Happy New Year's Eve!

Hope you have a great night. Stay safe!



-Posted by Kathryn

2012 Word: Discipline

I've been thinking about my 2012 word for the past few weeks. 2011 was balance and I'm not sure how I did. My life was CRAZY this year. So while thinking of a word, discipline came to my mind and I thought, YES. Now some people say, "excuse me. You are very disciplined". And in some areas (like work), I do very well. But in other areas, like chores, daily tasks and misc...I lack focus. I'd rather waste my time and then I have so many things to do that I feel overwhelmed. So this year I will work on discipline.

Discipline in how I eat (when hungry, not bored/anxious/angry), tedious tasks (bill paying and misc business stuff), financial (not spending just because I want it). This means more lists to keep me on task and one evening a week to get the boring stuff done. It means spending 10 minutes in the evening to take out the trash, run the dishwasher and pick up our messes.

But I hope that it will turn into more free time to enjoy life as it comes and less time to be overwhelmed.

Reflection on 2011

What a good year. It's been a busy one and exciting. Jeff and I have adventured into the land of owning a business. It's definitely a learning process. We acquired two new puppies. Wow...what a learning process. They are so sweet and loveable and so destructive and mischievous. We experienced lots of cold and snowy days and extremely hot and even hotter days. We learned how to manage buying a new (to us) car and three weeks after owning it, the engine blew out. That experience taught me a lot about patience so I could get what I needed.

I've spent the past couple weeks deciding my 2012 word. I'll reveal it in tomorrow's post.

I hope your 2011 has been a good one as well.

Lucy and Oreo

We spent one evening playing video games, so the puppies got to join us downstairs. Lucy thinks the beanbag chair is the most awesome dog chair. When Oreo gets tired, he choses to lay down...by sitting on Lucy. Funny part is, she doesn't mind it and they always sleep like this.

My Favorite Ornaments

The tree is up and decorated so I thought I would share a few of my favorite ornaments with you. I am blessed to have a mother who loves to needlepoint, so each year we get new ornaments. I think the tree has more than 25 hand made ornaments. I love these snowmen mittens. They are so sweet.
Jeff received a cute Dallas Cowboys ornament, complete with a clothes hanger.
This is my all time favorite. I think part of the reason I love it is because it's the first one I received from mom. And it plays music.
I have several Christopher Radko ornaments, again given by my mom and grandma. I have several Disney ones (Mickey, Pooh, etc) and two Muppets-Fozzie and Miss Piggy.

Ahhh....Sunshine

on a lazy afternoon.

Move More Eat Less: Month 1

Well, I am +3.

Oops. The bad part is I gained weight, the good news is I know how it happened. Lots of Mexican (I am horrible there), lots of snacking when I am bored/anxious/etc. Not much exercising. And lots of stress.

The other good news? I'm ready to implement goals. My goals this month are to exercise 15 times in December and take two handfuls of chips on my plate at a Mexican restaurant instead of eating 3/4 of the bowl. If I achieve my goal I will treat myself to a massage.


-Posted by Kathryn

This Face Always Makes Me Laugh

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was a little quiet this year. My grandparents were ill with a viral illness so they skipped out as did my uncle. Jeff's parents were able to come up and we had a great time. I fixed it all...turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry salad, green bean casserole, rolls, and sweet potato casserole. My friend Mary made a wonderful apple pie.
The appetizer was a turkey that I found on Pinterest. It turned out nicely.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!

Book Report: November Edition

I've still been reading and I have read some good books.

1. Look Me in the Eye: John Elder Robison-excellent book. It's a memoir about a guy who has Asperger syndrome. It was well written and insightful. Some myths I have about Asperger adults were dismissed. He really lets you understand Asperger kids want to be liked and befriended. He talks a lot about his time working with the rock group KISS.

2. Housekeeper and the Professor: A quick read and good, but kind of depressing. The professor was in a car accident and his memory lasts 80 minutes. Every morning the housekeeper greets him, she is a stranger to him. It's a kind and tender book about how the professor helps the woman and her son connect better.

3. Love That Multiplies: Jim and Michelle Duggar-okay, I profess. I love the Duggar's. I would never want that many kids, but they fascinate me. And the book talks a lot about parenting. I found some really good tips. They are great writers. I am truly amazed at how simple their lives are despite having so many children.

4. Cross: James Patterson- I haven't read a Patterson book in years. Man, he is a great writer. This is another Alex Cross mystery. Nothing super special, but Patterson writes so well, I am hooked til the end.

5. The Tender Bar: J.R. Moehringer- I've had this book for years. Seriously. All of my friends told me how good it was. And I agree, it was good (although I think they were biased because he is a journalist). This memoir started a little slow, but quickly picked up in speed (my interest). Very interesting read.

6. Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: Nina Sankovitch- Wow. This woman loses her sister to cancer (she was only 37) and for three years, she kept busy to hide from her sister's death. Then she decided to escape by reading a book a day for 1 year. And she did it. And wrote about each book. I'm impressed. Good read.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Lucy is an early morning riser...not something I want to do on weekend mornings. So I thought I'd be smart and stick them in the kennel in the hall. I slept in until 8:30 and felt sooooo good. I was so proud of myself for this idea. I opened the door to let them out and found.....
Yep, they let themselves out. No wonder they were quiet. So what do two puppies do when they are free with no adult supervision? They go to the basement and dig in the kitty litter box and MAKE A HUGE MESS!!!!
They piddle on the floor (oh and leave brown deposits too).
AHHH!! They were so excited, until they saw me. Oreo started cowering...he knew he was in trouble. Oh well...it's fixable. And it taught me a good lesson. Double check BOTH doors.

L's New Room

L has been tired of her pale green room since we moved in two years ago. Finally, I set some time aside to paint her room. I thought it turned out nicely and didn't take too long to paint. We went hot pink and brown zebra stripes. The white is a dry erase board that I painted. It turned out cool.
View from her bed.
L is very proud of her new room. It matches her Bobby Jack bedding well. I need to put up some pink curtains and touch up and it will be finished.

Gingerbread Making

On Sunday, L and I went to the annual gingerbread making festival. We've done this for several years and we have so much fun. We bring our leftover Halloween candy and create some cool looking houses. Maria and the boys join us in the fun. Here's L with her house.
My house: I like the butterscotch roof and gum logs.
The front door.
L's house. Cool red hot roof.
Her front door.

Happy Birthday to Me

Today I am 37. I had a great day. Consult with the endodontist was good-no root canal. I just need a filling. I had a wonderful red velvet cake made by my friend. I got to read while I waited for L to go to dance class. We stopped at the library and then to my favorite Mediterrean place. It was a good day. Ready to start tomorrow making good choices-healthy foods and exercise. Here's to another year!

The Night Before 37

It's the day before my 37th birthday. Wow. And I've been reflecting on what I want to accomplish in the next year and in the next 3 years (before the big 4-0). One of my major goals is to redefine my eating habits. I recognize I am a good person and the scale does not reflect my self worth. On the other hand, I'm tired of eating because I'm bored/anxious/sad/scared/etc. I went on a great diet this summer and lost 15 pounds, but I didn't feel much had changed and my eating habits started to reflect this as I gained the weight back. But you know what? It did make a difference. When I was eating less, I had more energy and I enjoyed being active. So I decided one major goal I have is to make exercise and eating healthy my journey, not just a destination. I want to lose 25 pounds (2 pounds/month plus one to grow on :)) in the next year. And to do so, my goal is to hit 9,000 to 10,000 steps per day (with an exception if I swim or lift weights). I vow to eat when I'm hungry, to stop when I'm full and fill my body with good for me food. Because calories don't have emotions so I shouldn't treat them that way.
I'll post once a month (for accountability) on how I'm doing. Today I am at zero and from here on out, you'll see a +/- for the month.
I'm happy to be 37. I am a successful PA, a good mother and wife. I love being with my family, being with nature and being with a good book.

Happy Halloween

When you are a kid, Halloween seems to last forever. When you're an adult, it seems to fly by so fast. We zip through dinner, go to a few houses to say hi, and then hit the neighbor's houses. L and Kam had a great time. They came home with tons of candy, which Jeff and I promptly checked out and picked out our one favorite (yep, got that from my dad). I love L's costume...grandma Linda made her cat costume. She loved it and was proud to be a kitty.

Pumpkin Patch with the Scouts

L and her daisy scout troop went to the local pumpkin patch last week. It was a beautiful day. She hung out with S and they checked out everything.


L on the Zipline. They waited 20 minutes in line to ride it for 30 seconds and then go back in line to do it again.


The duck races. Pump water to race rubber duckies. Fun.


The huge slide.

Savannah!

I've been in Savannah, Georgia for the past couple days for a child neurology conference. It's a beautiful city (from what I've seen-downtown). There's a river between the hotel and the convention center so we take a ferry, which is cool. The weather is nice and most of the roads are rock or pebbles. Very old school. I'll post more pictures later.


-Posted by Kathryn

L's 1st grade picture

She is looking grown up. This photo doesn't do the original one justice. You are a sweet girl, L.


-Posted by Kathryn

Halloween at Our House

I did a little decorating out front this fall. I need to take a day off before each season to dedicate time to do it up big, but it's reality so that's not happening. Here's my beautiful pumpkins with purple mums that Jeff bought me.
The house got spider webbing. The basketball goal is done up.
The front porch.
Pumpkins in a row.

Happy Halloween!

Fur Babies

Oreo was being very calm Saturday morning (probably because Lucy was gone). Jeff came down the stairs with Oreo and saw Reggie and picked her up. She was not a happy camper. And to top it off, Oreo gave her kisses in her ear.
She looks happy, huh?
I can hear her saying, "Really? You are really letting him do this? What a horrible life I have?"
But the plus was she didn't hiss or growl at him.

Lucy Got Groomed

If I could ever figure out how Blogger will load the pictures, I'd be a happy girl. As you all know, Lucy is challenging to photograph. She is so dark. Today, she went for another grooming session. They gave her the Schnauzer do. I didn't even recognized her. I like the face, but the fluff in the back will go next time. See the pink bows? They lasted less than 3 minutes.

This is her before look. Fluffy and dirty.

Another Friday Night

This year, we've been to several South High football games. This one was important. They beat Campus 30-14 to be able to go to the playoffs. Yea! More football games.

Prairie Fire 1/2 Marathon 2011

Last week, I joined many other runners to run the 1/2 marathon in Wichita. The weather was fair...there was "Pittsburgh rain" so at times it was refreshing and other times where it was icky. The route was really nice. My time was fair-it was a training run for me so I wasn't very fast. But I had a good time and that's what counts, right?

Fall is in the Air

I picked up several gourds at the pumpkin patch. I found the perfect plate in the cabinet. They make our island so nice.

Beerfest 2011

Jeff has been to Beerfest several times and I am generally the designated driver (I drop and pick them up). This year, I was asked to volunteer which I did and I had a wonderful time. I got a very cool purple shirt and poured beer for an hour. It was a busy place at Century II, but not so crowded that I wanted to run out.
Jeff had a great time. He and T sampled many, many beers and thought most of them were good. I tried a few drinks, but I still like girl beers better (and I did try all of the Mike's flavors).