Baby Shower invites are complete!

Here is the finished product! I just completed thirty invitations for the baby shower that Susan is co-hosting. She didn't want me to put too much blue (I had been considering doing "Baby Shower" in blue to brighten it up at the bottom) so I bought Glimmer Mist! Glimmer Mist is awesome. I Misted green paper and then cut that for the logo. It brightened up the logo a bit while keeping it gender-neutral so hopefully they will like it.

Lots going on.

It's been a quiet week, but luckily, that's because I've been busy!

I am completing one order of cards for a baby shower. Here is the sample I showed Susan.I have 16 done, except for the "Baby Shower" slogan, which I will finish tonight at Scrapmania at Archiver's. And I think it looks a little dark down there with the slogan in the dark green of the card, so I'm planning to do it in the blue that the stamp is on, as well as make it a little bigger, more like this card.Pretty cute, huh?

I have also been working on my quilt for my nephew Ryan. Hopefully this weekend I will get the top all done (I just have to finish adding the border), get it basted, and maybe start quilting!

Monday weight.

185

Week-end wrap up.

Well. I basically took last week off from my diet and exercising, hoping to catch up on some sleep and give myself a break (as though I had really buckled down before!). I actually took a three hour nap yesterday, which I NEVER do. No gym this morning, and also I had Cap'n Crunch for breakfast today. But I always have hope for the future.

I have been working on my quilt for my nephew Ryan. I have had it in strips since before we moved, but this weekend I got the top all put together and some of the border put on. Hopefully this week I'll finish with the border, get the backing sewn together, and get it basted and on its way to completion! The quilt is on point which I've only done once before. I hope it turns out well. Of course, I started it ages ago when Ryan's favorite color was yellow. Now his favorite color is green, so I hope he still likes it.

I also got organized for some t-shirt quilts I need to do. Now for the measuring and planning. . . .

I am so bummed.

I hate how quickly I can go from a great mood, flying high, to way, way, way down in the doldrums.  :-(

UFO number 2!

Jenn's t-shirt quilt, all done! (Although I still have to sign it.)

Ugh.

I've had the blahs the last couple of days.  I'm so glad it got sunny by the end of the day!

Easter

I JUST SAW CADBURY CREAM EGGS AT THE GAS STATION.

Frak!

Craptacular.

No gym yesterday or today.  I didn't even try this morning, honestly.  I measured myself last night.  I don't have them with me, but suffice it to say, they were depressing (I gained everywhere except my thighs!).  But yesterday was a good day, aside from lunch, and today's going to be great. 

Now if only the sun would shine!

Monday

Jimmy John's for lunch.  Delish, but not on the diet.  Oh well.  Chicken breast for dinner, and then off to the movies.  It will be hard not to eat popcorn. . . .  I'll need to fill up on salad with dinner!

Monday weight

185

I didn't make it to the gym today.  Why am I so tired????

Weekend Wrap-Up

Pretty much awful, all the way around.

But we CREAMED the boys at canasta.  Ha ha ha ha ha!

Off to the gym tomorrow to start what I hope will be a better week than last, with no pie in my immediate future. . . .

GSCs

I just read on a post on facebook saying that Girl Scout Cookie time is upon us.  YES!  That is so exciting!  However, it sucks that GSC time coincides with Everyone's New Diet time, mine included.  How can I work Tagalongs and Thin Mints into my diet?  Maybe they can replace late-night pieces of pie. . . .

Thursday.

I'm not off to a great start: no gym.  I was too tired, which is ridiculous because I went to bed early last night!  Oh well.  I'm considering trying to go tomorrow morning, getting back here before 8:30.  It might work, assuming Jason doesn't have work.  I'd rather Jason had work, though. . . .

The good news is, I'm going into work today, so I won't have as many bad-food distractions!

Bridal shower invites.

I placed an order last night for the materials for some invitations to a bridal shower.  I will be making the invitations for my mom (but you have to start somewhere, right?).  This is the sample I made to show her when I saw her at Christmas. 

They will look pretty similar to this, with some changes to match the bride's color scheme (peach instead of pink).  I think they're going to be super cute!  I will have to post a picture of the finished product when I've got one done.

One down, four to go!

Here is my Betty quilt, completed and gorgeous (if I do say so myself)! During our visit to Illinois at Christmas I spoke with my best friend Mary's mom, Sue, who is responsible for my learning to sew and quilt, and she gave me some advice for getting projects done. Start with the one that you are the closest to completing, and work strictly on that 'til it's done. Then go to the one that's next closest to getting done, and complete that. So that's what I'm going to do! I have two quilt tops upstairs that need to be basted together and quilted, so that is next on my plate.

Scale

I weighed myself this morning right after I got up and I weighed 179.  I know I didn't lose five pounds between today and yesterday!  So I guess I will just weigh myself on Monday night when I measure myself and I'll use that as the weight to measure my weight loss from.  It's crazy how much your weight can vary day to day!

Tuesday

I did really well on my diet yesterday - until I got home.  Oh, dinner was good.  Dinner was great!  Parmesan stir-fry with chicken and peppers.  Delish!  But I had a bunch of Junior Mints that Jason left lying around and, yes, a piece of Razzleberry Pie.  With ice cream.  Oh man!  That stuff is good!  We need to get rid of it (i.e. finish eating it) so that I can stop ruining my diet with it!  :-)

Lock

And Jason bought me a lock yesterday!  Yay!

Ridiculousness.

This morning I got up seven minutes after my first alarm.  Not bad.  Better than 10-15 like I have been doing!  However, the few minutes I saved were lost when I realized I had forgotten to pack food for today, so I had to putz around doing that.

But, 25 minutes on the elliptical, ab exercises that kicked my ass, and some stretching, and I made it into the locker room by 7:50 so I'd have plenty of time to get to work on time.

Except I forgot jeans.

WHO FORGETS TO PACK PANTS IN THEIR GYM BAG?  Me, that's who.  Crimeny.  So I had to drive all the way up to Cedar Park so I could have the proper clothes and I was way late to work.  On the plus side, while I was getting ready at home, Jason found my scale.  Yay!

So my weight on our scale this morning, which will be the scale I use from now on, was 184.  That's already less than I weighed before we moved (which was the last time I saw that scale), so I'm cheerful!

After one week.

bust: 42.5 - 42.5 = 0 
     No decrease in my bust.  Jason will be happy to hear that.
belly: 41.5 - 41 = .5 
     Half inch off my belly.  Woo hoo!
hips: 43.5 - 42.75 = .75 
     Three-quarters of an inch of my hips?  I might have measured that one wrong.
right thigh: 26.5 - 26.25 = .25 
     I usually feel this change the quickest, so I'm a little surprised it's not more.

Of course, it's so hard to measure in the exact same spot week to week, so who knows!  I might have gained in these areas for all I really know. . . .

I did really great on my diet today, until after dinner when Jason drove all the way to Marie Callendar's and bought a razzleberry pie.  Holy smokes!  That was yummy.  Damn him.

Get up!

I have to get up the first time my alarm goes off!  I ran for 25 minutes this morning and only had about 5 minutes of abs and 5 minutes of stretching before I had to start getting ready for work.  If I could only roll out of bed those ten minutes earlier. . . .  But anyway, it was a good work out!

I need to buy a lock!

Weekend Wrap-up

I did pretty terribly over-all, diet-wise. I don't think I had a single good meal until tonight's supper, which was a small pork chop and a big salad with a tall glass of milk. Mmmm. I have all my food for tomorrow prepped and ready to go with me to the gym! Because I will go tomorrow. I will.

I tried on bridesmaid dresses today for Jenn and Dave's wedding, coming up in May. I am going to order one size too small as an incentive to lose weight. I was going to order two sizes too small, but I think that'll be pushing it. Exactly how many sizes do you drop per ten pounds? I think I can for sure lose ten pounds by then, but I'm just not sure what that means, size-wise.

And I am so close to being done with one of my gazillion quilts I can taste it! I have about 18" left to do on the binding! Then I have to sign it and I am done! It is my black and white Betty quilt. It'll be done soon! Maybe tomorrow! Yay!

I'll take my measurements tomorrow night. We'll see if I made any progress. At least I hope I haven't gone backwards. . . .

UT vs Alabama

Go Elephants! I'm off to watch the game and work on my Betty quilt. Have to knock one of those off the to-do list!

Thursday

I didn't go work out this morning.  And I really don't want to eat the salad that is waiting for me in the fridge.  I'd really like to go to Jimmy Johns and have a sandwich.  It sounds so good!  Pooh.

One of the things that I like about dieting and exercising, though, is how quickly things change.  Not my body - I know it hasn't changed in the four days that I've been failing at my diet.  But the way that I feel like I look has changed.  I already feel skinnier!  Just imagine how great I'd think I look if I actually spent a day on my diet, instead of cheating all the time!  :-)

Crow's

I had a really good burger for lunch at Crow's in Temple.  You guessed it, not on the diet.  It might have been okay, though, if I hadn't coupled it with a chocolate shake.  That was delicious!

Mexican layered dip

is really good.  I had some yesterday.  Basically, as soon as I could get Jason out of the house and off to his racquetball game when I got home from work, I got my snack together and chowed down.  *sigh*  Have I no self-control?  Pretty much.  But it was damn good.

And today's a new day, with no mistakes in it (as Anne Shirley would say).

I made it!

Yay!  I made it to the gym this morning.  Go me.  Things to remember for Thursday: 1) get up when my first alarm goes off instead of sleeping the extra ten minutes; 2) have my breakfast and snack ready to go the night before so I don't have to waste time doing that in the morning; 3) stop working out by 7:50 in order to have enough time to make it to work by 8:30.  I only ran for 20 minutes and didn't have a chance to do abs, but I think making it in was the real challenge and I succeeded brilliantly!  :-)

I weighed myself this morning at the gym.  I have got to find my scale!  The scale wasn't quite working right and I couldn't figure out how to balance it.  I came in at 186, but I'm sure I weigh more than that.  Pooh.

Beginning measurements.

bust: 42.5
belly: 41.5
hips: 43.5
right thigh: 26.5

YUCK.

Organization

Since I had Seth, it has been a bit difficult to sew.  Well, I guess just since he has become mobile.  I'm sure any other sewer and mother would have the same story to tell, but he is always getting into my sewing table and getting everything out and I find thread, bobbins, tape measures, etcetera, strewn all over the place.  Eventually, before we moved, I took everything out of my sewing table and threw it all together in one fairly inaccessible lump and I probably sewed about ten times last year.

This year it will be different!

Over the weekend I bought a little sewing case with lots of compartments, as well as a separate thread case.  Today after work, while Seth was blissfully napping, I organized all my sewing stuff.  Woo hoo!  So now I just need some time while he's asleep to actually sew!

I have a list of quilting projects that I need to work on.  Some I need to start.  Some just need to be bound.  There are twenty-two quilts on the list.  HOLY COW.  I'm hoping to get five done this year.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but it is.

Question

Are Twizzlers on the Curves diet?

Oh for one.

I didn't make it to the gym this morning.  Two weeks of no work and sleeping in until 8:30 made 6:25 seem awfully early this morning!  Pooh.  I think I can make it tomorrow, though.  That's my plan.  I'm going to make it tomorrow.  At least I've been eating well today.  Yogurt for breakfast and a yummy salad for lunch.  Not bad.  I have some tuna for a snack later on and then a chicken club salad at Panera bread for dinner tonight.  Not that sounds delicious!  I imagine it's not actually good for me, but salad's in the title, so I'm taking it!

Still no scale.  Where could it be?

In other news, woo hoo!  I'm sending out samples of some wedding invites I've made today to my aunt for her approval.  I hope they like them!  These are the first wedding invites I've made.  It would be cool to do the whole batch.  And I got a go-ahead on some bridal shower invitations for my mom. 

Now if I could only get some clients to whom I am not related!  :-)  Isn't that always the problem, though?

First things first. . . .

I need to find my scale! That's the bummer of moving - I have no idea where it is. And I don't have that many boxes left to unpack, either! Crimeny. The couple of bathroom boxes I've seen that I still need to go through don't seem to be quite big enough to be hiding the scale. Maybe I'll just weigh myself at the gym.

So here's the weight loss goal.
- work out three days a week at the gym (the three days that I go into work)
- follow my Curves diet that has worked so well in the past
- get down to 165 lbs
I'm not sure what my inch loss should be. I haven't weighed (obviously) or measured yet, but I'm sure I'm over 190 lbs. Yikes!