Angry Birds Blue Bird Pattern

New pattern available, Angry Birds Blue Bird crochet beanie! I also am selling the completed hat for $22. My 3 year old had been wanting an Angry Birds hat for awhile so when I finally was able to start it, I realized I had NO red yarn! ....weird, right? I showed him the website and luckily he liked the blue bird even better...so that worked out. Although last time we went to Walmart he had me by red yarn, so I think he still wants a red one lol.

I'm hoping to make Zach a Thomas one starting today :D

You can get the pattern from my Etsy shop.

or if you want to be able to instantly download I have it for sale on my Ravelry.
Or click below and it will take you to Craftsy:

Source: Angry Birds Blue Bird crochet pattern via SeastarStitches on Craftsy

Back to Fitness

  My "baby" turns  2 in November, only 3 months away! So why do I still have the baby weight? Could it be my horrible eating habits, or lack of exercise? I used to have willpower, before I had kids. I went almost 2 years without any soda, and about a year staying under 40 carbs a day....I didin't really think of it, I just did it. Now I have ZERO willpower, I'm just to tired and I have two little guys who depend on me 24/7 so I've just not even cared about myself at all. Earlier this year I got more focused on getting healthy and in a little over a month I only dropped about 5lbs, but I lost almost 18 inches allover, and I got a lot stronger. Working out also healed my pelvis problems, I never felt like I recovered right after having Zach....it was agony to move certain directions or go from laying down to standing up. BUT I haven't had that pain since about April.

  Then around the end of May I got very sick, then the boys got sick, then naps started dropping off, Zach went from less of a baby to a crazy toddler....and it's now the middle of September and I've only worked out a handful of times since then. But I'm sick of wearing the same 5 articles of clothing because I refuse to buy clothes at this size, and sick of feeling so unhealthy. I'm 28 but I feel so...blah. I even have high blood pressure now....that's not ok.

  So I'm putting on my big girl panties and summoning that willpower back, I HAVE to. I'm not going to do super crazy intense workouts like I did earlier this year, I'm going to take it a little easier on myself so I'm not stressing about it. Starting tomorrow (yeah I know how that sounds, but I need to go grocery shopping today) I'll be doing the 3 day Shakeology cleanse which is basically 3 shakes a day with fruit for snacks and a salad with chicken for dinner. I already have no problem with that since Shakeology tastes amazing, and it's actually filling, no Slim Fast crap. I drink it for breakfast daily and I'm fine until lunch, although sometimes I do grab a banana or a cheese stick for a snack if I need to.

  You're not supposed to workout during those 3 days since your energy will probably be lower, so on Tuesday I'll start my workouts. Earlier this year when I lost all those inches I did Brazil Butt Lift, but this time I'm going to start out doing Yoga Booty Ballet 3 times a week, Turbo Fire twice a week and 1 day of High & Tight from Brazil Butt Lift. I think that will work out best because Yoga Booty Ballet is more of a beginners workout, even though I do work up a sweat. It's also FUN. It's the most fun I've ever had working out. I'm adding in Turbo Fire twice a week because it's waaay intense, I can barely make it through the 45 minute starter workout! But I've seen amazing results on other people, and it burns mega calories. Lastly, I just like the Brazil Butt Lift workouts, and I could use help in the "bum bum" area for sure :) Eventually I plan on following the workout calenders that came with Brazil Butt Lift and Turbo Fire, but I want to start off a little slower this time so I can build stamina.

  I went with Beach Body programs because they are fun and they really do work, just look on Youtube and type the name of the program you are interested in, there is nothing more motivating! The website is free, you can sign up here, their message boards are full of people who really do just want to help. You can also track your workouts and every time you do you are entered to win $500, it's pretty sweet. 

  My goal is to be down 20lbs by Zach's 2nd birthday on November 25th, which gives me plenty of time. If I actually follow the workouts and clean up my eating I should be down more then that....but 20lbs is a good first goal.

  Now for eating, I've always done better on a lower carb eating plan, my body just likes that. So I'll be doing South Beach Diet since it's not "really" low carb, but it's low glycemic and I feel like that is what my body needs. But I still will be drinking Shakeology, I had never felt better as I did when I was working out and drinking Shakeology. It's expensive, but as long as I can sell 3 beanies a month it would be fine. We'll see :)

  And so this post is not just all fitness talk, last night the boys and I made pumpkins! It was fun, we made Halloween cookies.....well we did the "break and bake" type, I was not in the mood to do a bunch of dishes lol. Ethan ended up burning his arm on the oven though, poor guy. While we were making the pumpkins we listed to the Halloween music from Super Simple Songs, Ethan was dancing and singing along. Zach really wasn't into it, he was playing with toys.

Welcome back!

Hello blog, it's been a YEAR!

Geez. My kids are now 3.5 and 21 months, and that's why I haven't posted much, no crafting time :) But now they are getting older and more independent so I'm working on my organizing skills so I can actually have time to crochet. I tend to do a little bit of everything at a time (a little cleaning, a little craft project with the boys etc) and never get to finish of all it....so it feels like a live in disarray. But my husband said he will help out with the housework more, so maybe I can squeeze in some more crafting time, yay! I've got quite a few pattern ideas floating around my head I want to finish, and I've got a billion crochet requests from Ethan.... "Mama will you crochet me a microphone? a light saber? cat? beanie?" etc lol.

I also have been writing, I've completed a picture book written in verse called Laila the Mermaid, and I've sent it out to a few agents, and I've got back 4 rejections so far, but at least I heard something, right? I also have a rough outline of a young adult mermaidish novel.

I DID finally get to update the shop with something! A newborn size bubblegum pink and aqua beanie with a lighsaber applique. I love the colors :)

I've been mainly posting on my fitness blog at:

Getting Fit with Tiff

Recipe Recap

I never have time to just sit and blog. I wish I did, but any moment where I'm not occupied by caring for kids...I either make a mad dash to the shower or do fun stuff like dishes or laundry!

But right now both boys are playing on the floor. Together. I love it. Zach is old enough to crawl around and play with Ethan and it has been so nice! So maybe I can start blogging again.

Here are some dishes I've made recently:

Grilled Honey Lime Chicken: So good! Even Craig loved it...and that's not normally flavors he'd like together. Ethan of course liked it because he likes chicken...and loves fruit.

Garlic Noodles: BEST EVER. I've made these twice this month alone...so good. I usually make them as a side along with a meat....but last night I just ate them for dinner and nothing else. Shhhhh. I omit the green onions (I dont like them) and add in Sriracha hot sauce.

Slow Cooker Creamy Meatballs: I love MommyHatesCooking.com. She has amazing recipes and they are super easy, so I thought we'd love these. Maybe I did something wrong, but they were awful because since they cooked in the slow cooker, there was no where for the fat to drain out into, so they tastes SUPER greasy. We threw them out.

Tilapia with Roasted Corn: YUM. Or YUMO because it's Rachael Ray? I'll stick with yum :P But hey, I learned something...I dont know how to use my broiler! In my old electric ovens I just turned it on and put the rack in the top slot. This gas stove has like a door and all this crazy stuff. So I just baked it in the oven and it was still super good.

Zach is crying, I new this wouldn't last long!

WORST TANTRUM EVER

Ethan had the most awfully epic meltdown/tantrum of his life. It was horrible. We went to the mall today to just walk around and play in the mall play area, and everything was going just fine. We were there about an hour when I saw that the boys were looking tired so we started to head home for a nap. Ethan was actually walking with me pushing the stroller (since the stupid seat belt lock broke on it), and Zach was in the baby carrier.

We get almost to the door, and Ethan RUNS into Sleep Train, which was the last store next to the exit. He starts trying to get away from me, then he just flings himself on the ground. I cant get him up at all. He wouldn't move. Finally I was able to pick him up (while still carrying Zach) and he just goes limp and starts SCREAMING. I have no idea why he's acting this way except maybe for being overtired. So I'm carrying him, Zach and pushing the stroller while Ethan is trying to scratch me up and screaming at the same time. I have no idea how to handle this situation, all I was thinking was GET TO THE CAR. Maybe I should of just stopped at a bench until he calmed? I was just worried he'd bolt into the street.

We finally get to the car, and it manages to get WORSE. I kinda drop him into the backseat of the car so I can go seat belt Zach. Ethan then climbs into the front seat and RUNS out the car door (it was opened because I unlocked it) and just drops to the ground in the middle of the road/parking lot. I still have Zach in the carrier so I'm semi dragging Ethan just to get him out of the road! This whole time there is major screaming going on. I was so worried someone would call security or something. So I get him in the car and shut all the doors, and finally get Zach in his carseat. Then it literally took 5-10 minutes to chase Ethan around in the car to get him in his carseat. Even when he was in his carseat it took several tries to actually buckle it because he'd go limp/squirm. FINALLY we were able to get on the road to head home, and he manages to get his arms out of the carseat straps and starts trying to get out. ARG. So I have to pull over and fix his carseat, all the while he's still screaming.

We made it home, and he took a 3 hour nap. That was insane, he's NEVER acted like that. I hope this isn't how the rest of his twos are going to go :O

I cant wait until I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old.

Menu Plan Monday

Ooooooh how I wish my husband had off today! He only gets Sunday's off, so it would of been nice to have a 2 day weekend together :) Yesterday was fun though, we played outside with the boys for a bit, but it was weird weather! Super cloudy and humid so we ended up playing inside most of the time. We also watched a few episodes of Battlestar Galactica....educational shows, ya know lol.

Today we're mailing out a few packages, heading to the grocery store and doing some cleaning. I usually don't clean on the weekends and WOW. It's amazing how much of a mess 2 year olds can make! Zach ended up staying up so late last night! He went to bed around 7ish-7:30 like normal, but then he woke up at 10pm WIDE AWAKE! Arg. So he didn't go back to sleep until about 11, yet still woke up at 7. Both boys are asleep so I should start cleaning, but I'm just sitting here relaxing with a cup of coffee, planning meals and doing some online shopping for Disneyland.

The menu plan for the week is kinda boring, I let Craig pick it out so it's full of "normal" stuff :P

Monday:

 Steak tacos

Tuesday:

Burgers with homemade buns, grilled corn

Wednesday:
Chili, cornbread

Thursday:
Leftovers

Friday:

 I was going to make Pulled Pork, but I think I'll make pulled chicken instead. We have a lot of chicken in the freezer, so that way I wont have to buy any meat!

Saturday:
Leftovers

Sunday:
Spaghetti and meatballs!

For snacks and lunches, I have these going on:
Roasted Chickpeas
Tacos in a sleeping bag
Corndog Muffins
PB&J Muffins
Pigs in a Blanket