Monday 11 March 2013

End of the 3rd week...

Here I am A day late because I'm a stickler for morning weigh ins and I forgot to take the picture yesterday.  So here you go, from first thing this morning. . .



On a sad note. Those lovely new green shoes. . . were hurting my feet after a few days.  So back to the store they went and after trying on practically the whole wall of shoes and always having trouble in the same exact spot, we came to the conclusion that it's not the shoes but rather my custom orthodics.  So, that was bust.  But I'll keep on running best I can and in the mean time I need to find a phone number.

Two weeks left in the Dietbet Game .  Currently sitting at 3/4's way to my goal.  Just 2.6 lbs to go!

And in two weeks I can stop bothering you kind folks with my scale pictures. But I tell you, this has been helping me a lot to stick with this. 



Tuesday 5 March 2013

Reorgainzing: The Good the Bad and the Ugly

As part of my new me I decided to learn how to make all my bread from scratch, by hand, homemade.

My 3rd loaf so far!


So insert need to find extra housing for extra flours.


The Good? 
A TRIP TO VALUE VILLAGE! (I'll take any excuse to go there)

For $4 I came away from said trip with one of these:

Picture take from an ebay sale as I forgot to take a before picture.



Now this is the second set of these I've gotten from Value Village. The first one is no longer in it's stand but rather split between holding tea and herbs.




But I love these kind of containers and they seemed a perfect way to organize the different kind of flours I was going to be needing for the tackling of the breads I want to learn to make.

I even got a little fancy and gave the lids of my new containers a little coat of paint. 

Curiously, I asked my hubby what colours would his dream kitchen be. His response? "Brick and Brass"

Well ok then
(Granted, I was expecting some cheeky/goofy response about black or some insane color combinations that would make your head hurt.)

I like his idea so I ran with it.  First I painted it teal.  Yes, teal.  Then I took a bright shiny red and streaked it thick back and forth the other direction. The teal gave the red a nice deep color that looked much like brick or dark stained wood grain.

The picture doesn't do it justice *sigh*  Really miss my good camera.


Not sure how I did on the brass front. Didn't have a brass color and I think my custom mix could have used more yellow. But I basically took a copper and added black to it.  Used  it on the sides of the lids, just kind of wiped it around.



Loved the color so much I used the leftovers on a couple of my little clay birds.
 
But there,  painted and ready for show.


Then came the Bad.

Looking at my counter I quickly realized there was no place to put it.

Clutterific, no?


So! I finally decided to tackle a part of my kitchen that's been long overdue for an overhaul. An episode of sesame street and a 2 hour nap time later and . . .

Ta-Da!




Much better, no?  And I even got a little creative with some (poorly) stamped tags to help me remember which flour is which.



Each one is coated in mod podge to protect it from splatters. Here is a tip though,



when the rubber bit falls off your stamp, pay attention to which way you glue it back on . . .

Oops.  Ah well.  Gives it character. Yeah . . .  that's right . . .

Anyways, cleaned up the pots and pans cupboard so the rice cooker and the slow cooker could live under instead of on the counter.  Found a better place for my lovely new cookbook stand.

And those little jars of spices and herbs all piled in the corner all found a better home in the small draw turned mini shelf.



I love how it looks now. Much less cluttered.




And because I'm honest. . .

Not is all as it seems.  Beware the Ugly.



Yeah,  my work isn't done yet.

Sunday 3 March 2013

Out with the old, in with the new.

Here I am A little late in the day but here, just like I promised! 

Now 2 weeks from my 198 post. . .




Yes, that says 193!  5 lbs in two weeks.  Might have even been a bit lower if not for last nights game night I hosted.  Got a little carried away with all the carby, salty, calorie high snacks that I had been doing so well with staying away from.

And you know, it's amazing.

Two weeks of eating clean healthy foods and limiting my grain carbs to a bit of fresh homemade wheat bread then one night of sugary, salty, and fatty snacks and wow.  Had a stomach ache all night (and not for over filling my stomach as I went to bed feeling hungry) and woke up feeling wretched. Face felt so greasy and body felt sluggish.  Back to veggies and lean proteins!

Joining the gym didn't go as planned since my little Badge wouldn't accept being left in the daycare room with someone he didn't know. We tried twice and it destroyed his night sleep he was so freaked out by it. So I've decided we just aren't ready yet. We'll try it a bit slower over the summer and when the weather turns cold again we'll try the gym again.

In the mean time I'll hit the treadmill more and continue running with the running group. To help with that I needed some new shoes as my 4 yr old sneakers were making my feet hurt.  They don't look that bad but they feel bad. 

So out with the old. . .




And in with the new

Sitting on the awesome chair I picked off someones curb today!


Though they may not stick around.   I just took them for a test drive on my treadmill.

Good news is I jogged (granted only at 4mph but still)  for 29 minutes straight! That's a huge deal for me. Before I couldn't get passed 3 minutes. Found out from the running group that I was pushing my speed too hard and needed to focus on building distance and stamina first and worry about speed later.

Bad new is with 10 minutes left my toes on my left foot started going numb.  Not sure what that means but I'll have to call the store and ask. It's a shame, I really liked them!


That's all for now.  I'll return next Sunday for sure with a new and hopefully lower number for you.

And I'll be back even sooner with something a little crafty!