I May Cross Stitch, But I'm Not Old!

When I was younger, I used to bite my nails.... Okay, lets be real. I still bite my nails. But, when I was younger, my oldest sister, Alison, used to get on me about not doing it. I would mostly bite my nails when I was anxious, which was pretty much all the time. It happened often when we were watching TV.

I'm not sure who introduced Alison to cross-stitching, but she decided that she would teach me so I would have something to do with my hands. Of course, I took to it right away. I love to cross-stitch. What I don't love about it is the fact that all the templates look so old woman. Don't believe me? Let's take a look.

Image: Herrschners

Image: Stuff For Cross Stitch

Now, I'm not saying that either of those kits are ugly, they are just not young and modern, which is what I am going for. So, I've decided to try out making my own template, picking my own colors, and working on it from scratch. 

I am not really super crafty, but I figure that its a pretty cheap project. Armed with a gift card that my Dad and Delia gave me, I went to Michael's in search of my supplies. I bought cream colored cross stitch fabric for $3.99, twenty-one bundles of color at $.35 each, a $2.50 hoop and I got my pattern for free from the internet. My little project only ran me about $14. I am almost certain that I won't use all that string for this project, but I didn't want to have to run back and forth and risk them being out of the color I need! 

I'm excited to start and I'm hoping I'll be able to this weekend. We're taking a day trip to the snow, so I'll have some time in the car ride to get things started.

Have a great weekend!

Resolve To Change

I have been thinking a lot about what I want to change in my life. The list is never-ending. In order to keep my sanity, I've decided to only focus on four things this year.  

1. Get Fit & Get Active

The first challenge I have to face is to change my eating habits and get more exercise. (As I type this I am eating a banana. Yay for me!) Even though I love my dear hubby so much, the boy has the worst eating habits in the world. We are also lazy. Which is not a great combination. I am the cook in the family, so Bryan cleans the kitchen. Therefore, he HATES for me to cook because then he has to clean. He talks me out of cooking all the time, appealing to my lazy side. We always end up arguing and I get so frustrated that I take on the mentality that I'm not making him a ding-dang thing because if I do some Ex-lax might end up hidden in his plate by mistake! Oh just kidding...maybe. But I've got to stop letting him win. I need to cook. I need to eat healthy, homemade meals so that I don't eat Burger King and become even fatter than I already am. I'm told that everyone gains weight their first year of marriage. Well fine, but this is the second year and I'm ready for a change!

2. Challenge My Marriage

Bryan and I met when we were just kids. It's my opinion that a lot of the time, we revert back to our childhood selves when we deal with certain things. Also, I am a ridiculously hopeless romantic. I love to be romanced. And its a deal-breaker, ladies. (In the words of Liz Lemon from 30 Rock. Love that show!) Luckily, Bryan knows this about me so its not a shock. Unluckily, he has a hard time understanding that even though I am a romantic, I don't need huge grand gestures. While I love the random big bouquet of roses and jewelry, I would rather have 'small feedings', if you will, of romance. For example, a note tucked under my pillow to find when I go to sleep or in pair of pajama pants to find the next time I wear them. Waking up to a hot cup of coffee on my nightstand. Having dinner cooked for me without the obligation to clean afterwards. These 'small feedings' are simple and take little effort, but make a huge difference in my life and the way I feel about my boo.

When I talk (read: complain) to Bryan about needing these things, he has asked me, what do I do for him? How do I appeal to his love language? I may be able to list a few things but it's not as much as I should. I don't show him enough how much I love him. More often than not, I hide the fact that if something were to happen to him, it would destroy me. I don't want him to know just how deep my affection is for him. I'm scared that it will be used against me. It's not right. 

Bryan and I decided that we were going to do The Love Dare. We watched the independent film Fireproof  right before we got married and even with the weird acting, it had a powerful message. A message that stuck with me. I want a strong marriage. I want us to be able to withstand anything that life throws our way. It's important that we actively seal any cracks that come into our marriage so that termites can't get in and eat at the foundation of our marriage. 

I haven't spoken with Bryan about how comfortable he feels with sharing our journey on my blog, but I'm hoping to be able to!

3. Walk With God

I used to have this amazing, deep spiritual relationship with our Creator. And I let it go. I'd try to get back into it and each time my walk would be attacked to the point that I stopped trying. Something that Bryan and I were told for our first year is to enjoy each other. If we wake up on Sunday and want to go to church, go. If we want to stay in bed and talk, then do it. Because of Bryan's work schedule, we didn't go to a whole lot of church. For our first anniversary, we resolved that it was time to attend church every Sunday. Since October 25, we have only missed three Sundays. We are slowly but surely getting back to where we were a very, very long time ago. And this is something I want to develop even further. 

4.Get Unpacked and Organized

Don't judge me. We moved into our house in September.... And I still have most of our life in boxes. Honestly, there are few reasons why that is. The biggest is that I am lazy. But the second reason is that I've always lived in very small houses. When Bryan and I lived together (not good, don't recommend it.) we lived in a very nice sized house. Then we ended our relationship and it really was just like going through a divorce. I took half and he took half. I moved into a two bedroom apartment with a roommate that was considerably smaller than the house we shared and ended up donating and selling a lot of furniture on Craigslist. The next two houses I lived in after that were tiny, too. And Bryan has very little furniture since his Dad kept the set he's used for the past 23 years of his life. All this to say, we have a house with over 1800 square feet and not a whole lot of furniture to put books and picture frames and candles. We also don't have a whole lot of storage. So things are slow going at the moment. It'll get there though. I'm sure of it. 

New Look!

Hey there! As you can see I'm changing some things up around here. Just trying to keep you on your toes.

Let me know what you think!

Filtered Resolutions

Every year, you hear the obligatory new year resolutions from people that want to start the year off right. More often than not, I refuse to make a resolution because the few years I have, it lasted about a month. What I usually say is that I'm going to try to be better. A better person, worker, friend, wife, blogger, etc. Just better in general. There is always room to be better and simple decisions can get you there.

Bryan and I have been talking about our life and lifestyle a lot lately. I've deemed 2011 as "My Year." This is my year to get healthy. To lose weight. To stop mindlessly stuffing my face. But I want to go further. I want to make an entire lifestyle change that will live on PAST 2011. I want my husband to think I am cute. And honestly, more importantly, I want to think I am cute.

Lately, I've moaned and complained about taking pictures with my family. I don't want any snapshots of myself. I have little confidence and recently, I've been going so far as to think "Why even do my hair/make-up? What is the point?" Ew. That disgusts me more than this weight gain. Every time I think that I go straight into the bathroom and I do my hair and make-up and I revel in it. I remind myself that I am not defined by my weight or my clothes. My choices define me. The decisions that I make help to define me. I can say, until I am blue in the face, that I want to lose weight. But until I make the decision to go for it, it's all lip-service.

I've mentioned before that I read Young House Love. The other day I was going through some old posts trying to find something and in one post, Sherry writes that in order to keep herself from being paralyzed with indecision in decorating, she just does something. She puts a frame on the wall or just moves an item around. And then she realizes one of two things. Either she likes it, and keeps it. Or she doesn't, and she gets a better idea. Remember how I wrote about my decorating funk? I'm still in it, for the most part. But I am hanging frames anyways. I am decorating my house anyways. And it's working. I'll realize I don't like something and I'll grab it and put it somewhere else. It's slow going, but it's GOING. Which is the point.

This year is brand-spanking new. I can mold my days how I see fit. I can take control of my life instead of just coasting on by. When the hubs and I started talking about this, I thought a lot about it in private. When I would start thing about all the tens of thousands of things I want to change this year (and for the rest of my life) I got really overwhelmed. I kind of suck so, I have a lot to change. Instead of going overboard, I'm going to break it down to simplify it.

Each morning I wake up, and I have a good forty-five minutes of silence. Bryan and I don't talk in the morning. It almost always ends badly. We say good morning, we get ready in silence and we say I love you, bye. That's it. It's rare if we exchange more than a few sentences in the morning. I'm going to start utilizing this time to think about the following:

• What do I need to accomplish today?
• Use the KISS! method. Keep it simple, stupid! Only list 5-7 things, depending on how tedious they are. 
• Put these items in priority order.
• Example, if one task is "cook dinner", do the dishes first so the kitchen is clean and ready for you.
• Do them.
• Find the time to do it. When you get home from work, take a 15 minute breather. Say hi to your pets, change into comfy clothes, drink some water and catch up on your texts. Then? Get busy. Set a time limit or create a pile. (Can't believe I just said that. My sister Alison used to create piles for me on Saturday mornings and I hated them. But if it works for you, do it.)

Every week, I'm going to do a quick side-bar listing what I need to get done by the week. Little projects around the house, chores and other items that are not a 'daily basis' item. 

Every month, when Bryan and I sit down to do our budget, we are going to set a monthly honey-do list. I'll have one and he'll will have one. 

This year, I have already decided to have a few general changes to implement into my life.(You'll see that post tomorrow.)

Here is the key ingredient to my plan. Grace. If I have a terrible day and I listed to scrub the shower and toilet? I'm not going to. I am going to give myself the grace and room to take each day as it comes. When tomorrow arrives, I'll start my list off with whatever few things I didn't do the day before. I am not going to beat myself up about missing a chore. I am going give myself the same courtesy I would want Bryan to give to me. When I have I bad day the last thing I want Bryan to do is knock me down a few more inches. I'm going to encourage myself to read a book or go for a walk to recollect myself. No berating myself!

Small ripples in a big pond? Maybe. But even small ripples can rock a boat. 

Happy 2011!

Expanding On A Thought

I've been thinking about yesterday's post quite a bit. If you have not read it you can scroll down because I'm too lazy to give you the link. But I love ya! :)

I believe that I am still in cranky-pants mode and I'd like to just blurb a few things.

• Skinny people? Hate you. Hate you and your gym-going self. What DISCIPLINE you have. Bite me.
• Naturally Skinny People? Do. Not. Even. EAT THAT OREO IN FRONT OF ME. Hate you and your figure too. And your genetics. Because the rest of us eat an Oreo and guess where it goes? IT GOES TO OUR ASSES. Yes. I just cursed. I should be allowed a quota per year. Quota is to be determined.
• People with blogs about houses that look like magazines. Hi. Tell me. How do you do it? You give us step-by-steps of how to hang a photo frame and how to effectively use "pops" of color. Here is what I want to know. How do you work a full-time job, take care of your husband who has a crazy-free spirit /animals that like to drool and leave hair every where, clean your house, cook dinner every night, write at least one blog post per day, shop for your cheap decor items, and still manage to have time to obsessively watch 30 Rock episodes streaming from Netflix? And solve world hunger? HOW? Enlighten me. Because I try to think about how my parents did it and now I realize why my room was always full of laundry and Saturday mornings/early afternoons were devoted to cleaning like banshees. Oh yes, and lets not forget how you handle your budget by clipping coupons and save money for your amazing kitchen. Because I? I want an amazing kitchen. Stat. 
• Those of you who get up early and go work out and read your bible and all that? Wish I was you. Would probably help my yet-to-be-determined cursing quota. 
• Target. I love you. And I hate you. And I hate that I love you. Why? Why is it that I visit you and I leave $100 poorer every time? And most of the time I don't have many cheap movies from your blissful cheap movie aisle. Most of the time its things like tampons and pads, and shampoo and conditioner and maybe even some face-wash. Why you gotta be so hard on my pocketbook? It hurts, Target. It hurts. 

Dang, an Oreo sounds pretty darn good right now. 

Argh!

Cranky-Pants and Laundry

You know, there are things that just really grind my gears. Fry my bacon. Flip my hamburgers. Toss my salad.

BA-HA-HA.

I am sorry. I couldn't resist. And also? Terribly hungry.

Back to my point, I am sick. And I am not 100%. I am of the belief that when I am sick, everyone should stop living. Work? What work! Everyone should be off because I am sick. Messes? No one should be making messes! I'm sick! Cleaning is not an option. Clean underwear? What the deuce? Underwear should not be getting dirty while I am sick, because God forbid I do laundry while sick.

Apparently everyone is NOT of the belief that the world revolves around me. So be it. I'll take my cranky-pants attitude to work, to the grocery store and to Wal-Mart. Not Target though, because Target is a cranky-pants free zone for me. Love me some Target. With their cheap movie deals. Love! But I will mutter at the washing machine while I do loads of laundry. It is my right.

I also hate that when you are sick you make dumb mistakes. Like, you wash a load of laundry specifically for one outfit because you have a, you know, funeral to go to and the outfit needs to be washed. And then when you think to yourself the day before said funeral that you should put the outfit together to make sure everything is all gravy but decide not to because you FOR SURE washed the outfit because you'd never make that kind of mistake.

And then you wake up and go to get dressed and you realize that half the outfit was NOT in the laundry pile, was NOT washed, is NOT hanging up in your closet, and you are screwed.

That, I hate.

Blurg.

Happy New Year!

I hope your 2011 is filled with love, laughter, hope and all kinds of crazy! Thanks for stopping by my blog. :)

-Meg