Blog Your Heart & A Few Christmas Things :)

Hello everyone :)
This is going to be a lengthy post.. just warning ya.

I didn't end up scrappin' at the twelve-hour crop yesterday. I stayed home with my boys and cleaned out the garage, had a friend over and tried on clothes that I hadn't been able to wear in YEARS. I haven't seen my husband much in the past month and felt like I really needed to stay home with he and my son.
There's always next month, anyway...

So I want to share some things with you.. some personal things.
Ali Edwards or some other scrap celebrity started this challenge called "Blog Your Heart". Which is perfect for me because I'm one of the most honest people you will ever meet. I am TOO honest at times.
TMI? - yeah, that's me sometimes. But oh well. I am who I am.
But even though I'm honest, I don't generally tell strangers that read my blog a ton of my business. Yeah, I share pics and stories related to Caleb's Autism and a few things here and there about my weight loss surgery. But I don't share super personal things on here. Well, today I am.
Anyway, here is what's going on with me -
On the weight loss front, I've now lost over 184lbs. Yes, I'm very very proud of myself. People say I should be so happy now. And I am. I LOOK happier and I am able to do SO much more now. But has the weight loss "fixed" everything? No. The surgery helped but, it didn't fix my brain. It's just a tool. Not a magic pill.
I still have to work very hard to lose weight (and keep losing). I mourn the loss of food. It was my best friend for a LONG time. I can pretty much eat anything now without getting sick so I really have to stay diligent about eating the right foods and exercising. I still battle depression. I've thought about selling all my scrap stuff and giving scrapping up. Scrapping doesn't really cheer me up anymore like it used to. And with my scraproom upstairs and a kid that won't stay upstairs with me for longer than a few minutes and a husband that's never home, it's really hard to scrap here at home.
But I know this is just a temporary thing and as soon as I do that I'll regret it. So I'm getting therapy and praying ALOT and hopefully I'll get through all this ---WITHOUT MEDICATION--forget that, anti-depressants don't work on me. Not to mention, we are thinking about having another baby next year and I don't want to be on any meds that could affect the baby. Sometimes I worry being on an SSRI while pregnant with Caleb CONTRIBUTED to him being Autistic.
So there you have it. Say a prayer for me if you will.

On the scrapbooking front.. I went to a Stampin' Up! workshop at my friend Heather's today and here are a few things I made. (cell phone pics, sorry)


mini card


8x8 page - obviously I need to put a pic on this


If you're interested in Stampin' Up! and don't have a local demonstrator, check out Heather's website. She is awesome :) (and please tell her Jenny Brannies sent you, tee hee)

Anyway, that's it. Thanks for "listening" to me "blog my heart". I hope you all have a GREAT week!
I plan on scrapping at Archivers with a few friends this next Saturday night. Hopefully I'll be back with pics of my work next weekend.
Byeee!

Halloween & Fall Cuteness

Hi everyone! Just thought I'd pop on here and say HI and post a few more pics from Caleb's Fall photoshoot with CJS Photography as well as some Halloween pics.

Halloween this year ROCKED!
Unlike last year, Caleb was open to his costume (although he wouldn't wear ANYthing else even though I tried to talk him into it after I saw his costume was too short). And thank God, too. Because it cost me a whopping $3.00 at a rummage sale a few mos ago.. I love bargains!
He also LOVED going from house to house saying "TRICK-OR-TREAT" (often before the homeowners would open their door, though. Mental note: work on that for next year, LOL)

This was the first year he was really into it. It made hubby and I both so happy to see him so giddy about it all. YAY CALEB!!
Another great thing - he doesn't even care about the candy! He ate the lollipops and that was all he cared for. It's all in the trash now which, is great for Mommy & Daddy. No more temptation for us :)

Here are a few pics I took with my iPhone 4S and Instagram. LOOOOVE Instagram!!






And here are some (unedited) pics from my DSLR.
They aren't that great. I was really into being "present" and helping Caleb trick-or-treat this year instead of being the photographer like in years past :)


See how short his costume was? Yep, he was like Steve Urkel but SO darn cute! tee hee



After we trick-or-treated, we went over to our neighbors house and had a bonfire, wine and more fun. It was a blast! :)

And here are some more pics from Cay's Fall photoshoot. I just LOVE them! Can't wait to scrap them!







Regarding scrapping: I have scrapped the past two Saturday nights with friends at Archivers but I've only worked on kits.. no REAL scrapping so far. I find when I'm not in a creative mood or simply don't have the time to get all my scrap stuff together for a crop, working on kits is best.
I'm going to a Stampin' Up! party Friday night and Saturday I'm going to an all day NJS crop. I'm really hoping I'll get some stuff done there but we shall see.. I have NO DESIRE right now to go edit and print out pics and get all my Fall stuff together for this crop so we'll see what happens. I might just do more kitting. Leaves me free to talk more to friends at the crop, anyway.. tee hee :)

Well, have a great rest of the week. Thanks for looking!

Tuesday Morning goodies :)

For those of you with a Tuesday Morning near you and a Prima flowers fetish (like me!), RUN to TM asap!
Check out what I got there today (thanks Teresa for making me aware of your Prima finds).

Lots of flowers. I looooove polka dots!

$2.99 Tim Holtz Grungeboard. I have a ton of GB but I'd never seen either of these sets before so I snatched them up.
Prima 6x6 paper stack. Last one. Love it!

I'll be back later with another post. I have lots of pics from Caleb's Fall photo shoot and Halloween to share :)