Weekly Weigh-In: Week 21

Three weeks.

Three very busy, very exhausting, very fun weeks.

That's how long it's been since I posted my last weigh in post.

And while I would like to tell you that in the past 3 weeks, I have made some amazing progress on the scale, that would be a lie.

Week 19 was actually pretty good to me.

I at least partially successful with an almost 1 lb. loss.

And considering my family was visiting AND my septic tank backed up into my house the night before this pic, I would consider -.8 of a pound as a HUGE success.

I mean, seriously.

If anyone has EVER needed chocolate it is when their septic tank is now their basement and their entire family shows up with no where to pee. (or do anything else)

Thank GOD I live in the woods.

But then the family left and we syphoned the sewer back out to where it belongs.

Our back yard.

And I moved on with my life.

And left for a fun filled weekend in Maryland/Delaware on Thursday of week 20.

Have I ever told you that my mother in law is like a Maryland Paula Deen?

No, seriously.

We had crab cakes, and spaghetti and the best chicken tenderloin roast thing (I didn't even know there was such a thing!!!) that you could ever dream of.

And she always serves desserts when she has guests over.

SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH.

Needless to say, I didn't even bother weighing myself at the end of week 20.

But that just brought me to week 21.

Without any awareness of how much weight I had gained on my foodfest weekend.

So I just did what came next.

Working out.

Doing my thing.

Eating healthy.

And at the end of week, this is what I have to show for it.

In case you aren't really paying attention, that number is actually HIGHER than the number I posted the last time I actually posted.

To attempt to make myself feel better, I did my side by side pics....

And then ran out the door to the Techmeister's company picnic.

Thinking, "Wow, I look goooooooooooooo-ood"

And I pranced around at the picnic the entire afternoon thinking the same thing.

Only to come home last night as see this little gem on Facebook.

Clearly the camera adds 10 lbs.

Clearly, this was just a bad angle.

I wonder if this is how Honey Boo-Boo's momma says when she sees herself on tv?

Clearly, I've got alot of work left.

Clearly, I don't look as good as I think I do from EVERY ANGLE.

And this week is dedicated to that.

Here's to never having another Honey Boo-Boo Momma moment EVER AGAIN.

Helpful How-To: My Fall Burlap Wreath

I've made my share of burlap wreaths.

And just for the sake of fairness, I did it again.

How Britney Spears of me, huh?

Oops.

In my defense, this year I whipped up {quite possibly} the simplest one ever.

It's gorgeous, right?

Ruffles and burlap and crinkly ribbon.

Hanging on my front door.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh.

It's like a recipe for long term decor affection, right?

And for the sake of my Helpful How-To's {that have fallen by the way side}, I thought I'd share it with you.

Because I'm supremely generous like that.

And I LOVE to see people copy me.

It's almost like being popular.

Almost.

But I digress.

Step 1:  Loosely follow this tutorial.

But rather than using two layers of burlap, used one.

Super easy.

(If you are el cheapo like me, you can pick up a simple wicker wreath at the dollar tree for - get this - A DOLLAR.  Shocking right???)

Step 2: Create crinkly ribbon.

Don't you love the word "crinkly"?

I do.

But probably only because it reminds me of french fries.

Which reminds me of how much I want french fries.

And then I remember that I live 7 minutes from McDonald's and they have a drive thru - no unloading the TWO children I have.

And then I remember that I'm trying to lose weight.

And now I'm in a bad mood.

So, lets recap.

Crinkly is a fun word until it reminds me of food I can't eat and now I hate the word crinkly.

Welcome to the inner workings, people.

INNER WORKINGS.

What was I talking about?

Oh yeah.  Crinkly {GRRRRRR} ribbon ring.

So, yeah.  To make that very imperfect center ring, I picked up a spool of 1/2" ribbon and gathered it using the same method as the burlap (loose stitches along one edge of the ribbon).

The end result is the crinkly ribbon you see in the center.

Now glue it on.*

Step 3.  Make a bow and glue it on top.

Same theory as tying your shoes.

Make a bow.

Hot glue it on.*

Step 4:  Hang on your door.

Preferably with a hook.

Although, my front door is weird, and I can't really hang a hook OVER it, I am pretty sure that those 3M hooks would do it.  For a while, anyway.

However, I cheated and just took advantage of my weird window bars.

Try not to be too jealous of my weird door.

Or my awesome wreath.

Just go make your own.

And thank me for bestowing this wealth of information on you.

I'm kind like that.

*(Warning: This can be VERY TRICKY.  Despite the fact that hot glue guns are tiny, I burn myself on the thing everytime I get it out.  Am I the only one here?  I can't really be the only one, here right???  AM I RIGHT????  HELLO????)

Christmas Came a Little Early

DUDE.

I heart Living Social Deals when they actually apply to me.

And this one actually does.

A $10 Starbucks card for $5.

That means that I just snagged a perfectly acceptable Christmas gift for a perfectly unacceptable price.

You want one???

Here ya go!!!

You can thank me later!

Helpful How-To: Baby Girl's Grub

If you could sit in on almost any conversation among me and my fellow mommy friends these days, you would hear a snippet about making your own baby food.

I know.  I know.

Right now, my sister is rolling her eyes at me so.freaking.hard.*

But it's true.

We also talk about things like knitting and the latest book on Oprah's book club list.

And minivans.

And soccer.

We are the EPITOME of stay at home mom's.

Or not.

But we do actually talk about making our own baby food.

Because it's so stinking cheap.

I discovered this about 2 months ago, when I started making Baby Girl's food.

And today, I will share my secrets with you.  

Stop rolling your eyes at me.

You may one day be interested in this stuff.

Really, I'm being generous.  

Plus, it's really hard to read this life changing stuff if you are rolling your eyes...

Anyway, soooooo yeah.

Last week, I bought a bag of dried split peas.

For $1.08.  (No, I did not buy organic.  According to all the research I read, peas are super resistant to pesticides due to the pods.)

When I got them home, I rinsed them, put them in the crockpot and covered them with filtered water.

4-5 hours later, they were ready.

If you have ever cooked split peas, you probably know that once cooked, there is little to no "water" left in the pot, it all turns into "pea soup".

And then, it's just a matter of dumping the gooey goop into the blender and blending until smooth.

10 minutes later, you have over 40 ounces of baby food on your hands.  

I know, I know.

So what do I do with all that baby food.  

I mean, girlfriend can eat, but 40 ounces is a bit much, even for her.

Enter: my favorite mommy contraption.  EVER

Credit

These ice cube trays are the best thing since sliced bread.

(Unless it's my sliced bread, which is perhaps the nastiest thing I have eaten since the apple curry incident in college - but that's a story for another day.)

Seriously.  They have silicone bottoms to help you pop the ice cubes out.

They have lids.

And each ice cube is 1 ounce.

EASY PEASY.

Freeze it.  Bag it.  Label it.

And MOVE ON.

Which is exactly what I did.

Next up, was my butternut squash.  

(Go ahead.  Say it.  Slightly phallic.  SLIGHTLY.  I know.  I noticed.  As did my husband.  I won't tell you what he said, but if you have a man in your life, you probably know.)

Also non-organic.  Also not necessary.

Bake at 350 for one hour then chop it up and throw it in the food processor with some water.

And 20 minutes later, you have 60 ounces of baby food.

Freeze it.  Bag it.  Label it.  

Now sit down, prop your feet up, and enjoy the knowledge that you just turned $6.50 worth of vegetables into 25+ jars of baby food.  

You can thank me later.

I Just Don't Get It

Tell me.

Have you seen this life changing video?



If not, I can give you a minute.

Or 3:36, if you're the technical type.

Go ahead.

Watch it.

Did you?

Ready to talk?

You're rewatching it, aren't you?

Fine.

Go ahead.

I won't tell anyone.

But before you watch it for a 3rd time, let me remind you that you just lost 7 minutes of your life.

Now ready to talk?

Because I am.

Or maybe I'm just ready to say....

"What the?????"

Or just...

"Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm."

And how 'bout,

"Taylor, are those monkeys on your pajama's???"

Or maybe,

"What's with the fairy tale rave you have going on in your sweater-clad apartment?"

And even,

"I thought you were better than that, Taylor."

But most especially,

And most importantly,

"I'm pretty sure he's happy about it, after seeing this video."

(Personally, I think this video is way cooler:)

Craftmania

I don't know if I have mentioned it or not, but in this house, I am lucky enough to have a craft room.

As in the previous owner was an artist and her studio became my craft room.

It is a HAVEN.

You know, when I have time to partake.

Or when I MAKE time to partake.

Last weekend was one of those weekends.

The twitch wasn't quite gone yet.

And my head was starting to spin around on the top of my head Carrie-style due to not having crafted in so long.

I was waking up in the middle of the night DREAMING of crafting.

It's pretty clear that I have unhealthy tendencies.

Sleep-crafting is merely scratching the surface.

But last week, I had had enough of the dry spell and I had to find a way to get the twitch out of my eye and the itch out of my finger tips.

So I pulled Baby Girl's bouncer into the room while Little Man was still napping and I went at it.

A little of this...

And a little of that...

And within an hour or so, I had a stack of these....

Thankfully, since about half of every one I know is pregnant, I should be able to find a home for these pretty quickly.

Of course, some people aren't finding out what their having so they'll be getting pink AND blue ones.

For the record, I expect you to use both, SOME PEOPLE....

At the end of the day, it's been more than a week since my short-lived craftathon.

And I still haven't cleaned that mess up.

Because just walking in there makes me smile.

Mess and all.

Crafting may be messy, but man oh man, it does something good for the soul!

Weekly Weigh-In: Week 18

It has officially been 2 weeks since my last weigh-in.

And I know that all 4 of you have been dying for an update!

And since I hate nothing more than disappointing people, here goes nothing.

It's been an exciting 2 weeks.

Since I broke the 20 pound mark, I have had a nervous twitch in my right eye just waiting for the week that I leveled off.

Didn't lose anything.

Hit that plateau.

Yada yada.

So, it was with a sigh of relief that I greeted last week's weigh in.

Because last week, it finally happened.

Despite my best efforts, I didn't even lose 1/10 of a pound.

I know, in your head you're asking, "SIGH OF RELIEF???  LEAH?  ARE YOU OK?"

But seriously.  I have been worried about this for weeks now.

And it finally happened.

And it wasn't a gain.

And the twitch finally went away.

So yeah.

Sigh of relief.

Oh, but this helped:

Another size 8.

17 weeks and 21.4 lbs and I'm already in my 2nd size 8.

That sparked a giddy moment where I decided to do a quick snapshot of "Shrinking Leah."*

Then the giddy got slap-happy.

So I carted myself off to bed and started my week with a renewed dedication to get past the plateau as quickly as possible.

I changed my exercise routine.

I took my weight watcher point count down by 2 per day.

And then, I worked it out.

And yesterday, at the end of week 18, here's where the numbers shook out:

That's a 3.4 lb. weight loss in one week!

Bringing my total weight loss down to 24.8.

To be honest, I don't think there is much of a visual change this week, but I took a picture all the same:

What you don't see in this picture is that although the jeans I'm wearing are a size 10, the top is a size 6.

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE.

I feel like a surfer who just caught his first wave.

(You should know, though, that had it not been for the generous hemline of the shirt, you'd have seen a muffintop to rival anything you would see on People of Walmart.)

But it's worth it.

Size 6, duuuuuuuuuude.

That, my friends is SUCCESS!

*think of it like Flat Stanley.  You can (read: should) totally print off a copy of this pic and send me your very own "shrinking you" pics of your weight loss journey next to your very own "Shrinking Leah".**

**This sounds like Instagram GENIUS people!!! My moments of brilliance are rarely beneficial and are minimally noticed, so please, make the most of this one.  MKaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay?