from shelly's belly

Lose it up!

2012-08-17T18:13:00.001-05:00

Well, it seems my life has been revolving around one. big. number.

Duh, the one on the scale.

I had Sweet Cheeks in October weighing in at 204. Yikes!!

I'm not one of those lucky women that lose weight after they give birth, breastfeeding or not. Nope. I think the most I've ever lost is an ounce.

Okay, I'll be real, 1-2 lbs.

The hard part is when I'm pregnant I am sick for the whole time.

During the 2nd trimester it morphs from you're sick "just because you're knocked up" to "you're sick when you eat certain foods and drinks" only.

What foods and drinks would those be? Anything healthy. I'm not even kidding. I crave fruits and salads and veggies and orange juice or a smoothie. I'd eat it and feel okay. Then sometime later that day my stomach has had it and, of course, it all comes out. The only things I could keep down were fast foods and hot dogs and ice cream and all the junk in the world. I think I gained 50+ big ones this last pregnancy.

Then after I have the baby I get these major cravings.

After I had The Captain I baked and crammed every available chocolate chip cookie I could get my chubby paws on.

Little Miss, I can't remember what it was: I must've been in a food coma.

The Animal: drumsticks (the ice cream cones) and fully loaded hot dogs (while watching Matlock)!

For Sweet Cheeks it was Snickers. Bags and bags of those stinkers. Dang, I can still taste them.

Anyway, since about December I cut out all fast food and soda, though I still ate my

Snickers and other yummy goodies.

From January -- NO, it was not a New Years goal -- until now I have been working my butt off eating clean and working out. I went from 204 after giving birth to 198. Then at 198 is when I started to get serious about it.

Today, I'm 144.0 - almost 143!

(yes that is important, hence the big letters).

I have 4 lbs left to go and then I'll be at my goal weight (140 if you are math illiterate). I'm still going to be working out and training to get that fat off and replace it with muscle. It's a good number for me, I just want to be even more fit and awesome! Plus, I enjoy working out and eating foods that make me feel great. Bonus!

What did I do?

I get asked this all the time. I basically did a hodge podge of stuff. I'll break it down.

January: I was counting calories - eating about 1250 a day. I made those calories good calories, so no treats. I didn't ever say, no sugar, I just said no treats. I was doing Turbo Fire as well.

I found bodyrock.tv and did their workouts as well. Good stuff

(if you can look past all the boob and butt shots with their camera angles).

I think around February/March I allowed myself to have a treat on Sunday evenings.

March, I switched to Insanity. I roped my hubs into doing it with me. He does not like working out. It was really sweet of him. To be honest, I don't know if I could've gotten through Insanity without him being there to push me and make sure I didn't give up. After the first month he dropped out. I kept going until the last week of it. I was getting bored and it was getting harder and harder to fit it in and motivate myself alone.

I ran my first 5k with my sister-in-law. I have always hated running, but I really enjoyed myself and we did the whole thing! In April we ran our second 5k and did better and it was just a lot of fun.

I was still eating about 1250 - 1400 calories a day.

May, I was 160-something. I can't remember. I was doing a mix of bodyrock.tv workouts,and some Insanity. I tried to go back to TurboFire but bleh, I couldn't anymore. It was too tame for me. I did HIIT workouts that I found around the internet.

I'd make up circuits.

I think I moved up to 1400 - 1500 calories a day.

My sister-in-law and I started running 3 times a week at a high school track. That was pretty fun. We'd walk to warm up, and some days we'd do a longer run and some days we'd do sprints. I started doing HIIT running (:30 sprint/1:30 jog repeated for 30 minutes).

HIIT anything is sooo much fun!!

At this point I was hitting plateaus and getting irritated. I reduced calories to 1300 - 1400. I found Share It Fitness through some Pinterest boards. I joined their beta group and read their blog everyday. They have awesome workouts to do. They have programs, circuits, they have videos on pilates, yoga, barre, strength, HIIT, tabata, anything really.

My favorite part are the people that work there.

They are awesome.

I mentioned I had hit a plateau and Matt told me to message him what was going on. I did and he got back to me about things I could do. He suggested a few circuits and eating changes. It was so nice to know that there was someone out there who cared that I succeeded and would jump at the chance to help me. I did his suggested circuits and started seeing a change pretty quickly.

I had been noticing that grains were really keeping me from losing weight and I usually felt sluggish after eating them. Oh, they were "healthy" grains but they were grains. I didn't realize how much I ate until I said one day I wasn't going to eat any that day. I couldn't figure out what to eat!

I decided to eat Paleo.

I really liked it. I lost 4 pounds immediately. The only thing I didn't like was that I really didn't want to eat Paleo for the rest of my life. I wanted to be able to have grains and dairy.

My brother and mother had done (are doing) Dukan Diet. I always shied away from diets. I really don't even feel like it is a diet diet. It is pretty extreme at the beginning but, what drew me to it was it help reintroduce other foods back into your diet and you just do one day a week of pure protein.

I've lost 12 pounds on it so far (11 of them in the first 7 days) and have only 4 left to go, and that should be done in a few days to a week.

I'm still running, and HIIT training.

I'm also training for a triathlon.

I have a road bike and indoor trainer. I'll be starting up swimming here once I can afford to go! I am really enjoying it. I'll keep y'all posted on my final weight loss and my triathlon training.

My brother and I are doing a sprint triathlon together at the end of October!!

I couldn't find any good pictures to show my before; I forgot to take some official before pictures. I really haven't taken official after pictures either, but the ones I snapped pre-workout this morning will have to suffice.

Oh, disclaimer -- I finally found our camera last week (it's been lost since Christmas) but, now I have no idea where the cord is to charge it (not battery operated). So, I had to use our video camera to take pictures and well, they're just okay. I need a good camera and about a million photography lessons to be able to take a decent photo.

Not a strength of mine.

I'm the big fluffy snowball where you can't tell where my arms begins and my body is.

Just a week or two after Sweet Cheeks was born. She's teeny!

The picture I have up at the top of my blog was taken in May, around 160 lbs.

No, I'm not going to flex for you nor show you my stomach. Too bad, so sad.

You can also see my new haircut given by - me!

I'm not even trying to hold in my tummy here! If so, I might've been even skinnier!

Don't judge though people, I don't have make up on and I finger-combed my hair. Why would I get ready to workout? I wouldn't! And I didn't! Give me some time and I'll really ham it up for you.

Okay, I won't do that either. I don't ham really well for pictures. I feel pretty ridiculous.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I can always post or link up to the workouts I loved the most!

Laugh it up!

2012-08-16T09:56:00.000-05:00

My kids are hilarious. They might even be funnier than your kids. Let's call it a tie and still be friends. Here are just a few samplings of what I've heard lately. Nearly every time they talk I think, sheesh, that's a good status update/blog post/whatever. Hilarity is their middle name. I hope they'll always be funny.

Sweet Cheeks is even funny now, she just can't share it in words. I'll have to get a photo of it. First, I'll have to charge the camera. Then I'll have to catch her unawares. And make it not blurry. Yeah, like that'll ever happen.

Little Miss: Mom, I'm a good jumper. I am soooo cool!

The Captain: We haven't kissed yet, we missed it! Ugh. Let's try again! Come here.
Little Miss: Nooo!!!! (bolts up the stairs)
The Captain: (exit, scene right - to chase after Little Miss)

The Animal: Oh!! Your hair looks like Wolverine!
Me: Gee, thanks.
The Animal: You're yellcome (welcome).

Little Miss: I don't like that jacket.
Me: Well I do!
a few minutes later...
Little Miss: Well, I like your jacket it just look sloppy.
Me: No it doesn't!
Little Miss: Yes it is.
Me: No- (oh heck why am I arguing with her about this?)

The Captain: Mom, there was green poop in the potty and it scared me! I think I'm turning into the Hulk.

Me: Who made this mess?
The Captain: The Hulk was destroying everything.
Me: Well, Hulk -
The Captain: I'm not Hulk anymore, I'm Dr. Banner.
Me: Well, Dr. Banner, you'd better clean it up.
The Captain: Don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry
Me: (gave him a dirty look)
The Captain: I'm just teasing.

The Captain: I don't think I like that anymore. (talking about some food item, I think)
Little Miss: Are you crazy!?
The Captain: Ugh. Stop saying crazy all the time!
Little Miss: (hands on hip) That's what girls dos!! (do with an s an on the end, not does, but dos)

The Captain: I want to play with [Sweet Cheeks] she is so cute. She is a little stinker.

The Animal: I won't poop on your cereal anymore mom.
Me: You what!?

No cereal was pooped on, thank heavens.

Homeschool it up!

2012-08-15T02:55:00.004-05:00

This will be our second year homeschooling. The Captain is entering First grade, Little Miss is Kindergarten, The Animal is Preschool, and Sweet Cheeks is just a baby, so we'll be in survival mode for her. I am very excited that we'll be going through a Charter School this year. The Captain will be doing First Grade with them. Little Miss is doing Kindergarten work, however, since she has a late birthday she won't officially be entering Kindergarten until next fall (she'll just be doing First Grade work).

I have researched and researched and researched (as have all of us) on which curriculum and method to use. Last year was a hodge podge of whatever I could do/afford/liked at the time. I've always been drawn to the Classical method and so I have chosen it. There are so many methods that I really like and see the value in each one. Who knows, in the next year or so I may tweak my method a bit. The Well Trained Mind is an amazing book. I spent a few days at Barnes and Noble reading parts that I could. Hey, don't judge, I have a fine at the library and I don't have the funds to buy the book right now. I scribbled furiously in my notebook while shoving vanilla wafers into Sweet Cheeks' mouth. Eat! Shhh! No laughing! I jest. Laughing is allowed. Sometimes.

First Grade

Language Arts:

Reading The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading
Cons: When I started this with The Captain last school year he really wasn't into it. He didn't like the verses to memorize and I really had to work hard to get him to pay attention and do what was asked of him. The one thing I liked about 100 EZ Lessons is that they would have you sound it out slowly and then have you say it fast. I think I will start implementing that so that The Captain realizes that he is sounding out actual words.

Pros: Well, fast forward a whole year and he likes it just fine. We did Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, which is a great source, he just would never sit still to look at the book. I retried OPTR again after reading TWTM and he got into it and sat still and moved through it well. The only thing that I've noticed I have to watch him at is when I'm having him sound out words (he's just now starting) they ask you to sound it out first, then do it together, and then have them do it alone. Well, he was just memorizing what we had just done and not really doing it himself. I solved this by not sounding out with him unless he needed help/prompting. That is working well so far (only two days in). He is motivated to do his reading and I really like the way the book is laid out. I think I'll have to get some books to supplement for reading now and then I think he'll really be excited when he's reading real books.

Grammar: First Language Lessons for a Well Trained Mind

I'm really looking forward to this curriculum. We'll do memorization, narration, and copywork. He'll also learn about parts of speech and all that fun stuff. I can't wait to see him recite poems to us; I know he'll be so proud of himself.

Spelling: All About Spelling 1
Notes: i'm sure everyone has heard of All About Spelling for a while now. I certainly have. I picked this out to use and then after reading TWTM I decided to go for Spelling Workout A. Well, after looking at a sample for it and reading reviews I bagged that and went back to AAS. I am very excited about this one and I hope that it is just as good as I hope it to be.

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears 1st Grade
Pros: My kids love their handwriting workbooks. They loved the wood letters and the slates. I think I could've used them more than I did.
Cons: Too many components to the program that it becomes confusing about what you really need and what would be nice to have. I got by with the letters, the books, and the slates. Everything else I did on my own. I think I'm going to buy the double line writer later on down the road for practicing. I guess I'd better buy a whiteboard/large chalkboard first.

Writing: Writing With Ease

There is a great review on Amazon about this. I am big on students learning to write well. As I type this out I'm mumbling, "oh great, I've just made every self-made editor go back over my post with their red pens and disappointed looks." Well, I can't be perfect all the time; I've got to make everyone feel good.

Phonics: Explode the Code?
Notes: I like the idea of ETC. The Charter school requires that we do a phonics program but, I'm not sure if they're going to count OPTR and AAS as that. If so, I'll save me some bones. If not, we'll use it as a supplement when he needs the extra practice/reinforcement.

Math: Saxon Math 1
Notes: We did Singapore Math, the Kindergarten level last year. The Captain liked his math, though there were some sections that were very repetitious and we skimmed through some of the material. There were times when I found myself taking 30 minutes to explain their wording in a question they'd ask just so he could understand what they were even asking. For instance, the word set, fewer than (when they had previously used a different way of saying it). Obviously, this happens in math and all subjects, it was just frustrating to have to go way around the lesson to make their requests clear rather than teaching the subject. I've heard great things about Saxon. The Captain might miss all the bright colored objects but, then, he might not be so focused on making sure he is drawing 10 strawberries that look just like the ones in the book that he'll be able to learn the concept instead.

History: Story of the World and Activity Book. Also, our school district requires that I do US History so we'll be also doing Road Trip USA to meet those requirements. That's a lot of history and geography!!!

Notes: I think I am most excited about SOTW than anything else this year. We're starting with Ancient Times and to hear me say (or hear yourself say it with my pretend voice - I slur my words a lot, so make sure you get that in) that I'm excited about Ancient Times is amazing. Usually any movie that happens from the beginning of time until the Victorian Era (or thereabouts) is deemed unfit for my viewing or reading pleasure. They're so dirty and life is so... ugh. If it's the Victorian era but, in the US, it might still not be glamorous enough for me. So, I think I should just say the olden times only in England, then around the 1900s I will stick around to read/watch/enjoy.

Wow, that was a long tangent. You read read read and narrate and map, and color and dictate. The activity book looks fantastic.

I love Road Trip USA. My kids were bored with the Atlas and information last year, but I think that was because it was over their heads. I am pretty sure they'll get into this year: they've been fascinated with maps of late and knowing where everyone lives (outside of the OR) that I'm sure they'll enjoy it this year. The projects look like great fun. Heck, I'm excited about all the food items we get to eat over the year. Ben & Jerry's ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, cheeseburgers, Philly Cheese steaks, blueberry muffins, and on and on and on. It's a good thing I'm training for a triathlon or else all that food would help me to put some padding back on.

Art: Artistic Pursuits, World's Greatest Artists, and a few art classes over the course of the year at the Charter School.

I love Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler. She is a.ma.zing. She is constantly coming up with great curriculum and ideas. I covet (yes, I'm breaking a commandment) her school room. One day my prince (a school room with all the fixin's in it) will come!

Music: World's Greatest Composers and General Music class on campus. After the general music class I'll be signing The Captain up for either piano or violin. I really want to push the violin. I am going to attempt to be a good parent and let him choose between the two and not try to sway him (too much).

Science: We have Science Experiments in a Bag 1 from last year that I never used. Whoops. The Well Trained Mind suggest using three different books to study with and I will do that and supplement with the experiments in a bag and the ones suggested in the books as well. The DK First Animal Encylopedia. The Kingfisher Human Body Encyclopedia and Green Thumbs.

PE: Family Time Fitness. There's a PE class at the YMCA we might do and we also will do some swimming (he really wants that). I'd love to enroll him in karate/whatever it's called and/or gymnastics to try it out, but he wants swimming. Maybe I could say, you can do swimming if you do violin? See, I'm already violating my pact to not push him. Ugh.

Am I forgetting anything? I hope not. I guess I can always come back to fix it.

Kindergarten

Reading: The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading.

Handwriting: HWT Kindergarten

Math: Singapore Math KA and KB

Language Arts/Logic/Math: Letters of the Week and K4

Little Miss will listen in with us during history and science. I won't force her to participate but, knowing her, she will want to. She will also do Art and some of the music with us. She won't begin formal lessons until next year. After I get a few paychecks I might enroll her in some dance classes. She'll love them. I'd also love to put her in gymnastics. I think she'd enjoy that even more than dancing.

Preschool

I am planning on making 10 or so activity bags (or whatever container I put them in) for The Animal. Then, each week or two I have a goal of making a new one for him. I'll also be making some file folder games/activities.

Calendar

Oh! I almost forgot, I'll be doing a calendar binder for the oldest two kids. Last year we tried to do a calendar board and some of the elements were flops and others it turned into a fight every day. The calendar binder idea really appealed to me because 1) they each had their own binder. 2) It took up a lot less space. 3) I think the hands-on approach to filling in the dates will be more concrete for them. 4) it's more fun!

I first saw it on Mama Jenn's blog. This morning I saw another one on Motherhood on a Dime. She even has made free printables so you don't have to sift through to find ones you like on other sites. She has tweaked her differently from Mama Jenn's. I like both of their approaches. I'll be using Motherhood on a Dime's printables. I probably won't use all of them just yet - like the "fix this sentence" page. My first grader isn't quite ready for that one. Oh! I like on Mama Jenn's board the birthday graph. I can see my kids having fun with that one for sure.Check them out if you can, they're a great change-up on the traditional calendar board.

I think that's it for now. As of now, I haven't received my curriculum, just planned it out. I'll be meeting with our ES (Educational Specialist) this week to sit down and get it all ordered and sent to us. School doesn't start here until September 4th! Can you believe that!? In Texas, growing up, we were in school already. I am in planning mode. I just bought The Weekly Homeschool Planner but, I'm not too sure how much I like it. I got it on sale for $12, regularly $20, and I don't even feel like it was worth $12. I hate when people say it's hundreds of pages (or however many) and it is but, it's 100 pages of the same thing over and over again. Right. I thought it'd have more variety of options but no luck. I think I might've been better off using Donna Young's free stuff. I really like her subject planner. I almost got Life as Mom's organizer but, there were no previews of the homeschool packet. I really wanted her regular planner but, I didn't go with them because 1) I couldn't find any reviews on it from people that had used it, and 2) I bought her summer survival guide and wasn't all that impressed with it. Ugh. Now I've wasted $12 and I'm tempted to waste $12 more on another planner I might not like. So, I'm going to have to suck it up, make this planner work and then add in some DY printables and make my own. I'll stop whining. Tomorrow.

It'll be a fun a busy school year with our curriculum, our Charter school and our Homeschool group. I can't wait! Well, I can, actually, I'm just so excited to see my kids learn and grow and love to read and absorb all they can. I'm looking forward to all the learning I'll get to do along the way as well.

HP Mallory contest!

2011-09-24T12:39:00.000-05:00

I love HP, she is an amazing woman that has self-published her 5 books and has 3 coming in 2012 that were picked up by a publisher. I think that is just amazing. I think I need to push my older brother down that road with his books.

Anyway, she has this contest she's always done that let's you have the chance to be a character in her book. How cool is that? Your name, in print, for all to read! Sa-weet!

NaNoWriMo Begins!!

2010-11-01T16:26:00.000-05:00

I am sooo excited! I have just written my first bits for my novel -- I'm still working on the title -- but I have only written for a few hours and I already passed today's goal of 1600. I have written 2,001 words thus far! Am I done writing for today? No! Although, as I am typing this that annoying feeling in my eyes that say I want to close, I want to sleep is popping up. If only I drank coffee. If only drinking a coke would have the same effect. Sadly, no.

I have told myself at least 8 times today to stop deleting what I just wrote, no matter if I already used the word Towards 7 times. Just leave it. You are to leave your internal editor with the evil monkeys while you write your nanowrimo novel. I can edit the whole month of December. And January. And the rest of the year. Just get it out is my mantra for November. Just write it down, even if you're thinking about changing it in a few chapters. If it's a green honda civic this chapter, I could change it to a white or black one later. This month is about quantity and getting it done. that's it. Just write 50,000 words. Who gives a rip if it's lame. The fact that I can do it is the point. They will be 50,000 words of the same story. Not the word chocolate 50,000 times. Right now Pizza sounds better.

I used my Typewell Program to start typing. It is so much faster than conventional typing. I can write a whole sentence like this:

Normal typing:

I just don't think that my mother has the time anymore to get chocolate and buttercream frosting at the store today.

TypeWell typing:

i jst d't jk jt my mjr has j time anymr t get chclte x bttrcrm frstg at j stre tdy

k's not rlly j best exmple sntnce jt i cld prbbly cme up wj, but k'l v t d for now see how many less keystrks i v t use/ k's btfl1 i love m sme TW1

[It's not really the best example sentence that I could probably come up with, but it'll have to do for now. See how many less keystrokes I have to use? It's beautiful! I love me some TypeWell!]

You see?

Just typing this blog post in a regular way is a waste of my energy.

Just typing this post is a waste of my novel writing time.

Gotta go before I decide to take a nap instead of writing. Or watch Charlie's Angels instead of writing.

How about this -- I'll write another 1000 words today and then I'll take a break until later on today, or until tomorrow. I gotta rack up words for this weekend. I'll be at Time Out For Women in Portland, and I'll be missing 2 days of writing. I can't fall behind!

Sewing, creating, organizing

2010-10-08T12:22:00.000-05:00

probably procrastinating. It always seems when I have a certain project I want to get done, I remember all the other projects I want to do and do them instead. So while I went to sit down to write, edit, research, I wound up researching patterns for skirts and dresses and then made a pillow I've been meaning to make for months. So while I am excited that I finally have the bug again to sew and sew and sew and craft I do want to write as well, the bug's just not there right now.

If I can get my camera to work I'll start taking pictures and posting them. If.

NaNoWriMo

2010-10-05T19:45:00.000-05:00

I am trying to gather my thoughts for November. It is going to be a big month for me. NaNoWriMo is the month of November. It'll be my first year to participate, and if all goes well, not my last. I have two web badges here that you can click on to find out more. One is to indicate that I am a participant. The other is just because it gives a snippet of what it is about and I couldn't help but put it up there. If only I had a green typewriter to go with it.

I encourage all of you (all zero) to participate if writing is your thing. I'm trying to get my mother to do so... I will have to call her hubby to tell him so he'll force her to do it with me.

Right now I'm having a hard time deciding which story to use. Do I want to use the one that I have been thinking about and really putting my energy into thoughts and planning of it? Or do I want to use the one that I've only just thought of, that I will do someday, but isn't on my mind nearly as much? My hesitation is that you're writing it in 30 days. No editing, just writing. Do I want to use the idea I have and love and likely do it poorly. Granted, I will have the next months and months to edit it. Or do I want to use a fresh idea without fear of it turning out poorly, but risk burning out on writing it and not wanting to write for months while I heal from carpal tunnel?

Thoughts indeed.

Great Read and other thoughts

2010-09-20T01:34:00.000-05:00

I purchased both Writing the Breakout Novel and Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook by Daniel Maass. They are fabulous! When I was at B and N the other day I just read the foreword to WtheBN - and I never read forewords - and I was completely inspired! I had so many thoughts in just those few pages. Ideas for novels, characters, conflicts, etc. I read the first few chapters and the story that I had been composting in my head for the past month or so totally took a new turn and a new idea. I am so excited about it! It is going to be so much fun to write. Such a challenge, and so rewarding.

Being in Young Women's has been such a fabulous experience for me. When we were at girls' camp for whatever reason I started telling "scary stories' to the girls that were awake late at night. Most of the cabin had fallen asleep, just 3-5 were awake. While they were ludicrous stories they were so much fun to come up with. They are fun for us to remember and say "key lines" from them to each other. All we have to say is "meep" and we all burst out laughing. We were camping out at the coast a few weekends ago and they talked me into telling them another story. It is so much fun and such a good brain exercise for me to just come up with a whole story as I'm telling it. I'd come up with the premise right before I started, but 98% of it was come up with as I was saying it. Sometimes that was bad, but mostly it was great. I'd think of it and start laughing before I could even get it out. I keep telling myself I should try to remember them and write them out. I highly doubt I'd remember most of them, especially the first one I told at girls' camp. If anything I could start trying to write some out like that. Just to get my brain moving and to think on my feet. It could also help with figuring out how I best work. Maybe I can come up with premises of stories, but maybe my best work would be complete surprises to even me. Today I was reminded about the many stories I made up as a kid that were ridiculous. I'll have to share some of them this week. I'll have to dig through some of my stuff and type out actual notes and journal entries that I wrote. You'll break something from laughing at me. Not because I'm hilarious, but because I was stupid!

Okay, so this post was nothing interesting. I figured since I had started trying to write here I might as well keep it up. Even if I didn't really have anything to say.

Oh, I'll have to put up some things that my kids have said or done lately.

New Music

2010-09-18T00:11:00.000-05:00

Lately I have been finding new music and being completely inspired by it. For instance, Uprising by Muse is just fabulous. I can totally picture 3 guys in dark leather, stubble, cold eyes, and swirling fog curling around their legs and they walk purposely down a dark, wet - but not rained upon - alley. They are walking towards some thing or some one that is very fearful of them and should be so. They aren't really out to kill or hurt, but they will prove a point, a warning of sorts, a statement. Do not mess. I see it over and over again each time I hear that song and each time I get more and more details in that "story snippet."

I found Muse through an author that I like. I actually found quite a few singers and songs that I love through a few soundtracks. The movies, not so great, the music, fabulous. On many videos of these songs are people saying oh my gosh -- fill in some expletives as you see fit -- these people are so - expletive - they only like this music because of such and such, they aren't true fans. Or I saw one band member say, I feel as though I sold my soul to the devil by allowing them to use our song for this soundtrack.

You know what I say? No, you're ridiculous. I don't think you really get what you think you get. The type of music you listen to does not define you. It may fill in details. Why does me finding this song from this source make me appreciate it any less? Why does me finding this music from this source make me less of a fan? Why does it make me less than them? Where did you find it? Did someone else introduce you to it? What if that person was a horrible person, a "poser" - as they ridiculously say, or they turned their back on that music later on down the road? Does that make your love for that music any less real? No! I would think the creators of said music wouldn't care where you heard or learned to love it from. The fact that you love it, that it speaks to you should be enough. Muse has been around for a long time and unfortunately for me, I just found them in the recent times. I probably know some of their songs unknowingly, but now have a name for them and seek them out. Fortunately for me, I did find them out.

Everyone just back off.

Now that I'm done with all that, I do have to say that the soundtracks I am referring to are the Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse soundtracks. They really contain great great great music. The acting - that's another long long post. The music is beautiful. Well, to me at least, that's totally my style. Actually, I have lots of styles that I love, but I can listen to these 3 over and over and over again without tiring. That says a lot.

Done and done.

A Challenge

2010-09-16T18:26:00.001-05:00

I am a writer ~~at heart.~~ Therefore, I could probably stand to do some writing up here. Test it out on my poor invisible, non-existent audience.

In a conversation I just had with my mother, literally I just hung up, she said you should write a journal, or hey a blog - have you heard of those? ummm... yeah, I have 3 that I don't write a lick in and I follow at least 25 blogs everyday. So -- I thought -- since probably no one in the right mind is still reading this blog I could take a chance and just write what's on my mind and see where it leads me. Probably just the practice of writing will exercise (after 27 years I can finally spell this word correctly on the first try, that and ~~restaraunt~~ restaurant) my brain and writing muscle. -- there's another one of those words that sometimes alludes me. Muscle, in the sense of spelling, not in being. I am rather muscular -- compared to a baby.

Subsequently (a nod to my husband), here I am. Writing. Absolutely nothing in particular. And doing it improperly as well.

I recently finished a series, well the series isn't finished just incomplete. It is the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn. Very good.

My mother in law and sister in law (i am too lazy to put proper dashes in) both recommend me the series ages ago. For some unknown reason I never read them. Why? It has everything I love about a story. It's in London, it's in the 1800's, it's a mystery, and it's a love story. Seriously, all my favorite elements in one. Like Anne Perry. Another one is C.S. Harris, she has a great series as well! What made me chortle, yes chortle, is my sinful reaction to a statement that my sister in law, heretofore named Becky, said one evening. We were sitting around the fire, okay, at Grandma's house. We were discussing with a dear aunt this series and the c.s. Harris' series. I had but read 10 pages of the first book, but this aunt and Becky had read all 3 of this and all 4 of the other. keeping up? probably not. Said Becky, "auntie, you would love the St. Cyr series (c.s. Harris), it is very similar to the Lady Julia Grey series." Said I, "I don't think auntie would appreciate St. Cyr, it may be a bit too scandalous for her good and virtuous nature." Said aunt, "I don't know, she may be right, the Lady Julia grey series was a bit dark. . . " leaving a suspenseful and mysterious trail to her sentence. Becky said, "oh, the St. Cyr series is just as scandalous as the Lady Grey series, but a bit more violence and detail."

Can I just say that at the beginning I did say that it was a sinful thought. My heart lept! How fun! Scandalous! Whoop whoop! I can't wait to read this whole book, nay the whole series, right now! Where are the scandalous bits? I had to keep my hand from flipping the pages so I could skim them for some naughty kiss in a darkened room, unchaperoned! Ooh ho!

I have yet to spell scandalous correctly. Do not be confused, I have gone back to amend these errors, I just wish to point out that I have made them every time I have the word was writ.

I do not know what to make of myself of late. I am turning into a regular diddy. I look forward to the scandalous bits and want them to appear more in the pages of the books I read. I do not want any full on scandal or written porn, but I do want love that burns so passionately that they are helpless to each other's presence. Okay, that sounds like porn. No, I just mean, I want them to be in love love, and I want to experience the love they share. I do not want an overly intimate play by play, I just want to read the times that they looked at each other across the room or touched one another's hand in the tenderest of moments. Neither of those are scandalous (they actually were in the 1800's in England). I want them to embrace tightly and kiss with an almost desperation, I want them to stroke one another's cheek and hold each other when they suffer or are joyful. When they are wed, I sometimes want a peek at their intimacy. Not really the actual acts involved, but that they are intimate.

Am I going to get in trouble for writing this? Absolutely. Well, only, if someone reads it. Someone will, I am sure. When my hubby is out there running for some public office, someone will run across this and see... oh Mr. Blabbitty-blah's wife is full of scandal and naughtiness! He cannot possibly lead this city/state/country to freedom and happiness! She will ruin us all with her flagrant disregard for propriety and her lack of virtue.

Well, the young women at church do always say, you're a good bad influence. They must be mind readers.

A Frock By Friday

2010-04-20T12:46:00.000-05:00

A Frock By Friday

I am so pumped to be joining in on this! It is a huge push I need t bust out my sewing machine and do something for myself! I love Grosgrain and I love the dress she chose!

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-08T17:38:00.000-06:00

Cherry Pop Refashion Frock GROSGRAIN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Georgia Grace $50 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-05T14:48:00.000-06:00

Georgia Grace $50 Gift Card GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I want I want, I need I need!

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-02T12:58:00.000-06:00

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

String of Lights Advent Calendar

2009-12-10T20:00:00.001-06:00

I love Elsie Marley, she is always full of greatness! Her string of lights advent calendar is tops! When she put this up last year I nearly died! I never got around to it at that time, but I finally did it this year! I am soo excited that I got it done!

photo courtesy of Elsie Marley

So here it goes:

I am very happy with the results! It wasn't difficult, but I did make changes.

Pros: unique, beautiful, easy enough, and fun! The tedious repetition turned out to be soothing.

Cons: time consuming.

one of my goals is to improve my picture taking skills

What I did: I folded my felt sheet in quarters (I used craft felt b/c it's what I had and I'm cheap) and traced the bulb pattern. I then repeated for the other side of the sheet and then sewed just inside the lines on each bulb. I made about 4 bulbs per sheet. Her directions say to hand sew the sockets together. While this may be the prettiest option I loathe handsewing! Handsew 25 sockets??? No way! I used hot glue baby! Took me 5 minutes to make 50 of them (I was making one garland banner and 25 ornaments for the tree).

I took 3 strands of the yard and hooked it under a chair, stretching the yarn out as far as it would go and braided it. It went rather quickly and easily. I made a loose braid. I then repeated with another 3 strands and then wrapped the 2 braids around each other.

see, you can't really see my shortcuts. oh, I do wish I had flipped that seam to the back.

I then took green embroidery floss and put tied the socket to the yarn with the knot on top of the yarn, instead of hidden inside the socket. You can't really see the knot and it probably saved me another hour of project time.

I put little Christmas activities inside each bulb and hung it on my wall. We don't have a fireplace, so the wall will have to do!

in the end, I didn't think the bulbs matched the other ornaments, so I improvised.

For the ornaments I lightly stuffed them and hot glued the bulb to the inside of the socket. To hand I stuck a ornament hanger through the tops of the socket. Easy Peasy.

up close look at the ornaments. fun fun!

Next time: I don't think I'd ever hand sew everything, unless I was making it as a gift. I won't be making it as a gift. It took a long time to do them, but it was definitely worth it. The hardest part was being honest and telling everyone that I didn't come up with the idea, someone else did! Ha ha! Thank you Elsie!

First Up

2009-12-10T18:00:00.002-06:00

Okay, this is a simple easy tutorial just to get things going.

photo courtesy of craftstylish

I found this tutorial last year, and then SimpleMom reminded me of it this year. Since I love the look of snow, but really don't like the feel of snow [freezing, slippery, and freezing some more], I loved this idea! We are in the beautiful northwest with perfect weather: we get winter without the snow!

I bought floss 88 cents at Walmart and the stickers 560 in a pack for $1.68. We have a large 5 foot window downstairs that I picked to decorate.

clearly I'm no photographer.

Pro: Easy, cheap, and lovely when finished.

Con: Time consuming, and easy to get pulled down by my 2 year old.

a little better. It would be nicer without blinds, but I like my privacy.

Summary: It was fun picking random patterns to put the dots on. I ran out of dots for my huge window so I made some of the strands short and some long. This is probably good since the first few days after I put these up I spent numerous times picking them up off the ground.

Next time: I will buy more dots. I bought 2 floss thingys and only used one.

My changes: It said to tape them up with masking tape. I don't have masking tape so I used some of the spare dots. When I noticed I was running out of dots I changed them out for white duct tape that I had. (remind me to show you what we did with our white duct tape). When my daughter pulled off some of the dots and ate them (she must've been hungry enough to eat paper, well she does think everything is candy!), I used a piece of white duct tape to repair the damage.

My daughter has stopped touching the snowstorm now and thinks it's very cool!

Tried Tutorials

2009-12-10T17:32:00.001-06:00

I may be treading on dangerous ground here! I am a tutorial junky! Who isn't, right? I love blogs that have tutorials! I do love blogs for many other reasons too, don't worry, I'm not just strictly a mooch! I am also a project list addict. I have to always have an eternal list of projects to do someday. I have filled up 4 pages front and back with lists of projects I have to do!

photo courtesy of V and Co.
So... I am going to post about all the tutorials I've tried from blog-land. I am going to be honest (which is why this may be dangerous) about whether the tutorial was clear, easy, etc, etc. I will post my efforts, failures, and successes. I may lose friends, I may be blacklisted, but hopefully we'll all be wiser for it.

photo courtesy of Crafterhours

I will also be sharing my real reviews of sewing books. I have to be honest, I have a ton of sewing project books from well-known women in the blog-land. Some of my reviews aren't as glowing as I've seen around blogs. Yes, I do love these women, but if it takes me 2 hours too long to figure out their drawings/instructions/wording, I am going to say something about it! Don't worry, I'm not a Negative Nelly! Nor am I Rude Rudy! I am Positive, Constructive, Loving, and Honest Shelly!!

photo courtesy of Ruffles and Stuff

I will write pros and cons about each tutorial/project. I will write if I did something differently, if it was user error, or ideas for making it a bit easier for you.

photo courtesy of One More Moore

Get excited!

Oh! I will be developing my own tutorials to be put under the microscope!

Cheers!

ETA: I have not yet tried the tutorials in the pictures in this post! They are still on my list of ones to try! These are just preview of tried tutorials to come!

missing her brother

2009-12-09T17:19:00.000-06:00

It's certainly been fun to have Benji go off to preschool. Jenee is always asking for her big brother. Where's Benji? I want Benji! It's so sad. I try to take her to the park to cheer her up, and yet the swing just doesn't swing the same without Benj.

I let her stay up a bit longer before going down for a nap so she can have some good alone time playing. She usually just puts herself to sleep instead. Jenee just lays there in sorrow and then drifts off to slumber. She pops off her pillow (I've moved her to her bed by then) asking for Benji right away. Thank goodness though, she is playing by herself at this moment.

I think it's incredibly important for my children to get some alone time. In my personal opinion, a healthy person is someone who can enjoy being alone as well as being with people. I love being alone and crave some quiet quiet time. I need quiet and solitude to be able to center myself. I hope to bring this to each of my children. They need to be alone to reflect and re-center themselves. Also, they need to be with others to reflect and re-center themselves in different ways.

Enough of that. I love my little girl's sad sad face.

awesome christmas decoration!

2009-12-08T17:47:00.004-06:00

I nearly fell down laughing. I scared poor Jackson to death laughing so hard. This is someone's Christmas decoration! I first saw the picture and thought, who cares about some dumb lights?? Then I read the story that accompanied it - holy smoke - what a hoot!

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

I could totally see that happening! Even if this isn't a true story, I do love the decoration idea. You better believe that I will be trying this at some point in my life!

I've been wanting these patterns for ages!

2009-11-10T12:23:00.004-06:00

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ETA: not sure why that didn't work, so here's the direct link to the page:

http://grosgrainfabulous.blogspot.com/2009/11/handmade-dress-patterns-guest-giveaway.html

Ha! So you thought I'd start blogging by now... hello it's been over a year! Life is just so crazy that I'm trying to structure my life so that I can get things done and not be stressed and unhappy. That means I have to prioritize as well. So my blog has fallen by the way side and such. Still... my promise to come back full force is still happening. I'm about a couple weeks away from it.

Well, I do love reading my favorite blogs, and thanks to google reader, I can read a billion of them and not spend hours on the computer just keeping updated. Now when it comes down to really diving in, I could be on here for a week straight and still not read everything I want. The problem with reading blogs is that my project list increases past 1000 items. argh! when will I learn?? NEVER!

I do love then handmade dress patterns, and think they are just perfect. I would love to win these patterns, but since about 2000 people probably a vying for the same patterns, it will be slim. One can dream though. And anyway, it was a good reminder of her work and that I do want her patterns.

Making changes on this blog

2009-08-27T17:08:00.002-05:00

Well, I would like to transfer the old posts to a different blog and just start this all over. I have a new idea for it, so just bear with me while I get this off the ground. I will be writing posts and figuring out the ideal layout that I want and how to do that for the next few weeks. The posts will be put up after I've got the blog figured out and how I want it all to go. Until then.. I'd better get back to packing for Oregon.

Smooch!

playground shorts giveaway!

2009-07-06T09:51:00.001-05:00

http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/2009/06/giveaway-playground-shorts.html

These shorts are adorable, the deer fabric is too too cute! I would love to have these on my Nae nae, but if I don't get to win, I'll be so excited as she's promised to put up a tutorial so I can make my own! Whoop whoop! I love her!

what makes my children happy

2009-04-24T10:09:00.003-05:00

I've just got to laugh. My kids are so funny.

This morning, I woke up in a pregnant "gotta run to the bathroom" stupor and there was my little boy sitting on the couch looking very secretive. He had stopped whatever it was that he was doing and gave me this funny little look. He raises his eyebrows and tucks his chin down --- think of what an adult would do that looks at a tiny kid who is not doing what they should --- which always makes me laugh. Then I see what's in his lap, he's trying to cover it, but he's really not good at stealth yet. It's a loaf of bread, it's still in the bag and there are about 4 slices left in it. I was wondering where that bread ran off to! He has a secret stash! He stole my bread out of the pantry and hid it! I found where he hid it too! I just pretended I didn't see it (remember, I'm in a stupor, wanting to go back to sleep) and went back to bed. He was up waaay to early. Nick would get up in a few minutes anyway to get them ready for the day and off to school (it's really daycare, but we call it school b/c school is cool). I got up thinking the bread would still be on the couch, but no... he has it shoved between the wall and the couch. ha ha! Ohh, that totally reminds me of me, but I did it with candy and sweets.

Such a weird child, who hides bread? Who craves it every waking moment? Benjamin! He comes home, "hi mom! I went to cool, bye pease!" --translation, hi mom! I went to school, bread please-- He wakes up or gets woken up, "bye pease!! bye pease!" He wants it for everything. He especially likes it when he gets tired, he just sticks it on the roof of his mouth and falls asleep -- sick, I know. We are trying to break this weird nasty habit, but it takes time.

Nick and I joke about what we're going to give them for their birthdays. Benji - a loaf of bread just for him. Jenee'- a box of wipes just for her. That girl is obsessed with wipes, we have to hide the containers from her. I've given her one filled with torn up toilet paper (she tore it up, I was just trying to make use of the scraps we could no longer use), and she was very snobby about it. We tear one in half to give her when it's time to change her diaper, and she tries to help wipe herself, it's too cute. She loves to clean everything in site (not with the same wipe she wipes herself with, we're not that gross), she wipes the couch, the tv (it's actually very helpful), her face, her clothes, the cabinets, walls... oh you get the idea. She always has to have her tray on her high chair clean. That doesn't mean she does it in a way we like. The plate/bowl and spoon go down on the floor (usually with food still in it) and she's way too fast to stop her before it falls to the ground. The remaining food on the tray is then picked up individually by those teeninesy fingers and thrown to the floor and she'll take her napkin (she has to have one!) and wipes the tray, her hands, and her face. Where did she come from?? I am not a neat freak at all. I enjoy neatness, more than I did when I was younger, but I'm still not a good housekeeper. Both my children love to clean and pick up and have to have their face and hands clean. Myself, I like to roll in dirt; the dirtier the hands the more fun I had.

It's so nice though that they're so easy to please. Bread and wipes. whew.. that means I don't have to make them all these things to try and be the mother of the year! What a relief. Will I still do that? H - yes! but at least I'll have the bread and wipes with the handmade toys/clothes.

am I alive?

2009-02-25T14:10:00.001-06:00

short answer: yes.

long answer: ohhh, it's too long to really give it the full attention it deserves.

We are doing well and are super duper happy. The kids are growing and growing and we've taken hardly any pictures. I am doing my best to catch up, but I find that I keep taking the same picture over and over again and when I find a great photo op, where's my camera? not with me! lame.

As I start to get myself in gear here, I just may really finally update you on life thus far since we left Texas.

Feel free to email, call, whatever whenever....

moving on

2008-11-13T16:33:00.001-06:00

I hate to say it, but I'm moving on with my blogs. I will be merging from shelly'sbelly and barlow bits. That blog -- fromshelly'sbelly -- will be for family and more personal updates. I may cut it out entirely... that's to be determined later.

I have a NEW blog for my NEW shop(s). It's very exciting. I'm in the process of building and designing it, so be on the lookout for the grand opening!! YAY!