Steele's Prayer in the Shari's Parking Lot

2/11/2010

Dear God,

Thank you for this beautiful day.

Thank you for the tow truck that took our van away.

Thank you for the police officer that helped us get across the street.

Thank you for the suburban to drive us home.

In Jesus name, Amen.


Well, the suburban didn't exactly drive us home (Grammy's van did) but "amen" to all the rest, sweet boy.

A Promise Kept and Lamp Love

Ok.... it might be more than love. It might be an addiction. Just keepin' it real.


As promised (smile): pictures of my newly painted, rearranged and in the process of being decorated living room. My purpose in posting these is to pick all your creative little brains for decorating ideas - so post up please!

View from the dining room

Entry corner with my craigslist church pew

This $10 second-hand store mirror will go over the top of the bench
once I decide what color I want to paint it

View looking toward dining room with my newly create and loved "reading nook"
I'm probably going to paint the coffee table the same color as the walls

As you can see, I don't have any art up yet. I'm picky about art, knick knacks etc.
So I'm going to keep things sparse until I find things I love.
Of course Diego will go back up very soon...

Now for the lamp love. I have been searching and searching on-line for lamps the likes of these featured on Little Green Notebook. (After looking at her latest post I may have just decided what color to paint the mirror) Anyhow, all the glass or crystal lamps I've looked at have cost at least $50 each, but usually more like $100 each. Um... yah... my kids need clothes to wear - I can't exactly be spending $100 for a lamp. So yesterday, my favorite day to hit the second-hand and antique stores in my town, I hit the lamp jackpot! Let me show you:

I found this pair of lamps for.... wait for it.... $18 for the pair!! I already had one grey drum shade ($14 ea. at Walmart) so I just went and got another one and VOILA! I would have preferred white shades similar to the ones on the Target lamps but since I already had the one.... I still need to clean them up and am thinking about painting the bases but I couldn't wait to see how they would look. I put the other one next to the recliner by the window.

I found this next lamp for $5.99!! I love, love, love it. I was going to spray paint it a creamy white and replace the shade but after getting it home, I think I like it just the way it is. The shade has a tear but I turned it to the back. I love the sweet little shade with the teeny holes poked in it.

I realize the bookcase is stuffed with books but we have a lot of books around here (it might be another addiction but let's not talk about that now). And what is a bookcase for but books, right?

And finally (remember, I told you it was a lamp jackpot!) I found two little bedside lamps. They're not identical but so close you have to look closely to tell. I like that they're not exactly the same. I'm realizing now I should have taken a picture of both but oh well. I don't like these shade so I'm going to look for some longer narrow white drum shades for them.

So there you have it! What do you think? Thoughts? Suggestions? I'm feeling like the living room is a little heavy with dark brown wood and fabrics so I'm going to try and lighten some things up a bit. I think the crystal lamps help with that some.

More on my addictions later.... I promise. ;-)

Promises, Promises

I know I should probably go to bed, especially since I have Bible study at my house at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning, but for some reason I'm itching to write something.

Self-revelation here: Some of you may have noticed this about me (and some of you know this about me), but I'm not very good at follow through. It's not something I'm proud of but never something I'm surprised at myself for. I've gotten better with age but still often have a difficult time completing things. I have a whole truck-load of motivation, enthusiasm and ideas but tend to poop out before anything gets finished. I often have a really hard time doing things like: calling people back, finishing projects, making plans in advance, making Fix, Freeze, Feast meals with the sale-meat I bought that is sitting in my fridge, doing seemingly unimportant things like posting pictures on my blog when I say I'm going to.....

For example, I saw an acquaintance of mine at Trader Joe's the other day and we were talking about adoption. She mentioned that she'd like to get together with me and would e-mail me. So she did. I e-mailed back. She e-mailed me back asking if Tuesday would work - and for the life of me I can not get up the motivation to actually firm up plans with her. I mean, Tuesday is 5 whole days away! What if I don't feel well on Tuesday? What if my kids were up all night the night before? Anything could happen! Now, if she were to call me on Tuesday morning and I was at home I would say, "Sure, come on over!" and I wouldn't have an ounce of concern about it. For some reason I just don't like to have things looming.

Now please, if you are a friend of mine and you are reading this, don't let it stop you from calling to invite me to do something. In fact, do it! Push me a little - this is obviously something I need to get over. But anyway....

And so it often is with craft projects. I'm all gung-ho about something and make a grand start - only to fizzle out mid-way through. This is why I have half finished blanket for these boys sitting in my basement, fabric cut out for this doll quilt that I was going to make for Adia....last Christmas, yarn cast on for this top, my dining room ceiling yet without paint, my kitchen ceiling half way painted, and the list goes on.

But all hope is not lost! Every once in a while I actually get around to doing something I said or wanted to do. This is one of those moments.

Before Christmas I began knitting my grandma a pair of socks out of this pattern. While I am now a fairly experienced knitter, I had no idea that a pair of socks would take SO long to knit. So, par for the course, I finished one sock and gave it to my grandma for Christmas with the promise that I would knit nothing else until her sock was finished. If I believed in karma I would say that karma was on my side for this project - or perhaps it might be better to say it was on my Grandma's side. I tried starting two hats before finishing and they both failed miserably. But tonight! Tonight, I finished the socks. Even though it was 9:30, I had to call my grandma and tell her - she was excited. And so was I.

And now, I get to start some new projects. Something special for my cousin whose birthday is on Valentine's Day and a couple of hats for some new babies - cousins Mac and Jack - who were recently born at our church. I do way better with deadlines.

The ribbing does nothing for my already thick legs -
but since I inherited them from my grandmother,
they're sure to stay up on her too.

Sofa Dreaming

This is what our sofa currently looks like:




In case you didn't notice:



Lovely, I know. I'm trying not to be too bothered about it considering, like Martha said yesterday, that there are people in the world who don't even have a house to live in.

But nonetheless, it has got me dreaming of sofas. Justin's mom's cousin (or something like that) has a business selling leather restoration kits. I wrote her to see what it would cost to restore ours and she said that what we'd have to do is remove the cushion that is ripped, have them put on a whole new cushion and then restore the rest of the leather to match the new cushion. We'd also eventually have to have several of the other cushions on the couch and love seat replaced since they are so worn and will probably rip soon as well. Bummer.

I've always loved our couch and love seat. We got them for a super good deal at one of those stores that sells Costco returns and overstocks. Sometimes I feel like they're a little dark and heavy looking but for the most part I really like them. Not to mention that the leather has made cleaning spit-up, puke, poo, pee, you-name-it when you have small children - a breeze. I highly recommend leather. But now, now that we have beautiful Bedford Gray walls and a whole new living room arrangement (pictures to come soon) I am dreaming of couches like these: (I've only listed the affordable ones here.... a $3000 couch is not in my future anytime soon. I'm not sure I would want it to ever be in my future, actually)

Carmen Sofa - Pier 1


Morgan Sofa - Cost Plus World Market



Lenny Sofa in Granite - Macy's


Martha Stewart Tufted Sofa -Macy's

Of course, my favorite one is the Martha Stewart one. But it is about 4 times the price of what it what it would cost to replace the cushion rather than twice the price. What do you think?

I should also note here that Justin and I have not agreed to either a) buy a new sofa or b) even think about paying to repair the old one. What we have discussed is taking some gorilla glue and putting a big old patch over the hole in the current one. But like I said.... dreaming....

Stepping Down

As some of you know, since I mentioned it on facebook, I didn't fall off the wagon but rather, I gracefully stepped down.

Last weekend we went down to my sister-in-law's house to celebrate Adia's 3rd birthday and my niece Taylor's 1st birthday. I grabbed as much food as I could before I left but was discussing with Justin on the way down how difficult it was going to be to stay on the diet while away. He and I talked it over and I came up with a plan which included me discontinuing the strict part of the diet but continuing to not eat the things I know my body doesn't do well with. Mainly, gluten, a lot of dairy and sugar. I have continued gluten-free very easily. I don't eat a lot of dairy to begin with - mainly a bit of cheese here and there and a little bit of creamer in my coffee (which I've also limited). The sugar is sometimes more challenging - but for now I'm steering clear of most desserts. Last night I made myself a gf brownie mix I've had in the cupboard for ages and you know what I found? Without white sugar and white flower I don't crave them. In the past, those brownies on the counter would have been calling my name every time I walked by but last night I had just a tiny square and then went to bed. This morning, a little bit with my coffee and I don't want more.

So my conclusion and recommendation for the elimination diet? Do it. You won't be sorry. Even if it's just for a couple of weeks. I feel leaner and healthier. It was a great kick-off to eating better and I lost about 7 lbs. Not too shabby. I'm sure I'll try it again in the nearer rather than farther future.

As I mentioned, our little Adia Moon celebrated her 3rd birthday this past week. We had a wonderful day celebrating her and thanking God for bringing her into our family. She had very specific requests for her big day which included sweeties (Swedish Pancakes), pink cupcakes (which baked up great once I realized I needed to turn the oven back on), Polar Express music and McDonald's. Justin and I also purchased her a stuffed Abby. I generally don't like to buy my kids character dolls - but little Abby is pretty darn cute and Adia was thrilled. And if you know any thing about our Adia, she's not unlike Abby Cadabby with her big vocabulary.

Hangin' Tough

I haven't given up yet!

It's been a challenging few days but I've been making some yummy recipes and that has helped a tremendous amount.

It's 2:29 am and I just finished up a sewing project for my niece, Taylor. We're heading south tomorrow to celebrate her and Adia'a birthdays. (1st and 3rd, respectively) I'll try and catch up a bit more when we get home on Sunday.

Just wanted to let you all know I haven't fallen off the wagon. I haven't thrown myself off either.

We've also been doing some work on the living room...
I know you're just anxious with anticipation now.

Days 6,7,8

Alternate Title: Frustrated but Encouraged

Ok... so tonight I went to the Whole Life Nutrition/Elimination diet class offered by the authors of Whole Life Nutrition at our local co-op.

What I found out is that I've been eating stuff I shouldn't be.

I don't know why this was so confusing to me. I think some of the resources are not altogether clear - I also think maybe I didn't read thoroughly enough.

In any case, I was highly discouraged when I found out tonight that I am not supposed to be eating oats. I explained to the author/nutritionist that I had misunderstood and asked what I should do at this point. He was present via phone as he was away on a business trip - earlier in the class I had asked his wife the same question and she suggested that I might need to add 5 extra days to Phase 1. Noooooo!!!! I was so disappointed - especially since I am really looking forward to adding in citrus on Wednesday. Anyway, the guy - Tom - said that I shouldn't worry about it too much and that I probably didn't need to add any extra days. Phew.

So then I come home and decide I'd better read over the literature more carefully (I really thought I had) and come to find out - I have also been eating Pinto beans and kiwi which are also not on the Phase 1 food list.

So please, if you're doing this or thinking about doing it, learn from me and print out this list (which everyone in the class seemed to know about but me) and don't stray from it. Allowed foods on the left, prohibited foods on the right.

So now that I've found this information out I'm really not sure what I should do. I feel like I should perhaps add a few more days on, or maybe do another day or two of smoothies only.

The only encouragement is that the guy didn't make me feel like a complete dork - if anything, he made us all feel like we were making great choices and on the right track. He was a fantastic cheer leader. Also, at least now I know. The BEST part of the night was that I was very well fed. We got to eat a lot of amazing Phase 1 recipes - it was more than I had eaten in days. I've been getting so bored food-wise that I was eating less and less. It was good to get filled up again.

The Phase 1 recipes Ali (one of the authors) made for us tonight were:

Grated Beet and Carrot Salad with Miso Dressing (this one is amazing but is copyrighted - so if you want it I don't think I can post it here but I think I'm safe to share it with you if you contact me)

Sunflower Pate (make it without lemon juice for Phase 1. I think this one is in the cookbook) This was so good with some other veggies in blanched collard greens as a wrap. It felt more substantial than some of the stuff I've been eating lately.

Red Lentil Dal - awesome (from the cookbook)

Sweet Rice Cereal - basically sweet brown rice, ground and cooked kind of like cream of wheat. I'm not a huge cream of wheat fan but it wasn't that bad. Great with cinnamon, berries and maple syrup.

I cooked up some pumpkin earlier in the week so tomorrow I'm going to make myself some Spiced Pumpkin Soup. The woman sitting next to me in the class also raved about these Cinnamon Sunflower Truffles so I'm definitely going to have to give those a try.

Whew! This certainly is a bit of an adventure. Again, aside from the first two days, I've been feeling great. Still a bit bloated feeling in the evenings sometimes - which I'm now thinking might be due to the beans and oats. I haven't been exercising for fear I'll get too hungry but I am considering hopping on the treadmill tomorrow. I just cannot afford to be more hungry and spend more time focusing on what to eat.

I promise I'll post about something exciting soon..... like maybe the awesome Martha Stewart Bedford Gray that we're painting our living room....

I was going to post this picture titled: What to Eat

But I guess now it has to be:

Don't Eat the Beans