This and that

The "eat right" program is going pretty well so far. I'm not sure how much weight I've lost, because my personal scale is showing me way lower than my doctor's scale. I should have taken a base weight on my own scale at the beginning, but I failed to. I think I might invest in a better scale anyway. But so far so good.

One nice thing about eating right in the summertime is that there is so much more decent-tasting produce in the stores. I got some delicious cherries yesterday, and I also cooked some snap peas that were delish. I think you can get snap peas year-round, but they taste summery to me. I got the recipe from Everyday Food:

Bring 1/4 cup water and 1 Tbsp. butter to a boil in a 12" skillet. Add 16 oz. snap peas; cover and cook at high heat for 2 minutes. Take lid off and continue to cook for 4-6 minutes or until the water has evaporated. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint and season with coarse salt and pepper. Serves 4.

Honestly, these taste like candy, they are so good. (And 4 oz. is 1 point.) I used mint from my plant out front.

In other news, I had a couple of hoorahs last week that I forgot to mention: I had a card accepted by Paper Crafts and two cards accepted by CorrespondenceArt. That was gratifying! I still want to break more of my scrapbook pages into print, though. But for tomorrow, I have a few more Paper Crafts projects in mind.

Speaking of scrapbook pages, here are a few of my recent ones from when Todd was out of town and I had time to scrap. (har har)

I've been meaning to do something with these pics for over a year...I printed the large one on gray textured cardstock, so it looks really neat in real life. This scan looks crooked to me, but I think it's from the stitching job. I am so anal about things being crooked, I'd hate to think the real one looks this tippy.
Journaling reads:
After our visit to the World War II memorial, we walked up to the Mall in the pouring rain to visit Mr. Lincoln. This particular weekend marked exactly twenty years since my first visit to Washington D.C. for the National Spelling Bee when I was 13. We had stopped at the Lincoln Memorial on that trip, and although I've been back to D.C. several times since then, I've never made it back to this particular spot that I can recall. I was so happy to come back, because Abraham Lincoln is one of my heroes, and this shrine, with his words carved into the walls, is one of those places that makes you want to be a better American and a better person.



This is another picture I've had sitting here for months. The page came out completely different than I ever envisioned...I was thinking of something very green, but I think there's enough green in the photo. This is my nephew and my grandmother last summer, and the journaling reads:

Grandma, I want to be like you. Eighty-four years old and you're riding a bike back to the gazebo at Mom and Dad's house. I hope I am blessed with the generally good health and the self-sufficiency you've had all these years...but more than that, I hope I can face life as gracefully and calmly as you do.
And Tanner, I want to be like you, too. Six years old and you're riding along with Grandma to make sure she's okay. And when she was too tired to ride back, you pushed her along the path so carefully and caringly. I hope I can rediscover the openness and eagerness that you have at this age...and more than that, I hope I can pour that energy into taking care of those I love.

And one more...these are also pictures from last summer:

This little niece of mine has the sweetest face ever! Boy, did I slave over that title...way more than was worth it, LOL.