Weigh in today..

I weighed in today - I have officially lost 6.2 lbs. 

Thats all.  Go back about your business. 

Denial Ain't Just A River In Egypt.

So apparently Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
I have been in some SERIOUS denial.. 
Its not that I didn't know I was chubby fat.  I knew.  But I kept telling myself "Its not THAT bad.."  "You haven't had to go up a size in jeans.."  "You might muffin top out of those jeans a little, but you can still button them easily.." 
It is, by the way, THAT BAD.

I'm not going to post my weight and humiliate myself publicly, but I will share my losses and gains with you.

I knew better than to try changing my life style at the holidays.  I am a damn good baker and an occasionally decent cook.  I stress out enough about money, accomplishing everything, and making sure my gift decisions weren't totally LAME, when I'm not starving myself.

I also knew better than to start a lifestyle change with in a day or two of New Years - there is always Olliebollen to eat.  Which ironically is supposed to make you fatter.  Go figure.

I was going to wait until the 3rd, but went a head on January 2nd, 2011 and joined Weight Watchers.  I didn't have an accurate scale, so I put in the weight I was at a doctors appointment one year earlier.  I got logged in, got some grocery ideas, and off to Walmart we went.

While I was there, I bought a new digital scale.
When we got home with it, I had to wait until everyone had left the kitchen before I would venture on it.

So when I was sure nobody was peeking, I stepped on.

I looked down and it was almost as much as I weighed in my 3rd tri of pregnancy with Andra!  WHAT!?

I got back off, looked around, got back on. Same ugly number.

I got back off, picked it up and looked it over good - checking for manufacturer defects.  I put it down, got back on and still that same scary scary number.

I got back off, took it in another room of the house because "THE FLOOR MUST NOT BE LEVEL!"

Got back on, same number.

Went and got the kids, whose weight I have more accurate idea of - theirs was right.

Got a 4lb bag of sugar out of the pantry and put on it, it was right.

I got back on, yep,  I weigh as much now as I did in my 3rd trimester of PG with Andra. 

Matt, a very very thoughtful hubby, purchased us a Wii Fit.  Its a little depressing when it makes your Mii fat too..  Thats been getting us up off our butts quite a bit. But the kids have probably gotten the most use of out if.  go figure!  LOL

So my first weigh in was on 1/2.
My second was on 1/9.  I was down 2.2lbs.
Today (in between weigh ins) I am presently down 4.4lbs.

Any good Weight Watchers meals you feel like sharing?  I'm trying to find an even medium where I'm not cooking 2 separate meals and not putting my family on a diet as well.

Winter and Christmas Decorations A La Silhouette...

So after getting the blades replaced by Silhouette (and their awesome customer service!) I was finally able to start cutting some vinyl stuff...

I did some Winter/Christmas Decor with it..

My front door..  (Please ignore the yellow lab nose art...)

I had originally cut out "Let It Snow" to put on the front glass door, and then quickly realized that I hadn't reversed the image and that the vinyl would either have to be put on outside in the elements or it would be backwards when people walked up to the door.

SOOOOO long story short, if you are putting it on a glass door, and don't want it out in the elements on the outside of the door...  Remember to flip it around before you cut it!
















Not wanting to waste the "Let It Snow" sign I applied it on the inside of the back door.....

And last but not least - the door that leaves our kitchen and goes into our laundry room...
We just added the snowflakes randomly to some of the panes in the door...

Andra helped us go around randomly sticking the vinyl snowflakes around on the front and back door and on the laundry room door.  We had a lot of fun doing it. 

(I got my vinyl from http://www.expressionsvinyl.com/.  They have sheets sized for the Silhouette machine, lots of color options, and very reasonable prices.  I personally preferred the brand of vinyl they sent to the Silhouette brand vinyl I had purchased.  It seemed to have more "stick" to it.)

How my blankets fit on a twin sized bed..

I get asked a lot about how my blankets fit in a twin sized bed.. 
Please excuse the wonky pictures..  The only twin sized bed we have is Lane's upper bunk on his bunk bed (which explains all the rails around it).  I had to pretend to be a contortionist and creatively stand on things in his room to get these pictures.  (Hubby came in and helped me with one of them.  He has a height advantage.)

This is the smaller throw or cuddle sized blanket. 
You can see it doesn't quite reach the end of the bed, or the bottom of the pillow.  But still has a lot of coverage.

This is the size of the twin sized blanket.
You can see that it reaches from the foot of the bed, and ends midway under where the pillow would be (but doesn't quite reach to the head of the bed.)
It also does not hang off the sides.  Twin sized weighted blankets aren't supposed to drape off the sides of the bed, because the weight tends to pull them off on the floor.

So there it is..  How my 2 typical blanket sizes fit on a twin sized bed.  Of course, I make custom sizes too!  :D

The next set of 10 blankets..

These 10 blankets were made between the end of October and the middle of December..  :D

This blanket was my first local blanket and the first I didn't have to ship!  :D

It was a Toy Story Flannel, on a red dotted minky. 

I used this blue puppy print on the 2nd blanket I made - but this time I used it for a lap pad.  It was paired with a brown dotted minky. 

This was a twin sized white with pink and orange daisy flannel print, paired with a medium pink dotted minky.. 

I've used this John Deere print before, but this one was for the brother of the very first blanket owner I ever made!  :D 

I have to admit...  This next blanket SCARED me.  Minky is not only slippery, its stretchy and is a challenge to work with itself..  But to pair it with satin!?  I was frightened..  It was a custom size (larger than a lap pad, smaller than a blanket) and it turned out well!  :D

I've used this fabric before also.. But this time I made a lap pad out of it..   I've somehow "misplaced" the pictures I took of the actual lap pad.  I got a new laptop around the time I made this one..  But this is the fabrics I used.  Picture it in a lap pad for the time being please!  :D

Thankfully this order came in after the smaller satin/minky blanket, because this one would have probably taken 2 tries had I not had a little practice... But its a light green satin with a brown dotted minky.

This was my first animal print blanket!  A twin orange tiger striped cotton with a black dotted minky...

This was a blue kind of tonal tye died print with a soft blue dotted minky on the bottom side.. It was very cool!

And last but not least..  A brown flannel with a pink dotted minky lap pad...

I'm already 3 blankets into my next 10..  So it won't be long before I will have 10 more to show off.. 

3rd set of 10 Blankets..

So between September and October, I made another 10 blankets and wanted to share them!

I did another planetary blanket, but with a blue dotted minky which turned out just as cool as the green!!

Next was a really soft green boy print, on a striped mint minky..  I loved the softness of this one!

I've used this blue airplane print before..  Its one of my favorites.  This was an embroidered lap pad..

 

I did another embroidered Sponge Bob eyes blanket...

 

This one was an embroidered double minky blanket and lap pad set.  One side was a smooth brown with white polka dotted minky, and a pink damask minky on the other.  Super soft and very pretty!

The next one was also a double minky, a blue shaggy spa minky on one side and a gray dotted minky on the other.  This one was very thick and soooooo comfy!

 

This one was a custom order.  The family had already purchased the fabric and sent it to me.  It was a Thomas The Tank Engine Fleece on the top and a super soft double sided spa minky on the other...

Due to the fact that there aren't very many Star Wars fabrics out there, we had to get creative with this one..  The Star Wars print is actually a bed sheet, paired with a blue dotted minky..  Lane announced "My need one of deese!"  (He is a Star Wars addict.)

I made the Star Wars blanket along with this cotton Tinker Bell blanket.  I loved the colors on this one!

 

And for the sister of the double minky pink damask with brown and white polka dots -  a double minky purple damask with brown and white polka dots set!

 

It won't be long before I have the 4th set of 10 to share!