I'm Weight Watching!

I've been dragging my heels for some time, knowing that I have to do something about my creeping weight gain. I love to eat and in fact it's a wonder that I don't already weigh 200 pounds despite the fact that I think I eat good stuff: whole grains, lean meat, rarely anything fried. I successfully did Weight Watchers maybe 15 years ago, but they no longer have a meeting in my neighborhood. So I was pleased to see a Weight Watchers online offer of $1 plus 3 months prepaid. I figure that will give me time to see if it's a good choice for me.

One week has passed and I'm down 2 pounds, a very motivating start. I'm a list maker anyway, so it's easy to track what I eat. Foods have a point value, and I'm allowed 26 points a day, plus a weekly allowance of 49 points to spend on whatever floats my boat. Activity gains even more points -- my usual daily walk nets me 2 points, and I've been motivated to add 15 minutes to my walk for an extra point. Most fruits and vegetables are free -- zero points! -- so it's been a pleasure to add apples, bananas, peaches, cantaloupe and/or watermelon to each meal, as well as a big heap of green beans or summer squash or broccoli. Some foods are quite surprising: the little individual cups of brown rice that we eat? 6 points! Whereas mashed potatoes are 3. I'd rather eat the potatoes anyway. Making better choices is a big part of the plan, I think.

We'll see how this progresses. It's pretty easy and I'm not hungry. I only set myself a goal of 5 pounds to start. When I reach that, I'll try another 5. I need to lose about 15 pounds total, so it's quite doable!

Wish me luck!

8/19/12 As an update, I lost 5 1/2 pounds in the month since I began, and believe me, I use every last point I'm entitled to whether basic, bonus, or earned through exercise! Off to a good start!

July Challenges

I got a chance to work on the first three challenges at Scraptastic at my crop Saturday. Challenge #1 is to use word stickers instead of journaling, and to use only one sheet of patterned paper. I've used part of this kitchen-related paper in the past, carefully cutting out the blocks I wanted and salvaging the rest and the margin. I like the idea, but I'm not crazy about the way it turned out. I think I need to move this cute photo of Cici and Maddy making scrambled eggs and a bagel. Hmmm. I'll play with that adjustment this week.

#2 was to use Heather's great sketch, and to use masculine paper on a girl page, or vice versa. I had some photos of Maddy playing in the Dreher Park fountain, and used some more masculine papers on it:

I made cards for #3, which was to use a beautiful color palette of blues and rusts, and to include a die cut.

The last challenge was to layer, layer, layer. I was able to combine layering with a great sketch at frosteddesigns.blogspot.com, where my friend Amy is giving away a beautiful Cricut cartridge to a random winner.

I love challenges -- having an "assignment" keeps me motivated!

June Challenges at Scraptastic

Well, I'm behind. For once I had a super busy month! Not only did I spend 10 days traveling to Atlanta and Chicago, but there was prep for the trip, two crops during the month, a zoo day with my granddaughter and two more days with her later, and house hunting! We made an offer on a townhouse in a wonderful community. It's a short sale and will take a while to discover whether our offer is accepted, but if not this one, we'll wait for ours in this same community.

Anyway, I didn't get a chance to work on the challenges at Scraptastic Club until my crop this past weekend, and I only got two of them done at that. I still have 2 more days 'til the deadline, so there's a chance I can get more done. Here's what I have so far:

Challenge #2 -- use the sketch provided and use two different fonts in two different colors for the title. I'm not entirely happy with my interpretation of this sketch, and if I get time, I may tweak it a little. Cloud Gate (known to Chicagoans as "The Bean") may have been my granddaughter's favorite attraction in Chicago):

7/3/12 I moved the small photo today, and my eye likes it a little better:

Challenge #3 -- scrap about something you love. Use rubons and brad(s). I remembered on my trip how much I love Chicago, the city where I grew up. Over the years it's become even cleaner and greener, and I love visiting there -- love the energy of downtown. I enjoyed journaling about my love of "my" city. Had a lot of fun using rubons, which I really like and never remember to use. Besides the scrolly things at the bottom, there's a swatch of color behind the word "Chicago" This one needs tweaking too. For some reason, I see what I've done best once I see them as a thumbnail.

7/3/12 Another tweak -- the scrolly things ended up too far below the photo block, so I added a strip of blue paper:

So that's it. I started an idea for a fourth challenge today, and have an idea for the first one, but don't know if I'll actually finish either one. What I love best is not the random prize, although that's nice, but a deadline to create something within specific parameters. Keeps me moving!

Zoo Day

Yesterday I picked up Madeline, and we spent a really nice day at the Dreher Park Zoo. I haven't been there in several years, and was surprised at how much admission has gone up. Even with my senior discount, admission was still $29+; and I don't know how families can afford to go.  I was afraid we were going to get rained out as it sprinkled to and from the zoo; but as I explained to Maddy, I carried my umbrella all around the park as a bit of insurance that it would NOT rain. It worked!

I let her take the lead and go down whichever path appealed to her, and I think we pretty much saw everything. She's old enough to be very interested in reading the signs and identifying the animals in each area.

We stopped by the bear exhibit at feeding time, and learned that the two bears, Lewis and Clark, were orphaned at about 3 months of age. Consequently, they didn't learn to hunt and don't like meat! A diet of fruits, vegetables and dog food keeps them healthy. The trainers have taught them to stand up on the fence, and also to  roll over onto their sides, so that they can inspect their paws and undersides to make sure they don't have any injuries. Maddy asked an intelligent question about why the mama bear got hit by a car (it was dark and she's black). I love that she's not shy about speaking up.

We enjoyed a nice lunch at the zoo (she pronounced her mac and cheese "the good kind" as opposed to "the gross kind"), and then headed to the fountain which anchors the zoo paths, where she had a ball playing in the water for an hour.

Our last stop was the little trading post next to the exit, where Grandma bought her this piece of agate that was her heart's desire:

We had a delightful day and it was great to have some one-on-one time with Maddy, able to give her my undivided attention. I look forward to having more fun days with her now that her parents are moving back to town!

Scraptastic Club May Challenges

Yikes! I'm way behind on what I want to scrap because I have a new computer that's taking up all my time. I've spend hours installing software and moving files. And every time I think I'm done, I think of something else. Fonts. Brushes. The current tax return. Music. Sheesh. I think I'm nearly done at last. Now I need to get busy and make two birthday cards and three Father's Day Cards. And I'd really like to finish the LO's I started at my last crop. And there's 3 challenges ready at Scraptastic, with 2 more to come in the upcoming Thursdays. So to kill two birds with one stone, here's the first challenge, which is a birthday card.

Challenge #1 -- use a punch creatively on a project. I learned from my friend Lynn a while back that you can use a border punch to create a curve, by snipping apart each little element, and gluing the pieces in a curve, so I added a border to a birthday card. The cupcake is stamped and watercolored and sprinkles added with Liquid Pearls. Love that stuff!

.

On to the next challenges, I hope.

6/3/12 update. Twelve hours of cropping yesterday and I'm exhausted today! But I got the rest of the Scraptastic challenges done!

#2 -- Use a song title and include some hidden journaling or photos. I couldn't wait to use the cute little flags included in the new PB&J kit; and I cut the little envelope with the Cricut, and wrapped the edges with twine. We still think of our son (now 42 -- egad!) as Mr.-Don't-Worry-Be-Happy. I had planned a different LO entirely, until I saw the words "Be Happy" in the kit!

#3 -- Use your stash and include buttons, brads and flowers. I'm not good at combining a lot of things, and I have the hardest time with buttons, although I love what others do with them. Here's my effort:

#4 -- Use the sketch and include a scallop shape. I love this sketch, and I love this kit!

#5 -- Make tags and use them on a page. Didn't think I'd get to this one, but I did and I like the way my tags came out:

Love challenges! They give me a deadline with specific criteria to meet and I get so much done.

Mother's Day Cards

My beautiful mother and my wonderful mother-in-law are just warm memories now; but I do celebrate two daughters-in-law and a daughter that I love to remember on Mother's Day. I made these cards for them this year:

The butterflies were stamped in black and then watercolored with distress ink and cut out. The "ribbon" is actually seam binding.

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms everywhere!

April Challenges at Scraptastic Club

Well, guess what? I was the lucky random winner of the March challenge at Scraptastic Club! I'm spending my $20 gift certificate on one of the past kits that I've had my eye on. After a whole year of missing Coordinates Collection when it closed, I  picked up a couple of sale past kits when one of my online friends pointed me to Scraptastic. The kits are a good value and nicely put together, and I joined! It's SO much fun to have a box of treasures delivered to my door every month again! Now I'm having fun participating in the challenges, admiring the daily DT projects, and joining in the conversations on FB.

I used my fun new Great Adventures kit to tackle Challenge #2 -- two borders, two patterned papers, two different alphas and two embellies. This checkered pp and the bright colors reminded me of a 50's diner, and seemed perfect for these photos of my granddaughter eating her creation at Cheeseburger Bobby's.

04/23/12

Challenge #1 this month asks for flowers made of 3 or more paper layers. Mine are die cut, inked, crumpled, curled and layered for this "bloom" card.

Challenge #3 -- use an old kit and stitching. Well, fortunately when a friend first told me about Scraptastic, they were having an awesome clearance sale, and I bought 3 kits that were old to the store, but new to me! I still have most of them all, as well as the current kits I've been purchasing. I have a favorite kitchen bowl that serves better than any scrapbooking tool to make big circles, so I traced it in pencil and punched holes for the stitching. The Farm Fresh sticker was perfect, since Dean was born on a farm and has fond memories of his early days there! I cut a slight curve on the memories and date stickers so they'd fit the circle better. Alphas from my stash. So here's my LO using the November Home Sweet Home kit:

Last challenge was posted Thursday, and I just finished it. Heather provided a sketch, and our interpretation just needed to include at least one circle, and some visible journaling. November kit to the rescue again. The flower stuck to the "notes" journaling block in the package; and I had to figure out how to use it that way! Autumn words and letters from my stash.

Hope more folks will be posting their challenge entries in the next few days -- I always love to see what everyone does within the same parameters!