Simple Sunday, six

This week I was thinking about making Simple Sunday be a page about the Paul Simon concert and then I reminded myself that the point of Simple Sunday was to document the little things in life. So Paul Simon will definitely get a page, just not on a Sunday.

For today's Simple Sunday I used the sketch from Elle's Studio again. 

I tucked a journaling card behind the picture that reads:

On Friday I woke up too early. Zeb was still awake, of course, so I cuddled up with him on the couch and finished watching Insidious with him. After the movie, I got my morning started on the computer and he started watching This is Spinal Tap. In the course of about two minutes he went from laughing loudly to snoring loudly.

Do you have a memory from this week that you want to remember? 

The Pages of Christmas Past

Zeb's mom gave me a small 8x8 scrapbook that documents Christmas year after year and I finally finished the pages from 2009 and 2010 just this weekend. It took too long to do them, I know this, but since I work mostly with 12x12 pages, the 8x8 are a bit of a challenge.

I thought I would share all of the pages up to this point, 2006 to 2010.

It's fun to see the change in my scrapbooking style and the way Zeb and I have changed as well.

We'll start with 2006. This is the very first Christmas Zeb and I spent together, and also one of my first (if not the first) scrapbook page I ever made. So, you don't get to see the whole page.

In 2007 we had just moved into our new home and bought a Christmas tree to decorate before we even unpacked. Check out the newest addition to our family that year.

Next, 2008.

In 2009, we visited the Magic Tree in Columbia, Missouri. This is a sight to see: a tree decorated with a ton of lights. It's so beautiful and one of my favorite things to do on Christmas.
For this page I got some help from Elle's Studio sketch of the week.

We get to Columbia, Missouri on Christmas Eve Day and that's when we help his mom decorate her tree for Christmas. Decorating the tree means wearing the Santa hats. Every year.

My goal this year is to have my page for Christmas 2011 finished before Christmas 2012. Do you think it can happen?

10 Things I'm Thankful For.

Shimelle compiles a list of 10 Things on the Tenth every month and this month I thought I would participate with 10 Things I'm Thankful For.

Thing 1:
Zeb
He has the kindest heart of anyone I know. He loves music a lot a lot and he loves Peanut even more than that. He is levelheaded and calms my crazy. Thank you, Zeb.

Thing 2:
Peanut
I always thought I would wait to get a pup until I turned 30 (I'm 29). For some reason 30 seemed like a very grown up time in my 25 year old mind. However, when I met Peanut and she asked me to be her mom I couldn't say no. Thankfully. She is the funniest little dog I know (see below).

Thing 3:
My Job
I feel lucky that I get to have the job I have. Being a personal trainer is very rewarding and fun. First, I get to keep flexible hours which makes doing things I want/need to do, like making appointments and going on vacation, easier. I also get to hang out with my clients/friends all day long. What's better than that?

Thing 4:
Creativity
I'm thankful that I like to create things with paper and yarn. These crafts are things that challenge me and relax me. I like the journey and I like the finished product.

Thing 5:
Books
There are people who just claim to be 'non-readers' and I am glad I am not one of those people. I love to read, and although I have hit a dry spell the last month, I love to get lost in a story, and stay up later than I had planned, to finish a book. Next on my list is Room.

Thing 6:
My Health
I am a person that likes to work out. Sure, I like days off from working out, but too many days off and I'm back in the gym. Sometimes it feels like something my body needs to do. I like to eat well. These things make me feel good mentally and physically.

Thing 7:
My Friends
I have a small group of friends. I'm not super social, but the people I choose to be my friends are the ones I can trust the most.

Thing 8:
My Alone Time
Alone time is so important to me. I feel like it's a way for me to recharge. I see Zeb sometimes running from work, to a friend's house, to an out of town get together, back to work, back to his friend's house, (this seriously happens) and I wonder how he does it. How does he not go insane with all the social interaction? Quiet time it something I need and when I don't get it, I feel stressed out, tired and cranky.

Thing 9:
Money
I'm thankful I usually have the money I need to do the things I want to do. I'm a saver and a thrifter so I never spend ridiculous amounts of money on ridiculous things. Most of our home is furnished from garage sales, thrift stores, hand me downs and the side of the road (true story). Thankfully, other people are wasteful so I can be thrifty and use my money to take vacations, or go to a nice dinner, and not buy a brand new couch (although we really need a new couch).

Thing 10:
My Family
Of course, Zeb and Peanut are pretty top notch.
Also, I am very happy that I have become closer to my extended family in the last few years. I have two great cousins that are ridiculously generous with their time and love.
Zeb's mom, Barb, is also a very kind heart, just like her son. She does the best job of making me feel like part of the family.

What are you thankful for?

My Night With Paul Simon.

Oh wow. We went to see Paul Simon last night at the Midland Theater and it was more than amazing.

The back story: Zeb came home one day to tell me that tickets for this show were going on sale the following Friday at 10am. So at 9:50am I was parked in front of the computer ready to get the best seats I could. Unfortunately, the seats were selling quick and I wasn't quick enough so we kept ending up with worse and worse seats. At that point I decided I didn't want to go if I had to sit in the back. I may have cried.

(I have a thing with concerts, if I'm not close enough to see some facial expression, I don't want to be there. I have a hard time seeing shows at the Sprint Center for this reason. If I'm going to watch the projection screen of you at the concert where you're performing, I would rather go home and put on the album and listen to your music. It's all the same to me.)

So....the dream of seeing Paul Simon wasn't panning out as I had hoped. Zeb (the calm one) thought we might have better luck calling Ticketmaster, and sure enough, we secured seats 15 rows back. Awesome seats. Amazing seats.

The show was so good.. Paul Simon was the cutest dancing man you've ever seen. His voice was beautiful and he and his band performed for two and a half hours. (He's 70!)

He played a lot of classic Paul Simon-"Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes"

some songs off his new album- "The Afterlife"

a couple of Simon and Garfunkel songs- "The Sound of Silence"

and some covers- "Here Comes the Sun"

It was the best night ever.

Simple Sunday, five

This week I made a page about our Halloween.

I used this week's sketch from Elle's Studio. With that guide, this page came together quickly.

I love the story of this night.

Sometimes I wish...

Sometimes I wish I worked in lawn care.

This past spring (every spring actually) I think about making fliers to pass out around my neighborhood offering my services as a lawn mower, similar to the ways of a 15 year old boy.  I like to mow the lawn that much. I like to edge too. 

Today, I spent the morning raking leaves in the front yard and that yard looks spotless.

Perhaps these things bring me so much joy because my hard work is apparent. Tall grass mowed to short grass, leaves raked away...evidence of my hard work. 

Halloween 2011

At about 5:00pm yesterday, I walked over to my neighbor's house because they had some scary music playing and it looked like they were setting up for trick or treaters. After a little bit of talking and a very slight guarantee that I would get trick or treaters, I decided to get involved in the holiday. I went to the store and picked up two bags of candy and then came home to get the porch ready.
We didn't get any pumpkins this year so I got out a lot of tea lights for the front porch. I turned Pandora to a scary Halloween station and got some costumes gathered together.

I decided on a Luchador mask and Zeb went as a crazy person: crazy black wig, dark circles under the eyes, and a long robe.
We thought trick or treaters were supposed to be coming by at 6:00pm, but I don't think we got our first one until 7:00pm. So in that hour we had a lot of fun practicing how we were going to scare kids: lot's of moaning and running around. Kids or not, we were entertaining ourselves for sure.

When the kids started showing up, we had a lot of fun seeing the costumes and giving out candy. I only scared some of them because I didn't want their parents to get mad at me....also, some of them weren't scared of this little person in a Luchador mask running at them....?


We had so much fun all night and are convinced to participate year after year.


Zeb summed it up best on Facebook:



"I am truly amazed at how much Cheryl has gotten into Halloween in the last half hour."




It's funny 'cause it's true.