Personal Goal - Blog Challenge #5

This challenge is from Pamela:
As women we all spend time putting others first, worrying about them, taking care of their needs, scheduling their lives with little time left over for ourselves. For this week's challenge: What is your most important personal goal for the year? What are you doing that is just for you? How are you trying to improve yourself?

Without a doubt, my most important personal goal for the year is to lose weight. Not only will I look and feel better about myself, but it will also enable me to achieve a healthier lifestyle both physically and mentally. With each 5 lb. weight loss goal reached, I know that I am reducing my risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, etc. With each bit of weight loss, it becomes easier to exercise, and each exercise session makes it easier to lose weight.

I want to be around for my husband and children for many years to come. I want to be around for any grandchildren that might be in my future. So, even though I am doing this for me, I can see nothing but good things resulting from this for us all.

A Belated Valentine's Day Story

Mike and I agreed that we would keep Valentine's Day fairly low-key - just exchange cards and go out for dinner. I wasn't too surprised when he went out after supper on Wednesday. His reason - "I have to go shopping." I figured that meant he was going out to buy the card. I did wonder when he was out for several hours, but I figured he just stopped to check on a friend or something like that.

When he got home from work, my card for him was on the counter already. I went downstairs to greet him and there's a card for me along with a Ghirardelli Chocolate square and cute little heart eraser. Open the cards - hugs & kisses - where shall we go to eat?

We decided to go to HuHot which is one of my current favorite restaurants because it's so Weight Watcher friendly. We got there and were seated at our table. After giving our drink orders, Mike suggested that I go up first to get my food because I was really hungry. When I came back to the table, the little easel which shows beverage choices was sitting right where my dish was supposed to go so I just pushed it to the side. Michael rescued the easel and took a small package wrapped in red paper and a bow from inside of it. I was so surprised!

This is what was inside the box - the perfect gift for a penguin lover - a gold penguin with jade tummy! It turns out that he went to 13 jewelry stores from downtown Neenah to out in the mall before finding a piece of penguin jewelry for me. He's such a sweetheart - definitely a keeper!

Scrapbooking Quiz

Stacy posted this on the scrapbooking discussion board & I thought it would make a great blog entry.

1. Name your two favorite scrapbooking topics: Family and travel

2. Where are the two best places you’ve been to? England and New York City.

3. Name two things you do every day:
a. Go online to read what's happening on ScrapShare.
b. Check my e-mail.

4. Tell us two things that pretty much everyone knows about you:
a. I am a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings.
b. I love to play bridge.

5. Tell us two things that everyone DOESN’T know about you:
a. I now have a sizable penguin collection.
b. I tend to procrastinate.

6. Tell us two things that got you into the "hobby" of scrapping:
a. wanting to do something with the photos of our GS troop trip to NYC
b. my first CM class on 9/13/2001

7. Tell us two things that you want to accomplish in the next six months in your scrapbooking (my addition):
a. I want to finish the 2006 Disney Album.
b. I want to finish the albums that just need some finishing touches.

8. Name your two favorite scrapping tools: My CM trimmers and my scrapbooking tweezers

9. Name your two favorite sources of scrapping inspiration: Layouts posted on ScrapShare and Becky Higgins' Sketches

10. How has your scrapping changed since you started? I now wallpaper most of my layouts.

11. What scrapbooking project have you yet to try but would love to? I have two projects actually that I haven't taken the first step on - a Book of Me and Family Heritage albums.

Weight Loss Milestone

I've been going to Weight Watchers meetings since mid-October. Today I cleared the hump of losing 30 pounds, 30.8 to be precise. This is a major achievement for me. This is the least I have weighed in probably the last five years. And I plan to stick with the program and release a lot more of this weight from my body. I'm very thankful that my friend Judy M. got me started on this current weight loss journey. Each week I feel more and more empowered and confident that I can lose and reach my goal weight.

50 Questions & 50 Answers

I snitched this topic from my friend Weezie's blog.

Here are my 50 answers...
1. FIRST NAME? Judy
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Not my first name. My middle name Ann is from my mother's name, Anna.
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? A day or two ago, reading about my message board friend mickey_lou, a young mom who is battling cancer.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? It's okay.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? Roast beef, but ham is a close second.
6. KIDS? Jim & Liz
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes, I think so.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Just this blog...
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? I resemble this question.
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILLS? Nope.
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Absolutely not!
12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Smart Start
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes, but I don't wear tie shoes that often.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically, not very. Emotionally, yes.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Coffee.
16. SHOE SIZE? 9.5
17. RED OR PINK? Red
18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight.
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My parents
20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? No, since I'm not sending it to anyone.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING? Blue Jeans and black shoes
22. LAST THING YOU ATE? Stir-fry from HuHot.
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The noise my computer makes and crying cats.
24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Cool Blue
25. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SMELL? Lilacs in the spring
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My friend Elina.
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their smile.
28. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Yes, although Weezie didn't send this to me.
29. FAVORITE DRINK? A nice cup of hot tea
30. FAVORITE SPORT? The Olympics is my favorite sporting event. I don't follow a particular sport.
31. HAIR COLOR? Medium dark brown.
32. EYE COLOR? Blue
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No, I wear glasses.
34. FAVORITE FOOD? A nice juicy steak and baked potato.
35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy Ending.
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? No Country for Old Men
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Green.
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer!!!
39. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Chocolate Jumbo cookies
41. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Not a clue.
42. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Ditto the above answer.
43. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Getting ready to start the new Jayne Ann Krentz book Sizzle and Burn
44. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSEPAD? My mouse - mousepad is plain dark blue.
45. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? 2 episodes of Midsomer Murders
46. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Music
47. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles
48. THE FURTHEST YOU BEEN FROM HOME? Trip to Yorkshire, England
49. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I guess just being pretty smart.
50. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? February 5th, 1955 in Albany, New York

Birthdays

Today was my birthday! I love having my birthday on this day - far enough away from Christmas and not too close to Valentine's Day. And it really helps to break up the winter monotony.

I love being able to spread out my birthday celebrating. I thought I was going to have to do a Girl Scout training this evening so Mike and I celebrated on Sunday by going to the movies and out to dinner at Red Lobster. Today, I made a birthday treat and took it to bridge at Mary's where my friends all wished me a Happy Birthday and gave me a card. Liz called to wish me a Happy Birthday and Mike & I ended up going out for Chinese because I wasn't cooking on my B-Day! Tomorrow I'll be going out for my birthday lunch with the former walking group and later this month the Friday Breakfast Club will go out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. Even my online friends have been celebrating with me today - many birthday wishes in posts and via private messages!

Mental Holiday

This week's ScrapShare blog challenge is from Lee:
When the phone is ringing, the doorbell is going off, kids are yelling, laundry is overwhelming and dinner has burned and you sit down to a cup of tea, where do you let your mind go?

When I'm in need of a mental holiday, I have two tried and true escape routes. The first is to go browsing through my bookcases and take the time to pick a favorite book that I haven't read for a while. I'll take my book and my cup of tea and travel through time or space or both and immerse myself in the wonderful world of fiction. I may be having a torrid romance, or making my debut at Almack's in Regency-era London. Maybe I'll be feeding marshmallows to Thursday Next's dodo or following Poirot's line of reasoning as he solves another murder. There's nothing like getting away from it all by getting lost in a good book.

But, if I don't feel like reading, then I'll turn to the movies. We have an extensive collection of movies and TV series on videotape and dvds. Sometimes, it's movie marathon time and that's all I'll do is lay on the bed and watch or sit in my favorite chair in the family room. But even better is taking the movies upstairs to my scrap room and watching while scrapping. When you've seen a movie a gazillion times, it's easy to just listen while working and look up to watch the good parts.

Now, if books and movies aren't enough, I'm lucky enough to have no children at home to deal with and a very understanding husband. I have been known to pack my scrapbooking up and throw a suitcase in the car and head off for warmer climes when I really need the mental break time.