Before, during.....

Family room BEFORE. Comfortable, boring. BORING. And off kilter.

Family room DURING. It's a mess. This is before the yellow paint went on. Hopefully I can post an AFTER picture, with the creamy walls that will look just the way I hope!

And the kitchen BEFORE, not too bad, just a little dated. After 15 years, ya think we need a change? Oh and any ideas what we can do with the window over the sink?

This is the general mess of furniture and STUFF moved all over. This is what makes me nuts. There is nowhere to sit, without climbing over things.

And there is a suspiciously furry tail vacating the photo. Little white feet, too.

It's a beautiful day. Not too hot, not too chilly. The Yankees are winning so I need to go outside. My mother needs a ride to her church tonight, and I still have to finish preparing my Gospel Doctrine lesson. Man, there is so much to do.

Painting and a Big Mess

You know, redecorating is fun. Kind of. But the mess is driving me absolutely crazy. Don't get me wrong. I am grateful that it is being done. Really I am. But the paint cans and drop cloths, the dust and stuff, the furniture everywhere, clothes and things out of the closets, those are all bad for my psyche. Have you ever been happy and miserable at the same time??

Well anyway, the furniture and carpet are ordered. Hurray!

Paint wise, the creamy look that I wanted in the family room turned out to be YELLOW. No, no, no. That had to go. So another trip to the store for another, much lighter "cream" and we will see how it looks.

The kitchen is gorgeous. I am happy. As much as I try to get away from blue I just can't. I like blue. Larry likes blue. That's just the way it is. So the kitchen is blue and white and it is lovely.

I will post pictures. Before AND after.

Man, I missed this blog. Hello to Facebook friends!

Decorating woes

Guess what?! After 17 years we are redecorating the family room and kitchen. Imagine. Whoo hoo! I thought I would know EXACTLY what I want. Colors? No problem. Style? No problem. I am a woman who is confident in her decisions.

HA!

I think I found the sofa. Well um, maybe. Brown and teal for the walls. What? Maybe not. Found a gorgeous deep red leather chair and ottoman that I sank into and could have read there for hours. Where does THAT fit in?

The kitchen dream colors are cobalt blue, white and yellow. How do I do it?

See this little bottle? That's the color I would like to use somewhere in the kitchen. It's beautiful.

So I am in decorating limbo. Suggestions are welcome. I am a mess with too many choices.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

The blog is BACK!

Okay so I quit Facebook.

I missed the blog and apparently I cannot do both. ADHD.

Work is good. Larry is good. My mother is good. I am good. Tired all the time, but good.

How ARE you all??

Love you guys.

HOW long has it been?

Man, life is just out of control these days.

The good news is that my braces are off.

The bad news is that one of my back teeth is NOT NOT NOT happy and hurts every single day. Last week I was in such excruciating pain (seriously) that I was in TEARS at the dentist's office. Pain had never made me cry until then. So he shot me with some blessed Novocain to ease it immediately and it seemed to make the ibuprofen work better when it wore off.

Now, it's been two days since I've had to take anything for the pain but I still can't chew on that side. Something must be wrong but the x-rays indicate a healthy tooth.

I just don't know.

On another subject.............

Many years ago, a very disturbed and dangerous person told me that my mother had thrown away all my baby pictures.

Can you imagine such a thing?

Today, my mother pulled out the albums of pictures that I thought I would never see again. She hadn't thrown them away at all. I cried in relief (but anger as well) to think that someone would tell me that.

I'll post a few in the coming days.

I really AM smiling!

And guess what?

Only 12 more hours of wearing braces!!!!!!

Tomorrow, January 20, 2010, they are removed and I will have happy teeth. Oh joy! Oh rapture!

Maybe a picture soon of me and my new smile.

You all were right two years ago. You said it would go by fast. It really did.

Happy on Sunday

I love going to church. Really.

We spend at least three hours there and I am happy.

We learn and sing and pray and I teach and we visit and hug and laugh and thank God for blessings.

What's not to love?

Happy New Year Everyone!

So it's January 3 and I'm a little late, but the wishes are sincere.

This is what I've been doing:

Working. It's a good thing I like this job AND the people I work with or I would be going out of my mind.

Cooking and baking.

Gaining weight.

Putting decorations up.

Taking decorations down.

Visiting people, including, drumroll please....... my mother, thankfully things are going very well.

Worrying about loved ones.

Preparing lessons.

Not to mention all the stuff we as women do every day, and do so well.

I REALLY hope things will settle down a bit now. Christmas is all packed away. All we have to do is bring the tree down to the basement.

The cookies are GONE.

I need to fast again. My body is sad.

It is snowing like crazy out. The wind is whipping. It is 10 degrees. Larry is at the church shoveling. I have to take a shower and get ready. Dealing with snowstorms builds character. HA HA!!!

Dear Friends,

Sorry about the lack of posts. This is what I do lately:

work, sleep, work, sleep, work.

I used to be so good at this blog stuff. I used to be so good at being employed. I used to be so good at taking a picture every day. I guess it just takes getting used to.

My girlfriends are my salvation. You all know who you are. From those of you I haven't seen in years, and one I never even met, that's you Katrina! to those I am fortunate to see every week, I love you all. Hearing about your new babies! and the children! and your lives! it all makes my life rich.

Merry Christmas!

Christ the Savior is born.

Thank goodness.

The Second Dumbest Thing I Ever Did

Remember when I dumped the turkey soup down the drain because I forgot to put a bowl under the strainer?


This ranks right up there.


I have this cute little pocket knife, it's great. It has:

a toothpick
tweezers
a SHARP knife
little baby scissors
and a file





Well, when I was at work the other day, I wanted to use the file to smooth just a small catch on my thumb nail. So I pulled out my trusty knife and THEN,

I laid the blade against my skin to file and swiped it across.

IT WAS THE KNIFE INSTEAD OF THE FILE.

I sliced open my thumb a good one. Blood everywhere.

You can rate which one was the dumbest thing I ever did..............

No disaster dinner THIS year

If you look back to my blog post from last Thanksgiving, you will see that the dinner I made was not great and I was MOST unhappy.

Not this year!

I was a happy cook and a very happy eater.

The turkey was moist and tasty -

The stuffing was excellent -

The mashed potatoes were creamy -

The cranberry sauce was not too orangey -

The squash was not watery -

The pumpkin pie, amazingly enough, was one of the best I ever made (!!!) -

Now if we had just been able to SHARE it with someone, it would have been perfect. See Larry's mom is not too sociable, so if we invite friends to share our Thanksgiving dinner, she doesn't join us. Unless it someone she knows really well and is comfortable with, she stays in her apartment. Since she is 90 years old, we certainly can't leave her alone. But she ate very well and cleaned her plate which is good.

Larry and I took a nap and then we went for a walk, and now I have to gear up for work tomorrow. The Census office is open for business Friday. This full time work is hard on a body!

And the winners are....

The New York Yankees!!!

While I was hopping around the house at 11:58pm right after they won, my cousin Joe called and we laughed and celebrated together over the phone! What a great way to end a great season, celebrating with my cousin -

Here we are again!

Things are looking up!

Not necessarily with the mother but in general, things are better. I was in a bad place for a couple of weeks and now am feeling WAY better and am smiling again!

Yesterday I was an election inspector. What a great job to have for one day! I met lots of nice people and felt like a good citizen.

This is a short update. More to come....

The ups and the downs

Reconnecting with one's mother is not as easy it should be.

Tuesday she rehearsed every terrible thing I had supposedly done since I was born. Not a fun experience.

I envy all of you with good moms. Go give them a kiss. Or call them and tell them how much you appreciate them.

I'm not giving up hope though. There is always hope, right?

Right?

Working things out

There is good news.

My mother is speaking to me again. After 10 years, she has decided that I am not so bad and she actually apologized to me. We talk and laugh and are catching up on 10 years of our lives. I am cautiously optimistic.

Fasting and prayer works. Absolutely. No question.

On another topic -

The Red Cross held its annual fundraiser last month. During the event, they like to show the potential donors a video of a local family who had been helped by us during a fire.

So they interviewed the family and they interviewed me, too ('cause I was part of the team that helped.)

So I'm in this video and I actually like myself in it, kind of, even though now I realize I don't have much of a chin.

What an unfortunate discovery. Chinless. I was better off not knowing.

Love, love October!

This has always been my favorite month.

Ahhhhh, cool, crisp, cozy.

Pumpkins, apples, pretty leaves.

Cider, donuts, stew, soup, yummy warm food.

AND...

General Conference.

Oh my.

We were spiritually fed with wisdom and encouragement and testimony and TRUTH. I have a renewed determination to tell the world that:

THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE!

I have read it many times, have prayed for answers and have received them. If you never read it, give it a go. You will find peace in those beautiful words and your soul will be nourished.

www.mormon.org

Always busy -

I've been in training classes for the U.S. Census again. This new phase should take about a month. It's pretty interesting and you meet lots of people.

Some are really NICE.

Others are just KIND of NICE.

Some are STINKERS.

Others are CLUELESS.

Then there is me, struggling along to understand what I'm supposed to do. It's weird. There are some things that I just GET. Then there are some other things that sound absolutely ridiculous that I DON'T get. So I have to find a kind soul in our class who is training like me to explain it in terms that don't make me tear out my hair.

BUT.

I'm making some decent money and doing a service for the USA. In the meantime, Larry does the laundry, ('cause I'm gone all day!!)

And the camera sits here on my desk......

Sad news to report

Well folks, you know Harley the baby dog from next door? They gave him away. The vet supposedly said he was psycho puppy who could turn dangerous at any moment.

I'll give you three guesses how Larry feels about no Harley around:

1. awful

2. very awful

3. so awful he can't even talk about it.

So here's to our sweet little neighbor dog. I don't think he was psycho puppy. I think he needed to be trained. So I am mad and sad at the same time.

He was a nice little dog.

5 Day Water Fast - Day 6

What a good day! I learned how to appreciate food this morning in a new way. I baked apples for us for breakfast. When we sat down and thanked the Lord for our food, it had a whole new meaning for me. I was so grateful. My taste was enhanced. It SMELLED amazing. And oh, tasting that sweet delicious apple with cinnamon, coriander and nutmeg was like a taste of heaven.

From my studying, I learned that I would probably be more hungry after having food for the first time. That really is what has happened. But now I know that being hungry is not an emergency. I will live.

5 Day Water Fast - Day 5

I've lost 8lbs. (amazing, I think.)

Received answers to questions.

Did some soul searching.

Read a lot.

Thought about food a lot.

Got very discouraged.

Survived.

This has been a journey full of awakenings.

Last night was the worst. I almost quit, because of the thoughts that oh it's not worth it, oh my body needs food, oh who cares, oh I just want to eat. Larry encouraged me to continue until today. So I drank (MORE) water and watched the ballgame with his mother and then just went to bed, with a prayer in my heart of thanksgiving for the blessings of this fast.

I was very grateful that today was the last day.

The dumb part of me started this fast after eating most of a huge hamburger at the Red Wings game Saturday night and, get this, the last food that was in my stomach was FRIED DOUGH WITH POWDERED SUGAR. If I ever do this again, I will work up to it by eating good fresh food, lots of fruit and cooked veggies. It will also be the Master Cleanse, which is drinking a concoction of fresh lemon juice, Grade B maple syrup and cayenne pepper every day. Water alone got very old.

This afternoon, I began to drink an organic pomegranate juice blend, a diluted glass every two hours. What a difference!! I feel alive again. My eyes are still NOT puffy which is such a nice perk. I now realize, with a new awareness, that overeating and especially sugar and salt are really bad for me. Without those things, my blood pressure dropped from a high of 143/93 (yikes) to 114/76. Also, my body did not ache.

Thank you to all four! of you who followed me on this journey. I appreciated your good thoughts and well wishes.

More juice awaits....