Healthy Living

Today I weighed in on my delightful Wii, who greeted me with a reprimand for not visiting it often enough. I found that I have lost 20 pounds since July 18th (I've weighed in between now and then.... don't hate). Veganism is good to me. Yesterday I decided to have a piece of cheesecake at my brother and sister-in-law's birthday party, and then got some cheddar peppers from Sonic (hey, I figured why stop with just one no-no?).  Then my wonderful husband and I went to Wal-mart to get groceries, and ended up taking advantage of the back-to-college sales to get some shelves and storage containers for the guest room. Fifteen dollars for a three-shelf bookcase? Yes, Please!!  Then, my amazing, patient, and wonderful husband put those shelves together for me once we got home, and gave me his input on arranging the furniture and decorating the room. He rocks!

While we were at Walmart, though, I paid the price for for my dairy indiscretions- cold sweat, queasy, stomach ache, and so forth... My body wanted to take the opportunity to remind me that some things are very obviously poison for me.

Also, I got a follow-up call from my OB/GYN.  They got the test results back from my bloodwork.  My cholesterol is not horrible, but a little high (220, when it's supposed to be under 200), and I'm not diabetic (yay!) but I was at the very most highest decimal point in the normal range.  So, the nurse I was talking to was like, "You're not diabetic, and you're not really pre-diabetic.  You're more like pre-pre-diabetic." Which is guess is still a different category than normal..?  And, the hormone levels in my blood confirmed the diagnosis of Polycystic Ovarian Disease (PCOD).

The good news is that there is a success-ridden treatment plan for this.  So, at this moment right now I am infertile, but I will definitely not stay that way.  And the point of all this is not to be bull-headed and pursue pregnancy at any and all cost, but to get myself healthy, and make sure things are functioning the way they are supposed to.  Then, we will continue to wait for God's timing in His blessings.

So, the treatment is a drug typically used to treat Type II Diabetes, called Metformin. They have found that it also works well as treatment for PCOD. Other benefits of the drug are that it will help me to lose weight- hooray!  One of the symptoms of PCOD is hormone-triggered weight gain, and weight loss resistance.  I wish I had known about my health issue back when I was in high school and struggling so hard with my weight.  Even back then I had such a hard time acheiving a normal weight, even with a healthy diet and daily exercise.  I have suffered so much humiliation and demoralization over my weight- it's nice to know that I'm not just lazy and completely lacking in self-control (though I do struggle with both of those things on occasion...  Doesn't everybody? lol)

So, overall, it's all good news.  I have so much confidence and hope and this is all going to work out well, and that this can be an experience to use for the glory of the King. It's a great day, isn't it!

Here are some pictures from our last anniversary, just because! All of these were taken by me with the fantastic camera that my wonderful husband got me last year! :)

Isn't he handsome?  :)

A sunset in Old Town Alexandria, VA facing away from the riverwalk along the Potomac

The butterflies in DC were amazing last summer!

I LOVE Canadian geese!

I used the special effect on my camera where I could highlight one color and mute the rest- pretty cool!

Once again, the special effects....

He's my favorite astronaut!

Sunset at the National Zoo

Pup Update

Today was soooooooooo HOT!!! We were gone a lot of today- we went down to Lancaster to show someone the house, and then we went to my brother Steve's for his and Rita's birthday party.  Then we went shopping and got groceries, plus another shelving unit for the guest room.

The puppies were so excited to see us when we got home.  They were both very hot today, so I decided to give them a break from the heat, and I let them into the kitchen.  Here are some pics:

Guess who is losing the last of her black fur?! Boo!!!

It's All in a Hard Day's Work

Today I did several productive things.  First, we went to the vitamin store around the corner (oh how I looooove living in Garland instead of Lancaster....) and got the vitamins I was advised to get by my doctor (the special one).  I got Vitamin D, but I got the drops instead of the pills.  I felt that if it was in liquid form I might have an easier time absorbing it.  And, I got the calcium supplements as well.  Plus, for good measure I threw in a sublingual Vitamin B/ Folic Acid supplement.  They taste like cherry!

Then, we headed home. On the way, I spotted a garage sale sign, and we decided to drive by.  The third one on that particular street looked promising, so we got out to look.  David found a new lawn mower for 60 dollars! I got Kylie a pair of sparkly red sneakers for a dollar.

Then, we really headed home.  I got to work sorting books, toys, and teaching tools into a semblance of organization up in the girls' guest room, as well as choosing some to share with some of our friends at church who homeschool and have kids under the age of eight. Also, Mom and Dad came over and helped. Dad and David worked really hard moving book shelves up to the second story from the garage, and then hanging all the shelves and pictures in the guest room. At the beginning of today, the guest room was mostly empty, and here are some pictures after a full afternoon of work:

Mom hanging up some of the dress-up outfits.

The rest of the room, with not quite everything put away yet.

Notice the sleeping man... my dad worked Hard!!

The upstairs sitting area.  Where did the cats go you might ask?

Peekaboo! They found a cozy little corner to cuddle in.

Trinket: "Hey, I thought I had successfully ducked the papparazzi...."

My main man. ^.^

The entry, plus part of the dining area.

The view from the entry- love those arches!

I just love our new house. I picked out the colors on the walls, too (at least in the downstairs and the guest bedroom...)!  I like how they turned out. We have increased our living space by 250% by moving.  It's big enough that we each have lots of elbow room, but not so big that we could lose one another in it.  I feel like this house fits us better than anywhere else possibly could. Thank you, God, for our wonderful home! 

New House

We tentatively have a contract for our new house.  It's the same one as all along.  The sellers decided to be reasonable, and have even conceded a fridge.  ( We won't even go there as to what we conceded, now will we!)  And, because of the way the contract is written up, we have plenty of time (Lord willing... please, oh please God!) to sell  the house we have now. 

As always, the cats are super pumped about the coming change.

Update on the House-Buying

Okay, so this morning we signed the counter-counter-offer.  The day before yesterday they sent a counter-offer, and we have been discussing strategy, finances, and doing some good ol'-fashioned arithmetic (combined with a detailed examination of all the comparable houses sold in the area in the last two months).  After looking at all facets of the situation, we decided on a certain amount to offer.  This is after waffling for the last 24 hours back and forth between a couple of different bid ideas, but our realtor Greg finally told us that if we were willing to ultimately go with the higher amount, and were figuring on haggling back and forth one more time, that we needed to not do that. 

He said that it would irk the sellers and make them not want to deal with us at all.  Even if we were offering a really good price.  I totally understand what he meant because the sellers already irritate me because of the fact that they rejected us in the beginning (even though Greg told us not to take it personally...).

So we decided to go ahead and offer the slightly higher bid, and now we have both signed the offer contract and sent it in.  All this after much discussion and a three-way conference call between Greg, David, and Me.  (And I'm the one who figured out how to do that- how exciting!)

The good news is that if they take this bid then it will end up financially meeting all of our criteria (as in, not exceeding any of our limits) that we had discussed beforehand.  And they said they would throw in their dining set and matching hutch and refrigerator at no extra cost.  Happy dance!

All of this has been pretty nerve-racking for me.  I've been really nervous with the whole process of bandying around large amounts of money, as well as the stress of getting our house ready to sell, hoping for a buyer for our current house, and dealing with treading the tight-rope of finding a house I like, but that I don't like too much to walk away from.  David and I have been doing a lot of praying aloud the last few days with each other, and God has really helped me to feel more chilled out afterwards.

Another positive in all this is that David and I have had some more opportunities to learn how to resolve conflict with a win-win outcome.  And we have both learned a lot about how to deal with stress and our own feelings in constructive ways.  We had a really good moment the other day:  we were driving home, and discussing everything on the to-do list for the evening.  I could feel the tension building in myself, and could feel that I was starting to get overwhelmed.  Then, we both used slightly snippy tones with each other, and I realized, "Wow, we have a good learning moment here.  We can resolve this now, or we can ruin the rest of the night with sulking."  So, instead of fighting about it, we discussed how we were feeling- that he was feeling stressed because our time schedule, and I was feeling overwhelmed because of all we had to do. We came up with a resolution that consisted of relaxing four about 45 minutes after we got home, having a cold drink and a healthy snack, and then working on the house for 20 minutes.  When the 20 minutes were up, we would stop and start getting ready for bed, and whatever we got done in that time was going to be it for the night.  We both felt so much better after discussing our thoughts and feelings, and then coming up with a manageable solution.  And we had a great night together!  Yay!

And, some pictures of cuteness, just because!

My little Mackenzie (Mickey-mack)

Gizmo being wild and crazy

Picture Journal of the Painting Process

Here are the pictures I promised of the house while it was being painted yesterday.

The living room with the furniture from the master bedroom.

The kitchen with stuff from the master bedroom and guest room.  And paint.

The hallway with our headboard from our bed.  I was glad for the opportunity to dust it off in detail.

The guest room as it was being painted.

Another angle on the guest room.

The master bedroom being painted. Do you see the transient stereo from the corner? We totally had a salsa manana.

The master bedroom once it was finished.

Our nice, clean hallway.  We haven't finished painting it yet- that's our project for tonight.

The finished guest room.  I am so happy with it!

I also want to add, just in case I didn't mention it yet, that the process of sorting, packing, cleaning, and preparing these two rooms was taken on by The Man himself: my wonderful husband, David.  He rocks!

Continuing House Renovation

Well, it's time for an update on everything going on at El Casa.  We have finally finished putting the kitchen back together, including painting the new wall, scrubbing the floor, and then putting the stove back in.  It looks really pretty now.  The beginning of this week was not so productive because I came down with the stomach ick on Monday evening and only began feeling back to normal yesterday.  The good thing is that I finally got to catch up on my rest, and I lost 6 pounds in 3 days.  Plus, David was able to focus only on his work, which helped him to get a lot done on his job without the added stress of doing house repairs after getting home in the evening.  Note to self: it's okay to take a night off every now and then.  Our marriage has gotten a lot of benefits from taking it easy for a couple of days.  And, I gained some new insight and learned some things about being a partner and helpmeet without torturing those I'm working with.  Thank you God for teaching me.

Anyway, I was feeling better yesterday, so Mom and Dad came back down and helped us get back on track with our home improvements.  Who knew that selling a house could be so much work?  Certainly not I, apparently.  Last night we finished touching up the kitchen, including nailing the trim back onto the edge of the cabinets along the floor, putting down new contact paper in all the drawers and cabinets, installing a new door on the back of the garage (it needed one since we had some very bored little furbabies in the backyard who believe that shredding a wooden door is soooooo much fun), and power-washing the outside of the house.  Plus, I cooked a very nice dinner for every one, served on the finest paper plates (sort of- more like the cheapest possible that would withstand dinner).  We had chicken lasagna, fresh fruit- oranges, bananas, nectarines, and pineapple, cajun mixed vegetables, and dinner rolls.  Plus chocolate chip cookies and hot mochas for dessert.  I feed my helpers well.  Then, while Mom and David finished putting the final touches on the cabinets, I helped get Dad up-to-date on the awesomeness of "Big Bang Theory" (the TV show- I know, the name is unfortunate, but the show is hilarious) thanks to my wonderful TiVo, and kept everyone current on their hot drink, dessert, and medicinal ointment needs (there were several boo-boos).

The yard is looking pretty fantastic now, since our new yard guys came last weekend and took care of fallen branches, leaves, trimming, and edging.  It was sooooooo worth it.  Our house is looking almost brand new on the outside now.  I absolutely love using the power-washer.  That thing is just so cool and fun to use.  I love being able to blast away dirt and grime that have been there for ages, and seeing how pretty things look afterwards.  I wish I could just use it on the inside of my house too.  I could clean the whole thing in a few hours that way.  Hmmmmmmmm. Too bad.

Today Dad came back down and is helping put new floor down in the bathroom.  I am so, so excited about that.  I have been waiting for four and a half years- ever since Gizmo was a kitten and chipped several of the bathroom tiles sharpening her claws in protest of being locked in the bathroom- to put down new floor.  I feel so lucky and blessed that we are finally getting all these repairs done.  The difference after just having the bathroom sink fixed is amazing.  It is ridiculous how much bigger the house feels now that we have two working sinks.

Anyway, Dad and David are putting the new floor down in the bathroom today.  It's ending up being a fairly complicated process, since the wood floor underneath the tile had a lot of water damage from the leaky sink.  Dad and David are gone to Home Depot right now buying more wood to put down, and then once that is done the new flooring is a fairly simple process- just peel and stick.  It will probably be more complicated than I am anticipating, but isn't it always? ;) 

We are also planning on painting the new door on the garage tonight, so that project will be completely finished after that.  Then, if we have time, we might do a little more painting on the inside of the house.

Here are some pictures of our projects so far:

Mom, Dad and David

Dad and David putting in the sheetrock

Mom holding the trim for the bottom of the cabinets, and a view of what our living room looked like with stuff in the process of being sorted, packed, and loaded into the car.  Plus, the kitchen drawers on the coffe table waiting to be lined with our new contact paper.

The culprits of the destroyed back door.

Mom putting the new contact paper into the drawers.

The kitchen cabinets with new contact paper in them.

The kitchen wall now that the stove cabinets, and counter are back in place.

Our living room now that we are finished (sort of).

More of the living room and kitchen

Our kitchen table, all clean and happy.

The "Before" picture of the bathroom.

Dad, after putting the toilet into the tub and removing the tile.

Just in case you wondered if they had any fun....

David, gleeful after getting to play with tools and accomplish some demolition.  He's holding a piece of water-damaged flooring.  That's right- he did it all with his bare hands.  What a man!

Dad, with his plethora of tools.

Hard at work.

Prying the last bits of warped flooring out.

The destructed floor under the sink.

They are both having a blast.  Really.

I'll post more pics later when the status changes.  I'm looking forward to my beautiful new floor!