I have been really busy lately what with procrastinator parties and kids and all that jazz. I do want to thank everyone who commented on my chairs. I had fun doing it under the time crunch and will most definitely do another project party again.
Once I got the dining room finished I turned my eye toward the back porch/office this weekend, and threw out the door all the junk that was cluttering it up so horribly. I am one of those people that will clean my bedroom in the middle of the night if I can't sleep because of the clutter. So out it all went! One pile for garage, one for the yard sale this Friday, oh, did I mention that while I was doing this de-cluttering I thought that it would be a great time for a yard sale? So now I am into it for the duration.
Jay even took out the old built in work space that was out moded for us. At the time he built it we had 2 desk top pc's and now we are using laptops, so out with that, too! I cleaned the carpet and brought in my new love seat and my old handmade desk, a reading lamp and table that I repainted white, hung curtains and made a tiny little space just for me! I picture myself early mornings, curled up on my cozy love seat with a cup of coffee in one hand and my online devotions on my laptop on the table next to me. Ah, it's the little things that make us happy, yes?
Also, I stopped babysitting. I need to concentrate on what I need to be doing here. Like exercising regularly.
Jay and I will be taking a mini-vacation the last 4 days of this month. We are going to Nevada to see a dear old friend for a couple of days, by ourselves, no children added. We really need this!
My garden is growing, albeit slowly, but it is past the danger of being frozen. There is some small bit of pride in that I started it from seeds, every bit! We also planted a june berry bush and a honeysuckle vine and they are thriving as well. Our grapevine looks very sweet with its blush colored leaves just beginning to unfurl. I always tell people that in our yard all we have to do is dig a hole and plop whatever it is we want to grow and it will take off on it's own. Which reminds me, it's dark now and I can flood my yard and garden unobserved.
One more thing: I am reading Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott; Thin Within -a Grace oriented approach to weight loss- by Judy and Arthur Halliday RN & MD respectively; and Chuck Colson's How Now Shall We Live?. One meaty book let me tell you. I read fiction at night to help me go to sleep and if I wake up and can't sleep I can think about what I just read and if that doesn't seem to work then I will pray. That usually does it pretty fast for some reason.
I remember some of these from 5 or 6 years ago. Helped the process a lot as I kept my fats at around 15 grams a day. Sometimes I need something more than pretzels.
I only ate red meat once a month and keep in mind that a serving of red meat is the size of a deck of cards. I ate mostly fish, particularly salmon but only 3 times a week. I was also given a great vegetarian cookbook and used a protein powder supplement.
I ate salad nearly everyday. The usual mixed lettuce, toms, cukes, red onion and I would sometimes add a bag of defrosted stirfry veggies to it. Then I would either season it with fresh chopped garlic and oregano or I would buy raspberry vinagrette and carefully squeeze the oil up out of it and made it nearly fat free.
Snackwell's Devil's Food Fat Free Cookie Cakes (2 cookies/32 g) Calories 100 Fat 0 g Saturated Fat 0 g Sugars 14 g Nilla Wafers Reduced Fat (8 cookies/30 g) Calories 110 Fat 2 g Sat. Fat 0 g Sugars 12 g Nutter Butters (2 cookies/28 g) Calories 130 Fat 6 g Saturated Fat 1 g Sugars 8 g Weight Watchers Vanilla Nonfat Yogurt (6 oz) Calories 110 Fat 3 g Saturated Fat 0.5 g Sugars 10 g Nabisco Ginger Snaps (4 cookies/1 oz) Calories 120 Fat 2.5 g Saturated Fat 0 g Sugars 11 g Teddy Grahams Oatmeal (24 grahams/30 g) Calories 130 Fat 3.5 g Saturated Fat 1 g Sugars 8 g Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Hazelnut Pirouettes (2 wafers) Calories 120 Fat 5 g Saturated Fat 2 g Sugars 13 gThe exercise is going okay. I played all star wrestling with baby boy this morning for about 20 minutes. Does that count as exercise? It really wore me out.
Picture on left is me today @ 170, and the one on the right is me and Sarah @ 125 only 5 short years ago. A lot has happened between years. Medications that caused the weight gain and changed eating and exercise habits. But no more. I am going back to what I know.
1. Don't eat unless tummy is growling really loud. (that only happens in church during sermon.)
2. Don't eat more than a fist sized meal. (thats how big stomach is supposed to normally be, really I'm not kidding.)
3. Drink an 8 oz glass of water every 3 hours. (then p every 5 minutes.)
4. Wear a belt at all times; NO STRETCHY WAISTBANDS! (the stretchy ones fool you.)
5. Get on the eliptical 30 minutes a day even if I have to break it up into 10 minutes segments.(do this while watching a musical like Singing in the Rain. )
6. Do my stretches and then strength train with weights in same format as above in sets of 10.
7. Find things to do that keep me moving during the day. (like a just walking 1 year old and a limit pushing 2 year old. other than that tending the garden and cleaning house works or I can get all my projects finished when the kids are napping!)
8. Eat 85% veggies and watch carbs but get some protein and take my vitamins.
9. Read labels for saturated fat and limit it to 15 grams a day.
10. DON"T GET DISCOURAGED! THIS CAN BE DONE!!! Call Sarah if it gets tough.
In one month I will post a new picture. Wish me luck and I could use some prayers too. And if you are game, join with me! We can all use as much support as we can get!
I have been really busy lately what with procrastinator parties and kids and all that jazz. I do want to thank everyone who commented on my chairs. I had fun doing it under the time crunch and will most definitely do another project party again.
