Manic Monday! week 4

Please check out Angela, Hollie, Laura's blogs.

Hey everyone! Hope you've had a great  week! I did, I was busy working on KBeaner's party but it was the best kind of busy. I'll have a post all about it later this week or early next week, so please check back.

I maintained!

Eating and exercise wise...my week was so-so. With planning a birthday party I did end up eating more sweets than I should have, but I did have a few days where I was really good at tracking, I think thats why I did not gain this week. My sciatic nerve has been bothering me, (probably because I have not been active...stupid polar vortex/winter and laziness) I am trying to strengthen my back more so I have been attempting to do a couple planks each day, I say attempting because I do not hold them very long but at least I'm doing something right? This is where I imagine all of you reading this saying "yes of course Jill it does count!" haha

This weeks meal plan is going to be smaller since I won't be having dinner at home that often this week but here it is....

Pizza
Lentil Sloppy Joes
Carrot Soup with homemade bread (because I didn't make it this past week oops)
Leftovers
Dinners out.

I am hoping that having dinner out a lot this week does not affect my weigh in next week. My plan is to drink lots of water and load up on veggies!

 For the next few weeks we are going to be sharing a little bio of each of the bloggers in  Just Another Manic Monday today I'd like to introduce you to Laura from Simply Healthy Mama. I met her when I started to follow her  blog, I think I first stumbled upon it on Pinterest. Anyways I realized we had a lot of the same things going on with trying to get healthy, so I started commenting, and to my surprise she commented back!! Not gonna lie..I was pretty excited that a blogger I admire became my friend!! :)  Here she is....

Hey y’all! My name is Laura and I’m a wife, homeschooling mama to three girls, and a part-time hospice nurse. I started Simply Healthy Mama in 2011 to post about my journey towards better physical health. I have lost 40 pounds (so far!), discovered that I love running, and more importantly I have realized that health is about so much more than just a number on a scale. In addition to posts about fitness, running and clean eating you’ll also find posts about spirituality, stress management, organization, and all things related to being a healthier mama!


Hope you all have an amazing week!

Coffee Filter Flowers

As I've mention before KBeaner's birthday is coming up, I want her party (which is a Fairy Tea Party) to have lots of decorations but I don't want to spend a lot of money. So I spent a lot of time doing "research" on Pinterest. I found this one and really liked this tutorial, but this one had glue in it and I'm lazy and felt that the gluing section might just take too much time.

All you need is...
Coffee filters
Scissors
Floral wire (or any time of small wire)

I searched and searched at Target for floral wire, not to find any but I did find in the 90% off Christmas Clearance ornament hooks, ones in green and some in silver, for 10 cents each I bought both. I used the green as a replacement for floral wire in this project. I love when things like this just fall into my lap!

Now here is how to cut your coffee filters, I used 3 piled together, then took another 3 and cut them a little bit longer so that the layers of the "flowers" are not all one length.

Once all 6 coffee filters are cut pile them together the biggest filters on the bottom and the smaller ones on top. Make two holes in the top of the smaller filters with the wire, I made my wire in a U shape and held it upside down to push through the layers of coffee filters. 

Next twist up the wires that are through the bottom of the bigger filters, I pinched the coffee filters together a bit on the bottom so that it would add more volume to the flower.

Starting with the center filter squeeze the filter and fluff (don't you love my describing words? I can't think of another way to describe it haha) it around so that it resembles a flower, keep going  through each layer of coffee filter until you are at the end. 

 Then VOILA! you have a beautiful but easy and inexpensive flower decorations for a party! You can add stems to them to put into a vase, hang them up or just have them through out your food table. 

I dyed some of my coffee filters in a water/food coloring mixture and then let them dry over night. 

Just Another Manic Monday week 3

Hey everyone it's Manic Monday! Don't forget to check out Angela, Hollie, Laura's blogs. 

Hope you all had a great week! I did, I went to a fun crafts night, and caught up with some old friends.

I also did well with my eating!! I tracked everything!!! well I did have a bite of birthday cake yesterday at one of KBeaner's friend's party (it was sooo good) and I didn't track that... oops. Other than that I really did track everything.  I also drank more water, not as much as I should, but it was much more than I normally drink.

It paid off! I am down 2 lbs!!  woot woot!! I'm now 167 lbs. I'm on my way to getting back down into the 150s and I am so happy about it. I feel like I am finally getting back into the Weight Watchers groove, the first couple weeks are always the hardest for me. I am hoping to stay in this groove.

I made KBeaner a new skirt this week for dance, its a square circle skirt with a yoga style waist, and I made it with an old shirt I never wore!! I love when I can make something old into something new!

             She is such a little fashionista, I love the outfits KBeaner chooses, and I love her fashion shows and poses! This is her "High Five Pose" haha.

Now for the Meals:
Healthy Pizza
Homemade Pork "fried" rice with lots of veggies
Pasta with red sauce and veggies
Breakfast for dinner (pancakes for KBeaner, eggs with veggies and fruit)
Carrot Soup with homemade bread

Leftovers

 Hope you all have an amazing week!

Cheap Decorative Letters

As you know if you read this post, KBeaner's birthday is coming up. I'm trying to decorate her party by spending the least possible, and I'd like the decorations I make to be used for her birthday parties to come.

I love when people have pretty lettering on their walls, and I had seen a cheap way to do it on Pinterest (I of course can't find the pin so I apologize for not giving the person credit!) . Instead of buying the wooden letters I could just cut my own out of cardboard and then cover them with fabric.

Lucky for me I have an abundance of fabric and since Christmas was just a few weeks ago we still had a lot of cardboard boxes hanging around. KBeaner has been using them as forts, cars, pretending to be a robot and she one day made it a great hiding place...

All that you need is...

cardboard

Exacto knife

fabric

fabric glue (I'm sure other glue would work too)

I just wrote the letters out using a ruler, but you could always print out a stencil online or buy one at the store. Once your letters are drawn out use your Exacto knife to cut them out. 

The fabric I used was from the remnants section at JoAnn's Fabric from a while ago, I love that section they are already discounted fabric at an even more discounted price! I think I paid $1 for almost a half of yard.

 Next wrap your letters with the fabric, make sure to put your letter on the back of the fabric backwards so that when you flip the fabric over it is going in the correct direction, I made this mistake a couple times.

For the corners and curves of the letters I cut slits in the fabric so that they it would go around the letter nicely. The good thing about using fabric glue is that you can undo the fabric if you don't like how it looks.

Here is the finished project, I am going to hang the letters on the wall of her party. You could also put the letters on ribbon and hang it like a banner.

The possibilities of making these cheap decorative letters is endless, you could make ones for any occasion or make ones that you can hang up one with your family's name in your family room. 

Just Another Manic Monday week 2

Just Another Manic Monday...

Every time I write that out or read it I sing the song. It makes me dance around a little bit and smile! :)

Don't forget to check out Angela, Hollie and Laura's blogs to see their Manic Monday! Here are their blogs..

Honey I Shrunk the Mom

Hollie Runs This

Simply Healthy Mama

I maintained this week.

I  thought I did pretty well this past week, I had my weak moments where I didn't track my food and over ate but for the most part I was on track. I really struggle in the evening after KBeaner goes to bed, I always want to snack.

Here is what I have for dinners this week...

Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes and carrots
Lasagna with lots of veggies and minimal cheese
Skinny Big Macs
Chili
Healthy pizza
Leftovers


This week I also want to concentrate on getting in more water. In the winter I always struggle to drink enough water. I already had one cup right when I woke up this morning and I'm working on my second cup.

This is what I'll be saying by the end of the week...

Fairy Tea Party Invite

I cannot believe it, my little KBeaner is turning 4 this month!! 4!!!!! I used to roll my eyes at parents that would say "it goes by so fast", but now I understand it really does go by so fast!! This year for KBeaner's party she has requested a "Fairy Tea Party!" Last year KBeaner had a "Ballerina" themed birthday party you can check out the invite tutorial.

I, of course wanted to save money and decided to make my own invitations for her party. Lately I have been using Ribbet which is a free photo editing site, they have a lot of cool effects and stickers. All for free!

At first I thought I'd do flowers and butterflies for the invite, but once KBeaner saw what I was doing she wanted to get involved. She picked all the colors and decided she wanted the tiara and fairy wand.

Here is the invite... Obviously I blacked out all the information but I hope you get the idea!

Now this was an after thought so he colors are slightly off, but here is a free blank invite that you can save to your computer and add your information or you can print and just write in your information.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know in the comments if you use it! :)

Manic Monday- Meal Plan and Accountability week 1

Hey all!! Today marks some new things! I'm getting my act together!! Now every Monday I will be posting about my weigh in and will be putting up a weekly meal plan. I am doing this with three of my friends whom also have blogs. Check them out too!

Here are their blogs..

Honey I Shrunk the Mom

Hollie Runs This

Simply Healthy Mama

Alright let's get down to business! I weighed in this morning ...169  which I'm not happy with but considering two weeks ago I was 174 and that 4 years ago I was 263 I should be very happy about it! Although I keep saying "yeah but in May you were 151". Well it is what it is, I for whatever reason stopped working hard and my weight shows it, so does how I feel. I want to get my energy back and feeling healthy again. 

Here is what I have planned for dinners this week:

Pulled Pork with Homemade Bread
Healthy Pizza
Homemade Chicken Nuggets, veggies and sweet potato fries
Pork Tacos (with the pulled pork)
Greek Style Chicken with tzatziki sauce and veggies on the side.
Veggie Stir Fry
Leftovers

What are your plans for this week? Are you starting over? Let me know in the comments.