What I Have Been Up To (Picture Heavy)

Since I haven't posted here in a while, I figured I would show ya'll what I've been up to... I have been working hard on getting this apartment of ours in a reasonably clean state and maintain it...

This is my functional Craft Area

Our new drawing/crafting desk

Enough Clean Sheets and Towels "To Run a Hotel"

Clean Kitchen

Dining Room

Mail and "To Return To People Area"

Pretty New Coat Rack and Shoe Rack (Covered in Stuff, but it is Functional)

Clean Living Room (Rock Band Came Back Home, So it Will be an Eyesore for Awhile)

More Living Area (Still Cluttered, Will Work on This Next), Cats Included

Hey There

Just an FYI, this blog is now just a feed site, if you are looking for my normal posts, you can click the tabs above to read my latest entries... If you want to see which blogs have updated entries just check the feeds below (note: if you want to leave a comment on one of the posts, you have to click out of the feed and into the real entry... does that make sense?) Sorry if I am confusing anyone, but I can't remember what I need to do to get this all back to normal (that and I am on a new kick, so I am being terribly lazy about my blog)...

Crafty Lady

So since I cannot seem to find a stable job in this economy that I am good at or will pay me what I am worth, I am launching my own business... I have been thinking about this for ages and now is finally the time... I am signing up to be a Stampin' Up demonstrator next week so this blog may have a new addition coming :)... I am also going to launch my Etsy site within the month so I will have link ups to it here as well... I will probably start a crafting wing of my blog and post what projects I am working on there... I just talked to my Aunt and she is giving me my Grandmother's sewing machine! I have to have it repaired, but hopefully my dad can figure out what is wrong with it (he has fixed this machine many a time for my Nana in the past) and make it work before I head down there in April for my mom's birthday... I am super excited... And to gain some start up revenue I have been cleaning my friends parent's houses :)... Not my favorite thing to do, but it's gotta get done and if I can get paid to d it then I am all for it (it also made me realizze how lazy I was being with my apartment, and now it is spic and span and being upkept well according to FLYlady procedures)...

Overboard

So as always, I went overboard... I have been prepping for my best friend Grace's new arrival, and I got a little outta control... The shower was great! Lots of people, and she got everything she could want or need... I helped her start to get the baby room organized and if she doesn't go into labor soon I will be painting her baby room with her hubby or her mom (we are way too overprotective to let her do it at this point, she was due last Friday)... But I have also been making A BUNCH of casseroles to freeze so that when her baby finally arrives they will not have to cook... Today, her younger sister was going to go over to her house, but instead I had her come to my house and took her to a movie (after she helped me do chores) so Grace and her husband could spend his day off alone before the baby comes... I say I have gone overboard because I should probably just let her and her hubby do their thing, but I think she is being sweet by letting me help... And it is really helping me to help, it is helping me cope with the fact that I was just late enough again to take a test, just for it to come up negative, as always... I know it will come in the right time, but it is hard to wait... Anyways, Grace's sister wanted to see Twilight, so I was all too happy to go see it again! It was better quality since it wasn't such a huge screen (last time was at the Drive-In)... I think I like it now, even though it is the Cliff Notes version... So That's why I haven't been writing, I haven't had much to write about and I've been super busy... Thanks for hanging in with me, hopefully I will have more to show and tell soon (when baby Bella finally decides to grace us with her presence)!

Birthday Pics

And This... :)

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!

I honestly can't wait until I have a daughter of my own... I know they can be much harder than boys in the attitude department but, like MckMama says, they make up for it in the fun department... I have been prepping for my friend Grace's baby shower (which is on the 31st)... I made her a diaper cake (my first one)

and have been going baby crazy looking for all the perfect stuff for it... In my internet excursions I have found many of my own must haves for when I finally get pregnant... I want one of those beautiful baby slings, a hooter hider, cute little crib shoes, and I can't wait to get my little girl her very own American Girl doll... I am so baby crazy right now (especially after spending the weekend with Bailey and Conner)...

Looky What I Got!

Someday, maybe not anytime soon, in the future I will want sparkly jewelry more than nerdy electronics for birthday gifts... But I am just as thrilled with my shiny new Nintendo DS Lite as I would be with a pair of diamond earrings... I am such a geek...

Yesterday Toby and I went on a wild goosechase looking for a white DS, to no avail we stopped at Target, WalMart, GameStop, and ToysRUs... We called all the others in the area... While at ToysRUS, I found the cool purple and green cover that made me succumb to getting a black DS... We went back to Target for it though because I had a $40 gift card (shhh... don't tell my mother-in-law that I spent it on a Nintendo, she would flip)... Then we went back to GameStop because Target didn't have the game I wanted, Brain Age 2 :)... Plus, we got it used so it was about $5 cheaper and we got 10% off with an Edge card... I am a happy girl, but I will be more happy when my Brain Age is closer to my real age (said I was 58)!

Another Twilight Ramble...

I finally got Toby interested in my favorite book series of the moment by telling him how Stephanie Meyer writes the same time line from different perspectives (a technique that my dear husband wants to use in the novel he is writing)... We began reading it aloud together... We read about half of Twilight aloud and then I realized it was making us stay awake rather than making us sleepy (because the light was on and someone had to be awake to do the reading) and keeping us up past the 1am bedtime I had made for myself... Then I got the bright idea to buy the audio books! We listened to the rest of Twilight and now we are on to New Moon...

After we finished (well almost finished, we fell asleep right before the end) Twilight, we decided to go see it at a theater before it was gone... Even so it was in limited theaters... We ended up at the Drive In last Friday... We called Karen and Pete to see if they wanted to join us... We were going to try to switch up the double feature (the one showing with Twilight was a cheesy B horror flick that no one wanted to see), so Karen and Pete took their car to the Marley and Me/Bride Wars lot and we watched Twilight while Marley and me was on, then moved over to Karen and Petes car for Bride Wars :)... It was a lot of fun... Toby did not like the movie Twilight... He had gotten so wrapped up in how the characters should be in his head that this disappointed him... Also he hated that it was such a disjointed telling of the story... I still liked it, but of course I think the book is much much better... Though we both agreed that Edward did an amazing job with what he had (Toby also really like his hair!)...

One more thing... In listening to New Moon today to try to catch up to where Toby read to while I was in LA, I realized something that I had overlooked the first time I read the book... In the end of Chapter 6, Bella asks Angela what the date is, and realizes that it is the one year anniversary of her first day at Forks High, January 19th, which is also my birthday! How coincidental is that? In the words of a high school friend Stevie, "I like it!"

Hey Lena, You're 25! What Are You Gonna Do Next?

I'm going to Disneyland! Pictures to follow!

Feelin' Old...

I have been 25 for 45 minutes now and let me tell you, I am feeling kind of dated... I was watching Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion before heading for bed and I was remembering when I thought their outfits were the coolest fashion statements ever... I also remember listening to New Kids on the block and wallpapering my room with Handon posters...

I hung out with Amy all day (my brother's girlfriend) and I showed her my wedding pictures... I can't believe how young we looked and it was only a year and a half ago! I also can't believe that we were Drew and Amy's ages (respectivly) when we got engaged!

I am hoping this year brings us some good news... Spending time with Amy's kids just makes me long for some of my own! We are working on it, so send your baby making mojo our way, k? I feel like this is going to be our year :)

Ever feel like music sends you signs? Just as I type that last paragraph, Capri by Colbie Callet played on my iPod... Earlier when Amy and I were talking about how much we miss our guys even when they are only away for a couple of days (Drew is at camp and Toby is at home) the song Toby and I danced to at our wedding and I remembered that even though he is far away, he loves me and he is thinking about me... I give props to you military wives out there, you are way stronger than I am...

I am looking forward to tomorrow (today actually), and wishing my hubby could be here with me... But it will be good fun, a lot of our family and friends are meeting us at Disneyland and I know it will be really fun (someday soon I will write about the most magical trip to Disneyland I have had to date)...

Thanks for all your love and support over this past year bloggy friends, it means more to me than you know! (My comment box should be working now, if not won't you leave one on my homepage? Thanks!)

Grumpy

Today is deemed a Grumpy Friday... I tried really hard not to be since I leave tomorrow for LA and my free Disney birthday, but my hubby did not make it easy... He played video games all day while I was out helping my friend update her baby shower registry... So now I have to wait for the laundry to be done before I can pack... He also ate ALL the bacon that I was going to use in a recipe for dinner tonight and now I don't know how to make it without it... It was just a side dish, but still... It made me lose my cool and I started crying... What is wrong with me??? I just want today to be over and tomorrow to start... I think I am extra angsty because I know that I will be celebrating my birthday without Toby AGAIN (last year he was sick in bed the whole day)! Maybe getting this off my chest will help me get over it...

Traveling

I am flying to LA for my birthday this weekend, praying the flight is on time and all goes well... I hate flying... Disneyland here I come (for free too!)

Surgeries

Two of my friends are having small surgeries the first week in February, praying that all goes well for both of them!

One Track Mind

Does anyone else seem to have that problem? When I get on a kick, it is all I can think about or do... Everything else seems to fall by the way side... Right now, my kick is working out and keeping track of the foods I have eaten... Now, I understand that this is a good kick to be on, but shouldn't everything be in moderation? I can't seem to think about anything else! I think I need some help people!

A New Look!

Hey bloggy buddies... I have changed up my format a bit - LenaLoo.com is now the feed site for my 4 other blogs: InnerGreenFairy, FLYgirl in Training, 101 in 1001, and my Prayer Journal... Feel free to subscribe to the feeds through feedburner or click on the above buttons and you can add the individual blogs to the reader or blog roll of your choice! :) Thanks for sticking with me!

Wait! Where'd everything go???

I am in the process of making this my feeder blogsite to run feeds from all of my blogs, I have moved all the archives from InnerGreenFairy here and there they will stay... Check back soon for the new and improved LenaLoo.com :)

Giving out another Green Fairy Award

This one's for MckMama!
You inspire me so much!

Why I Haven't Been Blogging Much...

...I've been having too much fun!

This is what happens when you let a bunch of big kids into Chuck E. Cheese!

Goals for 2009 and beyond

I have not forgotten you fellow bloggers, I have just been busy trying to get my house and life in order to get 2009 off to a good start... Check out my 101 blog to see the goals I have set to work on this year and the year and a half following...

#19 Nest Wherever I Am

Inspired by Nester, FLYlady and many of you other great home organization/decoration bloggers out there, I finally started to make the most of the apartment I live in right now... We have lived here for 1.5 years and have not tried to really make our home our own until now...

Yesterday, we went to IKEA

We got a lot of cool stuff, but Toby says he secretly just went for the food...

Today, Toby and two of "the boys" put together this fabulous new crafting desk

Toby will use it to write/draw, and I will use it for all my crafts, but we agreed not to let it be cluttered (it tilts up like a drafting desk, so that may help)...

In the time those three boys put together one desk, I put together this coat rack,

this shelving unit (the gray one next to my freezer, the boys put up the white shelves after they finished the desk)

this bookshelf (to the right of my table)

4 dvd racks, and most of a filing cabinet (I did distract them quite often though, asking them questions and asking for help holding something together)... Plus I rearranged at least 4 pieces of furniture (and took everything off of that Black wire unit, which I have to organize tomorrow...

I am finally getting a place for everything so I can put everything in its place! I am excited!

#50 Tell my husband I love him in a new way every day

12/31/09 - Candles and our playlist playing when he came to bed
01/01/09 - Washed hubby's feet!
01/02/09 - Played on a "Moods" team with him (and let him lead the team - I never do that!)
01/03/09 - I actually took his advice without argument :)
02/10/09 - Woke up early to make him lunch, cleaned the whole house, and had a lovely dinner waiting for him when he got home from his first day at a new pharmacy

#53 Comment on 2 new blogs

01/01/09 Blog Stalkers Unite & think defiant

More FamilyLife...

So we have been attempting to work on our application for FamilyLife today, and it just isn't happening right now... There are questions asked that I think I would need a year of therapy before I could answer... We are praying about how to approach this with our contact, Cliff... We are going to call him tomorrow when he is back in the office to talk to him... I don't know what will happen, but we will see... We would still like to be a part of it, but I don't feel like we are ready right at this momant...

#71 Weight Loss: Think Thin Thursdays

As part of #71, I will be participating in Think Thin Thursdays from the Not-So-Blog blog
Today's question is "What is you New Year's resolution?"
Mine is to keep working on these 101 goals I have to complete in 1001 days, which include losing about 30lbs. (I really don't know where they came from!) I will report on Think Thin Thursdays every Thursday this year here in this blog!

Pray for Stellan!

MckMama's little one, Stellan, is sick, but he is on the mend, praying for a his continuing health and for her sanity! Also that medical bills can be paid (you can help out buy purchasing a Stellan Will Live bracelet from her site, click the button above, I'm ordering one today!)...

It's 2009...

What did you do to ring in 2009?