It's finally Friday!

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Woohoo! It's Friday. Couldn't be happier.

Happy to report that we made it thru the week without the death of any major home appliances. Whew.

It was a close call though, my next door neighbor's hot water heater died yesterday. 

Happy to be coming into a VERY uneventful weekend. Down time much needed. Hooray. It is supposed to rain all weekend and that is fine w/me...I will happily stay home and indoors. Whoa... I rarely say that!!

Sunday happens to be our 6th anniversary....whoa - miracles people, true miracle here!! :)

20 school days left after today. Amen to that. 

35 days to Myrtle  Beach. Can't wait. Me. Dad. Ethan. It's an annual tradition now...5 years standing. 2009: Myrtle 2010: Orlando 2011: Edisto 2012: Orlando 2013: Myrtle. Actually longer, I cannot recall our destination for 2008, but I know that in 2007 I went to Myrtle w/dad and technically so did Ethan...in my belly. :)

The book fair has been at our school this week. In other words, I've done a lot of unplanned/compulsive spending this week. Ha! Ethan is the proud owner of 4 new books. Soon to be 5 when I get my "freebie" for being on the Book Fair Committee. I should pick one for myself instead. 

I am most looking forward to summer to do more reading. These past few months have been slow in the reading world for me. The year started off with some not-so-great books and while I'm still motivated to read obsessed with reading, I've just not had the time I used to. Time. Time. Time. 

Happy Friday people!!

it's been a week...yes, THAT kind of week

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I guess it's actually been a couple of weeks...

Last week our clothes dryer died. We got about 12 years out of it so I guess I can't really complain, though both of us thought the washer would be the first to go since it only goes into the SPIN cycle when it's in the mood. Thankfully we can force it do SPIN by resetting the dial manually...but still. I'm not jinxing myself here, but it will be a true miracle if that machine sees 2014.

This week, the toilet in the master bath starts making some funky noises and there has been a leak at the seal for a while - that O chooses to "ignore"...or I guess actually he HAS acknowledged it, but has ignored the fixing of said leak. Lovely. Not so much.

One of the perks at work is everyone knows everyone's business...literally, like what they do for a living (and then some!) and one mom referred me to another dad who is a plumber or actually a superstar home remodel dude. I was greatly relieved when he agreed to come over yesterday to look at the scary toilet. At 7pm!! Happily, it's not a major problem but since it will cost us $80 for him to fix the seal and only another $35 to put in a whole new toilet, we are going TOILET SHOPPING tonight!!! Who knew I would ever be SO excited to buy a freakin' toilet?!?! But I am. Oh yeah, still not getting anything terribly fancy, but it will be a Kohler and have that awesome hydraulic seat!!! It's the little things people!!

I really am somewhat afraid to see what next week will bring. I would say that I sort of predicted all this...we were just about to be free from a long-standing Best Buy bill for a no interest purchase of days past and the freedom has alluded us since now we have the dryer to pay for. Ugh! And now a toilet. Here's hoping the bigger and costlier appliances hang on for a while!!

What's on your...

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Absolutely LOVED this post idea from Ali, which she borrowed from her sister's blog...I just had to do my own!! Here’s what’s on my… 

VANITY |I don’t have a vanity, but if we're talking bathroom counter, then well, on it sits a white basket that holds all the essentials: toothpaste, lotion, brush/comb etc. Electric toothbrush also finds it home on the bathroom counter. 

PERENNIAL TO DO LIST | Laundry. Dishes. Sweep the floor. Take Ethan "scootering". Make more layouts. Exercise. Read. 

REFRIGERATOR SHELVES | Pop. Milk. Eggs. Strawberries. Greek yogurt. Cottage Cheese. 

ITINERARY | Myrtle Beach in June w/E and my dad. Folly Beach in July w/O & E. Basically our "routine" yearly vacations...one w/dad and one with just the 3 of us. One night trip to Nashville w/Carla & kiddos - that one will be SO MUCH FUN!!

FANTASY ITINERARY Australia. Caribbean. Disney. Heck w/as little travel as I've done in the past 5 years, I'd welcome a trip to just about anywhere. :) 

PLAYLIST | I have been in a music funk lately. Nothing is calling out to me. All these "trendy" new bands/songs that I hear people talking about just do absolutely NOTHING for me. Am I music nerd? Nerd as in that I don't listen to what is considered "cool"? I dunno. Not sure I care either. 

NIGHTSTAND | Books! They have been there for ages. Ever since moving to an e-reader, it's a HUGE challenge for me to pick up a "real" book. I DO want to read them though. There are also some of Ethan's books here and those DO get read regularly. Alarm Clock. Lamp. Cordless phone (that pretty much never gets used). 

WORKOUT PLAN Ideally I'd get to the Y 3 times per week...lately it's been only 2 times. This week, it will be ONE time - but I'm OK with that as I declared this week as a week for ME...hence while E goes to a friend's house to play today after school, I WILL go to SBUX to read, relax & recharge instead of RACING to the Y for a quick run. Today I am putting the guilt aside. The Y will wait until Thursday and when I'm there, the plan is a 30 minute run, 10-15 minute walk w/incline, 10-15 minutes on the bicycle and/or some weight machines, followed by yoga class.

IPHONE | Instagram, Words w/Friends, Goodreads, My Fitness Pal, texts from friends & my mom. 

TOP 5 LIST | Cuddle time with Ethan. A day with no commitments. beach time. home improvement projects. seeing Ethan happy. 

BUCKET LIST | See a game in every MLB park. Disney Cruise. Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC. WDW at Christmas time. Own another Jeep Wrangler. Be debt-free. 

MIND That there are only 28 school days left. summer plans. losing weight/eating healthy (permanently on my mind it seems). 

WALLS OF YOUR FAVORITE ROOM IN YOUR HOUSE | a really poor paint job w/a blah yellowish color put on my the realtor who had the house listed when we bought it. do we need to paint it? yes. someday. I do have a fabulous canvas pic of Ethan hanging in there though which makes the walls much better!! 

LIQUOR SHELF | what liquor shelf? 

LAST CREDIT CARD STATEMENT Thankfully, just payments, no charges!!! :) 

SCREENSAVER | A picture of Ethan. 

TV EVERY NIGHT | Usually Ninjago or Wild Kratts. I last watched TV on Sunday w/O as we are trying to get through The History Channel's "The Bible" series...almost done!!

a few scrappy moments

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Being on my LSS Design Team again has inspired me to do more layouts, well, actually I have to since that is what is wanted for display in the store. I'm loving it. I have had my love for layouts rekindled and now I get to battle between them and working on Project Life. Oh joy!!  Here are a few I made recently...there are a few more but I forgot to take pictures of them before I took them up to the store. 

Only 18months old here - I loved pulling out these "old" pictures and scrapping them.

I'm really happy with how this one turned out...and that doesn't always happen.

The hexagon craze may be in the past...but I still love it!!

I had a blast putting together this little mini album of Ethan's 5th birthday celebrations. I also put together a tutorial on it for my LSS...you can find it here if you are interested. :)

randomness

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*so glad it's Friday.

*so that consignment sale I was trying to prepare for. yeah, never did it. couldn't find the time (or desire or energy) to price everything & deal with the drop off process. There's always the Fall sale.

*Spring Break was awesome, but a complete whirlwind. I love all that Atlanta offers, but totally despise the traffic there. It's worse than anywhere else I have lived!! Ethan LOVED the Lego Discovery Center!!

*hoping that Ethan's bedroom gets painted tomorrow, but the guy we have lined up to do it might have to work his regular job. Ugh. I can't stand being "in limbo"---I want to put his room back together ASAP.

*30 school days left in the year. amen!

*have a good weekend.

I Want Wednesday

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I want: a few solid days of reading time...oh my goodness...I have had next to ZERO reading time lately, it's crazy, I can't even identify entirely where the time has gone. I'm 4 books behind on my Goodreads reading goal for the year and I don't remember ever being that far behind. It seems like books are taking forever for me to read.

That is all I want right now.

The end!

I Want Wednesday

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I want: this American Crafts Roller Date stamp...sure I have 4 similar to this already, but this the ONLY one that stamps the day as well as the date!! Must have for Project Life!!

I want: this windshield/dashboard iPhone holder...particularly for my road trip to Myrtle Beach in June w/my dad. 

I want: this bright and adorable PLUTO watch. Totally don't need, but want as it would make a lovely addition to my Pluto collection. (Thank you Pinterest for helping me find this!!)

I want: this adorable silver ring. I absolutely love the simplicity of it!

I want: for the next book I read to be AWESOME...2013 has been a year of book duds...big time. They sound fabulous based on the description but then just fall flat. 

April 1 Update

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Late in the month of March I decided to track some numbers on my (lack of) workout activity, as well as other random things. Here are the results, some of which I'm happy with, others not so much!! Here's hoping April will look somewhat better.

Crunches: 100 (started late in March on this!! LOL)

Push Ups: Big Fat ZERO

Miles Ran: 18 - kind of pitiful really...only ran 7 times. Not sure why I skipped an entire week?!

Photos Taken: 138 is a low estimate & does not count the ones I have deleted along the way. 

Books Read: 3-ish...almost 4.

Pounds Lost/Gain:  up and down in a 2lb window...depends on which day you ask me as to where I'm at.