Until Next Time...

Monday is May 1st and that marks the beginning of #StichMaynia for cross stitchers.  I've participated in this in previous years.  I've never done it exactly as the originators designed -  start 31 new projects, one each day.  That is just a bit much for me and honestly, I don't have the fabric stash to do that LOL   This year I've decided to change it up again.  Instead of starting new things, I am going to work on WIPS that need to be finished.  So, consider this my starting point post for those WIPS. First up to finish is Hands on Design's Year of Celebrations season 1.  I'm doing this as a birthday gift for Ashley, my oldest daughter.  Well, her birthday was in March HAHAHAHA  I started this last May when the second season was released.  I'm working on January's and only have February, March and April left. Next up is another Hands on Design pattern.  I am a member of her Gather Round Club.  Seasonal stitches that she includes all the fab

 Hello friends!  Last week was a good one for the scale.  I was down 2.3 pounds!  Hubs worked all weekend but we still managed to go out on Saturday.  We had a breakfast date at McDonalds.  Then he surprised me and came home early Saturday evening and we went eat at Saltgrass Steakhouse.  If you have one of these close to you, definitely go give them a try.  We were very happy with our meals.  The Range Rattlers appetizer was DELICIOUS!  Totally not on plan, but as I've said before, sometimes I am going to make decisions that are not on plan and that's ok.  The Range Rattlers were jalepenos stuffed with cheese and a shrimp, them battered and fried.  They were served with Ranch dressing.  I ordered a Filet Mignon and grilled shrimp with a salad and roasted green beans.  Very good. So, onto the menu plan for this week.  I'm trying to use up the stuff in the freezer here because this job is wrapping up and I don't want to have to move a bunch of food.  However, I will have

 You may recall that I decided 2023 was the year I wanted to learn to quilt.  I grabbed the Basket Case pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew and Sandy Gervais's Hello Spring fabric and got started.  Basket Case is a beginner friendly quilt pattern that uses jelly rolls. Well, I've got all the pieces cut out and have 4 sets of blocks done.  Only 34 more to make! But, being me, I couldn't just work on one quilt at a time LOL  I jumped in with both feet and am doing two block of the month quilts.  The first is the one that is from Sherri McConnell and her daughter Chelsi Stratton from A Quilting Life .  I've followed her blog for several years even though I am just now making my first quilt.  I've used their fabric to sew clothes before.  They have been doing these block of the month quilts for several years now.  I've got all my blocks caught up for this.  I'm using one of their older fabric lines called Clover Hollow. The second blo

 It's been a hot minute since I put a book review up here.  I felt this book needed some more words LOL  The reviews I post on GoodReads and on Facebook are usually short and to the point.  Here I can wax poetically about stuff. Well, hello Santos Augustine!  Santos and Madelena are the main characters of Forgive Me My Sins by Natasha Knight.  I hadn't read anything by her before and this sounded good when I read the blurb so I figured, why not? I am SOOOO glad I got it.  Once I started reading I couldn't put it down.  Santos is part of a criminal family who is trying to make a name for themselves and be accepted by the rich and elite.  And how does the Augustine family expect to achieve that?  By having Santos marry the daughter of one of those families.  Here's where you get Madelena.  But the thing is, Madelena is only 15 and I'm guessing Santos is around 25. Naturally, they can't marry immediately because of her age.  But the contract has been signed between

  Happy Monday, friends! It's a chilly overcast day in west Texas.  It actually looks like rain clouds, and the radar confirms that it is.  Rain is RARE out here.  Cold fronts come through and all we get is hurricane force winds, no rain.  So, I'm excited for the possibility of rain.  If only I had a tin roof to listen to it come down on *sigh* As I said in my last post, last week's menu went to hell in a handbasket.   I made good food choices, just not what I planned.  Hubs requested "red neck food, not your fancy diet stuff".  So, let's see what's on the menu for this week... Monday - hamburgers and fries.  I'll eat mine without a bun in a lettuce leaf and I'll have zucchini fries instead of potato fries. Tuesday - roast and gravy, potatoes and carrots.  I'll do mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes. Wednesday - Mardi Gras chicken and shrimp.  I didn't get it last week so it's getting cooked this week. Thursday -  alligator sauce

  Another 1.1 pounds gone!  Admittedly, this week's menu has gone out the window.  I realized I had ground pork (it turned out to be Italian sausage) in the fridge that I needed to cook and we ordered out Thursday night.  I did have a grilled chicken salad with the takeout.  The ground pork/Italian sausage was made into eggroll in a bowl.  Honestly, I was disappointed with it.  It could have been cause it was sausage and not pork.  I may try that recipe again at a later date and see if that was the problem.  Tonight we are having ham tetrazzini.  Hubs gets noodles and I am doing mine over spaghetti squash.  Tomorrow we are eating out - Hubs said it was going to be a pancake night which means he's had a rough week.   Until next time...

 I meant to post this yesterday but it was Easter and Hubs and I decided to have a lazy day in bed.  It's been a hot minute since we've done that.  I read, he watched several movies.  We got up to walk the dog a couple times, but otherwise, we were in bed.  We even ordered Door Dash for dinner and had a picnic in bed. Saturday was weigh in day and I am down 2.6 pounds from the previous week!  YAY ME!  I'm so proud of myself.  So, to keep up with the pounds going down I'm here today with my menu for this week. Monday - We're having our Easter dinner today since we didn't cook yesterday.  Ham, mashed potatoes for Hubs, mashed cauliflower for me, a deviled egg pasta salad and green beans Tuesday - Philly Cheesesteak Skillet Wednesday - Frittata.  I'm going to use some of the leftover ham and throw in some tomatoes, spinach, and mushrooms. Thursday -  Mardi Gras chicken and shrimp. I got this recipe off Stacey Hawkins website.  She's got lots of Lean & G

Accountability post!  But it really feels like I'm at the principal's office tattling on someone, myself, knowing I'm going to get in trouble.  When in actuality I made a choice and I don't regret it.  Well, maybe a little.  And no one is going to fuss at me about it. Hubs and I went eat at Texas Roadhouse last night. I ordered the portobello chicken with a salad and fresh veggies. Not bad on plan. I didn't eat the carrots in the veggie mix. HOWEVER,  I ate 1/2 a roll and 5 snake bites. If you're unfamiliar with their snake bites it's a fried cheese ball and it comes with ranch dressing to dip in. I left the restaurant with a headache from the spike in my sugar due to the carbs. I told Hubs that while it tasted good it wasn't worth the headache.  Lesson learned.   Until next time...

 Well, hey there.  As you know, I cross stitch and sew.  I've been doing these hobbies for YEARS.  I learned to cross stitch when I was in middle school.  I learned to sew 27 years ago.  How do I know that for certain?  My MIL gave me a sewing machine when I was pregnant for Lauren - daughter #3 and she will be 27 this July. The first thing I sewed was a cute little dress that was black and white gingham with a lace trim on the bottom.  My mom laughed because it wasn't labeled as an EASY pattern.  I just jumped right in.  I called her and went over with my dress several times just to make sure I was doing it right.  Since then I have sewn hundreds of pieces of clothing.  Not just for the girls, but if you dig through the blog, I also sold my stuff there for a while. Well, being a sewing enthusiast, I like all types of sewing.  I use to watch quilting shows when the girls were little.  HGTV use to have them back in the 90s.  Have I ever made a quilt?  Nope.  Have I wanted to mak

 Hi Friends!  Since my last post in February I have started a new health plan.  I am DETERMINED to get off my meds and feel better.  I have a friend that has lost 142 pounds!  She has managed to get her Type 2 diabetes under control, in fact, she's off the medication completely!  She's also gotten off her blood pressure meds.  I am in awe.  I reached out to her to see what she has done and she told me she is on the Optavia plan. I told her to sign me up LOL  I am on Week 5 and I have lost 7.1 pounds!  I am super happy with the results so far.  I'm at a number on the scale that I haven't seen since Harley graduated from high school in 2018!  I have more energy and my blood sugar numbers are lowerand staying more stable. The Optavia plan is a low carb diet that they call 5&1.  You eat five "fuelings" and 1 lean & green meal each day. And drink LOTS of water.  The goal is to eat every 2-3 hours to keep your blood sugar level. Quite honestly, I am finding