Planning my Menu's, Wedding Shopping and Whatever Else the Kids Have Planned For Me

I'm trying to plan a few things to make so I'll have healthy foods

 ready to eat when I'm busy this week

 or just to lazy to chop, dice and cook.

 

I'm thinking about making

 Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken

from Pip & Ebby's blog tonight for dinner.

  I think everyone will like that.

 

Pip & Ebby's photo

 

I'm also thinking about making

Grilled Chicken with Crunchy Asian Slaw

from Clinton Kelly's recipes on The Chew.

I'm pretty sure at least Earl and I will like it.

 

I'm also thinking about

The Garden Grazers

Spinach + Tomato Quesadilla with Pesto.

These look so yummy and

I can substitute ingredients to make my own little yummy creations!

 

The Garden Grazers Phot

 

I've also got to go shopping and get me a few things

to help me look decent for my son Jesse's wedding tomorrow.

Ezie needs some pants and shoes also so thrifting we will go and then

 to Wal-mart for what I can't find at the thrift stores.

 

High School Football tonight?? 

Maybe....we have to see what kind of a mood Mal is in.

 

 



Day 1 and Day 2 of Eating Right

I did really well if I may say so myself!

Day 1 I stayed under 1500 calories

and even had a beer.

Day 2 I was under 1200 calories.

 

I ate lots of veggies, some fruits, lean meat and good grains.

I wrote everything down and added up the Carbs, Proteins, Fats and Calories that I ate to keep a good proportion of everything.

 

Actually I feel like I'm eating more than I usually do.

The only thing I hate about doing this is all the planning and journaling everything,

but,

I know it will be worth it in the end.

 

Tonight I'm making Spinach Lasagna Roll-ups for dinner.

I found the recipe on Pinterest and the actual recipe is from

Gal on a Mission....to make the BEST recipes loved by all

(I borrowed her photo also)

 

 

http://www.galonamission.com/spinach-lasagna-roll-ups/

 

I doubled the recipe and made 35 out of the lasagna noodles for the family

and then I had 2 portabella mushrooms.

 that I put a serving of the cheese mixture in for me.

I added some garlic powder, pepper and oregano to the cheese mixture too

 because we like things spiced up around here.

 

They were so yummy easy to make!

 

Okay, Here We Go! The Beginning of Losing the Other Half of Me!

Today is my 54th Birthday!

 

I would never have imagined that at 54 or any other age

I would be fat...and definitely not 100lbs overweight.

 

I can remember at 95lbs. feeling so fat. 

 I'm only 4'9" so that was really my target weight.

Even at my due dates with my pregnancies I was only 119lbs.

After I had my 4th son I did get up to 110lbs

 and then when I was 29 I blew up and weighed 136lbs.

 

For my 30th Birthday I worked hard and lost 40lbs in 6 months.

Yay for me!

I felt so good and was really fit.

A few years and pregnancies later up when the weight again.

As time went on more weight came and I became double my size.

A couple of months ago I was at 210lbs. and now I am at 205lbs.

so my goal is to loose 100lbs by my 55th birthday.

 

I am so embarrassed and humiliated by my weight gain and try not to leave the apartment. 

My son is getting married on Saturday and I am going to look like a hippo.

I don't even want to go to the wedding and for people to see me,

but it is an important day for my son and honestly the day isn't about me.

I wish I had gotten motivated sooner,

but better late than never I guess.

 

So I decided that I will blog about my weight loss journey

and completely put myself out in the world for everyone to see....

mainly so I can't back out and secondly because if I don't have someone to answer to I won't follow through.

 

Me at 30 at 95lbs.

 

Me at 40 around 120lbs

I remember feeling so fat this day and so embarrassed to go to church for Lexie's First Communion.

 

 Me right before I turned 50.

 

 

 



Me at 51 at Lexie's wedding.

I was right around 200lbs.

 

 

NOW SOME OF THESE PICTURES MIGHT BE DISTURBING!!

They are very disturbing to me

but I said I was going to be completely forthcoming.

 

So here are my before shots taken this morning and my measurements.

 

 

 

Bust:  49"

Waist:  45"

Hips:  50"

Thighs:  27"

Calves:  17"

 

I can't believe I am posting these photos.

I hope and pray that next year at this time

I can take a photo's of half of me!

 

A Super Easy, Super $$ Saver Idea

If any of you are like me

I LOVE Pinterest!

 

I find so many useful ideas and wonderful patterns on Pinterest

 and so I wanted to share on of my favorites

for any of you who sew.

 

 

I go through a ton of thread.

 I usually use white thread on everything and it can get expensive.

I buy my thread at Wal-mart and it's around $2.87 a spool.

 

Well thank you to Angie Padilla I am saving a ton of money by

buying the cones of thread for a price even cheaper than one spool of thread.

The cones are equivalent to about 6 or more spools of regular thread.

 

I fixed mine a little different than Angie did,

 but using the same basic ideas.

 

 

 

Thank you Angie for the wonderful,

economical, easy idea that makes sewing so much more enjoyable!

Why is Communicating With Your Family So Hard?

 

 

I always thought growing up that my family was really close.

I loved that feeling.

After I got married and started growing up

 I realized how much my family was only close on the surface.

I don't think that we ever really learned to communicate how we honestly felt about personal matters or anything controversial.

I always did and still do feel very intimidated by my mom and most of my siblings.

I feel like my opinion doesn't matter and that I am less than,

BUT

I have never told any of them how I feel,

I am 53 years old and have been letting this anger build up in me for years.

I have so much anger and I hate it.

So Why is it so hard to talk to them?

I was the same way with my ex-husband until I finally just blew up and had such a hatred for him that I couldn't stand the sight of him. 

 (We're better now since we've been divorced and are just friends)

That's not what my intention is with my family.

 

 

Now the lack of communication and the build of anger has been passed down to another generation.

Myself,  Earl, my kids and their spouses,

in my opinion have a problem communicating.

In my opinion we get irritated with someone and we gossip about it and keep building up the anger until one of us explodes.

I hate this so much!!

 

I want to learn how to start fixing my communication problem

with my immediate and extended family. 

 

I admit I am scared to death to do this and don't know how to even go about it.

 

I found the following insert today from the book

Live Inspired Now-A Field Guide to Happiness by Heather Paris

and I am going to follow up on reading the book so I can try to communicate my feelings better with my family so I can not be so angry and stressed out.

 

Wish me luck! 

 

"Have you ever felt really angry, frustrated, or irritated and then you ended up lashing out at people because of it? There is a way to have those feelings without causing so much damage and it is really simple. Learn to explain your non-positive feelings instead of expressing them!

Explaining how you feel (in a calm tone) rather than expressing yourself (using elevated tones and body language) makes it more likely that other people will listen and actually hear what you say. How many times have you said something in anger and the other person heard it in a way that was much worse than you intended? Your voice tone and body language are far more influential than the actual words you are saying.

You might yell "I am so irritated by you, why don't you ever put the lid back on the toothpaste when you're done?" But what the other person hears is "I hate you, you never do anything right!" It sounds crazy now as you read it, but this is so common! I hear from couples all the time about this. They hear the intention in the voice tone rather than the actual words and it causes bigger problems.

If you choose to explain your non-positive feelings, in a more calm manner, you can get your point across with a better chance of avoiding miscommunications. Try talking about your feelings instead of yelling, screaming, or judging and see how your communication changes! Feel free to express joy, elation, curiosity, and other happy emotions but explain the rest!"

Jesse's 6th Birthday Party!

My grandson Jesse turned 6 on Friday

and so we went to Chuckie Cheese yesterday to celebrate.

 

Here's the birthday boy!

 

and here's some of the guests

 

 Ezie (he used to LOVE Barney) and my grandsons Mason and Trenton

 

 My grandsons Jesse and Jordan and my Jace

 

 Jace

 

and Jesse with his Rainbow fish pillow that I crocheted for him.

 

and another photo of the fish.

 

Happy Birthday Jesse!!!



My First Attempt at a "Snippet" Sampler

I'm trying to think of something to make for my

granddaughter Vivianna for her upcoming 17th birthday.

 

I can't think of anything and then I thought of a sampler.

I call this a "Snippet" Sampler.

It's little snips of lace, ribbon, papers, felt and fabric.

I added some buttons, a washer and some charms.

 

 

I put all my "snippets" on 1 1/2 inch muslin squares with felt on the inside.

I still need to sew it onto something.

I think it's nice.....

but I'm not sure if my granddaughter will like it????

Here's hoping!



My Balcony Garden

Living on the third floor of an apartment building

 is nice for the view....

and that's about it!

 

We love fresh veggies, flowers and gardening

so living on the third floor isn't going to stop us.

 

Here's my garden after transplanting my sprouts.

 

 On this privacy lattice I have Morning Glories

that are beginning to go crazy

looping and spreading. 

I also have some spearmint and rosemary on the door.

 

 On this side of the balcony I have 3 different kinds of tomato plants, marigolds,  

sweet peppers, basil and rose moss.

 

 Over here we have Jace's cabbage plant that the school gave him, chives, snow peas

and more of everything else.

 

Finally I have more tomato plants, sweet and hot peppers.

 

The tomato plants smell so good. 

 Just those little plants leaves have the most wonderful scent of summer and fresh tomatoes.

 

Pure Joy and Happiness! 



Viv's Jr. Prom

My second oldest granddaughter went to her Jr. Prom on Saturday.

I can't believe that she's that old already.

I remember when her mom and dad went to their Sr. Prom.

 

Anyway,

here are some pictures of my beautiful granddaughter.

 

 

and here's a picture of her with her sister and brother, Liv and Jesse.

 

 

and then Fatima, Vivianna, Jesse and little Jesse

 

 

I think Jesse and Fatima have 3 great kids!!



I'm Advertising!

Earl wanted me to get some kind of a sign for the van

to advertise my Etsy Shop so hopefully I can get some local shoppers.

 

So....

Here is my first window sticker!

 

There is some glare from the hazy day

but here is Earl applying my sticker.

 

I love it!

I hope I can get some sales from it and not embarrass Earl and the kids to much!



A Wedding is in Our Family's Future!!

My son Jesse and daughter-in-law Fatima

are officially getting married in Sept.!!

 

Jesse and Fatima have been together for 19 years and have 3 kiddo's.

 

I went to watch her try on dresses,

with not much success,

but I was entertained by my 5 year old grandson Jesse.

 

 

 

Jesse is so darned cute!

He just kept giggling and giggling.

Jesse wants me to wear a rainbow wig, a rainbow dress

a red nose and paint my face white for the wedding.

That would be funny huh?!?!?

 

I also caught him peaking up a maniquins dress.

Hee!  Hee!

 

I had fun with the grandkids and I can't wait to see which dress Fatima picks!!

Baseball with Jace and Matchbox Gifts

I LOVE watching the kids play sports and it's now

Baseball season with Jace!

 

Jace is on a knew team this year and his coach is letting him try out different positions.

I am really happy with this and Jace is having a lot more fun than being stuck in outfield all season.

 

 

Our little friend Amber and my Mallory at the game.

 

 

Between ball practice and games

I've been making some matchboxes

 

 

 

The top matchbox I decorated like a little suitcase for one of my neighbors.

His sister-in-law is going to Germany this week

and he thought this would make a cute going away gift.

 

The other one is 1 of 3 that I made for Mother's Day Gifts.

 

So cute and fun to make!

 



I Love Ruffles for Little Girls!

I've been working on some skirts and pillowcase style dresses for my grand daughters, for my shop and for my new blog for families in need, Sew....This is My Gift to You.

 

I really like ruffles and think little girls look so cute in them....

so I've been making lots of ruffles.

 

Here are photos of the things I've made this last week.

 

 

 Same skirt just the hat is reversed

 

 

These are kinda my trial outfits for sizing and once I try them on the g.irls I will be making more



A Little Monkey for A Little Monkey!.....and Catch Up!

Happy 4th Birthday Owen!!

My grandson Owen is so cute and expressive in his facial gestures.

Mallory picked out a crocheted monkey for me to make for his birthday.

 

I haven't posted for awhile so you won't know this,

I don't really believe in New Years Resolutions,

but I went on and made one this year.

I would make and have them done on time,

homemade gifts for each of my 14 grandkids birthdays this year.

 

I've got 4 down and 10 more to go for the year. 

 

 

Here's what I made for Owen

A Monkey for A Little Monkey!

I bought the pattern on Etsy from Luvly-Gurumi's shop.

The pattern was easy to make and great instructions. 

 



 

I also made Owen a little car case.

I updated this version with 2 roads.

I learned a few things from making the first one and so this one was a little easier to make.

 

 

and now here's Owen 

 Happy Birthday Owen!

 

 

 

....and Catch Up!

 

In January we had 3 grandkids with birthdays.

The second set of  twins, Leigha and Liam turned 5.

I had fun with Liam's toy.  Making it and playing with it in the process.

 

So first is Leigha's cupcakes.  I crocheted her a set of 6 yummy cupcakes.

I just went with the flow and designed my own cupcakes.

I think they turned out pretty darn cute! 

 

 

and a cupcake purse for Leigha's goodies. 

 

 

and the Birthday girl. 

 

 

 

and now for Liam's alligator. 

 

My grandma had made my older kids some animals when they were little

and I found the pamphlet on Etsy.  It is an Aunt Lydia's pamphlet.

The alligator is pretty much completely made of granny squares

....which I altered a little bit to my liking.

 

 

and here's Liam with his brother Austin playing with his alligator.

Hee!  Hee! 

 

 

 

Next we had Chad, Jr.s birthday.

Chad also turned 6 this year.

I made Chad a Minion and a little evil minion. 

 

I bought the pattern from Aradiya Toys on Etsy.

The evil minion I used part of her pattern and my own thing for part of it.

 

 

and here's Chad, Jr.

 

Enjoy Chad!!

 

 

Finally, I can't leave out my Jace who also had a birthday in January.

Jace turned 9 and he is a Pokémon Trainer now.

So I crocheted him so Pokémon Balls by just playing around

and looking at pictures of the balls online. 

and Jace opening a gift. 



 

 

I hope all the grandkids enjoy their gifts from Nana

and Jace from his Mama.