Surprise Surprise

I actually lost just over the 2 pounds that I gained when I started not smoking. That was nice to see this morning since I had a lousy weekend. Well, not entirely lousy. I've been battling a cold for the last two weeks and I thought I was getting better but it came back and it came back with force! I spent the weekend feeling like crap; body aches and chills, coughing like there's no tomorrow, a mouth that feels like sandpaper because I can't breathe from my nose and a throat so raw, it hurts to even think about it. And I'm not sleeping at night so I'm exhausted. My husband stayed home from work yesterday so that he can help with Amelia during the day. Not that I was helpless, just really tired and achy. So that's why my weekend wasn't entirely lousy. I actually took a genuine sick day today and as soon as I'm done with this post, I'm going back to bed for a little while. Punkie told me this morning that I needed to lay down on the couch because I didn't look so good.

And no, I am not counting my 2+ a little more pound loss as a "side effect" of being sick. I'm counting it totally legit. LOL.

Oh, I promise I will stop talking about this soon but I'm 16 days smoke free today! And at over $6.00 a pack for my brand here in CT, I'm glad I quit when I did!

That's all. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.
Jen

I May Not be Down...

But I'm not out. Another week gone. Another pound up. But I know the reason. I am starting day 9 of my non-smoking quest. You heard me right. It has been 9 days since my last cigarette. I'm pretty proud of myself and what willpower I had yesterday! Amelia spent the weekend at my mom's and my mom drove her home. My mom and I were chit-chatting and she says to me "Let's go outside and smoke a cigarette." I said "You are on your own. I QUIT!" She is really proud of me but sad that she lost her smoking buddy. Oh well. She's trying to quit as well but not being too successful at it. But I will tell you, I wanted that smoke. Not a lot, just a puff. But I worked through it. And today is a new day.

Fruit recipe... I forgot to mention mine. I really don't have one. I eat fruit everyday. Whatever I find in the grocery store and at a decent price. Right now I'm snacking on grapes. What I have issues with is veggies. I'm very picky with the vegetables. I don't like any veggies that are green in color. I find them tasteless. I need to get better at eat them.

My weight is slowly going in the wrong direction so I need to pay more attention to that department. I'll get it. It's all about balance I guess. I need to train myself that just because I'm not smoking doesn't mean I get to eat everything in sight. That whole "eating for 2" myth... yeah, I fell into that trap too!

And how was your weekend? Mine was nice, even though I am nursing a cold. Since I was free all weekend, I spent most of it sewing. Saturday, I went to my friend's house and she taught me a very cute tote bag pattern that she took a class for a while back. I was there for a while. I think about 6 hours. Yesterday - I slept in some, did a little light cleaning and spent the rest of my day in front of the sewing machine. I worked more on the tote bag (I think a couple more hours and I'll have it all put together) and I worked on the fabric Easter baskets. Those came out cute. One more to do and I'll take their picture.

That's about it.
Enjoy your day!
Jen

Okay, I'm making this too

Check this mini tutorial out: http://twiddletails.blogspot.com/2009/03/getting-ready.html

A travel ironing board made out of a wooden TV tray! I mean, I have 4 of the exact TV trays in my garage right now. I can so use this when I don't need my big ironing board out AND I already have the cute little Rowenta travel iron to go with it.

Yup, I'm making this. For sure.

Once I do, I will post pictures!

Jen

Thanks for the Encouragement!

How great are blog friends?? Thank you so much for the encouraging words on my quest. My husband doesn't talk much about it with me which is fine. He knows it's my battle to fight but he's there if I need him. He's a strong rock to lean against.

I'm doing great so far. Going on Day 4! The Chantix prescription really has helped A LOT. My moods are pretty even - which is RARE for me. I'm not yelling my head off or getting easily irritated. My dreams are a little more bizarre than usual but not violent. I went to see my doctor this afternoon and he was happy that I'm on the right track.

So thank you everyone!

Here's a picture of my latest vice. My obsession really.

They really help when I'm driving in the car. But I'm running low on Tootsie Pops. I will be stocking up again in a couple of days.

Just a few other pictures from our nice weekend. We took Amelia to the park Sunday early afternoon and we enjoyed some ice cream afterwards.

Buddy came up to visit Punkie while she was lounging around on the couch... Amelia was very excited to have him visit with her.

And here's my favorite picture from the weekend. Amelia must have been waiting for rain. This is how I found her Sunday afternoon while she was napping.

My sweet Punkie Pie!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Sale! Sale! Sale!

You need to go HERE: http://www.quiltartsonline.com/ and SHOP!

50% off sale!!! Most yardage... $5.00 a yard. Fat quarters... $1.25! One dollar and twenty five cents!

I just spent $50.00 on fat quarters. YOU need to as well! LOL!

Loser Monday Update

Am I a loser this week? Nope, not in the weight category but I AM a loser in other areas. Around 7 p.m. tonight, I will be 48 hours smoke free. I was a non-smoker when I was pregnant but took it back up as soon as I was home from the hospital, unfortunately. This time, I'm doing this for me and I'm feeling pretty good.

I'm not craving the nicotine too much but I've been picking at everything else this last week so I'm showing a gain. Oh well. I'm going to the gym tonight and I'm going to try to keep the eating under control.

Okay, I need to stop talking about this topic for right now. The more I talk about it, the more I think about it. I need to get busy with something else.

Enjoy your day!
Jen

I Can't Believe I Waited So Long to Make One!

After seeing Rachel's cute Valentine's Day basket and her recent bridal shower basket, I went home, found my paper print-out of Pink Penguin's tutorial and made a basket. Why did I wait so long to do so?? So cute and EASY! This is my "practice" basket which I'm giving to Punkie to do what she wants with. I made the handles too long - I don't care for them so on my next ones, I'm shortening them up. On my practice basket, I made 2.5 inch squares instead of the 2 inch squares in the tutorial. Made for a slightly bigger basket.



Cute, huh? And all the fabric came out of my stash so even better! I'm working on 4 baskets for Easter for the little girls in my family. I don't put a lot in the basket but I figure that a "made with Love" Easter basket won't get thrown in the trash a week after Easter and will be displayed and used.

I gave Amelia her basket when I was done with it. Look how she is planning on using it...

My clever girl!

Enjoy your day!

Jen

Loser Monday and Let's Pick a Winner!

Loser Monday... I got nothing. I stayed the same, yet again. Is that a good thing? I don't know. But I'm not going to stress over it. I think we had an assignment to provide a soup recipe? Am I remembering right? Well, I don't have any. I'm not a big soup maker. I'm a "Progresso Soup" girl. Unless it's my Mom or Grandmother's homemade chicken soup or tomato soup. MMMMM! I can't wait for summer so that I will get some homemade tomato soup with garden fresh tomatoes. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Anyway, I don't have those recipes. They aren't written down. I tried to make the chicken soup once. It was okay but didn't taste right. So, my recipe is to get a can of Progresso Light Chicken Noodle (my fave), open, put it pot or microwaveable bowl, heat and eat!

I do have a personal update on my New Year's resolution. If you remember, I posted back in late December that I planned on quitting smoking for my resolution. Well, I didn't start in January. I wasn't ready. I gave it much thought over the past three months and finally filled my prescription for Chantix this weekend. I'm on day 3. Not too bad since I can smoke during the first week but I found that I'm not really smoking that often. Don't really want it. So, wish me luck! I'm going to take my pill now. LOL.

Now, on to the giveaway! Thank you to everyone who posted a comment! I didn't have hundreds like some people but I was pleased to have more than five! I got 26 comments! My biggest lot of comments yet. WOOHOO! I hope those new to reading and commenting on my blog will continue. It's nice to have readers. And there are lots of new blogs I need to check out now!

Okay - the winner! I used a very scientific way of picking a winner. I put everyone's name on a spreadsheet and had my good friend Andrea pick a number between 1 and 26. Her pick? 17!

Sandy from Sandy's In Stitches is the winner!

Congratulations Sandy! I will be in touch to get your mailing address!

This was fun! I need to do another giveaway soon!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Spring Stopped By For A Visit!

With my husband away snowmobiling, Amelia and I spent the weekend home by ourselves. And guess who stopped by? SPRING! We had some wonderfully warm weather Saturday and today. However with the warm weather came melting snow and mushy lawns. But we had a fun time enjoying the change. Too bad rain, sleet and some snow is back in the forecast for tomorrow. Sigh. Why can't it just stick around?!

We spent a lot of time outside. I took Punkie to her favorite park Saturday morning after running our errands. She had a great time running around with the other kids and playing. Of course, I brought my camera but left it in the car. After her nap on Saturday afternoon, we went outside to blow some bubbles.

And this is Amelia's way of telling me she's tired of the camera:

She can be a stinker!

This morning it was nice and sunny so we ventured out again. I spent time vacuuming out my car and getting rid of the 6 months worth of Cheerios in my backseat and 10 pounds of sand on the floor. Punkie had fun digging in her sandbox. Here is she "washing" her ride-on excavator with "compost" (sand) - new word learned in school.

She brought her camera outside so that she could take pictures of "wildlife" - her words, not mine.Before we had lunch this afternoon, we did arts and crafts and made a crown. Here's is the Pink Princess of Hearts.

The Princess is sad because the Queen (that's me) made her clean up all her crafty stuff before having lunch.

One more... I received items from the Fat Quarter Swap I joined. AWESOME. 3 half yards of hydrangea fabric and some sequins ribbon. I love the fabric! I think I'm going to make a tote bag out of it. For ME! I hope I have enough for the pattern I want to follow. If not, I'll mix it up with some purple polka dots or something. Thank you Diane!

Thank you to everyone who posted for my 100 post giveaway! There's still time! I will be chosing a name/number sometime tomorrow morning.

Enjoy your night!

Jen

Small Sigh of Relief

I know many of you are dealing with this lousy economy and lost incomes due to layoffs and such. My job was on the chopping block sometime in April but I hadn't heard anything... until now. I just got off the phone with my (client) boss - I'm a software technical writer and tester, contracted out - that my job with the client is "safe" until the end of October. I've been extended and there's a small (very small) possibility that I can go beyond October 31st. But for now, I'll take October. Since my parent company doesn't have much work in the CT area, there was a very good chance that I would have been laid off had my contract with the client hadn't gotten approved and extended (i.e. they found money to keep me around).

I'm happy but I will say this... there was a small part of me that wanted the summer off. Is that bad?? My husband is snowmobiling in VT this weekend so I have to wait for him to call me so that I can give me the good news.

My thoughts are with those that are on the opposite end of the spectrum. I hope things turn around for you all!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Here I Go!

Here it is! My 100th post! WOOHOO!

Wait. Where's the fanfare? The Pomp and Circumstance? The confetti that's supposed to shoot out of my computer monitor??

Nothing? I get NOTHING?! Well, that's no fun. But I have something for YOU! A 100th post "Because I'm sooooo ready for Spring" giveaway! Now, I tried really hard to figure out what I wanted to give out for my giveaway since I've entered plenty since joining blogland and I don't want to be a cheezy giveaway person. But you know, it's HARD work deciding what to give away. So I hope you all like the prize.

I've decided to go with happy, Spring-like colors. So if you are the lucky recipient, you will receive: a pattern from This & That called "Just a Note". I think the pattern is very cute and would make nice gifts for teachers at Christmas or "End of the Year" Thank You gifts (can you guess what Punkie's teachers are going to get for a gift?? LOL) or for yourself to keep track of all the fabric you want to purchase. A set of Swanky charm squares to create your Just a Note, a 5x8 notepad to fill your Just a Note, some happy ribbon in spring colors along with some springy colored buttons. Spring colored M&Ms (need to have chocolate!). And a happy fabric stuffed bird, which is now eyeless but I promise to add eyes before I send it out.

So there you have it. My giveaway. There are no rules except that you need to leave me a comment if you want to win and I need some way to get a hold of you IF you win (either a link to your own blog or an email address if you're a non-blogger). And sure, I'll ship internationally. Why not!

So, PLEASE pass this along to everyone you know! You know we all like blog readers and commenters. If you post and let me know, I'll enter you twice. Wow. I'm daring. LOL.

Time's a ticking... you have until Sunday 3/8 to enter. I will post a winner on Monday the 9th.

Here's to another 100 posts!

Enjoy your day!
Jen

Giveaway!

Not my giveaway, but a giveaway none the less. Vanessa over at V and Co is giving away 2 honeybuns! The CALORIE FREE kind! LOL. One "Swanky" and one "Sweet". So go on over and leave a comment. But not too many because I want to win!

Jen

Loser Monday...

Or should I say "Stay the Same" Monday. That's where I am. I stayed the same from last week. I guess it's a good thing since I snacked a lot during the week last week.

That's all I got. Nothing exciting. Weekend is done and over with. A snowstorm has hit our area and we've already gotten a foot of snow and it's still coming down. So needless to say, I'm working from home today and Punkie has no school. I'm tired of the snow. We had a tease of some springtime weather on Friday and now we're back to winter. I wish Mother Nature would just make up her mind!

Enjoy your day!
Jen