NEW Window!!

When we moved in our front window was in bad shape. The seals were broken, the frame was bowing and it had moisture stuck between the panes. Because of these problems we had holes from the outside, hence me flooding the living room with the sprinkler, and we would get bad drafts, making the house cold at night. In an attempt to rid ourselves of our nasty wasp problem the landlord told us to just caulk or expand-foam the cracks; we did and must have gotten a little carried away because it expanded and cracked the window. So we are getting our front window replaced!! Yay.

This is the outside trim

It is cracking, broken seal

The window has bowed so the pain around it is all cracking.

It has been quite a process. First they had to come look at it and get measurements and determine what was wrong, it turns out that the installation was bad and there was no insulation. (While he was here to measure the window, he fixed out dishwasher- yay!) Bruce (our super awesome handy man) came back Tuesday and started taking things apart. The more he took it apart the more evident it was that it was really messed up. He spent six hours on a 2 hour job- because he had to fix so much; he removed most if not all of the calking around the window, so it was just sitting there by a screw. So the window was ‘holey’ last night and let in a lot of the cold. I sat in my room reading with gloves and a winter hat on till Ben got home.

He cut all around the window, so removing it would be easy and fast. This is why we had such a cold night.

Removed trim- this hole should not be here. This is where the wasps lived!

Removing the lining he saw that they had chopped up the stabalizing boards.

He came back Wednesday morning to give us a NEW WINDOW!! Yay.

No window!!

New trim- he even re-pained all the blue trim on the whole house because it was not the right color!

This morning he came by to paint the cauck (he couldn't paint is yesterday because it was so wet), to clean stuff up and do finishing touches. I love the new window; better to people watch through, shiney and keeps the cold air out and the warm air in. YAY- Thanks Bruce!

Notice: No trapped water, no broken seals, no crack!!

Beautiful with repainted blue!

Weight Whining

I recently got weighed at the doctor’s office and upon hearing my weight almost shrieked and broke down. According to my BMI I am officially ‘overweight.’


I gained the freshman 15, lost 5 when I came back to live with Mom, gained Sophomore 15, lost 5 when I went to CA, gained junior/pre wedding 5, lost 10 in NY (I did a LOT of walking), gained Senior/Sickness 15, gained 15 living my lazy life at the in-laws, gained 5 pounds on this new medication. If you did count that up, which maybe you don’t want to, I have gained a LOT of weight. I have been doing a lot of thinking about this. When did this happen? Why did this happen? Are my habits really that bad? How did I not notice? Why didn’t anyone tell me?

First to start with the excuses; this all started after my surgery when I was trying to gain weight, so I kept the bad habits and the craving for whole milk. I didn’t know how to cook in college, so I ate cruddy food. I wasn’t in dance and all my high school sports, so I became sedentary. I hit ‘womanhood’ and my body is turning into a baby machine. My medication gives me the munchies, so I have to eat. I don’t like to exercise outside and the rec. center is far away and expensive.

Now for some realizations; all my cute friends, who are pregnant or just had their babies, were talking about how amazing it was that they have no stretch marks. Looking at my body I have stretch marks in places I did not know it was possible- do you really stretch there? My cute cloths I have had since college are now in the give away pile. Buying new cloths is not fun when you have grown 3 pant sizes in less than a year.

I have been running at least three times a week for the past month. As I mentioned before any ounce of athletic ability I used to have is now dried up and in a corner. The park across the street from us is .6 miles all the way around. I speed walk around once and then run/jog, about as slow as a speed walk but with more vigor, around once. So I figure I am doing about a mile a day- way more than I could do when I started. I was talking to Ben and he asked if it was really hard for me. Not really, I have gotten strong enough to do the mile. Then he said that to loose weight I needed to do MORE than was easy-Oh man!

I moved all, if any, of our junk food to the very bottom shelf in our pantry (Ben is not a fan of this, by the way) so that it is not what I see when I go for a snack. I tried tracking my food at an online calculator and found that even on the days that I am trying really hard and really focusing on what I eat, I am over my daily allowance and way over my weight loss allowance. Then I get depressed and eat red vines for lunch; that is one that I can’t really ‘excuse’ away.

Now it brings me to, how did I not notice this downward spiral? I have no answer for this. In middle school I had problems with my weight. I saw my body changing, due to puberty, and decided to eat unhealthy to keep my 10 year old self. After I got over this, with a little threatening from my Mom, I realized that weight doesn’t matter, what matter’s is that you are eating right, being active and feel good about yourself. Since then I have strived to be athletic, active and healthy. So when did that change?

I know that I am just going to have to buckle down and do it. I want to have children so I need to be healthy. I want to hike, rock climb and play sports so I need to get active. I want to change the lifestyle of my family. But, as a whining child might say, it is so hard. I can’t exercise for 5 hours a day, like they do in the Biggest Loser. I don’t want to go on 50 diets, loose a lot of weight get off the diet and gain it all back. I want to change my activity, my eating habits and my life!

So after this deep and personal revelation, what should I do? Any suggestions?

Pumpkin Painting with the Thevenin's

We went and did FHE with the Thevenin’s this last week. As with tradition (well we did it two years ago so…kind of tradition) we painted pumpkins.  It was fun to sit outside, talk and let our creative juices flow. Everyone is so different and it was fun to see how everyone decorated their pumpkins. Their son, Damon, got a little carried away and ended up painting his and his father’s face- it was funny. Then we sat inside and talked while munching on treats and drinking the most delicious warm apple cider. As always it was great hanging out with them (they really are some of the coolest people I know) and to get in the Halloween spirit with some pumpkin painting!!

Happy Birthday Melinda!

Melinda turned 8 this week and we were so excited to share her birthday with her.  We get together with the Newson’s often for Sunday dinner, but it just seems more special when it’s for a birthday. She got a lot of cool stuff (most of it eight year old crafts- which she was excited about). This was also the first family birthday Malcolm got to attend- which was fun. She had a beautiful unicorn cake but Ben and Jesse had already stabbed it before I got a picture. It was so much fun to be with everyone and celebrate this special day with Melinda.

Gardening and Bulbs

This weekend our neighbors, the Woods, and us built a garden in the back yard. We mapped it out, removed rocks and tilled it. In the tilling process we found more rocks (oops) and some bars buried deep into the ground. Needless to say we did not get the bars out- so matter how much digging and pulling we did- so we put a steel pipe, also found in our yard, over it and we are going to plant a squash or something there, that will look beautiful draped over a steel pipe (haha). We bordered it was the rocks and wood we found in our yard and we are excited for spring so we can start planting. We built it now so that will be soft and ready in the spring, we are planning to get some type of fertilizer (manure or mulch) so put over it through the winter.

Because I was already covered in dirt I decided to plant my bulbs. My front flower garden has been so sad and pathetic this year. I got plants but they mostly died, due to the dry direct beating sunlight, and so it just looked like a dirt/weed garden. I am determined not to repeat that disaster this year. I bought 90 daffodil bulbs at Costco (great price for a lot of bulbs) and traded some of them with the neighbors to get some tulips bulbs. In total I think I planted about 80-90 bulbs in the two gardens by my front door. I am really excited to see what happens in the spring; I got a pack of daffodils that would grow all spring, summer and winter.
(I was going to take a picture of the bulbs- but until they come up...it's just dirt!!)
So those have been our cool outdoor projects. They do not look like much now but we preparing for better weather, even though the bad weather hasn’t even gotten started.

A simple reason I love Ben...

Ben is CREATIVE!!

The other day Ben decided to make a big breakfast. Instead of making sausage and pancakes he made sausage pancakes. They were unusual but kind of good.

Before work oneday I asked Ben if he wouldn't mind making the bed. He went in the bedroom, said he made it and then went to work. When I went back into the room this is what I found...

I must say it is a VERY creative way to make the bed!!

Man, I do love that kid!!!

New Beautiful Art

I saw one of my friends, Michaella's, art at this Fine Arts thing I went to last Saturday. She took some holiday pictures for Ben and I a couple years ago but landscapes are her passion and she is FABULOUS. Here is her etsy page and one of her pictures- you should check it out because she really is amazing!

Musical Bliss

I love when Ben sings. He has an amazing voice and he sang in advanced choirs in high school and one semester in college. He sometimes sings in the shower but doesn’t sing in front of people anymore, I am constantly telling him that he is hiding this great talent under a bushel. The other day on the way to the Newson’s he was singing Les Miserables in the car and it was fantastic. When we got to his parents house I told Rachel and of course the pressure ensued to have him sing for Rachel, Nedra and Ron. After a lot of pressure and a lot of coaxing he relented and sang (Rachel just happened to have the music so she accompanied). He sounded great and because he messed up a little, he sang it again. Then Ron sang a piece from the Phantom of the Opera, he has a very good low booming voice. Then they made me sing a duet from Les Mis with Ben. I was so nervous, I don’t really sing in front of people, especially people with formal musical training. But we sang it and then they made me sing another and another and another. I loved it. After I got started I was no longer nervous and I just wanted to keep trying. Rachel then graced us with her amazing voice. It was such a fun night of pure musical bliss.

Speaking of musical bliss, on Saturday night there was a Stake Night of the Arts. The gym was full of artwork, quilts, photographs and statues done by members of our stake. Some of them done by people I did not even know had artistic talents. Then they had a concert with singers, pianists, violinists and much more. It was so wonderful to hear all the talent and see how spectacular all these people were. I didn’t feel like I was at a Stake Arts Concert at all, I felt like I was at a real grand concert (like those we used to go to when I was a child) and I loved it.