Challenge #3 announced: Bunting

Challenge #3 was posted on Iron Craft yesterday. I got off to a great start today. I picked my fabrics from the scrap pile, made my pattern, sewed and turned my triangles. Tomorrow I will figure out the best way to string them all together.

This craft a week is going to be a challenge, but I need something to keep my creative juices flowing. I’m feeling very stifled already this new year. It’s only a matter of time before I am able to do something that makes me feel accomplished. I’m not sure that these crafts are it, but I do have a bigger goal in mind. It’s a secret goal that I’ve dreamed about since I was a little girl, and the deadline was three and a half years ago. Now I say there is no time like the present to live dreams and smile.

Sorry for the cryptic post, but someday it will all make sense. Pictures of the bunting to come soon!

Hello USPS. Thanks for sending the package

I've been meaning to ship out some packages for a while now, but getting to the post office often poses a challenge. I finished a swap about a week ago. The deadline is Saturday. I typically try to be an early sender. This time I've waited until the last minute.

I also bought some materials for a friend in September and have just now packaged them up for settlement.

So what I'm saying is that's USPS will have my business this weekend.

In addition this weekend, I need to finish another swap, start iron craft challenge #3, go back to challenges #1 and #2, and pick up a new blouse for work next week. Ready, set, go!!

Goal #1: 1. Be a neater cleaner person in my personal spaces (home, work, car, etc).

My first New Year’s Resolution is to Be a neater cleaner person in my personal spaces (home, work, car, etc).

Home:

• Vacuum the house at least once a week.
• Empty the sink and put away clean dishes each night before heading to bed.
• Move shoes to closet and hang work clothes in the closet every Friday afternoon.
• Clear the kitchen table before starting dinner on week nights.
  

Work:

• In the last 15 minutes of each work day, declutter desk, recycle trash, write out the following days to-do list.
• Tuesday morning, purge Inbox and to-do stack of papers.

Car:

• Put a trash bag in the car and remove once a week.
• Vacuum car once a month
  

Periodically, I will refer back to these tactics to see how I’ve improved and where I can improve more.

… Happy New Year! Yes, I know I’m a week late.

I’m a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions. I strive on goal and objectives. In college my favorite classes focused on strategic planning complete with clear goals, measurable objectives and specific tactics to meet those goals. In my professional life, my dream job would allow me to work the same way.

This year, instead of popping out a few sentences on January 1 and forgetting them by now, I’ve taken some extra time to consider my new year’s resolutions. I’ve decided my first goal will be to make smaller goals through out the year. And when I set those goals, I will also have to plan how to achieve them.

The few goals I have now are as follows:

1. Be a neater cleaner person in my personal spaces (home, work, car, etc).

2. Read one nonfiction book a month

3. Participate in the Iron Craft year of crafty challenges.

As more goals creep up, I will include them. I will mark-up a way to make them happen. My goals will no longer be fluffy pretty sentences, but instead actions.

Please stay tuned for future information.

It's been a whilte

Well, it's been a while and for no reason other than I've been super busy and super unmotivated to write.

Just before giving up gluten (my last entry), I started a full time job. While I am so happy to be working again. It's taken me a while to break the bad habits I created while spending three months alone and job hunting.

It took me several weeks to pull myself off the couch after work. I was just exhausted from talking to people and staring at a computer all day. Since I've finally got my grove back, I've been working to shed some of the unwanted pounds that creep-ed on during the holiday baking season. Their not coming off in the way I would hope, but I have firmed up and am feeling a lot better about myself.

I've been working with an accountability partner (and now friend) to watch what I eat and how much I exercise. She's done a great job to keep me motivated to walk several times a week. She's also help me become more conscious of how much and what I eat. I'm keeping a daily food log and trying to cut out a large portion of processed food and unnatural ingredients.

I've been quilting some. My sewing machine died on me, but Alex's mom loaned me hers and it is amazing! Hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to do some actual quilting of a piece I've been working on for sometime now.

Until I have more to say!

Gluten Free Lifestyle

For Lent this year, I made the decision to give up gluten. Many friends and acquaintances have recently been diagnosed with Ciliacs Disease or another similar gluten intolerance. Because I hear how much of a challenge this can be, I decided to walk in someone else's shoes for the next 40 days.

It is a sacrifice for me to give up breads and other grain related foods. It's taking careful meal planning. Dining out can be difficult. Luckily, I don't do that often. The biggest challenge for me, is determining what to substitute for the wheat products I'm used to. Products marketed as gluten-free are often very pricey, but I don't have the budget to increase my spending. So far I have been eating a lot of rice as a side dish. I went to the grocery today and picked out raw beans to try to cook. I did pick up one box of gluten-free rice crackers, and one bag of rice pasta. I'm mainly trying to eat more raw foods, though.

Another challenge I'm taking (unrelated to Lent) is to examine our grocery budget and determine how much I spend a week to feed Alex and myself a healthy diet. I was inspired by Indianapolis Foodie's recent posting.

While I'm guilty of shopping at one of the big box stores, I try to shop the edges. I buy dairy and produce, and only hit the middle aisles for beans, rice, baking ingredients, canned chicken, and frozen fruits and veggies. I'm slowly trying to incorporate more local stores and products, but I'm still feeling a little lost on where to shop. I know of one yummy meat market, and I know that farmers markets will start springing up all over the city around April or May.

Anyway, I want to show that you can eat healthy on a budget. I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Fabric Scraps and Crafty Fun

I've got a lot of fabric scraps and I'm trying to come up with some good crafty ways to use them up. I don't have quite enough to piece together a quilt, unless it was really random, and I have considered putting together 12 inch random squares, but I'm trying to get more fabric for that one.

Another project I want to start is a braided rug. My grandma used to make them with all her scraps. I need to do some research, but it has potential.

Racer really likes the fabric scraps. I has to keep refolding them after he knocked them off the shelf. Eventually, the cats won, and I put the scraps in a tote so that they could have the shelf for looking out the window.