Gray days.

I’ve been painting with primer over a magenta colored accent wall in my house, getting ready to spruce up  my family room. It’s a slow process, and with three coats of primer up (and a bunch down my dog’s left side-whoops!) I think it’s about ready for the white paint. It’s amazing how much this lightened up the kitchen, just painting a five foot length of wall.

Here in Washington it’s been mid-winter break, and boy did I need it. Three days this week I slept in until almost nine, and it felt good. Back to the early-bird routine next week.

I just want the sun to come up a little sooner. Could the earth tilt just a little bit more, is that too much to ask? These dark, drizzly days are really wearing me out.

On the Jane Austen front, I’m still getting ready for my annual party, and hoping I can get a dress completed by then for my daughter. She wants something red and silky. Excellent taste!

-Lynnae

You Gain Some, You Lose Some

This is a tough post to write.

I don’t talk much about my weight loss journey on my blog for a lot of reasons, but I just had a few things I wanted to vent about, express, ponder……I don’t know.

A while back I lost 100 lbs. And even though it took a lot of effort, something unlocked in my brain that just made it seem easy, or at least doable. Then I met a few setbacks. Some of it had to do with my foot problems, but a lot of it was just the stress of other situations that were happening in the family and different illnesses my children went through. I know it’s all about diet and exercise, but for me, it’s 90% mental, and my mental part seemed to be broken.

Losing weight is a very public thing. No matter how private you want to be about your efforts, everyone sees it, and people comment, and for me that is a big boost. But what happens when you start to slip? When your favorite clothes get to tight and people who meet you glance unconsciously at your belly or thighs.  It hurts.

But what is really bothering me now, is that I’m trying to get back that fire, or at least ‘fake it till I make it’.

I learned to lose weight during a relatively calm period in my life. Now I need to do it again,though not quite as much, but with more stress and challenges thrown into the mix. I’m trying to get back in the habit of running, but running is so much harder with the extra weight. I feel it. In fact, sometimes when my legs feel really heavy on a run I pretend I’m training for something and have heavy weights strapped to me. How I wish I could just peel them off at the end of a run!

It is clear to me that I need to learn to deal with my stressors in some other way than eating. Things like the sorrow of being a Mommy who’s children are rapidly growing up and leaving the nest. College, marriage, all signs of my success as a parent, and yet it aches in my heart. Where did my babies go? And then there’s the looming EVENT of my husband’s Army reserve deployment. I never in my life dreamed I would be here, in my forties, kids taking off, and my husband willingly leaving for a year. No matter how I support the honorable roll he wants to play as a soldier, as a woman and wife it hurts a little, and brings baggage of worries.

The Lord has blessed me with many supportive friends and family members, and my high-schooler will still be here to be my pal. I’m trying to dive into décor and art and other things that make me happy. But when it comes to weight, I know I do better if I can just shift into a positive attitude. So I’m trying to attack my Weight Watchers program with renewed energy, remember my daily meditation, take care of myself, and treat myself with things I like that aren’t food related. We all have times when life feels out of control, but I know from experience that I feel better when I am in control of my food.

-Lynnae

Baby Shower Fun

Last time I told you I was making decorations for my friend’s baby shower, and here’s a little peek at how it turned out.

I made giant tissue paper flowers in two colors, two coffee filter balls, and used a round Chinese lantern. The white poof on top is made from coffee filters glued onto a paper-mâché ball. The light pink poof on the right is also made from coffee filters, but the I wanted bigger so I got the commercial size package at Staples, and I dyed them in food coloring. Using dye, tea, or even just water changes the consistency of the filter a little bit and I like it.

This turned out too big to go over the table so I put it in the ‘pass thru’ window by the dining room with a 3M Command hook. I love those babies! I made wire hooks on each piece like you would with an ornament, then connected longer wire and twisted it into a loop at the top. This came from an inspiration photo I saw on Pinterest, and here is a link to the original at Divine Living.

A Baby Shower Game:

This is a matching game. Prepare by writing each word on the left on two corresponding 3x5 cards, and buy the candy bars listed.

To play you will mix up the cards and lay them out on the floor or table. Going around the circle each person turns over two cards to try and get a match. If you get a match you win the candy bar that goes with that word. Then play goes to the next person. Here are the words and candy bars:

Little girls……..Sweet Tarts

Daddy…………..Big Hunk

Baby Names….Whatchamacallit

9 months………Rocky Road

Coo’s and Giggles….Snickers

Teething………..Munch

Weight Gain……Chunky

Pacifier…………..Gobstopper

Multiples………..Sixlets

Nursing………….Milk Duds

Premie……………Runts

Conception………Skor

OBGYN…………….Butterfinger

Epidural…………..Life Saver

Tax deduction…..Pay Day

Contraction………Whopper

You can’t always find all these candy bars. Try to have at least 10 so you have 20 cards on the table for your match game. Have fun!

-Lynnae

Cured by a Hot Glue Gun

January has been a little crazy, and no, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth.

I was sick early in January, then in mid January we had crazy snowstorms, school cancellations, and an ice storm, followed by a three day power outage.

Then my husband left for a short Army Reserve training in Pennsylvania and I had big plans. I was finally going to paint my family room, get ready for my Jane Austen party, and do a bunch of other cool stuff, and low and behold, I got sick again.

I was a miserable, laying around, achy eyed, coughing kind of sick, for about a week, and did almost nothing except the basic laundry and food for my daughter, and taking her to school.

Now the fog is lifting. Laryngitis has left my voice a little raspy, but I have felt bad for so long that now I almost feel hyper. Which is good because now I have less time to do all the things I wanted to do.

I’ve spent the last two days catching up on laundry and crafting with my daughter. She wanted to try this cool art project with melted crayons that we saw on Pinterest.  She had a lot of fun and it turned out really cool.

As for me, my BFF’s daughter is expecting her first child, and I am helping out with the baby shower. I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of tissue flowers and coffee filter pom-poms. Next time I’ll post a picture of what I come up with!

-Lynnae

PS. wanna have a peek at my Pinterest Boards? Click here!