getting there

[dxlifer]

weight loss remains on the back burner for now. for one thing, the weather is absolutely wonderful...warm and windy days and cool nights...finally i remember why i live here...
have gone into overdrive working on the house. i finally got back to the porch that i started earlier in the summer before the heat and humidity hit. the base is finally painted and the next part is all scraped and the cracks filled in. i should be painting that part tomorrow and then the trim...which will make the front entrance look so much better.
next summer i plan to get a 'flash coat' of stucco over top of the house and finally get it painted too. it's taken me four years to decide what i want so i have to get going before i change my mind again.
i fell down some stairs in early august and the damage is finally working it's way out...i landed on my bum and banged myself right on the edge of the tailbone and my hip. i've been to the chiropractor and even had some acupunture but can still only stand and walk so long.
which has messed up the walking routine.
no change in my weight...no big surprise as i haven't been actively pursuing weight loss as just being careful not to gain anymore.
but i just can't ignore this weather...i have to get all these outside things done before it freezes.
on the bright side, my mood has improved and i'm feeling motivated. my allergies are finally settling down and my hormones are quiet for however long they decide..
so, i'm still ahead of the game

[dxlifer]

have just had what seems to be a good day. i still haven't finished painting the porch as i'm repairing old cracks in the stucco with caulking ...it's like playing in mud

cereal, a hot dog for lunch and two ground meat tortillas for supper. a handful of ju jubes and a piece of cheese for snacks. i made a lemon loaf to have this evening ...if there's any left...dh has decided it's good and is attacking it periodically.

took the dogs to the country today so they could run while i meandered. all were happy.

then did some potting of my plants and puttered around the house.

my back is aching but now i'm on the way to the couch with my hot water bottle and a good book, secure in the knowledge that all my responsibilities have been acquited.

[amyelise]

Wow!! I'd say that was a pretty active day. Good luck with your porch! I',msorry to hear about your fall (OWWWW!!), and I'm glad to hear you're feeling better.

[dxlifer]

and another busy day...

still too hot out to do any painting, but the wind is up and i'm hoping this evening i can get the first coat on that darned porch!

after my morning cereal i had a lazy sunday morning. had my shower and then spent some time pampering my body. gave myself a long needed pedicure...feet looked better but all the bending and twisting made for a sore back when i stood up.

so i just stayed on my feet for the rest of the afternoon

spent the hours attacking my house plants...of which i had way too many...note 'had'....lots of plants went into the compost bin and i've just kept the shoots etc. for new versions of those overgrown ones. there were several plants to be replanted into bigger pots and several that had been rooting so long the glasses they were in were full i didn't realize how bad things were until i got going. now i have to keep an eye on them all to see how they like their new pots and locations.

between the house, dogs, parrot, plants, flowers, garden and dh, i do believe i have too many things in my care...hmmm...what or who is most dispensable?

had some cheese and a handful of jujubes during the day, but i never stopped for a real meal. there is a roast of beef and baked potatoes for supper, which we'll have whenever dh wakes up from his nap. he spent the day working in the basement.

word is that the weather will be back to normal on tuesday and i shall again start trying to get walking again. even if it's only short jaunts for awhile. plus i'm going for another bout of acupuncture on wed. which will help my quest to get in motion again.

'sigh'...think lean, carol

[dxlifer]

another day spent huddled inside with the a/c, while the heat, humidity and smog simmer away in the low 90's.

didn't do much, but didn't eat much either ;-)

cereal, a piece of flaxseed toast with 1/2 tsp fresh honeycomb for snack in mid aft & morning...hot , open-faced beef sandwich for supper and cauliflower.

i made a batch of froxen margaritas last night and that served to replace any snacking in the evening...and golly gee....got some left for tonight

spent about three hours this afternoon 'getting down to basics' on an old handmade hassock box, that i'd got at a garage sale...of course.

it's made of one inch lumber from some kind of old crate and it's rather crude...all nails...not a single screw on it! but it's great! needs some minor repairs where a plank cracked and then i have to decide from there. it had been covered and recovered and recovered..and that's what i had planned to do too....but now i'm looking at the bare wood and wondering just what it's possibilities are!

needless to say, i still have not painted the porch.

i'll just have to see what mother nature has in mind for us tomorrow.

[dxlifer]

testing

[dxlifer]

well, it was a grey, grey day....literally....from the pavement up to the sky it was slate coloured...and hot and humid!...so, no, i didn't paint the porch...ho-hum.

but i did, finally, started cleaning and rearranging my office.....three walls of desks and cabinets all moving around to new spots! scrubbing all surfaces as they were exposed... i even took the computer apart and cleaned it inside now that was dirty

after several hours, i'm still not done...there's another day's work in here yet. but i got the putr back online, even though nothing else is hooked up.

and the backlog of filing to be done was stupendous...i've tried to convince my old secretary to come and live with me, but she says she's too happy with her husband, now that the last child has moved out....and i even offered her free room and board with all the delicious food she could want! more than anything else in this world, i need a part-time housekeeper/accountant/secretary to look after the mess i leave behind me.

it has been a good day foodwise. my trusty fruit & fibre cereal with soy milk for breakfast. a reheated baked potato and a piece of cheese for lunch. a slice of flaxseed bread with honey for snack and three slices of pepperoni and cheese pizza for supper.

now i am having a cranberry and wine spritzer as i catch up and look around at the chaos i have created today. luckily i targetted the window/putr wall first so i can sit here and try to pretend there isn't a pile of undesignated office 'necessities' behind me.

i weighed myself this morning...no change.

but as i sit here it has started to rain, which means that gustav has diverted the jet stream and now a batch of cool weather is arriving tonight...yeah for my hydro bill for at least a month it won't cost anything to acclimatize the house.

tomorrow? who knows. perhaps...finally some painting and walking.

[dxlifer]

i did it...i did it...i did it...

i got a coat of paint on the second part of the porch...and....walked both dogs!

i went outside this morning and it was actually chilly



so it has been a cool and sunny and windy day...gorgeous..and it sure got my spirit up

had my cereal. a slice of toast later on....some chips this afternoon and have some chicken to do up for supper with pasta and veggies.

tomorrow...more of the same.

[amyelise]

You certainly are keeping busy!!

[dxlifer]

well, by golly, i think i'm making progress.. i weighed myself this morning and the little needle is virtually on 154...since it was sitting close to 156 the other day i'm going to regard this as pound one !!!

the porch painting venture is proceeding well. i've now got the second coat on the trim and it will need one more. then i have do the floor and steps....i must say, with a complete lack of modesty, that it looks great. it is -or was- a square stucco bungalow ....white with a brown roof and trim. that brown roof has driven me to distraction since i got the place in '98. i wanted to get rid of the white (so boringly traditional) but couldn't find any desirable option either than a tan or sand shade...which didn't turn my crank either.

so it has sat for four years while i pondered. then, earlier this summer, while walking the dog i saw a house with a brown roof and the house was a pale taupe colour...eureka!!

then i went to the paint store where you can rent a sample and trucked back and forth with numerous shades until i found a tone that both pleased me and was compatible with the roof.

however i still wasn't sure so i did things all ass-backwards by painting the bottom of the porch first..a dark taupe and then sitting back to assesss and make sure....yup! so then to the next higher up part - it became a mid-range and rather gentle shade of taupe. by then the neighbours were commenting on how nice it looked but they didn't know my next step .....deep burnt orange trim
the first coat sort of soaked in , but as i was out there today putting on the second coat the traffic started stopping out front and all the neighbours are saying wow...it is really striking...the orange lines are horizontal so it really changes the look of the house...makes it look wider and the dark paint on the lower part makes the effect of the house being more 'grounded' than before.

every other house on the street is totally traditional in colours....white or pale yellow....green or brown trim etc....i told dh that i was going to be the first to introduce a 'gentrification' colour scheme....he was very dubious right up to yesterday when he saw the three colours together and now he's all excited too.
in fact now he's planning how we can get a new flash coat of stucco on the house next year and finally paint over all the white in my final colour...a very soft taupe two shades lighter than what i've used so far. good heavens...he's even saying we'll do the flash coat of stucco ourselves....do the front of the house next year and aim for one side of the house each summer from there....(i'd hinted at that approach earlier, but of course the idea is much better when he thinks of it )

so i am just so totally pleased with myself...the house is going to look, shall i say, discretely trendy....personalized and yet approachable and warm...and that nasty rust brown roof will no longer dictate the appearance of the house...i am in control

i suppose house renovations are a bit of place in my weight loss journal but this is the place to babble away to myself ...i really should be making my own copy of all this in case of further dot.com fiascos but i have great faith in amanda for keeping this site so healthy.