Our home-painting masterpiece...sorta

I finally got around to uploading some work-in-progress pictures of our house. We've painted the living room, dining room and kitchen. I LOVE the way the colors turned out. Painting was a giant PITA, but I'm glad we did it. It makes out house feel more like our own. We're about 80% unpacked, but I'm missing a light fixture in the dining room and have yet to hang any pictures on the wall. I wonder how long it'll take me to get around to that..

Dining Room before...

Dining room after....Chalky Blue (Pittsburg Paints)

Living Room before...

Living Room after...the green is Cavern Moss (Pittsburg Paints) and I have no clue what the neutral color is, but it's also by Pittsburg Paints

Kitchen before (view#1)

Kitchen after (view #1) The fridge didn't change colors, I swear, it's just the lighting!

Kitchen before (view #2)

The walls are a little darker than this picture shows...I'm in love with the color!

Kitchen before (view #3)

Kitchen after (view#3)

We're eventually completely re-doing the guest room (ripping out carpet and replacing windows) but that won't be for a while...our next "big" project will be refinishing the walls in the stairwell going upstairs and replacing the flooring on the landing upstairs. I'm going for new hardwoods (it's only about 5x8 area) and Keith is pushing to just re-do the planking flooring that's already there...we'll see how that goes! :)

Our house!

Because I have zero patience to post all the pictures of our house on my blog, here's a link to the bio I made for the Nest.

Enjoy!!

http://thehayeshome.googlepages.com/home

Oh paint, how you frustrate me!

So, Keith and I are closing on our house next week (wahoooo!!!) which means we'll be painting next weekend.

Ugh. Have I mentioned how much I despise picking out paint. I knew I wanted a light "warm" sage green color for the kitchen since it'll go nicely with the cabinets and the counters. What I didn't know is that there are 37 different types of "light sage green". Arrrgh. And don't even get me started on trying to pick colors for the dining room and living room.

After some much appreciated advice from some fellow Knotties/Nesties, I'm off to Lowe's and Menard's to pick up some paint samples and paint on posterboards. Then it's off to the house to hold the painted posterboards up in the different rooms and decide which ones to use.

Here's hoping!!

C25K workouts -- FAIL.

Yep, I've done one C25k workout in two weeks. Fail.

Ugh. I've got to get over whatever funk I'm in. I took Harley for loooong walk yesterday and it felt great. We did just under 2 miles and my body feels it today. Our road is a lot more hilly than I remember.

I haven't signed up for it yet, but I'm aiming to run in the Cheetah Chase 5k at our local zoo in late July.

I've got to do this...my BHM girls are counting on me! But I'm losing motivation in a serious way...it just sucks because this lack of motivation and feeling of disappointment in myself is so familiar...and I'm so tired of it.

I'm running a (gulp) 5k?!

So, since I've joined the 20/20 challenge, I was placed in a buddy group with 4 other amazing women (Hi Misha, Joy, Nicole and Anna!!!) We're calling ourselves "Becoming Hot Mama's" because we all have the same common goal of wanting to be a healthy weight and living a healthy lifestyle before TTC.

We all decided to start the C25K program....and we're all going to be running 5k's in our respective hometowns this spring!

I'm not a runner. I never have been, not even when I was active and in-shape in my high school years. Sure, I'd run the 1-mile "warm-up" before cheerleading practice with no problem, but I never enjoyed it. And here I am, with a TON of weight to lose and I'm committing to run a 5k in a few months....am I nuts?!

I think I'm nuts, but I've gotta do it. The girls in our buddy group are super supportive and way motivational. Now, I just need to find a local 5k! The only two I've found are either 1) while I'm on my cruise or 2) not until July 27th! I don't want to wait that long, but I'll run that one if I have to. It's at our local zoo, so that might make for some fun scenery!

Now it's time to lace up my running shoes, grab the dog's leash and hit the pavement!

RIP "Stinky" Zekey

Today my parents had to put their 11 year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, Zeke, to sleep. We got him when I was 13 years old, and he affectionately became known to me as "Stinky Zekey" because he always smelled like a dog that gotten into something bad and rolled in it.

Zeke lived a happy life running around my parents 60 acres, swimming in the ponds, laying in the sunshine on the front porch and being my dad's best bud.

Over the last year, Zeke had progressively gotten worse. He started coughing on a regular basis, and while the vet said he had some fluid in his lungs, it wasn't enough to worry about. Over the last two weeks Zeke had begun to fall down while just walking, lose control over his bladder and proceed to have a small seizure. He had seizures once in a while when he was younger as well. In the last few days my dad noticed Zeke had stopped having "movements" all together and that his abdomen was very abnormal looking and feeling. At the vet appointment this morning the X-ray revealed that Zeke not only had fluid in his lungs and abdomen, but also an enlarged heart and a tumor on his spleen. Even though it was difficult, my dad made the right decision.

I wish I hadn't gotten the news while I was at work, because I've shut myself into a small, private conference room so I can let the tears flow and not have my co-workers in my business. I know it will pass with time, but it doesn't make it any easier.

All I know is that when I get home, I'm going to hug my two young, healthy pooches!

(I'd post a picture of Zeke but I don't have any on Shutterfly and I still haven't gotten all of my picture off my old computer yet)

20 in 20 Challenge

It's obviously no secret I've been trying to lose weight for a while now. About 3 years to be exact. I lost about 25lbs right before I met Keith, and then the "love chub" found me...and then some. I lost about 10lbs before the wedding, but that's come back too...and then some.

I've been focusing on developing better eating habits, and while I've faltered here and there, overall it's been decent. I've been experimenting more in the kitchen, which has been fun. The results haven't always been the great, but it's been an interesting learning process! With spring nipping at my heels, I'm 100% re-committed and I'm hoping that by "going public", it will help to keep me motivated and hold myself accountable.

With that said, I've decided to join the 20 in 20 challenge. The steps are pretty basic and it's nothing that I haven't already heard of before. I'm just hoping that by having a "community" to share the journey with, it will help keep me motivated.

Step 1: Make a Plan

Well, that should be easy enough, right? I'm going to be more strict with the "plan" I'm already doing. I'll bring my lunch every day, make a dinner menu for the week and go shopping for those ingredients. If I plan ahead, I should be ok. Right now I have a list on our fridge at home with meal selections for the week. It makes it much easier to decide what's for dinner after a long day at the office.

I've GOT to start working out again. I've been on my treadmill maybe 4 times in the past 3 weeks. That's not even close to cutting it! I really want to do the Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred again, but I'm scared....I'm scared I'll do Level 1-Day-1 and quit because I'm sore for 4 days after. The last time I did it, I would yell out in pain just trying to sit on the toilet, that's how sore I was. I can tolerate a little muscle ache here and there, but this was BAD. I'm just going to have to suck it up and work through the pain. Losing weight doesn't come easy.

Now that the weather is getting nicer, I want to take Harley for walks/runs a few times a week too. We'll let the dogs run around the yard for exercise, but Harley wouldn't hurt to have a long walk a few times a week.

Either way, whatever I decide to do, I'm GOING to stick with it. I don't have any other choice!

Step 2: Set Rewards

My first reward will be at the -10lb mark. I'm going to get a new spring haircut and color. My stylist gave me a coupon for a free service as a wedding gift, and I've been saving it to get a fun new color for spring. However, I want to do something new and fun to my hair too. I'm not sure yet, but that will be my -10lb reward.

I'm hoping I can hit the -20lb mark before we go on our cruise on June 12th, but that's definitely pushing it. I know I'll be needing a few new outfits for the cruise regardless, but if I'm 20lbs lighter I'm going to reward myself with an outfit that makes me feel fabulous, regardless of the price tag.

Step 3: Plan

I kind of already covered this in Step 1, but I just need to make sure I take the time every Friday night to plan meals for the entire week and make our grocery list.

I also need to plan to get up earlier in the AM, so I can get in a 20 minute 30-Day Shred workout in before work. That way I have NO excuses.

Step 4: Measuring and Nutritional Information

In all of my yo-yo dieting experience, I've gotten pretty good at reading labels and measuring food....it's just a matter of sticking to it. I'll have to make it a point to measure EVERYTHING I put into recipes, instead of just eye-balling it.

I'm also going to try to wean myself away from artificial sweeteners and eventually work towards eating all-natural products.

Step 5: Before Pictures:

I'll do these soon, even though I HATE seeing myself in pictures. I think I'll find a "before" picture from when I was thin back in my HS days too...for inspiration.

Step 6: Pound for Pound Challenge

Sign up to donate to the Pound for Pound Challenge that The Biggest Loser is sponsoring. (DONE!!)