Christmas is here!

Or at least it will be in 11 days (hopefully I didn't give Jody heart palpitations again.)  I'll be following Melissa and ask you to press play then read the blog.  I'm not sure what's up with the cheesy video but I love Kenny & Dolly Christmas music!

I've actually already gotten 2 early Christmas gifts this year.  The first Jay was so excited about he gave me the day he purchased them.  We're currently building We've commissioned some built in bookshelves in the upstairs landing of our house.  The work isn't progressing like I had hoped, but life gets in the way sometimes.

On my Christmas list, I'd requested old books.  Didn't have to be antique - just something that would look appropriate on the shelves of our make-shift library.  I was hopeful that he could get some by the box on EBay for a good price.

Instead he decided to shop local and go to an antique store.  Some he bought for the titles - Christian books that he thought I'd find interesting.  Some he bought for decoration at a great price - $1 each. 

He didn't wrap the box, but told me I couldn't shake it.  I ran my hands along the sides (much like Shawn on Psych) pretending my powers are different than they actually are.  "Antique books!" I said before opening the lid.  Of course the clue was in a big box that I couldn't shake.  Nothing else fragile was on my list.

I have to admit though I'm a little disappointed.  No doubt this will be one of my best gifts and I've already opened it!

My mother gave me another really awesome gift early as well.  She did it though so I could enjoy it.  Once again I guess what it was before unwrapping it.

Kenny & Dolly's A Christmas to Remember CD.  I was looking for it because its one of my constant Christmas memories growing up.  My mom had the record (still might actually) and I remember her putting the record on and us enjoying the tunes.

Of course living in this area, any Dolly CD isn't hard to come by.  She and my dad picked it up on Sunday after church and wanted me to have it so that I could enjoy it leading up to the holiday.

None of that was actually supposed to be the point of this post though.  I was going to show you my Christmas decorations that I finally got up this weekend.  I'm already a little long winded though, so I suppose that'll save for another day.

I know I've said it before - but I'm incredible blessed.  With a wonderful family that wants to make me happy, with simple wishes easy to fulfill.  With the means to purchase gifts for our family.

I want to leave you with my favorite non-traditional Christmas song. You'll forgive the interpretive dance at the end of the video. 

What's the best gift you've ever received?  Not talking monetarily, but something that thrilled your soul when you received it.

Tis the Season of Giving

Normally, the Challenges issued to us by Christie O. and the rest of the Sisterhood team via the Monthly Project focus on improving ourselves somehow.  Whether it be loving ourselves more, finding our inner motivation, or sharing great healthy recipes.

This month, however, our monthly challenge is taking the focus off us and on to someone else.



Let's face it, if you're concerned about your weight? That means you have plenty of food to eat.
Worried about being active enough?  You must not have a strenuous manual labor job.

I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for both of those.

From the Sisterhood:

For this project, all we ask is that you spread the Holiday Spirit, by donating something or doing something, anything, for another person and blogging about it and letting your fellow bloggers know about which charities or projects need help or how they can help in their own communities.


Jay and I have been very blessed.  Blessed with a good mind for money, blessed with hands that aren't afraid of hard work, blessed with good circumstances. 
 
Oh and there is always that pooping gold thing...
 
My goal for this month, and the Monthly Project, is to donate to a different cause each week.  I'll be honest, the first week in December was a short week and I'm not sure if I donated at all that week.  I probably threw a buck in the can as I passed a Salvation Army bell ringer so we'll just count that.
 
(I always feel so sorry for the ringers out there in the cold and people just walking past them.  Even though Jay likes me to write checks for most of my donations for tax purposes, I don't feel right walking by without dropping something in their bucket.)
 
Last week we donated to the local Teen Christmas.  It breaks my heart knowing that there are high school aged kids out there without a warm coat.  Teen years are hard enough without that extra burden.  So many people focus on buying toys for smaller kids that I chose to make my donation here.  Sure its not as much fun to buy the cute little kid clothes or toys, but this isn't about what's fun - its about meeting a need.
 
Another need, the most important actually, is the need to hear the Good News of Jesus.  The Lottie Moon Christmas offering goes to support International Missionaries as they spread the joy of the Christmas season. 
 
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11
 
I was honored yesterday morning at church to be able to contribute to this fund.  If we all lived our lives the way Ms. Moon did, we could truly change the world.
 
I haven't decided where to give for the 4th and 5th weeks of the month, but I have no doubt something will come my direction.  I hope to share it with you when it does.
 
How are you helping others this Christmas season?

Festive Friday

Only 15 days until Christmas!!!!  Are you ready?  Haven't even started yet?

I'm starting to get stressed out.  For some reason I thought it was a good idea to do the following:

1. Training for a marathon - including 18 & 20 mile runs.
2. Remodel my bathroom - using my formal dining room for storage.
3. Take a long weekend to visit a State Park with my family.
4. Host a Christmas party.

Now that I type it out, it doesn't look like all that much, but add to those things daily chores and I'm one exhausted girl.  Even the thought of pulling out my Christmas decorations makes me tired.

We've got them out and partially put up now.  The tree is up and half decorated.  I'm out of ornament hangers, and somehow we lose them every year.  That reminds me, I need to steal paper clips from work buy hooks before going home.

Not sure how I'm going to fit cleaning and decorating into my weekend, especially given that I have 2 Christmas parties and a baby shower to attend as well as an 18 mile run to complete.  With the snow forecast for Sunday - it looks like I'm going to have to fit the run in with the shower and one of the parties in on Saturday.

I thought I'd share with you some pictures from last year since I don't have any this year yet!

This year we actually have a fire place to hang our stockings from - I'll have to wait until Jay builds a nice fire and get a picture of them for you!!

This is a source of stress for me.  We've been using our formal dining room (which is much larger than this one was) as a storage space for our bathroom remodel.  Its a big room and largely goes unused.  I'm just concerned that they won't be done with the remodel in time for me to have my family over next Saturday!

Actually I told a lie - I do have a picture from this year to share with you - the picture taken for our Christmas cards.

We hope your Christmas is blessed (and stress free) this holiday season!

Merry Christmas!!

Love, Brooke & Jay

Now its your time to brag (or make me feel better about my own slowness):

Have you decorated yet?

Finished your shopping?

Wrapped your gifts?



Holiday Hoedown Check in Week 3

Good morning ladies and gents!! (Are there any gents that read my blog?  Besides one handsome mutant of course.) Its check-in time over at the Sisterhood.

Check.

I'm done right?

Crap.

So I gained weight.  Again.  This is getting really old.  Although I have no doubt what caused  it.  The biscuits and gravy 2 mornings in a row at Fall Creek Falls State Park.  The absence of a long run do to my weekend with the family.  The chimichanga, cheese sauce, refried beans, and coke Monday night went no where but my thighs and rear.

What is new?  Yesterday I actively did something to change my behavior.

We'll skip over the brownie and the diet dr.k with dinner m'kay?  I had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast, a granola bar for morning snack, a bowl of chili (w/cheese and sour cream) for lunch, and a plate of stir fry for dinner. 

Notice what's absent there?  Fast food.  Crap that my body doesn't need.  Okay technically it didn't need the brownie but it was a small portion and I was hungry and wanted something sweet. 

Yesterday is how I imagined my eating moderately would be.  Mostly nutritious food with a few yummies add in.

Let's go for day 2 of that behavior - what'd ya say?

A few things...

I've got some Shrinking Jeans housekeeping to do.

First off its True Confessions Tuesday:

My confession:
I'm totally off the weight loss wagon and don't see any sign of getting back up on.  I'm not all that motivated.  I eat like crap then run my butt off.  Its amazing I haven't gained even more weight.


Vote, Vote, Vote

I'm one of 5 holiday vloggers up for an awesome prize pack.  Check it out and be sure to vote.  Its even okay if you don't vote for me.  I'm in good company - I love those ladies!


Holiday Hoedown

The Shrinking Jeans Ladies have asked us to talk about 3 ways I'm going to do to stay on track this month. This is a little hard because eating poorly wouldn't exactly be "getting off track" for me.

1. Keep up with marathon training. 
   
   This is my only salvation right now. 
2. Focus on others.
   I hope to outline it in another blog, but fast food has been a major weakness of mine lately.  I'm going out practically every day for lunch.  As a result, I'm literally eating up all of my personal spending money.  I have $125 budgeted every month to spend on whatever I want.  And apparently what I want are bigger thighs.
   
   I want to start picking a charity of the month to donate part of that spending money to.  Maybe with this face starring at me, I can keep myself under control.
   
   
3. Really look within myself.
   Superficial BS isn't going to cut it any more.  Why is it that I want to be smaller?  What am I hoping to accomplish?  Until I figure those things out, I can't get jump started again.  I've shared the quote before that discipline is remembering what you want and right now I haven't the foggiest.

That's a pretty simple look at things, but its where I am.  Next up - finding my motivation to decorate for Christmas whilst workmen make my house filthy.

Name them one by one...

I have these moments often.  Times where I get so caught up in me that I don't see the world around me.  Times where I look past all the sickness, pain, and heartache this world has to offer. 

I whine about gaining a few pounds...forgetting about those in my own county who don't know where their next meal will come from.  Children on free lunches that sneak their orange juice into their back pack so they'll have something for dinner.

I complain that my husband doesn't do X, Y, or Z to suit me...forgetting that I'm complaining to a friend who's just been through a long and painful divorce.

...or the bloggy friend who lives daily with the cancer that inhabits her husband's body.

I worry about finances...only to have the thank you letters to the charities I support reference my "sacrificial" gift.  Both letters made me cry.  Those gifts didn't cost me anything, yet meant so much to the organizations they were sent to. 

I stress about house work...not considering those who would love any form of shelter, even if it meant a stray hash brown crumb or two on the floor.

I get irritated at the chill of a house with the heat set on 60 degrees...when I know there are so many ways it could be worse.  As a matter of fact its not a financial necessity that its set that low, just a choice we make to save money.

I am blessed far beyond what I know.

And for that, I am thankful.

Wednesday Already??

I'm cranky.

Probably because of poor eating choices I've made the past few days months.  Sorry Tinsel Vixens! 

To keep the crankiness out of this post, I'll keep the words short and sweet.  I was able to log almost 6 hours of exercise this past week - half of which was spent in Jay's Pawpaw's basement on a treadmill.

For my long  run, Jay had initially said he was going to go with me.  He hasn't ran in over a month and thought somehow he could tackle 17 miles.  Oh to have that sort of self confidence!

As you can see, it took a little effort to get him up and going.

And after only 2 miles, he decided that he'd had enough.  I told him to get rested up and then check on me in 30-45 minutes.  By then I thought he would have recovered enough to save me from the dreadmill boredom and we could get a few more miles in outside.

Instead, when he came to check on me, he said he was just then recovered from those two miles.  He offered to bring me water.  I had already gotten the "low battery" warning on my IPod, and I feared what might happen if I did have music to entertain me.

I knew due to lack of Internet service, Jay wasn't using his computer.  So I asked him to set it up for me and see if Pawpaw had any DVDs at his house - other than Silent Night (a war movie set near where he was captured as a POW during WW2). 

The only other option was a movie belonging to Jay's mother "Thomas Kincade's A Christmas Cottage" based on Kincade's early years - a story about how he found his inspiration.  Because of the noise of the HVAC unit as well as the treadmill, I couldn't hear the dialog.  Jay put the captions on for me and I was on my way.

My non-scale victory of the week?  A 17 mile run (15 of which was on the treadmill).  Only 9.2 more to go!