Help Me, Ronda...Help, Help Me, Ronda....

Now that I've got that song stuck in your head, today will be the first guest blog post by my friend Ronda.  We've known each other since college- she was even one of my bridesmaids!  We are both Nutritionists and, years after college, even studied together to be ACE certified personal trainers.  She is my "wild and crazy" crocheting buddy I told you about in the fall when I took a trip back home.  Her first blog post is pretty timely- all about keeping those healthy New Year's resolutions.  But, I'll let her tell you herself....  Thanks, Ronda!!

***************************************************************************

Hey Everybody!

It is time to make those New Year resolutions.  How many times have you said, “My resolution will be to eat better, exercise more and lose weight” or some variation of that?  How many times have you failed only to see the scale tipping more the next year?  I am hoping that I can help you throughout the year. 

I am a mother of three and very busy home schooling my two oldest girls and trying to keep my 3 year old son out of trouble.  In my free time I have to keep the house running and unfortunately sometimes meals take a back burner to my life.  I am a RD (Registered Dietitian) as well as a Personal Trainer, so I should have no excuses- eating well and exercising should be my priority, my first love.  In actuality I struggle like everyone else. My resolution is to exercise more and eat better.  Surprise…. 

So many people fail to keep their resolutions and the primary reasons are because they don’t have a plan- no real goal set.  A goal should be something that is obtainable and can be followed.  Just saying, “I will eat better,” doesn’t cut it.  You must say how you will eat better.

For example, I have a meal plan that I will follow.  It looks like this chart below.

Milk
Vegetables
Fruit
Starch
Meat
Fat
Exercise

Each colored square is a serving of food (we’ll go over what exactly a “serving” is later on) and my goal is to mark off each square every time I eat a serving.  This is an obtainable goal and by following this I will lose weight.  Now this meal plan was made specifically for me so not everyone can follow this.  Some people need more calories and some need fewer depending on their size and the amount of exercise they do. 

I also must have a plan for exercising.  I can’t just say, “I will exercise more.”  Remember it has to be obtainable.  Instead I say, “I plan to exercise on the treadmill Monday-Friday at 6am-6:45am.  That will include warm up and cool down.  At 3pm I plan to resistance train.”  I do have a more specific plan for that but I don’t want this to be too daunting.

I have high hopes that this year will be the year that you will meet those New Year resolutions.  I also hope that I can give hope to those struggling.  I, as a dietitian and personal trainer have successes and failures, too.  That is life but we can walk through it together.  Until next time!        

Practicing What I Preach

Thank you all for your kind words, whether here, Ravelry, email or FB.  Thank you!  My Mister and I are beyond stoked and really can't wait to meet our little Geekling this summer.  And, yes- I bought this cute onesie for Christmas

along with this shirt for the proud papa.

To show just how in sync we are, he bought me this for Christmas:

Haha!  Oh man- forget a silver spoon, our poor kid is going to be born with a pocket protector....either that or a wiimote.

I do have some crochet projects I've been planning and just hope I have enough time to get them done before I pop out the little squirt.  My work hours have increased in the last few months which- along with me being sick as a dog and tired as, well, a pregnant woman- has not left me with much crafting time available recently. However, I'm hoping that will change now that I'm in the 2nd trimester. Supposedly things are supposed to ease up now.  Although, my mom's maniacal laughter after I told her that does not instill much confidence in me.  (For reals- she busted up when I told her that, according to all I've read, I should not be so sick and tired anymore. Thanks, mom.)

And that's where the whole "practicing what I preach" comes into play.  I actually work primarily with pregnant women- giving them nutrition advice throughout their pregnancy so they will hopefully have a healthy weight gain and get their little ones off to the best start possible.  Yes, I have a bunch of nutrition education to back me up on what I advise, but this is my first time being able to actually try out my advice and helpful tips for myself.

For instance, how can I control this dang indigestion???  I'll have an hour long belching episode which ordinarily is a thing of pride, but when my Mister asks, "When are you going to be a lady??" it's definitely crossed a line.  (Not to mention the pain!!) For me, it doesn't matter what I eat- it hit me hard last night after having a bowl of raisin bran and rice milk for dinner. Of all the things I've tried, I found that ginger tea is what works best for me- calms the indigestion and stops the burps.  My Mister made me a cup last night and I was finally able to sleep. Seriously- it was a miracle.

This is part of the nutrition project I mentioned yesterday that my friend Ronda and I have been planning.  So many women do not have access to a nutritionist during their pregnancy and many times they rely on the internet to sort of guide the way.  Believe me, I've been on many of the pregnancy message boards and some of the advice given by fellow moms-to-be can be downright frightening.  So, I'm not only going to be practicing what I preach, but I'm also going to be letting you practice what I preach, too. I'll be focusing on a healthy pregnancy- healthy weight gain, eating well, exercising, controlling the unwanted gas, etc. so if you know of any pregnant friends, let them know so they can follow along.

Now, you may be saying, but I'm not pregnant!  I want to be healthy, too!  Well, that's where my friend Ronda comes into the equation.  She's a mother of three and also has some weight loss and exercise goals of her own and wants to practice what she preaches, as well.   We are going to be here to document our journey to being healthy (and hopefully non-hypocritical) dietitians in the real world.  We're hoping to pass along some helpful information, tips and tricks, inspiration, and, of course, laughter along the way.


We're going to start up our own combined blog next month so we'll be blabbing about crochet, crafting, homeschooling, pregnancy oddities, and healthy nutrition stuff on here for a couple weeks until my geeky Mister gets our new site up. Yay!! 

Thank you, again, for all your kind words and inspirations. Here's to an amazing 2011!!

A Tale of Two Januaries

2010: It was the worst of times; 2011: It was the definite better of times....

Oh dear, neglected blog readers (yoohoo! Anyone still there?):

How insanely ecstatic I am that 2010 has finally bit the big one.  That year couldn't have ended soon enough for me and yet it seemed to drag on...and on...and on.  I know I'm not the only one who was only too happy to lay Old Father Time in his final resting place while joyously dumping the dirt over the coffin and dancing a jig over his grave (a bit macabre, but it makes me happy).  It seems like 2010 was a pretty sucky year for many folks, so I know I'm not alone when I say, "Sayonara! Auf wiedersehen! Adios! Good bye, sucker!" to 2010.

Ok, so maybe I'm not being entirely fair to the first year of this decade.  There were some definite ups for me amongst the many downs: I won two Ravelry Bobby awards, I won a Best Actress Award at a Film Festival, I got to visit our awesome neighbors to the north, and I got to go on a great Disney Cruise vacation with my Mister, to name some highlights.  However, 2010 was unfortunately doomed for me from the very beginning, starting at this time (almost to the day) last year.

I know, I know.  I've mentioned that 2009 ended very badly and 2010 began horribly and that it affected me in ways that I wasn't ready to face for many months afterward.  However, I never shared what exactly happened because I just wasn't able to put it out there for so many people to see.  However, as I know I'm not alone in my rejoicing in 2010's demise, I also know I'm also not alone in what I went through last year.

You see, in mid 2009, after many years of being very happily married, my Mister and I finally decided it was time to add to our little family.  In November 2009, we very happily found out we were expecting and I couldn't wait for Christmas to make the announcement on this here blog.  However, December 2009 brought our first sonogram which, unfortunately is the reason 2010 sucked so much.  By January 2010, one year ago this past Saturday, we were no longer expecting an addition to our family.

It took many months for me to be able to process everything we went through and many months for me to even be willing to start trying again.  My erratic blog posting and long disappearances are a testament to that. I hope you'll forgive my most recent blog disappearance these last few months since it's not been the easiest time of year for me.

However, now that 2011 is here, and this Saturday has past, I must admit I am so very excited for 2011.  I've got many plans for this year, including a new venture with one of my BFF's.  She is also an avid crocheter AND she's a Registered Dietitian, as well.  Her name is Ronda and we've been wanting to collaborate with each other on a Nutrition based project ever since we were cramming for finals while eating fried mozzarella sticks at JBs.  (Hypocritical much?) She'll be a guest blogger for me every once in a while giving you all some great Nutrition tips, which is quite timely since I know some of you are still trying to keep up with your New Year's Resolutions.  Put down that mozzarella!

There is more to be revealed soon, but her first blog post will be sometime this week- I know you'll love her as much as I do!

As for me, I've not been idle during my blog-break.  I've been exhaustively working on a new creation these past 3 1/2 months- it's easily going to be my best yet- which is going to be the definite highlight of this year.  Even though I don't like revealing too much about my work before it's done, I'm going to have to this time since it has a big part to play in my endeavor with Ronda.  I'll be keeping you updated (with regular blog posts- cross my heart and hope to die!) but for now, I'll leave you with this teaser.

The Versatile Blogger Award

Ok, so I'm a little late in the game here, but I've been meaning to do this for quite a while. (Same thing goes with my new Twitter account (@Pomquat)- still trying to learn the ropes there, but I digress.) Actually, it really shocked me to see that the fabulous Libby had awarded me with The Versatile Blogger Award back in August (!!). I do want to thank her so much and let y'all know to go visit her blog if you have not already done so. She's very talented and extremely sweet.

So apparently, as a recipient of The Versatile Blogger Award, I'm supposed post 7 things about myself for the whole world to see.  Well, since I post about myself all the time (which takes a lot of time and thought, actually....blogging is hard!), I decided to cull some facts from one of those FB memes I filled out a while back.  Lazy? Yes. But at least I'm honest about it. :P

Anywho, without further ado, here are 7 things you don't know about me (unless you were a FB friend and read these a long time ago).

1. I cannot stand netspeak. All of the misspellings and ridiculous acronyms give me a headache but “LOL” is the bane of my existence. I know people do not LOL as often as they say they do and I can guarantee there are few who have ever really ROFLMAO. srsly, idk y ur 2 dum.

2. In 7th grade PE, I literally ROFLOL so hard and long that I forgot to breathe and passed out.

3. I’m extremely accident prone- don’t know if it’s an inner ear problem or just ADD, but I’m a real klutz. Yet, strangely enough, I’ve never broken any bones. I credit it to all the milk and dairy I consume.

4. When I was a kid, I wanted to go to Hawaii so that I could climb a coconut tree and drop a coconut on my brother’s head. When I finally got to go to Hawaii, my brother was not with me, so I had to improvise and hit another tourist. Haha- kidding. I really did want to drop a coconut on his head, though...watched too many cartoons- darn Wile E. Coyote.

5. I have worn Chuck Taylors my whole life- I even had some dinosaur ones in elementary school and was made fun of for having “boy shoes” I pinched that little girl and she never bothered me again. Violence is always the answer. 

6. My hair and nails grow extremely fast- I think I’m part yeti.

7. I don’t think skunks stink- I don’t know why, but they don’t. Must be the yeti in me.

Now, I'm supposed to pass on the love to 15 other blogs but unfortunately, I'm not going to be able to list 15 other blogs because, well, I'm lazy.  So, here are some blogs of folks I've visited and others that have visited me!

Becky from Beck's Blog.  If you've been on Crochetville or Craftster, you've most likely see some of this lady's amazing work. She's a Tunisian crochet virtuoso, among other things, and you really do need to see her work!

Steenta from CraftySteenta. She actually just left a comment on my previous post so I checked her out.  WOW!  I'm really jealous of people who are true artists in different mediums.  I really wish I could draw!

Howie from WooWork.  Another one you probably have seen from Craftster.  A male crocheter, video maker, comic writer...all around funny and talented guy!

lyteyz from Deep Thoughts Just because she's one of my BFF's and hopefully it'll encourage her to post more often- she's an amazing crocheter which makes me so very proud since she was my very first student.  I wish I could take credit for her crochet awesomeness, but.........ok, I'll take credit. teehee!! Post some of your works, girl!!

Tami from Tami's Ami's...another recent commenter on my blog.  Another awesome crocheter!!  I'm going to have to spend more time here, but I loved her post on Flash your Stash.  Your stash is defintely growing....two plastic bins.....and you've not yet been crocheting a year?  A girl after my own heart. :)

I wish I could send you all to Tracy's blog or Kuddlekubs (although visit her store!) who visit more frequently, but there are no posts there!  (Yes, I'm calling you out Tracy.  :) I hope you're doing well!!)

Ok, that was fun.   Have a great Sunday all!

I Need a Vacation....From My Vacation

Ok- I'm finally back and able to spend a little time on this here bloggy-thingy.  I had a few comments that were waiting for moderation (Thanks Lila, Tami, and Anons!) and I haven't been able to log in for a couple weeks. (BTW- I started moderating comments because I kept getting ones hawking Viagra, which weren't too bad- they actually would comment on the actual project, whether the Mario Blanket or Marilyn Bag, so I didn't mind. However, when I got the comment that offered to increase my penis size, I thought it would be a good time to stop the spam.  Insinuating my penis is small is quite emasculating and will not be tolerated.  However, I don't edit or stop any other comment.  They all get posted and, hopefully, replied to.  I'm getting better at that!)

The reason for my blog abstinence is a wonderful one, actually.  I was on vacation with My Mister.  A REAL vacation- not one to visit family that is filled with obligations, but one where we got to spend time together, alone, and got to do whatever the heck we wanted to do.  It was glorious.

We were in Orlando for the wedding of one of my childhood friends (the wedding for which I needed to finish the Flower Bag) and then enjoyed a Disney Cruise package- 4 days Disney World, 3 days cruise to the Bahamas and Disney's Castaway Cay.  We've been planning this for quite a while- ever since we got the Save-the-Date from my friend- and it really couldn't come at a better time.  The only thing stressing me out was that I really wanted to finish my flower bag before the trip- it's quite happy and tropical and fun and I wanted to proudly carry it around with me on my vacation.

I was working frantically on it the day before we left and was able to throw it in the washer twice.  It felted really well, but I knew it had to go through a third time....I just didn't have the time!  So, I packed it in my suitcase with the intent to finish it on our trip.  I was a little concerned that it was a little damp and was laying on my clothes, but then I thought, "Meh.  A little mold never hurt anybody."  What can I say?  I'm a little obsessive sometimes.  I am happy to report that the Color Catcher things do work! I just wish I had taken them with me so that I could have used them in the final wash.....in the hotel laundry room.

Yes, I did obsessively finish my felting in the hotel laundry the night we got to Orlando- at midnight.  Yes, My Mister knew about my plan (I only reminded him a few times while en route).  I'm telling you- he's the best husband in the world.  Either that or the worst (best?) enabler, but we won't clue him in on that now, will we?

After washing it and putting it through the dryer (couldn't let it "air" dry in that thick, water laden sludge they call "air" down there...worst.humidity.ever.), I had to stretch it a bit (first bag I've had to shape after felting!) The next day (the day of the wedding) I started needle felting the borders around the flowers.  Then my needles broke. So, after the wedding and before the reception, I googled the nearest JoAnns and My Mister lovingly enabled drove me 30 minutes so I could buy a refill.  So, I started needle felting in the car again.  Then one broke again. (I blame it on a defective needle and not the fact that I was crazily stabbing at it so that I could finish it quicker).  So, My Mister loving drove me back to JoAnn's (no, I didn't threaten to stab him with my broken needles.  Why? What have you heard?) But, I couldn't go back in there since I was just in there and would be remembered (no- I'm not being vain- I was the only one wearing a cocktail dress and asked a few people where the needle felting items were.  And then the cashier started hitting on me.  Ok....maybe a little vain.)  So, My Mister went inside for me and bought me 2 refills, just in case.  He got the same cashier......who asked him if it was for the girl who was at the wedding.  (SEE!!) My Mister ever so politely told him, "Yes- these are for my wife."

We then went to the reception- I bawled like a baby. Congrats Dee and Dave!!! Love you both!

The next morning, before heading out to the Disney parks, I sewed my handles on (I brought them with me- as well as needle and thread) and then put the magnetic clasp on (I brought my Mister's Leatherman- best tool for the job!!).  I do want to line it so that I can add 2 more clasps on the side for security measures.  However, I proudly used it un-lined all week!  And, I even used it as carry-on for our flight home.  It's very large and very roomy- without it, we wouldn't have been able to make our 50lb. limit on our luggage.  My Mister was forced to admit that my crazy obsessions actually paid off. Ha!

So, without further ado, I present to you, my Dancing Flowers Bag!

Here I am in front of our Disney Resort- using it for the first time.  I'll have to add closeup shots of the needle felted flowers later- I'm still not finished with them, actually.  Teehee.

Here I am at Downtown Disney's Lego store.  Just chillin'. Chatting with my peeps.

And here is My Mister who proves it can also be a Man-Bag. We were at Blizzard Beach all day and it was stuffed with all of our stuff.  Since I was exhausted, he offered to carry it to the car. He only grumbled a little bit about being seen carrying a girlie-bag. I told him that he looked very much like a gentleman carrying the heavy load for his wife.  And then I took this picture.





So, there you have it- FINALLY a (semi) finished object!  As I've mentioned, I do have the flower chart ready and did write out the pattern.  I'm already planning the colors for my second one.  This is going to be a model for my Tunisian Crochet class later this month. WOOT!

Now, to finish the other semi-finished objects waiting for me.....oy vey.

PS: I just joined Twitter!  (Seriously- JUST joined it- like 5 minutes ago.)  I figure I'll be able to post updates a lot quicker on that so that I don't pull a disappearing act when I'm busy. :D  Follow me: @Pomquat.  Ummm...once I figure out how to, I'll add that as a link. ;)