26.2 Miles to Help Find a Cure

Hi Everybody. Please visit my fundraising page to help me raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) by running the Portland Marathon (26.2 miles). Every mile I run will mean even more with every donation received. Please consider donating $1 for every mile I run? Thank you!

Ready for the Card Swap this Thursday

I finished my cards for the card swap happenin' this Thursday. The theme is "stitches". The frosting confetti does look yummy enough to eat but I wouldn't recommend it because it's not good to eat beads.

Happy Birthday Jurnee!

I am busy tonight working on a prototype for the next card swap due this Thursday. The theme is "stitches". I will post it when it's done. Once I decide on something, I need to make 5 of them. This is just a quick post to share with you the picture frame I made for Lydia's friend, Jurnee. Happy Birthday, Jurnee!

Lots of crafty things going on this week (and running too)

Last Sunday, Lydia and I participated in the 1 mile kids run/walk for the American Cancer Society. We purchased this flag in memory of my mom who passed away from cancer a couple years ago.

My craft pal and I have been doing many different kinds of crafting this past week. Lydia had some fun with her perler beads and made a snowflake.

I had to special order the fabric I need to do the Strength cross-stitch from MonsterBubbles.com and while I was waiting for it, I practiced up on my cross-stitch with the help of these free Sanrio patterns. Lydia asked me to create the Chococat pattern first so that is what I did. I am thinking of making a little pillow out of him for Lydia's baby doll.


I have started the Strength cross-stitch but the stitches are so dang small! Oh my goodness! I had to buy a magnifying glass. Seriously, I need it. It may take me forever to complete this project. I am thinking about asking the designer from MonsterBubbles how she works so small and if it's ok to miss a stitch here and there. How does one do something like this without going insane after 9 stitches (not even complete x's, just 9 diagonals!?). Her patterns are so cool but dang, the stitches are small!

I taught myself how to crochet a couple years ago. I am by no means good at it but I can make scarves. I have been wanting to try knitting but have had no luck in teaching myself. Well, I bought a children's book on how to knit and finally, last night I was able to cast on and do some garter stitches! You can see below that I am catching on. I'm not doing something right with the last stitch in the row. I was hoping to see my friend Dawn at church today so I could ask her what I am doing wrong. My grandma can help me too. She has a lifetime of experience and has made me and our family so many beautiful sweaters.


I am eager for our local quilt shop to start up some new beginner's quilting classes this fall. I want to learn how to quilt. Also, I am currently planning for a monthly craft club I want to hold at my house. Today I am going to work on a project for a good friend (I will post a picture of the finished project) and I must get started on my cards for the next card swap due this coming Thursday. The theme is "stitches".

21 Miler Results

Today was my longest run before I run in the Portland Marathon. Once again, I woke up for this run with a raging headache just like I did for the 30K. Felt like I was hung over. I think I was clenching my jaw in my sleep throughout the night because I was worried about today's 21 miler. I tried not to think about the run (worry) but my brain was working on it's own. I just returned from my run and my Polar sports watch tells me I ran for 4 hours, 9 minutes, and 45 seconds. Max heart rate was 178, average 158. Burned 2,501 calories. Ran for 23.67 miles. Max pace was 8:20, average was 10:32. Went through 4 Gu packets, 12 bottles of water, two of which were Accelerade. I had two bathroom breaks and needed to stop to stretch throughout the whole time. I took your advice Tara about the stretching to help with the achilles pain. The stretching helped to keep the pain in my achilles, knees, shins, and hips to a level that was tolerable. I saw a lot of my city and surrounding towns today! The weather was perfect this morning. Clear blue skies and chilly. I love this time of the year.

I was thinking about my life-long friends, Tara and Dana, that I will be doing the marathon with throughout the entire run. One friend lives in Oregon and the other about an hour to hour and a half away so we are training by ourselves. I am happy to be doing this marathon with them--a first for me and Tara, not sure about Dana. It will be something I will never forget.

My left ankle is sore. On the inside, between the ankle bone and heel where the indentation is. Going to take a bath now.

Window Frame Art Gallery is Complete

The window frames we made to display Lydia's artwork are finally finished and in use on the kitchen wall. Notice I said "we" made. Ken (my husband) was a big help on this project. He didn't ask for a craft project. :-) He cut all of the cork to size and attached it to the windows. He also did all of the hanging. I am really happy with the finished product. Now we will have a nice way of displaying all of the art that comes home. And I no longer have a bare wall. The kitchen feels more "homey" now. When Lydia came home from school and saw the wall she said "Wow!" so I think she likes it. I do plan on painting the picture frame this week with the same color I used on the windows.