Winter Morning To-Do List

Dream Date

Top 10 Reasons Ian is a Dream Date
(a photo essay--pictures by Ian and me, taken with his camera)

1. He documents the journey. Life is in the journey.

2. He proves McD's and Bass Pro (his places of choice for our night out) beat any other date locale. Period.

3. He's health conscious, ditching fries for a yogurt parfait.

4. When the conversation lulls, he livens things up with an eye-crossing duel. In case you wondered: they don't get stuck that way.

5. During dinner he says, "Wanna see how fast I can run?" And since it's 4:30 in the afternoon, McD's is empty, so I say, "Sure!"

6. If you know my Ian, you know he is a total rocker (since birth!!), in the literal sense. Here he sits in one of his favorite spots in town: the little rocker just his size at Bass Pro, in front of a giGANtic fire.


7. He stares down the local wildlife, making clear, "I've got my eyes on you."

8. Give him some gummy worms. It's all about the gummies.

9. He never misses a photo op: "Mama--take my picture."

10. He is comfortable and finds contentment in the simple things of life. He inspires me to do the same.

Ever had a date who did all that? What a dreamboat.

What or WHO would YOUR dream date include?

Workin' Things Out

Your comments thrilled me.

In fact, your ideas are so cool, they make my surprise kind of puny. Designing my own fabric line, starting a scrapbooking company, being featured in a craft magazine--thanks, dear readers. You are a daily encouragement to me!

My "20" is none of those fabulous answers. It is something I was afraid to share until today. More hints . . . some other new favorite numbers of mine:

Since November 1:
650--meters I swim in 30 minutes (when I began, 25 meters was difficult)
93--songs on Frenchy's Workin' Things Out playlist (thanks, Steph)
24--times I have lifted weights
23--laps I can run on a good day at the gym (when I began, I could hardly run one lap)
5 to 6--times per week I hit the gym, no exceptions
2--sizes I've dropped

You guessed it--I've lost 20 pounds since November 1--20.5 to be exact. My hope is to lose about 20 more!! (Amen, sisters?)

And now, the winner of the random drawing for a $10 S'bux card is:

CousinKarat said...

I wouldn't be surprised if you lost 20lbs. I see you working hard at the gym! Hmmm, I'd like to be able to say I'd lost 20! (Well this calender year at least.) I'm not watching I'm just there too. Its not 20 weeks preggers so I'm totally out of ideas. You found a $20.00 bill?

CousinKarat, email me (yeebird[at]gmail[dot]com) and I will send the S'bux moolah straight to your inbox. Oh, and next time you see me in the gym, come say "hey"! I would love to meet you!

Thanks for playing, everyone!

20

I have a new favorite number; a wonderful, glorious number:

Know why?
Leave a comment with your guess and you may just win a $10 Starbucks card . . .
Because I'm feeling really happy this morning!
photos from Flickr

Tea Time

Creeeeeeepy.

Anyone read this one?
It inspired me to drink English Breakfast Tea this morning.
My book club discussed it last night. Although difficult to wade through at the beginning, it becomes quite the chilling tale by novel's end.

If you have read it, would you say Rebecca ultimately won?

This month's pick is Firefly Lane. Have you read it? What did you think?

Donuts and hot dogs, anyone?

What creative ideas do you use to get your children to practice writing?
(or, if you don't like that question...)
What guilty item do you always pick up at the grocery store, hmm?

First Tie

The answer to "Um, daddy? When am I gonna get one of, uh, those things?," was waiting Christmas morning under the tree.

Since then, Ian has worn his tie often around the house. He calls to me from the other room, "HONEY? HON-EEEEY!" He "goes to work" too. He wears it with his Indiana Jones hat on adventures, saving Lilly, ahem, I mean, Marion. Today, the tie went public. Ian proudly wore it to church.

Moms of little boys:
JC Penney's zipper ties are fantastic. Little guys grab the tie and cinch it up to put it on, then do the opposite to take it off. The styles aren't the greatest, but it makes for a perfect first tie. Happy shopping!

Someday My Prince Will Come

Even though her voice is super teeny anyway, Lilly finds it necessary to talk and sing in falsetto when she's pretending to be a princess.

Here she is, cleaning with her Snow White broom while singing Snow White's song. Aunt Steffy took this video on her phone. I'm in the red slippers. Nathan, Ian and Patrick are playing the Wii in the background.

Turn your sound all the way up. So teeny. So sweet!

Who is YOUR favorite Disney princess?

Steffy

Celebrating Aunt Steffy's birthday was so much fun. Doing anything with Patrick (Nathan's brother) and Stephanie is always a blast. I was seriously bummed when Ian ate some of the icing off of my cupcake when I wasn't looking, but we were all in such a festive mood, I let it slide.

Once the kids were off to bed, we had the smack-down of the decade (to date) playing these:

If you have a Wii, I highly recommend you invest in these games. Good times.

Yes, we are immature. Yes, we are much too competitive. But, we have a great time together, and I so LOVE that. We adore you, Aunt Steffy!



What's your favorite Wii game? Do you have a relative(s) who makes everything more fun?

Go Cowboys

Incredible game so far.

Stomp the Eagles. Make the playoffs. Do it for us, Romo.

What football team are YOU rooting for this season?

Miss Chatterbox

One of my favorite new techniques to spice up Yeeland is to scan scrapbooking paper into my computer, crop in Photoshop and upload it right here, just as I would a photo. I did it in the letter, above, and used the same paper to make a rudimentary frame, also above, scanned it in, cut out the center with the magic wand tool in Photoshop, and voila! Instant frame. Play around with scanning on your computer. It's fun!

Much to my delight, I stumbled upon this lovely blog today. Lisa handwrites her blog posts, and since she is a calligrapher, the result is beautiful. She inspired me to scan in the above note I wrote to Lilly, my little Chatterbox.

Speaking of inspiration, have you gotten your hands on Elizabeth Kartchner's latest book, 52 More Scrapbooking Challenges (thanks, mom!)? When I saw her layout using the Photoshop pen tool to show Avery chattering away, I immediately knew I had to do something similar with a Lilly photo. Thanks for another fun idea, Liz!

Paper: Love, Elsie--Betty Petticoat (don't you just adore the hand drawn look?). No, Elsie, we love YOU more. :)

Nathan and other BFFs

Two things:

1. Can he be more amazing? I ask Nathan to design me a new blog header. I tell him I'm thinking lollipop trees. He gives me lollipop, bubbly, wintry, berry, happy trees, with a Yeebird on top for good measure.

Uh huh. You know you're jealous.

2. Ladies: Fool-proof way to get your husband to buy you an iPod? Borrow his. Every. Single. Day. For two months. (not that I would do that, but I digress.)

Meet Frenchy, my Christmas present and new BFF, in all her hot-pink glory:

Music suggestions, please? High energy tunes are a must. Frenchy is hungry . . .

More White Stuff

It snowed again last night.

BIG flakes. The kind of flakes that stick to your eyelashes.

A snow for sledding down the front yard,

making snow angels,

burying your legs,

building a snow seat,


and getting little legs stuck.

Days like this, I'm glad I live in the Midwest. How's the weather in your neighborhood today?

2009: Year in Review

Dear Blog Reader,

In spite of the baking, painting, sewing, crafting, smiling and general merry-making you see on this blog, in some ways it was a tough year in Yeeland. In fact, I was ready to shoo away 2009 and let the fresh breeze that is 2010 blow through this house. Then I clicked through 12 months of precious, wonderful memories--memories seared into my mind and my computer's hard drive.

I was reminded: I am truly blessed. For this precious family of four--its closeness, its concrete foundation, our deep love and dependency on one other--I am thankful. Nothing the world throws at us can change that.

So bring it on, 2010. Bring on kindergarten for Ian, preschool for Lilly, the continuation of so much web and design learning and freelance opportunities for Nathan. What will 2010 hold for me? No idea. Am I ready? Probably not. But I will be.

Thank you for sharing all of these memories with me, sweet reader. Your presence means MUCH to me. Let's continue sharing life in 2010! And now . . . the Yeebird Year in Review:

Happy New Year!