Caution: Photo heavy post ahead.

Book finished: The Iron Traitor; The Baker's Daughter; Time Enough for Love

Reading: The Girl Who Chased the Moon by Sarah Addison Allen; Tales of the Brothers Grimm

On the Nightstand: The Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim; The Zombie Whisperer by Jesse Petersen

Making Lists: Packing lists for traveling to Indiana, Book of Lists lists, crafting projects lists, blog posts to finish lists...  lots and lots of lists to make

From the kitchen: A few new recipes this week...  For the next week and a half I've got some great sounding ones ready to try (hello bleu cheese bacon mac and cheese!).

• Balsamic Glaze Pork Roast -- This was absolutely amazing!  I need need need to make this again.  And it was so easy!
• Fried Cabbage with Bacon and Onions -- Love this as either a side dish or a main course.  This may become a go-to recipe.
• Brown Sugar Dijon Steak -- So-so...  The flavors were just a bit off.  I imagine would would taste better with a thicker steak and cooked on grill.  Maybe we'll try it again sometime.

Crafting: 

• PL Swaps (easter eggs, scraps, rainbow) -- I love the use of washi tape on the rainbow cards.  For the scraps swap, I decided to make pocket cards with washi tape.  And the easter egg cards made use of my SU Birds of Feather DSP.

• Book of lists notebook -- Tons are people are participating in the 30 Days of Lists this March, but I just don't have the time or energy to commit to that.  Instead, I thought I would create a notebook, decorate it, and then have various lists.  The idea is to do a list a week (or so).  I love putting my own spin on the project.  I ran across this perfect little binder on clearance at Target the other day.  I set about cutting cardstock and patterned paper down to the sizes I would need.  When it comes time to make a list, I'll select a topic, pick a stamp set to decorate (and any embellishments), and cut a piece of white cardstock for the actual list.  I love that it's ready to be used.  I don't have to start from scratch every time!

• PL W9-10 -- I finished these weeks yesterday.  Check out my blog post here.
• Punch Guide -- I also made a handy guide to all my punches using some random blank playing cards (from old teaching supplies).  I got the idea from Pinterest and immediately put it on my to make board.  This will definitely come in handy when I need to figure out the best punch to use or the relative sizes.  No more digging through the drawer!
• Stamp Guide -- Making my punch guide led me to want to create on for all my stamps.  I have so many now (both loose and SU boxes) that I often forget what I have.  I spend way too much time digging through all of them to get ideas.  So, I decided to stamp all my stamps onto white cardstock to act as a handy guide.  There are separate pages for Christmas, Holidays, Sentiments, Occasions, and Misc.  I'm only partially done, but this is going to be great when I'm finished.

Watching: The usual currently airing shows.  I finally caught up on The Daily Show after being three weeks behind constantly.  Plus we've started some other new shows (Suits, Cosmos, The Voice).

Wondering: When will my new luggage be delivered?  I'll need that soon seeing as my old suitcase (high school grad gift) ripped open sometime during the Christmas flight.  Thankfully the tear wasn't bad enough to lose anything...  it just means I can't use it again.  I ordered a new 4-piece set from Amazon, but it's shipping from a weird place.  No 2-day shipping for me.

Shopping Scores: 

• Steals.com box -- During steals.com's big archive sale, I ordered a mystery box. This is what came.  I'd say that 70% of the box will be used by me.  The paper stack is great.  I love the alphabet stickers and small tags.  The chipboards will get a lot of use.  The jewels will probably get use, but I need to find the best adhesive for them.  The ribbon isn't my style at all and I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use the watercolor products.  Overall, a really good buy.

• Kohl's -- I finally went shopping for some new clothes this past week.  I was in desperate need of pants that fit but were comfortable.  After nearly two hours of shopping and trying things on, I found a pair of pants and a pair of capris that work.  They are lightweight and super comfortable.  I also found two cute tops that I can wear now.  Plus, I picked up two outfits for Arthur (couldn't resist).  It was a good trip.
• Target randomness -- I grabbed the 3x4 and 4x6 Dreamy sets by WRMK.  I also found two containers that are the perfect size for holding greeting cards.  The zebra print wasn't my first choice, but they work.  And I found some great little stickers and embellishment pieces in the One Stop bins.

• Peachy Cheap -- Another daily deal site I found a few weeks ago.  This time I grabbed an entire set of enamel dots from Basic Grey.  I couldn't wait to use them, hence the missing dots.

• Birthday gifts -- This week I received the last of my birthday gifts from J's parents.  I love the paper stacks and am super excited to use the PL theme packs.  The Americana pack is even cuter in person.

• PL Swap and Sale FB Group -- I've been a part this group for a few weeks now, but most of the items don't appeal to me.  I had been marginally searching for the PL Kiwi set.  Ever time it came up for sale, someone snatched it up right away.  I finally caught a listing at the right time.  I received my 1/3 of the kit yesterday.  Love love love the cards I received!  I also received my scrap swap back.  I'd say that over half of these cards will be used.  There's only a few that don't fit my style (looking at you cowboy card).

• Stampin' Up order -- I ordered my March order early as I will not be in town for the monthly stamp club.  We are doing a huge DSP share so I bought three packs to share.  Plus one other member and I are buying two of the larger color collection DSPs to share so I bought the Regals.  Lastly, I grabbed the 2012-2014 In color DSP as it was one sale.  For my Saleabration item I grabbed the Petals stamp set.  I've seen some great examples to copy.

• Michaels -- Last week I grabbed the Baby Boy Mini Kit on clearance, some purple washi tape (how did I not have any purple?), and a cute little stamp set on sale.  Today they were starting a huge paper crafting sale and bonus extra sale this afternoon.  I had to take advantage of both sales.  I was also looking to pick up some items for the mom's group Easter party next month.  I managed to get most of the party items and some basics for me (white and black cardstock, trimmer blades).

Project: Somehow I agreed to help organize an Easter Party for our mom's group.  The group is starting a babysitting co-op and we plan on having a quarterly social.  The Easter Party will be our first big event.  The original idea was just to get together and have an egg hunt, but babies aren't so great at the hunting.  Instead, we are putting together baskets filled with baby-appropriate toys, shaker eggs to play with, and a few arts and crafts.  Parents pay us back a set amount.  We are also using the leftover money to make baskets for charity.I picked up a ton of the arts and crafts supplies today at Michaels.  We are waiting a week to gauge our RSVP amount before we commit to buying the toys (we have to buy in dozen units). I hope everyone decides to come as we have some great plans!  Overachiever that I am, I've already started on some of the items.

Exercising: The past two weeks I've walked Shoreline twice a week and kept up with my 200 squat challenge.  Doing great!  Now if only this weight would actually start to come off.

Picture: I had to put this one back on... I love his mischievous look.