WLW

I'm not going to post my stats for today because I have a different number to post. I am 94% of the way to my Bronze Level Presidential Champion Award!! I have a feeling I will reach it by the end of November! Hooray!!

Thankful

I know it's a bit cliched in November to feel so overwhelmingly thankful but I can't help it! I was entering this giveaway for a lovely apron and it got me typing about something I have been going over in my mind during my runs lately. I often start to think about how thankful I am for my health, my sturdy legs and my senses so that I can get out and run and enjoy the wonderful day! I am thankful that I have the leisure time to spend on a physical activity of my choosing and not forced to work a back-breaking job that I don't enjoy. This leads me to think of how thankful I am to a job at all to go to after my shower and that my husband also has a job and that our house is snug and cozy with a fridge to keep the milk cold and an oven to warm the biscuits.

During crafting I am often thankful that my most pressing issue is what project to work on or what color to next add to a quilt. When I work with Sully, I am thankful that I have discretionary income to spend on dog training and shows. And when I bake up a batch of pumpkin chocolate chip bars, I am thankful that I don't have to make due with the items the food bank has that week.

I am indeed a fortunate, and very thankful, woman!

What is it they say? A bad day at the dog show beats a good day at work? Well, I'd agree with that! But this weekend at the Lakeshore Pembroke Specialty was not exactly our grandest outing. I don't want to whine and blame the judge.....but in rally, it was the judge! I'll just leave it at that. In obedience, I take all the blame. I can't even believe the mistake I made in our otherwise qualifying score of 182. A double command on the drop on recall. If only I had waited a few more seconds! Here is Sully, pleased as punch with his two second place ribbons and tug toys for Rally Advanced B and Excellent B. But I was disappointed with our performance. And know we will do MUCH better at the show in November because the course is sure to be MUCH more well thought out than the ones we had this weekend. Yuck.

On to crafts! Where things are moving right along on schedule! The pink quilt needs to be done by December 3 and I am working very hard to get it done. Here it is all laid out sandwich-style, being pinned for quilting.And this month is reserved for Thanksgiving crafts including a plastic canvas turkey and that stupid turkey hat that I have to say is the WORST written pattern I've ever purchased and I would encourage everyone to STAY AWAY from it! The person who wrote it and sold it to me is not very helpful either so I don't have very nice things to say about the Turkey hat right now.
Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 176
% lost overall: 18.14%

Runs recently have been 2.75 to 3.5 miles long. That 5K is coming up in less than three weeks so I'm trying to prepare. I'm not sure I've mentioned this before but my long term goal is to run in the St. Jude Children's Hospital relay from here to Peoria, IL. My goal is to raise at least $300 before the run and run at least 3 legs of the relay. The relay is in July so look forward to fund raising efforts later next year when I will be doing a major pattern and craft supply push at my Etsy store and selling things on ebay to raise the money!

Bras and Blisters

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 178
% lost overall: 17.2%

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned this for Weight Loss Wednesday before but they heaviest I've ever been was 242. I am over 60 pounds lighter then that now but basically I have been wearing the same bras since then! So Mike took me bra shopping and we loaded up on my new size!!
Wearing my old size 40C
Wearing my new size, officially fitted at the bra store: 36B


In running news, I had to take four days off as my longer runs in cotton socks had given me blisters on my arches and I ended up with an infected blister on my right foot. Quite painful, but it's healed now and thanks to some new running socks so I am blister-free! I am trying out different brands, UnderArmor, DeFeet and Wigwam, to see what works best for me. Do you have a brand you like?

Halloween begins!

Treats like caramel apples and popcorn balls have been made, neighbors have been Boo'd, the library (where I work) is decorated all spooky! I love fall holidays and Halloween kicks things off!
We turned theseAnd thisInto theseGarden loppers are a kitchen tool, right?

Back again

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%
no change

I skipped last week because I was hoping to report a change this week but no such luck. This is one LONG plateau! Makes me think I'm going to have to stop eating Halloween candy or something!

In fitness news, I have sent in my registration for my very first RUNNING 5K! It is in mid November so I have about a month to train, not that I am striving for first place, just to run the entire 5K without walking! Yesterday I upped my morning run to a little over 2.5 miles. Next week, it will be bumped up to 2.75 and so on. After the 5K there is a pancake breakfast so that will keep me motivated during the actual event, "pancakes at the end, glorious pancakes at the end!"

Projects on the crafting table

So, last week I mentioned how finding time for personal crafts was hard. Well, it doesn't help when you have a dozen projects going on at once! Here is some of what I'm working on.

My veggie skirt, nearly done! I love fall and this fabric is SO fall!

My Pampered Pooch quilt has the first border almost done (it's only sewn on on two sides if you can't tell.) Closer to having a quilt of my very own to cuddle under!

This fabric is for a super-secret Halloween project, can't tell you too much. No, it doesn't all coordinate because the items will be going to different people.

But here's some fabric that DOES coordinate! It's the fabric I have picked out for my Red and Aqua Quilt Block Swap blocks! Tonight is cutting night in front of the tv.

This turkey hat that my sister was SOOOOO disspointed that I didn't get done in time to wear to Thanksgiving last year. (I say that VERY facetiously because she will be mortified when I wear it this year!

I have the hat part and one wing done but someday soon it will look like this:
Teehee!

WLW-not much to report

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%
no change

Wow, yet another week with no change. I have so much on my plate right now, I am just glad it's not going UP! I volunteered at the Pembroke Welsh Corgi National Herding Trial this weekend. It was so great to see all those Corgis out there doing real working dog stuff! And after watching all those small (compared to the sheep) dogs working and not getting hurt, I am more optimistic that Sully could probably get to at least HT level, maybe PT. So next year we might try it out at an instinct test.

But this year we're too busy working on obedience! We've been working jumps and retrieves all month and have until the end of October to perfect our Graduate Novice skills for the Lakeshore Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club's Specialty.

I haven't just been training a corgi, I've been crafting them! I've gotten a lot of orders from my Etsy shop for Corgi pins and Corgi fairy costumes, among other things. So I have been busy trying to keep up.

More crafting for the store while trying to fit in more personal crafting is tough! I was hoping to have a skirt to post today for Wardrobe Refashion but it's not done. Plus that pink strippie quilt isn't going to make itself!

Add to that fitting in running and walking, classes at the gym, arranging snack this weekend for the Habitat for Humanity crew and lunch later this month, oh yeah, and WORK, which pays for all of this! I was hoping fall would be a relaxing break from spring an summer but it seems summer was my short break and fall is ramping up to be busier than any other time!

Weight Loss Wednesday

Start Weight: 215
Current Weight: 180
% lost overall: 16.28%
no change

No change. Again. Sunday and Monday saw me sick and eating nothing but saltines, jello, white toast and cream of rice cereal. So I am just happy to be back to normal!

Today I'm going to talk about something that may annoy those who have not made much progress yet toward their fitness goals. But to me, it is an everyday issue. My clothes do not FIT! Yes, everyone jokes about how wonderful it is, it's a great sign, that's how you know you're working hard!

But when your pants won't stay up, make you look 20 pounds heavier than you are, require safety pins AND a belt and you don't have a fortune to spend on a completely new wardrobe, it doesn't feel very great. I took a shopping trip to Old Navy a few months back (when I got a $45-off-$100 coupon) and got two new pairs of pants, a dress and a few tops. Oh, and a skirt! But that won't get you through the work week! So I am forced to wear what I have.
And this leads me to my fall project! Wardrobe Refashion! I will be making over some of the clothes I already own. I have taken the two month pledge so throughout October and November, I will be refashioning old clothes or using up my fabric stash to make new ones. Visit the blog to see my first two shirts.
And because I haven't posted a food picture in a long time, this is a lasagna I made to use up the garden veggies, peppers, zucchini and tomatoes. It was darn tasty!

A trip to the Zoo and Gardens

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo! You know what that means.....animal pictures!
Polar bear is giving us a nice smirk. Or is that a snarl?
Adorable baby giraffe, scratching it's foot!
Our favorite type of cow, the Scottish Highland.
Zebra, doing zebra things.
And who's this?? It's Red, in the window where he can see us when we're in the backyard!

And attached to the Zoo is the White River Botanical Garden. I found three new plants I'll be adding to my garden next year! The Garden has this great resource center where you can find information about ALL the plants that grow there so they helped me identify these two that weren't labeled.
Tasselflower won me over with its tall stems and adorable deep orange-red button-sized flowers. I like tall plants!

Burro's Tail Spurge was a plant I saw in the Zoo, not the gardens, but it form such lovely large clumps I knew I had to know what it was. In the spring, it has yellow flowers at the tips of the stalks. I LOVE succulents, especially larger varieties that are perennial here in central IL. However, Euphorbias are toxic so I'm going to save this one for when I turn the planter beside the house into a rock/cactus garden so that it will inaccessible to any animals in the yard.