Sad But True

A co-worker was kind enough to point out to me that I am "Carol The Secretary" from the Dilbert Comic Strip. At first I was mildly offended. Carol is described as "She's the "secretary from hell" who hates her job and finds perverse joy in making everyone within a two-mile radius suffer." As the day went on and I thought about it more, I felt more and more like Carol. Poor Carol...

Resolution Update

About 3 months ago I made one of these New Year’s Resolution things. Remember that? Anyone else make one? Did you stick to it? Well I’ve been thinking about writing this post for quite some time. My resolution wasn’t the typical “lose weight,” “quit smoking,” “save money,” resolution. Mine was more get motivated, start exercising, start living better. Just get up and do something. If I drop a few pounds along the way, great. But even if I didn’t, I still need to be healthier for me and my family. So after January 1st, I started getting up at 5:30 a.m. every morning. I was kind of watching what I was eating, but not really. I did this for about 2 weeks. Then I got sick. What a great excuse to just quit! I lost 6 pounds, more from being sick than anything else. So after I started feeling better, I went back into old habits of sleeping in and not eating well. And of course, I regained that 6 pounds. At this point, it was the end of January. I wasn’t ready to admit defeat but I was so disappointed in myself. At my work we had hired a “Wellness Coordinator!” What the heck is a Wellness Coordinator? How do you coordinate wellness? This chick is young, cute, and weighs about 90 pounds. So of course, what is my first reaction…Yeah right, what the heck is this girl going to be able to tell me about wellness…eat carrots and exercise 3 hours a day. I’m sorry that’s not realistic for me. So I had a serious personal grudge against her and I had never even talked to her. Another week goes by and I’m thinking about the Wellness person, and decide maybe my personal grudge against her is my problem. Maybe I need to give her a chance. Maybe there is something she can do for me. So I send her an email. In my first email to her I told her that I already didn’t like her, but I was willing to give her a shot! So we sat down and talked for about an hour. She was very nice and VERY understanding. She gave me some informational material and probably the routine talk. We sat out some small goals…start exercising 3 to 5 days a week, she will weigh me every week (this is huge for me…I have to divulge my weight to someone other than my doctor!!), and lose 6 pounds in a month. So on February 12th, I met her at the scale for the initial “Weigh In!” The results were NOT good. I’m very aware of my weight, so it wasn’t a shock, but it sure wasn’t easy to see or to share with someone else. But because she saw it too I knew that I had to make it go down. So getting on that scale every week in front of her would just keep getting easier and easier. She also took waist and hip measurements. That was a little bit of a shock!! Didn’t like those results either. The first week is always the hardest, so I just kept telling myself that. After the first week, it’ll get easier. And it did and is has. Its still a struggle every day. I have had a few minor moments with some Easter candy, but for the most part I have been very good. I give myself a small reward every once in awhile when I deserve it. I am very hard on myself though also. The Wellness Coordinator tells me constantly that I’m too hard on myself. She’s very motivating. She always says stuff like you’re doing great…just keep it up. I weigh in with her once a week. I keep a daily food dairy that I turn in to her. She reads it and gives me tips on where I should be cutting or adding. So here we are about 3 months later. And how am I doing? Well I’m down almost 24 pounds and 13.5 inches!!! Every day gets easier. The hardest part for me isn’t losing the weight, its keeping it off. I’ve lost weight many times…15, 20, even 30 pounds, but I always gain it back. My end goal is to lose it and maintain it. For now, I’m just planning little goals, one day at a time. I know I’ll get there!!!

House Pics

Finally...

House Update

I’ve been surviving with trying to cook around the mess of dust. Having my kitchen completely destroyed has not been a fun adventure. However, the end results are coming along. Its not completely finished yet, but its getting there. Its actually starting to look like a kitchen again instead of a barn. Most of the dust throughout the rest of the house has been cleaned up, numerous times. About the time I think I have everything clean, I see more stuff with dust on it. I have walls again, which is exciting. Beautiful drywalled walls!! With paint and not wallpaper!! I got new curtains and blinds on Saturday and hung them on Sunday. Yes, I hung them. The princess can do work once in a while when she’s motivated!! Rob started the floor last night. What a disaster!! I really, really, really wanted to pay someone to do this. And now I’m wishing we would have. The first problem is he tried to do this all by himself. My husband is very stubborn. He will ask his brother for help once in a while, but not often. If his brother is busy then he won’t wait for him, he just does it himself. So the brother never called on Sunday, so last night he started the major project alone. Our kitchen is about 15x15. This is a pretty big area to lay linoleum with no help. Get everything lined up perfect and get all the air bubbles out. Its not done, but it doesn’t look too great right now. We saved about $300 doing it ourselves, but I’m not sure if its worth it. As for the countertop and the cabinets, they have been temporarily put on hold. Since the weather is getting nicer, there are a few outside projects Rob wants to tackle. We are putting a deck out back and a new roof on the garage. Hopefully my kitchen will be complete for now by the end of the week. We will probably pick back up on the cabinets and countertop either over next winter or not until next spring. It will depend on if we run out of money with the outside projects! I’ll post pictures soon. I’m just too lazy to get them off my camera right now. And hopefully I’ll have finished product pictures by the weekend!

Will My House Ever Be Clean Again?

Our house is 100+ years old and had never seen drywall until we moved in. 2 years ago my hubby made a mess of our upstairs and replaced doors, paint, and added drywall to my son's room. He put a new floor in the bathroom and we had carpet installed. He did everything himself except the carpet. It was a MESS! But we survived. This was his first experience with drywall so I was very nervous. But everything turned out great! Last year our major house project was the outside. Our house has aluminum siding and it was looking pretty bad. We couldn't afford to put vinyl siding up so he decided he could paint it. Again I was very nervous especially because our house is very steep and he is afraid of heights. And again it turned out great. I really thought we were done with major projects for a while. He has been bugging me to let him completely re-do the kitchen. My kitchen is the first room you see when you come in the door. I spend more time in this room than any other. It is very out-dated but I was ok with it for now so I've been desperately holding him off. Well Saturday morning he decided that we should just do it. I was very hesitant, but he said we were just going to repaint, reface the cabinets and replace the flooring. I negotiated for a new countertop too. And off to Home Depot we went. Last night he started tearing down layer after layer of wallpaper. The 100 year old horse hair plaster under the wallpaper was in really bad shape. So the next thing I know plaster is flying everywhere. And he said I'm taking everything out and drywalling. My first reaction is panic! But things have always turned out ok in the past. This morning, he headed back to Home Depot and returns with sheets of drywall and his brother. And down came the plaster. WHAT A MESS!! I have never seen so much dust in all my life. The walls were down to the studs and the floor was covered in dust, dirt, and plaster. It looked more like an old barn with a dirt floor than a kitchen. I took the kids and went to my mother's for dinner. When I got home I could have burst into tears. There was just so much dust all through the house. It was everywhere. I guess it was easier to deal with the mess upstairs because I didn't have to see it constantly. The mess in the kitchen is causing my dining room and living room to also be a mess. I couldn't get away from it no matter where I went. But things do seem to be coming along nicely. The drywall is already about 1/2 done. Rob assures me he'll be painting by Saturday and we will survive. Hopefully I will have beautiful after pictures very soon!!!

Good Times with Old Friends

Tonight I spent about 2 hours with friends visiting from Florida. My good friend Maggie moved far, far away to that beautiful, warm place we call Florida. Its probably been a little over 5 years since she moved...if I remember correctly. She and her husband moved down there when they were having trouble finding good jobs in good old PA! In the past 5 years, she has had 2 kids and I have had 2 kids. It makes me so sad that are kids aren't together more. It makes me even sadder that she and I aren't together more. We used to have some fun, wild times together. I'm sure if she still lived around here, we would be having just as much fun, but probably not so wild. I'm sure we would have very exciting "game nights!!" Because Maggie doesn't get home as often as she would like, we're lucky if we get together once a year. She usually makes quick trips and tries to squeeze visits with everyone into about 3-4 days. So this time she had a GREAT idea. We all met for dinner so she could enjoy the company of old friends and not feel like she was taking time away from family. What a brilliant idea! I think it worked out extremely well. I'm not sure the employees of Ponderosa felt the same way. There were screaming kids running all over the restaurant...yes 2 of them were mine!! We had a nice visit. I got to meet her son for the first time and she got to meet my son for the first time! Our daughters were chasing each other all around and playing like they were buddies forever. Its so hard to stay close when friends move away. You get busy in your own life and forget to find time for those not right in front of you every day. Maggie has been a great friend to me and I don't always put forth the effort I should to return that friendship. Thanks Maggie for your friendship. I had a great time visiting tonight. Miss you so much!!!!

The Lady Friend

My hubby's grandmother passed away last year in February. She and Pap were married for almost 52 years. What an accomplishment!! I can only hope that I will someday celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary. So anyway, it was a very rough few weeks after Grandma passed. She was the glue that held the family together. Pap is a little more on the quiet side, where Grandma spoke her mind whenever she felt the urge. It seemed as though the family has tried to continue the scheduled visits on the weekends and holidays. Some try to pop in regularly so Pap isn't so lonesome. Now I can't imagine how lonely it must be to have had the same person living with you for 50+ years and now suddenly you're left alone with just your dog. So now here it is almost a year later and a family member's significant other introduces Pap to widow that she works with. This lady is 69 years old, Pap is 76; she lost her husband 6 years ago and has been alone ever since. So when I find out about Pap's lady friend, my first reaction is "Oh my gosh, Karen (my mother-in-law) is going to freak out!!" I'm very supportive of the situation. I think its great that Pap has found someone to go out to dinner with. After all, everyone needs friends. He needs someone to spend his time with and just hang out with. He says its nothing serious and just someone to spend time with. So great!! Pap doesn't try to keep it a secret. He is very open and decides to tell the family about her, which I think is the best decision. So, on Sunday evening Pap and his lady friend stop by for a visit. So now what do I think, I don't know. She is a very nice lady. She was great with my kids. She got down on the floor and played with them. She definitely has a lot of energy. And I think she is going to be really great for Pap. She will keep him young and give him a reason to get out of bed every morning. It was just so weird. I guess maybe because she just wasn't Grandma and nothing really like Grandma. I'm keeping an open mind in the situation, but its just a little awkward. Pap is acting like a young kid again. He was laughing and making little jokes. She would put her hand on his knee and giggle. It was cute to watch them, but yet just a little weird at the same time. Don't know, I don't see wedding bells or anything too serious in the near future, but I think the new Lady Friend will definitely bring for interesting events, discussion, and I'm sure turmoil in the near future!!!