Treasure Chest Thursday - Tree of Life

 
My sweet friend Suzy has created a new blog hop titled "Treasure Chest Thursday".  Go check check out the details here and then come back and enjoy my first ever Etsy Treasury!  If you want to join in, add yourself to the link at the bottom of Suzy's current post.

I decided to create my first treasury on the Tree of Life.  There are many interpretations of the symbolism of the Tree of Life, but one of my favorites describes it as a symbol of God's love for His creation (us).  The roots of a tree grow downward into the earth, just as God sends His love for us down to earth in His son Jesus Christ (John 3:16).  That Love then nourishes us to grow strong in His Word (Luke 8: 1-15), depicted by the trunk of the tree.  We then become the branches, growing higher and reaching toward God in praise (Psalm 63:4).  Some depictions of the Tree of Life show the branches and roots growing together, in a circular pattern of love, growth, and praise.  I love the thought of that, don't you?

The first six of these are my favorites, but I truly love them all!  Enjoy!

'Tree of Life' by WednesdayNightKnits

Custom Order Listing Ra... CynthiaMartin $30.00	Tree Of Life Pendant, W... rainnua $14.45	Colorful Tree of Life S... SmittensDesign... $5.00
The Wire Tiny Tree of L... sageANDindie $62.00	Silver Locket Necklace ... birdzNbeez $24.00	Tree of Life Memory Box... DekoMuse $65.00
Brass Tree Locket, Tree... gsakowskistudi... $23.00	Birthstone necklace, St... JewelrybyDorot... $48.00	Tree of Life Fingerless... daydreamerknit... $1.99
The Petite Jade Tear Dr... sageANDindie $39.00	Tree of life ring. Wire... EmmielousHandm... $14.49	Gold Tree of Life Frien... jackandhazelst... $15.99
Custom Hand Stamped Fam... SayWhatCreatio... $42.00	Tree of Life Quilt - Cu... OmMadeThreads $250.00	Tree of Life Felted Bag... daydreamerknit... $2.99
Autumn Tree of Life bag HandbagsbyHele... $30.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Don't forget to head over to Suzy's and check out her treasuries too!

Try It Out Tuesday - Weight Loss Edition

Don't forget to check out our other TioT bloggers too!

 Kelly @ My Purple Brick Road

 Mary @ Oh My Little Soul

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Well, I am kind of taking the lazy way out for TioT this week.  I worked all weekend, and yesterday was not feeling well at all, and I just didn't feel up to trying a new recipe/craft/project from Pinterest.  

However, I am going to put a little spin on it this week so I don't feel like a COMPLETE failure and post something that has helped me stay on track the last week with my diet.  That way, my readers can still Try It Out...if they want.  

The first tool that has helped me stay on track and lose 13 pounds so far is SparkPeople.com .  Their informative website, mobile food/activity/weight tracker app, and support forums have been invaluable to me!  Check 'em out!

The second is a little concoction I came up with (and yes, I know it's by no stretch of the imagination original) for breakfast.  Especially when I work, I have a hard time finding good breakfasts (good as in tasty and good as in good for me) that will actually fill me up and keep me going.  As I was standing in front of the fridge the other day, I thought hmmmm.  Really, I did.  Hmmmm.  What am I going to take for breakfast?  (I work 6am to 6pm when I'm on dayshift, so getting up any earlier than I already do just to eat breakfast is not an option...I laugh at the thought!)  It was nearing payday, so the cupboards were getting a little lean, if you know what I mean!  I had eggs.  Cheese.  Frozen sausage patties.  And frozen Ore-Ida Potatoes OBrien.  Sounds like a meal to me!  Throw 'em all in a bowl you say?  Why yes!  

Easy-Peasy Breakfast Bowl

1 frozen sausage patty (I use the Wal-Mart brand)

3/4 cup frozen cubed hash brown potatoes

1 egg

1 slice American cheese

I put the sausage in the bottom, then hash browns.  I kept the egg and cheese separate until I cooked it...otherwise the sausage and potatoes won't be done and the egg will be rubber!  I microwaved the sausage and potatoes for about 1 min 30 sec, then tore up the cheese in small pieces and cracked the egg over the whole shebang.  Cook for however long it takes to get the egg done and the cheese nice and melty.  You can use whatever you prefer or whatever you have on hand to customize your bowl.  And yes, I know this is not an original idea AT. ALL.  But, it works.  =)

There you have it.  My miracle breakfast.  And honestly, it's not all that many calories when you consider it in the grand scheme of the entire day's allowance of calories.  I think this one was around 400 calories?  And tons of filling protein.  I could have made it a little lower in fat if I used turkey sausage, but I had pork sausage patties in the freezer and will continue to use them until they're gone. 

And, before I forget...one of my favorite bloggers has an awesome guest post at Ann Voskamp's blog today.  Head over to her place to read a beautiful post about feeling inadequate from Jennifer @ Getting Down With Jesus!  

And two questions of the day:

What's your go-to breakfast when you're on the go or trying to cut calories?

How often do you feel inadequate, not enough, less than?  How do you get through those times?

Happy ICLW!

Hey!

It's been a long time since I've participated in ICLW! I figured it was time to get back in the groove and hop on the wagon this month. (Not sure what ICLW is? Over in the right sidebar there's a button with a little puppy face on it. Click there and it will explain better than I ever could!)

Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to browse around a bit. The "About Me" tab up top there will fill you in on my backstory, if you're new here.

Let's kick things off with a little Q&A. If there's anything you'd like to know about me, things I've posted about, my life, or if you're the sort that roams around the Internet just waiting to ask random people off the wall questions, well this is for you! Leave a question for me in your comment and I'll come back at a later date and write a post answering those questions. I'm pretty open, just keep it tasteful, m'kay?

Have a great night, and I'll be back tomorrow evening for another post and commenting!

Starting over...again.

How many times have I done this?  How many times have I tried to lose weight, to get in shape, to be healthier?  How many times have I started, failed, started, failed, started, failed and started again?  Too many times to count.  I'm sick of it.  Something has to change.  I have to change.

I realized the other day when I was taking yet another pain pill for my aching back and knees...WHY???

Why am I doing this to myself?  I'm literally killing myself by eating junk and being a sedentary sloth.  I hurt so bad from the pain in my knees and back that I literally can't stand for longer than five minutes, and walking?  Forget it.  It's ridiculous.  I'm thirty eight years old, not eighty eight!!!  Shoot, some eighty eight year olds are in better shape than I am right now.  I cannot let this go on anymore.  Not one single minute more.

Confession time (and this is hard enough to admit to myself, let alone put this out there on my blog and have everyone see it...please don't judge): I am thirty eight years old and I weigh 396 lbs.  That's disgusting.  I feel disgusting.  I am miserable daily, and I feel ugly, gross, and unlovable on a daily basis.  I am in pain all the time, I don't sleep well because I'm so fat that I can't breathe when I lay down because my own fat chokes me out.  I have a sleep study set up to get on a CPAP so I can finally breathe and get some sleep.  I'm so afraid to go to sleep sometimes because I'm afraid I won't wake up.  I am afraid I'm going to die in my sleep.

Today I vow to not let this go on any longer.  I WILL NOT die young, not from something that can be prevented.  I owe it to myself, to my family, to my babies that died, to my future babies and to God to get healthy and live a life that glorifies Him.

I will need support, I will need help, I will need to be held accountable.  I will stumble.  I will fall.  I will need a hand up now and then.  But, I WILL do this.  Come Hell or high water, I will lose this weight and I WILL live the life God has planned for me!

So, I have re-re-joined Weight Watchers, I've joined Spark People for their support forums, I am publicly asking for prayers and support from you my web-family.  You can't get more accountable than that, can you?

Try It Out Tuesday - Pineapple Angel Food Cake

Welcome, again, to a brand new episode of Try It Out Tuesday!

Don't forget to check out these other bloggers and their TioT adventures!

     Kelly @ My Purple Brick Road - Salad in a Jar

     Mary @ Oh My Little Soul - Margarita Jello Shots and Keepsakes in a canning jar


This past weekend while my hubby was away for the weekend (in Jefferson City for clinicals), I decided to try out a pin I'd been eyeing up.  And since I had both ingredients in my pantry, it was the perfect experiment for Try it Out Tuesday.

Weight Watchers Pineapple Angel Food Cake

This recipe is ridiculously easy.  One box of "just add water" angel food cake mix.  One large (15oz) can of crushed pineapple with the juice.  Dump both in a bowl.  Mix.  Pour into ungreased pan.  Bake.  Viola!

The Good:  It's easy.  And quick.  A nice flavor.  The pineapple makes for a very summery light taste, and it would be good with a dollop of cool-whip on top.  It's low in calories and fat.  4 Weight Watchers points per serving.  

The Not So Good:  I don't know if I did something wrong, but mine turned out gummy, with a very weird texture.  It didn't rise much at all, so I was left with a very dense, rubbery, gummy (but yummy) cake-like substance.  

Would I try it again?  Oddly enough, I probably would.  I might try it again using a regular angel food cake pan and perhaps tweaking the recipe a bit.

The Final Verdict:  Overall for me, a fail.  However, if I decide to make it again and it turns out better, I will come back and modify my vote.  

What new Pins have you tried lately?

Try It Out Tuesday: Homemade Cleaners

Welcome to the first installment of "Try It Out Tuesday"!

What is that?

Well...Try It Out Tuesday came about during a knit night with two of my best gals.  We were chatting about Pinterest...ah yes, the evil time sucking bandit that is Pinterest!  We all agreed that Pinterest is certainly fun, definitely addicting, but also a little intimidating.  I lamented that I loved to pin all these wonderful ideas, crafts, recipes, et al...but wondered when I would ever get the time to try them.

We put our cute little heads together (I think it was more their idea...I just jumped on the bandwagon!) and came up with our own little blog hop we're calling "Try It Out Tuesday"!

Every week we will choose at least one "pin" that we've been wanting to try and, well, TRY IT!  (Hence TRY it ou...well, you know.)  Keep notes and take pictures to document your experiment, then on Tuesday morning, blog about your experience.  Seems pretty simple, huh?  We'll eventually have a linky tool if we get enough people interested in participating, but for now Kelly, Mary and I are linking to each other.  If anyone else reading this is interested in joining us, please feel free!  Snag the graphic I made and TRY IT OUT!!! :)

Go see what my other gals are up to:
Mary: Book Review, "Being George Washington"
and
Kelly: DIY Suncatchers

Now, without further ado, my first "Try It Out Tuesday":

HOMEMADE CLEANERS

I've been wanting to try homemade cleaning products for some time now, as it seems to be "all the rage".  Actually I'm just sick of cleaning with foul smelling chemicals and spending a fortune on them!  Lots of people I know are into making homemade laundry soap and fabric softener, dishwasher soap, etc.  I'm not that far into it yet (although I did just order some organic soapnuts to use in lieu of commercial laundry soap. That'll be another post.).  

I came across a few different pins that were recipes for homemade cleaners.  I started with All-Purpose Cleaner (my recipe is one I tweaked from several different places). 

All Purpose Cleaner

1 Cup white vinegar

2 Cups hot water

2 tsp dish detergent (for added grease cutting power)

2 tsp lemon juice (to cut the vinegar smell, most recipes call for using essential oils to fragrance and boost antibacterial/disinfecting properties, but I just worked with what I had on hand)

A "splash" of rubbing alcohol (for that streak-free shine!)

I mixed it all together and got to cleaning.  However...I neglected to take pictures!  DOH!  It works wonderful on all my kitchen AND bathroom surfaces.  I even sprayed a light mist on my laminate flooring in the living room and gave it a quick damp mop and it worked great.  

My second experiment this week was using baking soda to clean.  

I have a glass top stove in the apartment we just moved into.  The previous owners were obviously as fastidious as I am about things being clean, and there were several spots on the cooktop that wouldn't come off no matter how much I scrubbed.  I read about baking soda being a great scrubbing cleanser without being too abrasive, so I decided to try it.  I dampened the cook top, dumped a bit of baking soda on the grungy part and scrubbed my little heart out with a damp sponge.  It took some doing, but I think the results speak for themselves.  Before: 

See the uckiness?  And after:

Not perfect, but much better!

I've also started using baking soda in the bathroom as toilet cleaner.  I know, I was skeptical too.  Come to find out, if you sprinkle a generous amount on your not so fresh toilet and let it sit for about 15 minutes, then spray it with homemade all purpose cleaner and scrub as usual, it will be sparkly clean and fresh as a daisy.  Seriously.  See?

Before:

And after:

Oh yeah, that IS a disposable coffee cup, repurposed as a baking soda shaker for the bathroom!!!  

So...there you have my "Try It Out Tuesday"...all about homemade cleaners!

Do you use homemade cleansers or have a tried and true DIY home tip?  Post it in the comments for us all to try!