Category Archives: healthy living

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another month has come and gone

May 3, 2012 – 10:33 am


Yes, my kids are loons. These were taken at Pizza Hut during Spring Break/Easter weekend. They were occupying themselves playing games on the iPod and obviously having a great time with it. :)

April for us was a lot of the same. School, soccer, dance, soccer, school, soccer, dance, soccer. I am glad the kids are involved in activities, but the running around can really wear you out. April also had some milestones and big changes.

Jake turned 39 this month and has turned over a new leaf in the healthy eating/exercise way of life. He has started “Plan 39″, where he is doing a daily vlog about eating, exercising, everyday life, chronicling his journey to age 40 and his journey to lose 100+ pounds. He can do it! I know he can! He’s off to a great start already and he’s got a huge support system at home, with family and friends at work. Everyone’s pulling for him. And it’s a good thing for me, too, since I never lost my Chloe baby weight and packed on some pounds during the stressful years of Jake’s unemployment. We’ve both lost some weight already and I can already tell my pants are looser than they used to be. ;) If you would like to follow along, CLICK HERE for his YouTube channel. Here’s one of his recent videos, where he eats a bag of kale chips that I made.

We had a nice laid back Spring Break this year and ended that with our annual egg/cookie decorating at Grandma’s house and Easter dinner/egg hunt at the farm. It was extremely windy that day. We tried for a picture of me with the kids, but the wind was whipping our hair everywhere, so I’ll just share the cute pics of the kids instead of that craziness.

We also had a cookout at Mom + Dad O’s to celebrate both Jake and his brother Nick’s birthdays. It was a nice day with family. Heather, Jeff and Scarlett were over for the day, too, so I took a bunch of pictures of her out running around. She’s SO cute.


This one cracks me up with Chloe running away in the distance and just the edge of Zach running away in the left of the photo. She was loving chasing them around.

Another big event this month was this girl getting glasses.

She started complaining within the last week or so that her head hurt and everything was blurry when she tried to read. Sure enough, she needed glasses and she needed them bad. We went yesterday and picked them up and immediately after putting them on, she was just in awe and said everything was in HD. I’m sure it was amazing for her to see things as they were meant to be seen rather than always straining to see. Poor girl. I wonder just how long this was going on and she just never said anything. Today, on the way to school, she suddenly exclaimed “There’s a dead skunk!” I asked if she could see it in HD because of her new glasses and she replied, “Yeah, they’re a blessing and a curse.” Such a funny little girl she is.

We celebrated my Dad’s 60th birthday last weekend. I didn’t take any pictures, but Jake took some video over on his Plan 39 channel.

While going through some pictures with my mom the other day, I came across this one of my Grandma (my dad’s mother). It was one of those tiny square 2×2 photos, so I scanned it at a really high resolution.

There’s just something about it. I’d love to know what she’s reading. Was it a card from someone? Who took the picture? I believe it was in her early married years. We’ve been going through a bunch of old pictures of Grandma this week to prepare a couple big collage frames. She has not been doing well for a long time. She developed severe dementia and has been confined to a wheel chair or bed for several years now. She no longer speaks or knows us and my Grandpa takes very good care of her, keeping her fed and clean and as comfortable as he can for whatever time she has left. It’s hard to look back at all those pictures and remember the wonderful, vibrant woman I knew. I’ve cried over my photo scanner several times this week. We are preparing for the fact that she may not be with us much longer and praying for her to finally have peace in Jesus’ arms.

By Kris | Also posted in Family, Kids | Comments (0)

a healthy start to the day

August 16, 2011 – 1:07 pm


I ate horribly the past couple days at a family reunion and at the zoo yesterday, so I thought a nice green smoothie would be good for me today. Hoping a few more of these will help detox my body from all the processed nastiness I’ve eaten lately. ick!

By Kris | Also posted in recipes | Comments (0)

happy st patrick’s day

March 17, 2010 – 10:41 am


I posted this same picture last year of my brother’s t-shirt on St. Patrick’s Day, but it’s fun so I’m posting it again. :)

On my mind today:

• The weather is glorious. 60 degree temps and sunshine! I’ll take it! The kids spent a couple hours outside after school yesterday riding their bikes and drawing on the sidewalk with chalk. I sat in a chair and read.

• Went to a new church on Sunday. Much different than my church growing up. Loud worship band. Pastor in jeans. Casual atmosphere. We really enjoyed it. The kids had a blast in their classes. They excitedly told me what they’d learned and both said they can’t wait to go back next week. This makes me extremely happy.

• Did something to my shoulder. Not sure if I slept wrong or what, but I woke up Sunday morning with a pinched nerve or a tight muscle. I don’t even know what is wrong, but it is difficult to turn my neck side to side and it’s hard to sit here at the computer for any length of time because my shoulder/back/neck start throbbing. I keep trying to go about the day as usual, pretending that it doesn’t hurt. I swept some leaves off our driveway last night and I regretted that later. Guess I should take it easy and heal.

• I’m starting to get excited for the kids’ Spring Break. Not that we have any grand plans, but it will be nice to have a week off the usual routine. Must think of some fun things to do around here. Need to start saving so we can possibly go on a vacation for Spring Break next year. We shall see.

• Watched the movie “Food Inc.” the other day. Wow! I was completely disgusted by the food industry. Made me realize that I need to be much more mindful of the foods we eat and where they come from. I’ve started researching local farms where we can get chickens that aren’t full of growth hormones and beef that’s from grass-fed cows. Found some great farm markets to check out this year, too. I highly recommend this film.

• Very excited that “New Moon” comes out on DVD this weekend. Yay!

• The kids are very excited for the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” movie that opens in theaters this weekend. I think we’re going to see it the following weekend with friends.

• My camera is all fixed and scheduled to be delivered to me today! I’ll be so relieved to have my baby back in my hands again.

• Posted some pictures from my cousin’s wedding over on my biz blog yesterday. Such a happy day. I’ll leave you with a couple favorites. There are more HERE

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

By Kris | Also posted in Faith, Family, Friends, Kids, Life Lessons, Movies, Photography, weather | Comments (0)

random september ramblings

September 16, 2009 – 11:04 pm


Is it the middle of September already?

I just glanced at my calendar today and realized it’s the 16th. The days are flying by and, as usual, I’m not getting as much accomplished as I would like. Plus, Zach contracted a bad cold at school last week and he has passed it to the rest of us. Jake came home from work yesterday completely miserable and they sent him home again today because he was still not up to par. Poor guy! It really hit him hard. I’ve been fighting it. I go walking with my mom every morning and, even though I’ve woken the past couple days feeling terrible, I haven’t skipped a day’s walk. I will not let this thing get me. Too much to do. I did take a nap this evening because I could no longer sit at my computer working without my eyes drooping shut. That seemed to help a little, but my head is throbbing and all the muscles in my body are screaming. I’m pushing through. Somebody has to take care of the kids and get them to and from school daily. That would be me. No matter how sick I am.

The kids are liking their new classes this year. I can already tell that Zach likes having a little more responsibility this year in class and in his new school. And Chloe likes her new class, but she’s all about boys all of the sudden. She comes home daily talking about a certain boy and I try not to make too big a deal out of it and ask her about some of her other friends or what she learned in school to change the subject. My mom informed me that when I was in first grade, my teacher told her the same thing about me. “Krista is so boy-crazy!” So, I guess she’s following in my footsteps. I do remember liking a few boys in first grade, but I think I stopped being so “boy-crazy” after that year, so hopefully it’s just a phase she’s going through.

I’m really liking the drive to and from school every day. I can see little sections of leaves here and there on the trees beginning to change colors and it makes me happy. Fall is my very favorite season and it makes me feel cozy just thinking about it. :)

Jake is still LOVING his job. We’re praying hard that he gets hired in soon as a full-time employee with benefits (and a little more money would be great, too). It’s so hard to be patient. After all this time, he’s in a job he really loves and can excel at and his boss wants to be able to give him more responsibility in their department, but that can’t really happen until he’s an official employee. So we’re just waiting, trusting, believing that God’s timing is perfect on this and that it will happen soon.

Still working on my novel. I will probably not be participating in NaNoWriMo again this year. Not sure. Last year, I had the idea for my book a month or so before the “contest” started and I was so excited to write it. I’ve got a couple ideas in my head for books I’d like to write in the future, but finishing the book I’ve already written seems like a better use of my time than starting a brand new story. It sure sound like fun, though. I’m pretty sure Jake will be doing it. This will be his third year, I think.

I’m so excited! My cousin Brian recently got engaged to his girlfriend Lisa! They are getting married in Traverse City in March and I get to photograph the wedding for them! We all love Lisa and everyone is so happy that she will be an official part of the family now. It seems like one of my cousins gets married every year (Paul + Kaeli in 2008 then Joel + Sarah this year.) I wonder who will be next. hehe!

Congratulations to my dear friend Amanda and her hubby Brad, who welcomed a baby boy, Landon, into their family on 9.9.09. What a fun birthdate, right? If I wasn’t afraid of passing along my sicky germs to baby, I’d go visit this week. Can’t wait to meet him.

So, this week I tried scheduling out my days to try to be more productive. I had several work projects to finish up this week and I was able to get a couple of them done early in the week. It was great to check them off the list. I hoped to finish up a slideshow for my August 29th wedding couple today, but because I was sick, I was dragging and didn’t get as much of it done as planned. So that will be for tomorrow. It’s nice to have my week scheduled, but loose enough that I can shift things around as needed. I used to work off of a “to do” list on my desk (it’s still there, too, in case I need to see other things that have to be done that aren’t on the schedule), but I wasn’t always using my time wisely. I would work on whatever I felt like and there was no structure to it. I got things done, but not efficiently. Scheduling it out is working much better!

I’m still keeping my kitchen clean, by the way! It makes me happy to walk into a clean, clutter free room.

Mom and I are walking about 2.5 miles a day. My legs were killing me the first couple days, but it feels great now! I’m not “dieting” per se, just eating healthier again. I’ve been eating oatmeal or a green smoothie for breakfast, salads for lunch and whatever we have for dinner (usually chicken of some kind). Not going to weigh myself yet, but am hoping the scale will be kind to me when I finally step up.

Listening to Pride and Prejudice soundtrack on a loop right now. My head has been pounding all night and this music is completely soothing me.

A few blogs I’m reading this week:
• *happy place* – Mindi posts daily pictures and other things that inspire her. Love it!
• Confessions of a Wishful Slacker – Lindsey’s blog is so much fun to read, with stories of their explorations of Chicago, restaurants, websites she likes to visit, yummy recipes, great savings tips, and their cat, of course. She is one of my past brides and she lives in downtown Chicago with her husband Jim.
• Karen Russell – I love Karen’s photographs, but it’s the fun, candid stories that go along with them that always make me smile.

Must get some rest now so I can stay well. If you made it to the end of this post, thanks for reading through all my ramblings tonight. ;)

By Kris | Also posted in Faith, Family, Friends, Home, Kids, Music, Nature, Photography, writing | Comments (2)

today, tomorrow, two years from now

October 25, 2008 – 11:42 pm


for some reason I never hit “publish” on this post, which I wrote last week. Oops! It was stuck in the “draft” folder and I just found it. So here is my post that was supposed to post last Wednesday:

edit. edit. edit. Worked all day on Heather’s pictures and got a slideshow up over on the photo blog.

What else is going on around here? Sad to say, not much of anything except work. That’s what I get for shooting so many sessions and four weddings in a month. :)

Still attempting to eat healthy. Can’t seem to make myself drink the green smoothies right now since it’s getting into the colder months. I am craving coffee, especially after dinner while I’m working. Still down 20 lbs. and holding. Need to keep up the good eating, but get more active.

Still working on the Dave Ramsey financial program. Trying hard to come up with a budget that will work for us and making some tough decisions in the process. It’s going to take a lot of sacrifice over the next couple years to get our finances back in order so we are in a better more peaceful place. These two years without a regular income have been very trying and it looks like it’s going to take us another couple years until we can finally get our heads above water. :(

Feeling a little sad this week. Last year at this time, I was planning a little 3-day getaway for me and Jake. We went to Lakeside Inn, relaxed, walked, ate, did a little writing. We loved it so much that we decided to make it an annual thing each November. Unfortunately, we don’t have the extra money to go this year, but that just means that we can start saving now to be able to go next November instead. Something to look forward to. Here’s my blog post about our getaway last November, complete with lots of pictures!

By Kris | Also posted in Family, Photography, Travel | Comments (0)

this new routine is hard

September 12, 2008 – 11:03 am

This new school year schedule is kicking my butt. Jake is on second shift now so he takes the kids to school in the morning since it’s the only time during the week that he even gets to see Zach now and I crawl out of bed, make coffee, get cleaned up, check email and get to work. Jake leaves for work and I go pick up the kids from school. Then it’s dinner, homework, reading, TV, baths and bed. This isn’t bad, right? But I’m so used to working in the afternoon/evening/early morning. Now I struggle to get one or two things crossed off my to do list because by the time I get started on my work in the morning I’ve only got a few hours left until I have to pick the kids up. And on the days that Chloe’s home, I get to work a little because Jake is here for most of the day, but it’s not the same as a quiet house with no distractions. During the day, I’ve got all these responsibilities and I am just not getting done what I want to for the business. I’m sure I’ll get used to it, but right now … I’m exhausted. I can no longer work in the evenings after I put the kids to bed because once they’re snoozing and I get their lunches all packed for the next day and pick up the living room and answer emails from the afternoon, all I want to do is collapse on my bed. I’m so tired by 10pm. It’s a crazy adjustment.

One positive thing that’s come out of this. I tend not to eat in the evenings like I did before. We have dinner and that’s it. I don’t even drink coffee in the evenings anymore. And I’m beginning to see how true it is that to lose weight you shouldn’t eat after like 6 or 7 o’clock. I’ve lost 21 lbs. as of this morning. I was so excited to see the numbers on the scale. I’m the weight I was a couple years ago before Jake lost his job and all the craziness started. And the numbers continue to go down, which feels so great. I’ve been sticking to my usual diet each day – coffee for breakfast with a little sugar (I haven’t cut out all the sugar and it hasn’t made a difference as long as I don’t use a lot.), a banana or a granola bar usually with my coffee, lunch is a salad of romaine lettuce, raisins, almond slices and a little bit of caesar dressing sometimes with some broccoli tossed in, dinner varies – lately I haven’t felt that hungry at dinnertime and I’ve had little things like crackers, cheese, grapes, toast, milk or a green smoothie. Last night, I actually ate chicken nuggets from McD’s and a Coke (gasp!), but this isn’t something we do a lot anymore. (We are getting strict about our budget and about eating things prepared at home.)

Excited for this weekend. Going to hang out with my college roomie Julie tomorrow – lunch, movie, a little shopping (window shopping for me). ;) A couple photo shoots this weekend, too.

Thanks so much for the sweet emails about that cover layout. It’s so flattering that they even asked me to submit it for consideration so to see it on the cover was awesome! :)

And I can’t possibly post without a picture. My mom gave me a disk of pictures she took over the past few months. I like this one of me and Chloe walking at the zoo a few weeks ago. Not my best angle, but I like how we’re walking in sync. Me and mini me. hehe! ;)

Have a happy weekend everyone!

By Kris | Also posted in design, Family, Friends, Kids, Photography, Scrapbooking | Comments (0)

happy first day!

September 2, 2008 – 2:56 pm


Well, the day is here. Lunches were packed, pictures were taken, kids were dropped off.

The first morning is always hard because a lot of the parents put their kids on the bus and then drive to the school to take pictures or make sure they get them to the right class or whatever. They fill the entire parking lot with their cars, which makes it hard for us parents who need to get their kids there on time. We were lucky to find a parking spot all the way at the far end of the lot. Walked Zach to his class. He was cool until we got in the third grade hallway, which was filled with kids and parents. Zach doesn’t like a lot of noise or chaos, so this made him go into shy mode. He wouldn’t put his stuff in the locker without mommy’s help, he wouldn’t go into his class at first. We were already late getting there so Chloe was going to be late. He did go in, though, and Chloe gave him a great big hug and we left. He was one of only a few kids in the classroom because the buses were running late, so I hope that when the other kids arrived and he saw some familiar faces that he felt a little more comfortable. Soon it will be normal to him again.

Chloe did awesome! She kept telling me how she couldn’t wait to show her teacher her new skirt. hehe! The teacher greeted her at the door and put on her little name tag and got her going into the class. She gave me a great big hug and kiss and squeezed me so tight. It was so cute. And then she went in, like a big girl with no hesitation. I was so proud of her.

It’s so funny how children can be the exact opposite in the way they deal with things. Zach is so shy and timid about new things. Chloe dives right in. I’m anxious to hear how both of their first days go.

So, yes, I cried when I got in the car. I got a little teary-eyed and took a deep breath to shake it off. Then when I started driving away from the school, I lost it. I’m so excited for Chloe to start this next chapter of her life, but I’m sad at the same time because my little baby is growing up. At least we get to ease into it since she only goes 2-3 days a week this year.

I’m determined to be better about packing lunches this year. I got a little lazy with Zach’s the last couple years, just throwing in a pb sandwich, some chips and some form of chocolate snack cake. Once in a while an apple and some pudding. This year, I am determined to put a better variety of stuff in there. Today, they each got some cheese, carrots, fruit juice, sun chips, teddy grahams, chocolate covered raisins, granola bar, fruit rollup, granola bites for snack. Zach got a pb sandwich and Chloe got a couple slices of balogna … I know, balogna’s not so healthy, but she loves it. And I tucked a little note in there for each of them, too. hehe! I hope they eat good. I must thank Raven for sharing this link on her blog. The lunches this gal packs for her son are great and have given me all kinds of ideas for this year. :)

An update on Jake:
He was able to get into the Dr. this morning and had to have an outpatient surgical procedure done. I was so sad that he wasn’t able to go with me this morning. I needed my husband by my side, but I understand that he just couldn’t be there. He was in too much pain. He should be better and back to normal by tomorrow (hopefully) so maybe he can go with me to drop Zach off.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

By Kris | Also posted in Family, Kids | Comments (3)

end of summer fun

August 28, 2008 – 6:41 pm

Kristajean_jencaputo265

supplies used: Jen Caputo template , Heather Ann Designs papers (from Vintage Easter, White Out and Watch Me Grow kits), fonts: Marketing Script and News Gothic.
I really can't believe our summer vacation is about to end. It has flown by once again. I just can't believe how true it is that once you have kids, especially school age, the time goes by so quickly.

Last weekend, during our very wet yard sale, mom suggested we take the kids to John Ball Zoo for one final summer outing. We went on Monday and it was a fun time, despite kids complaining that their feet hurt from all the walking. Chloe was the little model all day long, constantly stopping next to flowers or posing next to animals. It was cute. Zach wasn't in the mood. He wanted his picture taken a few times, but then he got hot and grumpy and wouldn't cooperate with us at all. The zoo was pretty fun. We haven't been to John Ball since Zach was a baby. A nice way to end our summer.

We usually look forward to the annual family reunion on my dad's side of the family at my grandparents farm in Ohio. But this year, because of our lack of funds, we've decided not to attend.  I'm kind of sad about that, but it's just best if we save that money right now.

Updates:

jake's job
Well, he's not loving it. This place has way too many supervisors and a lack of organization. Jake has barely been trained on anything. People just don't seem to be very forthcoming with the information, he says it's because they have a lot of temps cycle through there. People don't want to take the time to train someone who might not be there the next day. But he's going to stick with it because we need some sort of income right now.

healthy living
Still eating pretty good. I'm down 18 lbs. and holding. I have slacked a little lately, though, so I know once I get back to only healthy food that number will start to go down again.  My jeans are starting to feel quite loose, which is an excellent feeling!

school
It's hard to believe that school is starting next week. We visited both schools today and saw the classrooms. Zach's teacher is really nice and we were happy to see a few familiar names on the class list. And Chloe actually gets to be in the same classroom Zach was in for kindergarten. Different teacher, but I thought it was fun that she will spend her first year at school where her brother did. :) She immediately headed over to the reading corner, picked out a book and started reading out loud. She's such a good reader. So, next week, I will walk my baby girl to class, hug and kiss her and send her off into the world.  Her teacher put this cute poem in the info packet for us:

The First Day
I gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.

You've been with them for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
to leave them at my side.

Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I'll love them as I would my own
And help them learn and grow.

So, please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love them and take them in
When you leave them at my door!

I thought that was really cute. I will most definitely have tears flowing down my cheeks.

Happy Labor Day weekend!!!
By Kris | Also posted in Family, Kids, Scrapbooking | Comments (0)

happenings

August 7, 2008 – 4:33 pm

Posted some fun pictures on my photo blog yesterday of my cousin Joel and his brand new fiancee Sarah! We had so much fun at the beach together last weekend, just walking around in the heat. Even Joel started getting all sorts of ideas for poses by the end. Had a great time and these are some of my favorite engagement pictures I've taken in a long time. Plus, it's family and I love shooting weddings and engagements for my family. I'm excited to shoot their wedding next June in Indiana!:)

so, what's happening around here, you ask?

jake's job
Well, Jake's had some good leads on jobs this week and a few interviews. One that's pretty promising. We're praying something comes of it. Pretty much the only jobs he's finding are factory positions, but this one would be more of a management position. So we'll see what happens. If nothing then we know it's not what God has in mind for us right now.

the bills
They're still there, but I'm feeling a little better about things. Our priority right now is to pay the essential bills (house, car, phone, electric, water, etc.) and deal with the others as we can. God is providing little by little so I know it's going to work out.  I have to give a big shout out to Anya for mentioning Dave Ramsey to me in the comments on my blog the other day. Thanks Anya!!! My dad tried to get Jake to go to see Dave Ramsey when he was in Grand Rapids earlier this year but it didn't work out because of Jake's class schedule. And I never really looked into what he was all about until Anya mentioned him again. I think this is exactly what we need to help us establish a good budget and work on paying down our debt. I asked my mom to get it for us for our anniversary this year instead of giving us money to go out or buy ourselves something like she usually does. :) So I can't wait to get it and start going through the program and changing our mindset about the way we deal with our money. I'm very excited about it.

the kids
I mentioned school the other day and Zach immediately told me how much he hates school. I really hope he does OK this year. He has trouble finishing his work when there are other kids around. We had such a hard time getting him to finish his worksheets in class last year. His teacher had to talk to us several times about it. My fear is that it's going to be even harder for him this year. He doesn't like a lot of noise and can't seem to work when there is chaos going on, which was one of his problems last year. They would have a time during the day when they were supposed to work independently on their worksheets and he would never get them done because he said there were too many kids talking around him, distracting him. I've been praying all summer that God would give both of the kids just the right teachers to help and encourage them this year. I'm going to be a disaster when we drop Chloe off at school. I just know it.

healthy living
Still holding at the same weight. I ate terribly pretty much the entire month of July so I'm really thankful that I didn't gain any of the weight back. And this week I'm finally back to salads and chicken and green smoothies.  I feel better already!

summer
Well, I'm looking at my calendar right now and I see that this week is almost over already, which means we only have three full weeks of summer break left before school starts. I'm sad about that. I always have these great plans of things we'll do with the kids. This year, nothing really turned out how I thought it would. I guess I should just stop planning and let things happen. The kids are in no way disappointed with the summer they've had. They got to swim and hang out with their cousins and spend the night at all their grandparents houses. They've had fun and that's what's most important!

an organized browser
I read so many blogs and was checking each one daily for updates. What a pain not to mention a waste of time, especially if there are no updates for weeks. So I finally gave in and signed up on Google Reader. Oh my … why did I wait to do this? There were only a few of my daily blogs (mostly those with passwords) that I wasn't able to put on the reader. Now, I just wait until it tells me what sites are updated. Voila!

Then I discovered iGoogle.com. My own little Google dashboard and you can customize it with your Google Reader feed and all sorts of other things and cute little pictures at the top. You can customize your own picture, but I just chose a cute little whimsical drawing with the word "happiness". Here's what mine looks like right now. On the left is my google reader feed and a Twitter feed so I can keep up with all the people I'm following on there. In the center, I've got an iFrame Gadget that I found under the section where you can customize the page that allows you to embed a webpage into your igoogle page. I chose my Ta-da Lists page so I can keep track of all the stuff I've got to do each day without logging into Ta-da every day. On the right is a box to find Mapquest driving directions – very convenient since I use mapquest all the time – and a few games to keep me further distracted.

I love it! It's keeping my internet nice and organized and I'm able to see everything I usually check daily right there when I open the browser. And there are a ton of other things you can put on your iGoogle page if you click "customize this page" in the upper right corner. The whole thing makes me happy. I guess I chose the right header picture, huh?  :)

my weekend
I'm really looking forward to this weekend. Mom and I are going to see "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" tomorrow. yay!  I've been waiting for this all summer!  Love those books and I'm excited to see how they translate them into this second movie. From the preview, it looks like they combined the last three books all together into one movie. Not sure until I see it.  (Speaking of Sisterhood, I'm selling all four of my Sisterhood books over on our Half.com shop. If anyone hasn't read them yet and is interested in purchasing them at a discount, head on over.

Then on Sunday, Chloe and I are going to Ohio with my parents for a family reunion. My cousins will be there with their kids so I knew Chloe would love it if I took her along to play with all the girls. Plus, I just need to get in a little more time with my girl before she's off at school without me. ;)

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hope I haven't bored you too much with all my rambling today. ;)
By Kris | Also posted in Family, Kids, Movies, organization, Photography | Comments (2)

sunday ramblings

July 6, 2008 – 4:26 pm

Krisgreatamerican01

Heather just came out with a fun new kit for the 4th of July called Great American Holiday! I whipped up a layout this afternoon with some pictures from our little outing to Tangle Town last week. :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. My mom and I had another yard sale and did very well on Friday and just OK on Saturday. We had a ton of people on Friday and sold lotsa stuff, but only a couple dozen visitors on Saturday. But we were happy to get a little money to take with us on our little getaway tomorrow. :) Jake and the kids spent the 4th with his mom. They took the kids to Mooville to see the animals and get some ice cream. I was kind of sad to be sitting home alone watching the fireworks on TV.

What’s going on around here? Let’s see …

Jake’s job
He’s getting going on this new career path and going through sales training this week while I’m away. It’s sort of a slow start and a bit scary since it’s a 100% commission job. The money isn’t coming in yet and so we’re in that situation again where we have a pile of bills to pay, but no $ in the bank. I’m trying to have faith because I know once he gets going with this, we will be OK. It’s just scary and we would appreciate your prayers right now. Specifically that God would bring along just the right people who are looking to offer their employees supplemental insurance through Aflac.

my getaway
I’m so excited to go away with mom, my Aunt pat and my cousin Tonya. We’ve been doing this little girls getaway for years now and I always look forward to it every year. :) Tomorrow, we head north to Petoskey then on Tuesday we’re off to Mackinaw City and possibly a boat ride to the island, too. It will be lots of fun! :)

healthy living
The pounds are coming off a little more each week. I’m 15 lbs. down now. It’s only a small amount compared to what I actually need to lose, but I’m pretty happy so far. The big challenge will be eating while away this week. I’m going to try my hardest to eat healthy when we eat out by getting salads or fish or grilled chicken or something else good for me. Gotta keep it up.

travel
I’m really itching to take some road trips lately. I am religiously following the Janssen’s blog and loving the idea of a simple life on the road. It’s not realistic for us and Jake has no desire to do anything like this, but I am dreaming of seeing more of this country. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE to drive. I am all about taking road trips and I’m always the one driving because Jake hates to drive. I hope that the kids get a bit of my adventurous spirit. I don’t know where I got it, but I have always loved to travel. I’ve been to a lot of states, but sometimes it’s been simply driving through them and seeing them from the highway. That’s no fun. I want to visit cities and small towns and see what’s out there! I did tell Jake that one day when the kids are grown, we are buying an RV and we’re going to travel around the country. I’ve already started a notebook so I can jot down places I think of that I’d like to visit. Ah, to dream.

OK, I need to go finish packing my stuff for tomorrow. I’ll be back sometime Wednesday, so until then ….
By Kris | Also posted in Family, Kids, Scrapbooking, Travel | Comments (0)
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