Helpful How-To: Craft Your Heart Out!!!

This week, you will notice something extremely different in this week's Helpful How-To. 

A distinct lack of sarcasm.

That's right. 

This week, I may actually have a how-to that you would be interested in hearing about!

Be excited....

My new friend Roberta asked for a tutorial on the wreaths that I posted from my weekend, thus making this week's HHT extremely easy for me. 

You remember these girls, right?

Yeah, it's been less than a week, but I think it's love. 

They have taken up semi-permanent residence in my home. 

The burlap wreath (up top) took about 2 hours total to make and way less fabric than  you would ever think.  Maybe 1/2 a yard of burlap....

Anyway, I made it using this tutorial (because, let's face it, why would I type it out, when someone else already did?)

You may notice the adorable little flower pinned on it????

You didn't?  Ok, look again....

Yes.  The brown blotch at the bottom of the wreath....

It's a FLOWER pin.  Yes, I know, it doesn't really LOOK LIKE A FLOWER.  But you can blame that on the crappy cell phone picture.  Because it totally does in real life. 

And for that I used this tutorial.  Which I LOVE. 

Have I ever told you that Jone's Design is by far, my favorite blog ever? 

Maybe even more than PW....  *Gasp*  Wait...Am I allowed to say that?  Sorry, blogworld.

Moving on.

The second wreath took a little more time.  But is so worth it.  And again, I totally stole it straight from High Heels and a Hammer.  Because that's how I roll!

Unoriginal ideas.  HERE I COME!

Be on guard though, cause I have another wreath form or two, and I am pretty sure that I MUST have one of these beauties before Christmas!

I am beginning to wonder how many wreaths one can have in their house without people questioning your sanity. 

Also wondering if these would make acceptable Christmas gifts.  Because 'tis the season.

What do you think? 

Do you enjoy the less sarcastic side of me?

Or did you even notice the lack of sarcasm?

Do tell!  Do tell!!!

The Meat of It All

I grew up in a home of hunters.

And every year, around this time, we could expect to come home and find a deer hanging from our deck. 

Yes.  It was bizarre.

But we didn't know that.

We actually looked forward to it.

Because it meant something special to us.

It meant another winter with meat stocked in the freezer.

It meant another year of deer jerkey.

And it meant alot of deer burgers and vegetable soup.

And I loved it. 

So you can imagine my joy when I got a call from my brother in law asking me if I wanted to split a deer with him....

Followed quickly by a text from my brother who also killed his first deer of the season yesterday.

I haven't had deer meat in like 4 years.

And now I have plenty of it coming to a freezer near me.  (A.K.A. In my garage....) (A.K.A. The one seen HERE)

I haven't smiled this big since the week that I lost 5 lbs. 

Oh wait, that never happened....

YET.

Oh well.

But you get it...

It's the simple things in life....

Really, simple.

Some days

Some days I feel fat.

Some days I feel crazy.

Some days I feel like my head is going to explode.

Some days I feel like I don't do enough.

Some days I feel like I do too much.

Welcome to today.

Just another crazy day in my world.



But here are a few references to the things going on in my your worlds:

Carrie is anxiously awaiting her new neice and celebrating a future sister in law.
Jill is enjoying a great day at WVU.
 
Christine is telling people off on the train.
 
Roberta is recycling old coupons and holding a shoe funeral.
 
Thanks for helping me keep my head on and straight with your entertaining posts!

A Runner's Worst Nightmare...

It's a dirty little 4 letter word that scares the crap out of me.

S-N-O-W

And for some reason, I just realized it can and (if last year is any indication) most likely WILL happen. 

And it's getting closer every day.

Meanwhile, I am just picking up my running steam. 

Barely getting the wind under my sails.

Just in time to be slapped back on my rear end in front of the TV watching "Biggest Loser" and being so depressed that I don't even want to move.

I heard you.  Yes, you in the back.  I heard you.

And your remark about the treadmill.

And yes, I do have one. 

But it I am pretty sure it is possessed.

As in, I'm be-bopping along at a steady 5.0 pace and next thing you know, the creature from you-know-where machine speeds up to 8.9 and I go flying into my basement wall like rubber bands flew in my 8th grade geometry class. 

If that isn't enough for you, just about the time I catch up to the speed and figure out that I actually can run at 8.9 mph speeds, it slows down to a 2.2 and I feel like I am stuck behind a granny at the mall. 

So yeah.

My treadmill.

Pretty much useless.

Looks like I will either be bribing begging Santa, or I will be hitting up Craigslist yet again....

You know, if I ever want to see my size 8's again....

Weekend Blog Bust

I make alot of empty promises....

Like the ones about halloween socks and weekend blogging....

I have alot of grand thoughts and notions.

But I lack follow through.

I blame time.

There are just not enough hours in the day.

Only this weekend, I can't really complain because I got an EXTRA hour this weekend, and stilll didn't manage to reach all my grand goals.

The things on my list that DID get accomplished this weekend:

I finally saw this little gem:

Credit

And cried my eyes out.  But loved it.  Every second of it. 

And I may have squeezed in a craft.

Or two...

I also may have cleaned out my closet:

Woah!  How did that get in there! 

I may or may not have showered on Saturday.  Which may or may not be the reason my ponytail has wings and feathers.

A trip to the outlets with my girls.

An impromptu weigh-in that resulted in another pound lost.

A (very slow) 2 mile run.

And I most definitely did SOME laundry.  No, not all.  But definitely some.

The things that did not get done:

Obviously, bloggy time.
Photo editting of Little Man's first Halloween.
ALL the laundry.
Healthy eating.
A quick 3 mile run.
Saving money.

I may not have been totally successful in my goals this weekend, but man, was it a good weekend!
If I do say so myself.

(And I do)

Bracing for the Fall

The Fall Back, that is. 

For months and months, I have been dreading the evil implications of the time change this weekend.

I have heard numerous horror stories about baby schedules going awry and even toddlers reverting to infant-like night time wakes.

So I dreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad this weekend.

And next week.

And the week after.

And ever how long it takes to make this guy get the hang of the new thang.

Please don't go doling out advice about how I should have been backing up his bedtime and waketimes for weeks now to avoid the impending fallout.  I have read every single one of Babywise Mom's posts on time change and her plan won't help me.  To back up the little guys bedtime/wake time by an hour would make me more than late to work.  I have tried backing up the bedtime alone, but that does little good without enforcing wake time....

So yeah....

I guess there is always a chance that it won't phase him and he will just revert to it easily.

But if not, please pardon me if I seem like one hot mess. 

You can blame the time change.

I know I will be.

The Hungry Girl Goes First

Last night, I went to dinner with my in-laws.

And because of the ridiculous, crazy, whirlwind week that I have had at work this week, I had barely eaten anything all day long.

So I pretty much gorged at dinner.

As in, I had 2 bowls of salad (with low fat, Asian dressing), a bowl of pasta, a slice of french bread, Little Man's crust from his french bread.

As if that wasn't enough, when I got home, I dug out the spaghetti that I made on Wednesday and had a couple giant bites of that along with some of the left-over chili from Thursday.

I may or may not have thrown it all back with a piece of Halloween candy that I still haven't managed to get rid of....

And this morning, I couldn't drag my butt out of bed early enough to get a full workout in, so it was just a half for me today.

All that to say, instead of my scale being kind to me instead I am up 2/10 of a lb. from last week, at 155. 

To be honest, I am proud it isn't higher, considering the sugar in my house right now....

I really have to be good this weekend and next week if I want to see results before weigh in day.  My goal is at least 3 lbs.  And I am thinking that if I stick to my workouts this weekend and eat reasonably this weekend, I should be that much closer. 

In other news, be kind on me.  It's been an extremely rough week over here.  I am tired, I am cranky, and I am (obviously) hungry. 

Hopefully, I will have some blog time this weekend and I will finally post about Little Man's first Halloween!

Hugs!