DH is talking about doing some renovations at our house. We have tile everywhere and we've had too many either come loose or crack. About every two or three years we have our tile guy come in and replace the broken ones and secure the loose ones. DH says he'd love to tear them all out and put in wood. But talking to someone who knows floors, I've been told that probably won't work because we'd have to do something to the sub floor and then toilets will sit higher, etc. And besides, I cannot imagine the cost of doing something like that (and the mess!).
We recently had our driveway replaced and that looks great. We finally got the painter on board to come and repaint the two extra bedrooms and bathrooms--they've needed it for a couple years. And I found some beautiful glass tile to have as backsplash on all my kitchen walls. The tile guy said he'd do it this week. I'm not holding my breath for that.
Thank goodness, the botched refinish job on the floor in the guest room bedroom was fixed yesterday. We had to leave the window open in that room while it dried, on a night when temperatures plunged into the low 40s and high 30s. I say this here not because it's particularly interesting or thought-provoking, but because everyone's talking about home renovations and I wanted to contribute something.
We may get a frost tonight. I'm starting to wonder if we will ever warm up again.
Allison, Becky, Dagmar, Saef nd all who undertake home remodels. Wow! These are projects that I can't imagine taking on. I admire you all for not having nervous break-downs. I do need to have our countertop re-canted, right now water collects against the moldy, rotting backsplash and, well, yuck! But I haven't mustered up the energy to make something that big happen.
I'm up half a pound. If I look at a weekly average of my daily wt, I've gained about 1/2 a pound over all in the past 3 weeks. I'm not doing any portion control, just trying to eat lots of fresh fruit and veg, since I have never been too successful in controlling portion sizes. I'm trying to "do this my way" but I might need to accept that if I eat like this, I will just maintain and not lose.
On the plus side, my linear average graph is pointed down for the first time in a long time...meaning I've had more lower days than higher days, I suppose..But it's all within a 4 lb window.
Today my plan is cereal for breakfast, stir-fry for lunch, and margaritas for dinner. OK, just kidding! I am going out for margaritas with friends from work today. They usually order nachos to split. That would be fine, as I never eat too many since we share. Maybe I'll splurge on a taco salad, call that dinner, and leave the boys to their own devices.
I was 125.6 this morning-- my redline is 125 so I'm almost there.
Dh comes home Sunday and it's always harder to maintain when he's home because he cooks delicious meals!
It's cold here too. I can't wait for warmer weather. I was at yoga yesterday (bikram-- it was a hot and humid class!)-- the teacher remarked after class that she's noticed I never seem overheated in class. I said that's because I grew up in Texas where it is always hot and humid!
I'm debating what exercise to do today. Usually on Fridays I go to the gym and do the elliptical (Prison Break time!) and then I can run by the grocery store after or pick up dinner as I'm sweaty but not sooooo sweaty. I can't do that after bikram as I'm drenched after that. My other choice is bikram and one of my favorite teachers is teaching but then it throws off my other plans. I'll probably stick to my gym plan and try to catch her teaching another class soon.
I'm trying a new vet tomorrow with Dewey. The vet I've been using for 9 years is about 20 minutes from home and super expensive. There is a second vet there and I don't care for her at all-- my vet is only there about 1/2 time so I often can't get her. The vet I'm trying is 5 minutes from home, I've heard great things about them, they are supposedly much more reasonably priced, and dh and I went and met the vet a few weeks ago. Dewey is just due for vaccines and a nail trim so I figure it's a good trial before we get the puppy. If I like them, I'll switch over before she comes home NEXT WEEK!!!!
I'm sitting at home right now (instead of being at work) because the tile guy is coming to do the kitchen back splashes and a crew of our guys will be up soon to move the utility room cupboards up 1 1/2 inches to accommodate the height of the new washer & dryer WITH the pedestals. It is just too hard to bend over that far to do laundry with a front loader and no pedestal. As soon as everyone arrives, I can leave.
Going out to lunch with DH and the in-laws. They're just about set to close on their new home. They they'll have a lot of work to do to furnish it. I think they've ordered a bedroom set but still have to do the guest room and the living room. We're going to give them a cabinet for the cat letterbox (we have our cabinet maker making several for us, them and my DD). We're also giving them a new cat tree like the one I have--their cats love it.
Oh, and we got rain yesterday! It rained for over 40 minutes and for half that time, it was coming down hard. If only it'd do that daily for a couple of months.
Allison, we got some drops of rain but nothing more. Just enough to make the car dirty.
Michele, congrats on being close to your redline weight. I battled my appetite all week to get back to 126. Good plan on the new vet. I've had mine for over 25 years and he's terrific! He's fairly inexpensive and he lets me drop off animals on my way to work and pick them up after work without charging me extra, since I live an hour from town.
Georgette, I'm not surprised that you are maintaining instead of losing. Several others I know have had the same result with the same approach to eating. Maintenance is the normal state for our body, it seems. Except for obese people who can easily cut out sodas and chips from their diet and lose, I believe the rest of us have to go a little bit hungry sometimes to lose any fat.
Saef, I may contribute to the home improvement discussion in a few more weeks when I'm semi-retired. A closet remodel will be one of my first projects. Congrats on walking unaided!
Becky, how exciting that your son is attending the National A Cappella Convention. I would enjoy that! I've always wanted to sing in an a cappella group (but not a barbershop quartet).
I haven't slept worth beans this week. Hoping to do better soon.
Alice-an intuitive over-eater....You had me laughing at this siggie! That's me, totally!!!
In the past, when I have cut out all refined sugars and cheese, I lost wt easily. I can assume I would do so again were I willing to eat that way. So that's the question for me. I'm sure that I'm not ready/willing to look at portion control at this time in my life, it's much simpler to just strategize my overeating...Sounds funny but it's true. The portion thing is a whole other can of worms. Sorry about your sleep deficit, that stinks.
Georgette, there's a weight-loss book out there called "volumetrics," which sounds tailor-made for you. It focuses on eating as much as you want of high-volume, low calorie options like soup, salad, stir-fried veggies and shirataki noodles. No portion control; just have to eat the high-volume foods first. I'm sure there's more to it than that (probably like getting rid of refined sugars and breaded/deep-fried foods) but I've not read beyond the dust jacket.
Allison, your cats are spoiled! Good luck with the tile man this week. Why is it SO HARD to get contractors to show up when they say they will? Honestly, I think they double-book themselves routinely, in case something happens to interfere with one of their jobs. Then, when nothing does, they just postpone one of the promised jobs. You'd think that in this day of near-instantaneous feedback on things like Angie's List, negative reviews would curtail this, but no.
Michele, how do you watch videos while you're on the elliptical? Do you own your own machine, or do you play videos from your smartphone?
Anyway, I'm back from my conference in D.C. Nothing groundbreaking on the Neurology disease front, though it is astonishing to me how M.S. has gone from a nearly untreatable disease to being a controllable, manageable condition for most people within the last decade. That is HUGE.
My kitchen backsplash looks wonderful at first glance, but DH hates a few things--the tile guy didn't miter the edge metal and it really looks bad and there are a couple tiles that aren't flush as well as one that is chipped on the back side (lile we wouldn't notice). DH is having him fix a bunch of stuff before he grouts.
And then....Dh is suggesting a faux painter to paint our outlet covers to match the tile. I was thinking of changing them from off-white to brown or black, but this sounds so much better.
Meanwhile we got bids for artificial turf for our lawn and they left a sample. Amazing--it looks real and is really soft. Expensive, but we should do it.
