oops

Mystery shiny material: Part of the sheet rock.

CRAP!

Justin will be so proud of me :)

















*Edit* Wrong again! It's not directly part of the sheet rock, so that's good, but it's sure going to be a beast to get off!

world's ugliest bathroom phase I

I decided to get to work on the bathroom project today. January is over and I don't want this to take the rest of the year. So, this is what I will be using to take the wall paper off.

Look, they even covered the light switch cover as well as the outlet cover.

So, this is what the scoring tool does to the wall paper. Just pokes little holes all over so the solution can soak through.

As if it couldn't get any uglier. I found this weird silver paper underneath some of the floral paper. I'm not really sure what it is. Is it more wall paper??? I don't know, but it's just as hideous.

I had fun getting the tile back splash off, although I did get in trouble by Justin for waking him up with all my banging and for using the wrong tools on this job. OOPS!

So the towel bar is down, the mirror monstrosity is down, the door is off and most of the walls have been scored. I'm not looking forward to doing the ceiling, but this is all going to be so worth it in the end.

And THIS! This is my inspiration for what I hope to create. I am in love with bead board and I love how clean and fresh this looks. Wish me luck!

My other inspirations are coming mostly from Sawdust and Paper Scraps.

I love all the work she has done on her home. She even has a great tutorial on how to paint a cabinet, which is what I plan on following to paint my vanity.

today was

such a good day! I had a nice run with two great ladies (we almost made it 6 miles, inadvertently), my sweet hubby is off all weekend, a friend helped me rearrange my incredibly small living room, and we went on a fun double date with some great people (pictures to come later). It's just one of those days that I feel peaceful inside and very grateful for all the blessings in my life.

muffin top challenge week 4

lost 2 pounds this week, for a total loss of 7.2 lbs

running

This last Saturday was a great milestone for me. Jodee and I ran 5 miles! It took us 58 minutes, which I don't care that much about really. I am mostly going for distance at this point. I like running and in the future I hope to be able to say, "I love running". Who really loves something they aren't that great at? I do love how it makes me feel though.

Today we ran 4 miles in 46?? minutes. Our first mile was just under 10 minutes, which was fantastic, because usually the first mile is the toughest. We have a great area near my house that has some gravel and dirt 'roads' of sorts. It feels so good to run on the soft, compact dirt. Jodee has an app on her new phone called "Runtastic". I definitely need a new phone so I can get that app too. It tracks everything! Miles run, mph, pace of each mile, elevation loss/gain, minutes, temp outside, etc. Pretty cool.

My friend Rachelle has a great plaque on her wall. It says: "Family Motto: We Do Hard Things". I love love love it! I have sort of adopted it as my running mantra :)

Saturday morning movie. Alaina loves to cuddle stuffed animals. I think it's really cute. And I'm so glad my girls like each other right now.














What am I going to do with this kid? She gets into everything! I just caught a couple pictures of her fun yesterday. Sprinkling raisins all over the kitchen floor......













emptying the kitchen towel drawer. A favorite of hers.....















stopping to pose for a quick, cheesy picture. She is a lot of fun and even though I see many injuries in her future and I have to re-clean just about everything that I have just cleaned because of her curious nature...I wouldn't trade her for anyone else. The other day she came walking into the bathroom with a Pampered Chef paring knife in hand and in her MOUTH! I'm so glad it was one I've had for a long time and it wasn't too sharp. I thought for sure she had cut something open. Where did she get it???? Out of the dishwasher. Nothing is safe!

muffin top challenge week 3

4.2 lbs lost! I'm pretty happy with that :)

Silhouette Giveaway

I am trying to win a Silhouette Machine again. I am required to blog about this give away, although selfishly I don't want to tell anyone, because if you enter that just makes my chances of winning even harder! haha. But, if you are really interested then go to:

http://houseofsmiths.blogspot.com/2011/01/silhouette-craft-cutter-machine.html

a regular day

Alaina's hair is taking it's sweet time growing in. The bulk of her hair is in the back of her head. The top of her head is slowly catching up, but the sides are WAY behind. It's the classic toddler-mullet look. She won't keep clips in, (as I mentioned in the last post) so today I thought I'd try a little pig tail. It's her first one! Yeah, I don't think it's workin for her.

Anyway, today I wasn't going to run, but then Jodee called and I decided to go. Since I ran yesterday and had a hard time, I was going to rest for a day. We went for 4 miles. I was soooooo tired at first and really not wanting to run. AT ALL! It was perfect weather fun running though. About 50 degrees and breezy. We didn't run non-stop, but we made it 4 miles. Yay! It seems like it takes me about 2 miles to get into a rhythm.

It's Justin's weekend off. Those are sacred to me. He just called to tell me he was asked to work security at the hockey game tonight. Being the good husband he is, and wanting to earn extra money, he said yes. I am thankful, yet I could cry. At least it's only a few hours. Good night.

muffin top challenge

official t-shirt (the muffin is pink!)

Well, this was week one of the Muffin Top challenge. I only lost one pound. I was pretty discouraged because I have been counting calories AND working out 6 times a week. I guess I was hoping for more. I pouted for a couple days and decided to get over it.

I am up to being able to do a 5K and have beat my time by about 2:30-3 minutes. This was supposed to be my first official week of training for the 1/2 marathon. I was scheduled to run 4 miles yesterday, but there was snow on the ground, so it didn't happen. Today however, it was absolutely beautiful and about 60 degrees when I got out to run. I felt like I was doing good, although feeling a bit sore today. (I decided that I shouldn't do aerobics in the morning and then try to go for a longer run than I have before). I kept telling myself to just take it easy and slow. Still doing pretty good. And then! I started to feel like I was going to....well....lets just say, my insides are a bit delicate anymore. Every step started to bring a wave of panic. LAME! I made it 3.25 miles, but had to do a lot of walking to keep from having a very humiliating experience. So. I will try for 4 miles on Saturday when I haven't eaten 2 meals for the day already.

I am still fighting a lot of self-doubt about running this 'race'. That's a lot of miles! I have made good progress though. I guess I'll just keep saying, "I think I can, I think I can".