Let's Catch Up!

I have to admit, I got a little behind in November with getting ready for the holidays, trying to fix up our house, and getting sick. Then, as January came, I realized just how far behind I was and didn't want to even think about organizing everything to try to get caught up ... which means that I got more and more behind and the thought of digging in sounded less and less appealing. It's a horrible cycle. 

Now add onto that this horrible winter, full of snow and storms and all kinds of "fun" stuff. I am not a winter person. I do not like snow. I do not enjoy being cold. I tend to go into "survival mode" when winter hits. Last year was pretty bad, and I ended up playing a bunch of sudoku and reading a bunch of novels to shut down and block out the cold, grey skies outside. I really didn't bounce back until Hubby intervened and got me back on track.I must pick a different defense mechanism each time. I'm just so looking forward to that first real warm day. I think I might cry when it comes. Not kidding. 

View of our driveway in January after the big storm. I'm so ready to be done with all the white!

We got stuck inside by a giant drift. Couldn't open our door.

King of the mountain ... er, snow drift!

 

It's a good thing I have this little man to snuggle up to when I get a case of the winter blues!!

Not sure why, but he loves shoving his nose in the gate, lol.

 

So, let's try to figure out where I left off and what we've gotten done on the house, shall we? When I left you last, Hubby and I were "Living in Transition".  I really don't think that helps much with Seasonal Affective Disorder either. Still feels like we are living out of boxes and all crammed together.

As of right now, we still have our upstairs blocked off to try to keep the heating bill to a minimum.  We've also moved our bunny, Gus, out of the office and into the dining room. And then we moved him into the bedroom. We blocked off our office and have packed all of our bedroom/family room furniture into one room and that's basically where we spend the majority of our time. 

Let's focus on the bedroom for now... The bedroom is still under construction. 

For those who don't know, we bought the house in October and the state of the bedroom was not so great. It was half drywall and half plaster/lathe. The drywall was not taped or mudded or anything, just screwed on. There was some moisture damage and that had turned into mold since nobody had been around to maintain it. 

 

So we tore it all down. All of it. Plaster/lathe and drywall and trim. We would have probably torn the ceiling down with it all, if there had been a ceiling. We did have a tall ceiling, but we now have duct work from the new furnace we had put in, so we constructed a new ceiling, below the duct work. In addition to the new ceiling, we spent hours and hours trying to level out the studs. Apparently they decided to use them at all different angles and just smoothed the plaster over it. So after we added lumber to get all of the walls level, we put up new drywall. We taped it up and threw some mud on it! 

Hubby is getting ready to do some damage!

 

Tearin' down the walls with a friend of ours!

As of now, we've managed to get almost all of the mudding done and have sanded. We just have to do one more touch up coat and sand that. And then we can get to priming the walls! I am so excited for that step. I feel like it will be a turning point to getting our house back! But for now, it's drywall and a bunny tent! 

Working on the corner guards.

Taking advantage of the new ceiling, we installed a new light/fan... decided to wait on putting the rest up until after painting.

We'd like to eventually get some carpet in there and paint, of course. And then we can move our things into it. Gus will just have to be shuffled around until we get my office done. It will probably be the last room, so it may be a while. But Gus doesn't really seem to mind. I think he likes switching things up. And I do his pen area a little differently each time I move him. The only thing that would be a bummer is that when he is confined to his pen he doesn't have as much freedom as he did when I had the whole office blocked off and he could run around the whole room. But I still say he's rather spoiled. So I don't feel too bad! : ) 

Before, when he was in what will become the dining room... lots of room.

And now, in what is slowly becoming the bedroom. Not as much room, but now he has a fun canopy and an igloo that we got him for Christmas!

Now, as for color and how we want to decorate the bedroom. Eventually. When we get to that point... I am obsessed with grey right now. I've pretty much decided that our whole house is going to have a grey theme and then we'll liven it up with colorful accessories. Now, I will be the first to admit that I know absolutely not-a-thing when it comes to decorating and being able to put things together so they'll look nice. This is just what I happened to put together and I liked it. 

And this model isn't an exact replica of what our room will look like when finished either, it's just an inspiration board. I'm still learning how to work the website, Olioboard, but it has been such a help. I am a visual person and I have a hard time making decisions unless I can SEE what it will look like. So this has been a great tool. I really can't remember how I happened to find it. I think I may have just searched for inspiration board tools and tried a few. There is a free version and a pro version, but the free version is pretty darn spiffy, if you ask me. It's sometimes a little hard to find exactly what I want, but there are a ton of options to choose from and the combinations are endless! I highly recommend checking it out if you feel the desire to create an inspiration board of your own! : )

So now, I leave you with one of my all-time favorite things ... a before/after (or progress) shot! 

Living In Transition!

We are constantly in transition here. We haven't really been able to get anything fully accomplished yet. I can tell it's driving Hubby a bit bonkers, lol. We are probably (with my expert opinion) 55% done with the furnace installation. They are in the upstairs rooms now and just have one more room to do downstairs. As I'm writing this, I believe I heard them say, "Uh, oh. That ain't good." Oy!

So right now we have huge metal pieces lying on the floor and also hung on the ceiling in different levels of installedness, lol. And there is a permanent layer of dust from them cutting into plaster and pulling down the drop ceiling tiles.

We've also still got a ton of boxes to unpack, but have no closet downstairs yet, so we are putting our clothes wherever they can stay without getting dusty.

It's also cold. Why? Because the furnace guys are here and they are in and out a lot and they were getting really hot working up on the ladder where the heat had risen to. So I turned the heater off for now. Gus and I can cuddle for warmth! : )

On the positive side, we are making progress. I am really hopeful that we can get this furnace done in the next two days. They'll probably stay another 4 hours today and will get in 6 or so hours tomorrow, although they did miss yesterday due to a heat emergency elsewhere. I know things always take longer than you expect, but I can still hope!

Also, we are just waiting to get some wiring done in the bedroom and we can finish up the drywall and then start doing the mud and tape and sanding. After that, the hard part is done!

Oh, but did I mention that we don't have a ceiling? We took down all of the drop ceilings in the downstairs, except the kitchen and bathroom since those were big enough for the vents.

But I am focusing on the positives, right? Right! We've been here a month and are slowly turning this house into exactly what we want. We'll get there!

Finding Support

I mentioned that I am doing my new program along with other people. I'm doing a fitness mix of P90x and Fitness Blender and walking with my brother's girlfriend. I'm doing Whole30 with Hubby. 

Just recently I was talking to a lady at church and how she was doing on her program. She started about a week before I did. I posted (on Facebook) that I loved her daily updates. She was afraid that she was getting annoying because she was posting every day and she didn't want to bother people. I didn't think she was really bothering people, although there is always someone out there who will be offended by something little and will make a comment about posting every day. 

I know. It's happened to me. I used to be a part of a discussion board on a wedding planning website. I was doing well with my workouts and losing weight. Many of the girls were very supportive and joined me in checking in each day. But there were a couple of girls, for whatever reason, that decided to complain and let me know that it was annoying to them that I posted every day. 

I never complained when they posted something that I wasn't interested in, but maybe I'm just not as vocal and I chose just not to read those posts. No big deal. It may not seem like a big deal, so what they don't like your posts. But when you are doing great and feeling good and then all of a sudden someone is criticizing you for how well you are doing, you can lose that steam. Maybe I'm just insecure, but when someone criticizes me for that, I start to wonder if maybe I'm being cocky or arrogant or maybe I'm rubbing it in their face when they are struggling? This is what goes through my mind. Where do you draw the line from being proud to being arrogant? 

Well, this lady from church and I decided that it would be wonderful to have a space that we could check in as often as we want and not have to worry about annoying or bothering people. So we decided to make a Facebook group and open it up to anyone from church or surrounding area that would want to participate. I was thinking it would be a few people maybe that would participate, but we've got quite a few people checking in daily now and it seems to really be helping people. 

It's so helpful to have a safe place to be able to go and share your experiences, to ask for motivation, to share recipes, and to support others in their journey as well. And we don't have to worry about posting too often or anything like that. If someone doesn't want to see our posts, they just don't have to join our group. 

It's already been very helpful for me because I get to where I don't want to work out or just want to be lazy and have something not on my menu, but then I think about those people and how I can't check in with good news if I go off my plan. It has helped me stay on track each time and it feels good to be able to say that I had another successful day. 

So there's an option if anyone wants a support group, to make a Facebook group or join a specific discussion board geared towards that particular subject and find people who are on the same journey. It's amazing how much more motivated you are to do well when you know other people are counting on you and are looking forward to your check in. I think that may be one of the biggest tools to success! Good luck!

New Beginnings

I don't know if this is a true beginning or if there was ever really an end, but my motivation is back and I have teamed up with a few friends and family to get a grip on my nutrition and fitness before the cold/holiday season starts.

I have, especially the last couple of winters, had a hard time dealing with the changing seasons. I would say last year was the hardest of all. It doesn't really make sense to be depressed when you are a newlywed and have so many exciting things happening, but for months before that wonderful day that I married my best friend I dealt with all of the planning. I am so happy it turned out the way it did, but I am so happy to be done with it. Never again. Wedding planning has been the second most stressful thing I've ever done in my life. Buying a house was #1. Luckily, I made it through both without committing any crimes and with all of my hair intact.

But the stress of the wedding, the stress of holidays, the stress of gaining weight due to the stress of everything else... it all takes a toll on your body. Add on a horrible diet and it's really no wonder I wanted to stay in bed and do only things that required no thinking or emotion for the entirety of last winter.

This winter, I want to get a handle on things before it gets to that point. This year I'm doing things a little differently. First of all, I'm taking vitamin D. There's nothing that can substitute for the real deal, but if you can't get out in those rays, then vitamin D does help. Also, I'm going to make sure I stick to a fitness routine. Exercise has also been shown to help with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I even moved our treadmill into the house (by myself, I might add) in an attempt to make sure that I have no excuse not to do SOMETHING! Thirdly, I'm going to make sure to stick to our Whole30 nutritional plan this winter. I feel worlds different when I follow the plan, so I know it will help me to stay more positive, more energetic, healthier this snowy season. And the last thing, for now, that I plan on doing is to keep in touch with people. Interaction goes a long way to keep you from those winter blues. I have Gus and I have Hubby, but sometimes just giving a friend a call when you are feeling a little out of it, can really liven you up and help you keep your chin up.

So, my brother's girlfriend and I have decided to do P90x together. We started yesterday! I have a backup plan. Because Tony can get a little obnoxious. And sometimes I just don't have 60 - 90 minutes to devote to a workout routine. Plus a shower! So I am going to keep some Fitness Blender videos handy and have my treadmill cleared off so I can jump into those on days when I know I should do something, but just can't get on board with P90x.

Hubby and I are also doing the Whole30. I have to admit that we did indulge a little more than a little at our friend's wedding this weekend, so we are starting it over again. It is going to take us past Thanksgiving, but we're planning on putting together a few Whole30 friendly turkey day recipes to keep us on track and maybe even make a believer out of some of our family members!

So I've got exercise with my some-day-sister-in-law (come on bro!) and then a nutrition plan with Hubby. I've got the support of my friends and family to keep me busy and socializing. And Gus of course! : ) And I'll be taking my vitamins too! So with all of those tools under my belt, I plan to show Winter who's boss this year!! Wish me luck! I'm considering taking measurements and posting them, in an attempt to hold me accountable and on track. I'll be updating either way though! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Tearin' Down The Walls!

Ok, time to get to the real meat of our DIY projects to date! We tore apart the bedroom!

It started out looking like this:

And we decided that we had to take down the lathe and plaster to put up drywall. We discovered at this time that they had used horsehair in the plaster. It was both disgusting and fascinating. 

Then we decided that the old drywall had to come down because they hadn't sealed the crawlspace so moisture had gotten up and into the drywall. Not good. So we took that down. 

That meant that the walls were completely gone. Down to the studs. And it looked like this:

So now comes the easy part, we just put up drywall, right? Wrong! Apparently the studs are not flush at all. Some leave 1 inch indents and some stick out 1 inch from the rest. ALSO, there were no corners, so those had to be built so we could support the edges of the drywall. AND then we found out that the there were no top or bottom supports. So we decided to fill in gaps and add 2x4s to the corners, tops, and bottoms to create a level work surface. 

This would be my mom, helping us to get the room finished! : ) 

This was no easy task, especially since the existing studs seemed to have petrified and it was nearly impossible to get a screw or nail into them without it bending or just getting stuck half way. But we finally managed to get three of the walls completed. And it looked like this:

 

Here Chris was shaving off a bit of wood that was pushed out and would have made the drywall sit uneven against the rest of the studs. Tough job, but someone's gotta do it! And below he is cutting out a square for the outlet. 

So at this point it was time to put in the drywall. The drywall was much heavier than I had expected. My mom and I carried it into the house and we about broke her knuckle because we were moving it and her hand became smashed between door and drywall. But we eventually got the hang of it, and we now have almost 3 full walls up.

We have had a few setbacks. We were waiting for my dad to finish putting in new wiring. That's a whole other topic right there. And we have had a few issues getting the corners flush. But we have made some really good progress and it's starting to feel more like a nice room with potential rather than a creepy, abandoned, crime scene. I exaggerate, but there are a lot of pointy instruments in that room right now. 

It's been slow going. Hubby doesn't get home until 6 and then we have dinner and we unwind and get ready for the next day. So we have mainly been working on the weekends. I would try to get some of it done during the day since I get off earlier, but I'm afraid to use power tools by myself. Don't think I can rely on Gus to drive me to the hospital if I were to saw off my finger or put a nail through my foot. (I am not the most graceful person on this Earth, lol). 

We're hoping to get the rest of the supports up on the top and bottom and then to get the rest of the drywall up this weekend, but we're also going to a wedding on Saturday (of which Hubby is in) so our time will be limited. We're going to see what we can do though. My parents have been amazing throughout this whole process. I can't even describe it. We decided we want to DIY as much as we can with this house. It saves money, it's a good skill to have, and it's a sense of pride for your home that you just don't get anywhere else. They have been through a lot of this already since they did the same thing when they bought their home 25+ years ago. And they have been teaching us, and letting us learn first hand, and really supporting us financially whenever they can too. We would definitely not be getting this stuff done without their help. So we are so grateful to have them helping us throughout all of this process. Thanks, Mom & Dad!! : )

Anyone else working on a DIY project right now, anyone tearing down walls or putting up drywall. It's a long progress and always more time consuming and more expensive than we think, but it will be so worth it! 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. We have an issue on the fourth wall. There is a little chimney in the wall. And from what we've seen so far, we can't tear it down. So instead we will be building a column around it and just closing it off that way. Wish us luck! We'll share the progress as we get there!