End of Summer Update

Well, I guess now that summer is almost unofficially over, I should really post something here about how I'm doing.  What a huge difference a season makes!  My life feels like it's going in a very different direction than it was just three months ago.  In good directions, thankfully.

First, the weight news, since this is more or less a health blog.  I have been doing a pretty low carb diet with a carb night now for a little over four months.  I went from being 236 pounds when I started, to being 206 pounds when I last officially checked my weight.  Yep, I lost 30 pounds!  I'm really proud of myself for that accomplishment, and I feel so much better.  My knees don't hurt anymore, I'm not having issues with my teeth and gum inflammation like I was, I can actually fit into a lot of my old clothes!  I'm really excited.

Within the last week, I decided to stop tracking my food.  I'm still eating low carb and we're still doing the carb night once a week, but I decided that I'm just too busy to continue tracking everything I eat.  I don't want to do that for the rest of my life, afterall.  I still have another 26 pounds I'd like to lose yet, so I hope that this won't put a damper on that.  I'm going to try it for a couple of weeks and see how it goes.

Chad has lost a lot of weight, too.  It's surprising how much we both packed on last winter without even trying.  He's lost about 16 pounds so far, and now he's starting to add some carbs back in.  Potatoes and some carbier fruits.  He may add another carb night in as well, but I'm going to leave that up to him.

I would like to reach my goal by Christmas, but I guess we'll see how it goes.  I'm not worried about if if I don't.  The fact that I've made it this far is just amazing to me.  I usually have a hard time losing weight through the winter, so I'll be happy if I can just maintain this until next spring, when I'll pick it up again.

The thing that really has helped me the most, I think, is the carb night.  We allow ourselves to eat some things we wouldn't normally eat, like ice cream or pizza or crackers, whatever we're craving, but only for one meal a week.  Then the next day, we throw away anything that's left over and go back to our low carb diet.  Not only does it keep me from caving into cravings (because I know I can have whatever I want on carb night), but it really does help regulate my weight loss.  I'll gain a couple of pounds the day after a carb night, then by mid week I'll lose what I had gained, and by the time the next carb night comes around, I'm usually down another two pounds. So far, I haven't had any plateaus, which is pretty amazing for a four month weight loss journey.

Now on to other things!  I've been heavy into a new creative excursion this past month and a half.  I don't know what got into me, but I suddenly decided that I wanted to be a craft designer.  Like, designing patterns to sell to people.  And I probably chose to design plastic canvas because I'm always drawn to things that are less popular for some reason.  My taste in music is, shall we say, a little obscure.

It's been a fun challenge.  It takes longer to design a pattern than you might think.  In a month and a half, I've so far created three good sized pieces.  That includes designing it, actually making the piece, and then putting together a pattern.  It's a challenge, but it's also something that gets me excited to get up in the morning.  I can't wait to start working on it every day.

I have my patterns available on my Etsy shop and also on Craftsy, but I haven't yet sold anything.  It's a little disappointing, but I know it takes a while to get noticed.  I've also managed to get the contact info for the three major buyers of plastic canvas patterns and I've actually submitted a couple of my projects to big companies.  I got rejected my one company and I'm still waiting to hear from the other one, but I'm hopeful.  I'm gonna make this work.

Here's the patterns I have up in my Etsy shop right now. 

Country Apple Coasters Pattern

Country Apples Tissue Box Cover Pattern

Country Pears Coasters Pattern

Country Pears Tissue Box Cover Pattern

 

 

Halloween Wall Hanging Pattern

And here's a pattern I just finished today.  It's not up yet because I want Chad to proofread it first.  It should be up tomorrow sometime. 

I'm pretty happy with the designs so far, and the cool thing about it is, I have more ideas than I actually have time to make, so I should be able to keep creating for a while.  I don't have a specific goal in mind; I don't want to be rich or famous or anything.  I just want to create something that maybe other people will enjoy. 

So that's what I'm up to.  Life is an enjoyable ride these days.  I'm sure eating better has given me a better attitude and more energy, which is why we're going to keep eating this way. 

I hope everyone enjoyed their summer.  It's sure to be a lovely fall.

Totally Not Dead

I haven't posted in two weeks, for shame!  It feels weird not writing in my blog; I kind of got used to it there.  I don't get many comments, but somehow it still makes me feel connected.  At least I know my thoughts and ideas get out there in the world a little bit.

Part of the reason I've been away is because I was unwell for a week, unhappily riding the couch.  I had the weird infection in my face again, brought on I'm sure by excess stress and sugar.  You know how sometimes when you drink too much and get a really bad hang over, and then you never want to touch alcohol again?  I wish I would get that feeling with sugar.  That would make it easier to give it up.  Ugh.

The other reason I've been away is because I've been busy sewing!  Which is much nicer than being sick.  I've decided to start selling some quilts on my Etsy account.  If I actually manage to sell any, it'll be great!  That way I can quilt and not have an oversupply of blankets (we're already at about 10 for two people, which I think is a bit much.  The situation isn't helped by the fact that my mother-in-law also quilts).  I really enjoyed working on the first one I made for sale, I'm just having trouble getting good pictures of it to put in my shop.  I have to get unlazy and get a good light setup for it sometime.

So here's some bad pictures of the quilt I made.

 

Here's a cute little mini quilt I made too.  Also a not very good photo.

So now we're all caught up and maybe I can get back to posting more regularly :)

Keeping the Faith

Would you believe, at 28, I'm going to be a great-aunt soon?  Yeah, me either.  It came about through no fault of my own.  I didn't mean to be an aunt, let alone a great-aunt.  I didn't think I'd be a great anything for several years.  But here I am, about to be the third oldest generation in my family.

My niece is 19.  She was born when I was the sweet and innocent age of 9, so of course I immediately hated her for stealing my place in the family as the baby.  When she turned 10 or so, she and I actually started to get along.  Pretty soon, I actually enjoyed her company and brought out in her the nice, sweet side that no one else got to see.

When she got pregnant last winter, I was very disappointed.  She's not married to the father, and I'm not sure if she has any plans to be.  I guess I always thought she had so much potential, and knew that if she applied herself, she could do great things with her life.  But to see her go down the same path that her mom went down, that my mom went down, that all the other women in her life went down (except me), it saddens me.  Strapped with a baby, poor, in a bad relationship, with no ambition.

I guess that's why she and I haven't talked at all since I found out she was having a baby.  Actually, there's another secret reason I haven't talked to her, and this really makes me feel ashamed.  I'm really mad at her for getting pregnant before me.  Here I am trying everything I can to have a baby, and she has one without even trying. 

I'm trying really hard to let these feelings of disappointment go.  I'm not a strongly religious person, but I am very spiritual, and I believe that God brings us to certain hard situations in life to teach us to be better people, and I'm certain this is one of those times.  So to kind of break the ice, I decided to make my niece and her baby some things, including a receiving blanket and this cute little bear.

When I showed it to Chad, he asked, "Making it for Baby D?" which is what we've been calling our future baby.  I said, "No, but I wish I was."  And that got me to thinking...  It's been really hard to keep my faith that we'll get pregnant as the months go by.  For the last 5 months or so, I've even been thinking in my head that it's just never going to happen.  I want to stay positive, but it feels so forced when I do and it ends up making me feel even sadder when I don't get pregnant that month.

But I wonder if making things for Baby D is a gentler way for me to keep my faith.  I love to craft, after all, and crafting things for our baby might instill a seed of belief in my heart that we will have a baby someday.  I guess I'll try it and see how it goes.