Larger Sandbag...

You may remember my last post, where I put up a little tutorial about making a sandbag for my workouts. You can see it here. A friend, who first got me interested in bodyrock.tv, asked me to make one for her, but a bit larger- holding 30 lbs instead of 20. I made it pretty much the same way with three differences:

1) I made more handles. The more I used my 20 lb bag, the more I wished I'd added more handles, so that I could hold the bag in different ways.

2) I put velcro on the liner. This will be helpful because she'll be moving a lot and will want to replace the sand without carrying it with her.

3) I used velcro to hold the outside shell closed, but found out that it won't hold up to 30 lbs- so I'll need to get a heavy duty zipper to hold it shut. I will be doing that in the next few days.

Soooo.... here is the bag! (Still with velcro in this pic, but will have a zipper or other heavy duty closure along the right side soon.)

 This side has three handles down the middle. The black sports strip is the part you hold, and the fabric strips are there for reinforcements.

This side has six handles. The black sports strip is a reinforcement, while the fabric strips above and below it are the handles.

This is the liner. I put the velcro on the top so that it wouldn't be on the same line as the opening to the outer shell. This holds three gallon-sized baggies full of sand, a total of 30 lbs. I like to have a liner because it makes me feel better- as in "maybe the sand won't get all over my floor if the baggies break."

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Finished dimensions are about 12x24 if you're looking straight on while it's full... in my opinion, it's a good size for a sandbag. Easy to drape over the shoulder, or to hold at shoulder width apart. In layman's terms, it's "this big":  (terrible pic, but you get the idea)



And, of course, here is my living room (which was clean when I started) after a few hours of not paying attention to my children. Not too bad- won't take long to clean up, but interesting nonetheless... and yes, those are Fruit Loops all over the couch:)

I hope you enjoyed this little post- Now, go get creative!

Sandbag Tutorial...

How's THIS for cute??

"What is it?" you ask... it's a sandbag! I've been working out with bodyrock.tv for about 12 weeks now. I love it. I started with no weight, then moved to 5 lbs (I had two 5 lb dumbells in my closet). I then moved to 10 lbs, but after a few weeks felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. Time to up the ante... so here is the 20 lb sandbag that I made for less than $10. (At this weight, they sell for $30-$40 retail and aren't NEARLY as colorful.)

I started with two gallon sized bags full of sand, weighing 10 lbs each. I super-glued them shut, then put each of them inside of yet another gallon sized baggie... just to make sure they'd stay shut. I then laid them side by side and used an old pillowcase to cover them. I cut it to size and sewed the top shut. That was the hard part- I would use velcro if I ever had to do it again.

I used it to work out yesterday, but realized that I needed handles- it was too chunky and hard to hold on to. So today I spent about $6 on 1/2 yard canvas fabric and some velcro, and voila- sandbag. Here is a pic of the inside-out, so you can see the basics of how I put it together.

To make the handles, I used two 6" strips. I folded them until they fit into my hand without bunching, pressed and sewed a seam along each of the long sides. I pinned them to my fabric, between the right-sides, then secured using a TON of backstitches. I wanted them stay in place, since there would be a lot of pressure on them. I sewed the velcro in place along the edge- make sure the velcro is not on the edge your handles are on- all the pressure from the handles will open the velcro. I then trimmed along the edge near the velcro opening and the corners at the bottom, just to make the it all fit together more nicely.

The handles worked great- no need to give them extra slack.  Here is Little Man to demonstrate how they work.

So here's my encouragement to all of you today: If you want something, but don't have the cash, maybe there's a way you can make it for cheap- or maybe you have a friend who could make it for you in exchange for, say, babysitting or something along those lines. Shoot, there's a lot I would do for a friend in exchange for babysitting! My point is this: get creative. Think outside the box. Here's to happy crafting and new ideas today!

The Power of Positive Speech...

"You'll get more bees with honey than with vinegar," my own Mama used to tell me. Maybe your mom said something similar? The point is that we get further with people when we're positive. While studying social work in college, I was taught the fundamental truth that if you speak using negative words to your clients, they will quickly become defensive; if you use positives, they will be more willing to work with you toward change.

I used to be pretty good at this. I suppose it was all of the practice through my social work classes and internship. During that time, I experienced first-hand through my work with homeless men and women the power of positive speech. For instance, if I said something like "You didn't turn in your forms yesterday. I've been looking for them, but they're just not here," I was met with crossed arms and excuses. However, if I said "Have you turned in your forms yet? They were due yesterday, so I've been watching for them," my clients were much more reasonable and open to correction. Notice the difference was the lack of negative words, especially "NOT."

Naturally, I thought that this would continue into my parenting. It did, for about 5 or 6 months, until my little princess realized she had a will of her own... a very STRONG will.

It was at about that time that I started incorporating more negative words into my mommy vocab. At 8 months old, she didn't understand long sentences, such as "This is an electrical socket. If you put a key in there, it will hurt you." Instead, I said "No!" and gave her a little thump on the hand, taking the key away and moving her to a different part of the room. (Spare me the tale of outlet covers- my kids always pulled them out anyway.) Over time, "No" was followed by a brief explanation: "No-This will hurt hurt you," or "Don't-This will give you an owie." (How do you even spell owie anyway??) This was appropriate during her toddler years, but eventually, her vocabulary and understanding of cause and effect expanded. But it was too late for me... I had already formed a habit of using negative speech.

I have noticed it more and more lately, now that my daughter is nearly five years old. When I reprimand her for doing something wrong, she responds so much better when I use positive language. As soon as I say "You didn't..." or "That's not..." or "You can't..." she shuts down. However, if I use terminology that has a positive inference, she is more willing to hear me out. Her body language tells me that she's comfortable, not defensive.

This sounds so easy, but I would challenge each of you to monitor your speech for an hour and count the number of times you use negative wording. You might be surprised. I was.

Just since we've been up this morning, I've said to my children,

Don't take your diaper off.
Stop getting out of your chair.
No! Stop doing that- it isn't going to work.

...And more. I've been working on this, but it is such a hard habit to break. It literally causes me to stop and think before I speak- something I used to be much better at. Instead, I should be saying:

Leave your diaper on.
Stay in your chair till breakfast is over.
Let's try something different.

My goal is to significantly work the negativity out of my speech. Obviously, we can't take EVERY negative word out- we need them to convey certain points. I do believe, however, that I can change the attitude and atmosphere of my home if I could just speak more positively.

Here are a few scriptures to help us all out:

"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness." ~Hebrews 3:13


"She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue." ~Proverbs 31:26


"May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." ~Psalm 19:4


"Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. " ~Proverbs 16:24

Time Out...

I just had to post this. Matthew is 19 months old as of yesterday. I have no idea where the time went, but here we are, right in the middle of the tantrums and time-outs that come with a child's broadening worldview. In this instance, Matthew discovered that he can drink from a sippy cup without a lid on when Mama is helping. Naturally, he wanted to try it without my help, but I wouldn't let him since he made it clear that he wanted to go into the living room with it. I put a lid on the cup, and a time-out worthy fit ensued. He's still in that cute "You're so little, I can't believe you got in trouble, but I know if I don't discipline you now it'll be so much harder when you're older" phase, so I sent him to time-out in his room. Then, of course, in my never-ending quest to get EVERY one of my children's milestones on video, I shot this vid when Matthew came out of time-out today. His language is still his own, so here's the interpretation: "Kyuk" obviously means yes. "Myah Mah" means  "Yes ma'am."