Must Make it to 10,000

Several years ago I walked off my first bout with baby weight using the 10,000 step program.  You wear a pedometer that counts how many steps you take and ideally it should read 10,000 at the end of the day.  The first day was an eye opener for me as I would have told you that I was "active" considering I had a baby and we lived in a large two story house.  At the end of the first day it read 3,000.  Which is called "sedentary".  What an awful word.  So I began wearing the pedometer at all times.  Even going to the trouble of clipping it onto my underwear for a night time potty break and stepping in place whilst brushing my teeth.  At the end of the day if I hadn't reached the magic number I would head out and not come home until it did.  The weight did come off.  I also found that listening to a story on my MP3 player helped make the time go by as sometimes it would take an hour. 

I have gone through several pedometers since then.  If you would like to do this program you MUST invest in a quality pedometer.  My latest and favorite one is by Omron and is available at Amazon.com for $27.50.  It is digital so the counting mechanism never gets stuck and stops counting.  There's nothing worse than to discover it's not been counting for half your day.  My Omron hasn't disappointed me yet! 

I never posted what I purchased at yard sales last weekend!  I bought this beautiful scarf for .50.  And the jewelry I paid less than $3 all together.  Assorted colored zippers are in the bag for some future projects.  My big find of the day is something that has been on my list for over a year, a chandelier for my bedroom.  I wanted one dripping with crystals and I got it for $30!  It's even gaudier than I had hoped for!  It's currently in a box in pieces waiting for the weather to cool down.  I don't think we could live without our ceiling fan.

Here's a photo of the smaller version from Lowe's.  Mine has 10 arms!  It was originally $259!  I just love yard sales, sigh.  I must admit that I did have a twinge of "buyer's remorse" as we found this at our very first sale of the day and it was just about all the cash I had on me.  I was worried about the shiny brass between the crystals but I'm over it!

  Now I'm looking for an attractive floor fan.

Same Dress Tuesdays

You may have noticed that I haven't been posting as much lately.  It is due to my on going quest for weight loss.  I joined Weight Watcher's several weeks ago and have immersed myself into counting points, edamame, fiber, water, and walking.  Not very exciting to read about and all very time consuming.
I go to my Weight Watcher's meeting each week in the same dress so I can get an accurate reading on the scale.  What's funny is I don't care for this dress as it's not particularly flattering.  I picked it because it was the lightest item in my closet.  I feel weird wearing the same thing week after week so I try to change it up a bit, but really who am I kidding.
Our leader shared a story about a woman who lost 80 pounds but stubbornly wore the same striped shirt and khaki pant each week.  In fact she ran into this woman at a church event but didn't recognize her out of her striped weight watcher uniform.  I haven't made up my mind if this story is inspirational or not.

Here are some photos of the past few weeks. 

Am I really this busty?!  They look bigger than my head.

Uhhmmm, not really loving this look as it makes me look enormous.

You may catch me after these meetings at Hobby Lobby or Publix with my dear friend Cyndi who courageously attends wearing whatever she wants. 

Funny Site

If you receive Pottery Barn's catalog on a regular basis you will recognize many of the photos shared on this site, Catalog Living.  The woman behind it has created fictional character's that live in the photos and what they may be saying to each other.  These are two of my favorites:

Elaine wasn’t about to let some hot flashes get in the way of balancing the checkbook with the abacus.

Gary, I just can’t believe that after months of research that’s the chair you chose.

Saturday's Finds

We've had much better yard sale times than this past weekend but I did find some things on my list.  I was looking for some clothing items to be "upcycled" into some cute pants for Charlie.  If you have a boy you know how difficult it is to find cute outfits at times.  I have found church clothes to be the most elusive unless it's the holiday season. 
I found a pair of corduroy pants, a waffle weave long-sleeved shirt, and plaid shorts all for $2.
We also found ourselves at what was advertised as a "gigantic flea market".  It wasn't, but we did have a great time digging through this gigantic mound of jewelry placed into tiny bags.  I unearthed an owl necklace, an Uncle Sam pin with rhinestones, and shoe clips.  Ginger found a vintage fruit necklace that I had to have, all for $4.

Our hunt for a bargain lead us to a couple of thrift shops where I found another round mirror for my collection, it wasn't in great shape but it was only $2.  The frame is plastic and has a bit of damage but it's not terribly noticeable.  It's the big one hung behind the lamp.

Last week I picked up another round mirror on clearance at Hobby Lobby for $2.  It needs some paint to fit into my theme.

Don't Scream

"Don't start screaming", that's what I tell myself when I go into Katherine's room lately.  She spent the night with my mother so I was able to get in there and work on throwing out and getting rid of junk without her hampering any progress.  It's really not her fault.  Evidently, I have not given her the organizational tools she needs to keep things tidy.  She owns way too much stuff purchased mainly by me. 

Here's a view into the closet.

I think overstuffed drawers irritate me the most. 

I ended up with 1 full bag of trash, two bags for Good Will, and several bags to be consigned.  There was also quite a bit of dirty laundry lurking in dark corners.  Next is on my list is the baby's room.

Last Week's Bargains

My thrifting buddy, Ginger, and I went thrifting last week.  First it was to the Habitat for Humanity Resale shop. We managed to find a handful of items but were forced to put down our goods due to an extremely s....l....o....w cashier and no air conditioner.  I don't see us going back there anytime soon.

Our next stop was to the Goodwill in the same part of town.  We both found some clothing items but the best part was Ginger losing her cool with the cashier.  The cashier chose unwisely to stop her transaction and have a lengthy conversation with another employee who strolled up after we had already waited.  Ginger received many an apology after she made it clear how rude the cashier had been for making us wait.

Our shopping ended at Faith Rescue Mission where Ginger found me an adorable metal airplane for Charlie's room. 

Here's what I came home with: a dress shirt for Charlie, a sweater, blouse, and hoodie for me, and the metal airplane.  I spent $12, not the best prices compared to yard sales but I got out of the house for an afternoon with a friend.

Chuck and I went to some yard sales this past weekend while we were out of town.  It wasn't good.  I found this red votive and vintage Christmas balls for 50 cents.  That's it. Hopefully this Saturday will be more satisfying. 

Another Thrifty Birthday Gift

We needed another birthday gift for a little girl last weekend so I made another necklace.  I purchased a bag of colored ball chain necklaces from Hobby Lobby several months ago.  They might come to $1 a piece after using a coupon.  Then I add a Scrabble tile with her initial and a thrifted charm.  It's so cute and personal.  I hope the birthday girl loves it.  I'm always on the look out for super cheap jewelry at yard sales that I can rip apart and make into something new. 

Rhinestones To A Picnic

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to wear my rhinestone Americana pins to Chuck's family reunion.  It's not really fair to call the collection "mine" as most of them belong to my grandmother.  In fact she inspired me to begin my own but it's been slow going finding them so I had to borrow hers. I sprinkled them all over this red jacket that I picked up at a thrift store.  I'm loving it. 

4th Of July Photo Surprise

We've been going to our local town's fireworks show for a few years now.  This time we were asked by some local radio dj's, J.T. and LeeAnn from Mix 103, for our picture.  How flattering!  I think it was that festive headband of mine that invited attention.  Here we are on their website...http://www.mix103.com/photos/?album_id=26.

Funny Twilight Video

I saw this video last week on some other blog and I've been singing the tune ever since.  It must be passed along.

Monet Anyone?

One of my favorite classes in college was Art Appreciation.  I also had a class for teaching art to children, great fun!  Anyway, I've been patiently waiting for our oldest child to be able to do some fun things with art.  Last week we tried an exercise from ArtProjectsForKids.  It was creating your own water lily garden inspired by the artist Monet.
I was telling my husband that the results were not what I expected because I had purposely not shown her Monet's original because I wanted her to use her own imagination. His answer "Well we can't have a copy of Monet can we?!"

Lesson learned.

Cheap crafts for a crowd

I work with the children at my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), we call it Primary.  We have anywhere between 70-85 children who come on a regular basis.  This can be a challenge when you need an affordable craft for Mother's Day and Father's Day etc.  It is also a challenge to have a craft appropriate for children ages 4-11.

This year for Mother's Day I used an idea from one of my favorite blogs, HowAboutOrange.  Here's the finished product made by my daughter to me:

Instead of having the children fold the paper into fans for the medallion we used flattened muffin liners.  This cut down on the time required.  I used a giant round paper punch (purchased at a yard sale for $1!) for the centers.  We already had colored paper and glue sticks in the closet.  All I had to buy were straight pins and muffin liners for a total of about $5.00!

How to top that for Father's Day?!  I searched on line and found something right away at ArtProjectsforKids.  This project uses thin cardboard boxes from the pantry like cracker, cereal, and pasta boxes to make covers for mini books.  We already had plenty of staples, staplers, and paper so no money was spent!  Once the books were made, the children drew pictures and made notes to their dads.  I think it went well.