Progress/obsession.

Firstly, I haven't lost really anymore weight. I'm down 16 from December, but I've gained a crap ton of muscle. I know because work has the awesome scales that tell me I have 24% body fat, which by the way is fitness level. Me, the person who was underweight my whole life but never in shape, then gained a lot of fat, now has 76% muscle and organs. And is at a fitness level! I've gained 2 more lbs of muscle weight in just 3 weeks! It's amazing. Truly amazing, how just working out about 13 or 15 times burned enough fat to build 2 lbs of muscle. I dare say it's an obsession to work out. I feel awesome afterwards and I hate not going. Maybe not a full fledged obsession, but a strong hobby. Yeah, thats not as obsessive.

Rupert is thrilled at my hard work, too.



Just kidding, I'm sure he could care less as long as he has my love.

But with all this hard work hussy Got me a beautiful new bike with a cute little basket. Something I've always dreamed of owning. And we live just a mile or so from the local grocer. The ever hip coffee shops and adorable older neighborhood that surrounds a very expensive landmark college is just as far down the road. I want to bike everywhere now, and I'm lucky were in an established enough area that theres plenty to go to in close proximity with an abundance of character. Blah blah heres my new baby



Walmart. Yes, I got this at walmart. I don't care if its a copy, knock off, cheap, whatever. It's adorable and a smooth ride. I love it.

Of course, with more working out and all my current weight loss and toning, I've had to buy a whole new wardrobe. Well, some. I'm too cheap and broke to replace all the daggone clothes I just built my wardrobe up with :(



My jeans are falling off, super loose, and not in a flattering way. Its an uncomfortable saggy feeling. I just got all my jeans in December for $10 each. Really good quality, and target hasn't had that sale since then. I'm pissed.

But every new milestone or noticeable change in appearance awards me a cheap thrill. I got this tight new shirt (what up target! I bought stock in it, for real.) to show off my almost flat tummy but my still gigantic chest is a little embarrassing. Oh well. I also bought my fave self tanner from bath and body works. Here's both together... Look ma, I'm not a ghost in a white shirt!



So after all these teasers, I thought I'd close this out with a real picture to show off how much fat I lost in my neck, upper chest and shoulders that I'm so proud of. And a snookie poof. fist pump and gorillas and GTLs and junk ftw.



I'll post a before and after of my progress soon. When I can deal with the embarrassment of only just realizing how much pooch I had. Lame.

Relaxing in chaos.

I'm so glad to have our poang chairs together at last. Cooper is enjoying life next to me while I'm lazy.

Then I upload the picture and realize what a disaster my house appears to be. In reality, we just paired down the litter boxes to smaller ones that look better and take up less room, got a new scratch pad and my favorite purse on earth is ripped and flaking and I can't save it any longer. Since we live in an 864 sf house, the only logical place to put the trash is the one room we go to for peace, quiet and cleanliness.

Well, aside from the poop boxes. I guess the room isn't as sterile as I thought.

The room also doubles as hussy's dressing room since it houses his closet. My closet is in the bedroom, and it was a disaster. So to make up for the trashed office, I paired down and color coordinated my closet to bring more peace to the bedroom.



It was then I realized my wardrobe looks so... Neutral.



I got rid of enough clothes that I can't fit into since I lost so much weight, that I cleared the entire bottom bar! So I decided to hang my boots. Which is awesome because I basically scroll them side to side to see what shirts they go with then put together a new outfit. Why didn't I think of this before boot season is almost over? Ugh.



Now excuse me as I relax some more with my baby. And convince hussy it's time for a dump run asap.

My Nest Dressed Me.

remember that show? The one where Thom takes your favorite outfit and styles an entire room around it? I tried that. It wasn't for me, so I started styling my place with things I loved and thought look nice, and did the same on my body. We never matched, until I put this Lucas pillow from Crate & Barrel on my sofa



And used it as inspiration for this outfit



As much as I put outfits together so well, I would have never come up with the rugged chains and the wrinkley brown boots with the delicate looking purple cardi. Nor would I have paired a blue shirt under the purple. I'm a risk taker when it comes to clothes, but I'm not usually that colorful or eclectic feeling! Now? New fave outfit. There's even a splash of green in the beads on the necklace to pick up the second chartreuse pillow, because, you know, every detail counts. Even if only online universerve knows my inspiration ;)

Changes.

I know I'm a real jerk blogger to always leave everyone hanging for long periods of time, but to blog on my iPad is a real pain, and my piece of junk laptop keeps crashing. However I'm happy to report the time off has been a huge irl journey. I last posted about my new healthier habits, which kicked hiney on my test results. Well I've not only stayed on that road, but I cut out meat. I also realized how controversial it is. I had no idea people would find it so hard to believe its possible to cut out meat. I also didn't realize how much people would encourage me to just try the meat, just have a little, it won't hurt. Really, I never encouraged someone to eat meat when they were against it. Redic.

The good news is, I'm down 16 lbs. The bad news is, people judge that too.I thought I was uncomfortably chubby in areas. now I feel almost perfect, and people are more worried than congratulatory. I guess I shouldn't express my excitement so much when I lose about a lb a week, which was attributed to super hard work and strict dietary plans. Oh well, no more pity party here. It's MY blog and I feel awesome! I'm comfortable working out, wearing clothes, and taking self portraits! I just wish everyone could have this much freedom and energy and happiness.

Which leads me to changes at home too. I've been eyeballing a shelf over my desk and that cute yellow flower target pillow that everyone in blog universe owns. I've wanted to turn the picture over the fireplace vertical. I've wanted to decorate my coffee table with books and flowers and a catch all tray or something. So I did it all. In one night. I also hung my curtain rods wider to let more light in, and brought down a second poang chair from the attic for my fat cat Cooper to sit in one beside me. Those such small changes, mostly cheap or free,made me happier than ever.

Oh and I dyed my hair very blonde. All in all, I'd say on top of the world. :)

Wait loss.

Every year around new years at my gym, which is pretty much only 3 now, i dread the slew of people who flood the machines in hopes of finally losing those stubborn pounds they've had since... Well, last new years. It sounds awful, because it is. I feel bad when people have awesome goals they had the nerve to work towards, then a few weeks later, I never see them again. About a month later the gym is back to empty, and I gladly and sadly have my machines back at my disposal.

Now, let's set the records straight here. I haven't been "skinny" since I was 21. I've been "normal" and "average" but not skinny. It's not that big of a deal to me, because I spent most of my life underweight, getting in trouble at work for not dressing professionally because it was my fault they don't make women's business clothes in something lower than size 0. It was such a frustrating time in my life, and I welcomed the 20 pounds I amassed when I moved into a home with a gentleman who cooked bomb home cooked meals. Who would have thought fast food kept me skinny and home cooked got me fat? Well, whatever the case, I gained weight. 20 lbs sounds like a lot, but I went from 89 to 109. I decided to try to lose some fat and tone down in december of 08.

I kept eating until I was full, drinking soda, and chomping on junk all day long. I worked out, I had definition and strength, but I also had fat on top of it. Here's the kicker: I work at a health lab. I got my results, and they still didn't scare me into changing completely, though it was a start. The kicker was winning that xbox kinect. And seeing my fat rolls on the infrared looking picture dancing/laughing back at me. Really, that's all it took.

I cut out soda, chocolate, bread, most cheese some dairy, and stuck to a strict vegetable, fruit, nut and tuna diet. On the first day I lost 3 pounds. Over the next two weeks, I was down 10. I eventually plateaued, and have held steady since. I know this isn't what I normally post about, but I feel so much healthier now, and I've been more active as a result. Which does pertain to the blog, because thats what i've spent all my time working on! I decided to take a break to meet my goal. Which wasn't an actual pound goal, but a feel better goal.

I don't own scales, so I made a deal with myself that I had to go to the gym in order to weigh myself, and it actually worked! In order to see my progress, I have to go make more. I'm happy to report after all that hard work, I got updated test results. I went from mostly yellows and reds in my cholesterol and particle areas to all green! My doctors and specialists at work were so impressed, which was the cherry on top. Well, mostly. The comments I get from people who noticed how good I look after just a month are the best. I haven't been as perfect sticking to it as I was at the beginning, but it's still steady. Right now I'm actually home sick, which sucks major, but I'm trying to stay good even though all I want is warm comfort food.

Maybe one day I'll get the nerve to post the difference in how I look. The highest I got was 120, which wasn't that bad. But it was still a huge difference from the 110 I am now. But hey, it's Thursday, thriftiness should be ensuing... So guess what? Eating healthier is way cheaper than not! It only costs about $125 a month to eat natural foods! No high fructose corn syrup, only slightly processed, or not at all, healthy goodness. I just wish I could encourage more people to follow suit. I used to think it was deprivation to eat only healthy. Now I know I was depriving myself by not eating healthy. Here is what my lunch looks like now:



It's so simple.



Lettuce, 1 strawberry, mandarin oranges, black olives, fat free raspberry vinaigrette, and a dash of those planters nut-trition things with dried cranberries, walnuts and dark chocolate covered peanuts. It took 5 minutes to prepare, and cost about a buck to make. I just rotate ingredients around in each salad. Sometimes I dump more fruit, sometimes I keep it simple with just oranges and walnuts. Rarely, I keep it all veggies. I'm just a big fruity person.

So i hope you feel encouraged to try a healthier lifestyle. Maybe I'll post more about it to show what else I learn to live simpler and healthier :) it won't happen overnight, but it's a fun journey.

My air is being centered.

Big things are happening guys. Namely, we've spent the last couple weeks getting quotes and debating on getting central air. Can you believe we have lived in this house almost 4 years with nothing more than ONE window ac unit and ONE floor furnace? Yeah, us either. So yesterday we hired a company through home depot, and they got started installing central air.

See, like many in this market, we lost value. We've always been undervalued because we didn't have central air, but not enough to devalue us the cost to actually install it. It may sound silly, but we only need it about 4 to 5 months out of the year. It's only 800 sf, so it stays a pretty stable temperature most of the year. Except winter, when it's 16 degrees out at night, and amerigas decides to be cute and NOT SHOW UP, leaving us without propane, thus no heat, or hot water. Yes, it is 2011, and there have been days we didn't have heat. It took days of Hussy calling them to get them to come, and when they finally did, they left cute notes on our empty tank to "next time, please call when it's at 20%." except we did, but it was actually at 60% when we called for them to come. Real cute.

So we had enough embarrassment, namely from rumor of us not having heat getting all the way up to my CEO, who offered the company sofas instead of sleeping in our cold house. It was time to suck it up and install central air. Conveniently, at the very moment we made that call, the value of our house went from $160,000 to $100,000. I get it, it's a sucky market. That's fine, but to be honest, I can't understand why the values fell from foreclosures in our neighborhood! We had several that foreclosed at 80000. If you can't afford $500 in a city where rent isn't even that cheap, where else is there to go? I felt bad for them, then I felt bad for me. Needless to say, we got lucky. Lucky because it encouraged us to keep the cheap mortgage and not buy a more expensive home in the country, yet. But when we do, rental homes in our neighborhood are going for $1,000 a month. We would make more money off rent than we would selling!

Plus, we have a fully updated inside and out house, with central air. Next to the rental house beside us, we look hot! But the best part about all of this is that having central air vents actually makes it feel more like a home. Is that weird? Maybe because it feels current and not straight out of the 50s. We actually don't want to move now. It was more of a blessing in disguise. So all those honest thoughts I just shared with you seem completely irrelevant. Our value will stabilize eventually, we'll be able to rent if we need to, but were finally content.

And just look at these beautiful vents!




Though, none of this will make us truly happy until amerigas removes the tank off our property. We have never had such poor customer service from ANY company before. Luckily weather crafters has been one of the best experiences we've had so far!

What Is It With Cats

And fresh laundry?

So much for that wrinkle-free dryer cycle.

Also, Happy Birthday Justin

Yeah, I had that poster several times on my Justin Timberlake wallpapered bedroom. It was worth waking up to each morning. Thanks Bop, Teen Beat, and Tiger beat for capitalizing on my allowance.

Hidden Treasure.

Last month I uncovered the update I had hidden from cyberspace since AUGUST.

I went from making do, then updating in the heat of the moment to something summery, light and airy that really wasn’t my style, to something that makes me super happy. I even loved the carpet, only because I love carpet. I like being able to walk around and be on something cushy and warm with or without socks. However, it was last updated when I was probably on the cusp of blossoming into a teenager. I’ve wanted to uncover what was underneath for ages, just for the sake of having a consistent flooring throughout our tiny 864sf house.

So I did. Last weekend. And it was glorious because OMG you guys it’s beautiful ORIGINAL 1951 HARDWOOD FLOORS. Which I full intend on having refinished to match the gorgeous laminate shade we put in the kitchen.

Hussy wasn’t too thrilled about me taking it up before we planned on refinishing it, because lets be honest. My intention of having a house with seamless flooring colors to make it more cohesive was only one half step closer to reality. Now instead of 5 different flooring colors and types, it’s just 4. Our bathroom laminate is purposely matched to our bedroom carpet, so once we refinish the hardwoods, it should LOOK like 2 different types.

Of course, my haunted house was upset I was tearing it up, apparently. I cut 2 of my fingers at the exact same square inch of carpet 5 times. 3 of the cuts were just on my fore finger.

But I persevered because the floors were looking oh-so-amazing, until I found this. 

No renovation in this house has been complete without uncovering tape so old and rotten I physically cannot get it up. I’ve been blessed with duct taped plumbing, taped up crumbling drywall, and even legit carpet tile tape. But why this tape was on here, I’ll never know. Maybe I don’t WANT to know. So I tried covering it up for the time being. With a cat.

J/K Y’ALL. But I did find these stupid staples not just on the edges of the room (which is my ultimate faveeeee thing to pull up 300 times!) but also through the center of the room. Ugh. I did find a quick and somewhat painless way of removing them that sped the job up.

And just as I was moving furniture back in place to move the old living room rug in here, my favorite 21 pounder Cooper decided to grab a front row seat. Or he was just waiting for me to feed him with the dinner that’s inside that chest.

Which leads us to what it looks like as of this weekend:

The space is more defined, and cleaning up the cat food that goes everywhere is a breeze. Plus, this room is our main walkway to the hall/bedrooms, so that’s way less filthy. I’ll be glad when winter is over and we can go back to the original sheer curtains I had for the room, and I can find some shelves for the blank wall on the left. But that was definitely 3 hours well spent!

I’m Such a Show Off!

At least, on The DIY Show Off!

 

So if you’ve stumbled upon my blog from there, welcome :) My husband and I spent about 3 months and $3,000 renovating our kitchen with our own bare hands, and I’m so proud that it took so little to make such a huge impact. In fact, I was so excited to post the grand reveal, that I completely forgot to show a single shot of my DIY curtains… which are really just Target napkins sewn together.

(HEY YOU: the green/blue version of these napkins are on clearance RIGHT NOW for next to NOTHING in price. The pattern is gorgeous, so go check them out before they’re gone!!)

 

I posted some of these pictures already back in the summer, but I think those big red puff balls, red microwave, yellow and orange hand towels and pink mixer make a little more sense when you can see the one thing in the room that pulls them together.

 

And although I left the obvious seams, I pretend it’s just character. ((Really, it’s laziness. Shhhhhh.))

So I hope all you new followers/readers/visitors will come back and join me some more. I’m so pumped to be featured (Thanks Roeshel! I love your site!) and even more excited to get to know more fellow bloggers. DIY Show Off is a huge source for finding awesome new inspiration from the blogging community, and I’m forever amazed at all the fantastic ideas people come up with and do themselves. I like to think I’m creative, but not as much as most of you guys!

A Magic Carpet Ride.

Our living room has had it’s fair share of different flooring. Lets take a trip down memory lane.

The problem with the latest one is that the cats apparently liked it as much as we did. As in it became TO’ UP FROM THE FLO’ UP. Because… it was the floor.

So we were walking down the aisles of the almighty bulk country that is Costco when my hands felt the most softest rug ever.  I just stood there rubbing it like my Baby Rube. But Hussy said we needed to keep shopping, so it was touch and go. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I kept thinking about how much our kitties would like it as much as I did, so he promised that we would go back and get it with our fun money a few days later when we got paid.

Like a true woman, I didn’t let him forget that statement.

But Friday I got a migraine. Saturday I ended up doing a MAJOR project, then we went to my sister in law’s party. So Sunday he PROMISED we’d finally get that rug. Guess where yours truly is posting from this very moment? Yeah, that $125 piece of heaven.

For the record: I was right about the kitties. Rupert has been munching on this carpet/BFF since we laid it down. When we went grocery shopping, we came back home to see he brought his new friend one of my sweaters to keep it warm. And that purple ball above for it to play with. He’s a silly Rube.

So if you live near a Costco, please do yourself a favor and at least touch it. Also, that major project I mentioned earlier, is like, major. So major you have to wait for it. Just know I spent 3 straight hours killing my back and legs transforming the room that is now holding that TO’ UP jank.

At least I have this big plush rug to comfort my rear parts ;)

The Biggest Winner.

I’ve mentioned many times how I have the most fantastic place of employment. We’re all about making people healthy, including the staff. So for the month of December (which includes the ever-so-unhealthy holidays) our dieticians ran a contest to maintain or lose weight. They kept talking about how everyone who enters and accomplishes the goal of AT LEAST maintaining got a $30 gift card to Whole Foods, and was entered into a raffle for a “big prize.”

They actually had me wrap the present, so I did what I do best: The finest dang paper wrapping on this side of the universe. As we all met up to celebrate our accomplishments over some delicious snacky food, they did the drawing. Someone volunteered to pull the name, and I sat to the side just admiring my wrap job. Then the name was called. MY name. All I could think about was how now I have to rip open that perfect wrap job. Not the fact that I just WON SOMETHING.

They kept building it up as a huge prize, something that everyone who didn’t win would wish they got. I knew it was heavy, and fragile, because I saw it all over the box before I wrapped it and carefully walked it over to the table for the lucky (HAHA SUCKASSSS) winner. So I ripped it open and found this:

For real for real the 250gb one. I was actually about to cry.

See, many moons ago, my hussy got me a sweet birthday present.

And then he threw me a party to play with it and my friends. But the only picture we got the whole night was of Rupert going nuts over the fish game. (and wow, look at those red walls, black trim, and killer college dorm  worthy décor!) (and OH HAYYY VINTAGE TUBE ((lame excuse for a)) TV!)

But then I realized I got fat. And he proposed. So we joined a gym, and the wii was neglected. So he sold it for an Xbox for him (awesome trade, right?) which ended up getting the three rings of death three hours later.

That was an awful experience. But as time went on, the Xbox continued to get crappier and soon refused to read discs when it was PMSing or some junk, so he decided to sell it when I brought home the Black Beauty. I call that The Sale That Almost Didn’t Happen because it decided to work FINE when I got Blackie, but pooped out when the final call was made to make the deal to sell it. Poor thing.

But to make up for the Wii/Xbox trade Hussy so kindly made, I made him take the proceeds from his Xbox sale to buy me some Kinect games. So after hours of watching Youtube videos of it, I purchased Dance Central. It’s pretty much the most awesome game I’ve played in a long time. Hard to believe we’ve come this far since my DDR glory days. Which, by the way, I kicked butt on. Even while sliding across the floor on those stupid mats.

The worst part? I probably wouldn’t have even won if I wasn’t so deathly ill a couple weeks ago. It was thanks to my virus and lack of appetite that I lost 6 pounds. Hopefully with my new prize, I’ll lose even more, but with the eating.