Complicated Simplicity

>13 Days Until Christmas<

I added some new layouts for my Christmas journal you just scroll down to see them (starting with "18 Days Until Christmas").

Today is Paul's day off. So very nice for him to have a day to relax and get some studying done. He has been crazy busy with studying for all of his finals. He hates that it's tonight, but there is a study session for one of his finals tonight-and he's going. I told him it's good that it's on a day he can actually attend, because I think it will help him prepare for his final. He's been doing really well, but I know he will be glad when he doesn't have any classes for a few weeks. :-) And once his classes begin again, vacation is just around the corner, and then Spring break, and then summer-so it's nice that he has lots to look forward to. It should make the semester go faster.

I have been working on organizing the information from my Backpacker and National Geographic Adventure magazines. I have attempted to do this several times, but didn't have a good way to organize it. I wanted to be able to search the information by state, length of trip and type of activity (hike, bike, paddle) so that when we are going on vacation or roadtripping somewhere, I could easily find a bunch of cool outdoorsy options. I think this new system is going to work.

We missed all of the ice that hit the midwest. We just got a bunch of rain yesterday and today it's blue skies and sunshine. Crazy, crazy weather.

Well, I guess I'd better go. I'm trying to catch up on my Christmas journal entries, and I have four more to go! At least I'm in the mood again today (just looking at the number of pages I had to do made me overwhelmed). Yesterday I had a horrible headache and Wawa was wound up and bouncing off the walls (or the couch, to be more accurate). Today he is much calmer-I've been trying to give him (and myself) more exercise.

Well, I'm off to work on some more pages. Have a great day!

>19 Days Until Christmas<

Can you believe how fast Christmas is approaching? It seems so crazy. Right now, there is a lull around here-Carter is half-asleep and chewing on a ring of plastic keys while Wawa is chewing on a rawhide-ish thing I gave him.

I really need to get some bigger rawhides for him-he goes through them so fast and while he's still a puppy he needs an outlet for his mouthiness. He doesn't do too bad, but he does enjoy chewing things that are appropriate, so I'm not complaining. We have no fear of him getting too fat since he's such a picky eater. The dog won't eat french fries! He licks the salt off and plays with it. He does like bready things though. A dog after my own carbohydrate-lovin' heart!

He's started this thing where if I give him a hard treat (biscuit, cookie, whatever you call them) he takes it and hides it somewhere. He'll even try to "dig" a place to put it (something we are curbing right now) in the carpet or his bed. Today he put it in Carter's car seat under his star-suit. So cute to watch. He and Carter still do really well together-so thankful for that.

I finished reading Cujo yesterday-very good read. I am now reading a book that was written before Cujo-The Dead Zone. Anyway, I recommend Cujo very much. Good book and the movie wasn't too bad either.

Today I am thankful for:

• warm sweatshirts and socks
• claymation-love those old Christmas movies (I have a bunch of them on DVD and I've DVR-ed some too)
• books and people who can spin a good tale
• a husband that understands how much it means to me to see David before he goes back to Italy
• a season that dies to show us the story of redemption in a very tangible way

I got a magazine in the mail the other day. It was the December issue of Christianity Today. Doesn't seem unusual, does it? Well, my subscription ended in October. I didn't renew it (and I didn't get November's issue). I took it out and the cover art was of a woman/tree thing. The cover story was titled: Blessed are the Barren. And I thought that was interesting. I read the article almost immediately. It was a good article. Nothing earth-shattering, but some very interesting points that have surfaced and resurfaced in my mind since. The next day, I went out to the mailbox and there was another copy of the exact same magazine. Someone apparently wanted me to read that magazine. Just thought I'd share that little story. I thought it was quite interesting.

There isn't much else going on around here. I'm excited to get started on today's journal/scrapbook page-it should be a good one. Hopefully, I will get it done today-it's been a trend that I have been doing two pages every other day. And today would be the off day. It's not that I don't want to do it, it's that I have been so busy lately. Have a wonderful day!

>We Gather Together<

Today I am:

• watching a bunch of excellent movies that I DVR-ed over the weekend.
• curled up under a blanket because after having the house 68 or 69 all weekend, 64 feels chillier than usual.
• so glad that Paul's paper isn't due until Wednesday.
• recommending Ingrid Michaelson to you for Music Monday-I know I mentioned a song earlier, but seriously all of her stuff is pure genius.
• happy that I have our Thanksgiving dinner taken care of (we're doing something special this year-I'll fill you in later).
• uploading the 179 family portraits that were taken yesterday.
• flipping through the National Geographic Adventure magazine that came today-totally love it!
• reading Cujo because I finished my book (and picked this one to read next)
• trying to harness all of the creative ideas having a field day in my brain.
• eating leftovers and happy about it.
• hoping that we can get a puppy soon (I've finally decided that I really do want one).
• charging my cell phone.
• counting down the minutes until Paul returns home tonight.
• going to work on my list of to-dos (vaccuum, sweep, organize, put laundry away)
• thinking through some Christmas ideas for Paul (the only one I have no idea for).
• having a great day of rest and relaxation!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Paul's mom, Karla, Katelyn and Madeline were here for a visit on Friday and Saturday. We went to Cracker Barrell for dinner on Friday and then the girls and Paul went swimming at their hotel. We went to Perry Farm to see the animals on Saturday. There was a goat there that butted the fence a few times. He was not a really nice goat. They also had ponies, turkeys, ducks, a chicken-duck thing and a pheasant. I'd never been to the petting farm, but it's pretty neat. I just wish all of the donkeys and other ponies were out. It was really nice to see them all again. It's been since July, so quite awhile.

There isn't much else going on here. We just relaxed yesterday-which was oh so nice. We also caught up on the shows we're watching on the internet. The Nine (love it), Jericho (love it), Heroes (love it) and Survivor (love it). Okay, so I love them all. Paul isn't quite as crazy about Heroes as the other three, but I think it is so cool. That girl Claire has the power that I think I would choose. She's basically invincible. It left off with her falling onto a branch and it going into her head. Then waking up on the autopsy table all cut open. Pretty cool. I love stuff like that. Weird, paranormal, supernatural things. That's why I loved The X-Files so much. Jericho is probably our favorite of the shows we watch. We wanted to watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but you have to catch it each week and we missed the first two episodes. So, we'll watch it on DVD when it comes out. Love the genius that is Aaron Sorkin.

Today has been a weird kind of day. It's all rainy and nasty and I woke up with a bad headache, so I slept in until about 10:30 or so (it's funny because I used to sleep in until like noon or one every day!!!!). And then I caught up on blogs, checked e-mail-that kind of stuff. Then I started lunch for when Paul and Robbie got home. Now I get to read the latest issue of Radiant. It is one of my favorite magazines of all time. That and Relevent. I'm not all about the emerging church, but I do like reading things geared toward me in my present situation (twenty-something). It covers everything from being single to being a stay-at-home-mom and marriage. And it's all Christian. So awesome!! It really is the best magazine out there IMHO.

Okay, so now that I've bored you I will leave you with a picture of the love of my life. Last night as he was rinsing dishes he was singing, "You lovely little life forms." It was so strange. Something only a Trekkie would do. So, here's my very lovable Trekkie.