Saucy Pepper Steak

Well I have once again decided to start trying to be healthier and start eating better and exercising more. During my last round of Biggest Loser Etsy Style I only lost 2 lbs over the course of the 10 weeks, so now that we are 5 days into Round 2 I am hoping for at least a 10 lb loss in the next 10 weeks!!

So tonight I tried out a new healthy recipe Saucy Pepper Steak and it was very good. The only thing I would change the next time I make it, would be to not add as much BBQ sauce!

Moving Furniture Again

So we will call what I accomplished tonight (well Hubby did most of the moving I just tried not to get in the way and tried to help him when he asked me to) Phase 2 of the remodeling of our living/dining room!

While it is definately a work in progress as I figure out the best way to utilize the space that I have for all the furniture I have and need to keep around! Hubby and I are working on trying to have a baby so with that in mind, I am trying to determine how I am going to move everything out of our spare bedroom for when the time comes to turn it into a nursery. I have come to realize that all the work I did setting up a workshop in there for all my paper projects and sewing will have to be packed away somehow that I can easily get to things when the creative bug gets me and I need to make something but for now I don't have to worry about that

Back a couple of months ago I took pictures of what the completion of phase one looked like and here are pictures of what it looks like now:

Scoping out Tennessee...

Well it is hubby and I's goal to move to Tennessee sometime within the next few years! And Candice and I have a dream to open up our own Tea Cafe w/ a Craft Work area for people to come and craft and have tea!! Well we have been to Nashville numerous times, since my brother-in-law lives in Murfreesboro and this trip we decided to explore the Chattanooga and Knoxville areas!

While we were in Chattanooga we went to Ruby Falls and did the cave tour to see the falls!!




After our tour we decided to buy a bag of "dirt" to sift through and see what treasures we could find. So, here is Henry hard at work sifting through his bag of dirt for stones!


And here are his finds:



Today we made our way up to Knoxville! We drove all around downtown and through the University of Tennessee Campus, where hubby spent a summer in a high school study program. We walked around an area called Market Square and this is where I came upon the perfect little spot for the shop that Candice and I want to open!! Here are some pictures of Market Square and of the space that is for lease!!

New Pricing

I have just spent the evening revamping my pricing in my Etsy Shop. I had a craft show this weekend and tried to rework my pricing for the show and realized that I could lower most of my prices!!! I am hoping that these lower prices translates into more sales for me :)

I made lots of new stuff for my craft show and because I had to fly out of town for work right after my craft show I have not been able to photograph these new items to list them in my Etsy shop but that will be my goal when I return home on Easter Sunday!!

Here is a picture of my display from Mega-Craft-Zilla on March 16th at Dinosaur World

Biggest Loser Etsy Style Round 2

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Sassy- My Big Girl

Well last year around this time we were adding a third dog to our family!!! Sassy is our little spitfire. She definately makes things interesting around the house as she think that she is the leader of our three dachshunds despite that she is the youngest and smallest of the bunch!! Trust me that doesn't stop her one bit!

My mother in law sent us one of the leashes she had that I had my eye on because of course it was purple and I love purple!!! So this week we upgraded our baby Sassy from a baby leash and collar to her big girl leash and collar.

Here she is posing with her new accessories and just playing around!





And here is a picture of my two boys as I dont want them to think I dont love them too!!

Shopping

Well I really needed to go shopping for news bras and I decided to go to a boutique to get properly "fitted" and I ended up buying a bra that had been advertised on the Oprah show as one of the best bras. Even though it is the most expensive bra I have ever bought, I decided to give it a whirl anyways.



Well I am happy to report that it is definately worth the money and while it took a bit to get used to as it is super supportive it was a great investment!! Not to mention that it gives a great shape : )

Randomness

My Grandfather's birthday is today and I decided to try and get him something off of Etsy!! He is Irish and somehow I almost always get him presents that have to do with Ireland and it helps that his birthday is so close to St.Patrick's Day!

I was able to find the cutest magnets that are made out of real cancelled stamps from Ireland (pictured below) from CrowBiz's Shop...... I love them!! My husband even asked me if we could keep one of them for our house---I said no --they are a set silly!!



Of course I could not just give him magnets for his birthday so I kept scavenging and I came across these awesome glass coffee mugs that have been hand etched with a celtic knot from Tavia's Shop......



Along with some other goodies that I purchased for him here is what his gift looks like:



My night didnt stop there lol!!! It was a great Post Office day for me, I got all of my grandfather's presents, plus my new tart molds that I ordered, and my hand marbled paper I got from a trade Thursday night. I got a seashell mold ( I live in Fl and couldn't resist it), a flower mold, and a mold with card shapes (hearts, diamonds, circles, and squares). I cannot wait to use them this weekend to make tarts for my craft show on Sunday!!!






And to finish the night off Hubby and I went shopping to pick up most of the supplies that I need to make my display for the craft show on Sunday look better than my first show! We spent over an hour at Jo-Ann Fabrics and ended up picking this awesome fabric!!! I got 8 yards so I should have some left over to make something fancy with my sewing machine, since I know how to sew (well sort of now)!

Bookmarks Part 2

So a few tweaks later and a matte finish here is the finished product from my First round of bookmarks! I need to tweak things a bit more but all in all I think they turned out pretty good. Now we shall see what others think!!

Bookmarks

So I am finally making some bookmarks out of the chipboard that I got from Your Memories By Deisgn......but unfortunately I cannot get them to look the way I envisioned them in my head.....I want them to have some kind of coating on them for protection but nothing seems to be working....I bought a StickerMaker machine and they look good laminated, however the lamination doesnt seal on the ends and therefore pulls apart. So I tried laminating them at work with the industrial heat machine that we have and they didnt laminate well at all....Right now I am putting on a matte finish on them to see how that turns out but I am not hopeful. Maybe I need to just leave them as is and not try to coat them at all. Any and all suggestion are appreciated.

Here is a picture of the bookmarks without any coating on them!

Shopping this weekend!

Well hubby and I went shopping yesterday and to get our errands done. I am in terrible need of some new shoes, ones that better support my feet so that they dont hurt me as much at the end of the day when I finally sit down! Well most women know that decent looking shoes that are good for your feet are very hard to find. Here are two pairs of Crocs sandals that I got! I still need to find some dress shoes for work, but that is a much tougher task.




Our last stop on Saturday was the Bowlers Outlet, so Hubby and I could get a pair of bowling shoes. We were tired of paying $3 everytime we went bowling so we finally bought our own shoes. Here are my new bowling shoes.

Adventures In Babysitting--The Results!!

So the Big weekend has come and gone and we all had a blast!!! Joselyn has fun playing with Emma and I had a nice time seeing my friends!! Joselyn did very well being away from her mommy and daddy for the weekend until about the last hour of the drive, and after that it was a very LONG hour, there was nothing I could do to make her happy or at least content anyways!!

I do feel like Henry and I are ready to have a baby of our own now ;)

Anyways here is a little slideshow with highlights of the weekend!! Enjoy!!