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Archive for January, 2012

Nearing the end of the first week

January 31st, 2012 at 02:42 pm

It hasn't been too difficult to just drink water all day long. I've increased my activity level from a 0 to about a 10 (on a scale of 0-100)... so still a lot of work to do there, but in all fairness, I'm also not feeling well these past couple of days. Being sick just doesn't encourage one's motivation to "work out", you know? I have been weighing myself and the scale just isn't budging at all. I may not make my 1-2 lb goal unless I up the ante on the workouts!

Weight loss - Week 1 goal

January 26th, 2012 at 02:46 pm

I just weighed myself this morning for the first time in a long time. I wasn't happy with the number I saw --- time to get off my duff and do something about it. I am going to use this blog to help me track and be accountable for my actions. Here are the deets:

Current as of 1/26/12
Height 5'0
Weight 120 lbs
Size 2P-4P

Goal for one week 2/2/12
lose 2 lbs

Now, I don't really eat that much throughout the day but my choices aren't all that healthy AND I am a slug all day long... so baby steps first:

1) Drinking more water. Mt Dew is my weakness and I have a 12oz can each day... the bad thing is that's it as I don't drink much of anything else all day long. I've never been a thirsty person and usually don't drink anything with breakfast, just have the can of Mt. Dew with my lunch, and a sip of water with dinner. If I can just make myself drink more water and no more soda, then that would make a huge difference. So, for this next week, my goal is to drink 2 bottles of water each day and no soda.

2) Exercise each day. Yeah, this is the hardest part of any weight loss program. About 2-3 years ago, I got on the exercise kick and exercised about an hour each day for about 3 months and lost 15 lbs. I am going to start this up again with just 30 minutes each day for this next week.

So, let's see, if I cut out Mt. Dew, that's a savings of 170 calories per day x 7 days = 1,190 total calories for the week which equates to a third of a pound of body fat (one pound of body fat equals to about 3500 calories). Add in 30 min of exercise per day x 7 days = 3.5 hours of activity for the week. I should easily see a pound or two fall off at the end of the week. I'll check back in on 2/2/12 to let you know how successful I was (positive thinking).

Pictures: Upstairs Bathroom

January 25th, 2012 at 03:51 pm

Long time coming but here are some pictures of some BEFORE shots of the main upstairs bathroom in our short sale house... this is the first big reno we are working on in the house and I think you guys will just love seeing the after (for anticipation sake, I'm going to just leave you with the BEFORE pics for now though)... and I will give you a full budget breakdown with the after pics too so stayed tuned!








(Yes, those are just matchbox trucks screwed into the cabinet to be door pulls)

Icky, yucky, and cruddy = words to describe the before state of this bathroom. Before we moved in, I wanted a clean and "new" bathroom that was completely functional so this was the first room we attacked. I'll be back later with the during and after pics!

Who knew carpet was so expensive?

January 24th, 2012 at 08:43 pm

So, we are at the stage now where we want to re-carpet the entire short sale house. We went ahead and paid for the family room to be done first and the second and third floors, where all the bedrooms are to be done later.

Main family room cost = $1,966 (615 sq feet) -- We've already paid for this as we thought this was acceptable BUT then the rest of the house will cost a whopping $7,325! This is for the installation of another 1,995 sq feet of pad and carpet. I realize we are carpeting a huge amount of square footage but geez...

Do you guys think this is too expensive? The estimate is from Lowes which in all honesty is our cheapest alternative where we live. I guess I wasn't expecting nearly $9,300 for new carpet (and that is with us tearing out and hauling away the old carpet ourselves!). The carpet we chose is $2.58 per sq foot so it ain't the cheapest nor the most expensive option. UGH.

Why do shoes have to cost so much?

January 24th, 2012 at 03:15 pm

I have really tiny feet (size 5) and have never found any pumps that would fit... until recently! OMG, I can actually walk around work without my feet killing me and I love it. So, what do I do but go on a shopping binge. Eeek. I've bought 3 pairs and spent $255. They are not cheap shoes and I love them so I figure they are worth the investment but geez, my pocketbook is feeling the pinch!!! I got a black pair, a neutral beige pair, and then a leopard print pair. Quality shoes mean money, I suppose and these 3 pairs should last me a long while.