Shred - Day 1

Oh. My. Goodness. Seriously, how hard could it be to do a 20 minute dvd? That was my silly thought at 4:30am. Now it is 5:55 and I'm sitting here feeling as if I'm going to toss my cookies. I couldn't even do most of it. I tried, but I couldn't. I had so much stuff jiggling during the jumping jacks.... I did try to at least keep moving by walking in place when I felt like I was going to pass out or puke. I actually thought I was going to lose it on my living room floor. My oh my. Now I understand those contestants on The Biggest Loser that are heaving in the bushes.

Gee, I paint such a lovely picture for you to read as you eat your breakfast.

I took some pictures this morning for my 'before' shots but have chosen no to post them. There just isn't anything becoming about them at all. Should I lose 'up to 20 lbs' as the dvd case says is possible, I'll be happy to post them with the 'after' shots.

If this doesn't kill me, I should be in shape for Boy Scout camp by the time it rolls around in June. But that is a really big if.

I think I've lost my mind.

Have you all heard about the Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred DVD? Evidently Vicki Courtney posted about it here and challenged others to commit to doing this workout dvd for 30 days. I read about it here on Big Mama's blog and here on Boomama's blog. Then I read Vicki's follow up post here.

This is the point where I lost my mind.

I left a comment on Vicki's blog saying "I'm in". Oh my word heaven help me!

So, tonight on the way home from Boy Scouts I'll be hitting Target to see if they have the dvd. I really hope they do because if I have to work any harder than that to purchase it I'll probably give up before I even get started. It's been known to happen. I'm just not an exercise girl. I stayed skinny all the into my early twenties by dancing and teaching little ones to dance. I ate like a linebacker and just danced it all away. Then I started sitting at a desk all day, got married and had a kiddo. But I still ate like a linebacker. Add it all together and you get to see numbers on your scale that you never ever thought you'd see back when you weighed a sassy 115 lbs.

My motivation is that I have signed up to be a leader at Boy Scout camp for a whole week in June. A week. In the woods. With the mosquitos and ticks. When it's really hot outside. I hope my son realizes how much I love him.

A.) This will mean lots and lots of walking, hauling my own gear around and trying to keep up with a bunch of 11-14 year old boys.

B.) Right now my technically obese self doesn't really fit in her uniform. I can button and zip everything but it really isn't pretty. I've got junk in my trunk, all four fenders and the tires. Some toning would go a long way in making that lovely tan and olive uniform look a tad more attractive.

If I can find the dvd tonight I'll do day 1 tomorrow morning before work. Pray. Pray hard. If I can still lift my fingers when I'm done I'll let you know how it went.

It's been a month? Really?

I can't believe it has been a month since I posted. I really didn't think it had been that long. We've been busy with activities and with the kitchen. Oh my this kitchen. Several months ago we had the remains of Hurricane Ike blow through Indiana. We had some roof damage from the high winds and ended up with water going down into a couple of the walls in the kitchen. Since this is an old house with plaster walls, they just started disentegrating. So, after the roof was replaced, the guys came back and fixed the walls and painted the walls and ceiling. We did the trim which is saying a lot. This old house has really nice wordwork around the baseboards, windows and doors. The kitchen cabinets are original to the house and also had to be painted. It felt like we painted for days.

Now the painting is done and new curtains have been hung. (Material $12, Curtain Rods $9, Sewing by mom...priceless) I still haven't done any decorating because I want to be really sure before I put holes in the wall. It's kind of plain but that's actually nice because it was a cluttered disaster before.

I'm actually a bit embarassed to show these 'before' photos. I don't even think I realized just how bad it was. We never painted this room after moving in and it had really become a dumping ground. This house is small, under 800 sqare feet, so clutter really accumulates quickly. I have gone through all of the dishes, cookware, etc and only kept the items that I really use and love. The rest is yard sale bound.

Now for the photos...

Here are the before and after photos of the sink/cabinet wall. Keep in mind the fact that what you see here are ALL of my cabinets. Storage space is at a premium.



This is the before and after of the fridge. The weekly calendar board will probably go back up because we really do use it, but the junk stacked on top? Never again.



Here is a before and after of the table. We do not have a dining room so this is the only place for eating, homework, crafts, etc. And yes, that is a tv sitting on the table. Not one of my prouder moments. Oh, and these are from different angles. You aren't losing your mind.



This is the closet off the kitchen. It was a disaster! I'm trying to turn it into a pantry. We put a set of shelves in there and I'm trying to organize all the food items. I still need to do some work on this but it looks much better than it used to.




So, that's it. My 'new' kitchen! I'll have to take some more photos after the decorative stuff is up. I have a plate rack that I want to hang which will hold my grandmother's Blue Willow china. I think it will look nice with Granny's teapot which is sitting on top of the fridge. I have some other items that match the plate rack that will go in the room too. My mother and I are searching all of the consignment stores for a smaller table and chairs. I'm hoping to find a drop leaf table that will be a lighter color and not take up so much room. It may take a while to find just what I want. Then I can get a pretty table cloth and start displaying my pretty white Pfaltzgraff that is currently hiding in a cabinet.

There is so much to do but I'm really loving the sunshiney yellow walls. They sure do wake us up in the morning. Now we just have to redo the rest of the house....