This weather is gorgeous. For now.

I took this picture as I was walking yesterday. So beautiful. The weather is perfect (for the moment) so I'm trying to get out as often as I can and walk. Wish I could say run, but let's be serious.

Day trip to Sedona

We had some great friends in town visiting, and took a day trip to Sedona. It was gorgeous. Beautiful views and perfect weather! We visited the Crescent Moon Ranch in Red Rock Park. I wish I had known about this park the other times we have gone to Sedona. The main area of town is fine, but very touristy. This park is gorgeous!

The Pants of JUDGMENT

You know how some of your pants have a little stretch in them? A little grace for those bad days weeks, where you can still fit in your pants, although you are acutely aware of their changed fit?

Then you have the pants with no grace, the pants that don't stretch at ALL.

Well, I have a pair of these pants. I call them the Pants of Judgment. When they are loose, I rejoice. When they are tight, I immediately eat healthy and exercise put on stretchy pants, feel gross and fat, and vow to start my diet tomorrow.

I put these pants on today. I have been judged, my friends. I have been judged.

Wine Bottle Lights

I'm always looking for cool crafty cheap gift ideas. A few years ago, my sister-in-law made a light out of a wine bottle, and I LOVED it. These are a GREAT gift, and cost almost nothing to make.

I started collecting wine bottles (by drinking wine, and asking friends to do the same) and got a pretty decent collection. I soaked them in warm water to remove the labels (left the labels on a few of the nicer bottles) and then got really, really busy. I got pregnant (heh heh, I really did get busy...had a second kid, moved, worked, etc. etc.)

Two years later...(yeah, seriously.)

I bought a special drill bit to drill a hole in the glass. You can find that here. They come in a set, and I used the largest. You have to run water (use the hose) over the bottle as you drill through. I'd do this outside, because clearly you wouldn't want to bring the hose in...but also, there is a serious chance you'll break a bottle or two. Better out than in! Our friends let us invade their house and use their drill press, which REALLY helped!

So...cleaned the bottles, drilled the holes. I bought strings of 20 white Christmas lights from Ace Hardware. These are much easier to find around Christmas time, but if you want to make these now, you can order the lights here. They are about a dollar cheaper from Ace Hardware closer to Christmas. Threading the lights through the holes is a little difficult, but if I can do it without throwing things, you can too.

Finally, I decorated them. I wanted to see what the bottle looked like with the lights on and off as I decided how to decorate each one, so I did that part last. First, I tried a few different things that I wasn't thrilled with. I ended up buying a few cans of gold and silver glitter spray paint from Hobby Lobby. I sprayed the bottles first, and decorated when they were dry. I used different ribbons, and just played with it until I got what I wanted. I bought wine corks from the craft store. The hot glue gun was my tool of choice for this project - and several blisters (and two years) later, I have 10 beautiful wine bottles to give away.

I'd definitely do this project again. It probably cost less than four dollars per bottle to make, and people just love them.

Besides, who doesn't love a reason to drink wine?

This would be GREAT to do with a special wine bottle - like for a wedding or anniversary. I'd just leave the label on and add lights.

That pork is magical

Generally, I'm not a big meat eater. I was vegetarian for a little over a year, until I got pregnant with my daughter. Since then, eating meat is something I've done because it's WAY more convenient when eating out and in other homes. If I really sat down and gave it some thought, I would probably stop eating it. Except for that super expensive, farm raised organic stuff.

Pork bothers me more than other meats, because of an experience I had while translating in a hospital right after college. You can read about it (google worms in brain and pork), but I don't recommend that you do. Especially if you're paranoid like I am.

Anyway, our schedule is pretty crazy, and Wednesdays are the busiest. So I aim for crock pot cooking if I can on Wednesdays. I bought a pork roast, threw it (ok, gently set it...don't want pork juice all over the kitchen) in the crock pot, COVERED it in garlic powder, added some seasoned salt, dumped a beer and a can of beef broth over it, chopped up an onion and threw it in, and turned it on high for about 6 hours. Sounds redneck, huh? Well, it's magical. About 30 minutes before it was ready, I shredded it and let it keep cooking. We had it on mini whole grain rolls, but it's also great on tortillas with chopped onion, cilantro and lime juice on top.

I leftovers the next day for lunch. So good. You should try it!

A favorite picture

I've been looking for this picture of Madeleine, taken when she was about 15 months old. It's one of my favorite pictures of her. Such a sassy thing! I finally found it! Buried in the archives of gmail, and with the (finally!) correctly worded search, it popped up.

This was taken at a friend's house. There's not much to do in the summer out here in Hades, I mean AZ, other than some kind of water activity. So for this day, it was the hose.

My body actually can lose weight

But only if I RELIGIOUSLY follow a diet. Here's what I have been doing for the past 7 days. (7 days is a long time when you like to eat as much as I do, and when the size of your behind requires one bazillion calories to keep going.)

- Follow Weight Watchers (OLD) plan. The new one doesn't work for me. Tried it for 3 weeks, lost 1.5 pounds. I'm not dieting for kicks, people. Gotta see results or I'm OUT.

- Exercised (mostly walking, some running) 5 of the past 7 days

- No sugar or refined carbs...followed this like 95% of the time

- No alcohol. Not that I have a problem with it, but I have ONE drink and immediately stop caring about what I eat. It's like magic.

- Little to no carbs with dinner

- NO eating after dinner

- Lots of water

And that's it. And this morning, the beginning of week 2, I really hesitated to get on the scale. I can tell a difference in my body, but I would have been SO disappointed if I had only lost one pound. Plus, it's always good to weigh after a big poop (YES I did just say that! But it's true and you know it!) and my fingers felt swollen, blah blah blah.

BUT I did it. I stepped on the scale and tried to give myself a pep talk (in my head, I'm not THAT crazy) as I did it. Because there's really not much else I could have done to step it up. And...wait for it...wait for it...

7 POUNDS. In one week. That is crazy. And I love that kind of crazy. I know it won't happen every week, and I still have, like, a first grader to lose, but it's a darn good start.

I was walking yesterday, thinking about this whole dieting thing. I am always. ALWAYS on a diet. Or cheating on one. Or taking a break from one. And I still hang out within the same 10 pound range. So I was thinking, since I diet until I can take a day off, or until I take some time off...and it's obviously not working, maybe I should re-think things.

Considering the metabolism that I have (horrible) I should probably just decide if I'd rather eat what I want, or lose weight. And really, I think I'd rather lose weight. Once I get on a roll, maybe I'll take a cheat day or meal a week. That seems reasonable to me.

So there. I will just put that out there, for the world to see. Week 2 annnd GO.