Disappearing Act...

I disappeared again, sorry sometimes I get busy and it always seems like blogging gets put aside. A busy long weekend getting things done around the house plus our Internet network being out for a bit combined to cause my lack of posting...so moving on.

A big THANK YOU goes out to all of your for continuing to come back here to my little corner of the blog world. I love and appreciate the comments, and I hope to figure out how to respond to your comments. I've been blogging for a year and haven't really done much yet. I get easily distracted, but I'm still loving the comments!!!


Getting My Clean On...
The filing drawers are finally clean. YEAH!!! It took some motivation to tackle, but I grabbed everything out of the drawers, spread it out on the floor, and just started dealing with it.

While I was working away it looked like this....

After it was all done my drawers and floors were in great shape. Everything got put in a binder or tossed if it wasn't necessary. Even all the owner's manuals have their own spot now, it may not sound exciting but it is! The only pile left is destined for the recycle bin...


Getting My Bake On...
I also got a chance to do some baking for my neighbor's son who has been helping shovel our sidewalks and driveway during the last few snowstorms. I guess he just likes to shovel, so I thought it appropriate to reward him with tasty cookies! (My husband benefited too!)



Other than that I've been sticking to my plan, getting my workouts in, making food at home, and finding ways to keep reaching for those goals! I even went for a run outside yesterday with temps 10 or less, but it was so sunny I couldn't resist the Vitamin D!

Oh wait...
I did attempt the cookbook challenge again this week- but it didn't work as planned. I used this cookbook:



I was going to make the asparagus risotto with tilapia for Matt's dinner last night, but in the rush I grabbed wheat berries from the cupboard instead of the rice- so it never actually came to be. He didn't go hungry though, I quickly whipped up whole wheat rice and topped it with the tilapia and asparagus- his taste buds were happy!

Alright I'm signing out for tonight...hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on ZUMBA!

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
We'll I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord
-In the Air Tonight, Phil Collins
(Tell me you don't love the drum solo!)

I'm still here...

It's the holidays and life has gotten a bit busy, and when I get a few minutes I'm typically reading other blogs. Let's just say I'm torn- write my own blog or gain inspiration from other blogs. I seem to be taking the inspiration!

In my absense I've been doing lots of stuff:

-Working as usual, but looking forward to some holiday vacation!

-Going to the gym to stay fit and get stronger!

-Getting New Winter Tires (They plow through quite nicely.)


-Scrubbing our floors on my hands and knees. I do own a mop, but I just feel like getting down there with the dirt gets it cleaner.

-Putting my dining room back together for the first time since the remodel that started in May!
During the remodel:

Present Day:


-Decorating the dining room so we can show a little Christmas spirit- hopefully next year we can have a tree!



-Baking Matt a batch of Ginger Snaps, and probably the only cookie I don't like.


-Starting work on my homemade Christmas gifts.

-Enjoying Sunday Brunch with the girls as part of our Christmas celebration!


-Falling down the stairs, which a good friend of mine can understand. I'm sure she is in much more pain than I am- I only have two small bruises. (Feel better soon!)

-And trying to come up with a plan for improving my blogging, which I hope to do more of starting in the new year. I just need to figure out what will work for me and what you all will want to read.

So with that I ask: Anything you'd like to see or read on my blog? What am I doing well? Want more health/fitness? More Cooking? More Baking?

Tell me what you think- I could use a little feedback.

Sponge Bath...

Today was a busy day...

We started our day with a run to a local home improvement store for some quarter-round that we need to finish the dining room and rest of the house. But while there, we got distracted by another potential project- exterior doors.

They had a great clearance door that has the mini-blind inside the glass panes!! How fun is that!? It was a pretty good deal, but since we didn't have the right vehicle with us we decided to check our look Habitat for Humanity Re-Store, to see if they had a better deal first.

Reuse didn't have anything to fit our needs, so we got the other car, the roof rack, and headed back across town to see if we could get an even better deal on the door. And my husband- so bargain savvy- got another $25 off! The door has some minor blemishes- but to me it's 1000 times better than our original door. Only $125!!!

And who says you need a pick-up truck...its multi purpose!


Matt was very excited for the new door, so he spent the rest of the day ripping out the old one, and installing the new one. It is "almost" done, and will be finished up tomorrow.

Now onto the sponge bath...

While Matt was busily installing the door, I decided to capitalize on this beautiful 60 degree weather in Buffalo and give the cars a sponge bath. Both of our cars were in serious need of some love. I sprayed and scrubbed them clean. I didn't realize just how dirty they were until I was up close cleaning!

Tomorrow I'm hoping to get to the interiors of both of our cars- oh and I really need to pick up some new brushes in preparation for the white stuff (aka the"s" word) that I'm sure will fall before I'm ready for it.

Off to dinner- I'm starving!

Back in Buffalo...

Sorry it's been so long again, but it feels like I keep running from one thing to the next. The few minutes I do get I prefer to take a few minutes to get something done around the house. This is actually the first time I've touched my computer since landing in Buffalo on Friday. So where's a brief and random recap for you...

Since getting back in town on Friday I've been trying to get back into the swing of being home, but it's been difficult since I know I have to leave again next Monday. Actually I didn't official get to our house until Saturday because we had to see some friends. And I'm actually still living out of my suitcase at the moment, but I might be able to get it unpacked tonight.

Matt and I have been busy getting the house in order, and are trying to make some solid decisions on our kitchen. IKEA is having their semi-annual kitchen sale so we need to decide what we are going to do, if we are going to do the full remodel or just a slight upgrade. Hopefully by this weekend we'll have a better idea of the total remodel costs.

Another item on the to-do list is to clean out the old car, and have it inspected for lease turn-in in the next week or so. Then it's off to the DMV to get the new car officially on the road- for now it is just a "lawn ornament" until it has license plates.

This past Sunday I did another long run with Matt leading me on his bike. He was at the ready with water and support. The gps on the phone wasn't functioning for a portion of the run so I'm not sure that I made it the full 11 miles, but I know I ran for a little over 2 hours so I imagine I got pretty close. Next week, it is on to 12 miles- which will be the longest until the actual half.

Alright, for now those are my random thoughts. Now off to put the laundry away and then it's time to clean out the car to get ready for the inspection on Friday.

Short and Sweet...

Tonight's post is short because it has been a busy day, and I'm tired. I have some kind of congestion too- so I just want a hot shower and my bed.

I wanted to share with you that our new curtains for the new windows are finally up. We found great deals between $5 sheers at Christmas Tree and 50% off at JCP. So excited to have curtains that are the same length, and not faded from the intense sun. (Yes, sun in Buffalo- can you believe it? I think it is the worse when the snow is on the ground- so reflective!) We made sure to get lined curtains this time around to hopefully avoid the color fading. We're pretty pleased with how they came out, what do you think?



Look for the next 'Half-Marathon Weekly' coming tomorrow. If you've decided to join the challenge, welcome to the fun! It will be hard, but we can do it.