It’s been a while!!

It’s been over 20 days since my last rant about weight... I managed to lose some weight, but have a long way to go.  I’ve been busy renovating my new craft room and am pretty excited about it!! I’ll post some pics soon!!  😊🤓👍😎🤩

Get your shit together!!

Sometimes you turn around an look at how much weight you have gained and for some reason you are "shocked"


REALLY??!!??  SHOCKED!!??!!??
Shocked that I keep shoving food in my mouth. Shocked that I don't go for a walk. Shocked that I don't know what hungry feels like anymore...


I want to a better person, better for me, better for my family.  I have always been up and down in the weight department.  I look back at pictures of me when I was a kid and in high school and remember thinking I was so heavy, I didn't look it. I was not heavy at all then, but I put on a bunch of weight in my 20s and 30s, a lot of it... Then some ups and downs and in 2003 I started the Atkins Diet and had great success. I was motivated, I felt good. I maintained a pretty steady weight for 5 years. Once I quit smoking something switched in my head.. I have gained all that weight back, and then some.  I need to get back on track!!  I need to GET MY SHIT TOGETHER!! 


I have a million excuses, I quit smoking (almost 10 years ago) I had a hysterectomy ( just over 4 years ago) I work at a desk job...   Just so many excuses, so I can justify eating something else...  No one will notice 10 more pounds...  RIGHT??!!??!! I catch a glimpse of myself and I'm actually disgusted. How did I let this happen? AGAIN??


I hate to even get on the scale anymore. I think I had a good week and then I get on that thing, and I gained...  Then I'm just upset and sick to my stomach... So I eat something... 


If you are reading this, what motivates you??  I'm not talking about monetary bets or joining groups or clubs, I'm talking about getting my mind back in the right place..  Getting my shit together...  I seriously have a lot of weight to get rid of...  I'm going to start with 50 pounds, but in all honestly I need to lose twice that to get back to normal. 


I don't need to be a size 6, I'd be so happy with a 12 at this point, but my goal would be back in a 9.


I'm going to set a goal and stick with it!!  I want to see how well I do in 20 days and then better that for the next 20 days.


Wish me luck, and share your motivation please

For My Dad

I wrote this on June 11th 2013

Thirty years ago today, my life changed forever. 

Knowing full well that he has been watching, I often wonder what my dad thinks of us four kids, now that we are grown and have families of our own. Proud as hell I’m sure!! 

All four of us are now older than you were when you passed. You would now be 67 years old, and still full of piss and vinegar as ever, but maybe a bit slower. You have gained three sons-in-law, and a daughter-in-law, that I am sure you are proud to call your own.


You also have seven grandsons and a granddaughter that you never had the chance to play with or hold, but I am positive you are watching over them as they go through life, and I am so thankful for that. I am also sure that you have inspired some shenanigans in these grandchildren that make us, now the parents, aware you are truly with them.


My dad was the kind of guy you just don’t forget, but maybe I’m a little prejudice. I still have people tell me things they remember about him, and that just warms my heart. 

I know he is in a better place than we are and I also know a lot of good people have joined him in the past thirty years. I picture him having a grand old time with some long lost friends and family. 

One day I will see you again, but until then, I just want to say, thanks for looking out for us Daddy, and we miss you. 

For Frank Mathias Suhr

April 16th 1946 to June 11th 1983

Egg Gathering Apron

Egg Gathering Apron

I saw a crocheted pattern for an egg gathering apron and was inspired to make one for my friend that has chickens. 

I combined several apron patterns I came across, and this is what I came up with for the first draft.   My friend is now testing it, and will let me know if I need to make any changes. 

I started with an old pair of jeans. I measured from my waste to my knees (or as long as you want your apron to be), then cut the jeans at this length and then cut them up the side and along the inseam to separate the front from the back.

I then sewed the inseams together.  You will need to use a straightedge so you don’t have an uneven apron front.  Then I used that straightedge to even up the bottom before I went continued.

The contrasting fabric I used was simple muslin.  I cut a length about 2 inches wide for the apron ties and sewed it on under the belt loops. 

 

I cut 6 inch wide strips to make the egg pockets.  I used 2 ½ times the width of the apron as a measurement for the amount of 6 inch strip I would need for each pocket, and then hemmed the top and each side of the strip. 

 

 

For the bottom pockets, I flipped the apron over the pinned the muslin pocket on (right side of pocket to wrong side of apron) placing 1 inch pleats about 1 inch apart. I sewed this together and flipped the pocket over to the right side to sew a finishing stick along the sides and bottom of this pocket.

 

For the top pocket, I used the same process, of sewing the pocket on and then topstitching the sides and bottom. 

 

 

 

 
 

Now I just had to make the decision of how big to make the egg pockets…  It looked like 2 pleats for each egg pocket would work, so I then sewed vertically on each pocket after 2 pleats on the top and bottom pockets to finish the apron.

 

 

Once I get some feedback from my friend, I’ll tweak the pattern J    

Sometimes you just need to make a Dick Scarf.

Sometimes you just need to make a Dick Scarf.

 My son has a good friend that hilariously draws snow dicks on car windows when it snows, and I have found this pretty amusing.  As Christmas was approaching, I stumbled across some crocheted Dick Scarves and thought, “I can do that”

I started by creating a pattern from a paper grocery bag, and then I found a thin pin knit blanket at a thrift store and the plan came together… 

I folded the blanked lengthwise and pinned the head part of the pattern on one end and the balls part of the pattern to the other end, making sure to tuck the tassels in so they could be on the outside once turned right side out.  (Next time I will pin these tassels in place while I’m sewing so they don’t get caught in the stitching. 

I sewed around the pattern before I removed it and then turned the scarf right side out and ran a finishing stitch around the entire scarf to close up the space left to invert the scarf and to insure the scarf didn’t unravel from the inside out.

 

The gift was a huge success and had a place in my son’s friend’s home now..  Just a little something from one smart ass to another J

 

What can you do in 140 days?

What can you do in 140 days?

 

Two years ago today I stopped to see my friend Stacey at Blue Bayou Pub. I knew she was in pain and had been seeing doctors about it for quite some time. When I arrived, there was no one else there and she told me she was waiting for test results and they found lesions on her liver and a tumor on her pancreas.

 For a second, I thought “At last! They figured out what is wrong and can help you now” but before I finished my thought, Stacey also said she was already told it was stage 4 pancreatic cancer and there was nothing they could do. She was just waiting for a call confirming what she had already been told.

 I didn’t know what to say, I was shocked and overwhelmed. I fought back tears as other customers came in. A few minutes later the phone rang, it was the lab’s confirmation of the diagnosis. Stacey came out of the kitchen with tear-filled eyes, just looked at me and simply nodded yes.

She wanted to be upbeat and positive and that had to be so hard for her to do because she was afraid. It was 140 days from that phone call that Stacey passed away. 140 days full of chemo and its side effects, severe pain, and so many doctors’ visits.

All of this makes me wonder, “What could I do in 140 days?” Go on a much needed diet, spend time in my craft room, take a class or two, devote more time to friends and family? Or maybe just be grateful for what I have and enjoy life….

Family Get Together

Family Get Together

Summer is full of picnics, get-togethers and shindigs  and as we were preparing for one of ours I made a few notes.

First is my favorite summer pasta salad.

1 One LB box of pasta, I use Rotelle, but you use whatever you want

1 Ten OZ bag of frozen peas.  Keep frozen

1 Bag of frozen cheddar cheese, the size depends on how much you like cheese

1 One LB package of ham cubes

Miracle Whip light.  How much depends on how wet you like your pasta salads I use about a cup and a half

½ Cup Grated Parm

½ Cup Ranch salad dressing

Boil the pasta and right before the pasta is ready to drain, retrieve and open the frozen peas into the colander along with the ham cubes.  Pour the hot pasta and water over theses and rinse with cool water   until pasta is cool to touch.

In a large mixing bowl mix Miracle Whip light, Grated Parm , Ranch salad dressing and frozen cheddar cheese.

Pour contents of colander into mixing bowl of wet ingredients and mix well and refrigerate.  Cool at least 24 hours before searving. 

 

The Next tip is about the prep of the meat. 

We grill all of the meat the night before and the day of we keep it all warm in a Nesco or Crock Pots (Depending on the size of the crowd expected) That way we are not cooking while our guests are here so we can visit. 

My last tip involves the alcohol served. 

I found out a while ago that 1 drink mix packet meant to flavor a water bottle, (Like Chrystal Light Drink Packets) is enough to flavor an entire bottle of vodka, and is the perfect ingredient in making sangria.

 

Oh and one last thing!

I found a double yolker while making deviled eggs