Merry Christmas

Since I'm on here about once a month - if that - I figured I'd go ahead and say, "Merry Christmas!"  From my little family to yours, wherever you may be, we wish you the best this holiday season!

We're looking forward to spending Christmas Eve with those of my family who are in the area, then Christmas we will have my (18 year old) baby brother with us.  Only one week after that, my little guy will be 2 years old!  It doesn't seem possible that he could be 2 already!  I could swear it was just yesterday I was wondering if we would ever have children to love as our own, and now we have two!  Of our own flesh and blood!  How great God is!

Christmas is so much fun with a little one to enjoy it.  He's always looking for more Christmas lights when we're out and about, and gets excited to see Christmas trees.  We have an advent "calendar" that is the Christmas story broken down into 24 separate little booklets.  We read a little book before putting the little guy to bed, then he shows us where to hang it on our tree.  They are getting a little bit grouped together at the top, but I think it's fun for him to be able to point to the top, since he can't reach it.

I enjoyed doing a bit of baking, and have 2 more plates of cookies to deliver to neighbors before Christmas. It's funny how the scents of our traditional cookies make it seem like it's really Christmas time!

Speaking of scents, just yesterday we were at the local Arby's and as we were leaving, we walked past an older lady who smelled of old cigarette smoke.  I was surprised to find tears sting my eyes - not because she smelled bad, but because of the smell, I remembered my Grandma, and was struck again with missing her.  Are you affected by scents this way?

I finally completed the huge project I had undertaken to make drapes for our church building, so now find myself with a large list of sewing I want to do for myself and my family.  One of the things I have in my mental to do list, is to create a pattern for a dress shirt that will fit my beloved husband perfectly.  I'm looking forward to the challenge!  I also have fabric to make coordinating outfits for my girly and me.  Then there is still the list of UFOs that I need to work on...

Okay, my rambling seems to be drawing to a close, so I will leave you with this:

Merry Christmas!  

Confessions

I'll be honest, I have had several ideas for blog posts, but then think they're too controversial, or that they're too boring to share, or some other such reason why I shouldn't blog about it.  Then, there's the thought that there's really only one person that I know reads my blog now - Hi Sadie! - and knowing that, I don't want to seem like I'm preaching to her, and don't want to bore her with the same old stuff we've already talked about. 

So, all that, to say this:  I started the blog to be a little newsy thing, nothing too deep or intellectual, just ramblings and fun thoughts, and not too serious and somber.  Umm, I'll work on that!  :D  In the meantime, any fun thoughts for blogposts you'd like to read?

Randomness

My little girly - I'm pretty sure I've mentioned her on here before, though maybe only as baby #2 - anyway, my little girly is here!  (Well, actually, she's a month old now, so this is old news, even though it hasn't been shared here.)  We're finding a new normal, and settling in quite nicely as a family of four.  My little guy absolutely adores his little sister, and their Daddy is quite taken with both of them.  He's already wrapped around the finger of his little daughter, the first time I laid her down on a blanket for a short "tummy time", she was very unpleased, and let us know by crying rather hard.  My darling man found her crying to be heartwrenching, and wanted to fix her discomfort - a much different response to the crying of our little guy!  (He'll be fine, he's tough!)  I love to see how tenderly he interacts with our little lady, and how rough and tumble he can be with our little dude.  What a wonderful family I have! 

I'm now working on getting in better shape - walking primarily, until I get the okay for more vigorous excercise - and working on keeping up with the housework.  It's too easy to let it go, and I want to be able to teach my children - by example - to keep a good home.  Also, I realised that this is one area in which I can show my husband my love for him, and I had been letting it slide.  When I realised that, in not keeping the housework done, I was showing him that he wasn't very important to me, it broke my heart, and I've been working on keeping on top of it since.  Somedays it's really hard - especially the last few weeks of pregnancy, and the first 3 weeks of recovery - but I'm feeling pretty well healed now, and it's getting easier.  Please pray for me, that I can continue to keep up with things in this area. 

Another thing I'm working on is menu planning.  My menus are a little more relaxed than I'd originally thought of menus being.  I come up with dinners for the week, and then pick one of those each night, rather than assigning each meal a night at the time of the menu planning.  It seems to be working well, and I'm sure to have all of the ingredients for the meal I want to have.  Win-win situation!  :D 

Finally - for this blog post - I'm working on finishing some projects that I have started, and have really been working on completing a baby blanket.  If When I finish this, it'll be the first blanket I've knitted.  I've started a couple, only to "frog" them (rip out the knitting) after a few inches.  It's encouraging to have this one halfway to completion!  It's so tempting, though, to keep starting more and more projects!  There are so many pretty things I can make, and it's so tempting to have many things going so that I don't get bored.  However, I don't want to be one of those old ladies that ends up passing on a gazillion UFOs to my children and grandchildren.  Finished products are a much better inheritance, I'm sure. 

Okay, off to bed I go.  Goodnight all!

My Issue with Diet Books

You see them all over the place.  Again and again you see something like this - "This is the one that EVERYONE needs to follow", "It's the ONLY ONE that will help with the obesity problem in the USA", "SOMETHING needs to be done about the obesity problem as well as the problem of Type 2 diabetes: the answer?  Read MY book!"

Just recently, I've come across a few that seem intriguing.  The Paelo Diet, and the Metabolism Miracle, both of which tell you how to lose weight and keep it lost just by eating the way they tell you!  Then there's Eat Right for Your Type, which doesn't seem to claim to be the ultimate weight loss guide, but according to this book description, does claim that it has "The secret to healthy, vigorous, and disease-free living". 

The question I have is this:  If these authors truly have such information that will change the lives of everyone who gains it, why are they not giving away the information for free?  Wouldn't it be better - to turn around the obesity rates; to help fix the problem of Type 2 diabetes; to help everyone to be healthier, more energised, and less prone to disease - to give this information in a news interview, or put it on YouTube, or write a blog detailing the specifics, or SOMETHING? 

To put it a little differently, if I said I knew how to cure cancer, or the common cold, or eczema, etc. - and you could know too!  (For just $14.95 plus shipping and handling)  Would you believe me?  And, if there were 7 different authors claiming the same thing with 7 different books, which one would you buy?  All of them? 

To me, it seems simple.  Use up more calories than you take in, and you'll lose weight.  It won't be fast, probably won't be easy, but it'll work!

One guy ate nothing but potatoes for 60 days, and he not only lost 20 pounds, he ended his diet with better health all around.   It wouldn't be the best long term thing, but sounds good to me! 

I can't find the article now, but I remember reading about someone who ate nothing but fruit for a while, lost a lot of weight, but did end up diabetic after several years. 

Then, of course, there's the famous Jared of Subway.  I'm sure there are other examples, but these few show that it's not rocket science, it's really not even worth $14.95. 

It Only Took Six Years

Even though they were too tight - I took them off as soon as the ceremony was over - I kept the shoes I bought and wore for my wedding.  They've been in my hope chest ever since we got home from our honeymoon.  I pulled them out on Saturday, and tried them on yet again. 

They were still too tight - as was expected - but this time, I noticed something.  The strap along the back was buckled almost as small as could be.  In a fit of genius, I loosened the strap, rebuckling it on the largest setting.  Tried them on again, and they fit!  I can't believe it!  It only took six years to figure out I could loosen that silly strap. 

I'm a Hobbit

My husband and I have figured out that the Hobbits probably ate every 2 hours, starting at 7 am, and ending at 7 pm.  Here's our figure of their meal schedules:
7 AM - Breakfast
9 AM - Second Breakfast
11 AM - Elevensies
1 PM - Lunch
3 PM - Afternoon Tea
5 PM - Dinner
7 PM - Supper

I have Gestational Diabetes again, and have to follow a fairly strict diet.  However, I do end up needing more snacks throughout the day so that my sugar levels stay where they should.  So, here's how my eating schedule typically ends up:
Somewhere between 8 and 9 AM - Breakfast
2 hours later - Morning snack
Noon - Lunch
2 PM - Afternoon Snack
5:30 PM - Dinner
7:30 PM - Evening Snack
Somewhere between 9 and 10 PM - Bedtime Snack

So, you tell me - Hobbit? 

It's Been Awhile

A lot has been happening here, I'll try to catch up tomorrow, but wanted to put a post out there to say I haven't disappeared!  I'll be back with some fun topics - hopefully soon.