How To: Microwave Heat Pack

this is a repeat, but still a good tutorial!

I have baby fever. I have it bad. Really bad.

I promised myself that before we could start trying for our third child, I would get in shape. I put on 40 lbs when I was pregnant with my 1st, M. I got pregnant with P, our 2nd, just 6 short months after M was born. Six months is not a lot of time to drop 40 lbs, even if you are not caring for a newborn.

P will be 2 in October. I have a lot of excuses as to why I am still carrying all the baby weight…. I will not bore you with them.

I will however share a secret with you.

My key to weight loss.

Yeah, diet and exercise works. Burn more calories than you take in and all that jazz. But for me, the key to weight loss is reward. The first jean size I dropped, I got a haircut. A real one. Not a 15 buck walk-in haircut, a real, make an appointment, get a scalp massage while you get your hair washed haircut.

My rewards lately have been scaled back a bit. We are on a budget and are doing some remodels (posts on that later) so money is tight. So now, I have a much more frugal reward. And let me tell you, it is almost as satisfying as a fancy haircut. My reward? You ask. I tell.

Homemade Heat Packs

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This heat pack is a warm (obviously!), comforting, fragrant muscle relaxer and this is how you make one: [Read more...]

Quick and Easy Curtain Upgrade

I bought these curtains (pictured below)from Target. I loved the sheen, I loved the rich color.

They look great, right?

Once I hung them, I started to doubt my design choice. That is a lot of brown.  85 inches of brown faux silk panel times two, to be exact.  It was too much and it looked too generic. Those curtains, that wall of brown could be anyone’s house. I wanted better. I wanted something that would better reflect our style.

Instead of admitting to my husband I made a mistake, I decided to alter the panels. I had some left over fabric from making a valance for our dining room and a bench pad from our sitting room. I decided to add that fabric as an accent insert fabric. This ended up being a twofer-I used extra fabric so I didn’t have to spend any more cash and I subtly tied all the rooms together by using the same fabric. [Read more...]