Pumpkin Carving

I originally wasn't going to carve a pumpkin with Kendall because when my sister came to visit she had brought some of hers from her garden for Kendall to paint. Well Sunday night for some reason Kendall was having a REALLY hard time going to sleep. It was stormy outside and really windy and i think the sounds were scaring her. So in one of my attempts to get her to fall asleep I was laying in her bed with her when she asked if we could carve a jack-o-lantern.

It was really hard to resist the sad, scared face of a toddler. So I gave in and said yes.

We cut out gym time short on Monday so we could make it home early enough to be able to fit carving a pumpkin into our evening schedule.

This is the only picture i got of her doing any work. One touch of the pumpkin guts and she was disgusted and didn't want anything to do with it.

I ended up doing all the work. She took my phone and walked around and took pictures and when she got bored with that she went in the other room to play games on the Kindle.

I am not a huge fan of pumpkin carving, it's a lot of work. She did tell me though once it was finished and had a candle in it that it looked "pretty neat" so i guess she is impressed with my carving skills. Thank goodness it only comes around 1 time a year. I think i would rather bake Christmas cookies with her instead.

Happy Hump Day!

Dedication

This will totally be me after tonight's workout. Last night i had to cut it short because i needed extra time at home for Kendall and I to be able to carve a pumpkin. As it turns out though she isn't so much into carving pumpkins and i ended up doing most of it as she walked around with my phone and took a lot of random pictures of the floor. More on that tomorrow.

As of today, i have lost 3 more lbs for a grand total of 13 lbs lost since February when i started the zumba challenge. I am glad i set a goal for myself. And it goes to show that clean eating is really the way to go for everyday eating. 

My Fitness Pal is still telling me that i am not eating enough but other then adding an insane amount of veggies into my diet i am not sure what else to eat. I do get hungry at times but it's mostly before meals. There has been zero snacking before bedtime and a lot of that probably has to do with the fact that i am so busy crocheting to get up and go find a snack. Plus i haven't had that hungry urge to snack so when it prompts me to eat more at the end of the day i just kind of brush it off and don't worry about it. 

It is amazing the difference 3 lbs makes. Well and the fact that i cut out almost all carbs. My clothes fit better, i don't have the wonderful tummy pooch and over all my body just feels good because it isn't weighed down with the heavy starchy foods. I will admit i have tried lots of pills to help aid with my diet and i have yet to find one that actually works. My journey this year has gone to prove to me personally that putting in the work at the gym and the extra time it takes to cook a clean meal is more then worth it to me. Now if only i could get my 2 year old to not be so picky and want to eat the good stuff too :)

Weekend review

We had a fairly busy weekend. I was planning on going on going to Missoula to buy yarn only and then spend all weekend crocheting to try and get most of my orders complete. Well only part of that happened. When i got to Jason's Friday after work. He told me that a friend couldn't use their tickets to go to the Griz football game this weekend and he gave them to him. So immediately i had to try and find a babysitter. My mom ended up watching Kendall for us since we were planning on going to Missoula with her we just changed our plans.

Early Saturday morning Jason and I headed up to the game to meet some friends at the tailgates. It was the perfect day for football. The weather was a little cool but not freezing.

We had a really good time at the game but I told him when the game was over we had to go yarn shopping. There was no way we were driving all the way up there and not making the trip to Michael's to buy yarn. 

I bought so much yarn. The plus side is I have orders for everything i bought so it all evens out. I am hoping that sometime this week i will have a chance to make a few more varieties of hats to show people what i am able to do. 

This Packers beanie is just completely wrong. We are Bears fans, but i wasn't going to pass up a sale because of our football preference. Since I have plenty of yarn left over i plan on making one for my little tiny nephew who is yet to be born since my older sister and her husband are HUGE Packers fans. As soon as i get some orange yarn i am going to have to make her a Bears beanie.

I have to make Kendall try on most of the hats for kids i am making them for that are around her age so i know i made the right size. Of course it was hard to pass up to opportunity to take a picture of her in a Packers hat. Her dad sure loved that but at least she is making a funny face.

 Do you like her outfit? She dressed herself, Tinkerbell pajama pants and a polka dot turtle neck with miss-matched socks and her black boots. She was pretty proud of herself so we let her wear it.

Balance

I made this owl beanie last night. We are our own worst critics and i truly believe that. The hat shell turned out great. I am not satisfied with the ears so i am going to try and make a few different options and i think the eyes need to be a little bit bigger. I already have an order for a girls version of this in pink and brown and i will probably do the accents in purple.

I am so happy that people are wanting them, that was the whole idea behind REALLY getting into the crocheting. What I didn't realize though is how little extra time i do have in a day. I am only able to make about 1 item a day whether it is a hat or a scarf. I leave the house at 7:30 in the morning and don't get home until around 6 in the evening when I have to do dinner stuff and get Kendall ready for bed. Once that is all done usually around 7:30pm is when i get to sit down and get to work on whatever i need to make that night.

I am sure eventually i will find a balance and figure out a way that works best for me without having to stay up until the morning to get each project done. This weekend I am making another bulk yarn shopping trip so i can get enough to fulfill the orders i have got in the last 2 days just from posting the couple pictures i have. I am going to try and make a few stock owl hats so i can have a little stock built up. 

I love the colors of yarn i bought and i am going to be able to come up with some really good combinations to make for boys and girls.

Next on the agenda is to get some boot cuffs and arm warmers made :)

Busy Bee!

Last night i made this infinite scarf. We have a local page on Facebook that is a yard sale page and a girl was looking for a scarf so to promote myself i told her i could make it and have it done by today. So last night after i got Kendall ready for bed (we had a pooping incident in the bathtub, it was disgusting and i think it even caught her by surprise, it has never happened before even when she was a baby), anyways after she was ready for bed, i started crocheting and about 2 and a half hours later i was finished. 

I have crocheted for long periods of time before and i don't know if it was a combination of my arms being sore from working out but by the time i was finished with the thing my arms were like jello.

It turned out really good, i am pleased with it and i hope she really likes it. I am most likely going to have to make a return trip to Missoula in the very near future to get more yarn because i have to make 4 more scarfs and 2 more beanies by next month. We do have a yarn store here in town but it is so much more expensive per skein and there isn't as many color/material options.

Lastly here is this little gem, she was so excited about the hat that she had to show everyone we saw. It is a little too big on her and i had to pull it down to right above her eyes so that you could see the ears and bow but she loves it.

Happy Hump Day, the week is half over!

Hat Success

Over the past couple of days I have been working on this hat. I had a little bit of a hard time with it. Sunday i made the body of the hat and on Monday i made the ears and bow. 

Sewing the ears on proved to be rather tricky getting them to line up just right. I think they could be a little bigger but at the same time they cant be too big or they wont stand up and i ended up sewing them a little farther back then they are supposed to be. In the end it did work out because i sewed the bow on right into the center of the hat and did a little stitch on each side to hold the bow to the ears. Because the bow is right in the middle and the ears are attached to it, it helps them stay upright. 

This is going to go with Kendall's Halloween costume. She wanted to be Minnie Mouse and since its not exactly going to be warm out when we go trick-or-treating i thought this would be a nice way to keep her head warm but still tie into her costume. I am really excited to give it to her and let her wear it around. Kendall has a friend who is also obsessed with Minnie so i am going to make her one too. 

From what i am finding out the first time i make each hat is the hardest and the second one seems to turn out much better once i know what i do and don't like about the instructions on the pattern.

I am getting better at it. I have a few more I have a few more styles i want to practice. I did get my first "order" I am not making any money off of it but one of the guys at work gave me money for the materials and I am going to make matching camo beanies for his sons.

On a side note, day 1 back on the diet was pretty easy and i am feeling really confident about it. My Fitness Pal said i didn't eat enough so i am going to have to get some veggies to keep on hand to munch on. 

Back at it...again!

Whenever I have a day where I am feeling unmotivated and don't want to go to the gym i look at this picture and tell myself to quit making excuses and just go. 

Yet again getting back on the bandwagon! I have been seriously slacking in the gym and healthy eating department. After almost taking the whole summer off from healthy eating cause we were so busy is really making it hard to get back into it. I have started using My Fitness Pal again and am keeping track of everything i eat and all my exercise.

I still have 10 lbs to go to get to my goal and these are going to be the hardest 10 lbs to get rid of. I am giving myself until Thanksgiving to do it, which means i am seriously going to have to commit myself and not give in to the temptation of the pineapple cupcakes and Halloween candy someone brought into work today. I have come to the realization that if i don't set the goal then i wont be able to accomplish what i want.

This is the first time in quite a while where i will be able to go to the gym more then 2 or 3 days a week. I am going to try to go Mon-Thurs and then (hopefully) take the yoga class they offer on Saturday mornings.

I am determined to get to where i want to be and will work as hard as i have to, to get there. 

***As a side note, my hats are coming along good. I still need to practice some things more but i found a couple patterns that i really like and will be able to mold them into how i want them to look. More pics to come as soon as i get a few decent ones made up.

Happy Monday!

Holy Smokes it's working again

I bet you thought i dropped off the face of the earth. Well after weeks (probably more like months) my computer is working. Don't know why it decided to all of a sudden but it is. SOOOO much has been going on i don't know where to start.

We still don't have the house, thank you Govt shutdown (not really). I am hoping now that they are back open they will get their act together and sign off on the paperwork. Jason had to move out of his house and is currently living with a friend who had a couple extra bedrooms to spare. 

We had my sisters baby shower and it was fabulous. We surprised her with her best friend coming in from Texas to be there for it. 

Here is a little project i did for Kendall's bedroom. I desperately needed to get the changing table out of their since we didn't use it anymore other then for storage.

Before...

After

It turned out really well and i am proud of my self. I am going to put a little lamp on it and she has some books stored on it. The changing table still is in her room, mainly because i needed it to store pull ups on and her shoes are on it also. But we took the pad off of it and it looks more like a shelf now.

I am going to start a new project/hobby hopefully this weekend. I love to crochet. My Grandma taught me years ago and i have always kept up with it but never really learned a lot other then the basics. I just finished a blanket for Kendall but am now going to expand my knowledge and I would like to be able to make (and hopefully sell) the little animal beanies you see that are just so adorable. I have been making some hand warmers and leg warmers for my sister but so far all it has been is experimenting and i am hoping to get better at it. This weekend I am making the trek to Missoula to stock up on yarn and i am going to practice, practice, practice until i get it right.

That's  what is currently going on and now that blogspot is working for me again i am going to be a crazy posting person :) Happy Thursday Friends, it feels good to be back.