Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

I have lots to share with everyone for the last few months. I want to post and say how thankful I am for a roof over my head, the love of my husband and being close to my family once again. I have missed living in the desert but I now have a job I love and I get to see my parents more than twice a year.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and make sure you don't eat too much. I will be down at weigh-in on Monday even after turkey dinner :)

Take care and I will be back with photos and other updates this weekend.

8 Years Ago

Eight years ago today I married my best friend. I met Jason my freshman year of college. We had a long distance relationship for close to 5 years. We were together 7 years when we finally got married. For some reason, we decided it was a good idea to wait for him to graduate from pharmacy school before getting hitched.

We have had a lot of ups and downs in the last 8 years. We have both lost grandparents. We moved over 1300 miles from both of our families. We bought our first house. We have had a niece and 2 nephews join the family. Jason changed jobs and we moved back to the Midwest.

I know I couldn't have done it without you by my side. I know wherever life takes us, I can count on you to be there with me. You are my friend and my partner in everything. I love you.

Maintaining

Well, I am down a little over 8 pounds as of right now. I have been working hard and keeping myself on track. I have had some restaurant eating in my weeks and some trips to families for dinners or over night.

This week I maintained. No loss or gain, just staying the same. I am starting my 8th week. Two months I have been working on getting myself healthy. Here are some things I have discovered about myself for this journey.

1. It's ok to eat out once in awhile just don't do it everyday.
2. Don't limit yourself on something you want. Go ahead and eat it. Give yourself permission to enjoy it. Just don't use it as an excuse to completely go off program.
3. This is NOT a diet, it is a lifestyle change.
4. Know you will have ups and downs. Take them as they come and work through them. I have had a couple of rough weeks emotionally, but I have worked hard not to turn towards food as comfort. It's not easy, but I have been keeping my hands busy during these tough times with embroidery.
5. This will not be an easy journey, but I am ready to get going and keep on this path.

Now some things I need to work on :)

1. I need to exercise. I did ok at the beginning but I got my schedule messed up and now I am not getting it in as regularly as I was. I need to start again and just get moving.
2. Eating my fruits and veggies. I love them, all kinds, but it's not the easiest to get in everyday.
3. Journal. I do pretty good most days but the weekend I have a tendency to slack off. This I need to work on.

Ok, I know there is more for me to work on but I think three things will be good for the next 8 weeks. I don't want to discourage myself by making too many goals that I can't possibly acheive them all.

Now, time to get started on my Silverbella swaps. I have the bases done for two of them and ideas started for the rest. I am getting so excited for this event. I can't wait.

I am off, but remember take time to create today!

4.8

This is a special number. This is how much I lost in my first week back at Weight Watchers. I was floored when the leader told me how much I had lost. I didn't know what to say at first. When I was last on WW I never lost that much in one week ever. The most I would lose is 3 pounds.

I want this. I want to be healthy. I want to be able to walk up the stairs to my apartment and not get winded. I don't want to end up like both of my parents. They both have problems with all their lower joints. They have high blood pressure, cholesterol and my dad is diabetic. I want to be able to live without these problems and without having to be on medication when I get older. Also, the older I get the harder it will be to get the weight off.

I am going to work hard and I will stay on program this time around. I want to see under 200 this time.

First Week of Healthy Lifestyle

Well, last Monday I started back at Weight Watchers. I got on the scale and weighed in at my highest weight ever. I was sad and ashamed of myself. How did I let myself get this far down the road??

I got home, sat down and started reading through the literature for Week 1. They have changed up the program some since the last time I was on WW. I made sure I was comfortable with the new program and started counting my points on Tuesday. DH is doing this with me so hopefully the two of us will be able to keep each other on track. We are both tired of the way we feel and hopefully this time we will succeed.

Last time I was on WW we did well for a while but then we went on vacation. We let the vacation take us off track. We then started to revert back to our old habits of getting take away and going out to eat.

So, our goal now is going out to eat twice a week instead of the four-five we were going out for. We are trying new recipes to keep things interesting. I am making weekly visits to the farmer's market while they are going and just making sure there are good, healthy items in the house.

We are heading to my parents for the fourth this coming weekend and we will see how it goes. We are planning our snacks and I will make sure I get my exercise in.

I WANT TO SUCCEED!!!

Epic Fail!

OK, some days things work out the way you want and other days not so much. This last week I was working on getting my charms finished up and in the mail for the "Things with Wings" charm swap I am participating in. I posted a photo of what I started with. Well, I decided to add this and that to the charms and at the end of the day I hated them. I was so disappointed with the first batch of charms I made. Then on Thursday, I went to get them off the balcony where they were drying and found them strewn by the wind. Some fell through the cracks of the balcony and I just gave up then. Here they are in mid process.



So, this Monday rolls around and I have to get my charms made and in the mail this week. I start like I did before, but decided to keep it simple but still beautiful. It's a good thing I cut more than I needed of the clay disks in the beginning. Now they are packaged and ready to be put in the mail today.


Next time I will practice on one or two before doing the WHOLE lot. Oh, and don't worry, the ones I did save, I can sand off and use them for another project so all is well in my little craft world.

Remember to take time to create!

Work in Progress

Well, it's been awhile again since I have blogged. I have been working *gasp* at a long term position at one of the schools here. I decided to work for the public schools as a substitute para educator (fancy way of saying teacher's assistant). It has been a little crazy at times but I have enjoyed working for the schools. I plan on working next year as a sub also.

I have also been crafting in my spare time. I haven't been able to get into where all my supplies are but I have been doing some things that I can get to. Mainly I have been working on jewelry. I think I am going to open an etsy site and see if I can sell some things through there. Here are some photos of some things I have been working on.


These are some small canvas hangings I made for the teacher and para I worked with for the last month or so.

They really made me feel comfortable and part of the class I was working in.

The canvas are 3" square that I got at Dick Blick. The sayings are stamps from Paula Best. I just love the images and the sayings she has on her stamps. The canvas I painted using different techniques I learned in Paulette Insall's backgrounds class. It's online and I had so much fun taking the class.

This is a work in progress. I am in the "Thing with Wings" charm swap over at Faerie Dust Dreams. This has been a fun swap to work on. I have these started. I just need to wait for them to dry so I can get them finished. I am even making a couple of extra charms to use later.

Hopefully I won't be so long between posts from now on. Take care and remember to make time to do something for yourself.