MoreyPee:The Time of My Life

Everyone wants to lose weight, right? With the New Year up and running, weight lose is huge right now. I’m one of those people who would love to lose 15-20 pounds of fat and tone up my muscles. One big problem I’ve encountered is that 1) I’m lazy and 2) I like to eat.

Over the past summer, I kept a chart of everything I ate during the day and how many calories were in each item. I was shocked when I discovered that I was in the 1500-1800 calorie mark, well not that shocked, but still I knew I had to get my calorie count down if I wanted to lose any weight.

I tried a lot of different things during the course of the past six months. I tried just cutting down what I ate for all three meals, while still having 3 meals. I read website after website trying to figure out the perfect meal plans, but I always struggled with one thing…I was starving all the time!!! No matter how many “little” snacks I added into my day, it was never enough and a few hours later I was starving. Being hungry all the time is not good at all for your metabolism, it actually slows it down, so that needed to stop.

I think it took me until December to figure out a meal plan that actually worked for me. I would eat breakfast and stay full until lunch, eat lunch and stay full until dinnertime, eat dinner and wake up ready to eat, but not starving. It was the best feeling in the world. Not only did I figure things out, but I cut my calories down to right around 1000 calories a day.

How did I do it, I found the right match of foods for me. Everyone is different and every body is different, but this seemed to work for me.

For breakfast, I make a bowl of Malt-O-Meal (I can’t stand oatmeal, but it would actually be better for me.) One serving is 170 calories.

I also like to start the day with coffee, but Starbucks will go straight to your thighs no matter how good it tastes. So, I go with International Cafe, French Vanilla…and they have a low-fat variety so it is only 70 calories per cup.  Breakfast=240 calories

For Lunch: I go with soup with heavy broth. I found two kinds of soup I like and I rotate everyday. They are Progresso’s Light soups.

If you are doing the Weight Watcher’s plan, the veggie soup is 0 points and the Italian Style Meatball is 1 point, so that is a plus. They are both under 100 calories for half the can (I like to eat the whole can, but still keeps me under 200 calories for lunch). Since both of them are made with vegetable broth and have lots of veggies in them, I get a good chunk of my daily vegetables right there.

Kevin has introduced my taste buds to all things spicy, which I did not grow up loving. One of the best things we have found is Evergood Hot Link Sausage. This stuff is good, but I warn you, it has a kick. At first, it was too spicy for me, but now I put it in almost everything, including my lunchtime soup. I take one sausage cut it up and mix it into my soup. It gives me soup a nice spicy kick. One spicy sausage is 160 calories. Lunch=320 calories

Dinner has been getting tricky lately. The trick is to keep it healthy. Lately, I have enjoyed a baked potato with some spicy sausage, cheese, and sour cream…which is loaded with calories, but still keeps me under the 1000 mark, which is my goal. Potato: 110, half a spicy sausage: 80, cheese: 110, light sour cream: 70. Sometimes I add a cup of skim milk for the bones: 90 calories. Dinner=460

Total calories for the day=1020 (so that puts me slightly over 1000 with the milk).

That was my typical meal plan for the past few months. However, with Christmas and the holidays there was more eating and more going out to eat. My goal this next month is to eat out less, maybe only once a month and to work out more, to burn those extra calories.

My dinners have changed as well. I try to mix up dinners now, but keep it pretty healthy. I’m the kind of person who can eat the same thing everyday and not get tired of it, but some days it helps to mix up dinners and make something different everyday.

Just by changing my eating patterns and my calorie intake, I have lost and managed to keep off 5-6 lbs. over the past few months. Hopefully, now by adding in a regular workout and weight lifting I can get down to my goal weight…but more on that later.

Keeping up with the changes made around the house, it was also time to update the outlets in the house. This means changing the off-white color switches and outlets and face plates to white. Here are the old ones:

Kevin started in the kitchen many months ago, but failed to finish. I was quickly painting up a storm and as I finished I figured it was time change the outlets as well. I didn’t want to just change the face plates while keeping the off-white light switches and outlets; it just looked strange. I figured it was time to quickly learn how to switch out the outlets myself; otherwise, I might be waiting a long time.

I’m just a girl and I don’t know much about electrician or wiring work, but I’m pretty smart and figured I could figure it out on my own. The first thing I did was got to youtube and watched a few videos. I looked easy enough, I just had to put the wires in the same spot.

The first thing I did was go downstairs and try to decipher the fuse box so I could cut the power, knowing if I didn’t I would shock myself.

Here are the steps to changing an outlet:

(here is the original one)

So first, you have to unscrew the outlet from the wall and pull it out to disconnect the wires.

The easiest way for me to do that was to simply break the outlet, meaning I stuck a screwdriver in the little dips and broke pieces off and pulled the wires out.

Next, I used a small set of pliers and curved the end of the wires a bit to fit around the screws. On an outlet, there are four wires to connect and then a grounding wire on the bottom of the outlet. It was a pain at times to wrap the wires around the screws, but I powered through it and hook everything back up.

The hardest parts are over. Now it is simply pushing the wires back into the wall, screwing the new outlet in place, and replacing the faceplate.

I changed about 20 outlets and light switches out. It was a long process, some taking longer than others, but I completed it. The light switches are a lot easier to switch out because they only have two wires, unless you are changing a two-way light (a light that can be switched on and off from two different places).

Through it all, I only hurt myself one time. A small slice with the screwdriver, for changing so many outlets and being…well, me, one cut is like a Christmas miracle.

So again, if I can do it anyone can do. Why wait for your man to finish things up when you can just do it yourself? That is my new motto, but there are so many things I need to learn how to do first before I throw the man out the window…and I really like him.

I do a lot of work around here to keep the house looking good and ‘earn my keep’ as I like to call it. I have to admit its not all sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes I really have to get my hands dirty and hold back my vomit.

Two of the last clean-up jobs I did required a strong stomach and a lot of holding my breath.

Almost a year ago, Kevin and I decided to go with some granite tile for the counter tops as a new updated look to the house. Kevin, who I really love with all my heart, likes to start things, but isn’t always the best at finishing things…but I still love him. He got as far as cutting out most of the tile and setting it out on the counter, but he didn’t glue it down or add the grout. I have to say it did look pretty good:

However, I noticed over the last few weeks that water was leaking in between the cracks and when I accidently moved a tile, I got a whiff of the most disgusting, make me gag smell, ever. It bothered me so much that one day I manned up and decided I needed to just remove the tiles until we were ready to commit to gluing and grouting. Of course, this meant I would have to bare with  the smell and scrub the counter tops down.

Here are some pictures of the wonders I found beneath the tiles:

Pretty disgusting right?

Well, now the counter tops are granite tile-less and clean. Maybe someday we will finish that project.

Another one of my gross projects was quite by accident. While I was preparing to paint Kevin’s side of the bathroom, I had to pull down a light from the ceiling.

and when I did, I tried not to scream. I was standing on a chair directly under this light mind you…

Okay, so the build up was better than the result, but it was pretty gross. I used a vacuum and sucked all the dead bugs out.

So, while projects are fun and make me feel like I’m doing some good around the house, sometimes I have to do some pretty nasty things. But, if I don’t do them, who will

The hardest part about painting is the setup and preparation. During my last few weeks of painting, I found that the actual painting took about 30-40 minutes, while the set up took an hour or more.

Each painting job requires different things and the more you paint the more you will realize what things you personally like to work with. For instance, I typically only use 2” paint brushes, anything bigger than that is too big for my hand and anything smaller is useless. I also recently discovered the smaller 4” rollers and fell in love with it. It works great for trim or small sections of the wall where the large roller doesn’t fit.

In our garage, we have a large bucket full of paint stuff.

Pretty much everything I need for painting is in the bucket. The first thing I do is select my tools.

Paint tray and disposable plastic tray insert, 2” paint brush, one for each color of paint, blue tape, plastic to throw over the floor, my two rollers, and my paint can opener.

I got this at Home Depot with one of my paint kits, I love it. I makes opening paint cans and breeze and it doubles as a bottle opener for those who need beer while painting, I guess.

Next, I like to designate a section of the house I call “the painting room”. I know, not very original but everyone knows what I’m talking about when I use it as a direction..’near the painting room’ ‘it’s in the painting room’ ‘on the table next to the painting room’; you get the point.

Anyway, I set up the painting room for cabinets, doors, or anything that comes off the wall and needs to be painted. I start with a table, throw on an old comforter over that, and then gather cardboard boxes and set them out as well.

Then, I set all my supplies out on the table; easier for storage at the end of the night and easy to grab things while I’m working.

Here I have two paint trays because I was using two different colors; white and tan.

One great money saving tip, is to use old soup cans or old cups as small paint holders. When its time to do edging or corners or those areas that require a small paint brush, it helps to have a small container to hold the paint instead of carrying around the large can or painting tray. No need to buy small paint holders when you can just use a soup can. I clean mine out really good and then I can simply carry that around and get all the areas that require a paintbrush.

The next part of prepping involves taping and laying down the plastic. This is the part that takes forever, or so it seems. I have tried painting many times without the tape and have made a huge mess which requires more painting or replacing baseboards and trim. Of course, you could very easily remove the trim to start with, but that is a preference thing.

Once all the prep work is finally done the painting can start. Of course, by this time half the day is gone and its about time to start cleaning up. To avoid this, I typically try to prep the day before or set goals as to how much I want to get done.

If your project is not finished, plastic wrap is great for keeping your paint from drying out. Simply put the lids back on your cans of paint and then wrap your paint brushes in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out overnight. I also put plastic wrap on my small soup cans and over the paint trays. This way, I don’t have to rinse everything out just to dirty it the next day.

When, you are completely done with your project, then you will want to rinse out all your paint supplies. I throw away the plastic drop covers and the plastic paint liners and usually I throw out paint brushes too, but that is just because I’m too lazy to clean them.

Of course, the big question is what to do with all the left over paint or empty paint cans. I did a lot of research, in my area at least. Empty paint cans can be thrown in the garbage. They can only have 1/4 of paint in them and the paint must be dried out. Then, you can throw the cans in the trash with the lids off so the garbage collectors know they are empty cans. If you leave the lid on or put the lid back on, the cans will not get picked up. I take my cans outside with the lids off and let them dry out for a few days before throwing them in the trash.

Those are my tips and tricks for paint prepping. If I can do it, anyone can do it. I’m not an expert at all, I just enjoy making my house look and feel better.

I may have mentioned once or twice about my painting spree. I do have to give a shout-out to Behr paint, the paint I used to paint my walls.

Behr paint is thick, so that I only had to use one coat in the bathroom and it went on smooth and easy with no lines. On the textured walls, I had to do two coats, but there is no skill or magic to applying the paint. With some paints, you have to choose a direction (up and down or side to side) and stick to it or you will get unsightly lines. With Behr, I could haphazardly apply it and the final result still looked fabulous.

I used their basic Ultra white paint for the cabinets and doorways.

We went from this ‘smoker yellow’ color to this brilliant white color!

This was done using Behr’s Ultra Pure White, in Satin sheen, its hard to see because I’m really messy.

For the walls I used a color called Indulgent Mocha, and the name alone is enough to make you want to use the color. It is a really light brown, almost a mix between tan and taupe. It was perfect for what I wanted, something to go with the white trim and help brighten up the hallway, not darken it.

We went from this:

To this, its a little hard to tell with camera light, but there is a difference though it may be subtle.

This time we were given semi-gloss sheen because initially this paint was intended for the bathroom. I just happened to have enough left over to do the hallway.

All in all, I’m very impressed with Behr paint. I have used it all over the house and have not been disappointed yet. This paint goes on so well, we end up having lots left over and still have some colors out in the garage. Great paint and a great price.

What started as a simple painting project, the guest bathroom, turned into almost three weeks worth of projects. In a previous blog, I wrote about painting the guest bathroom which led to the painting the doors in the hallway, which led to painting the cabinets in the master bathroom, which led to painting the master bathroom, which led to painting the hallway, which led to not wanting to paint again for a long time.

Not only did I paint, but I switched out all the outlet from off-white to white. I was in full project mode last week and the house looks great now.

Here are some pictures of my projects:

   It’s always hard to tell colors from pictures, but here I painted the ceiling which was a strange yellowish shade and is now white.

  Same thing with the walls, this is Kevin’s side of the bathroom. The walls were a pinkish shade and I painted them a light tan-ish shade.

  I painted the cabinets in our bathroom, but went back and decided the baseboards needed to be painted too.

Here are the walls, this one is the hallway, but the bathroom walls were the same pinkish shade

  Before

  After

Before I could paint inside the actually bathroom area, where the shower and toilet is. I had to clean mold and mildew off the ceiling and then apply Killz. Here is my outfit and how I protected my face and eyes. I couldn’t find any goggles so I had to use my shooting goggles and I didn’t have a mask so I used a do-rag. It was hard to breath and my goggles kept fogging up, but it was entertaining none-the-less.

I love projects, but I think it is time for a break.

Every since I was a kid I loved to read. When I was in grade school, I would spend many afternoons and weekends holed up in my room with some good books. Back then it seemed I could read one or two books in one weekend. Of course, the books I read back then were much simpler to read, with shorter chapters and fewer pages. Books like The Babysitter’s Club and Sweet Valley High and even, Nancy Drew were among my favorites.

These days, the books I read are longer and more in depth, in a way. I still love to read, but instead of going through a book or two on the weekends; it takes me about a month to read one book. I usually only read at night before bed. Some nights that means one or two chapters and other nights it may mean half a book.

My nightstand with the current read.

Even though I don’t read as fast as I used too, I am constantly buying new books. These usually means I have a stack of books to read that never goes down because I’m always adding to it. Last night, I told Kevin he needs to cut me off from buying books until I go through the ones in my nightstand bookcase; all the books I have yet to read.

I keep most of the books I haven’t read by the bed, so I have some choices when I finish up a book. Once, the book has been read I move it downstairs to the big bookshelf in case I want to read it later.

downstairs bookcase

These days, I’m reading the Twilight series. I had read the first two books and half of the third book before I got bored and needed to read some good mysteries. I like variety and I like to mix things up a bit; I have a hard time reading straight through any series without a break because I get bored. Now, I’m back to reading Eclipse, this time all the way through and I will read the final book as well, before going back to a mystery book or maybe a James Patterson book.

All I know is that I love to read and I love having options on books to read. My goal is to read all the books next to my bed and then some downstairs that I haven’t read yet; all this before I go out and buy some new books. I’m going to have to read fast though, because some of my favorite authors have new books out and I’m going to want to buy them as soon as they come to paperback.

Saturday morning started out just about as relaxing as the night before ended, relaxing. Coffee was made and ready when I made it downstairs. The boys were all gathered around the kitchen table chatting up a storm. I quickly made a cup of coffee and joined them. Jim was so upset that they had run out of vanilla creamer, that he ran to the store and got some just for me (I like coffee with my creamer).

After spending the morning with John and Jim, we headed towards Los Angeles. We had plans of meeting up with Adam once more, but this time at his house. On our way our of town, we stopped to see our good friends Brian and Michele. I had met them back in September when we went to San Francisco. Now, they have moved down to San Diego and bought their first home. Kevin and I were so excited for them and to see their new house.

Of course first things first, I got my full tour of the place. Gorgeous house. They are still in the moving process, but the house looks great. I can’t wait to see it fully put together, and if that means another trip to San Diego sign me up.

We spent a few hours chatting with Brian and Michele and then continued our journey north to La Habra Heights. This is the city Adam, and our roommate Marty, met and grew up. The view from Adam’s house was spectacular, overlooking the city.

His driveway was a little scary, but other than that the house was great. Once again, I got my tour; three tours in two days is a dream come true!

Anyway, after the tour we spent some time talking and just shooting the breeze. Shelly and Adam, but mostly Shelly, made us dinner. After dinner, we looked at Adam’s pictures from the weekend and had a few good laughs.

Kevin and I decided to head north that night to break things up a little bit. We didn’t want to get home after midnight on Monday morning, Kevin had to work. We left at 8pm and drove until about 2am. Kevin only needs a few hours of sleep and he had already slept for 2 hours while I drove, so we slept in the back of the Escape for a few more hours before hitting the road again.

As we drove through the Mt. Shasta area, I had to get some pictures of the mountain and the lake. It was difficult while driving, but made for some entertaining pictures and moments.

Here are some of the better pictures:

Kevin and I returned home at about 6pm on Sunday night. We were pretty exhausted, but I’m glad we went. It was a short trip and a long drive, but it was worth it to see our friends and meet some new people. All in all, this was our last trip of 2009 and first trip of 2010 and I know there is much more to come in the following years.

Our second day in San Diego was pretty great. Once we actually got off the road and some decent sleep, we were ready for a fun filled day in most beautiful cities in California.

We started the day with breakfast at Hennessey’s. We all chatted and talked and got to hear all the stories from the night before. It was great to catch up.

After breakfast we walked around the outdoor mall for a bit and then realized we were all still tired from the night before. We headed back to the hotel and took some power naps. Since we were in San Diego, it was most important that we go and see the ocean, I love the ocean.

We took the Reesman crew down to Coronado beach and it was beautiful. I had been there once back in high school, and it was just as gorgeous as I remembered.

Kevin and I headed immediately toward the water; I have to stick my feet in the ocean whenever I’m near it.

The water was freezing.

We walked along the beach for awhile and then the we were lucky to witness one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It started out pretty enough and then it just turned all these amazing colors, almost as if the sky was on fire.

   Here we all are at the beginning of the sunset

This picture is not photo shopped its the real deal.

Pretty amazing if you ask me.

After watching the sun set, we took the Reesman crew back to their hotel and Kevin took me to meet his friends John and Jim, who only lived 5 minutes from where we were. I had never met John and Jim, but I had heard a lot about them. It was great to finally met them in person.

We got to their condo and John immediatly gave me a tour (I love tours). The house is absolutely gorgeous and every room is painting a different color, I tried to get some ideas for my own house. I wish I had the same eye for choosing colors as they do.

We went out to dinner at a Chinese place a few blocks down; it was awesome to get out and walk in the cool evening in January; you can’t do that in Seattle without freezing or getting wet. After dinner, we just relaxed and watched a movie on Netflix.

It was a great day in San Diego’; starting the year out in San Diego!!! Hanging out with friends and then ending the day with relaxing. Who could ask for anything more?

Meant to post this earlier, but better late then never:

Wednesday afternoon, December 30, 2009, I was sitting in the living room minding my own business, eating lunch, and watching some Doctor Who on the tellie, when out of nowhere my beloved Kevin decided he wanted to get out of town for the weekend. The conversation went something like this:

Kevin: You know, I have a three day weekend coming up and I want to go somewhere.

Me: That could be fun, where are you thinking? (naively thinking to myself Portland or the coast, or on a long hike)

Kevin: How about Tahoe? Have you ever been there?

Me: No, that could be fun (I hesitantly replied).

Kevin: Well Tahoe may be kind of cold…Los Angeles, let’s go visit Reesman for New Year’s!! (said very excitedly)

Me: Like drive?

Kevin: Yeah, we’ll just road trip it down there, I’ll take Thursday off and we’ll drive down and spend Fri and Sat down there and drive back Sunday.

Me: I don’t know, I’ve done the road trip thing a lot and that’s a long way for the weekend.

Kevin: What else do we have to do?

Me: Well, let me think about it for a few hours…I’m probably going to say yes though so go ahead and make your arrangements.

Big smile from Kev!!

(Okay this is more of a smirk, but I think its a hot picture)

Turns out our much loved and missed ex-roommate, Adam “Doucebag” Reesman was spending the New Year down in San Diego. Kevin knows a few people in the city, so we thought ‘why not drive an extra two hours?’

Needless to say, Kevin and I packed up that night and drove out of town early Thursday morning (4 a.m., early). I slept for the first three hours or so and a few more times in between. We drove all day and ended up arriving in the lovely city of San Diego around 12:30 on January 1, 2010. We missed ringing in the New Year by about 30 minutes but got an amazing welcome and greetings from the Reesman gang. We squished into their small hotel room at the Holiday Inn, which was already occupied by 6 other people, and celebrated the New Year.

Kevin and I were exhausted when we arrived at the hotel, but we had to spent a few hours catching up and meeting everyone. I enjoyed the view from the balcony and the nice cool evening. Sitting outside right now in Washington would have been wet and cold. I also somehow ended with some sort of mixed drink in my hand. Who knows what was in it, but I think I drank two.

It was a long drive, but well worth the visit with our good friends.