What a deal!

Trying to stick with the "Provident Living" mindset, I bought all of Ryan's next batch of clothes second hand. The DI and kid-to-kid here in Provo were awful so one day last week I made the trip up to Sandy to go to the DI and kid-to-kid there. I totally scored some awesome clothes!

I got 2 pairs of pajamas (bummed because I was hoping for more), but I got each of them for a dollar, 7 shirts, 5 pairs of pants ALL for the grand total of $29!!! Most of these things are brand name too! Most people spend that much or more on ONE outfit. I am so happy I was able to get all these awesome clothes for such a good deal. If only clothes shopping were that easy for me! :)

Christmas Holiday

I LOVE this time of year. I am sure most people can agree. There is nothing better than singing christmas songs and thinking of what to get for your family and friends and serving those who are in need. I definitely need to do better in that department. This holiday is about the birth of Jesus Christ and it's so easy to get caught up on the material aspect of it, which is okay! as long as you're remembering to be Christlike as well.

I haven't been very good at posting lately, because I've been super busy with moving. I'm actually halted right now in unpacking because I am working on some Christmas presents that are taking up a TON of my time. I am so excited to post about these after Christmas. Let me just say, it is definitely great for the fitness of my mind. Although, it has a lot to do with Ryan and my patience is wearing thin! Let me just say I LOVE when daddy comes home!

Another thing I wanted to write about was a lesson we had in Church last Sunday. It was on Provident Living. It was a check point lesson, so we missed the first one, but it still was a good reminder on what I want in my life. Life is definitely not about the material things we possess or how other people view us. There are so many things I think I need for my new home, and I just have to put my brain on hold and wait until our credit cards are paid off and money is saved to buy those things. Why is it so easy to say "I'll just charge it?" I HATE being in debt, and with car debt, student debt, and credit card debt, I feel like we are up to our eyeballs in it. BUT I want to decorate my house into a home. I want a piano. I want a new SLR camera so I can try to become a photographer (and make money to pay it off, which is my excuse if I do end up getting it.) I want to go on a cruise for our 5 year anniversary. I want a new dining room set. I want a new bedroom set. I want to buy Ryan more babylegs.

These are definitely all WANTS, but they aren't going to make me feel better about life. In the end, I'm always going to want something. Isn't it better to be able to afford the things you want? I can't wait until we are at that point, where we've saved and consciously worked toward these things. My goal is to have all our credit card debt paid off by Ryan's birthday, and then save for an SLR camera for my birthday. In between all of that, I am going to do the cheap things that will make this house mine, like painting and making my own decorations that will cost a fraction of what I would buy in a store. It will be quite the trip, but hopefully it will be fun. Debt-free freedom, here we come!

I have learned a lot about myself physically, but that's a new post for ya. Until then...

Finished!

OK - I totally have learned another lesson. If something doesn't work perfectly, it still can work. :)

I actually am in love with this cover. It's got the cutest monkey print that is perfect for my little monkey! It isn't what I wanted exactly, but it works. I think I fell in love with it when I first used it as a cart cover. The place for the legs isn't where I would love for them to be, but it works! That's the point right?! So I am pretty happy with how it turned out.

First, what I did was put one fabric over the carseat and then just pinned along where I thought I should cut. Second, I cut it. Then I placed this fabric over the other one and pinned and cut. This is where the mistakes came, but I worked through them with only SOME unstitching. After I sewed the outsides I cut the middle and just guessed on what I thought would work.

One thing I learned is that if you want to have elastic in a double sided thing like this, you have to sew the outside partially, turn it right side out, then sew a place for the elastic to go. You can't sew it before you turn it right side out. Well you can, but I don't think it will look as good. :)

I am not going to go through all the details on how I made it, but if you would like me to, please leave a comment and I will put in a more thorough post about it. For now, I just wanted to express how happy I am that it is done and how cute it is!

I LOVE this inside. It is so soft and such a pretty rich color. I am happy I did it this way, so when I have a girl, I can use this side and just add some pink/purple if I want. Or if one side gets really dirty, I can just turn it around.

I added the ribbons so it could tie to the sides and be used as a blanket that can't get kicked off. I tried it with Ryan and it didn't really work very well. That's okay. It works awesome as a cover for the car seat (which we won't use since he would freak out, next baby!), cart for the store, and restaurant infant seats. It doesn't fit perfectly, but it does it's job and keeps my cute baby from touching all the grossy stuff that can be out there. I love it!

And here are some cute pictures of Ryan using it at Costco. He was super tired so because I had the cover I was able to lay him down and keep him really comfortable. I think he loves it, too! :)

Learning Experiences

I haven't finished my little project yet, I am planning on it today, but I just wanted to say what an experience it has been. I tried it out without it being finished and it doesn't work that well. I think I have WAY too much fabric for it to be stretchy. I've learned that if you are going to do a sewing project, try it out with crappy fabric and not the cute stuff you bought. I feel like it was a waste of time and $25 so it would've been better for me to just buy it. I haven't tried it in the cart yet, I am really nervous, but I will try it today and let you know. I am going to post pictures in my next post. Hopefully the toys I make with the scraps turn out MUCH better! :)

Failure?

I know nothing about sewing. Nothing! I might as well go and put my head in the sand, because this is embarrassing. I have spent more time undoing things than actually getting something done. Ah!!! Since I am making a double sided cover, it is much more difficult to do. It would be SO easy to do just one side.

1st mistake: Sew all the sides together. I started sewing a 1/2 inch inside for the elastic when I realized that would look funny. Then I realized there was no way for me to get it right side out.

2nd mistake: I am trying to figure out what I want to do with the middle (so the feet can stick out in the cart) and realized that I put the ribbon (to tie on the car seat so it stays as a blanket) on wrong. When I turn the cover right side out the ribbon will still be inside. More unstitching! So frustrating. (Edited to add: I can just cut the ribbon! It's on the inside so who cares! See why I shouldn't be doing this... haha!)

Maybe I am not cut out to be a crafty person. Seriously, my mind is having a hard time wrapping around what steps I should take. Oh well. Still better than spending 40 bucks on a new one, right? RIGHT? I hope so... we shall see.

So I walked, and walked, and walked, and walked...

AND walked today. :)

Ryan was almost asleep by the end. It felt great. I really do like walking. I realized I really like exercise that takes no prep and hardly anything to clean up either. I am not so sweaty that I HAVE to shower right then, which makes it nice when other things come up. It's so warm right now, that I am out there. Hopefully, I won't let the mommy worries get me from going when it gets colder!

My mind was wandering today about how trials make us come closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. As we have these trials, we look to them for strength or just some arms to wrap around us and hold us when we weep. They understand everything we have been through and will go through, because Christ has gone through it already for us. I was just thinking about how I haven't had any really hard trials in a while and maybe that's why I am not as close as I'd like to be. But then I realized that I need to be going to them for much more than the really hard trials. There are small trials we face everyday that can affect us in the long run.

I constantly question myself as a mother and wife. I know that I can be better and stronger and happier with who I am, if I lean on them. I can do this by prayer and studying scriptures, or like I said, read the Ensign. Another thing that really helps me study and grow closer to Heavenly Father is journaling. I haven't done this besides blogging for a really long time. I was pretty consistent at it when I was dating Jared (and what great memories those are to read!) I feel bad that I haven't done much about motherhood and how it really feels. This is why I am glad I have this blog, because it will help with that.

So what I have decided to do is to ASK Heavenly Father to help me with something at least once a week. I can even ask Him to help me with getting in the habit of good eating and exercise. I can ask Him to help me be a better mother, as well as giving myself the time I need to be a person. Some of these things may seem silly, but they help us grow either way so I am sure that I will get the help if I truly ask for it. It will be an interesting experiment, for sure! We'll see how it goes.

Maintaining

Since it got colder, I've been kind of in a rut. I say that we can't go outside to walk, but I know that we probably could AND even if we couldn't, I have things I could do inside. I think I am just in a rut. I want to be healthy, but I also am becoming more okay with my weight and body. Maybe part of me is getting used to being a mom and an adult.

I don't look at pictures of me in High School and wish I were that skinny any more (okay, that's a lie... part of me does say that!) But mostly, I see me as a young girl and now I'm a woman. I have the hips, flabby skin, stretch marks, and much more to prove it.

My problem is that I can pretty much eat what I want and maintain my weight of about 140. If I cut out a lot of bad carbs and sweets, I don't see too much of a difference. How much weight do you lose just by doing this, and how long does it take? Is the only way for me to lose weight, exercise? Maybe I should do some research. That way I can know how much I need to exercise, how long, and what results I can see from it.

Anyway, that's where I am at right now. I feel like if I do anything, it's not going to show, so why bother? But I know it's an overall health issue that will be with me for the rest of my life. The Halloween candy gets thrown out tonight! :)

On a brighter note, I realized that instead of just reading scriptures to help me with feeling the spirit everyday, I remembered there is a church magazine! The Ensign! If I read one or two articles a day, this would definitely help. I was so excited to realize this. I used to read the Ensign cover to cover and it's been probably 2-3 years since I've done that, even though we have been subscribers the entire time. There are so many great articles and good ideas to build me up and in turn, help me be a better daughter of God and follower of Christ. I'm excited to start doing this.

Also, I've bought stuff to make a carseat blanket/cart cover. I have nothing to copy to make it. It's just an idea ripped off of a lot of other ideas. I want to get it done this week, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I get it done, and it looks awesome!