February Hat of the Month: Burgers on the Brain

I'm just barely making this one in under the wire! For February I gave Melissa a hat I affectionately call Burgers on the Brain.

Side view

top view

I based this hat on the pattern I found here. As I said before, this hat was so much fun to make! On a scale of Beginner to Advanced, I would say this one was Intermediate. You have 5 color changes and use a few different stitches, but that's what I liked about the hat. It made the pattern go by pretty quickly, unlike some patterns where I feel like I'm in crochet purgatory. 

This was actually my second time making the hat. The pattern says it's for a child, and since Melissa is 32 I wanted to make sure it was the right size. I figured if it was still too small, I have a few friends with kids who would get a kick out of it. Well... It ended up being too big! I gave it to our youth pastor for Christmas because he has a love/hate relationship with Five Guys. 

It made me come to the realization that either I crochet really loose or she's around really big-headed children. Regardless, it taught me a few things to change when I made Melissa's hat:

1. The pattern calls for a J-hook to make the child-sized hat. I went down to an I-hook on Zac's hat. I ended up using an H-hook for Melissa's.
2. As you can see in Zac's picture, there is a dc row beneath the lettuce "skirt." I left it off on Melissa's hat because I wanted the red "tomato" row to peak out from under the lettuce row. If I make it again (which I probably will because I love it), I think I'll change it to a sc row between the skirt and the tomato. It added a little bit of lift, and the tomato almost disappeared on Melissa's hat. 
3. The pattern says to stitch teardrop shapes into the top of the hat and then fill them in. Let me just tell you, it is not easy to stitch a teardrop shape into a crocheted circle. I just did random stitches all over the top. You get the same idea. And in 1/3 the time!

Overall, I loved making this hat. The pattern was fun. The hat is adorable. I will most likely make it again. 

Let There Be Light

I officially have power in my bedroom again! It was fixed about 20 minutes after I got home from work this evening. Thank goodness, because that was really getting a bit ridiculous. I didn't really mind it at first because I'm rarely home, but after a while it became difficult to find things. And my new cell phone battery seems to be working out well. I think I may need a new charger, too, but that can wait for now.

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Lately I have been trying to dig myself out of debt. We are doing a series at church about money management (and no, it's not just the church asking for money from the congregation). I've learned a lot. And I'm trying to get out of debt. I managed to get my credit card paid off (then put it in a bag of water and stuck it in the freezer). Now I'm trying to save a decent rainy day fund. Then I'm going to have to figure out something to do about my student loans. That gives me heart palpitations, so I'm trying not to stress about it at the moment. One step at a time!

I feel like ever since I started trying to be smarter with my money, the devil's been trying to trip me up. The electricity went out in my bedroom, my phone battery went kaput, and yesterday I had a flat tire on the one day that the tire store is closed. It was like he was trying to tempt me into defrosting my card so I could fix it right now. But if I just gave it a minute, God helped me find a cheaper, easier way.

1. A friend of the family fixed the electric switch that was bad. He only charged us for the part. 
2. I was able to get a new phone battery for a decent price instead of having to buy a whole new phone. 
3. When I bought my tires a few weeks ago, I purchased the certificate for a repair/replacement/refund if anything happened to the tire. I only had to pay for the Fix-a-Flat to get me situated until this morning. (PS, if you ever need new tires and there is a Discount Tire in your area, Go There! I have heard nothing but awesome stories about their service, and not just my local store.)

I just had to be patience... which is an area I struggle with, especially when it comes to rushing into big purchases. I want things fixed now instead of looking for cheaper options.

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I finally finished my cousin's hat! I decided to go with the a Cheeseburger hat I made a few months ago. While I was searching for the original pattern again, I stumbled across this:

Uhm.... yeah, so that exists. Who knew? Anyway, I will try to get my pattern review posted tomorrow. It was a lot of fun to make. I may make another one! 

Crazy Going Slowly Am I

Does anyone remember that song? Here, let me jog your memory...

My friend and I used to sing it when we were in high school, and I still sing it every now and then. Especially when things are going a little goofy. Like when you have no electricity in your bedroom and your phone decides to die. I might have changed the word "crazy" to "Amish"... maybe.

Remember how I said my phone didn't Friday night? Well, it didn't charge at all yesterday either. I had it plugged in and turned off for most of the day and it was still losing it's charge. Greg and I went by the Verizon store and they confirmed that it was a battery issue. But because I have a phone from 16 months ago they don't carry the battery I need. There is a battery store in town that might have one for my phone. If they don't, Amazon does.

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It's Oscar night! Not that we're doing anything exciting. I think we're just going to watch them over at Greg's house. One of the theaters in Knoxville is showing the Oscars on the big screen. We thought about going, but  thought again when the price of gas shot up. It's not like the theater is that far away, but he has to drive all over creation for work, and I'm just poor. Not worth it for something we can watch at home.

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Ok, I'm going to go finish up Melissa's hat. I don't know why I've been stalling. I need to get it off in the mail tomorrow or it's going to be the Hat of the Bi-Month club.

100!

Oof... Today did not start off awesome. I had to be at work at 6:00 this morning. So when I woke up at 6:06, I knew it wasn't going to be a great start. My phone battery died at some point last night, and like most people I use my phone as my phone as my alarm clock. My phone has been a little kooky lately. I have to have it on the charger just so or it doesn't connect. And sometimes, even when it's just so, it's discharging instead of charging (which is what I think happened last night). I may need to go to Verizon and see if it's not a battery issue. I'm not eligible for an upgrade until the end of July. It's starting to get more than a little annoying.

My day has been better. My shift was fine, and Greg came to take a class towards the end, so we went to lunch and then went shopping. Believe it or not, we went shopping for Greg. He needed some new workout clothes and some casual work shirts. I may or may not have drooled over the shoes while we were in JCP, but I didn't buy anything. :-)

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I found the cutest necklaces last night. I saw them on Instagram of all places!

So cute!

I accidentally hit the explore tab and found this necklace (which I also love). There was a link to the company, so I spent the next few minutes browsing the selection. Love! Greg will be getting a few not so subtle hints about my upcoming birthday. Ooh! Or a celebratory "yay for your promotion!" gift.... or just because. I'm not picky. :-)

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This is my 100th post on this blog. Thanks for sticking around!

Delayed Gratification

Can I start by saying how sore my hip muscles are?? Yesterday I did Donkey Kick Planks which look a little something like this:

Fun. That plus the side planks really worked my hips for some reason. Actually, I think it was all that plus standing for 6.5 hours. My hips are generally sore these days. They don't hurt, just the muscles feel like they got a good work out. I probably need to start foam rolling more often. And then I followed that up with a cycle and a core class this evening (I told you today wasn't going to be like yesterday). I'm going to have fun walking tomorrow.

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Today was a better day than most of the days this week. I'm not sure why, but this week has just been a string of rough days. Rude people, weird situations... All adding up to a not awesome series of days. But I did finally get some good news today. I got the promotion! First thing this morning I emailed the lady who interviewed me and asked if there was any update on my promotion. From what I pieced together, she called my boss shortly there after and told her that I had gotten the promotion, effective March 1.

I'm not going to lie, I was kind of hoping it would go in effect immediately, or even retro active to when I started doing the job at the beginning of this month. But you know what? I'm not going to complain! Just knowing that my work is appreciated puts a lift in my step. Besides, March 1 is a week from today. I think I can make it. I may see if I can't get Greg to take me bowling to celebrate. :-)

No News is... No News

I still haven't heard back about my interview yet. I know, no news is good news, because they haven't said no, right? But at this point I still don't know if I'm going to get the promotion or not, and I'm starting to get discouraged. My boss emailed the lady who interviewed me this morning to ask, but she never responded. And when my boss called later in the day, she didn't answer her phone. Boo.

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I did really well on my diet today... until dinner. Greg and I went to Olive Garden because I really wanted their soup. And all would have been fine if I had stuck with my original plan of soup and one of the "Lighter Fare" dishes. But no, Greg saw the $12.95 3-Course Menu and I changed my plan. I still got the soup, but I also had four a couple bread sticks and a less healthy entree. I got the Grilled Chicken Toscano. According to the website, it is 700 calories! But I didn't eat any of the risotto, so that probably saved me a good 350 calories. Then we got to dessert (It was the third course in the dinner). When I go to OG and I want something sweet, I always get the dolcinis because they are 2 bites and gone. Just the perfect amount of dessert, right?

Dark Chocolate Caramel Cream

When I went to plug that in to my app, I discovered it was 270 calories. What??? It was 2 bites! I sent that picture to Amy asking how in the world that little thing was 270 calories. We agreed that if I filled that cup with just chocolate it wouldn't be that much. Needless to say, I went over my calorie goal for today. But the good news is that if every day was like today, I would still lose weight over the next 5 weeks. And every day will not be like today!

Now that I think about it, I'm kind of disappointed that Olive Garden didn't have any of the Lighter Fare menu items as an option on the 3-Course menu. I probably would have been happier with the Lasagna Primavera. Coffee was a dessert options, so (had I been so minded) I could have made it better for me. Oh well.

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I've decide Melissa is getting the hamburger this month. Things have just gotten a little goofy, and I don't know when I'll have time to make another hat. I'm running out of month! I'm going to finish it off tomorrow (it needs sesame seeds on top, of course!), and hopefully get it off in the mail on Saturday. I will post my review then, too.

Doldrums

Remember how I said that I was not going to let my wonky weekend define my whole week? Yeah, no. Monday was crazy, yesterday was bleh, and today was just... not awesome. I can't even pinpoint what was wrong with today, it just wasn't good. Worried about a few friends who had (separate) surgeries today, then I had a few rude encounters (hey, if I say something tastes like Christmas, yes, I meant to say it). And it seems like everyone around me is either having a rough week or the best week ever. Feast or famine, I suppose. I'm praying for a better tomorrow. Actually, I'm praying for a great tomorrow!

My new exercise routine is going well. Of course, today was on the day 2, so I guess we'll have to see how the next 40 days play out. And I've picked a local 5k race to run. I was thinking of doing Color Me Rad again, but I can't really afford the registration right now. So I picked the Resurrection Run. It is the weekend before Easter (hence the name), and I think I have enough time to get ready. I'm going to go ahead and write it on my calendar, then register when I get paid. I think once I put out the money, I will be more likely to stick with my training.

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For those of you who were wondering, I have not forgotten my cousin's hat for February. I was waiting to see if she mailed me back her survey. Since she has not, I'm struggling a bit to decide what to do. I think I will probably end up making her something similar to this:

[source]

I don't know yet. I actually have a hamburger hat that I already made. I was planning on saving that one for summer, but desperate times call for desperate measures... And time is of the essence. Oh well, I'll keep y'all in the loop!