It's Friday

And I'm nosy...

So here's the question: Have you cut back on your blogging this summer?

I've cut wwwaaayyy back. I'm lucky if I squeeze in 2 or 3 posts a week. One of my goals this year was to spend less time on the computer and I've been pretty faithful about it. I'm sure getting alot more accomplished these days, and it feels good!

Shutters, Curtains, or Both

For the last 20 years, we've had plantation shutters on our windows. I love the look of plantation shutters. To me, they look clean and sophisticated. I have only 2 curtains in the whole house...one in the laundry room (and it's not even a curtain, it's a valance) and then curtains over my kitchen sink, and again, more of a valance type.

Curtains are definitely in right now, they're very popular, and they are all over blogland! I've seen so much inspiration lately that I decided to put some curtains up myself. I'm so dang picky (indecisive!), it took me awhile, but I finally came up with what I think are winners. You'll have to give my your honest opinion on what you think.

A few weeks ago I was browsing around in Pier 1 and came across a pair of curtains that I thought would look nice in Courtney's room. I did a post about Courtney's room a few months ago and although we still have her furniture in there, I've sort of made it "my space". I've used alot of beige, brown, and black so these curtains seemed like the perfect addition...



Courtney's room is yellow and is one of the rooms in the house that hasn't been painted beige yet. When I get a few days off in a row, painting this room is on my agenda.

Since I liked the way the curtains looked with the shutters, I knew I wanted to put curtains up in the spare bedroom also. Luckily, this past week I found those too. Long story short, they ended up not being long enough and needed lining, but I got it figured out and hung them up today...



I'm so happy with how the curtains turned out in both rooms. I think they really warm up the space. Now I'm on the lookout for curtains for the living room/dining area. I never would have thought of myself as a "curtain" girl...who knew!?!

Are you a curtain girl?

It Was That Time Again...

For my yearly GYN visit.

Believe it or not, I was anxious to go this time. I know, I must be sick or something! But really and truly, I wanted to go. I know I'm right smack in the middle of menopause and I've got questions and concerns that I wanted to discuss with my doctor.

Everything checked out fine and she says I'm healthy as a horse!

And much to my surprise, I had only gained 2 pounds from my last year's weight. The only reason I was only up 2 pounds was because I've lost 5 over the last 2 weeks! I told you guys I was SERIOUSLY on a diet. I haven't had a regular Pepsi, well except for the Pepsi that the drive-thru girl gave me when I actually ordered diet. This is huge people! I love my Pepsi something fierce but I've found out that I can live without it...something I never thought possible!

I asked the doctor to send me to get some lab work done, and she did. I wanted my Thyroid checked as well as my hormone levels. I've been sluggish over the last year and had put on weight so was thinking Hypothyroidism may have been the cause, along with drops in my Estrogen level.

Well, first thing this morning the doctor's office called and confirmed that I am indeed "menopausal." The thing that surprised me was when they said my Thyroid level was high, not low! The usual T3 should be 4-12. Mine was 12.1. I do have some of the signs and symptoms of Hyperthyroidism, such as fatigue and insomnia, but the major sign of Hyperthyroidism is weight loss. Nope, I haven't experienced that one, just the opposite. Anyways, they want me to get it rechecked in 6 months and we'll go from there.

I'm not wanting to take synthetic Estrogen so she suggested Black Cohosh/Red Clover/Soy. I already have the Black Cohosh but she mentioned that I can buy Black Cohosh and Red Clover in combination at a health food or vitamin store. This will help with the hot flashes that seem to have increased over the last month. So today I'll be visiting my local health food store. I'll let you know what I come home with.

I've been wanting my blood work done for awhile now so I was glad to get that accomplished. Soon, I'll be going for my yearly mammogram and also will have a bone density scan done. I've always liked to keep on top of things as far as my health goes...I don't know, maybe it's because I'm a nurse...but for whatever the reason, it's sure paid off.

After Years Of Talking About It

She finally had it done...


And she's done great!

Courtney came home from Arizona on Sunday to get her wisdom teeth out this week. She had all 4 taken out at once. It was so cute, she had her mouth full of gauze and couldn't talk so she was texting my husband while he was driving...and she was sitting in the passenger seat next to him! She's been great about keeping her face iced with frozen packages of peas and the swelling has been minimal.

Both of my kids have needed their wisdom teeth out but have refused to go through the process. Brandon once had the consultation, x-rays, and arrangements were all made when he backed out. Courtney finally went through with it. I'm proud of you Sis!

What A Doll!

This is my new favorite singer, Francesca Battistelli. I think she's an absolute doll. She's not only a beautiful singer, but she's a beautiful christian girl whose strong in her faith as well. I've watched a few interviews of her and let me just say, I know she's making her parents very proud.

Thank you April for playing this video a few weeks ago and for introducing us to this lovely young singer. I'll be picking up her CD this week!

It's Friday

And I'm nosy...

So here's the question: What time does your mail get delivered?

We used to get our mail before noon but we've got a new mail carrier. Now it doesn't arrive until after 3:00 pm.

Have a great weekend!

I'm On A Roll!

Ask anyone who knows me, they'll tell you I'm pretty much a clean freak...but you should see the grime that I just cleaned off my tile floors...about once a year, tile by tile, with a scrub brush, on my hands and knees...oh, and you should see my sparkling clean shower too!

Maybe it's the new vitamins I've started taking!

Wordless Wednesday

~ Utah ~

On A Whim...

I signed up on Facebook.

What was I thinking?

I don't know anything about Facebook and I really don't need anything else to waste my time on, especially if it involves more time on the computer. I truly don't know what possessed me to do it. I've had no interest in MySpace or Facebook but yet all of a sudden, out of the blue, I signed up!

So far, I don't see the appeal. Maybe I'm not seeing it for what it is, I don't know. Maybe I'll like it better once I figure out what I'm doing or when I discover why everyone is so crazy about it.

I've got family and a few blogging buddies as "friends" along with a couple of people who want to be my "friend" yet I don't even know them. Kinda scary and weird!

Like I said, what was I thinking!?! If you're a fan of Facebook, I'm all ears.

It's Friday

And I'm nosy...

So here's the question: Do you like fish?

Normally I'm not much of a fish lover but tonight we had the most delicious fish for dinner. We're in Ventura Beach for our Camping Club weekend and a group of us went to Andria's for dinner. They've got the best fish and chips around and you should see the line up at the door waiting to get in. I passed on the chips and had a small salad instead. I even had a diet coke...and if you know me, that's really something. I hate diet anything but I'm seriously on one. So far so good.

Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

~ Brotherly Love, Brandon and Jake ~

Shake What Your Momma Gave You!

Obviously Carol had people that encouraged her along the way and had cheerleaders in her life. Although she is a little "bizarre" as Sharon Osborne puts it, Carol has poise and self confidence. I hope we are all blessed to have cheerleaders in our lives. Better yet, hopefully we're cheerleaders in other peoples lives.

Way to go Carol and good luck!

It's Friday

And I'm nosy...

I recently bought a new camera, one of those nice big zoom lens semi-professional type cameras, although I'm a far cry from even being semi, semi, semi-professional!

I haven't read the manual entirely but for now I've got everything set on "auto". While my pictures certainly are clear, I'm noticing the colors aren't as bright and vivid as I thought they'd be.

So here's the question: If you also use one of these cameras, what settings do you keep it on? Do you get bright, vivid colors in your photographs? Do I need to use photoshop in order to get the best pictures? I've never used photoshop before, it looks intimidating!

I'm lazy and don't want to read the manual from cover to cover right now...so please share and ADVISE!

Now That's Creative!

One of the reasons why I enjoy blogging so much is because of all of the creativity that's always so freely shared. I'm amazed and reminded everyday at how smart, witty, creative, funny, and industrious women truly are.

I made these 4th of July favors today and I can't get over how adorable and creative they are. I wasn't smart enough to think of these on my own, but Ramona did. You can check out her wonderful blog here.


Just rolled up candy (rolos, sweetarts) and a red pipe cleaner in tin foil and in minutes I had the cutest favors around. Couldn't be any easier. Thank you Ramona for the inspiration!