Still reading..

Thanks to the help of http://www.zoolert.com/ I will soon be in posession of a Wii Fit. And I didn't pay a penny over the normal retail price. Yay!

To go along with one of my goals this year..

Whatever you call them, these are mine:

1) Do at least 1 Monthly Scavenger Hunt - I'm hoping this will keep me off the couch more. I hope to do more than 1, but I'm aiming low.

2) Get up-to-date on printed pictures - I've already started by getting Aug 07 - Feb 08 printed out. I may not get caught up on my scrap-booking anytime soon, but I will feel better if the pictures are at least available for it (and in hard-copy).

3) Fix the house - Continuation from last year. We'd like to sell this year if at all possible.

4) Take care of my body - Another continuation of last year. I've started this one off right too with watching what I eat and adding in daily exercise. I'd like to look good for our July trip to Florida with the in-laws. Oh, I'm also using thinfamous again to track progress. If you're not a friend on there and you'd like to be let me know. It's friend's only.

5) Learn how to sew a hem and follow a pattern - I got a sewing machine for my birthday and I've already used it to make a simple dress for Isabella and am now trying to re-cover a small rocking chair for her. But I'd like to not just guess at how to do things and actually follow patterns. That and hem some of my pants.

6) Communicate more often with my in-laws - With email and cheap international call rates it's a lot easier to keep in contact with them than it would've been years ago, but I still manage to forget to contact them as much as I should. So I've committed to pay more attention and talk to them more often.

7) Communicate with close friends more often - I find that I try to talk to everyone I know as much as possible. It wears me out and eventually I stop talking to anyone. So I need to focus on a subset of close friends and make sure to nurture those relationships.

8) Finish crocheting scarfs for my sister, mom and a friend. Figure out how to make a hat.

9) Adding one more for carrying out principles I learn in the upcoming Financial Peace University (FPU) that I'll be going through. I've had some friends go through it and they learned a lot. Most of it I already know from having done a prior study, but I'm always up for new information and/or tips. I don't talk about it much here, but I'm very aware of our finances and I'm always looking for ways to be a better steward of our money.

Also, I'm in agreement with Asha Dornfest over at ParentHacks.com who recently twittered What if, instead of unrealistic resolutions, for Jan 09, we set 31 daily goals, 4 weekly goals, and 1 monthly goal? Except that I'm going to just do it in addition to my resolutions (which I don't think are all that unrealistic). I am a list maker and consciously having a daily/weekly/monthly goal will help realize my goals a lot better.

2008 was an crazy year. I think it was good overall, but was mixed with high "highs" and low "lows".

Isabella grew leaps and bounds this year. She got new teeth, finally started talking and generally became more of a toddler and less of a baby. Which meant Ross and I got more full night's sleep than last year. Yay!

I got a promotion that I've been working hard at for a few years, so I was quite happy with that. And despite all the major changes at work since the buyout I have managed to keep a level head and not get too stressed (at least most of the time).

The lows of the year included losing my Grandpa and finding out my Uncle Mike has cancer. Thankfully Mike seems to be doing well with his treatments so far, but still it's not easy and I wish there was more I could do than pray for him.


I think I did pretty well on my resolutions/goals for this year that I blogged about. Of course they were fairly generic.. but I digress. Here's a note on those:

1) Simplify - I have done better at this. Made more lists like I intended to, and also focused on not being too overwhelmed. I said no to things when I knew I was being bombarded with requests and didn't feel guilty for it.

2) Play with Isabella more - I think I've done this and I hope to continue. It was nice now that she's at an age where she's capable of doing more and playing games and playing pretend. We've been having lots of fun with her Christmas presents. And it was also nice to be able to take her places earlier this year with a lot less stress. S

3) Fix the house - We haven't done as much of this as I would've liked. But we did get a few things done. We got a new oven which might go with us when we move, but still makes the house look better. And of course there is the new furnace we recently got (because our old one died). Oh and we did a number of things outside this summer and fall that should help, like putting up a new mailbox, taking down a couple of trees, cleaning up the brush and generally tidying up.

4) Take care of my body - I was just about half-good on this one. I did re-join Weight Watchers earlier this year, only to not really follow the program and fail. I lost about 12 pounds and promptly gained them all back. But I have recently lost 6 again and I'm hoping to do better in the new year. (PS - WW does work, but only if you follow the program, which I just wasn't willing to do at the time.)

5) Scrapbook more - Yes, I have done this. I'm not caught up to where I'd like to be (I think I just finished July 2007), but I'm getting there. And I've been able to find a monthly group to scrap with, which has made all the difference.

I will post a new resolution post for 2009 soon.

LJ's question of the day:


This year we plan on keeping it low-key and staying at home. Sadly, we likely won't even bother staying up until midnight. When you have a child who's not staying up and incapable of taking care of herself in the morning once she awakens, it's not really a good idea to go to bed too late.

My mom could baby-sit for us, but we figure it's a good excuse to relax after the holidays and maybe get some Wii time in after Bella has gone to bed.

I'm hoping to write up a new post as well as a wrap up for 2008. And then tomorrow a new one with goals for 2009.

Our Christmas was awesome. Again, we were blessed with more than we need.

This is the total amount per gift type that we got (includes all gifts for all three of us):

1 Board Game
3 CD's
5 DVD's
5 Puzzles
5 Wii games
14 books
22 Toys*
48 Clothing items**
$165 in Gift Cards/Cash

We also had 6 Christmas events in 4 days. Our house, Mom's immediate family, Dad/Step-Mom's immediate family, Step-Mom's extended family, Dad's extended family and Mom's extended family. I think next year we should consider paring it down a bit...

But overall Isabella was really well behaved and I am proud of how good she handled the traveling and seeing different people.


* Toys include: 4 art related items, 4 dolls, 1 doll stroller, 6 dress up related items, 3 play food related items, 2 tricycles (one kept at my mom's, one at dad's), 1 Mrs. Potato head, 1 play horse carriage.

** Clothing items include: 1 dress, 1 pair of earrings, 2 fleece jackets, 1 hat, 1 pajamas, 1 mittens, 5 pairs of pants, 7 shirts, 3 shoes, 1 skirt, 24 pairs of socks, 1 sweater.

Yesterday Isabella had her first bottle-free day. Yay!

She'd already gone bottle free during the day but was still taking a morning bottle and a nighttime bottle. All it took was a little help from "Dora" on a big-girl cup.* I'm so proud of her. She'll be 2 on Sunday so this came at a good time as I think that's the recommended age for them to be off the bottle. (If it's younger don't tell me.. I can't change it now! :-)



*Ok, I don't really know what to call it besides a "big-girl" cup. Is it a sippy-cup if it has a lid, even though there's no suckage-attachment thing? Obviously I'm behind on my parenting lingo. All I know is that the new cups aren't as spill proof as previous sippy cups we've had so I don't fill them as much if she's drinking milk or anything other than water.

It's been far too long.. So here's a quick update from work..

Thanksgiving was great. Three different celebrations and I still managed not to gain any weight. Isabella enjoyed it and got to play with some of my younger cousins that she doesn't see much, which gave Ross and I a needed break.

I got some nice stuff for my birthday - including cash from a few people (part of which went to my previously mentioned camera), gift cards and a new sewing machine. It's this one and it's pretty nice. And no, I didn't choose this one just because of the "Project Runway" name.. Though it doesn't hurt! ;-) My main goal right now is to learn how to do a really nice hem so that I can stop hand-sewing my pant legs. And then I plan on creating some simple dresses/shirts for Isabella. Other things will come in time. I will probably take some of the free classes that come with the machine sometime in the new year.

I got new glasses. I don't have a picture yet, but I will soon. They're nice and, after 8 years of the old ones, they were needed. I splurged to get the transitions lenses and they are pretty good, but not as effective as I'd like in the car. Still.. I don't think I'll need a separate pair of sunglasses.

Last week I was scheduled for a hair appointment on Wednesday but my hairdresser ended up having her baby on Tuesday. So instead of just going to another lady in the salon, my sister Sarah and I decided to play hairdresser. And now I have some seriously blond sections in my hair, more than expected but it's not too bad. And yes I know a picture is desired.. I'll try for one soon, I promise.

Bella has gone potty probably 5 times now. So I guess we're at the start of potty training. And in other news she's also gotten really into Dora the Explorer, so much so that she goes around the house constantly saying "Doda" and carrying the remote control to us. The good news is that we have the kids-on-demand channel so she can watch Dora anytime we decide to let her.. The bad news is that they only have about 3 episodes at a time so we're watching the same ones over and over... joy.

Last Thursday night my siblings, my step-mom and us gathered at my mom's house for trick-or-treating. She lives in a really good neighborhood for it, both because of the safety of it and the large amount of kids there. I think she got around 300 trick-or-treaters this year.

Isabella dressed up as a fairy. She did really well with the costume and never seemed to mind it. Her cousin Brynna was dressed as a kangaroo. So cute!

We did take Isabella out to about 6 or 7 houses. The first house offered her 2 suckers. She initially just took one, but then the lady convinced her to take the other. But she was not going to put them in her goodie bag. She just kept a hold of them (she must have been scared that I'd steal them). She kept a hold of all her treats for a few houses, but then we got to one that wanted to give her a handful of treats (why she would waste so many in a neighborhood like this, who knows?). So Isabella relented and put her current treats into the bag. She got the handful from this lady and then put them in the bag too and I thought maybe she was finally understanding. But no.. she just wanted to go back to that same lady and get more! I told her she can't have more but the lady was like, "No, that's OK! She's cute!". So she scored another handful. Greedy little fairy. :-)

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Over the weekend we went to my cousin's wedding. It was in Kentucky and even though it was less than an hour away Ross and I decided to stay at a hotel for a night. It was really nice to get away and we're considering going back to that same hotel (conveniently placed next to a Dairy Queen and a movie theater).

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Get out there and vote people!