Three On Thursday

September 12, 2019 By Carole

I’ve come up with a theme for this week’s Three On Thursday Post. Self Care. Ready to hear about three things I have done (and am doing) that fall under this theme? Here goes.

On Tuesday after work I did the at home strength training workout that Kym shared that day. I was familiar with all of the exercises thanks to the work I did years ago with a trainer and it all came right back to me, at least from a I-know-how-to-do-this standpoint. From a physical stand point, I’ll be completely honest, it was a challenge. Not the squats (those have always been my favorite) and not the arm stuff or even the plank but the lunges? Lunges are hard for me, they were even when I was training regularly. And the jumping jacks? Not fun. But guess what? I did them anyway and even though my thighs were on fire yesterday it was worth it and I’m going to keep doing this because it’s not only fast but it’s also very very manageable for me right now.
While I was reading Women Food & God last weekend I googled Geneen Roth to see if she ever offers workshops in my area. Timing is everything because I discovered that she is having a 2 day retreat in Massachusetts on Columbus Day Weekend that’s called Women, Weight & Power. Ummm, hello? Could this be any more perfect for me and for the things I’ve been working on lately? Nope. I signed up before I could talk myself out of it. Of course, in my typical fashion, I immediately regretted it and started trying to find a way to get out of it. But I’m going. I’m terrified. But I’m going.
I’ve renewed my commitment to meditating. I had gotten lax about this over the summer but with the return to routine that has come in the last few weeks I’ve been meditating for at least 10 minutes every morning before work. It feels great to start the day this way and I’m very happy to be doing this again.

There’s other stuff, too, like my daily gratitude journal (still going strong) and the work I’m doing with my life coach and using essential oils but those three up there are the big ones. And this is me being vulnerable again, sharing the scary stuff like weight and power and starting over and getting things wrong but also sometimes getting things right.

How ’bout that?

If you wrote a post for today I hope you’ll include your link.

Three On Thursday

September 5, 2019 By Carole

As I told you back in July, and then mentioned again when I started reorganizing my craft room, I recently bought a Cricut machine. If you’re unfamiliar with what this is, it’s basically a printer but instead of printing your design the machine cuts your design out of whatever material you want . . . vinyl, iron on, paper, thin wood and more. There’s a definite learning curve (don’t ask me how much vinyl I’ve wasted trying to get the cuts just right) but there are videos and tutorials galore and they are quite helpful.

Today, because it’s Thursday and because I’ve got three, I’m going to show you three things I’ve made recently with my Cricut.

This onesie (or bodysuit, as it’s technically called since onesie is a copyrighted term) for Jackie. The design was free and I had the machine cut it on iron on material so that I could transfer it to the shirt.

This t-shirt for Jackie. I paid $2 for this design on etsy because I just couldn’t resist it when I saw it. Both this shirt and the onesie were garments Jackie already had, I just asked Jess for anything plain he had that I could practice on and she gave me these.

And this mug for Hannah. I saw this design on Pinterest and I almost then bought it on etsy but decided to put my skills to the test and I did it myself with fonts from the Cricut software. It might be hard to read because of the curve of the mug but it says “Does this ring make me look engaged?” The cursive stuff is a little tricky, you have to weld the letters together, and I used the character map to get those extra swirls, and I would have preferred to do the ring itself in gold but I didn’t have any gold vinyl. Honestly, I think it’s pretty good for my first effort. Plus it made Hannah laugh when I gave it to her for her birthday – which happened on Tuesday and I forgot to tell you! My girlie is 27!

I feel like a person with a brand new label machine . . . I want to put vinyl on all.the.things and I walk through my house coming up with ideas of how I can customize and personalize our stuff. Christmas ought to be extra fun this year, I think! Plus all that wedding stuff. Oh my!

If you wrote a post for today please include your link below. As always, thanks for joining in on Three On Thursday.

Thursday Things

August 29, 2019 By Carole

It’s Thursday, right? I mean, I know it is but between vacation last week and a weird schedule this week, well, I’ve sort of lost track of what day it is. That’s acceptable and understandable while on vacation but not so much when you’re supposed to maybe be certain places at certain times. Anyway. It’s Thursday for sure (I actually double checked) and today I’ve got Three Things I’m feeling grateful for right now that I want to share with you.

I started a gratitude journal. I’ve done this before but this time I think it’s going to stick because I’ve set it up to be very simple and fast. Basically, it’s a small journal on my kitchen table and while I wait for my coffee to brew each morning I sit there and quickly right down 5 things I’m grateful for right at that moment. So far I’ve reflected on the previous day and written things that relate to that but that’s not a rule and could change at any moment. The only rule I really have about this journal is that it has to be quick and it doesn’t have to be deep.
On Monday Dale helped me to move some furniture around and reorganize my craft room. The first thing I did was take a good hard look at everything I have in there and I got rid of stuff I just don’t need and/or use anymore. We then moved around some book cases and other furniture and brought in a new table for my Cricut. I think it’s going to be a great arrangement for working up there and I’m excited about the space for the first time in a long time. Dale is going to paint and I’m going to have my sewing machine table and another small bureau painted and we will get a new light fixture, too. I’m taking photos and documenting it all as we go along so there will be a full post about this when it’s finished.
The start of the new school year always gets me excited for setting goals and I am working on setting some up for September and October now. Some of this I alluded to on Tuesday and some is just other stuff that’s not big but still important. It feels great to get things down on paper so that I don’t forget about what I want to do and how I’m going to do it.

What are you grateful for right now?

If you wrote a post for this week please include your link below and thanks for writing along with me.

Three On Thursday

August 15, 2019 By Carole

I’ve got three photos for you today. Well, actually four photos but two of them go together and I’m only counting them as one. Confused? Hold on, I’ll show you the two that count as one right now so you won’t be.

When I got my haircut last week my stylist lopped off almost three inches! Here’s the back view as well as the front view. (That’s why this counts as one!) It’s swingy and bouncy and much faster to dry and I love it.

Here’s a photo of Dale and his sister Lisa tailgating at Buffett last Saturday. Lisa has loved and listened to JB for a very long time, way back before he was popular at all. She attended an event in the western part of our state and actually met him and kissed him on the cheek. #colormejealous And yet, this was the first time she had been to one of his concerts since way back then. Like all of us, she had a ball!

And finally, we had ice cream for dinner the other night. Dale was not on board at first – you’d have thought I suggested we go in the backyard and eat dirt for dinner – but he came around when I said I wasn’t making him anything anyway so he might as well go with it. I pointed out that, much like when Hannah went off to college and we started eating in front of the tv, we are grown ups and don’t have to set an example for anyone. Plus, I had a peanut butter sundae and peanut butter has protein. #thatsmystoryandimstickintoit

That’s all I’ve got for you today, kids. Happy Thursday! And don’t forget to share your post if you wrote one.

Three On Thursday

August 8, 2019 By Carole

This week for Thursday Things I’m sharing three photos. They aren’t related but I do have something to say about each one.

First:

My brand new owl diffuser from Young Living. It was just released at their convention a week or so ago and, while it’s intended for a child’s room . . . I could not resist. The colors are perfect for our bedroom and it runs for 8+ hours on the intermittent setting and it’s just adorable. I’ve been using it every night with a blend of lavender and bergamot and cedarwood and it’s definitely helping me to sleep. I call that a win all around.

Second:

Why is it that my hair always comes out great the day before I’m going to get it cut? It’s like the hairs are saying nooooooooo . . . don’t cut us offfffff . . . we so pretttttty. Does this happen to you, too? In any event, later today things will be shorter. Not by a lot but by some.

Third:

Jackie. Because what’s cuter than a little boy in a bathing suit covered in sand? Not much, I say. Especially since I’m not the one who had to get him cleaned up. Heh.

If you wrote a post for today please include your link below. Happy Thursday!