Trio of Love Cards

My next big card sending holiday is Valentine's Day, and the goal is to have most of the cards made by the end of January... so I can actually get them in the mail and to my friends and loved ones by February 14th!

Here's the first trio of cards I came up with. The first one was inspired by a Becky Higgins' sketch.



I "love" how this one turned out. I punched random circles of coordinating patterned paper, used my Cricut to cut out the letters for the main sentiment, and used a black sharpie to write the rest of the greeting.



The connecting threads between all three cards are the colors (pink, white, black, and grey), a simple layout, and the black doodling around the outside of each card as well as some of the other elements.



The third card gets its interest from the mix of capital and lowercase letters in the sentiment.

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Study Says Women with Mate Get Heavier

And I finally have justification for blaming NavyGuy for my increased volume since May 23, 2009...

From The New York Times

By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Published: January 4, 2010

It is widely known that women tend to gain weight after giving birth, but now a large study has found evidence that even among childless women, those who live with a mate put on more pounds than those who live without one...

Click here for the rest of the story.

I've heard this information before, with complaints from recently married women, and I can testify that I'm now one of them, irritated that my newlywed bliss is being weighed down (literally) by some extra poundage.

But why? The article doesn't give much in the way of analysis or explanation for their findings. The article points out that, "there is no reason to believe that having a partner causes metabolic changes," so it must be some kind of behavioral change. Why does living with a boy make us girls gain a few pounds? Do we subconsciously (or consciously) let ourselves go a little once we get that ring on our finger? Do our eating habits change? Do we exercise less and spend more time snuggling on the couch watching marathons of House? Or is there some other phenomenon going on?

What do we think ladies (and gentlemen)? Do you agree with the premise that women tend to gain weight once they're happily coupled/co-habitating/married? Got any theories as to why this seems to happen?

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2010 Book Challenge Updates

HistoryGirlie asked: can we reread books that we love, or are we going with ones that are a first time around only?

An important guideline that I failed to establish from the get go. For myself, I'm going to declare that any books I reread won't count... but it's really up to everyone to decide for themselves.

*******

Next bit of business - I finished my first book for the year!

(Cue the Hallelujah chorus)

Patricia B. McConnell is an animal behaviorist, author, professor, ethologist, radio personality, columnist, (and Madison, Wisconsin resident!) who has written tons of books and articles on dogs, their relationships with humans, and well, dogs. NavyGuy and I got one of her books before Christmas and it was a nice easy read to get the year rolling. Tales of Two Species; Essays on Loving and Living with Dogs bounces from what dogs can mentally understand to the psychology of training methods to why our dogs probably think we're crazy much of the time :)

McConnell really does a great job of making the more complex science-y stuff approachable, and inserting lots of fun stories and anecdotes. I like her general attitudes towards training and living with dogs, in that she advocates moderation and common sense, not any of the extreme training philosophies that are popular these days (she doesn't cite him by name, but she definitely has issues with Cesar Milan's ideas that dogs are just like wolves and should be dominated by "pack leaders," their owners). The short essays are nice little bits of info to swallow and my interest has been piqued enough to read some of her other books.

Keep on reading everyone! And let everyone know once you've gotten book number one under your belt!

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2010 Projects

The term resolutions is so "first-decade-of-the-twenty-first-century," you know? ;)

And really, all of these projects on my list are just that - projects. They won't be completed in one day, they won't all be fully finished by the end of the year, many of them are ongoing activities that I'd simply like to focus on more. In no particular order, here are the Projects for 2010:

1. Record wedding memories. Ideally I'd get the physical scrapbooks done and the blogging, but realistically, I'd like to at least get all the blog recaps written while the memories are still (relatively) fresh. That way, I can work my way through the scrapbooking at an enjoyable pace, knowing that the bulk of the journaling is done and preserved here for whenever I finally get around to the glue and stickers.

2. Ignore the rules and just scrapbook. I'm done trying to make pages in perfect chronological order; if I feel like making the page about this year's Thanksgiving (even though Thanksgiving 2008 isn't done), so be it. If I feel like putting random pictures from June 2009 on one page and calling that month's events done, so be it. I miss the fun of scrapbooking and I want it back! (So be it.)

3. Secure Washington state teaching license. Apparently, the state will only give you two temporary licenses before they force you to pony up and pay for the state tests required for a permanent license. Blargh. Unfortunately, I can't sub anymore until I take the tests and get my official teaching license. So, I signed up, forked over the requisite test fees, and now I just have to review some world history and econ, and hopefully I'll have this one checked off the list soon.

4. Finish the grad class I've been avoiding and move on in the program. Statistics sucks. Sorry all you math folks, but it's boring, tedious, and I've been putzing through the course for almost a year. Yes, embarrassing to admit but true. It's gotten so bad that the university has come a callin' a couple times to find out if I'm still enrolled... or even alive (um, as long as I keep sending you people checks do you really care that I've been opting to do pretty much anything besides read a statistics textbook?) Anyway, all of the other courses I need to complete are actually directly related to education and sound interesting, so I need to just finish this damn statistics requirement and put it behind me.

5. The 2010 Book Challenge. (Duh.)

That's it. No major proclamations of getting healthy, cutting out pizza rolls or ice cream, exercising five times a week, losing 10 pounds, or completing a marathon (though I'm sure this is on Sister's list and you go girl!). As much as I value setting goals and having things to work for, I just refuse to set myself up for failure this year. NavyGuy will be deployed for six months. I'll be living by myself, raising a crazy dog, and keeping everything together one day at a time. I have no way to predict how those six months are going to go. I'd rather be pleasantly surprised at the end of 2010, as opposed to disappointed because I wanted to be perfect when NavyGuy returned and instead I gained five pounds of (chocolate/wine/pizza roll) weight.

What resolutions/goals/projects for 2010 are you willing to announce to the blogosphere?

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2010 Book Challenge

I've made my decision on the book challenge.
Bring. It. ON!

Yup, I'm going for it. Well, I have been going for it since Friday, but I've been too busy reading to blog about it :) Despite NavyGuy's protestations, and demands that he create the rules for the challenge (and thus name himself "Book Challenge Commissioner"), I am instituting the following guidelines for myself for the year:
1. Read (and finish) 50 books by 11:59pm, December 31st, 2010.

2. Any category of books is acceptable - fiction, nonfiction, mystery, young adult lit - except picture books.

3. Books on CD are also acceptable. (If you can read in the car without getting ill, more power too you.)

4. I do not need to "pre-list" which books I'm going to read. That's dull. And doesn't allow for the kind of flexibility I require.

5. Crossover books (aka, books I have to read for some other purpose... i.e. grad program) count.

That's it. Basically, try to read 50 books in the year 2010. Ideally, the challenge will a) encourage me to read more, b) encourage me to turn off the tv, c) allow me to actually get through more of the unread books I have on my bookshelves, d) give me bragging rights over NavyGuy (always a plus). (If only I could get Pizza Hut sponsorship and score a free pizza "Book-It" style for every five books I read, then I'd really be motivated!)

So anyway, I'm off and running reading. Right now I'm reading two books.* They're both dog books that NavyGuy and I have received as gifts in the past month.
Now it's your turn - who's accepting the challenge with me? Obviously, you can choose whatever goal number you want, and amend any of the guidelines as necessary, but let me know what you're shooting for!

You'll notice a new link list in the right sidebar ("What Should I Read Next?") where I'm going to keep a compilation of book possibilities. Each title will link to the book's Amazon page so you can check out the title and see if it's something that might interest you. Some are ones I already own and have been meaning to read, some are ones friends have suggested, and some are just random titles that grab me. Always feel free to comment or email with suggestions and I'll do my best to keep the list updated... so no one can use the excuse that they can't find anything good to read! And as soon as I get my first book of the year done, you all will be the first to know :)

*I've quickly discovered that reading several books at once is going to be key to my success. The reasoning is twofold: 1) if I have several books going at once, I can leave them strategically throughout the house and therefore always have a book within reach (one upstairs, one downstairs, one in the car for during breaks at work, one in the bathroom... oh don't judge, you know you do it too!). The second reason is that a major downfall to my reading is I tend to get bogged down in a book; if it's not grabbing my attention right away, then I dawdle my way through it - and I ain't got time to play that game this year if I'm gonna reach the magic number. So, if one book is slowing me down, then I can take breaks with some of the other options I have going.

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De-Christmasfication

We spent much of the day removing all the traces of holiday from the house. I put NavyGuy in charge of the tree, (which I do every year because I hate taking off all the ornaments), and every year I swear I'll never let him near it again because he inevitably screws something up. (Sorry, hun, I love you... but you do.)

This year he broke an ornament (luckily it was one of his own so we avoided bloodshed), and put all of the ornaments into the new ornament storage boxes that I found at Storables.

Which could be confusing because aside from the clumsiness, it sounds like he did everything correctly. Except many of our ornaments already have their own boxes - you know, those nicely labeled Hallmark boxes - which I keep year after year... can you guess where I'm going?

Yup, those boxes are all sitting empty in a rubbermaid container because I failed to supervise NavyGuy closely enough and did not notice that he hadn't put the ornaments in their Hallmark boxes until after he had emptied the entire tree. Had I been more motivated, I would have taken all the ornaments out and re-done the system; instead, the mistake will be corrected come Christmas 2010.

Sigh.

The outside lights still need to come down, and there's a few miscellaneous items that I missed in the first sweep of the house, but for the most part, Christmas is over. Kind of depressing, what with the house looking all empty and boring again. But, it's a chance to bring back all the fun home accessories that have been stored away!

Who else dreads taking down their holiday decorations? Any secrets to making the process less hell-ish?

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First Movie of 2010: Avatar

Oh James Cameron... must you make your movies 2 1/2 hours long? Why? Why do you insist on torturing me like that? You know I can't go 160 minutes without having something to drink, and therefore, I can't make it through your movies in the theater without performing advanced yoga moves while trying to escape my middle-of-the-row (with less leg room and aisle space than an airplane) seat and make it to the bathroom during what I hope will be the most boring, non-crucial-plot-point of the second act...

At least this movie was set in a forest. Albeit a crazy otherworldly forest with super tall blue people running around. The last time I saw a Cameron movie in the theater it was 1997... and there was a sinking boat. And just a couple drops of RUSHING WATER.

You pull this crap one more time James, and I'm gonna force six gallons of Mountain Dew down your throat, then tie you up next to a babbling brook, just down river from a ROARING WATERFALL.

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