lisannesblog.net

Flavored water is totally helping me get through Lent. :) I love SoBe LifeWater, Glaceau Vitamin Water, grape-flavored Propel, and Fruit20. I can’t tell you how much I’m craving a cup of steaming-hot coffee in the mornings, though. Pop hasn’t been as much of a temptation, miraculously ~ although some days I’d love to have a huge, frosty mug of Diet Coke with vanilla and crushed ice. I’m so proud of myself for how well I’ve been doing, and I hope to keep it up in the future ~ incorporating more water into my diet and not drinking so much pop. OK ~ on to a different topic or I’ll drive myself crazy by dreaming about chai tea lattés!

click to read more »

I’m so excited … I get to use some of our tax refund money for new clothes! Hooray! :) Where should I go? What should I buy? What are some pieces in your wardrobe that you really love? Shopping spree, here I come! :)

click to read more »

Spring is really on its way, despite the crazy snow showers and sleet that we’ve received here lately. It always feels so good to make it through January and February, because those are such difficult winter months. Sure, there’s still plenty of snow on the ground ~ and we’ve had blizzards on St. Patrick’s Day. But Spring officially starts in just 19 days! Hooray! :)

My exciting plan for today? Going grocery shopping. :) Here’s our tentative menu plan for this week:

• Spaghetti with sauce and garlic bread (a favorite standby)
• Oriental beef and broccoli (slow-cooker recipe; the kids might eat some of this, but I’m not sure)
• Sausage and black bean soup (slow-cooker recipe; I’ve been in such a soup mood lately) with grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches (Lucas loves those)
• Breakfast for dinner (a new Sunday night tradition): pancakes (even though I’m horrible at making them), turkey bacon, and scrambled eggs

We’re really excited because our good friends Ben and Christina are stopping by this evening! It’ll be wonderful to see them! So, what does your upcoming week look like? I hope that it’s starting off well so far!

Another snow day. Wow, it is really coming down. Last night, I estimated about six inches ~ and it’s still falling! I wish that I could take pictures, but alas … our camera lens needs to be repaired (although I wouldn’t mind just getting a new, nicer one). Jeff was in NYC for work yesterday, and I was relieved when he got home safely (around 9:30 p.m.). And he went to work today, so I hope that his commute home won’t be terrible. There are also huge chunks of snow falling from the tree branches. It’s a white-out everywhere.

So, since I’ll be inside today, I made a to-do list. Care to see it? :)
click to read more »

Our children’s preschool has chosen to do a spring fundraiser this year in order to help with classroom expenses. As a member of the parent advisory board, I think that we’ve decided on a very neat idea: flower bulbs. Just leafing through the catalog and looking at all of the beautiful plants and flowers cheers me up immensely and makes me very excited about spring, which is really closer than we think!

What’s your favorite flower? I love anything fragrant, like peonies, roses, carnations, and lilacs. Our yard has a lot of trees and is therefore very shaded, so we’re going to order some items that will grow well. Our soil is rather acidic, so we’re told that blueberry plants will thrive here. These blue geraniums are absolutely gorgeous ~ my favorite color! We see lilacs all over the place, so they must do OK in our zone. I’d like to order a few of those, too. Just looking at the picture has me dreaming about taking a nice walk on a gorgeous spring day, with a fragrant lilac breeze in the air!

Here’s my shameless plug. :) If you’d like to purchase something from the catalog, please let me know as soon as possible. Orders are due this Friday. If you find some things that you’d like to order, you can just send me the money via PayPal (lvjensen@alumni.indiana.edu). There’s a flat $5 shipping fee, no matter what you order ~ and your order is shipped directly to you. So convenient ~ I love that. It would really help out Lucas and Meredith’s preschool; the money goes directly toward their classes, and the preschool receives 50 percent of the profit.

Thanks so much for letting me share!

Is a milkshake considered a beverage or a dessert? I’d love to enjoy a shamrock shake from McDonalds, but I’ve decided to drink only water during Lent. So that’s why I’m asking. It’s all Becka’s fault ~ she even has a photo of a shamrock shake as her Facebook profile photo! :)

I’ve never participated in Lent before, so it’s completely new to me. I’m very proud of myself for not indulging in coffee or pop for the past few days! I’m so addicted to carbonated drinks. It amazes me how many times since Wednesday I’ve gone to the fridge without thinking and opened the door to get a can of pop, realizing that we don’t have any. I also put our coffee maker away. Yesterday, I bought some flavored water to help get me through. And instead of tea, I’ve been heating up a cup of hot water with a few slices of lemon (which is also very soothing). I miss Dunkin’ Donuts’ vanilla chai, but I’m trying not to think about it. I wonder whether I’ll lose any weight by doing this? A girl can hope! :)

Well, I’m off to do some sewing … I’m so excited about making Meredith a St. Patrick’s Day dress. I found some adorable fabric … so let’s hope that it all comes together nicely! I love the sparkly shamrocks!

… and I’m addicted to watching the Olympics.

Seriously. I’ve had an “Olympics hangover” every night since they began, from staying up way too late watching TV. (Thank goodness for “leaded” coffee and hot showers to wake me up!) And what cracks me up is that I now find myself rooting fiercely for athletes whose names I didn’t even know just a week ago! It’s almost like a reality TV show ~ I just can’t seem to turn away. And I laugh at myself because all of the sudden, I’m now an “expert”: “Oh no ~ look, that moguls skier’s knees just came apart for a brief moment!” “Hmm, looks like that figure skater over-rotated her jump a little.” “Wow, that was a nice helicopter, but not as high as the previous guy’s.” Yeah ~ me the couch potato, critiquing the athletes’ techniques! I didn’t know a thing about Vancouver before, either, and now I almost feel like I’ve been there. I’m rooting for the United States, of course, but I also find myself cheering on the Canadian competitors because I’m really excited for them.

click to read more »