What a Week

So I thought I dodged the curse last week. I was only feeling slightly under the weather for two days, then felt great. Until I woke up on Monday. I felt horrible. So horrible in fact, that I didn't go to classes. Yay extra long Spring Break.
Unfortunately, that means I'm feeling really run down and exhausted. So nothing got done all week. Well, except some updating on my Ravelry account. You should check that out. If you don't have Ravelry, here's a pic of my kitchen rug I made and posted there. I just can't wait till I have the money for that down payment so I can get a house to put the rug in.

Curse You!

I've decided that I've been cursed. Yes Cursed.
For some odd reason everytime there is a break in school, like Thanksgiving, Winter Break, and, of course, Spring Break, I get sick.
The bigger and better the plans I have for a holiday, the worse I seem to get sick. This Spring Break is no different. But since I didn't have any big plans it's nothing like Fall Break was back in October.
Ah, Fall Break. One of my favorite times of the year, made even better by having an extended weekend in which I can escape for a few days to the family cabin by Bear Lake. Of course I went this year, but started feeling a bit under the weather while up there. Thinking it was just your regular run of the mill cold that I seem to get every holiday, I went to bed early thinking I would feel a bit better the next day.
Fast forward three days, one of missed classes. I drag myself out of the bed and up the hill to my car after doping up on whatever painkillers I could find in the cupboard at the cabin. I made it through the canyon and home.
I went to work the next day, but not classes, and arrived home with a horrible pain in my ear. I wanted to get a needle and shove it in there to relieve some of the pressure I felt. The next morning, I woke up to find blood dripping out of said ear (I did not shove the needle in it, even though I had really really wanted to). This called for a trip to the doctor. I am not one for doctors, but desperate times include blood coming out of your ear, so I went.
Did you know it was possible to have two infections in one ear at the same time? Me neither, and having been a person who made it 25 years without having an ear infection period, this was pretty freaky stuff. Needless to say, Fall Break has left a lasting impression on me (and some minor permanent hearing loss, that's what your body does when it's never had an ear infection then gets two at once).
I still don't like being cursed, but will happily take this little cold over an ear gushing blood.
Let's just hope the curse stops when I finish school.

All you do is...

Stop drinking soda.
Seriously.

We had a nutritionist come into one of my classes at uni the other day. She yakked and yakked about drinking fresh water, eating your veggies, and excercising.

But then, the big one came.
If you stop drinking soda, in one year you can lose up to 26 pounds.
Yep, 26 pounds.

She said that you don't have to start a new exercise program or change your diet completely. Just stop drinking soda. Each 20 oz soda has 17 teaspoons, that's nearly 6 tablespoons, and almost 1/3 cup, of sugar in it. You take in that much sugar a day, of course you're going to be packing around some extra poundage.

If it helps any, I drink water, water, water. I tell myself that all that water is helping detoxify my body, it clears out all the bad stuff that I've been drinking in the past, and helping my body function like it's supposed to. Soon you stop even craving or desiring what ever your previous drink of choice was.

If you don't think you can give up soda cold turkey, use what is known as the Step Down Principle. Say you drink a soda at lunch and a soda at dinner. To Step Down, just drink a soda at lunch. Another way to Step Down after that would be to drink soda only when you go out to eat, or only on weekends. Just keep Stepping Down until you don't have soda in your diet anymore.

It will be worth it! Up to 26 pounds worth it!

Been Awhile Eh?

So, a lot of adventurous opportunities have been occurring lately in my life. And the other day I thought to myself "Hey, don't I have a blog somewhere? Maybe I should start that up again...."
Well, here I am.
First off, I 'm hoping to blog here a lot more often, what with all the knowledge I'm gaining in my new program at university and all the opportunites for adventures that have been springing up lately. Let's give it a try.
That and Lent is coming upon us, and I've decided to cut back on my tv consumption during Lent, so I'm going to need something to do to help fill up all that extra time I'll be having here soon.
Cheers!

Adventure Opportunites for you to anticpate Blog Posts on in the future (meaning between now and the start of the Fall Semester at school)
Baby Animal Days at the AWHC- I'm braving the crowds and volunteering to help
Germany, Denmark, Sweden, and Paris- oh yeah, I'm that cool
Summer job? I've got my resume out to several fun and exciting places including a dude ranch and the AWHC as a children's program personage.

Summer Hats with Flowers

So this weekend at the Market Chelsey's Closet introduced the by Tristan line. That kind of makes me giggle, actually.
So far we have three hats from Tristan that are being listed on the etsy shop, and will be at the Market every other weekend when I'm there.

Tristan crochets these hats with cute flowers. He's also done some work for me in making bags. He does a great job. I'd hire him again if I need him, because he produces such a high quality product.

He kind of makes me look bad, actually. But I still love him, and hope that his items do well online and at the market. Make sure you go to the Etsy store (link is on the right) and buy his stuff. If you can't buy it at least heart it. Because he deserves to do well!

Just a Quick Post on well, Clothes

I am a huge fan of hand me downs, or ups in my case.
I happen to be a very petite, small person. In fact I could waltz into any 5th grade classroom, sit myself down, and no one would be the wiser. Although I don't think I would want to do that for anything other than entertainment purposes. It's taken me long enough to get to full time university and even longer than I expected to achieve that wonderful thing called a degree (which I still don't have ugh). So for most of my life, I've been the recipient of hand me downs. I love them. Later in life, around freshman year of high school I guess, those hand me downs became hand me ups.

Yes, my younger siblings and my sister's various friends would outgrow their clothes and think of me. Most recently my sister returned from Chelsey's with some clothes in tow and as she showed me some picks that she got for me that her train of thought was "These are tiny. I'll get them for you."  In fact right now I'm wearing my sister's pants, Chelsey's shirt, and my brother's belt. I quite enjoy spending pretty much nothing on clothes.

Among my treasures of hand me ups:

Bruth's shoes: sweet black and red ones
My older brother's old dress pants, very comfy for lounging around the house and those "I don't care" days
Enough shirts from Chelsey's Closet (the real one not the business) to last me a couple of weeks
And three or four shirts from my sister that aren't meant to be maternity tops, but sure will be for me. Until that happens, they are pretty stylish for now.
It is quite easy for me to go weeks on end without wearing a piece of clothing that I actually bought in a store with real money.
It's a lovely lifestyle.

Here's a wonderful picture of me, wearing the dress pants from my older brother.

Giveaway?

Through my researching online, I've found quite a few people that say having a giveaway on your blog can help business. Hmmm.... I'd been thinking about having a giveaway for awhile but just can't decide on what to actually give away. So- go check out the Etsy store and let me know what YOU would like to win in a giveaway. Most popular item will win and be used in the giveaway later this month.
Remember: I depend a lot on my customers to know what to make and what not to make. Your opinion really counts!