Recent Scrapbook Layouts, Trip to the Cheese Factory, etc.

Like many of you, I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been watching the news regarding the missing Malaysian jet. Especially this past week since it's been almost a month. I really hope and pray they find the answers they are looking for so those poor people can have some  closure.

It is a beautiful, sunny day out there. It's about 50 degrees and supposed to go up to 59 today. I am so ready for warmer, sunny days and looking forward to hopefully nicer weather. The last nine weeks just started in school, so that's a sign that summer will be here in just a couple of months.  The kids had twelve snow days this past winter and would have had to make up four of them, but thanks to our state's legislation due to the bad winter we had, they only have to make up ONE snowday! woohoo! So they will have to go to school an extra day before Spring Break. Not bad at all.

I didn't go to the gym hardly at all all winter and so I gained 10 pounds. I had no desire to go out when it was 20 below zero with the wind chill factor and come out of the gym all sweaty. Nice way to get myself sick. No thank you. I went and had my bloodwork done recently and according to that, my triglycerides went up 51 points since last August. I'm supposed to have it done again in six months and so I have been trying to get back on track with exercising and my diet. My goal is to bring those numbers back down again (although they've always been in the high range) and continue trying to lose weight. I will be better prepared should we have bad weather in the future though, and I can't make it to the gym since I recently bought a nice set of weights at Gabe's for a really good price. And I got a fitness ball and really nice, thick yoga mat from TJ Maxx. There are a ton of videos on YouTube with whole entire workout sessions that you can follow along with that use the fitness ball or both the fitness ball and weights. So far I really like the fitness ball too.  My fitness motto this year will be "No excuses".  I am not happy that I gained back 10 pounds and the fact that I have to work hard to get back to where I was.

I have started going to the gym more now that winter is over and going for a walk outside when the weather is nice. This past Thursday, I went to the gym after taking B. to school, putting gas in the car and mailing something out for my husband. Their aerobics class ("Toning & Trimming") was getting ready to start and I decided to join in. This was the second time I had tried this particular class and although I don't mind the exercises they do while standing up, I really hate the getting down on the floor part. It's just very uncomfortable and very awkward especially in a room full of other people.  I do love the part they do with the weights while standing up though. So I will be doing that with my own weights at home. I just much prefer the spinning classes and plan to start doing those again here soon.  They are in the evening though, and harder for me to get to since I have to cook dinner and all that around that time.

Anyway.....

You may remember me posting about how we had to tear down the pool we had for more than several summers due to too many problems with it last summer.  My husband ordered a new one - just slightly larger than the last one and it arrived on March 27th...

We are not one of those families who can afford to go on vacation every year, and so having this pool will be so nice to have come summer. Especially for B.

B. and I have been eating a lot of strawberries this past week since they've been on sale for $1.99 for a big 2 lb. container at Kroger. They are normally around $5, so I bought a total of three containers of them. A sure sign of spring is when the strawberries, broccoli and cauliflower go on sale. Although the strawberries are from California where it's nice all the time. lol! I didn't see the not-so-good looking strawberry before I took the picture, and no we didn't eat it. lol!

Last Saturday, my husband decided that we'd take a drive out to Amish Country to visit the cheese factory. As you know, if you've been following my blog, we've been out there several times before. It rained pretty much the whole way out there, the entire time we were there, then all the way back home, and I think it was still raining when I went to bed that night.....

We stopped at one of the shops on the way to eat dinner at the Dutch Valley restaurant. I had gotten my kitchen curtains there a year or two ago. But didn't get anything there this time. They had free samples of this really good caramel mochaccino instant coffee though....

B. wanted to try it and so I let her since it was just a teeny amount. I've gotten her a couple decaffeinated cafe mochas over the winter at Tim Hortons and she really loves those.

I have been doing really well keeping up with my one-scrapbook-layout-a-week goal this year and the challenge that I have been participating in online. So here are my last three weeks' worth of layouts....

From March 22nd.....This is another layout using pictures from a CD that B.'s first grade teacher gave me at the end of the school year. The kids made their own Easter baskets and got to color eggs in class....

I used papers from the WRMK Hippity Hoppity paper pad that came out more than several years ago, ric rac and Easter basket/eggs were made with Sizzix dies, EK Success border punch, Fiskars Jenni Bowlin banner punch. I added some baker's twine and Jolee's bling to the banner. The Easter chipboard pieces are from a K&Co. set I found over at Gabe's.

From March 29th.... I did this one when we came home from Amish Country that evening and got it uploaded to the forum I participate in on time for the week before midnight last Saturday....

I used the My Girl paper pad from American Crafts that I got fairly recently from JoAnn's, a Cuttlebug die I got a long time ago at Big Lots, K&Co. embellishments (from Ollie's a long time ago) and heart border (which I found over at Gabe's for cheap - .50 cents for a whole pack of borders) and AC Remarks alpha stickers (again, from Big Lots), and some enamel dots. The tiny hearts were made with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Yeah, a lot of my scrapbook stuff has come from different discount stores over the years. And, yes, I actually do use a lot of it. I love new stuff too. But I can't always afford to have the latest and greatest. And I really don't care how old something is. I love it all and will use it if it works with whatever layout I'm working on at the time.

The journaling says:

" When Daddy gave Mommy a new iPad mini for their anniversary back in November, you said you wanted one too. You already had an iPod 4 touch and Daddy said that you would have to save up at least half of what it cost for an iPad mini. So after about four months, you had maybe a third of the money saved and Daddy decided that we would go down to the Best Buy after you got home from school on Friday, March 1st, 2013 to get you your new iPad mini. You were absolutely beyond thrilled that the day had finally come. You play on your iPad all the time making videos with Video Star, watching YouTube, playing Minecraft, and texting your friends with iMessage."

I have been putting off getting this scrapbooked for almost a year because of the amount of photos (20+) and wanting to include B.'s version of her field trip last May which made for some lengthy journaling. I discovered 6x12 page protectors and that was the answer to how I was going to get it finally in a scrapbook. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

I had given B. my camera the day of her field trip to take to school so she could take some pictures and these are the ones she came home with. I'm so proud of how well she did with the camera and she even got some detail shots. I have trained her well. lol!  When she came home that day, I opened up a Word document on my laptop and typed while she told me everything that happened that day which I included as part of this double-page layout on a 6x12 insert that goes in between the layout pages....

Here's the base of the layout which I used a Scrapbook Generation sketch as inspiration for but didn't follow exactly. I inked the edges of everything with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in brushed corduroy and I used square punches to make the ends of the fishtail banners....

With the 6x12 page in between...

and....

I used the DCWV Green stack and fussy cut the owl out of one of the papers and punched the groundhog out of another. I love how thick and textured the papers are in this paper pad. Really nice....

Well, I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful sunny Sunday. I have some laundry to do, plus I'm working on a new layout, B. is in the living room practicing her drums right now, and we will be celebrating our niece's birthday later on this evening. She turned 14 a couple of days ago.  Her party is at dinner time, but they're just having cake and ice cream since our nephew had a soccer game today. So that means I have to cook supper early today before we go up. I'll be making this ground beef tator tot casserole recipe  I found on allrecipes.com.  I've made something similar in the past though once before.

Til next time....