All of my babies in a row!

All 6 of my babies in a row and still room for me. . .on the very end next to Mary!

New Cards

My wonderful in-laws bought a Cricut machine for me for Christmas. Yesterday I was finally able to experiment with it. I still need to do some more trial and error, but these three cards are what I came up with. I wasn't feeling very creative, more intrigued by the machine. I had a lot of fun, and I won't tell you how much time passed while making 3 cards. Thanks Mom2 and Dad2!

My find for the day!

I have been meaning to buy a white button-up shirt for work, but didn't want to spend big bucks on it. James and I went to Walmart (I do not enjoy that store) and didn't find anything that I wanted. So I decided to visit a local consignment store called Liza Jane. I have never bought anything in a consignment store and I am not even sure if I have ever been in one before today. Well I found the white shirt above. It is from Chicos. When I went to their website I could not find a button-up shirt for less than $50. The top button was broken in half, so I just switched it with one of the buttons on the cuff. There is a little pen mark on one of the arms, but it's for work and will get dirty anyway. Grand total: $7.56. (It looks huge in the picture, but it is not really that big.)

Christmas at Huntsville State Park

This is the Nature Center at Hunstville State Park. Because it is Christmas, it wasn't open. It looked pretty cool on the inside, and I wish we could have gone in.

Here's James riding over alligator alley, even though we didn't see any alligators. Probably just as well since I had a dream the night before that I got attacked by an alligator.

Look at my professional mountain bike riding skills. What an amazing feat! Yeah right! I had a great time though. There are a lot of tree roots that we had to ride over. I decided that since I couldn't run (because of my bum ankle), that I was going to completely let loose mountain biking today. It paid off because I felt a lot more comfortable and had an awesome time.

Aren't we lovely? This is on one of the fishing docks at Huntsville State Park.

Reusable wrapping paper

I had been reading several blogs lately about "reusable" wrapping paper. I thought it sounded like a good idea so I made my own. I didn't use a pattern, just sewed a "bag" with ribbons on the edges. I made 5 of them and have wrapped J's presents in them. The blue one with the gold ribbon was my first one and I messed up and sewed the ribbons on the wrong side, thus the curling ribbon. Thankfully I didn't make that mistake again!

Fancy was determined!

Fancy was absolutely determined to get on the couch the other night. There was no room for her, or so James and I thought. She literally jumped up and squeezed into the tiniest of places. She ended up laying in this weird hunchback position and actually stayed there for over an hour until Kramer moved.

This is the view from a little further out. Determined little girl isn't she?

Finally went for a long run today.

Here we are at the start of the run. It was about 7:15 AM. Once again, I ran and James rode his bike. I ran for about an hour and a half which translates to between 9 and 10 miles of running today. My right ankle is killing me, especially since I went to work after the run and stood all day.

This is towards the middle of the run after I got off this dirt road the "nice" hills started coming along.

This is just a really pretty picture that James took!

I love my husband!

Today is our 10 year anniversary. James showed up at work today with sunflowers and a chocolate basket! He is so sweet! I bought him lunch for his troubles! :)

Just precious!

As usual James fell asleep on the couch last night. The beasts have really been cuddling with him lately and last night was no exception. Daisy loves to sleep at her Daddy's head so she can keep his neck warm.

Here's the wider shot. You can't see Mary but she's on the other side of Daisy. Darla is on the floor. I love my family!

My beautiful beasts!

Fancy decided she was going to get in the papasan chair no matter what! Mary got out of the chair within 2 minutes of Fancy sitting down on her!

Cold run

I'm trying to maintain my training for the 25K trail run I have in January, but mornings like this make it really difficult. Even though it was 35 degrees and there were 15-20 mph gusts of wind, I convinced myself to go for a short run. Short because I am battling an ankle injury. I ended up running in the cold for about 40 minutes. I was pretty proud of myself for going even though I didn't want to. I had three layers of clothes on so that I wouldn't freeze.

Kramer's first meet and greet!

I took my foster dog Kramer to his first meet and greet today. He did really well and was very lovey with everyone. He wasn't bothered by the small dogs or pig that were walking all around. I was going to take a picture of him totally wiped out (I also took him for his first two mile run today), but I can't find my camera right now.

Cards

Although I wasn't feeling super creative, I made my holiday cards and a couple extra the other day. I like the "plain" stream-lined look of them. Nothing fancy, but they are original.

Fruit Cake

James really likes fruitcake. He really likes his Grandma's fruitcake. Unfortunately no one can seem to find a copy of her recipe. I found this recipe for a fruitcake loaf and thought I would give it a shot. James said it tastes good. When I make it next year for him I am going to add raisins to it and maybe soak it with a sugar syrup of some kind. I might also try rum extract instead of vanilla extract. As a warning, this recipe is expensive because of all the candied fruit.

Trail run pics. . .as promised

Here I am at the start of the run, freezing my rear off! Someone told me it was in the high 20s when we started out. Talk about cold.

I'm the third one from the end. This was the very start of the trail. We all kind of left at the same time and then I caught up to the people in front (you can't see them). You also get your only glimpse of James as his shadow is prominently displayed at the bottom. He's so wonderful!



I don't even know where this is, but since I'm still wearing the pants and the jacket I know it was on the first loop.

Trail run pictures. . .as promised

This picture was taken when we were coming down the last hill of the first loop. Even though I look really funny in the picture, at that point felt really awesome!

I think this is one of the hills that I had to run down once and up once. I am directionally challenged so it is difficult for me to know where I was at what point. James was a real trooper today. He was riding his mountain bike up and down a bunch of these hills trying to guess where I was going to be in order to get pictures. He is just as sore as I am today!

This is the view from one of the ridges of the hills I ran over.

Here I am after the run. I felt really good and was very proud of myself. I was actually in the front of the pack group, when I was sure I was going to be bringing up the rear. Granted a lot of people ran further than I did, but for never having run that distance, I think I did pretty good.

And finally my post run refueling meal. We went to a place called Bobby J's in Helotes and had burgers and fries. They tasted pretty good, but I think at that point almost anything would have tasted good!

Today's trail run

Well, I participated in a "disorganized" trail run today called Bunmart. My goal was to run 15 miles which is what I have to run in January at the same natural area. I actually ended up running closer to 20 miles. I met this awesome guy who helped pace me the whole way. The hills there are overwhelming-steep, long, and rocky. I just walked up the hills and kept running. I do need to get better about running down hill. I still value my life and can't seem to get rid of the self-preservation thing. I need to just loosen up and let my momentum carry me down. Something to work on. James took pictures and I will post them tomorrow.

Too busy

I've been working every day and just haven't had time to post anything. I'll post something this weekend.