a wallet, with a coupon

Five and a half years ago,

when she graduated from highschool,

I made her a wallet,

and this week, I made her another one :-)

(I'm kinda surprised nobody guessed...)

~

Remember my love pictures ?

Well - as soon as Andy posed the question

"                                                                                                                                   "

my mind was whirring.

My first thought was,

I need to turn this into a printable and make gifts for everyone.

My second thought was,

I sooo don't know how to do that,

and I really don't have time to figure it out.

My third thought was

Meg!!

Maegan,

in addition to being one of my daughter in law's very best friends,

is

a graphic designer.

I figured she could put together a printable

with much less effort

that would look waaay better than anything I could come up with.

And I was right!

I was a little concerned though,

about what her expertise might cost me.

So after asking if she could and would make a printable,

but before telling her to go ahead,

I asked, "How much (ish) will this cost??"

And she replied, "How about a trade?"

"You remember that wallet you made me?

I've worn it out, but I haven't found anything I like as well to replace it with.

Could you make me another one?"

Ya'll.

That girl made me feel like a real artist!

She wanted to trade my work

for hers!

Not a 'let's swap for fun' deal, 

but a bona fide barter

for goods/services that we each wanted...

Of course, 

I said yes :-)

I love the little surprise of the glasses hiding in the pocket!

Here are the pictures she sent me for color inspiration,

but she told me she didn't need to 'approve' anything;

she wanted it to be a surprise

My fabric choices are a bit bolder
and don't elicit the same calm feeling

that her inspiration pictures evoke,

but I think she'll be happy with them anyways.

Meg ~ I hope you love your wallet!

I sure am happy with the printables you made me,

and the gifts I made for my people with them :-)

~

If you have need of a custom printable, 

contact Meg via her etsy shop

and tell her I sent ya.

She's got fun printable cards and customizable invitations and announcements.

She also has a brand new 8 1/2 x 11 printable.

And she'd like to give one

 to one of you! :-)

Simply pop over to her shop 

then come back and leave a comment telling me what caught your eye.

We'll draw a winner Wednesday evening :-)

Creating these love printables 

has her feeling extra nice,

so

she also gave me a coupon code (YAYVALENTINESDAY) to share with ya'll

for 10% off any order from her shop

through 11:59 PM (central time) on Sunday.

If you don't see anything you need right now,

but think you may have need of custom services in the future,

follow Meg's shop,

so you'll be able to find her when you do need her.

(tell ya what ~ I'll give you an extra chance at winning the printable if you follow her,

so leave a second comment telling me ya did)

~

I followed this tutorial,

which is great,

except that she doesn't note in the cutting directions

which pieces are for what parts of the wallet,

so I am going to list them here, 

so I don't have to spend another hour figuring it all out

next time I want to make a wallet.

(which, quite honestly, was part of my foot dragging)
The asterick denotes that the piece should be interfaced.

*8.5x9 - outside (I used fusible fleece to interface this piece)
*8.5x9 - inside, underneath all of the pockets

8.5x4.5 - outside (front) of zipper pocket
*8.5x4.5 - inside zipper pocket, facing the zipper (you really don't see this at all)
*8.5x4.5 - outside of zipper/inside of slip pocket
8.5x4.5 - inside of zipper pocket (this is the one you see when pocket is open)

*8.5x4.5 - backside of largest CC pocket
8.5x4.5 - outside of largest CC pocket
other CC pockets:
8.5x4
8.5x3.5
8.5x3

*2.5x5 , cut (and interface) 2 -  strap for snap closure
(I think this is too long, 4" is better)

This is my 3rd wallet.
(besides Meg's first one, I also made one for Kacy (using, gasp, a pattern I paid for)
(oh cool ~ I've used a bit of the same exact fabric in Meg's wallet that I'd used in Kacy's :-)

It just now occurred to me that I might find wallets a little easier to make
if I didn't treat them as a mini quilt
(as in - how many fabrics can I use in this 7 1/2 x 4 x 1/2 inch space)
 ;-)

Linking up with Amanda Jean and the Finishers :-)

WiP, what is it?

I don't know if you can believe this or not,

but 

except for re-making a TKD uniform top

so Brandon could have one that is the proper length

without being able to swim in it,

up 'til this afternoon,

I've done no sewing this year.

I know!

I've had this project in queue for a little over a month;

I'm not sure why I was dragging my feet on it.

Well,

I wasn't dragging my feet the whole time.

I had other things to tend to,

but once my plate was cleared enough that I could get to this project,

I drug them a little then...

Anyways,

I've started on it now :-)

What do you suppose it is??

Come back Friday and find out

what I'm making,

and why.

Oh ~ I'll also have a surprise :-)

(I mean, besides what this is. Which some of you will probably guess.

And that wouldn't be much of a surprise at all then, would it?)

linking up with Lee :-)

Oh!

Next week;
the week after next,

I'll finally be sharing my QAYG!!

{happy dance}

what we ate

Once upon a time, 

I menu-planned for the entire month.

I even taught a class on it.

These days - I wing it.

We keep a (very) well stocked pantry

and either Tyler or I will hit Aldi and Walmart for produce

and Sams for meat and cheese

(and mayo and pet food, etc)

a few times a month.

I'm not saying it's a good plan, mind you,

just that it's what we do these days,

and it works reasonably well.

A friend wondered what we eat,

so I thought maybe someone else might wonder too?

Here's what we had for dinner this past week:

I would never dirty all these extra dishes;
these were relocated to the table as they were emptied,
 and re-used as dinner plates.

Monday
Creamy Chicken and Veggies, on shredded cabbage
garlic cheddar biscuits
(recipe to come as soon as I've perfected it. I'm close...)
kids had rice as their carb option

Tuesday
Cheeseburger Pie and tossed salad
corn for kiddos

Wednesday
Roasted Chicken and radishes (and potatoes for the chilluns)
the rest of Tuesday's salad

Thursday
Quick Gumbo
(made with dark meat from yesterday's roasted chicken
and bone broth made from the carcasses)
Everyone (except me) added rice to theirs.

Friday
Chicken club pizza

yes. I suppose it looks like I dirtied extras here, but didn't. I can explain:
the chicken and tomatoes leave cutting boards in need of washing before they can be used again, so even though I used 2
I didn't create more to wash in the long run. I *could* have cut the pepperoncinis on a corner of one of those boards,
but not everyone prefers them on their pizza, so I didn't want the juices co-mingling.
Technically, I guess I did dirty that one extra plate, but it was thoughtfully done, in love.
The foam plate was re-used as a dinner plate, though, so it makes up for it.  Yes. I think about such things. regularly...

(using a double batch of this dough per pizza, precooked, for the crusts
and breast meat planned over (as opposed to 'left' over) from Wednesday's dinner)
and salad

for dessert, kids had pilsbury cookies
and Tyler and I had wheat-free volcano mudslides with whipped cream

Saturday
Chicken breast  topped with cheddar, guacamole, and pico de gallo
and salad dressed with chuy's dip
seasoned rice (leftover from gumbo) with black beans for the carb peoples.

Okay; fine. You caught me. I put the Chuy's dip on my chicken, too.
You know you'd have done the same...

Ordinarily, I'd have served another veggie;
I like to have 1 carby and 2 low carb  side dishes per meal,
but as you can see, it doesn't always happen.
I guess we had 'sides' as toppings this night ;-)

Sunday
is snacky dinner night (when we're home.
Several Sundays a month we do the 'family' program at church,
and for the life of me, I can't figure out when moms are supposed to make dinner)

Jalapeno Dip with celery and/or crackers (Ritz, from Sam's)
summer sausage with cheese (moz or cheddar)
buttered popcorn
baby dills
black olives
orange and apple slices

This snacky dinner was a little sparse,
but we were out and about late afternoon,
so we'd grabbed a $5 pizza from Eureka for the kids,
so I figured we could do a bit less than normal.
Plus,
we'd decided to watch the last of the Star Wars movies
with our dinner
instead of our usual Psych,
which meant we needed to get started earlier,
so we were in a time crunch.

~
I started writing this post two weeks ago,
but found I couldn't remember (even close to) an entire week of dinners,
so last week,
I snapped pictures with my phone right before we ate.
Lucky ya'll ;-)
On the nights I forgot to take a picture,
I just typed in what we had real quick,
before I had a chance to forget...

see how they love

Taking a cue from Acts 2:42,

instead of a congregational mid week service,

families from our church meet mid week in small groups

(called 242 groups, because we have to be clever...)

usually in homes, but sometimes elsewhere.

I've mentioned before that I love our group.

They are my people

and I feel safe and comfortable with them.

So much so in fact, that I've actually invited others to join us

(this is not something I'd do lightly!)

I wouldn't exactly say I look forward to going to our 242 meetings,

but I certainly don't dread it,

which is more than I can say for most things

that involve leaving the house.

From September - December,

we did an Andy Stanley video study

about being disciples

and not merely 'Christians'.

All through the series, 

he reiterated John 13:34,

that people would know that we are followers of Christ

because of our love.

Not our rules and our standards,

our love.

In the final lesson, Andy said,

“In every dealing with someone, 

before every statement or response to anyone, 

a follower of Jesus, a disciple, 

should ask themselves first: 

‘What does love require of me?’” 

If we could just remember to ask that question,

and act on the answer,

people will have no choice, but to say,

"see how they love..."

with the ceiling fan and heater both on high - trying to dry them thoroughly, right before packing them up to give away 

To help us remember,

the kids and I made all of the families in our group 

an 8x10 one of a kind art piece

(after securing a local designer to create some printables :-)

(lest you think 

that I think

I have this love thing down,

I think it's fair that you know:

While working on these, there were tons of frustrations

and things going wrong,

and not turning out exactly as envisioned

and just general big project stress and chaos.

There were also tears,

and there was growling.

There was quitting,

and re-starting.

I did not behave lovely.

Yes.

Yes; I see the irony...)

I really do want to love....

new year, new me (?)

As we all know,

my body is particularly uncooperative with my slimming efforts.

Last year was one 

very long, 

very unproductive struggle

in that department.

I had gained 5 lbs during the holidays (2014)

and I spent the entire year (2015)

I kid you not,

the entire year

losing and regaining those 5 lbs.

Never once dipping

even an ounce

below my lowest low of 2014.

I read so many stinking books, and tried several different diet theories

and nothing worked.

(more carbs (though still LC by most standards) 

and fewer fat grams as recommended in Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle

did not agree with me at all;

my emotional and mental well being suffered a lot during those few weeks!)

The only way I lost any of those 5 lbs

was when I fat-fasted

which, in a nutshell is 1000 - 1200 calories,

85% or more of them coming from healthy fats

(raw cream, coconut oil, butter, MCT oil)

but still I lost those lbs at a much slower rate than most people do

while on a fat fast,

and as soon as I returned to my normal eating

(about 1500 calories of highish fat, moderate protein, low carb)

I'd gain them right back.

so. very. maddening.

There was one day in the fall that I weighed as soon as I got up 

to fix Tyler breakfast and send him off to work.

I was super tired, so after waving goodbye,

I turned off the lights

and went back to bed,

something I have given myself freedom to do,

in an effort to heal my body from years of sleep deprivation.

When I woke up an hour an a half later, I went pee,

then for kicks, weighed again.

I knew that it wouldn't be my 'true weight',

that it'd be a false low, from being somewhat dehydrated,

seeing that it was a few hours into the day and I hadn't even had any water,

but I was pretty desperate for some good news from the scale,

even if it wasn't  entirely accurate news....

People.

I had gained 1.6 lbs!

So much for a small victory.

How the hell did I gain weight 

while sleeping?!

It was then that I  pretty much lost hope.

I still ate very carefully

(or more accurately - very fearfully)

but I gave up on exercising.

I just couldn't talk myself into working out any more.

Some days, I'd get hungry 

and eat an actual lunch of food

in the afternoon,

but for the most part, 

I pretty much had a cup of coffee for breakfast

and another for lunch,

and ate dinner with the family.

During the holidays,

I allowed myself treats,

but didn't go too crazy.

By the time we finished with all of the Christmas get-togethers,

(technically - we aren't finished yet - we still have one more party)

I was pretty sick of 'cheating'

and just wanted to eat healthy.

I'm tired of being scared to eat.

And I've gotten flabby from not exercising. Ugh.

I decided that in 2016 

(starting Jan 4th)

I'd get back to doing Trim Healthy Mama,

(and actually mix in E meals,

instead of only eating S)

since that's what I'd lost weight with 

most successfully 

in 2013 and early 2014.

Being flabby isn't acceptable to me,

so I'll work out at least 5 days a week.

~

So.

One week in.

How's my plan working so far?

I worked out 6 days last week,

but I'd really like to develop a better plan,

so I'm not trying to figure out what I feel like doing at the moment.

I ate, for the most part, every 3-4 hours,

mostly deep S,

but a few heavy Ss, and some E and FP meals and snacks, too

(for the non-THMers: S meals are satisfying - fueled by fats, with very few carbs,

E meals are energizing - fueled with healthy carbs, with 5 or fewer grams of fat

and FP are fuel pull meals, meaning they don't contain many carbs or much fat,

so they pull from your fat stores. All meals and snacks contain some protein...)

Over the holidays, I'd gained 4 lbs,

(honestly - I'm pretty shocked it was only 4 lbs!!)

but every morning since Tuesday

I've been .2 lbs lighter

(which, for me, is excellent!)

until yesterday morning, when I discovered I'd gained 1.6 lbs.

And then this morning,

I gained another pound.

What the heck?!

I'm not so sure there'll be a new me this year after all.

one bag at a time, one truck at a time

In an episode of Monk, the garbage collectors were on strike.

The sight and stench of the trash filled city 

sent an already fragile Monk

over the edge.

He decided that he was going to clean up the city.

By himself.

One bag

and one truck

at a time 

(by filling the trash trucks and driving them into the bay...)

"one bag at a time, one truck at a time"

~

I'm not driving any trucks into the water

or cleaning up the city,

but dangit

I have got to get this house cleaned up!

One box, one shelf, one basket, one drawer

(etc)

at a time.

The kicker, though,

is I can only clean out one thing a day!

I'm so often all or nothing.

If I don't have time to clean all the things

I don't clean any of the things.

This year,

every day,

I'm borrowing Monk's

 'one bag at a time, one truck at a time' plan.

So far, it's working out well.

Yesterday, Tyler came home with groceries

and he was putting some veggies away

when I told him that the drawer he was putting them in really should be cleaned first.

But that I couldn't do it.

 I'd already cleaned my one extra thing ;-)

Yep.

It's working out real well.

~
one bag at a time, one truck at a time.
one bag at a time, one truck at a time...

a year in review

I thought it'd be fun to do a little end of the year recap.

I wrote fewer blog posts this year

than 

I wrote in any of my previous 7 years of blogging.

Sometimes I had words, 

but couldn't find the time to write them.

Other times,

I just didn't have the words.

It wasn't posted this year, but seeing as it's wildly popular,

I figured it's worth noting

that 

my all time most read post,

with well over 22 thousand views

is my baking mix post

I made 7 quilts this year!

(click on the photo to go to the post)

2 baby quilts that were sold for sewing machines:

2 throws,

one for me, and one for my mom and her man

a very large (two-sided) twin for Brandon

and 2 queen sized quilts,

both gifts.

One that hasn't been posted,

and

Matt and Marin's

this quilt was my second most viewed post, received the most comments, both on the blog and on FB
and is my most pinned quilt.

I machine quilted another queen sized quilt, Claire's,

(which was my 2015 post with the most views - 2,746 of 'em at the moment)

I was able to purchase a sewing machine with the money I earned for the quilting of that one, too :-)

There were also 3 mini mini quilts

that were sent off to new homes

and 

I pattern tested for the first time

and made a table topper

I shared a couple of pretty popular recipes

and

I made quite a few shirts, skirts, and dresses 

but more than half of them didn't get blogged.

Here are a some of the makes that did:

 I also made quite a few zip pouches

and this one, when the girls got to use the sewing machine for the first time.

And of course,

there were the costumes and accessories...

We had three very special weddings this year;

two of them, Lily and Lexi were flower girls in.

We got rid of carseats

and met ACT goals. 

Okay, so only Brandon did that one...

We got house plans

and leveled the ground as the first (pre)step for building

Tyler preached in front of a crowd of about 300

and of course,

we celebrated National Donut Day

We had a restful week at the beach

We added a daughter in law and her kiddos to the family

and 2 weeks before Christmas,

we got the most beautiful baby girl

All in all,

a pretty good (and busy!) year, I think.