home improvement

So we have owned our house almost a year now.  It has definitely been a year of big changes!  We bought our house from HUD.  That meant it was kind of an adventure of a house.  There was lots of improving to do.  I spent my entire spring break last year cleaning and painting.  In one week my sister and I painted the entire upstairs.  We had no heat for that week, I was busy trying to get a propane tank installed so our gas furnace would work.  That also meant no hot water.  We worked half of the first day with no electricity.  Fun stuff.  We were lucky to have an unseasonably warm March.

There are lots of changes to still be made.  Last night my husband and I made a list.  A lot of it is small finishing up things.  But there are still some major changes we want to make.  And I'm sure our list will continue to both grow and shrink.
-New kitchen, living room, and hallway floors. Ideally wood laminate.
-Redo front sidewalk.
-Paint siding
-Paint shutters and trim
-Paint outside doors
-Finish painting trim inside
-Paint kitchen, dining, and basement light fixtures
-Landscaping!  Lots of landscaping!
-Paint mantle
-Install new outside lights
-Stain deck
-Get rid of brush and random weird stuff in yard
-Paint basement storage room
-Paint inside of garage
-Rip out ugly basement carpet and paint the concrete
-Finish painting basement bar

Most of my spring break projects this year will cost no money at all. 
I am going to paint the light fixtures - my dad gave me paint and I already have a can of spray paint I will be using = FREE
Paint mantle - I have paint left from another project = FREE
Landscaping - I have some stuff I've already bought but will probably end up spending a little bit on some pots, flowers, etc.
If I paint the inside of the garage or the basement storage room, I have a gallon of paint leftover from painting the basement living room so = FREE
Paint kitchen trim.  I am out of the black paint I painted the cabinets with so... $10
Painting the bar in the basement.  Well it's halfway painted now.  But I already have the Adhesive Primer (the bar is made out of paneling) and leftover paint from the rest of the basement = FREE


So this year will be another great Spring Break of home improving.  I'm pretty excited.  I'm especially excited about the exterior improvements.  If my computer would cooperate this would be followed by some before and after pictures.  But apparently that will have to wait for another day.

dieting

Okay, I am not skinny.  I have never been skinny.  I will not tell you what I weigh, but I promise it's not a pretty number.  When I was in high school, I wore a size 11 and I thought I was so fat.  Now I would desperately love to be a size 11 again.

Food is a constant struggle.  I love food.  I mean I really love it.  And my husband and I like to cook.  I really do try to cook healthily -- stir fry, grilling, lean meat, veggies...  But then there's ice cream.  And dinner out at Buffalo Wild Wings.  And family dinners with my in-laws.  It seems like as soon as I get really into the groove of making healthy choices something else comes along and distracts me from it.

I had been using this great calorie counter app and I had lost like 6 pounds and it was great.  Then it was the Super Bowl and the month of February was lost.  I ate exactly what I wanted.  Which was not good.

So today I am trying something new -- Juice.  Well, sort of juice.  I had a Special K protein shake for breakfast.  Tons of water.  Orange juice for lunch.  Three pink Starburst.  Tons more water.  I'm planning on more orange juice later.  And then maybe some real food for dinner.  So far so good.  I haven't really been hungry at all today.  It's going pretty good so far.  So I guess we'll see.