Wednesday, February 29, 2012

What I’m Wearing

Hey all you wonderful people! I hope everyone is having a wonderful leap day today.

Hubby was back to his regular day off this week, thank goodness because having a different day off last week messed me up for the week, I couldn’t seem to get straight what day it was.

Here is What I’m Wearing today!

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Skirt(it’s actually a dress): DealZone(eBay store), $18(2010)

Top(it’s a “tube” top): Walmart, $5(2009)

Cardigan: Addition-Elle, $10ish(2009)

Boots: Payless, gift from inlaws(2007?)

Necklace: Penningtons, $3(2012)

Earrings: Penningtons, $1(2012)

Bracelet: Dollarama, $1.25(2011)

Ring: Penningtons, $3(2012)

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Jolene

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Google Friend Connect

Just a reminder to everyone that Google Friend Connect and all its usefulness is down to its last couple of days. As of March 1st you can only follow other Blogger blogs with it. I know a lot of people subscribe to blogs using it(I do too!), so you have just a couple of days to make sure you are subscribed to any blogs that are not Blogger by other methods. You will see the subscribe button for my blog at the top of the column to the far right, just click on it and subscribe using the method of your choice(I like Google Reader).

My understanding is that you can continue to use Google Friend Connect only if you are a Blogger user and you can only follow other Blogger blogs, but I suppose with that much limitation there is no point to using it at all.

So make sure you go to all your non-Blogger blogs you read and set up a different method of following so you don’t forget about them Smile.

Here’s different ways you can follow both me and my blog:

Pinterest

Facebook

Twitter

Flickr

Bloglovin

Bloggers.com

 

Jolene

 

 

 

 

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Bacon, Chicken Boobs and Jalapeno Poppers

I went to bed at around my usual time, around 4:30am, I got up at 10:00am because it was supposed to be the Daytona 500. Yes, I love racing that much that I will wake up early just to see it, and it was the first race of the season, so I HAD to see it. Turns out I got up early for nothing, the race got rained out Sad smile. So now I will be getting up at 10am tomorrow(probably after going to bed around 6 by the time hubby gets home) in hopes it will be on. Am I crazy? Yes I am! LOL

I meant to get this posted a little earlier today(still Sunday here for another 30 minutes Winking smile), but the lack of sleep has had me taking a little longer to get things done today. I tried to nap but it didn’t work, blah.

Last night I made my new favorite chicken dish, I’ve made this a few times in the past couple of weeks now and it is not only super easy, but so totally and completely delicious! With not eating carbs now I have had a bit of a hard time coming up with side dishes other than just boring steamed veggies or a salad. Hubby is super picky when it comes to veggies, there’s really not a lot he will eat. Jalapenos however is something he absolutely loves, so non-breaded Jalapeno Poppers have made their way into my “good” side dishes list. If I were to make these as more of an appetizer on their own I would wrap them in bacon too, but since I have the chicken wrapped in bacon and I’m trying to keep meal costs down as much as I can(the chicken is expensive enough, super expensive for chicken here!), it’s not really needed when making them as a side dish.

See, not deprived at all by cutting out the carbs, this is good eating!

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Chicken Boobs with Bacon and Cheese

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

8 Slices of Bacon

2 cups(approx) Shredded Cheddar or Marble Cheese(it doesn’t have to be shredded, you can just slice it too)

Slice a pocket into the side of each chicken breast and stuff with cheese. Wrap 2 pieces of bacon around each chicken breast. Put on a foil covered baking sheet(you don’t have to use foil if you don’t want to, I do for easier clean-up). Bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350*F, then put under the broiler on high for another 5 to 10 minutes until bacon is browned.

Serves 4.

 

Jalapeno Poppers

Inspired by Low Car Jalapeno Poppers by jovigirl

12 Large Fresh Jalapenos

1 8oz Package of Cream Cheese, softened

1 Cup Shredded Cheddar or Marble Cheese

1/4 Cup Green Onion, sliced fine

1 tsp Garlic Powder

Wash jalapenos, cut of stems, cut in half lengthwise and seed. If you want more spiciness don’t fully clean out the membrane and seeds, leave some in because that’s where the main heat of a jalapeno comes from. Lay out on a baking sheet.

Mix together all other ingredients really well. Fill each jalapeno half with the cheese mixture.

Bake at 350*F for 25 minutes then put under the broiler for a couple of minutes to slightly brown the cheese….unless you don’t want the cheese browned, then just take them out, let them cool for a few minutes and enjoy!

 

Please, let me know if you’ve tried any recipes I have posted! I love to hear what others think of them!

Jolene

Some Diet Changes and a Little of My Weight Story

Oh my, I know I said probably like 3 weeks ago I was going to post about our decision to change our diet….lets see if I can finally get it posted today lol.

First off, this change is not based on weightloss. Yes, hubby and I do both want to lose a bit of weight, I want to lose about 20lbs and he I think wants to lose about twice that. I want to lose a bit of weight(as I said in my goals for this year), but I like my curves now, it took me a long time to accept my body as it is and now that I have I actually have no desire to be skinny again. I just want to lose enough so the clothes I have fit me better, and so I feel a little better. I feel good, but there’s never anything wrong with wanting to make yourself feel better, as long as it’s YOUR choice and you’re not doing it because someone else says you should. This is MY choice.

Like I said, this diet change is not based on weightloss, we do hope to lose a little, but it’s not the reason we decided to make these changes. We are making these changes for overall health, and already I’m seeing a difference. The change I’m seeing isn’t even in weight, my weight has bounced up and down within about 3lbs, hubby’s has done the same within about 5 or 6lbs, so really nothing there and I’m not surprised because I don’t get any exercise at all in Winter. But, we’re seeing a difference in how we feel. In the 3 weeks since we changed our diet neither of us has had heartburn or acid reflux even once(was a several night a week thing), we haven’t felt as tired all day as usual, my skin is doing better than it has in years, we’ve had way less headaches(I was having a migraine a week, now for 3 weeks I’ve only had a couple of small shortlived headaches) and a biggie for me is my stomach issues have been soooo much better. I’ve been lactose intolerant since I was a baby and I have had other stomach issues since I was in High School, which I’m sure has been the biggest contributor to my social anxiety. While my stomach aches aren’t gone, they have been wayyy fewer and far between than I can ever remember. I’m starting to wonder if my problem wasn’t lactose intolerance as I thought my whole life but actually a gluten intolerance, I’m having almost NO gluten but I’m still having quite a bit of dairy and the dairy isn’t bothering me!

So, what is the change? Well, we have cut out sugar and carbs. No: bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar. This decision came about after watching a documentary a couple of weeks ago that one of hubby’s co-workers was telling him about. The documentary is called Fat Head (we found the full movie on You Tube if you want to watch it). Now, if you’re not open minded and if you don’t believe that carbs are what’s killing us, then this documentary and this post are not for you because even with evidence you probably can’t be convinced(I’m not here to try and convince anyone, we’re all adults and can make decisions for ourselves). For us there really was no convincing, some of it is stuff we’ve talked about for years and already believed, but it’s easy to be blinded when everyone and everything out there is trying to convince you that counting calories and eating low fat is not only the way to go, but the only way to go.

A lot of what they had to say in this documentary we didn’t need convincing of because we knew from our own experience it to be true. Both hubby and I have been overweight since after my pregnancy of our first child, that was 14 years ago. I have tried so many different things to lose weight, so many I won’t even begin to name them. Some I would actually lose 10 to 20lbs, but then that would be it, my weight wouldn’t budge from that and then it would come right back in no time. And as much as I hate “working out”, at one time I did it religiously 5 times a week for 4 months plus trying to watch what I ate and drink more water. In 4 months not only did I not lose a single pound, but I didn’t lose even a fraction of an inch either.

My husband usually won’t even try a diet with me, but there was one he did. About 8 years ago we cut out all carbs. We stopped eating sugar, bread, rice, pasta and potatoes. Our diet consisted of meat, veggies, dairy and fruit. We didn’t exercise other than the occasional walk and each of us worked 8 to 10 hour shifts on our feet. Guess what happened? We both lost weight, not just 10 to 20 lbs. I don’t remember exactly how much we lost(sorry, I have a bad memory and it was like 8 years ago LOL), but I went from a size 16 down to a 12, I could even wear a 10 in some things. I felt AMAZING! I had way more energy, my depression was probably the easiest it has been to handle in all the years since it started with my first pregnancy, my skin was not as bad as usual, overall I just felt fantastic.

It’s that feeling I want again. I don’t care if I don’t get down to a 10 or 12 again, to be a straight 16 and have all my 16’s and maybe some of my 14’s fit me really well is perfectly fine with me. But I want to feel good, that’s the part I’m looking for. I have so many things I want to do and my kids are getting older and needing me less, I need to feel good to do all the things I want to do.

So there, that’s my big diet change, and so far I am finding so many yummy ways of making things and new recipes that I’m not missing the carbs and sugar at all!!

If you have any questions about our changes feel free to ask! I won’t debate what diets are better and all that, but if anyone has questions or wants to know where they can find out more information I’m more than happy to steer you toward what I have found, I’m still learning every day about the benefits of this change.

There, finally got it done….now I have to go make a recipe post for today and maybe get a head start on some posts for this week, I meant to make every day of posts last week and failed badly at that!

 

Jolene

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Pinterest Interests

Here’s a few of my Pinterest Interests for this week!







Source: polyvore.com via Jolene on Pinterest










Source: cmt.com via Jolene on Pinterest




Jolene

I love comments and followers! It lets me know who’s reading so I can make sure to visit you in return! Feel free to add me on Facebook and Twitter as well, as soon as I have more followers to interact with on them I plan to make more and better use of them both.

Monday, February 20, 2012

What I’m Wearing

What I’m Wearing for today(ok, yes, I know it’s not my usual What I’m Wearing day, but hubby’s days off were switched this week) is one featuring a contest win! I entered a contest that Moe over at My Favorite Things was running in December, and I was one of the winners! Can’t even tell you how much that made my day when I found out I won! The prize was something from Shop Translated, which if you haven’t checked out yet for plus size clothing you must!

I had to send them my top 3 picks, and even though their selection isn’t huge it was still hard to choose 3 things because what they do have is great. Sadly a few things that I really wanted to choose weren’t available in my size, but I did manage to come up with not only 3 choices, but I went with things that are different than what I would normally wear. I figured what a perfect opportunity to go a little outside my comfort zone, and I’m glad I did!

This is the one of my 3 picks that they sent me:

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I received the dress about 3 weeks ago, but as you can see it’s not exactly made for Winter, and even though we’ve had a mild one compared to what we’re used to, it is still very much Winter here as the snow last night reminded us. I knew I couldn’t wait until summer to wear it though, looking at it hanging there for 3 weeks was hard enough! I knew I had to find a way to “Winterize” it so I could wear it. Most of  my wardrobe is black though, and I still can’t decide which side of the “black and brown together” side I’m on(seriously, half say you can wear them together, half say you can’t…which is it? LOL….how do you all feel about that?).

I managed to find enough brown things in my closet and make what I think turned out to be a pretty good Winter outfit out of this beautiful Summer dress! One mistake I made though, I forgot to put some tights on underneath it and my legs absolutely froze under the very light skirt part….it will be great come Summer though, in the mean time tights are a must.

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A dress that would have been outside the box for me is now something that the more I look at, the more I love! The style of dress is totally me, but the pattern is not something I would have walked up to a rack and picked out. I need to try something new more often.

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Dress: Shop Translated, win, but retails for $74US(2012)

Cardigan: Reitmans, $15ish(2010)

Belt: Forever 21+, $8(2011)

Boots: Payless, gift from inlaws(2007??)

Necklace & Earrings: Avon, gift from my Mom(2010)

So what do you all think? Did I do as well as I think I did “Winterizing” this gorgeous Summer dress?

Jolene

I love comments and followers! It lets me know who’s reading so I can make sure to visit you in return! Feel free to add me on Facebook and Twitter as well, as soon as I have more followers to interact with on them I plan to make more and better use of them both.

 

Friend Makin Monday

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If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s questions on your own blog then add your link in the comments section at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Travel

  1. Where did your most recent trip take you?  Last road trip was last September to the southern corner of my province. Last trip actually away from here was 2004/2005 when we went from here to Mexico, then Phoenix, then Texas…..they were moves but our last holiday before that was 7 years before, so they were kind of like move/trip rolled into one I guess lol.
  2. Is there a place that you’d like to visit that you haven’t yet?  If so, where?  Oh gosh, so many! I would love to just travel all around Canada and the US. There’s places overseas I would like to visit(Scotland and Ireland, yes please!), but even if money weren’t an issue I’m a little scared to fly like that.
  3. Do you travel lightly, or do you cram as much into your luggage as possible?  Well, I pack for 4 so not lightly, but at the same time I try not to take more than is needed.
  4. Do your eating and exercise habits change when you travel? If so, how?  There has been a couple of times in the past that we’ve gone away and I’ve been on some sort of eating plan and it definitely never sticks while we are away. Restaurants up here especially just don’t cater to a lot of different eating lifestyles.
  5. Tell us about a place you’ve been that you’d like to go back to.  Mazatlan, I absolutely adore that place and have been 4 times. With the instability in Mexico, combined with lack of money I’m sure it will be a very long time before I go there again. And my inlaws have been trying to sell their home there, which means no more free accommodation for us. And Phoenix, and Dallas-Fort Worth…..LOVE both those places too and miss them so much!
  6. Do you prefer to travel at a certain time of year?  Not really, if driving of course winter is bad.
  7. If you had to choose, would you go to the beach or the mountains?  I love the beauty and peacefulness of the mountains, but I LOVE the beach so it would be my pick!
  8. Have you ever needed a passport to travel?  We got one for our second trip to Mexico 14 years ago, we were flying and were told if flying you were better off with one. Haven’t had one since though, which is why now we can’t even drive into the US unless we buy them(for the whole family that’s a LOT of money!)…..grrrr, so stupid that we need one just to drive across the border now!
  9. Do you collect anything in your travels?  No, just pictures and memories. When I was a teenager I used to collect shotglasses wherever we went, still have them.
  10. Where do you plan to go next?  We are going on another road trip here in our Province again in July and another in September…just a few nights each time….hotel rooms are expensive here!

Now it’s your turn! Don’t forget to go to All the Weigh to share a link in the comments!  Happy Monday friends!

Jolene

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

Good thing it’s recipe day, because do I have a simple yet yummy one to share!

A hamburger is my absolute favorite food, I could eat a hamburger every day and not get sick of it. I’m not eating bread though, ok, once every week or two hubby and I are going out for a Five Guys burger and eating the bun, but it’s like the only carb we eat the whole day and the only time we are eating out. This definitely helps keep the constant burger cravings at bay. No, I’m not one of those overweight people who would go and eat multiple burgers and fries a day, never have been. If we go out for a burger I will only eat one other small meal that day, and depending on the burger I can’t even always eat the whole thing in one sitting. I don’t know how people can eat that much, I might be overweight, but it usually doesn’t take much to fill me up.

Anyway, I love burgers so much that even that yummy Five Guys burger every couple of weeks doesn’t completely keep the burger cravings away. I found a recipe though that does and I can have as often as I want!! While searching for low carb recipes(I’m addicted to recipes, I search for them almost daily!) last week I came across one on www.food.com called Low Carb "I'm Dying For A Burger" Salad. Basically you throw all the toppings you like on your burgers into a salad and voila, there’s your “burger” without the bun. So, does it taste like a burger? You bet it does!! I made it tonight for dinner and it was absolutely fantastic! I’ve eaten a burger before and just discarded the bun, but somehow with all the ingredients mixed together like this it tastes more like a burger than doing it the patty and toppings way.

You can make this any way you want, just do it how you like your burgers. You don’t have to be doing Low Carb to enjoy this, it’s just plain yummy! Makes for a great lunch too, I sent hubby to work with some. I’m not going to include amounts for the ingredients because it’s one of those recipes that you just throw in however much you want of everything. This is how I made mine:

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Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

(inspired by Low Carb "I'm Dying For A Burger" Salad by Not-2-Sweet)

Ground Beef

Onions, chopped

Garlic, minced

Liquid Smoke

Bacon, cooked crisp and broken into pieces

Lettuce(I use Romaine, it’s better for you than Iceberg and has more flavor)

Tomatoes, chopped

Onions, sliced thin

Pickles, sliced

Cheese, shredded(I used marble)

Mayo

Mustard

Ketchup

Heavy Cream

Brown ground beef with diced onions and garlic, add in some liquid smoke.

Toss together bacon, lettuce, tomatoes, onion slices, pickles and cheese.

Mix together mayo, mustard and ketchup. Add enough cream to thin it out a bit so it’s more like a pourable dressing.

Toss meat, salad mix and dressing mixture together. Warm in the microwave for about 30 seconds to wilt the lettuce a bit.

Enjoy!!

 

Jolene

Thursday, February 16, 2012

What I’m Wearing

It’s Wednesday! Hubby’s off! He’s taking me out for lunch! Yayy! Oh, and he got his T4 last night so I did his taxes early this morning before going to bed and money is on it’s way to help pay down the credit card! Yayy!

Here is What I’m Wearing today! Decided to wear something I rarely wear, had this top for a long time and this is only the second time I’ve worn it….still can’t decide if I really like it or not LOL, it’s like a faux wrap style, it’s a little loose in the bust area so I don’t like the shape it gives so much….makes me look a little saggy LOL. The skirt I wear a bit in summer, but not a lot because it likes to scoot up and I always have to pull it down…gets a little annoying.

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Skirt: Reitmans, $10ish(2007)

Top: Addition-Elle, $10ish(2008)

Boots: Sears, $40(2011)

Tights: Forever 21+, $6(2011)

Bracelet: Dollarama, $1.25(2011)

Necklace & Earrings: Avon, don’t recall price

Jolene

(meant to post this before going out but forgot to hit publish….oops Smile)

 

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentine’s Day

I don’t add Facebook statuses much these days, but I added one today on my personal account for Valentine’s Day. I think it about sums up what I think of Valentine’s Day:

“I have the best Valentine because he knows I don't want overpriced flowers that will die in 2 days or overpriced chocolate that I won't eat, he knows I don't want money wasted on a day that is made for retailers to make more money. He tells me he loves me no matter what day it is, he takes me out for lunch or dinner when he knows I need a break, he brings me home my favorite coffee because he knows it makes me happy, he strokes my head every night because he knows I have troubles sleeping and it helps relax me, he's there for me when I have nobody else and need a shoulder for anything. He does things because he loves me no matter what day it is, not because someone labeled a day and said he should. Those are the things that make a good Valentine, and mine is the best.”

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Happy Valentine’s Day

Jolene

Monday, February 13, 2012

Pinterest Interests

I haven’t spent quite as much time on Pinterest the past week, until early Monday morning while I was waiting for hubby to get home from work and went a little crazy on it. It’s the perfect time killer when you’re too tired to do anything else.

Here’s my Pinterest Interests for this week:







Source: polyvore.com via Jolene on Pinterest














Jolene
Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Stuffed Peppers

Ok, I know I said I would be posting in a couple of days about some changes hubby and I are making to our diet…that was more than a couple of days ago. I’ve had a busy week, a lot of it dealing with finances….the cost of everything is going WAY up while the paychecks go up a little once a year if you’re lucky. I freaked when opening the utility bills this week, we used less electricity over the previous month yet the bill is $50 higher just for the electricity part alone….everything else went up too when our consumption changed very little. Basically my utilities are at least $150 more than the previous month, plus groceries just seem to keep going up and up every month. I tried to find a way to spend less than $600 a month on groceries, but unless all we eat is Kraft Dinner there’s just no way, groceries just cost too much here, I spend less than most families for a family of 4. So, as always, money is stressing me out man! I need to find the time to focus on how to earn some money while still being here for my family, problem is being here for my family doesn’t give me a lot of time to think about how I’m going to earn money or have the time to do it.

Anyway, because of focusing on finances this week I didn’t really pay much attention to my blog at all. I will still be posting more about our change in diet and why, for now the short version is that we have cut out all carbs….no sugar, no bread, no flour period. So I have also been working on getting set up with different recipes and meal plans than I am used to, which is surprisingly more time consuming than it sounds(especially when you have to play referee in the middle of it lol).

Yesterday I made Stuffed Peppers for dinner, I’ve been meaning to make them for a long time but never got around to it. It was a perfect meal though for our new(again…yes, will get to explaining that soon) low carb lifestyle. I knew it would be as simple as omitting the rice that is usually in a stuffed pepper, but as I was looking around for a recipe I couldn’t find one I totally liked. All the recipes I found were either missing something or had too much of something, or I just didn’t like the recipe overall. So, since I have been wanting to do more of making my own recipes from scratch instead of using existing recipes as a base, I made my own recipe and it turned out better than I had even hoped! I mean, these were seriously delicious!!!

I made mine with green peppers only because I found bags of green peppers on sale for pretty cheap($2.68 for 4 peppers, if you told me years ago I would be paying that one day and calling it “cheap” I wouldn’t have believed you!), my original plan was to use a mix of all colors, but they were quite a bit more expensive. For me I think I would have preferred a yellow or orange pepper, but I also am picky on how I like green peppers, they have to be diced and cooked soft and mixed in. But you can use whatever peppers you want, I would even do it with large jalapenos if I got a deal on some. Oh, and my 11 year old who hates peppers LOVED these, inhaled 1 before I even sat down, downed another seconds later and was begging for more, he was begging me for mine!

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This is how I made it and there were plenty for 5 people and one left over, adjust for how many people and whether or not you’re eating something else with them, hubby and I had only these(he had 3, I had 2), the kids and my bro in-law had 2 each and potatoes with theirs.

 

Stuffed Peppers

6 Peppers, any color

1 lb Ground Beef

1 lb Ground Pork Sausage

1 Onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 can diced tomatoes, or equivalent of fresh diced

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Chili Powder

Salt

Pepper

Shredded Cheese

Brown ground beef and pork sausage, dump meat into a strainer straddled over a bowl and let fat drain out. Saute onion, add garlic when onion is almost done and saute for a few minutes, stirring continuous so you don’t burn the garlic(if you don’t cook a lot you may not know that garlic burns very fast, I always add it in as late as possible, burnt garlic is very bitter and will ruin the taste of the dish). Add meat back into pan along with tomatoes and spices. Mix together well and cook on Med-Low while you prepare the peppers, stirring every few minutes.

Wash your peppers and slice them all in half, carefully clean out all the pepper guts and stem, try not to let the pepper half lose too much of it’s structure. Boil the pepper halves in a pot of water for 3 to 5 minutes depending how crunchy you prefer your peppers(I did about 4 minutes and it was perfect for the guys, I would have liked them a little softer).

Cover baking sheets with foil and lay pepper halves out. Fill peppers with meat mixture and top with as much shredded cheese as you would like(I used marble). Bake at 350* for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Please leave a comment, and you can add me to Twitter and/or Facebook too(links on the upper right column). I love connecting with people!

Jolene

 

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Pinterest Interests

Here’s my top Pinterest Interests for this week!










Source: pinterest.com via Jolene on Pinterest










Source: ifunny.mobi via Jolene on Pinterest




Jolene

Wonky Posts In Reader

Hey all, I just found out that some of my posts show up kind of wonky in Google Reader when they have a lot of pictures. I’m not sure if that is the case for all feed readers or not. I should have checked sooner because I know some posts I get from others in my Reader are wonky too. I do my posts in Windows Live Writer, not sure if that has anything to do with it or not(curious if others just do theirs on the blog websites or use something else). So if this happens to you just click on the post to read it in my blog instead Smile.

Jolene

Monday, February 06, 2012

Friend Makin Monday

I missed posting a recipe yesterday on Recipe Day, but for a good reason. Hubby and I are making some changes to how we eat. We watched a documentary on Friday that confirmed some already existing beliefs we had on diet. It was sort of our wake up call because we can also say we knew from experience in the past it to be true. Anyway, I’m crazy busy now finding new recipes, re-planning how I do our menu and shopping and everything. When I get into something, I get into it big and become a little obsessed with it! LOL! Anyone who follows me on Pinterest will notice a certain trend to most of my Pins for the past couple of days. I’m working on a post explaining what we’re doing a bit as well as a little bit of “weight” history. I didn’t want to miss Friend Makin Monday though, so taking a break from working on my other post to participate in this weeks FMM. Hopefully I’ll get the other post done in the next couple of days

 

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Habits

  1. Are you proactive, or do you procrastinate?  It depends, and I’m not even sure I can say depends on what. I do definitely procrastinate a lot more than I should, but then again so does everybody. I don’t know a single person who doesn’t, even people who say they don’t procrastinate DO!
  2. Do you eat breakfast everyday? No, but then again our entire day and mealtimes are all jumble up because of hubby working night shift. Basically we eat when we’re hungry, not at specific times, and I just simply plan meals, I don’t plan based on this breakfast, this is supper. Hubby is up around 2 or 3pm, we first eat around 3 or 4 and it’s more often than not a “supper” type meal. And often we’ll be eating eggs before we go to bed, like last night/this morning hubby got home at 5:30am and we had scrambled eggs before going to bed.
  3. How much time do you spend watching TV on an average day?  Hard one to answer. Hubby turns the TV on the second he is downstairs, I don’t always fully watch what he has on though, sometimes I do. Once he leaves for work some nights I’ll have something playing all night, other nights I don’t watch a single thing. I really love watching shows, but other than nights hubby is off and I sit and watch with him all night, there’s really no rhyme or reason to my TV watching.
  4. Do you talk on the phone, or do you prefer e-mail and/or text messages?  I hate, hate, hate, hate talking on the phone. I mean I can’t say enough how much I hate talking on the phone. I don’t particularly know why, I can only guess it’s from the years of working retail and not knowing if you had a friendly or horrible customer on the end, or it could be from a short stint I did working for the local phone company on the phones and ended up quitting that job in tears because I hated it so much…I couldn’t blame the people on the other end for getting pissed off with me calling because I do too, but at the same time it was my job. I also have a hard time talking on the phone because I just don’t hear very well, it is really uncomfortable saying “pardon me” constantly so instead sometimes I end up just not knowing what the person said. Anyone who knows me knows I don’t phone unless I have to and that if they want to talk they are better off coming to see me, emailing me or messaging me on Facebook(not so much that one anymore, kind of Facebooked out). I’m not big on texting either, but I would do it over a phone call.
  5. Do you exercise in the morning, afternoon or evening? hehe, exercise, yeah right! Yeah, I admit, it’s been a while. But when I do did it was usually at night while hubby was at work and the kids were in bed. Years ago I used to do any exercise in the morning.
  6. Do you take time for yourself regularly? If so, how do you spend that time?  My time for myself is just working playing at the computer or watching TV while hubby is at work and the kids are in bed.
  7. How often do you make your bed? These days never. I got out of the habit because hubby would be getting home from work and going to bed just as I was waking up in the morning and by the time he woke up I was too busy with other things downstairs to bother going up to make it(and of course he didn’t LOL). Now I keep his night schedule but just never got back into the habit of making it, he also still usually wakes up a couple of hours after me and I rarely go back up to the bedroom until bedtime. 
  8. Do you plan meals? If so, how far in advance?  Yes, I plan a week ahead but allow flexibility in case something comes up and that meal just doesn’t work for whatever reason.
  9. Do you wake up at the same time everyday? Usually within a 2 hour period…depends what time I got to bed and how many hours I spent not sleeping through the night.
  10. How often do you brush your teeth?  Twice a day.

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions! Don’t forget to go to www.alltheweigh.com to add your link and read Kenlie’s answers. Happy Monday friends!

Jolene

Friday, February 03, 2012

Copy-Cat Friday

Well, according to my blog schedule that I made today is Copy-Cat Friday. Even though I have been wanting to do posts like this for a while, this is my first one. And, well, it’s proving to be harder than I thought! I want to copy outfits in a way that I would wear them, but that also includes a price that I would pay. With so few plus size clothing sites out there who cater to my kind of budget it’s near impossible. So I’m going to have to be a bit more flexible than I originally planned. I will include the styles that I would wear, but pricewise some things may be much more than I would actually be able to pay(ok, I admit it, it’s a combination of can’t afford and the fact that I’m a cheapskate…you learn to be when you’ve been through what I have). Knowing that some sites run some pretty good sales every now and then is what saves people like me with little to spend on clothing. So if I include an item from City Chic that may currently be $60, I know that they have 50% off sales which will make the price a little better. And while for some things that is still more than I can will pay, I also know that some items do eventually go even lower than that after they have been around for a while, though selection in sizes may be limited the lower the price goes.

Another stumbling block I ran into was that I wanted to use Polyvore to put together the outfits. I’ve already run into sites that Polyvore just won’t work with though. So I guess I won’t be using it right now, I don’t want to limit what sites I use to put outfits together. Fortunately my graphics program works just as well!

Now, let’s get down to the fun and the copying!

I found this outfit on Pinterest, looks like it was originally put together on Polyvore, by who I have no idea though as it doesn’t link back to it. I also have no idea where the pieces in this outfit came from. I know I love it though! I love leopard, red and flats….my kind of outfit!

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Here is how I would put this outfit together based on what is currently available and making it as affordable as possible:

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The shoes. Yes, I know the shoes are a cheetah print and not leopard, and while the two are very similar they are not the same. I put this shoe with the outfit because this is exactly the style of shoe and around the price I would buy…and really I think you could get away with wearing this print anyway even though the purse and earrings are leopard. I’m on my second pair of leopard flats. First I got from Walmart, second from F21, both I paid under $20 for. So while I couldn’t find exactly the shoe I was looking for to add to this outfit right now, I know they’re out there and for the price I would pay. F21 usually has them and had a pair when I started putting this together, but now it’s not up anymore so must be sold out at least in Canada.

Here’s what I added to the outfit:

 

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Whiskered Flare Leg Jeans from Forever 21+ $21.80 CDN

 

 

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Longline V-Neck Cami from Forever 21+ $6.80 CDN

 

 

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Amber Shrug from Sealed With A Kiss $39 USD(more than I would actually pay, but best value I could find at the moment)

 

 

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Red Infinity Scarf from Target $14.99 USD…they don’t ship to Canada and we don’t have them until next year. Something comparable could easily be found here, just nothing online I could find right now. Or have someone in the US send you one.

 

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Bueno Rouched Leopard Handbag with Croc Trim – Camel from Target $29.99 USD….best I could find online, because it’s Target same as with scarf.

 

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Gold Leaf And Leopard Feather Dangle Earrings from Torrid $12.50 USD…a little more than I generally spend on earrings…but they’re awesome!

 

 

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 Beaded Fashion Bracelet from Miz Outlet $1.49 USD

 

 

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Mossimo Supply Co. Odell Ballet Flats – Cheetah from Target $12.99 USD

 

Wow, it took me WAYYYY longer than I anticipated searching out and putting everything together. Hopefully the next one will be faster and easier now that I have sites more organized and know how I’m doing it!

Jolene

Thursday, February 02, 2012

I Would If I Could

It’s time for I Would If I Could. My chance to show the gorgeous things I would buy if I had the money for them. A chance for you to see what things are out there right now that I’m lusting over!

I’ve spent all day trying to figure out how to cut what we spend in a month only to come up with unless we don’t eat out even once(and our eating out is not much, so even that wouldn’t cut a lot) there is nowhere else to cut Sad smile. *sigh*, how depressing huh? We need my hubby’s income but to live in a city that’s not so crazy expensive to live lol.

So while I sit and pout over finances I thought a break to torture myself over things I want but can’t have would be a good idea and lift my spirits. Ok, yes, that was total and complete sarcasm! But I’m trying to stick to my blog schedule I set as best as I can, and I really did need a break from all the number crunching(my eyes are going buuuugggy!!).

So here’s what I would love to add to my closet if my husbands income was twice as much as it is, LOL:

I loved most of the stuff at Forever 21 when I first found out last year that they carried plus sizes. I got a few things that I really liked from them, then all of a sudden not only did they seriously slow down in how many things they were listing, but I didn’t like the styles that they were listing. Now as Spring is getting closer they seem to be getting nicer things again!

 

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I love this Lace Flutter Dress from Forever 21+. It’s $27.80, which is definitely less expensive than a dresses from a lot of places. With my current need to tighten the spending it’s not something I can buy right now though. It is just soooo pretty! Not surprising that on the Canadian website they are down to only 1X now though, and it hasn’t been up very long. Wish they would get more of the really nice stuff so it didn’t sell out so fast.

 

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V-Day is near! We don’t celebrate it, I’ve told hubby if he wastes money on overpriced flowers or chocolates just because some made up day to make money says he should, I’ll be pissed! But, since the whole married people don’t have much sex thing is a HUGE load of BS, I wouldn’t be at all upset if something like this was laying on the bed for me, and hubby wouldn’t be at all upset if I came into the bedroom wearing it! Black With Red Trim Micro Chemise from Torrid on sale for $24.99

 

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I don’t own anything from SWAK yet, just haven’t found anything in my size I could afford when I’ve looked. Found things that I could afford but they didn’t have my size, and I’ve found lots I love on there, just couldn’t afford at the time. This Classic V-Neck Dress In Grey is such a nice simple style that could be dressed up or down. Grey isn’t usually a favorite color of mine, but it looks gorgeous on the model, could only hope it would look just as nice on my pale skin. It’s on for $29.99 now, they appear to have a full selection of sizes in it too.

 

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I don’t have a ton of purses like some of the fashionistas out there, which is why I don’t include my handbag in my OOTD posts, my purse doesn’t always match the best. Once again, because of money LOL, geez, isn’t that always the case? I saw one similar to this on sale on Ricki’s website recently but it’s gone now, boo! It’s the first time I’ve seen one on sale, I like most of their purses. I like this one too though. It’s their Large Croco Tote in deep violet for $39.50. Ricki’s is a Canadian store and I don’t believe ships to the US. But for you Canadian ladies and anyone visiting Canada, they carry up to a size 18 in their stores, and they carry Tall sizes in pants!! Both very hard things to find, especially in non-specialty clothing store! Some of their pants come in 3 or 4 lengths, from a 30 to a 36 length. This is a huge deal for those of us with long legs, you can’t alter a regular length to make them longer and finding anything over 31 or 32 inches you almost always have to go to specialty shops. I only wish they carried men’s clothing too, I’m having an impossible time finding 36 length for my son.

Well, there’s my I Would If I Could items for this week, must force myself back to menu planning, shopping lists and number crunching….sounds like fun hey?

What’s catching your eye out there these days? Are you having to watch every penny right now too? I know I for one cannot wait until tax time and we get some money back so things can get a little bit back to normal! I’m always pretty careful about what we spend, but this time of year tends to be the tightest for making ends meet.

Jolene