So very proud

Emily actually swam the length of the pool all by herself without stopping and breathing appropriately the whole time. I was so proud. They are both in swimming lessons right now, and when I watch the lessons, I wonder sometimes if anything is sinking in. When she is swimming in the outdoor pool in "open" water she has a tendency to careen wildly all over the pool.She also stops often to get her breath or just touch the bottom. l was thrilled to see her going straight without stopping for a change. She made it down the pool using a kickboard which she gave to me on the return trip. She did crawl on the solo trip.

So very proud

Emily actually swam the length of the pool all by herself without stopping and breathing appropriately the whole time. I was so proud. They are both in swimming lessons right now, and when I watch the lessons, I wonder sometimes if anything is sinking in. When she is swimming in the outdoor pool in "open" water she has a tendency to careen wildly all over the pool.She also stops often to get her breath or just touch the bottom. l was thrilled to see her going straight without stopping for a change. She made it down the pool using a kickboard which she gave to me on the return trip. She did crawl on the solo trip.

Updates from the Lighter side

Good news, the line of shame from yesterday is hidden because today is Monday!! That was last week's line of shame:)

But as proof of my improvement, I opened the door to the fridge today before lunch and did not (as per my usual habit) wolf down a brownie prior to lunch. I simply turned my head and gathered my healthy lunch ingredients. Tonight, I did not wolf down a brownie when I wanted to scream in frustration at my kids. Instead, I walked away. I did eat one later when I was calmer, but I enjoyed it all up, and did not go for a second one, also a usual move.

Can it be I have found the source of all my weight woes? My own giant mouth!!! If I just get a handle on that, my problems are solved!

Updates from the Lighter side

Good news, the line of shame from yesterday is hidden because today is Monday!! That was last week's line of shame:)

But as proof of my improvement, I opened the door to the fridge today before lunch and did not (as per my usual habit) wolf down a brownie prior to lunch. I simply turned my head and gathered my healthy lunch ingredients. Tonight, I did not wolf down a brownie when I wanted to scream in frustration at my kids. Instead, I walked away. I did eat one later when I was calmer, but I enjoyed it all up, and did not go for a second one, also a usual move.

Can it be I have found the source of all my weight woes? My own giant mouth!!! If I just get a handle on that, my problems are solved!

Things that should not need explaining

I would never have thought to say "don't lick the water drops of the kale on display at the grocery store because you are thirsty".

If you get the urge to pee before your swimming lesson take the suit off in the bathroom first. If you don't ( and she didn't) at least shower first before getting back in the pool. There is just no way to get a suit in in 2 seconds which makes moms suspicious.

And a useful tip for getting rid of pesky door to door salesman...
Wait until you are getting annoyed from saying no politely, then have your daughter run up to you at the door and inform you that "there is a problem with the toilet and it won't flush." Guaranteed to get of almost anyone.

Things that should not need explaining

I would never have thought to say "don't lick the water drops of the kale on display at the grocery store because you are thirsty".

If you get the urge to pee before your swimming lesson take the suit off in the bathroom first. If you don't ( and she didn't) at least shower first before getting back in the pool. There is just no way to get a suit in in 2 seconds which makes moms suspicious.

And a useful tip for getting rid of pesky door to door salesman...
Wait until you are getting annoyed from saying no politely, then have your daughter run up to you at the door and inform you that "there is a problem with the toilet and it won't flush." Guaranteed to get of almost anyone.

The shame of it all

I started tracking what I eat with an application on my iPhone called Loseit! It is really neat. I told it what I want to lose total and how much I want to lose each week an it gave me a calorie budget. I have only been doing it for three days, but so far I have stayed under the line. It was never by much but it was there.

Today I went over the line and not just a toe over either. I dove right line and kept right on going. There it was on the log a clear line of shame. This is probably why I usually stop my food journals in the past. I hate admitting what I have really done. I am going to try and learn from this and press on. I will just have to look at that awful red line and keep plugging stuff in my log. But just to be sure I am going to go look up the average caloric values of a few things just in case it was wrong ....hah it was wrong. I tweaked it and feel a little better but I should mention I am unpleasantly full right now.

The shame of it all

I started tracking what I eat with an application on my iPhone called Loseit! It is really neat. I told it what I want to lose total and how much I want to lose each week an it gave me a calorie budget. I have only been doing it for three days, but so far I have stayed under the line. It was never by much but it was there.

Today I went over the line and not just a toe over either. I dove right line and kept right on going. There it was on the log a clear line of shame. This is probably why I usually stop my food journals in the past. I hate admitting what I have really done. I am going to try and learn from this and press on. I will just have to look at that awful red line and keep plugging stuff in my log. But just to be sure I am going to go look up the average caloric values of a few things just in case it was wrong ....hah it was wrong. I tweaked it and feel a little better but I should mention I am unpleasantly full right now.

Zip ties, spit, and duct tape

For the past two years we have had a small 2 drawer cabinet thingy in a box in our bathroom. At first I really thought we would put it in right away so we could use it as drawer space since we had a big empty box cabinet. We even took it out of the box and tried it out, but it was made for kitchens and did not fit over the lip in our bathroom cabinet, so we put it away in the box and it has sat there since then. Mostly it was used as a magazine and book holder. Really classy huh! Tonight we installed it. Shock, gasp, wheeze!

Of course it still did not fit so Karl came to the rescue. It was worse than I thought when we looked at it 2 years ago. With the tracks mounted flush on the cabinet floor, the bottom drawer would not open and the door would not close properly. With nothing more than 2 spare strips of wood and twisty ties he was able to figure out a slightly more feasible solution. Since the back of the drawer hit the sink, he simply trimmed that part with a hack saw. Since that is just coated metal wire it was easy to do. Then when I questioned him about the two pieces that are suppossed to be joined with bolts, but were now sitting side by side to let the drawer in, I suggested welding ( he doesn't own any equipment).

We went to Plan B, twisty ties. They held it together for the fitting stage. I had to admit his pack rat tendcies were handy then. But seriously who else saves those things? When he mentioned something stronger would needed to hold it permanently and I said " what like zip ties" he got excited. Apparently submarines use them a lot for all sort of fun things and they really are strong. His exact words were "A quarter of the sub is held together with those things. "

So zip ties it was. We only found 4. We have more but can't seem to locate them. The board split so it is still using twists. This is why you pre-drill folks. When we find the rest, we will "upgrade" it. So my drawer unit may not be pretty but it is in! Yahoo! The pack rats win this round! If Karl did not collect his random bits of stuff, it would have been hard to get it all together.

Now I just have to sort through the stuff that I kept in their before and make it easier to use. I started with my makeup bin and was shocked to see makeup I bought in college. That is some old makeup! It went right into the trash.

Zip ties, spit, and duct tape

For the past two years we have had a small 2 drawer cabinet thingy in a box in our bathroom. At first I really thought we would put it in right away so we could use it as drawer space since we had a big empty box cabinet. We even took it out of the box and tried it out, but it was made for kitchens and did not fit over the lip in our bathroom cabinet, so we put it away in the box and it has sat there since then. Mostly it was used as a magazine and book holder. Really classy huh! Tonight we installed it. Shock, gasp, wheeze!

Of course it still did not fit so Karl came to the rescue. It was worse than I thought when we looked at it 2 years ago. With the tracks mounted flush on the cabinet floor, the bottom drawer would not open and the door would not close properly. With nothing more than 2 spare strips of wood and twisty ties he was able to figure out a slightly more feasible solution. Since the back of the drawer hit the sink, he simply trimmed that part with a hack saw. Since that is just coated metal wire it was easy to do. Then when I questioned him about the two pieces that are suppossed to be joined with bolts, but were now sitting side by side to let the drawer in, I suggested welding ( he doesn't own any equipment).

We went to Plan B, twisty ties. They held it together for the fitting stage. I had to admit his pack rat tendcies were handy then. But seriously who else saves those things? When he mentioned something stronger would needed to hold it permanently and I said " what like zip ties" he got excited. Apparently submarines use them a lot for all sort of fun things and they really are strong. His exact words were "A quarter of the sub is held together with those things. "

So zip ties it was. We only found 4. We have more but can't seem to locate them. The board split so it is still using twists. This is why you pre-drill folks. When we find the rest, we will "upgrade" it. So my drawer unit may not be pretty but it is in! Yahoo! The pack rats win this round! If Karl did not collect his random bits of stuff, it would have been hard to get it all together.

Now I just have to sort through the stuff that I kept in their before and make it easier to use. I started with my makeup bin and was shocked to see makeup I bought in college. That is some old makeup! It went right into the trash.

Minwax is my enemy

Staining a desk is tricky business. Before Karl left for Florida and his reunion, he was wondering why we went with the make it yourself option. he was even questioning our sanity. At the time, I thought silly Karl, This is better. While I still think it is "better" I am defintely annoyed with my project. Which brings me back to my title of the post. Why is Miniwax my enemy you ask? I have been working on the desk all weekend. It is completed and in place and looking very desk-like. It isn't however useful yet. All my office stuff is scattered about the corner of the room and josh's room. Poor baby.

If you decide to stain something, you will probably go to Lowes or Homers, and you will probably pick up a can of MinWax. It is available in a variety of lovely shades. If you buy a can of stain, you will probably want to apply it and finish your project right away. That is your big mistake. Be sure to totally disregard the drying time on the can (4 to 6 hours) hah! 4 to 6 hours my left toenail! What a load of hooey! Of course, you will be sure to wipe off the excess stain after you brush it on. If however you forget that little step like I did you will brush on the very thin coat, in all but a few spots that you just didn't realize were to thick, and you will wait for it to dry. and wait. And Wait. 24 hours after the first application I realized the sticky spots were not getting any less sticky. So, trusty Google helped me out. Wipe after applying. ooops! I forgot the on the first go round. They will just never dry. too bad. Now what. Google to the resuce.

I have 2 choice, strip it down with mineral sprits or apply another coat of stain and wipe off the excess. I went with that option 2. the second coat loosens the first and you can wipe the excess then. But since they don't really tell you at what point you should wipe, I went with after I finished the desk. My rag stuck to the desk. Yuck. Fuzz on my lovely desk. So, then after 4 hours I wiped again with mineral spirits hoping it would be dry in another two so I could sneak in a coat before bed. Denied! I have 2 coats of stain on the desk right now and after yesterdays wipe down it finally seems to be sticky spot free. Yeah!

I am going to go upstairs and apply a coat of polyurethane to the desk to make it more durable. I have to do two of those. I am hoping that the time on that can is accurate. (Again with the 4-6 hours drying time. where do they get these numbers? Sure in an air conditioned perfect ly dry workshop it might work. In a normal home, in the summer, not so much) But then there is the 24 hour curing time before use. UGH! So best case, it is late Tuesday before my computer and any other desk things are seated in their proper place.

Minwax is my enemy

Staining a desk is tricky business. Before Karl left for Florida and his reunion, he was wondering why we went with the make it yourself option. he was even questioning our sanity. At the time, I thought silly Karl, This is better. While I still think it is "better" I am defintely annoyed with my project. Which brings me back to my title of the post. Why is Miniwax my enemy you ask? I have been working on the desk all weekend. It is completed and in place and looking very desk-like. It isn't however useful yet. All my office stuff is scattered about the corner of the room and josh's room. Poor baby.

If you decide to stain something, you will probably go to Lowes or Homers, and you will probably pick up a can of MinWax. It is available in a variety of lovely shades. If you buy a can of stain, you will probably want to apply it and finish your project right away. That is your big mistake. Be sure to totally disregard the drying time on the can (4 to 6 hours) hah! 4 to 6 hours my left toenail! What a load of hooey! Of course, you will be sure to wipe off the excess stain after you brush it on. If however you forget that little step like I did you will brush on the very thin coat, in all but a few spots that you just didn't realize were to thick, and you will wait for it to dry. and wait. And Wait. 24 hours after the first application I realized the sticky spots were not getting any less sticky. So, trusty Google helped me out. Wipe after applying. ooops! I forgot the on the first go round. They will just never dry. too bad. Now what. Google to the resuce.

I have 2 choice, strip it down with mineral sprits or apply another coat of stain and wipe off the excess. I went with that option 2. the second coat loosens the first and you can wipe the excess then. But since they don't really tell you at what point you should wipe, I went with after I finished the desk. My rag stuck to the desk. Yuck. Fuzz on my lovely desk. So, then after 4 hours I wiped again with mineral spirits hoping it would be dry in another two so I could sneak in a coat before bed. Denied! I have 2 coats of stain on the desk right now and after yesterdays wipe down it finally seems to be sticky spot free. Yeah!

I am going to go upstairs and apply a coat of polyurethane to the desk to make it more durable. I have to do two of those. I am hoping that the time on that can is accurate. (Again with the 4-6 hours drying time. where do they get these numbers? Sure in an air conditioned perfect ly dry workshop it might work. In a normal home, in the summer, not so much) But then there is the 24 hour curing time before use. UGH! So best case, it is late Tuesday before my computer and any other desk things are seated in their proper place.

More Cleaning, Sorting, and Decluttering

We are still working to declutter the house as we work with my friend on her Staging course.  She has come 4 times so far, and worked with me about 6 hours each time. We have donated & gotten rid of lots of stuff.  We started on the office, and that is still in progress, but is stalled until the desk is in the office. We also worked on the dining room and Living room and kitchen. We need to tackle Josh's room, my room, the closet, and finish the office.  We are not doing the girl's room at this time.  She does not want to make them cry when she suggest parting with some toys!  I don't blame her.  I did that 2 months ago, and it was pretty bad.

This weekend our homework was to make a new L shaped desk for the office.  We are part of the way there.  It sounded so simple in theory, but as usual, the reality is much slower.  Or it is if we are the construction crew.  We have all the parts now, and the 2 long pieces are glued together.  And lying in the living room.  We had thought about a making laminate desk, or using some premade countertop or some countertop from ikea.  But in the end, we went with Birch plywood and regular plywood that we are gluing together to be one thick board and adding trim on the ends. It will be attached to the wall with cleats, and supported by our existing file cabinets.  We are going to stain it a dark mahogany. We are also going to paint out lovely red file cabinets another color.  Probably Chocolate brown. I hope it looks good! 

It took Karl awhile to get on board with the idea, but I think he is pretty excited now.  Karl and I are trading sides of the room. I get more space, but I sew, scrapbook, and use a computer so I "need" more space. I did offer to share my sewing machine though.  In reality I had three desk in here already, so I am just giving up the one, and moving all my desk space to one wall.  My drafting table is too cool to part with, so it is moving to the home of the sewing machine. I will still scrapbook there. 

We had started clearing the room yesterday so we would have room to build the desk in here and the loose stuff went into Josh's room.  Today when Emily was getting ready for bed, she looked in here and said, "Wow, That is a really clean office guys!"  The floor was clean, the desk surfaces were clean.  It looks pretty good in here right now.  Josh's room is a little cluttered, but hey, we can fix that soon!  

I am also going to try to recover my office chairs since Emily decorated them with Sharpie other unknown things when she was 2, and they have never looked the same since. I will also make a pleated skirt for the desk.  That will keep it looking very tidy, and allow some smaller storage areas underneath the desks.  (ie. Karl's collection of computer towers, my project basket, trash cans and such).

It has been hard going through books and such to get rid of. I love books.  I have book like Little House on the Prairie that I got when I was around 8. It is an old and cherished friend.  You can't give those away. And then there is my Tintin comic book collection.  I love those! I can't give those up either.  I did decided to share my Calvin & Hobbes Collection with Emily. I retained reading rights, and she promised to take good care of them.  She said she want to keep them and give them to her kids.  I did not think that was a great idea, but let it slide right then. She is a little concerned because Calvin is a naughty little guy, but since Hobbes is a Tiger, what is there not to love?? I might even let her read of a few of my treasured favorites next year.

Since our wall of books is a little intimidating to potential home buyers, I put some books up in the closet on a shelf to lessen then initial impact.  They won't be seen, but they are not in the trash or donated.  Maybe at some point I will be able to part with them, but not now.  I was also crushed to see that a textbook from college is currently worth $.01 on Amazon.  I got it for $50.  The current edition is $95.  Note to Self-sell upon finishing the course.  I thinking about taking a bunch of books to a used book store.  I would get a trade in amount for them only, not cash. 

I think Karl thinks I am nuts for worrying about future buyers so much, but he mentioned tonight that we could move somewhere as soon as 6 months from now. We just don't know. Also, when am I ever going to have someone willing to give up her time to help me sort through my things. It really helps if she holds the things and I evaluate them instead of touching them myself. If I don't hold it it doesn't seem so bad to part with it.

Karl did a little dumpster diving and rescued a few things I had gotten rid of. I think he does not trust me.

Funny rescues-He resuced some sheets of beeswax-he thought they were noskid mats he could use in the garage. he he! It gets pretty hot in there. He would have nicely waxed shelving. I got rid of them again since they were not able to be turned into candles anymore. they were all creased and mangled from 5 years of storage.

Yesterday he rescued (for the second time mind you) an empty scrapbooking tape dispenser. I was shocked. I tried explaining to him, that sometimes a thing is just trash. I could not figure out how an empty tape refill would be useful. (We were taking about when to donate when to chuck) he was going on about how you could still use it by unrolling the paper. Finally I told him, look, there is nothing there, it is an EMPTY tape dispenser. (the paper had torn off the wheel at the end) He said, oh really. What is that white stuff? I explained that it was the wax paper separating the tape layers. Finally he saw the light and chucked it for the last time.

On the other hand he did rescue a crossstich kit I started 4 years ago, and I have to admit, I felt bad later about that one and wished I had donated it instead, so I was grateful to see that again. and he gave the girls a pad of paper that I had chucked. That was good too.

More Cleaning, Sorting, and Decluttering

We are still working to declutter the house as we work with my friend on her Staging course.  She has come 4 times so far, and worked with me about 6 hours each time. We have donated & gotten rid of lots of stuff.  We started on the office, and that is still in progress, but is stalled until the desk is in the office. We also worked on the dining room and Living room and kitchen. We need to tackle Josh's room, my room, the closet, and finish the office.  We are not doing the girl's room at this time.  She does not want to make them cry when she suggest parting with some toys!  I don't blame her.  I did that 2 months ago, and it was pretty bad.

This weekend our homework was to make a new L shaped desk for the office.  We are part of the way there.  It sounded so simple in theory, but as usual, the reality is much slower.  Or it is if we are the construction crew.  We have all the parts now, and the 2 long pieces are glued together.  And lying in the living room.  We had thought about a making laminate desk, or using some premade countertop or some countertop from ikea.  But in the end, we went with Birch plywood and regular plywood that we are gluing together to be one thick board and adding trim on the ends. It will be attached to the wall with cleats, and supported by our existing file cabinets.  We are going to stain it a dark mahogany. We are also going to paint out lovely red file cabinets another color.  Probably Chocolate brown. I hope it looks good! 

It took Karl awhile to get on board with the idea, but I think he is pretty excited now.  Karl and I are trading sides of the room. I get more space, but I sew, scrapbook, and use a computer so I "need" more space. I did offer to share my sewing machine though.  In reality I had three desk in here already, so I am just giving up the one, and moving all my desk space to one wall.  My drafting table is too cool to part with, so it is moving to the home of the sewing machine. I will still scrapbook there. 

We had started clearing the room yesterday so we would have room to build the desk in here and the loose stuff went into Josh's room.  Today when Emily was getting ready for bed, she looked in here and said, "Wow, That is a really clean office guys!"  The floor was clean, the desk surfaces were clean.  It looks pretty good in here right now.  Josh's room is a little cluttered, but hey, we can fix that soon!  

I am also going to try to recover my office chairs since Emily decorated them with Sharpie other unknown things when she was 2, and they have never looked the same since. I will also make a pleated skirt for the desk.  That will keep it looking very tidy, and allow some smaller storage areas underneath the desks.  (ie. Karl's collection of computer towers, my project basket, trash cans and such).

It has been hard going through books and such to get rid of. I love books.  I have book like Little House on the Prairie that I got when I was around 8. It is an old and cherished friend.  You can't give those away. And then there is my Tintin comic book collection.  I love those! I can't give those up either.  I did decided to share my Calvin & Hobbes Collection with Emily. I retained reading rights, and she promised to take good care of them.  She said she want to keep them and give them to her kids.  I did not think that was a great idea, but let it slide right then. She is a little concerned because Calvin is a naughty little guy, but since Hobbes is a Tiger, what is there not to love?? I might even let her read of a few of my treasured favorites next year.

Since our wall of books is a little intimidating to potential home buyers, I put some books up in the closet on a shelf to lessen then initial impact.  They won't be seen, but they are not in the trash or donated.  Maybe at some point I will be able to part with them, but not now.  I was also crushed to see that a textbook from college is currently worth $.01 on Amazon.  I got it for $50.  The current edition is $95.  Note to Self-sell upon finishing the course.  I thinking about taking a bunch of books to a used book store.  I would get a trade in amount for them only, not cash. 

I think Karl thinks I am nuts for worrying about future buyers so much, but he mentioned tonight that we could move somewhere as soon as 6 months from now. We just don't know. Also, when am I ever going to have someone willing to give up her time to help me sort through my things. It really helps if she holds the things and I evaluate them instead of touching them myself. If I don't hold it it doesn't seem so bad to part with it.

Karl did a little dumpster diving and rescued a few things I had gotten rid of. I think he does not trust me.

Funny rescues-He resuced some sheets of beeswax-he thought they were noskid mats he could use in the garage. he he! It gets pretty hot in there. He would have nicely waxed shelving. I got rid of them again since they were not able to be turned into candles anymore. they were all creased and mangled from 5 years of storage.

Yesterday he rescued (for the second time mind you) an empty scrapbooking tape dispenser. I was shocked. I tried explaining to him, that sometimes a thing is just trash. I could not figure out how an empty tape refill would be useful. (We were taking about when to donate when to chuck) he was going on about how you could still use it by unrolling the paper. Finally I told him, look, there is nothing there, it is an EMPTY tape dispenser. (the paper had torn off the wheel at the end) He said, oh really. What is that white stuff? I explained that it was the wax paper separating the tape layers. Finally he saw the light and chucked it for the last time.

On the other hand he did rescue a crossstich kit I started 4 years ago, and I have to admit, I felt bad later about that one and wished I had donated it instead, so I was grateful to see that again. and he gave the girls a pad of paper that I had chucked. That was good too.