CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS YEAR ROUND: FOR A PRINCESS

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

FOR A PRINCESS

We are running around like chickens with no heads over here! I HAVE tried to peek into everyone's blogs and MAYBE do a comment, but mostly I've just READ them. Today, having returned from 2 quick trips to other counties in the area, we are using what we gathered to try and get more of the event finalized. Whew! But Mar and MB are doing a quick early errand so I thought I'd take a few minutes to pop in and say hello. Also decided to show you a crown I made for my sweet friend, J.C. whose birthday is March 8th. She IS a princess and I just LOVE her but she has been going through tough times (family stuff) and doesn't always FEEL like the beautiful person she is. It's MY mission to see that she KNOWS she's wonderful! Below is the crown from various angles. The lighting in here totally SUCKS so the quality of my pictures isn't so great either. Sorry!

From the front: I made the lil' face and added the 'jewels.'

From the side: LOTS of layered leaves and flowers!

From the back: beaded band and birdies popped in here and there!

Obviously, J.C. is a VERY feminine girl and she loves flowery, girly things. Lots of pinks and reds! Me, TOO, so this was FUN! MaryBear said it's TOO girly and needs some porcupine quills. LOL! Mar said BLUE and/or PURPLE would have been more to HER liking. I told them I appreciated their input, but I KNOW J.C.'s taste. Anyway, there it is, in all its bad photo glory.
   On another topic, I went ahead and weighed this morning instead of Friday because we'll be gone again (sigh) Friday and I need to keep a montly record of the weight loss. Today I weighed 144.5! I am 24.5 pounds from my final 120 pound goal! And I've LOST 124.5 pounds! WOOOOOHOOOOO! In the past week I've seen 3 different friends I haven't seen in over a year. FUN!!! The reaction was enough to make me know that even though I always look 10-20 pounds heavier than my actual weight (GRRRRR!) I have DEFINITELY changed! AND - drum roll - the 14/16's? They are getting WAY too loose! I think I'm now at the point where I can hold off on buying any new clothes until I hit the 120. THEN, ladies, I am SO going shopping!
   Sorry to throw all the weight stuff at you, but it's such a major thing in my life right now that I NEED to share 'cause it excites me.
   Okay! The girlies have returned and we have a VERY busy day ahead! PLUS I have editing! Arrrrgghhhh! Back whenever I can sneak in a minute here and there! HUGS TO ALL!

3 comments:

Barbara Anne said...: Applause, applause for your weigh today!!!! You've been faithful to the goal you set for yourself and have stuck with the process needed for attaining that goal!! Cheers for you!

Love the crown you made for J.C. and I wish her a very happy birthday!

Have fun with your dear friends are you continue running around like chickens with your heads cut off (as I've heard it).

Hugs!; February 27, 2013 at 8:57 PM
CatieAn said...: oh kai am soooooo proud of you!
I strted wieght watcher's for three weeks before my major foot surgery and lost 2 #s.....was so discouraged. Since Dh was home the first week we ate what friends brought us and lots of left overs---some would have not faired well on the ww diet-----now that I am getting back with it more now that the pain is so much less----I can start to watch more what we eat. I still am not up to standing around the kitchen making stuff so am going to look for some crock pot easy peasy. Can't wait to be like you and CELEBRATE! RAISE THE ROOF!PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK YEAH YOU!!!!!!; March 6, 2013 at 11:29 PM
Hopewell Creek Designs said...: WOW WOW WOW...how wonderful!! So close to your goal. Sometimes I think the only way I'll lose weight is if I lose a limb...but as son (who's a body builder) always says to me,ALWAYS,EVERYDAY...he's so helpful haha is "you're not rying mom and consistant behavior is the secret,besides being active!" So I'm going to give it a try once again!!; March 13, 2013 at 7:56 AM

WHAT I'M READING

MOLOKA'I BY ALAN BRENNERT - Rachel is only seven years old when she's torn from her family and isolated in an area of Hawaii reserved for people with Leprosy. This is a very sad, yet very beautifully written account, spanning the years from the late 1800s to the mid 1900s. While the story is a novel, it's based on truth, and as I read, I paused and researched some of what I was reading. I learned so much about Leprosy and how what MOST of the characters in this book actually had compared to the Biblical depiction of the condition. Reaffirmed through not only Rachel's history, but the history and stories of those condemned to live separate from their families and ostracized from mainstream society, was one constant: people learn to live with what they are given. Some retreat, some thrive, some give up. But regardless of circumstances, like Rachel, the fabulously real focal character of Brennert's book, they endure. Moloka'i is 388 pages of wonder. Parts of it will forever haunt me. Parts will bring me to tears years from now. But I will NOT forget it.
THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC - At a scant 129 pages, this compact book holds so much intense emotion I could not read it as quickly as I wanted. I had to stop, chew, swallow, and wait for each nuance of each chapter to digest. Narrated by a single (unknown) woman of Japanese heritage, THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC is the story of Japanese women pre-WWII, who came to America as promised wives to Japanese men. They arrived with hopes and dreams, fear and excitement, memories and momentos. Each woman carried a different past into her new present. But all carried ONE thing in common - a photo of her husband-to-be. Suffice it to say, all were NOT what the pictures OR the letters promised. This story is a quick moving account of what happened once the women arrived until which time they found themselves in the middle of the second world war and all the fear and prejudice and change it brought. Though the reader never learns the name of the narrator or gets to focus on any one woman, somehow the overview of ALL the women is sufficient to move the story along easily and interestingly. I loved it. I really, really LOVED it!
Noah's Wife 5500 BCE by T.K. Thorne - I've read a lot of novels based on the Bible's Noah. This book is VERY differnt in that it centers almost solely around the woman who was Noah's partner. In this version she is Na'amah, a girl with Asperger's Syndrome, a branch of Autism. I am not quite finished reading this but I had to add it here in hopes that some of you will also read it. Beautifully written, VERY interesting take on the familiar story, and - regardless of the fact that I KNOW how it ends, I am enthralled with this writer's clever portrayal of one who was, in previous versions, all but ignored. BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL BOOK!
Scars by Cheryl Rainfield - OMG! I read this straight through, shivering, crying, remembering ...! The main character, Khendra, is in therapy for sexual abuse which began at age 2. The problem is - her mind is supressing the identity of her abuser. A WORSE problem? Her abuser is trailing her; leaving threats and insidious messages. Khendra also cuts herself. This relieves the pain inside yet leaves physical scars meant to soothe the emotional ones. This book is one you will read until you gasp for air and realize you haven't been breathing! PLEASE, if you want to understand the methods of a predator and the agony of a person being abused, read this book. It isn't pretty. It isn't happy. But it's REAL. And it MAY just help YOU help someone else one day.
Watersmeet by Ellen Jensen Abbott - This book is well over 300 pages and I read it all, but STILL don't know how I feel about it. Let's just say I wish I had been the editor because her premise was awesome. Her execution? Well ...! The story is about a young woman who lives in a society where she and many others are outcasts because of a ruler's mandate. She ends up finding her father, a leader in another realm, and comes to terms with her anger, prejudices, etc. Am I making it sound compelling? NO? Good, because most of it isn't. The author has some really good segments through the book, but there's so much convoluted yakking & silliness in places, it distracts a reader from the good parts. I would not buy this one if I were you! Just my opinion.
Impossible by Nancy Werlin - (Young Adult) If you like to delve into the realm of faeries (and I DO) and want a bit of mystery, puzzle solving, and 'real life' tossed in, along with amazingly good writing, this is the right book. I own several by the author, but so far have read only IMPOSSIBLE. Despite my strong aversion to ANYTHING that even smells of romance novels, I loved this story. The 'romance' was a focal point in the story, but NOT, by any means THE story. This writer knows her stuff! THUMBS UP!
Reckless by Cornelia Funke - the author of the Inkheart trilogy wrote this very strange novel. It's meant to be a take on the Snow White mirror thing, but it jumps around WAY too much and not necessarily in a good way. Her IDEA is magnificent. Her execution left me cold.
The Poison Diaries by Maryrose Wood, Duchess of Northumberland - I picked up this book about the daughter of a man who heals with plants, the man himself, and a very mysterious young man who's called Weed. Read straight through it because I absolutely COULD NOT put it down!
Folly by Marthe Jocelyn - a rather down-in-the-mouth YA book that seems to focus more on building UP to a 'surprise' ending than on anything else. Didn't HATE it. Also didn't LOVE it.
Dark Song by Gale Giles - a girl finds out her family has been living a lie and the lie changes everything, including who she becomes. I couldn't put it down!
Plain Kate by Erin Bow - a young girl who has learned to carve from her father suddenly finds herself an orphan, accused of using a 'witch-blade' by the superstitious town folks. A good story with so many twists!
Stolen by Lucy Christopher - young adult but not just for kids! Very intense story of a young girl who is kidnapped right out from under her parents' noses at an airport. Extremely suspenseful! Very good!
The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter, the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry - for those of you familiar with the author, three words: TYPICAL DAVE BARRY! For those unfamilar, three words: FUNNY, FUNNY, FUNNY! A VERY quick read!
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - There is NO doubt in my mind why this was a HUGE bestseller! I LOVED IT!
The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenhauf - a mystery as well as a beautiful story
The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay by Beverly Jensen - Heartbreakingly wonderful
Knitting by Anne Bartlett - set in Australia, this follows two women and a homeless man's personal journeys - a comforting book!
The Outside Boy by Jeanine Cummins - About Irish 'Travellers' or Gypsies - SOOOOOO GOOD!