...as I walked into the travel plaza and was simultaneously struck by the smell of fresh baked bread from the Subway and the salty crispy fry scent at McDonalds was either a Meatball Sub (480 calories, 18 grams of fat) or a McRib (500 calories, 26 grams of fat)
What I actually ate...whole wheat BLT wrap, no mayo (320 calories, 7 grams of fat).
Sometimes making good choices REALLY sucks.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Monday, January 7, 2013
Been getting scrappy again
It's been awhile since I've gotten to spend some time on my scrapbook table but since the first of the year I have been going through older photos and kits and getting some stuff DONE towards my goal of 100 layouts this year and using up some kits. Observe. (I swear that everything is very straight in real life - sometimes taking pictures of layouts is not the easiest) All of these were using up kits from www.scrap-room.com and were based on pagemaps sketches. www.pagemaps.com
#1 - Reunion
My girlfriends from high school came over to my house right after I moved in. I'm so glad to have this photo!
#2 - Ring Bearers. My little Jackson from back in 2009 when he was a ring bearer in my brother's wedding
#4 - Our Family: A group photo from Easter 2012. Love this one!
#6 - Proud of You: Jackson with mom and dad, nana and papa at his Kindergarten graduation
#7 - anytime anywhere: random shots of Joey falling asleep at random times and places
Seven down! only 93 to go!
#1 - Reunion
My girlfriends from high school came over to my house right after I moved in. I'm so glad to have this photo!
#2 - Ring Bearers. My little Jackson from back in 2009 when he was a ring bearer in my brother's wedding
#3 - Your Heart will Lead you Home - Jackson and his "fiancee" Alivia - he is walking her home so cute!
#5 - 'tween: My Joshua gets way too big everytime he comes to visit. Now he is a true 'tween.
#7 - anytime anywhere: random shots of Joey falling asleep at random times and places
Seven down! only 93 to go!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year 2013
What a year 2012 turned out to be - I mean seriously, could we have possibly jam packed anything more into this 12 month section of our lives.
Let's see shall we -
The moving to Newton thing
We started off looking at houses, finding the perfect one, getting financed and moving in. As time marched forward our window to do things like remove wallpaper and paint and take up carpet got smaller and smaller but somehow we made it work. Since then, almost every wall in the house has gotten a coat of paint, the basement has been completely torn apart and is about 1/2 way put back together again and we are finally "settling in"
The Graduation Thing
It was no small miracle that James made the decision to come and live with us for his Senior Year but it all paid off to watch him get that high school diploma, be diligent about submitting applications for scholarships and achieving a FULL RIDE to Iowa State. Also his mom brought him a new car for graduation when she drove up here for the ceremony - yup - ex wife - in the house - out to dinner with the family - the whole everything - and it wasn't awful.
The Business Thing
What an up and down that was. Banks, financing, back and forth, lawyers, accountants, offers, counters, evaluators and, of course, that is all in the middle of one of the worst year's that the company has ever experienced. We made it through it all though and next year's marketing plan is strong and the changes we are making are good. Whew
The New Nephew Thing
My brother is a father! So weird but so awesome. I couldn't love my nephew more if he had come out of me!
So 2013 is here and (although I know everyone feels its cliche to make a "resolution") I feel like the start of a New Year is an excellent benchmark point to look at and say - yeah - last year at this time I was **fill in the blank**
All of my goals this year center on STRENGTH.
1. This is the year that we are poised to be in a place of strength financially - paying off credit cards and cars, etc and putting money in savings for our future. And staying on BUDGET THIS YEAR!
2. I am going to run a half marathon in April with CJ and Heather. As crazy as that sounds its true. Money has been paid, registration packets have been ordered and I'm going to have to train like a mad woman to be ready in time.
3. I want to build strong habits with my family as well. We just purged out all of the crappy food that was weighing us down (literally as well as metaphorically) and we are committed to eating out less and not bringing the junk food into the house. On top of that we want to do less TV time and more free reading and play time and teach respect for their things and the items of others.
4. I want to read or listen to 100 books this year
5. I also want to scrap 100 layouts
Sounds good right? Here's to a strong and healthy 2013!!!
Let's see shall we -
The moving to Newton thing
We started off looking at houses, finding the perfect one, getting financed and moving in. As time marched forward our window to do things like remove wallpaper and paint and take up carpet got smaller and smaller but somehow we made it work. Since then, almost every wall in the house has gotten a coat of paint, the basement has been completely torn apart and is about 1/2 way put back together again and we are finally "settling in"
The Graduation Thing
It was no small miracle that James made the decision to come and live with us for his Senior Year but it all paid off to watch him get that high school diploma, be diligent about submitting applications for scholarships and achieving a FULL RIDE to Iowa State. Also his mom brought him a new car for graduation when she drove up here for the ceremony - yup - ex wife - in the house - out to dinner with the family - the whole everything - and it wasn't awful.
The Business Thing
What an up and down that was. Banks, financing, back and forth, lawyers, accountants, offers, counters, evaluators and, of course, that is all in the middle of one of the worst year's that the company has ever experienced. We made it through it all though and next year's marketing plan is strong and the changes we are making are good. Whew
The New Nephew Thing
My brother is a father! So weird but so awesome. I couldn't love my nephew more if he had come out of me!
So 2013 is here and (although I know everyone feels its cliche to make a "resolution") I feel like the start of a New Year is an excellent benchmark point to look at and say - yeah - last year at this time I was **fill in the blank**
All of my goals this year center on STRENGTH.
1. This is the year that we are poised to be in a place of strength financially - paying off credit cards and cars, etc and putting money in savings for our future. And staying on BUDGET THIS YEAR!
2. I am going to run a half marathon in April with CJ and Heather. As crazy as that sounds its true. Money has been paid, registration packets have been ordered and I'm going to have to train like a mad woman to be ready in time.
3. I want to build strong habits with my family as well. We just purged out all of the crappy food that was weighing us down (literally as well as metaphorically) and we are committed to eating out less and not bringing the junk food into the house. On top of that we want to do less TV time and more free reading and play time and teach respect for their things and the items of others.
4. I want to read or listen to 100 books this year
5. I also want to scrap 100 layouts
Sounds good right? Here's to a strong and healthy 2013!!!
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Bathroom Reboot
It's taken me awhile to get back into the swing of the remodeling projects that I had going in the basement but I got back on it this weekend and have more results. As long as you don't peek behind the curtain at the unfinished shower project, my downstairs bathroom is looking pretty awesome!
Here are the before pictures. Note the blue smear paint on the walls, the yellowed vanity top and - well the blue...There used to be a flat huge mirror on the wall just to the right of this picture.
And now a coat of paint covers the blue, I refinished the vanity top and got some new bathmats/shower curtains. TA DA!
New mirror on the wall, and refinished vanity top.
Yay for having a nice bathroom!
Here are the before pictures. Note the blue smear paint on the walls, the yellowed vanity top and - well the blue...There used to be a flat huge mirror on the wall just to the right of this picture.
And now a coat of paint covers the blue, I refinished the vanity top and got some new bathmats/shower curtains. TA DA!
New mirror on the wall, and refinished vanity top.
Yay for having a nice bathroom!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tons of work - totally worth it!
Remember the basement? Yeah we had pretty much forgotten about it too...since Josh left for San Antonio and James started school at Iowa State we were rarely even down there. So it seemed odd that Chad and I decided to take on the basement project this fall of course I jumped in with both feet.
The first two rooms that we started working on were literally blocked off last summer. When we took up the disgusting carpet there was even more disgusting tile stuck down with thick black tarry adhesive. The walls were crumbling and well - everything was smurf blue...
So...a ton of drywall, two gallons of paint (Valspar St Francis Hotel), hundreds of square feet of carpet tiles, a lot of elbow grease (including Jackson and Joey who helped me hammer out tiles) and we now have two functional bedrooms in our basement!!
**nevermind the mess
Last but not least the dining room area. The first picture was taken during our second tour of the house before we put in our offer. The ceiling tiles were yellowed from cigarette smoke, the carpet was stained and gross. The second photo shows what we found under that carpeting...not much better (you can kind of see the gross tiles in the front bedroom back there too.
So I did some more drywall repair, a nice coat of the same paint I used in the bedrooms put down more carpet tile and polished the woodwork. Right now its a cozy sitting room because its convenient storage for the furniture while I tackle the other side of the basement and bathroom but eventually we will have a pub table and chairs in that area.
The next chapter is to come. My bathroom is pulled apart down there at the moment its mostly painted but the shower surround fell apart when I was cleaning the grout so there are some major issues down there. Just wait there is more to come!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)