Archive for December, 2011

Its that time of year; the anniversary of my decision to take back my life.  This is something very personal for me and its incredibly hard to post pictures of the person I long to forget.  But I need to remember; I need to face my past mistakes to prevent them from repeating.  I will persist, I will never give up.

2004 then – size 30/32, Dec. 2011 now – petite medium tops, 8/10 pants.

Don’t tell me you can’t do it, I’m proof it can be done.  Don’t tell me its too hard, it just take perseverance. Don’t ask me what pills I took or diet I followed, there are no ‘miracle cures’; today’s ‘miracle’ is yesterday’s fad. And we all know that fads don’t work long term. Don’t tell me fast food tastes too good, it doesn’t taste THAT good. Don’t tell me you’ll have to give up everything you love, because if you don’t change, you will have given up on yourself and you won’t be around to enjoy what you ‘love’.

There’s a phrase on my mother’s refrigerator that speaks volumes — You can’t lose weight by talking about it, you have to keep your mouth shut.

What I did – I gave up fast food, soda and buffets; I walk, a lot! I roller skated, a lot! I eat sweets on special occasions, I eat protein, veggies and fruit – very little bread, rice, etc. I made long term changes; it took me years to get that big and its taken me 7 years to become 1/2 the person I was. There have been ups and downs but I never gave up. My family and close friends have supported me, loved me and encouraged me every step of the way.

So don’t tell me that you can’t do it…because if you really wanted to, you’d stop making excuses and start making changes.

And for those of you heading out this evening…From 6pm-6am on New Year’s Eve/Day AAA will take you and your car home for FREE. You don’t have to be a member! Save this number — 1-800-222-4357. This is being offered Nationwide!  Please, don’t become a statistic that your family must endure.  Don’t drink and drive.

Every year, about this time, I start pondering my New Years resolutions.  Some years I opted out of the tradition because it seemed that most resolutions lost steam after about a month.  Ok, maybe a week!  LOL  And like many women, I always tended to stick with the same old, same old — lose weight, exercise more, blah blah blah.  Its not that I couldn’t stand to lose a few pounds here and there (yes, and there too!) and I know I need to move my tush more, but if that’s a battle I’m always in, its not really a resolution.  So this year its time to mix things up and shake things loose!  No, no honey…not THAT loose, goodness.  Nice moves though

This year I’m going to do some CRAFT resolutions.  What?  You don’t think those qualify?  Here, look in the Women’s Guide to New Years Resolutions guide book… no where does it state that you CAN’T have craft resolutions.  It just states that resolutions must fall under one of the three main categories (Mind, Body, Family).  I happen to think my resolution falls under all three.  How?  Well, …  Crafting exercises my mind and an active mind is a healthy mind.  Body; crafting is relaxing for me and everyone needs SOME relaxation in their life.  Relaxation helps reduce stress and gives the body a chance to heal and undo the damage from daily life.  And family, that’s the easy one!  A crafting mom is a happy mom!  And everyone knows that a happy mom = a happy house!

So!  Now that we’ve handled the housekeeping portion of this post…on to the juicy stuff!

I am very much a ‘color within the lines’ crafter.  If I’m making a 4×6 card, nothing on that card strays outside of that, self-imposed, 4×6 frame.  So my goals this year, learn new techniques and then apply that learned technique to help me craft outside the box.  To loosen up the grip on my ‘frames’ and let my creativity grow and expand (no, waistline, not you…you stay put, right where you are!).  I want to explore new colors, patterns, papers, styles, products and more!

And with that thought in mind…  the blinkie was born!  hahahaha

Follow me and my trusty sidekick Mischief (my Pinc eCraft) along on this new crafting adventure!  Each week I’ll post pictures of projects that I’ve done, along with the list of materials used, instructions and maybe, just maybe, some video tutorials too  And for those of you crafters that are on Macs — Fear not, for this crafter is too!  Are you ready?  Let’s GO!