3, 30, and 4

3:

I am currently in the midst of training for running my first 5k. This is something I originally planned on doing waaaaaaay back in the summer of 2008...you know, the summer of "hey, you're having twins"! Pregnant with twins = no running 5k. Doctors orders. Instead, I went on bed rest.

Last summer was yet another summer of huge life changes. Again, no 5k. So I am determined that this summer will be the summer I finally run the stinkin' 5k.

Anyway, the training I'm doing is called Couch 2 5k (C25k), and it's a program that takes nine weeks and moves you from being a couch potato to being able to run a full 5k in that amount of time. I've started this program about four times, and have always had to quit for one reason or another before even getting to the third week. Today, though, I started the third week and I don't have any desire to stop! YAY!

30:

Along the same lines, I weighed in at WW tonight, and lost another 1.2 lbs! I weighed in at 139.6 lbs, so I'm now officially in my 130's for the first time since probably high school! YAY ME! So excited! Not only that, but I'm only 0.2 lbs away from reaching my 35 lb loss mark. Wow.

4:

Remember those adorable purses I made a while ago, one for myself and one for my sister in law? Well, I made a couple more. One for me, and one for my mom for her birthday. Here they are:

My purse.

My mom's purse.

I got the pattern from madebyrae.blogspot.com and it is so much fun to make. Not only that, but the options for fabric combinations are limitless and it's really the perfect size purse. Love it. Thing is, I've received a TON of compliments on these bags, and several people have encouraged me to make them to sell. Ok, I'll bite. I purchased the commercial license to sell the purses, and now already have an order for four purses, with a few more coming down the pike. If anyone is interested, I'm selling them for $25 and can do custom orders!

I'm also considering opening an Etsy.com shop, which is an online market place where you can sell handmade and vintage items for incredibly small fees (approximately $1 to sell a $25 item). Mom may join in and sell some of her jewelry. It would be great to earn a little extra money on the side to supplement my current income. So spread the word, and I'll be sure to post the link to the Etsy shop once it's up and running!

Ok, enough about that, I'm exhausted. Night all!

Hold Me Closer, Tiny Dancer

Once the walking started, it was only a matter of time until the boys' natural sense of rhythm would show itself. It began as a simple bobbing up and down, and has morphed from there. I could continue to describe it, but I think I'll let you see it for yourself! Please excuse my hysterical giggling.



Oh so funny! Things just get more and more entertaining with these boys!

I kept meaning to share this video with you all, but it's been a long week. Hope you enjoyed it!

Off The Scale Victories

One of the things that Weight Watchers really encourages is finding ways to mark victories besides on the scale. It's wonderful, because there are definitely weeks where the scale fails me. Or maybe I fail the scale. I dunno. Either way, without off-the-scale victories, I would be totally discouraged. Take this week for instance. I gained 1.2 lbs. Not a surprise, I didn't track my points for a single day, so it was totally my fault. Failed the scale, and all that.

But that was totally off-set by my afternoon. I'm a bridesmaid in Dani's wedding in September; she and her future sister-in-law/maid of honor picked me up for a trip to David's Bridal for an afternoon of trying on pretty dresses. I haven't tried on pretty dresses since picking out my wedding dress...about four years ago...when my dress was a size 18. Yikes.

When we got there, I asked the sales assistant to measure me to figure out my new (completely unknown) dress size. After measuring and consulting her sizing chart, she announced the magic number to be....

...16 or 18.

Umm, no. That was my size 30 lbs ago. She was pretty determined I'd need at least a 16, so I let her grab that size in a sleeveless dress. After putting it on and zipping it up (sans bra), I walked out of the dressing room...and came about an inch from flashing everyone in the store when the dress attempted to drop to the floor.

Next came the size 14. Still baggy, still gaping, thankfully not a strapless. The sales assistant grabbed the back of the dress, pulled it tight, and said, "You know, I think you could fit in a 10. That's why I hate those size charts."

SIZE 10! REALLY?!

Sure enough...

Granted, this wasn't the first size 10 dress I tried on, but this is the one that, when I walked out of the fitting room, everyone went "ooooooooooooooooh". That's always a good sign. The dress is a little snug, but I'm still losing weight (not counting this week) so it will fit perfectly by the time I reach my goal weight. The blue isn't the color I'll be wearing, but they only had three dresses in the entire store in my color.

This was one of them...the fit looks a little funky because it's two sizes too big so they had to put clothes pins on my back, but at least you can see the color!

I was honestly worried the color would look horrible with my skin tone, but it's really not bad!

And just for giggles, here's the first size 10 I tried on, the one I loved until I tried on the dark blue one. And dude, it has pockets! Tabitha, the maid of honor who just had a baby, ended up choosing this one, citing the pacifier carrying pockets as the determining factor.

In other news, Asher has a sharp tip of a molar poking through his upper gums. He is in SO much pain. Add a runny nose and copious amounts of drool to the equation and the little guy is miserable. He woke up last night screaming his brains out and wouldn't be consoled for a good 20 minutes...it was painful.

Dear Molar,

Please hurry up with this whole breaking-through-the-gums thing. I'm tired of seeing my baby in pain. And the non-stop drool isn't real fun either.

Thanks,

Mommy

Here's my man hanging on the boys' big pillow, watchin' tv, and petting the dog with his feet.

Have I ever mentioned how much I love my boys? I just hope this evil molar makes a full appearance soon so we can have a little bit of peace around here...until the next one decides to show its shining face...cusp...whatever.

Craftiness!

As I've mentioned before, I have a love for craft blogs. Actually, it borders on an addiction. Only problem was, I'd find these great blogs, browse them for a while, close the window, and promptly forget what they were called! So I decided to finally bite the bullet and make a new blog roll to the right side of our blog titled "Craftiness!". It includes the Make It and Love It blog that I got most of my Christmas gift ideas from. Love it!

I don't know about the rest of you Mommies out there, but I NEED a creative outlet. Since theatre has been pushed to the side and Young Life (my insanity outlet) is a no-go due to my work schedule, random and useful crafts have become my outlets.

Most of the crafts are very simple and easy to do, accomplished within an hour or two. And a lot of them use things you have around the house or cheap fat quarters that you can get for about a dollar at places like Joann Fabric or Walmart. My favorites, though, are the ones that use things that are laying around the house begging for a purpose in life.

Hope this gives some of you a fun place to look for craft ideas! And keep checking back because I will be adding to the blog roll as I find more fun blogs!

POST EDIT*** There's just one problem with this blog roll...I CAN'T STOP ADDING TO IT! There are just too many great craft blogs out there!

Two Things

One:

I have officially lost 30 lbs. Well, technically, exactly 31 lbs. I am now 143.4 lbs and only have 13.4 to go! YAY!

But even more exciting...

Two:

Kate and Eliot are having a.......................................

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BOY!!!!!!

I'm so excited, our boys are going to have a little boy cousin. I simply can't wait to meet this new little blessing in the family and hold a newborn in my arms again. No, that doesn't mean I have baby fever, for pity sake. I'm just totally excited about seeing my first nephew...and then be able to give him back to his mommy when he starts crying, ha ha ha. I'm not even the mommy and the next 20 months are going to seem interminable!

Here's to miracles!

Just Shy of 30

When I weighed in on Saturday, I had a mixture of feelings as I saw my weight. First, I was excited because I had finally kicked the holiday slump and lost 2.6 lbs that week. And then the disappointment set in...

...I was 0.2 lbs away from hitting my 30 lb loss mark! GRR!

Oh well, that means hitting it next week will be a cinch. And since I'm so close, I figured I might as well do some photos to commemorate the occasion.

But first, a reminder of "before":


Shudder.

And now, 5 months later and 28.8 lbs lighter!



Only 14.2 lbs to go before I hit my first goal weight! Really, honestly, I'd love to lose a total of 50 lbs, which would put me at 124.4 lbs, but we'll see how 130 looks and feels first.

And now I'm off to work. It's my Friday, yay!

Is There A Craft-Blog Anonymous?

I'm addicted. Really and truly addicted. If I were to allow myself, I would spend HOURS on various craft blogs, looking for fun crafts that I can do without spending any money and using only the materials I have on hand. I get such a kick out of re-purposing things around the house that I would normally just be tossing and using them in ways I normally wouldn't.

Who's ever heard of a tshirt necklace? I surely hadn't until stumbling across it on a (what else?) craft blog. I had recently gone through my closet to exorcise some of the now-too-baggy clothing and knew I had a tshirt or two in there that could be sacrificed to the rotary cutter.

The finished product:


I also refurbished a necklace my mom made for me a few years ago. I absolutely loved this necklace, and it meant a lot to me because Mom and Marla bought the Murano glass pendant for me on their trip to Italy. Unfortunately, the wire holding the necklace together snapped, and it has been languishing in a small box ever since. After seeing the necklace my Weight Watcher leader was wearing last week, I was inspired. I grabbed some of the thin brown ribbon I had used in some Christmas gifts, strung on the pendant and clasps, made a few knots, and VIOLA! Good as new!


Besides being crafty today, I also managed to sweep/mop/vacuum all of the downstairs floors AND get the kitchen and dining room cleaned up. Nathan took the afternoon to retreat to his man cave (aka the garage) and cook up a batch of homebrew while watching the National Championship college football game. Meanwhile, our friend/neighbor from across the street, Sarah, came over and we spent a good couple of hours just chatting. All in all, it was a very relaxing and productive day...especially considering the fact that I didn't get to sleep until about 6 am (crying babies) and didn't wake up until about 2 pm.

Speaking of which, my sleep schedule continues to be on the complete fritz. Lately it's been 'awake until 3 or 4 am, sleep until 11 or 12'. Not cool. In an attempt to remedy this problem, I took a Tylenol PM...about half an hour ago...which means it's setting in right about now. Which, in turn, would explain why spelling correctly is becoming increasingly more difficult.

I think that's my cue. Night!