Over two weeks into the new plan and I am finally showing some improvement. The wii tells me I lost 1.1 pounds this week. I am still above where I was in June but at least I am making progress in the right direction. So far so good. Let’s hope it stays this way.
The exercise is still continuing daily. I am doing an incline for a mile of it and continuing with the 3.12 miles daily. I will admit that it’s still pretty hard. Especially during the summer because the garage is so hot. But I just do it. Again and again, without fail.
I haven’t had coffee in a long time now, too. I have completely switched to tea. My plan over the next few weeks is to reduce the graham crackers as it’s one of the only non-whole things I am eating at this point. I am focusing on protein still with salads with chicken and bean burritos. Small steps of progress daily. That’s what it takes.
So on and on I go. I am truly hoping that I am back on the right path now. I have worked too hard to have this go awry now and I am determined to finish what I started.
today was not a good photo day. When I asked Nathaniel he gave me this.
and when I said I needed more, he gave me the “no fair” look.
and then the devastated one.
david was a bit more accomodating.
I haven’t been so great at taking daily pictures lately. I will get back into it because I love having them. I just need to make it more of a priority. Work’s been too hectic and, of course, that doesn’t help. As we go into the fall season I will have to think of ways to readjust my schedule, and figure out what I want to cut out and what I want to add etc. I know from experience that it helps to think ahead a little and then also wait and see how the new routines are (school drop off etc.) so I know where my pockets of time are and what I can fit into them.
I am both excited and sad that fall is coming. I am not ready for 2011 to end yet. It’s been a good year for me and I feel like clinging to it a bit longer and feel like it’s all passing way too quickly.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I have been doing a lot of art and I am grateful for that.
2. I am grateful for that my todo list is dwindling.
3. I am grateful that my jaw seems to be doing considerably better. Let’s hope it’s gone for good.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I have swimming class. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played lego men with my brother. (khan academy!)
3. I am grateful for Daddy.
My journaling:
There are many causes I feel passionate about but at the very top of the list is education. I believe a high quality education can make all the difference in a person’s life. I think that all kids should have access to and deserve a good education. With that, one can achieve a lot in life and go farther than many others. There is a gap and we need to fix it.
The first thing I did for this week’s art journaling page was to spray some mists into a baby wipe and then rub it along my page to color it.
See the baby wipe? I spray right into it and then just rub it on the page. I used several shades of blue and green.
Then I took my tree from the Mistables stickers by Pink Paislee and colored it with distress ink. And lay some pink and white heart-shaped beads on it. For three of them I used buttons or cabachons just for some fun texture and variety. I also added some Donna Downey Prima canvas letters and wings.
Then I removed the wings, added some stamping, some stitching, letter stickers, and a bunch of birds. The stickers read “Always be You.”
here’s a close-up.
I didn’t like the page, decided to add a bunch more birds.
I like it better now. Still not my favorite but something different. And that’s the point.
And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a little movie, too:
I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for July and August (and maybe longer). You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.
David had a friend over today so Nathaniel had to play by himself downstairs and he was not happy about it.
but he gave up and just played anyway.
When I asked him for a smile I got this.
and this.
and David gave me this one.
and this one.
My jaw is a bit better today, thank you for your kind words. I must admit some of the peace of the last few weeks is gone. I do want it back and plan to slowly claim it again. I’ve still been doing sketching, art journaling, and scrapbooking daily. I am not journaling a lot but I am doing a little in my weeklong journal. I need to do that more. I also hope to work on Soul Restoration a bit more. But I am doing a lot of art and I am happy about that. I am feeling quite tired lately partly cause I am still getting up at night to take David to the bathroom and partly cause I am not sleeping well. But that’s life. It shall pass. Always does.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for my sixth day in a row of making layouts!
2. I am grateful for getting ahead of schedule.
3. I am grateful for art and books, they save me again and again.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that Ece came to our house. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I played with my brother. (khan academy!)
3. I am grateful that I read to Mommy.
It is so funny to me that I picked up Before I Fall because I was looking for something light and easy to read. I knew it was about a girl who died but I also knew it was good.
What I didn’t know was that this young adult book would completely change my life. The effects it had on me are profound and have nothing to do with the goal of the author (or so I assume) and I had so many revelations as I read it that I couldn’t believe it. There were parts where I felt like the character was speaking right to me.
I cannot tell you if it will have the same effect on you. Unless you have the same exact issues i have and struggled in the same way and are in the same mood as I was when I read it, it might not speak to you in the same way it did to me. But I am so so so glad I read it.
here’s the next journal page I made in the Strathmore book.
I took my watercolor paper and made rectangles using yellow, orange, pink and red.
Then, I drew different types or shapes of birds in almost all of them with a pencil:
Then I colored each bird and wrote some words in a few of them. And I outlined each with black pen and used some white pen, too. Finally, I stitched around each of the rectangles with black thread.
And here we are again:
And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a little movie, too:
I am creating multiple art journaling pages a week for July and August (and maybe longer). You can read more about it and the book I am using for these pages at the top of this blog post.
This is one of the projects I did for Authentique Paper for CHA Summer.
Journaling Reads:
One of the greatest joys of getting to work from home is watching you play all day long. You are pretty good at playing by yourself and keeping yourself entertained. You often like to play with trains and make lots of funny noises while you play. But lately you’ve started to enjoy creating a big mess. You dig a fork into your lego box and drag them all out. I think you really just like making a huge mess.
Today started out stressful and just didn’t get much better from there. Here’s the little boy watching some TV. I love the way he’s sitting.
we took our walk early today and I brought my camera along.
Nathaniel wasn’t playing along but I got a few of David.
we got back and I put Nathaniel down but he refused to nap, so I just gave up and he played while I worked. Can you almost hear him make sounds as he’s playing?
I love having little boys around. They are so unbearably cute.
My jaw-ache (yes it’s back) got progressively worse from there and has reached unbearable proportions. I am trying to stay calm and hope it goes away but it’s really quite terrible.
My goal tonight is to buckle down and get some of my todo list items done. Emails replied to, layouts and blog posts uploaded, and maybe even comments. Let’s see how far I get.
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for yet another layout done. I am on a roll!
2. I am grateful for Jake taking the kids out for haircuts tonight when I needed some quiet time.
3. I am grateful for a relatively painless dev push.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with my brother. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that I can now do 3-digit multiplication. (khan academy!)
3. I am grateful that I played with my legos.
Today was a whirlwind. I did a lot of work. I also caught up in several other projects. The little boy woke up from his nap with this hair.
I love the crazy hair!
David was sweet most of the day. He played with his legos. He’s been doing that a lot lately.
This evening we lost electricity. For over two hours. It had been a long long time since that happened so it was quite odd. I used the time to snuggle up with the boys and then when they went down, I scrapped. Now I just want to sleep even though I have a few important todo list items. Maybe if I rest a bit I will feel like getting some work done.
Sorry for the quiet today, just feeling tired. How are you doing?
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. I am grateful for yet another layout I finished.
2. I am grateful for some quiet time thanks to lack of electricity.
3. I am grateful for my jaw hurting considerably less.
Three Things David’s Grateful For:
1. I am grateful that I played with my legos. * {his pick for the journal}
2. I am grateful that we got the electricity back.
3. I am grateful that I made some creations.
