::Slice of Life::

You Know...

...what really sucks.  When you are anticipating going in your nice, newly cleaned Hot Tub and when you get out there it is only 67 degrees.  =(

For some reason it didn't start heating when I turned it back on after cleaning it yesterday.  Hopefully it will be hot tomorrow night.  =)

Getter-Done weekend

Friday (day off)

• Lowes to buy paint samples and roundup
• Major Costco Run
• Start Jog-a-thon Certificates
• Spray weeds all around house and yard
• Load of laundry
• Clean off Desk
• Cover book
• Make and deliver dinner for Director of play Elisa is in.
• Go to Elisa's Play

Saturday

• Edge & Mow front & back Lawn
• Clean off counters (mostly)
• Tidy Living Room
• Come up with system to handle piles of paper that drift into our house
• Vacuum, scrub and shock pool
• Organize kids sock drawer
• Plant tomato plant
• 2 Loads Laundry
• Get one more side done on woven tablecloth
• Print more certificates

Sunday

• Go to church
• Take kids to Movie
• Scrub out Hot tub
• Clean Master Bathroom
• Finish certificates
• Started inventorying Goodwill stuff
• Work on Cards for Staff Appreciation

Things I did not get done (can you believe I had more on my list than all that)

• Clean Kids rooms
• Clean dining room
• Clean pool filter
• Start Puzzle
• Finish Table Cloth
• Finish Cards
• Start Jigsaw puzzle

So I was very motivated and had tons of energy this weekend.  I think that getting the iron infusions and exercising has made a huge difference in my energy level.  Before even thinking  about cleaning on the weekend was a strain. lol

March OPAM

So my quicky table cloth project that was my second March project is still not done.  I have two more sides to weave and sew then I need to hem it.  I will definitely not finish in March but since technically the curtains was my official March OPAM I did finish a project for March. 

I have also started on my April OPAM.  I am going to paint my room.  I bought 2 sample paints at Lowe's and painted some patches on the walls to see which I like.  I definitley like the Cliveden Sandstone better than the Lovely Buff.   With the light dim I can't even tell the patch with Lovely buff is painted at all.

I start working 2-11pm this Wednesday and I was thinking I could do the painting this week while the girls are in school.  Then it will be done I won't have to look at white walls anymore, finally.

(on my monitor these colors look way to pinkish.  They are more beige/tan than shown here)

Lovely Buff

Cliveden Sandstone

Freaky Coincidence??

So it took me 8 years to make a date to go to the driving range (next Tuesday).  And today I find out that Monday for our team building activity we are all going to the driving range.  What are the odds.

So I think I must have been putting golf energy out into the universe and I definitely got golf back.  =)

My lucky day

I think I better head to Vegas because my luck keeps on going today.  Boss just gave everyone in the Dept Friday off!!

It's awesome being in my department this week.  Yesterday everyone went to a movie (I saw Duplicity) and now Friday off.  

Next week however being in the department will suck.  I'm switching to a 2-11pm shift, with only 1 day off a week.  This is definitely for the 1st 2 weeks of April but could extend through the end of April.  Then we switch back to normal. =)

LPGA here I come

I have talked about learning to play golf for at least 8 years when one of my Co-workers (who was an ex-pro golfer) promised to take me to the driving range.  Everyone says don't just go by yourself because you will learn a bunch of bad habits and ruin your swing for life.  Well I took that to heart and haven't tried. 

But next Tuesday I am going with a Co-worker, who is the best golfer in the department.  Me and two others (who have also never played) are going at lunch.  I am really excited to go.  It would be great to have a fun sport to play.  I thought about tennis but I think I'm not ready for all that running yet. 

Yeah Me!!

9 step process

Catherine's 9 step process to stop biting your nails.

1. Bite nails for 30 years
2. Decide you want to stop
3. Buy bitter tasting nail polish that will remind you every time you try to bite them
4. But on nail polish every few days for 2 weeks until nails have grown out a little
5. Go to salon and get manicure.  Have them put thin coat of acrylic on nails so you physically can not bite them and it keeps the polish on so they keep looking pretty
6. Go to salon every 2 weeks and get acrylic filled until they have grown out past finger tips
7. Go to salon to get acrylic filled as often as needed to keep nails looking pretty. 
8. After 9 months nail biting habit should be gone enough to grow out without acrylic. 
9. If at anytime you slip just start over and don't give up.

I am at 6 weeks and counting.  My nails are now past my finger tips, which hasn't happened in at least 15 years.  The acrylic has really done the trick.  Since I am growing them out slowing I can get used to them over time instead of jumping right into long nails.  When I wore fake nails a few times I couldn't even button up my pants.  =)  They do take getting used to.  I used to use the tips of my fingers to type but now I have to use the pads.

Workout Music

Since I started walking on the treadmill in January, I have been looking for songs that I can listen to while walking.  I started just using songs I like but the beat of the song has to match my steps and be happy, lively songs.  So here is the list of songs I have compiled to date.

 

New Soul – Yael Naim

Creepin’ In – Norah Jones

Werewolves of  London – Warren Zevon
Walking on Sunshine – Katrina & the Waves

Walk like an Egyptian – The Bangles

Like the Way I Do – Melissa Etheridge

Brown Eyed Girl – Van Morrison

Missionary Man – Eurythmics

Authority Song – John Mellencamp

Venus – Shocking Blue

It’s a Great Day to be Alive – Travis Tritt

 

It has been a slow process adding songs and removing songs and moving them around to get the right slower/faster mix.  I usually only get through Brown Eyed Girl and use that for my cool down.  

New Dos

Here is Elisa's before and after (crappy pics from cell phone)

and here are some after with the good camera

We both love our new hair-dos!!

Locks for Love

So Elisa and I are going to get our hair cut off today.  We have both been growing it out so we could donate it to Locks for Love.  They use the hair to make wigs for kids that have lost their hair through treatment or sickness.  You have to donate at least 10.5 inches so our hair is going to be quite a bit shorter when we get home this afternoon.

I am going to take before and after pictures of us both so Elisa has it to remember.

I'll be back with photos later.  =) 

New 38 things

I looked over my 38 things list I created on my birthday last year and realized that my goals/plans have changed a lot since then so I have updated it.  Took some off, added some new and crossed off some I finished.

My favorite new one is go Skydiving!!  My dad and I are going to set a date to go skydiving in the next month or so.  I have always wanted to do this and now is the time!

 

Another Bedroom Idea

I saw a cool show on the Threadbanger video podcast on a DIY bed canopy that just hangs from the ceiling.  When checking on line I found 2 different ways to do it.

   

Either way I would use sheer fabric.  But I can'd decide if I want it to come down on the sides or just hang up above.  The sides could be good and bad. 

Either way this is a pretty easy project.  My sister can get me some extra wide sheer fabric from work and I just need to edge it and put up the hooks. 

Still Motivated

I have exercised approx 2 months I have gone on the treadmill almost every morning.  I have only missed 8 days in 2 months. 

The other great thing is I have now lost 17 pounds!!  =)

Fabulous Weekend

I had such a good weekend.

Kari took the girls to her sisters house in So. Cal and I had the weekend to myself.  Friday I just stayed home and watched a movie with a fire and went in the hot tube and Relaxed (with a capital R).  Saturday I put-zed around and clean house and did a few things.

That afternoon I went to the Bay Area to see one of my oldest and best friends Tim (who is all the girls bio father).  He and I and his husband went out to dinner at a great restaurant and then out to our old favorite bar in Hayward; the Turf club.  An old roommate of our Beverly meet us there and I haven't laughed so much in quite a while.   So many inside jokes.

I stayed the night at their house (thanks for letting me use your bed Tim) and the next day I went to church with them.  They attend the Unitarian Univeralist church.  It was a nice service but most importantly it reminded me that I need to Trust the Universe.  The Universe has never let me down.  No matter what has happened in my life it was supposed to happen and I have always come out of it better on the other side. 

Then Sunday afternoon I went and spent some time with my sister and her adorable babies and had a wonderful talk and then came home in time to spend a little time with the girls before they went to bed.  I feel so refreshed and ready for what ever the world may throw at me this week.  =)

New Jersey??

Conversation with Elisa

E - Mom, when will I be old enough to go on a trip with Nana & Papa?

M - It's not that you aren't old enough Elisa.  It's that I want to go to New York too.  (We are all going to NY this summer)

E - No I don't mean just New York.  I mean other places like China and New Jersey.

(All I could think was where the heck did she get New Jersey!!)

March OPAM #2

So I decide to start another project for March since it is only the 2nd.  I decided to do something easy to have some instant gratification.  I am making a table cloth to put over my sewing table so I can use it as a table next to my comfy reading chair (that needs to be recovered).  I will keep the sewing machine under it so it is easy to just put on the table and use but it will look nice and be hidden the rest of the time. 

Well my "easy" project turned out to be not so easy.  I wanted to make a white table cloth.  I was sure I had some plain white cloth in the closet but it turns out I used it all up when making my blue & white quilt.  I had a bunch of scraps left from the quilt and from making my dress for the wedding in Sept so I thought I could piece those together to make the quilt.  I thought about how to piece it to make it look good and I came up with the idea to weave strips together and then sew across all the strips so it would hold together.  I thought it would very cool.  Well it turned out to be a lot more complicated than I thought. 

First I measured the table and the 4 sides.  I then outlined the pattern would look like on the floor with masking tape.  Then I cut up all the strips into 4 1/2 wide pieces and laid them out on the floor to fill in the pattern.  I had almost enough but still needed 3 more strips to finish and all I had were some very oddly shaped pieces.  So I had to sew a bunch of small pieces together to get the last few strips.  Now I need to iron all of them and figure out how to weave them on the floor maybe using weights our something and then pin the whole thing so it will stay together while I sew it.  It will look really cool but is definitely not a one day project.  I will post pictures once it is finished.  =)

And working on it took my whole day Sunday and I didn't get anything on my to do list done.

To do list for the weekend - that did not get done

• Clean Closet and organize clothes (half done)
• Inventory Goodwill items and take them down to Goodwill
• Get a disk of pictures ready for the yearbook folks that they wanted 2 weeks ago.
• Go through and organize the girls sock/undies drawer.
• Fix the wireless network so the computers can talk to each other again.

Things not on my to do list that did get done

• Mow the lawns
• Weed most of the back yard (my legs are killing me)
• Clean off and move desk.
• Start on table cloth.

So I was productive but on the wrong stuff.  lol