Fabulous

If you have to be on crutches, you might as well make them fabulous.

Work

Sometimes my job is fun. Like building this gem on a sunday morning.

Video

This is my birthday gift from my amazing husband. He had the idea to combine a lot of my favorite things. Coloring. Chuck Taylors. And he had some of my favorite people get involved in it!

Domesticity

Adventures in Domesticity!

I saw an idea for a sunflower peep cake. And I decided that I needed to do it.
Now, this is my first time making a layer cake and first time decorating/frosting a cake.

Here it is in pictures.

So far so good. Two well baked moist 8 in round cakes.

I use a knife and level off the tops and frost in the middle. Yup, still going well. Or so I thought. Can you figure out my fatal error?

Two layers completely frosted. I start to add the peeps.
Then I realize I need to move it to the cake tray.

Apparently you cannot move a multilayer cake once you have layered and frosted it already.
Insert some foot stomping and some screaming.
This lovely concoction ended up in a rather large garbage bags. I was disgusted.

I made this bad boy at church the next day while setting up for the Children's Good Friday Service. Note it's presence on the cake tray already as opposed to the cooling rack.

Not too awful bad for a first shot (well, um second)

Happy Easter Y'all!
Eat a peep or two!

Excited!

Today was a big day in the diet. It's the last day of drops in this set, I broke the 25 lbs lost mark, and broke a mini 10 lb weight loss goal. All in one day! I'm super excited about that. My goal is to try to continue to lose weight, more slowly of course, during the 6 weeks off, so I could actually reach my goal in one more set of the diet. Happy Day!

Update

Well, the diet is going well. I am down 16.7 lbs as of this morning. So that's great. We are over half way there and I discovered one major thing I was neglecting to do. I need, absolutely need, to be drinking no less than 4 bottles of water every day.
And for those who are wondering, We have it narrowed down to a 3 day cycle of vegetables, totaling 6 total vegetables that are acceptable on this diet, that I can handle. (The obvious choices like green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli, etc are not allowed on this diet.) So for lunch we are cycling through celery, lettuce, and cucumber and for dinner we are cycling through sauteed onion, (grilled for Chris) raw tomato, and grilled zucchini.

I am eating chicken for lunch and steak for dinner with an occasional crab legs or shrimp for dinner. Chris goes back and forth between tilapia and chicken for lunch and the same dinner as me.
Chris's mom got us a New Wave Oven. Check it out. It's amazing. I use it literally every day. I cook that night's dinner and tomorrow's lunch at the same time using the two different levels of grilling surfaces that it features. 9 Minutes on one side, flip and add veggies, 9 minutes on the other side. And I pack our lunches for the next day while it's cooking.
Another wonderful surprise as warmer weather approaches, I found some decent looking strawberries at Costco and bought a couple of pounds of them. Oh my, are they ever delicious. We are using Stevia (an all natural sweetener, 0 calories) and we dip the strawberries in it, slight after taste, but still delicious. And a nice break from the apple and oranges every day.
I also started making a warm apple desert to break up the monotony. I found the recipe that was approved by the diet. I grill thin apple slices on the New Wave for 5 minutes. Then dump them into a bowl add a teaspoon of lemon per apple and coat with cinnamon and Stevia. Oh my, is that ever a delicious treat now that we can't seem to get our heater to work the way its supposed to. Warms you up inside and out.
I have also rediscovered a slight love affair with tea. I think our counter now has about 10 different hot tea flavors (for me) and 2 boxes of cold brew ice tea (for Chris). We sweeten that with Stevia as well, and it tastes just like the sweet tea I discovered at McDonalds or that Chris grew up with.
Now, all that aside, we eat well, but the lack of variety is getting to us a little, I have been obsessing over healthy food blogs lately and am salivating at the idea of the many many many recipes that I have found and Chris has been becoming a theoretical master of all things Sushi with books and Internet videos. We are both anxious for the diet to be over. So much so, that for the last 3 nights I have dreamed of baking and making other delicious food. Last nights dream, was a low carb, high fiber pasta, in a wonderfully acceptable portion with a vegetable side. I could almost taste it.
Our diet ends technically on April 13th. Then we will resume eating normal healthy foods. Chris will likely be done with his weight loss by that point in time, but I will still have a significant portion to go, so after 3 weeks of eating normally, I will begin again on May 4th. Just after our 1st year anniversary. I'll be ready for a delicious meal on that day. I will be finishing on July 3rd, while we are in California visiting Chris's family. Hopefully by that point in time, I will be at my goal weight and will not have to begin another round.
It's definitely been an adventure and will be even more of one once Chris is eating normally and I am dieting on my own, but the results are totally worth it. He promised me some custom ballroom dresses, when I reach the weight I want to be, so that is a fun motivation when I start to get down.
Well, I'm off to guzzle down another water before I'll allow myself to have some tea. And get back to writing the sermon for the Children's Sabbath.

Winner

(Not our dinner, just an example, our portions are much smaller)

So, I was extremely stressed about this diet. I was dreading eating, because of all the veggies. However, we finally found a winner. Steak with sauteed onion! Yum! I actually enjoyed eating dinner tonight. Which is a big step towards the direction of sticking out the diet. Tomorrow is celery with chicken for lunch. Then steak and grilled tomato for dinner. Slowly but surely, we'll keep experimenting until we find some good mixes. But I am definitely relieved after dinner tonight. Yum.

Vegetables

So, if you know me at all, you know I have been battling vegetables all my life. I am officially at the make it or break it point. I have to eat 8 oz of veggies twice a day. Which may not seem like a whole lot, but when the most you have ever eaten in a day is 6 green beans and that was about 16 years ago, that is kinda of a staggering amount.

So last night, as Chris and I were weighing out 3.5 oz portions of steak, chicken, and fish. (Our freezer at this point, only has these portions of meat and vegetables and is completely full.) I was also blanching and freezing asparagus and zucchini in 8 oz portions. And steaming some asparagus for lunch today. So, in just a few hours the first battle begins. I have a little flexibility in the veggies I can eat, so there will be lots of experimentation.

But, I have 40 days of 8 oz twice a day, so I will either learn to like them of simply have to grin and bear it.

Here's to finally growing up and becoming a big girl!

Update: Lunch - Seriously, a lot of asparagus for one meal. And I tried, I really did. I gagged like a six year old, but I couldn't get it all down. But I did eat 14 pieces. Which still makes me pretty proud. Tonight is a salad, so I'm off the hook for today. After the diet, we might eat asparagus more often, but in MUCH smaller quantities.

Sunkist

I went to get an airbrush tan today as a trial before the ballroom dance competition in two weeks.

My oh my, I wish I had never faked baked before.

It so much more even then I ever attained in a tanning bed. It looks incredibly natural. And then there's that whole instant gratification thing. I got a very lightest tan color and it looks like I have spent days laying out in the sun. And you know that whole no cancer bit.

The tanning girl even sculpted my non-existent abs. I laughed as she did it and told her that there was no need. I wouldn't be showing my stomach off to anyone but my hubby.
But it does makes it a lot easier to put on a dress that is far less than my normal coverage, when things are tan looking.

If you ever have need of a tan, I recommend the airbrush tan. Not the mystic tan or the other automated spray tans.

Beautiful

There is nothing I struggle with more than my self-image. I don't feel beautiful. But, there are lots of great songs from other people who understand the struggle and I cling to those songs. This is the most recent one I have heard. Actually on a veggie tales movie about self-image. Yeah, it gets that bad.

Beautiful For Me



Then there are some old favorites.

More Beautiful You



Beautiful



Mirror

Bakin

I was proud, so look at what I've made.

Oy

I started back up on working out after the concussion this week. Didn't really do a slow progression. It's not really my thing. I did 5 miles on day one. 15 miles on day two. And 21 miles today. All of this on the bike. I must say, however, my bony behind does not take kindly to a bicycle seat for over an hour. I had a difficult time getting off when I had finished. Yikes. I hope to set back up the tredmill this weekend. We took it apart and moved the heavy part downstairs, so now I have to put it back together. Then I'll start running again.

We had Ray in town last night. It was the first time in over a year that something wasn't wrong with me while we had our coaching. Usually something is really hurting or I have a concussion or I haven't slept. So I was more than overjoyed that everything was good yesterday. We had a good lesson. We are prepping to compete in January in two styles, not the four we were originally planning on, because Ray has decided to change all of our Standard routines. So we have had to start back at square one on all of our Standard. We haven't even touched Latin yet, so we will see how that goes.

Chris and I have joined a small group through our church as well. It meets on Monday nights. I have really enjoyed the fellowship and challenge of this group. I find that I am still missing the amazing bond I had with my Nav study. I am so grateful for that group of women who helped me grow so much and likely nothing will ever compare to that group, but I am grateful for a group of women to talk to and who hold me accountable again.

We are heading for Disney World for our honeymoon in the not too distant future. I am very much looking forward to it. It will be great to go on a real vacation with just the two of us. It is enough time away that I think we will really be able to truly relax and let go of pressure and stress.

We are still working on the house and the kitchen is getting closer to being done. I will post some pictures when it gets all the way there. It is a very good change so far.

Calli is doing much better, she has come to work with me every day this week. Everyone comments on how well behaved she is getting and how much more social. I think the key is to just keep exposing her. The trainer is fantastic and I am looking forward to getting back to that after 3 weeks away due to busy schedules.

I took a little breather after biking and sat in a more cushion-y chair, but I'm ready to get up now. Happy Day to you all.

Goal

As of today...





I have lost 6.7 pounds since August 7th.
12.9% of my goal is complete.
I am measuring various aspects of my body as well, but have not had enough time go by yet to check for a difference.
I biked 10 miles and ran 2 miles today.
Which puts me a 60 miles when combined with last week.
I feel better and stronger and have much more energy.
I have an extremely hard time going to sleep at night (my body just won't shut down). My poor husband is tired of this problem, as I hate to be awake alone.
I will probably start setting an earlier alarm to see if that will make me sleep at night.
My back is stable. It was in bad shape before I started and maybe is a little bit better, but that depends on the time of day.
I am trying to eat approximately 1200 calories a day. Some days more, some days less. It creates incentive for me to cook at home because it is much easier to control my calories at home.
I have rediscovered hunger. I haven't really been hungry in years. I ate whenever it was suggested or a normal meal time arrived never really given time for hunger to develop.
I eat a great deal of protein now because it helps hold back the hunger.
I have heard many times, "Eat to live, don't live to eat." I am now understanding what that means. It really amazes me how little I need to eat in a day (comparatively) to get by and keep up with my increasing workouts. And, I have begun to really feel the "eat to live aspect" about an hour before meal time on lower calorie days, I can feel my mind and body start to get sluggish. Then it's meal time and everything picks back up.
All in all truly understanding the idea of portion control and making my body perform as my mind wills it.

Abnorm

Not my normal post to post about politics, or even to read much about politics, but the pastor of my church was asked to write about his thoughts on prop 8. Here's what he said. Let me know what you think.

I will say Chris and I had a moment of pause after our wedding, realizing that we were married in the eyes of God, but not yet in the eyes of the government, because we did not even sign until we had returned from Michigan. That part of his answer made a very clear distinction in my mind, which made for a clear distinction in the reversal.

FYI: I biked 8.5 miles today at 17 miles per hour and am headed home to run 1.5 miles at 6 miles per hour.

Scale

The scale and I have not been on friendly terms lately. So, I am working hard to become at least acquaintances by Kevin and Annie's Wedding. After all, who wants to be on a beach in a swimsuit when they feel more like a beached whale than a woman. I am started working out again this week and really being careful with what I eat. The eating is far more difficult for me. I eat when I am bored and I eat when I am upset. I have a far larger stomach capacity then most people I know. I could eat and eat and eat and never get full. Bad combination. So I have been trying to be very careful. Much smaller portions of the dinners I make for Chris and very very very small meals during the rest of the day. Yogurt and Nature Valley Bar have been my friends the last few days.

The working out is much easier. Takes only a limited amount of motivation. I have to get myself psyched to get on the bike or the treadmill, but after that I am done. Don't have to coach myself beyond that like I do every time food rears its ugly head. There is a bike in my office at the church now. I hop on it right before I head home. Today I rode for four miles. I will then drive home and try to ignore the roast in the crock pot and go for a run on the treadmill and likely do at least one mile on there. Then, I can check out of exercise world for the day and read to my husband while he puts up the siding.

Now, the part that is really not fun. I know I have to build some muscle before I lose weight. So as I work out and eat very little, I watch the scale go up little by little and I get super frustrated. I might even like to break it's little glass face. But, I know that it will eventually go down after a while. I just hope the motivation of "getting started" lasts until the motivation of "results" begins. I may post some progress once I begin to see it.

By the way, my poor husband is struggling to figure out the appropriate response. I can see his brain working. If I tell her she doesn't need lose weight then I won't be supporting her and doing what's in her best interest. If I tell her I think it's good she is trying to lose weight then she will wrongly assume I don't find her attractive. Poor guy. And what's worse, I go back and forth on the reaction I want to hear, so I can't even give him a hint of what I need to hear. Oh the plight of being a newly married man. Dear sweet man.

Very soon, there will be a sickeningly sweet post of just how amazing he is and all the wonderful things he does for me. Just thought I would prep you.

Ignorant

I realize we haven't been married very long but in the last few weeks some things have started to click. You see, the first two and a half months of Chris and my marriage was not exactly what I had imagined. We bickered a great deal about almost everything and I found I had a shorter and shorter fuse because this was not the blissful marriage I had imagined. After about a week of silent tension, I would usually explode and tell him all the things that were wrong with our marriage. Now, our dating life was not much different, but there is an extra level of stress and frustration added when the idea in the back of your head is "for the rest of my life." I could only focus on something is not right. This is not how he is supposed to relate to me. We were both frustrated. He was trying to meet the needs I was telling him that I had. He was being more romantic everyday. I saw that, but something else was missing. Neither one of us could figure it out. He was doing everything he knew how and everything I was telling him I needed, and I was doing everything I knew how. I was writing him notes in his lunch, planning special dinners, and getting little surprises for him, etc. I was loving him the only way I knew how.

This is where the problem arose. You see, I had been taught since a very young age how a man was supposed to treat a woman. He is supposed to cherish her, open doors, adore her, buy her flowers, plan surprises, plan dates, etc. But, I had never learned in specific terms how a woman was supposed to treat a man. I don't know why this lesson seems to be overlooked, but it was. I grew up with a sharp tongued family, with the exception of my mother. It was sport in our family to conjure up a hurricane of words and see who was the last one standing. Now, I should say, there was a line that we were all familiar with that was not meant to be crossed. We could all play this game most of the time without feelings getting seriously hurt. It was just in fun. I also have spent a great deal of time with children. Correcting them on their mistakes to try to help them grow to be better adults. And with this well-meaning, but nasty combination I approach my dear husband.

When I was upset, I would tell him exactly what was on my mind and hold very little back. I would basically tell him he was responsible for fixing what was wrong in our relationship. I would belittle him about those pesky man habits (i.e. un-balling his socks, putting dishes in the dishwasher instead of the sink, putting clothes in the hamper). In my mind I was trying to be helpful. I didn't mean to belittle him, I was trying to use some humor to lesson the blow, but it wasn't coming across that way. Without realizing it, I was doing the very thing he told me he feared most about getting into a relationship with me. I was using my tongue to hurt him. Although, it was not in the overt slicing and dicing method that we both feared. It was more subtle and much more damaging because I couldn't see it happening. You see, I knew how to love my husband unconditionally. I did love him with all my heart, but I did not know how to honor or esteem my husband.

Kevin gave Chris and I a book for Christmas called Love and Respect. I was reading a book at the time and put it next on the read list. Well, I got to about a chapter and a half before the wedding and hadn't had time to pick it back up again. But I had been feeling called to read it. So I found it again and put it in my line of sight so that if I ever had extra time I would pick it back up. The concept had been working me for a few days after one of our worst stand offs in which we both just said, "I don't know what to do or how to fix this." And one day after vacation bible school, I climbed into the tub and began reading. I was terribly convicted and saw right away, my wonderful husband had been diligently working on our marriage and I saw it, but my only response was to criticize. I realized that the missing link in our marriage was not the romance factor as I once assumed, it was my attitude and treatment of Chris.

I didn't ever let him know how greatly I appreciated him, how hard he worked to provide for me, how hard he worked on the house, how much effort he put into trying to appease my every criticism, and most of all how he loved me unconditionally despite my negativity towards him. Once I decided that I was going to be his biggest fan and make sure he knew it everyday, then things began to change. Not so much in the way Chris related to me, although it seems as though I am much easier to love when I am not so negative. But, I went from finding almost everything my husband did horribly annoying and frustrating to now having a hard time coming up with anything that frustrates me about him.

I have always been terrified of going into a relationship with rose colored glasses and then finding something scary when they came off. But I did the exact opposite with Chris. I went into the relationship seeing each and every one of his faults and then in the process, I became something scary. So, after almost three months of marriage I have decided to put my rose colored glasses on. I have decided to only focus on the amazing parts of my husband and how wonderful he is. I have decided to encourage, uplift, and strengthen my husband with my words. Now I will say I am only about a week into this process and I'm sure I will struggle with my tongue. It always has been one of my biggest downfalls, but I am blessed to have God intervened so quickly in our marriage so that this cycle would not have continued longer and created bigger walls and resentment. I have never felt more in love with him or more connected to him. He is my superman, my jack-of-all-trades, my knight in shining armor, my price charming, and my everything.

Random

It's been a long time. But, in my defense, its been busy. I am officially married. Yup, that was weird to type. I have been calling Chris my husband to an excess and not using his name, in hopes that it will start to sink in. I have some bits to talk about.

So yesterday at church, I was doing my normal thing and asking the kids what they have been learning about. And, I discovered the amazing difference in the kids. They are learning their facts. They are learning the bible stories, but the exciting part is that they are starting to really understand who God is and what he is like. That to me, makes my work start to feel worthwhile. They are also now encouraging the adults to bring a bible to church. Sound familiar? I now have a ton of kids who bring theirs every Sunday and perhaps the example of the young is starting to reach the older generation. Lifts my spirit some and helps me to see maybe there is a reason why I am at this church.

My dear sweet husband bought me some new cleaning tools. While that doesn't seem like a good thing, I am apparently much more like my mother than I knew. I love an incredibly clean house, but don't have the desire to do it. So, I had been researching these steam cleaners by shark. There is both a mop one and a sort of smaller multi-purpose one. I used them last night to clean out the dog-nastiness in the lower level. They are amazing! I have never been so excited! I was almost giddy. I know this sounds a tad commerical-ish, but it was so easy and quick. I didn't even have to scrub to clean up stuck on stuff.

On my way home, I heard this song. I love it. It struck a chord with me, made me realize what weight is on my husband's shoulders and how desperately he needs me to stand behind him and support him and pray for him.
.
.

Hitched

I'm gettin' hitched! :)

Love

So, I hit my head on Monday. Hard. The hardest I have hit it in years. Really hard. Brought tears to my eyes instead of the normal anger. Mom was with me. Instant headache. Lasted most of the day. Mom and I continued work cleaning out the office. Then was sitting and watching a movie with Chris much later on Monday night. Headache increased. I started feeling migraine symptoms. Issues with light and sound and increasing pressure in my head. I laid down on the couch. Chris asked what I was feeling. I told him headache was getting worse, but would have to wait until tomorrow to decide whether or not it was a concussion. He asked what would happen with that. I explained the normal process and my night procedure about getting up every few hours. He asked why I did that and I explained. He got up to do something and then came back and squatted in front of me. Held my head in his hands and I could feel his face resting on my head. I was just about to ask him if he was okay, when I felt his mouth moving, and realized he was praying over my head. I felt so loved. I had been feeling like an insane burden because of my health. I had been sick for almost a month with some nasty cold infection thing. Then followed by my time of the month with includes massive stomach and back pain. Then this. I felt like a decrepit old woman. I was sure that he must be annoyed with my illnesses by now. I have always believed that my health would be something that would drive whoever away from me. But in an incredibly tender moment, he allayed my fears. He held my head in his hands and petitioned our Savior for help. Showing me love beyond what I could imagine. The next day, my headache lasted right through until about 1 PM with no concussion symptoms and still no symptoms. It was just too important of a story to me not to share.

New Stuff

I don't have much to say, but lots of pictures. Mom got me a new camera for my birthday. A tad early. So here are pictures of new things in my life. Excuse the mess of the house. Multiple projects, training dogs, and I have been sick for the last three weeks. But, I figured most people hadn't seen the new digs or dog.

Foxy - after a long walk and a bath

Calli - same situation post bath and walk

My Baby - With the typical appeasement face. He's so great at playing up to me.

Calli - being a good girl

Foxy - I love the way she cocks her head to look at you. Such a human.

Jerry's Space in the Lower Level

Chris's mom came and went on a shopping spree which included washer, dryer, freezer, lawmower, snowblower, weed-eater, leaf blower, curtains, rugs, Chris's new bed, and stocking us with groceries and half a cow and a pig.

More stock of stuff in the lower level laundry room

New Washer and Dryer

Downstairs Pantry in the Laundry room

Back half of the family room leading out to the second deck.

New curtains in the Family Room

Dining Room table covered with project stuff. Foxy is on a leash near here and likes to tie herself up so the chairs can not be around the table until she is trained enough to be off the leash.

Kitchen

Main deck - You can see water from this deck and the front window. It's a huge deck. Great for grilling and entertaining.

View from the Front room near the window.

Front room - I have tried desperately to keep this area clean. It's one of my favorite parts of the house, but projects continue to overtake the room. It's sort of the library/reading room.

View of the entry way.

Upstairs pantry which was converted from a coat closet.

Bathroom

Hallway leading back to the bedrooms and office

Chris's New Bed

Office - I have been shredding papers like crazy. Only have like 5 more boxes.

My Bed - Had been working in here, so you can barely see the bed.