Home Improvements

I have been inspired lately by Melinda's list of projects and tearing out of the closet. I enjoy reading about her home renovations and although I can't tear out walls and redo the kitchen in my base house, I do have some furniture projects that have been in the works for some time. So yesterday, I turned on the space heater in the garage and went to work. William needed a dresser, and we had one that was in the garage due to Oren peeling off half the paint when it was his. I scrounged around and found a can of light blue paint that was meant for another project (also waiting forever) and decided that it would be perfect for his blue curtained room. I have not hefted my sander for a while, so it felt really good to turn it on and get to work. The drawer pulls were plain white and I wanted them to stand out, so I cut out some denim circles and decoupauged them to the top of the pulls. It turned out so cute that I just had to share it with you guys. Next on my list, turning an old vanity into a TV table, an old piano into wall art, and finishing cutting and staining new drawer fronts for my halfway-done-but- using- anyway dresser. I also have a decorative ladder that needs repainting. I am so excited that I can't wait for the weather to warm up. Thank heavens for space heaters. I will post pictures a little later, I have some trim I want to put around the denim circles to finish the pulls first.

My quiet time...

I always thought I was not much of a morning person. But since Oren was moved into morning kindergarten I have discovered that a part of me actually likes it. I get up about 1/2 hour before I get the kids up. I am able to go potty without William holding onto my legs, he has cold hands a lot and so that's not my favorite thing he does. I can pick clothes that will make me feel good, not throw on anything clean because the baby is screaming to get out of his crib. When I come out of my room, it is quiet. The children are behaving, because they are asleep. There are no suprise messes, the house looks like it did when I went to bed, it is like a fresh clean slate. Oren is a very high maintenance child, and Nathan needs lots of patience with his speech and behavioral issues as well. And William, well, he's just 15 months old and his needs just come with the territory. Although if the crackers are low enough on the pantry shelf, he knows which box they are in and helps himself.... But in the morning, I get to take some time just for me. I get to decide when the craziness starts, and I am in charge. Later my whole day can dissolve into total chaos, and it usually does, but those few minutes in the quiet before the dawn, those are all mine and I love it.

"I love my bunkbed!"

Since we have 3 boys and 2 kids rooms, that means that one child is priviledged enough to enjoy their own space. William received this high honor as a newborn so that my rocking chair could fit by his crib. He enjoyed this semblence of privacy until one day, about 8 months ago, my sister Marie and I moved the rooms around. Oren was to get this priviledge, his right as the oldest child. We moved William in with Nathan and said, what a lucky Oren!

However.........

8 months of 2 messy rooms later, we decided to reunited the brothers. Becuase they are so similar in size, and Nathan can talk, they prefer to play with each other and would usually congregate in Oren's room, where all the cool toys ended up. And my material storage closet that also housed Oren's clothing seemed to provide endless temptation to make tents out of nicely folded material.

Being wise parents, when we graduated Oren to a "big boy bed" we invested in a set of beds that had the option of stacking to make bunkbeds and had an attachable ladder. What a great way to save space, thus providing more room for play and imagination! What ecstatic children we have! How excitable! And so, the social order has turned upside down, as William again has his own room.....

William's new room. He loves the fact that his toys are in one spot. If you say, "where's your toys?" he goes straight to his room.

"We love our bunkbed!" This is probably the best their beds will look for a while. The top bunk is notoriously hard to make up.

So everyone is happy and hopefully the mess will be somewhat contained. (I wish.....)

The Eating Plan...

Okay, due to the many requests for my eating plan (diet is an awful word), here it is. I am doing South Beach by Dr. Agatston. For anyone who hasn't heard about it, he is a cardiologist who got sick of high cholesterol and other assorted problems that come from it. It is great for diabetics and prediabetics, of which I am thanks to 2 bouts of gestational diabetes and being over-weight. it is not like Atkins where you count carbs and are only alloted so many. Dr. Atkins thing isn't very healthy.

The plan is to correct how your metabolism functions. To do that you do have to cut out bread, pasta, starchy veggies, cookies, etc. for 2 weeks. You eat lean meats like chicken breast, fish, lean pork and beef. Although, in the interest of our food budget I do include chicken legs because they are cheap. Lots of veggies. All varieties of lettuce; greens like spinach, mustard greens, collard greens; mushrooms; string beans; zucchini; eggplant; red cabbage, green cabbage, napa cabbage; broccolli and cauliflower; celery; tomatoes... tons of other veggies too. Lots of types of cheese. Eggs and low-fat milk. Olive and Canola oil. Nuts in small amounts. Then after two weeks you slowly start to add whole grains and fruits so you figure out which ones your body tolerates and which ones pack on the pounds.

He has you eat three meals, 2 snacks, and a dessert. You cannot feel hungry. I will look up at the clock and think, "Wow, I haven't eaten in three hours, I should have a cheesestick." I am not constantly shoving food in my face because I am not constantly craving carbs.

His book gives a whole list for each of the phases, there are three, of foods to enjoy and foods to avoid. He also gives 14 days of sample eating plans for the phases, and lots of really yummy recepies as well. The book is easy to read, tells you about the diet and why it works, and then half tells you all the fun ways you can prepare all the foods you can eat. He advocates exercise, tells you the difference between good carbs like whole grains and fiber, and the bad ones that make you fat.

Knowing that heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes all tend to run on the Danes side, this is a winner with me. I don't want to have those problems like so many of our parents and aunts/uncles have. The first couple of days are hard without bread and stuff, but I felt great knowing that I was doing something good. And I have tons more energy which is good with my kids. It would be awesome if we could all cheer each other on. If any one wants me to email the foods list for phase one, post your email or write me, the_willfords@q.com and I will get that to you. Although, the book is great to have for recipes and motivation, it does run around $25.

On a different note, my mom is luckily going to be in Nampa on Tuesday, and has offered to run by the shop and pick up the phone for me. I love my family!

Yay!

Oren got to take the sling off today. Let me tell you, you want to thin your hair out, put a 5 year old in a sling for 4 weeks. What a relief that is over with. Although, by some fluke happening, my cell phone is in Nampa and I am not. It fell out of my purse at the Family Dollar in the parking lot. Not realizing, I went to Oren's appointment, and afterward needed to make a phone call. Panicked, I emptied the purse, diaper bag, stroller, and much of William's side of the van which is where I put my purse usually. Nada.... So I went back to the store and scoured the parking lot, checked at the store, up and down the aisles and the front desk. I concluded rather upsettley that someone had picked it up and kept it. When I got home someone from the TANNING SALON RIGHT NEXT DOOR had called saying someone had turned in the phone and they had it at the store. Problem is, I won't be going back down to Boise until next Wednesday and I won't be able to go down the Nampa that day, it's way out of the way and I will have my friend and her little 4 week old with me. What fun. Just another day in the life of me.

But I don't mean to sound like I am whining. Stuff like this happens a lot with me and I pretty much take it in stride. Please picture me laughing as I am really just telling a funny, ironic, story about the chaos that is my life. And I want another baby..... LOL

Happily, I got on the scale today and discovered............ drumroll please............ I weigh less than 200 for the first time in at least 4 years! I know that is still a really high number, hence the new year's resolution. My eating plan is working. I put on a shirt today that is usually a little snug. Not today, it hung straight down from my chest and did not bump over my stomach! I also went shopping and found that I don't have to buy the expensive bras in 40 B, the cheap ones come in 38 B, which now fits. Sorry, this just feels so good. It's been a long time since I was this happy with myself. I want to love myself as much as Mark loves me. Imperfections and all. But it would be easier if that me was a little smaller. :-)

Whew!

What a week! Mark started us off with a bang, he decided that he felt left out by being the only one who hasn't been sick 30 times since Oren started school. So he up and got strep throat. So silly... Oren decided he wanted to be on antibiotics too, so he got an infection in his thumb from a splinter he didn't tell me about, and let the thumb fester for a while before I noticed the huge yellow pus blister some days later. Oh joy of joys.

On the plus side, I have stuck to my diet for a week and have lost of few of those pesky pounds. I have gone to the gym almost every day for a nice walk on the treadmill. Outside would be funner, but the snow is hampering me a bit.

We got a good 3 - 4 inches at today, and more expected later. They almost shut the base down, which Mark and I find hilarious.

I had a very big test of the strength of my resolutions this week. Cookies..... Chocolate Chip Cookies...

I made these scrumptious snacks for the winter recital my piano students gave this weekend. I had to smell the cookies baking, and handle them to arrange them on the platters. There was chocolate on my fingers. But did I falter? NO! I was strong. I survived and lived to tell the tale. William on the other hand....

He faltered. What a mess...

He loves his chocolate. Yummy!

Resolutions

I admit, I believe very firmly in the power of a new year. The chance to start all over again, to make myself better. And to that end, I have started my resolution list.

1. To finally lose the weight that I have had since high school. I want to be able to wear my wedding ring, I don't want to have a heart attack before I am 50 like my dad, and I want to get my body ready to have more kids. (not an announcement, I just know there are more babies up there for our family.)

2.To go to the gym. Two days in a row, I am awesome. I have discovered I like the feeling when I am working out. I am actually doing something to help myself, and I am moving. Sore muscles aside, I feel great.

3. To keep my house cleaner. Every mom with young children knows the frustrations of cleaning up a mess, just to have the kids come right behind you and destroy it again, or mess with something else. Either way, a new mess is made. I have been loading the dishwasher regularly, and like Rachel, decided to start doing my dishes after meals. Like normal people. I too like waking up to a clean house.

Like every year, I say, this year will be different. This year I will stick with it. I think every Mom at some point makes the decision to do better and then we become that mom we know we should be. Keeping the house and family the way our parents did. It is like a turning point in our lives where we realize we can't be truly young anymore. Someone has to do all that needs done. We grow up. This is my year. I am that adult now.

Nathan took an impromptu nap. It was so cute. Obviously, running around a making huge messes is tiring on a little guy.