Progress......Yay!

Sorry....the crazy cat lady is out today and has to start her post with a cat photo.  Tucker likes to stick close to his human. 😊😻

Lots of projects going on in our household, but one big one was completed last week.  We finally had the carpet we have in our home shampooed and cleaned and they did a great job!  So here's a shout out to Steamway Craftsman Cleaning Service in Ames for their work.  If you need any cleaning done, give them a call!

Since we had two rooms to almost empty, life around here was in an upheaval for a couple of days because we could barely use the kitchen, dining area, foyer and hallway because that's where everything had to go, so we were squeezing through tunnels of furniture, side tables, chairs and lamps for a couple of days.

Putting things back ended up taking me WAY longer than moving it out.  I couldn't believe how dusty and dirty things were, so I took my time cleaning each thing as I put things back where they belonged.  I did manage to do a little rearranging of furniture also, a couple things got kicked to the curb and I see a cool new reading chair in our future.....that's the inner interior designer in me, what can I say?

We also made progress on our closet re-do.  The wooden built in was torn out and destroyed with minimal damage to the wall, the left side of the closet torn out and the husband patched and caulked all the holes so that I could put on a fresh coat of paint.

Ignore the gross carpet, it's going to be replaced in October.

On a side note.....progress with the weight loss.....down 24 pounds now since August 2016, but it does fluctuate a bit and I don't weight myself everyday or even every week.  Just concentrating on eating and snacking as healthy as I can and if I have a bad day, I make up for the next.   Unfortunately, I've completely blew my goal of yoga everyday, but I'm managing twice a week right now and 2-3 good walks a week.  It's all I can manage right now.

How in the world did I ever work full time?

It's finally happening.......

After 13 years of a master closet that I hated and that I have fought with to find a workable solution to our clothes and my shoes and purses, we are finally going to gut it and re-work the shelving system. 

This has become necessary now because we are going to put new carpet in our master bedroom and that includes the closet floor.

Our master closet has this awkward wooden built in (see below) set right in the middle of the back wall and it is wasting at least 6 to 8 linear feet of hanging space.  As you can see, I use canvas bins and baskets as storage within the built in, but it also makes the space dark and the clothes that hang to the back of our closet get "lost" because of it.........so I want it gone!

So, we need to get that built in out of there before we can proceed with carpet, but since we are demoing the closet, we might as well re-configure it and give it a fresh coat of paint, especially since it looks like we'll be staying put for awhile.

Unfortunately our budget does not include those fabulous wooden closet systems, I checked out Martha Stewart's line of wooden closet systems but I'm not going to spend 3k on a closet do-over and our master closet isn't that large, just 6' deep and 7' across.

So, knowing wood was out of the question, I went to Lowe's.com and looked at their Rubbermaid coated wire closet systems and accessories and found exactly what we need for under $300.00.

I'm hoping to empty the closet today so tomorrow the husband can take on the task of demoing that built in out, then I can paint, using the same Sherwin Williams Dover White (SW 6385) that all the closets are painted.  Once the painting is done, we can start installing the closet system. 

We also decided to take the door off the closet permanently, or at least until we decide to sell because where the closet is located nobody but myself and husband see it and although the husband doesn't know this yet, we'll be replacing the light fixture also because it's doesn't do the job.  So between the door off and a new fixture, it should help immensely.

Now days, I'm not as fast at completing home projects as I used to be so I'm hoping that we get this project done before the 16th of September when we leave for our 30th Anniversary "honeymoon" in Estes Park, Colorado.

Enjoy your weekend!  and I'm keep my blog updated with our progress.  I'm excited!

Letting Go........

Next month I'll be celebrating a milestone birthday and because I'll be entering in a new decade, there are some things in my life that I'm finally letting go of to start off my next decade off fresh.

My family has had a rough 18 months.  As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, both myself and the husband lost a parent and recently we lost a long time pet, so we desperately need some cleansing of bad mojo but just recently the tide has seemed to turn with a new job opportunity for the husband in his career and our son finding a floor manager position with Target (my favorite store).

I've had a whole lot of things taking space up in my head that have caused me emotions that aren't necessary and it's totally foolish of me to continue to let these things bother me and cause me pain.  Some have had their grip on me for years and some are relatively new.  I need to let them go and I'm working on some self-talk when those thoughts start to enter my head.

In the last year, I've had to re-evaluate friendships and other relationships and decide what course of action to take because more important than ever in my life and in this world, I want to surround myself with people who share the same values and be done with those that do not.   I'm not ashamed to admit that our circle of friends has grown smaller but for us at this point it's quality, not quantity that counts.

I'm also letting go of the ideal that I'm going to go back to weighing the 125 pounds I did at age 21.  It's not going to happen, it was almost 40 years ago and I'd look like crap at my age at that weight.  I'm letting that go and be thankful for my current good health and just concentrate on moving, be that gardening, walking, biking or yoga.

I'm also letting go of a lot of time spent on social media.  Lately, I found that whenever I am on Facebook, my news feed is depressing and I see the same damn thing posted by multiple people and it's just not fun anymore.   I'm not giving it up because it is the only way for me to keep up with my out of state friends but I'm scaling back big time.

Lastly, I'm excited about a possible part time job opportunity.  A new 75 high end store outlet mall is opening up in our burb in late October and they are having a job fair next month that I'm going to go and see if I can find PT work that will fit my needs.  Cross your fingers!

Since it appears that we will be staying in this home for a few more years, we've got some home projects coming up that is going to keep me busy over the next 3-4 months and I'll share as things get done.

In the meantime, as my water bottle says "Worry Less, Live More"

Food for my Head Part #1

A couple things I started doing during the period of time that I wasn't feeling well was both meditation and yoga.  I didn't do them everyday like I probably should have, but I used those tools when I needed to help with my anxiety and the gastric problems I'm now dealing with plus I really enjoyed the stretching.  My form needs a hella lot of work, hoping to improve that over the next few months.

I've owned this Rodney Yee Yoga Video for at least a year and I enjoy the yoga workouts in the video, but I also found myself not practicing as often as I should have because I didn't feel well enough or I simply didn't make time for it and that is my goal for right now.  Rather than set myself a bunch of goals, I'm going to take one at a time and right now it's yoga, every day for at least 20 minutes.  It's not a substitute for the walking (that I've not been able to do much of because of the hot, hot weather) or the aqua aerobics I do when I go to our local aquatic.  I want to do this EVERY day.

I found this great website through Google when searching for free yoga classes or challenges.  It's called Yoga with Adriene and just started her 31 days of Yoga program.  She also has a great YouTube channel Yoga with Adriene.  

Let me know if you want to join me for the next 30 days., I'd love to have some yoga buddies.  I'm on Day #2 today.  This Sunday, I'm taking a yoga class with some very special guests, but you'll have to wait for photos from that.  😊

Re-Awakening

Last month after having to make the hard decision to put our beloved oldest pet, Kirby to sleep due to illness, I started toying with the idea of re-starting my blog.  I'm not sure why and I'm not sure why I stopped, but when I went to find it, I was surprised to see that my last post was in May of 2016 and 14 months have passed by....wow.

I don't know where I want to go with this blog, but I did find I was better at writing at it than I was in a journal.  It was a hard time for my family after my dad's passing as my husband lost his mother just a short five months later in August of 2016.  I wish I could say that the last year has been easier, but I'd be lying if I did, because it hasn't.  2017 is working on being just as depressing as 2016 was but I keep trying to be as optimistic as I can.

Since my last blog post, I also had my first real experience with a long lingering illness which put a lot of things in my life in perspective.  I was so thankful that I finally started feeling well again, but I felt like I lost four months of my life that I could have been enjoying, and although it was life altering at the time, it was not life threatening and for that, I'm also thankful.

One positive thing to report that from a year ago the first part of August, I've been able to find a way to trim off 18-22 pounds depending on the day and am hoping to lose another 20-25.   Not that it can't be done, but losing weight post menopausal is tough for some and that some would be me.  I am happy that I'm not on any high cholesterol meds or high blood pressure meds that quite a few of my contemporaries take and I'm also not pre-diabetic which I've always worried would rear it's ugly head later in life as I was a gestational diabetic.

In another seven weeks I'll be celebrating a pretty big milestone birthday and when looking at it as a number, it's scary, but other than the new aches and pains that come with aging, it feels no different than the last milestone birthday I had.

I promise my future posts will be much more upbeat than this one and try to keep my sharing to fun things that are going on, or my latest DIY project, or the last book I read or movie I saw or a new recipe we tried.  I might even get adventurous and post a videos also.

Thanks for following my new re-awakened life's journey!

Days

Days go by
Fog follows me then floats away
Days go by
Time follows me then floats away
Days go by
My thoughts are scattered and then float away

Well, it's been 78 days since I've updated my blog...........I do have things to share or things to say and obviously being retired, I have the time but I find I put my blog on the back burner when other things come up and I guess that's okay especially since it's not like I make any money doing it but I like to think that someone out there in the big world of the internets likes reading my stuff.

It's also been 46 days since my father passed away and his passing is one of the reasons I've not posting anything earlier than now.....I'm still processing his death and I honestly feel like I'm in a bit of a fog since then.  Not having parents anymore is a sad, sad club and some have been members since they were young and others enjoy having their parents around late in life.  There is also another dynamic when your parents are divorced when they pass and depending how long that had occurred come into play also.  In my situation, my father had been married to my step-mother for longer than he had been married to my mother and my mother never remarried.   There is also a decade between my parents deaths....my mom's in April 2006 and now dad's in March of 2016.....spring time and Easter time don't hold fond memories for me because my mother died the Thursday after Easter the year she died and my father the Thursday before Easter this year.

At my age, you also start to question your own mortality.  My parent were very young when they had me (age 18), so I'm not that far behind them.  My mother was 67 when she passed and my father 77.  My maternal grandmother was only 63 when she passed, but I my mom's younger sister just turned 73 and is still going strong...my dad's side lived to be older except for his brothers.  My dad, the middle boy outlived both his older and younger brothers but both grandparents on that side were in their late 80's when they passed.   Our family is small, so when we lose someone, an entire branch seems to be cut-off and gone forever.

One of the things that my dad and I talked about over the years was both of our struggles with our weight.   My weight really wasn't as issue until I quit smoking 13 years ago and over the next 3-4 years continuingly put on weight.   I think the same thing happened with my dad.  You quit smoking, you look for another "thing" and with many ex-smokers, food is it.  Then if you really enjoy food, the battle is super hard.  Both my dad and I are "snackers" and I'm hoping that identifying

Since my dad's death, I've though about what I could do to honor him and I decided that I was finally going to make a concentrated effort to lose 30 pounds.   I'll be thrilled, my doctor will be thrilled and I can hear my dad say "Outstanding!".

So to "chunk" this task out so I don't become overwhelmed or set myself up to completely fail, I'm going to concentrate on the next 90 days to lose half of it.....15 pounds.....that's only 5 pounds a month....should be doable.....here's my obstacles

1. Booze (craft beer, wine, margaritas).  I don't drink everyday, but I do like a beer or cocktail with our meal probably twice a week.
2. Snacking.   One thing my dad and I had in common, we are "snackers".
3. Emotional eating.   This can go one way or another depending on what's going on.
4. Not taking the time out to eat during the day.   Then ravenous at night and we eat late due to the husband's job.
5. Keeping non-healthy crap out of the kitchen.   With a skinny 20 year old still at home there is still more junk food than I would like and my willpower is crap also.  :)

So, now that I've complained about my obstacles, here's some of the things I'm going to try and implement

1. Challenge myself to use My Fitness Pal every day to track my food because tracking does help.
2. I doubt I'm going to completely cut out my snacking, I'm just going to make better choices of what kind of snacks.
3. I'm also not going to give up my Diet Pepsi, but I'm going to make sure I drink TWO bottles of water to every one Diet Pepsi I drink.
4. I'm not going to cut out, but limit the amount of added sugar I consume....I'm talking to you ketsup.  :)
5. I'm also not going to cut out, but keep in check any processed foods that may find their way into our house because I know that little pouch of Idahoan potatoes isn't going to kill me once in a while.  :)

I love most fruits and vegetables and don't hesitate to eat them, I just need to make sure I'm getting the right amounts each day.

I also am pretty active but I could bump it up a bit, but I have to be careful because of the arthritis I have in my ankles, feet and neck.  No running ever, but I do like to walk and I need to start strength training again.

The husband and I were going to a aqua boot camp for quite a while, but it's just too hard to get to anymore because of what time the husband gets home and trying to rush to make the class.   I could go by myself and I might but it was much more fun doing it together.  It's bike season now also, so I anticipate getting out on the bike trails very soon.

So, it make that long story short....I'll be updating you on my fitness journey here if you're interested...sharing any recipes, workouts, etc. that have helped me.   I'm hoping that if I share here, I'll have some accountability of what changes I want to make.

Thanks for stopping by and listening to me!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

I've been remiss with my blog lately....unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, life got in the way AND I'm also working on the gazillion pictures I took in New York City that I want to share with you at a later date......in the meantime though, I'll share another recipe from our family dinner table.

It's amazing that in the same month I've discovered and made two different casseroles that the spouse loves!  As I've mentioned in a previous post, the spouse is not fond of casseroles or stews but I keep making them thinking I'll hit upon some that he'll like and lately I have.

This one came across my Facebook feed from Tip Hero.   Super easy and really good.  One of our son's friends was over that night and ate two helpings of it and there were no leftovers.  I think the next time I make it, I'll mix it up a bit and use buffalo wing sauce instead of hot sauce and sprinkle fresh chopped green onion on top.

Loaded Chicken & Potatoes

1/2 lb. Bacon – diced and cooked, set aside

8 medium red or gold potatoes - diced

1 lb. cubed chicken breast

Mix together in large bowl:

1 Tbsp. Paprika
2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
2 tsp. Kosher Salt
1 ½ tsp. ground pepper
¼ cup olive oil
2 ½ Tbsp. hot sauce or buffalo wing sauce

Add potatoes and chicken to the oil & spice mixture and mix well.

Pour chicken & potato mixture into a lightly sprayed 9 x 13 baking dish. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 60 minutes.

Top with:   
½ cup of chopped green onion
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Reserved bacon.
Return to oven for 5 more minutes to melt the cheese

Serve with sour cream.

Planner Supply Organization

I've been trying to get organized with my planner supplies and this week I dumped all of my supplies on my work table to see what I had so I could come up with a organization system that works for me.

Currently I have a decorative box that I was keeping the things I was using in but I found that the smaller items got lost in the big box, so I needed to find something that could hold those smaller items but I could see at a glance.

I went looking online for organizers but everyone wanted more money than I was willing to pay,  so I had to come up with something else.  Looking at other options, I decided to go on the hunt for those cheap plastic photo albums that I see everywhere and I found them at Michael and on sale.....buy one, get one 1/2 off and there were only $1.99 a piece anyway....cheap score!

I found a couple of cute ones!

Now I just needed to decide how to organize the supplies themselves.  I decided to keep the items from each designer together.  I've found lots of freebies to print online and even discovered a couple of etsy stores that are favorites. 

I had to cut some of the sheets up to fit in the page sleeves but once I was done, I was pleased with how much they hold and how economical they were.

If you enjoy the whole "decorate your planner" craze like I do and need a cheap way to organize your stash, try those small photo albums.

My Casserole Hating Husband

I'm married to a man who isn't particularly fond of casseroles, stews and even a good majority of soups BUT that doesn't mean I don't make them, because I like them and if I'm cooking, you get what you get.

That said, I made a chicken casserole for dinner that he LOVED and announced "THIS ONE is a keeper", so I thought I'd share it with all of you.  It's also super easy and quick.

If you're a cream soup hater, you might want to stop reading right now and turn your hating can soup heart somewhere else because this recipe does use a can of cream soup.

French Onion Chicken Casserole

Serves 6

2 cups cooked chicken breast

1 can Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup

1 small container of light French Onion sour cream dip

1/2 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

12 oz. of egg noodles (or really whatever kind of noodle you want to use)

1 cup of French Fried Onions

Prepare the noodles according to directions.

Combine the cooked chicken (I roasted mine, then chopped the breasts up), soup, sour cream dip and cheese in a large bowl.  Once the noodles are done, drain well and add to the chicken mixture.

Pour the chicken and noodle mixture into a greased casserole dish and top with the onions.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes.  Let stand a few minutes before serving.

Since I had just a little bit of shredded cheese left in the bag, I sprinkled the rest of it over the dish and let it melt after it came out of the oven.  I was also out of egg noodles, in fact the ONLY noodles I had were rotelle and bow ties, so I used those and the husband loved them and he is SO not a pasta person but he said "they go well in this dish".

The nutritional information isn't too bad either......per serving:

302 calories

21 grams of carbs

14 grams of fat

21 grams of protein

1 gram of sugar

If you decide to try it, let me know what you think!   Enjoy!

For Your Listening Pleasure

It you know me well, then you know that I LOVE rock music, it's one of my passions.....classic rock, soft rock, southern rock, country rock, hard rock and even a little heavy metal and even though I may listen to an occasional pop song, I rarely venture outside my comfort zone of music.  It's taken me years, but I think I have finally complied what I call my perfect "Best Rock Songs Of All Time" playlist.  I have honestly been working on this list for years and have had various versions of it on my iPod, but I think I have finally finalized it.......so without further ado....in no particular order....

• Second Chance - Shinedown
• Fire Woman - The Cult
• Back in the USSR - The Beatles
• In My Blood - Black Stone Cherry
• The Hand that Feeds - Nine Inch Nails
• Stranglehold - Ted Nugent
• Pride; In the Name of Love - U2
• You're Going to Get What's Coming - Robert Palmer
• Somebody Told Me - The Killers
• Black - Pearl Jam
• Bitch - The Rolling Stones
• Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC
• Stone In Love - Journey
• Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
• You Wreck Me - Tom Petty
• Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin
• Sex on Fire - Kings of Leon
• Thunderstuck - AC/DC
• Gimme Shelter - The Rolling Stones
• Not Strong Enough - Apocalyptica
• Burden In My Hand - Soundgarden

As you can see, a couple of bands made it on the list more than once, AC/DC and The Stones and I was fortunate enough to see AC/DC twice with Bon Scott before he passed and once with Brian Johnston, but alas, have never see The Rolling Stones.  Same goes with Led Zeppelin, they NEVER played Iowa and by the time I lived anywhere that they would have possibly played, Jon Bonham was dead and the band was no more.

Another note.....there is one lead singer that appears twice on the list in two different bands....Brent Smith, lead singer of Shinedown.  He also lent his voice to the Finnish heavy metal band Apocalyptica on their single "Not Strong Enough" and just because these guys are so unique, I'm going to link you up....check it out!



I also hesitated to have Ted Nugent grace my list because of how bat shit crazy he seems to be these days, but "Stranglehold" is a kick ass song from a kiss ass album, so I'm holding my nose and including it.

The rest are songs that have been absolute favorites of mine that I find myself playing over and over again, in fact, Nine Inch Nail's "The Hand That Feeds" is one of my ring tones.  :)

It's certainly an eclectic mix of rock, but that's always the way I have always liked my rock.
Enjoy!