Summer Fun

We have been having a ton of fun this summer!

My sister has been watching one of her former students all summer and so every Wednesday we meet up with them and have a blast just hanging out. Seryim is 9 years old and she and Emma get along so well... they just love each other!
Yesterday Seryim, Joy (our neighbor) and Emma decided to swim together in a tiny plastic pool... it was quite funny actually. :)  

We have had a very enjoyable summer in spite of the constant high temperatures. Today is the first day I have turned the A/C off since the very end of May. It has been so hot that we have not been able to be outside very much or for very long. However, every once in a while, we get a fun day outside like yesterday and spend our time playing in water, playing with bubbles, playing with neighbors or playing with friends.

I love summer and this summer has been the best one I've had in a really long time.

However

I am growing anxious for cooler weather, pumpkin spice, fall leaves, the smell of fall and the ushering in of everything warm and cozy :)  Who else is flabbergasted that it is August already?? Sheesh!

Weekly Weigh-In

I keep forgetting to post my weigh-ins! Suffice it to say that I'm still chugging along with weight watchers. :)

My last weigh-in on Friday morning left me with -0.4 pounds!

Total loss: 12 pounds

I am still a little bit over 5 pounds away from my lifetime goal.

I started tracking points consistently again and trying to stay away from too many sweets and pop.

Changing weigh-in locations this week... hoping maybe that will help and give me a good group to be accountable with. Plus, it is much, much closer to our house so it will be easier to get to every week with the little one :)

I'm also trying to re-start my couch-to-5K program (again!). I have yet to make it through the whole program. Here goes nothing :)

The difference

Today, I am experiencing a new kind of grief. A grief that I have not felt up to this point in my life. A grief that comes from knowing that someone that is a part of your life waited too long. Did not accept. Did not know my Savior.

It's too late. It's too late to get it right. To accept the truth. To change the heart.

Indeed... this grief is different. No one should ever be separated from the Lord for eternity.

Today I am grieving for a life that was lost. A true death. A time when resting in peace, being in a better place and when no longer being in pain... do not apply.

Oh Lord please let no other people that I love wait too long to come to know you or return to you. Please let no more of my close friends and family live a life apart from you in the present and be separated from you for eternity.

There is a difference. There is a difference between burying a Mom that you know you will see again and saying goodbye to a family member that you know you will not see again.

Pinterest Post!

I have been pinning and completing Pinterest projects in my home, slowly, but surely... one at a time. I thought I would share with you my latest project.

This project is something that I should have been doing a long time ago. God has been putting it on my heart to reach out to our neighbors and it just so happens that we have had two new families move in to our cul-de-sac in the last month and one more moving in next month. So, I searched for inspiration on Pinterest:

This is the idea that had my wheels turning and what I based my gift off of. This particular welcome gift has hand soap, scour pads and a hot pad in it.  Below, is my final project:

I used two wicker baskets that I had on hand, found a printable online and used that as a card that included details about who we were and which house we live in and a note to welcome our new neighbors

Emma and I delivered the first one last night, but the family was not home (even though I know I saw a car there 2 minutes earlier!), so we left it on the doorstep and it was gone an hour later.

The second one we are hopefully going to take after church tomorrow. 

If you know me at all, you know that this is outside of my comfort zone to do something like this. Knock on a door and actually speak to people I don't know at all?? No thank you!  However, God has been pushing me to do things way outside of my comfort zone lately and thanks to Pinterest, I have the tools to force me out of my comfort zone! Woohoo!

Second project is not really Pinterest. This one I was taught by my good friend Erin who has been exchanging sewing lessons for me with piano lessons for her daughter :)  

This is it folks. You saw it here first:   My first skirt sewn by myself from start to finish. Woohoo!

Lastly, but not least. I have been desperately trying to make space where space does not exist: in my kitchen! Who would have thought that it would be so difficult to organize a kitchen??  

Here is my project inspiration:

And here are my final renderings of these ideas:

I love, love, love the corkboard. It is SO convenient when I'm baking and I don't have to have my recipes sitting all over the counter collecting the splatters of whatever I am making. Having my current weight and my weight goal smack dab in front of my face when I reach into that cupboard for a dish during snack time... it helps motivate me to eat a good snack (that I am always successful, but it helps!).

We eat a lot of spaghetti. A. Lot.  It was SO annoying to have to reach into the "pit", as I call the corner cupboard that is a deep cupboard that is impossible to get into because our refrigerator does not fit its space. Hard to explain, but trust me... super annoying. Enter 3M hook and MAJOR convenience. 

So goes the beginning of my Pinterest Organization!

I began a book in the beginning of the year called: The House That Cleans Itself. These projects are all related to this book... it is just taking me a long time to get it all done and get through it. Very good book!

Thanks for checking out my projects!

                              

Tired of Today

Can someone please enlighten me as to how I am supposed to protect my daughter from a society that has slowly, but surely, turned into something as degrading and dis-respectful as ours?

I am convinced that there is no such thing as a truly enjoyable movie anymore.

I would just love to watch a movie without excessive cussing, minimal to no clothing on women (and men now!), a way too detailed sex scene, little to no plot whatsoever or a remake.  Seriously, can we not come up with something artful, creative and a good, clean story all in the same movie??

I sure wish the Christian media community would catch up with the times and put out some Hollywood-quality films that were entertaining AND clean. October Baby? Yes. Please. This Means War? Ugh... really? This is what love is?  

Forgive my soapbox post but seriously... is this what my daughter will grow up with?? Sex in every media outlet that exists, the idea that she has to sleep with a guy to find out if she loves him? Cussing like a sailor, binge drinking, crude humor and a basic sense that good looking women get good looking men and they have sex even though they barely know each other and it all works out in the end.


Listen, if you're going to glorify a casual sex life, then why not show the consequences? The STD's, the unplanned pregnancies, the abortions, the affairs, the lack of self-esteem, the lack of trust, the constant questioning if you are as good as his previous sex partners? 


Why do we hide behind the guise that we have the right to live, act and feed our brains whatever we want without consequences?  


"Everything is permissible for me - but not everything is beneficial" 


It is not beneficial to allow this kind of junk in. I'm SO TIRED of having to close my eyes or ask Chris to fast forward through "this part" (which is almost always sex or nudity). We specifically choose not to watch rated R movies in order to spare ourselves from these things, but PG-13 is rated R today. There is sexual innuendo's in animated G-rated movies now. I'm just so sick of having to guard myself from EVERY source of entertainment!


I love movies. I love watching movies. I am a sucker for a good story line with a great, happy ending. Why are these kind of movies so hard to find now? 


I want to preserve my marriage. I want Emma to know that she does not have to sell herself short and find "love" and acceptance with a man by having sex with him. I don't want my husband to be tempted and sucked into "acceptable porn" and I don't want it for myself either. 


God, help me to raise Emma to understand that true love is in a man that loves you, that respects her, that saves himself just for her to be hers for their lifetime. A man that cherishes her, adores her and is attracted to her because of her beautiful heart and her love for you. A relationship that is centered on trust and the knowledge that marriage takes work, sacrifice, grace and love. 

Weekly Weigh-In

Week #22: +0.2 pounds
Total Pounds Lost: 12.4


Not too bad considering the super busy week we had with VBS at church and just being out of the house a lot. The sugar challenge that my sister and I are doing is resulting in some positive changes in how I am feeling and eating. So, that's good. Still just need to drop 5 more pounds to qualify for the lifetime membership and be a free member of WW!  Just FIVE more pounds...  that should be motivation right? :)


I was slacking on counting points and so this week I started tracking all of my points again and tracking like you are supposed to. Hopefully, this will make a big difference :)


Other than that, Emma and I are just enjoying our summer and trying to remain hydrated in the massive amounts of heat that we are experiencing and hoping for a cooler day to do some outdoor play! :)

Weekly Weigh-In

Week #21: -3.4 pounds
Total Pounds Lost: 12.6

Thanks to my sister accepting my challenge of taking sugar out of my diet (as much as is possible these days), I have been able to get back on track with my weight watching and back in the game of losing weight and making healthier choices!

So, for as long as we can handle it we are giving up sugar. We are focusing only on refined sugars and processed sugars. There is unlimited amounts of research linking man-made sugars (aspartame, splenda, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, sucralose, sweet'n low / saccharine) to cancer and other diseases. In fact, I have just been lazy about doing anything about ingesting these man-made "sugars" in spite of the fact that when my Mom was battling cancer, I remember reading medical journals about the possibility of these types of chemicals causing cancers like my Moms. 

Anyway, I'm not on a soapbox, to each his own. For now, we are trying to move away from these sugars and food that contain added sugars. I have been amazed at the differences I have noticed in only a weeks time and look forward to continuing our little experiment!

So, if I decline a sweet treat you have made, please don't be offended! Just trying to figure out this healthy eating stuff for a bit!