TOPS

At the end of last year, I joined a group called TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), rather than Weight Watchers because of cost.  I believe it's $24 a year, plus $1 a week.  The Livermore Chapter that I'm in is filled with a bunch of wonderful people.  Our class meets each Wednesday.  We weigh in, have a lesson, and then we have an auction.  The auction is my favorite part.  This is what we do...

  

We have a large table filled with items up for auction.  Rather than bidding money, we bid in 1/4 pounds.  So say you see something that you want, you can bid you'll lose 1/4 pound by the next meeting.  If someone else wants the same item that you want, they can bid against you and can bid to lose 1/2 pound by the next meeting.  The max amount that you can bid is 2 pounds.  

Last week Wednesday I saw something on the auction table that made me smile and think of my childhood.  It was a salt and pepper shaker of the Campbell Soup kids.  My mom was forever embroidering pictures of them on dishtowels and I knew she'd like them so I bid on them.  I bid to lose 1/4 pound.  Unfortunately, a couple other ladies were interested in them also, and kept outbidding until finally I said, "I bid I'll lose 1 1/4 pound."  No one outbid me.  "Yay for me!" was my first thought.  "Now how the hell am I going to lose 1 1/4 pound by next Wednesday?" was my second thought.  I spent the next week doing a lot of walking, spending time on the elliptical, and keeping track of what I ate.  I knew I lost some weight during the week, at least 1 pound, but I wasn't sure that I lost my 1 1/4 pound.  Anyways, when I hopped on the scale at TOPS this morning, I was ecstatic to find that I won my Campbell Soup kids!  Yay!

Sakura Bag Swap

Just sent this out today for Swap-bot's Sakura Bag swap, hosted by Pavla. She's hosted some really great swaps! The sakura bag is very small. I would think it would be perfect to hold jewerly, for instance, a pair of earrings or a necklace.

Daffodil Bag Swap

This was made for Swap-bot's Daffodil Bag swap, hosted by Pavla. I had a lot of fun with this swap. The bag was so simple to make and I was totally expecting it to be much more complex.

Creative Art at McDonald's

Playing with my food and spelling out my kid's name.

Antiquing

I was on a mission to find fruit crate labels today and thought the antique shops might be a good place to find them. First, I went to Blue Door Antiques. I love this place, but it's so crammed with stuff that it's difficult to walk through the aisles without bumping into something. Definitely not an ideal place to go to with a 9 year old boy...Yes, I said a 9 year old. Poor guy, I had to drag him with me. Can you imagine his horror? This is why I limited myself to checking out only two shops.

Anyways, I didn't find any fruit crate labels at Blue Door. When I asked the owner if he had any, he said they did, but had no clue where. He directed me to a cluttered spot in the corner of the shop where cabinets and file drawers were crammed together. Each cabinet was buried with items of all sorts and he told me the labels might be in there. It was more of a "finding a needle in a haystack" kind of thing. After going through several cabinet drawers of old ephemera and photos of people I did not know and after hearing my son stomping around down one of the aisles, I decided this was a task I'd have to try on another day. I did manage to find some really cool postcards here, but at $4 each, I ended up not buying any of them. Not sure why they want so much when they have a gazillion boxes filled with the stuff and no one buying them. Yes, I know they're vintage and who knows, perhaps I'll come back for one when I'm not feeling so cheap.



Next stop was the Antique Mall. A larger place where you have room to breathe in. Phew! There was a lot of furniture here, some nice jewelry, and even a lot of clothes. I found a muskrat coat...YUCK...and a couple of dead animals women would throw around their neck, what are they called? The name escapes me. A wrap? Well after seeing those and making faces at it, I asked one of the shop owners if they carried any fruit crate labels. She said they used to, but not anymore. So that's strike two for me. I'll have to look again on another day.

Ear Wax

My son bought candy similar to Harry Potter's Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, except the one he bought was called Bean Boozled by Jelly Belly. Basically, each jelly bean has a look-a-like. Except for one tastes really good and one tastes really nasty. Or so my son tells me. Personally, I won't chance trying the stuff.

Anyways, this is what the back of the candy box looks like.

And this is what my son's face looks like when he ate the Ear Wax flavored bean.

I love ewe

Finished this last night. I stuffed her with plumeria scented fluff, a sun charm, a heart charm, and the secret ingredient, love...in this case, it would be another charm that said "Made with love" on it, because well, it was made with love!