Dieting, Again?

No, not really, because I never got off the ground (so to speak) with that last diet (or the 3 since I wrote that post). In fact, as I so often do when even thinking about dieting, I've gained about 5-8 lbs. I am now feeling really uncomfortable in my biggest clothes. Not good!

I don't remember if I've posted about this before, but I am going with DH to Laguna Beach on Oct. 12 - 17. One of the organizations he manages is having a meeting out there and I am tagging along, which I try to do when he goes to particularly nice locations. Then, 3 weeks later, I am going to Chicago for the annual conference of the national organization I belong to. After that, we are going to NYC to visit DH's son for the week before Christmas. So, I have all of these occasions coming up and a shrinking wardrobe (Oh; I guess it's not shrinking literally. If it were only true!)

So, here's my latest plan. This morning we went to a favorite breakfast place and I had blueberry pancakes, which I had been craving. Now, I must put that behind me (oops; it's hard to write this post without making these types of references). I am setting some rules:

No wine or alcohol of any kind (empty calories that make me lose my inhibitions about eating more).
No sweets or processed foods except those I deem "diet" foods such as low-cal fudge bars, yogurt, sweetened low-fat ricotta, etc.
No eating after 8:00 p.m. except for one bowl of cereal or one diet treat (I find I really need some comfort food before bed.)
Remember at every meal that the stomach is only about as large as a fist and try not to stretch it out!
Lots of water.
And, finally, a promise to myself to use my rowing machine 10 minutes per day. I know that's not a lot but maybe it is enough to help me tone some muscles--particularly the upper arms (you ladies know what I mean).

My goals are to have my biggest clothes fit comfortably by the time we go to Laguna Beach and have them be loose by the time I go to Chicago. And, finally, to be in the next size down by the time we go to NYC. I really think these goals are reasonable. Wish me luck!!

More Kitchen Stuff

This post is all about the kitchen and mostly just photos.

We decided to replace all of the gold knobs in our kitchen with silver ones.


We are thinking about replacing our laminate counter top with quartz. These are some samples that I ordered. I like the third from the left best (brown with white flecks). I think it will go well with our white cabinets and appliances.
Dinner the other night. The most deluxe tuna melts ever--made with crab salad, sliced tomato, grated cheddar, on a "Holland Rusk" (basically a piece of round toasted white bread). Here they are before the oven.

And, voile (sp?), dinner is served!

Wine, Chocolate, & Karaoke

What do they have in common? Indulgence, pure indulgence. And, guilty pleasures. Has anyone tried the milk chocolate from Trader Joe's? It almost tastes like caramel--another of my favorite treats. Well boys and girls. . .can you guess? It's PMS time again.

Another Weekend Project

We have been quite the busy homeowners lately. Our newest installation is a new light fixture in our foyer.

All of this foreign activity makes Meg a little nervous. (See the scratches in the sofa? From Meg. We ordered a new sofa yesterday, but it won't come in for months. The new sofa will have a blanket on it.)

Well, how do you like it? It's minimalist!
Okay; just kidding. Here's the real thing.
Here's a photo showing both the foyer and the dining room with both of our new lights. We like the way the forms echo each other. I think that's it for a while. Next, I would like to get new kitchen counters, but I don't think that will be DIY. I may, however, tile the kitchen floor!

New Light Fixture

Yay! We found a light fixture that we thought would work well in our dining room in the Crate and Barrel catalog. It arrived today. Here are the results. You can compare to the results from my blog post from a week or two ago. (I copied the photo here for your viewing pleasure.) We REALLY like this one a LOT better! What do you think?

(BTW, if you click on the photo it enlarges and you can really see the details in the room. DH made all of the tea pots on the buffet.)

Favorite Summer Meal

Tomatoes and mozzarella! Yum, yum. Slice up some tomatoes. Slice up some mozzarella. Chop up some fresh basil. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve with crusty bread and red wine. Yummy!

Here are some photos of tonight's dinner:

A home grown tomato.

Four types of tomatoes. One homegrown and the others heirloom varieties from the grocery store.

The plated meal.

Enjoy!

The Birthday: Part 2

(Continued from previous post.)

A message popped up on her screen: Birthday Reminder—Martha’s birthday is September 19^th. September 19^th? That didn’t sound right; she thought it might be the 16^th, which was today. She called her mother.

“Hi Mom.”

“Hi”

“How are you doing?”

“Fine.”

“I just called to ask you if today was Martha’s birthday.”

“Yes; it is.”

“Did you do anything to celebrate?”

“A few days ago, your father and I went with her to her house in Baltimore.” (This would be the row house she had rehabbed, but was having trouble selling. She almost said, “and you bought her house for her birthday!” But, before she could say it, her mother was saying, “Your Dad and I bought the house from her and plan to rent it out.”)

“You’re kidding! I was just going to say that, but as a joke!”

“Why, what’s wrong with that?”

“Well, you already own one house that you can’t sell (in addition to the one they lived in.) and now you have two and the housing market is terrible.”

“Well, Martha was going under. She was just drowning in debt. Parent’s can’t stand by and watch their children suffer.”

“I can't believe it. I think I’m missing out. Will you replace my kitchen?”

“Anyway, we took her out for lunch at Fell’s Point for her birthday.”

Yeah, right, she thought.

The Birthday: A short story

Her husband woke her and she instantly knew why. She had been having a dream and banging her fist on the bed. In the dream, she was hitting her brother. As is so often the case with these things, when morning came, she could not remember anything else about the dream. Just that she was angry with her brother—more like frustrated. So frustrated that all she could manage to do was punch him. Not surprising.

Michael was 46 and lived in Mexico. The night before, she had several email exchanges with him. The subject was the contested custody of his two children. He and his Mexican wife were getting a divorce—a nasty one. Michael had not matured into a competent adult. She suspected he had bipolar disorder or something else that made it impossible for him to maintain jobs and relationships. And yet, he had moved to Mexico, fallen in love, and married a pregnant woman about 15 years his junior. They subsequently had a child of their own. The two girls were less than 2 years apart in age. Now the marriage was in the toilet and they were fighting over the kids. Michael currently had no consistent means of support, so how he was living, she didn’t understand. He obviously had enough money to pay for a roof over his head, an occasional outing with the girls, and lawyer fees, although she suspected the latter was working under agreement to be paid later, or else their parents were helping him. That would not be unusual, although she never knew how much her parents helped him and her sister. Michael was always the whipping boy of the family and her mother was more inclined to help him than her father, but even her father was unlikely to stand by while one of his children were in such dire straights.

She had talked with her mother earlier that day and suspected that the dream was more a result of that conversation, which had more to do with her sister. (To be continued.)

Oh What A Beautiful Morning

Oh, what a beautiful day. I've got a beautiful feeling; everything's going my way! (Oklahoma)

It was sunny and 55 degrees when we got up this morning!! Loved it! Took the dogs for a nice walk. They were frisky. The Morning Glories that took months to produce one bloom are full of blooms these days.


I am so happy that our 2007 conference is history! There were a few glitches, but, all in all, I think it was a success. We seemed to get more on-site registrations than usual, so I am looking forward to seeing the final numbers (financial, that is!). Our opening and closing keynote speakers were big hits.

I tackled the grouting on the kitchen tile project today. I ran out of grout before I was finished. Grouting was more difficult than putting the tiles up (and surprisingly physical). I think I liked them better before the grout, but it is better than a plain painted wall that was getting stained with grease from cooking! Compared to putting small tiles on a small wall space between the counter and the cabinets, I think doing a large horizontal space like a kitchen or bathroom floor would be relatively easy. I will probably take on those projects at some point now that I've gotten my feet wet.

(In the photo above, the grouted tile is on the left and the not yet grouted tile is on the right. What do you think?)

Well, hope all out there in cyberland have been well. I have not caught up with reading other blogs yet, but I am off work tomorrow, so I will probably "drop in" then! Take care.

September 11th

I was so busy getting ready for our annual conference--the signature event of my organization--that I almost forgot it was September 11th. I had thought about it first thing in the morning. I meant to wear a pin with red, white, and blue ribbons on it that a colleague made for all of us in the office 6 years ago. Ironically, that was the first year I worked where I am now and we were preparing for conference when the Twin Towers were hit. Then, I went off to graduate school for 4 years and now I am back at the same place I left--albeit in a different position. However, my colleague has been there the entire time. Of course, I forgot to wear the pin. Then, I thought about September 11th again in the afternoon. She (my colleague) told me that she had never watched any of the video footage of that day--the thought of it was just too hard. I told her that to me, the images of the planes flying into the Twin Towers was surreal. What really got me was seeing the videos of New Yorkers streaming down the street in confusion and terror with dust and debris all around them. We are spending Christmas in NYC with my stepson who lives a few blocks from where the World Trade Center used to be. I am angry and dismayed that 6 years later, Osama Bin Laden is still free, but we have made a mess of Iraq!

My mom just sent me this quote. I must try to remember this more often: "Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle."

Take care.

More on Tiling

Next lesson: There's a fine line between not enough tile adhesive and too much. Also, getting tiles to fit around light switches is challenging. The tiles I used were 2"x2", 1"x1" and 1/2"x1". We do not have a tile cutter and I did not rent one. We had decided on a pattern for laying the tiles. However, fitting tiles around the light switches caused some slight changes in design. Oh well. . .it is rustic. Here are a few photos. I still have to grout the tiles, but I probably won't do that till next weekend. The organization I work for puts on a large statewide conference annually and it is this coming week, so I will be away for a few days.

DIY

Hi there!

I finally have something to post about after a long absence. I am putting up a tile backsplash behind our stove. DH and I are not DIYers (for others who are not DIYers, it means "do it yourself), but I like watching those shows on HGTV and tiling always looks to me like something I might like to do. I react to the idea of it in a similar way that I reacted to the idea of working with clay. So, we decided to give it a try on this small project. I am taking photos to document the process and will post when I am finished. Three things I have learned so far: 1) make sure all the tile you buy is the same kind (we realized 2 packs out of 6 were slightly different once we got them home), 2) be careful when pouring the liquid sealant into a container--that is the time when it might splash on your face (just a little drop), and 3) when it is incredibly hot outside, take the plastic wrap off of the tiles while you are in the air conditioned house rather than taking them all out onto the deck first! Here are some pics of the start of the project:


Oh, yes, but before I move on to more tiling, we did do one other project this weekend. DH replaced the chandelier in our dining room. We didn't like the one that came with the house. I saw an ad in the paper last weekend, asked DH, "how about this one?" We went to see it, bought it and, after quite a bit of effort, DH got it hung and working. We stepped back to see the effect. Ugh. . .we don't like it! Now that it's in place, we can see that it is too big, too dark, and too rustic for our furniture. Why couldn't we see that before we put it up!? Here are some pics: