Stinky's on a diet

She may not like it, but as you can see here.. she's gettin' pretty big. And I can't brush it off as "she's just big boned" anymore!

We've cut her down to one feeding a day instead of two, so she's been sortof whiny at night, but she seems to be taking it much better than we thought she would.

Here she is by the nasturtiums out back... isn't she just the cutest?! (even though she's bigger than that blue flower pot!)

My new favorite flower

I have fallen in love again...

with water lilies. They are just so georgeous!

When my mom was up visiting, we visited the Chicago Botanic Gardens. I always forget until I see them, that I love these flowers so much! And I was surprised to see them still blooming in October.

These pictures were taken in the late afternoon, but I think it makes them more vivid with all the colors and shadows.

Just thought I'd share!

A Visit to the Farmers Market

My mom & her friend Judy drove up to Chicago this past weekend to pay a visit. One of the fun things we did was to visit the Evanston Farmer's Market. I love farmer's markets! Just seeing all the pretty seasonal yummies was great. So many colors and shapes.

We ended up getting some delicious raspberries and a few types of apples. My mom likes Cortland and hubby & I got some Mutsu? which were like the green ones in the red basket in the forefront of the picture here.

Some Time to Sew

I've been busy with life and haven't had much time to sew lately. So today being the Columbus Day holiday from school, I have some time to sit down and sew - hooray!

The projects have been piling up... I finished and sent out my Sept. mini quilt last week (late!) to Upstatelisa (here's the super-cute owl quilt and mushroom pouch she sent me), I'm now planning and working on my October mini quilt for Calamity Kim, I'm also working on a lap quilt for the Bend the Rules Sewing Swap as well as DollQuilt Swap 5. I had also started sewing a birthday gift for my sister... AND if that weren't enough, I'm so ADD I had to throw in a holiday-themed quilt that was a challenge for the Collaborative Quilting group from Krom mama. Whew! So what have I done today?

Yep. Sat on the couch with the cat and watched all my Tivo'ed shows.

So now it's time to get down to business.

playing with blog layout

oops.

I'm trying to play with my blog layout and managed to somehow revert back to my old template from when I first started a blog.

Please pardon my dust.... it's a work in progress

Getting more organized

I'm a closet organizer

No, I don't organize closets for a living. What I mean is, I secretly love to organize things. But don't tell my husband.

I worked on getting my sewing space more organized last weekend, and one of the things I'm most excited about is this thread organizer. I had my thread in about three different places, so getting it all together is a great feeling. I can actually see what colors I have now! And it's so colorful, that when I sit down at my sewing table, It makes me happy to look at it!

I also straightened up my closet storage space. There used to be a huge pile of fabric waiting to be ironed on the floor in front of the closet, so that I could neither close the door nor reach anything in the closet!

And here's something that I've been working on recently. The September miniquilt swap. The theme was mushrooms and/or owls. My swap partner, Upstatelisa, hasn't yet received this mini quilt, so I can only show some sneaky peaks. More later when she actually receives it! I only have the binding to finish and then will mail it off to her.

(oh, and I went to the gym this morning!)

Fit Friday

So I saw another blogger who's in the crafty & fit group create a "Fit Friday" post to keep herself motivated and to keep track of how much she's been walking. I thought, "what a great idea!" If only I had something "fit" to blog about!

I did go to the gym once this week. In fact, I was so focused on rushing to the gym after work that I completely forgot that I had made an eye doctor appt. for that afternoon and of course, missed the doctor's appointment.

Luckily, it was just a yearly exam and I can still see. for the time being. And at least I got in an hour at the gym. I've been getting into a rut when I go to the gym, though. I jump on the first empty elliptical machine and pedal for about 30 - 40 minutes. Then I'm so jello-legged that I can barely walk to the mat area to stretch. I do feel that it's a great workout and I sweat a lot. But I need to start incorporating other activities besides just cardio.

I had my hubby show me some arm machines and I did those last time, too. I just feel torn sometimes between wanting someone to show me what to do, and being so fiercely independent that I get mad if someone tries to give me directions. I must be bipolar.

Anyway, the goal is to go again on Sunday and maybe fit in a workout video as well sometime during the week. I think I'll keep doing (as best I can) the "Fit Friday" posts to keep myself in line. We'll see if I can keep it up!