Silhouette CAMEO Giveaways!

I hope I didn't trick you with that title! I'm not giving one away. This blog just isn't that popular, yet :) I don't know if you've heard about the Silhouette, but blog after blog I've read has projects to do with it. So of course, I had to see for myself what it was all about. I searched it yesterday and OMG I have to get one! There's SO many things you can do with it! I would literally like to have it to do everything it can do. If you follow me on Pinterest, It's no secret how much I LOVE vinyl art, now. Not to mention all of the projects I can use it as a stencil! How cool would it be to have this in your room!

Source: None via Silhouette on Pinterest

I used to be an avid scrapbooker, but with no space to keep all of the embellishments, I had to give up doing it. With the Silhouette, I can make the designs I need as I need them! No more having boxes and boxes of scrapbooking supplies!

Source: stamptacularsundaychallenge.blogspot.com via Silhouette on Pinterest

Two of the coolest things it can do by far, are the rhinestone templates and the temporary tattoos. Seriously how Cool is that!
 

I know, my blog just isn't *there* yet to be one of the ones chosen to do a giveaway for the CAMEO.  But in my desire to have one and have it soon, I'm entering each and every giveaway I find!.  I thought I'd save you the trouble and make a list of everywhere I'm entering!! Many of them even have a coupon code, so even if you don't win, you can still get a little savings!

Silhouette America Blog

Eighteen25

U-Create

How Does She?

House of the Hepworths
Kevin and Amanda
Creating the Hive

That's pretty much all I could find, for now.  I'll take another crack at it later.  Crossing my fingers and saying a prayer for me and you to win one!!

Leaving a Legacy

It occuenrred to me the other day as I was baking of just what a great legacy has been left for me. Certainly my family is not perfect, not by a LONG shot, but I was certainly raised in such a way that I was left one amazing legacy. I have such great examples of how to be a woman of God, and how a Godly family operates, it's pretty amazing. One legacy that I've often thought about, and praised God for, is that not one single marriage in my immediate family (grandparents, first cousins that I see the most, parents) has ended in divorce. In fact, both sets of grandparents were married for at least 50 years, my parents and aunt & uncle married for over 25 years, my closest cousin married for 10. Each of them has a God-centered marriage and are going strong. I love to sit with my Maw-Maw and listen to stories from "back in the day," here lately I can't seem to have a conversation with her without her saying "I can't wait to go be with my sweet-heart." My paw-paw died when I was in the 5 grade. It breaks my heart to hear her say that, cause I want to keep her here with me forever, but isn't that like the sweetest thing you ever heard? Growing up, I got to watch my parents have the most amazing marriage. It's definitely something to aspire to. My parents set such a great example in how to raise a kid. They certainly made their share of mistakes, but I don't think anyone could have had a better childhood. We always had what we needed. We even got a lot of what we wanted. We knew to be thankful for what we have. On more than one occasion strangers have gone out of their way to inform them that my brothers had great manners. When we did something wrong, they didn't compromise their morals or ours, they always stood their ground. When my brother had his accident and became paralyzed, my mom dropped everything to go take care of him for MONTHS in the hospital. It's something that when contrasted with other people's raising, I'm just so immensely grateful. In beginning to notice the legacies that were left for me, I started thinking about the legacy I want to leave for my daughter and all who come in contact with me. I want my kids to grow up exuding the fruit of the Spirit. I pray often that Jesus shines so brightly through me that people come up to me to ask if I'm a Christian. I get that from my Grandfather. He's been a preacher for as long as I can remember and on the job delivering news papers to a convenience store, a lady came up to him, asked if he was a pastor, and asked that he pray for her once he confirmed that he was. I want to be the loving wife that if I die before my husband does, he can't wait to die to join me in heaven. I want my kids to look back and say, "man, I had one awesome mama." I want everyone I come in contact with to feel loved once I leave them. I want everyone to want a relationship with Jesus. I want people to know to not follow the teachings of their church or some televangelist, I want them to seek God's word and walk with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I want people to know that Jesus came, died on the cross and rose from the dead, in order to have a close, personal relationship with you.

Me LOVES My Supplements!

As most of you know, I've been struggling to lose the weight I gained after being healed of my anorexia. As of now, I'm about 50 lbs overweight. I've sometimes wondered how even when I do everything perfectly, I just can't lose the weight. A friend finally suggested it might be Thyroid related. I was like DUH! Most people are actually iodine deficient. When she suggested that might be my problem, I got really excited. I know, excited to have been "diagnosed" but I was just happy to have a reason! I was diagnosed with goiter just before I got married, but it was never discovered why. I looked up the symptoms of iodine deficiency/hypothyroidism and low and behold I had all but 3 symptoms. Now, most people would go to the doctor, get diagnosed, and go on medication for the rest of their life. Not me. See we made the switch to being holistic recently, we treat the whole body, not just the symptoms. Don't get me wrong, modern medicine definitely has it's place. I knew that the most likely cause of having hypothyroidism is not having enough iodine. So what did I do? I went and got me an iodine supplement (kelp). I've already lost 5 lb, by doing nothing different than taking the kelp. I feel immensely better. I'm also taking a prenatal vitamin (best vitamin for a woman to take as per a medical doctor), vitamin E oil to help my body break down the sellenium I ingest, and an acidophilus supplement to keep my body well balanced. I cannot begin to tell you how much of a difference this has made. We have also added WAY more veggies into our diet, but that's a whole other post. The point of this? Just check to see if there's any type of supplement (or better yet a food) you can use to treat whatever ails you. Chances are it will not just treat the one symptom you're having, but cure your entire system. "If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health"--Hippocrates “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”--Hippocrates

I'm Featured! SAHM of Etsy

Etsy has this great resource called teams.  I'm a member of the SAHM of Etsy Team! I actually head up the blog for them.  Seriously, though there are several amazing ladies who help me immensely with it!

Each Wednesday over there, we feature one of the active team members.  You don't get picked if you don't participate, so it's really quite the honor! It's a great motivation for team members to get/stay active!

This week's featured shop is ME!! Yay!! You can see the post here, but I'm also gonna put it down here.  Don't forget to go check out the team blog and follow! We post tutorials, shop advise, beautiful team treasuries and have a link party every Friday!

Tuesday Tip: Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

This is one of our favorite recipes around here! Even my veggie-hating hubby loves them! Here's just a few tips to get you started.  Be sure not to cut the slices over a 1/4" thick.    They need to be uniform slices.  Also, make sure to leave a good bit of space around the potatoes on the pan.  They steam a lot and need the room so they don't just steam each other.  You also will need to watch them closely as they can burn easily.  OK, that's it for the tips! Happy cooking!

As always, click and print to add this recipe to your Recipe Box!

My Lazy Girl's Money Saving Cleaning Tips

Ok, my friends and family are laughing their heads off now! I'm not the world's greatest housekeeper by any means. There's little more that I hate as much as cleaning. Trust me, a person who is fairly lazy and hates to clean is the best person to get cleaning advise from. Wanna know why? It's all about making it easier. And since my grocery budget must also include my cleaners, I'm looking for a way to make cleaning as inexpensive and still environmentally safe as possible.

Image from green-house-cleaning-tips.com

Tuesday Tip: Blueberry Muffin Recipe

These seriously have to be the best blueberry muffins I've ever had! The batter is just the perfect consistency and the topping is to die for!  This recipe guarantees you 12 big, bakery sized muffins every time!

Picture does not do these justice! The best looking ones had already
been eaten before I could snap a picture!

Making customized blog tabs for your Blogger Blog

I used to see so many blogs with really cool page buttons for their blog.  But Blogger's standard buttons are just so boring!  I searched and searched for a tutorial to change them, but really didn't even know what search terms to use.  I eventually found a great YouTube tutorial that showed me how to do it.  Puglypixel uses Photoshop, so I thought I'd write a post on how I do it with GIMP.

Crochet Ruffled Scarf Pattern

With fall here and it starting to get cool outside, I thought I'd pull out this pattern from the old Lilly Bunns Blog! This scarf is super duper cute, and I've had TONS of compliments on it.  And the pattern couldn't be any simpler!  I've made this one pretty long, but you could make it however long you want.

Abreviations:
    Ch: Chain
    DC: Double Crochet
    TC: Triple Crochet
    sl st: Slip st

hook: J

Gauge is not important.

Ch 103
Row 1: 1 dc in each stitch. 6 dc in the last (106)
Row 2: Instead of turning and going up, you'll work on the "bottom" in the chain st.  1 DC in each st, 6 dc in last st.  sl st to join (At this point it will look like a super long oval) (106)
Row 3: Chain 4, 5 TC in next 100 st.  skip 3 st and sl st Cut yarn and tie off.

It's that simple! I love how it twists! My daughter gets soooo many compliments on hers!
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This is why I love natural remedies

I had a head and ear ache all day yesterday, but just suffered through it until about 3 am this morning.  The pain was so severe I couldn't get to sleep.  I broke down and took conventional medicines.  They did relieve the pain for a little while, but when I woke up just a few short hours later it was back with a vengeance.

After a google search on how to best use some remedies I'd heard of, I got to work in my kitchen.  That's right no trips to the doctor or the pharmacy.  Most of what I needed was right there at home.  I, unfortunately, didn't have any whole onions or garlic, so I racked my brain with to find a way to get the healing benefits of both into my ear.  I decided to put some of the chopped onion and garlic I have on hand in a little organic grape seed oil.   I heated it for about 30 seconds in the microwave and then allowed it to cool to body temperature.  I then took a sterilized dropper and put 3 drops in my ear and dipped a small piece of a cotton ball into the mixture and put that in my ear as well.  The relief was nearly immediate!  In an effort to help it work a little better I also massaged the area.  I will repeat this every few hours.

I will write another post another day on why we choose to be a homeopathic as possible. I'm by no means over the ear infection as this was just the first time for me to treat it, but I am allowing my body to do as God designed it to and heal itself! (which coincidentally will boost my immune system and reduce my chances of getting the same thing again in the future.)

Tutorial: Felt Flower Fridge Magnets

It's still February, but spring is upon us down here in the Houston area, and I'm in full blown garden and flower mode!  I'm also all about magnets since we have very few of them here at the house, and most are really ugly.  So I decided to combine the two and make some felt flower fridge magnets.  I found a few flower templates online, and got to work!

Tutorial: How to Work "the Twitter"

I must confess, after originally writing this post for my Lilly Bunns blog I haven't gotten much better about using twitter.  I'm getting better, though.  Hopefully this little guide will help you out too!

Let God Work

I've always struggled with trying to control everything.  Everything from my husband, to my house, to just EVERYTHING! I can't tell you how difficult it is for me to let someone else drive a car I'm riding in! This same attitude is reflected in my relationship with God.  I'm always wanting to be the one to cause change in my life.  God has taught me so much about my attitude, and allowing Him to do the work in me.

Recipe: Yummy Turkey Meatloaf

I LOVE this meatloaf! It's the closest I've ever come to a "real" meatloaf. The texture is great, and there's all
sorts of yummy goodness inside.  The ground turkey takes just a little of the fats away, and whole wheat bread and oats make for a great addition of complex carbs!

Tutorial: Pattern Weights

There's nothing I hate more than pinning a pattern and cutting out the fabric when I'm doing a project.  I absolutely love my rotary cutter and mat.  It saves me so much precious time!  If you have yet to take the rotary leap, I highly recommend you jump in as soon as you can! I promise, you'll never look back! It's also great for those with bad hands!

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome...

To the greatest show on earth.  OK, OK I know I'm not that interesting, but there is a pretty crazy show going on behind this computer screen! At least it feels like craziness! I'm not only a wife and stay-at-home-mom, I'm making an attempt to run two small businesses and blog about it all.

This is my grainy iPhone pic,
I was bored and it was a good hair day .

If you've come here from Lilly Bunns Boutique blog, or Not Just a Little Fat, then WELCOME to the new digs! I hope you all enjoy it here! I maybe owe you a little explanation for doing away with the other blogs (or you don't care and that's OK too).  I wanted a place where I can write about everything that interests me, not just weight loss, or crafting.  Having two blogs to keep up with just two things I'm interested in, just wasn't a good fit for me.  Don't worry, I'll be bringing the interesting posts over here from there! I'll also be leaving both blogs active so you can still go straight to the post with the links you're used to.

You might be saying "Self, what in the world does the name of the blog mean?"  Or, again, you might not care and are just happy to be here, hopefully; cause you just might be thinking you're never coming here again (I really hope you're not)  There are sooooooooo many words I could use to describe myself and the purposes of this blog, but I really think those 3 sum me up almost to a T.

Your next question is probably "she's crunchy?"  Crunchy is a sort of nick name that "green living" people have gotten.  I'm not so sure of the etymology, but it's something about hippies eating crunchy granola.  I will write a post later on why I'm going as all natural as possible.

Now onto what you will find in this blog.  It will just be about my life and the things that interest me.  Everything from crafts and decorating, to photography, to politics and Christianity.  I might even throw in a few conspiracy theories every now and again (that's where the crazy comes in).  I'll share everything from the struggles of marriage to the joys of mother hood.  So grab a cup of coffee and plop down in front of your computer and follow along in my Crunchy, Crafty, and Crazy world!