It sure is windy outside

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Goodness, I can’t believe our weather lately. We finally got some snow the other day, but it’s all gone now. We are near 50 today, but we can’t enjoy it because of our wind. We are currently in a high wind advisory, with sustained winds between 30-50mph and wind gusts up to 70mph. And believe me, it feels that way out there. Paul and I went out for a bit, ran some errands, spent some time together, but it was hard walking to the store in that wind. It should mellow out tonight and I’ll be looking forward to that. Thankfully there hasn’t been any damage around our house, just garbage cans and chairs blown about. I hope that’s all that happens.

I’ve been busy working on some crocheting items. I taught some of my friends crocheting last Saturday at a ‘back to basics’ day a friend started. She wants to have people teach us different things like crocheting, soap making, gardening etc… I don’t know that I would go to all of them, because honestly, some things I’m just not interested in. But this first one was on crocheting, and she asked me to teach it. It went great, we made a simple dish cloth of all single crochets. The only ‘issue’ is that I taught them my own, weird version of single crochet. lol :D I just crochet, I don’t think about what I’m doing, and when I have to ‘think’ about it and show it to someone I tend to forget what it is. I’m just that way, with numbers too. But the ladies took it well, and were happy that we made up a stitch together. :) But beyond that, the time of sitting around together, crocheting and just enjoying each others company was so sweet. I use to get together with other friends a lot when my kids were younger and I lived in Illinois. But trying to make new friends out here, and with my children older, it just seems so hard to get together at times. That’s what made this time so fun and special. Plus another friend and I have started an actual craft day. We are meeting once a month right now, and our first get together will be March 10th. We have about 8 ladies coming, and I can’t wait. Most of the ladies are older than me, and I can’t wait to meet them, see what they are working on and just fellowship. It should be a great time.

I need to order our school curriculum soon. Actually I have the list ready, and the money, I just haven’t spent the time to order it all. Even with a list, when I order I like to look around a bit, double check my order, things like that. So it does take a while and it isn’t quick for me, because of that I haven’t taken the time to sit down and do it. I should by this weekend. I really like looking forward to the UPS truck coming and packages being delivered. :)

I have a doctors appointment set up with the hematologist on Monday afternoon. Hubby has asked for the day off so I don’t have to go alone, I’m thankful for that. Honestly I haven’t thought about it a whole lot, which is probably good. The more I think about it, the more I would worry. We’ll just see what the doctor says and go from there.

Well, I’m off to finish my smaller yarn bag I’m crocheting. I think I’m going to give it to Sarah, and then maybe make myself a smaller one out of varigated yarn. It is so simple and quick to make, and I would like to have a smaller one for simple projects. I hope Sarah will like this one. I’ll try and get a picture of it before I give it to her, and maybe even a picture of her with it. :)

Speaking of pictures, you know I can’t leave without sharing at least one picture. :)

This is when we did have snow.
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Fit Mommy Friday and more

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Yes, this will be my Fit Mommy Friday post, but since I haven’t posted in a week, I thought I would do an update first. ;)

It’s been a good, yet busy week. It seems that between daily life, work, the crafts I want to do, blogging about those crafts (with photos) and reading other blogs, I just can’t seem to get it all in. I need to find a steamlined way of blogging quickly, with photos, and I’m not sure how to do it.

Hubby started his physical therapy on Wednesday. His doctor said things look a lot better than last time, and that this time it shouldn’t take long to get him feeling better. I was so glad to hear that. He’ll be going a few times a week for a couple of weeks, then he should be done.

This week seemed to be a week of doctors. Besides hubby’s appointment I had some doctor appointments myself. I had more blood work done because of my low WBC, and thankfully all the tests (looking for not fun things) have come back negative. At this point my family doctor doesn’t think it’s anything serious, but is a bit worried I could get a bacterial infection and my body wouldn’t be able to fight it. Between that and wanting to make sure we are doing what we should be doing, he’s sending me to a Hematologist. I get a little nervous when I think about it, but then I feel better too. I would rather talk with a a specialist about this, asking all the same questions (and probably more) that I’ve asked my general doctor. But this doctor will know and understand more. I’m really praying that it’s just a matter of getting my white blood count higher, which I would want to do naturally. There’s some conflicting information about that. Most doctors say there is nothing you can eat to increase the white blood count. Lots of naturalists disagree. Because of that, I haven’t found any solid information of what could help except ‘exercise, eat more fruits and vegetables and drink lots of water’. :( It seems like the same list is given no matter what the aliment is. I would really like to find some exact foods, supplements etc… that would help increase my white blood count. All in all, I’m continuing to give it to the Lord, and trusting in Him.

Lessons have been going well for the kids, and for that I’m thankful. I’m going to be ordering our curriculum this weekend, and we all get excited when that happens. It always feels good to have things settled for next year. I also had lunch with a friend and her and I are starting up a monthly craft get together. Just a time that us ladies can bring a sack lunch, and any craft we are working on, sit around together, talk, do our crafts and enjoy the time together. I really miss doing this, and I can’t wait until next month when we start. It should be loads of fun.

Ok, so much for my update, time to do FMF. :)

My goals:

Eat more vegetables:
Yes, I think I’ve done a little better with this this week. Of course going to my friends house with the yummy soup she made helped that. But I do have a question. I’m always reading about eating fruit and veggie with every meal, besides some lean protein. It all sounds like just too much food to be eating at one meal, and yet I’m suppose to do it with every meal. How do you add a serving size of veggie and fruit, and not just be eating veggies and fruit all day?

Watch my portion sizes:
Getting better. Continuing to watch the sizes.

Do T-Tapp every other day:
Nope, I haven’t done any workout in about a week. :(

Do T-Tapp Hoe Downs every day:
Nope.

Watch my sugar intake for my IBS:
I am having a bit more chocolate, but it hasn’t affected my IBS. I’m thankful for that.

Remember to drink water throughout the day:
Nope, still need to work on this.

Don’t push myself to exhaustion:
I was feeling a bit tired this week, but it’s been a very busy week. I get to stay home and rest today, for that I’m thankful. :)

Fit Mommy Friday

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I’ve done pretty good all week, about the same. I could always do better and I could have done worse. ;)

I did get my blood work done again, and my white blood count is lower than it’s been ever! :( I’m feeling fine though, and my doctor wasn’t in today. It could have just been that because I was on some heavy duty antibiotics a few weeks ago, it made things lower. My doctor will look at it when he’s back in the office on Monday and we’ll go from there. I figure there are three ways he could go. He could say I’m just always low and not to worry about it. He could say to wait a few more weeks and test again, and see if it was just from the antibiotic. Or he can say he wants some more testing done. I’m a bit bummed about it but leaving it in the Lord’s hands.

Then after that we went ice skating with our homeschool group. It was a great time as usual, and this time Paul even got to go since it was his day off! :D This is the third year we’ve gone, and I’ve never fallen, until today, about 50 feet from getting off the ice. Yep, Paul, me and my girlfriend were all saying it’s time to get off the ice and get some snacks. We were 50 feet from the door to get off the ice, I was literally done and just about off when my toe grip got stuck in the ice and I went down, face first. Thankfully I didn’t hit my head or face, but I fell on my left knee and hip. I’m not really sure why, but in an instant I had three grown men surrounding me asking me if I was ok. Of course the first one was Paul, and he said I just looked bad because I was face down and sprawled out. My knee and hip hurt, my leg was freezing and I have three men asking me at once if I’m ok. Then one of the guys (all of them were friends), who is very tall, says, ok I’m going to help you up. He use to be a hockey player, so he’s very comfortable on the ice. I’ve barely processed what all has happened as he starts to lift me up. I said, “No, you’ll slip and fall.” He said, “No, they will lift you up from the back while I pull you up.” And they all start doing that without me even aware of it. In the midst of it, I feel like I’m going to fall again, and I say something to Eric (the guy pulling me up), and he says “Push your toe against my toe!” Like somehow I’m to know this is how you help a person up who has fallen on the ice. So within a few seconds they have me up and I’m skating off the ice. I hurt for a bit, but I was fine. I’m a little sore now, and I have a bruise on my knee, but I’m good. I just feel horrible that 3 men had to help me up. Paul said it was not because of my weight, but because I was hurt and it was the only way to get me up without putting pressure on my knee. Hmmmm, I guess I can accept that. ;)

My goals:

Eat more vegetables:
Didn’t do well at all, didn’t even have my V8 as often as I should have. Oh well, the way I’m feeling today, I just don’t care. Sad, I know.

Watch my portion sizes:
Yes, pretty good. Some days were better than others.

Do T-Tapp every other day:
Yep, except hubby is no longer doing it with me. It stopped helping him, and it’s time for him to go back to the physical therapist and get some work done on his neck and back.

Do T-Tapp Hoe Downs every day:
Nope, not at all.

Watch my sugar intake for my IBS:
Well I have been having a bit more sugar, but it hasn’t been messing with my IBS. I’ve been taking grapefruit seed extract pills and that really seems to help with my IBS.

Remember to drink water throughout the day:
Nope, I really need to work on this.

Don’t push myself to exhaustion:
Only once, but it wasn’t a horrible exhaustion. I just know I pushed myself a bit too hard.

Well, that’s it for the week. I’ve had a very long day (some more things also happened I didn’t write about), so I’m getting off the laptop, putting on a good audio book and work on some crafts. I need to relax. :)

A neglected blog

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I can’t believe that I haven’t written on this blog, except for Fit Mommy Friday’s, for over 2 weeks. I’ve been writing and posting on my creativity blog. But I will not leave this blog lonely and left alone. I will remember to write on here more often. I’m just in a craft mode, and since that is a ‘creative’ thing, I tend to write on my other page more often. I promise I’ll share more about my crafts on here too. ;)

Today has been a bit of a crazy day. Paul had a later shift and didn’t start until almost noon. Though we got things done before he left, it really did feel like it threw off my day a bit. I had to do an impromptu grocery shopping, I was trying to scan paperwork to email, scanned it for the THIRD time, because they kept asking for a different type of file. Finally got the file type they wanted, and it was too big to be sent, and was returned back to me. UGH! I guess I’m going to have to drive over to their office tomorrow instead. :( Plus laundry, lessons and normal life. All I really wanted to do was work on my crafts.

I have finally set up a work area for myself. We don’t have extra room around here, and finding new ways to use the space we have is always an interesting job. But the Lord helped me, and I finally have it figured out.

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What do you think? I’ve arranged it a bit more by adding my sewing machine next to the white drawers on the left (where the pink yarn holder is). I’ve always liked the idea of quilting, but having my sewing machine stored in the closet deterred me from quilting much. Just too much work to bring the machine out and get things set up, I’d be wasting half my time setting things up and putting them away and hardly any time actually sewing. So when I got this area set up, I realized I could easily move my laptop to the side of the table and set up my sewing machine. Yes, there is still some setup and tear down, but not as much as before. Plus it’s my work area, so if I don’t get it cleaned up right away, it doesn’t matter, it won’t affect where we eat or anything like that.

I also wanted to use those drawers to hold quilt projects and such, but at the time they were holding all my husbands CD’s. So we bought him a new CD holder, set that up yesterday, and now I have the whole area to myself. I got it all set up last night, sewing machine moved, drawers set up and everything, but then didn’t have time to use it, I had a bible study to go to. Today I wanted to get things done quickly so I could use it, but I’ve already told you how my day went. ;)

So then finally this evening I have a few minutes, I pull out the things I was thinking of sewing, and I realize I don’t have enough fabric to make a project. :( But I have found a cool looking quilt site, the Quilt Kit Shop. I will be the first to admit, I like the piecing, the quilting and the general putting together of a quilt. I am horrible at putting colors and fabrics together, and I DO NOT like cutting shapes at all. I’ve tried doing both, coordinating fabrics and cutting the pieces, but they are not for me. I do like sewing the pieces together, and I’m really looking forward to putting a quilt together. I emailed the Quilt Kit Shop with some questions, and the owner quickly responded to me. Just from her quick and helpful response, I’m sure I’ll buy the pre-cut pieces from her. I do still have to figure out my own matching sashing, borders and backing, I’m not looking forward to doing that. But maybe if I get a block done and bring it into a fabric store they can help me pick out what would match.

I do have some embroidery I’m working on, so I guess I will do that tonight instead. It’s also been snowing today, nothing sticking during the day, but it looks like it’s starting to stick tonight. So who knows, maybe we will wake up in the morning with snow on the ground. We’ve had absolutely none lately. It would make for some great photos too, though lately I’m having more fun taking photos of my crafts.

I got to see my parents this week, they came out on Tuesday and took us out to lunch. Then they gave Sarah lots of books on writing. She’s really wanting to write a story, a novel, and my dad is a writer, so he gave her some books. When he finds something the kids really like doing, he loves putting together a whole bunch of information for them. Look at all he gave her.

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Pretty cool huh? Plus there is a local college that has some online courses and we might sign her up for a writing one. She’s really looking forward to that.

Well hubby is home now, and I need to start my embroidery work. Thanks for stopping by and reading my entry.

Fit Mommy Friday

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This past week went pretty good. I’m done with my antibiotics and I’m feeling better. I hope it stays this way. :)

My goals:

Eat more vegetables:
I have been making an effort to add more in my meals. Not a whole lot of different ones, but some of the basics I do eat.

Watch my portion sizes:
Better, but I can always improve in this area. I just need to remember that food is only to keep my body going and not for enjoyment. I don’t mean I can’t enjoy my food but my main focus of enjoyment needs to be on the people the Lord has in my life and the things He blesses me with, not on the food I eat. Hard to explain, but I know what I mean. :D

Do T-Tapp every other day:
Yep, hubby and I are keeping each other accountable with this.

Do T-Tapp Hoe Downs every day:
Nope, just when I do my T-Tapp workout.

Watch my sugar intake for my IBS:
Yep, doing better.

Remember to drink water throughout the day:
Um, trying. Which reminds me, I need to get myself a glass. ;)

Don’t push myself to exhaustion:
I was exhausted once this week, and not sure why. I think it was more of a mental exhaustion, but an exhaustion none the less. Glad it was only once.

Trying to win an iPad 2

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Well, I haven’t blogged about a giveaway in a long time, but there is nothing more I would like to win than an iPad 2 from Appschool. You can go here to find out all about it. But don’t get too excited about winning, I’m sure I’ll be the winner. ;)

Want to win an iPad 2 with a whole bunch of apps to get you started?
One lucky winner will receive an iPad 2 (16GB with Wi-Fi) from Apps-School and free apps from our generous app developers. Enter our drawing today!

Fit Mommy Friday (Oops it’s Saturday)

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I just realized when I woke up this morning that I forgot to write my Fit Mommy Friday post, so here it is on Saturday, but at least I wrote it. :)

This week was a pretty good week. I’m feeling better and I’m having more energy. I have started taking grapefruit seed extract (in pill form) which is a natural antibiotic (among other things). I tried taking the liquid form, even putting it in my juice, but I just couldn’t do it. That stuff tastes nasty. So though the liquid is ‘quicker’ I’ll still get the same benefits from the pill. And it might just be me, but I seem to have a bit more energy since taking it. A friend told me about it, because her husband deals with sinus issues all the time. When I mentioned that I thought maybe this was the same infection I had 3 months ago, that it never really left, she agreed it could be. With all the pockets in my sinus’ and such an infection can stay there for a long time. So she suggested taking these pills, even after my prescribed antibiotic runs out, just to make sure that the infection is really gone. So that is what I’ve decided to do, and I’m praying it really works. Ok, on to my goals. ;)

My goals:

Eat more vegetables:
About the same, though I am realizing that I do eat more vegetables than I originally thought. They are usually mixed in with other things, but that should still count as me eating them, right? I make a Mexican beef and rice dish that has chopped onions, green peppers and diced tomatoes that I like to eat. I’m also looking for a vegetable beef soup recipe that I will actually eat, something with carrots, celery and pasta, but not too many other veggies that I don’t normally have on hand. So even if it’s not the ‘right’ way to count me eating veggies, I think I have increased my veggie intake, a bit anyway.

Watch my portion sizes:
I’ve done horrible with this, this week (just being honest) and I can tell with how I feel and in my waist line. Part of the problem is I’m starting to eat too fast again. I’m really going to keep giving this area to the Lord and working on eating less.

Do T-Tapp every other day:
Well, I stopped for a week because of my infection, but I’ve started back up again and with a partner, my husband!!! :D He has really bad neck and shoulder pains, and has gone to a physical therapist and doctors to try and get it alleviated. He did for a while, but then life got in the way, and he couldn’t get his exercises that the PT gave him done, and the pain came back. We have been talking about having him go back to PT but we both agreed that he should try T-Tapp first, since it’s helped me so much. Today was our 4th day of doing it together, and he’s feeling better already. It’s truly a miracle and a blessing from the Lord that it’s helping him. I don’t know if it will continue to help him, but I’m thankful that it’s helping him for now.

Do T-Tapp Hoe Downs every day:
I’m doing them with our workouts, but I haven’t been doing them again in the afternoon. Maybe I’ll start up again soon.

Watch my sugar intake for my IBS:
Yes, it’s going better.

Remember to drink water throughout the day:
No, not as much as I want to, but I continue to try and add some more each day.

Don’t push myself to exhaustion:
I think I’ve been doing good with that, I haven’t felt any exhaustion at all.

Am I the only blogger who does this?

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Please tell me I’m not the only one who has to actually go to my blog, check the date and subject of my last post, BEFORE I start my current post. I just realized, as I did it again, that I always do this. Since I write on two different blogs, here and my creativity blog, I forget sometimes what I wrote last, and how long it’s been since I’ve posted something. So I always have to check before I start a new post. I just thought it was kind of funny, and I’m really hoping I’m not the only one who does this. :)

Now that I’ve been on my antibiotic for 4 days, I’m starting to feel better. I’m not coughing as much, and the sinus pain is gone (thank you Lord). I wouldn’t say I’m 100% yet, but I do know I’m feeling better. I’m wondering if I’ve dealt with a low lying infection for a while now, maybe even since my sinus infection 3 months ago. I’m really hoping it gets kicked out of my body for good this time. I just need to make sure I’m drinking more water. I am drinking water, I just don’t think I’m drinking enough with this infection. I need to work on that.

I went to the dentist today, and they said my gums are doing so much better. Last year I was on the verge of having to go to a gum surgeon because I have gum disease. But I’ve tried very hard to make sure I’m brushing twice a day, flossing and I’ve been having cleanings every 3 months. I think that has helped, because my gums are doing better. I do have one area that was still sore and would bleed some times, but now that I’m on this antibiotic, it seems to have cleared up a bit. I don’t have to get another cleaning for 4 months, and then hopefully I’ll be back to a regular 6 month schedule. I’m so thankful to the Lord that my gums are healing, and I don’t have to go to a surgeon.

The Lord has been showing me how to better balance my days. There are so many things I want to do and need to do, but there are some days I just can’t do it all. I can usually get all my work around the house done, and get my part time job done too. But whether its crafts, blogging or photography, I just want to be able to spend hours on it when I start, but I can’t always do that. I’m learning how to pick up a craft, do a bit of work on it, and set it back down again. The same with blogging and photography. They are all things that I know are fine for me to do, it’s just realizing that I don’t need to have a 2 hour block of time to do them. When I do, that’s great, but when I don’t, I need to be ok with that too. I guess it comes down to using my time wisely, and knowing I can’t always have my cake and eat it too. ;)

Well, speaking of using my time wisely, hubby just texted me to let me know he’s on his way home, so I need to get off the laptop. But I can’t leave without sharing a photo. I haven’t used my camera too much lately, being sick and all, but we did finally get some snow today. I hope to take some photos tomorrow to share with you. But until then I’ll leave you with a picture of the yummy no bakes Sarah make for us the other day. The pile isn’t that big anymore. ;)

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Fit Mommy Friday

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I went to the doctor this morning and found out I have the beginning of a sinus infection. :( Antibiotics tend to mess up my IBS so I went out and picked up some yogurt with live cultures and priobotics. I’m hoping that will help keep the good bacteria in as the antibiotic takes out the bad. :)

My goals:

Eat more vegetables:
About the same, continuing with V8 Fusion, and trying to add different ones when I can.

Watch my portion sizes:
Pretty good, though today I feel like grazing all day. I’m going to have to watch that today.

Do T-Tapp every other day:
Nope, not with feeling sick, just not enough energy.

Do T-Tapp Hoe Downs every day:
Not every day, but I have done them here and there.

Watch my sugar intake for my IBS:
Yep, doing good.

Remember to drink water throughout the day:
Yes, especially with this cold.

Don’t push myself to exhaustion:
Watching that even closer now, with the sickness.

I don’t like being sick

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But then again, who does like being sick, right? ;)

I started feeling like I was getting a chest cold on Sunday night. Sure enough on Monday morning I was wiped out tired, my throat was scratchy and I was coughing a lot. But I did still deep clean the house. I know, I’m stubborn, but if I’m going to be sick all week anyway, I want to be sick in a clean house. :D lol That did run me down a bit, and I slept for part of the afternoon, after I was done cleaning.

I feel about the same today, which like Paul said, is good I don’t feel worse. We have to go grocery shopping today, but Paul gets home early from work so we are going together. I wouldn’t go by myself, I’m just too tired. Paul really enjoys going grocery shopping with me. We use to go all the time together when we were first married. I like going with him too. I enjoy going to just about any place with just him. :) The biggest thing I need to watch for when we shop is it’s so windy. I’ll be bundling up nicely before we go.

I’ve been trying to keep busy with some crafts while I’m resting. I’m working on my knifty knitter and doing some cross stitch too. I’m actually making a project on my knifty knitter with bright red yarn, yep I’m using some color (thinking of you Shani :) ). I’m also working on some cross stitch and I’ve been looking at Doodle Stitching. My mom had this book and I’m borrowing, it looks fun and like something I might want to try. I need to look through my material and see what I have to stitch on. Right now, that would just exert too much energy that I just don’t have. ;)

But I wonder sometimes if I’m trying too many new crafts. Do any of you crafters out there think someone can do too many different crafts? I’ve been pondering on this lately, and then last weekend at church our pastor said, “Do you want to be real wide but only an inch deep, or not that wide, but very deep?” Meaning being good and focused on one or two main things, and getting really good with those main things, or being stretched with lots of different things, but not doing any of them really well. You might be doing more, but are you doing them really good or are you doing so many different things, you are not doing any of them well? I know he wasn’t talking about crafts, but since that’s been on my heart lately, it’s what I focused on. I’m trying so many different things, am I not doing any of them very well? Should I just focus on a few crafts, and learn all I can about those particular crafts? Would I do better with those few crafts if I did that? When I think that way, the few crafts that jump into my mind is, cross-stitch/embroidery and crocheting. But then I also like hand piecing quilts (though I haven’t done that in years), so now that’s three. I don’t know, maybe not feeling good is making me over think things. Just letting you know what’s rolling around in my head. lol

I did get out for a walk before I got sick, and I’ve been taking more pictures. Remember, if you want to see most of my pictures, you need to go to my creativity blog. That’s where I post most of them. Our weather has been just as crazy as others, we have no snow and sunshine, strange. This field usually has so much snow people ride their snowmobiles on it. And look at the mountains, not much snow there either.

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I like snow, though out here in Idaho, once it comes it usually stays for 6 months (I’m NOT a fan of that). But our area is a touristy kind of area, with lots of snow boarding and skiing, which isn’t happening right now. Plus, our water comes from local reservoirs, which will be very low come summer if we don’t get more snow. For those reasons, I do hope it snows some soon. Though I don’t really want it lasting until June. ;)

Well, guess I’ll catch up on some blog reading and wait for hubby to get home. Once I’m done shopping this afternoon, I’ll really be able to rest. I have nothing else pressing the rest of the week. Yep, I’m thinking there will be some nap times coming up. :D