time for a change........

I need a change. A big one. A life-altering one. I'm tired of feeling yucky. Tired of being tired. Tired of being out of shape. Of eating too much junk. Drinking insane amounts of coffee every day (at least we switched over to decaff a few months ago!). Of having headaches because I'm not drinking any water. I forget everything and can't remember anything. I could go on and on with this. So late last night I decided that enough was enough. I can't do this anymore. Time for a change. And, like I said, a big one! It has been weighing heavy on my mind for awhile. I need to do this for myself and for my family.

I decided to record my going green journey here because I am going to be doing it on a budget. A pretty tight one, too! We have $150 budgeted for groceries for 6 each week. It is a challenge each week to meet that budget and I know that it's going to be even more of a challenge for me to go green on a limited food budget. I also get a weekly "allowance" of $40 and I will be using that to purchase special things for myself, like natural beauty products and skin care. Right now, I feel like that is something that should not come out of our household budget. I'm going to call this "A Green Me". For me, this will deal w/ all points of living a more healthy lifestyle, including exercise. I'm going to track what how I feel each day, what I'm buying, what I'm paying for things, and yummy recipes that I've tried.

Some of the things that I would like to start making changes on soon are:

• cooking more from scratch
• eating more whole foods
• use natural health and beauty products
• drink way less coffee and way more water!
• have a garden in the back yard, vegetable and flower
  
• start an exercise routine
• reduce the clutter that surrounds me
• daily journal
• daily creative break
• read for pleasure and knowledge
• daily Bible study

I am sure that I have more to add to this list, but I have a really bad habit of jumping in w/ both feet on big projects, getting overwhelmed and frustrated and then just quitting all together. I can't quit. I just can't......

So here we go. It's time to start being a green me!

God Bless,
di

52 Blessings- Week 4

This one is an easy one......even though I'm still late in posting it. My blessing for this week is hat I'm an AMERICAN. With the Presidential Inauguration this past week, it was obvious to me and millions of other people of the huge blessing that we have by being Americans. We are so blessed to have our freedom. Blessed to be able to practice our religious beliefs freely. To live a life full of choices. To live a life of happiness......

I know I'll add more to this journaling when I work on this layout. It's just late and I'm very tired, but I wanted to get caught up with this project! lol I did finally buy a chipboard album from Cosmo Cricket and that is what I'm going to use for this project. I hope to be able to start working on this one very soon!

God Bless!
di

52 Blessings - week 3

I'm having a hard time keeping up with this one! lol A lot has been going on this week and I wish that I could say that it was good, but it's quite the opposite of that. But, it has shown me a huge blessing in my life and quite a blessing for me this week. My blessing this week is my best friend, ELLEN. We went out to lunch this week and it was so wonderful to spend some time with her and have some much needed belly laughs. Ellen and I have been through a lot together. Lots of tears of joy and tears of sadness. She was the first person who I told I found out I was pregnant with Gracie. She's the one person who I can tell anything to and not feel afraid for what she's going to think or say and know that she will understand what I'm going through or feeling. She is definitely my BFF! We can be so silly! We text each other like we're two teenage girls........especially when we're each watching the same TV show. We both have a knack for music and movie trivia. I truly feel like God brought us together when he did. He knew we each needed someone who we could talk to and trust. I thank the Lord every day for my best friend, Ellen. I don't know what I'd do without her.

God Bless,
di

thank goodness!

I have been a wreck for almost a year now, because I thought that I had lost a very important CD. I have looked everywhere and it didn't help that we had moved, so the last time I actually saw it was at our old house and I couldn't remember seeing it at our new house. But, tonight as I was going through some boxes in our basement I was thrilled to find it! I haven't been this happy in quite awhile! It's silly, I know, but the CD had a couple hundred photos from a trip we took to Colorado in 2006. We went to the Mother Cabrini Shrine and I went photo happy (of course). I printed all of the photos out a long time ago, but there were some that I really wanted to blow up for our living room. Most important of all, the picture above. I absolutely love how the sun is shining from behind the statue of Jesus and after we painted our living room and I decided that it would be neat to have some of my favorite photos that I have taken enlarged and framed, all that I could think of was this photo above. I am so grateful to finally find the CD will all of the photos from our little pilgrimage there! If you are ever in Denver, visit the Mother Cabrini Shrine. It is a beautiful and holy place!

God Bless!
di

are you ready for some football????

I am so excited for today! This is the day that we find out who's going to the Super Bowl!!!! I am so anxious to see who is going to win today's games. They should be good ones, too!

My guesses (because I'm definitely not too knowledgable about these things, I just love watching the game!) are: The Steelers and the Eagles...........guess we'll just have to wait and see!

God Bless,
di

busy, busy, busy!

Well, I have finally been able to scrapbook some. Not until after 11p.m. and up past 1 a.m., but at least I am getting some time to let my muse get from fresh air! I have started working on layouts for my Project 365 and I've been posting my layouts at my other blog: days go by so be sure to visit there to see what all I've been up to!

We have been doing our best to stay warm this week! It has been horribly cold! The worst that I saw was -17F. EEK! So I have been keeping myself busy at home and not going out until it's time to pick the kids up from school. It was a bit warmer today, so Gracie and I left early and ran by the library real quick. I picked up a book on digital scrapbooking to look through and I also stumbled upon a book called, "Days on the Family Farm". There was no dust-cover, so I really have no idea what it's about, besides the title and that from a quick flip inside, photos of old diary pages. My interest was instantly piqued because I LOVE reading about peoples lives that were written by the people themselves. I am definetly an autobiography-type of a person. Maybe that's why I enjoy scrapbooking so much. I want to leave some of our story behind for others to read about. So, I haven't had any time to read lately and I have 3 other books that I'm trying to read, but I just couldn't leave this book behind! I'm sure that I'll start it tonight! So many books..........so little time..........My "Want to Read List" is so massive, I don't know if I'll ever finish it. lol

God Bless!
di

52 Blessings- week 2

Still playing catch up........this Sunday will be Week 3 and I will finally be on time!

My blessing for this week is my little GRACIE. There is nothing that can melt my heart faster, cheer me up quicker, and ease any anxiety that I might be having than her saying, "HI!". She is such a joy to us all and you just can't resist smiling when you hear her precious, little voice saying, "HI!" even though she will say it over and over and over! And sometimes while she's standing right in front of your face! Every morning I when I wake up, the first thing she says to me is, "HI!". It is so cute and something that I will treasure forever.

52 Blessings- week 1

I'm running late with starting this, so I will be doing a little catch up! There is a wonderful challenge at Faith Sisters called "52 Blessings" where you post a blessing on your blog, scrapbook that blessing and share what you've done. When I was in M.O.M.S. (Ministry of Mothers Sharing) we always started out each weekly meeting by sharing our "Grace-filled Moments" and it was a wonderful way to help me recognize and acknowledge those little bits of grace that are so easy to let slip by unnoticed. So, I was really excited to see this challenge!

I have been thinking all day about what grace I have been given that was special to me and it wasn't hard for me to think of this: FORGIVENESS. I am so thankful to the Lord for his forgiveness. I sure do need it and often! I have the best of intentions, but just can't ever seem to stick with them. I want to pray daily, read the Bible daily, go to church every Sunday..........I want do, but I never make the time. If it wasn't for God's forgiveness, I don't know what I would do because I find myself asking for it every day! Thank you Lord for taking me for who I am and forgiving me each day when I don't please you the way I should.

curried cauliflower recipe

Joe and I LOVE Indian food and I made some vegetable curry other night in the crock-pot (I'll share that recipe soon!). I really wanted something on the side and I had a beautiful head of cauliflower in the fridge so I immediately thought of curried cauliflower. It was really good, so I had to share the recipe. It was so good that I ended up taking a photo of it for my "photo of the day"! You can see the photo here....

Curried Cauliflower-

2 cups cauliflower florets
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup petite diced canned tomatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
salt (to taste)

1. Steam the cauliflower for about 5 minutes (more if you like your cauliflower softer), reserve 1/2 cup of the water.
2. Put the oil in a saucepan; add the garlic and onion, and saute until soft.
3. Stir in the curry, ginger and salt.
4. Add the tomatoes and bring to a simmer.
5. Add the cauliflower and the reserved 1/2 cup of water.
6. Cover and simmer for about 3 minutes (or longer if you want the vegetables well done).
7. Remove the cover to allow some of the liquid to evaporate.
8. Serve hot.

Enjoy!

God Bless,

di

burr......time to ramble

Is winter ever here! A cold font is coming in today and it's really getting windy. Not much going on around here. Gracie is still recovering from her bad head cold. It is a rotten cold! I still feel bits of it hanging on and it's been well over a week since I have had it. We spent the weekend watching the football play-offs. I'm kind of excited to see who's going to go to the Super Bowl. My Packers didn't make it, so I'm just enjoying the games and rooting for all of the teams playing! lol I need to start planning some good munchies to have during the Super Bowl. I see a cheese ball in my future!

I haven't been able to scrapbook at all and I can feel it starting to get to me. I really do cherish the time that I have where I can be creative. It is like therapy to me and when I go w/o it for a long time, I start getting uneasy and restless. I did get my January kit from The Scrap Room and it is awesome, like always! I also got that silly Christmas paper from My Minds Eye that I was obsessing about about last month. My Christmas pictures are printed and waiting to go on that super, cute paper! I am wanting to get more involved at a couple of different scrapping sites also. Mainly, the various challenges at The Scrap Room and Faith Sisters with their challenges like the His Holy Name Challenge. I made a huge decision last night. I have been thinking about it all weekend and finally just decided to do it. I am going to start trying to do some digital layouts. What really got me was the "Life 365 Collection" at Weeds and Wildflowers Design. I fell in love with the the instant I saw it. I think this might work the best for me. I did not purchase the Becky Higgins Kit and I have been trying to figure out how I could do the same concept w/ store bought items. The big hang up, and most appealing part of the system, are the pocket page protectors. They are great because you just slip in your photos, a few journaling blocks, maybe an embellished shape and that's it. You're done. The page protectors in the Becky Higgins Kit are specially made (of course!) so finding something similar that would work has been a little difficult. And, I started thinking about price and other materials. That could add up fast. I'm scrapping on a pretty tight budget here and want the most for my money. Anyway, I've been thinking about playing with some digital layotus for awhile and after seeing the "Life 365 Collection" that pretty much made up my mind. I am planning on printing off each layout and putting them in an album or having all of the pages printed off into a book at the end of the year. I think that this will be a good project for me to get used to playing around with digital layouts and then I can start doing other things as soon as I'm more comfortalbe. The big hang-up in making this decision, for me, was that I wasn't going to have a finished layout in my hands when I was done. I am very, very tactile. I love playing with everything that goes into making a traditional scrapbook layout. So, doing everything on the computer is going to be a big change for me. I love the look and the possibilities of what I can do. I just have to get over not feeling everying!

So anyway, that's what's been going on! I didn't mean to ramble on about all of that, but thought I'd share!

Take care, stay warm and God Bless!
di

finally back!

So I'm finally back after being gone for a bit! We took a trip to Denver the week of New Year's and while we were there I caught a cold, so I got to spend the next few days after being back home, sick with a horrible head cold! We had a wonderful time and I took loads of photos. Hightlights from our trip were touring the Invesco Field @ Mile High-the Denver Broncos football stadium, going up Pikes Peak on a cog train, and climbing around on the rocks at Garden of the Gods. I will share some photos as soon as I have time.

I have spent my afternoon cleaning my scrap area. What a mess! I am anxiously awaiting my January kit from The Scrap Room and I wanted my room all clean and ready so that hopefully I can do some scrapping soon. I'm thinking about printing off my pictures from Colorado as soon as I can and scrapping them in a photo pocket album. I have started doing this with photos from our trip to South Dakota and it works wonderful when you have tons and tons of photos from one event. Takes off a lot of stress and time! I'll share some photos of pages from that album soon.

I am trying to do my take of Project 365 by Becky Higgins. I don't have the kit and won't buy it, so I'm trying to do it on my own with items that I can easily purchase. I have been taking a photo a day and journaling a few sentences about each photo. To help me stay accountable for this, I started a new blog where I will post each days photo/journaling bit. I didn't think that it wouldl be so hard to take a photo a day, but for me it has been! I'm so forgetful! So far I'm doing well and I'm already enjoying looking back on the past weeks photos. I hope that you can try something like this, too, because I think that it will be a very rewarding project!

Happy New Year and God Bless!
di