Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 Rewind

The last day of 2012 is today. It seems like just yesterday I was ringing in the new year for 2012. So much has happened in such a tiny amount of time. I am taking today to reflect on some of my favorite memories from 2012.

1. I started this blog on January 1st, 2012. This was to improve my business, keep people in touch, and yes, show off a bit with what I am making. I didn't know that direction I wanted to go in with this blog when first created and after a year, I think that I have finally figured it out (look for changes in 2013).

Sunday, December 30, 2012

FO American Girl Doll Outfit #2

One of the most fun things to knit are tiny doll clothes. They are cute, easy, and super quick. With one outfit down, I had to make another. This time for Kali. The shirt was knitted and the skirt was from the leftover fabric that I had from the doll bed (which I actually used to make 2 skirts, for Kali and Scarlet).

Saturday, December 29, 2012

2 Day Christmas Whirlwind

This year, our Christmas was a little less than traditional. The biggest tradition broken was that Santa came the day after Christmas because daddy had to work on Christmas. However, with a one and a half and a two and a half year old who would really know the difference.
 


Sunday, December 23, 2012

Let Your Past Make You Better.....

There are times when a quote just resonates with me so deeply. Saturday, upon reading this on Pinterest, I had such an experience. And these words could not ring any truer for me. I have had a rough past; from my childhood, adolescence and into adulthood. I always thought that life was giving me what I deserved. Upon meeting my husband, however, I learned that this was not the case. My life was no where near where I deserved it to be. I learned this and so much more due to my past.
Wow were we little here!
I have learned to love life. You are never going to get another one and there is no reason to spend what little time we have being unhappy, even for a second. There is not enough time to waste being bitter about things that happened, lessons we wished we would have learned sooner, or regretting things we chose to do against our better judgement. Life is supposed to be cherished and I have learned to do that.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

FO Throw Pillows and Tutorial

Although I can't share all of my Christmas gifts on here, I am sharing a few. I decided not to knit everything this year, and this has proven to be a lot easier to handle. Some of the gifts I am making actually called for my sewing machine. Last night I put my machine to work!
 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

FO Baby Doll Bed and Tutorial

The little miss that I babysit, Scarlet, while her mom is in school is one of the cutest little things ever. She has amazing hair and such a feisty personality. She loves being the mommy and would spend a lot of the time at my house either playing with Ryenn's babies or playing mommy to Ryenn.

Monday, December 17, 2012

FO American Girl Doll Outfit #1

My nieces are so cute when they ask for things. They mention how much they would like something and how cool it would be if someone could make them that certain thing. When this adorable attempt at getting me to make them clothes for their American Girl Dolls was tried last April, I knew exactly what they were getting for Christmas.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Saddest Carousel Ride EVER

I was thinking about not blogging about this experience, but decided that Ryenn looks too sad but cute to not share. After visiting Santa on Friday, Nolan wanted to do nothing more than to ride the carousel.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Visiting Santa: Take 2

When we went to Robinettes two weeks ago, I blamed the lack of a nap for the uncooperative kids we had that day. Both were a bit uneasy to sit with Santa. Well,we went to Rivertown to try again. And it got worse!

Friday, December 14, 2012

Mourning Loss

With all that is going on with loss today, it is difficult to comprehend. My prayers are with the families affected by the shootings in Connecticut today. Children are so precious and it is so hard to even begin to understand the loss of their lives. My problems seem so insignificant comparatively. However, losing a pet is hard as well. I experienced the loss of my favorite dog, Diezel, in 2011. He was hit by a car after escaping our yard under the fence, something he had done numerous times. The final time was while I was working. I stayed home from work for 4 days after because I was so devastated. Didn't really help that I was 6 months pregnant with Ryenn so my emotions were extremely high. He was 4 years old (and 6 months if we want to get technical).

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Kitchen Update!

We haven't made MUCH progress in the kitchen, but enough to make me happy for the moment. I can finally put away some of our dishes in the right spot, rather than our pantry. This let me reorganize our pantry to fit our food better. It has been a life saver. But how did we get to this point, and why did we stop?

Saturday, December 8, 2012

Weight Loss Progress

Yesterday was the last day of the 7 day detox diet that I was on. I was surprised by how much easier things got toward the end of this diet. I did "cheat" a little yesterday but not that terribly. I had a baked potato (a no no) and Zatarain's black beans and rice instead of just brown rice (another no no).

I was able to lose quite a bit this past week and I am very happy about that. I am actually having a cheat day today and getting right back into it. Anyway, what you're most wondering about, I'm sure, is the final numbers. This morning I weighed in at 185.6 lbs. That's a loss of 10.1 lbs! I will say that I was hoping for a little bit more, but you can't expect too much when you aren't working out at all.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Christmas Tree 2012

My mother has always had the most gorgeous Christmas trees. The ornaments each match one another, all her decorations throughout her house, and even match her living room decor. She has vaulted ceilings so she has always gotten gigantic trees that she needs a ladder to decorate it. I have yet to see hers from this year, but every year she does an amazing job.
My mom's tree in 2011

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

WIP Mom's Christmas Gift

My mom has never specifically asked me for anything. So when she does, I know that she REALLY likes it. When I wore my Summer Lace sweater over to her house one day, she told me a few times how much she liked it. Then one day on the phone, she told me if I wanted to knit her something, she would buy me the yarn and everything. When she told me it was a sweater like mine, but with long sleeves, I knew right then what I would be knitting her for Christmas.
Unblocked lace

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Visiting Santa: Take 1

Every year we have visited Santa, except for Nolan's first Christmas, has been a challenge. For Nolan's first Christmas, he was too young to be "scared" of Santa. Last year was Ryenn's first Christmas so she was too young to know the difference either. However, Nolan was at the age last year where they can be a little scared. He didn't want to sit on his lap and would only take a picture if daddy was holding him and cried when he set him down (check out my very first blog post to see pictures). This year a little different, but not by much.


Monday, December 3, 2012

FO Leg Warmers

I have made so many pairs of baby legwarmers, that I was actually lost on how to knit them for an adult. Nonetheless, when I got a request for them I was more than willing to get them done. The baby legwarmers I have done in the past were knit using the Soft Armwarmer pattern from Caron by Marilyn Losee. When Marilyn (coincidence), who is a yoga instructor, asked for legwarmers similar to the child sized ones I make, I knew that I needed to follow the same pattern.
perfectly match yellow tights and ballet flats

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Weight Loss Progress

I gave up on the 17 Day Diet. It worked so well for me for the first 3 months. Then I hit a plateau. So I gave up on it months ago. Every time I tried to get back on it, I couldn't stick to strict enough so it didn't work. And again I was late. 11 days late! And I am having nausea. As of right now all tests are negative, but I have been told that my hormone levels might not be high enough yet to register. So this has amped my weight loss up a bit because I want to be at a certain weight before I get pregnant next.

However, on Pinterest recently (something I seem to say a lot) I found a detox diet plan that will help stop cravings called the GM Diet. This is something that appealed to me because I have been craving different things here and there lately. Especially Peanut Butter Sandwiches and cereal. These two things have been my weakness.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Christmas Festivities Begin

Last night we ventured out to downtown Grand Rapids to see the official lighting of the Christmas tree at the Grand Rapids Art Museum and Rosa Parks Circle. There were free carriage rides, ice skating, the Christmas tree, and you could check out the museum. It was so much fun to get out and show the kids some of the fun things to do. It has even made us decide to take both the kids ice skating next weekend! Ryenn kept wanting to climb right onto the ice. Nolan had fallen asleep in the car so it was a lot for him to take in. The only time he seemed really interested was when the horses were around.