I rolled out of bed at 6:08 a.m. this morning, quite pleased that I only hit the snooze button once. I ate a bowl of Cheerios and then suited up in my triathlon gear and headed downtown to the Y. I raced in the first heat at 8 a.m. The very nice woman in the [...]

Yesterday was my daughters’ first day of a new ballet/jazz class. I took photos and read a little bit of “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett while they danced around with about 25 other kids. It’s a big class and the teachers did a great job of keeping all the little girls engaged. I was very [...]

So I spent some time updating my big life list as I ramped up for 2012. Getting rid of stuff and organizing are on the list – again – and I’m still optimistic that this will be my year to literally rock the house. But I’ve been saying I’m going to do this for years [...]

I couldn’t sleep last night. I’m not sure what my deal was but it made for a challenging morning when I had to pull myself together and do an interview across town. Thankfully, the subject was art and craft and I was fully engaged. With that said, I headed straight back up to bed as [...]

Happy New Year, dear readers! I hope you’re off to a great start in 2012. Today my newspaper column is about how list-making can help you obtain your goals in 2012. You can check it out here and then you can contribute to the conversation over here. I’m wrapping up work on next week’s column [...]

My, oh, my. It’s almost time for Halloween. Are you ready? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for a nap. I finished sewing my daughters’ witch costumes Saturday and just have a few massive last-minute details to work out like clearing a path through the house so my family can visit. I think [...]

NO DIVING – that I can handle. But -NO SWIMMING – well, that’s a bit more of a problem. My favorite YMCA lap pool is closed for more than a month for regrouting and and I’m itching to swim in it RIGHT NOW. Tomorrow I’m going to try to test out the local high school [...]

I’m happy to report that I made it to the finish line of this year’s Fifth Third River Bank Run. I felt well prepared for the race after training for more than five months with my Road Warrior team. We trained in crazy cold temps and high winds. We practiced attacking tough hills, too. But [...]

Dandelions rank among my favorite flowers. I used to pick them for my mom when I was a kid and now I get to watch my daughters pick them for me. Because most people consider them weeds, no one ever gets on your case for picking them and I love that, too. I wrote a [...]

Apron entry by Elaine Burgtorf of Caledonia, Mich. The CraftSanity Apron Show & Silent Auction opens this Friday and I can’t wait for you folks to see all the great aprons that will be on display. Top winners will be announced during the opening night festivities beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the David D. Hunting [...]

My oh my. I’m insanely busy and kind of loving it. I’m exhausted and I don’t really know what day it is, but, wow, am I having fun! I’m very excited to report that awesome apron designs have been submitted to the first-ever CraftSanity Apron Show to benefit Safe Haven Ministries. Thank you to those [...]

I ran the Spectrum Health Irish Jig 5K yesterday in East Grand Rapids, Mich. While it’s common sense to go to bed early the night before a race, my body is not programed to do so. Instead, I stayed up until 1 a.m. the morning of the race to finish sewing six shamrock race aprons [...]

Well I made it to the finish line of the Wolverine New Year’s Resolution Run yesterday without wiping out on the slick course and ruining my new apron. It was fun to run the race with my fellow Road Warriors. (You can read more about my Road Warrior journey over here.) The race was a [...]

Happy holidays, everyone! I’ve been blog silent for a bit spending every free moment sewing this sparkly new race apron. When I suit up in it for tomorrow’s 4-mile Resolution Run through East Grand Rapids, I’m going to look like I got jumped by Richard Simmons on the way to a bake-off.  But we only [...]

Last night I dusted off a holiday craft project that I haven’t done in a few years. Check back Friday for a free tutorial and video demonstration. I forgot how addictive and fun it is to make these ornaments. They’re a big hit with the kids, too, which is an added bonus. I ran today, [...]