Just say yes to primer!

Finally my kitchen is done! What a nightmare .. the next time anybody asks me if I want to buy the paint with the primer mixed in I will say yes. The yellow paint my kitchen was painted previously took .. oh .. I don't know .. about four coats of white paint to cover. Yep .. I sweated my way through this one.

Before:

After:

It's not a huge change .. I just didn't want the bright yellow in there anymore. You can't really tell but the wall with the window is a different color now.

The people at Word To The Wall were kind enough to send me some custom vinyl lettering. I was sooo excited when it came. Here is hubby putting it up:

Isn't it cute? It was really easy to apply (at least the hubby said so anyway!) I got the matte sandstone color/finish.

Word To The Wall has a huge selection .. you can check them out here:

http://www.wordtothewall.com/

how cute would this be with Halloween right around the corner?

Love it! I can see myself becoming addicted to this stuff fast!

Now I really need to do something about this sad tap ..

I am sewing??

Okay let's get one thing straight .. the sewing machine and I are NOT friends. Lord knows I've tried. I don't know what it is .. I don't have the patience, I can never get the tension right, my lines are never straight. Not having straight lines makes me twitch.
I've always admired women that sew .. they make it look so easy ..we all know these women .. the 'oh it's just something I whipped up' type women.

Ugh .. I hate you .. but I love you .. because I want to be you.

Anyway .. since the kids are back at school soon something made me think I could make a gym bag for my son. I get these weird crafty urges every so often. I had the fabric for my bag shoved in a closet, it's been there since the last time I had one of these crafty urges.

I find it really hard to find these simple little gym bags in the stores without having Disney characters all over them. Yeah .. Griffin does not do Disney.

So I tackled this project with patience in mind. Don't get frustrated, make peace with the machine, treat the machine with kindness, measure twice cut once etc. etc.

You know what? It actually worked! The sewing gods where smiling down on me today because this is my finished project .. it's not perfect (twitch) but it's pretty darn good! It's even lined .. awww yeah .. wootwoot!

At first I thought it was a little big but once he gets his runners in there I think it will be just right. When I showed him he said .. 'mom .. I wanted a hockey bag' .. lol .. what goes on in the minds of eight year old boys?

Now I am not about to jump on a sewing cruise anytime fast ..  this still took me a good two hours .. so sad. Sad sad sewing woman. I think I'll stick to what I do best .. what is that again?

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

For some reason I'm up at 5am .. craziness. This seems to be an annoying pattern my body has decided to fall into, in a couple hours I'll want to go back to bed .. whatever! Anyway since I'm up I've decided to pick the winner of my first contest .. heeheee! Here we go ...

Congratulations Michelle! You have won three glade candles. The winner has 48 hours to contact me before I choose another winner. Thankyou so much to everyone who participated in my first baby contest!

I used Random.org to pick my winner .. for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to copy the winner into this post .. I'm technically challenged okay?

When we get there.

One of the things I struggle with is not living in the moment. I think alot of people struggle with this. Usually alot of my thoughts are consumed with what the future holds. When I finish school, when the kids are older, when the mortgage is paid off, when the weekend comes .. blah blah blah..

I was looking at some pictures of my kids the other day and I can't believe how much they have grown in just a couple years.

Here is Payton just 2 years ago .. aww so sweet.

And here she is now in all her pre-teen gloriousness .. damn I wish I was cool like her.

Lately this has really started to freak me out. Am I going to spend my whole life doing this? Always waiting for when things are easier, better .. waiting for our real life to start? Am I going to spend my whole life waiting for my kids to grow up and listen to me?

I don't want to .. but seriously, I don't know how to stop. I do it all the time!
When it's breakfast time I'm thinking about dinner, at dinner time I'm thinking about the laundry. It's like I'm a hamster on a wheel .. always running .. for what? So I can look back when I am old and gray with my kids grown up and think .. whew .. we're finally here .. the end of our lives. NO NO NO!! This is not what I want.

For the life of me I wish I could just live in the moment. Maybe I need to take a trip to Tibet to visit the monks and do some meditation. Anybody down?

Nine Years

Today marks the ninth anniversary of mine and my husbands marriage. It seems that it has been a long nine years but has gone fast at the same time. We have had our ups and downs along the way (I believe year 4 I considered hiring a hitman) but we have had so many fun times too!

Are there things I would change about him? Um yeah .. I wish he would cook, I wish he could close cupboards after himself, I wish he was more romantic .. but that just wouldn't be him. At the end of the day, I know I can count on him when I need him and isn't this the most important thing?

Happy Anniversay Hubby!

This woman is going to be the death of me.

You know when you're working out and starting to feel good, it's getting a little easier .. so you decide to switch it up. Yeah .. let's add in a little weight training .. build up that lean muscle mass.

Dumb idea .. okay well good idea .. but I am hurtin' right about now. I snagged this workout tape from my moms house as it had been still wrapped in the plastic, unused for about a year. Go Mom!

I can't tell you how many times I swore while doing this workout. It was difficult. But that means it works right? If I look anything like the ladies in the dvd after six months I'll be happy.

To be honest I found the music to be a little off with the moves .. this is annoying, especially when you are struggling just to do the exercises. All in all however, it was a good workout. Kathy is upbeat and motivating but not in a cheesy kind of way. You know when they are smiling at you on the screen and you are sweating your ass off and it takes everything in you not to huck your water bottle at the screen??

My appetite was larger today than normal .. which I'm taking as a good sign that my body was trying to repair itself. I think I'll definately keep up with the weights .. at least twice a week.

What have all of you been working out to at home?

Weight watchers weigh in - week 9

So despite being knee deep in my kitchen painting project this weekend, (post coming soon!) I still managed to get my shrinking butt to weigh in at weight watchers. I lost another 2 pounds. My grand total so far is twenty pounds!

I'm very happy with my progress so far. I would like to lose another twenty pounds but I'm really not in any hurry. I can definately feel that my clothes are getting bigger .. or I should say I am getting smaller. It's so great to actually see results after working towards a goal.

I'm getting a little nervous about going back to school and staying on track as far as my diet goes. It's not easy sitting beside women the size of toothpicks eating whatever they want .. their time will come! I think the biggest challenge for me will just be preparing my food for the day. I am determined that I will do this the night before .. along with the kids lunches.

I've said this before only to find myself scrambling around in the morning trying to do ten things at once .. but this time I mean it! I've been looking around for a cute lunch tote for myself .. can you believe I've found nothing!! Ugh .. shopping in Winnipeg sucks I tell you.

I went grocery shopping on Friday with my son and you know what? He was so good! Now you might think this would just be expected of an eight year old. Well NOT mine. We have had our challenges with him over the past few years. 
I was so happy when I actually did all the grocery shopping for two weeks without wanting to sit down in the middle of the isle and cry my eyes out (or punch somebody in my way). Doesn't it just make you all fuzzy inside when your kids behave? It means SO much to me!

Anyway ... I found a great new treat ..

Personally I think Cadbury's makes the best chocolate on God's green earth. I got the chocolate mint variety as I am a lover of anything chocolate mint. They are 2 ww points each .. totoally worth it when you are needing something sweet. I snagged a box of these that where on clearance for 50% off .. works for me!

I realize this post is a little all over the place .. I've been up since 6am so I'm getting a lil' foggy headed by now! Have a great night!