Finally---woo hoo!

After a few years, I FINALLY got my pictures from Paris framed. These have been sitting rolled up in a tube since we went, I think back in 2005. I am a huge procrastinator, and sometimes I just need to decide to do things and get them done.

So we went to Michaels, and despite being shocked at the cost, we went ahead and ordered the framing. When I picked them up yesterday, I was very pleased. They looked better than I expected. I wanted them hung on the wall by my staircase, and couldn't decide how to hang them. Troy wanted to do side by side, but I didn't think it looked as good. Plus, if you're a tiny bit off, and they're not even, it's really noticeable. So I suggested putting one lower than the other. The stairway goes down anyway, so I thought it would look okay.

And I think it does look okay. I couldn't for the life of me take a good picture of them, though. The right one was always blurry. And in this picture they look crooked to me, although they're not crooked on the wall. Anyway, here is the finished product. I love them so much, and I bet they're happy to be out of the tube.

Wasting Time

Today was the first day that I had both of my older kids in school for a full day, and just Ethan and me at home. I got to thinking how little I get done in a day, and I can't really figure out where my time goes. I want to be more productive. There are so many things that I want to do around my house, books that I want to read, etc., but nothing ever gets done.

I think the internet is my worst time waster. I tell myself I'll just check my e-mail, or check Facebook for just a minute, and I find myself sitting at the computer for hours. So, I've started thinking about what wasteful things I can cut out so I can start doing the more important things.

The first thing I did was cut down on the blog links that I have in my sidebar. I tried multiple times to catch up on my blog reading, and I never could. There was just too much, and I don't need to read that many blogs. So I narrowed it down to 10 that I can read every day. Then I saved the rest in a blog folder under my bookmarks. If I ever find my house clean and everything I want done, Ethan asleep and the kids at school, I'll have a nice, relaxing time reading blogs. Why are you laughing? One of these days it could happen.

My second thing I'm planning to do is cut back on TV watching. I really don't watch that much. Just one or two shows about three days a week. But I know that fall is coming soon, and all the new fall shows will be starting. If I start watching something, I'll get sucked in and won't want to miss it. And I want evening time after dinner to be family time. I don't want the TV to always be on. I'm ashamed to admit that at just about every dinner, we have the TV on. I don't want that, but it's not always my choice, unfortunately. So my plan for the fall is to maybe pick one show to watch, or if I can, none at all.

But back to the internet. I need to think of a better plan to not spend so much time on the computer, but still get the enjoyment that I get out of certain parts of it. I really like to read blogs. I love getting new ideas for my house, and just seeing what other people are doing. But I want to be reasonable. I like staying in touch with people on Facebook, but I don't need to spend so much time there either. So I'm going to have to think of a computer time schedule, or some way to limit myself that is enforceable. Like maybe a computer seat with an automatic ejector that will throw me out when my time is up.

Just some goals I'm thinking of with the kids back in school. I'm going to keep thinking about ways to be more productive and to actually feel like I've gotten something done at the end of each day.

A quick chuckle

I have pictures in my camera of our trip to Arches with my family, and I could probably think of a thing or two to say about it. It was a great time, and being out there in God's creation was wonderful, even if someone put fine sand all over that I had to hike through. ;)

But before I forget, I wanted to share something funny Kevin said. We had just hiked up to one of the arches, and were on our way down, and Kevin said, "I was almost to God." Hey, at least he's not trying to build a tower or anything.

It's a Sickness

I can't stop messing with my blog. Even when I like it, I get the urge to change it. And right now I don't care for the header all that much, but I finally had to give up last night because my computer was being so slow, and it was two in the morning. Good thing Troy's gone on a business trip, or he'd think I was crazy staying up that late.

I almost wish there wasn't the option to edit the looks of my blog, because as long as it's there, I'm going to keep changing it. I can't stop myself.

Editing to add: I changed back to my old header. I really do like it. Maybe I'll satisfy my changing urges with just changing the background and the text colors and stuff.

Gifts at My House

Awhile ago I tried joining along with Ann at A Holy Experience listing things I was thankful for. I didn't keep up with it, and I'd like to begin again. So, a few gifts for today:

~Ethan cuddling next to me on the couch
~Digging my feet in the sand at a beach, in Utah!
~A friend to call at any time, to talk or to hang out with
~Phone calls from a husband gone on a business trip
~Walking on soft green grass
~Playing with my chubby little nephew
~Bounty from the Earth at the local farmer's market
~Seeing a grandpa and his grandson work side by side

Anniversary

After 10 years, you still make me smile. You still make me laugh. You're still my best friend, the one person I can talk to about anything. You still make my heart race. You still mean the world to me. You're still my favoritest person in the whole world. I love you, Troy!

Decorating

I've been trying to add some more cute touches to my house. If there wasn't so much clutter all over the place, I think it would look a lot nicer. Where can I hide my clutter? ;) The counter tops in my kitchen seem to be a magnet for every single thing in our house.

I just bought the case thing that says Paris at Hobby Lobby. It was half off, and I thought it would go cute. I'm not sure I love the setup on the top of these cabinets, but I don't know what else to do. I'll take any ideas!

I bought this flower container that I was going to put above my cupboards, but it didn't work. So I decided to pretty up my mantle. It'll never look fancy like in the magazines because my TV is up there, but I'll do what I can, I guess.

Fun at the Pool

Yesterday Christy invited us to go swimming with her and her girls in the pool by her house.

Kaitlyn wanted me to get a picture of her jumping in the pool.

Kevin does a lot better in the pool with his floaty swimsuit.

Here's Ethan with his usual ornery face. Although I don't think he was ornery at the moment.

Christy and I. Please ignore my chin and droopy eye.

Here's Christy's youngest, Gigi. She didn't want me to take a picture.

World of Blogging

I have been blogging, but it has been on my other blogs (links to the right). I would put it all on one blog, but I don't want this one to become inundated with posts about my runs. No, I haven't been spending a lot of extra time in the bathroom. I'm talking about getting outside and running. But come to think of it, neither of those are particularly enjoyable. I have a hard time deciding which is worst, almost.

I also read a lot (although I have been slowing down lately), so I blog about my books on a different book blog. Same thing with movies, when I remember.

And lately I've been spending WAY too much time looking at other peoples' blogs. Do you know how much time you can waste doing that? You could spend hours. You could even find that's it's 1:00 in the morning, and you're still on the internet, looking at blogs. And then there are blogs that spotlight other blogs. It's getting a bit ridiculous, if you want to know the truth. Not that those blogs are ridiculous, just the time I'm wasting. What's even worse is that I'm looking at all these blogs and websites about homemaking, getting all these great ideas, but never having any time to do anything because I'm looking at all these blogs and websites about homemaking to get all these great ideas. Do you see my problem?

Anyway, I will share a couple of my recent favorites. We'll start with Organizing Junkie. Then move on to Like a Warm Cup of Coffee. Then mosey on over to At the Well . I'm not even going to tell you about Today's Creative Blog, where you'll find out about a bunch of OTHER blogs. Because I'm not mean, and I don't want to pass on my time-wasting problems to you.

Night in Park City

For our anniversary, Troy and I went and stayed at a bed and breakfast in Park City last Friday night. Mom and Dad were nice enough to watch our kids, so we could have some time to ourselves. We stayed at the Woodside Inn. There were some nice things about it, but we wouldn't stay there again because the bed was hard and uncomfortable. Our bed at home is ten times nicer.

On Friday night we did a lot of walking along historic Main Street. We stopped in a few shops waiting until the restaurants opened for dinner because we were both starving. Finally it was eating time, and we went to The Eating Establishment. We had gotten a coupon at the B&B for a 2 for 1 entree. On the coupon, it also said they would add a 17% gratuity to the bill. Well, the food was good and we were stuffed, but we got our bill and the waiter had added about 30% gratuity. We really didn't want to pay that much, but it feels petty to call the waiter over to tell him we didn't want to give him that big of a tip. If he had made a mistake on the other portion of the bill, it wouldn't have been a big deal. So we didn't say anything.

The rest of the night was spent walking around Main Street, and walking back and forth to our bed and breakfast. There were some really cute houses on the walk. There was one that was purple that I really loved. I don't know if I personally would like a purple house, but this one sure was cute.

On Saturday we went to the outlet mall. We thought we'd spend maybe an hour, and then have time to do something else before we had to pick up the kids. That didn't happen. We ended up spending about four hours there, and shopped right through lunchtime. We both got a new wallet, new watches, and a few clothes. I'm not used to wearing a watch, so it felt a little weird at first, but I found one that was cute enough that it made up for the weirdness.

It was a fun couple of days, and I love spending time with my honey. I wish it would have been longer, only with a softer bed.

Coupla Pictures

Here are a couple of pictures from the women's retreat. Nothing too exciting. In the first one I'm in the pinkish red shirt, and in the second one I'm in the green shirt.

Easily fixing up your blog

A couple people have asked me how to do the blog prettifying thingy, so I'm going to explain here exactly what I do. Then you'll all know how easy it is, and no one will think I'm amazing and talented anymore, but that's okay. I will teach you how to fake it like I do.

To make a header, I go to scrapblog. If you already have an account there, go ahead and sign in, if not, click on "get started for free". From there, you can either choose a theme, or just start from scratch. In the past, I've always started with a theme, because then it's all matchy to begin with, and it's easier. This time I started with a theme, but then didn't use a thing from it, so I may as well have started from scratch. So that's where I get my headers. Once you make it, you have to publish it, and then you can save it to your computer by clicking "export as jpeg" under the file tab.

I also usually grab a couple of backgrounds from scrapblog and save them to my computer, because they'll have something that matches my header. My current background, though, I found by doing a search for fabrics that matched the patterns in my header. You can also search through scrapbook paper online and find backgrounds that way.

On the blog template, I believe I used minima. To add your own background, upload whatever background you want to photobucket or the like, then use this code when editing your html:

background:url("Your image URL goes here");
background-attachment: fixed;

That portion will go underneath the part that says
body {
background:$bgcolor;

You will then need to upload a background for your writing portion. You'll add that under the outer-wrapper portion, underneath the width. Copy and paste this:
background:url("http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o205/endoux/trees_Page_41.jpg") repeat left bottom;

You can use the above URL, if you're just looking for plain cream colored background, or upload your own the same way you did the other background.

Then, to widen your blog area, you just need to change a few numbers. Find where it says #header wrapper; underneath that, change the width to 940. Then find #outer wrapper; change that width to 940 as well. Underneath that, find #main wrapper, and change that number to 674.

If you don't want the border around your header, then under the header-wrapper section, where it says border, change that to 0px. And under the #header section, change the margin and border to 0px.

I believe that's it. You don't have to have a lot of knowledge of html. Just look through and play with it a little, and then preview after each change, so you'll know what didn't work if something looks wrong. If someone wants to make some changes and needs help, let me know and I can walk you through it.

Ooh Boy

I kind of want this. It looks like it would be tough, but if I could commit to it, I could get in pretty good shape. Maybe get rid of my belly. Oh Beachbody, why do you tempt me so?

On another note, I'll post some instructions for spiffying up and widening your blog later. It's not hard at all.

WILD Weekend

This weekend I went to a women's retreat at Big Canyon Ranch. I'm tired and sore, but it was an awesome weekend. We did so many fun things, and it was a great time of fellowship as well. On Friday night we went on a hike, and the view at the top might be one of the most beautiful places I've seen in Utah. It was green and absolutely gorgeous.

On Saturday we did rock wall climbing, and a bunch of other team activities. That's where I got my bruises and soreness. This morning my group did paintball. I've never done it before, and it was really fun. I'd love to do this kind of thing every weekend. I took my camera but didn't have an opportunity to take any pictures. I'm hoping to get some copies of pictures. I hear there's even a video of me getting hit by (or running into and bouncing off) a giant ball and doing some rolls. I'm not sure if I want to re-live that, though.