muffin top challenge week 7

Lost 3.4 lbs this week and earned this sweet water bottle!

total loss: 13 lbs

Valentine's Day

Justin made me feel very loved and thought of today. He got me some Valentine treats, but he knows I am counting calories right now, so he made individual baggies of the hearts and Andes mints and put the calorie amount on the bag. Isn't that cute?











He got me some beautiful roses too!















We got the girls matching t-shirts that say "LOVED" on the front.

Tonight we made low-fat sugar cookies with high fat cream cheese frosting (YUM!) for Daddy and for Katelyn's preschool teachers. Her V-day party is tomorrow and I get to be there. Alaina wanted to get in on the frosting action as well. Here's the shirt.
It's extremely hard to get a picture of Alaina because whenever I pull out the camera she does this or gets right up to the lens and sticks her nose on it. She enjoyed her treats from Daddy too!

muffin top challenge week 5, 6 & running

Last week was not a good week for the Muffin Toppers. As a group, we gained 1 pound. Individually, I gained .2 which in the big picture isn't that big of a deal, but of course I was hard on myself. There's no one to blame but myself either. However, I sure did enjoy that pizza and those cookies :)

This week I lost 2.6 lbs and that puts me at a total of 9.6 lbs since the start of the challenge.

Last week I ran 4 miles (on the treadmill) and 3.25 miles (outside) without stopping to walk. That was good for me. I have been wanting to work on my endurance. Yesterday we ran 5 miles in 52 minutes, which I thought was great. We beat our last 5 mile time and I felt good. Not as tired. We took it nice and easy, which apparently paid off.

Valentine's Day

Got some more valentine's day decorations up. I LOVE my love birds plate. I found this plate at TJ MAXX for 3.99 and it was perfect for the decal I got from Groop Dealz.

Phase I Complete

Jen, (fellow Muffin Topper) came by tonight and helped out a ton! We got all the remaining wall paper off, with the exception of behind the toilet (because I am saving that for last because I don't want a big stinky gaping hole in my floor for longer than I have to).










I spoke to a professional on the phone today and I watched several you-tube videos on removing wall paper.


How come NONE of them showed cheesecloth behind two layers of wall paper??? HMMM??? This was no ordinary wall paper removal job. This was wall paper HELL. I am still confused as to what was going on in this bathroom. Seriously.





Once I was assured by 3 sources that this sheet rock is still usable I was a little more aggressive with removing the paper/cheesecloth crap.

And luckily the ceiling part came off way easier than the walls. Huge sigh of relief!

















The aftermath. Hopefully (fingers crossed) that will be the most challenging part.

And why is blogger being obnoxious and making my post look weird?

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 :)