More words, with pictures!

Wow. Tonight I decided to sit down and go through a few boxes that have moved with me from Texas, to Arkansas, back to Texas, and now back to Arkansas, and see what all I'd been keeping that was clearly so important. It was such a fun adventure going through all that, reading notes and cards I've gotten over the years, seeing how my own writing style has changed, and finally, letting go of about 75% of it. I kept a few important things, like birthday cards with nice messages, a couple of notes from people I still talk to, and some pictures and stuff, but I really gave it an overhaul. Before, my Memory Box (which is a pink Barbie carrying case) (yeah, I did just admit that...no shame) wouldn't even close, and now it's only half filled. (I got rid of more than half of it, though, I just filled some of the empty space with my giant medical history folder, since I don't really have anywhere to keep that.)

Some of the treasures I found include:

these awesome pictures that my mom took to document the worst case of chicken pox ever experienced by a child


This note that a friend wrote in...third grade, I believe?


This little piece of something that I wrote a few years ago, then stashed away.


This is what the piled looked like just after I started. By the time I was done I couldn't even carry it all in one trip! My family is big on card giving...for every occasion imaginable.


It's ironic, though, that despite making a lot of space in one box, I actually made a giant mess by pulling all the stuff in front of the box out of the closet, and leaving it stacked in front of the door. Oops! I'll get to it tomorrow, though, now I'm really in the mood to toss stuff out! Or at least put it in a bag to donate, which is what I'm doing to everything that isn't a card, note, or envelope.

I started on a box in my craft room closet, too, and ended up with a bunch of VHS tapes to give away. I don't even know if anyone would buy them, but I have a VCR somewhere too, so maybe if I pack it altogether someone will want it. I don't know. If not, then it's ReStore's problem figuring out if you can just toss all that in the trash. I'm just trying to get rid of as anything and everything that I haven't used in the past year, and don't have a reason to use in the foreseeable future. Makes sense, right?

Anyway, I don't even know where all this cleaning energy came from. Maybe it's because of all that sleep last night/earlier today? I guess I really am a night owl. No matter how hard I try to flip my schedule back to normal, I always end up awake and writing at 5 am. Not the worst thing possible, but I like daylight and I don't get enough of it this way.

My jambalaya turned out awesome, Josh said it was the best thing I've made in a while, so that's a win. I sort of followed a recipe, sort of just threw stuff in and hoped for the best (which is what I usually do when I cook anyway).
 
We ate while we watched the Westminster dog show...this is Orion's reaction to the Affenpinscher winning Best of Show. We were all rooting for the Portuguese water dog, although I really thought the fox terrier had a good chance. :)

The ol' closet switch-a-roo time

I was in a funk today. No reason in particular, my mood has actually been fairly stable lately, which I think is mostly due to how well I've been eating. But for some reason, last night I went on this huge rant about food, and where it comes from, and how much I hate not having a good farmers market, or a Whole Foods, and not having choices in general. At our store, if you want to buy organic, you have maybe two choices, of the very limited supply of stuff that is organic at all. It's frustrating.

But that's not the point. I was saying how well I've been feeling, mentally and physically, thanks to all the healthy eating I've been doing. Until I didn't feel like cooking today, and I broke down and made nachos. Oh well. They were homemade, and I only put black beans, cheese, and salsa on them, so you know, not terrible as far as nachos go, but still.

I just felt lazy today. And I'm ok with that. Usually Sunday is my day off from cooking (we call it 'soup day' but we rarely eat soup), but I know myself, and for my own sanity, taking today off too was the right decision. I've got a great meal planned for tomorrow, so right back to healthy cooking and eating it is!

I'm pretty proud of myself for not freaking out about this. In the past, if I made one bad choice, I'd end up binging and then giving up, but I just don't feel that desire anymore. I had my 'treat' so to speak, but still kept within my calorie range, and didn't beat myself up over it. That is progress!

And just now, I went ahead and switched my closets out, which means I pulled out my spring and summer stuff out into my closet, and put all my winter stuff in the guest room closet. (Which is my storage closet.) That definitely made me feel better! Nothing like shopping in your own closet!! Found a few things I'd forgotten about, and designated a few more things to donate. Tomorrow I'm going to clean up in both the craft room and the bedroom a little bit, and then hopefully switch my shoes out too. The weather here has been wet but mild this past week, and it rarely gets cold again after the first week of February, so I think it'll be ok. If not, then I guess I'll just stay inside and crank up the heat! (Not really. It's not like my stuff is getting boxed up and stuck in an attic or anything.)

Oh, my bracelet came today too! Super cute. I think I need to make a bracelet/watch holder thing-a-magig somehow. I have a jewelry holder in my bathroom but it's full! Maybe I'll find something to use while I'm cleaning tomorrow. Sounds like a plan!

Next week we have to take Orion to the vet. It's time for his rabies vaccine, and we have to weigh him and get some more heart-worm pills. We'll find out whether he's hit 150 yet or not! (Remember, he weighed 105 six months ago!) Here he is on Sunday, trying to join the Puppy Bowl and slobbering on the TV:

So...yeah, he's filling out. We'll see what the damage is. If he's at 150 though, I think he's going to have to take 3 pills. Crazy! That picture kind of embodies his whole life attitude though - he has no idea he's not a little puppy anymore.

Well, for whatever weird reason, now that I did my bi-annual closet switch-out, I'm kind of in the mood to do more cleaning/organizing/rearranging! I'm off to find something to do. :)

Christmas things

I kind of went crazy at the Dollar Tree today. I love cheap decorations! It's so easy to just grab one (or four!) of everything because it's only a dollar! I got some giant felt ornaments to go in the craft room and office windows, a pack of sparkly snowflakes, four pieces of silver and iridescent tinsel garland, a Santa hat for Orion, a stocking for Orion, a pack of dark silver glitter ornaments, and a big sparkly Christmas tree shaped ornament. I think that was all.

I also worked on the shirt for my mom some more last night, and made her a coaster. I always give her something tea or coffee related because she likes both, especially trying new kinds. So I figured I'd make her a special coaster mostly because I saw this idea on pinterest (it didn't lead to anything though, so I'm not going to post the inspiration photo because I couldn't source it.)

But, as you can (hopefully!) tell, it's supposed to be a coffee/tea cup! I thought it was super cute, and experimented with a few ways before settling on the one that worked; cutting out my pattern, sewing it right sides together around 3 sides, making sure the 'handle' was in there (totally left it out in one of my three failures), then turning it right side out, and putting a felt piece cut in the same shape inside (to absorb any liquid/make it thicker and more coaster-like). Then I folded in the last side that was left and top-stitched all the way around it. I think it's cute! I think you could also make one using leather and denim, and not have to double up the fabric. I wanted to use the polka dots, though, and it frayed too easily so I couldn't do anything that only used one layer of it.

As for the shirt, it's still not done, but I was extremely pleased with how well the tree came out so I'm going to post a progress picture. I drew the tree onto my heat-bond paper, bonded it to the burlap first, then cut around the edge of it. I think that helped keep the burlap from unraveling while I worked with it. Then I immediately bonded it to the shirt, and did a zig-zag stitch all the way around the edge of the tree. (Very time consuming, but also very worth it.) I think I may do a few pearl ornaments, and leave it at that; I'm kind of loving the rustic look it has right now. 

Pictures! First up, the teacup coaster (this could also work as a ornament for a tea/coffee lover!)

And here's the shirt.

And you can file this one under 'pictures that happen accidentally when you're messing with your camera settings and don't notice your dog walking towards you with an entire tree in his mouth'

Joining:

Oops!

Well, I'm sure you noticed, but I didn't really make anything on the 31st. I was sort of busy with other stuff, other Super Important Stuff that took priority. See, I have this puppy...and the 31st was his first birthday!

Isn't that just the saddest and cutest birthday face you've ever seen?! Anyway, we spent the day pampering and spoiling Orion. We took him to Petco where, as usual, he got treats from the workers, he got to pick out a new toy, and he got his own 'birthday cake' (a pack of organic peanut butter doggie treats made to look like cupcakes).

He also got to go to Razorback Pizza with us (yes, we ate out, more on that in a sec) where he got his own super meaty mini-pizza. (Josh told him that next year, when he's two, he'll get a medium, and the year after that he'll get a large. Personally I think he could have devoured a large or two already...)

He had a great day, lots of people came up and told him happy birthday and loved on him, and even though he may not have known it was his birthday, he enjoyed the attention. :) He's such a sweet baby.

And as far as eating out goes, I went ahead with it for two reasons: One it really was our intent to thoroughly spoil Orion for his birthday, and that included taking him to one of the places in town that lets him sit on the patio and eat with us, and two I was really proud of myself for making it through the entire month of October without having an anxiety attack. October is usually the month that my SAD kicks in, and while I did have a few days where I was more down than usual, I still got up (almost) every day, and made myself be functional. I didn't let it get to me, I didn't dwell on Octobers past that have contributed to it being such a hard month, and I did not have an anxiety attack, not one. Go me!

My little loves!

I was going through, re-reading some of my posts and I realized that although I mention my animals often enough, I rarely ever share pictures of them! (well, on here at least, my facebook and tumblr both get a pretty hefty load of pet pictures.)

And so, I give you...a picture post, featuring Belle (6 years old) and Orion (9 months old)!!!! (and except for the last one of Orion, all of these were taken today, just to give you an idea of how many pictures of them both I actually take on a day-to-day basis...)

Belle (aka Bella Boo, Snow Belle, and Cat)

Orion (aka O, Big Dog, and Happy Puppy)