SWAPtober- the BIGinning

Oh how I'd like to be skinny!

I've had this plan for a while, that during October I would try a new way of losing weight and as an added bonus, be more productive too. Basically the idea was to swap "naughty" food for productive activity.

My thinking:

Based on the fact that I eat naughty foods because I feel like it and not because I'm hungry, I thought it would be simple enough to ditch them. That's not actually the case. Apparently, telling myself not to have something makes me want it more and eventually I get it and usually more of it than if I'd just had a small amount in the first place. I used to be good at not having special foods in the house, but apparently there are some things my family can't live without.

Make sense so far?

Secondly, I get a real high from completing things and when I'm busy doing something, I tend to forget about food in between mealtimes, so I thought that filling up my time with more work and creativity should stop snacking.

Yeah.....nup!

So, basically my plan means that every time I think about eating a special food, I need to go to one of the many projects I have going and continue work on it. The hope is that this will help me finish some more work and eat less junk, therefore making me lose weight, get stuff done and feel better about everything!

Progress:

How's it all going a third of the way through October?

Really badly!

I suck at it!

I'm not getting stuff done and I'm eating the same naughty food. Why? Probably partly because hubby is on holidays and partly because I am addicted to sugar or something. Hubby doesn't like me sewing while he watches TV and being on holidays basically means if we're not out somewhere, he wants to watch something every night, and late into the night. So no sewing. Plus, he has holiday food around, because he's on holidays, so he is eating special things more and it's right here and way too accessible.

The solution:

I don't know. I guess I'll keep trying to distract myself and look forward to hubby returning to work next week so some of the naughty foods won't be here staring me in the face.

Will I lose weight? Possibly, but probably not. Definitely not as much as I'd hoped. I guess we'll soon see. I always feel so good when I finish something I've started, so why is this so hard?!

Sewtember Day Twenty-Four - Monday

I did some much needed catching up today. I have a couple of friends who live about 20 minutes drive from here and we used to catch up all the time. But there has been SO MUCH going on for all of us that we haven't had a chance to see each other for ages. So today we did it and it was so great! I really miss seeing them and I wish things would calm down a little so it would happen again. I should have taken photos of our three girls running around and playing with each other. It's cool to see how they develop and change the way they interact with their friends. Today they would have little conversations of their own, not prompted or assisted by us. It actually made for some really good (uninterrupted) chatting between us too.

Talking about catching up, for those of you who I haven't seen in a while, here a some pics of the kidlets from the weekend. They are growing up so fast!

 This is Alleyne entertaining the kidlets at Great Nana's on Saturday.

Here is my assistant looking so very grown up.

  

My sister also came with us which was exciting. We used to spend more than a few hours a week catching up and hanging out, but she has since moved about 40 minutes away from here and is completing her final year of university and so again it has been hard to fit in those times. Today we were able to chat for 2 car trips and it was fantastic. I miss seeing her too. It can get pretty lonely staying at home with a baby and a toddler. We can go almost a week without leaving the house sometimes. Mostly it's good though, just every now and then I realise I haven't had a real conversation with a friend and I feel a tad isolated.

Here is B-man learning to drive steer. Such a Daddy's boy!

How cheeky is that face?!

I was going to add a photo here of the sewing that I did today, it's the applique on the "C" emblem from the other day, but the photo is not really good enough to see the stitching, so it looks just the same as before. It's almost done and ready for me to assemble, so that's exciting. I know it's not a huge or detailed project, but finishing things is always exciting. Also the idea that finishing one means starting a new one. Yay! This one should be done by tomorrow and then I'm back on to those place-mats and all the other things on the Christmas gift list. I can't believe it's so close. I went to the shops yesterday and there was a whole aisle of Christmas decorations, gift bags and glitter everywhere(I'm so glad I don't work in retail anymore). I used to spend days trying to get all the glitter out of my hair and off my clothes. I don't envy the people who have to deal with it everyday.

Guess who found Mummy's sunnies.

Anyway it's pretty late and I still haven't recovered from my busy weekend, so I'm off to the land of nod.

I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully with better photos of the work I've been doing.

Sweet dreams!

Sewtember Day Seventeen - Another Funeral

A friend of mine put a comment on Facebook this morning which was a challenge for anyone interested to create something this week. I read the challenge wondering how many people would actually take it on. I feel like I am constantly creating things and while I'm at home with the kidlets, it gives me a great sense of achievement when I design and complete projects. 

This extends way back to before I was even in School. I have always loved to make things. I remember being really small, maybe 3 or 4 and I would make ponchos for my dolls by getting a piece of fabric, folding it into quarters and snipping off the corner to put the doll's head through. I also remember the my friend's mum found a pillowcase with the corner cut out for the same poncho style thing. I don't think her mum thought it was so cute though. Most of the ponchos then had a ribbon tied around the waist to hold them on. I recently found a doll here with the same kind of poncho dress and ribbon combo, in my assistant's toy box. She kindly alerted me to the fact that the doll was only wearing a piece of fabric and I should make a real dress for her...when I was little that WAS a real dress! How times have changed...

Anyway, today I went to yet another funeral. 

We heard a couple of people talking about my Great Uncle's life and even though it was hard to keep up completely - the kids were a bit distracting - I couldn't help but think of my Grandad (his brother) and how much I miss him. It's so hard when you lose someone close to you. I'm kinda over it. Hopefully there won't be anymore funerals for us in the next while. Or at all.

Sewtember.

I got a tiny bit of sewing stuff done today, but only on the things I can't show you. I'm sorry. I know that's boring, but tomorrow I'm really hoping to get back into the place-mats and the (real) dress. I bought the rest of the things I needed to complete it today. I realised the other day that the time I set to have the dress finished is also when I have 2 kidlet's parties to host, so I'm planning to get it done in the next couple of weeks instead. Fingers crossed!

I'll leave you tonight with a few more pics of things I've made. This time shoes. Hopefully you're enjoying seeing my creations and also hearing about my life.

I hope you have a great Tuesday!! I'll catch up with you then!

Sewtember Day Ten - Out with the old. Pattern Schmattern.

We had our old fence removed today and the landscaper has done heaps of work today to get ready to build a new retaining wall and fence tomorrow and the following few days. It's exciting to see it actually happening. We've been trying to work out this fence for months now so it's a big relief that we can see something being done.

This is what the fence and wall were like.

 The wall is almost non-existent.

This is the progress so far.

Oh, I almost forgot, the tipper truck that brought the sand and aggregate was a big hit with my assistant too.

So was the realisation that she could easily access the neighbours yard and swings while there is no fence or dog.

The fence will be replaced slightly higher and a new retaining wall below it will hold the neighbours land from falling into our yard.

And while all the work was being done outside, I was inside doing some of my own work. Firstly I was making up a quote for someone's order and then I got to do some sewing! Woo!

I made a little blouse for one of the dolls. I think it's pretty cute, but doesn't necessarily match the skirt, so I might pair it with a different skirt and make another one in different fabric to go with the purple skirt.

One thing I thought about while I was making it was that it might have been a tad simpler if I'd used some kind of pattern, but oh well, now I have my own and I think it looks fine! I don't think the 2 or 4 year old who receives it will complain about it. My assistant told me today that the skirt is beautiful, so that was pretty encouraging, I don't think she's really seen the top yet.

Tonight Hubby will be watching his show on tele so I'm hoping to get a move on with the place-mats, then maybe tomorrow I might be able to quilt them...but who knows? Kids seem to stop most things from happening when I imagine they should these days, so I don't like to pressure myself too much.

Having said that, I really should get onto them now, so I'll see you all tomorrow.

Night!

Monday Monday

Sorry I didn't get back with the photo of my dad's present. We had a lot of wind over the last couple of days (some snow too) and the internet wasn't particularly reliable. However, I do have some pics for you. First, the cake. This is the cake before I did anything to it:

And this is how it turned out afterwards:

(It's a Tardis from the show Dr Who, just in case you don't recognise it.)

I didn't want to go out too much with my sick kids last week, so I had to use the usual liquid food colouring and this is the darkest I could get the colour. A bit annoying but it was Dad's favourite cake (sorry Annelise, I thought your Jenolan Caves cake was awesome!) so as long as he was happy, that's all that matters really.

Ok, and then there's his present.

I think this turned out really well and given that I haven't watched Dr who for a really long time (about 20 years), I think it's pretty good. My Dad is so hard to give presents to because he has everything and buys anything else that he wants, plus, I don't really have spare money, so I had to make something and this was the best thing I could think of. I guess there's no risk of someone else giving him the same thing.

What do you think?

It was going to be a "Mug Rug", but it's really more like a mini quilt. I don't think he'll use it as a mug rug. I might put a little sleeve on the back so that he can hang it up, but that's up to him. What would you do with a mini quilt like this? I think I would have to hang it somewhere otherwise it would be damaged, my kids would probably take it as a dolly quilt or something, in which case it could possibly be dragged through dirt and other things.

Anyway, I can pop up the details of how I made it if anyone's interested (just leave me a comment), otherwise I'll see you soon with more things I've done, hopefully. I have such a long list of projects to complete, both for me and for other people's orders and presents. I love how blogging can make you more accountable...

See you soon!

Monday Monday SC

Self Control

A big thing. It plays a huge role in our lives. Today I struggled with it and also did really well with it. There are certain things that really push the limits of my SC, like brownies...mmm. I see them sitting there on the bench waiting for me all day. But usually I'm good and they stay there. Sometimes they do get the better of me though and I have the shape to remind me. But really, SC is so important when it comes to bigger issues. Morally and not, if we don't exercise our SC it gets weak and soon enough we become a slave to the wrong things and the longer we leave it, the harder it is to get back on top.

Anyway, I still have fabric all over my floor, ask my sister, she was here to witness the large piles of sorted and folded fabrics ready to find their new homes.

I should go. I leave you with my photo of calm...nighty night!

Monday Mirror and Where does your joy come from?

Rain certainly doesn't help in my feeling joyful. I don't mind it really, but there's something about sun in the morning that seems to bring joy. So, on a rainy wintry Monday, a visit from our friends was a great mood lifter. My good friend and her daughter who is the same age as mine dropped in for a couple of hours and it was lovely to catch up. We have similar backgrounds and our main life choices are similar too, so we have a lot to talk about. It's really encouraging to have a friend who supports you no matter what choices you make and offers gentle words of conviction to open your mind to other ways of doing certain things. Whenever we catch up (not often, unfortunately) I always feel uplifted and I hope she feels the same. It actually gave us both joy to see our beautiful girls talking (with real understandable sentences) and playing so well together. I know they are a big part of our lives and I hope we are of theirs too.

So, where does your joy come from?

The photo for today is "mirror" and I love looking into our only mirror, which is in the bathroom, at night. If you look in it at the right angle, the reflection shows the lights from the road through the big oak tree which gives a gorgeous silhouette. It's really pretty...problem is, it's hard to get a good photo of it. I tried though and here it is.

I'm hoping to get more craft done tonight, so if it works out I might be able to show you tomorrow, but things don't always go to plan around here.

So I'd better go while both kids are asleep. Goodnight!

Monday Monday - Slap in the face...

Do you ever feel like you have been slapped in the face, but without the actual slap in the face? Ok, so that didn't make any sense...let me show you my photo for today and then I'll explain.

So this is a photo of a catalogue in our house. Sale, Bargains, Not to be missed. Yay...not...Why did I take this picture?

Well, This is actually what I saw... 

"Gains to be missed".

I spent the next few seconds trying to work out what would say "to be missed" on it. The I realised that gains to be missed wasn't the intended message at all, but in-fact the complete opposite of what the designer wanted. Seeing it the other way made me think though. Maybe it wasn't what the printer wanted, but I think it was exactly what was meant for me. I am a self-confessed "stinge", so I don't often indulge when it comes to shopping. But it made me think of a whole pile of other things. What do I indulge in that I really should consider a gain to be missed? I guess mostly it's fabrics. I have a mild obsession with fabrics as you'll see in the next few days, I think. Sometimes there are sales and discounts on fabrics which I should probably leave behind.

But it's not just stuff that came to mind. I mean we quite often talk to people about others in a way that is not uplifting to make ourselves feel better, which is in a way a gain to be missed. I do this with certain people and sometimes I hear myself doing it and can't stop it. It's like a disease. Another example would be when we're driving. Sometimes we get stuck by someone going a couple of kms under the speed limit and find ourselves getting worked up and even angry then overtake and speed off only to be stopped just in front of them at the next set of lights. Surely that is a gain that should be missed.

I guess this picture was just a sign to remind me that I don't have to have everything and I don't have to have it now. I live in a country where we complain about the 10cents per hour more that our neighbour earns while there are families in other countries who only have 10cents an hour to live on. We worry about how we can afford to pay more for bread and milk while some people don't have either. Sometimes I feel like I have no money and I get upset because I can't have the things I want. Then I saw this catalogue and it made me think about my life. I have more than enough of all the things I need to survive and my family are not missing out on anything. We are happy. I need to learn to be content and not to compare what I have with that of others around me. I am being looked after and so are they, just in a different way.

Anyway, enough of my slap. Have you ever had one of these slap in the face moments?

I hope you had a great Monday!

I'll be back with another photo tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Monday Monday, A Big Break and A Big Deal.

Firstly to address the big deal and apparently putting hair on dolls is not a big deal. According to my Mechanic (hubby) anyway... I was so excited to show him all my hard work and all he could say was "It's such a big deal for you, this hair stuff, hey?"

Well, der! Of course it is. It's my sanity amidst hours of baby babble and toddler reading, between washing dirty nappies and pulling at matted hair. It's what I look forward to for every moment in the day when I need to do all the usual house-wife-y stuff that no-one really notices. It's productive, it's creative and it's ME!

Ok, now that that's out of the way, on to some other sad news...and the big break. While I was taking a few minutes to do something for myself today, I decided to get that last couple of stitches done on the 2nd doll's hair. I was working quickly and getting so into it and then......SNAP!!

There goes my needle. And not only did it snap, but it snapped INSIDE the doll. UGH!! I spent the next couple of moments thinking very hard about how I was going to rectify this terrible situation and then finally, with a lot of squeezing and mooshing, I got one end of the needle out. Yay! Then to the shorter end. And I thought it was hard to pull out the needle when it was full length. Man was I wrong. That wasn't hard, THIS was hard. I had a whole centimetre to hold and pull with a big bulky bit of yarn on the end, OUCH! My fingers will continue to remind me of that moment - or few moments - for the next week or so, I imagine. Ouch!

So there goes another Monday, sunny, warmish, coldish and over. And here's what I have to show for it:

I guess all the drama and pain was worth it. Only one more doll to put hair onto, then to trim them up, and finally I need to work out how to do faces. It might be a while before they get done though, I'm not too confident doing that sort of thing. I guess I'll get better as I go along. I hope so anyway. Plus, it's way more fun trying out different hair styles while I think about how to go about the faces.


Thanks for reading. I'll be back with another photo tomorrow.

Monday Monday.

Ok, so everyone likes a photo on a blog right? 

Well, I hope so, because someone has asked me to do a photo-a-day challenge for July. Unfortunately, I thought July started today. If I'd thought carefully enough about it I would have looked at the calendar, but oh well. I guess I'll just do 2 for today to catch up.

The first one is supposed to be a self portrait, but I'm not good at that, and also, I don't look so good today, so instead, I've decided to make it just a portrait of me...and now I can't decide...I think I'll add a couple. 

This is me(ish). I didn't like part of it, so i made it a little more modest.

I really didn't think it looked like me, until I put it with the real me...

 Ok, this is the real me. Yes I'm pale, and have long hair and am in pjs, but that's just me.

So there you have it, The first day of the photo-a-day challenge, a day late. 

Now, for the second day...

"Busy"

Well, I'm always busy, but here's something I'm busy with at the moment. 

I spend a fair amount of time teaching my little man to use this. It's much easier than nappies.

Happy Monday Everyone! See you again with another pic tomorrow!

Monday, Monday.

So we start another week with Hubby at work and the usual pile of housework to do. But for some unknown reason, it actually works out really nicely for once. Normally Monday is dreary and full of boring, but today was different. I mean, I still did the normal 2 loads of washing and some washing up, made brownies and dinner, but this time my assistant was really helpful. She loaded and turned the washing machine on both times and put the wet things into the basket to take outside, carried pegs, helped with brownies and dinner (we had roast beef, Yummo!!) and even collected all the dirty nappies and undies from B-man. I couldn't really have asked for more from her today. It made the day quite enjoyable and I actually don't feel as exhausted as I usually would. We even had both kidlets in bed by 8.05, which is really good for us. Plus, the weather was beautiful! Not really like winter at all. I just had the usual t-shirt and jeans, even outside and it was gorgeous in the sun! My first load of washing dried in just a couple of hours...What an awesome God we have to make days like today!!!

This is from last week sometime on a colder more wintry day, but you can see that B-man likes helping out too. Today was much more sunny and warm looking than in this day was. Normal Nana was here when we swapped loads outside today too, so B-man sat beside her on the grass in the sun and watched us get the clothes sorted.

Here they are both helping with the washing last week.

I think something else that may have contributed to my enjoyment of today may have been some stuff that went down over the weekend...my assistant had her first sleepover at Normal Nana's while Hubby and I went out for my older brother's birthday, so that was nice. 

This is the card that my assistant made for my brother. He loved it!

Plus, I designed and drafted my first clothing pattern completely from scratch and it worked pretty well, I just need to do a couple of minor adjustments. But I'll tell you the details later on in another post. But yay!

Did I mention I've introduced B-man to the potty? I think it's been a month or so now. Today he did his first poo in it and I tell you what, we all danced around like we'd won the lotto!

This is him quite happy with himself after doing a wee on the potty last week. It's so cute seeing him in the little teeny undies...

Oh, and someone ordered a tea cosy, Sweet! I'm back into things and I feel great! What an excellent end to a Monday! I hope you all had a good one too and you'll hear from me again soon with those new project details.

Goodnight!

Monday Monday

I wasn't really planning on posting anything tonight, but I just looked at the partial lunar eclipse. I hope you all got to see it. It's so clear, thanks to all the wind we've been having. 

It's beautiful and reminds me how AWESOME our Creator is! 

Thank you God for beautiful things!

May Challenge Day Twenty-Eight

Monday Monday....

Usually the day for visiting with friends, but not today. Today we stayed home and I worked on the tea cosy. I don't think I've ever made one before, but it's pretty much done, and it's really cute. Anyway, I'm actually going to go now and stitch some more of my quilt before it gets too late. I might try and post a pic of the owl tomorrow.

Goodnight!

May Challenge Day Twenty-One

Today we ventured out into the great unknown, well Sydney anyway. We went to Darling Harbour to see the Replica Endeavour ship come in, although it had already arrived when we got there. It was still cool to see it though. Our 2yos loved it. Looks a bit similar to a pirate ship apparently...

Anyway, it was a really big day, I had my 2 yo walking (or being carried by her Aunty) and I also had my 6 month old in the carrier, so my shoulders are feeling it now, but the rest of me feels pretty good. 

Here's a pic of my 2yo tonight...pooped! Daddy looks tired too...

I'm pretty exhausted too, so I'm considering just heading to bed without doing any craft today, how sad. Hopefully an early night will mean I have more energy to get some stitching done tomorrow. Oh, just realised it's actually not that early...oh well.

Goodnight!