Before and After....So Far

Just wanted to post some pics of the progress we're making on the house these days. The wall is knocked out between the new & the old. The doors and windows are in on the new part. We still need to install the new windows on the old part - though hubby got the bay window in finally so the hardest part is over. We're thinking it's going to take a longer than we first "guestimated" so maybe we won't be celebrating Christmas there after all. But hey - ya' never know!

The second pic only shows the new part that was tacked on to the existing house (seen in first pic). The existing house is hidden in the shadows of the second pic.

If anything I'm certainly developing some arm muscles during this project. Lifting, tugging, pulling and stretching....I'm feeling it, that's for sure! I have a bad case of tendonitis in my left elbow that started earlier this summer when I was mulching the gardens. I've pretty much tried to ignore it but this house building has aggravated it a lot.

Last night we picked some jalapeno peppers from the garden and stuffed them with sausage. We covered each with a small wedge of bacon and grilled them. I'm thinking they probably weren't the best choice in the world - but hubby wanted some and I didn't eat very many. It was our dinner - nothing else - so I guess it wasn't too bad. It's just been soooo incredibly nice weather wise and we couldn't resist having a campfire and grilling a late night dinner.

I may trek to to the lake solo Sunday to check things out - cut the grass - see if we've caught any more mice - see what Mr. Imanass has done while we've been away. Maybe if I find some dead mice I'll stuff them in his maibox. Just kidding!

It was supposed to be a long weekend - just the two of us. But being the workaholic hubby is - once again he has decided that he can't take the time off to go. So...I'm going by my lonesome :-(

Crappo! This has been the warmest summer in eons and it's going to be in the 80's this weekend (I can remember Columbus Day Weekends when it snowed!) and we haven't enjoyed the cottage but a few times all season. (Can you detect a bit of bitterness here?)

Anyhoo - I've gotta' get over to the other house and help hubby with the windows. Hope the motivation factor is moving and grooving for everyone!

Making Concessions....

Last night I went with my friend (the one who's been losing so well at Weight Watchers - and has finally made her goal weight and is two weeks away from Lifetime membership!) to visit another friend who just had back surgery. We brought her a pizza (that's what she said she's been craving). My WW pal ordered it with olives and mushrooms. She asked if I minded if we skip the pepperoni. No...I lied. But you know what? When we sat down to eat it - I didn't even notice!

Sometimes I think we are so used to eating the same things the same way that we don't even realize that we wouldn't miss them if they weren't there. I have never even entertained the thought of pizza without pepperoni. But I will now. And now I'm looking for ways to cut out other "non-essentials" to help me shed the weight. Like I did with diet pop (soda to you guys in other parts). I have been drinking it so long that now I prefer it. I can't even drink a regular pop anymore - ewww! Fat-free salad dressings are another. I don't mind them over the regular. (But not the spritzer type - that is just plain awful.)

My WW pal has made a lot of modifications in the way she prepares her food. She substitutes a lot of things that when all is said and done - she never misses. That way she says, she can still eat "normal" food - but with less fat & calories.

Often we think of dieting as eliminating certain foods. But it's really just about modifying them. Using Splenda instead of sugar, lo-fat cheeses, baked chips, yogurt instead of sour cream. We often THINK these substitutions will taste bad but when all is said and done - they really don't! Like the pizza sans pepperoni. It really still tasted great!

Sometimes I balk at having to pay a little more for something that has a "little less" but then when I stop to think about it - isn't it worth it? I'll pay a little more for a nice pair of shoes or a cute purse. I'll pay a little more for my skin creams and cosmetics. So why not my food? Doesn't what I put IN my body count for just as much as what I wear outside my body?

I can be so silly at times. Like when I picked up a loaf of lo-cal bread and put it back because it was 75 cents more than the regular stuff. Then turned around a bought a $5 bottle of shampoo because I liked the way it made my hair feel compared to the $1.99 bottle next to it. Gheesh! Where are my priorities??

I'm not saying I want to live on diet foods my whole life. Nope. But if I can learn to make some substitutions and alterations in the way I eat & cook - then I'm in! I CAN do that for the rest of my life.

Now if anyone can turn me on to a good alternative for butter....I'd be forever grateful!

Motivation?

Wow! Since I've been "gone" I've noticed that a lot of us are on the same page these days...as in lacking the motivation that once fueled us when we first started out on this journey to "less of us". All I can say is - DON'T GIVE UP! The same reasons we all decided it was time to shed the lard are still there. If we give up now the strides we've made will slowly disappear as the weight creeps back on. And then some. Right? We all know that! We always gain a little more than we lost...

And in a few months - after we've eaten ourselves silly and dragged out all the "fat" clothes again (that this time will be even more snug than before) we'll start hating ourselves for ever giving up in the first place.

And contrary to what the little guy on your shoulder is telling you - we were NOT meant to be fat. We've just learned bad habits along the way that (or never really learned any good ones to begin with) that have put us where we are today.

Hubby's a mechanic and I've learned a lot about how machines run watching him in his shop as he putters. Our bodies are machines too! (I'm leading up to an analogy here.....) If a car sits for months at a time and the engine doesn't get turned over - it won't run very well - if at all. The battery will be weak or dead. Things start to corrode. Animals start nesting under the hood. It's not a good thing. And even if a car gets driven daily - if it doesn't get highway mileage - you know, really letting the engine hum and do it's thing - it will still suffer. (can we say exercise...?) And then there's the whole fuel thing. Give an engine bad gas and you ain't getting anywhere. Give it what it needs and it'll purr like a kitten and never let you down!

God designed our bodies to run smoothly and efficiently if we give them the right fuel and use them to their full capacity! If we do that - we won't be fat! Sure...some will still have bigger hips than others....some will have wider waists....thicker ankles...but that's our SHAPE! We're all different makes and models - but we can still look good!

I'm not giving up (though some days I desperately want to and I show it by eating every item that isn't nailed down) but the thing is - if we get back on track we don't need to return from "whence we came."

I'm not perfect. I need encouragement and pep talks and downright smacks in the head sometimes from you guys. Today it's my turn to return the "favor".

Hang in there guys! Don't get disillusioned by the journey ahead. Just take one day at a time. That's all God gives us the strength for anyway. And a lot of strong days makes a lot less of us!

I'm Back!

Oh life is good! I'm sitting here sipping my morning coffee in front of my own computer in my own house! It's back...where it belongs! I've missed being able to read all my favorite blogs. I've missed being able to look up a recipe on line. I've missed staying in touch with friends and family far away through e-mail. How did the pioneers cope without phones and PC's?

I have gotten a bit of motivation back....I feel like the pendulum is ready to swing the other way again. Perhaps it's the change of seasons. Fall is in the air...the leaves are turning color....this time of year has always left with me with a breath of new beginnings. Probably because September has always been the start of a new school year as long as I can remember. When I was in school...when my kids were in school....and also as a teacher myself. This September has been unseasonably warm - it hit 91 last week! And not teaching this year and no kids to send off...it has just seemed like an extended summer. But the nights are chillier and the sun shines on my deck at a different angle now. When we walk through the woods on our property we meander through fallen leaves. We don't swat mosquitoes anymore and even the night sounds are different. The crickets sing a different song in the fall.

Last night hubby and I took a golf cart ride through the trails in the woods and he stopped and said, "Listen! Can you hear it? Fall is here." I never realized that you can "hear" the seasons but I guess you can!

So...with this advent of a new season - I feel like it's a good time to hop back on that proverbial wagon I fell off of a few months ago - you know, the one I've been chasing all summer! I've got the journal out - the Weight Watchers materials are with it. I've been half heartedly trying to get with it but right now - I feel like I can do this once again.

It's good to be back!

I'm Almost Back!

Yippee! Yippee! My bro-in-law called last night and said my PC is fixable! I should have it back by Monday and I can once again get down to business here!

Last night we tore the walls down between the old house & the new. Now it's one big house...er...mess. But it's so cool - being able to look from one end to the other and not imagine how it's gonna' be. Of course the kitchen to be is just a bare room (right down to the studs on 2 walls) with no plumbing or anything yet. But last night I stood in front of the soon to be window over the soon to be sink and pretended I was washing dishes. I closed my eyes real tight and tried to picture it. It's a still a long way off but it's happening all the same!

Now about hubby carrying me over that threshold. Hmmm. I've got to get moving on that too. I've been trying to work on the Weight Watcher materials and it helps when I follow the plan. But I seem to keep losing and gaining the same three pounds! Damn!

Tomorrow my sibs and I are going on a winery tour in the finger lakes where my brother's cottage is. That means eating and drinking.....and yes- we DO have D.D. We've hired a limo-bus to escort us around. Too bad I couldn't hire a body-guard to keep my trap shut. But it's one night so I'm not too worried.

In the meantime - I need to think long term. I've got a bad case of the "I'll start tomorrow" syndrome. I say this as I shovel Big Macs and Cookies into my pie-hole. Yikes! And think of excuses not to exercise....

Yes my dear friends...I DO need the accountability that I have been lacking the past weeks while I've been waiting for my faithful PC to return. After Monday I'll have no more excuses...

Checking In....Again

Oh my gosh...has it been this long really? I am still without a computer (darn taxes came due for both places) so we have to wait a bit longer for the old one to get fixed. no new ones right now. Whah!

I think about you guys all the time and miss the inspiration and motivation and lots of other fun stuff that happens when I read your blogs. I am still plugging away with both the house and my weight. I've been disgustingly lax on my efforts and it shows. Last week, I dusted off all my old weight watchers stuff and decided to start making a more concerted effort about recording what goes into my mouth: what - when - how much. It seems to be helping.

One would think with all the hours I've been putting into this house renovating that I'd be at least sweating my butt off. Well...I have been sweating - but the butt unfortunately is still with me. The house is coming along well and I promise I WILL post some pics as soon as the old computer is back from the shop. (The "shop" being my brother -in-law who is supposedly fixing it for us.) When one is getting free work done- one doesn't nag the one doing it...

We have been knocking out walls - ripping out kitchens - tearing off siding - I feel like a star on "Flip That House!" The goal for moving in was Christmas but I'm starting to think we were being too optimistic about that. Right now I need to focus on other goals - mainly my weight!

I found an old driver's licence from about 8 years ago and I couldn't believe how I looked. As in good! as far as weight goes. Only one chin....some noticeable cheekbones...and I'm sure if it was a whole body shot - a lot less of everything else too. I gotta' do this. Knowing what I could look like vs. what I do look like is driving me nuts.

Right now I'm 191. In the license photo I'm sure I was about 150. That's' about 5 pounds a year....which doesn't sound like much - but I'm planning on living a lot more years and I can't keep up at this rate!

Anyhoo - I just wanted to shout out and say hi to you guys and let you know I'm still here and I will be back! With pics and hopefully progress! Pray that my computer comes back soon!

Checking In....

I 'm still here! We haven't gotten the PC yet...just been too darn busy with the house and my time to sneak on this one is minimal. We did manage to put a few days in at the lake this past weekend (4 nights actually! Well needed to say the least!) Mr. Imanass was fairly quiet. A couple of men from the end of the lake came by and threatened to beat him up while we were there (he's not an all too popular guy at the lake...don't know what he did to those men but they were pretty mad!) We found it all a bit humorous.

As for my weight. ARGHHHH! Without my computer I feel so "unaccountable" to all my fellow bloggers. It's reading about you guys that keeps me going. I have put on several pounds and am feeling soo bloated! I haven't given what I out into my pie hole much thought these days and it's showing.

I WANT MY COMPUTER BACK!

Wednesday was the first day of school here and that was a bit depressing for me. It was weird not to be going back to my classroom and beginning the new semester. I've been using this time to work on the house though, so I guess that's a plus. We've been stripping off the old siding (vinyl AND wood) right down to the tar paper. As soon as the new windows go in on the old part we can get the siders here to side the WHOLE house and it'll finally look like one house instead of two stuck together. We want to beat the rains that usually beset us each fall. Right now summer is still in full swing - weather wise - it's in the 90's again today. It sure has been a hot summer. It helped us make up our minds that we WILL be putting AC in the new house.

Right now I'm on my way back out to rip off some more siding. (after I peak at some of my favorite bloggers that is.) Hopefully I'll be back soon on a regular basis. Until then - keep at it guys!