You know you are getting old when....

You get excited about getting a new book of sewing projects, haha. I saw the book 'One-Yard Wonders' at Michael's last week and had such an impulse to buy it. But I was a good girl and went home and looked on Amazon and got it for half the price, haha. I got the book in the mail today and I cannot WAIT to dive into it and make some things. Sewing is such a stress reliever for me. It makes me concentrate on one single thing instead of 2,009,865,976. Then, when I am all done with whatever I was working on, I actually feel like I accomplished something. I mostly get my ideas from online tutorials (which are GREAT), and this book has some pattern work in it so kind of interested to see how that will work out as well. I'll let you know how my experimentation's come out!

This week has been super hard, very bittersweet. My best friend's husband got an amazing new job opportunity with all the bells and whistles, and I could not be happier for the opportunities this brings to them. BUT.....it's allllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way in Houston, TX. There's the kicker. The movers came this week and packed up every last item and took it on the road, headed to their new house. It would be strange for any of my friends to move away. But this is a friend that I talk to countless times a day, see almost everyday, and whose kids absolutely adore each other. So, something tells me that this one is going to be a little bit harder. What's worse is that I know how hard it must be on them, and it breaks my heart even more. She is such a strong woman that I know if anyone can pull it together, it's her. She's always looking on the bright side of things. Maybe I'll try that! Now I'll have an excuse to vaca. in TX! Hmmm, somehow that doesn't make it any easier :o(

My hubby is working the Darius Rucker concert tonight, so while he's off rubbing elbows with the rich and famous...I will be here, putting the kids to bed and doing laundry, haha.


Ooh!! P.S.:
Here's a pic. of my little monster in the St. Paddy's Day shirt I posted about!

My First Experience With Freezer Paper

I have read about people using freezer paper to make amazing stencils to put on clothes and have been wanting to try it for awhile! But today when I saw this post from Skip To My Lou, I couldn't help myself but to run out and get some freezer paper! It's just plain ol' Reynold's freezer paper from Wal-Mart, but so easy and clever!

She used her Silhouette Cutter to cut out her stencil but since I don't have one (hint, hint, Johnny), I just used a Razor Knife. It worked great, once I got the hang of it! But one thing is for sure, I am almost positive that I was not made to be a surgeon.

While you are cutting, don't forget to keep the little circles that go inside of the p's and o's.

I put mine onto a green shirt for J.T. to wear on St. Patty's Day! As tempted as I was to add glitter, I had to stop myself. Not so sure he could pull that off. I could have made one for Madison too, but I saw another tutorial that I am super excited to try out for her!

I just ironed it on and then using some white fabric paint and painted away!

I put a few coats of paint on so the white would be really bright. The bottle of paint says to let it dry flat for 4 hours but to be honest I was exhausted and headed to bed. A little extra drying time didn't hurt it. ;0)

So after we woke up this morning I pulled off the freezer paper and was really impressed with the outcome. I put a thin piece of fabric over the lettering and ironed it to heat seal the paint. I have to wait 72 hours to actually wash the shirt, but I can't wait to see what it will look like on lil man! My wheels have been turning, and I see a lot more freezer paper stencling in my future!!

Spring Cleaning

The time has come!! I have vowed to myself that I WILL get this house cleaned out and clutter free this week. Usually we are pretty busy during the week and I get backed up on things and never have time for anything extra. But Madison is on spring break this week and we have almost nothing planned! Right now I am excited about it, but I am thinking half way through I will want to give up. I am going to make a list this afternoon, so I can make sure I get everything crossed off.
In other news, the diet is still going good! I have lost 35 lbs.! I am roughly 7lbs. away from pre-Madison weight. Woooo Hooooo! 22 more lbs. to go until my goal weight. I am not doing so well with working out, but just within the last week. I'm not sure why I'm not very motivated right now, but I have to make myself get back into doing it before I lose what muscle I have gained. It's so strange because I see me going down on the scale and growing out of my pants but I don't feel any different. When I look in the mirror, I see the same thing that I always have. I mean sure, I notice little things....but maybe I just focus on what hasn't changed?
We have an easter egg hunt with my mom's group tomorrow, and I am hoping for good weather! So I am sure there will be lots of cute pictures to come! I have been really bad about taking pictures lately, eek! And then on Sunday, my church is having their 1 year anniversary on the U.S.S. North Carolina Battleship! It should be amazing, so if you live in the area, please come! We would love to see your smiling faces!

Random Thoughts.

I am up to 15 lbs. lost since the 1st! But I need to stop weighing myself so much so that when I do weigh myself it will seem like I have actually lost more than .5 lb. Roughly 24 weeks to go until my goal deadline. If I lose at leat 2 lbs. a week it will take me even past my goal, so it is TOTALLY achievable. I have started using a website again that I signed up for a long time ago, sparkpeople. It is GREAT! It does anything you can thing of when it comes to help with weight loss and calorie/fitness tracking.

I did a fast today in remembrance of the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. My heart breaks for them! I wish there was some way I could go over and help out. But needless to say I am not sure if I will get on the elliptical tonight since I haven't really eaten. Johnny is at work, and the kids are asleep so if I were to pass out I would be S.O.L, haha. But it was totally worth it...every time I would be hungry I would think that the people in Haiti are ten times more hungry than I am and I would pray even harder.


On another note, I though I would share a couple of funny pictures from tonight. During dinner, I got a phone call. Normally I wouldn't get it until after dinner but since I wasn't eating and all.....anyways, I was on the phone for 2 minutes and I come back to find this..

Spaghetti EVERYWHERE! If it wasn't for the dogs there to eat it up that would have been horrible to clean up, haha. But how can you get mad at a face like that? We have had a LONG day, but the kids are sleeping peacefully in their bed and I am getting ready to watch my Thursday night line up in peace! More to come soon....I've got to figure out how to post videos.

Headed in the right direction.

It seems that my new years resolution is always to lose weight, why is that? So I decided this year I was REALLY going to do it and stick with it. I want next years resolution to be something different than what its been for the past however many years. I went at it a little bit differently this time by not doing any crazy diets or programs. I am just simply counting calories and measuring fat/carb/protein intake, and exercising. I wanted it to be something that I could stick with and not have to worry about about making myself a totally different meal than I make my family. So basically, it is just a lifestyle change and I am really looking forward to the kids growing up with a healthy lifestyle. I am doing really well so far! I have got the eating healthy thing down! I have cut my calorie intake back BIG time. I wouldn't even want to count up how many calories I used to eat on a normal day, UGH. Now that I have gone a couple of weeks eating small, healthy portions, I don't really crave junk food. It's nice! So now that I have got my mind going in the right direction it is time to kick up the exercising a notch! I am going to make sure I am either doing the elliptical or walking everyday. I have GOT to make myself do it, and make time for it. Johnny and I have a bet going on and I have a huge incentive to get this weight off my the 4th of July. The only bad part is that Johnny loses weight so much faster than me its frustrating, haha. I know that after I am finished I will be so happy with myself and all the hard work will be totally worth it! It feels like I am going slow with the weight loss but once I sit down and look at the calendar, I guess I have done pretty good. I started my diet January 1st and as of this morning I have lost 13 lbs.! I realize that once I get down to the last little bit it will be harder but the faster I get it off the more time I have to work on it! We've got a full day ahead of us so I am off to get the kids dressed!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I am having so much fun with Christmas this year. Madison is at a great age where everything is "magical" and fun, and J.T. just does whatever his big sister does, haha. I went outside a couple of days ago and put up a few of our Christmas decorations and lights. I still have to finish the outside but am waiting for one of Johnny's days off to help me. The first thing we had to set up was the blow-up Dora. It's a must, according to Madison.

 

My mom got the kids the cutest Santa P.J's and I have been waiting until December to put them on. So you can bet that they wore them to bed December 1st, haha. It is so hard to find matching pajamas for a boy and girl but I think she did a great job. I am absolutely in love with the pictures I got too, they display their personalities perfectly.

 

 

I can't wait for the rest of the month and all the fun things we will be doing! Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I am trying my best to instill some traditions into our little family that they will remember forever and hopefully do the same with their kids when they get older. I just want them to have just as great as memories at the holidays as I do!

Moving in slow motion.

Not necessarily the best way to start back blogging but I have got to get past this funk! My mind is gone. I can't ever concentrate on anything long enough to make a difference. And forget completing any tasks in any reasonable amount of time. Its like my body and my mind do not connect. I will sit here and think of everything that I want/need to do....and then I don't. Deep down, I want to be super mom, and Betty Crocker, and Martha Stewart. But how do I get from where I am now, to where I want to be? I feel like I have lost total control over my life and it is a horrible, helpless feeling. I have been going to a bible study once a week and the one thing that has been stressed a lot is that you should look to God for everything. I know I do not do that nearly enough. Maybe that is my problem. But take right now for instance. I was supposed to go to the gym and run a couple of errands. I had all intentions of doing that but yet, I didn't. Everything moves in slow motion for me. I spend all morning getting ready to do something only to find my day is almost over and I have not accomplished anything. Is there something wrong with me? Sometimes I think I am just plain lazy but then certain things happen and it's like I just totally lose track of time or something...a connection is not being made. A friend of mine always says I am going to be late to my own funeral and at this rate, she is right. I seriously spend 2 hours getting ready and am STILL late. Maybe I have too much clutter in my life that keeps me down. At bible study today they said if you spend all day cleaning up, you have too much stuff, and that definitely struck a chord with me. Maybe I should just simplify my life and get rid of half of everything, so I have half the work. I know my weight has a lot to do with it too. I struggle with it every second of my life. I am not used to being overweight and it is literally killing me. I need to wake up every morning and start my day off with working out. And then take a walk with the kids after dinner. But where in the heck am I going to fit that in? I am thinking of blogging about it once a week to keep myself on track with losing weight so that way I have people to hold me accountable. Johnny says I need to stop whining and complaining and just take control. Don't wait for something to just happen. And I am just going to have to do that. As much as I want him to be sympathetic and tell me its going to be OK....I am glad he doesn't. We don't ever let each other feel bad for ourselves because then we would just dwell on it that much longer. It feels so much better just to get all of this out. Even if no one ever reads it, it feels better. I am going to have a glass of wine and finish watching Grey's Anatomy and try to get back into the right mindset. My MIL is coming tomorrow and a bomb has hit this house. So my plan of action: Make myself workout in the mornings, get back into making my lists for myself (helps my anxiety), even if that means that I have post-its all over my house. I am also going to look to God for sanity and peace and strength to get my through the day. I am going to push myself to do more than I usually do, and get off the dang computer. I am going to get sleep. I usually get about 4 hours and I wonder if that has a lot to do with it. I know how much sleep can affect a child so it has to have some sort of affect on adults right? I am also going to try and simplify my life to concentrate on what is most important. Whew! I hate to complain and do the whoa is me because I do not want pity. This is so much better than having to unload this on someone else. Back to reality... <3