Hello, my friends! Last week flew by and I feel like we haven’t chatted enough so here I am to catch up with you. Last night I watched the Grammys. Yup, I’m one of the millions that enjoy watching the performances, oogling over the pretty dresses and seeing who walks away with a win. I used to stay up to the end but I knew if I did, today would be brutal so I watched for a while and taped the rest. I wish they had an award show for authors and illustrators. But that is the bookworm talking.
On Saturday, I spent the day with my crafty girlfriends and I played around with my new Zig watercolor markers. I think coming from the control I have with Copics, I have to let go a bit and enjoy the occasional randomness in the colors. I will check out more videos to see what kind of pointers I can glean from them. I had great fun and as I always say, it’s the best therapy to take time to craft with friends. We had food, music, wonderful conversation and free time to play.
I spent Sunday, playing Xbox with the boys and watching some of our older movies from our collection. I made it a point to not do anything and hang out with them. Then we watched some of the Grammys together.
Today, the weather is quite gloomy and a little snow is on the way later but I had made a decision last Monday that I would dedicate Mondays to me. So not only have I been doing my Meatless Mondays for months now, I have decided to take the day off from work and pamper me. So that might mean, out and browsing some pretty clothes, roaming in new bookstore, curling up with my blanket, book and a cup of tea and reading, taking a long bath, taking a nap or it might be having lunch with a friend anything that is relaxing. I won’t do laundry or any sort of cleaning (a bad habit of people that work from home). So today I am relaxing on the couch trying to finish up some books I started this month. Some books are from my reading challenge and others just because. After I pick up the boys, I will drop a load of clothes in the wash and pick up a bit. But no work today. Just my Me Monday happening here today.
So here’s to pampering oneself! Have a great day!
Belinda
I am really starting to love my colored pencils and I have only scratched the surface. I took the plunge last year and bought the 72 pencil set of Prismacolor Pencils and haven’t looked back. I even decided to challenge myself to use the coloring books I was buying and hoarding in my craft room. I challenged my sister and mother-in-law to color one picture a week and then we send each other pictures when we finish. I found coloring in them helped me a lot when I was stressing watching football each Sunday. So that became a day I could squeeze in some coloring.
As my collection of pencils grew, I started to get frustrated with the provided storage. I also had an adorable elephant bag where I began collecting my pencils. But when it came time to color, I spent too much time digging around to find the colors I wanted and I also found that I spilled them out of the tin on a regular basis. Aarggh…
Enter Amazon…my go-to for researching and often purchasing products. I saw so many options but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money. But I wanted something pretty (you know me!). So 
I liked this case because it can hold up to 168 pencils and it had a handle to carry it. As a crafter, we need any help we can get to transport our stuff to craft sessions is a major plus. I also like that it has 4 different sections separated by zippers. I can open one or all and easily access my stuff. 
The great thing is that I organized them in order of my color chart so I will always know where to find my colors. Every color has a place and it corresponds to the chart. 
I put it to use and colored up an image in one of my coloring books and it made the process so much fun and no stress about finding colors made it go by smoothly.
Now I can focus on exploring techniques and filling my coloring books with color!
Hello Everyone! It’s been way too long since we’ve been together. I had every intention of writing and posting January 2nd but I was overwhelmed with vacation laundry, meal planning and now our first winter storm which was a blizzard that dumped over a foot of snow with below freezing temps and school canceled for two days. So I have been a little preoccupied. 
First, an update on our master bedroom renovation… The walls have been painted, crown molding has been installed, we bought a new bed frame, bought and installed new window blinds and a ceiling fan. Now I am going to slow down and slowly add accent items and new side tables. We will also be adding a new seating area. I am trying to be mindful and not just rush through the process. I have to say, the clutter-free room feels great. When I go to bed at night I am truly in an oasis. Even if I still have some purging to do in the rest of the house, I feel great about our bedroom.
While at my in-laws home we had amazing food, shared funny stories and played a lot of game playing. We even had a few days of football to watch. I feel blessed that we live close to them so our kids have grown up with them in their lives. I know as they get older, they will want to do other things with their time but right now, they are just as thrilled to go as my husband and I. They even had some quality time with one of their aunt and uncle too.
We love board games but one that my youngest hadn’t played the original Monopoly. He’s played the newer version called Monopoly Empire and he has played it on the Xbox but it’s not the same. So this year, we brought it out and let me tell you, it was priceless watching Apollo as his collection of properties grew and had the opportunities to buy houses. He absolutely loved it. He also won which made it even sweeter for him.
The snacks my mother-in-law made were so yummy. I think I ate a dozen while watching football and my pants are now reminding me of the indulgence.
I still enjoy taking photos of everyone even though its been years since I have created a scrapbook. Later each day, I send some photos to the family that could not attend so they can share in the celebrations virtually.
Some years, we have big gatherings when more family can attend but even when it’s a small group we have fun and I know the memories will last forever.