Bits & Pieces

I keep wanting to blog more, but time seems to slip though my fingers and before I know it another few more weeks have past and I haven't written anything!  I keep up with all my blog reading via the Feedler app on my iPhone, but it doesn't make commenting easy.  So I am reading your blogs but only commenting when I really, really, really need to say something or I will burst!  So a suppose a few updates are in order :-)

The Princess has been continuing with her sewing and really enjoys it.  She even made a notebook cover all by herself as a birthday present for a friend. (like the ones I made as Christmas presents.  If you want to make one for yourself the link to the blog I got the pattern from is back in Nov last year)  These are the fabrics she chose from the ones she got for Christmas.  I am just a little envious as all of my fabrics are castoffs and I don't have anything as nice as that cute pink flower and birdie print!  I altered the pattern size for her slightly so that their school diary will fit in it and verbally instructed her in each step.  But she did all of the sewing and pressing herself.  Below are the photos of the finished cover.  I was a little nervous when it came time for her to give it away.  It is never a nice feeling when the receiver doesn't like the gift, especially when you have spent two days making it yourself!  But I shouldn't have worried as it was warmly accepted and now ALL the girls want one!

The cover.

The inside.  The cover of the diary slips in under the pretty pockets.

Her next project is a dress for herself.  It is the pattern we bought her for Christmas to go with some of the fabric.  It matched a dress she liked at the shop.  We spent three hours cutting out the pattern and marking all of the dots on the weekend!  I am trying to not do it for her but just explain each step.  I am quite impressed with how quickly she is catching on.  However, there is one step that The Princess does NOT like.  And that is cutting out.  I think I need to get her smaller fabric scissors as mine are quite big.  But I will not cut out the pattern for her.  If she wants to sew it is all part of the process :-) but if I am honest with myself it is the one step I don't like either.  However I would do all the cutting out in the world if someone would do all of my hand sewing!

The boys have both started back with Army Cadets this year and their first day of community service is this coming weekend.  They are cleaning up at the local weir.  It is forecast to be HOT and their uniform is so heavy that I do feel a little sorry for them.  The first camp of the year isn't until April when it has started to cool down.  The Thinker got heat stroke at the last camp of the year in December and it is far hotter now!  He drank almost 6lt of water that day but it wasn't helping replace his electrolytes.  From now on they take electrolyte powder with them just in case.

There are so many decisions to make in our lives at the moment that we seem to be living in limbo.  Every time we think we have taken a step forward we end up taking a few more back.  I always had a picture of how I thought my life would be and it is a far cry from where we are now.  Some days I am struggling to cope with it all and other days I feel positive.  I thought we had finalised what we were going to do, but then the next lot of information we received as caused a bump in that road.  So now I can honestly say that I have no idea what to do about anything ... and therein lies the dilemma.

But everything isn't all bad :-)  The work change around we did now means that we are all home together on Sunday every week!  We have been able to go to church again after over two years of working every Sunday, and we generally just veg out at home.  We even went to a friends house for a BBQ and had a great time.  I have been doing the Dukan Diet and am loosing weight by the bucket load!  I think it is important for everyone to find a weight loss program that fits their lifestyle.  With the very limited time I have at the moment I can't use a program that requires me to weigh everything, it just doesn't work.  But this one is working fine as there are 100 foods I can eat and everything else is off limits.  It means that there is one less decision for me to make everyday and I can eat the quantity that I want of those foods.  For the first time in my life I am not hungry!!!!!  Which is pretty rare for someone who is borderline hypoglycemic.  The first two weeks were the hardest with day 8 and 9 being AWFUL!  Although I didn't eat sugary foods or many processed foods before, the hidden sugars must have still been quite high as I had awful sugar withdrawals.  I had a terrible headache for two days but then it disappeared suddenly and I have never felt better.  Since Christmas I have lost about 12kg and have gone down two dress sizes!  I shall keep you posted as to how I am going.  My mom was very skeptical about me doing it as Weight Watchers had been working for her and she was almost to her goal weight.  But she has been stuck in a rut for the past few months and started the Dukan Diet last week just to get rid of those last few kilos.  Even she is liking it as that last bit of weight is starting to fall of.

Well that was one long post but I feel better now that it is all written down :-)  Join me on Sunday for the next installment of Storytelling Sunday with Sian.  I am still trying to come up with another story and maybe the craft ladies on Friday will help me again this month.  Unless of course I get the urge to photograph any layouts in between I will see you all on Sunday! LOL

Chipper