Shutting down

Rather than leave the few readers I have hanging, I thought I'd let you know I am not going to be posting here much anymore. Maybe for just a while or maybe for good, not sure. This was supposed to be a cooking crafting blog and since I am hardly doing either there isn't much to blog about. And weight loss doesn't really fit in there, and sadly there isn't much to blog about on that front either, despite my best efforts. I keep trying though, and I feel healthier from all that working out, my scale isn't showing much of a difference at this point.

I would like to tell you about my new pet project though. I've started an Etsy shop to sell some of my quilted creations. http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappierThanABird I also have a corresponding blog http://happierthanabirdquilts.blogspot.com/ and facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/North-Ogden-UT/Happier-Than-A-Bird-Quilts/169853126364828?ref=ts So check it out, tell your friends, become a fan/follower etc. I am still waiting for my first sell, but it feels good to be doing something I love and hopefully it will one day support my hobby.

The quilt!

As promised, be it a few days late, pictures of my newly finished quilt.
I called it Little Boy Blue. I pieced it about 3 years ago, I did not have enough backing fabric, so I pieced that a bit too. Great idea right? I thought so, but the quilter didn't. So I learned a new skill with this quilt, quilting on my own machine.
It's very basic and possibly a little too sparse, but it felt good so I left it as it was.

And the most awesome thing about this quilt is that I was able to donate it to the Festival of Trees. I have no idea where it will go, but I am happy that wherever it is its for a good cause. I love supporting Primary Children's Medical Center.
Now I am back to the eternal basting process for this quilt:

of which I have one block done (the pink contrast did not pick up well in the photo at all)


And a mini workout update. I've done a great job this week in the workout department, not so much in the avoiding delicious cake department, but I'll try harder. LOL P90X cardio workout kicks some serious butt, but it was fun!

Oops!

Here I am one month later without much to show for that time. Argh.

I could give you any number of excuses, but what does it matter. I didn't do what I set out to do, so here I am hanging my head in shame.

The good news - I am back on the wagon again! The last 3 days I have done 30-40 min step aerobics workouts. Tonight I even threw in some arms with my 2 lbs weights and boy did that pump things up fast. I then did some abs. I feel AWESOME, and energized....which is good but bad because its 10:23 pm and there is no saying if my baby will sleep through the night or past 6 am. Oh well, its worth it.

I have not taken new measurements because I can feel that I haven't changed, at least not in the right direction. My weight went down a few pounds then right back up.

I have 2 1/2 months til I see my husband. I am not sure where I want to be by then, I guess I better start thinking about some goals. I don't know that the 30 lbs will be gone by then, halfway there would be good. Fitting into my "skinny" jeans would be awesome. A little more tone all over would be great.

And to my original readers, I know you wanted to read about delicious food and maybe some crafts, not me kicking myself in the butt for my lack of working my butt off, one day I'll get back to food - healthier food (did you see the biggest loser last night? I want to make 100 calorie cupcakes!!), and I have a few crafts up my sleeve in the next few weeks, so watch out!

And if you are wondering about my lack of reading...or at least accounting for it, I am stuck reading 3 books, the Book of Mormon, To Kill a Mockingbird and Eat, Pray, Love. I rotate through them making for slow progress with them all. I am apparently suffering some ADD in all areas of my life at the moment. The only thing I have accomplished is finishing a quilt. Pictures tomorrow.

Accountability

ac·count·abil·i·ty

 noun \ə-ˌkau̇n-tə-ˈbi-lə-tē\

: the quality or state of being accountable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to accountfor one's actions

I am beginning to understand why I am failing miserably at loosing weight. I am not accountable to anybody but myself for what I eat or the exercise I do. So that all changes today. I am not going to keep a food journal, though I am turning my eating habits around, my fridge is fully stocked with lettuce (seriously if I took a picture you would think "wow that is a lot of lettuce") and other more healthy things for myself to eat. I am banning myself from "kid food". No more mac-n-cheese or corn dogs. No more fruit snacks or rice crispy treats (though I am still allowing myself graham crackers - they are a much better alternative to Oreos, and fulfill my cookie craving). I'm going to eat lots more veggies (which my diet currently lacks in greatly), drink a ton more water and a lot less soda, and find balance among the other things.

But my biggest thing is exercise. I've seen evidence that even without diet chances exercise can make a HUGE difference in my life. Last summer I went on a lot of walks with my older daughter to keep us both entertained. A LOT of walks. Not even brisk walks and the pounds started falling off. Of course I got pregnant and that all went down the drain. And I had every intention of getting back out there for LOTS of walks this summer, but I was surprised to learn that 2 year olds have short attention spans even in the great outdoors, and babies don't like wind/heat/their sister poking them/poopie diapers/being hungry/etc. so we've hardly hit the pavement at all this year.

Exercise while they are awake...yeah not so much. My 2 year old ejects my workout DVDs about 10 minutes into each one, just when I am warmed up and getting into it. Out comes the DVD with pleas for Kai-Lan or Curious George. The treadmill with her around? I don't even dare. And with the baby? We'd probably still be dealing with their sister poking them/poopie diapers/being hungry/etc. And of course their naps overlap by about 20 minutes sometimes. So after bedtime it is. And half the time I'd happily climb right into bed after they are tucked in. But I can't do that and succeed at this. And I know I'll have a ton more energy if I do.

So today will be officially Day 1 of my new plan! And I am off to a great start. I hopped on the treadmill and did Day 1 of Couch to 5k. I have 16 weeks until I will see my husband for mid-tour leave. 9 weeks of Cto5k (plus some crunches and things like that to do some toning) then I think a round of 30 Day Shred, and maybe finally get started in his workout program of choice P90X....or maybe I'll be a happy runner by then. We'll see. All I know is that I have 4 months and if I work hard I believe I can meet my goal of loosing 30 lbs dropping my BMI from 28 to 23. I CAN DO IT!!

And so now for my accountability. Each Monday I will weigh in, and I'll post it on my sidebar. And for even more accountability I am going to show a little skin and post my before picture and then on the 1st Monday of every month I will post an update picture. I will update occasionally about how my workouts are going, how I am doing with the diet, etc.

Don't look if you don't want to, but here they are. The dreaded before, taken July 6th, 2010. Black and white makes them a little less scary, and definitely masks the stretch marks quite a bit.

Quilts Quilts Quilts

My husband has been gone for 2 months and I have completed 5 quilts! I went through a few weeks of crazed quilting and was whipping out project after project. And of course I have to share them with you!
I posted a photo of this one previously, but it is now quilted and hanging in my kitchen. =)
The fabric is Moda's Zippity Do Dah by Sandy Gervais and was quilted with red stars. I called it "Operation Iraqi Freedom" in honor of my husband's deployment, but apparently it would need to be changed to "New Dawn" or whatever they are calling it these days....oh well. Either way it's patriotic and my first labor of love with him far away.

This is my mysterious gift quilt for my brother and his wife as a belated wedding gift. I call it "City Lights" and it was made of a mish-mash of fabrics that fit their decorating scheme. Its quilted with bubbles. =)

I have 3 more quilt tops done, plus another I found in storage waiting to be quilted. Now I am just awaiting funds to have them quilted...pictures will come as projects are 100% completed.
In other news, I may be starting an Etsy shop to sell some of these quilts that are in need of a loving home. I may even do some commission quilts. I'm working on a commission for my mom right now, and have heard I may have a few more in my future. I am excited at the prospect because I love making quilts, but pretty soon our house with be over run with them.

Reading

I am up to 26 books and about 7700 pages if I added correctly. Wow! And that's without taking too much time for reading.
I just finished The Hunger Games this morning and am already starting Catching Fire knowing I'll be eagerly anticipating the release of the 3rd book in the series. I love series, knowing that I'll have another book to read that I'll enjoy and not worrying about getting into the story line or getting to know the characters.
I wonder what I should read next...

30 Day Shred

I discovered I have something seriously motivating that will be happen in 30 days and my random little workouts aren't going to cut it (though I have lost 1 1/2 lbs!). So what to do with 30 days? The 30 Day Shred!!

Today was day 1, and I of course started with level 1. 20 minutes, anybody can work out for 20 minutes. That's when you usually want to quit anyway right? Well I wanted to quit at about 5 minutes after the first circuit of strength and cardio and we hadn't even gotten to abs yet. I persevered. By the 3rd and final circuit I was actually thinking I could do one more, which was awesome!! I did the modified workout, and to be honest took a couple of really short breaks to catch my breath or shake out my muscles, but I kept up and I kept jumping right back in. By the end I was drenched in sweat, which is probably one of the things I hate most in the world, but I felt great! Well until I tried to walk up the stairs to shower and discovered its already a challenge and I don't even want to know how my legs will feel tomorrow, esp when I have to do the whole thing all over again. Sigh.

And now comes the part of this post where I could post the photos I took of myself without my shirt on so I can see just how much my body will change (wow are those photos motivating for me to keep up with the program!). And if I weren't such a modest person I would probably post them, despite the fact that people I know in real life read this blog. I also took measurements...and in the end I'll share with you how much I have shrunk. Right now I am 165.5 lbs, 38 inch waist, 41.5  inch hips.

For anybody who wants to do the 30 day shred with me, I'd love the company! If you don't want to buy the DVD, I just did a google search and found some Chinese website that has the whole thing loaded up on it.
Okay here is the link to the Chinese website if you want to check out the workout for free.