This ‘n That

— 1 —

Remember my diaper bag broken zipper issue? I contacted the company to see if there was anything they could do…and they offered to exchange it for a brand new bag!! I have to destroy the old one by cutting it apart and sending them a photo as proof that it was destroyed, but I’m getting a whole new bag so no big deal. Great customer service! Thank you JJ Cole.

— 2 —

I wondered how Emma would react to the time change last weekend, and I’m happy to report that things went smoothly. I’m pretty sure she work up a lot earlier than usual last Sunday morning, but she stayed happily in her crib until I went in to get her at the usual time (which to her, obviously, felt like an hour later than the day before). She’s been a little crankier and sleepier than usual in the evenings this week, so she was definitely adjusting. But overall? Not too shabby.

— 3 —

I took this photo on Wednesday night as I was putting Emma to bed, and it’s my new favorite photo of her. She doesn’t sleep with a blanket, but I decided to try it out. I had just laid her down and tucked her quilt around here, and she just looked so dang cute I couldn’t resist grabbing my phone for a photo. Jose ended up going back in soon after to take the quilt away because she kept playing with it instead of going to sleep.

— 4 —

I picked up my new sewing machine last Saturday after buying it at the quilt show the day before. It’s a Brother Innov-is 85e, which is couple steps up from the Brother CE8080 that I got at Walmart a few years ago. (I stuck with Brother so I can still use the extra presser feet and bobbins I already have.) I broke it in doing the January Lucky Stars block I mentioned earlier this week, and it’s got some nifty features I didn’t have before!

I’d like to get the old one fixed (the feed dogs are broken such that they are permanently lowered, which means you can only feed fabric through the machine by hand) so I could either keep it as a backup or sell/donate it, but it was a pretty cheap machine to begin with so the price of repair may not be worth it. I took it to the store the day after it broke, but their repair guys were all at the quilt show so they weren’t able to look at it. We’ll see.

— 5 —

My ramblings last weekend about my running (or lack thereof) were still rattling around my head on Monday, and I decided that even if I don’t make the time for workouts these days, I can still put more effort into dropping the last 10 lbs of my pregnancy weight since monitoring my diet shouldn’t take up too much time or energy. I signed up for an account on MyFitnessPal and have been tracking my calories all week.

I’ve tried tracking calories in the past (but not in at least 5+ years) and given up within a week or two because it annoys me. But so far — and I know it’s only been 5 days, but still — it’s going well this time around. The fact that the site has a HUGE database of foods, and that I can use the phone app to scan barcodes on prepackaged items, are major factors since those two features eliminate the main thing that has annoyed me most about calorie tracking the past — trying to figure out exactly how many calories were in something I ate. In the past, it felt too much like guesswork. This time, I feel more confident that my tracking is reasonably accurate.

To lose 1 lb per week, I’m supposed to limit myself to 1500 calories per day. If I exercise, that raises my limit (i.e. if I burn 300 calories running, I can eat 1800 calories that day). I haven’t hit the limit every day, but I’ve been close. And I’ve also realized that even if I go over by a couple hundred calories, that’s still less than what I was eating before. So either way, I think tracking will help.

— 6 —

For the next few days, the space station has more people onboard than it’s had in quite a while — nine crewmembers representing four countries! The crew that arrived on Thursday morning brought along an Olympic torch as part of a ceremonial relay and handoff leading up to the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Two Russian cosmonauts are doing a spacewalk tomorrow, and they’re even going to take the torch outside with them for about 30 minutes before getting on with the rest of their tasks. I know I’m biased, but the ISS is probably the coolest place the Olympic torch has ever been…

— 7 —

I’ve got a long weekend ahead of me thanks to the Veteran’s Day holiday on Monday. We don’t have too many plans, but the weather is supposed to be really nice so hopefully there will be quite a few walks and trips to the playground involved.  I’m planning to check out the annual Gilruth Holiday Bazaar tomorrow. (Gilruth is the NASA JSC gym and events center.) I’ve never been but I’m curious to see what kind of crafts they have there. Who knows, maybe next year I can have my own booth!

(Linking up: 7 Quick Takes, hosted by Conversation Diary)