Smiles

Before

Brace Face.  Railroad Tracks.  Metal Mouth.  Tinsel Teeth.  What other slang can you think of for those of us who have endured orthodontics?  My boy H started ortho this week.  He was in some overall discomfort the first two days.  He's experienced some sore spots in the back of his mouth where some wires are poking, but he is using his wax liberally and found the water pik fun to use.  (our bathroom wall has never been so clean :) )  It's weird, but I think we can already notice a shift in some of the teeth.  Makes me wonder why the appliances have to stay so long if there is a noticeable difference in such a short time--and no wonder his mouth hurt if his teeth did that much moving in a couple of days!  I've been proud of him for keeping his mouth so clean too.

After.  He alternated red and blue bands around the brackets.

Mr. C experienced some firsts this weekend too.  He traveled with his Venture Crew to northern Ohio to ski.  He came home a little sore, but had some good stories and much success.  He made it further than I did my first time skiing.  (Also my last time.  My skiing trip --also my honeymoon-- ended in a torn ACL my first trip downhill.  Long story and too involved to write about here.)  C has also been pushing himself and experimenting with some allergies he's had throughout his childhood.  He has been allergic to Silly Putty, dog saliva and reacted terribly to horses.  He's moved past even wanting to play with Silly Putty.  With dogs he's learned to keep his hands away from his face after petting them to curb reactions.  Horses have presented a bigger issue.  However, today, his group rode horses.  He took some allergy tablets and braved riding today.  He came home a little stuffy, but it is hard to tell if it is because of the horse or being outside in the dampness skiing all day yesterday.  So proud of him for trying something and overcoming!

These boys sure make this momma smile!

Mother Daughter Tea

Last night Miss K and I dressed up and headed out for a night of tea with her AHG group.  What fun to walk in and see everyone dressed up, wearing hats, using fancy tea pots, plates and tea cups, and using their best manners!  There was a fashion show planned so I sat poised with camera in hand waiting, but it never happened.  We ended up sitting, talking and sipping tea for the evening.  Nothing much to write, I just wanted to share a couple of the photos H took of us before we left for the evening. 

Crammed

I don't have a photo to share today, and that is part of the reason I am writing.  Confused?  Let me explain.  I started a new diet.  To date I have lost 12 lbs.  B's taken weekly photos of me so that I can see the difference.  Truth be told, I haven't looked at these photos yet since they are on a different camera than I normally use and I am lazy enough not to upload the photos from it to the computer to view and use.  Pitiful, I know. 

This diet has been difficult in some ways and the best ever in others.  There are fast results which is very encouraging and is a great motivator to stay invested in the program.  I'm learning to adapt to smaller portions and coming up with my own spices and flavors to what would have before the diet seemed to be bland food.  Some of the food is good enough that my mother took down one of the recipes to share with her sisters!  No tasteless cardboard here, friends! 

After this amount of success, however, I thought that my clothes would be falling off of my body, but that hasn't happened.  As I dressed after showering today, I slipped into one of my favorite pairs of corduroys and they fit beautifully.  They were comfortable.  I didn't have to suck in the gut to fasten them or even do the jump and pull to get them up and over my hips.  (You know you've been there.)  After getting over the disappointment of not needing new apparel yet, I wondered just how much I'd crammed myself into all of my clothes.  What I thought was "fitting" was really "almost splitting the seams".  D-E-N-I-A-L!  I had heard or read a few years ago not to size up clothes so that you could feel the discomfort and then want to lose weight. 

My problem has been that I spend my life stuck in consistent motivation and action with no results, thus causing continual discomfort in the clothes I crammed myself into.  How extremely aggravating to be doing all of the "right things" (drinking water, eating right, trying different regimens, exercising, not eating desserts/treats/junk) and not have any visible results.  I've developed slightly elevated cholesterol despite my efforts too.  Grrr!!!

I don't think this diet is for everyone.  I have learned through trial and error myself that what works for some, does not work for everyone.  We all have different bodies, chemistry, heritage, lifestyles, genetics, likes, motivations, energies, etc. which make us unique in what finally helps us achieve our health goals.  This is what keeps me from stating just what my diet is. 

Be encouraged to try different things.  To try different combinations.  To experiment with your body.  To know that M.D.s don't know it all--but always let them know what you are trying.  Find a doctor that listens to you and treats you like you know something too.  (Stepping down off my soapbox now...)

Cheers to all who find that they no longer need to cram!

Sabotage!

School in session



While it may not be evident from the above scene, I have made progress on my "pile".  I sometimes find it discouraging and somewhat of a distraction to have school stuff spread out on the work table since it makes progress difficult to remember.  School is a daily task, however, so there is not much I can do to avoid the clutter on the table while in session.  The kids have their own baskets and shelves to store their books, binders, assignments, schedules, etc. under the table and for the most part they do a fantastic job of putting everything away when they are finished.  (Yay Mom!  Kids are learning to be organized!) 

It occurred to me that I sometimes sabotage the cleanup and ordering process myself when there is this much clutter on the table.  It seems overwhelming to tackle the big things when I have the daily tasks staring at me.  So what do I do?  Procrastinate.  Chronicle it here.  :)  Begin something new to avoid the old.  Knit. 

I'm telling myself the cure is baby steps.  Today, I will tackle 30 minutes worth of stuff and try not to sabotage myself.  (No, you may NOT start the Valentine's Day crafts you bought yesterday until AFTER the 30 minutes of work on the pile!  --Do you give yourself pep talks too?) 

Pile of Progress

I've decided to be more positive and complain less.  Part of that is finding the silver lining of everything.  Practically I've been active with my Pile I spoke of in my previous post.  My cousin, who also blogs, posted her pile and we are now knocking our piles down simultaneously.  I love the accountability.  To add to the accountability, I'm going to try to post my progress here.  (See, I'm being positive already--knowing I'll be successful.) 

I am still having trouble posting pictures from my computer, so I cannot post a picture of the bag I made.  Remember the rug that I wanted to turn into a bag?  Well, it was part of my Pile, but now it is part of my success!  While crafting is fun for me, it also occupies much of my desktop now, so my thinking is that getting that part reduced, I'll have more room to do the less desirable projects (scrapbooking for school and school records to Excel). 

Guess I need to add, "contact Blogger regarding posting pictures".  :)

Here you can see the side panels I made.

Yeah!  I figured out the problem with posting pictures.  Well, not actually, but I found another way! 

Piles of Intentions

You know the saying about a particular road being paved with good intentions? According to Wikipedia it is thought to have originated with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who wrote, "L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs" (hell is full of good wishes and desires). Meaning for me that all the piles of my intentions to do something doesn't amount to much if I don't do it.
 
January, in my administrative-minded circles of friends, is the month to organize and knock down these piles to nothing.  I am never sure that my piles diminish completely, rather they morph into different sizes, compilations and corners.  What would I do if I had nothing to tackle?  No To Do list?  I would ask myself what I wanted to do.  Next I'd make a list of how to get it done.  Am I sick? 

(I have taken photographs of some of my piles with the intention to post them and then talk about my specific piles.  My hope was that I could show myself progressing as I tackled these piles.  Ironically, Blogger is not cooperating by not giving me the button to browse my files to show you the pictures.) 

It's in the Bag

I failed miserably at taking photos of family that came to visit over the last couple of weeks, which is terrible since I only get to visit with some of them only once a year.  Our kids grow and noticeably chance over the course of a year and it is hard for them to sometimes remember who is who, or which cousin belongs to which cousin.  Maybe I'll get that right next Christmas. 

What I DID manage to take pictures of was some of my post-holiday yarn projects.  My inspiration came by way of a new knitting pattern book.  I dug out my yarn stash from the closet and after making a mental inventory, I jumped in with both needles or hook in this case.  I couldn't justify buying yarn (I know some of you are scratching your heads or laughing at me now.) when I had more than a few unfinished projects and lots of leftover yarn.  I chose to pick up an old rug project that didn't get finished through 2 moves, a new marriage and a new home which the rug no longer coordinated with. 

I crocheted some sides to allow more space in the bag and handles.  I dug through the material stash and found some coordinating red and green fabric to make a lining.  I can't decide if I need to add fabric to the backside of the handles to prevent stretching yet.  I have never run yarn through my sewing machine, but I am leaning toward maching stitching the lining to the bag and then crocheting the bag together in pieces.  Comments leaving tips or cautions are most welcome!  I doubt I get to putting the bag together until later in the week, possibly even next week.

During the month of November, I instructed some newbie crocheters to make washclothes.  I ended up with a lot of leftover cotton yarn so I decided to put together a bag I'd found in a Lion Brand Yarn newsletter.  (I've linked it in my Pinterest boards.  You can also search the Lion Brand Yarn website for "hexagon bag" pattern.  The pattern is free, but you may have to create an account.) 

Piecing the hexagons

Finished hexagon bag


My last bag project isn't really a bag, but instead tags for bags.  Our family uses cloth bags in Christmas prints for gift giving in lieu of wrapping paper and boxes and paper gift bags.  They are reusable.  We have to use tags so that we know what gift goes to whom.  I was absent-minded and did not take a clear photo of the original tags, but they are plain red with red satin ribbons tied through holes to then loop through themselves to attach to the bag.  Each tag has a person's name written with permanent marker in the "TO" and other tags in the "FROM".  For example:  TO:  B  FROM: J Viola!  Bag tagged and ready to give.  The problem became giving gifts to people who did not have a pre-fab tag, the genesis of my sewing project yesterday.

Tagless bags
 

Detail around cutout

Finished bag

The tags are far from fancy, but I had fun making them and being creative.  I feel industrious and frugal.  What is the downside to spending the afternoon sewing just for fun?