Sites of the week

As you have probably read from her blog, Susan’s husband, Eric, is currently undergoing treatment for a very aggressive form of lymphoma. Through this battle, my BFF has always found a way to make lemonade out of the crappy lemons life has been handing her and her family lately. I admire her strength to smile on days that I know are filled with rain clouds. Eric is strong and is making it through the treatments one day at a time. There have definitely been some setbacks with adverse reactions {meaning kidney function, fevers, and complete loss of appetite} and needed transfusions. And, the reality of it is that the bills are adding up and Eric is out of sick time at work. This is where you can help!

My Favorite Things, Verve Stamps and The Cat’s Pajamas are having a benefit sale Friday through Sunday (EDIT) with 10% off your purchase and a portion of the proceeds benefit the Liles’ family. You can support them and get stamps…win, win!!

OR

There is a DONATE button on the side of her blog. You can read more about it on THIS post that her sister and friend wrote. If you have any questions in regards to this, please contact Sheila {a longtime friend of Susan’s} at sheila@remember4faith.com

Tonight I am bringing them some BBQ chicken, pasta salad and sliced strawberries to hopefully ease the day to day stuff that goes on with or without cancer knocking at your door. I hope you can my friend, too!

PS-I love what Alma wrote on her blog about our friend. You can read her post HERE.

I need to start an Etsy store…among other things on a long to-do list, but for now I lurk and shop. I just wanted to share a couple findings…

First, I purchased a “Mommy Necklace” from BragAboutIt. This picture isn’t the one that I purchased {obviously, the names don’t match my family}, but it is the style that I got. Mine has “Ellie” on the flower, “Nic” on the small circle, “Tony & Jen” on the large circle and “est. 2003″ (the year we were married) on the long rectangle. I absolutely LOVE this necklace and would recommend her store to anyone…

You gotta love the textures of paper crafting these days…fabric, cork and FELT! I found the FELT ON THE FLY store via the Sugar Buffet blog. Today I received this and it is WONDERFUL! No fuzzy when die cut and it is so soft. Again, a store that I would highly recommend…

Finally, I just have to share these with you from Needle Creations. So cute, right?…

Is there anything you have found on Etsy that you would like to share? I’d love to see what treasures you have found.

Nope… I’m not actually breaking up with anyone, but rather saying good-bye to the fat I gained during pregnancy. Believe me, there is plenty to kick to the curb. For the past couple weeks I have been a bit of a gym rat, waking up at 5:15 some mornings and going 3 miles on the elliptical before 6am. So far I am down 5.2 pounds. It’s not exactly peeling off of me like it was the last time I lost weight, but I am happy with the results so far. I am hoping to lose about 23 more pounds by September. I’m doing this without gimmicks or additional products. It’s good ol’ eating right and exercising. I’ll be posting my progress from time to time and thank you now for being personal cheerleaders. If anyone has any exercises that they just love, let me know. I love variety and intensity in my workouts. Last week I was introduced to the walking plank. I think that I would rather walk THE plank than have to do these on a regular basis at this point. What is it? Get into plank position (as if you were about to do a push up), now down on elbows one at a time and then back up to hands while maintaining a straight line with your body. Ugh! So good for you, but I could do without the carpet burns on my elbows from struggling and pushing myself to do every last one in class.

Photo Credit

Go ahead and put your coffee down now.

The other night Tony and Ellie were walking into our bathroom to dry her hair. Our male dog, Cooper, was on our bedding licking “himself.” Tony commanded, “COOPER, STOP!! GET OFF THE BED!!”
The next day Ellie was telling me about this incident and this is how it went…

Last night when Daddy was going to dry my hair, Cooper was on the bed. He was licking his {whispers} private parts. {eyes get big} And Daddy got jealous about it!

I wish I could say that I was able to keep a straight face, but there was no way! Vocabulary lesson ensued! LOL!

Ok, so remember the card that I posted yesterday with the Starbucks “trash?” Well, if I get the most comments on it on Facebook, then I can win a serious amount of ink. So, couldya, wouldya help me out?

You need to be a fan of Impress Rubber Stamps. Their fan page is HERE on Facebook.

Then, you need to comment on my photo HERE.

THANK YOU!!