This is how I feel...so I joined Weight Watchers!

This is how I feel...so I joined Weight Watchers!, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

Lola, the cat, best depicts how I've been feeling...flubby and chubby. So...I joined Weight Watchers last week and I lost 6.6 pounds!  I'm not very good at detaily stuff...points I can do...and I'm just doing a guesstimate every day. Gosh, they provide all the info for you to get down to the nitty gritty of every little thing, but I'm not.
So...this first week, I really stuck to the points. I don't think I went over even one day. I walked a few days, not every day. 

The thing that REALLY seems to have made a difference for me is that I haven't had any sweets. I have about a half teaspoon of sugar in my morning coffee but that's about it. I've had trouble staying asleep for about the last couple of years...I wake up at 2am and can't go back to sleep until around 5am when my alarm is about to go off! But this week, I've slept until 5am without waking up! It's a freakin' miracle! I had chalked up my sleeplessness to my age...peri-menopause...lovely things like that. But maybe sugar has something to do with it. I have a really HUGE sweet tooth. Surprisingly, I don't miss it!

So, on I go...a journey to a thinner me. I have about 30 more pounds to go...wish me luck!

Tulips!

Oooooh...Aaaaah..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

Tulips are a sure sign of spring! This field of tulips is in Mt. Vernon, WA. We took a little trip up north for Easter to see the tulips! It's been so cold...so rainy...so unspringy this year that I had to go get a glimpse of spring to reassure myself that winter is truly over!
It was beautiful! It was colorful! It was heavenly! It looked like spring!
So, now I'm back home enjoying the tulips I bought...on my kitchen table...waiting for my cherry tree to bloom while it pours outside...thanking God for the hope of spring!

Fun Foto Friday

Thought we could use a fun photo today...amid all of the concern for Japan.  I don't know what this couple is looking at, but perhaps it's a look at the future...and a reminder of how tragedies are difficult in the moment and in the recovery...but someday, it will be sunny again...in time...and in the mean time, we pray and hope for those who are suffering.

Fun Foto Friday!

Oh!, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

I love these photos! This little guy is so cute!
My daughter found these one day when we went to my favorite antique store. Little did I know, she is a vintage photo addict too! We looked through boxes and boxes of photos and laughed and laughed! Mixed in with the prim and proper cabinet photos and staged family photos by the Christmas tree, we found photos of people with real senses of humor. People who would break with tradition and decorum and ham it up for the camera! I bought several that were too good to leave behind. There's just something about someone elses' photos...perhaps I'm a little voyeuristic...yep, I'll bet that's it...

Wine Charms

Wine Charms, originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

Something new...pick-up line wine charms! I made them for my daughter for Valentine's day and I may add some to my shop soon!

Speckled...not blue.

Speckled..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

One of the ladies laid a beautiful speckled egg today...not blue. Speckled. I have been waiting, waiting, waiting for my Araucana hens to lay their blue eggs. The other day I ventured out to collect eggs and noticed Opal...one of the Araucanas...sort of hovering around where they all tend to lay in the coop. She was standing up but obviously pushing...I could tell she was going to lay an egg. I was SO EXCITED..."I'm going to get to witness the laying of my first blue egg!!!"...and a few seconds later...plop...out came a BROWN EGG! I was dumbfounded. So...apparently, even though my Araucanas LOOK like Araucanas and have all the characteristics of Araucanas (looks like a duck, acts like a duck), they don't have enough Araucana in them to lay blue eggs. That figures. I'm still holding out hope that Pearl will lay blue...but I'm not holding my breath.
Ah well...brown is beautiful...and speckled is divine.

Snowy Night...

Snowy Night..., originally uploaded by HA! Designs - Artbyheather.

It seems I'll never get too old for the feeling of utter joy I feel when the flakes start to fly! I'm always checking the windows and turning on the porch light after dark to see if I can tell if it's still snowing! My daughter keeps asking me if I think there will be school tomorrow...I'm hoping not. I'd love to share a snow day with her.
What is it about snow? Is it because it's Christmassy? No, I don't think that's it...I think it's just beautiful...quiet...fun!