Category Archives: Positive

A Short Post Before Hitting the Hay!

Good evening!

I am so tired! My sweetie and I went out with our friends, Dawn and Errin, this evening! We went and saw Captain America, in 3D. Yes, I know we just saw that a few days ago, but anything to hang out with my bestie,  Dawn!! Captain America is super hot! Jason and I are stilled amazed that they were able to make him start out as a puny-pipsqueak-type guy, but turn him into the hunkiest-buff-meisters ever! Yes, you heard me – that is my official geekdom, shining through!!

Anyway, it is EXTREMELY late, and if I don’t climb into bed within the next few minutes I fear I will never be able to get out of bed on time tomorrow morning, and being late for work is just not an option right now!! 😉

Sometimes you just gotta listen to your body, so off to bed I go!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

NOTE TO CHUNKY DUNKERS: Did you think I would forget about you??? NO WAY!!! I will see you all here tomorrow evening at 7 PM! I can’t wait to hear how everyone is doing!! Toodles until then!! 😉

A Short Post Before Hitting the Hay!

Good evening!

I am so tired! My sweetie and I went out with our friends, Dawn and Errin, this evening! We went and saw Captain America, in 3D. Yes, I know we just saw that a few days ago, but anything to hang out with my bestie,  Dawn!! Captain America is super hot! Jason and I are stilled amazed that they were able to make him start out as a puny-pipsqueak-type guy, but turn him into the hunkiest-buff-meisters ever! Yes, you heard me – that is my official geekdom, shining through!!

Anyway, it is EXTREMELY late, and if I don’t climb into bed within the next few minutes I fear I will never be able to get out of bed on time tomorrow morning, and being late for work is just not an option right now!! 😉

Sometimes you just gotta listen to your body, so off to bed I go!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

NOTE TO CHUNKY DUNKERS: Did you think I would forget about you??? NO WAY!!! I will see you all here tomorrow evening at 7 PM! I can’t wait to hear how everyone is doing!! Toodles until then!! 😉

An Evening of Decor & Fashion!

La Dolce Vita

Good evening!

OK, so I had better get with the program and get a posting out there tonight! This evening, I have been feverishly going through decorating books, and fashion magazines. I am not exactly sure what I am looking for, but I know it is time for some slight modifications to my immediate world around me – namely my living room decor. I am bored with it. Which, when I think about it is not too surprising! I have always been very nomadic in my life, moving from place to place to place, and we have lived in our condo for 5 years, which may be longer than I have lived anywhere!! Well, I am bored with it all! My favorite thing about moving all the time was that moving not only gives you the opportunity to go through all of your belongings and decide what is important to you and what isn’t, it also forces you to redecorate for each new place you move too. I LOVE decorating, and I kind of have a natural talent for it!

I would LOVE to be able to house all of my books in one room. I have more than 1200 books, so that, right now is a problem, because space is rather tight!! All the same, I have just ordered my new Ikea catalog for some storage/creative use of space ideas, and I am dreaming about what this living room could be!

I would love to see this room have more seating, and a much more comfortable couch for visiting with company AND for cuddling up to watch movies!! I would like it to be in a more neutral color, so that I can decorate with throw blankets and pillows, and easily change them on a whim – whenever the mood strikes! Having a red couch has been fun, but if I had given it some real thought, I would have preferred a neutral-colored couch with a red slipcover!!! That way I would have had some real versatility!

Alkemie

I love the idea of being surrounded by books, art, and music. Being comfortable in your space, but at the same time, have a sense of plushness, and sophistication – all while being able to cuddle up in a blanket with a good book, while your bare feet are thrown over the arm of a chair! Simply divine!

Alkemie

I also LOVE the idea of some more versatile lighting in this place. I have a few lamps in this room, and in the Winter I utilize the glow of candlelight quite a bit. I know that someday, when we are in our actual house, then I will have a chandelier in our living room, and it will be very chi-chi-fab!!! I can just picture it now! 😉

Alkemie

Anyway, I am going to put together a design board for my dream living room, and then modify that so that I can have my “dream room” on a smaller scale for this place, so that even though my sweetie and I have to be here for a couple of more years, it will still feel like home – at least for now!! 😉

Alkemie

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

An Aunt Dimity Kind of Sunday!

Good evening!

I have having a really good Sunday!!

I am reading the first book in the Aunt Dimity series, by Nancy Atherton. The first book is called, Aunt Dimity’s Death. This was one of the series that was left to me by my Grandma Kay, and I have to say, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE it!!! The book is fun, and the premise is interesting. Matter of fact, the character reminds me so my of my sweet Kay, and even her lovely cottage in the English country-side reminds me SO MUCH of the sweet, homey vibe that I always felt out at Kay’s beach house.

Here is the book description from the inside of the cover:

When Lori Shepherd was a little girl she used to lie in bed at night with a stuffed rabbit named Reginald and listen to her mother’s stories of the indomitable Aunt Dimity, who lived in far-off England. But now Lori is a newly divorced, down-on-her-luck grownup, her mother is dead, and Lori’s long since realized that Aunt Dimity was just a character in a comforting bedtime story.

Or was she? One day the bedraggled Lori is summoned from the latest of her dreadful temp jobs to the Dickensian law firm of Willis U Willis. There Willises Junior and Senior inform her that Aunt Dimity was indeed a real person–a very rich real person who’s just died and left Lori a respectable bequest. Unfortunately, there’s one catch: Lori must visit Aunt Dimity’s English cottage and find a secret hidden among the treasure trove of letters written by her mother and Dimity over the four decades of their friendship.

What begins a fairy tale in a improbably cozy setting becomes a mystery–and a ghost story–as Aunt Dimity’s gentle spirit leads Lori on an unotherworldly quest that Dimity could not fulfill in her own lifetime. And for Lori, Dimity’s bequest is even greater than she dreamed, as she discovers that in this life, true love can conquer all.

I am almost done with this first book, and I happened to get my hands on Aunt Dimity’s oatmeal cookie recipes, so I decided to make them for my sweetie today. They are very light, fluffy, and cake-like!! I HIGHLY recommend giving this easy recipe a try! I got a copy of this off of Nancy Atherton’s website.  😉

beth’s oatmeal cookies    

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Makes approximately 6 dozen cookies.

  •  1 cup butter or margarine
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 jumbo eggs
  • 5 tablespoons raisin water (see below)
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 cup raisins
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In small saucepan, combine raisins with water and bring to boil; lower heat and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool, reserve 5 tablespoons raising water, then drain raisins in colander.

In large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and raisin water and mix well. Blend dry ingredients into creamed mixture. Add nuts if desired. Add raisins and combine well.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto greased baking sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown and firm on top when touched with your finger. Cool on wire racks.

DELICIOUS!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Nesting on a Saturday Night!

Good evening!

I am having quite a lovely evening at home hanging out with my sweetie! I am busy running around the house, nesting my little heart out. Redecorating, reorganizing, arranging fresh flowers, and generally just having a GREAT time!! I feel like I am totally in my element right now!!!

Jason and I went to lunch with a friend of ours, and then the three of us went to the movies and watched Captain America. Good movie, by the way – Captain America was EXTREMELY HOT! 😉 I can’t wait to see the movie, The Avengers next Summer. There is something about the idea of Stark, Thor, and Captain America in the same movie – YUM!! Ok, so apparently I revert back to a teenage girl at a moments’ notice! 😉

After dropping our friend, Don, off. Jason and I headed over to Borders to see if there were any good deals to be had, which I am happy to say that there were. 😉 I did pick up a few books, but I didn’t stick around at all because it is not longer “my” Borders. I think I will make one more pitstop in about two weeks or so, there are a couple of literature books that I am really looking forward to adding to my collection, but if I can get them at a better deal, then it will be worth it to me to wait for it!

I wanted to tell you that the pictures this evening are all taking of my favorite building downtown. This building is the building that houses the US Bank downtown. It is called the Ladd and Bush Bank building, and was built in 1867. Isn’t it lovely??

As I finish toodling around the house tonight…

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Chunky Dunkers is a weekly weight loss/get fit support group that meet here online every Wednesday evening to get the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

As always, everyone and anyone is welcome to join us, or you may feel free to just quietly follow along. I look forward to hearing about all of your successes!

Let me give you a quick progress of my week! I have lost the pound and a half that I had put on last week – YEAH!! It is amazing how that small number seems to make such a big difference in how I feel about what I am doing. Besides walking, and one night of swimming, I really haven’t done much of my regualr exercise routines! I skipped belly dancing and Zumba so far this week. I have been nursing some knee pain, and then twisted my ankle so am working through that! Jason has been doing a great job at cooking some really delicious and healthy food! It has made our week of healthy eating much easier!!

Anyway, the topic for conversation this evening:

What 5 things would you do if you knew that you could not fail???

Give that some thought, I can’t wait to hear from you in the comments section above!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Swim Night with the Kiddies!

Good evening!

Tonight Jason and I had some very special visitors this evening. Nette, Megan, and Morgan came over to join Jason and I swimming this evening. We used to have swimming nights once a week, and we got out of that habit quite a few months ago, and it was nice to swim with them again!

We started out by having grilled hot-dogs together with baked beans, and Jason even got the kids puffed Cheetos – how fun!! We impatiently waited the recommended half hour before we went to the pool, and I was sure that Morgan was just going to bust a gut having to be patient to get there!! 😉

When we did finally get there, the pool was insanely-cold, so that part wasn’t too much fun, but it was fun playing with the kiddos, and hanging out in the not-too-hot-for-once hot-tub was pretty lovely. Jason and Morgan had fun making each other fall into the freezing cold water, that while I was enjoying the hot tub, all I could hear was Jason and Morgan both squealing with laughter!! 😉 Which is quite a happy noise to listen too!!

The kids were very excited that when we got done swimming they were going to get an ice cream sandwich. Morgan was impressed that his ice cream sandwich had THREE flavors in it – it was a Neapolitan!!! 😉 He just kept saying, “Look! It has more than one kind in it!” Too cute!!! 😉

As you can see, Morgan was almost completely done in by the time they were getting ready to go home, but then again, I think we all were!! All-in-all, we really did have a great visit! I am not sure when we will get the opportunity again, but I sure do hope it is soon!! I really love these kiddos (Nette included!)!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

NOTE TO CHUNKY DUNKERS: Don’t forget, we are on for tomorrow evening around 7 – I will see you here!!! 😉

Monday Night Date Night!

Good evening!

Jason and I have been having some trouble getting some quality time together, so to make up for it, we decided that we would do a Monday night date, and man did we ever have fun!!

First thing we did was head over to the Wild Pear downtown to have some dinner. Jason introduced me to their French Dipped sandwich, and OOH-WEE!!! That was soooo good!! The au jus was SIMPLY LIP-SMACKINGLY GOOD!!!

Jason was patient enough to let me stop and take a bunch of pictures of this bank, which just also happens to be my favorite building downtown. I will make sure to share those pictures tomorrow. What I do want to make sure I point out today is just how LOVELY this purse is that Jason is carrying – it just brings out his eyes!! HAHAHAHA!! What a good hubbie!! 😉

There are so many beautiful little hidey-holes downtown that are absolutely PERFECT for taking a nice picture in!! Jason is standing next to a gigantic vine arbor that grows inside one of the alleyways downtown! I just LOVE how beautiful it is, and isn’t my sweetie so adorable?? Man, I really love that man!! 😉

After walking a little ways, we ran across Jason’s FAVORITE coffee shop. Unfortunately it has closed, and Jason is still really blue about it!! It really was a cool little place, it is a shame that it closed!! 🙁

Oh, but onto brighter news!!! Jason and I happened to be walking by the Pentacle Theatre’s ticket office, and we decided to go inside and see what was playing this Friday.

We saw that it was “The Underpants” written by Steve Martin, one of our favorite funny men, so Jason and I picked up tickets for this Friday night! We both are SOOOO EXCITED, and just CAN’T WAIT!! 😉

Next Jason and I stopped to get something cool to drink together and while we were just chatting it up, I realized that I had lost his attention. “UHMM… helllooooo! I am up here!”

Oh, yes! That is right Mr. Man – you have SOOOO TOTALLY been caught!! LOL!!

We had such a nice time this evening – we really needed that! We both have been spending so much time taking care of others that we somehow forgot that we both need to be tending to each other too!! So, we are making a concerted effort to make sure that we are doing just that – and man, what a GREAT TIME we are having too!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

He’s Still Got It!

Good evening!

Jason and I had some lovely visitors yesterday while we were having our garage sale, and I had just happened to capture a few of the cutest pics that I wanted to share with you.

This is my nephew Morgan, and my niece Megan. I really miss these two cuties – we haven’t spent too much time together recently – their family has been SUPER-BUSY!! 😉

Here is our nephew, John. I took 5 pictures of him, and he was frozen like a statue – EVERY single picture was IDENTICAL!! TOO FUNNY!! 😉

This is our adopted free-spirited little sister, Cicily!! She is taking a break from helping with our garage sale to enjoy some rare Oregon sun.

Now, when these two get with their Uncle Jay-Jay hilarity ensues!! What you can’t see is that Uncle Jay-Jay is tickling them!! 😉

and here is little Miss Megan acting shy peeking out behind her mamma!! I definitely need to get some Auntie Time scheduled!! We need to go get some serious pampering time in!!!

I hope you enjoyed these pictures! Even though their visit was short, we made a swim date to get together again on Tuesday – I REALLY can’t wait!!! 😉

Until tomorrow…

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉

Gratitude!

Good evening!

Jason and I had a long garage sale today, on a day that was much too hot to be standing in the sun all day, and with not much foot traffic. We are both very tired and ready to close the house down for the evening! So, I am going to try and keep this post nice and short.

First, I thought I would start with an update from yesterday’s post. I am happy to say that Jason and I are doing much better today. One of our friends said to me, “17 years is a lot of one-day-at-a-times”.

It was what I needed to hear.

Somehow Jason and I had forgotten that every relationship is about dealing with the one-day-at-a-times, and not clumping all of the would-a, should-a, could-a’s and lobbing them at each other.

With that reminder, the decision has been made. We are going to do our best and work it out. At the end of the day, the scale tips much heavier towards good days than bad, and we are going to chalk yesterday up to one of the not so pleasant days. I know that we will both be missing out on A LOT of happy tomorrows together, if either one of us give up now. So, for us, we decided that we weren’t going to let walking away from each other be an option – we have been through too much to let all of this go because, in a moment of exhaustion, we argued about something petty! (and in all honesty, I don’t even remember what started it!)

Before I leave you this evening, I wanted to say “thank you”. Truly. The outpouring of love, prayer, and support that Jason and I have received has been overwhelming. I am so thankful that we have the kind of support group that seems to just come from everywhere to stand by us, laugh with us, cry with us, pray with us, and simply love us. For all of the words of encouragement we have received from friends, and family within the last 24 hours, I am truly grateful! I truly hope that we can return the favor some day when you are needing a pick me up!!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you!

Tonight, I can HONESTLY say…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉