Black Belt Scrapping

Here's Your "Q"

Remember when I was in Utah a few weeks ago and spoke about my friend April?  Well, Miss April is in the news again today.  April is the founder and owner of Digital Scrapbook Memories, a company that is rocking the retail world with charming digital kits and tutorials on CD. Many of her kits are designed by another friend, Danielle Catalano-Titus, who is also wildly talented!   

You can find DSM CDs in large retailers, like Michael's, and this week you can see April selling her new CDs on no other than QVC!  That's right!  QVC ~ it just doesn't get any "huger" than that!  You can catch her from 1-3am EDT this Friday, May 2nd.  If you don't want to stay up and watch with me, you can always tape it and check it out when the sun is up, or check it out on the QVC website!

I'm so proud of April, she's really come a long way in a short amount of time thanks to a great product and great customer service.  Her website is super helpful, packed with information and a great, friendly forum where you can hang out and have fun or learn a lot to improve your scrapbooking skills.  If you're new to digital scrapbooking, April has CDs and tutorials specially designed to get you started, where you literally just pop your photos into a layout that's already been designed and you're ready to print.  She also teaches all around the country and is routinely featured on "Scrapbook Memories" on PBS during 2008, as well as the syndicated television show "Living in Style". 

Anyhow, I hope you'll check out April on "the Q" on Friday. If you can't catch her live, her CDs will be available on the QVC site starting at 1am on Friday, and you can also find them at your large craft and hobby retailers. You can also check out the DSM website,  or you can email me and I can put you in touch with her directly!  I hope you'll check out her products, they're really lovely.

Good luck April!

Recipe Tuesday - Smoothie Time

Sometimes I have to force myself to eat breakfast.  When I don't want to, sometimes I'll just make a smoothie instead!  I tend to lean towards smoothies with protein and some fiber, otherwise I get too hungry too fast.  I've even been known to toss some Benefiber into my smoothies to keep me full longer ~ it really works!  Seriously, it's not just for your grandparents anymore!  Fiber really is good for you!

Here are a couple of my favorite smoothie recipes from over the years. 

Weight Watchers Yogurt Smoothie

• 1 carton fat free, sugar free yogurt (flavor of your choice
• 8 oz. Crystal Lite (any flavor that you think goes with your yogurt)
• 1 scoop protein powder
• 3 ice cubes

Blend well.

Strawberry-Banana Breakfast Smoothie

• 1 cup orange juice 
• 3 tbsp nonfat dry milk powder 
• 1/2 banana; cut into pieces 
• 10 fresh strawberries; hulled 
• 3 ice cubes 

Blend until thick and frothy. 

Blueberry Smoothie (serves 2)

• 1 pint fresh blueberries or 2 cups (10 oz.) frozen blueberries -- slightly thawed 
• 1 cup pineapple or orange juice 
• 1 container (8 oz.) lowfat vanilla yogurt 
• 2 teaspoon Splenda

Blend until smooth.

Peanut Butter Banana Soy Smoothie

• 1 cup soy milk (plain or vanilla) 
• 1 medium banana - quartered 
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter 
• 3 ice cubes 

Blend until smooth.

Banana Berry Protein Shake

• 1 cup of berries (any mix) 
• 1/2 banana 
• 1/2 soy milk (or any kind of milk) 
• 1 scoop any kind of protein powder (or if you don't have protein power add 1 egg
• white) 
• 3/4 cup yogurt (any flavor) 
• 1 cup ice 

Blend until smooth.

Breakfast Protein Smoothie

• 1 cup of skim milk 
• 1 to 2 scoops of vanilla flavored protein powder 
• 1 heaping tbs. of cocoa powder 
• 1 sliced banana 
• 1 tbs. of natural peanut butter 
• 2 tsp Splenda
   
• 4 or 5 ice cubes

Blend until smooth.
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And speaking of cooking and food, this past Saturday I took Shannon to an event called "Kids in the Kitchen" for kids who are interested in food, cooking, and nutrition.  They had all sorts of healthy foods, cooking tips and lessons for kids with kid-friendly recipes, and lots of fun games and prizes.  We took one of her friends with us and it was really fun!

I'm really happy that my kid is interested in cooking and I'm going to encourage her to experiment all she wants in the kitchen.  My mom always let us cook and experiment in the kitchen and it was a huge boost for when I was living on my own.  I never had to rely on ramen noodles for dinner!   

Yellow Ribbons

This weekend our community celebrated and mourned the return of Army Staff Sergent Matt Maupin.   SS Maupin has been missing in action in the Iraq war for over four years, the longest of any POW/MIA in our current war.  His remains were found outside of Baghdad  several days ago and returned to Cincinnati on Saturday.

The community really rallied to celebrate the return of SS Maupin, and it was really visually apparent with all of the yellow ribbons that lined the route that he would travel this weekend.  I did not attend the public funeral at the Red's baseball stadium, but I did watch most of it on television, and it was nearly impossible to live near the parade routes and not notice the yellow ribbons everywhere. 

While the funeral and festivities were specifically for SS Maupin, I couldn't help but feel that they really represented every fallen soldier, sailor and Marine out there.  Seeing the ribbons was a good reminder to those of us who are here and busy with our every day lives that regardless of your political beliefs, there are brave men and women out there who are willing to give their lives to keep us safe. 

You can read more about the return of SS Maupin here.  God Bless our Soldiers and God Bless America.  We sure have a lot of problems, but I've lived all over the place and I know I'm grateful to be here.

Moving Slowly

I'm off today (yay!) and I wanted to have a somewhat lazy morning, so I'm late getting this up.  And I really don't have much going on or planned to write about, so I thought I'd share some new layouts today.  I was on a scrapping rampage when I got home from vacation...that was fun. 

Just a few unrelated notes....my shoulder has been getting worse and worse since I took that bad fall on my first day skiing.  I finally couldn't stand it anymore and had it checked out yesterday.  Yep...I was afraid of this.  I've got some rotator cuff damage in my right shoulder.  Probably not bad enough for surgery but I'll need some physical therapy for a few weeks and I started that yesterday.  Ouchie, ouch!  I'm off taekwondo for the next few days to let the PT start working and the swelling go down.  Crap!

And Shannon accomplished something yesterday that she (and I) never thought she was going to learn to do....ride a bike.  Yeah, it's not good when you have an 11 year old who can't ride a bike.  We've tried SO MANY TIMES with her and she was never willing to keep trying if she fell.  I think she thought for the longest time that she'd be the only kid to ever learn to ride without falling.  Well since I got my new bike, she's actually been MOTIVATED to learn and willing to take a spill.  And she learned in three half-hour sessions.  Yesterday while I was still at work, she took her bike down to her friend's house and between the two of them, she figured it out.  I got this call at work on my cell and she was screaming so loudly that I could hardly understand her.  It's a MIRACLE, I tell you!!!!!!  I thought it would never happen.  Now I need a bike rack, because while my bike will fit in my car, both of our bikes certainly won't!

Happy Friday!  Here's my latest (lots of them!).......

Odds & Ends

Trying to catch up on a few things here.  My week has been kind of weird because we're short staffed at work this week and they've got me working odd hours.  For instance, I'm working this afternoon from 2-6:30pm ~ odd hours, but then I get tomorrow off, so that's good!

So, what do you think of this paper?  Hopefully it's okay because I designed it. It's the first paper that I've ever designed.

The Creative Partners over at CRD have a new freebie paper pack for you that we all designed. Each of us got a color.  Considering that none of us are designers and we really didn't talk about the design together, I think it turned out pretty well!  Here's the whole paper pack and you can get it here.

I've also been slacking on my photo blog, but I'm finally caught up.  I admit that it's the end of April and I'm running out of everyday things to take pictures of.  With an only child, even though she's very willing to be a subject, I get tired of the same thing every day.  Maybe today I'll take my camera to the office and see what I can dig up.  I did manage to snag a few good ones lately that I'm pretty happy with, like these few:

Please go give my photo blog some love if you get a chance.  There have been a few days lately where I had ZERO visits in the day.  That's just pathetic! 

 

Remember I said that I was going out to get running shoes the other day?  Well I did and it was really cool.  I realized that it's probably been twenty years since I got properly measured for shoes.  I overpronate when I walk and run which means that when I take a step, I land on the outside of my heel and roll my foot somewhat inward, making my second toe push off and do all of the work.  That needs to be straightened out or I'll end up with knee and hip problems, so I have shoes that are specifically designed to correct this as I move.  Cool, huh?  I also learned that I have very flat feet, which explains why I sometimes get cramps in the arches of my feet when I workout.  I love my new shoes, they're so comfy that I wish I could wear them all of the time. 

I go out for "Learning To Run Session 5" today and much to my great delight, it really is getting easier! I found on my last training session that I was finding the walking intervals kind of annoying while enjoying the running intervals more. Go figure! My taekwondo training has certainly helped too, because my legs and other muscles have not been sore whatsoever. My shins have hurt a bit, but hopefully that will correct itself now that I'm wearing the proper shoes. 

Did I mention that I really like my new bike too?  I'm telling you, between the running, the riding, and the taekwondo, I'm sleeping really well at night.  The weather has been just lovely, so as long as that lasts, I'm determined to keep up the pace.  This is what my workout schedule has looked like this week:

Monday ~ run
Tuesday ~ bike early morning, taekwondo later
Wednesday ~ bike early morning, taekwondo later
Thurdsay ~ run early morning, taekwondo later
Friday ~ bike
Saturday ~ taekwondo early morning, run later
Sunday ~ bike

So that's about it for me today....busy day, gotta run (literally!). 

Music of the Night

I really haven't posted much about American Idol this season, but last night was Andrew Lloyd Webber night and Dog, it was HOT! 

I'm a self-admitted Andrew Lloyd Webber junkie.  When I lived in London I used to go to the theatre every Wednesday night.  Monday was out because the theatre was dark on Mondays.  I didn't like going on Tuesdays, because that's when all the understudies were performing.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I wanted to see the real deal. I got really good at scoring great seats, especially if I intended to go alone, so I'd usually end up quite close to the stage with reduced price tickets.  I loved going so much.

I'm not kidding you, I've seen shows like Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Les Miserables (not ALW, but still one of my all time favorites), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Starlight Express, etc. all at least 10 times.  Others that I saw a few times but weren't my favorites include Miss Saigon, and Sunset Boulevard and a bazillion others.  It was my favorite thing to do every week.  I miss those days....sigh.

Anyhow, Phantom of the Opera remains my favorite of all time, I just find it so dark and romantic and beautiful.  Music of the Night is my favorite song of all of the numbers in it.  Here's some Phantom trivia for you...when Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote Phantom with his collaborator, Charles Hart, he wrote it for his wife at the time, Sarah Brightman. Sarah then went on to debut the show as Christine on the stage, with Michael Crawford as Phantom.  To this day, Sarah Brightman is still THE Christine. 

I've seen lots of Phantoms come and go, and my favorite wasn't Michael Crawford, but Colm Wilkinson, who is an Irish actor and has played Phantom on both the London, Toronto and Broadway stages.  He also played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar and Jean Valjean (the lead in Les Mis) in London and on Broadway.  He's considered by critics to be the best actor to ever play the role of Jean Valjean in Les Mis.  I'm SO lucky to have been able to see him so many times on the London stage.  I think he's my all time favorite theatre performer. 

Anyhow, I could go on all day about the London stage, but on the Idol stage last night, my man David Cook had me worried.  Here's the rocker dude and he picked my favorite song....a haunting, soulful love song?  What?  I figured he'd blow it. It was the last performance of the night and I was not optimistic, but he NAILED it in a true experienced, Phantom type of way.  I bet I've watched it ten times already.  Loved it!

So here's to David and the Idols for doing a good job at giving me my Andrew Lloyd Webber fix.  They weren't all great, and some were just bad, but I still loved the whole show!

Recipe Tuesday - Shrimp and Artichoke Salad

We love salads for dinner, especially in the warmer months!  One of my faves combines some of my favorite foods, shrimp and artichokes.  Don't be afraid to make the dressing yourself, it's yummy, and feel free to substitute pretty much anything!

Edamame, which are immature soybeans, have a terrific nutty, buttery taste. They also happen to be highly nutritious. You can find frozen shelled edamame at many grocery stores. I buy mine at Trader Joe's.

Shrimp and Artichoke Salad

• 6 cups baby spinach
• 3/4 pound cooked shrimp
• 3/4 cup frozen edamame (soybeans), thawed
• 1 14-ounce can water-packed artichoke hearts, drained
• grape tomatoes, cut in half

For the Citrus Dressing:

• Juice of 1 medium orange
• Juice of 1 large lemon
• 1.5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp water
• 1 packet Splenda
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley

Wash and dry spinach leaves. Arrange in 4 bowls or on 4 salad plates. Arrange shrimp, edamame, artichoke hearts and tomato wedges on top.

Combine dressing ingredients in a small jar and shake vigorously, or in a food processor until blended.
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Nothing exciting to report today, other than I'm going to take my bike out for a spin this morning.  Mom and I are going out to get our running shoes this afternoon, so I'll be trying those out tomorrow!

Happy Earth Day!

Shaping Up

February and March were rough on me on a bunch of ways.  Jury duty, an IRS audit, my dad's cancer treatments getting started, and assorted other things stressed me out to the max.  On top of that, money was really tight, so I wasn't cooking in the healthy way that I am used to doing. 

The result was that I basically took a month off of training in taekwondo and exercising in general and I just can't do that.  I've put back on every pound that I lost in January and three more.  That's eleven pounds and that's just unacceptable.  I feel horrible.  I knew that when I got back from Utah it was time to turn it around again, and I'm working on it and in a big way. 

So last week I went to four taekwondo classes and decided that I'm going to teach myself to run.  I figure that if the contestants on The Biggest Loser can learn to run, then I certainly can too.  I started the Couch To 5K beginning running program on Tuesday.  It's a great program that insures that you don't start yourself out too fast and then find yourself giving up.  Tomorrow I'm going out with my mom to the running shop to get fitted for shoes that are right for me.  I stand, walk, and run with my toes turned out, so I want to make sure I find shoes that are suited for people who are built like me, because I certainly don't want any knee and hip problems.  I have enough aches and pains!

I also bought a bike yesterday!  I found a great deal on Craigslist on an all-terrain bike that is just perfect for me!  The owner had only put about 100 miles on it, so it's nearly new.  In fact, it looks like it's in perfect condition.  She paid nearly $500 for it, and sold it to me for $100.  So that's a birthday present for me, and I can't wait to get out on the bike trail and try it out. 

I haven't had a bike in about 20 years.  When I moved to Cincinnati (which was 20 years ago today, ironically!) I had a boyfriend that was a serious road racer. So being the good girlfriend and all, I went out and bought a bike that totally didn't suit me.  I spent an outrageous amount of money and bought a racing bike with tires that were thinner than my finger, and a seat that was about the size of a walnut (and just about as soft).  Needless to say, that bike and the Cincinnati hilly terrain did NOT work for me.  I think I rode that bike less than ten times.  So much for trying to keep up with Mr. Hot Wheels.  Well, when I gave that dude the boot, I also sold that bike. 

Now that I have a bike that's more suited to me, and have discovered the smooth, flat scenic routes of the Little Miami Bike Trail ~ that's right down the hill from my house ~ I'm hoping that this bike will be my friend and not my foe.

In the meantime, I'm really sore.  Really sore.  And I feel like I can't move. In taekwondo class, I felt like I was trying to do my moves in quicksand.  Ugh. Remind me to not ever go a month without working out. 

Hooters

No, not those!  And not the restaurant either! 

Last night was the first night I slept with all the windows wide open in my bedroom. The fresh air was nice, but WOW!  Somebody forgot to give me my invitation to the very loud and very rowdy Hooters convention!  It woke me up.  I know we have one owl that lives near by during the warm months, but it seems like this year, he's invited all of his friends and they are louder than the neighborhood college kids coming home from a Saturday night party.  They really cranked up the noise last night!

I admit, I like them.  I think they're really cool, but my husband...not so much. Regardless, I think they like it here and this year, there's a whole bunch of them, reeking havoc in my trees.  Party on, Dudes!

And speaking of birds, I found some nice bird feeders at the garden store the other day that were 50% off, so I bought three.  So far, not one bird has decided to come and eat.  Do you think that they knew these were clearance bird feeders and are therefore not worthy?  Maybe there's a reason that these feeders were on clearance.  Hmmm.....

Have a good weekend!  I'm wrapping this up and off to taekwondo class.  Remind me to NEVER, EVER take a month off of training.  Oy.  Going back is so not pretty in so many ways. 

Darwin In The Garden

***** Dude!  We just had an earthquake!  It woke me up!  5:34am.  I thought I was just imagining things, but I wasn't Since there was no damage, I think it's very cool!  *********

I mentioned the other day that I really don't like gardening, especially weeding.  As an adult, I completely understand why people have children, and that's so that they can grow up and do the tasks that we grownups don't want to do, like unload the dishwasher or weed the garden. I remember weeding my mom's veggie garden in Michigan as a kid.  I hated it then, I really hate it now, especially here in the land of clay soil.  But since my kid was in school, and it was a lovely day, I headed out to put a hurting on the first weeds invading my garden this season.

First of all, let me state for the record that I don't get it.  All of the gardening gurus around here tell us every year that it's not safe to plant your flowers and veggies here in the Ohio Valley until around May 10th, because the ground isn't warm enough for roots to establish, and because of the threat of overnight frost.  So explain to me why flowers, tomatoes, and grass won't grow yet, but the weeds are growing with wild abandon.  I guess it's just another one of the great mysteries of the life.

When I went out there, it was really nice to see that my wild violets are in bloom again. They started growing in the lawn a few years ago and believe it or not, I actually dug them up and transplanted them to my flower garden to let them do their thing in the spring. To my great BROWN THUMB SURPRISE...it worked!.  They're really pretty and they always make me smile. 

Maybe it's because I pledged Delta Delta Delta in college, and the pansy was our flower.  Pansies are just big violets, and I have always loved both.

<---------    Pansy mousepad anybody?  But I digress......

When I'm weeding, it's war.  War against the only thing that will survive Armageddon along with the cockroaches, and that's dandelions.  Sunny yellow, cheery, annoying as holy bloody hell dandelions.  The naive and wimpy weeds like the thistle grow tall and have soft roots.  They are just standing tall at the edges of my beds trying to look purdy, but really just begging me to yank them out with one quick sweep of one of my ratty, mismatched gardening gloves (ironically, with a floral pattern on them).

The dandelions have mastered Darwin's Survival of the Fittest, however.  If you can manage to get your hand or your hoe (heh, I said hoe!) underneath them, you can never get all of those silly tap roots that must go all the way to China, and always break off.  Of course the fact that you can't ever get all of the root means that in a matter of days...like The Terminator....they will be back!  And unlike the gullible and stupid thistle, dandelions are smart.  They don't grow by the edge of the walk were they can get yanked or blasted by weed killer, they grow in places where they know I can't pull out the lazy gardener's best fried.....RoundUp.  The grow under my roses, in the middle of my pretty violets, and through the tender new stems of my peonies.  I can't dig them up without harming the few flowers that I do manage to grow with some degree of success.  Dandelions are in it to win it.  They are the Russian Gymnasts of Landscaping, the Bill Gates of the Garden, the Tiger Woods of Weeds.  Little kids love them, I hate them, but I have great respect for them because I know that when I'm long gone and just dust in the wind (sing it with me!), they will continue to push those sunny yellow blooms up into the middle of my great grandchildren's peonies and will most likely drive them crazy too. 

But before that happens, I'll continue to fight the good fight with my mismatching gardening gloves, my trusty hoe, and the lazy gardener's best friend.....