Happy Weekend!

Even though it's over :)  I'm thrilled because I got everything on my chore list done!  I rarely say that.  Like, ever.  Then I got more done.  AND I even had me time today!

Because I had me time I decided to work on my Dad's MSU quilt.  Technically, that was on my list too, but I count it as "me" time because it's sewing :)

See the mess I made?  It was fabulous.  I'm going to get back to it shortly, but I thought I'd share my world with you!

I cleaned that aquarium this weekend too!  My fish are much happier..

Wanna see what else I did?

 

Our fantastic sea world bathroom has been transformed into one that anyone can use!  And by anyone, I mostly mean adults.  And by that, I really mean no one since we rarely have stay-over visitors.  I fixed the hole under the window, painted it tan, and added a towel ring.  Then I had to clean it.  Ugh.

 

 

 Do you remember the horrible pink room?  Probably not, I don't know if I've ever actually told you about it... but you can see it here.  Well now it's yellow!  We had extra paint from our master, and because it came out waaaaaaay to bright yellow we mixed it with white to tone it down.  It gave us a lot of leftovers.  So I fixed the hole in this room, then painted everything.  The ceiling, walls, closet (which was also pink...) baseboards, trim, and doors.  I was so tired of painting.  Then I assembled a bed out of the bunk beds my parents brought over a couple weekends ago with the assistance of a ladder.  Richard was home but he was working, as usual, so instead of bothering him I propped up one support on a ladder so I could bolt it to the headboard.  Then I had to get a mini scaffold we had to hold up that side while I bolted the other one with the ladder technique.  I was pretty stoked about my ingenuity.  And that Richard had no idea what in the world I was doing up there.  He is pretty proud of what I got done!  We don't have any twin stuff so I bought some sheets at target and ordered a mattress pad and comforter today from kohls.  I'd like to make a quilt for it.... someday...

I also de-strawberried my flowerbed.  I planted 2 strawberry plants from a co-worker last year and they literally took over everything.  See the bigger flower bed?  Every bare patch was covered with strawberries.  I transplanted a lot of them to this little area between our air conditioner and our patio.  I'm hoping they are going to be quarantined there, but who knows.  They have a mind of their own.  There are still some remaining strawberry plants in the flowers because I found the praying mantis again and I didn't want to disturb it too much.  I think he/she liked my forest of strawberries.

I also made raspberry jam and sauce this weekend!  I haven't tried it yet, but it smelled delicious :)  Next weekend I'm going to can applesauce!

Anyways!  Back to sewing.  I think next weekend I'm going to lay out my quilt again to see the progress.  Stacks of blocks just don't o it for me :)  I'll show you if I'm as productive next weekend as I was this weekend!

Have a lovely week!

Tula Pink? You know you want some!

Mama Spark is hosting a Tula Pink fabric swap that I'm going to play along in.  28 people swapping 28, 10" squares- and there are plenty of openings if you want some Tula Pink variety in your life.  I'm using Little Bits from The Birds & The Bees.

cute, right?

I also bought some coordinating fabric from this line, just in case there are not too many.  Better to hedge my bets I thought- plus it got me to free shipping and more is better than less :)

If you like Tula Pink, play with us!  You need 2 yards for 28 10" blocks and the deadline is Oct 31.  You can find all of the information about it here.  Check under "Sign up for the swap" under discussions, review the rules and if it sounds good to you use the handy-dandy form to sign up.  Mama Spark will post your name in the list.  Review the fabrics, pick one and post a photo of it!

I'm excited to see what lines pop up!

Hope you're having a lovely afternoon!!

Lifestyle change!

A while back I decided it was time for a lifestyle change since I was tired of being out of shape, and let's face it- diets don't work.  Like everyone else, I had been steadily gaining weight since college and when I saw my weight on the scale this summer I was mortified.  Hence, lifestyle change. 

I got this app on my phone called MyFitnessPal which allowed me to set a weight loss goal, track my foods, and input my exercises.  I used it more as a learning tool to see what I was actually eating and how much activity I was getting a day.  Brutal.  I logged my foods for about 3 weeks until I was learning what I should be eating and how much I should be running.  So far I've lost 8 pounds!  It is all from areas which are unseen to the general public, but I'm much happier with what the scale says.

Now I'm not counting calories but I am much more aware of what I intake and how often.  It also helps that I've essentially made healthy snack options as the only ones available in the house.  Now- don't get me wrong, I still eat chocolate, but I don't crave it nearly so much since I've stopped eating so many sweets.  It's like once you eat one, your body wants more!  Solution?  Stop eating them apparently and your body wants things like grapes instead.  Weird.  I also started running again so I feel much better about eating a piece of pie after I've had a good 45 minute run :)

Anywho!  I've been pretty busy with household stuff still, but life is showing signs of returning to normal.  Remember how I was destroying our upstairs while Richard was away for so long at work?  Well I've finally started putting it back together!  Pictures to come...  And now we have CURTAINS in the living room!  Apparently all I needed to do was go to TJ Maxx and buy tension shower rods and curtain panels.  Plus a bunch of other stuff, like a calphalon stockpot for $50!  Real curtain rods for this size: $40-60 each.  Tension shower rods: $15.  Perfect.



Richard won't let me go shopping alone anymore

I really need to finish my MSU quilt for my dad for Christmas so I pulled that back out this weekend.  I seem to have gotten bored with it and I found that brainstorming quilting patterns for it has given me a little more push to work on it.  Do you have any ideas?  It is essentially a giant block S.  I'm not sure I have enough green fabric for the strips so I may be on a hunt for more green soon...
While I've been busy, Annie just follows me around causing trouble.  Or if she is really bored by my activities, she finds a nice pile of blankets to snooze on. 



Yes, those are my clean shorts Anniekins.



Hopefully this weekend I will have some progress to display!  I hope you're all having a good day!

My most recent fabric find

was at a little shop south of St. Clair, MI a couple weeks ago now. 

I have a window in our master bathroom that I have been looking for curtains for all summer.  It is a really odd size:  60"w x 40"tall.  I finally gave up and started looking for fabric to make my own, and I found this lovely leafy fabric.  Yummy :)  I also couldn't pass up the green leaves or the red plaid ($3/yd! What a steal!).  I'm hoping to make them sometime this month.

This weekend has been the first weekend home I have had in I don't even know how long.  I tell you, I almost kissed my kitchen floor Tuesday when we got back.  There has been so much I haven't done around here so I've been running around non-stop trying to get some things done.  I went outside to plant some flowers I've had for probably a month and I saw my morning glories went on steroids since I've been away! (They are hiding my rain barrel)

While I was gone Richard also bought me two sets of these!

 

I love glass tupperware.  Well, I guess it's not really tupperware, but you get the idea.  I don't like microwaving plastics and I've been trying to find leak proof alternatives for our lunches so when DH saw these on sale he bought them for me :)  He thought about giving them to me for XMas and I was soooo happy he didn't because they are so useful!  Then I had to reorganize my cabinets in my kitchen.  They were not pretty, but I really only have one and a half before pics.

Before

After

After- Tupperware Cabinet!

I love my lid buckets.  Before all of the lids were in a massive heap on the middle shelf.  We had many fall outs.

 

Last weekend we also went to Mackinac Island.  I've never been there before and it was a really good excuse to get away from family and attempt to spend time with Richard.  I'll post pics later- you need to see this hat I got!

 

Yesterday I started painting another spare room upstairs because my parents are stopping by today to drop off a bunk bed they don't want anymore.  I didn't get as far as I wanted to yesterday because Richard's mom came by to be entertained for a while, so that put me back a few hours.  I'm hoping next weekend we will finally be alone and maybe I'll get some sewing done!  My next goal is to border my sliced apples!

 

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend!