Stained "Glass" Leaves

This weekend I haven't been feeling that well, so KBeaner and I did not play outside that much, we played indoors but I wanted to do something extra fun with her. I looked through pinterest and saw a few crafts that I liked but not many stood out to me until I saw this pin.

The Stained "Glass" Leaves, seemed like the perfect craft!

All you need is ...
markers
coffee filters
hot glue gun
paint brush and water


First I cut out leaf shapes out of the coffee filters, then using my hot glue gun I added the veining on the leaves.

Once dry KBeaner began to color them with markers. When she was done coloring the leaves she used her paint brush and a little bit of water to spread out the color. I think that was her favorite part.

Next let them dry. This is the boring part.

Once dry hang them up on your windows and enjoy your beautiful cheap Autumn decorations!

Weekly Weigh-in (again)

Since weighing in every other week did not work for me (at my last weigh in I gained 6lbs in two weeks) I am going to return to my Weekly Weigh-Ins again.

Well I was 164lbs last week and I am still 164lbs this week.

I feel partly annoyed, even though I know I should be grateful I did not gain.

I tracked about 70% of the time, I did not work out, unless you count cleaning as working out. I did up my water intake, I think that helped me eat less than I normally had been. All the water has helped my skin clear up too.

I plan on continuing to track, hopefully this week I can keep it up and tell you all that I tracked 99% of the time!

Here is a pic of me from last week at the lake. Yay for the fall and sweater dresses!!

weekly check in

Hey all! Hope you're having a great week so far, I know I am!

We went to a wedding this past weekend, it was a beautiful wedding of one of my closest friends from college. It was a ton of fun, and so nice to see a lot of my college friends. I think I did well enough points wise. I did have some drinks but I stayed clear of the ice cream sundae bar...oh man that bar looked sooo good, but I said "no thanks".

I also made some awesome finds at the Good Will yesterday. KBeaner wants to be Mittens from Lalaloopsy, here's a pic if you are not familiar...

source

 

Well I found a sweater that is similar to the one that Mittens wears, for only one dollar!!! I also found a shirt that I am going to use as fabric to make her hair, that was also only one dollar!! Although now that I'm looking at the picture, I'm thinking that the blue shirt is a little too bluish green. Keep checking back because I may put up some tutorials for this Lalaloopsy costume.

 

 

Unfortunately my weigh in this week did not go well, at all! I'm 164lbs, that's up 6lbs in the past 2 weeks. That is not good at all. So far I have tracked all my food the past two days, and I plan on continuing. I also am going to start up "Weigh In Wednesday" again, I think I need that accountability.

 

 

Here is a pic from the wedding, even though I gained 6lbs I still feel like I'm doing pretty well...Hopefully I'll be down some pounds next week.

Get Rid of Stains on a Porcelain Sink

At our new place we have a beautiful white porcelain sink. Beautiful until you get close to it and you realize there are stains in it. It became my mission to get those stains out!

 

The after isn't perfect but it is much, much better than the "before".

 

I first started by cleaning the sink with just some hot water and dish soap, that did nothing but at least I knew it was clean.

 

Then I sprayed it with a generic all purpose kitchen cleaner with bleach. That made it slightly cleaner but not by that much.

 

Then I tried baking soda, it worked really well and wasn't too abrasive. The middle picture above is after the baking soda.

 

Next I sprinkled on Borax (I love that stuff!!) and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Now that stuff worked wonders!! Most of the stubborn stains came out.  I think that the next time I do this I will stick with the baking soda and the Borax, it'll make it go by a lot faster and no nasty bleach fumes!

 

To keep your sink sparkly clean try to rinse it out often, especially after there are food or drinks that stain, such as coffee. I think coffee is what stained our sink the most.

Happy cleaning!!

Checking In and getting Back to Basics

Hey everyone! Hope you're having a great week, I know I am. We took a family trip to a nearby apple orchard and did some picking! So much fun, and now we have a lot of yummy apples. I did have 2 apple cider donuts, at first I was upset with myself and then I realized that I have to splurge once in a while, and I only had 2 and we didn't bring any home. A few years ago, I would have not had any at the orchard but would buy some and then pig out on them later at home. (Man writing that last sentence almost made me cry. I don't know if I ever admitted how disordered my eating used to really be. I still struggle, but I do not struggle as much as I used to.) Anyways we had a  ton of fun, the weather was perfect, not too hot and not too chilly.

 

I'm planning on making a lot of applesauce, we already made baked apples..yummy!!

 

Now that I checked in, I want to get down to business. I have decided that I am going to force myself into getting back to the basics of weight loss. Each week I am going to challenge myself with a small change. This week I am challenging myself  to drink at least 64oz of water each day. Recently I haven't been drinking enough water, I know that is not good for me, I can see the effects of it too. My skin is horrible, I get more headaches and I am eating a lot more, probably because I am actually thirsty not hungry.

Are you going to challenge yourself this week too? Are you going to join my water challenge or pick a different small change for yourself?  Let me know in the comments!

Weigh In

It's my weigh in day, I'm still at 158 which is fine by me. Well lets be honest...mostly fine by me. I didn't gain so that is a big deal for me, I would have liked if I had lost weight this week, but I ate too much and didn't exercise enough.

I have been paying more attention to my portion sizes again, man was I going overboard on them! I am trying to focus on going back to the basics of my weight loss. This week I am mostly working on what I am eating (or not eating), once I get comfortable with this again I am going to concentrate on working out again and maintaining my healthy eating habits.

All about getting healthy, and living a long happy life. I have to remember that! It's not about looking good (although that's a nice bonus) it's about being a good example for my daughter and staying healthy.

I'm going to go chug some water now...you should too!!