LenaLoo Has Moved...

... to a new home at http://lenaloos.com/... I will be posting there from now on! Please come by and follow me on GFC!
Also come check out my posts at Goore's Insider.

LenaLooBlog

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Ouch...

I was going to clean and work on my garland, but I got burned
Photobucket
putting these bad boys in the oven
Photobucket
I was being lazy and didn't want to cook dinner, so I had hubby pick them up... I guess that's some kind of kharma? Maybe?
Toby is going to take the day off tomorrow to help me get this place in order... My arm really hurts (the burn is worse then it looks, all grey and wrinkly and stuff, the oven was 400 degrees)... It's going to make a bad scar... I am blogging and watching SeaQuestDSV on the XBox via NetFlix... It's a blast from the past for me, we used to watch it every Sunday night when my Uncle Craig would come over... I was head over heeels for Jonathan Brandis, who I just found out died in 2003, sad...

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

I Made My Own Award, Is That Weird?

Photobucket

I like awards, and I wanted to give another one out (since I had such fun with the one I got from Noah's Mommy) but the problem is I'd have to get one to give one... and, it seemed when I was deciding on who to give the last award to, a lot of people had it already (it was a popular one)... So I made one of my own from free stock photos!

I am going to try to give one out one every week... Because I like them... Maybe I will make a new one every month... Would that inflate the blog award and make it worth less? I don't think it would... If you like the awards I make and want to give one out, let me know and I will make a button for it and put it in my blog cellar :)

This award is first going to
  • Faith because she was the first person I know in real life to read my blog
  • Lorna because she was my first bloggy friend
  • Noah's Mommy for giving me my first award and inspiring me
  • Shannon for being the first "professional mom blog designer" that I ever stumbled across (I didn't even know that it was a possibility to pay someone to do all the hard work for you)
There will be many more of these to come (since I figured out what I was doing yay!)

Snowed In

Praying for my brothers who are snowed in in Big Bear! They went snowboarding and couldn't leave! They did get a cabin (there is 9 of them stuck up there) for $200, hopefully they will just have to stay one night in that winter wonderland, otherwise they'll go broke :)

Wednesdays List

  • PhotobucketGet up, showered, and dressed to shoes
  • Eat breakfast
  • PhotobucketWrite and address Christmas cards and wrap package
  • Do 27 fling boogie (sparebedroom)
  • Work on back bathroom sink (zone 3)
  • Do 5 minute room rescue (living room)
  • Put away groceries on table
  • Eat lunch
  • Change and go to work leave 45 mins early
  • Go to post office on the way to work
  • PhotobucketCome home from work and change
  • Call Dani
  • Finish wrapping gifts and put them under tree
  • Make a gift for Mom, Ash or Xica
  • Lay out Christmas table runner
  • Finish hot chocolate gifts with recipe card and fabric tied with ribbon
  • Work on garland
  • Take back anything not used in garland to Michael's and Joanne's, get small tree skirt, get one gift box or bag for Nana's gift

BBR
  • Do dishes and shine sink
  • Wash face and brush teeth
  • Take meds
  • Look at calendar
  • Choose clothes for tomorrow (they're in the washer cuz I forgot to reboot before the laundry room doors got locked)
  • Get to bed before 1am! (Um, I kinda never went to bed...)

The To Do List for Tuesday

  • PhotobucketGet up and dressed to shoes
  • PhotobucketReboot laundry 9am (more like 10)
  • Eat breakfast with Toby
  • Do 27 fling boogie (spare bedroom)
  • PhotobucketGet laundry
  • PhotobucketShower and dress for work
  • Change out of work clothes
  • Eat lunch
  • Work on back bathroom sink (zone 3)
  • Do 5 minute room rescue (living room)
  • Put away groceries on table
  • Find snow tree skirt and put it on (looked, but I think it got tossed)
  • PhotobucketWrap gifts and put them under tree
  • Lay out Christmas table runner
  • PhotobucketMake hot chocolate mix gifts
  • PhotobucketGo to Michael's for snowflake ornaments and garland fodder
  • PhotobucketGo to Joanne's for Christmas fabric
  • PhotobucketSay hi to Toby (took him a Grande Vanilla Latte, just like he likes it)
  • Finish hot chocolate gifts with recipe card and fabric tied with ribbon
  • Work on garland
BBR

  • Do dishes and shine sink
  • Wash face and brush teeth (yeah I was way to tired, I know, ewww...)
  • Take meds(uh, forgot...)
  • PhotobucketLook at calendar
  • Choose clothes for tomorrow
  • Get to bed before 1am! (this so didn't happen, more like

The Tree...

...is looking a little less Charlie Brown now...
Photobucket

I got some ornaments in the mail from my GG forum friend Kimmys0606 and her sweet kids (I had to Photoshop in a glittery snowflake cuz my camera phone couldn't catch the pretty clear snowflake that her son picked out (but that's right where it is hanging)... They filled out that empty open space at the top nicely, thanks guys!
Photobucket

I also took some comment love/advice and picked up some sparkly and pearly garland and added them to my tree (it took 4 of them, but since my tree is small enough it is worth it :) and some pkgs of mini snowflakes from Michael's clearance bin (89 cents for 20, that's better then Dollar Tree, huh Yaya?) I could probably do more lights, but I am too lazy to take off everything to put more lights on... Maybe I will buy some when they clearence out for next year...
Photobucket Photobucket

I think all it needed was a little love and some presents under it to make it look less bare, thanks for your advice gals...
Photobucket

The garland is still looking P.O.O.P.I.E. but I will work on it tonight after I finish cleaning up this mess I made last night
Photobucket Photobucket

while I was working on these Hot Cocoa Jars and Bags (which I still need to finish and check off my to do list)
Photobucket

Monday, December 15, 2008

I Need Garland Help!

Photobucket

So this is my skinny, pathetic, objectionable garland... I'm trying to be a P.O.O.P.I.E. here... I need inspiration... Anyone have any suggestions?

Photobucket

I got my tree up, lit and got a few bulbs on it, but it needs more... much more... what should I do to fill out that sparse top? I have seen someone create a scene on that layer, what do ya'll think? I was hoping to make it Twilight themed, but I don't know if I have the $ to pick up the stuff for it...

Photobucket

Also, I had to move these off the mantle and they just look so pretty on my dresser (the view as you look down the hall) that I had to show and tell :)

On the Agenda for Today...

  • PhotobucketMake bed
  • PhotobucketGet showered and dressed to shoes
  • PhotobucketClean guest bathroom sink and put out Christmas bathroom stuff (Zone 3)
  • PhotobucketMake dinner
  • PhotobucketEat lunch
  • Photobucket5 minute room rescue - Guest bedroom desk (took me 15 actually, getting it completely cleaned off and ready to be moved on Thursday, see below for pic)
  • PhotobucketEmpty Dishwasher
  • PhotobucketGo to the Gym for 1 hour
  • Clean off coffee table (Hot Spot)
  • Clean off Kitchen counter (Hot Spot)
  • Put away food from Costco on dinning table (Hot Spot)
  • PhotobucketPick up Christmas tree
  • PhotobucketDecorate Christmas tree (has lights and some bulbs up, I need to finish with some other decorations)
  • Work on 101 on 1001 list
BBR
  • Do dishes and shine sink
  • PhotobucketWash face and brush teeth
  • PhotobucketTake meds
  • PhotobucketLook at calendar
  • Choose clothes for tomorrow (they're in the washer cuz I forgot to reboot before the laundry room doors got locked)
  • Get to bed before 1am!
Photobucket
5 minute room rescue - got the desk ready to go back to Nana's and be replaced with my Christmas gift from Nana, a 5 cu. ft. deep freezer!

What's for Dinner?

Making Crockpot Bacon Wrapped Chicken, inspired by this post at CrockPot365, but I changed a couple of things... I used 1 whole 3 lb. Chicken instead of 2 little Cornish hens and I added onions, garlic, and carrots on the bottom with some chicken broth, to keep the chicken up out of the liquid...

Photobucket
I will Edit in how we liked it after we eat tonight... My friend Xica is home from school (in VA) and she is coming over to help me put up my tree tonight! Yay! Right now I am off to join my friend Ash at the gym and them go pick up my tree, I will post pics when we are done decorating :)

Twitter

Just started following FLYlady on Twitter... Hopefully it will keep me going through the day... Now if only I could figure out how to use it...

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Good Eats...

Photobucket

If you've never eaten El Salvadorian food, you should go out right now and find some... These are called pupusas... My neighbor downstairs makes them on Saturdays and sells them to raise money for their church... They are sooo good... I want to learn how to make them...

Saturday, December 13, 2008

References

I started putting together my list of references for FamilyLife today and calling people to tell them what this is all about and asking them if they would be willing to be a reference for me (I need 7 and Toby needs 7) So I want to pray for them by name:

  • Pastor Jim (who will be a reference for both Toby and I)
  • Karen (who has been my roommate and co-worker at the same time)
  • Deanna (my friend and mentor, who is married to someone as ADD as me, her husband will likely be one of Toby's references)
  • Philip or Barbra (whoever has the time, they have both known me for a long time and served on an Inner City Camp team with me, and they are both missionaries now, but both are on furlough raising support at the moment in the states)
  • Dani or Grace (both have known me for a good amount of time and I have lived with both of them)
  • Liz (my mom's good friend who has known me my whole life)
  • Sue or Steve (Grace's parents, who took me in as a surrogate daughter when I moved to Sacramento, away from my family and friends; Toby may be asking Steve to be a reference for him)

Sweet Deals!

Linens and Things is closing and I hit their closeout sale yesterday! I spent ~$230 and got a lot of stuff (Some of it Toby is going to wrap up for me to open on Christmas, I got a little out of hand and spent some of his Christmas shopping money, but since I am the only person he has to shop for, it's not that big of a deal... I can wait 12 days to use it):

  • 10 plushy white hand towels (to use at the gym) $2 each
  • 3 black pop-up hampers to help me declutter the FLYlady way $4 each
  • 3 sets of 3 (9 total) teal and white dish dish towels (to shine my sink with) $2 each
  • 2 small brown covered trash cans (to keep the kitties out!) $9 each
  • 1 black standing lamp $15
  • 1 gift for my husband (from my parents)
  • 1 queen sized bed-in-a-bag set (missing 4 shams) $45
  • 1 laundry bag $2.50
  • 1 lingere bag $1.50
  • 1 white christmas table cloth $7
  • 1 gift for Toby's Secret Santa
  • 4 stocking stuffer items from the front area
Yesterday I also went to Costco (because it was in the same lot as Linens and Things) for 2 or 3 items and walked out with a lot more (some purchases inspired by this couple whose blog I stayed up way too late the night before reading) I figured I could probably do with making more whole foods, but then I got distracted by stuff in that huge warehouse - I came home with:
  • 1 gift for Toby (I need to stop buying him stuff!)
  • 1 big sack of pinto beans
  • 1 sack of brown rice
  • 1 sack of long grain white rice
  • 1 pkg of cans of organic tomato sauce
  • 1 pkg of cans of organic diced tomatoes
  • 1 pkg of cans of kidney beans
  • 1 pkg of organic Marinara sauce
  • 1 pkg of spaghetti
  • 1 pkg of asparagus
  • 1 pkg of organic baby carrots
  • 1 bag of locally grown garlic (because a braid of garlic at the grocery store from the same farm was $15! and this package was less than $5)
  • 1 bag of sweet onions
  • 1 bag of fingerling potatoes
  • 1 box of Bisquick (I know plenty of people make their own pancake mix, but when I tried they turned out awful)
  • 1 box of Wheat thins
  • 1 box of Saltines
  • 1 pkg of printer paper
  • 1 pkg of fruit cups
  • 1 large pkg of Stew Meat
  • 2 bags of bagels
  • 1 pkg of 2 loves of rustic garlic bread
When I got home yesterday, I wrapped the gift I got for Toby from my parents (because it is too big to hide) and put it under the desk that will have our tree on it (hopefully we will go get it tomorrow), I tossed 1/3 of the pkg of stew meat in the crock pot with one onion, a bunch of carrots, some of the fingerling potatoes, 1 whole head of garlic (we love the stuff) and a can of root beer (hey it worked for the roast)... I came home from closing at work to a yummy smelling apartment and a salivating husband (he usually waits for me to get home to eat)... Verdict: Root beer works! I served it up with some steamed asparagus, it was delicious! (Sadly we were so hungry we forgot about the yummy garlic bread I bought, but we will eat some tonight)...

I also just scored a sweet online deal only available to Starbucks employees:
  • 3 black short sleeve polo shirts with Starbucks written on the sleeve $5 each + $5 shipping for all of them! (I really need more than 2 black polos for work, the white ones get WAY to filthy, but i have not been able to find any cheap enough)

Some other projects...

I have started 3 (count them 1...2...3...ah ha ha ha) new blogs to chronicle my other projects I am working on because this blog is ADD enough! Now let's just see if I can keep them all updated (probably not everyday for all of them)... There is a list in my side bar with them, but I figured I'd post a quick blurb about them here since I don't have time to write much else today...

  • LenaLoo's Prayer Journal - a place where I can record and update on things I am praying for... I have given up keeping a paper journal for this because I enjoy typing far better :)
  • FLYgirl in Training - inspired by a fellow SITS blogger and FLYlady.com, I decided to post publicly what I am doing to get and keep my house clean!
  • LenaLoo's 101 in 1001 - also inspired by another blogger, I am going to make a list of 101 goals to be compleated in 1001 days and update on how I am accomplishing them...

Another New Beginning

Liz @ Loving Mom 2 Boys started a list of 101 things she wants to accomplish in 1001 days her journey is here... She also started a Mr. Linky for any other bloggers who want to join her:

I like lists... And this is a great inspiration... It will take me a couple of days to get mine together, but I will post it and keep it updated (once it is posted I will start my 1001 days)... I'm excited... And now I have too many blogs lol...

Friday, December 12, 2008

Today's Prayers

  • The FamilyLife application is hefty and asks a lot of tough questions, I'm praying for the strength and discipline to get it all filled out without procrastination... Toby and I are bad about that, and it is due by Christmas...
  • Still praying for Amy and all the other things I listed in my last post...
  • The last couple of days of GPM have been prayers that they raise enough $ for Destiny student conference, and for Transformation 20/20; for the Nigerian Women's Minisry's use of Magdalena: Released from Shame; and for Guinena Bissau, one of the smallest countries, to become one of the largest missions sending nations.

Being a bad FLYgirl...

FLYlady, said go to bed, and I didn't listen... I guess I'm just gonna have to suffer at the gym tomorrow at 10am... It'll be my penance... Plus, I already cancelled on my trainer (who is also my friends boyfriend) last week... I need to go to be... G'night!

Tag You're It!

Rachel Ann let me tag myself :)

Photobucket
  1. I am an insomniac (kinda...) but I am trying to go to bed at a decent hour lately, cuz the FLYlady told me to (didn't work tonight, but now that this post is up I can)...
  2. I have 2 kooky kitties that I named after Kingdom Hearts Characters, Riku and Kyrie, or Boy Cat and Girl Cat as Toby insists on calling them....Photobucket Photobucket
    (Sorry for the lousy pics, I've been using my camera phone, cuz my real camera's broken, and yes, that is a pumpkin behind Kyrie... From Halloween... I need to throw it away and put up my Christmas Decorations this week, in a BAD WAY)
  3. My husband I were born on the same day of the month (the 19th) which is why I knew he was the one (if you want to know, I'll tell that little story in another post)
  4. I actually ENJOY clipping coupons, most of the time...
  5. I am a hardcore closet nerd (I have been known to play World of Warcraft from Sun-up to Sun-down and all the hours in between... But I am taking a break from it right now so I can actually have a life...)
  6. I am addicted to new technology: I have my lappy (a 14" HP Pavillion that I got as an anniversary present), an iPod touch that I use more as a mini computer than a music player (that I got as a birthday present last year, & I am DYING to get a Blackberry Storm right now, but I have had at least 6 different phones in 4 years (a crappy Nokia Candy Bar, a Green Moto PEBL, a White Blackberry Pearl, a cheap Chocolate Brown Samsung Flip that my Brother in law now uses,a Titanium Blackberry Curve, and a Maroon EnV2, which I am stuck with for now) so I think I should wait a bit (can you tell what my hubbys love language is? giving geeky gifts! and I eat it up!)...
  7. I am secretly addicted to MommyBlogs because I want to have children, REAL BAD... But so far, no dice - we have been trying for about a year now, so the doctors are almost willing to start testing...
And I shall tag:
  1. Dani @ Wine Laced Tales of a Teetotaler
  2. Faith @ Blessed Quietness
  3. Kito @ Hysteria and American Ambivalence
  4. Shannon @ EightCrazy
  5. Jennifer P @ Peterson's Go Public
  6. Ann @ AnnOnandOn
  7. Lorna @ CoconutNoodleMonkey

Thursday, December 11, 2008

FLYing high...

I was inspired by my friend Betty and FlyingAnnie to try out FLYlady... And I think it just might work! Last night I shined my sink! Today, Toby (my hubby) and I did quite a bit of decluttering... I focused on this weeks Zone: The kitchen, he worked on the bedroom and the living room and did a project that he has been putting off for weeks!

Here's a little list of today's accomplishments:
  • Got up and dressed to shoes! (So not typical, I'm usually in pajamas for most of the day)
  • Made the bed
  • Emptied the Dishwasher
  • Made brunch with the hubby
  • Cleaned the counters
  • Cleaned the microwave
  • Scrubbed the stove (even soaked and scrubbed the burners)
  • Decluttered the island counter (completly, I can see it!) and scrubbed it down
  • Decluttered the table (it was covered!) and scrubbed it down
  • Decluttered the front room desk (so I can put our Christmas tree on it)
  • Vacuumed the living room and dining room, Toby vacuumed the bedroom
  • Toby cleared out a broken set of drawers that had junk in it and took them to the trash
  • He and his friend moved the computer tower, modem, and printer out of the spareroom and into the living room (he hooked it up to the TV, it is one we don't use often, we use our laptops most of the time) so we can get rid of the giant desk in there and make room for shelves to get more organized
  • Made dinner for the boys and myself
  • Cleaned up after dinner
  • Ran the dishwasher
  • Toby emptied the dishwasher
  • Shined my sink
  • Started making my FLYlady Control Journal

Button Button, Who's Got a Button?

What? I Got An Award???

Photobucket
Photobucket