Bathroom Redo Almost done!

Its been forever. I quit the gym and pretty much my social life in order to DYI remodeling my downstairs bathroom.

We took out the shower back in May
 

 

Loooooook at where the water got in the wall (again).

What started as a "we will just fix the shower" turned into an entire bathroom remodel. A pop in cabneit was here but it was too close to our washer and dryer that were to the right of my plubming shot here. Oh and done get me started on the plumbing and eleterical and the WALLS!

Lets just say this entire room was a mess. I tried fixing the wall, we ended up moving this whole wall section!

 See the heater on teh bottom right?
yeah see how its flush with the drywall?
Its not supposed to be, its supposed to mount to the drywall.

Then took a nice long 8 weeks to pick a new shower out. Ends up we have a pretty odd space with a "neo angle" entrance. But finally we found what we liked at menards. However, they suck, and i will never do business with them again.

So this is just a teaser! :) Expect a full fledge bathroom reno review in the coming weeks!

I just wanna give a shout out to one of my favorite bloggers Em, from Beauty and the Greek who is expecting! And wishing her and her Greek all the best!!

Free Hutch Make Over

We found this beauty on the side of the road, next to a vacant house.

And we took it! It was VERY beat up. Broken selves, drawers and hinges! The hinges were the toughest part to figure out. 

This became my 'fun project' as other things on the house slowed or i got stuck, i got to work on this gem and get my first REAL experience with trying to make something look old.

But first the HORRID varnish had to go. We spent a few hours here and there for about 2 months sanding. like i said this was just a fun project, no goals!

We decide this would go in our kitchen (which is a post for another day with money we don't have). So White was the ultimate goal. We love/use Benjamin Moore paints. Our white is White Wisp. And it nice and dull and subtle. After apartment life the last thing we wanted was any GLOWING whites in our home.

So i did some PINTEREST research. You can catch my various pins over here on my pinterest boards. I was pretty worried about staining anything. 20/20 hindsight my friends. So i took some extra paint and did layers. Then the white as the final color and sanded back down to the colors. Now i think it came out ok, but it was WAY more work than it should have been to sand down to the color.

Also BM paints are amazing so the bonded together... and i could not get most of the brown look i wanted. But oh well! Fun project, remember. The method of multi paint layers and sanding involves one major thing. LOTS OF SANDING! 

But our fun project came long! It already houses a bunch of "pantry" like stuff for us. I love the hard ware too. Its all the same except the hinges. It really needs new drawer slides, but i think thats going to be a project for another day :) 

And yes that is our shot glass collection across the top. We like it. It serves us very well right now. PLUS it was FREE! I had to buy one small can of brown paint, and sand paper, and a new piece of ply for the shelves inside. Which i can always add more. This thing is HEAVY solid wood, it was a great find, and it was (mostly) fun to do!! Experience, knowledge... 

SCIENCE.! TECHNOLOGY!

Honesty

I know its been a hot minute. I didn't want to write anymore, and didn't want to spend time on it.

When I first thought about writing a blog it was for health reasons. I hate my body most days. But i love food waaaaaay more. That being said, I could/need/should loose about 20-25lbs to get back to my 'wedding' weight.

Honestly: earlier this year i went to my doctor to talk about my anxiety. Something that may not physically manifest all the time, but i feel emotionally quiet a bit. My weight came up at that meeting. I had a follow up with a nutritionist. Which was all fine and well, mostly things i already knew. But i LIKE pizza and beer, mkay!?

My doc put me on anti depressants for the anxiety. They were...ok. By the end of this summer, i was done, i didnt feel any different. In the same week i decided to no longer take the prescription, i sat down with my spouse and told him some Hard Truths:

I hate my body, most days.
I cant imagine that you'd ever want me.
nothing i own fits right.
i never have anything to wear because of this. 

Things along those lines.
#1 thing i did was go buy some damn shorts. I had none that fit. and INSTEAD of constantly punishing myself for not getting into older clothes i just needed something practical that fit.
#2 thing i did, was admit some more hard truths:

I have not been 100% dedicated to eating right = 0% effective in weight loss
I have not been 100% dedicated in drinking less = waaaaaaaaay more fun had for me! 
I need to love myself REGARDLESS of what STAGE i am at in my body

I have some vicious white hair coming in, my eyes are baggy, my bones snap and pop, im getting closer to 30 everyday. You know what, THAT'S COOL! I have had a lot of life to live, so far! And i will say a lot of the pressure i feel about my looks comes from society, social medias, Hollywood, BUT i create that standard in my head from those, its me and my responsiblity.

So i quit some meds, i bought some clothes that fit, i told my spouse i needed support and reassurance in our eating/drinking decisions.

Fast forward just over a month later. I have felt better than i have in a long time. I am focusing on my experiences and having a good time, and choosing things i want to do and who i want to do them with. That's not to say i have had some anxiety moments, i have had two social situations, and one really bad time at Menards.

This is NOT A FREE PASS out of the staying healthy in my life. Yes, i need to stop eating a half gallon of ice cream every weekend. (frowny face) Or binge-ing on pizza just because its there. Moderation! Right now, I need to BE OK.

Honestly: I want to work on my house and enjoy it. 
Honestly: that takes up a great deal of time and energy. Read: late nights do not equal able bodies at 5am gym club time.
Honestly: i do NOT need a beer every night after working on the house or project :) even if I like it.
Honestly: yeah i still hate a candid of me working where you can see my huge gut.

But Honestly, the whole reason i wanted a house, was to work on it. And i spent most of the last year resenting that i never had time or energy. IT TAKES TIME AND ENERGY to be weigh-loss-healthy i.e. food prep, planing, shopping, gym time, research (lifting), class times at not ideal times.

I am ok. I am happy. I had more fun eating all the fried things for a whole day at the state fair than i did all month! And I'm ok with that.

Yes, i want to start running again. Read: when the fall actually comes
Yes, i want to get back into a gym routine.
Yes, i want to work on my house.
Yes, i want to LIVE LIFE.
Yes, i want to LOVE LIFE.

And, yes, I can do All of those things at any WEIGHT/SIZE! So why did i spend so much time being so unhappy??


this is just something that has been on my mind for a while and i wanted to put out there. its a bit cheesy, its a bit long winded. it may seem like a cop out. so let me say this: you do you, man. I'll do me. And right now, this is me, and I, personally, need to be on board with that.

Camping Funnies

In honor of the awesome camping trip this holiday, here are some funny camping pics



No judgement here, i have an air-mattress..



Not even sure this one is real!



realty





and because it made me giggle!
Have a great weekend!

Run run run

I have been running...or jogging i guess.

I started out 2-3 times a week, 2 mins run 1 min walk.

As i increased i hung out at 5mins run 1 min walk for 3-4 weeks.

My leg is doing really well. which makes me HAPPY.

I started running through the entire first mile then doing, 6 mins run 1 min walk after that.

So far its been good, hard, but good. (twss)

But recently spring left and summer came in FULL FORCE.

88 degrees and 1,000% humidity full force.

Here is my sweaty face, runners glow (read: red faced), and hot mess train. 

I am not Hawt in this pic, im just hot!

Thankfully my neighborhood is very shaded, but in those not so shaded spots, yikes!

between the sun beating down on me and the hot pavement killing me i was a mess!

But the real point is, i finally felt like me.

like the hardest part was over.

like i could actually enter a race again.

like i wouldnt be held back anymore.

like my anger could finally go away

like everything was fixable.

running solves everything, for me.

free therapy, man.

Also this happened this week.

This was my pace when i trained for a 10K over a year ago.

Granted my other 2 miles were more like 10:50 and 10:40, but still.

This is pretty big for me.

Now someone else who uses the Nike app, tell me if i can view other features about my run.

I cant figure out how this app works :)

Tomorrow i plan on running in the morning at home, half day at work, then FINALLY CAMPING!

I love camping! I will try to get better pictures this year!

Pink Room Makeover

The Pink Room.

Whats crazy is when we first looked at this house the room was WAAAAY more pink.

I know, how is that possible???

SOOOO PINK! I already had the outlets and lights out at this point and T-Dubs had taped for me.

WHO PAINTS A CEILING PINK!!?!?!? same color as the walls

And this lovely air exchanging grate over the door? I mean really! found out when i sanded it and painted it that it had been painted several times so they were prolly just trying to make the best of a bad situation. oh and i couldnt find one the same size at the store...of course. i just rustoleumed the old grate.

I went through 3+ gallons of primer in this room, and the next room i do, I will go ahead and buy a 5 gallon bucket.

This is the 3rd coat on the left and the 4th coat going on the right. Since we ended up with a dark color, i probably could have gotten away with 3 coats, but i was so focused on getting rid of all the PINK!

Soooo much primer...

I didn't like how our overall light grey (that will go everywhere) turned out in the first room SEE HERE 

So i started testing all kinds of colors.

After a week of those sheninagans, I just said screw it and painted it the same grey we had already picked out! 

The grey on the bottom looks blue in my photos but its really a very dark grey color.

And for the best part! Comparison Photos. i apologize if they arent at the same angle.

Who paints grates and phone jacks?? Jeesh!

The ceiling was just primed white, and i was on board with that. I had to rustoleum the air duct too...paint just randomly pink on parts of it. fun times.

I actually really like the grey in here.
So now im ok with my BM Cement Gray (top half) and i think it might be the light blubs in that other room.
AHHHHH a finished product. Took me 4 weekends Plus a weekend of 7 or so grey testers.
HAPPY PINK ROOM TURNED GUEST BEDROOM!!!

Whats Going on Lately

Man, i'm lucky if i post one thing a week anymore. Jeesh!

I blame the good weather! Everyone is out and breathing it all in. Long winter be gone. Hot summer is COMING!

We woke up to a house at 80 this morning on our way to the gym, im a 65-68 person, in my home and outside, i do not live far enough north! Today i think the pilot light will finally be put out, and the a/c turned on!

Busy Busy. I painted another room in April. Hoping to have that post up soon.
And for May i thought why not do another bathroom.

Maybe ill get it done by November, since we have family staying with us for Christmas.
Yes, I have my Christmas plans made.
I love Christmas, and listened to some music this week too.
Hate me.
Don't Care.

So our shower 'stall' came out in our down stairs bathroom.
I have to say i think retro fitting anything in a house always seems impossible *sigh*
Goals/Next Steps
1) draw to scale with measurements of all drains in bathroom
2) talk to 'the person' at home depot and menards about if we can order a shower stall to fit.

I've been doing a little running....or jogging. I got some training material from PT last year and instead of increasing each run, im doing each time for a week (3 runs). I have been stuck on 5 mins run 1 min walk for the last two weeks.
Its been rough. Its been getting warmer (not complaining). Its been hard.
I am out of shape.

So here is how it has gone lately, gym for lifting on Tues, Thursday, Friday. No classes right now for some mental reason i can't make myself do it. And then i run from work around my old neighborhood on M, W, F. And sometimes run on Saturday just for fun.

I will say this, running makes me happy. Even if it goes bad.
I feel like T-Dubs and I have a better handle on food since we moved into our house (last JUNE!).
I am glad that my injury is not flaring. Its sore but thats to be expected.
I am looking forward to my run on Friday.
And maybe a morning jog Saturday to just start my day right.

Some other things that have happened: surprise date night with drinks, food, and business time. T-Dubs bought me some earrings just because. Fell off the church bandwagon but we are back at it. Helped friends move. And starting binge watching on House, thank you Netflix.

Blue room make over

We have this room, that was BRIGHT blue and greet with chair molding.

Hence, "Blue Room"
We also have a "Pink room", that's next on my to-do list.

And a "Puke Room" - because it looks like puke. I'll have to get my professional photographer husband to take a pic of it to do the awful color justice.

Blue Room blogger fail. Not nearly enough before pics!

The colors are dull because of my iPhone but the green GLOWED!

We choose Bejamin Moore Fiji *blue and Cement Gray - which i now hate.

Once we primed it we decided we really wanted center lights. 

Before this track lighting was along the wall

See that square whole in the background? Up near the ceiling?

That's where the track lighting was. Pic Fail, I know sorry.

But installing new electrical can be a bEtch! Thankfully t-dubs did all the wiring up in the attic, I only thought he was gonna panic and come through the ceiling once! 

The series of pics do not do this justice, he was miserable, and had terrible insulation rash after! He had to deal with being claustrophobic and arachnophobia! He's the man! 

So then we had to do new electrical - which trying to do new on top of super old = never easy! 

Pro Tip: camping headlamps are a life saver when doing electrical in your home.

And I had to patch the wall where the track lighting was.

And now the finished project. doors will get updated later.....ewww gross glossy yellow, barf!

This took us about 4 weekends between primer, paint, doing ALL the electrical, and putting the room back together!

We learned lots, so that's always good.

But I am not a fan of the gray. It's too light and I want it to pop a bit, against the white trim. 

I won't repaint this room....

Or maybe ill just keep this gray and find a new throughout color. 

What's your favorite gray? Did you buy a tester first? I didn't! I need a new gray! Help!