Valentine cards

Here is Sam's valentine card.  Couple little cars with hearts exhaust. 

Kevins teddy bear with heart balloons.

Toms card a cute couple.

lily

I wanted to show you these pictures of my pretty Lily.
She will come in the bathroom with me when I am getting ready in the morning.
Next thing I know she is up on the new cabinet watching me put on makeup.
She seems to be a girly, girl. 

I love her little points of hair on her ears. 
She has lots of names....silly lily....willy lily...green eyed lady. 
She has beautiful markings and color. 
That's my gal! The only other girl in the house. 

Weigh In Day

We lost none this week and we are thankful we did not gain any.
It was a big weekend with visiting and a baby shower and a birthday and eating out for valentines day.  We watched very carefully and say "just think what we would have eaten had we not been careful". 

We are back on our regular pattern now so check back next week, there should be good news.

Thanks for stopping by!

UPDATE--I was able to pull out a pair of pants from the archives-I don't know how many years it has been since I wore them....possibly 4 or 5.  They are simple black pants so they are not out of date.  Woo Hoo!

Book Review:The Wives Tale by Lori Lansens

This books setting was in Canada about an hour east of Detroit.  What I enjoyed was the mention of the sports team, Tiger and Red Wings that the characters were fans of. 
This book was about a woman who had been married for 25 years.  They were having a little anniversary party get together with their friends and the husband never came home.  The woman was hugely overweight and they had not had an intimate marriage for at least 6 years.  The woman worked part time, had a mother in the nursing home, loved her husband fiercely but had many, many hang-ups and sadness.  She is in her 40's and it is an awakening for her when her husband doesn't come home.  It follows her trail of her search for her husband and herself.  She discovers herself after all those years and realizes what she has been missing. She lost weight because she wasn't hungry anymore, meets new, interesting and very nice people on her trip to California. 
It was an immensely enjoyable book. 

Happy 19th Birthday to our Kevin

Today we celebrated his birthday.  We went to his favorite places...A Japanese Steak house and Gander Mountain.  I like to show the age on the pictures so there is no confusion when we look back years from now. 

He looks quite dashing in his new camo robe.  It's just the right fit. 
We love ya Kev!

Building a 3-D card

I needed to make a sympathy card recently.  One of my favorite flowers is the poppy and this stamp is a Hero Arts Cling.  That means that it clings to an acrylic block. The tricky part to this stamp is getting the background to stamp completely.  I stamped the image 3 times on regular white card stock.

I chose the one that covered the most background then decided the colors.  I have 36 Prismacolor
Watercolor Pencils which I am going to use for this project.  Watercolor pencils just melt and blend so nicely it is unbelievable. Since this is for a woman, I chose mostly pinks for a more subtle effect. 

When I was done coloring I took a #1 round brush and water and blended it in. 

On the other two images I colored in the parts that are going to be 3-D and blended those and let them dry.

I cut the pieces out and put little pieces of two sided foam tape on the back of each piece.  Two or three pieces on the larger ones. 



I applied them to the areas that they match up to.

Here is the finished card.  A light pink base card and then some subtle printed paper and a white border around the image.  I tried black and hot pink but I felt it was too bold for a sympathy card. 
The "with sympathy" stamp is by Stamps by Judith.

Hope you enjoyed and thank you for stopping by!

Tuesday Weigh In

2 1/2 pounds lost

 

 

 

Making a total of 13 pounds. 

 

 

 

Still feel better, my legs are getting thinner because I walk everyday. 

 

 

I am sorry there are no pictures.

 

My computer died and I am breaking in a new one. 

 

 

Tom has lost 16 pounds so far...I can sure see it. 

 

 

Remember at 20 pounds lost, I will post a picture.  

Tuesday Weigh in

One half of a pound this week. 
for a total of 10 1/2 pounds.
Tom lost another pound making his total 12.
We just have to keep plugging along.
It was something...and that's great!
Better than going backwards.

 

 

We feel like the Little Engine that Could.
We keep inching up to the top of the hill and it's a slow go to get to the top so we can go over that hill and be on our way for the next 10 going down.

I think I can....I think I can....I think I can....I KNOW WE CAN!
It will work.
Thanks for checking in.

Tuesday Weigh-In

More Pounds.

That makes 10 total!

My Fitness Pal thought I should revise my daily calorie intake, I feel good about that and went down 200 daily calories.

Tom has lost 11!  It's been fun to do this together for support. 

When we hit 20 we will post before and 20 pounds lost pictures. 

I am amazed at how much better I feel.  I got down on my knees the other day and they did not hurt!  I did not have a pad under them at all. 

I take a water pill for blood pressure and even with that my pressure is usually 123/83.

I took it the other day and it was 111/73.  It hasn't been that low in a long time.

I made a simple chicken noodle soup to take for lunch this week.  I like a tasty broth and this one turned out well.  I baked 3 chicken breasts and tore them apart.  I added 4 cups low sodium, fat free chicken broth.  Two mini onion cubes and 3 chicken bouillon cubes. 4 cups of water and a can of small green peas and 3/4 of a bag of whole wheat noodles.  That's all. Simmer it together for a hour or so. 

This last Sunday we had what we called appetizer Sunday.  The guys helped me make appetizers.

Kevin did Rumaki with chicken breasts instead of chicken livers. Shown two pictures above.
Sam did potato skins with olive oil and seasoned salt. 

Tom did Buffalo Chicken meatballs.
Here he is spooning on the sauce.

Then with our appetizers we sat in front of the t.v. and watched a movie.
Trouble with the Curve-Clint Eastwood and Amy Adams.
It was really good and we had a fun time. 

more organization

My earrings were a jumbled mess inside a box.  I kept picking the same ones over and over because I couldn't find the matching set.  I set out looking for little compartment boxes.  I finally discovered these in the beading section in a craft store.  They are perfect and the compartments can be sized smaller or bigger.
I bought 3, one for gold, one for silver and the other for the colored earrings. 

I think these will work out just fine.  

Bathroom Storage

I had been looking for a cabinet for the bathroom to hold towels and linens and overflow of toiletries.  I found one from the Pottery Barn on sale.  It is so handy and I am really enjoying the organization.  

I also found this neat wicker chair so we can sit and put on our shoes, etc.
It's very comfortable with a nice wide seat and a nice unusual design.  

Tuesday weigh in (on Thursday)

I apologize for being two days late with my update.  I was trying to download a program for a class I am taking this semester (Quickbooks for Entrepreneurs  and it wouldn't work.  After much trial and error, and emailing the company I finally figured it out.  I got error messages that no one could understand.  The bottom line was that I needed to update a few things and after 15 times of trying to load the darn thing....it worked.  I needed to get that taken care of since I had some homework due.  It will be a useful and interesting computer class.

Two is the number for the week.  Two more pounds lost making it a total of eight, which is like losing two four pound bags of sugar! Speaking of sugar, both my husband and I feel so much better by watching that intake.  He has arthritis in his back and I have it in my knees and they don't give us nearly the problems as before.  Sometimes he would have a three day "spell" that he would just have to put heat and ice on his back.  It is so much better now.

I don't have any new recipes.  I tried a couple and they did not get rave reviews from the family.  Personally I thought they were too much work too.  We just eat one small serving, like a cup of meat, 1/2 cup of vegetables, etc.  We measure and document on My Fitness Pal and it works.  Our plates look like what they used to serve in the 50's and 60's till everything was supersized.  I used to think...how do people survive on that amount of food? Now I know it is possible.

I don't have cravings, or sugar drops where I am shaky.  I do get hungry, which is good, then I know I didn't eat too much.

Last night I walked 30 minutes on the treadmill at 3.0 mph.  I walk everyday.  On thursdays I walk to class and back 3 times, which ends up being an hour of walking time.

My goal for next week is 3 pounds...till next time.....

A little thank you

I made some thank you notes on watercolor paper.  The stamp is from Impression Obsession and it is one that the tree needs to be built with different sizes of  branches.  I made 3, I will get them out to the recipients on tuesday.  

Hand Quilting/ Hand Applique/ Hand Embroidery

As I work on this little quilt I am reminded how much I love to hand quilt.  I am not interested in getting this done as quickly as possible.  I really enjoy the feel of a hand quilted quilt in the times of machine quilting.  Machine quilting is so tight and close and somewhat commercial.  I usually leave a bit of myself on each piece, with an accidental prick of my finger with that number nine needle.  While hand quilting, I just think and go inside my brain and hop from one subject to another.  It's enjoyable, it's downtime but still being productive.  I remember reading about one quilt shop owner that said the focus is on hand quilting. I thought how wonderful, that's how I feel also!

I also love hand applique and needlework.  Not applique with the bonding underneath but the real, turn under the and stitch with almost unseen stitches.  It's sturdy and the design will stay put.

Don't get me wrong because it all is beautiful and something to be proud of.  I am a very tactile person and enjoy immensely the feel of the softness, and the time invested and the love put into the whole.
It's just the best.

Week Two-Weigh in Tuesday

The weigh in loss number today.
That makes a total of 6 pounds in two weeks.
My pants are more comfortable already.
I keep documenting it on My Fitness Pal and also walk everyday.

We read that you should:

Eat Breakfast like a King
Eat Lunch like a Queen
Eat Dinner Like A Pauper
So that your body can work on breaking down what you eat during the day.
This works well for me because I need a bigger breakfast.

It usually consists of A Dannon, Lite and Fit Greek Yogurt.  It's just the right consistency, 80 calories, 6 grams of sugar, no fat.
3/4 cup Great Grains cereal
1 cup of 1 percent milk
a banana
1 slice of BrownBerry whole wheat bread, toasted
1 T peanut butter

I want to share two good recipes I found in the Loonyspoons Cookbook this week.

The Way We Stir

Ingredients
(I changed a few from the recipe)

2 tsp. olive oil
1 pound of lean sirloin steak cut into thin strips
1 cup thinly slice red bell pepper
2 cups frozen peas
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup reduced sodium beef broth
2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 Tbsp grated gingerroot
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
4 cups cooked brown Jasmine Rice.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add beef until no longer pink about 4 minutes.  Remove, keep warm.
Add red pepper, peas. and onion powder.
Cook and stir until vegetables are tender crisp 3 to 4 minutes.
Whisk together broth, soy sauce, peanut butter, gingeroot, cornstarch, sesame oil and re pepper flakes.  Add to vegetables along with the beef.  Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and has thickened.
Serve  over hot rice.
.

Slimply Orange Chicken

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can (10 oz) mandarin oranges in lite syrup
2 tbsp honey-dijon mustard
1 tbsp corn starch

Pound the chicken breasts with a rolling pin or meat pounder to make the breasts thinner so they will cook faster.
Heat olive oil in non stick skillet
sprinkle on both sides salt and pepper
Add chicken and cook for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until lightly browned and no long pink in the middle.

Remove and keep warm.

Add mandarin oranges to blender and blend quickly to leave pieces then add to the skillet along with the mustard.
Whisk together the cornstarch and equal amount of water and add to the orange mixture. Cook and stir until mixture is bubbly and thick.
Return chicken to the mixture and Reduce heat to low.  Spoon Sauch over chicken.  Cover and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes until chicken is hot and cooked completely through.

Hope that you like these.
Thanks for stopping by!

Aspen Bedroom

Kevin's natural Aspen bedroom suite was delivered and he and his Dad got it all set up.  It's pretty neat and very sturdy.  The hooks above the bed are some that he made when he tookd the Blacksmithing class.  It it holding his beloved long bow.  It came with two side tables and a dresser.  

His 5 drawer dress and the other side table.  

The squirrel hide that he is proud of.  Also you can see his camo pillow cover, a fitted and flat sheet came along with it.

Till Tomorrow...l.thanks foe stopping by.

Weigh In Week One

I have been wrestling with sharing this personal information with the world,and my weight is never anything that I like to talk about. Many always want to lose weight, especially after the holidays.   It's a month of sugar and food fest and it takes a toll.  It's now time to get it under control and maybe if I share it I will have more of a chance to stick to it. My husband Tom is my partner in this life altering endeavor.  He wants to lose weight also and we can be each others support.

I think that losing weight is one of the hardest things to do and then keeping it off.  A person needs to be in the right frame of mind,  not having a lot of turmoil and stress helps.  It takes alot of planning.  It also takes time and tenacity, to make sure that one gets in some sort of exercise each day.  There are many things out there to help document your daily food consumption. 15 years ago there was the fat free rage.  I documented with paper and pencil everything that I ate, added the figures up and it worked.  But life happened and I eventually went back to my old eating habits and gained the weight back and more. 

I know that food needs to be documented because it makes you think about what you are putting in your mouth.  The fat, salt, sugar, it makes you know when to stop to meet a goal.  I found a great app that is easy and gives you information on the nutritional elements that you need for a healthy body. 

 You can add friends for support and they can see your exercise, your calories and share the recipes. Every time you log something like a recipe it will automatically go to their inbox.  All positive comments.  This app is called My Fitness Pal and it is free.  Like anything, the more you use it the easier it gets because it keeps a list of foods that you search for and use in your journal. 

We have been doing this for a week, since January 1st.  Tuesdays are weigh in days and I am thrilled to say that both of us lost 3 pounds each.  I really like this app because I have a tendency to have low potassium in my body and it tells me how much I have eaten of potassium each day.  I also realized I was not eating enough iron and that could have been a reason why I was tired in the middle of the day along with not getting enough sleep. I am amazed at how fast the sugar allotment gets used up and I can't imagine how much sugar we were eating in December.  I have arthritis and deterioration in my knees and they feel so much better since I have not been eating much sugar.  My knees are another reason to lose weight, they need a break.

As for exercise, I just walk.  It's best for my knees.  I have been walking on the treadmill and watching movies.  The first one was the older version of Ice Castles.  Now I am into the first disc or North and South.  It's been enjoyable and  today I walked 1 1/2 miles.  When classes start next week I will be walking across the campus.  Tom got for me this great pocket pedometer. so I can keep track of my exercise.  It's very accurate and it just stays in your pocket. 

So stop back by on Wednesdays to see how we are doing.  Leave me a message of encouragement, cause I am going to need all the help I can get.

Book Review-The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

I picked this book up a couple of weeks ago. It was published in 2011and was charming and utterly enjoyable.  The Little House books have always been my very favorite books.  I was thrilled when I found out that other people feel the same way and that others had written about the Little House Books.  Sometime last year I had posted a book review on the Little House Sampler after we visited the Little House in the Big Woods in Pepin Wisconsin.  The author, Wendy McClure talks about visiting this town also and I could just picture everything she was describing.  I have always wanted to visit the places where the Ingalls family lived and this book did just that in up to date details.  Her journey took her to the Little House on the Prairie and seeing the Laura and Nellie Pagents, the plays put on about the Little House on the Prarie.  She did research and figured out what happened in real life and the way it was instead of the story that Laura and her daughter Rose made up.  It seems as if the Little Books are fact and fiction.  She went down to Mansfield MO to visit Rocky Ridge where Laura and Almanzo spent most of their married life.  It was worth the time to see it.  She also made it to upstate New York where Almanzo grew up in Malone, New York. It is the original house.  I think one of the best stories though is when she wanted to get the real Ingalls feeling and to go on a homesteading weekend that turned out that most people that went to it were religious zelots waiting for the end of the world to happen so they could ride it out with their self sufficency.  I recomend this book wholeheartedly.

New Recipe-Hearty, Creamy Turkey and Vegetable Chowder

I used a turkey roast that I had already cooked.  A turkey roast is dark and white pieces together.
This recipe I found from the Looneyspoons Collection which are funny cookbooks written by two sisters-Janet and Greta Podleski.  Here is their website.

This was really tasty, easy and good for you.  317 calories per serving, 4 grams of fat, 27 grams of protein.
Here is the recipe as I made it


8 oz. cooked turkey cut into chunks
3 oz. Canadian bacon diced
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. minced garlic
4 cups 99 percent fat free chicken broth
2 cups diced carrots
3 medium sized potatoes peeled and diced
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 can cream style corn
1 cup whole kernel corn
3/4 cup light sour cream

Put all the ingredients except the sour cream in a 3 quart stove top pan and bring to a boil, letting it cook for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat and stir in the sour cream letting it simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. 
Serve hot and enjoy. 

Note-I had some leftover corn and peas mixed together and threw those in for the 1 cup of corn. 





 

Sugar-Sugar

Showing off my new nail color that Nicole, my Nephews girlfriend gave the gals of the group.  It is called Sugar-Sugar and it complemented the triple bracelets that my niece Angie gave to me.  I love this color of red!
 

Nicole also gave a bag of Santatizer.

Clever Stuff...it was a hit.  Thank you Nicole and Angie.