Happy 39th---

Well, I have made it to 39. Not quite the big 4-0, but close.

Just survived another Valentine's Day, my 28th if my count is correct. Maybe next year will be the last; it will be bittersweet!

Still working on Project Life, thinking about taking pictures everyday or having a spread for every week. Not sure how it will all turn out. Gave up on the Collect at the end of January. Too many gadgets to carry around to document life events on.

I have a friend that is doing 13 half marathons in '13. I know that it could not be a goal that I could achieve, but I have thought about doing 13 5k races this year in the same spirit. I have about six already on my schedule, so what is another seven? We will see where this goal leads me.

I did invest in a new camera two weeks ago and am itching to start another fleece project, but work has also kept me pretty busy. Need to update the Smash books and do some de-cluttering. Thought that I was going to get all these things done this weekend, but really need a break to relax, rest, and recharge, so who knows what I will get to, but definitely need to do some laundry.

At 39 I am very fortunate to have my family and friends with which to share my good times and bad. Looking into the future, I have Disney to look forward to next year! GO MICKEY!

Mid January Three Day Weekend

Thought I would take a few minutes and update how my year is going. I have pretty much kept up with Collect and Project Life. My kids say that I have become their Auntie Lilian by taking pictures of everything, but once I told them I was trying to document our daily lives, they lightened up and allow me to take "odd" pictures. My son has even joined in and asked me to take pictures of his favorite things. I find that I spend most of my day at work, but never think to take a picture until I get home. I did get two pictures at work last week, but should have many more.

I find that I look at things differently now and see opportunities to take pictures of things that I would have never thought to take a picture of before. We went to the Columbus Museum of Art today to look at a LEGO exhibit and I was looking at a picture of details in one of the exhibits and saw a picture of a chocolate doughnut with Christmas sprinkles. I thought to myself that the next time my kids get a vanilla dip doughnut from Tim Horton's, I need to take a picture of it as part of our family history.

My husband and I started walking in the morning again. We have been doing 3 laps around our neighborhood, almost 2 miles. I am trying to stay active for a 5k in mid-February and also to start training for the quarter marathon in May. I plan to train wih NoBo again as I enjoy the company and don't really want to join a gym.

Hoping to keep the New Year's Resolutions that I have made...
Lead a Healthy Life by eating better and exercise
Document our Family History through Project Life

2013

Wow! I can't believe that it has been almost a year since my last post! We have done so many things and even though I have thought about my blog often, I have not really given up time browsing on the web to write. Well, that is going to change this year!

In the last year I went from completing NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) to completing NoBo (No Boundaries) and running in my first 5K races last spring. Yes, I said running, which I never thought that I would do or enjoy doing. I got a bike for my last birthday to help with cross training and am hoping to teach my youngest to ride a two-wheeler this year so that we can go on family bike rides.

I gave up running for this summer because we went on a family trip to Thailand, and I found that I don't really like to run in the heat. I was going to plug on and just join MIT (Marathoners in Training) this winter and do my first half marathon this spring, but my best friend convinced me to do NoBo again this fall. Doing NoBo again this fall was definitely easier than the first time around, but it also convinced me that I am not ready to do a half marathon. So, the goal right now is to complete the quarter marathon in May training with NoBo and do a half marathon before I turn 41. We found that training takes a great deal of time, and it is time that we do not have to devote to running especially in the winter time when daylight hours are minimal.

I have started using a sewing machine and hope to complete more projects using it. I have also just started making no sew fleece blankets. I know that I am behind the times, but once I made some for my kids; they were so soft and warm, I kept stealing theirs and had to make one for myself. Of course, I made mine big enough to share! Once I am done with the no sew blankets, I hope to get to the fringe fleece scarf that I originally wanted to make with the sewing machine. Before we left for Florida after Christmas, I made the kids seatbelt pillows. They didn't really care for them, but I thought they were quite comfy.

I have also started Project Life this year along with Collect. These are both projects that are based on 365 Project which is taking a picture a day for a year. I have been doing pretty well so far, but we are only nine days into the year. I am using Project Life to document our family life and events and Collect just for fun. I bought the Project Life Album and Kit from Amazon and really hope that it turns out nice.

As you can see, my new year is off and running. Hope that the blog post are off to a great start also!

The Grocery Store Took Two Hours!

I used my new app, Grocery Pal, when I went to the grocery store today.  I actually had a grocery list, some coupons downloaded to my loyalty card, and I was armed with my stack of coupons.  I took my youngest with me.  We had to go and look for a special cart.  We didn't find one, and we were at the other end of the store so we started out in Health and Beauty and worked our way backward.  I think that Eat This, Not That! suggests that you do the perimeter of the store first to make sure that you get the things that you really need.  So, we started out in Dairy, then Meats, Bakery, and Produce.  As we were doing the middle of the store, I realized that we forgot the minced garlic so we had to go back to produce.  Then, Reese really liked the imitation crab, so we had to go back for another sample and to pick up a pack for home.  We were almost done with frozen foods when Reese had to go to the restroom.  We ended in cleaning supplies and then had to wait in line because we got the after work shopping crowd!  Whew!  Glad that is over!

For all that hard work, I saved almost $37.00, which is cool because in this day and age, groceries are expensive and packages are getting smaller and smaller!  I think that I just realized that if you download a coupon to your loyalty card, they do not double it, but if you have the paper coupon, it comes up as scanned coupon and bonus coupon, meaning it is doubled!

Trying to Develop New Habits

One of my New Year's Resolutions is to eat better.  I have not been that good at this resolution, but I believe that with our routines go back to normal tomorrow, and I go back to work, I am hoping that eating better will become easier.  Routine means eating breakfast in the morning and not getting up so close to lunch that skipping breakfast is easy.  All the cake is gone from the house, and most of the Christmas sweets are thrown away.  I have to start drinking more water, and that is a tough assignment to start considering that I cannot go to the restroom when I have the need.  Going to continue trying to develop these new habits, cannot go on like I am invincible of all health problems.