I think today instead of ending with my thankful thought, I will start with it. Guess what - Kim from Today’s Creative Blog featured me yesterday! Isn’t that cool? I encourage you to go check out Kim’s blog. I’ve had it on my must-read list for some time now. She has a knack for finding some very interesting people working in various media, all of whom are making beautiful things. It makes me wish I had a million hours in the day so that I could keep up with all of the creative blogs I discover through her. I’m thankful to be included in such a nifty “club.” Thanks, Kim!

And to all of you who have wandered over here from Today’s Creative Blog, welcome! Make yourself at home. And come to think of it, maybe some of you creative types would be interested in getting in on the Color Challenge… It’s a monthly event around here, each month based on a color. If you can craft something in brown, upload an image to flickr, and add it to our pool, then you can join us. The more the merrier, all media welcome! You can find out more here.

The pictured images are a few recent challenge submissions that I really like. These particular entries are polymer clay. Interesting how many different hues of brown have been showing up in the pool. I am noticing a really wide variety this time around that I didn’t notice when we did orange, olive, or aqua. Maybe “brown” is just too broad a color name. Perhaps I should have said “chestnut.” Heh. Anyway, my fault for not being specific enough, so I will accept anything from the brownish family. You’ve got a few more weeks to get your submissions in (where did November go already??).

It’s Friday, so you know what that means? Flickr favorites of course. Such a feast for the eyes, that flickr is, wouldn’t you say?

Will you look at what I played along with last night? I, who haven’t exercised in years. I, who have finally decided that I am ready to be serious about losing some weight. I have set a rather lofty goal of 25lbs, but to be honest, if I lose the 15 I gained during the Summer of Comfort Eating and Elastic-Waist Skirts, it will be enough to make me happy. I have to do something. My body is clearly complaining about the extra weight, every time I do anything the least bit active - and sadly, these days I consider moving from a seated position to a standing position to be “active.” Wish me luck in de-pudging. I signed up with SparkPeople.com, who made the video. They have a few tools that might come in handy, and it’s free, so why not?

Anybody have any suggestions for some good family workout videos? I think I’d like to include the kids in this endeavor - particularly the little round one who is entirely too fond of his tv and computer time. (kinda like his mom…)

Happy Weekend!

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.

This is everything I ate yesterday. Wait - what’s that sound? Why, it’s the collective gasp-in-horror from all of the motherly-types out there reading this. My own mother scolded me in the comments for this photo on flickr. She knows me pretty well - you’d think she’d have realized by now that I eat like some kind of carb-addicted salt fiend whenever possible. Neil has made feed-bag and salt-lick jokes at my expense many times. Don’t worry, I don’t take that kind of abuse lying down. I usually take it sitting up, Dr. Pepper in one hand, other hand halfway down the throat of a pretzel bag. Heh.

So, anyway, when I saw that Laura of Katydiddys was having a Weight Loss Challenge, I thought maybe it wouldn’t hurt to jump on that bandwagon. Now, if you recall, less than two weeks ago, I grabbed the tailpipe of the Flylady bandwagon, and I’m still hanging on. I’m not really sure I can stand on both wagons at once without incurring a nasty groin injury (just how much self-improvement can one girl take?), but I’m going to give it a shot.

Week one’s challenge is twofold:

1. Keep a food diary, including a visual record (hence the photo above), and be artistic about decorating the diary. I have a nifty little software program on my Palm that helps me keep track of Weight Watchers points, so I plan to use my Palm instead of a physical journal, but I am considering making some kind of decorative sleeve for it, so that I get to stretch my artistic muscles.
2. Go for a 30-minute walk alone every day. This is going to be really hard for me. Thechallenge began two days ago and I still haven’t done it. I almost did it this morning, but after filling up four huge garbage bags of unwanted garments and lugging them to the van [see Flylady reference above] I figured I’d gotten all of the exercise I wanted for now. The thing is, the goal of the exercise challenge is not only to get moving, but also to have some peaceful time out in nature to help the creative juices flow. I love that idea. In theory. I just need my legs to get the message and take me outside…

Part of the challenge involves getting hooked up with a partner. Your jobs are to support each other, send each other encouraging little things in the mail, etc. My partner is Kara of Innocent Charms, who, coincidentally, just won the color challenge the other day. Small world, eh? So wish us luck over the next 6 weeks - my goal is to lose 10 lbs, which may or may not be attainable in that time. Hopefully I can stick with it long enough to find out.

Oops - gotta go get this little stinker from preschool!  Hopefully I’ll be back later to chat about creative things.

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Originally published at Polka Dot Creations. Please leave any comments there.