Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I cannot beleive that it is almost Christmas! I finished my shopping yesterday. Yay! If you are out fighting the crowds, it is nice to be out in 75 degree weather. Since it is not cold, sometimes I have to remind myself that it is almost Christmas. We'll get a dose of some cold and maybe some snow in Ohio.

This is going to be the last Christmas for our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. It has lasted us 4 Christmas seasons. Too many of the bulbs burnt out and I cannot find the right replacement bulbs after looking multiple places.

I may not be able to blog for a while, so I wanted to send out my wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful 2008!

Chair

A friend bought some new living room furniture, so I have a reading chair now! The chair was well loved in its previous home, and I will be slip covering it for now. I may eventually look into what it will cost to reupholster it. The frugal websites I have visited claim that you can reupholster it yourself if you are really careful. I have not sewn since I was in junior high, so that is not an option for me right now. I am posting a picture to show my Mom what I was talking about. I was able to get her decorating advice over the phone.

Recipe

I took Pretzel Hugs to work today and they were a hit. They are really easy to make and so good. I check this blog for scrapbooking ideas, but Becky also shares neat recipes with pictures. The pictures make me want to try them out. Here is my version:

Article

I liked this article I read today about financial security:
Dollar Stretcher Article

Chia Pet Update

So far, my Chia Pet is not growing in my office. Fluorescent lights may not be the ideal growing conditions. (We do not have any windows in my office!) I'll keep trying, but I may have to start over in the new year. The commercial makes it look so easy...

Chia Pet

I received a Chia Pet (Elephant) is our office secret santa gift exchange! It was a gag gift, but I am going to try to grow it in my office. I wonder how many students will comment on it? It was actually a re-gift and not my real gift, but we all got a good laugh out of it. I am amused by those commercials that are only on a Christmas: Chia Pet, The Clapper, etc. It is soaking tonight, so I should be able to plant it tomorrow.

Christmas Traditions

I have been thinking about traditions as Christmas approaches. I realized that my family has so traditions and memories surrounding Christmas. My goal is to make a mini-album of Christmas Traditions, but for now I will start by writing them out.

The ceramic Christmas tree goes up on Thanksgiving. It signifies the beginning of the Christmas season.

The ceramic NOEL letters have been a staple at my parents’ house for years during Christmas. They are usually set up on one of the bookcases. For years they mixed in with the other Christmas decorations until we saw an episode of Home Improvement. (Do you remember that show with Tim Allen?) The youngest son, Mark, was in a Christmas pageant with three other children. Each one had a letter on their shirts to spell out NOEL. When they lined up backwards, they spelled LEON. After getting a laugh out of the show, our letters became LEON. Someone would rearrange our letters to spell LEON and then someone else would arrange them back to NOEL. This goes on for weeks before Christmas.

Whether real or artificial, the Christmas tree is the centerpiece of our holiday decorations. I remember years of choosing the best live tree we could find and then bringing it home. Even with the added stress of checking the Christmas lights, and crooked trunks, the tree was always worth it. The debate of white or colored lights between Mom and Brendan went on for a few years. One resolution was to have two trees. The real tree stood in the living room with white lights and the artificial tree had a home in the family room with colored lights and the “kid” ornaments. Now there is less stress with the pre-lit tree, but it is still just as beautiful.

Each year Brendan and I were given a new Christmas ornament. The ornaments where marked so that when we moved out we could have our own ornaments to take along. In 2004, I took my collection and now Brendan is moving out in 2007.

Growing up, we put cookies out for Santa (and maybe carrots for the reindeer). One of my favorite times was those years when I stopped believing in Santa, but Brendan still believed. I would pretend to go to bed at the same time he did and then get up to help Mom and Dad set out some presents. I also got to help eat Santa’s cookies.

We would go to Christmas Eve service as a family at Northwest Christian Church. The service usually included the song We Three Kings. The problem was that my dad had taught us an alternative version of the song. Dad, Brendan and I would giggle a little during the song while Mom gave us dirty looks. The final song of the service was Silent Night and each person was given a candle. When Brendan was younger, we all watched him nervously with the lit candle, but the church never caught on fire.

A big part of Christmas for children is the magic. It is amazing how little things keep the magic going. When we decorated the Christmas tree, we did not put tinsel on it. When I woke up Christmas morning, there was tinsel on the tree. Santa put the tinsel on our tree. Even once we no longer believed in Santa Claus, we still waited until the night of Christmas Eve to put the tinsel on the tree. It keeps the magic of Christmas alive.

It's December

Yay! I have started decorating the house, and we will put up the tree soon. I have also started Christmas shopping but am awaiting some Christmas lists. (That would be from John & Mom, ahem.) We will make it to Ohio over the holidays to catch up with family and friends. We are also looking forward to seeing Karee's daughter on the trip. We received the first Christmas card of the year from Nancy. Now it is time to work on our Christmas cards. Happy Holidays!

You can climb the Eiffel Tower

...in Paris, Texas! It was cold, so I did not climb it. I actually do not know the people in the photo. We made a quick stop to check out this site, so I just snapped a few photos. This tower is 65 feet tall and was built in 1995 (with the cowboy hat added in 1998). I need to make a correction to my earlier post about Paris, Texas. The second largest Eiffel Tower is now in Las Vegas.

We had a great Thanksgiving road trip to Paris. We did not hit bad traffic considering that it was a holiday weekend. (John drove and I navigated.) We had the chance to catch up with John's family. I was able to meet some more of John's family for the first time. Greg and Cindy fed us very well and were great hosts.

Grateful

I have been thinking about how much our lives have changed since moving to San Antonio. I received a promotion at work in September and John received one recently in November. These changes have really brought to light how out lives have progressed in three years.

Christmas 2004 was spent in San Antonio because we could not afford the plane tickets back to Ohio. It was our first Christmas as a married couple, but also my first Christmas away from my immediate family. We were living off of just my salary while John looked for a job and decided whether or not he wanted to go to college full-time. We discovered that it was difficult to live off of an entry-level salary in the higher education field.

My sister-in-law moved to San Antonio with us, so we had a two-bedroom apartment. When she moved away in November, it meant that we would have to cover the entire rent. I had been looking at the one-bedroom apartments in our complex since we were having trouble affording the two-bedroom.

Our first Christmas tree was an artificial tree purchased from Big Lots. We bought each other small gifts. We shared a car, so I bought John his own toy car, a little remote control Mini Cooper, for fun.

I will always be grateful to my friend Misty who invited us to spend both our first Thanksgiving and Christmas with her and her family. I was able to truly enjoy both holidays even though I was away from my family.

With some Christmas money, we purchased our first digital camera, used from Ebay. We received it shortly after Christmas. We went to the Riverwalk to take pictures and watched the excited fans before the Alamo Bowl. Ohio State University played here that year, and it was comforting to see the familiar scarlet and gray. We had fun taking pictures of the lights at night on the Riverwalk.

Things began to change by January 2005. I received a raise and John got a job at UTSA. We did not have to move apartments and were able to purchase our first house in 2006. The Christmas tree I bought in 2004 looks much smaller in our house than it did in the apartment. I do not want to part with that tree or the camera because they are reminders of that first Christmas and how far we have come.

As Thanksgiving approaches, I realize how much that I have to be thankful for. There are the tangible items in my life, but also the lessons I have learned. I am grateful that we made it though the challenges of being newlywed in a new place so far from home. We have made San Antonio our new home and learned so many life lessons from that first year of marriage and having to pinch the pennies.




Photos by John, December 2004

Banana Bread

I made some yummy Whole Wheat Banana Bread last night. I do not remember the last time I made banana bread.

Simplify

I have been thinking lately about how to simplify things in life. Life seems to have become more complex after getting married, working full-time, and owning a home. (And we do not have kids yet!) I started checking out this website since I like the name. Simplify 101

Are your photos safe?

Utah is the scrapbooking capital, so it is no surprise that the Salt Lake City Tribune has scrapbooking articles. I really enjoyed this interview with Carrie Gonzales, who is a curator and scrapbooker. She talks about photo storage and preservation, which is useful even if you do not scrapbook. Link

Day Off

I took today off from work. I am cleaning the house and catching up on some things. Nancy will arrive from Cincinnati this afternoon for a weekend visit. This is her first visit to San Antonio. We'll hit the Downtown sites tomorrow, and it looks like the weather will be great. We realized that we have not seen each other since my wedding three years ago. Time sure flys by and it reminds me that I have some people to catch up with!


I found Mr. Potato Head kits for pumpkins at Target. This is how our pumpkins turned out this year. We had some trick-or-treaters on Wednesday night but not too many.

Random Updates

Fall has arrived in San Antonio. Ok, the definition of fall is different here than in the Midwest. The days are pleasant with highs in the 70s. It does get down into the 40s at night, which now is cold to me.

My work is picking up since midterm grades and the spring class schedules have posted. John is doing well in his class this semester.

John's office has formed a softball team called the .com Padres. The name is fitting for a bunch of computer guys. They have been practicing for a while and games start in November.

John and I are still mostly following the You Diet. (Well, we did eat the monster cookies that Mickey sent us. They are so good!) Anyway, we are eating better overall and feeling better. I still need to get in some more exercise, but sometimes is better than never. I have decided that if I am going to splurge on a little junk food, it better be for something I really like.

Nancy is coming to visit next weekend. Yeah! It will be her first visit to San Antonio.

We're going to Paris for Thanksgiving!

Paris, Texas...

John's family will be invading Paris, Texas for Thanksgiving. John's uncle, aunt, and cousin live there. John's dad, sister, sister's boyfriend, grandma, great-aunt, and great-uncle will driving down from Evansville, Indiana

Paris, Texas has been named the "Best Small Town in Texas." It is home to the second largest Eiffel Tower in the world and the only one with a cowboy hat. I'll be sure to post pictures of that after our trip. It will be about a 7 hour drive from San Antonio, and now we have a car with cruise control.

Carpooling

John sold his car in Ohio when we were moving to Texas so save money. We've had one car and (usually) a motorcycle while living in San Antonio. Early on I thought that we would get another car as soon as John started working full-time. When he started working at UTSA, we could still get by with one car and a motorcycle. For over three years the carpooling has worked for us. For about the last year since we have lived in the house, we have carpooled daily. As life becomes busier, we realized that we need another car. We have been discussing this since the spring and have gone over various options. At first, John was going to sell the motorcycle and buy a fun car. The final decision was that John would keep the motorcycle and we purchased a practical car. We kept the Bachman family tradition of buying a Toyota and we had a great experience with Cavender Toyota. And we will still carpool to work a couple of days a week.

Fall?

It felt a little chilly this evening. Then I realized that it is still 72 degrees. Welcome to fall in San Antonio. And yes, it will be almost 90 degrees tomorrow. To get myself in the mood of fall, I did buy some pumpkins and apple cider over the weekend. Pumpkins are definitely my favorite part of Halloween. I can do without the scary stuff. I think that it is time for me to go to bed before I ramble too much.

Wedding Album Complete

I am finally finished with my wedding album! I finished altering the outside of the American Crafts Modern 12x12 album today. The before and after shots are included. I have been working on this album for about six months. The album is purple since that was may main wedding color. The patterned paper is green since it was an outdoor ceremony.

Supplies used:
18x18 paper cut down to size: Martha Stewart attached with spray adhesive and sealed with Liquidtex matte varnish
Green Glitter Paint on edges: Little Davis
White Ribbon: from Michael's and attached with the Xyron 150
Letter Stickers: American Crafts Thickers

I would consider altering albums in future, but I think that a smaller size would be easier.

Wedding

Yesterday we went to the wedding of one of my former students from the Campus Activities Board. It was a beautiful ceremony and fun reception. I enjoyed catching up with some people who I had not seen in a while. I find it intersting to see the different traditions included in weddings. I have been ceremonies that have included Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, and Jewish traditions.

In between the ceremony and reception we drove around the Northeast part of San Antonio. We saw parts of Universal City, Schertz, and Selma. Since we live in the Northwest side of town, we do not go over that way too often.

October 1

Happy Birthday Brendan!!!

Us on a Diet

The first week of You on a Diet has gone well. We only missed one morning of walking and both ate well for the week. I packed salads most days for lunch and actually enjoyed them! It has taken me some extra time in the evenings to prepare food, but it has been worth it. We have been able to find healthy things when we want to eat out. There is a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q on almost every corner in San Antonio. Instead of getting the (fried) chicken strips with gravy and french fries, we now get the turkey with green beans and cole slaw. Both of us have more energy, which has been a nice immediate effect of our new eating and exercise plan.

Have a good week!

Moving Forward

In the past week I've had contact with three students that I know from my time in Student Activities. One emailed me because he is now a Marketing Coordinator for UTSA Housing after finishing his bachelor's degree last May. I ran into another student on campus yesterday who just found out that she got into medical school. Today as I was leaving work, I saw a student who graduated in May 2006 and is set to finish his master's degree this December. It is really cool to see these students moving forward.

Now that I work with only freshmen, I may not get to learn the end result for the students. I value this time in which I see some of the students from my Student Activities days move forward and accomplish goals in their lives. Yet, this has been only one of the aspects of why I enjoy working in higher education. I have gotten out of my office during the last week to visit freshmen classes as part of our Classroom Outreach program and I enjoy the energy on the campus. I am in a good place right now. I am glad that I stuck it out during the bumps in the road.

New Things This Week

A few new things happened over the past week, which turned out to be a busy one. On Wednesday I was offered the Academic Advisor II position that I interviewed for in my office. My job is a great fit for me, so I am excited to be able to move up within my current office. I will have a little more responsibility, but I do not think that my job will radically change.

On Friday we held the first annual Academic Advising Conference at UTSA. It was a one day conference for advisors at UTSA and the surrounding areas. I helped on the planning committee and the event went well. We had some great speakers!

John and I have been reading the book You on a Diet by Michael F. Roizen, M.D. and Mehet C. Oz, M.D. The book goes over how your body processes food and then has an eating and exercise plan. The idea is that once you learn more about how your body works, you can make good eating habits automatic. So far, I love this book! I am happy that John is getting into it too. We started the You Diet yesterday. We cleaned out all of the junk food from our house. (I saved the non-perishable items in a box to donate to a food drive.) We went grocery shopping for healthy foods. We will have to rely less on convenience foods and cook more for ourselves. We need to walk at least 30 minutes a day and do strength exercises 3 times a week.

Last night for dinner we actually grilled and ate salmon. John and I usually do not eat fish unless it is fried! We cooked with fresh herbs too, which have such a great aroma. So far, I really like the eating plan.

I gave up Weight Watchers to switch to the You Diet. I think that I can stick to this new plan better than Weight Watchers. This plan has us focused more on losing inches around your waist than losing pounds.

My last new thing for the week was buying some Crocs. Yes, I have given in to the fad. I think that the new mary jane style is cute, so now I have a brown pair. They are so comfortable!

Parents' Visit

My parents visisted us last week and we had a great time. We visited the Riverwalk, San Antonio Museum of Art, and Gruene, Texas (pronounced "green"). Mom and Dad visited the King William District on their own. We ate at a couple of favorite places, including Shilo's Deli and Rudy's.

Above I posted a few pictures from the visit. The first picture of is of Mom and Dad at the Gristmill Restuarant in Gruene. The second picture in of John and me at the Riverwalk with Casa Rio in the background. The third picture is of Dad and Frida. She was a little timid at first, but Frida made friends. The last picture is of us looking at a crane at the Riverwalk. Not only do the tourists go to the Riverwalk for lunch, so does the crane. We watched the crane find a minow in the river.

Six Years Ago

Where were you six years ago today? Do you remember what you were doing when you heard the towers had been hit? Some parts of the day are vivid to me and I cannot believe that it has already been six years.

I has graduated from college in May and was working as a secretary at Doody Door and Hardware in Dayton. I often listened to the radio at work, so that was how I first heard about the events. Without a TV in the office, my first images were from CNN.com. I remember waiting and waiting for those pictures to load on my computer. We stayed at work that day but did not really get much done.

Once I got home, we watched the news for hours. We heard a sonic boom that night, and everyone came out of there houses to check on that noise. It was quite loud. I remember seeing all my neighbors standing in their front yards on Skylark Drive.

I was planning a wedding with Brian at that time, so Mom and I had an appointment with a photographer that night. We still went, but the wedding did not seem so important at that time.

I watched a lot of news for the next few days as the details unfolded. About a month after the event, I did visit Ground Zero with Brian. He grew up in New Jersey and some people from his hometown lost their lives that day. I remember how much smoke and soot were around even a month after the event.

I missed being on a college campus after the events of 9/11. I wanted the opportunity to discuss the events with my peers in an academic environment. I started to think more about the college campus environment, which may have helped lead me to an eventual career in higher education.

In May 2002, Mom and I took a trip to New York City. Their tourism had really suffered, and it was an opportunity to support the city. I needed to use a plane ticket and Mom had never been to the city. The financial district was somewhat of a ghost town, but the rest of the city seemed more back to normal. We had a great trip.

On my first trip to New York City in 1997, I bought a Hard Rock Cafe shirt with the cityscape drawn on the back. After 9/11, I found that shirt and realized that the Twin Towers are drawn on the back. I cannot part with that shirt now.

I had trouble writing the date 9/11 in 2002. I think that I actually future dated some things to 9/12/02. In some ways, the events feel so recent. In other ways, the events are becoming part of history instead of the present. No matter what, I think that this will continue to be a memorable day for those who lived through it.

New Favorite Websites

Here are my new favorite websites from the last week or so:

Good Reads
I learned about this one at book club. My favorite feature is that you can make a to-read list. Someday I will read all of the books I've purchased! If you decide to use the site, you can add me as a friend by searching my first and last name.

Page Maps
These sketches are great for scrapbooking and making cards. When I get stuck, looking at a sketch helps me. I also like visualizing what I can fo with different numbers and sizes of photos.

Prima
They are coming out with some neat scrapbooking products. They now have watercolor paper that you can paint or color in. There are parts of scrapbooking that remind me of fun things from childhood. This new paper is like an adult coloring book. I own a couple of books about scrapbooking and they include lots of pictures.

Cool Scrapbooking Projects:
Cathy made a really fun recipe binder.
Donna altered the covers of her scrapbooks and they are fabulous.
I love these American Crafts 3-ring binder albums. They are so easy to use and the page protectors are nice and thick. I now have lots of project ideas.

Have a great week!

Nicaragua

I probably would not think about Nicaragua much if I had not met Pam. I worked with Pam for almost two years in the Office of Students Activities. She left UTSA in the spring of 2006 to become a missionary with Food for the Hungry in Nicaragua. I have been amazed by Pam's ability to work towards this goal and commit three years to serving people in Nicaragua. Please keep those affected by Hurricane Felix in your thoughts. If you are interested helping those in Nicaragua, you can visit the Food for the Hungry website for more information.

Similarities between clothing and scrapbooking supplies

I have realized that there are some similarities to purchasing clothing and scrapbooking supplies. Both clothing and scrapbooking have seasons and trends. New items are released multiple times a year. I also realized that my clothing style and my scrapbooking style have some things in common. I tend to dress and scrapbook in a simple style. I have some clothing companies that I look to when I need something new because I know that I will get consistent quality and style I like. The same goes for my scrapbook supplies.

I have decided that I will approach my scrapbooking stash similar to my wardrobe. Here are my guidelines:

1. It is alright to invest in some good quality "basics." For me, that includes cardstock and tools. These are the items I keep around, like a good pair of black pants. I like to have a variety of colors of Bazzill cardstock handy.

2. It is fun to buy a few trendy items, but I do not have to follow all the trends. It is fun to watch all the new stuff come out from CHA (Craft and Hobby Association shows), but I cannot keep up with all of it. I'll just pick my favorites. Similar to fashion, there have been some trends that just do not work for me.

3. I will only buy what I love. I like bargain shopping but I do not like clutter. If I do not love a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes, it sits in my closet. I have bought some scrapbooking supplies on sale that have sat in my stash for a while now. I brought them home and realized that I mainly purchased them because of the low price.

4. It is good to look at your stash and purge as necessary a couple of times a year. I go through and donate clothes we no longer wear to a local charities a couple of times a year. The same works for scrapbook supplies. I found a local church that makes Life Books for children in foster care. I feel good about donating items to them.

I purchased some scrapbooking supplies early on for my wedding album. By the time I started the album, my style and scrapbooking knowledge have evolved. I have mixed some of my older and new purchases in the album. I have learned to be more careful with my purchases.

I love long weekends!

That's all I wanted to say.

What is Frida?

We adopted Frida from the Humane Society almost two years ago, so we do not know much about the first five years of her life. She did have puppies though and never really got her "girlish figure" back. She was transferred to the Humane Society with some other dogs from a dachshund rescue. We just assumed that she is a chihuahua and dachshund mix, but is she really? We have had a few people tell us that part of her coloring resembles that of a blue heeler. At the vet earlier tonight they nicknamed her a bluehuahua. I did look at some images of blue heelers online, and it is possible. (She was getting a check-up.)

Frida has figured out how to jump up on the grill and table in hopes of getting some hot dogs. It is funny to look out the back door and see the dog on top of the table. Time to move the table...

Robots

I was posting a comment on a Typepad blog and saw this:

This test is used to prevent automated robots from posting comments.

I had to type in the letters and numbers I saw on the screen. It made me laugh. Should I be afraid of automated robots? Robot parts keep appearing in my house...

Momisms

Happy Birthday Mom!

I just finished talking to my mom on the phone. She called after opening the gift John and I sent her. John actaully deserves most of the credit for picking it out.

Mom and I were catching up on some things, and she said something that struck me. "The important thing is not to give up; it just may take longer." You do not even need to take the comment in the context of our conversation. You can apply that advice to so many things in life.

I'll add a couple of other Momisms that I remember from growing up:

"Actions speak louder than words."

"You can have it all but not all at once."

Have a good weekend everyone!

Game Day

A group of John's work friends came over to play video games yesterday and it turned out to be quite a fun day. There was a Nintendo Wii, two XBox 360's and a Play Station 2. Mauricio brought over a smoker and grilled some chicken and sausage. (Yum!) The game playing lasted for hours and hours. I am not usually too interested in video games, but I had fun too. The Sports for the Nintendo Wii are a blast. (John and I did lose at doubles tennis though.) Guitar Hero is also a blast, but it takes concentration. Frida made some new friends when the guys snuck her pieces of the leftover meat.

The top picture is of Dan and Huggins boxing. The next picture is of Mauricio and Chris playing baseball. The last two pictures are of the guys sitting around the XBoxes. (We found out that we can fit 12 people in our family room.)

Numbers

As you may have noticed, there have been less Weight Watchers posts this month. I have missed some meetings this month and am not tracking as much as I should. Since August is such a busy month, I plan to work on some better habits in September. I did at least step on the scale today to check my weight. I wanted to know how I was doing. It turns out that I am doing OK.

Numbers are indicators of so many aspects in our lives. They are just indicators though, not the only measure of who we truly are. It is hard not to focus on the numbers in life. High school students want to go to a public university in Texas are faced with many tests. First there is the SAT and/or ACT, and then there may be a test required for the Texas Success Initiative. At orientation, many students also need placement tests, especially in math. Students often find that their math placement scores do not allow them to take the level of math that they want to take. It is common for a student to take Pre-Calculus as a senior and then place into Developmental Math as a college freshman because they forgot the algebra that was covered on the placement test. This leads to a focus on the numbers. Students constantly ask "What score did I need." The focus is more on the score than the content of the test.

Our society will continue to focus on the numbers, but these are just indicators. Our weight, score on a test, or balance in a savings account, etc. tell us how we are doing in an area of our lives, but numbers should not dictate our lives.

Have a great weekend!

Catching Up

I've spent the last couple of nights on the phone catching up with Jenni, Beth, and My Mom. I also received an email from Meredith this week. Even though I do not get to see many of my friends as often as I used to, we seem to be able to pick up right from where we left off. I love that!

Library

I have rediscovered the library! I loved borrowing books from the library as a kid: Beverly Cleary, Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, The Baby-sitters Club, Sweet Valley Twins, and Sweet Valley High. Yes, I will admit to reading a lot of Baby-sitters Club and Sweet Valley books!

I am not completely sure what really got me back to the library. Maybe it was to save money. Maybe it was because I realize that I have not read all the books I have bought since college. (There is no guilt if I don't get around to reading a library book; I can just check it out again in the future.) Also, the library is pretty close to our house and has a handy online request system. When I hear about a book I want to read, I now go the the San Antonio Library website instead of Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Don't get me wrong, I still love to walk around bookstores. You just can't beat getting it for free at the library!

My local library looks like a regular suburban libarary, but the Downtown Central libarary is pretty cool. It is nicknamed the Big Enchilada for its color.

Weekly updates

I probably will just post weekly in August, since it is a busy month at work. Only one more orientation left! After that we will see lots of walk-in students, answer lots of emails and phone calls, and advise the new international students. John will finish his class on Tuesday. The five weeks did go by pretty quickly. His fall class is two nights a week, so that won't be too bad.

It has gotten hot here in San Antonio and we are not getting as much rain. It feels like a San Antonio summer!

I am working to get my wedding scrapbook done before my parents visit in September. I got five pages done yesterday, which is a lot for me.

Have a good week!

Scrapbooking Mishap Last Night

As I was stapling a picture to my scrapbook layout, I found that I could not reach one of the corners without a long-reach stapler. I had to improvise with my regular stapler. In the process of trying to staple the last corner, I stapled my entire layout to the table! John came to the rescue with some pliers. My plastic table was fine, but my scrapbook page had extra holes and no staple. I covered it with some paper and am calling it "part of the creative process." I think that it is time to buy a long-reach stapler. Happy Sunday!

P.S. Thank you to John Grafton, Grammar Police, for editing this post.

August

I can't believe that it is August already... Where is the summer going? Summer is our busiest time of year at work. Only three orientations left! John has been busy with both work and his class.

It has been a while since I posted. Here are a few updates:

July 31 was out 3rd anniversary. We celebrated on Sunday with a lunch out at the Kona Grill (yummy potstickers) and The Simsons Movie. How romantic!?

I went to the book club last night. I arrived at Katie and Elizabeth's apartment a few minutes after 8 pm to find that I am the first one there. This was the first time I was meeting Katie and Elizabeth, who are sisters. I was expecting a couple of people that I already know to be at the book club, but it turned out to only be just the three of us. We still had a good time and Katie and Elizabeth are both really cool people. I really enjoyed The Alchemist. The book seems to be simple until you stop and think about it a little bit, and then you see lots of deeper meanings. The next book is The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I am not sure what the book is about, so I am excited to check it out.

Show & Tell

John recently completed a robot and took it to work today. It is a little bug robot that moves from sunlight. It was built from a kit but still took lots of little parts and soldering. We are finally seeing the sun here in San Antonio, so the little bug jumps around in the light. I think that this is the first of many robots...

The first picture is the robot and the second is John's desk where the robot magic happens.

Getting Back on Track

I missed one Weight Watchers meeting because of work and then a second when I was sick. During that time, I did not consistently track my eating. I woke up this morning to pounding rain outside and did not want to go to the meeting. I made myself get up and go because I knew that I was off track. I have gained 2.8 pounds since my last meeting on June 30th. Of course, I was bummed!

I am not going to quit, although it is tempting. I am using this as my reminder that I have to carefully watch what I eat. Left to my own devices, my eating habits cause me to gain weight. This is my challenge in life. Other things in life have come pretty easily to me, but weight loss and exercise do not. I need to (and want to) keep working on this part of my life.

I am posting two pictures from when I has lost weight with Weight Watchers in the past as my reminder that I can do this. The frist one is from December 2004 at the Riverwalk and the second is from Jamie's wedding in May 2005.




I am still working on keeping regular activity in my life. I am not as motivated to get to the gym without a trainer. My plan for this week is to go after work each day. I get off of work about 6:00 P.M. and then go back to UTSA at 7:30 P.M. to pick up John from his class. I can use this time to go to the gym instead of just going straight home.

I hope that everyone has a good week! I'll post my Weight Watchers results next Saturday.

Books & a Movie

I am still getting over a summer cold. As my Dad would say, I was "sick enough to be cured," so I went to a doctor. I am feeling better today.

Today we wen to see the new Harry Potter movie. John and I both liked it. I have only read the first three books, but John has read the first six. He actually liked this movie better than the book. He felt that the movie did a good job of summerizing the book. Overall, I have really enjoyed the Harry Potter movies. I am going to get back into reading the books again. I picked up book four today and plan to go in order to get to book seven. I am curious to learn how the series wraps up! I do not want to know the ending until I read book seven, and it will take me a little while to get there!

I have also joined a monthly book club. I missed my first meeting due to being sick this week. We read Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. I have enjoyed mysteries since Mr. Althaus introduced my sixth grade homeroom class to Agatha Christie. This was a good mystery and I loved the ending! For August, we are reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. For the last few years, I have mainly been reading nonfiction, and I have not been reading as many books. (I have been reading managzines more.) The book club has helped to get me reading novels again!

M & M

This is what I would look like as an M & M. I named her Princess Cupcake.com
You can make your own M & M.

Back-to-School

When you walk into Wal-Mart, Target, or you local grocery store (here it is HEB) you cannot miss the school supplies. It is only July, but the retailers want you to buy school supplies and school clothes even though kids will not return to school until August or September. In contrast, John’s first day back-to-school (July 11) was just a typical day. Off he went to work, but he just stayed later to go to class (Freshmen Composition). No new clothes or school supplies, just some books borrowed from one of my co-workers and a new book from the UTSA bookstore.

I am seeing a different perspective on student life at UTSA by watching John go to school there. I can now honestly tell the freshmen that I understand how expensive classes and books are at UTSA. I see the perspective of the non-traditional students trying to find evening and online classes. I have caught myself going into advisor mode a couple of times as John talked about going back to school. I tried to get myself out of advisor mode and back to wife mode.

Since I really enjoy school (why do you think I work in education?), I find myself getting excited for John. Tonight I was even assigned to read one of his essays. It was about gender and communication, so it was applicable to our marriage. As much as I want for John to share the college experience I had, I know that his will be different. He has been working in computers for almost ten years now. He also is the most independent leaner that I have known.

For the next five weeks, John will spend lots of time in the spare bedroom reading essays and writing papers. The robot parts in the garage will remain untouched except for some time on the weekends.

On another note, I have heard that John has shared my blog address with a friend from work because he has not updated his blog in about six months. I am hoping for some humorous comments, but remember that my mom also reads my blog.

At Home

I've spent the last two days at home fighting a cold. After sleeping a lot, I think that I am now winning. I'll go back to work tomorrow for orientation. We (13-14 advisors) see about 340 new freshmen each Thursday to help them pick their fall class schedules. It would take a lot more than a cold for any of us to call in sick on orientation day!

We cancelled the cable a couple of months ago, so the channels we get with the antenna are ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. The only thing on mid-day are soap operas, so I decided to update my blog. You may notice that I have been playing with the layout templates. Blogger offers many templates, so I have been changing them around for variety.

I found another scrapbook site I really enjoy. It is ScrapWords and emphasizes using words in scrapbooking. I find words and pictures to be a powerful comination and have started journaling more in my scrapbooks. The site also has a place for blogs. Since I enjoy blogging here, I think that I will start one their too. This blog will not change much, but I will use the new blog to talk more about scrapbooking.

Confession Time

Ok, so I skipped the Weight Watchers meeting this week. It was due to poor planning on my part. I had the Saturday shift at work, so I thought that I'd go to the 7:30 am meeting before work. Wrong! I did not want to get up that early on a Saturday morning.

I've had a relaxing few days off from work, and I mainly hung around the house. Frida did have to go to the vet on Thursday, but she is much better now. I'll spare you the details... She is happy to get her antibiotic in cheese twice a day.

John and I have managed to share a car for three years now. (Most of this time he has had a motorcylce.) As we are pulled in different directions, it is time to sell the motorcycle and buy another car. John test drove a new Honda Civic Si yesterday. I just rode along because I have only driven automatics... It is a nice car, but $$$. My practical side is saying buy a used car! For some reason, John does not want to jump onto the Bachman Family Toyota Bandwagon. Mom and Dad have Corollas, I have a Corolla, and Brendan has a Tacoma.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday! We saw Transformers this morning. Very entertaining!

We had planned to go to a BBQ this evening, but it was cancelled due to weather. The rain has stopped for a while, but Neal's yard is too muddy. We are just hanging out at home and enjoying some down time.

I am off work Thursday and Friday but have the Saturday morning shift. My boss acutally suggested that I take Thursday off. How great is that! I was off Wednesday for the holiday and Friday because of working Saturday. It just made sense to take off Thursday since we do not have orientation this week.

Monday Night

Pictures of a Monday night at the Grafton house:

My desk is under a window, so I look out to oak trees in the back yard.


John was working in the garage on the future robot.


Frida was sitting on the table. We do not know why she sits there, and she usually jumps up there when no one is looking.

Weight Watchers: Week 4 & My Saturday

I went to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning and lost 0.8 pounds this week. It was harder for me to stay on track this week, so I am happy with even a little weight loss. Each week is a new start, which is great! I am back to feeling motivated. I ate healthy for most of the day and got to splurge on a Frappaccino.

Here's my big accomplishment for the day: I mowed the grass for the first time in my life! Yep, I never mowed the grass before. Since I was sooo good at mopping the floors and inside chores, I never got the chore of mowing the grass. Most of my parents' yard is on a hill or a "swamp", so my parents did not want me mowing the yard. Now that I have my own house, I need to know how to take care of things around here. John is starting a summer class soon that will be five nights a week for five weeks. Since he will be busy, I offered to help with the mowing during that time. We have a good mower, but I learned today that it is a lot of work! My next household maintenance item to tackle is getting on the roof. The problem is that I am afraid of falling...

We visited the Apple Store today to check out the iphone. It is pretty cool, but I could not justify spending $500-600 on it. The funny part was that John had trouble typing on it since it is made for smaller fingers like mine.

I also got some pages done for the wedding scrapbook. I am really trying to my supplies instead of buying more stuff. I did get some cool scrapping stuff for my birthday that will be fun to use.

Scrapbooking Websites

I have discovered two good scrapbooking websites that I want to share:

Paperclipping
This website includes a blog and videos you can watch about scrapbooking. Noell goes over some basic design principles including starting a layout, visual triangles, and color. I am spending my Friday night watching and listening.

PHutch Sketches
Scrapbooking sketches are great inspiration. I have used some printed/published sketches and I have made my own sketches. I do not always follow the sketch exactly, but it has helped me to break out of a rut. Usually my pages evolve from the original sketch or idea, but that it part of the fun in my opinion.

Car

We paid off the car in May and received the title today in the mail. Yeah! This is the first loan that I've paid off. The title says "Sara Bachman" since I bought the car in 2002. Now it is time for John to get a car or truck.

June 25th

Some Famous People who also have a June 25th Birthday:
George Orwell
Carly Simon
George Michael
and per John, "Also Joseph Foullon, but he doesn't count since he was a hated French politician that was brutally murdered at the beginning of the French Revolution."

Yeah, my husband has been reading a French Revolution book along with a book about how to build robots. There will probably be future posts about robots...

Birthday Weekend

I turn 28 tomorrow! John and I went downtown yesterday for my Birthday Weekend outing. We visited a couple of places that we had not been to yet in San Antonio. We had lunch at Schilo's Delicatessen. It is a very good German deli near the Riverwalk. Loved the root beer! We had been hearing good things about it lately. We wanted to go for one of our Sunday lunches out, but they are closed on Sundays.

Next we visited The Museo Alameda, which opened in the spring. It is affiliated with the Smithsonian. It is not a huge museum, but it had neat exhbits. I learned about Conjunto music and thought its connection to German immigrants is pretty cool.

Friday night Sharis (friend from work) came over to scrapbook. I am working on my wedding scrapbook and plan to have it finished by our third anniversary at the end of July. Today has been my lazy day at home. No special plans for my birthday since it is a work day, but I enjoyed my Birthday Weekend.

Weight Watchers: Week 3

I woke up this morning looking forward to going to a Weight Watchers meeting. The Saturday morning group is quite lively and the leader is fun! I got a good surprise when I weighed in this morning. I lost 3.2 pounds! It had been a week and two days since my last weight in, so the time did help. The good thing I did was really track all that I ate. Even when I ate too much at Bunko on Tuesday night, I made myself sit down and track each item. I was able to stay within my points for the week, but I did not eat enough fruits and vegetables. (Something for me to work on...) My goal for next week is to lose 1.2 pounds so that I can hit the 5 pounds lost mark. One gentlemen at the meeting was recognized today for losing 100 pounds! It is great to watch people make positive changes in their lives and succeed.

Scrapbook Layouts

I've taken pictures of a couple of my scrapbook layouts. I have not figured out how to get them super straight, so I cannot completely crop out the background. I'll keep trying, but this is the start. The Our Backyard layout is from a Becky Higgins sketch in Creating Keepsakes magazine. Reading the scrapbook magazines has helped me try new layout styles. (Most of my early pages all look the same!) I had fun playing with some ribbon and stickers for the Halloween layout. I may still try to scan some layouts...

Frida

When I was a kid, I remember looking through a photo album with pictures that my parents took when they lived in Kansas City. This was before they had kids, and there were lots of pictures of their dog, Max. I wondered why they took so many picture of the dog. Now I understand. Here is a picture of Frida wagging her tail.

Another Championship

The SPURS have won their fourth championship since 1999 and their second since we have lived in San Antonio. There are a lot of happy people in San Antonio.

Weight Watchers: Week 2

I am working on Saturday, so I will not be able to make it to a Weight Watchers meeting that day. I went to a meeting tonight since my goal is to go to a meeting each week to stay motivated.
Weight Lost: 0.6 lb. (in 5 days)

It is not a huge weight loss but a good start. I am thinking back to the Tortoise and the Hare: slow and steady wins the race. The next week I want to go to the gym more to help my weight loss. I am following the Flex Plan and I can earn Activity Points. In the past, I would swap Activity Points for food. The leader at my first meeting did not recommend that. She reminded us that the Surgeon General recommends at least 30-45 minutes of exercise a day. And that does not mean 30-45 minutes of exercise a day in order to eat more!

Back to watching the SPURS and watering the lawn. Gotta love South Texas.

Other Uses for Scrapbook Supplies

I removed a sticker from the outside of one of the bedroom doors. I discovered why the sticker was there... to cover some patch work. I gathered some scrapbook supplies to make this:

Mini Album

This was John's last Valentine's Day gift. I made him a surprise mini album and had a lot of fun playing with paints.

Attitude & The Passage of Time

Ali Edwards posted about Choices today on her blog. She quoted Charles Swindoll, who I referenced in my high school graduation speech about Attitude. When there are multiple valedictorians, all the speeches can sound the same after a while. I gave a speech with my friend Jamie about the impact of a positive attitude and hoped it would be a unique topic. I should still have a copy of the speech, so maybe I'll dig it up to post on this blog.

I have been very aware of the passage of time lately:
Ten years since I graduated from high school
Three years since I moved to Texas
Getting closer to age thirty
Married for almost three years

Even as time passes, I am still an optimist.

June 11th

Happy Birthday Dad! I am happy to share my birthday month with my dad.

June 11, 2004 was the day that John and I moved to Texas. We left Dayton on June 10th and split the 20 hour drive into two days. We arrived on the evening of June 11th with John's sister Jenni and their Mom. It was a Friday and I started my job at UTSA on Monday. We have now lived in Texas three years... wow.

Weight Watchers: Week 1

I joined Weight Watchers today! Okay, so this is not the first time I have joined this program. In the meeting this morning, someone made the reference to being a "repeat offender" for joining multiple times. What will make this time different? Here are the lessons I have learned about weight loss from losing and gaining the same few pounds over and over again:
1. The balance of exercise and careful eating is key. Following Weight Watchers points without exercise is not enough and just exercise without changing your eating habits is not enough. Now I have to put together what I learned from the person trainer and what I am learning from Weight Watchers.
2. I need something to hold me accountable. I am not good at being consistent with my eating and exercise from week to week. After a good week, I seem to slip.
3. I have to go to Weight Watchers meetings every week. The center with many meeting times is not far from my house, so I have no excuses.

Each time I start to lose weight, I seem to lose motivation. My reasons for wanting to lose weight include:
1. I want to be happy with my body.
2. I want more energy.
3. I want to be at a healthy weight before I have kids. (This is becoming a much bigger motivation since I will be 28 soon.)

A few months ago, I caught The Tyra Banks Show when she and her guests all had their weight posted on their swimsuits. She did the episode in response to all the press about how she weighs 160-something. It was so liberating to see people of all shapes and sizes share their weight. Three women shared their "So What" statements. While Tyra is not promoting being unhealthy, she does not want people to get so wrapped up in this number. Thanks to Tyra, I am going to post my current weight and my progress each week. I was hesitant to post my weight until I remembered watching that show. This blog is one more way to hold myself accountable to weight loss and being more healthy.

Starting Weight: 166.2
Heighth: 5'4
Goal: 135

I even had John take a "before" photo this morning.

Scrapbooking

The photos above show many of my scrapbooking supplies. I want to experiment with the best way for me to post my layouts on this blog. My LSS (local scrapbook store) charges $1 per page to scan my 12X12 layouts. Hmm... that will add up over time. I can try to scan layouts on my scanner and stitch two images together to cover a 12x12 layout. Scanning would have been easier if I scrapped 8.5x11, but I like the large square of the 12x12 size. I can also take pictures of my pages, but I am not sure how that will look. I plan to post some layouts in the next week or so.

I started volunteering with my neighborhood association and now coordinate the pool and clubhouse rentals. I was cleaning up at the neighborhood clubhouse and found some scrapbooks of the University Oaks Garden Club from the mid to late 1970's. They made scrapbooks before it was popular! It was interesting to stumble upon these books with officer lists, club information, and pictures. The only problem is that these books are starting to fall apart thirty years later. These books serve as proof that it is worth the money to buy acid and lignin free products!

On Saturday I was visiting a friend who is interested in starting scrapbooks for her daughter. She has boxes of photos and memorabilia and is ready to get these into books. I made her a list of my top ten supplies to start scrapbooking:
1. Cardstock (I like Bazzill and Die Cuts With a View.)
2. Patterned paper (match the colors of your photos or the theme of your photos)
3. Black acid free journaling pen
4. Dry Adhesive (I use the Herma Vario Tab Dispenser, but there are lots of brands available.)*
5. Wet Adhesive (I have used the Zig Two Way Glue because it can be temporary or permanent.)*
6. 12 inch paper trimmer
7. Fine point scissors
8. Album/page protectors
9. Alphabet Stickers
10. Art Bin/Plastic Case (good to start organizing your scrapbooking supplies and portable)
*A less expensive option to these are acid free glue sticks.
Estimated cost: $100, depending on the exact items you purchase

You want to make sure that your supplies are acid and lingin free so that your albums will not fall apart in thirty years like the ones I saw in my neighborhood clubhouse. If you want to include any newspaper articles or items that may contain acid, you can buy somethings called Archival Mist to neutralize these items and prevent them from breaking down over time.

Here are some additional products that I have added to my stash: stickers, rub-ons, ribbon, brads, pens in a variety of colors, punches (circles and squares are good), corner rounder, stamps (buy acid free ink), scrapbook paint, stencils, and colored staples. It is easy to overbuy, so start off slow. I bought supplies for my wedding album when I first started scrapbooking. I wanted to practice on other photos first, so I am now working on my wedding album two years later and some of my early purchases do not fit my style anymore. I bought a 500 pack of cardstock at Costco at a great price, but there are colors that I will not use in there. Also, I prefer the textured cardstock now since it gaves a richer look to pages. I bought some paper packs on sale, but I do not like some of the paper now. I have bought some purple items over time that do not match, and I now try to look for coordinating lines of paper, cardstock, and embellishments to make sure that my supplies match.

I am still looking for an album that I love. Beware of buying inexpensive albums because they can fall apart. (I have been guilty of this...) I am going to try out a Creative Memories album for my Australia album. Sometimes I do not scrapbook in order, which can be a challenge with the Creative Memories albums because you scrapbook direclty onto the page. I love American Crafts products, so I want to try out their Modern Album. I recently saw a neat post about how you can use their binder albums for multiple size pages. Now that I am using more embellishments on my pages, some albums do not make my pages lay flat.

I cleaned out my scrapbooking stash on Friday night, which was really helpful. I threw away all the scraps of paper and cardstock that I will not use. I organized the remaining scraps by color. I found some paper, cardstock and stickers that I do not think I will use, and I am going to donate them to a local church that makes scrapbooks for children in foster care. This effort was inspired by one of Ali Edwards' articles.

The internet is full of sites to give you free information about scrapbooking. Scrapbook.com is one of my favorites and includes articles for beginners. 2 Peas in a Bucket has a message board for beginning scrapbookers to ask questions, which is really helpful. A couple of my friends sell Creative Memories products. Their approach is a little different than what I learned at my LSS, but I am really impressed with their quality of products. Scrapbooking is my first true hobby, I am really enjoying it.

On another note: Go Spurs Go! I am happy to see the Spurs and the Cavs in the finals.

Go Jody!

I have been neglecting my blog in the last week or so. I guess it is because I don't have too much going on right now. I enjoyed the long Memorial Day weekend. I did some scrapbooking with friends and relaxed. ("Relaxed" means sleeping in and watching The Office and Ugly Betty reruns.) I have been helping out with the clubhouse and pool rentals for my neighborhood association. Work will pick up next week with the beginning of Orientation. We will have at least 4,000 new freshmen at UTSA for the fall and they need academic advising!

I received an email this week from a grad school friend, Jody. She is doing a triathalon for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Team in Training. Wow... a triathalon! Go Jody! I give her major credit to trying this new challenge and raising money for a important cause. When someone you care about is affected by a disease, you realize how much research there still is to do in medicine. There are so many diseases with treatments but no cures. There may be treatments, but can scientists and doctors find a better treatment or a cure?

You can visit Jody's Team in Training Website for more information. Some of you reading this may not know Jody, but I realized that one way I can support her efforts is to post this on my blog.

Go Spurs Go!

Now that the playoffs are in full swing, you can't help but follow the Spurs here in San Antonio. The Spurs beat the Suns in game six on Friday night. Now they will move onto the Western Conference finals to play the Utah Jazz.

The Spurs won the NBA Championship in 2005, less than a year after we moved here. It was really neat to be in the city as that all unfolded. So far we have been to two Spurs games. Can the Spurs win it all again? I hope so!

Website

One of the reasons I decided to start a blog was to get more experience with websites, including html. In January I started updating the website for my office. I wanted to work on this project, but I have found myself in new territory as I began making updates to the website. I was able to take a Front Page class at work, but that is just the tip of the ice berg. I have found that I really enjoy working on the CFAC website. With John's help, I got some major updates posted this week. You can take a look at the website by clicking the "Work: CFAC" link to the right. The site was designed by past CFAC staff members, but I have worked to update the information, make it more user friendly, and give it a more consistent design. Once I had the updates published to the web, I found more changes to make. This is certainly a work in progress!

Yoga

Sunday was my last regular meeting with the personal trainer. She gave to workouts to do, but now I am on my own. I still meet with her once a month to check in.

I started my week with good intentions of getting up at 5:00 A.M. to exercise before work. I made it on Monday, but reset my alarm on Tuesday. Hmm, this is harder without the trainer. So now what will get me to the gym? How do I stay motivated?

I started looking at the class schedule at the gym. Before I spent so much time following the personal training program that I did not try out any classes. Tonight I went to a yoga class. It was a Ashtanga style class and was more work that I expected. The 90 minutes flew by and I got a good work out. I think I'll keep going to yoga classes.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Brendan! On Friday, he got "the call." He has been offered an outside sales position with Fastenal in Dayton. He starts on Monday.

Toledo

I had some time this morning to get the pictures off the digital camera from our trip to Ohio. The first picture is of the Gibson twins. Bailey is on the left and Sophie is on the right. The second picture is of me feeding Bailey. I hadn't fed a baby in a long time...

We had a good time in Toledo. On Saturday, Mom and I went to visit the Gibsons. Bailey and Sophie were born in February and are great babies! Bailey is a little bigger than her sister, so you can tell the girls apart. Sara and Dan are so calm for being new parents of twins! It was great to catch up with them and see the babies.


Mom, Dad, Brendan, John, and I had dinner at the Maumee Bay Brewing Company: good food and good beer.

We then had Brendan's tour of the University of Toledo. Here are pictures of the Phi Psi house where Brendan lived for three years and of Brendan and John in the Student Union. It is a nice campus and has a good "feel" to it. We also visited Brendan's favorite bar, Jake's. It was his Cheers where everyone seemed to know his name. Although they call him "Shrek" not Brendan.



Brendan graduated with a double major in Marketing and Professional Sales on Sunday, May 6. After the ceremony he had to pack up the rest of his stuff and head back to Dayton. He had to be ready for a job interview first thing Monday morning. I noticed for both Brendan and I that our high school graduations were surrounded by lots of parties and celebration. Our college graduations were different. They were still a time for celebration, but the focus was more on "what's next".