Time with Family

This year for my grandma's Christmas present I wanted to create a book for her including an update on her history and have it contain letters from her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that they have written to her about their memories and the time they have spend with her.

I was so lucky to be able to sit down with her while she is still alive and kicking. She has so many interesting stories and an incredible memory. I wish more people would take the time to sit down and document their grandparents stories. I now can share them with my grandchildren.

Pinterest

Image via Wikipedia





I have recently jumped on the bandwagon of pinterest. It seems like everyone I know is obsessed with that site. After a few days I can see why so many people are into pinterest.com

I have found some amazing photos to help inspire me to redo my bedroom. Right now it's a crazy dark blue and there's writing on the wall with test paint. So I have finally found my inspiration to create my beach oasis in my bedroom. I can hardly wait to finish because I don't like being in such a dark room that is so small.

I do think that it takes up a lot of time to find all of this nonsense though and I wish it was easier to access my "boards" with my phone. Because honestly what good is all of that information and pictures if I can't have fast access to it? Maybe I just need to spend a little bit more time getting the hang of it before I judge too quickly.

I am looking forward to finding more fun photos and quotes to help inspire me.

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• my name is Shelby and I am addicted to Pinterest... (shelbylclarke.wordpress.com)

Fun & Easy DIY Christmas Gift for Boys

I made these personalize super hero capes for my nephews birthday a few weeks ago.

It was so easy!!! I had some left over fabric. For these 4 years olds half of a yard was perfect. I took the fabric and cut it down the middle. I used a jersey material so I didn't have to worry about the edges and making it look pretty.

The next thing I did was cut out letters I drew by hand. I placed them where I wanted them to be placed and just sewed around the edges.

In order to keep it safe for children to use, I used velcro to create the latch for the neck piece. I took a small strip and sewed it onto one corner and at the end of it I sewed one of the velcro pieces. At the other corner of the cape I sewed the opposite end of the velcro to create the latch. And I was done!

So simple and so easy it took me less then 20 minutes to finish the entire project and I believe that the blue material was less then $6.00. For the letters I used old T-Shirts as scrap material. So that was free! I even had enough material left over I could have made them masks to match, but since it was a surprise I didn't have them there to measure and create the eye holes.

I hope you all like this!

Todays Body Image...ridiculous

Lately I have been so frustrated with the way my body has changed since having a baby. I thought I had finally accepted that my body has changed, my hips are wider and my ribs are even wider. I was doing good until I saw the stupid picture of Mariah Carey and Jessica Alba's after baby pictures. Are you freaking kidding me???

These magazines are ridiculous. No wonder so many women have eating disorders. Every time I see that crap it just gets me so depressed because I'm stuck in a vicious cycle. I want to lose weight so I workout and cut back on my calories but then I feel like I'm starving myself and I don't see any results so then I get depressed and that makes me want to drink or binge on junk food. If I do that then I'm right back to where I started at getting fat. The sad thing is I'm not even that overweight! But the pressure to have my body back is always in the back of my mind that it drives me crazy! Those women who get their body back in less then four months are either really lucky or are either really rich with all the means to get your body back.

I've had people tell me to go to the gym to try different classes and so forth. As nice as that sounds I've already sacrificed my job so I can enjoy my baby growing up. That means that we are not as financially well off as we once were. And all those classes and gym memberships cost money. Plus eating healthy is expensive and we don't qualify for food stamps so we're already stretching our penny as far as we can.

What makes this even worse is that the media praises these women for getting their body back. I know that if I had a personal trainer, a personal chef, or even money to afford a gym membership and healthy food I'd be able to have my body back as well. This is so IRRITATING, why don't those stars promote being healthy instead of being skinny? That would be a much better ad than the ones they are promoting now.

It really irritates me because I know that I'm not the only one who lets these ads affect my way of thinking. I'm just lucky enough to have a husband who loves me and thinks I'm beautiful no matter what my body looks like. Imagine all those teenager who aren't lucky enough to have that support...it's so sad!

I really don't feel like enough is being done. We need to start teaching our children self confidence at a young age. I know there are people focusing on health but what about a positive self image? I don't see any programs focusing on positive self images. Again if I had enough money I would be able to start a program but I guess it's not in my stars to make a difference, just yet.

Related articles

• Body Image/Eating Disorders (tryingtogetana.wordpress.com)



• Tracey Gold's Starving Secrets: Is It Helping or Hurting? (blogher.com)



• Eating and Body Image: A Troubled Relationship (teens.webmd.com)