Make A Difference Monday

Happy Make A Difference Monday!

I was thinking about what to write about today

and thought I better come clean with where I'm at on my weight loss goal.

(from this post)

In all seriousness,

I wish I wouldn't have put the emphasis on weight loss.

For the majority of my life
I have been battling a weight issue.

It started from just 20 pounds

to where I'm at today.

(speaking of 20 lbs, I'm still down the 20 lbs from the start. That's an AMEN right there!)

But the issue isn't the weight.

The weight is a symptom.

This issue is how I feel about myself

and the voice that is constantly there

telling me,

"I'm not good enough".

 

(source)

It's funny.

In my heart,

I KNOW I am a good person.

But the mind is a funny thing.

Always lurking in the back

is that voice of doom & gloom,

bringing down everything good I try to do.

(source)

I wish it was as easy as flipping a switch and shutting it off,

but it's not.

It's always there,

even on days when I feel like I can beat it.

I do something good

and the voice lets me know I didn't do it

quite good enough.

So I'm changing my goal

and am not focusing on the weight,

but focusing on the fact that I am now 50 years old

and I need to put the voice to rest.

(and truly, I can't stand self-pity)

Once the voice is no longer an issue,

the rest will be a piece of cake

(OK…maybe a piece of apple…more healthy, you know….lol)

 

(source)

The voice isn't one person, or thing, or situation.

It's a combination of things.
I let it set me up to self-sabotage.

But I am learning to replace that voice

with positive affirmations.

(source)

Baby steps.

I will take baby steps

until I believe the good in me.

Maybe you think this sounds crazy, but to me it makes perfect sense.

I have to change the way I feel deep inside myself,

to change what's on the outside.

So on this Make A Difference Monday

I challenge you

(if you have that nasty voice)

to wake up every morning

with a positive thought

to replace that bad ass.

(sorry for the cursing)

Find a favorite quote,

or remember something nice someone said,

and let that voice begin to drown out the darkness.

I had a very good friend tell me to replace

that voice with their voice

and remember that I am wonderful.

That has been such a blessing to me.

And feel free to share with me,

either by leaving me a comment,

or sending me an email,

what your game plan is

to change the bad to the good.

(if you feel like I do, that is..

not everyone, thank goodness, does)

You are worth it.

I am worth it.

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief.
And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
– Claude M. Bristol

Make A Difference Monday

"Courage isn't having the strength to go on - it is going on when you don't have strength.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Okay.

So I'm really not giving away chicken dinners.

:o)

The lucky winners of the

GenerationQ giveaway

are............

..............drum roll................

                                                      True Random Number Generator

                                    Min:Max:

                                                                   Result:5

                                                           Powered by RANDOM.ORG

 #5

Linda

of

Sew Nicely

 

 

and

 

 

                                                     True Random Number Generator

                                    Min:Max:

                                                                  Result:2

                                                         Powered by RANDOM.ORG

#2

Amy

of

Amy Made That!

Congratulations, Ladies!!

I will be contacting you later today for your addresses.

And thank you ALL for participating.

I'm planning more giveaways in the future,

so stay tuned!!

xoxo

Cindy



Good Golly Great Granny Squares!

I'm sure you've heard all the buzz by now about Granny Squares.

(if you are a quilter)

Well, I've been wanting to hop on that bandwagon for a while.

This week, I hitched a ride!

However....it's not just a Granny Square I'm doing.

It's a Great Granny Square.

Jodi from Pleasant Home

and

Lori from Bee in My Bonnet

are hosting a

Great Granny quiltalong.

You can look at everyone's hard work in the Flickr group

here.

There are so many beautiful blocks.

It's a fun block to put together and a

 great way to use up scraps.

(And I have a ton to use!)

If you're wondering what mine looks like,

well here it is!

I cannot wait to get the rest of them done.

It's going to make a beautiful quilt.

Another thing I did was

make a portable design board.

Lori gives a great tutorial

on this here.

The right side of my board is a little wonky.

That would be because it's where I burned myself with my hot glue gun.

(Children...do not try this at home)

But it's my first shot at making one of these,

so I will leave the wonky.

It  just so happened that I had all the supplies needed to make one of these.

I could possibly be categorized as 'borderline horder'

I do love it and have no doubt I will get a lot of use out of it.

That's it for today.

Don't forget,

you have until 11:59 PM tonight to enter my giveaway!

Enjoy your day!

xoxo

Cindy

Yummy Goodness

Hey Peeps!

Can I just tell you that I made the BEST

recipe the other day?

Every Saturday I go to a Farmer's Market.

I don't have time for a big garden this year,

(I only have 14 tomato plants and 8 bell pepper plants, which is small for me)

so I count on our local growers to help me satisfy

my desire for fresh produce not planted in my own garden.

My grandma used to make the most delicious

creamed peas and potatoes

(which then my mom made)

and now I made.

I found this recipe on

allrecipes.com

and I could just feel my grandma with me when I took that first bite.

It tasted exactly like I remember

(though I don't remember the dill weed, but I LOVED the flavor it added)

Here is the finished product:

Yeah, Baby!

My mouth is drooling right now!

I may have to cave and just buy frozen peas

and make this again.

(since the weather is now too hot for fresh peas from the garden)

It didn't last long in my house.

So if you're interested in the recipe,

just click here

and enjoy!

And don't forget about the giveaway I'm hosting.

The drawing is Sunday!

Click here for the details.

Tomorrow I'll be sharing what I've been working on in the sewing world.

I LOVE it!

Happy Friday all!

xoxo

Cindy



My Friend, Linda

Through blogging and different sewing swaps on the internet,

I've met some pretty awesome people.

Linda is one of them.

Imagine my surprise when I opened my mail

and saw a package from her for my birthday!

It came from across the ocean

and I couldn't have been more suprised.

It made my heart swell!

Look at all of these goodies!!

I cannot WAIT to get started doing something with these fun fabrics!

The card, the little bird, the adorable broach, the fancy pins...

I love it all!!

And check out this awesome towel!

(the one stating, 'Best of British')

It's hanging in my kitched so I can be reminded of the

"Linda love" daily. 

:o)

It fits perfectly!

(you'll have to excuse all the shadows in the  photo)

I had more pictures taken,

but the photo editing site is acting up,

and I REALLY wanted to share this with all of you!

Thank you so much again, Linda!!

You absolutely made my day perfect!!

xoxoxo

Cindy



Make A Difference Monday

(source for each photo)

GIVEAWAY TIME!

As promised!

I was so excited when Jake,

the co-creator of Generation Q

contacted me to 'thank' me for doing a post on the magazine.

Trust me...

that was TOTALLY random.

If you've followed my blog,

you know that I am all about giving a

"shout out" to those I believe in.

So imagine my surprise when I received an email

from Jake, saying she saw my blog and offered

a couple magazines for a giveaway!

I had been waiting for the day this delivered to my mail box.

I was SOO excited for my blogger pal,

Melissa, of 100 Billion Stars

as she was going to be featured in this most amazing

little packet of goodness.

I am such an admirer of hers

(she may be getting tired of hearing this little Iowa gal sing her praises),

but if anyone deserves a star a little higher,

it's Melissa.

And can I just mention this little magazine

is a pocket full of little surprises

after my own heart!

Check this out!

Oh yeah.....

There's a recipe for this luscious happy juice.

Anyone who has quilted with my sister and me,

(aka...The Spinster Sisters)

know we LOVE a little happy juice

to keep the needle working!

There are all kinds of great patterns,

little tidbits,

helpful information...

I promise you this magazine will become your next

'go to' item.

And it really is a nice size magazine,

measuring 7"x9" and would fit perfectly in this bag

(which the pattern, by Pat Bravo, is included in the magazine...imagine that!)

So....how do you get a chance to win?

All you have to do is follow my blog.

Leave a comment on this post letting me know that you started following,

or if you already follow,

just leave a comment stating that little fact.

And I LOVE my international pals,

so I'm hoping your participate too!!

You have until 11:59 PM July 21st to enter.

The winner will be announced on Sunday, July 22nd.

Good luck!!

xoxo

Cindy

Friday Night Sew In Accomplishment

Hey!

Just a quick update on what I worked on last night for the

Friday Night Sew In.

I've had this quilt ready to bind for quite a while,

I FINALLY sat down with it last night

and cut the binding and sewn it on.

I LOVE the tutorial Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts has on her blog for a perfect binding.

You can find it here.

My bindings come out perfect every time.

No bulk, or humps, when you come to the end of the line.

Just a perfect mesh of fabric flowing smoothly along the sides of the quilt.

I love it!

So here it is

(and you've seen posts on this quilt before...lol)

I need to hand sew it to the back and

put a label on it

then it's all ready for use.

This was a from a quilt along from

Rachel of psiquilt.

If you're interested in making it,

just click here for the tutorial.

This is a link to Rachel's free tutorials.

You will love them!

And make sure to check out the Flickr group to see all the beautiful

pinwheel quilts everyone made.

Make sure to tune in at 7:00 PM (CST) tonight

for my next blog post!

You can start to sign up for the giveaway of:

I have not one, but TWO issues to giveaway! 

Sign ups will start tonight and the winner will be

announced on July 22nd.

So be watching for the blog post tonight!

See you soon!

xoxo

Cindy



A Must Read!

Hey all!

Friday Night Sew-In is tonight!

Head on over to Heidi's blog and sign up!

I cannot BELIEVE I am actually going to have a chance

to sit down and sew tonight.

I hope my sewing machine behaves.

She may be a little pissy with me

since I haven't spent time with her in so long.

But like any woman,

she'll get over it

and start to purr like a kitten.

So here's a couple things coming up.

If you haven't heard yet,

Amy of

During Quiet Time

is hosting a pretty cool contest called

Texting While Sewing

I think I'm going to give it a whirl

and I think you should too!

So head on over to Amy's blog

and read all the details.

And another thing,

make sure to tune in Saturday.

I was contacted by GenQ

to do a giveaway of their first issue!

I might have a couple of those little gold mine's to give away

Maybe....

Could be....

Possibly....

Really!

I do!

Happy Friday to you all!

Until tomorrow!

XOXO
Cindy

Make A Difference Monday

I honestly cannot believe I didn't post last week.

I took the week off work to prepare for the party we hosted this past Saturday.

I turned the Big 5-0

and it really did come in with a bang.

Literally.

It has been HORRIBLY hot here.

So all week we got up early to get things done outside

before the heat made you want to jump off the nearest bridge.

The morning of the party

our power went out.

I called all the neighbors and they all had power

(of course!),

so I called our utility provider.

About an hour later we had power and were back in business.

There was only a 20% chance of rain Saturday.

And it sure didn't look like any rain was in the area.

We hosted a scavenger hunt

(thanks, Sarah!!)

and those wanting to participate in that were to be at our house by 5:00.

Everyone arrived and Sarah sent them on their merry way.

No sooner did they pull out of the lane, the down pour happened.

It was that fast.

All you had to do was blink.

So all that hard work we did all week was pretty much destroyed,

because along with all the rain

came a mini tornado

(at least that's what it seemed like!)

Let me share some of Mother Nature's cruel birthday presents.

Flower pots were turned over

Our flag pole bit the dust.

Things blew all over my flower beds

Our tent that was up in the yard had blown out to the field

All the tables and chairs we had set up....demolished

And the lovely hog barn is no longer

All within a half hour.

But that's not all that happened.

Our power went out for about an hour again.

Ugh

Luckily, the rest of the guests weren't due to arrive until 7ish.

So we waited for about another hour and our power finally came back on

and cleaned up what we could to try and make it

'presentable' again.

Around 7:00 the scavenger hunt participants and the remainder of the guests arrived.

So you think that after all this,

it would have gone smoothly, right?

Nope....

about the time my husband and sons were getting ready to put the fireworks show on,

my mother-in-law got up to go out to the porch.

She tripped and fell and hit her head on the corner of the wall.

They couldn't get the bleeding to stop,

so an ambulance had to be called.

She ended up with 10 staples in her poor little head.

Welcome to my 50's!!

It will be a birthday I will never forget!

So what does all of this have to do with

Make A Difference Monday

Well....

We spent all week prepping and making everything look pretty.

In the blink of an eye

it was destroyed.

You see,

none of that mattered.

Not one bit of it.

What mattered is I got to spend my birthday...

whether it be through a phone call,

birthday wishes sent via text,

email,

on Facebook,

or in person...

I got to spend it with all the people I hold close to my heart.

And in the end,

everyone had a great time.

I had so many people at my house,

I couldn't even visit with all of them!

It was truly one of the most beautiful days I've had in my lifetime.

And I even received a package from my UK 'sister', Linda.

(I will be posting pictures of that later this week!)

So take time just to 'love the one your with'.

Forget about the clean house,

the well manicured lawn,

the 'picture perfect' party.

But hold tight to those close to you.

You never know what storm will come your way

to make you stop and dance in the rain.

You can either fight the madness,

or hop on the train and let it take you where it may.

You have no control over it anyway,

so hold your head up

and grab the wheel with a smile!

XOXO

Cindy