Re-visiting Last Year's Goals

Hurray!  The new year is nearly here so time for new goals!  And I love goal setting!

But before I set my goals for the next year, I need to re-visit last year's ones and see how I did.

1.  Craft more with Cavan.  Success!  He and I were crafty like foxes this year.  It helped that I organized all of the kid craft supplies and keep them out in the living area. 

2.  Numeracy and literacy work with Hunter.  Success!  We have been playing a lot of math games with him and working on sight words.  I never made a word wall with him, but he has a box of cards with words that he has told us he wanted to learn such as train, tender and pirate ship.  The kid is creative!

3.  Find more free time for Matt.  Semi-success!  Matt gets out to the gym and out visiting a lot more without me and the monkeys, but I would still like to find more time for him to do the things he likes.  Gotta keep working on this one.

4.  Expand my sewing skills and business.  Continued success!  I am pretty proud of my little business.  Last year I made around $12 000 in sales which I am very happy with.  Of course my supplies are very expensive, so that isn't all profit.  But I make enough to buy more supplies and buy myself something fun from time to time.  My skill-set grew in leaps and bounds last year and hopefully that happens again this year.

5.  Water my house plants.  Success!!  Well except for the ugly plant that I put outside to die.  I am a cruel plant owner.

6.  Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you.  Success!  I worked to stay away from people like that and my happiness level is at an all time high.   :)


2012 was a fantastic year!  Stay tuned tomorrow for plans for the next year and reflections on my last year of weight loss.

A Fur Scarf!

A custom order came in for a wolf fur scarf and I was excited to try something new!  An online friend of mine in Alaska had posted pictures of ones she had made, so I asked for a bit of advice.  Her tips and tricks made all the difference in this project!  How I wish I lived closer so I could sit in her studio and learn more from her.  Check out her website here:  http://www.indigenousalaska.com/
and her esty shop here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/Indigenousalaska?ref=pr_shop_more

I worked on the scarf over two days and it turned out so lovely.  It is fluffy and incredibly warm.  The ends of the scarf are made of dyed black seal fur.  There is a slit in one end of the scarf so the other end can poke through to keep it secured.

Now I have my fingers crossed that the customer is happy with it!

Christmas

Another wonderful holiday in the Went home.  It was just the four of us for Christmas, but we hooked up with another couple of families for supper that day.  The day was the perfect mix of family time and friend time.  Boxing Day was a bit busier for us as we hosted a brunch with 21 adults and children in attendance- heaps of chaos and fun!

As much as we love our families, we love staying in our own home creating our own traditions for the holidays.  The idea of traveling at this time of the year to see them just doesn't seem pleasant.  My family is a day and a half drive away and Matt's family live at the other end of the country.  Maybe one day they will all come here for Christmas instead!

Always have to make sure the reindeer are well taken care of!

I love my Christmas candles!

Honest Santa!  We have been good this year!

And Santa fell for it!  

Family photo time!

Party!!

Are the holidays over with yet?

Make Your Own Bazooka

This morning I made our traditional Christmas Eve Wrapping Paper Tube Bazooka Gun.  This tradition goes all the way back to my childhood.  There is a great picture of my brother asleep in his bed clinging to his wrapping paper tube just in-case of a nighttime assault. 

So how do you make this your very own family tradition?  Follow these idiot-proof instructions:

Step one:  Round up all the rolls you have been saving for the last month (toilet paper, paper towel, and wrapping paper).  Make sure you have a full roll of packing tape.

Step two: Cut the paper towel roll in half and tape it to the wrapping paper roll.  Lots and lots of tape.  Then add even more tape.  If in doubt, add more tape.

Step three:  Add a scope using the other half of your paper towel roll.  Tape.  Tape.  Tape.

Step four:  Slide the toilet paper roll over the end of the wrapping paper tube to make it into a pump action.  No tape required.

Step five:  Immediately give to small children or husbands and be prepared to run.  If small children or husbands gets out of control with their bazooka, just use the tape to tape them to the nearest wall.

Note:  users of the bazooka guns will be inclined to find ammunition for their gun.  Dinky cars are not optimal as they will become crammed in the barrel resulting in a mama having to cut the gun apart and create an entirely new gun.

Just Like Big Brother

Cavan is becoming a lego junkie just like his big brother.  Up until recently, he has been happier destroying whatever Hunter made.  But now his creative little mind is making me turtles, Autobots, guns, rockets, and planes.

Here is a picture from three minutes ago.  I am sitting at the table drinking tea and Cavan is making me all sorts of treasures.  I love seeing my boys becoming so creative with the lego! 

A Year of Reading

Since having my weight loss surgery I have been reading more.  A lot more. 

I have always loved to read, but with little kids it just seemed to be pushed to the back burner.  I was reading heaps of books to them each day, but by the time I was able to put my feet up, I wanted my brain to be numbed, so on went a tv show or some internet surfing.

Reading has been one of my biggest techniques to break myself from mindless eating.  It is hard to hold a book and read at the same time.  And I really don't want to eat and read with my kobo that has a touch screen!  Grime on the screen?  No way!  Seems odd, but it works.  Reading distracts me so well and lately I cannot seem to put my books down!

I have to thank Letia in Iqaluit especially for helping me get back into reading.  It was through her generosity that I was able to spend money on myself (something most mom's have problems doing) and buy myself an ebook.  I love being able to buy a book instantly and also to be able to carry around as many books as I want!  Now, I still have a real book on the go most times, but my kobo is my new best friend!

So what did I read in the last year?  Here are the titles:

Game of Thrones books 1-5
Hunger Games Trilogy
The Dovekeepers
World War Z
Insurgent
Divergent
The Twelve
The Passage
As the World Dies Trilogy
Ashes, Ashes
Hater
The Girl in the Clockwork Collar
The Zombie Autopsies
Autumn Series (5 book series about zombies!)
50 Shades of Grey Trilogy
The Girl in the Steel Corset
Wool Omnibus (books 1-5)
On the Island
The Island
Dog Blood
Snatched
Newsflesh Trilogy
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Wheatbelly
Hitching Rides with Budda

I know I am missing a few on that list, but that looks like most of them!

So what was my favorite?  Individual book was World War Z.  The movie is coming out next year and even though it looks like crap compared to the book, I am still excited to see it.

Favorite series?  Too hard to pick!!  Game of Thrones is awesome and addictive.  But so was The Hunger Games.  And so was Autumn.  Can't pick.

My theme of the year was definitely zombie.  And I love anything apocalyptic. 

Worst book of the last year?  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.  I couldn't finish it.

And what am I reading now?  The rest of the Hater series and then onto The Maze Runner.

Input!  What should I read in 2013??  Leave me your favorites in the comments!

14 Month Update

I am already fourteen months post-bariatric surgery....  Where has that time gone? 

The weight is still coming off, although it is coming off a lot slower now.  Since my one year mark back on October 19th, I have lost another 5.5lbs.  That has been the slowest weight loss over two months that I have had to date.  However, my surgeon and nutritionist are both happy at the slower rate since I am approaching my goal weight.  They would be concerned if the weight was coming off at a rate of any more than one pound a week right now.

I have now lost 124lbs.  My goal is to lose 150lbs and that is so close now!  Well sort of close.  At this rate I won't be at my goal until late spring or early summer, but that is still exciting.

Last month I went down to northern BC to visit with family and boy did I ever go on a shopping spree!  I pretty much bought a new wardrobe, but a lot of it came from Value Village, so I didn't feel too bad about all my spending.  It feels great to have a few nicer items to wear out and about!

So where am I struggling?  Holiday eating is tough!  Last year at the holidays I was barely up to eating 1/2 a cup of mush.  This year I can eat one cup of pretty much anything.  Items that are too sweet or rich make me sick pretty much instantly, but some times that still isn't enough to stop me from trying a bite.  I am eating a bit more than normal right now, but am making sure I don't overfill myself and space out my eating.  Also, I need to focus on visiting instead of eating.  That is really the real reason we all get together, right?

I am also having a hard time dealing with my stomach flap.  It gets in the way of everything and clothing fits so awkward with it.  When I had my one year appointment with my surgeon, he gave me the go-ahead to start looking into surgery.  Based on how much weight I have lost and my level of activity, he said if I was doing this at his clinic they would do it at the 18 month mark.  So I have an appointment with a doctor that is coming into Faro in January to see if that type of surgery could possibly be covered under our insurance here in the Yukon.  If not, well I will start to save my pennies and get help researching a plastic surgeon to have it done.  I am hoping I can find a place closer than the clinic where I had my bariatric surgery, but I would be happy to go right back down there too.

The surgeon also suggested that I stop tracking my food as much.  This is a really tough one for me.  I love tracking every little bit and I feel so lost when I don't keep track.  I am not sure I am going to be able to follow through on this one.  My personality type likes the control I feel when I track and measure everything and I have great success with it.  We will see where it goes.

The weight is now coming off my lower end.  I haven't lost a single inch off my waist or boobs in the last two months, but I have lost another inch and a half off my hips and two and a half off each of my thighs!!  Woweeee!  I am so happy to see my bottom shrinking.  I have now lost a total of 10.5" off of each thigh and a whopping 18.5" off my hips.  Get out a measuring tape and look at that one.  Unreal.

I haven't been very active in the last month due to my vacation and then being hit with the plague upon our return.  Yesterday I was back at the squash court and loved every minute of it.  Time to get back into my routine!

And now my 14 month photos:

Looking nice for the staff party last night!

124lbs down.

See that tummy flap?  It sucks. 

hmmm.... I need some hair help today!

Shopping Local

I organized a craft show for our local artists, crafters and bakers to sell their wares and it was a big hit!  There is always a craft show at the end of November in Faro, but I thought it would be nice to have another one closer to Christmas for all the last minute shoppers. 

There were sixteen tables filled with great stuff!  I am always blown away by the talented people we have here in Faro and Ross River as well.  And Faroites are incredibly supportive!  Locals came out in droves to spend their money on great items for Christmas.  Money and donations were also collected for our Christmas Hamper program; thank you to everyone who donated!

I sold a number of items and a few pricier ones that really made my day.  There are also four more custom orders added to my to-do-before-Christmas list and even one item that was put aside with the instructions of, "Call my husband and tell him to buy this for me for Christmas!"

Thank you to all the vendors, shoppers, and staff at the rec centre for making this such a successful event!

A full room of vendors and shoppers!

My table of goodies!

A Year of Bad

Well not bad in that way... just a year of boys and the bad things they do!  Check it out for some laughs:
2012: A Year of Bad in the Went Household from Kara Went on Vimeo.

I should have really titled this, "A Year of Dirty Faces and Bare Bums!"

New Traditions

A lot of my friends are doing the Christmas Elf with their children and I wanted to come up with something special for my kids as we count down the days until Christmas.  I though about buying the Elf, but honestly, the thing just creeped me out.  But then I saw this nifty little advent train in a Regal catalogue and an idea took shape.

Each day the kids open up a door on the train and take out a special note.  We started a bit late since we arrived back to Faro on the 2nd and have been overwhelmed with the Faro Plague since then.  The kids haven't asked who wrote the note yet, and I am not sure how I will answer that when they do ask. 

Each note with either be something that we will do that day as a family or it will be a special act of kindness that we will perform.  Yesterday's note was letting the kids know it was the day to write their letter to Santa.  It was a fun family activity even with both kids sick.  Today, we will be doing some baking to share with friends of their choosing.  I am looking forward to putting a new task in each night and keeping this new tradition going each Christmas season.

Naked thanks to a high fever, but look at that writing!  He knows how to make almost every letter on his own now.

Side two of his note to Santa.

Looking through the Sears catalogue to find the perfect present request for Santa.

Our advent train and notes so far.  And the stack of Christmas cards all ready to be mailed out today!

House of Plague

We returned home on Sunday evening from a fantastic two week vacation visiting my parents in northern BC.

And by Monday night, the Faro plague started its aggressive assault.

Cavan puked a few times Monday night and had a high fever all day Tuesday and into today.  He is seeming a bit more like himself this afternoon, but I can tell he is still isn't back up to full power since he is napping on the sofa right now.

Hunter woke up miserable with a fever this morning.  He hasn't been able to hold any food, water, or medicine down.  At least all of the puking has been in a bowl or toilet!  Beware if you drive by my house: the kid refuses to wear clothing today and likes to sit up in the window to cool himself off.  Full moon/wanker alert!

Matt seems healthy so far.

Me?  Not too sure yet.  I am still getting over a bad chest cold I had while on vacation and my tummy doesn't seem quite right.  I am also cold and just cannot seem to warm up.  Ah well.  Get it over with now and we will all be healthy for Christmas, right?

Best Birthday Cake!

I made my husband this cake for his birthday and it went over quite well!

There is a caption by Matt that reads, "Aw crap!" and the deer is saying, "Ha Ha!"

Happy Birthday Matt!