One of the gifts I received was a copy of Mastercook 9. I’ve been wanting it for quite some time, so I was thrilled to be able to finally get my own copy. One of the main reasons I wanted it was to be able to do the nutritional analysis on recipes that I create or modify. It is so nice to finally be able to have a better idea of how we’re eating.

It was also very exciting to discover that I could actually track nutritional data for whole meals and even entire days. There are several meals that I have been wondering about; now, with a little bit of computer time, I can figure all of that out.

Speaking of eating, well ok, dieting, I was able to weigh myself at my mom’s while we were there. I don’t have a scale. I’m still not sure if that’s a good thing or not – it is nice to be surprised at weight lost, but on the other hand, it would be nice to see that yesterday’s carbohydrate overload caused me to gain two pounds. . .but oh well. One of these days we’ll actually get one.

Anyways, I weighed myself the first morning we were there, and was totally shocked to discover that I have now passed the halfway mark. I started with a total of 79 pounds to lose, and as of Christmas morning, I had lost an even 40. God is so good to me. This has all been a huge game of trial and error, trying to figure out how to change our eating habits, and yet He has continued to allow me to lose weight at a fairly rapid pace. I’ve really been slacking on the exercise this past month, so I’m hoping that if I step it back up to where it needs to be I will continue to lose at a good pace. My goal is 1-2 pounds a week, but that’s pretty loose. Every time I set a goal like saying, “I want to be 40 pounds thinner by summer,” I fail and get discouraged. My plan is to continue eating right and exercising, and not to get discouraged if the weight loss slows some. We shall see.

It often amazes me just how quickly time can pass, especially at Christmastime. This year was no exception. Before I knew it, it was a week before Christmas and I had a huge pile of gifts to finish making. After all that, I decided I’m starting much earlier this year. Like maybe early enough to be done by Thanksgiving. . .I don’t know. I used to be able to do that, but it’s been so long that Stephen was shocked to hear me say I could do it! Hmm – maybe that really should be my goal.

Our Christmas was wonderfully refreshing. We took a trip up to see my family. We did have car adventures while we traveled again. It was so strange. Before we left, Stephen told me that the reservoir was getting low and that we’d have to pick up a jug of antifreeze/coolant on the way. Ok, I can deal with that. So we left after church on Christmas Eve. Just as it was beginning to get dark, the temperature gauge started to act strangely, so we started looking for the nearest off ramp. It came just in time, because by the time we arrived at the gas station there were so many different clunking and knocking noises coming from under the hood I wondered if we’d even make it.

Stephen opened the hood and steam just billowed out. My heart sank. Little man piped up, “HOT! Mommy!” “Mama, water!” He sure was right on that one.

As it turned out, once the radiator cooled down, we were able to add more coolant, and we were on our way. Strangely enough, we didn’t have another problem with it. The only thing we could figure out is that God had some reason for delaying us that extra hour.

After we got back on the road, I sat there looking out the window fighting back tears. It was Christmas Eve, and it seemed like everything was going wrong. The month of December has been difficult, and it seemed like no matter how hard I tried to get into the Christmas spirit, I just couldn’t. All I could see was the negative side of things.

That’s really a lot of the reason that I haven’t been posting a whole lot this month. Who wants to read a blog post if the entire thing is whining and complaining?

So I sat there staring out the window, trying to change my attitude, but failing miserably. That’s when God reminded me of something. He reminded me of that night two thousand years ago, when a young couple had to travel so far just for a census. Mary was not just pregnant – she was very pregnant – and things must have seemed to go all wrong for her too. It must have been hard not to have a bad attitude when all the inns turned her and Joseph away. I wonder if she was in labor when they were going door to door to door. . . things certainly did not go as planned for them, I’m sure. It really put things into perspective for me. I was complaining because of a delay with our van – they didn’t have a car. We are blessed indeed.

The time away is always nice, and this week was no exception. My parents offered to watch Little man for us while we went out to spend some money we received as gifts, and even gave us money to eat out on. That was a real treat.

Little man’s gifts were an interesting mix of things. My grandmother got him a really neat puzzle that has tractors and bulldozers on it – when you complete each machine, it makes that noise. Dad even taught Little man how to say excavator. I still can’t believe he can say that. It comes out, “as-a-bay-ter.” Too sweet. As for the trucks my brothers gave him – well – they just better watch out for the time when they have children, because let me tell you, the revenge will be sweet. Those trucks make a LOT of noise.

More to come in another post – this one is becoming long enough already. . .

Sorry I’ve been so scarce lately. . .things have been so crazy-busy around here.

God has been teaching me so much about faith lately in my quiet times with Him. It has been amazing. I’m reading in Matthew, and it just amazes me just how much Christ talks about faith. I had never noticed it before – not to that extent, anyway.

There are also a lot of changes in the works at our church. God is calling our pastor away from our church, so the church is just beginning the process of seeking another man. We had a fellowship tonight to meet a potential pastor. It was an interesting evening. Stephen was working, and I really wish he could have been there so I could see what his opinion is on everything, but I can’t. We will have that discussion tomorrow after he meets him and hears him preach.

I’m also questioning my sanity as Christmas draws closer. Stephen and I went into town today to go grocery shopping, and picked up some things for Christmas as well. I bought 16 yards of flannel to make into pajama pants for nieces and nephews, but the kicker is that these gifts all need to be mailed. Normally I would have had gifts done by now, but with finances being as they are, I was waiting for a little extra money first. They’ll get done, though. It has been a challenge trying to come up with ideas that we can get or make while keeping our budget down, but I think we did all right this year. There are still a couple guys on our list that we’re not sure about, but they are just plain hard to buy for and that’s that. Lol!

Here is my newest Mother’s Bracelet. This one has birthstones on it instead of letter cubes. The beads are all solid sterling silver and genuine Swarovski crystal.

Tonight’s latest project was Christmas gifts. I have two new designs that I’ll add to the store in the next couple of days: a new Mother’s Bracelet and my first Grandmother’s Bracelet. It was really fun to play with the different birthstone colors and see how they looked for different families.

Pictures to come. . .

Just figured I’d let you know I’ve updated the notebook forms page with a new menu. There’s another one in the works that I’m hoping to add fairly soon too, but it’s not quite done yet.

Notebook Forms Page

I tried olive oil for the first time on my hair last night, and I am HOOKED! Wow – my hair was incredible today!

I first tried it because my scalp was so dry. I use olive oil on my hands as a moisturizer, so I figured I’d try the oil on my hair and see if it helped. Right before bed, I put on an old tshirt to sleep in, and put an old pillowcase on the pillow. Then I dampened my hair and rubbed the oil in really well, paying special attention to the roots and scalp, and combed the tangles out. Then I wound it into a bun and tucked the ends in really good and pinned it, and covered it all with a scarf to try and keep as much oil off the pillow as possible. I slept on it that way.

In the morning I washed it out. After the first shampoo, my hair was squeaking, but I sudsed it up again just to make sure all the oil was gone. Then I got scared that it would be a bear to comb out so I put some conditioner on the length of it.

Wow – my hair was so soft, and I can really see a difference in my scalp. This will probably become a regular routine every few weeks or so. It seems to have made a difference as far as tangles are concerned too, but I’m not 100% convinced that’s true yet.

Oh – I used a couple of tablespoons of oil total for my mid-back-length hair. . .

Just wanted to show everyone my newest project – the Hope of My Heart Designs Blog. I wanted to have a place to be able to write about new products and things I am working on, without always sounding like an advertisement here on this blog.

If you do go visit, please let me know what you think!

Hope of My Heart Designs Blog

I didn’t end up posting nearly as much as I thought I would so I merged the posts back over here and I’m closing the blog. Thanks for reading it!

My latest project was another snowflake pendant. I liked the first one I made, but I wanted to see how hard it would be to make a smaller one. I chose light blue Swarovski crystal beads for it, partly because it looks nice and wintry, and partly because I like the blue crystal.

Oh my – he’s growing up so quickly. . .