This & that

Y'all should know that it is not the end of the world if you substitute applesauce for 1 egg in a sugar cookie recipe. I couldn't even tell! They are frosted, now just have to wait for the frosting to harden & then I can dispense some to the neighbors and some to pals at work (and some for hubby and me).

The appraisal came through for what we needed it to. Now the buyer has to go through underwriting. If that goes through (it should since she was approved), then we're golden to sell this house. That would be awesome. We're quickly learning that we do not want a real estate empire like Donald Trump. One house + some mutual funds is a better asset allocation for us. :)

I ate way over today. Too much food. Oh how I love food. I didn't eat nearly enough protein today. I do seem to eat better when I choose more protein-rich foods. However, I must toot my own horn and say that I ate 12 (count 'em...TWELVE) servings of fruits & veggies today. I can be awesome with fruits & veggies. The thing is: I can also down 12 servings of sweets & carbs at the same time. I'm not fond of meat. Thank goodness Julia is, or we'd be up a creek with her.

I have a lovely space heater pointed at me right now. I love warm air blowing on me. It's so relaxing - I'm not sure if it's the white noise or the heat, but it makes me sleeeeeeeepy.

Have a good night!

Day 9

45 minutes of brisk walking at lunch brings my total up to 270 minutes.

I'm trying to organize Julia's valentines for school. I have to get all the names of her classmates. Of course, I know most of them, but you have to make sure you have them all and have their proper spellings. She has a Carson in her class, but instead of the "o" there's a "y." And it's a BOY! These spellings are kinda crazy. I'm used to the Stacy vs. Stacie. I can even tolerate Rebekkah instead of Rebecca. But when a "y" replaces an "o," I must roll my eyes.

Applesauce and Vista

I run my life with lists. When you're slightly OCD and have a tremendous achievement motivation (instead of power and affiliation), you tend to like to get things done. There's something satisfying about checking things off a list.

One of my tasks for this week is to make Valentine's Day cookies and take them to the neighbors. Why? Oh, I don't know. I guess maybe to be festive and to create some sort of goodwill. Believe me, it's a passing glimmer of friendliness soon to zoom by & I'll be back to my cranky self soon enough.

Despite being a listmaker, I am a horrible listmaker. For instance, every time I grocery shop I come home to a husband who has already put 2 things on the grocery list that I forget to get. Yes, I will have thought I did a complete inventory of our food. I will make (what I think) is a comprehensive list, and I will have left off at least two things. I did a huge grocery trip this weekend, and I come home to "eggs" on the new grocery list. Ugh! I had seen a carton of eggs in the fridge when I was making my list, so I didn't take the time to see just how many eggs were in the carton.

So today I decided to make the cookie dough. I'm also one of those people who doesn't do inventory before making something. So I start out melting butter, pouring sugar, and ... ooops... we only have ONE egg and I need TWO eggs. A sane person probably would have called hubby (who was at martial arts) to have him bring home a carton of eggs. But, alas, I am me & I decide to improvise. Yes, since I'm such a cook (NOT!) and quite good at this baking thing and have a real zeal for substituting things on a whim (NOT!).

I seem to recall that you can substitute applesauce for something in brownies. Something? Yeah, I couldn't quite recall if it was an egg substitute, but gosh darn it we had applesauce, and I was going to FORCE it to be a substitute for one egg.

I'm chilling my dough now. We'll see how applesauce in sugar cookies goes over. My theory is that I can disguise it with lots of frosting. Hmmmm... now my problem is that I can't find my cookie cutters.

I got this computer game that involves puzzle solving. It was released in 2008, and it says it's compatible with Windows Vista. Well, it's not working. I loaded the thing, restarted, and the game won't play. I thought perhaps that it was my computer, so I get out S's computer. Install it, and it doesn't work on his Windows Vista computer either. So that's a complete waste.

I do have the Windows 7 upgrade sitting here, but S wants to back up everything first & I have that impatience "issue" so I think I'm banned from doing anything else rash today.

Applesauce sugar cookies, here I come!

Day 8

This weekend was bad, bad, bad for food. No quantifiable exercise either.

Today I did Jackie Warner's 40 minute total body workout. That brings me to 225 minutes thus far for the month. I love her workouts!

Day 5

I did 30 minutes of cardio (on demand) yesterday. I also steam cleaned 6 rooms in the old house and mopped the kitchen and bathrooms, but I'm not going to count that since I'm not sure what the exercise equivalent was. At 185 minutes total so far this month.

Today I walked to the park (12 minutes each way). I don't think I'll be doing any official exercise today. My head hurts & haven't been sleeping.

Today was a decent food day until we got Domino's for dinner. They have been touting their new pizza formula, and it is better. I really like it! Pizza Hut had been my favorite, but I think Domino's has edged them out now!

Still working on this kitchen remodel. We found a cabinet place that warrants being checked out in person. These cabinets are so darn difficult to pick out! Unfortunately it's closed on Sundays, so we'll have to wait til next Saturday.

Last night I went to the old house and worked some. Today we put some shelving units together, hung a picture over one of the fireplaces, consulted with our kitchen contractor, and unpacked a little. Julia was in a great mood, and she drank well. She ate 6 vienna sausages for dinner.

AND...we see 2 teeth that are popping through! Her frequent wakings in the past few weeks must have actually been due to teething.

Tired and my head hurts. Catch you later!

Good but insanely busy

Things are looking optimistic that we will sell our house. Yay! However, the last week and a half has been insanity.

Last Tuesday afternoon we got an offer on our house. Our agent wanted us to accept the offer as is, and she said she didn't think we'd get anything close to it for the next few months. Blah blah blah, her whole speech pissed me off. Then after she leaves (and she was PO'ed we had the audacity to counter the offer), we get another offer. And then on Thursday we got another offer. 3 offers in 2 days. Then you have to go through all the countering and haggling, etc. But with 3 offers, we could choose to be picky.

We sign paperwork, go through all that hoopla. We knew of some things at the old house we had to fix, so we get the process of get estimates and stuff for that. Then we deal with our real estate agent twice a day at least. She will prattle on for half an hour at a time while Julia is screaming in the background. Monday was the inspection. We get the buyer's inspection counter on Wednesday. We formulate our response while our real estate agent is annoying the heck out of us. Today was the appraisal. They are going FHA & there's extra criteria & we won't find out the results of the appraisal til Tuesday. Since there was a bidding war, there's some anxiety on the part of our agent that the house won't appraise for what it sold for. We have to fill out the title documents. We have to coordinate people to come fix things. We have to carve some time out to go steam clean the carpets in the old house and clean the old house.

Remember the part that we work full-time and have a toddler and have a buttload to do in the new house? Yeah, there's that part too.

Then I'm trying to get things going on our refinance. If we refi with Bank of America, we have to close BY March 13th in order to not have to pay for another appraisal on our new house (120 days from the last inspection on the new house). Plus they will match the rate & closing costs ING would give us. If we go with ING, we can't even APPLY until March 14 (90 days after our previous closing). Isn't that funky? So we have to close by March 14 or apply no earlier than March 14, depending on where we decide to get our loan from. I'm thinking we should just refi with BOA now.

Oh yeah, and we are working out the details on the kitchen remodel. That will be starting soon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled (beyond thrilled) that the other house will likely be sold soon. It's just all so daunting and tedious and lots of things to do without firm answers yet. Like we don't know if the buyer will accept our counter to the inspection, we don't know if the appraisal will come through to meet the FHA criteria, so we're not 100% ready to start the refinance process. But we need to close on the refi by March 13th, so that means we need to put it in high gear the moment we are almost certain the house sale will go through.

We knew going into this house swap thing that life would be quite hectic and uncertain for a considerable amount of time. But we thought the advantages outweighed the risk, and we could withstand the stress. And we can. It's just life is hairy right now with an epic to-do list, most of which there is not enough time in the day to do. You just have to set it aside and do what you can as these more urgent things come up.

As I keep learning time and time again in the home buying and home selling process: Trust your gut. Don't let your agent or the opposing side sell you up the river. You are the only one who works for your best interests.

I'm exhausted, mostly mentally. All of this will be worthwhile if the house indeed sells. Right now, though, I'm impatient and want to start tying up loose ends.

Day 4

I got into the cookies at lunchtime today. Baaaaaaaaad me!

I did 30 minutes of exercise. 10 minutes of leg pilates and 20 minutes of Jackie Warner core. Ouchie! Particularly after 20 minutes of abs yesterday. My abs are pleading for a break from exercise now. 155 minutes total for the month of February so far.

The Jackie Warner core exercise are a lot like Jillian Michaels'. Jackie Warner has a troop of really pretty people exercising with her. Really pretty people. So pretty it's disgusting. On the whole, I find Jackie far less annoying than Jillian and Denise Austin. Jillian has that smug, I work you hard attitude. Denise Austin is so perky that you want to slap her. Jackie isn't perky or condescending.

Day Three

Yesterday my allergies were really acting up, so I took my allergy pill and went to bed by 8pm (then woke up at 11pm). So no exercise. Food was so-so yesterday. I ate about 1800 calories.

Today I think I stayed within 1500 calories. And I did some exercise:

30 Day Shred (25 minutes)
Denise Austin - 2 different ab workouts (20 minutes)
Biggest Loser Cardio jump start on demand (15 minutes)

So I did a total of 60 minutes of exercise AND stayed within my calorie allotment. Total exercise for February thus far: 125 minutes

It's only 20 years away

Melissa, that was a very BLUE cartoon! :)

Am I the only person who retreats into a fantasyland during bad days? Probably not. I sit and dream of retirement. Most of the time, I do like my job, but I don't care much for politics and have the patience of a gnat. And we spend oodles of time preparing for retirement, why not envision what it will be like?

My retirement dreams are likely in a class of their own. And they say so, so much about me.

First, I would like to work part-time at See's. I want to don a white apron. I want to work retail since I never have. And I want to make people happy by giving them truffles. Yes, I want to make people happy by giving them food. Does this at all indicate that I am an emotional eater? I plead the fifth.

Then there's my second retirement dream. I want to see lots of plays with my husband, and I want to eat those cute brownies they sell during intermission. I love, love, love plays. And if you add in those cute brownies and a fancy cup of tea, it's an afternoon of utter perfection!

So both of my retirement dreams revolve around food. Unhealthy food to boot. If you know me, you know my life revolves around food. It makes complete sense if you've ever spent a day with me. But when you're trying to develop a healthier relationship with food, you realize that you either have to change your mentality now or your retirement dream later. Or I can be fat & happy & be a sample lady at See's in 20 years. I'd be a gosh darn good sample lady, complete with a pouty face if you don't take the truffle I try to give you!

Achoo!

I am allergic to simply everything. I found this out in 2005. It's not like in 2005 that I developed all of these allergies. It's just in 2005 I was officially diagnosed. It really wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. I sneeze in the presence of anything.

Back in 1988 we had a crazy cat lady neighbor. She was a nice lady with 5 cats, but once you have 5 cats in a very small space, you get the "crazy cat lady" designation from me. Well, anyway, every time I went over there I would sneeze up a storm and then be miserable for a day afterward. Everyone in their right mind would conclude that I was either allergic to dust or cats or both, but not my mom. She would just tell me to knock off all the sneezing (as if I could control that).

It was only when I got married and my lovely husband could actually see I wasn't faking symptoms that I felt like my allergies were valid. And he was such a nice husband that he would rub my sinus cavities to try to drain them. Was? He still does. It is oh so lovely to have your bulging sinuses rubbed. And he even rubs in the direction of emptying them. Oh so lovely feeling.

In 2005 I went to the actual doctor for these symptoms. Heck, I knew I was allergic to cats, grass, maybe dogs, pollen, dust & a ton of other stuff, but I wanted medical confirmation that I wasn't sneezing all the time to get attention (as my mother claimed...since why else would I sneeze since she didn't have allergies).

I found out that my system was pretty close to allergy overload. Not only am I allergic to anything that is airborne, but my system has been fighting it for so long that it's completely worn out. I left the office with about 8 prescriptions to fill and to take religiously for the rest of my life.

And I haven't taken many of them. I still claim that I don't have asthma like the doctor said. I refuse to take the asthma prescriptions out of protest. Now that Zyrtec has generics that are sold over the counter, I take that every so often. I very rarely take the nasal steroids, and I can't remember the other stuff I'm supposed to be taking. Oh yeah, and I'm supposed to go get allergy shots too.

I've been puttering along with my allergies. During grass pollen season I'm miserable. I have to take Zyrtec daily to get through that misery. Even then, I have to add a Tylenol Allergy & Sinus every so often. I love, love, love Tylenol Allergy & Sinus. It makes you fall asleep. It's a nice drug-induced sleep, and when you wake up, your nose is dry.

As I've been complaining out since we moved in, I am allergic to this dang house. Seriously allergic. It's like the world's longest grass pollen season. I do not know what's in this house, but I can't take it anymore. Since we've done all we can do (that I know of), we're down to cleaning the air ducts (I think professionals do this) & changing out the carpet.

I've resorted to taking Zyrtec AND the nasal steroids. You know it's gotta be bad when I'm hitting 2 drugs a day. The combo is putting me in a drug-induced stupor that allows me to get a few hours of sleep here and there. I'm asking for nightly sinus massages.

I'm contemplating sleeping at the old house. Whatever I'm allergic to in the new house has definitely invaded the sleeping quarters. I'm much better downstairs where there is hardwood. So that leads me to think it's something in the carpet. I think the Hwangs changed out the bedroom carpet recently, and I don't think they had pets. Even so, we've steam cleaned the bedroom twice. And we've painted all the walls in the bedrooms.

So at night I'm wanting to extract piles of cat dander from the ductwork and carpet. I'm dreaming of hour-long sinus massages. And I'm envisioning taking my pillow and blankie to the old house and sleeping in a vacant bedroom. Because people who are faking allergies to do that sort of thing all the time.

Big Ol' Pile of Random

1. FB flirting with lollipops when you're 40 is just disgusting. Seriously. Please refrain from using that application. I don't want to know who's been sucking on your lollipop. Put your lollipop in a private place so the rest of the world doesn't have to see it. Thank you.

2. I'm hungry. I ate well today, and I'm not gonna ruin it. But dang I'm hungry!

3. Denise Austin exercise videos are losing their allure. She just does what the fad of the year is. Remember when tae bo was all the rage? Yeah, Denise has a video. Pilates? Check. Interval training? Check. I did her Boot Camp video, which seems like a Jackie Warner rip off. I check all these workout videos out from the library (at least Denise's, since she's not on Exercise TV on demand). Then I do on demand workouts too. Gotta mix it up.

4. Possibly cautiously optimistic on something. We'll see once we know more.

5. Our health insurance plan gives us a $50 check if we fill out this online profile. I just took it. Hmmmmph... I need to lose weight. I could have told you that without being paid $50, but I'll take the $50.

6. I found the checks that S's aunt sent!!!!!! YAY!!!! It's not so much the money, but that I had lost them (even temporarily). I get so mad at myself when I lose things.

7. Julia ate a whole scrambled egg tonight with some olive oil and whole milk. YAY! And half a cookie.

8. I'm allergic to something in this house. I sneeze all the time, produce way too much mucus, and have a constant headache. We've changed the air filter, steam cleaned the carpets, washed and/or painted the walls. What to do? What to do?

9. I want to take a vacation. Just to putz around the house and not feel like I have to cram all the house stuff on evenings and weekends. I have about 6 weeks of vacation to take through August. Everyone seems to take their vacation in July and August, but why can't I take it in February? It's not like I want to take weeks off. Just a few days here and there. Once you have off more than 3 work days in a row, it's easy for it to degenerate into wasting time. A day or two off a week keeps you a bit more motivated.

10. I still don't go to the basement in this house by myself. I can't wait for the day when I don't think twice about going down there. For now I accumulate stuff in a pile and then try to solicit "assistance" to carry things down. Do you think he's onto me?

Day One

So today begins Day 1 of my February Exercise Challenge to myself. I'm pretty sure I can do 600 minutes of exercise in February. It has to be intentional exercise. Like I'm not going to paint and then say that counts as exercise. Cuz that's just lame.

Today I did a 45 minute walk (about 3 miles) at lunch, and I did a 20 minute Boot Camp workout video. That takes me to 65 minutes of exercise for the day.

As for food, I stayed within my 1,500 daily calorie allotment.

All in all, it was a good day because I stayed within my calories and hit my exercise target. We'll see if this has any relationship to my weight in February!

I found a good deal on Target brand Up & Up diapers. It was only available online. I bought 4 boxes, and we will see if these things ever ship. That's my problem with Target Online. I buy stuff, and it NEVER ships. I'm not even making it up. I've put in 4 different orders over the last 2 years, and I only successfully received one of them. The others I get so fed up waiting for it to ship that I end up canceling. We'll see if this cool diaper deal ends up being the same way. I'd prefer to go to the store vs. waiting for 2 months to get my dang diapers. But I'm cheap, so I'll wait some time (as long at it's a reasonable amount of time) to get them.

Our little bedfellow

It's 3am, and I've been up since 1:30. All due to a screaming toddler. Not sure what her problem was, but she was screaming and inconsolable. Offered her liquids, food, finally gave her some Tylenol, sang to her, danced with her, it was like having an infant again! When your kid's been up screaming for half an hour, you kind of start running out of options. Julia's one of those kids that must be up and moving when she's screaming and as she calms down, you bring down the pace til you're eventually rocking back and forth & then can lay her down. I just didn't have the stamina at 2am and brought her to bed. Initially, she protested, as she always does. She does NOT like our bed anymore. After another song, she finally let me lay her down between us.

Until she was 8 months old, Julia coslept with us. It was one of those things I never thought I'd do, but with her extreme fussiness & being up every 1-2 hours at night, we got into a cosleeping rhythm. We both grew to like having a swaddled camo baby between us. She seemed a tad calmer cosleeping vs. being in her crib back then. And since she HAD to be swaddled til she was 8 months, she really couldn't move much so she wasn't too much of a bother. Occasionally she'd rotate 90 degrees after a few hours, and we'd just move her back into place.

Tonight brought back the memories. It was so nice to have her between us again. Of course, she's longer, more fidgety & a bit unruly now. Within half an hour, she was 90 degrees with her head in my face and her feet in S's side. It was so cute because I sneezed at about 2:30am. While asleep, she told me, "Bless you." So sweet.

At 2:45am, she popped up and said she wanted to eat. She was just playing us and wanted a second paci. After S retrieved her a second paci, we asked if she wanted to go into her own bed and she said yes. So now she's back in her bed, S is asleep, and I'm still awake. It was really nice to have her fall asleep with us. With all her moving around, I could not fall back asleep...but still, it was nice.

Going to try to go back to sleep. Tired, but now my mind is very active. Just had to get out that the time she was in our bed was very nice.

Where to store the chapstick?

Tonight I unpacked one lousy box. I had high hopes for more, but it seemed to take forever to unpack just the one. It was one of those boxes that wasn't very big, but a whole drawer (or three) had been dumped into it. Lots of little stuff: pens, letter openers, chapstick, magnets, spare change, tea lights, and on and on and on. It led to all these monumental decisions, like where to store the chapstick?

I did a Denise Austin workout video tonight: Cardio Blast. Eh. My impression of Denise Austin is that she tries to get on board with all the new fads, but the main part of her moves don't change. And the moves that she did 10 years ago she still does. Maybe a little too "old school." Lots of grapevining and very few reps. Like each move you did 4 times before moving on. 4 squats, 4 grapevines, 4 lunges, 4 v-steps... it just seems rather weak compared to Jillian Michaels & Jackie Warner & The Firm. Although I really don't like the Firm because of all their "adding on" and orders they bark while doing confusing dance moves.

I was quite pleased with a Jackie Warner video I did last week. Gosh, I was sore after it! That's good. Jillian Michaels is okay too. What I like about these 2 ladies is they don't try to do dance moves or anything. It's just doing the exercises and moving on. Denise Austin has quite a bit more "fluff" in her workouts. And so perky that you want to slap her.

I've figured out my February exercise goal. 600 minutes throughout the month. That should burn about one pound of fat. Plus hopefully reducing my eating will take care of another 1-2 pounds. I can mix it up to get to 600 minutes: fast walking, jogging, workout videos, etc. It should be fun!

I'm ready for bed!

Before/After Family Room

These are the "before" of our family room. Notice the yellow everywhere (even the ceiling), and really notice those icky valances. S took these pictures during the inspection, so you're looking at Hwang memorabilia.





Then this is after we moved in. Still yellow.





And this is tonight. Definitely less yellow. We have PTSD from those valances (they were sticky with grease and grime...ick!!!), so for now we have no plans of adding any window treatments on these windows. See the clock? Julia is in love with it. She tells us "clock" every time she sees it. $30! I thought that was a pretty good deal.

Pictures, pictures, pictures

I've been very bad and haven't gotten pictures printed out in a long while. It seems like I can do one thing with pictures & that's it. Usually I'm pretty good at uploading pictures to Facebook. Finito. Done. I rarely get any more than that accomplished.

It's all so tedious. Here's the process I *should* do:

1. Edit photos - you know, adjust color balance, turn some into black and white, add some contrast here and there

2. Upload to Facebook - this step I usually actually DO

3. Upload to a picture uploader service - Snapfish, Costco, etc. Here's where I get picky. I like matte pictures. I don't like glossy that much. And most places only give you glossy unless you use the mail service. Costco does matte, which I like, but we're discontinuing our Costco membership soon & sometimes you can get cheaper than 13 cents a print elsewhere. But overall, I do like the Costco quality. The uploader services are great to use as a back-up for all your pictures in case your computer freaks.

4. Which leads me to ... back up the picture files on an external hard drive and CD.

5. Make pages for Julia's scrapbook using the pictures taken

6. Update our digital photo frame with the pictures we like


See, I know what *should* happen. I'm just way too lazy to do all of the steps.

Good Sale Chi

Usually I find a few good deals here and there, but it tends to be hit or miss. Today was rockin' for the deals!

Remember how I send I wanted a big wall clock yesterday? So I go to Fred Meyer this morning, and I gravitate to one that I think looks really pretty. $69.99 on sale for $39.99. Then I have a 20% off coupon & a 10% off coupon, so it ends up being a little less than $30. Woot woot! It's 24" inches in diameter and exactly the dimensions I wanted.

On my list for Fred Meyer, I had some things listed like french fries, milk, cleaner, syrup, etc. They were all either on sale or there was a coupon in the Fred Meyer for all of them. And I scored oranges for 33 cents a pound.

This morning we went to Target. Julia's Gerber meal (the only one she will touch) was on sale. The reason we went to Target was that I've scoured all of the stores around here & finally decided on which shelving units I wanted for the Y2K closet. I was trying to find ones that held a good amount of weight, semi-attractive looking (i.e., not the icky grey/steel garage types ones), and don't break the bank. After a month of looking, we finally decided on the ones at Target. We go there today to buy them, and it turns out they were on sale (ad started today). 15% off!

Yay for today's bargains! This will never happen again, so I figure that I must memorialize the day when I got some great deals and wasn't expecting it.

We put together one of the shelving units this evening (it only took 20 minutes). They look nice and will hold a lot. I'm going back this week to get 2 more units!

Kitchens and Gearing up for exercise

This kitchen has got to go. It's deplorable. I don't think it was a good kitchen when it was first made in 1994. It's not functional, the cabinets have 15 years of grease caked on them, the contact paper is gross, they cabinets are all nicked, I found rat poison in one of them (the thoughts of rats in cabinets ever...ewwwwww!), and the counters are little white tiles with flowers embellished on them.

We can live with aesthetically not pleasing as long as it is functional, hygienic & not in need of repair. Honestly I would prefer low grade, clean laminate over little white tile with mold in the grout.

Today we looked at cabinets in the warehouses of the two top contenders for Kitchen Remodel 2010. One was in Seattle, one was in Tukwila, and of course we had Miss J so it was a race to make all the stops & get back before lunch/nap.

We *think* we've settled on the cabinets and granite we want. We're moving around appliances and changing things a bit, so that makes a few unknowns. Like we want to make sure there is hardwood under the existing mondo huge cabinet. We're replacing it with one that doesn't jut out as far, so we have to make sure we won't run into flooring issues. Because, as you probably know, one thing out of whack can lead to a cascading (and expensive) list of other problems.

Once we check on that, then we'll contact the contractor we're using & get the ball rolling on that end.

My goal is to start incorporating exercise into this weight loss effort starting February 1. I've been toying how I want to make myself accountable and motivated. I think the best way to go is to set an exercise minute goal and then keep a diary on what type of exercise I do & for how long for each day. I think a reasonable goal for February is 600 minutes (10 hours). Since I've taken a little over 2 months off, I think that goal is attainable and will ease me back in. I will likely use exercise videos and the cable on demand to do this. I may throw in a walk or two (maybe a light jog) around the neighborhood once or twice, but let's be realistic ~ it's still butt cold outside & I'm easing back into this, so I'm starting small.

Once we finish touch up painting, I've got to post pictures of the paint job in the family room/kitchen/nook area. I think it looks much nicer than it did!

Fog and Art

I have never had a great view from my domicile before now. Usually looking out a window resulted in appearing as if I was a peeping Tom-ette because a neighbor would be passing by at the exact time I was looking out the window. Plus I've always been surrounded by "stuff" and never had great scenery to look at. Supposedly there was a view from our last house, but you had to have the blinds open and peek through two houses while your body was turned at an angle. Even then, it was just a view of the industrial part of town with a little industrial inlet.

The great thing about this house is that you can see the water/Seattle skyscrapers from almost every room. At night, even though you can't see the water, you can see the glow from the city and you can see airplanes taking off and landing (though you can't hear them...that's really nice). One thing that you can really observe is the weather. Maybe most everyone else can see the weather from their houses, and I'm the unusual one that really couldn't. In my past living situations, I could walk outside and look up. I couldn't do much more than that. But at this angle & the way the house is positioned, you can see clouds rolling in above the water. You can see the ebb and flow of the fog throughout the day. You can see quite a number of rainbows. It's all very cool to see.

Most of our art/wall decor is back at the other house. Our real estate agent wanted the house to look as staged as possible, so we left all the art and other piddly little stuff to make it look cozier. So we really don't have anything on the walls here yet. And I've been antsy to get stuff on the walls. I have dreams of getting really nice art. In our bedroom, I have visions of black and white photography in matching black frames. I'm thinking mostly nature photography but maybe one family picture in black and white.

The weird thing about this house is that the main living area of this house isn't picture friendly. There really isn't any space for pictures on the walls. Now I know you must think I'm smoking crack because I've said this house is 2.5 times bigger than our last house. How could there possibly not be space on the walls, you ask? The living room and dining room are side by side and have windows completely on one side. In the living room, there is a fireplace along one wall, and there is space above it for a piece of art (where we will put the picture we had in the living room in the other house). There is a short wall on the third side that could accommodate a picture, but the picture over the fireplace has a military theme (S's choice) so it's a bit tricky to pick a picture that goes with that. And the fourth side of that room is open to the dining room, so there isn't a wall. In the dining room, there's the wall of windows. Then there's the wall with the hutch, and there's not a whole lot of space to put art there. There are no other walls in the dining room.

Now then let's move to the kitchen, nook & family room area. The kitchen cabinets and big window take up all the wall space in the kitchen. The nook is completely windows on the only wall. The family room is a wall of bookcases on one side (no exposed walls). The other wall is all windows. The other wall is mostly the brick hearth for the fireplace; there is a bit wall area, and I think a wall clock would look nice there. Then there is the little vestibule to the family room, and you can fit 1 bigger picture or 2 smaller pictures there. That's about it. There is a spot above the fireplace, but it's very awkward. There's an inset in brick, and it's probably 2 feet high by 4 feet wide. I don't see a lot of pictures with those types of dimensions. Yes, you can put a smaller picture in there, but it would likely look weird because there will be ample space on the sides of it, but it would likely be tight vertically.

So really we're left with the hallways and up the stairs for placing the art & pictures (aside from bedrooms, of course). I guess we shouldn't buy anything until we see how our existing stuff fits in. We likely won't need much except for a wall clock in the family room and some pictures for our master bedroom. Of all the things to do in this house, I was looking forward to getting some new art/photos for the walls. But that probably won't be needed as much as I anticipated. Oh well, that will save some moola!

Good circles

Usually with our non-eating daughter, she goes on these long eating strikes. When you don't eat - well, I don't know about you, I can only vouch for myself - you get really, really cranky. Then you get so irritable, you get fed up with the world and then are too out of sorts to eat. It's this horrible downward spiral that just brings down the whole morale of the house. She won't eat, which brings up our anxiety level, then she's irritable, which exasperates us (because we know why she's irritable & she won't eat), and then she gets clingy (but who wants to carry around a screaming & miserable toddler?)...and by 7pm we're happy to put her to bed and so are our ears and nerves.

Tonight, though, was an especially good night. She ate really well. 5 vienna sausages (200 calories), cheese (100 calories), a few bites of apple, some milk, some juice. All in all, that's one of the top calorie meals she's ever ingested at one sitting. Daycare said she ate well today as well. I know she almost ate a whole banana this morning. After all that eating, she was in a really good disposition. Not much (if any) whining, not clingy, happy and playing. She stayed in the high chair almost an hour happily eating. She stayed in the bathtub almost an hour happily playing.

I really like these good circles. I knew if she ate more and had a full belly that she'd be easier to deal with. I mean, aren't you easier to deal with when you have a full belly?