Pin-spiration

I've been on Pinterest again. Surprise! Ok, being on Pinterest isn't the surprise. Actually making some of the things I saw is the surprise. Some of my creations were closer to the originals than others. This first card was more inspired than copied.  The card on the left and a little below is from this website the one on the left (obviously, note poor photography skills) is my interpretation.

I cut the flower from a page of an old book I found at a used book sale. The only thing I bought just for this card was the crystal for the flower center. Every thing else was from my stash.

This was the Inspiration for my burlap pumpkin wreath.

   

It turned out very cute and was easy to put together but...the burlap is a little..umm...well it's stinky.  Sadly, I'm going to it take it apart and remake it, because I strongly dislike the odor. I'm going to use green and orange netting next year.

My last Pinterest inspired project, on the right, is a birthday card inspired by the card below.  I'm sure this simple and adorable design will show up again. Maybe next time it will be even look more like the original. Well a girl can hope!
 Happy Crafting!

Happy Belated Halloween

From the Grandma Zombies (Sissy and her BFF) 

And Bean as The Trash Can!

Firsts...and a Last

August is usually an ending to summer and the beginning of another school year. This year we also had another first. Sissy started her first job! She's a sandwich artist! I'm very proud of her for sticking with it and getting hired when there weren't many opportunities. We also learned many places want their applicants to be 18 years old. I think the smile shows she's proud of herself too! She should be!

This school year Bean is a 4th grader! I can't believe it! A first for him is having to change classes for Science. This has been a big adjustment for him, he likes things to be routine, but he's settling in and getting used to the changes.

Bean's also playing soccer this fall and is the starting goalie. He's very excited! When I see the ball flying at his face, I'm not real excited. Sometimes I "watch" with my eyes closed.

Sigh. Well, here it is. Sissy's first day of school picture. She's a senior. That makes it her last first day of school. With all the busy-ness of the end of summer I don't think the full impact of her being a senior has hit me yet. She's doing a great job at school this year and with her new job. When she's busy and we have several days of not having dinner as a family I realize just how soon she'll be out on her own. Yes, it's bitter sweet. I'm excited to see her maturing and making good decisions but I'm also a little sad to think there will be a time when I don't see her smile every day.

More Flowers

I'm not really much of a gardener, OK I'm not a gardener at all. I like to have flowers in my yard, just as long as I don't have to work hard to get them. Even when I do plant some they don't have a very long live expectancy and I'm genuinely surprised when they bloom. I planted 3 purple wave petunias in my front yard this spring. This sad little thing is the only one that survived. His hot pink not-so-little friend just showed up one day and stayed.

The weeds are thriving and yes, that is sidewalk chalk on the left. We haven't had enough rain to dissolve it, I guess picking it up would be another option. Nah, I'll wait for the rain. Next year I'm planting a rock garden!

Empowerment Project

The saying is that you can't judge a book by it's cover. This book cover had my attention even before I read the title, it has a kid doing chores. The title begins Cleaning House yes, I'm familiar with that part, the next part drew me in, A Mom's 12 Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. Youth Entitlement that sounds so much better than my description; buy me, take me, do we have..., do it for me. Yep, Entitlement sounds so much better. I bought the book, (gasp) paid full price for it too.

I dove into the book full force! Kids picking up after themselves, making their beds! Wow! I'm hooked. I prepared myself to break it to the kids we were starting a New Project! And they were it! They aren't really excited about this Project, but I am!

Empowerment Project 1 is bedrooms and bathroom. That's also where the author Kay Wills Wyma started. She's my new BFF (well in my head anyway). Bean and I cleaned, sorted and purged his room. Organization was the next step, medium sized open see through bins for different groups of toys would work best for him. Gone was the big lidded toy box and many small boxes for micro organizing! Those didn't work for him. I took pictures of the finished room so there would be no question about what is expected. I taped the picture to a plastic cup and put in 14 chips, we're working on a two week plan because they we can use a little practice in waiting for what we want.  Sissy got a cup and picture too, her chips are red because the set didn't come with yellow. Empowerment trail was under way!


One chip is equal to a dollar. At the end of the 14 days how many chips they have left in their cup is how many dollars they get. We made it to the end of our trial. One kiddo kept all the chips the other only lost 3! I was totally surprised! I knew cash would motivate them both, one for gas money and one for Legos. I didn't think about taking money away as a motivator until I read it. This is awesome!

Phase two has started and it is going to be activity filled. This will be a real test for all of us. School starts next week, I hope this has become enough of a routine that we can keep it up when we add school and homework (hopefully a paying job for Sissy) to the mix.

I also added laundry to the Empowerment Project. Sissy has been doing her own laundry for about 7 years, but not in a timely manner. So to encourage her to get it done on the assigned day they each have one chip per week. If their laundry is washed, dryed and put away on the assigned day they don't get a chip taken away. At the end of the month they get one dollar for each chip they have left. Bean is going to learn to do laundry starting with towels. Next summer he learns to do his own clothes!

Thank you Kay for sharing your experiment with the rest of us! I've been inspired, motivated and convicted (ouch). I've even wondered if we've met because you're describing my kiddos so very well!

Some of the up coming areas of Empowerment are, grocery shopping, budgeting and cooking.

All the Pretty Flowers

The last time I planned petunias was 2 years ago.  They were hot pink.  Last year I got a pleasant surprise, "volunteer" lavender petunia came up next to my drive way.  I was surprised again this year by this...

There are 2 shades of pink and a very light lavender/white blooms. I wonder what color they will be next year? The rain really perked these beauties up!

Four years ago Honey and the kids gave me a hydrangea bush for Mother's Day. The first year no blooms, but it was still alive. The next 2 years, 1 single pink bloom each summer. This year....

I got an explosion of blossoms! Blue, pink, purple and some are multi-colored! Maybe next year my lilac will bloom!

Eating Healthy...Again

We're on another healthy eating lifestyle plan. I'm not calling it a diet because diets are temporary. We're trying to find something that will work for both of us for the long haul. We've been doing a low carb/ high fat plan for the last 2 weeks. Honey hadn't been feeling 100% lately and wanted to give this a try. There is more information at this website. Honey is more strict with what he's eating, me not so much. It cuts out carbs (potatoes, pasta, bread, cookies, sugar, did I mention cookies?) and what you're left with is dairy, meat/nuts and some veggies.  We can have veggies that are lower in sugar, great for me I love veggies! Honey doesn't like many vegetables, that has been a bit of a challenge. The high, healthy fat part causes me trouble. My entire adult life, low or no fat has been what I've heard, so this is a hard adjustment.

The first few days were very hard, we both were tired and a bit cranky. Around day 5 things started getting better. I noticed I wasn't as tired during the day and wasn't craving as many sweets around 3:00. Honey noticed he was losing more weight than with just exercise and not having the ups and down with his blood sugar.

We've been doing this for 2 weeks now. This week has been a challenge because Honey is traveling and I'm cooking for mostly just Bean and me. I've been eating eggs, peanut butter toast, cold cut lettuce wraps,  greek yogurt w/fruit and a lot of vegetables for most of my meals. Last week we were trying some new recipes from a low carb cookbook or just eliminating potatoes, rice, corn and bread from our regular meals. Snacks have been nuts or fruit and peanut butter.

The biggest change I've noticed this week is not craving sweets. The proof is the Chips Ahoy cookies still on the top of the fridge and the candy bar on the table. I noticed my clothes were fitting better before I lost any weight. Honey has lost quite a bit of weight. He's also doesn't get as hungry, but when he does he doesn't get a headache and jittery.

Over all I think it's working for both of us. I also think it will get easier as we do this longer and find new recipes for some of our old staples. As with all diet and exercise plans this isn't for everyone.  Before changing your diet, check with your health care provider.