Busy/Fun Time of Year

I have not been posting because I have been busy and I have been sick.. and well I updated my blogger site and to be honest I have no clue how this all works now. The problem with not updating as soon as they come out is that you may miss a few and by the time you do update you have missed the how to steps they walked you through with the earlier updates. I am sure most of my blogging friends are shaking their heads thinking to themselves there have not been any updates... lol well it has been about 6 years since I updated :) If you can see this post it means I figured it out.

Sick.. cold/head stuff ...this has been floating around since we went to Montana... Dave kept thinking he was not feeling so good but then nothing happened.. well it hit last week.. him on Tuesday and then me on Thursday. I had a few days with no voice at all.. and spent a couple of days just laying in bed sure my head was going to explode. I am feeling a lot better this morning.. made it through the night with no cough meds and really got some good sleep.

Right before I got sick I jumped on the train and headed south to see my parents and my sister for a couple of days. It was pretty icy at my parents house and mom ended up taking a spill and breaking her ankle pretty bad.. she had to have surgery on it and it is all wrapped up. She is doing Awesome!!  She has a wheel chair and a walker and is using the walker more and more.. her attitude is amazing too... instead of being all upset about it she is using it as an excuse to tackle a lot of stuff in her life and make some changes.  I am hoping she is able to use it to slow down a bit maybe.  She does a LOT of stuff for other people.. makes hundreds of quilts for cancer patients and helps so many people with so many things.. not that she should ever stop.. she loves what she does... I just hope that she is able to look around at everything in her life and really put the focus on things that make her happy.. maybe she is already there... I am not sure... I have to say I am using this as an excuse to spend some more time with her and my dad.. I am planning on making a few more trips up to there to stay for a few days each time.. I love both my parents so much and am so grateful for all they have done for me in my life.. so much love and support and butt kicking when needed ( which was/is often ) truly no one could ask for better parents.  There is no way I can pay them back for all the wonderful they have given me... I am going to make more of an effort to try though... we have spent the last few years connecting as friends and adults and I have loved every second of it...lol it all happened just in time to show me that even though my teenagers are pulling away and making their own lives.. that there is hope of strong relationships. Funny how parents get really stupid when you are a teenager and then smarten the heck back up when you have teenagers :)  Gives me some good days to look forward to and lots of "I told you so" time.

Fun stuff.... while at moms visiting she sent home some tiny jars with me.. these are cute... mom and I have become hooked on baking things in jars.. pies and cakes and dinners and just about anything.. so much fun and great way to do portion control. She had found some very tiny jars... normally we use half pint jars with the wide mouth... she found some about half that size.. only holds about 2 TBSP of pie filling... Love them!  I made up some pies in the jars and took them back up for her to put in her freezer.. I knew she had some company coming.. and these would be perfect for that.  

 Trying to show how tiny the jars are.

Green is apple pie and red is cherry... just take them out of the freezer.. pop the tops off and bake in oven until brown and bubbly.. can serve in the jar.. or slide out onto a plate.. add whip cream or ice cream and it is perfect dessert.

Dave and I have done some fun Christmas type things...  We visited Leavenworth for the Christmas tree lighting festival.  So beautiful... so many trees and so many people.. we walked around and visited the shops and had a wonderful night.. holding hands and taking pictures of the lights and just being together.

Then we also did the Lights of Christmas here locally... The Lights of Christmas ... walked around again holding hands and being amazed at all the lights.. we love the walking around holding hands part.. even with gloves.. it is all sort of snuggly.. find ourselves leaning close together and whispering and laughing.

We have also been working in the shop... not as much as we would like but as much as life allows.  Dust collection is still not complete.. it is how it is and we will have to live with it for awhile. It is not as good as we would like.. but we think it will have to do until we can afford to buy a larger collector and figure out where to put it.  We really need a lot larger shop.. at least twice the size of this one and with no car stuff in it would be perfect.. then again.. we need to start buying some winning lottery tickets.. or at least a ticket :)  Some day it will all work out... always good to have goals to keep reaching for.. the more reasons to work hard a person has the further they are likely to go.  Today we will start building again in there.. starting with the drawers and doors for the cabinets we built. Then organize a little and with the new year we will be starting on customers orders.  

Christmas around here this year is very laid back.... no presents... that takes care of a lot of stress... and almost all the kids are off busy doing stuff other places.  Oldest is home from college so he will be here... and then next one is in California, I wish he was able to be here.. I know he is alone this year and it breaks this moms heart... I also know he will be ok... I am hoping to get to see him in February. My two youngest are doing some stuff with the other sides of the families.  We will be going to my in laws for Christmas eve dinner... I am looking forward to that.. some great people to visit with and wonderful food.. will be a nice night.  Then Christmas we will just be home working in the shop and being lazy .. watching movies, eating and enjoying being together. Being thankful for each other and amazed at how each year gets more and more wonderful just being together. 

One of Those Wonderful Nights

Today was spent at home.. I made this weekends lunches and dinners up and did some cleaning.. just a lazy day. Then tonight Dave and I headed into town for the Shop East Stanwood.. I had read about it in the local paper.. it promised carolers, twinkling lights and in house specials. Well it was said to be from 4 to 7.. we drove through at 5 and there were no people or twinkling lights.. the carolers were there but not playing.. we thought maybe it was slow to get going.. we went up the street and had some dinner... we did good and we split a small sampler tray.. had two Huge glasses of water each. Then back to to the shopping area.. found a spot right on the street... because there really was no one there around :( The carolers had gone, learned it was to cold for them and their instruments. It was nice though.. we walked in and out of the shops.. visiting with the shop owners.. all of them had trays of cookies and snacks and tea and hot chocolate.. we were good and said no thank you! At the end of the street is Stanwood Cupcakes and they had just locked their door and shut off their lights.. but when they saw us peeking in they opened up and I am so grateful. I was able to get the gift certificates for my mail lady and garbage man for Christmas... and for the first time I was able to try their cupcakes... I had the Chocolate Ganache and Dave had the Chocolate Peanut Butter...they were wonderful. Just the perfect amount of sweet and flavors and the cake was just how we like it. They are truly the perfect little treat! We visited the Frame shop.. which is the friendliest place in town... They not only have a lot of work by a lot of local artists.. but they have a selection of English treats.. candies and jams and teas... We go there to pick up treats for Dave's dad.. and for us too :) They have the sweetest dogs in the shop too.. every time I am there they saw hello and I just want to spend hours playing with them. Another place we love in that area is the SnowGoose Bookstore .. it is one of those shops that you walk into and you just feel right at home.. our only problem is that we always find a lot more books than we can afford :)

We took the long way home and drove around talking, holding hands some more and looking at Christmas lights. When we got home the house was all lite up with our lights and the fireplace had everything all warm inside. Friends stopped by and visited for a bit and it was just a very wonderful day/night.

To Montana and Back in a Weekend

Last Friday really really early in the morning we took off for Bozeman Mt. with some friends of ours. We have added a new camera to out collection.. an hd web cam... we put it up on the gps in the dash of the jeep and then I can take pictures and videos. Since I can not wait to do a post about our trip I thought I would start with one sharing some of the pictures and videos from the web cam.. and later after our friends come over and we put all the regular camera pictures in one place I will do another post with some of those.. they will be much better.. I know there are some wonderful animal pictures from our trip through YellowStone.. we saw big horn sheep slamming their heads together and huge buffalo just lazing around on the side of the road.

This is in Montana.. somewhere... one thing I learned about taking photos with the web cam.. I need to put the quality up so I get a better picture... bad enough the wind shield is covered in ick... but most of the photos were taken on the lowest setting and they are just not very good.

Wallace Idaho is a small little town... Interstate 90 used to go right through the middle of town, they are known for having the last stop light on I-90

Driving through Yellow Stone and we have to stop so two coyotes  can cross in front of us.. I missed the first one but here is the second one... we did pull over and take a bunch of pictures so will add those later :)

On our way home Sunday night... sky was clear and beautiful.. coming out of Spokane the sunset was so beautiful and it went on for many miles. We even saw Mt Rainer which none of us knew you could see from there.

The Emotional Roller Coaster.. Food

Holidays... everywhere there is food! Yesterday I had some big highs and some big lows... all related to food. My college son is home for the week, and I want to cook all his favorites.. instead I offer him diet chili... healthy burger with no bun... which he eats with a smile.. only makes me want to cook something even more. Sorry Patrick, no holiday treats here :(

Yesterday we were planning on doing the grocery shopping so I am getting ready to go. I am trying to figure out what to wear and decided to try on some of the clothes that were in the too small tote... two new pairs of jeans fit.. size 18! Same size I was when I met Dave... mind you they are still a little tight.. but I wore them out shopping *happy dance* I am not even half way to what I want to lose total but it is moving right along.

Now to do the price matching and coupon matching for my grocery shopping trip.. lay out all the fliers and start going through them.. Arghhh :( Everything Thanksgiving is in there.. every baking item you would ever need... every frozen treat... candy... cool whip.. pies.. yams.. turkeys.. anything and everything I WANT IT ALL!!! I get none of it *pout* Think size 18... size 16... think muscle not fat.. think.. skinny... think healthy... ok I am back on track and ready for the store.

Or so I thought... talk about a battle... looking the to the left... cookies... to the right.. cider...eggnog... more baking stuff and treats... piled at the end of every aisle is everything Not on my list... all the pretty colors... this stuff is trying to jump into my cart. I am going through the store as quick as I can.. grabbing my rice cakes.. my V8 and my cauliflower and just trying to get out of there asap. I wish it was asap.. instead we get to spend 30 minutes in checkout .. everyone else in the store has all their Thanksgiving stuff in the carts.. and I just stand there watching it all scroll down the belt.

Into the car... headed home.. and the tears start... so much balancing... I love being able to wear my smaller clothes... I love being able to tie my shoes... I love that my feet do not hurt me all the time (wish it was helping my shoulder) there is so much wonderful happening right now as each pound falls off... but I do miss cooking.. and baking.. and feeding people and just enjoying food. I have used food as comfort for a long time... I have "taken care" of people by feeding them... food makes things better... but not really.. I mean it still can... I can still cook and bake and feed people.. but healthy food is not yet fun or comforting to me.. even though Dave said I make a good chili out of some horrible vegetables.

This phase of our diet is hard because the foods we eat are so limited that there are not a lot of options on what and how to make things... starting next week we are back into the 3rd phase and it brings more selection and options and that will help.. I am totally making a cheese cake again :) I also know that I just need to hang on and keep at it and that I will be able to find comfort in cooking, eating and feeding people again... I am sure it will be even more comforting knowing we will all be healthier for it.

Santa Needs to Hold His Horses

While reading blogs this morning I came across a friends post about Rushing the Holidays and I decided to add my two cents here. I am loving all the cartoons this year that are going around about this subject.

Back in September, before the kids were even back in school.. I walked into Costco and was surrounded with Christmas. I remember just standing there sort of amazed. It was finally warm after a very mild summer and they were already pushing Christmas. Not cool in my book!

We do not do much for the holidays.. never have... doubt we ever will. I am not big on the present things... never did the Santa thing at our house.. not while growing up or while raising my kids. I am not a big religious person but I do believe that this holiday is so unrelated to what it should be representing... people getting trampled on black Friday in their search for saving a buck and yet buying the coolest presents... people stressed out and fighting about who is going where on Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

Stressed.... does anyone.. ANYONE... manage to make it from Halloween to Valentines without being stressed out? We do nothing for the holidays and yet they always come with stress. Growing up there was always a fight or bad attitude on Christmas day... added to that it was always too hot at grandmas house and someone ( yes most often me ) ate too much and ended up with a tummy ache. All in all I have wonderful holiday memories.. don't get me wrong.... but looking back... so much stress. Then as an adult... when my children were babies.. I did the same thing only worse to my kids.

Last year... my oven was not working for Thanksgiving so we bought a pre made dinner from the local grocery store... there was only a couple of us here... it was fine.. not home made and awesome by any means... but it was good and it was super easy.. and lot less stress.. ordered it and then picked it up. Then Christmas was pretty awesome... we did NOTHING!! We stayed in our jammies all day I think... got up late.. ate some cinnamon rolls... watched lots of movies... maybe worked in the shop a bit... but we were super lazy.... I had told my son he could stop by since he had no other plans.. and he was so sweet he called first.. well I was being too lazy and did not even get his message so he did not come over.. that part made me sad... I would have loved to have had him visit.

I do not want to ever put my kids in a situation where they have to schedule around us... they are growing up and having relationship that come with whole other families.. right now there are no grand kids but someday there will be.. and everyone wants to see the grand kids. Well my parents did something wonderful ( I think ) for Christmas with us.. when the kids were little they did the Christmas morning thing for us all.. but it started to get too stressful..with too many schedules... so they moved Christmas to a week or two later. This has so many advantages... one.. no stress... no schedule conflicts... awesome!! Two... after Christmas shopping sales... everyone knows what everyone got and did not get and we can go shopping and hit all the great sales.. I know they are rumored to be after Thanksgiving but after Christmas is really the time to go... the stores know you will be there returning stuff anyway so they put up the end of the year sales to entice you even more :)

Last year I had my kids over after the new year... it was so relaxed... I just picked a day and called them up.. told them they could stop by any time between noon and 5... everyone brought a snack and we all just spent the day visiting and catching up. I think I want to do something like that again this year... no stress.. no mess. I will just pick a day and invite everyone.. they can stop by and visit or not. Can bring a snack but no presents... until there are little kids... and just a nice relaxing fun day with family and friends. A great way to start our New Years

And back to topic... geesh I can ramble like no one else in the world! I think that if we start planning this now it might work so I am going to share with you all and see who is on board with me. One way to avoid all this holiday stress would be... to avoid this set of holidays... I am thinking we can put in a big custom order for Bunny hats I have also seen bunny ears in her shop... and as soon as the 4th of July is over we start wearing them while out shopping.. and we keep asking all the clerks for plastic eggs and Easter grass... Yeah I know it won't work... but it might be fun :) I know I just linked to her shop with the bunny hats.. but... seriously.. if you have little kids.. or grand kids... my friends shop is so much fun... Knees and Paws Kids love to use their imagination and they love to dress up and play.. and that is what her shop is all about! NO stress just fun!

Beach Walk

Perfect day for sailing... sunny and windy


Starfish "hiding" in the seaweed so the seagulls do not eat them.


The little bit of beach not covered in seaweed today


Little starfish "playing" in the surf


Treasures found today while walking on the beach

After all the wind we have had I had thought there would be a lot of treasures... which there might be.. but 99% of the beach is covered in thick slimy seaweed so I will wait a couple of days for that to wash out and then head back out to see what is there :)

Enter To Win

This is a list of places you can enter daily to win different things.. I will try to keep this updated.. if you find one that is no longer valid please let me know.. if you know of one not on the list.. please let me know :)

Facebook Links:

Amazon sweepstakes win a kindle and your friends can win too.. sign up once

Carmex

Folgers

Lee Jeans

Red Vines

Little Debbie

Quaker

Ghiradelli

This is on their website.. not facebook... you just answer the ten questions... you do not have to get them all right to win... so I have heard... I have yet to win.. but you do get a coupon option even if you lose :)

Corky Kouture This is a blog giveaway.. enter until Dec. 5th

Food Blog Giveaway Win a crock pot.. sign up until Nov. 30th

Stormy Beach

Winter is arriving... with the wind and the rain. I love the beach and this time of year is my favorite... the wind comes in crashing the waves on the shore and then rips them back out.. dragging sand and rocks and logs with it... churning it all up and uncovering all the treasures.

There is power and life on the beach in a storm and one never knows what little bits of beautiful it may uncover and leave laying on the beach to be found. Yesterday there was a period of strong wind gust and it happened to be at high tide.. which was not all that high.. but mixed with the wind gust is made it so much more powerful and amazing. We were only out there for a few minutes yesterday and got a couple of pictures is all... I will be heading out there this week to see what has been turned up so there will be more pictures soon... this time of year.. there will be a lot of beach pictures :)

Normally at a 10.4 tide the water would be many feet from the little sea wall there... with plenty of room to walk down the beach.. and.. this is not big ocean beach.. most of the time we have little ripples not big frothy waves.

I am a little concerned though as I have been reading reports that items from the Japan earthquake and tsunami are expected to start washing up on beaches before too long.. with the most of it arriving in 2013. Beach Combers Alert Even though I do not expect any to wash up on the beach I spend time on..it would have to go around Whidbey island. I do know I will be looking at each item a bit differently. That tsunami really affected my time on the beach... I have not walked the shore since without being thankful for everything I have or without thinking on those who lost so much.

If You Blog.. Then You Need...

Eclecticsix.com Just be ready to spend a few days wandering around like a kid in a candy store.

I have followed Heather from Home to Heather for a long time now.. to be honest I have no clue where or how it started (feeling a bit like a stalker now) I am thinking possibly twitter.. years ago. I also follow her on facebook and her blog. She is always friendly, helpful, supportive and fun to read and interact with. She started talking about a new adventure her and some of her friends were getting into it. As soon as I had a couple minutes (turned into all day) to sit and explore it I headed over to have a look. Within minutes I was drawn in and I am amazed at how much stuff is in here. I shouldn't be.. it is just like Heather... full of information, support, ideas and help and it is fun too.

Eclecticsix is a forum based blogging world. I am sure there is everything there one would want or need for blogging. A collection of people who blog..... from beauty to recipes to family to anything you can think of.. you will find someone here who blogs about it. The wonderful thing is that it is set up to help and encourage and share. Do you need a little help trying to figure out how to add a widget to your blog... do you want to know what a widget is? This is the place! Have questions about wordpress vs blogger or other places to blog... ask here! Want to learn about how to get followers... there is a place for talking about that too. This is a forum ran by some amazing people who have a lot of experience in the blogging world and who are sharing that experience. This site is priceless, a place to share, support and help in all areas of blogging from real people.. who help in terms we all understand. This is not a place just for people who know all the right coding words or tricks.. this is not a place just for people who blog about their babies... this IS a place for anyone who blogs.. if you are just starting or if you have perfected it... this place really feels like what blogging is all about to me...connecting.. this place is an amazing connection for bloggers.

After you sign up.. this place is free to join... I would love it if you would visit the Chit Chat thread and go to the !!Win $100 Cash!! thread and let them know you signed up thanks to me... while you are there and after you have spent some time looking around you can also get signed up to win the $100 (instructions are in the thread) I am not in anyway asking anyone to sign up just to help me win.. This is all about blogging so if you have no interest in blogging then there is no need for even taking a peek.

Reaching Goals

Today I am doing a serious happy dance... I have reached a goal! Today I got on the scale and I am down 30 lbs from where I started almost 3 months ago. I still have about 50 lbs to go.. but right now my next goal is to reach -40 my half way mark.. ten more pounds! Today I am wearing a whole size smaller jeans than I was last week.. and 4 sizes smaller than when I started. Let me tell you... my music is playing loud and I am having a hard time even sitting still long enough to write this post!

I have a long ways to go... but with every pound that comes off it is getting easier and easier. I am having less cravings for unhealthy food... and thinking about my future so differently. I am moving more... exercise is a whole different story now than it was 30 lbs ago.... I can do so much more so much easier.. one there is less weight to move around. Two I am seeing things happen.. which makes it much easier and is great motivation to keep things happening!

We have weekend hiking trips planned this spring.. hiking to ghost towns.. and over mountain ranges... sleeping in the woods and playing in the creeks. I am thinking about all the beautiful photos we can take of flowers and animals and even bugs. The time we will get to spend just being together out in nature watching the sun set and sleeping under the stars. I am so excited for the doors that loosing this weight is opening!

Beach Walk

30 degrees and a bit cold this morning... but still a great morning for a walk on the beach!

Tide was coming in so it was not a long walk but it was so calm and sunny and brrrr cold.. Wonderful morning walk! With all the wind the last few days there was all sorts of fun stuff stirred up and left on the beach :) This morning the water was so calm and the birds were just having a lazy morning.. lots of stretching and quiet noises... very peaceful and calming.

Found lots of fun treasures

This one made me think of my flickr friends :)

Pretty sure the bird on the left was telling the other bird... " head up.. open the wings.. fly!"

Time to head home.. which was ok because my toes and finger tips were getting a bit chilly :)

Five and Dime Post

This post is going to be just a little bit of this and a little bit of that and some of not really anything :)

Had an awesome weekend.. as always.. with my honey... spent Friday in the jeep on the freeway stuck in traffic most of the day.. lots of time for just visiting and holding hands and being together :)

Made another load of stuff to goodwill.. the last of the loads from storage.. feels so good to have that cleaned out.. one more trip to the dump soon... almost have enough ready to go... the dump and goodwill are two of my favorite places to go.. I love getting rid of stuff!

Worked in the shop this weekend which is always good... a bit frustrating now since we are so much further behind than we wanted to be. Had planned on being done and making things by now.. but.. life happens. We are getting closer... have the dust collection ran from the sander and router table and from the miter saw up and across the ceiling to the dust collection.. now we need to add on the table saw, band saw, jointer, planer, and drill press and than it will be good to go. We did get the new (old) heater, from my dad up and running and it works great.. so much quieter than the one we were using. Will sand it down and give it a coat of paint this week and get it installed. Also planning on adding insulation into the rafters this week / weekend.. should be a lot cheaper to keep it warm this winter.

My plans this week include lots of house keeping stuff. I want to move the furniture around a bit.. into a better set up for laying on the couch and snuggling while watching movies. I love this time of year :) Also want to get the cupboards in the kitchen all emptied out and cleaned out.. lots of food in there we are not eating anymore.. and this is a great time of year to donate to the food banks. Noticed the fridge could use some cleaning up too.. shelves wiped down and what not. Will have to pace myself and see how my shoulder goes.. and will have to save some of it for Dave to help with... thankfully he enjoys this type of stuff too :)

Wanted to share a couple of things I saw this week and thought were fun. A friend blogged about 25 uses for coffee filters.. oh and you can use them to make coffee too :) I am going to be trying a couple of these.. love the microwave soup one! Also found a new blog this week that is local and interesting... Journey Beyond Average I love finding local blogs.. I keep a list on the right hand side of the blog of the ones I find and I enjoy!

Scale update.. it is still moving down... down... down... slowly but surely. Which works for me!

Big Four Ice Caves

This was a wonderful weekend, we did not get a LOT done around the house.. we did get the garage cleaned up and ready for finishing up the dust collection.. and we did get the closet redone in the back room so I can get some stuff organized back there. Other than that we did nothing but relax and have fun. We went out on the bike on Saturday and headed to La Conner for some Awesome fish and chips, we walked around and did some shopping.. just a nice time together. Saturday night we had a late dinner at the Olive Garden and just some more nice time to sit and visit and home for some snuggle time while watching some tv. I love these weekends we just spend time reconnecting with each other :)

Lots of caches right here on the island.. but we are going to save those for another day

Sunday we decided to go do some geo caching, which I am so happy to be getting back into. We headed up Mountain Loop Highway which is one of our favorite places to go for a drive, or hiking or camping... it is so beautiful out there and we have had a lot of fun there. Yesterday we added one more awesome day to list of ones we have had out there. We started out just getting some quick and easy caches in some short interactive walks at a couple of places.

I did find the biggest Wish Rock I have ever seen :)

After some of these trails and caches we decided to head up to the ice caves... it just a mile hike up and a mile back... well if you stay on the trails it is just a mile each way. We are not well known for staying on the trail... always just want to see what is around the corner. So off we go. Figure by the time we went after a couple of caches up at the top and one in the middle.. that we added another mile or so to our walk :)

Such beautiful colors out here today and it was not too warm or too cold.. just perfect!

Had to take a little trail to the left so we could pick up a cache at the corner there :)

Under the new (since we were there) bridge caching before we cross it and head up and the trail.. will have to go back for this one as we did not find it. :(

There is a cache in there we will head back for too... never good to get all of them in one area... this way we have to go back here someday :) Hard to tell in the picture.. but this is big enough for Dave and I to both climb around inside of.

Almost out of the woods.

This is safe viewing distant... those little holes down there are the entrance to the caves themselves.. and are about 20 feet tall... but there are signs saying it is not safe and things can fall on you.. there are signs here and at the base before you even start.. also there are signs reminding you that there is no cell service.. has not been for miles. Just last year a little girl was killed and mom hurt when they were down near the mouths of the caves... then I read that the dad was trying to get something done about the safety.. or get the trails closed... I just do not understand why people make bad choices and then think it is not their fault... Be careful and read the warnings and pay attention to them.. it is not safe or smart to ignore them.. and if you do and something happens.. man up and be responsible for your own choices. I am horribly sorry for their loss... I am also sorry for all of the places and things that we as people can not do or see because some people made bad choices and it causes places to be closed.

With this all being said.. we did go a bit closer.... we did not go into the caves... and we did not (even though one picture looks like it) place ourselves under the edges of the cave either. We did walk on the snow/ice but only on the outside where it touches the ground and is an inch deep. I do have to say.. it is very tempting... then again.. it is just not worth it.

This is as close as we got... it looks like Dave is right in there but he really is not... this was a shorter cave and was so cool you could see the waterfall behind it.. this was the hard one for me not to go into.. it was just so amazing.

This trail is full of so many beautiful colors and textures and lots of water and fun stuff. Was a wonderful hike.. easy trail... will do it again .. in the spring for sure.. I bet there is a lot more snow up there in the spring.

Link to Big Four Ice Caves Here

Link to Geocaching Here

Points that Equal Money

I know there are a lot of different places out there... search bars you can add that give you points for searching.. like swagbucks.. which I use.. and I like.. I do get paid from them regularly.. about $5 every month or so.. would be more if I used it more... it is not much but I do not use it too much either. If I remembered to log in there more often I could easily make more... they have videos you can watch and earn points.. you can search and earn points and all types of things. If you are interested in signing up with swagbucks there is a link at the very bottom of the blog.. scroll all the way to the bottom there is a swagbucks box.. just click on the signup button on the bottom right.

There are survey sites, I do some of those too .. My favorite does not seem to have a link I can share... but if you email me ( Michelle_Ballard@hotmail.com ) I can send you an invite to join... I like them because I get an email when there is a new survey to fill out... and biggest deal.. NO spam mail.. and if you fill out the info surveys first then almost ALL of the ones they send you are ones you qualify for.. I hate spending time answering stupid questions just to be told I do not qualify and it was all a waste of time. This one does not do that.. and it pays ok.. 1100 points = $10 in my paypal account.. took a couple of weeks is all.

Now I have found Superpoints... and I am in love. I have been doing this for just over a month.. I have cashed in $50 ... 500 points = $5. Yesterday I got over $2 .. today I only got about 65 cents. Totally works for a real nice dinner out every month.. or some other treat. The thing on superpoints is that they send points to your email.. all you have to do is click the link and you have points. If you want more points you can click on the super button and win points. Just for signing up you get like 3 or 5 spins a day... becoming a basic member you get 30 spins a day.... get people to sign up and become basic members under you and you collect some of the points they collect and you get 50 spins a day... get 5 people to sign up and become basic members under you and you are a hot shot plantinum member and you get 100 spins a day :) (Great big thanks to everyone who signed up under me )

The people who sign up under you only need to fill out enough profile to become basic members.. that is all.. they do not need to collect their points.. or play the super button or do anything. I mean if they do it is awesome because then you get more points too.. but they do not need to. I had over 5 people who were sweet enough to sign up and become basic members so that I could have the 100 spins.. a couple of them are collecting their points and some are not doing anything with it.. but I am just as thankful to each of them.

I am going to share some invites with you all... and I would love to have you join me. It isn't going to pay any bills for anyone but for ten quick minutes a day while I am sitting checking email and enjoying my coffee I am making some $$ for some of those little extras :)

Here are some invites. I will update these often ( as I remember to) All of the invites are single use.. if you miss out on the ones listed here just email me Michelle_Ballard@hotmail.com with "Superpoints" in the subject line and I will email you your own private invite :) If you are on Superpoints and have an invite to share.. feel free to leave it comments and hopefully someone will grab it up :) I will try to go through and delete superpoint invites from comments as they expire... or if anyone uses one it would be great to let me know so I can delete it out of there :)

Please if you click on one and it does not work.. let me know.. then I can get it out of there and replace it with a new one... thank you :)

Updated on 12/25/11

Invite Here (worth 25 points)

Sign up under my friends here ( once you get enough friends.. help them out it will help you too )

Be sure to leave a comment with the invites so I can get them posted in here.. or people can copy and paste them right from the comments!

Invite (waiting for one)

Invite (waiting for one)

Any questions feel free to ask :)

~Michelle

Mentally Changing Our Lives

Today I was talking with a friend of mine who is also doing the HCG Liquid Diet that we have been doing and we covered some topics I wanted to write down here. She is on her second week of phase 2 the first round.. and we are getting ready to start phase 2 round three next weekend. I have learned a lot while on this diet.. one.. people hate the word diet. For me it holds no bad meanings or history or anything so I use it. I can understand that for others it may be an evil word...for whatever reason... so I am ok with them not using it. I think this word is one of the reasons I started thinking about the mental aspect of my life. How to me when I say I am on a "Diet" it means I am focusing on what I am eating and how I am living and trying to do it as healthy as possible. When other people use or hear the word diet they may remember a time when they were starving or they lost weight and then gained it back it may make them feel fat. I can understand that if when you hear the word or see it and it makes you feel bad that then chances are slim that you will have success in what you are attempting.

I have always believed that as humans we believe what we are told and what we see, and picking what we hear or see so that we do not have to face truths. I know that is how it is for me and I watch it happen with others. Example for me.. instead of looking at my whole self and telling myself I was getting fat.. instead I managed to find one thing I did like.. say my shoes.. each day and really focus on how cute they were and I would tell myself many times throughout the day how cute they were.. that way I did not have to see myself for what I was. This list could be endless. I found that by making cupcakes instead of cake I was lying to myself about what and how much I was eating... my bowls and plates and cups got bigger... that way I could pretend I was not eating more... I mean it still looked the same on the plate.

This diet I am on now is teaching me a lot about how I do things.. making me really sit and think and look at myself and how I got where I am and how I am going to get where I want to be and to STAY where I want to be. Number one is being open and honest with myself about me. One thing I have decided is that instead of telling myself I "can't" have fast food or whatever it is. I am just going to say I do not want it. When I use the word "can't" it right away makes me want it even more than I did before. The truth is.. I can have it.. but I really do not want it... not as much as I want to be healthy. In taking this approach I feel stronger... I am the one with the power.. no one is telling me I "can't" .. I am deciding I do not want it.

I need to stay focused on the here and the now with an eye on tomorrow. Keep working towards what I want and keep being honest with how I got where I am. I need to keep my eyes open to everything.. not just what I want to see. I need to take the good and the bad and work on a balance. I need to face those habits I have and change them. I have been thinking of food as a comfort.. and yet... it does not really comfort me when it makes me fat and unhealthy and keeps me from liking myself. This diet is changing how I look at myself and how I deal with things. It is teaching me a lot about myself and how I work. It is helping me to get focused and learn new habits. In the process I am also losing some weight. This "diet" is working well for me!

Walk on Beach

Beach to the left

Beach to the right.

Guarding his part of the beach.

I always want to climb up those stairs, I think there is a magical land up there.. must be to be connect to here.

The treasures I found today :)

Stores Coupon Policys

Some things we need to have. A way to organize our coupons so we know what we have and when it expires. I have mine in a binder and I have a little pocket thing in it so I can keep a pen and some paper and a calculator. Being new to this I have added and changed a few times already... so far so good.. will keep changing until I find what works best for me.

One thing we always need to know are the coupon policy for the stores we are shopping in. I have printed out the ones for the stores I use and added them to my binder.. I have also been told to be sure to check before shopping that they have not changed them.

Walmart Coupon Policy and Ad Match Policy

Target Coupon Policy

Rite Aid Coupon Policy

WalGreens Coupon Policy

Albertsons Coupon Policy

Working on Home Depot, Have been told they accept coupons but so far can not find anything printable... I think it may be a per store thing.. but worth checking your local store. We get the coupons from Lowes all the time but often use Home Depot instead.. I will be trying it next time we shop there. Can't hurt to try!

If there is a store you use not on this list let me know and I will do my best to find it

Coupon Mail Train

I have been reading about a great way to get coupons and have found some friends and family to help me give this a try. Would love to get more people involved so if anyone reading this is interested please let me know.

Right now we are starting off with 4 people, Greta, Brenda, Gina and myself. That is our circle. The plan is that I will clip a bunch of coupons and put them in a business envelope and I will mail them to Greta, she will go through the coupons and take out any that she would like to keep. She will then add in some more.. about the same amount she took about. It is not important here that the Same amount are added.. we do not want to have to use more than one stamp so we want to keep it about the same or a little less. About 60 regular newspaper type coupons is about an ounce, which is one stamp.. anything over that and it is 64 cents up to 2 ounces.. over 2 ounces it changes to 84 cents. Then she will mail it to the next person on the list, Brenda, who will do the same and so on until it is mailed back to me.

If we always take out expired ones and we are always adding new ones it should cycle through and have new coupons each time it gets to each of us. We do need to be sure that we keep it moving... since the coupons do expire. I am hoping that each of the people involved with this will take a moment to post a comment here ( at the bottom of the page ) and let us know what type of coupons you are looking for, certain brands or items. That way we can all keep our eyes open for each other and this could work really well.

Since we are all new to this and there are no real rules.. please let me know if we need to change how anything works.. you can always get a hold of me on twitter, facebook. email, phone, or leave a comment here on the blog :) If you want in on this.. just get me your mailing address and I will add you into the circle.

*I have done some looking into sending expired coupons to the troops and have talked with a friend who is stationed in Germany and I am going to be sending all of them to them to use so no need to take out the expired ones.. I will take care of that when the envelope comes back around :)

Store Coupon Policy links

Out Sailing on the Water

Friday was a beautiful day, warm and windy.. perfect for sailing! We left early and picked up Dave's son and then down the street we picked up his parents. Off we headed to the water. Dave's dad loves to sail, has his own boat but it has not been in the water for a few years and needs a little TLC (which it will be getting over the winter) His dad is having some health issues and one thing we have learned over the years is that it is not a good idea to wait to do things you really want to do and to share them with people who you really love. We have been talking about going sailing with his dad and with john for years... the time was Friday.

The only sail boat I have ever really seen was Steve's ( Dave's dad) his is 25 feet and well.. to me.. it is a sail boat.. that is about all I know. When I booked the charter for Friday I booked it on a 33 foot sail boat.. I figured it would be huge.. like a yacht or something.. well I was totally clueless. It was a lot longer than Steve's.. but the sitting area was not any bigger.. in fact it is smaller.. was a bit of a crowded trip but we all like each other so that was ok.

We ended up powering up to Langley because it was too windy and the captain said we would all end up soaking wet and maybe sea sick.... well we ended up soaking wet anyway but it was still fun. We had a wonderful lunch in Langley at the Braeburn and I loved it. The food was wonderful, the service was great, the building was fun .. We will go back there for sure! There was a street fair going on right outside the windows so we were able to watch people and sit and visit while having lunch.. was a great time. On the way back we were able to sail.. I have to say.. getting the sails up and ready to go was a bit nerve wracking.. both sails were not really ready to go.. they were twisted and it was a bit of a mess.. twice the boom went flying almost knocking people off the boat.. but once they were up and we were on our way it was wonderful. Made some good time on the way back too.. 10.3 knots was the fastest we went.. ( on the way there we only went like 3.5) But it did not seem very fast.. the wind was with us and the water was beautiful, the sun was warm and it was so quiet.

On the way up to Langley Steve was in charge of the tiller (?) I have no clue.. I just know it is not called a wheel.. and in this case it really looks just like a stick so I am not sure. On the way back Dave and John did the raising ( not pulling ) of the sails and that sort of thing.. I am seriously going to have to learn a whole new language here. John and I had not been on a sail boat before and both of us are ready to be on one again ASAP.. we can't wait to get dads all fixed up and maybe even go out for a long weekend in it.

Not only was the sailing wonderful but the very best thing about Friday was the time spent with people I care so much about. So many smiles and hugs and happy memories. It will be a day I will never forget and that I will always treasure. I hope to have a lot more of these days to make memories like this with these people and with the rest of my family and friends too. It is important to remember that we never know what will happen tomorrow and we need to live each day to the fulliest and to share our love and smiles and to care for each other before we are gone.

This picture wraps up the whole day for me. Everyone smiling.. and in one picture! These guys almost never smile.

No Sugar Cheese Cake

Added a few extra berries here... it is my favorite part :)


I made this last Thursday.. super easy and simple and it taste great. I made a half recipe and put it in a pie pan with a thin graham cracker crust. I did not have any fruit in the cheese cake itself.. just fresh berries on top. I also did not add the butter to the cheese cake but used a little with the cracker crumbs. Cut it in 8 pieces and figured out the math so that each piece (minus berries on top) was about 150 calories. The full recipe says it makes 12 servings.

Cheese cake recipe from HCG liquid diet Phase three recipe (lots more recipes at the link too)

• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups Plain Yogurt Plain Greek yogurt is good!
• 1 tablespoon Stevia
• 16 ounces cream cheese Softened
• 2 tablespoons butter melted

Directions

In a large bowl, blend together eggs, vanilla, sour cream and stevia. Slowly add butter and cream cheese. Spoon about 1/2c mix into another bowl and add raspberry flavoring (sugar free, any flavor) Mix well. Spoon remaining mix into a 10 inch spring release pan or 12 ramekins.(see photo) Add dollops of raspberry batter on top and swirl thru. If desired, you can make a crust from 1 1.2 cups ground almonds, 1/4 cup splenda and 1/4 butter. Mix all together like you would graham cracker crust and line pan or ramekins. (calculations do not include crust) Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-25 min if cooking ramekins, 35-40 min for spring pan. This will not look done, but will firm up when refrigerated. Place ramekins in a water bath or place a shallow pan with water in overn below the pan or ramekins. Garnish with fresh raspberries and whipped cream if desired (not included in counts) This can be frozen. Number of Servings: 12

I let it cool a bit then put it in the fridge.. I got busy and forgot to cover it and it sinked down and cracked a bit.. next time I will cover right away.. and eat the next day.. we ended up not eating it until Saturday night.. it had dried out a bit too much.. but was still good :)