Hate New Years Resolutions

I always try to not set specific New Years Resolutions. I've heard people say that if you don't set a goal then you won't accomplish anything, and I can understand where that sentiment is coming from. But if I start out the year saying "This Year I will..." (& it will always be something I haven't been doing yet because otherwise why would I need the goal) then when I mess up or forget, I feel like I have failed for this year & stop trying. This is an awful way to start new habits!
The only goal I stared for this year was that I wanted to take a picture a week for the photo challenge I joined. As you know I forgot to post my photo 2 weeks ago, well this week I completely forgot to take the photo! Last year when I tried to join a different photo challenge & forgot to take a photo, I didn't see the point in continuing. I had messed up, I had not taken a photo a week for 2011, so I stopped. Well if I never build a habit of taking a photo a week then I will never actually complete this challenge, no matter how many years I try. Therefore, I am going to continue. This weeks photo theme is Blue, this week I am going to take a picture of something blue & post it! Then the week after that I'll post, and the week after that...and if I forget again then I will pick it up the next week. This year I will build the habit so that next year I can actually post a photo every week!
Another habit I am going to build is healthy eating habits. Based on The South Beach Diets way of thinking I am going to start eating healthier. If I mess up & eat something very unhealthy then the next day I will eat healthy. In the past when I have started trying to eat healthy as soon as I ate one thing that I knew was bad for me I said I had failed, & therefore could start eating lots of unhealthy things since that one unhealthy food had obviously automatically destroyed my diet. This is not a healthy way of thinking & it is definitely not how The South Beach Diet teaches you to think. The purpose of The South Beach Diet is to build a healthy eating lifestyle. I will never build that lifestyle if I don't make it a habit, and I will never make it a habit if I don't pick myself back up after I have fallen.
I also want to build a habit of working out. In May I am going to Disney World! But if I go in the shape I am in I will die :( That would be a sad trip. I want to start working out so I can really enjoy our trip! I had begun working out and did it five days in a row, which for me was quite an accomplishment! Then I missed one day, and never picked it back up again :( That's really sad that I let myself out of things so easily. Reading back over this I see how bad it looks, but I'm thinking I'm probably not the only one. And that is why I wanted to share my failures with you, so I could encourage you to build habits. And so I could ask for your encouragement while I am building habits. Instead of Resolutions for 2012, lets build habits for our life! What habits are you going to build?

Speed The Light

My church's youth group supports an organization called Speed The Light. For those that have never heard of it, Speed The Light is the Assemblies of God Youth branch of Missions giving. They raise money to buy our missionaries vehicles and sound equipment so they can better reach people all over the world to tell them about God's love. On their site it says:
"The concept is simple: we give so others can speed the light of the gospel to a world in darkness. This is accomplished by providing the "essential transportation and creative communication" equipment for missionary evangelism. Through modern transportation, radio, television, the printed word, and equipment for mass evangelism, our missionaries can better fulfill the Great Commission."
I have been involved in giving to Speed The Light since I was a teenager, and now we encourage our youth to give. Last year the youth at Life Student Ministries - LSM, gave $4,000 to Speed The Light! We are very proud of them! This year our youth pastor has challenged them to give $7,000! And to encourage them, and give incentive to raise more money, I said that I will SHAVE MY HEAD if we raise $7,000 in 2012 for Speed The Light!

This head will be bald if $7,000 is raised at Abundant Life Assembly of God for Speed The Light in 2012! I know this is something you want to see, so I wanted to give you the chance to give. This is the link to my church's, Abundant Life, online giving. You can donate through this secure site & in the description write STL. I will keep you updated on our progress, and I will definitely post pics once I have been shaved :) If you would like to read more about Speed The Light and exactly what they do, that is the link :)
All money given will be going directly to purchase necessary tools for our Missionaries, Abundant Life never takes any money out for handling fees, administrative charges, or anything like that. Everything marked for Missions goes straight to Missions :) Thank you for your support helping us reach our goal!

I forgot to post it!

As you know I'm part of a photo a week challenge this year, and last weeks theme was windows. So I took this pic:

but then I completely to post it in the group on Flickr :( And this wasn't an easy pic to take! Elias didn't understand that to take a good picture he needs to sit still! So I at least wanted to share it with you :)
This weeks theme is Old Fashioned, so I'll be thinking of a great way to display this theme on film & I'll share it with you next week :)

As you may have noticed, my banner has changed at the top of the blog. As you may remember I won a blog makeover, and this is the work in progress :) I'll tell you more about this fun process when it is all finished!

Do it to the best of your ability

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause and say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well." -Martin Luther King Jr.


Thanks to Facebook, I found this quote today & I love it! No matter what tasks we are called upon to do, we should do them well. This is something I need to be reminded of from time to time, and appreciate the way Dr. King says it.


So for week 2 of the Photo Challenge the theme was modern & I remembered at 11:45 last night, 15 mins before the pic was due. So I took this pic:

My newly healed Tattoo, free of all ointment :)

This weeks assignment is Windows, and I'm going to try to plan a little better for this one & not wait til the last 15 mins. If you are interested in joining this weekly photography group see Photo Challenge for details. And let me know in the comments if you post any pics in the group so I can go check them out!

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Where I Come From...

Without my family & friends I would not be me, so I wanted to take a post & share with you the love in my life :)

Hubby :)

This is my High School Sweetheart, the love of my life! There is so much of me that wouldn't be the same with out him. We have been married for 4 1/2 yrs, we have been together for 10 1/2 yrs, we will be together forever!

Mom

This is my mommy, without her I literally wouldn't be who I am, cuz I wouldn't exist. People tell me all the time that I'm just like her, & while I argue to give her a hard time, I don't disagree & I'm ok with that :) Sometimes I have no idea how she did it all, but she did cuz she is a great mom!

Dad

This is my dad, we don't have the best relationship, but without him I wouldn't exist. So thanks dad :)

Mom-In-Law

This is Hubby's mom, she is awesome! We don't have those weird relationship issues that I hear about from other wives, & I'm grateful for that. I'm also grateful that she gave me my Hubby :) She has become a good friend.

Dad-In-Law

This is Hubby's dad, he is also awesome :) He has a laugh that makes everyone happy! His birthday is Christmas day, which I feel sorry for him for :( He calls me his daughter, & I love him.

Sister & Brother AKA Jamie & Craig

My brother & my sister (in-law) are great! We live about 15 mins apart & so are able to hang out alot which is awesome! Jamie is the reason I have a relationship with my brother. I loved her & wanted to hangout with her, therefore I HAD to hang out with my brother ;) The 4 of us (Bro, Sis, Hubby, & I) have grown super close & I am super grateful for that! Jamie also got me to start selling my crafts & challenges my creativity all the time! She is a super creative person & we go to shows & classes together to learn how to be more creative :)

The Crazy People Who Live Downstairs AKA Burns, Tiffany, Conner & Elias

This is the family we live above. That right there should tell you something about them ;) When they bought their house, they decided that they didn't need the top floor for their then 3 member family. So they asked us to move in :) It has been quite the experience! A great experience!

I have known Tiffany since Jr High from our church. We have been friends a long time! We were in each other's weddings & I was there for the birth experience of her first son. She has recently started a blog about being a mom & wife if you would like to read more about these crazy people we live with :)

I first met Burns in a class at SAGU, but didn't actually get to know him until he started going to our church. I once jokingly suggested that Tiffany should date him, thinking he was not her type at all... now we can see who has egg on her face. I enjoy talking to Burns about Biblical matters, he can remember so many random facts it is ridiculous!

Tiffany & Burns are both amazing, they allow me to be super involved in their children's lives.

Conner is the cutest sweetest 2 year old you've ever met! He made me realize that not all kids are demon spawn ;) and I love him sooo much!

Elias is a miracle baby! He has started crawling & pulling himself into a standing position. Most recently he broke in his first tooth! He is about to be one which will make him the tiniest one year old I've ever seen! It is great to see him & Conner interact with each other. I love him!

These are the people who make me, me :) They are special to me, so I wanted to share them with you!

Photo Challenge

This year I decided to join a weekly photo challenge to stretch my thinking when it comes to taking pictures, and to hopefully challenge my scrapbooking :) I actually made this decision last year, and stuck with it for about a month & a half. So here I am again at the beginning of another year, hoping to stick with the challenge this time.
I joined a Flickr group called Weekly Photo Challenge 2012 the first weeks theme was Colors, and you can see the pic I took here. Sorry, at the moment I can not put the picture directly in the blog because my camera died :(
Anyway, it is a picture of my box of 120 crayons that my mom bought me for Christmas a few years ago :) No, not when I was a child, but just a few years ago. I love crayons & coloring books! Coloring is actually the first activity that my Sister & I bonded over when my brother brought her home to "meet the family". If she loves to color then how could I not love her? Well that and all her other wonderfulness :)
So this weeks theme is Modern. I will be thinking about this & will have a pic by Sunday that is modern. If you are interested in challenging your picture taking skills, then I would like to invite you to join the Weekly Photo Challenge 2012, we are going to have fun!

Sewing

For Hubby's & my anniversary back in June I bought him an industrial sewing machine, yes that's what he wanted. I had no intentions of using this machine, I prefer to handstich :) But then while at the craft store I found a "Sew a Friend" kit on clearance. It included the pattern, instructions, & fabric to make a monster. Against my better judgement (the little angel on my shoulder whispering you have never used a sewing machine before), I bought it & decided to make it for Elias, the youngest of the Crazy People who live downstairs, for Christmas. Hubby taught me to use the machine, and after lots of threats to throw it out the window I finished the monster. I also learned to never use cheap thread in a sewing machine, apparently that was why I was having so many problems.

Here is the finished monster :) I guess sewing machines aren't as scary as I always believed.

 Elias loves his monster :) And Conner wants one now also. Which I owe him since he is older and I have never made him anything. He is so mistreated ;)

So since I have conquered my fear of the sewing machine, and learned not to use cheap thread in it, I decided to finally do something with all those special, but to worn out to wear tshirts that hubby & I have held onto over the years. I made a tshirt quilt! It is a rag quilt, and the back of it is the backs of the tshirts, which made it fairly simple.

First I chose 25 shirts to use, and I cut a 16" square out of the middle of each of them. I did this by pinning the front & back together so I could cut a square from both the front & back at the same time. Then I decided what order the shirts would be in on the quilt, & started pinning them together 2 shirts at a time.  Then I sewed the squares together with the right sides facing out so there is an exposed seam. This gave me 5 rows of shirts, each row being 5 shirts long (sorry I didn't start taking pics until late in the process).

After I had the 5 rows, I pinned the first 2 rows together, again with the right sides out to give an exposed seam, & sewed it together.

The first 2 rows

I continued this until all 5 rows were sewn together

All 5 rows, sorry not a great pic :(

Then I sewed along the 4 outer edges of the quilt. All seams are as close to 1/2" as I could muster as a newbie seamstress :) None of my seams are straight, so I ask that good seamstresses not look to close, please :)

Lastly I cut the seams in 1" pieces to give the "rag" look & washed it.

This is a close up of the "rag" effect

And here is hubby with the finished quilt :)

So if there is anything this newbie can tell you it would be, don't use cheap thread. The machine stopped giving me problems once I changed the thread!
If there are any experienced seamstresses, I could use any tips you would like to share :)

My Gift From Hubby

A few days before Christmas Hubby told me that for my gift he was buying me a tattoo! I decided this summer that I wanted a tattoo & have been researching it for months, but I didn't know when we would be able to do it. I told him he had to get one with me because I was scared to be the only person getting one. So Friday Hubby, Mom-in-Law, & I all went & got our first tattoos! It was awesome! I won't tell you it didn't hurt, but it definitely didn't hurt as much as I expected it to :) (& I'm typically known as a wuss). Going into it I knew exactly what I wanted, a frog with some sort of ivy around him. Hubby & mom-in-law didn't decide what they were getting til we were there. We are obviously very different people :) But we all left with a tattoo we love, & that's what matters.

 This is my frog :) I love him!

This is what Patrick got, a Celtic Shamrock

 and mom-in-law got a hummingbird in honor of her mom who loved hummingbirds.

Thank you hubby for a great Christmas present that will last a lifetime! :)