20 pounds

Lost this week: -1.8
Total loss: -20.4

I hit twenty pounds this week.  I actually crossed the 20 pound mark!  I kind of felt like I had a mental block against this number (which was my way of explaining why all my losses have been smaller for the last way too many weeks).  But lots of prayers were said (man, I'm struggling remembering that again!), and I buckled down and had success.

I don't have a lot of hope for this next week.  Those stupid pills are by my nightstand again, so I'm starting that whole pms thing again.  But that's ok, even with set backs, I've still lots TWENTY POUNDS!!!!

If I loose even .2 this next week, I'll be on a new 10's place on my scale. And I'll see a number that hasn't been there for almost 4 years.  Oh how thrilled I am about that idea!

confused

Loss this week: +.4
Total lost: 18.8

I don't understand what happened this week.  I was good (not perfect, but good) with my points.  I didn't have any bad eating days, just regular ones.  I don't understand how I could be up this week.

Especially after my emotional high of last week.  I kept that in my mind all week did lots of praying, but still I'm up.

Hmmmm. I'm going to have to think about this one.  Maybe it's just a fluke and I'll be down lots tomorrow?

Timing wise, I'm 3 months into this 6 month journey.  And I'm not as skinny as I "should" be.  But I'm a completely different size than I was in June.  And that's a wonderful feeling.  So I'll focus on that, and not the negative!


(and yes, I realize that every sentence in that last paragraph has horrid grammar.  Sometimes, that's just how I roll!)

The start of the world's slowest kitchen remodel

I've wanted to redo my kitchen since we moved it.  Not a full gut or anything, just do some rearranging and a new color scheme.

And we finally got to start it!

Now, this is stage 1 of a 5 stage redo.  (Well, maybe you could call it 2 of 6, with the first one being 3 years ago when I tore off all the  ivy wall paper and repainted!)

So here's the original (from the house listing):

The before (sorry, not quite the same angle, but the best I could find):

here's the during:

And the after!

I know, I know, it looks worse now than before.  But it's a process, remember!

So we took out the two HUGE cabinets (I did the one, by myself, and moved it to by the dining table. That was nuts, but then you already knew I was).  Then we had someone come and plum it for gas, plus run some different electrical for us.  Then my new stove was delivered (fridgidare, gallery series, I'm in LURVE!)  My Hubby and Dad hung up a couple of shelves, just so there's a place to stick the microwave until we get further down the road. 

I'd like to take off the rest of the original wallpaper - in the words of my 9 year old "how did anyone ever think something so ugly was in style!".  And tape/mud the drywall and fix the holes, and at least paint the silly wall.  But we'll see.  It might just have to wait for way down the line!

So here's the steps, and aprox dates for completion at this point.

1. get rid of all the ivy wall paper and paint:  DONE in 2011 ish
2. Remove the giant cabinates and put in a gas stove: DONE aug 2014
3. New floors (wood? sheet vinyl? who knows)  by Christmas/end of Jan ish.
4. 3 new cabinets: one to hang a microwave from, one next to it, and one for next to the stove: spring/summer 2015
5. New countertops: either at the same time, or by Christmas 2015
6. replace backslash, paint, and make it all cute and finished: by spring 2016.

Like I said, the worlds slowest kitchen remodel.  But that's ok - we're doing all of this as we have the money. And it will be great when it's done!

This was the worst project I've ever tried.

Let's talk doors, shall we?

I've never liked my front door.  It's old (original to the house, so 50 years old now).  It doesn't fit right (you can see daylight on 3 of the sides, with LOTS of drafts too). And it's kind of ugly.

The previous owners painted it.  It doesn't look that bad from away:

But up close, it was an AWFUL paint job.

I  really want a new one.  But we're considering moving in the next couple of years, and I wondered if I could just get by redoing this one instead.  I thought I'd just strip off that paint and restain it.  Not really that big of a deal, plus I already had everything I needed.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha - boy oh BOY was I ever wrong!

So here it is, mid stripping:

At this point, I had already spent close to 10 hours on it. I ran through all my stripper in the first coat.  Then I started scraping and discovered that there were NINE different colors of paint on this door.  I scraped and I scraped and I scraped.   As you can see, it was soooo ugly mid point.  One of my problems - I knew my hubby didn't want to do this.  Any big ish project, he just doesn't even want to think about it.  But if I take care of it while he's gone, he's just happy it's over and ok with the results.  And I started this only 36 hours before he came home.  I knew I HAD to get it done before he came back.

I bought more stripper - this time the stuff was supposed to go through 7 layers of paint.  It lied.  But it did get through about 5.  I tried standing it off (nope, my electric sander died instead).  I did everything.  Finally (after close to 20 hours of crazy crazy work), I just decided to give up and spray paint the whole thing. 

Of course, I couldn't get the pins out by myself. So I had to do it in place.  I taped off everything (and used 4 plastic drop cloths to cover the wall, ceiling, and floor all around it.  Then I did 4 coats of spray paint (light, about 30 minutes dry in between) and ended up with this:

I like this door SOOOO Much better now.  Ok, in this shot, it's not completely dry, and WAY not cured.  I left the door open like this all day long for almost a week (only closing/locking it at night). 

 

I'd even say it's awesome, until you look at it closely.  You can see every place that the old paint is still there. There's a ridge each time.  And some stripper got on the door knob, so it's really worn and ugly now.  In fact, it looks downright awful in person, up close.

 

But, BUT - I do like it better.  and it will work until we save up and replace it.  I'm thinking I'll paint the real new door the same color!

Oh that felt good!

Loss this week: -1.8
Total lost: 19.2

I'VE LOST NINETEEN POUNDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(sorry for the shouting, but wow I'm super excited about that number!)

That is a beautiful number.  An amazing number.  I'm in love with that number.

And what's more . . . I'm wearing a pair of size 16 jeans right now - and I don't look like a stuffed sausage!  I'm down a pant size!

(now, I'd feel a lot more comfortable in them if I was down another 5, but hey, give me a couple of weeks and I'll be there!)

I am slightly worried about the time line. Next week will be my 3 month mark (half way there!), but I'm not half way loss wise.  But hey, I'm awesome, this is awesome, maybe I can have a mini miracle and loose 6 pounds this week.  But if not . . .  I'm STILL DOWN 19 POUNDS!!!!!

Recomitting

First off: apparently I never posted last week. Sorry for that!  Long story short, I was up and it was awful.

So here's this week:

Loss this week: -1.5
Total lost: 17.4

I've been feeling really down about this whole thing.  The last month I've been . . . let's just say I haven't been as dedicated with my food choices.  And the scale has shown that too.   And I felt like there was just no way I could ever make this goal.  I really kind of lost my faith in this miracle.

But I had a discussion with a friend.  And I realized, I'm not that behind.  I need to be down 25 pounds by my three month mark.   That's much more reasonable - I can do that!  and remember, this is a MIRACLE I'm asking for.  Literally.  So even if I doubt my own ability, I don't CAN'T doubt His ability.

So with all that, I've recommitted myself.  I can do this.  I will pray more.  I will exercise more (ooh, I just got a new treadmill, for free, and it's AWESOME!!  I've totally run more in the last week than I  had in the last 4 months!)  And He will help me for this.

(but I'm kind of worried, I just lost another point in my daily total.  Eep!  But no, I CAN DO THIS!!!)