Paris Birthday Fun

Jaidan's 12th birthday is coming up in March, so I asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday.  She picked Paris.

At first I was a bit dumfounded, trying to figure out what the heck I was going to do for her party.  Luckily Pinterest came to the rescue.  It seems that a LOT of people actually have Paris themed birthday parties, which kind of surprised me.

We'll be going with a pink, hot pink, black, and white color scheme.  I already got a hot pink Eiffel Tower for decorations.  I also picked up a rubber stamp form Hobby Lobby, I am going to use it to make her invitations, using some cute scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby.  They actually have a LOT of Paris themed items there, so I am sure I will be making a couple of trips there in the next month.

Still figuring out all the details, and planning what I am going to do.  I have a few ideas already though.  It's going to be hard to top last years Harry Potter birthday party that I did for her, so we'll see what I come up with.

My 1st Project!

I recently decided to re-learn how to crochet.  I say re-learn, because back in elementary school my mom taught me how...tho other then a failed attempt at a scarf (which I turned into a cassette tape holder, yes I know I just aged myself LOL), I didn't really do much with it.

My daughter Jaidan also wanted to learn how to crotchet too, so we are learning together.  We have mastered the chain stitch, and single crotchet, and have also learned the importance of counting your stitches (even when not using a pattern!).

For our first projects we are both making scarves.  I am making a green one for Riley, since green is his (and my!) favorite color.  She is making a scarf for herself with some very pretty colors.

I will do another post when we are both done with our projects!  We are both making some good progress on them.  It helps that we are on our 3rd snow day of the week too!

Our 1st chains

Learning Single Crotchet

The start of a scarf

Slowly taking shape

Working on her scarf

Where we were at this morning

Do you have any projects you are working on?  Crotchet, or otherwise?

52 Week Money Challenge

Last year around New Years I saw the 52 week money saving challenge being shared, but we didn't do it.  This year when I saw it being shared I printed it out and took it to my hubby to show it to him because I really wanted to do it.

The way it is set up, there are 52 weeks in the year and you save money each week.  Week 1 is $1, Week 2 is $2 etc until you hit Week 52 at $52.  In the end, you wind up saving (either in a bank account, or where ever you keep your savings) a total of $1,378 for the year.  Some people talk about doing it backwards, so you are saving more now, and less during the holidays when money usually gets tighter for people.  We're trying to go backwards, but I did a print out that has check boxes on it, so if need be we can skip around each week and check them off as we do them.  I also saw an alternative that has you save $26.50 each week of the year, and you still save $1,378 for the year.

We have a savings account and a high interest savings account (that account is our out of site, out of mind money that we are stashing for major emergencies, like for our house).  We are transferring the money we are saving right into the high interest savings account.  We did our 1st deposit on Friday!  I am excited to do this, it will be a great addition to our savings account, every little bit helps!  I personally don't think it matters if you go in order, as long as you make the commit and do all the deposits.

Is anyone else doing this challenge?

5 years...

Today marks 5 years since my Daddy passed away...I was going to say celebrates...but it's not really a celebration, is it? There's nothing joyful or happy about the loss of a parent.

People say it gets easier with time, but I call BS on that. You just find better ways to deal with the emotions. I still get sucker punched sometimes and find myself balling like a baby. I miss him so much. I've had a lot of family/friends die in my lifetime, I never knew that losing my Dad would have this effect on me, until he died.

I miss him so much, that sometimes it hurts. Riley was only 7 weeks old when he died. He doesn't know what a great, fun, quirky child he is. He never got to meet my AIslinn. I have pictures of him holding all my babies after they were born, except for her, and oh man is she so much like my Dad, temperament wise. Only Austin and Jaidan know and remember Granddaddy, but I am glad they have those memories.

My parents were married for 35 years when my Dad died, their Anniversary is in Feb. They loved each other so very much. My Mom is such a strong amazing woman. I wish I could be with her today, but she knows I am with her in spirit.

I love and miss you Daddy, RIP

Happy New Year!

Yep, here it is, the traditional 'New years Resolution Post'.

It's not going to be a big post thought, I don't have a ton of resolutions. 

My big ones are to eat less fast food and drink less soda. They go kind of hand in hand. My Hubby and I don't buy soda for the house (unless we are having family form out of town or a party), so most of my soda drinking happens when we (or I) go out. I do drink a lot of sweet tea too, so I just need to choose sweet tea more often. I cook a good meal almost every night for my family, we only eat out maybe 2 times a month, if that...depends on what's going on and if Hubby and I also squeeze in a date night). But I had a bad habit this year of eating fast food when I was out couponing...or eating fast food for lunch after picking my son up from preschool...cause I was already in the car and it was on the way home. I didn't gain weight because of it (of course I didn't lose any weight because of it either). I just want to be healthier in my food choices, so cutting back the fast food will do that.

I also want to be healthier. I ended the year with health issues, so I am hoping they will continue to get better and will clear themselves up. I had my thyroid level re-checked again and they are still normal. They've been normal ever since I had Aislinn, 3 years ago, so this is a good thing, especially after 10 years of being hypothyroid. I do want to figure out why I can't seem to lose weight. While I am happy that I am not gaining any weight, despite what I eat, it's very frustrating to watch what you eat, count your calories, work out, etc and not lose ANY weight. I know you can lose fat and gain muscle, I know you can see changes in your body, but when you make it to day 50 of Insanity, you should see changes. Last year the only changes I saw was my arm measurements were bigger, due to muscle, and my calf muscles were bigger...but thigh, hip, and waist measurements were still the same, as was my weight. Something is not right with that picture...and since my thyroid levels are still normal ,it must be something else. I have brought it up with my Dr., but first we are focusing on my Kidney issues.

Well, I guess I was wrong about how big the post would be, even though I only had 2 resolutions LOL.

What are your resolutions for the new year?