The was the first one I watched.

I love the snorting.

The Colonel Hoof-Hearted (Pig) has always sat on his rear with his arms in front of him, like a teddy bear.

Evidence for what I’m about to say.

Him being comfortable in that position leads me to believe that is the reason why these pugs fit so nicely in the child swings. Of course, I immediately asked The Mister to buy a swing set but he said no. Therefore, I’m waiting till the spring and I’ll take Pig to the park and try it out. The Mister gave me the side-eye when I didn’t drop it and told him my enthusiasm for putting Pig in a swing, but he doesn’t know how obsessed I’ve become. I’ve begun to wonder if he’d like another type of baby swing, like this. He just fits the max weight.

I’m taking the name “Safari Swing” seriously.

He’s having to remove the molding as our new custom cabinets are going to the ceiling. Of course, we’ll share more photos of the kitchen. What it looked like, what the demo looked like, what we did and how we did it. First, I’m telling you why we’re so enthusiastic about killing replacing it.

1. I called it “The Kitchen of Many Colors.” The counters were blue laminate. The cabinets were light oak that I painted – twice. The dishwasher was black, the oven was white and the fridge was stainless (we bought it). The walls were a mix of browns and beige -as seen above. The vinyl was white with a light blue pattern that had multiple stains.

2. It was groddy. There is a reason you haven’t seen many photos of our kitchen. I believe this is it. I was fearful that y’all would call the Humane Society for The Colonel. The counters had mystery stains and cuts/chunks. The paint on the walls was peeling off. We’ve had to scrape the walls for months. They’ve been partially since 2009. Our kitchen has looked like/has been a Work Zone for years. It’s been clean, but it has definitly looked dirty.

3. The Magic Chef oven lost his magic. We were left with two burners and one of the remaining two was temperamental. Plus, with all the different finishes on our appliances it was a little odd-looking.

4.  Cabinets were falling off the wall. Seriously. Two came off the wall. One was the large pantry that was a single floor to ceiling unit. We were prepared for it and basically “put it down.” Every time we walked through the kitchen it would wobble, even after The Mister and my father had worked on it. Finally, we decided it falling down was too much to risk. So, down it came about two years ago. Under the cabinet we found a different patch of vinyl. You’ll see photos the next few weeks of what I’m talking about. Then, one night a few months ago the cabinet containing our dishes came down. The cabinets falling down didn’t surprise us after taking them down.

This photo has been our inspiration:

here

Mark Challen’s Handsome Bistro Kitchen
Photographer Donna Griffith
House & Home September 2011 issue

The pretty is on its way!

The pretty is on its way!

here

via Better Homes and Gardens

here

here

recipe here

What are you making? Do you think the commercials will be any good? I’m hoping for more featuring pugs.

P.S. You’re getting a post every day this week. It’s my thank you gift. You’ll hear more on Thursday.

There are only 6 rows of people and our leader is wearing a microphone. It’s not a good one, so he sounds funky. However, as someone who frequently holds training sessions/workshops, I can be hard to please or notice more than others. I’ve worn a mic before but not for this size crowd. He says he felt like he was yelling last week.

I’m sure may have yelled at this group. These people are distracted. Most are making small chat or sharing ideas on how to get the “chip taste” with crackers. There is an older lady sewing on the third row. I believe she’s making a small blanket, like for a baby. It doesn’t matter what it is, the fabric isn’t cute. I want to take her to Fabric House. It’s only 5 minutes away. Then, there are two ladies knitting on the back row. I wonder if all their stuff is going to the same baby.

With my -2.6, I qualify for a 5 pound star.

I think last week’s “bravo” sticker was for attending my first meeting.

Once again, when I was weighed in they said nothing to me about my weight. In fact, I thought yesterday’s splurge made me gain until I opened my book. I didn’t realize I qualified for the 5 pound star until the meeting’s leader was almost done passing them out. I would appreciate some type of feedback, especially because this week they were better staffed and we weighed in individual little closets/rooms. If nothing else I wanted to talk more to the woman who weighed me. She was wearing a white scrunchie and a long navy dress with white buttons down the front and a large collar that had white piping. Then, white tennis shoes with white, perfectly folded, ankle socks. Since she didn’t feel like saying anything but “Is it warmer outside? I’m always cold now that I lost all my weight.” – y’all are in charge of my feedback. If you have any stickers you’d like to give me, I’ll add them to my WW materials. I gave a suggestion this week on how to make “power food” substitutes. It deserved at least 5 high fives and 2 stickers.

I’m back on the road this week, flying out tomorrow, but I’m shooting for at least a -3 pounds next week. I’m gonna rock it. It’s gonna be a sucky week, but I’m determined to work out and get more stickers.

For an unmarried female - first name initial, middle name initial, last name initial. (Jennifer Lynn Evans = JLE) If using a monogram style with the middle initial being larger than the rest the pattern is first name initial, last name initial, middle name initial. (Jennifer Lynn Evans =JEL)

For a married female - first name initial, maiden name initial, last name initial (Jennifer Morgan Evans = JME). One again, if using a monogram style with the middle initial being larger than the rest then it is first name initial, last name initial, middle name initial. (Jennifer Morgan Evans =JEM)

Though I don’t prefer a combined monogram, they are becoming more popular. If you decide to combine your initials with your husband, it is customary that the female’s first initial goes first. This is because linens, stationary, etc. are considered the bride’s domain. Therefore, the male’s initials do not go first – even though he is considered the head of household. Typically, this style of monogram is only done with the center letter being larger than the other letters. Therefore the pattern is female’s first name initial, couple’s common last name initial, male’s first name initial. (Jennifer and Mark Evans = JEM) 

Leontine Linens has beautiful monogrammed items and they’re made in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. Their pieces are high quality and hand-stiched with vibrant colors. Additionally, you can work with them to create custom monograms. 

Side note: I adore shilouettes. Like monograms, they’re very traditional.

Example of a couple’s monogram as this is Dee and Tommy Hilfiger

Images and more history of Leontine Linens via Tobi Farley’s blog post written by Gwen Driscoll

Understandably, many of us need to save up for Leontine. I recently got a deal at Sew What? in Brentwood  this week. It’s $15.00 for $30.00 of monogramming. Say what?! Of course I bought one and you should buy one here too. I’ll share what I use it on soon.

We put a bunch of ornaments on it and it could have used more. My feeling towards Christmas trees is typically “More is better.” I can always add ornaments. You need a good mix of color and reflective. I like clear and/or mirrored ornaments shoved in first to create depth and a reflective surface. Then, I was able to find around seven boxes of Christopher Radko’s reissued Shiny Brite, plus The Mister’s mother found some older glass ornaments. 

Some of the Radko Shiny Brite I found

The box of ornaments from The Mister’s momma

Of course, we had my other Radko ornaments and family ornaments to add. Then, I found some glittered curly sticks, red bows and some clear ball picks. I decided “Why not?” and loaded it on.

Here are some up close photos:

This is probably my favorite photo.

Next year, I will be better about taking better count of what we put on it. I’ll go for a step-by-step run down.

It made me think about Schumacher’s Conundrum in Peacock.

However, Conundrum is $213 a yard. So, the West Elm duvet is allowed to not be as pretty as it’s $63.00 to $87.00. So, you could buy one yard of Conundrum or a duvet from West Elm and a Chiang Mai pillow with monies left over for a quilt or more pillows.

I like it in the Mocha colorway, the black welt and the lumbar size. It’s a super winner.

I will not buy the pillow. I will not buy the pillow. I’m not supposed to be buying pillows.

There are mostly older women and they are funny about weighing in. They’re wearing flip-flops and other pieces of light clothing, though it’s January, to take advantage of the two pounds. They deduct 2 pounds from whatever you weigh to count for your clothes. I saw a lady take off earrings. She must be desperate.

I lost 3.8 pounds. It’s technically been almost two weeks since I have been as I started on January 9. I can’t say I’m jazzed about it. However, I’ll take the victory. WW suggests you loose .5 to 2 pounds a week, so I’m on target but it’s hard to celebrate when it seems insignificant.

I’m going to blog my weigh-ins every week. They’ll be additional to my typically scheduled posts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I’m sharing as weight loss is a struggle for most. I’d be hard pressed to find someone who has never tried to lose some weight. However, I have quite a bit to lose. I’m trying to not put a number to it because it definitely feels unattainable.

Anyone else trying to loose weight? Should I wear flip flops next week?

I considered a headband or creating a hair clip but when I saw the visor at Hobby Lobby it was obvious. I took the stretchy band off of it and put it in my hair with bobby pins.

First, I covered the visor with hot glue. (see photo below) Then, I laid fabric on the visor as a sheet. Then, I trimmed the excess.

Second, I cut some ears out of the same fabric.

I made them so large so they could easily be glued.

Next, I trimmed the coffee filters for the owl eyes. I used coffee filters to give it some depth. I used three filters for each eye, as one filter wasn’t thick enough. However, the filter diameter was too much so I cut them down after stapling them together.

I traced circles on the black fabric to create pupils which were hot glued onto the coffee filters. Then, I used a sheet of orange foam for the beak. It took me a few tries but I finally got the size and shape I wanted.

Last, I hot glued everything onto the visor to make my mask. I hot glued the ears first, then the eyes. I decided to add lashes by cutting a couple long strips of the black fabric that I glued in the top corners of the eyes. You can see them below. However, they were not visible when I wore the costume. I glued the beak on last. Here is the complete face or mask.

Here it is with the costume.

I wore my Halloween costume to work as we have an annual contest and party. Here I am all done up. 

I wore a long sleeve black shirt, a black skirt with black tights under the vest.

Then, The Mister and I met his family for dinner. That’s right I went to TGI Fridays with The Mister’s parents, sister, niece, brother-in-law and brother dressed up as an owl.

I put the mask on for a short time for our niece and to show that the “vest” was for a reason. I’m ridiculous.

I didn’t choose any of the costumes from here and instead went rogue. Marisa (hello!) was awesome and dressed up like The Mad Hatter and suggested using a large sweatshirt for something as she saw a bunch of them at Wal-Mart. I instantly thought of this image.

I purchased a 3X men’s sweatshirt and a couple yards of $1.00 fabric. I purchased way too much yardage, though I thought I was being conservative. I’d suggest only buying a quarter yard of each. Of course, this depends on the number of fabrics and the size of sweatshirt.

The cream and navy dotted fabric is our tablecloth, so it was not included. I like it where and how it is. 

I cut the arms off the sweatshirt. I decided to wear it like a vest/jumper and wore a long sleeve black shirt under it.

I decided to make my feathers with a rounded edge. I started by creating a template and tracing it on the fabric. However, I quickly realized it was much easier to “eye-ball” the size and shape. The feathers were not consistent in exact shape and size, but I liked them better. It added interest. Obviously, the fabric had different patterns and types which added to the interest. I cut out large numbers of each fabric. Then, I hot glued the fabric randomly on the shirt. I started at the bottom of the shirt and hot glued just the top part (the straight edge) of each feather onto the sweater. Working from the bottom allowed the feathers to overlap.

I glued the front and then the back. Then, I put it on and had The Mister spot check me. This is when he announced that he is an owl costume expert as he dressed up as an owl in an elementary school play. I used left over cut out feather to fill in the few gaps on my sides. The Mister glued them on the shirt while I was wearing it. 

Due to the thickness of a sweatshirt, and me wearing a shirt under it, I couldn’t feel the hot glue.  The section that needed the most filling in were my shoulders.

The Mister, using his supreme owl costume knowledge, decided to alternate the sides of fabric to fill in the shoulders. The black feathers are the same fabric but the underside of it was brown.

Tomorrow, I will share how I made the hat/owl face. You’ll need to know how to make it so you can look this cute.