The Nifty Foodie's Life

This past week, a good bit of “firsts” happened. “Firsts” are wonderful because they will never happen again and you will always look back on the first time such and such happened. They are bookmarks in your life, and while they are small bookmarks, your brain has them engraved in there for you to remember at random times.

I can recall my first hospital visit that happened in kindergarten after I sprayed nasal spray in my eye. I even remember my first food craft project, which involved me trying to convince the teacher that the animal crackers didn’t want to be glued to an ark, but rather, they would prefer to be in my tummy (early signs of a foodie or a fatty?). I can even recall my first needlecraft, which was a teddy bear cross-stitch that read “Welcome”. My parents still have this hanging by their door.

A couple of big firsts were involving the sewing machine. The pajama pants (#38) . I was supposed to finish these in June, but for some reason, June seemed like it was shorter than the average month. Why the heck is it July already anyway? I’m not ready for the Christmas in July ads.

Ok, back to the pajama pants. The pattern said “easy”, but this pattern was NOT easy. First of all, all they show are little pictures in steps. They don’t tell you how to get your fabric to look like that picture. I had to constantly reposition fabric after every step and repin. Annoying. Took me about 5 hours to make these. However, now that I know, I can probably pump out a pair in about two hours. I disregarded putting ribbon on them in the waist area, because I was fairly sure the puppy would see that as a toy and have something else to try to chew on.

Also, I finished the quilt top over the past weekend. Summer goal is *almost* done. All I have to do is assemble it together now.

We’re going to say I took a picture of the top upside down on purpose, ok? I’ll admit, my squares do not perfectly line up in some places (check out right of row 2 to right of row 3), but it’s ok. First quilt. The sole purpose is to keep my legs warm when hubs insists on keeping the fan on high in a room. My legs won’t care if squares don’t line up.

Last weekend was another “first”, which in no way was craft related. Remember my anniversary gift to the hubs? Well, he picked the paper that said “mow the lawn”. I’ve never mowed the lawn in my life, but I did it early last Saturday, which I’m sure was hilarious to my husband. (#33) There are no pictures of this “first”, because it would probably break computer screens and cause riots. A big girl fighting 100% humidity and temperatures in the 90s? Who wants to see that?

Have you had any “firsts” lately?

I remember when I was 10 years old, and I was offered a (small) job at the daycare next door to bring garbage cans to a fenced area on weekends after trash was collected. It was an easy  job, and I thought I was high-rolling with my $10/month salary. At the time, my biggest hobby was making friendship bracelets, so I’d always buy DMC floss in various colors whenever my parents brought me to Wal-Mart. Life was simple and $10/month was all that I needed/wanted.

When I turned 14, I started taking on baby-sitting jobs. I earned about $30-$40/night just watching kids make a mess of a house with their toys. Easy stuff…at the time, I even brought my newest hobby, cross-stitching to the homes and worked on that. After the kids went to bed, I’d just throw all of the toys in their containers and I was done. $30-$40 a night? I WAS RICH!

I won’t even tell you how rich I felt in high school, when I made $5.15/hour as a cashier. That was awesome AWESOME money.

Now that I’m in the real world, I’ve come to realize that I hardly ever SEE my money like I used to. Once the paycheck comes, an allotment goes to our joint account for bills/groceries, a good chunk of the rest basically pays off the dental work that I had done a year ago (remember to floss daily, folks) and the rest, well?

The Internet. Ahh, Internet. You make things so easy. No need to find a parking spot or lug bags around…no. I can just put items in a virtual cart, make an account that saves all of my information, and simply, 3 clicks later, my items are en route to my house. So convenient…so crazy. It’s so easy to spend $100 here and there on random things, and then you look at your bank account balance and feel like everything went way overboard.

So, last month, I decided to not make any Internet purchases (with the exception of my dog’s flea meds). The first few days were hard, and over the past 30 days, I missed so many great sales. I had to remind myself that with a sale, you are still spending money, and do you really NEED that?

No. I didn’t. All I needed that month were flea meds for my dog. That was my need.

There was a small crisis that took a good bit of thinking to get through. In the middle of the month, my iPhone case cracked (plastic). I wanted to buy mine off Amazon so badly, because we all know iPhone cases online are dirt cheap. I remembered my promise to myself, and ended up scouring Target and Best Buy for a deal. While not spectacular, I found an opened box iPhone case for $16. I know the Otterbox’s were $10 on Amazon, but I would have had to spend $25 to get free shipping. In my head, I saved $9, at the very least, since it’s nearly impossible to hit exactly $25 on Amazon.

July 1st is today, and I don’t feel tempted to attack a clothing store or accessories. Yesterday, I wanted to buy a cookbook that was 50% off, but last night, I realized my library carries it. I don’t need that $20 cookbook…not at all.

So, on my first day of the Internet buying ban being over, my debit card is nestled in my wallet for the day.

Since it’s a new month, I’m going to tackle a new venture that is a slow money drainer: coffee shops. It’s so convenient to make that my breakfast, but it’s absurdly pricey. So, this month, I’m giving up coffee shops. This should be fun….wish me luck with this one!

Have you found yourself spending too much on the Internet? How do you restrain yourself?

I know summer doesn’t officially start until June 21, however, most people identify the beginning of the summer season with Memorial Day.

Since that’s quickly approaching, I have some goals. The biggest one?

This.

Now, relax folks…don’t freak out. My machine hasn’t touched this yet! This is just fabric laid down on the carpet in the pattern I like. I know, the fabrics are not laid the same way…no worries, they’ll all face the right way when thread goes through the needle.

I’m going to admit I’m intimdated by this quilt. It’s a level 2 project in my S.E.W book, so I shouldn’t be so intimidated, but the word quilt is intimidating. They are so pretty and just perfect looking. Can I really do this? I surely hope so. My seam ripper is on stand-by.

I found all of these fabrics at Hobby Lobby for about $4.50/yard, which isn’t too shabby.

I have a serious addiction to that store and their remnant bin, by the way.

I can’t wait to see this project done.

No worries, I’ll share my other summer goals with you. I just need to save it for another post.

Before the wedding, I went from the 260s to the 240s. It was so awesome to lose that much weight and to notice my XL workout shirts loosening more and more. I was excited about the prospect of continuing my weight loss journey, fitting in a L tee, and possibly, shopping in regular clothing stores for the first time since I was in high school!

I should have known better. In May, at my last dress fitting, the seamstress politely told me that I cannot lose anymore weight or the beadwork on my dress would be affected. So, I decided to still work-out to keep with the routine, but to go back to eating junk. I know, weird thinking right? I did maintain though, and felt pretty darn slim on the wedding day!

Fast forward 11 months, my scale says 270.9 lbs. Why is that, folks? Because my month of slipping turned into that ugly habit that I’ve had for most of my life. I ended up quitting the Y, because I had better things to do, apparently, and well, cooking healthy just didn’t matter so much anymore (no dress to fit in).

So, I gained a newlywed 30 in less than a year. What am I going to do about it? Back on track…

I’ve been debating sharing these pictures on the Internet, but I joined Bobbi+Mike’s healthy train, so it’s not like I can hold these as a secret for much longer.

I hope to take pictures like this monthly in the same get-up to show progress. Heck, I just want to see some progress. These pictures are TERRIBLE, and I know I can’t live life like this forever. Wish me luck, folks. It’s time to lose this flab!

It’s been a while since I looked at my 101 in 1001 list. I surprised myself with how many things are done/in progress at this time. I need to get some things done this year though…lots left to do!

Not done – 55/101
In progress – 14.5/101
Completed – 31.5/101

I obviously have a category that stands out with a lot of “not dones” (cough…health and fitness…cough), so I think that should, of course, be a huge focus now.

Stay tuned for the brutal truth that has really led me to make my health and fitness a huge priority. It’s coming soon, I promise!