Tooth Layouts

Bought (yes you read that right) this cute kit over the weekend. I have been dying to scrap these pictures of Will but not one of my designers has a tooth kit. I guess I should make them do one! He is FINALLY just now starting to get his top front right tooth coming in. He's so toothless right now. It's so adorable! This kit is by Armina and Lliella over at SSD.

Jennifer Fox layouts

Jennifer has really stepped up her game lately. She's growing by leaps and bounds with her designing skills and I am sooo proud of her!! The last few kits are just amazing! Loved them!

Lots and lots of Ettes layouts!

These are all by the Ettes! I'll do my best to come back later and link them.

Heaven on Earth!

GO TIGERS!!! We won again!!! 11 and 0 and still going strong! WHOOT WHOOT!!! Gotta love those tigers!!!

Red is my color!!!

You are hearing it here for the first time!! I hit another milestone today. I am now under 100 pounds to my goal!!! That is HUGE for me mentally. I was ashamed to put my goal weight out there as it was just so far off and didn't seem like it would be something I would reach. But now that it's in a TWO DIGIT number...hell yes, I can do this! As of this morning, I have 99.8 pounds to go to reach my ultimate goal. I'm on cloud nine. For three mornings in a row, I have had personal bests. This is really exciting, folks. And the best part of my day yesterday was a really old friend of mine (Lisa Riley) found out what I have been doing and called and left me the BEST voicemail I think I have ever had. It really brought tears to my eyes. This is one of the reasons I didn't want to share my adventures with the just anyone until I was sure I was going to succeed at this. I hate to fail. HATE IT. It's not something I take lightly to. Everything in my life it seems has lead to some sort of failure. My original weight issues stems from failure. So for me to have put this out here is bigger than anything I think I might have done before. So I want you all to know that this is not just about me losing weight. For each pound that is shed off my body is a failure I am letting go of from my life. I NEVER want to be the person I have become again. And I know most of you are probably going, but Rach, you seem like you have a wonderful life. And on the surface you bet I do! But if you dig deep into who I really am, you will find one sad person. I'm really really good at covering up my faults. The one thing I could never hide was my weight. Well I could, in some ways, but it still hits home when I think about what brought me to this point in my life.

ok....that's enough reading for today. I can't believe I'm putting this out there either. Wow...I might have to come back later and delete this entry. I'm not sure what I am typing at this point. It just keep spilling out of me.

Buh Bye 20 pounds!!

Yep...today is yet ANOTHER RED LETTER DAY! I finally hit my 20# mark. whew...I was beginning to think it was not meant to be!! Ahhh...20.2 gone!! Next mile stone. Lose .2 so I have just 100 more pounds to go then waiting for my 10% loss goal. Ahh...I wanna hit the 10% gone by my Bday. I can do this!!!!

Red Letter Day!

Can I have your attention, please for a special announcement: I just fit into the next size down pants!! WHOOOT!! I'm wearing them today just because I can! So I'm dressing up ladies! They are my most favorite pair of dress slacks. I have not fit into them for probably 2 years. This is a red letter day for me mentally. I have been sorta whining alot lately that I was shocked I had not dropped a size yet with having lost 18 pounds. Well, folks, my Dearest Hubby and best friend of all times tells me like it is all the time and this was no exception. He says, " but you have to remember, you probably should have been in the next size up so its just going to take you longer." Yes folks, that is why I love this man! He's honest with me and keeps me inline. He is totally supportive of this lifestyle change and I can't thank him enough. I couldn't have gotten this far without the support of my family and friends. So this one's for you! CHEERS!!!

Lil Forest Fall-Kristin Aagard

So yeah...Kristin is going to KILL ME but I have to share this kit!!! It's not available until FRIDAY the 6th but how cute is this!! Oh my word!!! I love love love this kit. Have I NOT loved one her kits yet?? hmm...I don't think so! So that means you will have to add this to your WISH LIST and pick it up on Friday!!! LOVE YOU KRISTIN!! I swear girl...you really rock my world with your extreme talent. WOWSERS!! If you have ANY fall photos...you will want to pick up this kit. I didn't even use the cute little Critters (fox and hedgehog) I'll try to come back and remind you on FRIDAY about this kit so you don't forget!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

The happiest day of the year!!! We went the drive-thru at MickeyD's and they all were laughing and telling Josh what a cool costume he had. Gotta share:

And here is my family today uptown trick or treating this morning. Yes, we ALL dress up for this event! We LOVE IT! I wore my new cape! I love that thing! No hat though. The wind was sooo bad it would have never stayed on.

Will's School Picture

Here's my BABY!!! Seriously?? My BABY? Really? I think he really really looks like a Sallows! I might get ONE child that looks like me?! Maybe? Do you think he looks like his mommy? Look at his teeth! LOL Missing is front top teeth and then his lower laterals. I LOVE IT!

School Photo

Look at my handsome boy! Didn't get William's yet. So you will have to enjoy Zander's alone for

now. He got new glasses today. You can see them later in the HALLOWEEN classroom party pictures! yes, I said HALLOWEEN! The shirt he has on in this photo is the same one his Art Teacher has and Z thinks that's pretty funny! I told them they have to wear them the same day and have their pictures taken for the yearbook! hahahaha

Another Gripe

I'm just gonna say this over and over since we can't say it about the school parties

HAPPY HALLOWEEN Happy Halloween happy halloween HaPpY hAlLoWeEn
Happy flipping Halloween. What's so wrong with saying Happy Halloween? I love love love this holiday. It's right up there with Christmas for me. It might even be higher? But then nothing could top Thanksgiving for me. I was born on Thansgiving Day and it's my FAV Holiday EVER! No gifts, lots of food, and family. Nothing better! Well ok fine, I get some gifts! LOL

Our theme this year is animals. Will's classroom is doing Old MacVarney's Farm. I made face masks for all the students to hold up and they are going to hold on to twine to show them in a pen on the farm. The teacher is the farmer! I love it!

Zander is going to be the Cymbal Monkey. You know, red striped pants, yellow shirt, fez hat and cymbal with a HUGE SMILE! LOL Nana made it for us. It's so cool. Can't wait to get pictures of him in it!

ok...off to work...blah...

Bah humbug to Thursdays

I seriously HATE thursdays. It's my late/long day at work and it just sucks. I've done it for 7 years and I am just sick of it. And this time of year makes it even worse because it gets dark so early. And after the time change on Sunday, it will be even worse yet. So...boo hiss to this day. But I put on my smile and off I go! I'm loving life and I will just have to think of it as more time to spend to my co-workers! Luckily I really enjoy them or it could be a nightmare.

So...I need to see what happened with Sister's shopping trip and food adventure yesterday. I hope you ate smart! heehee

Big Ideas

Well, I have not posted about this yet as I was just too emotional over the whole thing. But due to budget cuts, William is losing his teacher. She is done on Nov. 20th. She's so unbelievably AWESOME too. I'm soo sad about it. I understand why it is happening but I don't have to like it, right. Well I got this bright idea to make her a photobook of the kids and have them all write letters to her. I will then take a photo of the child with the teacher and scrap their photo and their scanned letter to her. So she will know something is happening but she will NEVER GUESS THIS! I got the first letter back tonight. Oh my word...


Covered the names to protect the innocent. but seriously...how totally adorable is this first one I got back today. I'm going to love putting this together. I think it might go down as my most favorite one yet!

Fall Memories-Jennifer Fox & WW info

So I finally got around to doing something for my CT's. Yeah, I suck lately. Just been beyond busy. Finally took some ME time. So to speak. It was for them actually but I enjoyed it!
Kit: Jennifer Fox and Amanda Heimann-Fall Frolic
Template: Designs by Sine of SO

So...I have done something that is so totally out of my comfort zone. I talked about it in an early post but it really happened. I joined this "challenge" called Skinny Jeans. I had to take pictures of myself and post them (including my starting weight-ACK). Thank GOD it's in a private forum. Talk about humilating. But at the same time...it's going to be sooo cool to look back and see the progress. I have to take WEEKLY photos on Sundays. I will NOT be sharing them on my blog for personal reasons. I know I'm fat and I don't need to share that with the world! heehee I will also let you all in a tiny little secret. I started Weight Watchers on Sept. 28th. As of this morning I have lost 17 pounds. I'm in total shock. I was not going to share this with the world in the beginning because I was not sure if I was going actually stick with it. I am not proud of what has happened to me over the years and I had a lots of inspiration from many around me lately and felt I was ready. So with the help of my little sister, Amy Jo, I made my move. I joined. My sister surprised me with a little gift last week. Some books to carry in my purse to help me with the points. I really think it was because she was sick of me calling her before every meal asking how many points such and such was! LOL But no matter what the reason she did, THANK YOU!
I also have a little bet with dear Kiwi. So I am surrounded by inspiration, motivation, and determination. I am not going to look like I currently do at my sister's biggest day of her life. I couldn't do that to her or me. I know she wouldn't have cared one bit what I looked like but in the end, I would. And I am sick of feeling like crap. I'm turning 39 on Turkey Day and I do not want to enter my 40's looking like I do. So I figured I better get to work. Susan C. has recently gone through a life change recently and I figure if she can, I can too. I admired her for doing it from a far and now it's high time I tell her...THANK YOU for inspiring me! I'm very proud of you!!
My weigh in days are Tuesdays for my WW. I have been sending out emails with my progress but I can share here now. I have a little ticker on my blog so you can keep tabs on me if you want! Who knows if I will ever reach my "GOAL" weight but hey, I wanna try! I don't think I weighed the "goal" even in high school so I'm not really sure how this will play out but I will not let that stop me from trying. I'm already lighter than I was so as far as I can tell, I'm already a winner.

Pumplies 2009

Here's what we did this year. Can you guess which one is mine?? They go by age in case you are wondering!

Cloudy with a chance...

of meatballs...here we come! Off to watch this movie with Nana, Jackson, myself and the boys. Looking forward to having some popcorn!

Now hear this...

My voice it sorta back. Still can tell I have had issues but it's more than a whisper!

No voice

Woke up with NO VOICE. I've been under the weather but nothing too major. Just a cold like feeling...coughing, sinus pressure, tired. Now this. Should be fun at work. I called my boss to tell him I have no voice and see if he wants me there. He says, It's my call? Well, I know what that means...be there. So I'm going to go in. Should be interesting. A hygienist with no voice. I guess I can use my hands to show brush/floss! LOL hahaha Still got the dry sense of humor.

My current view

I stepped out my back door tonight to watch the boys play in the yard and I turned and looked and saw this.
This doesn't even really do justice to the color either. It was truly breath taking. The oranges and reds were so bright. It was a gorgeous day here today and yesterday. Tomorrow brings in rain and cold. Figures. All this color will be gone so fast if it rains. So I had to get this memory locked in print. I have NO PLANS for the weekend for the first time in 6 weeks. I am going to clean my house! It's terrible. Needs a good over haul. 6 weeks of neglect has taken it's toll on me. I'm still fighting something in my head/nose/throat. It's not horrible but man...it's not fun either. Tomorrow is thursday..blah... I hate thursdays. Long day at work. But...Will has a music concert at 6:30pm so I have leaving work an hour earlier so I can make it there on time. He's so excited. Zander has to pass out the programs. He's taking choir this year and was asked by the music teacher to help out. He's loving it! I've got the best kids!

Said the spider to the fly,

Just another wacky day in the land of Lincoln Parent Group!

Used Jennifer Fox-Spooktacular kit available at PolkaDotPlum

Skinny Jeans Challenge

So, I signed up for the Skinny Jeans Challenge over at SweetShoppeDesigns. Ironic, no? Sweet Shoppe and weight loss contest! Anywho...There's some prizes to be won so I figure, why not.

And a few of you are probably smiling or even laughing to yourself. You know my little secret and you know I can win this! If I'm doing it already, I might as well get paid to do it! (yes, I'm that cocky that I will win) heehee Who wouldn't love to win some digi supplies. I know I would! Secretly, I bet it will be all Krystal Hartley stuff! heehee just my luck! MWAHAHAHA well guess that's not a secret anymore. Me and my big mouth.

It runs Oct 25th thru Dec 30th. Based on Percentage of weight loss. Winner gets $40 towards the Sweet Shoppe Store!! Oh yeah! Only bad part...I have to share pictures to be entered in the random $50 drawing. UGH...Gag...puke...please no. But alas, I will do it. It might be a fun journey in a few years to see where I started. Or maybe not?!