Progress

So a lot has been happening in the last month to month and a half. I have moved to another city, so I'm farther away from my family again (but still only 15 miles away), in a wonderful relationship with someone who supports and helps, and I am (as of last Saturday) down 24.2 pounds!!

I am so excited, and I'm over a quarter of the way there!

I'm baaaaa-acccckk!

This is going to be the start of a different kind of posting.  I am on a journey beginning today, and I am slightly terrified.  Luckily I have an amazing mother & father, wonderful friends, and a sweet man to back me up.  My journey is one of a lifestyle change...learning how to eat all over again.  Let me just say that I am doing this because I want to have a healthy, long, rewarding life where I get to play with my (very future) children, and (even farther) future grandchildren.  I'm not going to disclose my weight (ha, why would I do that??) but I will post a beginning picture.  This is mostly for myself, so that when I am having a hard time of it, and even when thoughts and words of support aren't enough, I can come here and see how far I've come.

I am a little scared, but mostly excited.  Excited to get a new wardrobe and for looking AND feeling fabulous (I feel *good* most of the time, but...c'mon...).  I won't make this blog ALL about my journey, but I am going to update my progress from time to time.

Hope y'all are all well...and GOOD LUCK TO ME!

Goodness, am I late...

...to posting Christmas gifts.  Sheesh!  It took a sick day (or two) for me to sit down and write.  Or at least upload pictures.  :)  Here we go:

Now, I know I didn't "make" this gift, but I did take photos at my nephew's 1st birthday and print them out for lots of family.  This one is pretty special, since it was my nephew holding on to my dad and watching him play guitar... as my dad said, it made his Christmas.  :)

And obviously this one is a gift for myself :-) --- Oh, sweet Molly.

This was for my (music teacher) cousin, just a little vase.

What a sweet frame :-) (yes, that's me in there)

And a sweet little vase for my math teacher Mama.  

That's not everything, but I think it covers a majority of it (plus I didn't get photos of everything).  I really enjoyed getting to see reactions to the things I'd made from my heart.  Definitely doing this again.  

Christmas Eve Post

As I sit here and stare at the gifts I made (and one or two that I didn't), I'm left wondering...what the heck happened to the rest of this year???  It FLEW by so quickly - my nephew turned one, I played with fireworks for the first time (with my family, which was great), I got my amazing doggie friend - and all in all, I think it was a great (!) year.  :)  I can't reveal the gifts *just* yet, but I will leave you with this:

So until next time, MURRAY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

DIY Christmas Part Deaux

:) Merry Christmas from Molly and Me!

To continue my DIY (on a budget) Christmas blogging, let's move onto my test runs and LEARNING HOW TO SEW!!!!  YAAAAY!  Haha, I feel silly saying that I'm *just* now learning at 26...but at least I could always sew my buttons back on.  :)  So I started with this here scarf because 1. I'd already bought the t-shirts, and 2. I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted my mom and I to have some crafty time this weekend.  Which, thankfully, we did (and had a blast).

Here are my steps, which is by no means a tutorial...just me showing my progress to y'all.  :)

Sidenote:  I decided to go with only one "braid" or "knot" b/c the t-shirts were a little on the thicker side, making the braid look a little wonky.  I'm pretty excited about how this turned out, anyway.

Shout out to the momz! (She was working on my "crescent santa" sweatshirt in the picture - we matched today)

Now, once I was finished with the yellow and gray scarf, I wanted to practice my newly found skillz with another beautiful scarf tutorial.  Real quick, a HUGE thank you to the two ladies who posted both of their "how-to's" - they were wonderful and I can't wait to make more!

(Notice the hand on my hip, indicating my pride in what I'd just accomplished, lol)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, URRVABODY!

DIY Christmas Part I

Remember this "sneak peak?"  Total cost in this picture is about $10...

Well, here's what I'm doing!

This is just the beginning of the pink frame....wait for it...wait for it....

...BAM!

I got the flowers at Joann in the Martha Stewart scrapbooking area for $6.99, but thanks to a 50% off coupon, the package was $3.50.  And I have a couple little flowers left over to make a frame as a reward for all of my hard work and budgeting.  :)  Hooray!

Recipes!

I shared some photos a few days ago from Thanksgiving dinner, and as promised, here are the links to what I made:

Asparagus Gratin

Crock-Pot Baked Apples

AAAAAAND, I'm starving...off to make dinner!

Navy Version of the T-Shirt Scarf

Here is what I did with my navy t-shirt:

That is scraps from the grey shirt that I braided and wrapped around.  :)

HOORAY!

LULZ...

 Glitter via Demitri Martin

That joke basically summarizes how my kitchen table feels tonight... :-\

Schweeeet!

So the reason for this quick post...is I *finally* made a t-shirt scarf out of an old work shirt.  I wish I could have used the giant star it had on it, but alas, it was above the arm level...  Anyhow, there's TONS of tuts out there on how to do it, so here's a few of my faves plus pics of mine!

(pardon the shoe...)

I decided to tie cute little bows instead of the whole "wrap around" thing everyone does.  I loves me some bows!  

I also had an awesome (and cute) helper...sort of...

Infinity Scarf (with sewing)

Super cute w/braids

Ringlet t-shirt scarf

The inspiration for mine :)

Ok, time to do a navy blue one, and figure out how to use extra strips that I braided from the grey shirt...!  Excitement!

A Very Merry DIY Christmas

I have decided to do Christmas on a budget this year.  I usually end up ALMOST going over that limit every year, and in an effort to keep my bank account in tact, it'll all (or at least mostly) be DIY!  So I'm going to share with everyone what I'm doing, along with where I'm getting the tuts.  Now, keep in mind, I don't know how to sew...sooooo, everything I am doing will be (duh) no-sew.  But I'm hoping that also cuts down on the amount of time these will take.

First off, its soooo rainy...and Molly has a bit of the blues.  Awwww...

So here's what I went shopping for:

Dollar Tree finds are tapered candles, small scented candles (b/c I don't want to buy the scented oils), and the tongs.  I got a few other things for myself, but if I hadn't all of that adds up to about $12.  I found a cute little tea cup (still with saucer), a fun coffee/tea cup and a little decorated dish at the thrift store, and those would be about $4.  Bet ya can't guess what I'm doing with all this...oh wait, I bet ya can if you're a DIYer like myself... :)

Next up on the Christmas list is some fun little frames.  I found these at the Dollar Tree, so about $4.  I didn't like the selection of glitter they had, size and color, so I found some at Joann!  The 2 big tubes were 40% off, so they ended up about $5 for both, and then they had some more (the littler packages) in the $1 bins, so I snagged those as well.  And I'm not 100% on how I am going to make these fun, but I have a few ideas rollin' around in the ol' brain.

That's all for now, I'll post more pics, maybe even a bit of a how-to later on.  Toodles!

A little late on the Thanksgiving post...

So I'm a tad bit late on my "Thanksgiving" post, but I figured I should do it anyway.  :)  And what better way to start than with sharing a picture of my baby, Molly.  She's the best dog I could have asked for and I am very thankful God (and the shelter) brought her into my life.  Now, it is true, we had some issues in the beginning (destructive behaviors) but that is all out of her system (another reason I'm thankful!) and we are both happy!!

So, luckily, I was allowed to make dessert for everyone on Turkey Day.  I think they were all hoping for my awesome pumpkin cheesecake, but I decided to go a little healthier (and less sweet).  I got this recipe off Pinterest, so I will update/comment with the link to share...but I have to tell you...AMAZING!!!!  The only thing I might do next time is figure out a way to bake them after cutting in half...a few of us couldn't eat the whole apple after our dinner!

And I just wanted to share one more recipe I found on Pinterest (again, I'll update/comment with a link).  This was a HIT!  Literally the only thing at the table that didn't have leftovers.  :)

And lastly, I'm thankful for my mother (who bought me these lovely antique cups b/c I'm obsessed with tea and vintage).  I can't wait to figure out a way to store/show off these little beauties...and when I do, I'll share!!

That's it for now...kind of a boring post, but I'm in a rush to get out for some DIY materials.  Have a lovely weekend, y'all!

...And One More Thing...

This is what I am centering my room decor around.  I have always loved the Wizard of Oz, and when I found these (die-cut) cards at Tuesday Morning...I just couldn't resist.  I wasn't sure what to do with them, so they sat around in their box for quite some time.  Then...it dawned on me...'WoO is mostly a dream, why not frame them for your room???'

And THAT is a sneak peak of what is to come!  :)