Yesterday

Today The Hubster celebrates his 41st birthday. To commemorate the occasion I wrote him a little story centered around our first meeting on Facebook and tagged him in it. You can see it below.

I posted this video along with it. 

That song perfectly sums up our relationship. I'd marry him yesterday, today, and tomorrow. No hesitation, no doubts. Now we sound like newlyweds, huh? Nah. We've been together for just shy of 17 years now. Pretty much conjoined twins from our first date to the present. Has it always been easy? Umm....NO! I can't tell you the number of times that it would have been easier to throw in the towel and call it quits, rather than fix what was broken. The Hubster and I don't think like that, though. We're fixers. We got married determined to grow old and gray together. It'd be kind of stupid to throw all of that away just because you're both too stubborn to work on yourselves.

ANYWHO....I'm off track here. Writing that little story for him has made me wax poetic about the passage of time in our lives. Whether we're on this earth for a second or a century it's still just a blink of the eye. You see, to me, it feels like just yesterday that he barked out the order for my phone number. When I look at his face, now starting to show the lines of aging, I can still see the smooth skin, crooked grin, and dimples that are forever stamped on my heart from our first meeting. I still feel like the young girl who repainted her nails 4 times the day of our first date, because I couldn't decide on which color I wanted.

Just yesterday I was wrapping our youngest son up in his hooded towel after his bath, heading to his room to get him diapered and dressed. We had a ritual, you see. As he was getting lotioned and powdered we'd sing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes". Then, as soon as he was dressed, we'd sing "Ten Little Indians" on his itty-bitty fingers. A quick brushing of his sweet smelling hair and it was off to the recliner to read Please Try To Remember the First of Octember, which was always sure to get a giggle. 

That sweet little baby will officially be a teenager in 2 short months. He's spent his day evenly divided between playing PS3 and taking care of me, as I'm down for the count with a bad cold that's trying its best to turn into bronchitis. He made me a bagel and bacon for breakfast. He's brought me glass after glass of ice water. Heated up some leftover chili for my lunch. It seems so unbelievable that he's already almost grown, that our time as parents is almost over.

See what I mean? Yesterday is just chock full of things that just happened...even if the reality is that they happened almost two decades ago. That's how fast it passes. You blink and it's over. I guess I could allow myself to feel maudlin about it. I'd rather feel anticipatory, though. I'd rather look forward to the next blink...the next breath...the next yesterday, because I have a feeling they're going to be just as special as today's yesterday is!

Abracadabra, Presto, KAZAM!!

Utter Clutter, Batman!

Around this time last year we redecorated our living room. The Hubster moved his gargantuan television to the wall above our fireplace to help make a feasible floor plan, and I built melamine shelves in the little niche beside the fireplace to house all of the electronic must-haves that attach to the television. We were delighted for the shelves, save for one aspect. Board game storage was below the shelves and, while we always keep it neat it just made everything look cluttered!

Then, around June last year, the retail store The Hubster works for was doing a HUGE drapery reset. This meant that all of the floor samples were being replaced. Rather than throw these samples away the store decided to hold a silent auction on all of them, with the proceeds going to a children's charity. Ummm...all that fabric? Yeah, I drooled a bit (okay, more than a bit, but I have some pride!) and begged The Hubster to bid on my behalf. He did. We won. I was the proud owner of hundreds of drapery samples. The possibilities were infinite! To date these samples have made a panel for an odd, octagonal window in my bathroom, been shared with, and inspired a living room and dining room redo, for my mother and father; and, now, utilized to hide my tidy yet cluttered board game storage area!

This is REALLY about to happen!

The only problem was how to hang it. We bought a dowel rod, but couldn't figure out how to secure it under the shelf properly so that the brackets didn't show and there was no gap between the shelves and the curtain. This past week The Hubster and I were cleaning at my parents house and I was hanging things in a newly reformatted closet in their guest room. I saw the closet bars and had a EUREKA! moment. I asked my father if just the closet bars and brackets were available for purchase, as they were part of a kit. He wasn't sure, and I went about my cleaning with my brain hard at work planning on finding a time to head to the home improvement store and see what I could find. A few minutes later, bless his heart, he came downstairs and presented me with a package of the coveted closet bars and brackets! They were left over, and he had no use for them. Gee, you think I was excited?

The Hubster, hard at work on
his Honey-Do List!

Yesterday was the first day of The Hubster's first vacation of the year. We're heading to Cincinnati tomorrow morning bright and early for our first childless and petless anniversary trip since June of 1999! WOO-HOO!! Just a quick, weekend jaunt to a baseball game (Go, Reds!) and a nice hotel. We'll be back Monday, and are planning on spending the rest of the week getting some things done around the house that have piled up. You know the things I'm talking about...getting the fireplace cleaned up and the damper closed for summer, fixing squeaky doors and leaky faucets, some painting, and the doozy - moving our outdoor building to a lower location and fixing the floor. After we had an unexpected free day this morning, thanks to thunderstorms and a cancelled ballgame for our youngest kiddo, we decided to go ahead and tackle the curtain project. I headed to the sewing machine to cut and hem the drapery sample to the correct length, and The Hubster got busy cutting the metal bars to length and attaching the brackets under the edge of the shelves.

The whole project, from the gathering phase to the finished product, took about an hour. We're both absolutely tickled with the results, and unbelievably enough we did the entire thing without one loss of temper on either side! Now THAT is proof that it was a truly magical project!!

Abracadabra, Presto, KAZAM!!
Utter Clutter, you have been puttered!!!

That Bud Made Me Blossom!

No...not that type of bud. Seriously, people, minds out of the gutter! I meant a tiny, early bud on one of the tomato plants in our little garden. I wasn't feeling the best yesterday. The pollen counts are skyrocketing which makes me feel like I've got the flu. I ache in every joint, my facial skeleton feels like it's being pulled apart from the inside out, my head throbs, and I'm in the negative on energy. Needless to say, those things tend to have the same soul-sucking technique as Dementors.

I hadn't been able to water the garden for a couple of days. A cold front had gone through and, had I watered the plants, they would have frozen. Yesterday the front broke. It was warm and there was a little sun, though storms were moving in. I looked out the patio door and the sight of my beautiful plants almost broke my heart. They just looked to droopy and sad! Jenn to the rescue!! I quickly armed myself with a watering can and large bucket of water, and out the door I went.

A return trip for another bucket of water later found my plants reaching for the heavens once again. While I'd been out watering our Boxer, Lucy, and her next-door pal (also a Boxer), Rose, had been running around me playing.  Dashing in and out of the house, yipping; basically, doing anything possible to entertain me during what they deemed a very boring job. It was far from boring. I absolutely love the feel of working with the earth. To grow and sustain life, then use it to feed my family. It's beauty in its truest form. At that moment I felt like nothing could make me any more peaceful, serene and relaxed than I was. Then? I noticed it. At the top of the largest tomato plant we had purchased, a Mr. Stripey Heirloom that the hubster fell in love with. A bud! Just over a week after placing the plant!!

That, gentle readers, is what life is all about. The explanation of the answer "42", for those of you bibliophile sci-fi geeks like me. To me, that is what we are all meant to do! Plant seeds, whatever type you like. If you want to write? Plant a writing seed. Dance? Plant a dancing seed! Tend to it. Weed out anything that threatens to steal its nutrients. Water it. Cultivate it to make sure that its roots are getting what they need. It won't take long and you'll have a tiny bud. A little while after that the bud will turn to a blossom. Keep at it and (yep...you guessed it!) that blossom will turn into the sweetest, most succulent fruit you could ever imagine.

The Writing Experiment

Late Night Jammy Knitting

I've read over the years that journaling is a good way to beat stress in one's life. We could all use a little stress relief, right? So I figure what the hee-haw, I'll give it a go!  I shall dub thee, "The Writing Experiment"...

I have a 15 minute window every morning where the kiddo has gotten on the school bus, the hubster is on his way to work and not in cell phone range to call me, and I am quiet and alone. It's my coffee time. My time to think about what I need to accomplish for the day versus what I want to accomplish for the day. Why not take that time, instead, to write about something positive? To give myself a little gift of a happy thought before I tackle dirty dishes, messes left for me to discover, and the age-old question of what the heck to wear!

Last night I stayed up when everyone else went to bed. I felt like I needed to get a certain portion of a pattern repeat done on one of my current commissions, just so I could feel on top of it. About 11:30 found me curled up in my spot on the sofa, comfy jammies on, television off (for once!), with my knitting in hand. A little Van Morrison on Ye Olde iPhone and I was set!

It was only an hour. A tiny speck of time in my day. Yet about halfway through the time I realized just how wonderful it was. No one needing me for anything. I could work at my pace without having to stop, get up, and take care of someone else's needs or wants. It was quiet. No television blaring, drowning out my thoughts and reflections (have I mentioned that, outside of my handful of shows, I'm really not a TV person?). It was peaceful. No conversations to keep up with. For that stretch of time I was completely and totally MYSELF. It's amazing how little you get to do that as a wife and mother. Just give yourself over to yourself, focus solely on what you want to do.

I didn't get much accomplished in my hour. I met my goal - a quarter of a pattern repeat. I thought, at first, of shooting for half of a pattern repeat. Then a mis-stitch in the first row resulted in my having to frog and rework said row. After fixing that I realized that knitting wasn't my main goal in deciding to stay up and knit. Having some quiet to unwind and not worry about anything was. So I stuck with the original idea of a quarter of a repeat, finished it up, and went to bed.

I went to sleep much easier than normal. The ever-present tension in my neck and shoulders was on a much lower scale. My over-stressed brain wasn't making lists of what needed to be done today. I may not have gotten enough sleep (5 hours isn't enough, let's face it!). I may have started my day off as chock full of stress as usual (The hubster hitting his snooze for an hour, the kiddo being unable to use any motor skills other than that of rapid-fire speech, the dog whining to go out, etc.). But it was still different. I was looking forward to my 15 minute window for writing. All so I could share my hour of blissful, peaceful solitude.

Introducing...

Lucy Lou Bragg. She was born on February 12, 2009, and adopted us as her own this morning. After we got her and were headed home we had a quick look over of her registration papers. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that her mother's name was Lady. Divine intervention, anyone?


x-posted to Pet Portrait Wednesday & my LiveJournal.

SQUEE!

You all know by now that I get up and do the Wii Fit every morning. Well, this morning when I hopped on - man, I HATE the way that thing says, "OH!" when you step on it! - I was in for quite a happy surprise...

I have now lost 20 pounds!!!!!!!!!!

ZOMG! From 2/16/2009 to 4/15/2009 I dropped t-w-e-n-t-y pounds. Whoah. I feel like I could conquer the world right now.

Week 7 Weigh-In

I knew when I started this journey that I would have to set-up little successes along the way to celebrate- to keep me from getting bored and/or distracted. For my first mini-goal I really wanted to get below 200 pounds. That always felt like the point of doom for me - even when I was initially putting on the weight. I remember thinking "I'm okay, I'm still under 200." Then, when I crept past 200, I felt like all hope was lost. It just stood to reason that getting back below that mark would be my first goal.

I'm very ecstatic, today, to report that I finally reached my first mini-goal! I weighed in with a 3.3 pound loss, bringing my current weight to 199.1 pounds. If you could see me right now, you'd see the biggest smile - albeit a watery one because I feel like crying a bit, too. I just feel so relieved! Alright, moving right along to goals for this week.

Number one will be getting used to a new daily points value. Getting below 200 means that I have to drop 2 points from my daily total - down to 24 from 26. This shouldn't be too hard, as I usually find myself having to force something else in in the evening just to meet my points.

Number two will be to try, yet again, to ween myself off of my evening coffee. I'm really having a problem with this, as I love my after dinner coffee immensely. Any pointers or tips in this area will be greatly appreciated.

Number three will simply be to keep myself healthy! Spring allergies are displaying themselves in all of their wicked glory. Add to that the fact that my hubby is on vacation this week and we're doing a lot of hard, physical, outside work and I'm already feeling drained. Not good, as he still has another week before he has to report back to work. I'm just going to have to listen to my body and quit when I need to. I'm making sure to stay hydrated, and to take my vitamins daily - I just hope that's enough to keep me from getting too rundown!

Well, I think that is more than enough to get on with for this week. Anymore than that, with everything I've already got on my plate, and I'll fail on some of them and beat myself up.

Wish me luck!

Food Journal (3/18/2009)

Another SQUEEful! moment from yesterday: I was getting ready to go out and be an awesome wife (I took the hubby out and let him buy new rims for his SUV) and grabbed my old, comfortable jeans to throw on. I had just done laundry, so they were fresh out of the dryer. Yeah, you know the routine, they're always just a little snug - not tight - but just snug enough that they stretch to perfect by the time you run out the door, right? WRONG! These puppies were saggy and baggy!! I started turning from side to side in the mirror looking, and then decided to experiment to see just how baggy they were. After pulling and tugging various parts of the jeans, I discovered that I could take them off easily while they were still buttoned and zipped!!!

This is the 5th week of my new healthy lifestyle, folks - that's right, I only started this on February 16th. It's been slow going, a little here and a little there, but it's working! Because of that I offer this suggestion - celebrate the little victories. Take pride in the way you feel. Even losing 1/2 a pound can result in holding your head higher, standing taller. It's so easy to lose focus on the positive, to become fixated on the fact that you're "dieting", on focusing on what you're missing - as opposed to what you're gaining. Fight it, people! Take pleasure in feeling your hip bones when you lay down at night. Enjoy the fact that your jeans don't leave ugly red marks on your stomach any longer. Notice that your knees and back aren't quite as stiff when you're up and about. That's what it's about and, after all, the little things will eventually all add up to something big!

Okay, enough of the PSA (lol), time for the food journal:

Breakfast (6)
1 slice whole wheat toast
1 Tbsp. peanut butter
1 Weight Watcher's yogurt
8 oz. coffee
2 Tbsp. non-dairy creamer
2 tsp. sugar

Lunch (7)
Chicken breast
1 cup broccoli
1/2 cup pork'n beans

Dinner (11 points)
1 cup whole wheat spaghetti
3/4 cup meat sauce (made with turkey)
1 1/2 cups salad
2 Tbsp. light ranch dressing

Evening Snack (2)
8 oz. coffee
2 Tbsp. non-dairy creamer
2 tsp. sugar

Food Journal (3/17/2009)

I just started my day by having to call and exchange my Old Navy order for a smaller size. *beams* It has made me so ridiculously proud of myself and what I'm doing that I'm almost in tears!

The best part? One more size to go down and I'll be out of plus size in bottoms!! I sure hope this great feeling lasts throughout the day!!

Breakfast (7)
Maple & Brown Sugar Cream of Wheat
3 egg whites
1 banana
8 oz. coffee
2 Tbsp. non-dairy creamer
2 tsp. sugar

Lunch (8)
Weight Watcher's Smart Ones Pepperoni Smartwich
1 1/2 cups salad
2 Tbsp. light ranch dressing

Dinner (9)
Made a run for the border :P
2 Fresco Ranchero Chicken Soft tacos
1 Pintos 'n Cheese

Evening Snack (2)
8 oz. coffee
2 Tbsp. non-dairy creamer
2 tsp. sugar

F-list <3!

I mentioned in this post about a week ago that I was making some stuff for an f-list giveaway on my LiveJournal account. Today is the day that I posted the giveaway, and that post is f-locked, but I thought I'd post here and show-off, er, I mean share what I made for them!

The core group of my f-list, including myself, are Twilight fans. It went without saying that the giveaway would be Twilight related this time around, what with the DVD coming out on March 21st. So I made a set of Twilight themed dishcloths, and threw in a Jasper bookmark and a little Tribble that I knit out of scrap yarn. There is a red apple, or forbidden fruit, that is the mark of the series as a whole. A white "Two Hearts as One", to symbolize Edward and the heart that he gave her. A turquoise swan for Bella, which is pretty self-explanatory as that is her last name. Lastly, I made a tan "Get A Clue" to represent Jacob, or at least his more beastly side. It wouldn't be a Twilight giveaway without touching on that infamous love triangle!

Well, that pretty much sums up my week in crafting. I'm torn between what to start next, a pair of socks, a hat, or some armwarmers. I'm debating right now, as all will come in handy soon when baseball practice starts for my 9-yo. Our oldest is taking a break from baseball this year, as he has just started his first job, so my time on the field will be cut a bit, but I'll still need some warm woolies until Spring finds its groove!

Week 3 Weigh-In

Drumroll, please . . .

Last week I lost 1.6 pounds! A little ways off from the 2 pound loss that I was aiming for, but the numbers speak for themselves and a 9.3 pound loss in 3 weeks is nothing to sneeze at.

The best part about this loss is not even feeling my clothing get gradually looser on my body, it's the way I'm starting to feel. I'm not tiring out as quickly now. I still need to rest the day after running around doing grocery shopping and domestic Goddess duties, but the sick-achy-drained feeling that normally plagued those days after is gone. I'm finding myself wanting to be active - Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party 2 has fast become something of an addiction for me - and I've even been out playing with Bradley!

One thing I've figured out is that setting a 2 pound goal for myself to lose every week is kind of overdoing it. I'm looking to lost weight and lose it for good, not go for another yo-yo type of loss. That being said I'm going to lower my goal for week 4. So, hmmm, goals. I guess I need some . . .

1. I want to lose at least a pound.

2. Add in a bit more exercise time. Maybe shoot for 40 minutes a day, not counting Mondays or Tuesdays. Those are the days that I clean all day and count that as my activity.

That should do it! Nice, attainable, productive goals that it is possible to meet and help boost me along. 'Til next time!

Week 2 Weigh-In (& a food journal recap)

Wow. This past week was just . . . wow. I totally failed at posting my food journal, as well as not getting in my recommended amount of points 2 of the days. My baby's 9th birthday was Friday, so the whole of that day was spent icing cupcakes with *hangs head in shame* quite a bit of finger licking. I did manage to refrain from eating anything taboo at the party, but running through the Taco Bell drive-thru at 9PM for dinner - even if it was a Fresco style chicken soft taco and a pintos 'n' cheese - just isn't good diet fodder.

All that aside, imagine my surprise when I discovered that I still lost 1.7 pounds this week! I'm kind of glad that I struggled this week, because now I know that even when life gets crazy I can still keep this thing going.

This week's goals are to:

1. Update my food journal online daily.
2. Lose 2 pounds.
3. Exercise at least 30 minutes a day.

Wish me luck!

Week 1 Weigh-In

I bounced out of bed this morning, jumped on the scale, and then freaked out a bit. After a second I took a deep breath, let it out, and looked down . . .

and found that I'd lost 6 pounds!!

I know that most of it was more than likely water weight, but I still feel proud, happy, and motivated. Let's get on with week 2 and see if I can keep it up!

Food Journal - Day 5

Breakfast (3)
8 oz. coffee with cream & sugar
1 banana

Lunch (16)
Penn Station Artichoke Sub
Small Fries

Dinner (4)
Weight Watcher's Smart Ones Shrimp Marinara
1 cup cantaloupe

Evening Snack (2)
8 oz. coffee with cream & sugar

I was actually giving myself a "splurge" day today. You know, a day to eat out with the hubby and not worry about going a little over on points. Once I got home and saw that I could stay on track with what I had eaten, however, I changed my mind; so, in the end, I ended up meeting my points, drinking my required amount of water, and getting to treat myself. How's that for a winning situation?

A fresh start...

It's been a really long time since I posted here. That's horrible of me, but it also means that I finally found some balance in my life and have been busy utilizing my new-found gift.

I've been very productive on the craft front. I've already got several completed projects under my belt for the year, as well as several in progress. This is great, as usually by this time I find myself struggling to finish just one.

I've been reading a lot, too. I love that I've found time to do this again, as I truly love getting lost in a good story. One slight issue with this; however, all of the books I've read lately are part of a series - so I suddenly find myself wrapped up in 5 different series and waiting on books on all but 2 of them. Oh, well, more to read, right?

Work for Leaky is going well. Somehow I'm managing to stay on top of things. *fingers crossed*

Home life is as good as it can be with a 17-YO in the house. The know-it-all tendency is a little frustrating, but I can rest assured in the knowledge that I've done the best as I can as a parent and that some of it stuck. It had to, didn't it?

Anyways, I'm going to start tracking my health here. Daily food logs, activity journal...that kind of thing. I'll also start keeping it updated with my crafts and reading. In short, it's going to turn into a real by God blog instead of a whinging tablet! LOL

Hugs & Chocolte!