Spring Cleaning: Craft Room Edition

Spring time means spring cleaning.

We cleaned out all closets, drawers, and corners. We bought new bedding. Sheets that fit...heaven.

It wasn't too bad though because I'm kind of a compulsive "tosser." I love to sell things. If I had a trillion dollars I'd sell everything I own every six months! Ha ha.

It went pretty well and quickly, except for my craft room.

Here are three before pictures.

From the doorway. That is the main desk that should really only have my sewing machine on it and some odds and ends on the end.

To the right. That is the table I keep my dinky light-box on. It needed an update!

Behind the desk. My chain and some yarn storage. I had to get the yarn out of these storage bins. It was a pain going through them and there was never enough room.

So, the first step was to take all the stuff out into a bigger room and sort it. Including the yarn!
I dumped it into the living-room, like you do.

Then I sorted it by color on the couch.

I bought a pegboard (Hubbins built a frame to support it hanging)

I bought a trillion of these pegboard hooks for it off amazon.

AFTER PICTURE #1! Here is the new view from the doorway.

After! See the new light-box? Made out of PVC and white fabric. Tutorial is HERE!

My chair. With a few mending projects on it. The bins underneath are holding finished crochet projects now.

Here is a straight on view of the yarn on the pegboard. :D So, happy with this result.

Thanks for following along!

Spinach and Mozzarella Egg Bake

This is a Spinach and Mozzarella Egg Bake. Think .. crust-less quiche. That is what I call it. Its SUPER easy to make and VERY low calorie, filling, and full of protein (that's the eggs.)

I found this recipe on shape.com here is the link to the recipe on their website. I'll also be posting the full recipe here.

Spinach, Mozzarella, and Egg: Bake

Serves: 6 (or 3)

Nutrition score per serving: 160 calories, 10g fat, 2.5g carbs, 14g protein

Ingredients:
Nonstick cooking spray
1 to 2 teaspoons olive oil
4 packed cups spinach
1 1/2 cups shredded low-fat mozzarella
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
8 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon Spike seasoning (or any all-purpose seasoning mix that's good with eggs)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray an 8 1/2-by-12-inch glass or crockery casserole dish with olive oil or nonstick spray. (I used a 9x12 worked perfectly)
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat, add spinach, and stir just until wilted, about 2 minutes.
4. Transfer spinach to the casserole dish, spreading it around so the bottom of the dish is covered. (It won't stay covered. So, don't worry about being too precise with this step)
5. Beat eggs with seasoning, salt, and pepper, then add the cheese and onion to the mix. Stir until combined.
6. Pour into the casserole dish. Use a fork to gently stir so eggs, spinach, and cheese are evenly combined.
3. Bake about 35 minutes or until mixture is completely set and starting to lightly brown. Let cool about 5 minutes before cutting and serving. (The dish will settle down some as it cools.)

Okay, this is MY take on the recipe. If you'd like to see theirs then you can click this link! My way is easier and looks practically the same! Here's a picture of mine.

I may have let mine get a little TOO brown. All they did differently really was layer the cheese/onions on before adding the eggs but it all gets stirred up in the end anyway. My way is easier! :D

Not sure if I have mentioned this in the past but I'm on a diet. Yup! Its working too. It's ridiculously easy and I'm not sure why I didn't try it before. I'm counting calories. That is it. I've lost 45lbs since October 1st 2013 (that's in 7 1/2 months.) More than 6lbs a month! At that rate I'll be at my goal weight by 2017. Well, that was a little discouraging. Ah well... I'll get there and in the easy life changing way. I'm not eating things I don't LIKE to eat and I'm cutting out the things I ate out of convenience.

My friends and family will tell you I've never had issues eating healthy things. I'm terrible at eating too much bread and ZERO protein. I've changed that and I'm loving it.

I'm not gonna lie and say that it is effortless because nothing is. I count calories but eventually I could remember what was what and as long as I don't eat out much I don't have any problems. :D Okay, so that was a really long epilogue but the point of this blog is I found this meal and I'm WILD about it and it has protein. A protein that I don't typically eat. I hope you can enjoy this as well. I've made it twice already!

Thanks for following along!

Sephora Haul - Kind of...

After several disappointing lip stains (read about those here and here) I did some serious "googling" to find a lip stain that actually lasts.

This is the one I decided on. Here's hoping that it works. If it does I'll probably be buying these in EVERY COLOR and living with them for the rest of my life.

Makeup Forever Aqua Rouge in #18 Coral

(I actually wanted #19 Pomegranate pink but I accidentally bought this, which was my second choice)

I made my purchase from the Sephora website. It cost $24 for this dinky tube. I never thought I'd see the day I'd pay anything over $8 for makeup. I'm cheap. I freely admit it!

This turned into a little mini Sephora haul though because I got some samples! I adore free stuff.

The extras I received were:
Dior Addict Fluid Stick samples (lip colors)
Make up for ever's HD High Definition Primer
Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer SPF 30 in "medium"

Here are the Dior Fluid Stick samples. It looks like I have tiny versions of  #754 Pandore, #575 Wonderland, #551 Aventure #338 Mirage. I'm really looking forward to sampling these. (UPDATE: I didn't not like these.. lol. They were VERY sticky and came off completely on the lip of my water mug. FAIL)

Here are the Nars and Make Up Forever samples. I hope these live up to their full prices!

F mothers day, Sephora, threw in an envelope of fragrances! It says, "The exhilarating gift of fragrance. This mother's day, Sephora presents our most uplifting scents. Teeming with florals, fruits, and woods, each perfume celebrates femininity - and soars with gratitude."

The scents I received are:
-Chloe Eau de Parfum "Sublime rose fuses with lychee and pink peony in this effervescent interpretation of classic grace.

-Dior's Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet Eau de Toilette "The delicacy of florals is captured in this tender mingling of sicilian orange, peony, and white musk."

-Versace's Bright Crystal Eau de Toilette "Refined elegance gets a boost of vitality with shining yuzu, lotus flower, and pomegranate."

-Dolce&Gabbana's Dolce Eau de Parfum "An enchanting portrait emerges from the soft blur of white amaryllis and warm neroli leaves."

-Tocca's Simone Eau de Parfum "This sparkling melance of frangipani, watermelon, and blonde wood flutters with spontaneity."

Did I mention these are also happen to be postcards?! I wish I had someone to send a few to. (UPDATE: My favorite of these scents was the Tocca's Simone Eau de Parfum. I love that subtle wood flutter smell)

Anyway, back to the review of lip stain!

My lips before application.

My lips after putting the color on.

It glides on just like a gooey lip gloss. I had to be a little careful not to  make it streaky. It smells like lipsticks used to smell, like floral/old.

It is VERY sticky at first.

It dries quickly though, in seconds. Once it dried I applied the gloss.

The gloss really transforms this stain. It doesn't feel sticky. It feels smooth and cuts down on the smell, big time!

Best of all it doesn't come off! I kissed my finger and all that was transferred was the gloss!

Honestly, I think I like this a lot. It really looks orange one me though, rather than coral. I can't see any pink tones in this at all. I'll be buying at least two more colors. Based off their color examples and the results I'll buy #19 pomegranate pink for sure. Maybe one of the beige ones but we'll see.

This picture is after a full 8 hours of color. I think its proved itself. I reapplied the gloss after each meal. The color is definitely gone on the inside and faded along my upper lip. I inspected it pretty thoroughly while taking this last picture. As you can tell by the, albeit dark, picture it has held up wonderfully! I'm impressed.

Thank you for following along!

Allergy Tested and Approved

As you may have read in my blog before, I have allergies. I wasn't sure exactly what I was allergic to, most of the time but I had them.

Its SPRING time! Spring = allergies right?

I went to the Allergy and Asthma specialty services today and had some allergy tests done. The following post will have pictures where my skin was punctured so if you are faint of heart skip this post.

I told my primary care physician that I was having allergy problems and she referred me to Dr. Brown.

Today I went in with pictures and detailed accounts of all allergic reactions that I have had. For pictures and guesses I wrote previously about click here.

They weighed me, took my height, pulse, and blood pressure. I don't have high blood pressure. Yay. It isn't even elevated.

Then I was told to sit in a chair and take the deepest breath I can and blow into this tube for like 5 seconds then take the deepest breath I can again. Well, I have ZERO lung capacity apparently. I blew out and it pretty much ended the first second and nothing came out for the last four seconds.

I told Hubbins I was strangely pleased with my deep breathe at the end. I felt a little elated about the amount of air. Like, I might not be able to breathe out but BOY can I suck that air in! I'm the best air breather IN person ever! There is zero information backing that up. I forgot to ask what my results for. I'll call on Monday and update this accordingly when I get information about that. I think it was about the asthma part obviously.

Anyway, I was taken to the next room and I told him the tale of rashes and itches. He worked up a list of things he wanted to test for and sent me to the a room down the hall.

In this room they swabbed my forearms with alcohol and then wrote numbers, for all the items he decided I needed testing for, onto my right forearm. There were 32 on my right arm. These were the "environment" ones. There were 28 on my left forearm. The ones on my left forearm were all food items.

They had a little tray of vials and she opened a package with a little metal tab in it. On the end of the tab was the smallest little point EVER. She dropped a droplet of each item by their number.

She then took the metal tab and just caught at the skin with the end. Not a jab or stab or poke at all. Just like you'd catch a callus on something. it didn't hurt. I'm not MUCH for shots.. I can handle them and most of the time I watch but this was nothing. I could easily do it again.

Here is a list of items tested for on my right forearm
(There were several controls in different places by the way)
Grass mix
St. Bermuda
Birch
Alder
Maple
Oak
Walnut
Ash
Cottonwood
Willow
Cedar
Juniper
Hazelnut
Black locust
Cockle-bur
Dock
Lambs quarters
Pig-weed
Plantain
Ragweed
Sage
Nettle
Scotch-broom
Mold mix #1
Mold mix #2
Mold mix #3
Mold mix #4
Mold mix #5
Dust mites mix
Cockroach
Cat
Dog

All but 8 of these were negative. The 8 I was allergic too in order of SEVERITY.

1. Grass mix! They said that this won the award for largest reaction and that the two nurses and the doctor had never seen such a large reaction.
2. Dust Mite Mix
3. Cat
4. Alder tree
5. Mold mix #1
6. Cockroach
7. Birch tree
8. Ash tree

Here is a photo of that arm. Obviously the psycho crazy reaction one is the grass mix. It was horribly itchy... let me tall ya. Heh. Yeah Number 13 is an example of no reaction. Numbers 2/5 are examples of normal reactions to allergens. They bump up and get big. The nurse measures the bump and presses down on it to make it white and measures that as well. My grass allergy bump was quite large.

This is a list of items on my left arm (food items.)

Cow milk
Chicken
Turkey
Beef
Pork
White eggs
Coconut
Corn
Oats
Gluten
Wheat
Onion
Soybean
Tomato
White potato
Apple
Pear
Peach
Cherry
Kiwi
Strawberry
Raspberry
Lemon
Orange
Coffee mix
Garlic
Avocado
Carrot
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Lettuce
Banana
Grape
Olive
Peanut oil
Fresh peanut

Out of these I wasn't allergic to any. A big ZERO reaction for all of them. :D Yay!

I guess that I wish I was allergic to food though. How much easier is it to not pick up tomatoes at the store versus not being around GRASS? *slumps*

So, he figured I was allergic to dogs/weeds but my forearms weren't sensitive enough. So they moved up to the top of my arms.

On my right arm they retested most of the tress and on my left arm they retested dog and the weeds.

I ended up having small reactions to
Oak
Cottonwood
Weed mix #1
Weed mix #2
Scotch-broom
Mold mix #2
Dog

These were VERY small reactions though. Barely had itchiness on my upper arms. As you can see in the picture there are only a couple that are large. This is on my upper arm and it is a lot more sensitive. So, while these made no bumps on my forearms they did bump up a little. Oddly enough though it didn't ITCH up here very much at all in comparison to my forearms.

So, he gave me a prescription for an allergy medication (same as Allegra he said.) He told me that I need to get rid of knick-knacks (dust collectors) buy covers for my pillows, bed, and box spring. Covers for chairs and couches will help too. Also, get rid of carpeting or buy a HEPA vacuum. We rent right know so it is going to have to be the HEPA vacuum. He said rather than buying the plastic sheeting just a high thread count will amount to the same end result.

He advised that it might be too much to ask for people to sleep on plastic sheeting and high thread count is a happy second option. If all of that fails to rid me of the problem than I can come back and do the test all over again and get allergy therapy. This is fancy allergy doctor jargon for ALLERGY SHOTS.

My arm 6 hours after they started jabbing me. Little holes everywhere! Doesn't hurt. After it was all over they did provide me with alcohol wipes to get rid of the numbers and a topical itch wipe that got rid of the itching completely!

So, I need to stay away from that stuff. *le sigh* I'm elated that I know now. Grass, who would have guessed? Not me. Obviously, my dogs are a large problem. While I'm not THAT allergic to them they do spend a lot of time IN the grass.

My doctor even joked that if grass stung me like a bee I'd probably go into anaphylactic shock. Har har!

Thanks for following along. I hope this helps encourage you to get it done. Knowing is half the battle, G.I. JOEEEEE!!!!!