Loser Monday and My New Cabinet!

Guess what I got?? WII Fit!! I am SOOOOOO excited. I decided that I had to get more serious about exercise and Kim (DD) had one at Christmas that looked really fun so I rushed home to go shopping and pick one up. Yeah right!

Guess what I found out? So did everybody else!! I've been checking here and there since Christmas and nope, they just sold the last one. So Bill was going to Sam's and I said to check there (never expecting the would have one, either). So he asks the guy if they have any and the guy says "GO NOW to this aisle!! We just got some in this morning! GO NOW!!" So off he went and voila'! Here is my WII Fit!! Now I just have to figure it out!!

Oh, yes! And I lost another 1/2 pound last week! YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! At least I'm making progress.

OK--More news!!

You know I told you in the post about my sewing room that Bill was going to build me a cabinet for my ironing board? Well, here it is!! I LOVE it. I'm sure I'll find all kinds of stuff to add to it, but I got a little more stuff off the floor for now. It is SO cool!!

I spent several hours playing in my newly organized room (OK-so I'm still not done) and I came across an old quilt that gave me great inspiration so I pulled out some of the fabric that I bought in Houston last fall and I can't wait to get started!! I am SO excited to sew again!! I'll let you in on a sneak peek as I get some of it made.

Hope you all have a great week. We're supposed to get freezing rain this afternoon and tomorrow so I'll be huddled in my room upstairs and wait it out. Please pray that the power doesn't go out again like it did a year ago! I would be so sad if I couldn't sew!

Blessings~

OH! I Forgot to Show You---

In my last post about my sewing room, I forgot to tell you about one of the things that Bill did that I like the very BEST. It is my new design wall! It used to be a Warm and White batting tacked to the wall. It was a real problem if I needed to pin something. He saw Linda Jenkins' new design wall when we visited them this summer so we copied hers. He covered 2 big pieces of wallboard with batting and mounted them to the wall. Now I just pin into wallboard which is SO much easier! It's also great for picture taking. It measures about 7' x 7 1/2'. I LOVE it!!

Blessings~

My Sewing Room!

Hi Everyone--

In the last post I told you I had been reorganizing. Well, now before you look at these pics, let me assure you that it IS better than it was before! I unfortunately didn't think to take before pics, so I can't prove it, but you have to trust me!

I'm going to take you around the room from the point that I enter at the top of the stairs.....

This is where I cut. Underneath are all my repro solids. You can also see the chair I sit in occasionally. I can also watch the TV from there:

This shelf holds SOME of my books and misc. stuff. Actually, I moved the lion's share of my books to the shelves in the bathroom. It doesn't get too much use, so I'm not too grossed out! The solids on the floor are all vintage solids:

OK--Now here's the new stuff! Bill put the large shelf on the right together that we got from Wal-Mart. It holds all the repro fabs I use to sew with. Before they were all stacked on the floor! He built the smaller shelf unit to the left of it. It holds all my felt, some of the feedsacks I use for myself, and my chenilles. Some of it was on the floor and some came from other shelving units.

The other large shelves to the left of that one were already there and hold my regular and vintage cottons plus 25 years worth of ufos.

Continuing to the left is my TV and more of the feedsacks I use for sewing. The small shelf unit to the right of the TV are all novelty feedsacks that I will eventually sell.

Here are some of the feedsacks that I will sell in some form or another. The mess you see on the floor is me putting feedsack pieces in groups to list on Etsy & Ebay.

Note the shelf Bill built above the doors to the bathroom and closet! Isn't he handy?? And some of it is still available! What should I do????

And here's my ironing station. Karen said that she learned that ironing boards are a waste of space and I agree! So Bill is going to build me a cabinet there that will hold my Big Board. Did you notice my Christmas present to myself?? I LOVE that Rowenta Steam Iron!! I got it at Bed, Bath and Beyond using my 20% coupon and it ONLY (LOL) cost me $137. It hurt, but it was worth it!

OK--I confess that I still have one rat's nest to clean up. OK--I confess there's more than that. OK--I confess there's STILL a LOT of stuff on the floor!! Anyhoo, here's all my vintage quilts, tops, chenille spreads and no telling what else. This is a before pic. I'm betting that you won't see alot of change in the after pic!

So that's it! Like I said, you have to trust me that it's better than it was before. Scary, huh? At least I know where everything is! And I must say that when I was going through my stuff I found some great things!! Very fun....

Have a great weekend!

Blessings~

Loser Monday!

I'm doing my part to participate in Sharon's challenge to lose weight! Miss Red Geranium Cottage is determined to lose weight and has included any who want to follow that path in her effort to do so. I'll post my weekly weight loss updates at the end of this page. Here's my story:

I've been overweight most of my adult life. I have dieted on and off and lost a few pounds and gained back more. Sound familiar? I'm absolutely convinced that I'd weigh 20 pounds less if I'd never dieted.

Anyhoo, several years ago I learned about the Weigh Down program. If you're not familiar with it, it's a faith based weight loss program developed by a Gwen somebody (can't recall her name right now). It is the only eating program that has ever made any sense to me at all. It's focused on getting in touch with your body and what it feels like to be hungry and full. For anyone who has ever been a compulsive eater, that is a whole new thing. It becomes a way of life to actually eat in response to your body's needs. What it really boils down to is portion control. Not what you eat, but how much. I'm not good at denying myself things that I enjoy, so this lets me eat small amounts of them which I find is enough to satisfy.

Back to a few years ago..... I lost about 20 pounds and it was the only time I didn't gain it back. But I got lazy and didn't lose the rest. Until about a year ago and my Dr. told me I was mildly diabetic and said I could control it if I lost 25 pounds. What??? I have NO diabetes in my family and I thought diabetes was for grossly overweight people!! 25 pounds?? Please!!

Well, he didn't put me on meds and just wanted me to lose the weight. OK. Back to the Weigh Down thing. I lost another 20 and plan to lose my last 10 now. I will be going back to see him to have my blood sugar tested and see where I stand. I hope he's right about the weight loss. We'll see. I have since learned that there is a HUGE connection between stress and diabetes! That's one reason I'm trying to reduce as much stress as possible in my life, such as deadlines and pressure from outside sources.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it!! I'll keep you informed as to my weight loss by posting on Mondays and let you know about my blood sugar count when I get it. He hasn't put me on a monitor yet. I actually appreciate that he has not been real agressive about it since I hear there are a lot of unwanted side effects from the medications that control blood sugar. So keep your fingers crossed! And a few extra prayers to keep me focused and eating healthy would be greatly appreciated.

I actually weigh on Fridays since I tend to splurge a little more on the weekends. But I'll still give you the results on Monday.

Jan 19th - ONE POUND!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!!!
Jan 26th - Another HALF POUND!
Feb 2nd - BOO HOO!! I think I gained back that half pound!!
Feb 9th - I lost the half pound and one more!! Yaaaaaaaayyyyy!!
Feb 16th - No weight lost, but that's OK! I had a lot of fun this week!!
Feb 23 - No weight lost, but got the results that my blood sugar is back in normal ranges! Last post until my goal is met. Another 7-8 pounds to lose.

Happy New Year!

I guess it's time to get back to the real world and tend to business. I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and are on your way to a fabulous 2009!

The last week and a half has been busy and a lot of fun. On the 23rd we enjoyed visiting with friends at their annual Open House. On Christmas Eve we had Mom over for a simple meal before we headed to Church and then to some friends for a casual get together. Christmas Day had us driving to OKC to see the kids and have dinner before we headed home with Cameron for a couple of days. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but all he really wanted to do was stay home and play with his new Wii games!

Then on Saturday, they drove here and we picked up Mom and went to lunch to celebrate Kim's birthday (which was the next day). After that, we came home and had our family Christmas here followed by cake that Cameron and I made on Friday for Kim's birthday.

They took off in the late afternoon and peace descended on the castle again! Whew! I don't know what you peeps who have a million kids and family do!

We had a quiet New Year's Eve. Didn't make it until midnight I'm afraid to say. And today is restful and quiet, too. I ended up in the Urgent Care center yesterday with an ear infection and PINK EYE!! I have NEVER had that in my life, but here I am at 58 years old!! What's that all about??? Fortunately I don't feel bad, but I'm being good and trying not to expose the entire city to it. We have a couple more Holiday Open Houses to attend in the next few days, so hopefully it'll get under control quickly. Heaven knows I don't want to miss a thing!!

I want you to know that I followed through with that baking thing and I have pictures to prove it! We made the best new cookie recipe. Just 6 ingredients and they were kind of like shortbread or wedding cookies. Just delicious!

Then of course we made Bill's favorite, Oatmeal!

And finally we did the best Caramel Corn. So easy and good!

I also wanted you to see the little Charlie Brown tree I always put in my kitchen. It's actually my favorite!

So that's it for us! The orders have been pouring in with the Free Shipping, too! So cutting and packing have been on tap for us as well. That will be over after today, so things should slow down a bit. I'll be listing more stuff next week on Ebay and Etsy I hope.

Have a Happy and Healthy and most Blessed New Year ever!