Busy..busy

I am so glad Christmas has come and gone. I was a crafty craftswoman this year and decided to make presents for everyone. I spent a ton of hours on them. They turned out great and I think that everyone loved them. Silly me, I didn't take pictures of everything before we wrapped them. I made some purses, lots of tote bags, I Spy bags for my girls, blocks with vinyl lettering, shirts for my girls and the CUTEST dress ever for my niece. I will for sure be making the same dresses for my girls.
I do actually have a few projects for the girls that I didn't finish, but no big hurry. I need a craft break.
I will post a few pictures when I get the chance. I am going to go back to watching all the new movies we just got for Christmas. I love Hairspray and I finally got it.

This is the style of purse I made for 2 of my sister in laws.

This is the fabric for one of them.

This is the fabric on the other.

The girls shirts turned out cute. I bought plain t shirts and appliqued on them. Dacia was 1, Ashlyn had a 2 on her shirt and of course Brylee was 3. Yes, I number my kids in birth order. They looked cute wearing them yesterday. When Dacia opened her present she said "cool a soccer shirt"
These are the blocks I made. I have a miter saw that I cut all the wood with. Then I finally tried vinyl on my Cricut! I was excited how cute and easy they were and now I need to make other blocks for different holidays.

A few things I made lately....

I made the girls all matching Halloween shirts this year. You can see a better shot of it below on Ashlyn. I couldn't find black tshirts so I ended up buying white shirts and some RIT dye. I didn't let them sit in the dye long enough and after they were washed they ended up gray. They still turned our cute and I like how the dye ended up leaving the thread a lighter color.

I added buttons to make cute little candy corns on the front.

Last weekend I learned how to screen print tshirts. Awesome. I am really excited about this one and can't wait to make more shirts. Especially when I dye the shirts and add some screen printing. Oh, the ideas running through my head.
I tried out a new purse pattern and made this bag above. If I don't ever sell any purses I will have a nice purse collection for myself.

Remember the purse above. I made it for myself a few weeks ago. It seemed like it just needed something else. Well, I found what it needed....see new purse below.

I attached the strap different and added some buttons.

Halloween Hair Bows

So I guess I should have posted this a long time ago, but if anyone needs Halloween hair bows I have ribbon left to make some. Here are some samples of what I made for the kids at work.

New Purse Pattern

First off, let me say how much I love the internet and all the fabulous ladies and their craft blogs. I love that someone else has made these cute things and then put on the instructions on the internet for everyone to use. It's great! So here is the new purse I made for me. I love the fabric. I am a bit frustrated with myself though. I made this on Wednesday night and I was staying up to finish it, but I could tell it was getting too late for me to be up. I was making so many mistakes and had to pick out a few seams. Then to top it off I forgot to put the Pellon (iron on stabilizer) on it to make the purse stiffer. So I may be going to buy some more of this fabric to make it again.

It looks like it needs something else. I made a tie and was going to put some belt loops around the purse but that doesn't look right. What do you think? I have enough fabric left over that I was going to try to make a checkbook holder to match the purse.

Uh..Oh..I went to the fabric store again

So the girls were invited to a birthday party tomorrow for the girls across the street. It's a double birthday party one of the girls is Dacia's age and the other is Ash's age. I decided to give something new a try for their gifts. I seen it on the internet and have been wanting to make them. As always, I found the basic instructions, but then did my own thing.


What kid doesn't like to draw and this way all the pencils have a little home. I think I will make the girls each one for Christmas. Then maybe they will put their stuff away when they are done coloring.

Sew Easy!!

A big thanks to Jen for the inspiration behind this project. It was super easy. I didn't even buy a pattern. I searched the internet for some instructions and then kinda did my own thing. Dacia loves it and I have fabric to make Ash one too.

Another new craft/hobby!

I seen a nurse at work yesterday making a hat on a loom. I have always wanted to make hats but I thought it was too hard. After seeing her work on hers I found that is was the easiest thing to make. I stopped at the store last night on my way home from work (after midnight, of course) and bought the Knifty Knitter Set and some yarn. And this is my first hat. It is newborn size. Does anyone know a newborn girl? I don't have anyone to give it to.


***As I was watching the nurse make her hat it got the wheels in my head turning. You see I had just googled "crocheted headbands" on Friday and wanted to see if I could learn to make those. After a long search today I could not find the right yarn to use. So if anyone has any insight on the headbands I would love to hear.
So although I didn't figure out the headbands yet I will enjoy making hats and you can make scarfs too. (And they have different looms and you can make purses, bags, pillows and so much more).

I have evolved!

First I started making flowers and clips and they looked like this.

And I found an awesome ribbon site and ordered ribbon and found instructions to make bows and they looked like this.

Then I found another website with better instructions and I practiced more and
they looked like this.

Then I made some bang clips and they look like this. (and I still need to make more).

And I seen these on the internet and had to make them too.

Then...

I finally (after lots of practice) figured out how to make my boutique bows look better and now I can make these. And the layering is so cute!

And you can add embellishments and they look cute too.
And I was practicing with wider ribbon.

And I made up a few others after seeing some cute bows on the computer
and they looked like this.

I am so excited about the new hair bows and clips for the girls. I have a lot of neighbors that are doing a big ribbon order with me and I am going to teach them how to make hair bows. Anyone else can join us if they want to.

How I spend my free time....what little I have

So in addition to spending time at my Cricut making cards and making hairbows for my girls I have picked up a few new hobbies. I got out my sewing machine(which hasn't been used in a few years) and have learned how to make a few new things.

This is the first purse I made.

I didn't do anything fancy like pockets or a snap closure just cause it was my first attempt.

Here is my second purse. I love the bright print on this one.

I did make pockets on this one. It has a velcro pocket on one side and pen/cell phone pockets on the other side. I did put a magnet snap on this one. I think it turned out pretty good for first attempt at this pattern.


I have also been making baby bibs and burp cloths. I love the ric rac! I made a matching burp cloth and bib with the polka dots and ric rac, but I gave them away to neighbor. It was so cute!

I have been listing stuff to sell on Etsy and have had a few sales. It's just fun to make stuff and have something that I like to do.

Space Bags are cool!

I cleaned Brylee's closet last night. It didn't take long at all and I am very happy with the results. I had to laugh at Ashlyn yesterday when we got them in the mail and opened them. She told me "first you have to pack the items". I guess she has seen that infomercial one too many times.
This is what I started with, 6 bins of little girls clothes and 1 bin of shoes. Plus a few piles on top of the bins and a few piles around the room. So I took out all the clothes and started sorting them into sizes.

These are all the Newborn and 0-3 month clothes

This is what is looks like packaged in a new space bag.

More piles of clothes. These are the 18 and 24 month clothes.

These are the 2T and 3T clothes.

This is what everything was packaged down too. There are 3 space bags stacked here. The bottom one has the 2T and 3t clothes and there was actually room for more in that bag. The middle bag has the 24 month, 18 month and 12 month clothes in it. And the top bag has the 0-3 month stuff.
Final Result. I am left with 2 bins in the closet. One with shoes and one with the boppy and some misc items. I also have a space bag full of socks on the bins. And I have some floor space in the closet that wasn't there before.
I have a hanging space bag that I haven't used yet that I am going to put my maternity clothes in my closet in it. I am very happy with them and may be purchasing more Space Bags soon.

What's the fuss?

After hearing so much about Twilight I decided to give it a try (more because I have needed something to do since the computer is still broke).
I have to admit that I do not like it. I know everyone else does, but it is boring to me. I am more than half way through the first book and I only finishing it to see if it gets any better.
Why does everyone have the hots for a 17 year old vampire? Weird!

ABC

A- Attached or single: Very Attached

B- Best Friend: Erik

C-Cake or Pie: Pie

D-Day: the days I get everything done, which doesn't happen often

E- Essential Item: my lotion and chapstick

F- Favorite Color: greens & pink

G-Gummi Bears or Worms: worms

H-Home town: Tooele, UT

I- Indulgences: cheesecake

J- January or July?: neither, too cold and too hot

K-Kids: love all 3

L-Life is incomplete without: huggin and kissin my hubby & girls

M- Marriage Date: April 6, 2001.

N- Number of Siblings: 3 older brothers 1 younger sister

O- Oranges or Apples: apples

P- Phobias or Fears: not being around to see my kids grow up

Q-Quote: I can't think of one, but I really want to put a line of a song on my wall in vinyl, Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven.

R- Reason To Smile: My hubby and my kids

S- Season: Toss up, I love new flowers in the Spring, but I love color changes in the fall too

T- Tag Three Friends: Anyone that wants to answer

U- Unknown fact about me: some of you may know this, but my drivers license was expired for almost 2 years.

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I love meat.

W- Worst Habit: I am the queen of unfinished projects

X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I have had both.

Y-Your favorite food: there are so many Pizza, chicken, steak

Z: Zodiac Sign: Gemini

A Little Recovery....finally

So I was very happy to have a nice lazy day after church yesterday. After last week I really needed it. We had the three days of partying for Dacia and hadn't fully recovered from that and then had a busy end of the week. Thursday we ran morning errands then showered and bathed everyone and did family pictures that evening(the cute new picture on the blog, more pictures coming soon),
Friday the girls and I met a friend in the park with her 3 kids and we had a picnic and played in the park all day, well 4 hours. I forgot to get the camera out and take pictures but I learned later that day that I didn't even have the SD card in the camera I left it in the computer. That day we ate dinner in the evening shade of our backyard then headed down to Gma & Gpa's for birthday cake for Aunt Kilee.
Saturday we set up the swimming pool for the girls and Erik and I worked in the yard all day. We are making good progress on the patio, which has been in the works for 2 yrs now. When you have a husband that works as much he does it's hard to get the big projects done. He has worked on it a few Saturdays now and is getting closer to being done. Don't ever put in a flagstone patio. We bbq'ed dinner that night and then bathed and got girls to bed.
So yesterday my house was looking pretty bad after a crazy week. I don't know about everyone else, but my house takes the back burner alot. I can only handle so many events and activities and when we are really busy my house really shows it. After church I did some dishes(I still need to run it again), made Erik a Father's Day dinner, which we ate by candlelight, and made Erik a big cookie(I mean BIG cookie). The girls thought it was fun eating with candles, although they kept telling Erik to blow them out, you know like bday candles on a cake.
Today we have another crazy day, so I am glad we got a little down time. Todays schedule 1.Start swimming lessons 2. Dr appointment 3. Mommy starts CPR class
I might not be fully recovered, clean house wise, but I feel ready to tackle a busy day.

What princess are you?

You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

LOST

I am totally addicted to the show. I just started watching it last week. I watched the first season all 24 episodes in 3 days. I took the next season a little slower only because I had things going on. I just finished season 2 this morning. Oh the questions I have.
What is going to happen to Jack, Kate and Sawyer now that they are being held captive by "the others"? Are they going to be brainwashed to get anyone else? Hurley was let go, what will happen to him. I am really mad Libby got shot I was really routing for her and Hurley to get together.
What's with the polar bears? Nothing else has been said about them. Were they on the island for a reason? And the horse too.
Ok don't tell me too much. I am getting ready to start the next season. I told myself I couldn't start the next one until I loaded the dishwasher.

My ticker is stuck

So if you have paid any attention to my little weight loss ticker you might have noticed that is hasn't moved for more than a week. I have actually gained that 5 lbs back and lost it again a couple times now. But I have still been exercising. I feel great! I probably should have took measurements too, because I think I have lost some inches, but I am gaining alot of muscle too.
My big problem is that I am still nursing and I am so hungry all the time. So I am probably just working off what I am eating and not any more and then toning everything. And I admit that I really like that dollup of sour cream on my chimi's and I had ice cream tonight. Although we don't keep it in the house so I am not always tempted by it.
I did run again this morning. It was pretty hard. I was tired, but I did do my 9 times around. I almost didn't make it. I had to walk 1 1/2 laps, but I still beat my time from saturday by 2 minutes. I think I like running in the evening better. I want to ride bike tomorrow and then run Thursday night.

The Yummiest Chimi's

I mentioned making chimichanga's for my freezer so I thought I would share the recipe. I got it from my neighbor. They are so good you should all run out today to buy the stuff to make them.
You can make chicken, pork or beef. I haven't made beef ones yet, but I am sure they would be yummy.
The first time I made them I found some pork roasts. This time around I couldn't find any good ones so I bought a pork loin from Sam's Club. The loin was like 2 ft long and about 4-5 inches in diameter. Cut the loin, I cut it in a little more than a half and used the bigger half. The other half I saved and cut it up and grilled it. Take the bigger half and cut it in half again . You can trim off any fat on it. Place the loin in the crock pot. (I like to use the new crock pot liners, makes it a lot easier for clean up) Add a little bit of water, a can of petite diced tomaotes, and 2 - 7 ounce cans of diced green chilies. You can use more or less chilies depending on how much heat you want. I think last time I only used 1 can and it could have used a little bit more. Then you turn your crock pot on low and cook it over night, about 10 hours*. After it is done cooking you can start pulling out the meat and it will shred really easy. Try to strain out as much of the chilies and tomatoes as you can and put in in with your meat.
Then you will need to pour some oil in a frying pan, about 1/2 inch of oil and start heating it up on med heat.
Take some flour tortilla shells, I use the Don Julio 12 inch ones from Sam's. Did you know the Don Julio brand is made across Antelope from my house at the freeport center?
I take 4 shells and heat them up in the microwave for 1 minute, just to make them easier to fold. Using a scoop or measuring cup place some of the meat in the tortilla shell. I measure so they are all filled with the same amount. Fold in the ends of the tortilla and then roll it up. Make a flour water paste and put some on the end of the tortilla as a glue to hold it closed. Place the chimi in the hot oil and fry for a minute or 2 on each side. Just so they are a little crisp. Place them on a paper towel to drain the extra oil. Let them cool. I individually wrap each one in saran wrap and then put in in a freezer bag.
To reheat place them on a baking sheet and bake just like you would a burrito. I am not sure on temp and times. They do reheat in the microwave too, about 2 minutes, one min. on each side. Then you can smother the chimi in green enchilada sauce or green taco sauce and add a dollop of sour cream. Yummy!
*It only takes about 5 hours to cook boneless skinless chicken breast until they fall apart.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I will try to take pictures next time I make them. That might make it a little easier if you can't understand my directions.

Me venting....

So I gotta vent about something and you can tell me if I am wrong to feel this way or you can agree with me and give us advice on how to resolve it.
Carpooling!
So do I have the definition wrong. Carpooling....riding to work or other places together with other people and sharing the cost of gas. This is my assumption. Here is the dictionary's definition.....an arrangement among a group of automobile owners by which each owner in turn drives the others or their children to and from a designated place. So pretty much the same.
So about 2 months ago a guy from Erik's work started asking him for a ride to work. He lives up in Syracuse so it would work out great to carpool. Erik gave him 10+ rides to work, even when Erik wrecked his car and had a rental car he still gave him a ride to work, and in return the guy paid him $6.
That doesn't even cover the cost of one way down to Salt Lake.
Erik has been working a lot of graveyards the last month because they have been short staffed and training new people. This is the first week that Erik is back to all days at the Red Lion, minus yesterday that he had off, but he works evenings on Monday. So yesterday the guy asked for a ride to work today. Erik and I talked about it yesterday and he either needs to pay Erik more or take his turn doing the driving. We are not going to pay for him to go to work.
He told Erik a few months ago that they are in debt because of some mold removal that they had to have at their house. So since he is in debt we have to take him to work, because he can't afford it. The part that makes me pissed is that one day he forgot his work key in Erik's car and he needed it for work the next day, so he had to come by the house to get it. Guess what, he owns a car that gets better gas mileage than Erik's. Ugghhh! Are you serious dude! I have met him, he is a really nice guy, but we can't afford the gas to get to work, just as much as he says he can't afford it.
I talked to Erik this morning to see if he said anything to him on the way down today. They talked about how expensive the gas is getting. So on the way home Erik is suppose to ask him to take a turn driving a couple days a week. If it was a one time thing, that's totally different, but to keep asking for a ride and not help with gas is rude!

I have to brag!

I did it! I ran 5k tonight. I made it 9 times around the track at the park. I biked over to the park ran my 9 laps and rode back home in 45 minutes. I am feeling pretty good. I felt like I could have ran more, but I didn't have a watch with me and I needed to be home so Erik could leave for work. Awesome!
This week I got me an exercise ball. I was doing some of the exercises it showed on the instructions, but I wanted to see some others So of course I go to youtube when I want to find a video and sure enough I found what I was looking for. So if anyone else needs some exercise here are some good work outs.
I was totally going to post the videos, but the feature to add the html codes was disabled. SO if you want to see some good exercises for the core, just go to youtube and type in exercise ball and it will bring up a bunch of videos.

Concert Announcement

New Kids On the Block Concert November 15th in Salt Lake City. Who's in?

Here's a song off their new album.

New Kids on the Block

So today they were back on the Today show to preform. I didn't get to see it all because we were getting ready to leave for the doctor appointment in Salt Lake. So of course I had to come home and see what I missed.




What did everyone think?

Thursday...really?

So for the last couple weeks I haven't realized it was Thursday until it was too late. That is ,too late for The Office. I am so bummed. Tonight was the one hour season finale and I missed it. I am glad I can watch it tomorrow on NBC online. I have had to do that the last 3 weeks because I keep missing it. Stupid writer's strike totally threw me off. I got out of the habit of watching my shows. I remembered tonight after Erik had left for work. ER had just started and I had the girls in the tub. I had to hurry and get them out and in bed so I could finish watching. I need to check and see if ER is online so I can watch the first half I missed. And that was quite the cliffhanger for next season. Who was in the ambulance? Who is not returning for next season?
Ahhh, how can I wait that long to find out?

Busy, Busy

For the last week we have been so busy running around and haven't had much family time. I have had things, then when I get home Erik leaves to do his stuff. Tonight was actually the first evening in a week we have been home together, but we were still doing different things. He was watching bball and I was upstairs putting some invitations together that I had to take around tonight. I think we need another family date tomorrow. Erik is doing a grave so we can do something during the day, maybe a matinee, we haven't seen Horton yet.
So Tuesday I wasn't able to do my morning run. I was kinda mad, I had a routine going and I didn't want to ruin it. Erik didn't get home until late that evening and I had signed up for a scrapbook night. So in place of my running for Tuesday I rode my new bike over to the apartments in our ward to put together my page layouts and then rode home. It is a little ways away and it wasn't easy. There was quite a big hill I had to conquer. It is fun riding a bike again. I have not owned a bike in a long time and have not rode one in probably over 10 years. Tonight I had to delver some invitations to neighbors, I rode my bike. It was cool. I could ride right up the the door at most houses. I didn't have to waste time getting in and out of a car, reversing. It was so fast to just bike it to get them handed out.
I am definitely feeling the new muscles getting worked with riding a bike instead of running. I love the bike I picked out, but I may need to invest in a comfier seat.
I told Dacia if she is ready fast enough in the morning I will take her to preschool in the bike trailer, since Erik will be home to watch the baby. I'll have to take some pictures.
Oh and the last 2 days I have been cooking a bunch of food for the freezer. Yesterday I made a new recipe, Chicken Roll ups. I seen the recipe last week on my cousins recipe blog and then I had them at another cousin bridal shower on Saturday, so I had to make some. I don't know how well they freeze and reheat, but it's just a cresent roll with chicken in it, so it shouldn't be too bad. I am guessing that they will be better reheated in the oven and not in the microwave. Today I made a bunch of chimichangas, pork and chicken. They are Yummy! My neighbor brought some over when we had Brylee and I had to get the recipe from her. I still need to make pancakes and I have some bananas I need to make bread or muffins with. So another day of cooking tomorrow.

Erik's Campaign

I couldn't put joking about boobs stuff in my other post, so here is the other Boob post.

Erik has wanted to start his own campaign, but I had to inform him that it has all ready been started. If you can't read the shirt, it says Save the Boobies. He has had other ideas for Campaigns too, like his famous, Boobies for Babies, Supplying Breast milk for babies in need.

Erik did tell me that he would put a pink awareness ribbon magnet on his car, if it said Save the Boobies on it. I am going to get one for him.

Next year I am going to have the whole family walk. It is such a great cause and Erik is all for "supporting" the boobs.

The burn means it's working

So that walk really did me in. I can't believe I am so sore from walking/jogging 3 miles. Saturday afternoon I was so tired, but couldn't take a nap. Erik switched his schedule earlier last week and had to do a grave shift on Friday night. He stayed awake for me to go walk and hit the pillow when I got home. I told him he better have this Friday night off because I am going to run the Race for the Cure as much as I can and I will be very tired.
I figured out how much I walk/jog at the park each week. Using my brothers suggestion, I downloaded Google Earth. I looked up our park and marked the path. It is about .35 miles one time around. So my 4 times around the track is 1.4 miles. I tried to look up the March of Dimes walk, but there are too many trees and you can't see the path.

March of Dimes

I did the March for Babies this morning. I got to the park at was a little confused I seen a table, thinking that was the sign up table, but I didn't see any people. I couldn't be the only one doing the walk, it took me a minute to figure out it started in the pavilion on the North end of the High School. There was a good turn out, a lot of businesses had groups of employees and their families walking. My group was Super cool. It was me, Zac Efron, James Marsden, Nicki Blonsky, and John Travolta. Ok so it was just me walking to my Hairspray soundtrack, but I just strapped on my mp3 player and didn't care.
It was a 3 mile walk. It went around the Layton Park twice. It took me 40 minutes, but I walked the whole first lap and jogged almost the whole second lap. I am hoping to do mostly running for the 5k next week, at least get a good preliminary time so I can keep training and do another 5k in Sept.
I feel very blessed to have 3 babies that were all born healthy, but I know others that have had many problems and have lost little ones too early. I was happy to walk and donate to such a great cause. I got thinking about my little girls having babies someday and hope that technology and medicine keep making great strides forward to help end premature births and babies born with birth defects.

Tag

4 Things I was doing 10 years ago
1. I was finishing up my junior year of high school
2. Working at Subway
3. I was getting ready to send a missionary out (later sent him a Dear John)
4.Took up rollerblading and spend a late night rollerblading down Idaho Street in Elko, NV where we were living at the time.

4 Things I was doing 5 years ago
1. Settling into our first house
2. Expecting the arrival of our first baby waiting to know what it was going to be (Dacia was a surprise )
3. Trying to do something with the yard on a very tight budget trying to maintain the weeds at least.
4. Working at Target in Layton at the Guest Service desk

4 Things I did yesterday
1. Washed the dishes in the sink only to have the sink refilled with dirty ones after we made cookies and had dinner.
2. Tried to do a yoga and pilates workout dvd. It kicked my butt. I can't find my beginner dvd.
3. Went for a family walk and played at the park
4. Took cookies to a neighbor just because

4 Shows I like
1. The Office
2. ER
3. Law & Order (all of them)
4.Anything on Food Network

4 Biggest Joys at the Moment
1. Watching my kids grow. It's happening way too fast but I love seeing them learn new things and move on to new phases in life.
2. My huband. He is a super busy man and would do anything for his family. Even work 2 jobs so his wife can be home raising the kids.
3.Running and finally losing some more of my baby weight
4. My calling. I am in charge of making and handing out Birthday cards to the RS sisters, new baby cards, welcome to the ward cards. (Shh, I am getting a new calling in a couple weeks, but I am begging them to let me keep my card calling too.)

I don't know how many even read my personal blog.. So if you read this and haven't answered these yet you better do it.

Random Thoughts

There are two things that I really hate shopping for, shoes and pants. Well I had to go shoe shopping today. I needed some good support shoes. I found some way comfy Birkenstocks, but they were also way pricey and not very cute. I decided that when you are shopping for comfort you really do give up a little bit of style. I did find some flip flops with some arch support, not the cheap $12 ones I was wearing, but a nice $40 pair of flip flops, OUCH. Good thing Famous Footwear was having a buy one get 2nd pair half off. So I got my running shoes too and today is running day so it's time to start breaking them in. (I tried to find Striders from Jen's suggestion, but didn't have any luck finding it. I don't know if I had the wrong address or if I was just not seeing it)
Today when I was running around shoe shopping I had to stop and gas up Erik's car. I almost started crying at the pump. The rising prices at terrible. With gas and grocery prices going up I am afraid that we are going to feel the pinch soon.
On another note, I went to the Temple last night for ward night. Erik was actually at work so I got Aunt Shurna to watch the kids last minute. I was worried about leaving them with her because of Miss Fussy Pants, but she survived even with the screaming. I was so happy to be at the Temple. It has been way too long and we still hadn't made it since we missed going for our Anniversary. As I was getting ready to go yesterday a line of a song popped into my head and I kept saying it in my mind all night. "Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven" I got thinking what else can I be sacrificing because we could for sure use more blessings, who doesn't need more.

I fear the worst

So my foot has been hurting a bit since the last time I ran. After I went running today it has been killing me. Erik gave me some bad news this afternoon, it's the same thing the dr told him when he was having foot problems a few years ago.
I have to give up flip flops. I swore off flip flops for the longest time. They weren't comfortable and I didn't like the part between my toes. I learned a couple years ago that it was just the cheap Old Navy flip flops that I didn't like. But the dr told Erik that flips flops are terrible becasue they give no support. He also said slippers are bad and you shouldn't go bare foot, but should wear good support shoes as much as you can.
So I need to go buy me some new running shoes, because I really don't think my sketchers were meant for doing a bunch of running in and I need to find me a good pair of sandals for the summer. Then I will have to have a memorial for my flip flops and hopefully be able to keep running.

KSL Ads

So I have a few items around the house that we aren't using anymore, a dresser, glider and ottoman and a car stereo, and I need to get rid of them. So I was just going to give the furniture away, but then thought what the heck, I'll post them on KSL and see what happens. I posted them about 2 hours ago and the dresser and glider are all ready sold. I just made $30 today sitting at home on the computer. The stereo is listed at $85 if you know anyone that needs a new car stereo.
Now I am going around the house seeing what else we don't use so I can sell it and make some more money.
Hmmm, what am I going to buy?
OK so I added a few more things for sales to KSL. A darth vader helmet and a little tikes table. Sold the table. So I made $45 today!

She was runnin'

So this morning I actually woke up and went running BEFORE Erik went to work. Yes I was up at the crack of dawn, it is to me anyways. I ran at 6:30 and I had to be home by 7 for Erik to leave for work. I wish I knew how big the track at the park was. I made it around 4 times in 20 minutes. The girls were still sound asleep when I got home so I got to go back to bed and sleep a little more.
I think next time I need to go at 6, so I can have a little more sleep time when I get home and I need to figure out what to eat before I go. I thought that it probably wouldn't be a good thing to run on an empty stomach, so I ate a banana on the way to the park. I didn't feel so good when I got home and thought I was going to lose the banana for a while.
It felt good to get out and run. I haven't been able to since Friday night. Erik has had a crazy sucky schedule this past week doing a bunch of graves.
I think I have officially lost 2 lbs, but my weight goes up and down so much that I think I will just weigh myself every Friday and update my ticker.

It's in writing...

Have you ever said you were going to do something and well, then you forget and you don't do it. Or how 'bout you go to the grocery store and if you don't have a list you forget everything you were suppose to get.
I am putting this in writing so I can see it daily and remind me of my goal. I need to lose weight. So if you notice my little ticker on the side on my screen I will let you all see my progress.
I am sad to say that, yes, I am getting older. Still under 30, but my metabolism is just not what it use to be. My baby weight seemed to have just fallen off after my first two babies. This time it looks like the extra weight is here to stay for a while and it's not welcome.
So my goal is to lose 17lbs, although I won't stop there if I can get to it. I would actually love to lose 22lb and weight what my drivers license says I weight :-)
I have started jogging around the track at the park and I am making a goal to run at least twice a week, three if it fits into the schedule and I need to start other exercises on the days I don't jog. I can't afford a new wardrobe and nothing fits comfortably right now. I need to watch what I eat more than I do. That Krispy Kreme coupon that came in the paper Sunday is not doing me any good. I am going to take the fruits and vegetables out of the cripser and put them on the top shelf of the fridge at eye level and keep my cute McKay Dee Hospital water mug on the counter so I can remember to drink more water.
Any other suggestions or helpful hints would be appreciated.

Random Thoughts

I have all these thoughts running through my head for posts, but when I get to the computer I have a hard time putting them into words and they don't ever sound the way I want them to.
So I hope this sounds right and I may be editing it a millions times before I am finally happy with it.
Are all the rooms in your houses finished? So we have lived in our house for 5 years and we don't have any finished rooms. I have a couple rooms close to being done. They just need a shelf painted and hung or a few other accessories.
It has just been in the last 3 years that we have bought most of our furniture. Actually our first furniture purchase was the crib and changing table almost 5 years ago. We bought our first couch set when Ashlyn was born 3 years ago and slowly got the rest of our furniture. I think we have finally replaced all the hand me down stuff that we had when we were newlyweds.
I have mentioned to Erik many times though, that I am glad we didn't do everything when we first moved in. 1. We couldn't have afforded it and we would have really put ourselves in a bid if we would have put it all on credit and 2.Our taste has changed over the years.
There have been so many houses in our neighborhood that have been repossessed. I can only guess that they probably went crazy putting in yards and buying furniture. So we feel lucky that we are finally getting to where we are happy with everything and we didn't charge it all.
Maybe this sounds a little shallow, but it makes me happy to buy something nice for the house.
This is what we got today. It is a solid wood table for the front room. It is gorgeous. And I know it just furniture and I can't take it with me when I go, but a good piece of furniture can be passed down for generations to enjoy.

I did it!

My first home made hair bows!

I found an awesome website with step by step instructions. It was easier than I thought it was going to be.

Did you know that you have to bake the ribbon for the korker bows? I didn't.

I am so proud of myself.

New project

So we have recently gotten a few new hair bows from friends and family and it got me thinking. I have 3 girls and we have a very small collection of hair stuff. I went on a hunt last year for some new bows and didn't find much at the mall. And at the fair last year I found many beautiful bows, but couldn't afford those one.
So I ordered a bunch of ribbon and clips and bought some flowers and I am going to make more hair clips for the girl.

So this is what I made so far. The top 2 flowers are for Brylee. She has some headbands that you can change the bows on. Then I found instructions for those cute little ladybugs. The bigger Gerber daisies are for Dacia & Ashlyn. I made 2 of each of those. I didn't realize until I got them home that they are kinda big, but they will work fine for one ponytail in the back.
Not that I am a big hair person, but at least there boring ponytails will be cuter now.
I am attempting bows right now and want to try the korker bows too.

Baby likes tv...

I know someone just read my title and went *gasp, babies shouldn't be watching tv*
Brylee is a very fussy baby and is very demanding of attention. I have 3 girls that I have to divide myself between and also take care of the house and oh I have a husband too.
So while Brylee was having one of her fits and I was trying to get some things done I popped in a Baby Einstein dvd and guess what she calmed down. I had 30 minutes fuss free time to make dinner or whatever it was that I was doing. Oh happy day! I'll try not to make it happen on a regular basis cause I know that her big sister are pretty addicted to tv all ready, but there are probably very few mom's that can say they have never put a video on for the kids to keep them busy for a while.