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Do you remember my bathroom fix up post? Here it is, if you want to read it. I took photos of my ugly old bathroom.

Well, now I have finished some homey touches and here is the update, you can see it on Tabblo.com. I spent $29.99 on fabric and $100 on two unfinished cabinets. Chuck and I stained and poly’d them and Chuck hung them. I get a real feeling from being in this room now, it is beautiful to me now. I was thrilled to be able to do this on a budget.

Also!! I found the original door to the bathroom, it was in the basement, all cobwebby and nasty. I have it at a fellow’s workshop and he is stripping it and we will refinish it ($150). How nice it will be to take down the makeshift accordion pleated door.

See my Tabblo>

And speaking of bathrooms ….

Heck-ova Meme

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),
Tiffany Turismo

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),

Mint Scotchie

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
J-Bow

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),
Blue Elephant

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),
Gayle Eerie

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first),
Bow-Ja

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),
The Pink Ice Water (?)

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),
Earl Vernon

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Obsession Cups (short for Reese cups)

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),
Mae Leonard

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),
Fromknect Fairbanks

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)
Spring Narcissus

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)
Kiwi Jammies

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),
Oatmeal Spruce

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),
The Painting Thunder Tour

You’re Tagged! Even you Hubby, make with the Meme-in’

Temptation

Today has been trying for me. Yesterday I decided to buy a box of treats that were touted as diet-friendly by another site. Uh, big mistake. These things are addictive. I told myself I would have just one and it would be in place of my zone bar, which is my indulgence. I had both. Then I had another one after Rachel licked one and decided it was “ucky”. Bad, bad, bad.

Not necessarily bad because it is high in this or that (which they are), but bad because now I am fighting the urge to rip into the box, eat every single one and then lick the box. Maybe even lick the shelf that they were sitting on. That’s bad. That leads to midnight drives to the store to satisfy cravings. “Green beans, green beans, green beans…” I say to myself, I can eat beans if I am really hungry. It’s not working.

Even the Zone bars don’t affect me that way. Maybe it’s what’s in this treat, the honey, the HFCS, or the butter (yes, butter), but whatever it is, it is not good for me. They are going in the trash and I will have to pour water on them to keep myself from digging them out of the trash. They are wayyy too addictive for words.

Better in the dump than on my jelly belly, right?

And no. I won’t tell you what they are. I don’t want anyone else falling into the same pit.

Weigh In Day

Today is Weigh in Day on the Tales From The Scales weight loss challenge. I stepped on the scale this morning and I weigh 178. Last week I had struggled my way down to 180 and this week it was almost effortless to drift down two pounds to this weight. It’s strange how sometimes it falls off and sometimes I want to eat the whole house. Hormones.

I found Tales From The Scales back in late April, just when I really needed them. I needed some type of group accountability and Weight Watchers never did it for me. Here is a huge secret of mine, I have enormous social anxiety. It is a major effort to go out in groups, such as to go to church and to go to school events for the kids. It’s not like I am afraid to leave the house, but I get so darned anxious and scared about group things. True confession time, I guess. The Weight Watchers program itself was great in the beginning. I like the Points system, I bought and used the cookbooks, everything was great until the first week’s when I weighed in, had not lost anything and they called me on it. It was my first week’s weigh in and I sat in the group fighting back tears for the hour, trying to look like I wasn’t crying. I finally went into the parking lot and cried in my car and I never went back.

Tales allows me to chart my progress and the feedback is great. The participants have great ideas and they are all human. Sometimes they lose, sometimes they gain. There is no judgment here. I love that.

Anyone can launch in at any time, so if you have been thinking about it, join the rest of us at Tales From The Scales.

New Painting

I finally got to it and painted this today. The oil paintings are really hard to photograph because they are so shiny when wet and it takes months for them to dry, so it’s the best I could get. This one is large, 2 feet high by 3 feet long.

Anyway, this is a Bob Ross lesson and I did learn a lot, it diverged a lot from what he painted when I decided mine was going to be different. I like this one. The one photo above is blurry, but it shows the colors much better than the one that is below. This is all done with a big 2 inch house painting brush and a paint knife.

I wanted to show how things looked here a week or so ago when the trees were just beginning to turn. I just wish I could photograph them better when they are wet. If photographers out there want to give me some lighting advice would be welcome.

More photos, but you can’t see them!

Today was the day that I took another belly photo. Yes, belly open to the air. I hide these photos in a little folder deep in the recesses of my computer and it’s password protected. LOL, just a little paranoid, huh?

Anyway, I can see a difference in the three weeks that I have been taking these photos. I am glad I am taking them. I can see a little less belly here and there, particularly on the sides. It is encouraging to me. I weigh 178 today, tomorrow is my main weigh in day. I have been able to stay at or around 1700 calories a day and keep losing, that makes me feel good because I can eat really well on 1700 calories a day. The more I lose, the harder I am able to workout and I find that I need just a little more food each day to keep burning the fat. It’s another learning experience because prior to this, I always thought that eating less calories, like a lot less, was the way to lose weight. Turns out you need to eat to lose. You just need to keep it rational and eat wisely.

I have canceled my appearance at a local craft show. It was so much pressure and produced so much anxiety in my chest. I have found that I really hate mass producing stuff, especially glassware, just to sell it. It seems like there is no joy in doing a really great painting just to hawk it at a show for pennies on the dollar. People want a real bargain and I get disgusted by just pumping it out to sell it cheaply. I like finding truly unique glassware and creating something really lovely on it. But just picking up anything that’s glass and painting something on it doesn’t do it for me.

Today I am working on an oil painting. The boys are in school and I can’t wait to get started. It is a Bob Ross lesson, he’s my teacher. I need a great teacher and he’s the one that I have chosen. Not to mention that he is a natural teacher, so encouraging and such a wonderful voice.

People say that we who learn from him are hacks. So be it. But I like him, it is a shame he died so young. And because no one can create a duplicate painting, it’s mine just the same as a quilt would be if I created it during a quilting class. It’s still mine, not the teachers. Does that make sense? Can you tell down deep I still feel like a copycat?

Pumpkin Patch in The Big Woods

I tried posting this earlier, but Blogger wouldn’t let me. I tell you, I am so close to changing services. But for now I stay here because I have history here.

Anyway, this is a 16 x 20 acrylic painting on stretched canvas. I had fun doing this, I had some pretty awful clouds and a horrendous moon, but acrylic paint is so versatile and I was able to paint right over them. This is much more representative of our skies here in The Big Woods.

Hubby was right. Remember when I was talking about my Chinese food fiasco last week? Here is a rundown on actual chinese meals from take out places and what they really cost in terms of my eating plan. I guess I will be making my own from here on out.

Yesterday I took Charlie to an estate sale. I knew it was risky because it would be inside a house, but I took the chance anyway. The sale was great, it was 50% off day, but the kid was HORRIBLE! He peed in both toilets, which were dry because the water was off. I caught him at this because both times he had the door open and his pants down. This child has no sense of embarrassment.

He ran upstairs, downstairs, all around the house. For the first time in a long time I found myself explaining by saying, “If you have never seen a child with autism, you are seeing one today.” I usually don’t have to go there, I also followed up by saying, “This is about 40% autism and about 60% brat.” He was wicked.

I did managed to find some glassware that was nice, including a nice butter dish to paint, I found a wooden easel and a thingy for hanging stuff on the wall with a nice wooden plate rack attached, I will have to photograph it.

Oh, here is a photo of Charlie checking out his Dolly who is hanging from my treadmill. Not sure why he wanted her hanging from the treadmill:

Here’s a slightly more demonic version of that episode, click on it to see his eyes:

He’s a funny kid, I love him.

Today the kids are off school. Should be a fun day. I have a painting planned, but will probably try to hold off until tomorrow. It’s hard to do oils when the kids are here because once I start I can’t leave the thinner and stuff even just to go to the bathroom. It’s better when they are in school. The painting I have planned should be nice. I want to show some of the great fall colors we are having right now. Maybe today would be better to go hunting some great shots with my camera so that I can have a visual when I am painting. That’s a good idea.

Have a great day!!

Later: I broke 500 miles today on my treadmill. The kids have walked a couple of miles and I had to take off for what was on it when I started back in April, but I am sure that I have put at least 500 miles on since April.