May Showers!!

It's May and it's raining!  And I LOVE it!!  I always think I should move to Washington State, but then I wonder if I'd get tired of the rain, like I get tired of the stupid sun shining ALL the darn time.  Probably.

Luckily, it did not rain last Saturday, as that was Prom Night!  In fact, it was a little on the warm side, but not hot.  The Fish and her boyfriend had been looking forward to it for several weeks now.  I spent last week being a tailor, a cobble, a jeweler, and a photographer.  Well worth it.  Fish's dress needed to have the sleeves shortened, so I took on that project Thursday night.  I managed to get them hemmed to the right length without incident.  Meaning I didn't sew the sleeves shut or cut the wrong part of the dress!  Thank you to my Home Ec teacher back in the day and my Momma who taught me to sew.  :)  Then her shoes needed a new hole bored into the strap because they were too loose.  Thanks to Husband for having appropriate tools for this venture.  Then we had ordered a "bubble" necklace off of Etsy and it finally arrived from China. Really nice and fairly fast shipping considering the origin.  We had to dismantle the dangly parts of the necklace, as it went too far down her neckline to work as is.  I took two of the dangly things and made earrings for her.  Aren't I clever??!!  The photography part was easy.  Last year, we went to Quail lakes to take pictures, but that place was mobbed with hundreds of teenagers and their parents.  This year, we decided to go to Harlan Ranch, which is pretty close to us.  Here are some of the results:

The kids had such a great time!  This year was way better for Fish.  Last year she had a week to get ready for Prom and she went with a foreign exchange kid that she barely knew.  The boyfriend is a pretty nice kid. We like him, we like his parents, and he treats the Fish very well.  

I had so much more to post, but have run out of time.  I guess that will be saved for a later time.  Sorry Mom.  Ha ha!!

The Weekend Project

Husband took the little Fish fishing on Saturday.  I decided that was a prime time for my next project.  My list is getting really long and I don't get too many opportunities (or motivation...ha ha!).  I decided it was time to tackle the miniature bathroom that Fish and I share every morning.  I had bought paint a couple of weeks ago and wasn't completely sure that I had made the right choice on color.  My house is a rental, so the interior is fabulous flat yucky white/cream.  Every room is the same color.  Of course, last year, we painted Fish's Tiffany Blue dream room and over winter I painted the bedroom a camo beige.  Couple of weeks ago, I tackled the main bathroom, which got awesome compliments this weekend.  Yay!!  So, mini bath it was.

Here are the before and afters:

Awful picture...blurry, but the color is blah!

Love, love, love the new color!

The next set shows what I took out.  Yeah, I'm not a fan of towel bars.  Especially ones that you it your elbow on every morning when you are getting ready for work.  The handicapped bar had to go to.  That just got in the way of all sorts of things.  

Towel bar, handicapped bar...the bathroom is tiny.  I don't need any more obstacles!

No more bars!!  Over the door hook on the shower for drying off.
Easily grabbed from within the shower.
Genius!!

Still need to put up some hooks for the appliances, but so much cleaner!

I didn't take a picture, but I spray painted the base of the light fixture (while it was still attached to the ceiling) to cover the rust.  I also went with brown and cream accents to go with the wall color.  Here's a picture of the wall in progress.  You can see the difference in the color.  

This was still in the "I don't know about this color stage".

Best picture right here:

My color inspiration!  Really!

The Fish really loves the color, but of course, this is in her color palette.  Close to Tiffany blue you know.  I also love it.  I got ready in there this morning and it felt fresh and clean.  Sort of energizing.  Dumb?  Maybe, but I like it!  

On a fitness note, Husband and I got up at 5 A.M. (REALLY!!!!) and ran a mile.  Only a mile?  Yes.  I'm pretty sure I might have died if it had been more.  Maybe not.  Something to be said for running in the cool, dark, early morning hours.  No cars, no pollution, no hot sun.  Just a couple of dogs that barked, wondering what was going on outside their homes.  We liked it so much, we are going to do it again tomorrow!  Okay, so part of us is doing it because we are feeling fat.  I literally ate 3 bags of chips all by myself this weekend.  It was a major chip fest!  BBQ both days this weekend with friends!  Life is good!

Bah Humbug!

Yep, that's how I feel today.  I did not run last night as planned.  My meeting went way too long (I really hate sitting on my bum that long listening to blah blah blah) and by the time I got home, I was hungry!!!!  Husband made the most delicious Cajun chicken last night (combo of chipotle BBQsauce & Phil Robertson's Cajun spice) and by the time I was done eating, all thoughts of running had vanished.  I was good and didn't eat any dessert last night though.  One of these days, I really ought to get out and do a little running.  November will be here before I know it and I'll be walking 11.1 miles!  Ha!!

In other news, there was some talk about us moving out of our house recently.  We love the house and the location, but the fact that everything was breaking or simply not functioning any more was getting to be very tiring.  Having to be home every day between 8 and noon or noon and 4 pm waiting for repair people also gets old very quickly.  I think we may be at the end of the repair road for now.  At least I hope so.  New dishwasher, garage door opener, water heater, septic pumped twice, new septic drain, and yard clean up.  Oh wait, I nearly forgot about the oven!!  The guy is supposedly coming today to look at that.  I'm hoping that its an easy fix for that too, but the way things are going, its gonna be stupid.

Here's something sort of cool though.  I came across this photo on Pinterest:

I didn't do exactly the same thing a couple of weekends ago, but I did something super similar:

You can see my towel hooks in the reflection of the mirror.  So yeah, sometimes I can do some cool things!  

Chubby chubby no no!

Okay, for those of you (mom) who do not watch high-brow television shows like Wife Swap, that title refers to last week's episode.  The show swapped a "fat" couple with a fitness fanatic.  The fitness fanatic, also referred to by us as "the bitch" called the other couple fat, which they were and held up a sausage or something like that and called it a "chubby chubby no no."  I honestly thought the fat couple had a much more normal relationship and treated their kids a lot better, although they claimed that because they were Italian, they ate a lot and the 26 year old son was allowed to still live at home.  Anyway, I'm getting super off topic here, which I tend to do.

My topic for today was actually going to be success in weight loss!  So, last week, I decided that I could no longer be a chubby chubby and that fast food and other not so good for me foods were a definite no no.  I looked up all sorts of cleansing drinks as I have heard that some of them are pretty good at actually cleaning out ones toxins.  I settled on this one:

This is the recipe:

1 half cucumber, sliced

1 tangerine, cut up

1 half grapefruit, sliced

3 or 4 mint leaves

Pour water over these ingredients and let steep several hours.  Drink 8 ounces before every meal for 3 days.

This was actually an amazing concoction.  It didn't taste amazing.  In fact, it tasted a bit like dirty cucumber water, but the mint sort of helped and it was palatable.  Both Husband and I drank it religiously for three days and I'm pretty sure I haven't been to the bathroom that many times to pee in my entire life.  Holy cow!  The result was pretty nice though.  Three pounds in three days.  Now, I know this was water weight, but the stuff seems to curb your appetite, which helps to get a jump start on the whole eating better and healthier phase.  My stomach didn't yell at me as much as usual.  I found this, which explained the whole hunger thing:

This is me.  

So, then began the whole eating better foods thing.  With the exception of a frenzied brownie ice cream sundae due to a crappy work day, we have managed to eat good food.  Lots of chicken, pork, and fish.  One of Husband's friends gets to travel and hunt (lucky!) and went to Alaska.  Tis was one of his trades for our chicken eggs:

Alaskan salmon

I've been visiting my Hmong friends around the corner and picking up bags of their vegetables.  They are fresh and cheap!  A bag of bok choy is $1 and squish (squash to most people) is $2 a bag.  Strawberries are always a good purchase out there too, but they go bad kind of fast.  Guess that's what you get with fresh-fresh vegetables.  

So, all of this hard work has been paying off.  I'm down to 149 and I was able to get into one of my favorite thrift store finds today.  I found a designer skirt at the Salvation Army a while back of 50% off day and paid only $6 for it!  I paired it with a sleeveless top and some fancy flip flops:

I look skinny!!  Now, I just need to get this skinny-ness toned up.  My plans of starting marathon training yesterday got derailed by a bout of irritation and slight depression over the retarded septic situation and out of control yard at my house.  It is being worked on ever so slowly, but it is really an annoyance of epic proportions.  Hopefully Hose-A will make some sense of the yard today and be able to get things cleaned up.  Then maybe I can focus on the vegetable garden that is just filled with our neighbor's overflow of winter wheat!  Ugh!!!!  

Back to work I go now.  It's been an alphabet soup sort of day.  Lots of meetings with acronyms.  SST, PLC, and to wrap it up, IEP for SB.  Think I'll try for a run after school.  Or would that be a RUN.  :)

Audrey, Tiffany's and the Fish

As promised, my thoughts on Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and some thoughts about the Fish.  First of all, Audrey Hepburn has been one of my favorite and most loved actresses since I was a young girl.  No matter what others say, I feel like she always presented herself as a classy and talented chick!  Her style was impeccable in my young eyes and I thought she was, hands down, the most beautiful woman alive.  Looking back now, I still see her classic and timeless beauty and her style still influences people today.  Here are some of my favorite photos of Audrey:

Breakfast at Tiffany's

This one reminds me of my mom.  :)

Love the napkin hat!!

She makes even a cowboy hat look elegant!

Older, but still stunning!

Such a beautiful woman in my opinion, both inside and out.  I always liked, too, that she could make fun of herself and act silly.  A quality that I admire.

I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's (for about the millionth time) with the Fish and her boyfriend the other night. What a trooper he was!  The question came up as to what Holly Golightly's real "job" was in the movie.  This came after she talked about getting $50 for the Powder Room.  We talked about it and came to the conclusion that most people have come to, that Holly was a high class escort.  Thank God, the movie was made in the 60's, so innuendo and subtlety was still in effect.  If that movie was "re-made" and let's hope no one ever does, it'll be filled with language, adult nudity, and sexual scenes.  Now don't get me wrong, I don't mind that stuff in my movies.  In fact Hangover is one of my favorite movies to date and I am eagerly awaiting the third one, but I love the way some of those older movies were made.  You actually had to think and wonder a little.  Aaaahhh good old classic movies.  I watched Splendor in the Grass the other day with Natalie Wood.  Another great movie.  This summer, the Fish and I plan to watch as many old movies as we can.

I suppose its time to start working today.  Reality.  Boo!

Numbers

153.6, 13, 13.1, 2.5, 7, 3600, 7200, 2, 36, 600,000, 900,000, 0, 22, 37, 3

153.6-  What I weighed this morning.

13-  number of pounds to lose by summer

13.1-  number of miles I want to run in November

2.5 (that's 2 point 5)-  number of miles I might be able to run right now

7-  number of months to train

3600-  the number of dollars we might not be making this summer due to the district's "nepotism rule"

7200-  the number of dollars we'd planned to make this summer, so Husband can get a bigger bass boat

2-  the number of weeks left before testing

36-  the number of students annoying me today

600,000-  the number of dollars I need to buy my dream/retirement home in the Delta this year 

900,000-  the number of dollars I will need in two years to buy the same #@#$#@! house

0-  the number of extra dollars I have to spend this month

22 and counting-  the number of texts from my Husband today that at least makes me happy  :)

37-  days left of the school year

3- months of vacation!

Aaaah, I knew I could bring it back around to a happy note!  Happy Monday.  Only 6 of those bad boys left this year!  Woo hoo!!

Project Complete!!

Oh my goodness!  The ultimate procrastinator (that's me for anyone other than my mother reading this!), managed to get one of the big projects done on my list!  Yay me!!!!

Last weekend, Husband went to the Delta to check out the fishing at the Tracy Marina.  He and his friend, G, are fishing a tournament there this weekend, and he wanted to see where good spots were.  Luckily, he found some good fish on his excursion, as seen below:

6 plus pounds!!  Yay!!

So, while Husband was off catching fatty lunk lunks, I decided to attack the disgusting bathroom as seen in my last post. I had already purchased paint, new towels, new rugs, some towel hooks to replace those lame bars, a basket to hold stuff, and a new light fixture.  I wanted to find a floating shelf at a yard sale (Target had some for $40...tooo much!), but my previous efforts did not pan out.  

I decided a large Starbucks was in order, so I went.  I passed a yard sale sign on my way home and followed it.  These people lived in the middle of a country area and I almost cancelled my adventure, since it seemed I was following an endless string of signs.  When I ot there, there were two yard sales.  The first had nothing of interest, but jackpot at the second!!  They had not one, but two (!!!!!!) white floating shelves.  How much you say?  Five dollars for both?  SOLD!!  Back home to get started.

The night before, I had washed the walls with TSP.  The walls had a lot of mildew on them and there were some weird other stains, that I'm sure had to do with water.  There were also 2 spots that I had to patch with wall patching stuff, where the wall was literally crumbling away.  A little disturbing, but oh well.  

Painting was easy and quick.  The room is luckily fairly small and there are few obstacles to getting paint on the walls and ceiling.  My arms and shoulders were super tired after, but I got both coats of paint done before noon!  I realized that the shower rod was a complete disgusting mess, so while the paint was drying, I went to Walmart and got a new one that required no hardware!  Yay!!  The only problem, was that the directions were on the back of the label, that would not come off in one piece.  In fact, it came off in confetti sized bits and made me a little angry.  I got it all figured out though and shower curtain was restored to the tub/shower.   Later in the afternoon, I replaced the towel bars (that were ridiculously rusted), and hung the new floating shelf.  That was a test of willpower and patience.  Willpower to resist the urge to throw the darn thing across the room due to not being able to match up where the holes and the screws were.  Ugh!!!!!  Finally got it hung with little incident.  

Towel hooks installed, so new towels up!  New basket filled with wipes and spray!  Cute things and decor on the floating shelf (not on my counters anymore) and razor basket cleaned out and on the counter.  Toothbrushes now live in the medicine cabinet.  I read somewhere that less germs will get on them that way, resulting in less illness in the house.  THAT would be nice.

Speaking of illness...  The Fish has a nasty case of mono.  I have never seen this kid so tired and so sick before.  While she can typically sleep for 12 hours, she was sleeping 20 hours!  She decided to go to work though, since it is only a 4.5 hour shift.  Saturday, she came home and wanted to go to Big Hat Days, which on a busy Saturday afternoon, is a ridiculous maze of people.  After warning her that she'd get tired, we went.  We had to park in the outer boonies and by the time we got halfway through the first block, she was ready to go home.  Home we went.  Her boyfriend came over for dinner and they played Wii for a while.  He pretty much kicked her butt and then she made him watch 2 Say Yes to the Dresses and we watched Breakfast at Tiffany's.  I will be reviewing and commenting on Audrey Hepburn and that movie in a later post!  It is one of my all time favorites!!  Anyway, I figure the kid either really likes her or felt badly about beating her so badly in Wii that he watched all these girly things!  Ha ha!!  He's a nice kid.  

Okay, so back to the business of the bathroom re-do!  Paint-check!  Towel hooks-check!  New shower curtain bar, rings, and liner-check!  Rugs and new towels-check!  New mirror?  Yes, indeed!  Here is where Pinterest came to the rescue!  I had seen a post about either bordering an existing mirror with crown molding or replacing the mirror with an old vintage style framed mirror.  I chose the latter, as I have had an old antique mirror just collecting dust out in the garage.  That got put up Sunday morning and I tried to change out the lighting, but it just didn't look right in the bathroom.  Too fancy???  Ha ha!!  I opted for spray painting the fixture to match the towel hooks and we are good to go.  Here are before and afters:

I have no words.

The paint looks fresh and I love the mirror!!

Now for the other side:

You can SEE the rust on the shower curtain rod.  EGH!!

Extra hook to the left there for the towel you actually use!

And finally:

Small, but functional and cute!!

Next on the agenda?  The little ridiculous bathroom.  The plumbing got fixed in there and it is completely functional now!!  It is the same original color as this one was.  "Dingy Cream" I believe it is called.  The tile in there is sort of orangy and I opted for a minty blue to paint there.  I had hoped to do that this weekend, but I think fishing is going to trump home re-dos!

I did manage to get the Fish out to Big Hat Days.  We went Sunday around 9 am, before people could have spent too much time in the Beer Garden.  She made it through both sides of 4 blocks of random craftiness.  Then she went to work, after which she collapsed with sheer exhaustion.  She finally made it back to school Wednesday.

I celebrated the completion of the bathroom with a lovely gift I received Saturday morning pictured below.  

Thanks mom and dad!!

My next post will be dedicated to Audrey Hepburn, my daughter's infatuation with her, and the movie Breakfast at Tiffany';s.