Friday, January 29, 2010

Being Crafty while the kids are away

Well I met my mom Wednesday night and sent the two older kids home with her for five days!!! I will meet her again Sunday night to pick them up. Its been 3 weeks since we have seen her so her and the kids are having withdrawals.

So tonight I actually got some crafty things done!! I still have big plans for the next day and a half-but here is what I have done so far....

First off a bow holder for baby girl. I have finally learned how to make them and she loves wearing them, so I had to come up with something to hold them. I had this photo board in the garage that we haven't used since we moved. So I recovered it and whala!!! It is so cute! I also have wooden initials I hope to decorate this weekend and get hung before she comes home!!! This will be great since her walls are absolutely bare at the moment!!
BEFORE


AFTER


Second thing I did was very simple. I found these candle holders at the Dollar Tree and glued them together. I saw this on another website and wanted to try it myself. They turned out cute. Here I just filled them with Valentine foam hearts just for the picture.

BEFORE


AFTER


Next thing I will work on is probably baby girl's initials. Hopefully tomorrow I will get busy on organizing my craft room-right now I am having to work on the kitchen counter-because my craft table is full of STUFF!!!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Biggest Loser Weigh In #2

Today was our second weigh in at work for the Biggest Loser contest. I lost 7 pounds according to the scale at work-which this week was only 1 lb heavier than my scale at home. However it is usually 3 lbs heavier. Oh well. So according to my scale at home I lost 4 lbs this last week, according to the one at work I lost 7!! So that is a total of 8 lbs according to my scale at home-which is the one I will be going by.

This past week I stuck to a low carb diet-only eating carbs for breakfast. Mostly just eating cereal for breakfast-as it is so easy to grab and go. Still need to add exercise-but that will come...eventually I suppose.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Newspaper flowers

I want to try these with my kids. Looks cute and very kid friendly. Something they could make for Mother's Day for the grandmothers and great grandmother. Will post some pictures if we get a chance to make them.

Bows, bows and more bows

About a month ago I finally learned how to make little bows for my little girl. I've only made a few and although they aren't extravagant they are cute and get the job done. So tonight I made a few more and tried a little something different. A ribbon flower. After two attempts-yes I am sewing challenged, even with a needle and thread-I finally got it done. I actually sewed the ends of the ribbon together first and then did a running stitch down the ribbon-it seems to work easier for me. So here is my finished flower. I hot glued it to a alligator clip-not sure if it will match any of baby girl's outfits-but she will have to wear it at least once!!!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Craft Room Disaster

Well I have unpacked all my craft/scrapbook stuff and got it into my dinning room. However I have not gotten it organized yet. Actually it is a total disaster!!! My table has become the holding spot for all my clearance purchases. I have boxes full of "projects" that I want to complete but haven't had time to get started. So hopefully in the next month I can get it organized and cleaned out....



Hooked on Hooks

Ok this post is a bit lame, but who reads this thing anyway?! So lately I have been going hook crazy!!! I had hung hooks in the laundry room for the kids school bags and jackets, but it got overwhelmed with jackets, coats, etc. So I added extra hooks for bags. Here are the laundry room hooks...






Several months ago I found these plaques at hobby lobby that already had hooks on them. I modge podged some scrapbook paper on them and used a stamp and inked the edges. The first one turned out great, but the last two were kinda thrown together ad I was ready for some hooks in my bathroom. So I will eventually redo them-but for now, here they are...







The kids received hooded towels for Christmas from (Aunt) Roo. So I decided they needed their own little hook-as those things can be a nightmare to fold. I put them behind the bathroom door so they are out of the way but easy to access.





I also have a long 2 X 4 of hooks in the garage that I keep all our athletic bags hung-mostly all my bags from college and high school-just can't let go of my athletic past LOL.

So far I haven't thought of a need to put hooks anywhere else-but I am sure I will find one soon enough!!

Thursday, January 21, 2010

This N That

I have been up since 4:30, and that is after going to bed at 12:30. I stayed up until the bad weather passed. So here I sit, fully dressed and ready for work, kids still sleeping-well actually JoAnna woke up at 5:25 and wanted to go potty. So we went potty and then I got her dressed, thinking she was ready to get up. But then she crawled back into her bed and fell asleep. So be prepared for a lengthy post about anything that pops into my head this morning....


Tuesday we had our first Biggest Loser weigh in at work-since Monday was a holiday. It was not pretty. Per my home scale I knew I had gained one pound, but according to the scale at work I gained 2 pounds!! YIKES!!!! So I have decided to go back to Atkins-somewhat. I am still going to have my breakfast cereal-I just can't get up in time to fix something non carb-like eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. Throw cereal in a cup, put a top on it and haul it to school with me is the best I can do. So carbs for breakfast and that's it for me. I've done well the last two days so I hope to see a loss come Monday.

As for the crafting front...hmmm. I am slowly working on getting my craft room organized. It seems every time I get my table cleaned off it fills back up before I can even turn around. I did buy a few tins yesterday to use with the magnetic dress up dolls. The tins have cookies in them and cost $2, I have been waiting for them to mark them down to $1 but decided to go ahead and grab a few in case they get rid of them. I bought the magnetic dolls to give as gifts but wanted to get tins to store the pieces. I haven't been able to find any gift card tins that are long enough to hold the doll. These $2 tins are the right length but they are a little deep-but they will do. I plan to modge podge some prettiness to the outside of the tins and they will make such cute gifts. I have taken a few of the dolls to school and the girls just love them.

We just got our Hooked on Phonics program in this week!! I finally had a chance to open it and go through it after the kids went to bed last night. Jacob is really wanting to learn to read. We tried to read a phonics book last night but it just wasn't working. He knows all his letters and their sounds so I think he will do well with the HOP program. We will see.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Randon Christmas photos

So I haven't posted pictures of my kids in a long time....so here are some random photos from the last few months..



This is JoAnna right after I put the MSU tatoo on her cheek. She decided she didn't like it, but by the time I got a washcloth to take it off she wanted to keep it. But since my parents are LSU fans and my in-laws are MSU fans, I think I will blow this up and have it framed for my in-laws for Christmas next year!! LOL!!



My baby Jace with his tongue stuck out. Jacob always had his tongue stuck out as a baby-every picture we took that first year he had his tongue hanging out.


Jacob playing in the laundry basket. Never mind the hundreds of dollars of Christmas toys he just opened a few days earlier-he prefers to play with the busted up laundry basket. I know what I am putting on his Christmas list next year!!


CC's socks!! JoAnna found a pair of CC's socks and just had to put them on. I thought they were so cute!! The look like little leg warmers!!!


This is me and the kids after their Christmas program at school.


This is JoAnna opening her gift at school. They brought gifts and exchanged with their friends. Her gift was a phone-she just loves phones. The look of excitement was just priceless.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Being Creative

Well my "craft room" is an absolute disaster at this right now so I haven't really been able to get into some of the projects I really want to complete this year. So tonight I grabbed a few things and went to the kitchen. It's terrible to have a room dedicated to my crafts and not be able to enjoy it-my project for this weekend is to organize my craft room! Hmm, not sure if I can get that done in just ONE weekend. Might have to send the hubby AND the kids to the in laws for the entire weekend!!! MIght be a plan!!

So here is what I worked on tonight....everything is still a work in progress-waiting for the Modge Podge to dry.

First thing I started was a photo plate. In this tutorial she uses fabric, but since I didn't have any cute fabric on hand, I used some wallpaper that was given to me. It is beautiful wallpaper but after I modge podged it onto the plate I really didn't like the way it went with my photo-guess I should have taken a closer look before I started. Oh well. In the pictures are my three children on the right and my niece on the left. Think I will go back and add "Grandchildren" in there and possibly give it to my mom.



Second item I started was a pencil holder. I am making it to hold Valentine pencils so I am using Valentine paper and ribbon. Will add photo once I am done.


Thirdly I decided to use some of the leftover wallpaper to make a few pendants for necklaces.


So as soon as they dry and I can add the finishing touches (hopefully tomorrow night!!!) I will come back and add some photos.

I have so many projects I want to try to get done this year, like THIS! Wow! I have seen the crayon cozy before but never thought to use it for MY markers!!! Hmm. looks like a great teacher gift too-might have to get busy making some for my kids teachers!

Monday, January 11, 2010

Official Weigh-In Day-And Start of the Biggest Loser at Work

Well I started last Monday trying to slim down. Although the first four days I would come home each evening and chow down on some chocolate chip cookies. I got serious Friday. I knew they were starting a Biggest Loser challenge at work today but I had not intentions of joining until Friday afternoon when I had a conversation with a coworker that changed my mind.

So today was weigh in #1 and I am happy to report I have lost FIVE pounds since last Monday!! Although this won't count toward my "Biggest Loser" total, its still counts for me!! However when I got to work their scale was 3 lbs heavier-eek!

I did much better today although I did eat lunch at school-not the best as far as calories are concerned. I still need to get active!!! Want to start walking so I can work up to running.......

Saturday, January 9, 2010

Working on the Resolutions

Well my goal was to start last Monday with eating better and exercising. However I was a bit delayed, four days actually. I ate better most days until I got home and snacked way too much while getting dinner ready. So Friday I was determined to do better. I packed my lunch for the day, a salad and chili but when it was time for lunch the kitchen was cooking pizza!! I love their pizza. So I ate my salad and once slice of pizza. I didn't snack when I got home either.

Also starting Monday we are doing a Biggest Loser challenge at work. I had no intentions of signing up because I really don't want anyone to know my weight. Although we aren't weighing in front of anyone and only the director will know my weight I figured it would be revealed at the end. However, after thinking about it last night, it's just a number. It doesn't change who I am or how I look just because my weight is revealed. So I think I am going to join. The prize is $100 and 3 days paid vacation. I figure if I did as well as I did after JoAnna was born I could lose at least 50 pounds. By her first birthday I had lost 50 pounds, but only dieted for 6 months-taking a break during the holidays.

I plan to attempt the 30 day challenge on the Wii Active and start walking. I thought of doing Atkins again since I did so well with that but I think I'll just limit my carbs at first and if the weight doesn't come off I will then go to Atkins.

So far I have lost 3 pounds!! And that's with eating chocolate chip cookies every night this week except one!!

I will keep a tally on the right side of my blog to keep everyone updated on my weight loss. I loved seeing the weight loss add up last time!!! HOpefully I will have the same success this time around. As of today I weight exactly the same as I did when I started my weight loss after JoAnna was born. Of course that was one month after giving birth, but this time it's been 4 months. So I am getting a late start getting this baby fat off!!!