Splashes of Color!

So a few weeks ago...outside was all gray and dead brown not pretty brown. Just ugly and blah! It was beginning to get me down...and I am an annoyingly happy person most days.  It was the week all my Christmas decor was coming down too, which always seems to leave the house a little empty. All these blogging gals with awesome ideas had me dreaming of some color. 

It was also pouring down rain that day. So I headed to the little section of town not far from our home. Stopped in the feed and seed and they had FUN summer flags and mailbox covers for $2!!! They had some stuff not on sale too. I went by the clearance aisles of Dollar General and Family Dollar too...just hunting some stuff to put outside in the harsh weather.

Do y'all see all the goodies I found to add splashes of color! 

It makes me smile...that is what my Winter motto is gonna be...if it makes me smile during the snow and 'deadness' I am gonna leave it. 

Of course AFTER I got everything out ...it snowed and snowed and snowed some more...so now all my color splashes have some glitter! 

♥ Heather

Winter Color and Love Month Wreath

Inspiration

Inspired ideas [Okay I am tried to give them full credit but I am still learning so click on the I of Inspired ideas and you will see their AWESOME website]

and the Southern Living Christmas Magazine

Hey yall! Okay so I am sitting at the orthodontist waiting room with two of my teenage girls. And I pick up the above magazine because it has Christmas on it. I am obsessed with Christmas, I will talk about it all the time at any time, completely random to the common observer... Anyway I love several ideas in the magazine,  so to my teenage daughters mortification I asked the receptionist: "Do yall throw these out?" In which she replied: "Yes, actually that one is old [it was already February]...Why do you want it?" Well I said: "Yes that would be great, thanks" ...so I didn't steal it but I did get it from the orthodontist office lobby.  Sometimes life is that sweet... you get a free amazing magazine and you get a chance to embarrass your teenagers.

Okay back to the wreath. So I had planned on working on the wreath and documenting exactly how I made each part of the wreath BUT the kids are all home due to the Winter Storms [two of them...will blog those later] so the girls helped with the wreath and  I didn't get as many pictures. But clicking on the link above will show you how to make cover the hearts. Yall we had tons of fun....so any 'craft' that gets a mom laughing with three teens and a duchess is an outstanding project.

Supplies:

Grapevine Wreath [magazine suggests Styrofoam but I chose cheaper], hot glue gun, moss to cover wreath, various ribbons...varying in length, width, colors, etc. also, wooden hearts different sizes, different craft/scrap-booking papers, Modge Podge, crystal glitter, sponge brushes and a pencil.

The girls traced the hearts onto the paper, we Modge Podged the paper to the wooden hearts then applied Modge Podge on top then dipped them in glitter. While the hearts were drying we tied the larger ribbons to the side back of the grapevine wreath. Make sure to mix it up. And then we glued the moss to the front of the wreath. Next you randomly glue the dried and finished hearts on top of the moss. 

What do yall think? 

 

Loosing Weight, Adjusting and Keeping it Together

I shared with yall earlier that I had gained weight since our move. My doctor recommended South Beach Diet. I already had the book and decided to get started this summer. Then in the fall I joined First Place for Health at church. BOTH work and together they help me stay on task.

Above is an example of a NO carb meal for Phase 1 of South Beach. The steak is grilled. Fresh greens from the garden to make a great salad...pairing protein and vegetables are key in the South Beach Diet. The amazing thing was the NEW side. It's a stuffed portabella mushroom cap.

RECIPE

Stuffed Portabella Mushroom Cap

Spinach [frozen or fresh]

Egg

Parmesan Cheese [grated works better]

On the stove top I cooked the spinach just long enough to change the color with enough water to keep it from burning. Then add the egg and cheese...stir and cook a few more minutes [till cheese is melted and egg is cooked]. Then I stuffed the caps and placed in the oven on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes [or till the caps look cooked].

DELISH. Much better choice than a loaded potato for those watching carbs.

I started parking at the end of the parking lot to force myself to walk. 

Instead of sitting at the computer in a chair...I switched to an exercise ball. This works on your core and increases activity during a somewhat NON active addiction.

During commercials, get up and clean something.

Run up and down stairs or walk instead of elevators and/or making kids get things. 

Find activities you love vs exercise...walking in the woods with family looking at nature, hiking, gardening, swimming, etc.

I have lost 27 pounds with a few more to go but I feel much better and I don't feel like I have punished myself. 

Good Luck.

Spiritual Sundays

I haven't searched to see if folks are already using this name but I see lots of other days devoted to specific agendas. 

Or I could call it "I love Jesus Day" ![of course I love Him everyday but Sundays are devoted to Him]

At our church, we are going through First Place. It is a life style change, Bible study and balance your life sortof thing. 

We focus on four aspects of our lives...Physical, Mental, Spiritual and Emotional. We focus on balance in all four areas to make us FABULOUS women. In other churches I have went through this study with men and/or couples. But currently it is a group of women. So that adds another element for me....FRIENDS! 

I love this program....I get to have accountability on weight loss [or healthy eating] and increasing physical activity [think exercise with a smile].  I am developing friendship with awesome women. 

First Place for Health also has Bible study accountability. 

So balancing all the many things as a mom, wife, sister, daughter and Child of God makes life run smoother...even for a procrastinator. 

I have notebooks full of blog posts....

I started over a year ago writing things down in a notebook. I had my introduction all finished up with several follow up stories. 

And now I feel nothing. 

It is the old procrastinating self again, until it can be perfect... why bother? I have been stalking all these clever ladies and seeing all their witty posts. I see beautiful custom designed blogs. I have all sorts of idea for our new home but too much laundry and dirt to take pictures today. 

I am gonna keep blogging along...that is the key to a procrastinating perfectionist, just keep going and soon it will resemble your ideal.

I am so far behind: I have lapped myself!

A snow day turned into 'get stuff knocked off my list' day! I am exhausted but it feels good to finally start seeing things crossed off the list.

I am two weeks behind. We spent Christmas in Alabama. The week after we got home, it snowed and snowed and snowed. The kids went to school only 1 1/2 days out of 5. You would think I could get all this stuff done with no extra activities going on.... yeah, whatever.

The next week, I started to get my groove back and then SEVERE pain in my left side. I drove myself to the doctor...discovered I had kidney stones. Yeah ME! Talk about pain. It took a week of me, pain killers and laying around doing nothing to pass them.

So here we are....getting started two weeks later. 

I labeled and organized all my Christmas boxes. I dream of having all plastic tubs but I never seem to have the cash after the Holidays.  But we had some boxes leftover from the move that were similar in size and worked out pretty well.

Bama Belle turned Mountain Momma....

Moving this far North really has some challenges.

January and February used to just be the first two months of the year, back when I lived down south. But here in the mountains they are the longest months of the entire year. Everything outside is ugly, unless it's covered in snow. The snow makes it pretty but then you are stuck in the house for days on end with stressed out kidlets.

Last year I gained 40 pounds between October to June. In June I went to the doctor secretly hoping I had some disease [I know it's bad but the truth]...the doctor called with recommendations for several DIETS!!! So this year I am 27 pounds smaller with 20 more to loose. I solved that issue of winter blues.

Another issue...after I take all nine of my Christmas trees down and all the extra for the holidays, everything looks so empty, stark, dead, sad! Outside looks the same way.....void of color.

So this year I am putting out some light blue and red accents for Valentines' Day. I know not traditional Vday colors but that's me.

My first blog post I don't hear rockets going off and bells ringing but at least I didn't wait till everything was perfect to start.

I really have tons of things to say: so I have a copy and don't have to hunt for the idea and maybe someone out there could use the idea too.