week(13) 2013

week 13, March 24 - 30

mish-mash 

I did a longer walk with Abbie this morning than I did yesterday. She seems ready to resume all normal activity so the next 6 days of low activity with her is going to be tough. Following that walk, I did my walk/jog. I'm jogging more than I'm walking now. The lunges I added ~5 days ago are sticking. I do them in an area where it's really hard for others to see so I don't feel quite so silly. I mean, I think doing lunges in public is perfectly acceptable, but I would still prefer to do them in private when I have a dog pulling me off to smell various piles of dirt. --- Sunday

22 minutes! That's what I walked/ran my 2 mile route around the cemetery today. So it's an 11 minute mile, but that includes running up those damn hills and periods of walking to do lunges and avoid running down the super steep parts (I don't want to injure myself and there's no reason to go downhill if I don't want to). Oh and I only rested once for about 10 seconds on the whole way up the hill. The elevation of the main hill is a change of 233' for a distance of 1486'. I think that might mean the grade of the hill is 16%, but damned if I know. All I know is that I'm stoked it was that fast. I thought I'd be lucky if the whole route was under 30 minutes.  I only have Tuesday - Friday of this week to see if I can maintain or improve that because once Abbie joins me again, I'll be slower and unable to calculate what *I* did versus what she wanted to sniff. --- Monday

I'm proud to report that I did my run even without Abbie everyday this week. I would walk Abbie about a mile before so she could get exercise without pushing it after her surgery. Then I would drop her back at home and go out on my own. Go me!  There are still days where it is the last thing I want to do, but I'm always glad I did it. Pre-Run Megan just has to remember that Post-Run Megan is at least twice as happy and productive as Pre-Run Megan. --- Saturday

Abbie and I did well in training class today. Well, until about 15 minutes left in class then she was just d.o.n.e. Once she hits her done point, there's nothing I can do other than try to keep her quiet for the rest of the class. I also signed her up for five weeks of 1 day/week training with a trainer. I decided it was worth the money to lift this huge burden from my mind. All I can keep thinking about is having a huge GS who doesn't listen and is out of control. I'm working with her as much as I can, but as I've said, it's hard right now. After those are over, she'll (probably) go to the dog camp once a week. I'm going to check it out next Thursday to make sure I'm OK with how it's run and how the dogs are transported, etc.  --- Tuesday

I think Abbie's spay surgery did actually calm her down a very slight amount. That's what I'm telling myself anyway. I'm looking forward to this coming Thursday when she'll have her first day of boarding school training. 

Avery

This week was her spring break from school. We had a couple of playdates with Henry and Christie; Avery had a couple at the G's house; Elise came over for a sleepover. In general, a pretty laid back week.  

Her writing and reading are developing quickly. She can write out sentences and cards without help by sounding out the letters. I had this thing I wanted to scan that she wrote in her room (with no grown ups around). It was leaps and bounds beyond where she was even two weeks ago. It's very cool to watch this stage of learning. And she's so excited to learn to read. She loves to make cards and books for people. Because she's left handed, her books are assembled backward, but who cares?! :) 

During a playdate, she found one of my old shirts that I never wore. It was a buy from a Lucy warehouse sale, so great quality at a very cheap price. However, it just never looked good on me. Anyway, she put it on as a dress and came up to me and said, "Mama, can you sew this to make it more fashionable?" I happened to have my sewing machine out at that point, so a sewing I went and it does indeed look more fashionable. 

depression/anxiety

I realized yesterday that, in all my recent depression and anxiety, there are been one sign of anxiety absent. I've had no breathing problems. This has traditionally been one of the most obvious and first signs of oncoming bouts of depression and/or anxiety. But it hasn't shown up. It shows up slightly if I'm talking about it not showing up, but doesn't stay past the mention of it. Credit to the mindfulness practices? Probably. I still have one huge anxiety outlet that I would love to get rid of: clenching, grinding and cheek chewing. My cheeks are shredded. It doesn't hurt, but it surely can't be good for them. The clenching is mostly at night and I wear my night guard most nights to minimize the grinding. It's really hard to get something in check when you're asleep. --- Sunday

Today has been a good day all day. I've had to, as I and everyone else always will (if you are to believe in this method), redirect myself to be mindful throughout the day, but I think I'm doing it more quickly now than before. That is, I'm recognizing when I've gone into "doing" mode and shift myself back to "being" mode. It kills me how new age-y this stuff all sounds, but it's working and it's helping immensely so I shall wear it proud like I drive my minivan proudly. Embrace the shame!   --- Tuesday

Most of the week was very good in terms of depression. I have my moments where I'm pushing through a bit, but not moments where I know pushing through is a bad thing. It's a fine line to walk, but I feel as if I'm getting a better sense for where that line is for me. I do feel like things are stabilizing

water. lots of water.

On Sunday, I started a load of laundry after a very productive morning of cleaning. Quite pleased with myself, I sat down in my office for a break. I then heard Abbie whining in her crate with more zest than usual as well as something that sounded like a popping sound. I walked into the living room to find water pouring out of one of the flood light sockets and a huge puddle of water underneath. The water was running down the walls and everywhere. I ran upstairs and shut down the washing machine. The floor up there was flood too. I threw down some sheets, which in hindsight is silly given how very much water there was. I can't imagine they did any good. 

After shutting the washer down, I Googled "water emergency clean up portland" and called the first provider I saw. They were at the house about 45 minutes later to start the clean up and dry out process. 

I filed an insurance claim on Monday. The damages should be covered, minus the deductible, so at least there's probably that). The washing machine was fixed on Wednesday. The carpets on both levels are dried, but missing carpet padding beneath them. The carpet in the living room seems unsalvageable to me, but we'll see what the insurance company says.  

After the initial shock of seeing water pouring out of the ceiling, the rest of the week was easy enough to deal with. I cried a bit on Sunday over it. 

Summary

• Avery is taking a nap right now. Because she asked for one. She decided to curl up on the couch to do it. Last time she did this, she woke up with a fever. I think this time she was just bored, so a napped seemed as good a thing to do as anything else. 
• I'm making Mom some change of address cards right now. I do love anytime I can use my Silhouette. 
• I made a couple of towel bibs using just my serger. The first one I made was too fussy because it required buttons. The next one was a much better design, but alignment was wrong. The third one I made is better, but the tension was set wrong on my serger, so I'm worried the threads will snag and make the whole thing fall apart. Hopefully the fourth time is a charm. Yes, I could have made the towel bibs using just my sewing machine, but it's much faster to use the serger. Plus, I'm looking for / developing easy project to do so I can get familiar with my serger. 
• We leave for Vegas on Friday - woohoo! Avery will be staying with my mom since the Gs are in Hawaii. 
• I had a hair appointment scheduled for today at 12:15. I made the appointment online about a week ago, making sure it was next to another appointment I had to maximize time, then arranged for Avery to be at Nain's house. I got a call from the salon at 11:30 saying there was a "scheduling conflict" and that "no one would be there during that time." The girl on the VM was about as competent (or incompetent) as you'd expect a millennial who works at a hair salon making appointments to be. She didn't apologize. She just said they could have me come in tonight or tomorrow. I called back and said that I'd arranged my whole day around this appointment (true) and that no, I would not be rescheduling. Then I booked my highlighting and cut at a salon in Vegas. I simply can't abide spending my money at an establishment that treats customers with such disregard - I don't care if he does know how to cut hair really well! So now I'll have to find a new place in Portland.
• We moved our couch back a bit (closer to the kitchen) because we discovered we could hear the sound better from the overhead speakers. As a result, we have a weird gap of space between the end of the couch (the part under the window that faces the front of the house) and the entertainment center. We could put a table there, but it will just gather dust. There is absolutely no need, ever, for a table there. So the only thing to do is to buy an armless single seater to add to the sectional. We called Ethan Allen and they just discontinued our sectional. They increased the width or depth or something by 1", so the overall look is still sold, but the exact specifications are not available. This leaves three options if we want a chair there: 1. Get Ethan Allen corporate to agree to make us the one-off chair since it was so recently discontinued (this is the preferable and cheapest route). 2. Buy just the chair from the floor model, recover it in our fabric, refinish the wood on the bottom to match our current sectional (this option is the most expensive and is out in my mind). 3. Sell our sectional back to Ethan Allen at a discounted price & buy the new sectional with the additional chair (doable).
• We had to buy a new washing machine last week. While I know that it's probably the modern appliance I couldn't live without (imagine washing clothes by hand!), it's just a boring new item to have to buy. I'd so much rather buy fun gadgets with that money (who wouldn't?) I have yet to test out the new washer since I managed to get most loads done before the other one went completely kaput.  

Habits

Habits
While I was on vacation, I read the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It basically describes what experts/scientists now know about how habits are formed in our brains. In brief, a habit is a cycle of: cue, routine, reward. Once a habit has been established, it's a permanent part of our brain. We can create a new habit by substituting a new routine using the same cue and reward, but the old habit is always there and can come back easily. Habits are very, very powerful, yet they are fragile in that they can be disrupted and replaced if we choose to focus on it. This is a very high level summary. The book is worth reading if you have any interest whatsoever in the subject matter.

Cleaning and Reorganizing
I'm cleaning my office and reorganizing the contents while I finish up the RSVP cards.


And apparently I don't feel like blogging. I shall post this rather than just abandon it.

Timbers

Timbers!

The four of us went to the Timbers game last night. It was the first time in a long time that I've enjoyed a sporting event.

Avery & Nain before the game

Megan & Avery self portrait

Everyone in a picture taken by the dude behind us

Dresser
When my mom moved, she asked if I wanted a dresser that belonged to my (paternal) great grandfather. At first I said no. After I thought about it more, I decided why not? So now that dresser is being put to good use in our bedroom. We had our television on a TV stand of normal TV-stand height. However, since we watch that TV from our bed, it was too low. It was a "problem" that we weren't going to spend any money to fix, but one that I'm pleased has been fixed by our inherited furniture!  Our TiVo is located on the floor behind the dresser. We had to buy an IR repeater to get it working that way.

If you look in the right corner of the picture, you'll see our old TV stand. It's been placed in that corner as the future home of a doll house that Avery will be getting from Pop Pop Joy. Her father built it for her and she's passing it along to Avery. I want to keep it out of the playroom and Avery's room because that will ensure it doesn't get demolished.

This picture makes me realize how tan our room is. We need some color in there!

TiVo
Speaking of TiVo (at least I did a few sentences ago) ... Mom has the Comcast/Xfinity DVR in her quarters. Until now I've always wondered if my loyalty to TiVo was somewhat misplaced or excessive or pointless or whatever. Well, after using her DVR for a bit, I no longer wonder. TiVo is so much better (to me) than a plain DVR. So much easier to use with a much better interface. When you love TV as much as I do, that's important in a luxury product!


Crafty
I've been in a crafty-ish mood lately. On Friday, I made a prototype for Elise's BD invitations. I also sewed five towel bibs for my friend, Vic. Having my sewing machine in the desk in the living room is working out great. It makes it so much easier to clean up when I'm done (close doors, done!) Yesterday I made a baby card. Earlier in the week, Mom and I made Easter cards for Avery and Dylan. Today I'm thinking I'll make skirt for Avery. We'll see.

Throat

Fear of laryngitis
Yesterday my throat hurt horribly. In the afternoon, I got nauseous and threw up before dinner (TMI? Move along to someone else's blog then.) I felt better after dinner for a while, but not great. I took an Ambien to get me through the night since, when I'm sick with a sore throat, I wake up at least every hour to spit (TMI? again, move along then, no one's making you read). That worked beautifully. This morning, my throat is still hurting and I can feel my voice struggling. After having laryngitis exactly once in my life, it is something I never, ever wish to experience again. So I'm doing my best to limit my talking now. So I'm blogging ... because all my words have to go somewhere.

What I did with the rest of day (after typing that): sleep. I needed to conserve my energy for tonight's sitting duties. It seems to have worked since it's going well so far. Well enough for me to blog a bit.

Network
D is doing stuff with our network to get our new receiver hooked up to it. We also have to get my mom's new DVR hooked up so she has TV access and a working DVR downstairs. Once D gets the receiver hooked up to the network, we will be able to play music from our iPhones without wiring them to the receiver. That will be nice for Avery's "shows."

Kid Central Tonight
The G kids (minus Mimi) and Henry will be coming over tonight while their respective parents enjoy a night out. D will be at the Timbers game, which is where I believe Christie and Darren will be, too.

Right now the four kids are all happily playing upstairs for 20 minutes before the reading of bedtime books commences. Earlier all four were out in the backyard playing in the dirt and grass. At one point I checked on them and Avery had a shovel, had dug up part of the grass and everyone was standing around looking guilty. I decided I'd never actually told her she couldn't dig up the grass, so I made that a new rule and they all seemed satisfied with that. Of course, when they come in, everyone had to get undressed and immediately put on jammies. And Henry and Avery, who were both outside playing in the jammies with boots on, had to change into different jammies. I run a tight ship her at CdT.

Hungry

Hunger Games!
Mom, D & I are going to see Hunger Games tonight. After a search far and wide - i.e. waiting for babysitter #2* to text back - we located a sitter for tonight. I'm quite excited, mostly because it feels like a bonus date night since we expected not to have a date night this week due to the move (hence the reason there was no pre-arranged swap with the Gs).
New Subheadings


* I want to note that she's only our second choice babysitter because of our loyalty to the first neighborhood sitter we use. Avery also prefers our first choice because "she wears sparkly earrings."

Spring Break
Avery's on Spring Break next week. I'm rather pleased with myself as I have activities schedule for all days but Tuesday. Tuesday is when Mom's moving truck is scheduled to arrive, so I need to be here to help with that effort. I'm also rather pleased with myself for getting not one, but two playdates scheduled with kids (both who happen to be boys) from school with whom we've not had playdates before. I asked Avery if she'd like me to schedule playdates with any of the kids from school during Spring Break. She immediately replied Lennon and Eamon. The teachers have told me several times that Avery and Eamon are like two peas in a pod, so that wasn't surprising. And Avery talks about Lennon a lot. She thinks he's very funny.

Playroom
I schedule the handyman to come yesterday because I needed some shelving reconfigured and moved in the garage to prepare for the arrival of Mom's stuff. I arranged it on Friday afternoon. I realized it would be nice to have him assemble and install the storage for Avery's playroom while he was here. So off to IKEA Mom, Avery and I went on Saturday morning.  Went went as soon as they opened, zoomed through and were in and out within 20 minutes or so.

After brainstorming lots of potential creative ideas for playroom storage and its configuration, I decided that the smartest thing was the simple, large Expedit cube storage from IKEA.

I have also decided to hold off on making it look all pretty with matching storage cubes or bins. The playroom is all about function for me. I want to have a place to put the toys, but I also don't want to feel guilty if I haven't gone and restored it to perfect organization. Here's what it looks like now:

It's certainly not a picture I'm going to put on Pinterest. And that's what I've realized. If I make it a room worthy of Pinterest, then I'll be more obsessed with making sure the kids "play right" in it. I'll care when Avery decides she wants to rearrange things herself. I know myself well enough to know that if I want to let Avery have this room to be creative and play in, then I need to not get obsessed with the aesthetics of it now. So there you go. That's how I'm justifying this not-so-beautiful, but oh-so-functional playroom organization.

FYI on the other side of the room is the crib (with the front removed) where Nolan sleeps on date nights, along with some pillows. There's a good chunk of floor space between that is clear for any sort of play the kids may come up with.  Oh, and the closet is stuffed with Avery's princess dresses.

Arrival

Mom's an Oregonian!
I may come back later to provide more insight into the craziness of the past week or two, but for now, I'm just going to resume blogging as if major life changes happen all the time and should be treated to minor mentions in a random blog post.

Major life change = Mom moving to Portland from Colorado. She's settling into her quarters quite nicely from what I can tell. We arrived yesterday afternoon after an easy two day drive. This morning I cleared out space in the kitchen cupboards for her, as well as a drawer in our main floor closet. I also got her Google Voice number configured such that, when it's dialed, it rings her cell phone and our landline at the same time. It's nice because when the landline rings, it says "Call for Penny" as the caller ID name. This way we know the call is for Mom and can avoid answering it.

Barkley is having a bit of trouble with the adjustment. He won't walk (very far) on the wood floors, so he's self confined to the the backyard, Mom's quarters, and the living room. And the trip to the living room is fraught with danger as it requires a trek over about 5' of hardwood floors for Barkley.

Cabinets
The final touches are still ongoing for the living room cabinetry. The hinges for the doors that slide back into the cabinet (for the desk) are still not right, so they're working on those today. And the pull-out shelf holding the receiver, DVD, etc isn't working properly, so it'll need to be adjusted. Plus, I haven't picked out hardware for the knobs yet. But, the important thing is that I'll be able to start loading it up with stuff tonight. I made D promise that he wouldn't put anything in the cabinets while I was gone.

Catch up
I've spent my entire evening catching up on email, scheduling of Avery activities, and other misc administrative stuff. I'm in an administrative/configuration mood, so I'm going to take my new iPad (new to me - it's D's old one since he bought himself the new iPad) upstairs and get it all set up the way I want it. Then I'm going to read. Lovely. All is just lovely.

Snow

Snow day
We woke up to snow this morning. I could have risked it and taken Avery to school a bit late, but decided it wasn't worth it. So Avery and I are having a day at home. I've completed one major task that needed to be done this week, so I'm counting it as a successful day.

Avery has been playing very well by herself. In fact, she's been doing that since we got back from Colorado. I'm not sure what the Gs did to her, but I'm glad they did! It's a nice change of pace.

The snow had completely melted off by late afternoon, so we went out to dinner at Pastini's. The waitress was in love with Avery. I was on fire with my ability to crack Avery up tonight, tyvm, and the waitress heard Avery's belly giggle. She commented at least four times on how Avery was so cute and had the best laugh she'd ever heard. It was rather awesome. When she truly has a belly giggle, I must agree it's the best sound in the world. I mean to record it sometime and then make it my cell phone ring.

Living room project
One problem I immediately noticed with the cabinetry was a color difference between the trim and the fronts of the doors. The same color of paint was used, and they were given the same number of coats. However, the wood was slightly different and evidently the paint absorbed differently. They removed the cabinet doors to paint them and will reinstall them next week sometime.

The tile has been installed around the fireplace. They will need to grout it tomorrow. I love the hearth tile and like the tile surrounding the fireplace.

DST
Daylight Savings Time is kicking my ass this year. In the past, I've not really noticed a difference. This year, my body clock is all out of whack. It might be because of so much travel (which means disruptions in my routine) during the time change.

Taciturn

RWOTP: Taciturn

taciturn Adjective: (of a person) Reserved or uncommunicative in speech; saying little.

Yes, I should know what this word means, but it just doesn't stick. So here goes my attempt to make it stick. My little trick worked with sardonic, so let's keep the self-education going. 

Oregon - put a bird on it!

I'm making change of address cards for Mom to give out at the going away party Collin & Denise are throwing for Mom this weekend. Since she's moving to Portland, I had to put a bird on it ... even if not a lot of people get the joke. I spent the morning designing the card (note to all graphic designers out there: your jobs are safe from me. Creating is so not my strong suit. Once I have an idea, I can execute just fine, but damn those ideas are hard to come by for me.)

In any case, now I'm just creating them. It's a three step process: print, draw (using the Silhouette), and cut. 

Here's a picture, with the contact information blurred since this is the Internet and all. It's sort of a play on the Portland Oregon (formerly Made in Oregon) sign in downtown Portland - the one with the reindeer on it. I don't expect non-Portlanders will know it's a play on that sign. And I'm not quite sure Portlanders will get it, but I went forth with it anyway. Originally I was going to do a card cut out in the shape of Oregon with the contact information inside, but this was easier. 

You may notice a difference between the two cards (other than cardstock color). The line under my mom's name is drawn using the Silhouette, but I had to switch pens due to technical issues. When I switched pens, I had to switch line style. 

Colorado Trip #1 - Beaver Creek

Our trip to Colorado this past weekend went well. We stopped at Vic & Mike's house on Thursday night for an impromptu dinner. For a variety of reasons, we didn't think to do this until we were on the plane, so it was truly awesome that it all came together. I texted Vic when we landed. She said come on over and they had enough food going for all of us. The best part was that Vic didn't tell Mike we were coming, so when we knocked on the door, Mike was truly shocked to see us standing on his doorstep. We laughed so hard at that dinner that my cheeks hurt when we left. That's a great way to start the weekend. 

The purpose of the trip was for the GMs & their spouses to get to know each other better. I can be a bit taciturn when I am in a group of people I don't know very well. During the first dinner on Friday night, it took me a while to warm up. Fortunately, everyone was very friendly and casual, so it went well. The dinner on Saturday night was great. We ate at a restaurant called Zach's Cabin on the Bachelor Gulch mountainside. It is accessible only by skiing in or, wait for it, taking a sleigh!  Don't get too excited, though, because it's not a sleigh pulled by horses. It's pulled by a snow cat. But it was still pretty cool, especially the ride down at night. The ski was beautiful, the stars were shining, the snow was glistening, and it was all rather surreal. 

Friday I spent napping, reading and spa-ing while D was a meeting all day. It was lovely. Saturday D and I spent lazing about reading and napping and eating. It was lovely. Sunday was a pure travel day with no issues. Well, I did leave my sunglasses in the rental car, but I called the rental company. The sunglasses were located and are being Fed Ex'd to my house as I type this. 

We got to the G's to get Avery at exactly 3 pm on Sunday. I burst through the door expecting Avery to come running into my arms saying "Mooommmmyyyy!" That did not happen. She was sitting at their kitchen tables decorating cookies and it was clear to me that she was going to finish decorating those cookies, damn it! It was such a relief that she did so well being gone from us for those few days. Avery's clearly been away for us that long before, but since this was a weekend in the middle of a weird month and so many routine disruptions, I was worried. I shouldn't have been. RHG said Avery was very well behaved. Christie and Henry came to pick up Avery for a playdate and dinner on Saturday. Based on the pictures, it looks like everyone had a great time. Thanks so much to both the Gs and G&Gs for taking such good care of A this weekend!

Living Room Cabinetry

It's in! It's not done, but the meat of it is there.  The wood for the doors absorbed the paint differently than did the trim, so they're going to take the doors off and give them another coat of paint. Also, the hardware needs to go on, and the tile around the fireplace is being done today and tomorrow. We are able to watch TV, though, so that's what's important! The surround sound is much better than just using our TV volume. 

Overall, I love it. The TV is still a bit higher than is ideal, but the speakers (that black rectangular thing between the TV and the fireplace) really needed to be below the TV to provide the best sound. I had to force myself not to stock up the storage last night. I can't do that until all the finishing touches are put on. Must be patient!

Picture

½ Way There
I was going to wait to post the final picture of our living room, but what the heck? The odds of me getting around to posting a final picture are minimal at best, so here you go, Amber!

The black shelves you see going vertically on either side of the fireplace are shelves to be left open (no doors). The three white ones on either side (for a total of six) will have doors on them. The top cabinets on the outer portions that look a little grayer than the black ones are actually painted black, too. Those have lighting installed in them and will have simple glass doors installed on them. And there's lighting above the moulding near the ceiling. Tile still needs to go in, as does the TV and all that stuff.

Blending

Mexico, sweet Mexico
The days here blend into each other. I never quite know what day it is. It's a nice change of pace. Another stark difference between Portland life and Mexico life is the calendar. I have nothing scheduled, so there's no need to look at it when I'm down here. In Portland, I am constantly looking at my calendar. I don't mind being tethered to my calendar in Portland, but it's also a nice change to be free of it down here.

This morning D got up with A while I slept in a bit. When I woke up, they'd already left for a morning trip to the beach for sea shell hunting. I made myself some tea and breakfast, then started what is sure to be my last day reading my current book. It's the last of the trilogy I'm reading. I have about 20% left to read, so I am quite sure I'll get through that today. I find myself looking for things to do other than read because I so dislike the feeling of finishing a good book. And since this is the end of the trilogy, it's a double whammy. But, that means a blog update for all of you, so it's not all bad.

Felipe came for the last time last night. Of the four meals, this was the least impressive, but still very good overall. When we said we're coming back in May, he said they'll be on vacation. In Panama. We'll have to cook for ourselves?! I think, though, that their vacation might be in the beginning of May. Ours is in the end. I know that everyone's thoughts are with us as we try to brave this time at the thought of having to cook for ourselves.

This afternoon, we all walked down to the store to get a treat. Avery and Henry both wore their "Faster, Stronger, Awesomer" t-shirts and both got exceedingly messy eating their chocolate ice cream bars (Avery edged Henry in this competition). Following that, Christie & I did took a quick walk with the kids over to the Agua Viva section of the community. Avery rode her bike and Henry ran. That community is looked very nice in some spots. We had to turn around a bit earlier than I wanted since Avery said she was tired and wanted to take a nap. So, now she's upstairs taking a nap and I'm about to finish my book. Since I wrote this post out of order, this is my last sentence.

Living Room
Our GC sent a picture of our living room cabinetry in progress. When I first looked at the picture, I wondered if it was our house. D had the same reaction. Upon first glance, it completely transforms the space. After looking at it for a while, it seems less shocking. And I should note it was all good shocking. I love it. I am so looking forward to putting it to use. So much. So much. So excited!

Colorado #1 = Casual
In other wonderful news, the attire during Colorado trip #1 - which is a long weekend in Beaver Creek with D's peers at his company - is all casual. For all dinners and all events. AWESOME. I have never been a fan of dressing up, but it's getting worse as I get older. Why would anyone want to be less comfortable than absolutely possible? Again, I'm all about function over form.

Colorado #2 = Quickly Approaching
I have a week at home between my two Colorado trips. The only anxiety I'm feeling at the moment stems from concern for Avery. She didn't seem to have any problems being apart from me while I was in Mexico before her. But the #2 week comes after I've only been back a week after being gone for almost 4 days.

I know having the primary caregiver gone so much in such a short time period is expecting a lot of any kid. I fully expect that my return from Colorado #2 will have a bit of a price for me to pay. Hopefully I'll have patience with paying that price.

Ceiling

Handy stuff
The handyman was here for.ev.er yesterday. He got her at 10 AM and left about 7:30 PM. Installing those hanging ceiling storage racks turned into quite a difficult thing. After two trips to Home Depot, those suckers were finally hung.

I thought I'd have to buy a taller ladder to reach the items stored up there, but I was easily able to load all the items myself.

I also had him install a medicine cabinet in the bathroom downstairs to make Mom's stay with us more comfortable. It's IKEA, which I don't think of as good quality. However, I have to say, I'm very pleased with the quality (for the price) of this cabinet and the cabinet in our bathroom from IKEA.

And I had him switch out all the lights in Avery's room and the playroom (formerly the tan guest room) so that all of them are now LED lights. Basically, I am trying to avoid calling the electrician to fix the actual issue, which is that one of our circuits/fuses (?) is overloaded such that if we have all the lights on in Avery's room, the playroom, and then have maybe one light in the guest room on, the fuse will almost certainly blow. I figured if I reduced the amount of electricity being used in the two most used rooms ... Yeah, the fuse blew last night, then again this morning. Grrrr.

Mom's quarters*
The preparation of Mom's quarters is going well. We moved the couch that was in our living room down there, as well as the chair.

It's turning into a nice little apartment down there. Not necessarily from a decor standpoint, but from a functional standpoint. When Mom's stuff gets here, we'll get her TV set up down there and have the cable company activate that port so she'll have her own TV. D pointed out that we have an extra TiVo for her, too. It's not an HD TiVo, but it'll do for a few months.

* quarters sounds so much better than basement, doesn't it?

Travel, travel, travel - March is the month
I can't believe Mexico is less than a week away!  I also can't believe that when we get back from Mexico, I'll only have one full day here and then be off to Colorado for a long weekend for D's work. Then a couple of weeks later I'll be back in Colorado helping Mom move. Mom and I will drive her car, with Barkley, from CO here. We've decided upon Bossypants as our audiobook for the trip.

Better

Better. Much better
I'm feeling so much better this week. Given the doctor didn't actually DO anything and all I did was take a couple of the migraine pills she prescribed for me, I am not sure why I'm feeling better. The constant nausea is gone, as are the headaches. I am not paranoid to eat, though I'm certainly avoiding foods that I know will cause a problem. It's a nice feeling to not have to plan my day around feeling sick starting about 2 pm and getting worse from there. Yipee! And just in time for Mexico next week!

I'm still trying very hard to watch my added sugar intake, but that's a tough one for me. Very tough. I had a few weeks there where I wasn't having any added sugar, but lately I've been having major chocolate cravings again. I think since I've virtually abandoned added sugar consumption via things like Starbursts, Fruit Roll-ups, etc, I've just shifted to other sugar ... like chocolate. Right now I'm obsessed with Ghiradelli dark chocolate squares with white mint.

Curtains to replace closet doors
I hate traditional closet doors. Always have. They're inefficient and hog up space and are frustrating. But when they're closed, they look good. On the other hand, I have also never particularly liked curtains in place of closet doors. Yet this is what I'm considering for Avery's room. Her closet door is behind her room door. It's awkward and has bothered me for 4 years.

I looked at a bunch of closets with curtains instead of doors on Pinterest. Observations:

• The ones that look best, imho, are those where the curtain is hung on the outside of the closet vs. on the inside. This is good for me since I want them on the outside because I want to be able to access the whole closet when they're pulled open. 
• While I like the idea of a fabric with a bold pattern for the curtains, the ones with bold patterns don't look as neat as plain curtains. However, the ones with a bold stripe here and there look best. Basically, to meet my taste, the curtains need to have a certain tailored look without being formal. 
• The fabric needs to have a bit of heft to it. Otherwise, to me, it looks half way done, like you hung up a sheet as a temporary measure. 
• I hate, hate, hate curtains that touch the floor. Very few of the examples of closet curtains do this, but I my hatred of this look is so intense that I must note it. We had custom made curtains at our house in Denver that touched the floor. I was THRILLED when the buyers of the our house wanted the curtains included in the sale of the house. 

Normally I love this woman's decorating decisions, but not the  floor length curtains. 

Headache

Same old story
This post should be about our fabulous new living room furniture. Instead it's more about the fact that I feel like total shit. This headache - and the ever-present nausea that accompanies most of my headaches - has been going on since just after I ate lunch. At 2 am, it's not worse than it was all day. I have an appointment with a doctor tomorrow morning.

OK, so there's not much to say about a headache. It hurts and it sucks. I shall move on.

Fabulous furniture 
Our furniture arrived yesterday! I'm pleased to report that I'm completely thrilled with it.  The configuration makes the room feel much bigger. Because of the configuration, the couch can also be moved back (further away from the TV) which also creates more space. My favorite thing, though, is that the couch is extremely comfortable for me. Rather, it will be once the TV is moved above the fireplace. D is not as pleased since he doesn't find the couch as comfortable as our previous couch. I told him to try out my position on the couch when I went up to bed early (see aforementioned headache), so we might have some negotiations coming up regarding our assigned seats for TV watching.

I'm so excited for the built-in cabinetry!

Theater class
I signed Avery up for a theater class that started a few weeks ago. As she watched Pinkalicious and The Nutcracker, she often asked about when she got to go on stage. I figured I'd let her try a theater class to see how she liked it. Based on my observations, she loves, loves, loves it. She runs into class without looking back at me or saying goodbye. Each time I've glanced in the room, she's grinning from ear to ear. Tonight, after we got home, she was putting on performances for no one using the new ottoman as her stage.

3 AM
It's 3 am now. Headache and nausea no better. This sucks.

Reduction

Furniture is Coming
Tomorrow our new living room furniture is scheduled to be delivered! I'm so excited. I can't wait to see it in the space. The wow factor will be stunted a bit since we know this furniture won't work (as it's intended) until the TV is moved, but I'm still excited!


Added Sugar Reduction
I did not sugar-binge this weekend.  This has not eliminated the headaches or nausea completely, but there is a marked improvement.  It's like everyday is the tightrope walk for me where I think, "Will this make me feel OK?" whenever I start to eat. Nonetheless, I'll take improvements because the headaches and nausea are not mild when I do get them. They're enough to make me change my behavior. Which I guess is a good thing?

The other result of not sugar-binging was no "down" day on Monday, which meant I was more productive and then didn't have to slowly make up ground on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's hard to explain how everything just kind of comes to a halt when I hit these little mini-downs, but, again, it's hard enough for me to change my behavior.

After typing those two paragraphs, apparently I need to be hit over the head with a brick before I'll change my behavior. Simply knowing something is the healthful thing isn't enough. It's got to have some serious consequences for me. Thankfully, these serious consequences thus far are treatable and minor on a scale of health problems.

My goal at this point is to consume no more than the maximum recommended amount of added sugar per day: 40g. Ah crap. Just did more research. 40g is the recommended amount of the average daily diet of 2,000 kcal per day. It seems I should be eating no more than 20g of added sugar per day. OK, so I haven't been hitting that since one of my remaining guilty pleasures is the Odwalla Chocolate Protein Monster drink for breakfast. I never pretended this was healthy for me, but I was hoping it at least wouldn't put me over my added sugar per day goal. With 37g of sugar (yes, I typed that right) per serving, I could enjoy one for breakfast and still be under for the day if that was my only added sugar. Often, following my diet restrictions over the past two weeks, it is my only added sugar. Sigh. Another vice I shall have to let go. Except on travel days. I always have this for breakfast on travel days because 1. I never get sick drinking it (I will do almost anything to avoid a headache on travel days) and 2. because it's easy and quick.

Sidenote: I asked Avery's doctor how much added sugar was OK for her. Rather than answering me, she gave the pat answer of "none on most days." Which is the Right answer, of course, but it doesn't help me gauge how I'm scoring when I let Avery have one piece of chocolate.  Anyway, this site says 12g of added sugar per day. So if I let Avery eat one yogurt, she's already WAY over how much she should be eating per day. Crap, crap, crap.

Napping or lack thereof
For a lot of January, I couldn't get enough sleep. I was napping whenever I could and going to bed as early as 7 or 8 some nights. I'm happy to report that things have leveled out. I've been charting my sleep for just over a month now.  Since Thursday, Jan. 26th, I've only taken two naps, both of which were on the weekends. Yes, I conveniently chose that date since this is when the excessive napping started to curb itself.

For the curious, my average sleep per day for the last 30 days is 9h 32m. I should note that the actual number is lower since I press the "going to sleep" button on the app when I turn off the light. Most nights I fall asleep within 5 minutes, but sometimes it's up to an hour. Likewise, I often don't push the "I'm awake" button until I'm getting out of bed, but I've actually been awake (ish) for 15-30 min. My average sleep for the past 7 days is 8h38m. We're trending in a good direction, people!

Walking
I'm still doing a daily walk. I've lengthened my route. It seems to be helping a bit with weight loss. Even if it's not, I feel better, so I'll do my best to keep it up. I plan to walk in Mexico, too, but I know I won't burn nearly as many calories since there are no hills in our community. Yes, I could SEEK out hills, but I won't do that and I'm not going to pretend there's even a chance I will.

Neutrals

More Tile Stuff
When I brought home the tile I liked, neither D nor I liked it in our living room. It too dark and too blue. I want to bring some blue into the room, but the Charcoal tile color was too overpowering. So back to the tile store I went today. I brought home another sample in a different shade of the same tile. I like it much better. Now we need to decide upon a configuration for the tiles. Originally I was set on the 2"x2" alternating tiles. Now I'm wondering if the 1"x4" will work better for that space. I did a mockup (using my Silhouette software, of course). I'm strongly leaning toward the 1"x4". We'll see what D thinks when he gets home.

I did pick out a tile I love for the hearth. It's a shade of warm gray similar to the color of our couch. I'm confident with that tile. I am starting to wonder if we shouldn't just do the whole fireplace in that tile. Can you tell I'm a bit indecisive about this?

Fabric (from left to right): red = pillow; warm grey/brown = sectional; striped = pillow; red & cream = chairs
Tile = larger square grey tiles = for hearth (but hearth tiles won't be square, they'll be 3" x 6" or maybe 3" x 12"; striped creamish tile is the tile for the fireplace surround. 

I love both tiles and I think they go well with the fabric. My wavering is that it is more neutral, overall, than I'd like. I'm kind of sick of neutrals, but D and I both gravitate to neutral colors.

Things are on track for our cabinetry. We've selected the molding style and door style and the tile is moving along. There's not much else for me to do other than come back from Mexico and see that most of the project is done at that point.

The Mexico!
I just sent out items for my fellow travelers to buy (I'll pay you all back!) and then cart down to Mexico for our trip coming up in three weeks.

I am so excited for this trip. I'm also excited because following the trip, March is jam packed with trips and things I'm looking forward to, which means it'll fly by and Mom will be here before I know it!

Adding to my Mexico excitement are the 2-3 projects we've had done since our last trip: a sun shade for the interior courtyard and a shelving unit so we actually have a place to put things. Plus, we rearranged the living room space right before we left so I am looking forward to enjoying the extra space in our formerly crapped corridors.

Avery & Swimming
Avery has made great progress with her swimming during this session, as has Henry. Henry, who was slightly behind Avery going into this round of sessions, has now passed Avery's level and is able to propel himself forward. Avery has the side breathing down very good, but actually propelling herself forward isn't quite where it should be. However, I have no complaints! I'm so happy that she's very happy to play in the water, she's confident enough that she doesn't need prodding to try things, but also seems to know her limits. And she and Henry have a great time in the pool together. This bodes well for the trip, or at least for the pool visit part of the trip.

Stripes

Tile
After I dropped Avery off at school, I spent the morning looking at tile to go around our fireplace. I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I had a general color palette in mind. Once I started looking at tile, I quickly knew what I didn't want. I showed D the tile that I liked last night and he approved.   It's the 2" x  2" squares. The more I looked at tile, the more I didn't want the typical natural stone or smooth, marbly type tile like we have now.

The 2x2 squares in the center. 

I also really like the one in the center of this picture. However, I don't think it'll work given we have such a small space we're tiling - only 3" on the sides and above the fireplace. 

D doesn't want the hearth in the same tile, but rather a complimenting, solid tile, so I'll need to find that once we determine the color we're going with. I also need to get a sample of this tile so we can look at it in the space and against our furniture fabric swatches.

In trying to envision the tile on our fireplace, I found another use for my Silhouette software. I grabbed a single tile in a screen shot, converted it to a .bmp file, imported it into my software, then used the trace function. From that I was able to create this mockup. I did the mockup originally thinking we'd use larger pieces of the same tile for the hearth. D nixed that idea immediately, rightly so. Too matchy-matchy. I'm also wondering if we should do a line of all vertical tiles on the inner or outer edge. I guess that'll be determined when we see the samples in person. Heck, I might see the samples in the space and hate them.

School Friend Playdate
Today I'm hosting two of Avery's friends from school for a playdate. I'll drive both girls from school to my house. The mother of one will pick her up from my house; the other one I'll drop at home before Avery's swimming lessons. This is a different type of playdate in that it's girls entirely of Avery's choosing with no parental influence from me. Elise, Henry, Josie and even Lily are all friends of Avery's in part because of my friendship with their mothers. It feels like a new step.

People Puppy Chow = Too Much of a Good Thing
I made myself PPC as a treat for our movie going this weekend (we saw two - one and date night, then we took Avery to see Hugo on Sunday). Since I've been struggling to feel well lately, I was very pleased that it didn't make me nauseas or give me a headache to eat it. These days, anything outside of brown rice, chicken, and veggies seems to be a risk for that. Then Monday rolled around. I felt just fine physically, but I was so very down in the dumps. The drop wasn't just an "off" day. It was similar to the extreme drop after I ate the bag of Hershey Kisses.

This brings me one step closer to admitting to myself that I can't binge on sugar and be OK. I'm not there yet on fully banning myself from eating sugar, but I am at the point where I can admit to myself that there is a price to pay in the days following a sugar binge and it's very much related to my mood.

I'm quickly heading towards eating a healthful diet simply because I have no choice. Come to think of it, this is how I landed in the very, very rare drinker category. My body just flat out says no making it a non-choice for me.

Stuff

Handy stuff
The handyman is here now doing a variety of small tasks. One of those is installing an additional toilet paper roll holder in the main floor bathroom. The builders installed the other holder in a ridiculous spot. This has been a mere annoyance until lately. Avery has recently decided that she cannot get the TP before getting on the potty, nor can she risk a drip to get the TP by hopping off the toilet. This means I'm helping my 4yo - who has been fully day and nighttime potty trained since her 2nd birthday - go potty on a regular basis. Not acceptable. So I just bought another holder and put it closer for her to reach.

I also had him hang a bulletin board with hooks in Avery's room. I decided I'm not ready to let her have push pins in her room, so I went to Home Depot and bought some magnetic steel, had it cut to the shape of the board, then had the handyman install the metal in the board. I could have done it, but he was here anyway, so it made sense to have him do it. I plan to put fabric over the metal to girly it up a bit for my little girly girl, but haven't gotten to that yet.

Crafty stuff
To honor our new TP roll holder, I'm making some vinyl labels to go above the two holders. One says For the tall ... the other says ... for the small.  I made the word tall in a different font with tall letters and small in another font with small letters. I could never have been a graphic designer. It took all my brain power to do this basic tasks of creativity and I'm pretty sure a creative type could knock it out of the park with just blinking her eyes. We'll see how it looks when I put it up. I love vinyl because if it looks awful, I rip it off and it's like it was never there.

Note: After I took the picture, I moved the word "small" closer to the "..for the" text since it looked spaced incorrectly. I then realized that this can have multiple meanings. I meant tall people vs. small people, but one could think I meant the size of the, um, output? Ah well, it gives you something to think about while you do your business at our house.

Redo

Built-ins in the living room
We're finally going to put built-ins on either side of the fireplace in our living room. It's something that we've intended to do since we moved in, but it is just now taking priority. I'm so very excited. I totally messed up my sleep for the week staying up late on Sunday night drawing a mockup of what I want in the built-ins. I couldn't stop thinking about it until I'd drawn it with enough detail to sufficiently relay my requests to a contractor. I don't have Visio on my computer, I had to draw it in Google Docs. That is to say that it's not nearly as clean as it'd be if I could have done it in Visio. Here it is (clicking that link seems to download a .png file rather than load it in another window - I don't know - just go with it).

I was inspired in particular by the layout of this unit, and the black interior of the shelves in this unit (second picture down).

Items of note

• Since we'll be moving the TV over the fireplace - which, I want to note is not where I'd ideally like to put the TV, but given the configuration of our room and my desire to see the TV from the kitchen, it's where it's got to be - we want to lower the mantel to get the TV as close to eye level as possible. 
• In one side (1 & 2), there will be a pull out desk to house an eventual family-computer and homework desk for Avery.  There's no goal to see the TV from the desk, so that it's essentially in the same plane as the TV isn't an issue. 
• The other large cabinet will be used for storage of toys, games, whatever. 

Sectional and chairs

We're also looking into replacing our furniture with a new sectional couch and a couple of chairs.  We both think sectionals are exceedingly dull, but it'll give us a lot more seating in our living room. We'll have to spice things up with some colorful throw pillows and maybe a colorful area rug since the sectional will be in a neutral tone (a warm grey being the leading candidate right now). 

Smith Decision-Making Expediency

In true Smith fashion, we decided on a whim to go look at sectionals on Sunday afternoon. By Sunday night, we'd settled (in our heads) on a sectional, two chairs, an ottoman and the fabric for all. It was also on Sunday night that I sent the request to meet with contractors via Service Magic. This week, I've met with four contractors and one A/V guy to take care of the surround sound we'll also be adding with this redo. 

I'd feel better about it if I hadn't strayed from our furniture store of choice to check out another one. The second one is significantly cheaper, but we both still really prefer the fabric of the first one. The first place does their own fabric, so we can't just get the fabric and stick it on another couch. Then there's all this information about the way the couch is made affecting how well it holds up, etc. I have no idea what we should do. There are bigger problems in life. Well, this doesn't even qualify as a problem. Just a decision to be made. 

Avery's Eyes

Last week we had a check up with Avery's eye doctor. She's doing very well. The doctor said we can patch fewer hours per day. I asked if it was bad to patch more because Avery often doesn't want to take off her eye patch. The doctor asked if I could have Avery talk to all of her patients. Patching more is not a problem, so we are doing it about 4 hours per day. 

I gave Avery the choice of not wearing her eye patch to school, but she said she prefers to wear it to school AND not to school. Weird. But I'm sooooooo thankful that the eye patch isn't a battle. She very rarely objects to it and usually is enthusiastic to put it on, partially because she likes to open the package. 

I get asked a lot if Avery will needs surgery. The answer is probably not, assuming she continues to do well with glasses and patching. This article explains Avery's situation very well. Avery has accommodative esotropia. I'm finding that it often says online that  accommodative esotropia should never be treated with surgery. I think that's true as long as patching and glasses work to control the inward turn of the eye. Maybe it's true all the time, but sometimes those with accommodative esotropia sometimes develop additional conditions? I don't know. All I know is the doctor says it's unlikely Avery will need surgery and she's doing great. 

Another question I often get is why some kids have surgery for a lazy eye and others don't. I believe the answer is based on the cause of the lazy eye. Avery's is caused by her farsightedness. 

Finally, the other question I get is how long will she need to patch. I think it's possible that we will be able to stop patching earlier, but it seems like there's little benefit to patching after ages 8 or 9.

Other news

There's not much to report in other news. Avery spent the day after Thanksgiving with Christie & Darren & Henry. She even spent the night there. She had a wonderful time, but she also has a bit of a hero worship thing going on with Christie. I can't tell you how many times she points out that she's wearing a purse "Christie style!" or how when she mismatches her socks on purpose that it's "Christie style!" (Christie does not mismatch her own socks, but often does so with adorable results with young Henry.)  Christie is pretty much the first person Avery always wants to show her new clothes to. 

We spent Thanksgiving with friends in The Couv (that's Vancouver to you outsiders). Avery had a great time playing with a little girl named Riley. Riley actually lives very close to us, but we only know them through friends. Avery did not want to leave. She very much liked Riley and her dad. When we left she said, "But Riley's dad is staying there!" We adults had a nice time chatting with friends and eating, eating, eating. 

The day after Thanksgiving, when Avery was at Christie's, D and I went with friends (same friends from Thanksgiving) in a limo for wine tasting. The limo was a stretch Expedition. I am pretty sure this is the first time I've been in a limo, unless you count a beat up one that was used as a taxi when I was in the Bahamas right out of college.  It had all the things you'd think something as gawdy as a stretch Expedition would have: lights, glasses for champagne, wine, whatever, TVs, etc.  It was, however, an ideal way to go wine tasting. Unfortunately for me, my body was not cool with the idea of me drinking anything on that day, so it was pretty much a taste-free day for me. I did find some yummy salami. Nice. 

Handmade

Handmade 2011
I'm in the process of making gifts for three people I owe gifts to for the FB Handmade 2011 challenge.  That leaves me with one person (hi Dad!) for whom I need to make a gift. But at least I'll have 4 out of the 5 done.

I'm, of course, using my Silhouette for these gifts. Often, I have excess paper left over, so what I've been doing is putting in butterflies and flowers and hearts and birthday cakes when I have excess space.  Avery loves to get these little cut outs and glue them to things.  She also, unfortunately, likes using them as a taunting object with Elise. Yesterday Elise came upstairs in tears because Avery wouldn't share the butterfly cut outs with her. I had a talk with Avery, so sharing ended up happening.

Fireplaces and Duct Cleaning
I've scheduled a service call to get both of our gas fireplaces serviced and properly sealed. In addition, I'm having a blower installed on the one in the living room so we can better use it as a source of heat. We wanted to have one put on the one upstairs, too, but that particular unit doesn't have a blower available for it.

I also finally scheduled an appointment to have our ducts cleaned. In yet another item in a long list, this is something I didn't know is supposed to be done each year. We've never had our ducts cleaned. I'm rather dreading seeing what is inside those suckers after five plus years of dog hair and dirt. Egads.

Pinaklicious and High Tea
We have tickets to see Pinkalicious on Sunday afternoon. I made a reservation at the Heathman to enjoy high tea before the show. Lily will be joining us. Avery and Lily are supposed to wear their pinkest outfits. Daddy will wear his pink tie. I have to figure out what I have that is pink and dressy. I'm not sure I have anything fitting that bill. I know Avery will be disappointed if I don't wear pink, so perhaps I'll buy a pink sweater or something to wear with a skirt.

No school - what to do?!
Avery has the day off tomorrow due to Veterans Day. Since she has a newly heightened excitement for crafts and for writing and coloring*, I think we'll spend the morning crafting. In the afternoon she has gymnastics, then will head to the G's house for our date night.

* Her excitement is still well below that of other kids I've seen who really enjoy crafty stuff or coloring.