RaeGun Finds: Bar Stools

I never realized how hard it is to find good bar stools until we needed them when we moved into our new home. For one thing most of them are ugly and then even the most ugly ones aren't cheap. I've talked about CSN stores before, they are a collection of over 200 stores with all kinds of stuff from house goods, stuff for kids, kitchen stuff and even bar stools. In fact I found one of their sites is completely devoted to barstools so there is a huge selection.

The saddle style one above is really similar to the ones I ended up with I like them enough the moment but some day I may like to replace them (I wish I had know about this site before there are just so many options) but here are some of my current crushes.

The style of these ones would go really well with the chairs I have at my dinning room table. Plus I love how they come in all kinda of different colors.

 I love love love that this one swivels.

 And I have never seen a bar stool as interesting as this one. Goodness it's so pretty. I had no idea that there were so many options.

I've only had good experiences with CSN they've got pretty competitive prices (and I just discovered today they've got a place where you can submit if you've found the same product for a lower prices, I just barely tried it so I'm not sure how it works, but how cool is that). Any ways I've had really good experiences, shipping, customer service, etc. So even  if you don't need bar stools check out CSN stores they've got everything.

Facebook Giveaway: Halloween/Fall Ruffle Diaper Covers

I'm still in pebbles and bam bam land but I had the pleasure of making a few custom orders for Halloween/Fall bottoms so I'm giving one pair away -winner's choice

I'm giving away one pair  over on the rae gun facebook fan page, just be a fan, read the giveaway post and enter by commenting over there. Get extra entries by sharing the giveaway (on facebook, your blog, or twitter) or for referring friends.

A couple are listed in the shop in the ready to ship section others are in the bottoms section. Let me know if you want something but can't find it in the shop. Okay back to sewing for me  :)

What's For Dinner: Week: 53

(steak and shrimp ravioli)

For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

this is the plan, okay back to work

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Lots of munchies and leftovers from lunch	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, ww pasta Veggies: green beans Fish: talapia
Monday	pasta salad or chicken and two potatoes
Tuesday	Enchilada Casserole
Wednesday	Eat Out
Thursday	Shrimpy pastay something
Friday	Meatball Sandwiches
Saturday	BBQ Ribs and potatoes

Fitness Journal: Week 9

This was a good week. I do have to admit that I was warned my my trainer that I would be measured and weighed though so I was careful. But having been careful for 4 days was really good reminder in good choices.

Weight:
9/14/2010 149.6
9/22/2010 147.4
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:

Calories ave.  1553.8 (1600 cal)
Carb ave. 188 (200g)
Protein ave.   63.8 (70g)
Fat ave. 73 (58)
(goals are in the parenthesis) 

Exercise:
W Swim Class
H Buddy Strength Training
F Biking 50 minutes
S Nothing
S Day Off
M Athletic Conditioning Class
T Bike 40 minutes

Mini masquerade!

Check out the lovely treasury that anasbabycouture put together. She included both my Soda Pop Dress and My Girl Pirate costume. Cool Eh. So fun. Click here to visit it in person and get links to all the good stuff. Man this makes me want to decorate for Halloween.

Work Break: Engrish

I'm eating, sleeping, and breathing costume making but this gem appeared in my email inbox so I thought I'd share.

Last Call For Costumes

 (in honor of speak like a pirate day)
so...just wanted to let any of you who may have been considering ordering a costume from me that you've got 2 weeks left and even sooner depending on how fast you want it. See all my costume listings here they are selling like crazy so if there's something you want that you don't see send me a note. See my shipping schedule in any of the costume listings, if you need it earlier than the week of Halloween you're going to want to order in the next few days.

What's for Dinner: Week 52

(yum sushi )
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

oops I forgot that I scheduled this and then I totally changed my mind. So if you think you saw something else you aren't losing your mind. It's my mom's birthday this week so when we'll be doing a birthday sushi lunch outing when we can coordinate schedules yum yum. Besides that all of these meals are things I can literally throw together. It's like costume craziness over here and I've got a few school deadlines this week so it's fast but yummy food for us.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Grilled Talapia, green beans and rice	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, ww pasta Veggies: green beans Fish: talapia
Monday	Dinner with the girls at Linda's
Tuesday	Fancy Ramen
Wednesday	Steak and Shrimp Ravioli
Thursday	Meatball Sandwiches
Friday	Apple Gouda Chicken Sausage and Feta Mac and Cheese
Saturday	Eat Out

Fitness Journal: Week 8

Oh well I'm up. I'd succeeded in at least loosing or staying the same the whole time I've been posting this so it's a bit of a bummer. But at the same time I didn't log my food this week and that really does make a difference for me. And I got my cardio back in which usually makes me more hungry so the combo of being a little hungrier and not keeping my awareness up from logging it's not a surprise.

In other news I swam 1300 yards  yesterday probably the furthest I've done cool eh. Also I bought a pair of skinny pants, okay they have a crazy about of stretch in them but the way my thighs and butt are I've never been able to wear that style so I'm kinda excited. Anyways I definitely like how things were going so I don't want to stop now I will get back to logging.

Weight:
9/7/2010 148.2
9/14/2010 149.6
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:
I was bad again and barely logged any days ugg so there are just my goals
Calories ave.  (1600 cal)
Carb ave.  (200g)
Protein ave.   (70g)
Fat ave.  (58)
(goals are in the parenthesis) 

Exercise:
W Swim Class
H Buddy Strength Training
F Swimming 45 minutes
S Nothing
S Day Off
M Athletic Conditioning Class
T Bike 40 minutes

What's for Dinner: Week 51

(Meatball Sandwich )
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

I've got to admit, I'm pretty tired. I've started actually working on dissertation, crazy I know. But it's not like I had an extra time slot to fit that into. Also I'm also definitely in full costume making, email answering, more etsy convo answer swing. Goodness you wouldn't believe the crazy increase of messages I get this time of year (and I already get a lot of emails). Anyways that's all to say cooking isn't the highest thing on my to do list but I still want to keep our eating and spending in check...I'm thinking next week is going to be a rotisserie chicken week.

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	chili for me, golf dinner for hubby	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, brown rice Veggies:green beans Fish: Cod, Shrimp
Monday	Fish Burrito (from lone start yum)
Tuesday	dinner with the girls
Wednesday	Chili and corn bread
Thursday	Pasta Carbonara with shrimp
Friday	Oven Fried Chicken and Green Bean Casserole
Saturday	Murder Mystery Dinner (didn't get to it last week)

Baby Costumes: Pebbles, Pirates, Princesses and More

 Scraps of lime green and brown stick to my socks as I walk through my house reminding me that it's September. I'm in full swing costume making. I know it seems a bit early but there's only a few weeks left for people to order costumes from my shop so I just wanted to post a wee reminder.

 Oh and share the great news that Parenting.com has featured my french fry costume, neat-o eh. You can see the post here.

Girl and Boy Pirates (boy/unisex costume is new this year)

Princess Dresses (what you don't let your nieces play with straight pins while dressed up like Cinderella when you're watching them?)

Fancy Nancy (perfect for the little reader)

Griffyndor House Elf (also doubles for appropriate movie premiere outfits, Nov. 19 oh yeah!)

Pumpkin (Lanna was the cutest pumpkin in the world her first Thanksgiving)

phew. okay that's all of them. And in case you didn't notice I've got a new giveaway open (check it out here). I hope to have a Halloween giveaway up next week or so. And one last reminder if you're wanting to order a costume from me please do it sooner than later because last year it was super super crazy, and I went super super crazy. I don't plan on being super crazy this year so I won't be taking orders in October. I may have some ready to ship stuff but that all depends on me having extra time and well you know how likely that is. See all the costume listings here.

Fitness Journal: Week 7

. I feel like this is the first sort of normal week in a while. My weirdo dizziness/nausea is gone (for now), they are pretty sure it was positional vertigo but couldn't treat it because it was gone before I got an appointment. But I feel like it's been a rough last month on the exercising front with all that and my ankle but I've still steadily lost weight. Baby steps but still steps forward. I've missed numbers of cardio days in the last couple of weeks but now that I'm more or less healthy I'm so excited to swim on my own again not just on class days.

On a different topic can some of you please enter my giveaway? I feel bad it's someone else's stuff and only one person has entered so far. All you have to do is leave a comment and if you win you can use it for Mommy Cards or Christmas cards. Let anyone you know who might be interested.

Weight:
9/1/2010 149.6
9/7/2010 148.2
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:
I was bad and only logged one day last week but I'm back on track
Calories ave.  1544 cal (1600 cal)
Carb ave. 162g (200g)
Protein ave.  57g (70g)
Fat ave. 76 g (58)
(goals are in the parenthesis) 

Exercise:
W Swim Class
H Buddy Strength Training
F Nothing
S Nothing
S Day Off
M nothing
T Athletic Conditioning Class

(the chart is my food log, yup every little thing I put in my mouth. If you click on it it'll get bigger, you can click on it twice to make it legible)

GIVEAWAY: Next Day Flyers 25$

 So, it's been a while but the lovely people at Next Day Flyers approached me about hosting a giveaway so of course I had to oblige. They do all kinds of printing stuff from brochures to business cards and more. They are offering 25$ credit to use on ANYTHING on their site. So cool huh? They've got so much stuff on their site that I'm sure the winner will have a hard time choosing.

For example what about one of their die cut ideas for neighbor gifts for Christmas? The wine tag could totally be used on any kind of bottle, think of all the possibilities. Look at me thinking ahead.

They also do all kinds of cards, postcards, photocards, etc. You name it they do it. That could be really fun for baby announcements, save it for Holiday cards or maybe just send your friends and family a fun note with a goofy family pic (come on don't we all like getting mail?) Anyways there are so many options, too bad I'm not eligible but you guys enter and enjoy.


To Enter:

Be a follower of this blog and/or a facebook fan. If you're not already a follow/fan see the widgets on the left. (first time followers or fans get additional entries see below)

Visit www.nextdayflyers.com and come back here and leave a comment here telling me what item you'd pick if you win (don't worry you can change your mind later, I know there are so so many options).  Also I'll still take any applique/color combo ideas you may have.

Make sure I have A WAY TO CONTACT YOU (in past giveaways I've drawn person over person but since their blogs and/or profiles are private I couldn't tell them they won so they didn't. So please make sure you leave your email in the comment OR that your profile/blog is PUBLIC).

If it's your first time following the blog or being a facebook fan post an additional comment telling me that and you'll get an extra (or two) entries.

And of course I always appreciate if you want to spread the word about the giveaway, in fact you can get more entries for that, see below.

Ways You Can Get More Entries:
 Step 1: Posting a link to this post to your blog, facebook, twitter and/or some other internet thingy (ex. forums). Feel free to use the picture too if you want. See the buttons below "if you liked it" at the bottom of the post to easily create links. Or create a link how you normally would.

Step 2. Comment here and tell me where you posted  (give me a link if it's not connected to your comment id). Please leave a separate comment for every entry.


Last Day to Enter: 9/22/10 If it's your first time entering one of my giveaways or for more info on these giveaways and to see a list of past winners see this post. I use a random number generator to pick the winner so enter away.

winner: janelle

What's for Dinner: Week 50

(Lemon Basil Pasta with Panko Chicken )
For those of you are new  to my blog I write these weekly plans to help me spend less (I kinda of love grocery shopping, yea I know I'm weird), to save time and to try and help us eat in more often. Also I love knowing what other people eat so I thought it would be fun to share. For a while I'll be adding my plans for what greens. I'll be eating since one of my resolutions is to build a habit of introducing more green veggies into our diet. Maybe some day it'll be so normal for us that I won't have to mention them any more.

I'm excited about the plan this week. Some of our old norms that we haven't had in a while. I think I may be close to buying those pasta attachments for my kitchen aid, yup. Have you guys tried any recipes you like recently?

Day	Main Meal	Goals (Veggies, Whole Grain, Fish)
Sunday	Meatball Sandwiches	Grains and nuts: Sandwich, granola bars, brown rice Veggies: peas,Zucchini Fish: Talapia
Monday	Tacos
Tuesday	Campanelli
Wednesday	Grilled Fish Rice and Almond Peas
Thursday	Cowboy Hamburgers and Grilled Zuccs
Friday	Roasted Chicken and Corn
Saturday	Murder Mystery Dinner

Theme Song of My Days: Dizzy

Sorry my posting has been weak I seriously have been mildly dizzy for almost 2 weeks and super dizzy at night. Yeah it feels like I'm seasick awesome huh? At least during the day it's really mild if I take a claritin D so I can get stuff done, slower, but still done. Fun times.

But stay tuned I've got a giveaway scheduled for next week.

Fitness Journal: Week 6

I got some bad news last week. I finally went into the doctor to figure out what was going on to my ankle. I went to a sports doc and I loved him, he was so thorough patient and seemed really knowledgeable and competent. But after about 7 X-rays of every possible angle of my ankle he had bad news for me. Apparently an old 'sprain' had actually been a break and the way it healed is uneven so that means I have trauma induced arthritis in my ankle which apparently is pretty uncommon. More than that I have bone spurs (probably from my many sprains) that can aggravate my ankle. And the kicker is that the arthritis part means that if I run at all, like ever in my entire life I will just break down my ankle. My doc said he was told something similar about his hip but he loves running so much that he is just going to keep running but know that he will need a hip replacement. Then he told me there is no equivalent for the ankle so I really need to stop running altogether. Apparently in his 5 years at the practice he's only seen this 3 times so it's extremely rare.

I was really surprised, I really thought I was going to hear that I either had a break or sprain, not that I could never run again. As I sat there kinda in shock I was almost crying and then I was in shock again that I had become the type of person that would even cry about not being able to run again. It's still bizarre to me. But I love running when the whether was cold, I'd wanted to be one of those moms that actually used a jog stroller and I was hoping to someday do a triathalon. sigh. 

I think though I'm really blessed that I had started training with my swim coach because I do love swimming the best and if I had gotten this news without realizing how good of a workout swimming can be and how good I actually am at swimming I think it would have been a lot harder. I'm still pretty bummed but I'll deal right. Despite all of that I'm still down a smidge. So I feel good that I can still get this extra weight off of me. It's good to know what was going on you know.

Weight:
8/11/2010 149.6
8/17/2010 149.0
I'm 5'5 but have a small frame

Nutrition Breakdown:
I was bad and only logged one day last week but I'm back on track
Calories ave. 1883 cal (1600 cal)
Carb ave. g 226 (200g)
Protein ave. 78 g (70g)
Fat ave. g 81(58)
(goals are in the parenthesis) 

Exercise:
W Bike 40 minutes
H Swim Drills
F Nothing
S Nothing
S Day Off
M Athletic Conditioning i.e. Boot Camp
T nothing

(the chart is my food log, yup every little thing I put in my mouth. If you click on it it'll get bigger, you can click on it twice to make it legible)