Mod Podge Mania

Ever since I saw this, I have been dying to try and make it myself. Not that those pieces aren't lovely, but I thought...Hey, I could do that. So I quickly looked around my house and remembered that I had these plain wood frames from the clearance rack at JoAnns. I think they were $1/ea. And of course I had TONS of fabric scraps!! So I got out my trusty Mod Podge and got to work.

I just cut the scraps, mod podged the frame, placed a piece of fabric on, and then mod pedged the fabric. I was careful when I wrapped the fabric around, so as not to fill in the groove the backing of the frame fits into. If I did get the fabric in there, I let it dry and then used a x-acto knife to scrape out the groove.

Voila!

Okay, seriously...eating popsicles, whilst my baby {at the time} is checking to make sure he's doing it right?!...stop it, just stop it!! Toooo Cute!

Be sure to check out lots of more great projects over at This is the Year's Mod Podge Mania!

Extreme Makeover Me Edition Update

Time for another update on the Extreme Makeover Me Edition. Well I won't bore you with the details of how to stop this yo-yoing I have going on with 2lbs {I think I'll call her Doris} So Doris and I keep having this spat...I want her gone..she wants to stick around. So I told Doris you try and get in my way, you won't know what hit you!

Well, she's hitting back! I just can't ditch her! Oh, well...I'm going to stay on track and keep moving forward. Eventually Doris will get bored and go away...I hope :)

Amber's question this week was to post a Healthy recipe. I love making my own version of a Chipotle Salad.

You can get the full recipe and how to make it here.

It really is one of my favorites. You can keep all the components seperate to make it easy to whip together quickly, when you just don't know what to eat!

Get to know onegirliegirl

Jen at Harried Mom Of Four has tagged me with a list of 10 questions. Read her wonderful answers here. Thanks, Jen!!! I love doing these types of questions!

Here is what I have come up:

1. What is your current obsession? I have 2 right now. Sewing and fitness.
2. Which item of clothing do you wear most often? t-shirts
3. What's for dinner? Good question!
4. What are you listening to? The birds outside my window.
5. Say something about the one who tagged you. Jen is someone I seem to easily relate to! She has 4 kids...I have four kids. She doesn't love to clean {Hey, it's stated in her profile, people}...I don't love to clean. And she has a great sense of humor!! Love ya, Jen!
6. Favorite vacation spots? We love going to the beach! The last 2 summers we were brave and drove to Corolla, N.C. So, I'll see you there Jen!
7. What am I reading right now? Thanks For The Memories. by Cecilia Ahern
8. Four words to describe myself? Friendly, Neat Freak {not that I get to live that way!!}, Slacker {yeah, you wouldn't think those 2 go together, but somehow I make it work} and Happy
9. Guilty pleasure? Anything Sweet
10. First spring thing to do? Wear a skirt!
11. What do you look forward to? Having my retirement, College funds, and stocks make up all that we lost. Oh, that wasn't what you meant? OK...All the milestones coming up for my kids...High School. Graduations. First Days of School. First Lost Tooth {Well, for one more kid}. Learning to ride a bike. Jumping off the diving board. I love living in the moment of my children.

I'll end by saying if this is a fun Q&A for you, please fill it out and let me know. So for those of you that are following along and want to play...feel free to do so!!

xoxo

The summer of skirts

After reading this post from Jen at Lipstick and Laundry. It reminded me that last summer I really wanted to start wearing more skirts. I mean, I'm a girlie girl after all, right?!

So, I found a few casual skirts and ended up not really wearing them. Now, in fairness, it may have been because I'd gained some weight and they were feeling a little tight. But, I think it was really about not feeling comfortable in skirts. Like I was too "dressy"...no matter the look. Do you feel that way?

Anyhoo...I wore a skirt today, and remembered another reason I don't feel as comfortable in them. Uh, it's a little revealing. When you have to squat down to refill the "bubble bucket". Um, hi...what color underwear am I wearing? How much cellulite do you see? Ya know...the usual. But, I will persevere, cause that's who I am, and still make this the summer of skirts.

The bonus...they are infinately cooler, at least for me, than capris or shorts. I really like the look, too! So next time you see me...excuse me for showing you my undies as I fill up the bubbles!! :)

Alabama stitch

So I found this new book, and I'm totally addicted. I think the projects are just the coolest! I immediately went thrifting, so I could "practice" this reverse applique technique on something that I hadn't invested a great deal in. So I picked up a size 3x pants that were a soft, tshirt knit and made 4 panels from the legs to make myself a skirt. I just barely got it to work.

The premise beheind the reverse applique is to stencil on a pattern and outline with a runing stitch {using a contrasting fabric underneath}, adding beads {as I did} if you want. Then cut away inside your stitching the top layer of fabric {that's been painted} to reveal your contrasting fabric.

So I found this nice stencil on the cheap at Michael's, but the "heads" of the flowers were so small that it didn't look right to do the reverse applique. I thought and thought and dreamed and thought until I finally saw this tutorial at Country Girl Couture

That was it!!! Those were the flowers I could do on my skirt. Luckily I had enough fabric leftover to make them :) Now I'm just trying to finish the applique {see stencil on right} so I can wear it this weekend! So I'm off to sew {hand sew...time consuming, hand sewing...but so worth it}.

I've entred my fabric flower at the Sew, Mama, Sew flower power contest. We'll see what they think. I've never really showed my work to anyone :) You can also check out what other people have been doing here.

I'd like to thank...

I'd like to thank the Academy for recognizing my amazing talent, hard work and dedication. I've had the pleasure of learning from the very best! Xazmin, darling you are wonderful for bestowing this special Attitude of Grattitude award!! One of my nearest and dearest...Jodi, sweetheart, you've shown me so much :) I would be remiss without thanking Amber, who has introduced me to so many new peeps! Here's just a few of the lovely, talented and creative ladies; Jen , Liz, JJ, Rocksee, Jen, Tecia, Connie and the immensely funny Mrs. Wright.

Now some of you have been awarded this same distinction already {so no need to nominate any more people}, but I have to give a shout out anyway! You have all become friends...and for this I am grateful!!

I am also grateful for my loving and supportive husband who has put up with more than I would ever care to admit.

I'm grateful to have 4 healthy, happy and pretty well-adjusted punks! They make me smile, scream, laugh and sometimes even cry every day!

Extreme makeover: me edition update

Well, I didn't do so well on the food front, but did do my workouts everyday. I don't mind so much on the food, because staying motivated to workout has always been my biggest challenge. As a result I actually gained back the weight I lost. Some of you may think..."How can you stay motivated if your weight is constantly up and down?"

Well, it's really the healthy challenge. For me the healthiest part of this is the excercise. I've always been a couch potato! I need to stay moving...everyday!!

Amber's question this week is all about the music. I agree!!! I listen to the classics from my youth. It makes me feel younger ;) and stronger..hahaha! So I listen to:

Huey Lewis,

John Mellencamp,

Bruce Springsteen,

The BoDeans,

.38 Special (oh, yeah...southern rock, baby)

Squeeze

Bryan Adams

I look forward to reading what everyone listens to, so I can get a little more with it!!

Drooling over

After seeing so many "making friend Monday" posts, I want to make friends, too. My chihuahua bites is asking the intriguing question of "Who are your top 5 celebrity crushes?" I will now reveal my age by showing you my top celebrity crushes {in no particular order}:

queen in training...

Spray painting queen, that is.

I have always loved the idea of transformation! It comes in many forms. You can transform your mind, body nature and my favorite...home decor!!!


I've been lurking aroung blogworld for awhile now and have been witness to some of these transformations, seen here, here, and here. So I've been stalking my local thrift stores just trying to find something worthy of painting. I finally found it! This BIG, metal, ugly brown {not bronze} looking flower wall sculpture. Price tag...$7 on sale for 1/2 off! Total $3.50!!!


Before:

After:

After a little sandpaper to expose the brown underneath:

It may not be fantastic, but it was a great first project.

100 Yard Dash

So, I normally would just use this song as a song of the day, but....

It so Rocks!!! I saw this guy on Bravo's A-list Awards last night and he's just too cute! Plus I'm a sucker for the old time R&B type songs :)

Hope you like it!

Extreme Makeover: Me edition - week 4 update

Well, I didn't think I had blown it too bad this week. Considering my Easter dinner got canceled at the last minute. So we ended up having the traditional..."mom wasn't planning on cooking so eat what's in the fridge!" Easter dinner.

I did indulge in some chocolate, 'cause I wanted too. I should've worked out more, but despite all that I actually lost 2 lbs. Which makes a total of 3 lbs. in 4 weeks. Yay!!! As some of you may recall, the best part was that I actually broke a weight loss plateau, thanks to all of you!!!

For Amber's question this week...To get back on track I will:

Do ALL my workouts!
Eat better
limit my chocolate :)

It's a deal breaker

This fabulous deal from PFChangs for "tax relief" is a deal breaker for my diet. Besides, my favorite dish is seafood, not fatty beef or anything! I can almost smell the scallops now!!

Grandad!

This is my Dad. He's been a widower for nearly 12 years now. He still lives in the house I grew up in. After my mom died I thought for sure he would want to move, but it turns out that change is very hard at that age!!

He comes by every Monday after playing Mah Jong with the blue hairs at the senior center near my house. He only lives about 15 miles away, but I never get over to his side of the tracks.
So, it's so nice that every Monday Kelly {and whomever else is home} gets to visit with Grandad!! It's the highlight of everyone's week!!

Happy Easter!

Have a Joyous Easter everyone!!!

Extreme makeover: me edition - week 3 update

Well, it's weigh in day and I've never been more scared. Well, I have been, just not recently :)

Soooo, it's been Spring Break which means more eating and hanging with the family than usual. By more eating I really mean more "fun" food eating. So even though I gained last week and I was really good for most of this week...I'm going with my weight from yesterday. This means I'm back to where I started. That means a little weight loss and still saying that I broke my plateau.

I did do all my workouts except for 2 days due to back injury. Thanks for all your comments. The warm bath's helped and so did my Uncle Ben...my Uncle Bengay, that is.

So I hope everyone is having a good week!

To address Amber's question of How do I reward myself? I really don't. I actually try to reward myself throughout the whole process. If I feel I've been really good on workouts, I'll take a day off and not feel so bad. If I feel I've been really good with the eating, I let myself have a "cheat" meal and not worry about it. I try and not put too much pressure on myself, so I don't feel like a failure if something comes along and I don't meet a specific goal. So I guess what I'm saying is I don't give rewards to myself, 'cause I don't make real achievements ;) Hahaha.

Can't wait to see how everyone is doing!!

testing...did i learn how to do a signature?

Why yes, I think I did.

Is it a Southern thing?

Can we discuss ta-ta's? For those of you not in the know... this is a word referring to the female bossom. After reading about ta-ta's over at my friend Ambers, I was laughing so hard I had to put the coffee down or risk a serious singeing of the nose hairs incident.

But I digress...I'm feeling left out because I have never heard or used the word ta-ta's. I'm not saying I didn't know what it meant. It just wasn't something spoken here in Maryland. Now I'm wondering if it's a southern word {only cause it sounds southern and it's a nice delicate way to say something}?

So imagine my surprise when, whilst driving home one of my boys from Lacrosse {LAX} practice I see "Save the ta-ta's" on the back of someone's car. Seriously. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. I just laughed and shook my head {luckily no coffee in hand}. So would someone let me know if this is a southern phrase? If not anyone know where it may have originated? If it is, I have a whole other idea about why I've never run across "ta-ta's" until now {that's a whole 'nother issue}.

Side note: Any breast cancer survivors find this humorous or offensive?

2 posts in 1 day...

OUCH!!!

Today is a cardio day. I love cardio day! I love the sweat, the endorphins, everything!!

I literally had just started running {okay, jogging, ...okay, really fast walking where I had to swing my arms and move my legs to look like jogging} for about 3 minutes when I felt the pain of a pinch in my back. I actually yelped "ow" which is rare for me.

I admit yesterday turning my head to back the car down the driveway I could feel the stress on that muscle. I was thinking it was from sleeping funny or something. Anyway, now I've made it worse which means I can't excercise at all. No lifting weights, no floor excercises, no treadmill, no nothing. Hopefully this won't last long...I'll be getting the Bengay out shortly. Yes, it's always in my medicine cabinet. No, it is not something I have to purchase in an emergency :)

How will I lose those 2 lbs. that I gained last week? Now, I really have to watch what I put in my mouth!!

Extreme Makover: Me edition - week 2 update

I gained 2 lbs. Alas, that is about what I expected. After reading my previous post you'll see that I usually sabotage myself after accomplishing a weight goal by eating everything in sight. But, I will not beat myself up about it. There will always be times when you just have to give in a little. Don't let yourself get too down about it. Readjust and just move forward. We all make mistakes, the challenge is to pick yourself up and go on. So that's what I'm gonna do. Next week I will be back to where I was!!

My question: How often do you weigh yourself? And when?

Me...about an hour after I work out. Although on Wednesday weigh in day it's always first thing in the morning :)

P.S. Plus, I am a little {bloated}, kwim?! So that in itself is always an issue ;)
P.P.S. Oh, how I wish this were a big April Fool's joke!