving the classroom to help primary grade teachers with their math program. I gave demonstration lessons and did staff development. I LOVED that job. But I loved my baby boy more and we decided that after 1 1/2 years of part time work, it was time to stay home with my boy full time.
What does that have to do with anything? I promise it wasn’t extraneous information but rather my ‘credentials’ for the following information.
Math can be fun!
And today I found a fun tool to help you make it fun.
Today at the Dollar Tree I found these Jumbo Foam Dice. So many possibilities for fun with these babies. Not the least of which is MATH.
Do you have a youngster working on one-to-one correspondence? (an important skill…rote counting is just counting 1-2-3-4-5 without attaching it to anything. One-to-one correspondence means they can point at something and count it one by one. This is a concrete skill whereas rote counting is just memorizing which number comes next). Have them roll the dice and count the dots.
Your kiddo a bit more advanced? Move on to addition…adding the two numbers from the dice together.
Next step…subtraction…subtract the smaller number from the larger number.
Need bigger numbers? Add the numbers from one roll and then add/subtract the sum of the next roll.
Third grader? Multiply the numbers. (Division is a little bit harder to work out using the limited numbers on the dice…)
The possibilities are endless. Well, you are limited to the numbers 1-6…but you get what I mean.
Math can be fun and the kids hardly know that they are working on automaticity of the facts (knowing addition/subtraction/multiplication facts without counting).
That was my public service for the day. :)
Kristen
p.s. I tried to find them on the Dollar Tree website, but they weren’t there. If you google them, you’ll see that all sorts of places carry them…but mine were only $1 a pack! Oriental Trading Company has some in packs…go in with a friend and get everyone some!
…at the grocery store?
My Christmas cards have been in the back of my mind for a few weeks. A lot of you already have them planned, executed and ready to mail. Whatever. Overachievers. :)
I’ve been handmaking our cards for over 10 years. Every year I wonder why I got myself into it. But 12 months later I’m planning the torture again. LOL. I can’t NOT do it.
So last year I attempted to simplify—and my simple design had way too many time consuming details. I couldn’t help myself.
I spent way too many evenings assembling them—while I could hear my family playing in the other room. It’s not how I wanted to spend my time during an already crazy, busy season. So I said NO MORE. I even blogged about it…saying I would order photo cards instead…gasp! (Not that there is anything wrong with photo cards. Photos are my favorite part of Christmas cards…but there is something in MY crazy head that says the cards coming from me just have to be a bit more. I know, get over it!)
(back)
After the craziness passed I knew I’d still do it in 2010. But I promised myself SIMPLE!
So here I am…2010. My cards need to go out in the next couple of weeks. I’ve had ideas floating in my head…but I’ve vetoed them…not simple enough.
Then today, I’m pulling my groceries out of the car and the side of the paper bag caught my eye.
Now, I still don’t have a design in my head…but these green dots got me excited.
I love kraft (as evidenced by last year’s card). And the simple green dots on the kraft? Yum.
So I cut the side panels off my bags and they are sitting on my desk for inspiration.
I’m happy because…
I know they are going to have to be distressed somehow (probably crumpled) since there are creases and dents in them already.
But today I was inspired…at the grocery store!
Kristen
So I know I’ve been hit or miss with the ole bloggy lately. Sorry. I really have no excuses. I only mention it because I want you to know that I know that you know…
And what is on my mind this lovely fall day? Nothing too earth shattering…
I’ve been running on the treadmill lately…yay me! I’ve been keeping a training log at dailymile. My profile name is KristenW if you want to friend me there. I’m nearly up to 20 miles…no great mileage but pretty cool after being off for a month and not having put in great miles for over a month prior to that. Debating a 5k with the hubby for Thanksgiving morning. Looking forward to ramping up the training starting in December for my first Half Marathon in March. And thinking hard about taking a running getaway for my birthday weekend in June (it will be my big 4-0 so I want to make it something extra memorable!).
I’ve GOT to spend some time editing some pictures and planning some layouts. There are some fun things happening out there in scrapbook land and I am just watching from the outside…sigh.
Wondering when I’ll get the fire lit under my behind to start my Christmas shopping. First up would be providing the grandparent units with some lists. My boys have extremely generous grandparents on all sides…so grateful for that. But the level of “I want” this time of year in my house is driving me nuts. We are working on being grateful for what we have and finding ways to cut back on the level of STUFF in the house.
I just started reading this book. I have high hopes for improvement of my running form so that I can simultaneously make running even more enjoyable and avoid further injury breaks. Coming back to running after an injury is great…but I’m planning the mental game of not wanting to hurt myself again. I’ve heard great things about this book…and the first chapter has me very intrigued!
I’m also reading this book. It’s a daily devotional with great writings from the author coupled with related passages from the bible. It’s wonderfully organized for someone who thinks their day is ‘too busy’ to spend time with God. I actually have a copy of the book upstairs and downstairs
as well as the app on my iPhone, so there are no excuses. I highly recommend it…both the book and/or the app.
So those are my Monday afternoon musings…what are yours?
Kristen
Um…seriously…this is my favorite piece of running equipment:
And it comes in green too…want one?
Go here and enter in the contest to win one (ends Sunday). If I win…I would probably choose the green and give my black away here or choose the bike one he has as an option. Hmmmmmm
And if you are reading this on or before Saturday, November 6…head on over to Lucy. 30% off your whole purchase. Happy Birthday to us from Lucy!
This is on my wishlist…
And this too…
We have a busy, busy day tomorrow but I’m hoping I can pop in there and they will have my sizes! :)
Happy Weekend…
Kristen
I guess since it’s actually November 5th, I owe you an October by the numbers…
RUNNING:
So I hesitate to even put this in the mix. You know that I was taking a break due to my knee issues. But I did run a 5k at the beginning of the month. AND…I ran .5 miles at my last PT appointment (October 21). Since I got the all clear from PT AND that .5 miles produced no pain…I hopped on the treadmill the next day and did a run/walk (2 minutes/3 minutes) for an hour…3 miles later I was feeling sore…but not pain. Good sign. But I had promised myself to stay off of it for the full month of October. So I waited until October 30th for my next test. (I know, I have a hard time sticking to self imposed rest). Another run/walk hour and another 3 miles later. A good stretch, a session with my foam roller and an ice pack for good measure. Guess what? No pain. Yipppee! Long story to say… nearly 10 miles for October!
Race: 1 5k
Longest Run: 3.1
Physical Therapy Appointments: 4 and I was cleared…
SCRAPBOOKING…
Layouts Completed: 2 (I had 3 planned…one is still sitting there…completed layouts here and here)
Layouts in progress: 1…with some in my head…there are some things out there right now
LIFE…
World Series Games: 1 (yes, I’m still high from the experience)
and lots and lots of days with my boys. The hubs has been traveling a lot for work this past month…and the holidays are approaching, which mean longer hours for him. We just buckle in and enjoy the ride as best we can.
Pounds lost: 2…but I haven’t measured myself this month yet. I was doing really well with my eating and then Halloween came along. I have no willpower when it comes to sugar. I must get the rest of it out of my house!!
Here’s to November…cooler weather, more runs, less sugar and time with family.
Kristen
and to prove it…
When I was a teacher, we used to dress up each year. As a mom, I don’t do it that often.
One year, I was working in Jacob’s class so I pulled out one of my old costumes. He LOVED it. So I wore it trick or treating that year too.
This year they asked again…so I told them I could be Alice in Wonderland or I had a Snow White costume in my closet too. The vote was Snow White.
(Side note…when I taught I was in Room 7. My school decided to have a themed Halloween…dress up the whole class as your favorite literary characters. My students chose to be Dwarfs…as in Snow White and the Dwarfs. I had a few talented moms help to sew boot covers and felt hats, we made cotton ball beards. It was so cute. As a surprise, I changed into my Snow White at lunch and went to pick up the kids after recess. It actually took them a minute to realize that I was their teacher!! We rocked the Halloween parade as “Snow Worden and the Room 7 Dwarves” Get it?)
This takes more effort since I have to actually put makeup on or I look like a freak with the black wig on!
And here we all are at the same house…three years later!
Sam doesn’t have to be carried anymore (although he begs for it…he’s such the baby of the family!! And by that I don’t mean that he is a baby…but that he likes to milk it!!), he actually says Trick or Treat and thank you (along with a long diatribe about who he and his brothers are dressed up as). My boys are growing up!
We started a new tradition this year. The “Switch Witch”. I know a lot of you already do it or something like it, but for some reason I hadn’t tried it. It worked like a charm…and my kids are already talking about it for next year.
Here’s the deal. I let them each pick out 20 of their favorite candies and pour the rest into a big bag. They got to pick out one more to eat that night. (Yes, they are totally satisfied with that one…didn’t even bat an eye or scream for more). The 20 favorites go in a ziplock with their name on it for after school treats over the next few weeks. The big bag of others are for the Switch Witch. I told them that after they were in bed and all the trick or treaters were done, we would put the bag on the porch. The Switch Witch comes and night and collects the candy and leaves them a present. My boys said “just like the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus”…exactly!
In reality Daddy took the bag to work so that Mommy and Daddy didn’t eat it while sitting on the couch at night. And so the kids can’t beg and beg for weeks and weeks for just one more piece of candy!
Of course, I had planned ahead and purchased $10 items that I knew they would love. J-boy (aka Harry Potter) got a Harry Potter Lego, T-man (aka Red Power Ranger) got a jumbo set of skinny markers and S-bam (aka Woody) got a Toy Story 3 Lego set. Nothing over $10. Now, I’m aware this just cost me more money…but it’s saving me on the sugar high and crappy feelings after inhaling it all.
I took their trick or treat bags and put the gifts in there and then hung them from the banister. When they woke up this morning and came downstairs, the big bag of candy was gone (in Dad’s car) and the gifts were there. They were over the top excited.
Totally doing that again next year!!
Kristen
By request…
A few years back, Kelly at the store wanted a few of us to make sample frames for the store. I had mine sit on my desk for a while…just couldn’t come up with an idea.
Finally I decided to just play around with my acrylic paints and Crackle Medium. It took me a while, but I loved how it turned out.
It was on display for a while and when she had to close earlier this year, I was able to put it in my living room! Now that she’s re-opened, she can’t get the frames anymore…so it stays on my wall. Yay me! :)
The frame was pressed board…flat, no wood grain to it at all.
I painted the whole thing a dark chocolate brown…just using regular Apple Barrel or similar acrylic paint. Let it dry completely.
Then slather a layer of Crackle Medium. It’s in the same area of the store (JoAnn’s, Michael’s) as the acrylic craft paints. Let that dry completely.
Then I painted over it with a cream colored acrylic paint. Again, Apple Barrel or the like.
I wasn’t thrilled with it…so I did another layer of Crackle Medium and Cream.
Told you this took forever. You have to let each layer completely dry or the new layer starts peeling up the tacky layer.
Anyway, I still wasn’t thrilled it. So I took a hammer to it and started making dents and scratches to make it even more distressed. Still not what I thought in my head.
Finally I went and bought some water based walnut stain. I painted it all over the frame and rubbed the excess off with a rag. It was getting better…
The last step did it for me…STEEL WOOL! I rubbed the frame (after the stain was completely dry). It took off the look of the brush marks, smoothed out the roughness of the distressing and really polished it up.
Finally…
I have gotten so many complements on this frame! Just for the record, I don’t think I needed that second application of Crackle Medium and cream paint. It was the stain and steel wool that did what I wanted it to.
The House Rules were from a friend of mine…here is the full list:
House Rules
Always be honest Proverbs 12:22
Count your blessings Psalms 34:1-3
Bear each other’s burdens Galatians 6:2
Forgive and forget Micah 7:18
Be kind and tender hearted Ephesians 4:32
Comfort one another I Thessalonians 4:18
Keep your promises Romans 4:21
Be supportive of one another Acts 20:35
Be true to each other Revelations 15:3
Look after each other Deuteronomy 15:11
Treat each other like you treat your friends Matthew 7:12But most important, love one another deeply from the heart I Peter 1:22
Don’t you love it?
Kristen
So yesterday I shared about our Once in Lifetime World Series experience…
Except it was our SECOND time going to the World Series. Yep, crazy!
In 2002 we were still living in the LA area. Hubby came home with tickets to Game 2 of the series. (He wasn’t the big boss back then and so it was a nice surprise when the CEO gave him tickets).
Our oldest was only 14 months at the time. All of the grandparents were out of town that day…what?!? So we decided it was something we would risk and brought him with us.
How many people can say they’ve been to the World Series? J-boy can say he has!
I told you how we were both raised huge Dodger fans. In 2002 it was the Angels. The ‘other’ team in LA. (Don’t be freaking out if you are an Angel fan…my family actually split their allegiance and went to both games…it wasn’t until I married that Dodger blue seemed to rule out).
Of course, we had to dress the part back then too.
And Angel’s stadium is pretty killer too. But they lost that night and we had a 14 month old with us…so our memory of the energy that night isn’t as electric as the Giants game the other night. It still was pretty exciting!!
The visiting team that night?
The San Francisco Giants! How crazy is that?!? Now I’m starting to think maybe we were destined to be Giants fans.
(ducking the rotten tomatoes being thrown my way from LA!)
Kristen
…and I’m still high from it!
Last week the hubs called and said he got tickets…TICKETS, people! That’s World Series Tickets, my friends.
He had been getting tickets to the playoffs through work, but being the good boss that he is, he was giving them ALL to employees. He promised me National League Pennant tickets…but then he was away for work for all the games in San Francisco. So when the Giants made it to the big show I just gave him the look.
Monday morning he wasn’t quite sure if they would even get Series tickets. (He works for a sporting goods store and the tickets come from vendors, etc).
Then Monday afternoon I got a call… “Let’s Go Giants!” Oh yeah.
After making sure that grandma and grandpa could help out with the boys and juggling the day…we were set for a Thursday evening in the city! (I’ll spare you the crazy details of the morning, but it included an early morning accident for Jacob that ended in derma-glue…thank goodness no stitches…suffice it to say, it just added to the excitement of the day!)
We drove about 1 1/2 hours to the BART station in the East Bay and hopped on. Seriously, best decision ever. Driving in the city can be a nightmare…and on a night like that, it would have been a big old headache. I found a GREAT app…iBART…and it worked like a charm in planning out the trip while we were still driving.
(I’ll leave out the details of forgetting my phone charger and realizing that I had 1/4 battery left…not good. Thankfully we needed to make a potty stop so I ran in and bought a new charger!)
Off at Embarcadero and they were so organized with a Muni table all set up to pay for round trip Muni train tickets to the stadium. It literally left us off right across the street from AT&T Park. LOVED it! (Side note…as we pulled up to the stop, there was a HUGE crowd…and we caught a glimpse why. Hello, Joe Montana…gotta love SF!)
We sadly missed the National Anthem (I found out later it was sung by Lady Antebellum…love them…so sad I missed it) and the jet flyover because we were in line at willcall. It was crazy to see people in line trying in vain to purchase tickets (even though the signs all said sold out…duh!). And then to hear the heartbreaking stories of people who had bought tickets off Craigslist only to find out they were bogus! Ugh.
Finally we got to our seats…Club Level. Woot Woot!
Yep, that’s me in Orange! My friends down south will all gag…my brother in law may disown me, but I wore a Giants shirt! When in Rome…
(If you’re confused, let me tell you…we were born and raised in the LA area…Dodger Town. My parents are diehard Dodger fans. Hubby’s brother and grandma bleed Dodger blue. Until now, we had never been to a baseball game that wasn’t a Dodger or Angel game. The Dodgers and Giants are big time rivals. Dodger fans are not supposed to be wearing orange and cheering on the Giants. Oh well…)
This was probably one of the best date nights of my life. The energy in the stadium was electric! AT&T Park ROCKS…it’s on the smaller side (in relation to what we were used to at Dodger Stadium and the big A in Anaheim) but that made it so intimate. The crowd was beyond amped and it wasn’t hard at all to get into the groove of cheering for Orange and Black!
At one point the Journey song “Lights” came on…when the lights go down in the city, and the moon shines on the bay…the whole crowd was singing…all of the sudden you look at the jumbo tron and Steve Perry was leading the crowd. He was sitting not too far away (albeit in a box). Such a cool feeling to be a part of that.
It only added to the night that the Giants ROCKED the house with incredible pitching and bats that were ON FIRE. The Eighth inning will go down in my memory as one of the most exciting innings I have ever witnessed.
And memories of a Once in a Lifetime Experience…or was it? Stay tuned tomorrow…
Kristen
p.s. Go Giants…they can WIN the World Series tonight! I’m a bandwagon fan and LOVING it.
(ETA…I thought I had posted this last week, but I just checked and it never went through…so pretend this is the week BEFORE Halloween…LOL!)
Another Double Page Layout…look out!
This is last year…can’t believe how big they have gotten in 12 months! The extra kidlets are my niece and nephew…
A little American Crafts flair…
American Crafts Thickers, of course.
You can see this layout up close and personal at the store.
This year I’ll have a Harry Potter, Power Ranger and Woody…how about you?
Kristen
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