Quick Takes Friday

1-
I don't know if this spring cleaning binge was that great of an idea...maybe my bad attitude is because yesterday and today are in the kitchen. I love my kitchen...it's huge...but that means a LOT of stuff to go through. Our house is about 1500 sq ft, and I think that the addition (which is a large bathroom, large laundry room and a HUGE kitchen) must be about 500 sq ft by itself. My desk and computer are in the kitchen, so are the bookshelf and cabinet where I keep school stuff, and about four other cabinets where various things that we don't have another place to store are kept (sewing machine, scrap booking, some household tools, games, etc.) Yesterday I managed to clean out the class cabinet,the class bookshelf and my desk. Fortunately, I cleaned out the pantry a week or two ago...so that means today, all I have is cleaning out 17 cabinets, 15 drawers, 3 open spaces (bookshelf-type built-ins), 4 counter tops, the refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave and floors...So, here is one before shot, and several after shots of my cleaning binge so far.

2-
Yesterday we worked on the yard for most of the day. Hubby only had to work in the morning, so he prepped the front half of our extra lot to plant some grass seed, while I worked on prepping part of the back half of our extra lot for planting a garden. We went to Ace to get some tools and some grass seed...wow does yard stuff add up! Of course, the fact that we've been married almost 10 years, and have been homeowners at least 5 of those years makes it a little disturbing that we didn't have much in the way of decent yard tools. Hubby really wanted to plant Buffalo grass, but when we found out that they wanted $21.99 PER POUND for the seed, and figured that we would need about 15 lbs, we went with the cheaper ($2.79 lb) rye grass mix. The robins have been enjoying the buffet out there...but at least it'll probably keep them away from my vegetable garden!

3-
I had my first fill for my REALIZE band on Wednesday...it was about what I thought in terms of comfort...basically, they have you do a stomach crunch while they stick you with the needle so that they can hit the port and get the saline solution in. I have 3ccs in now, and I was just FINALLY able to have solid food again this morning (I have to do clear liquids for the remainder of the day after the adjustment, then full liquids the next day, then back to normal foods.) I also did two classes, one on basic nutrition after WLS, and another on emotional eating, which was very informative...but at the end, he had us practice a visualization technique. I think I may be very strange, but I cannot visualize things...I try, but I cannot get a picture in my head. I can visualize sounds or feelings (I could visualize standing in a summer's breeze, for instance, and I could hear birds chirping, but I cannot see the grass or flowers or birds...)

4-
Thank goodness I had appointments on Wednesday, because on Tuesday the girls were driving me so crazy that I texted hubby to let him know that I was contemplating listing them on Freecycle...he texted back that as long as someone picked them up, that was fine...then I told him I was about to offer free delivery. I almost went and dropped them off at MILs house one day early, but I couldn't find her...she left her cell phone at home and was gone all afternoon.

5-
I have an outfit for the wedding! Woo hoo! (I hate shopping for or buying clothes) MIL was ordering a dress for herself, and ordered a skirt and blouse combo for me, too. It is very pretty, dark brown, and I may actually post a picture of myself in it (may being the key word there...). Of course, I don't have very many shoes (anymore...I know what you are thinking Katie!) so the only dress shoe options I had are black almost flats that I bought for SILs wedding 3 years ago (hubby thinks I should throw them out because the toes are so scuffed up!) or brown ankle boots, which I think would look a little silly for a spring wedding. My other brown option is my crocs...but I think, again, that would look silly. I found a very cute pair of brown heels (I don't think I've worn heels in 5 years) on Wednesday, and other than learning how to walk in them again, I'm pretty happy with having clothes to wear. Bonus, I can wear them out to dinner on our Vegas vacation!

6-
Hubby drank the last of his beer last night, and for the second time in our beer making history (of 6 months or so) he is beerless because he didn't listen to my advice. Here is my advice...we have enough bottles to hold two batches of beer. My theory is that right after we bottle one batch, we should start a second batch fermenting. Then, when it is fermented in about 3 weeks or so, we can bottle it in the second bunch of bottles...that way, when he is done drinking the first batch, the second batch is ready to drink. But does he listen to this advice...NO! He always says something like "well, when I have a day off next week, I'll go ahead and start another batch!" He said that about 6 weeks in a row now, and never has a batch of beer gotten made...not to tell him I told you so, but...

7-
My brother (who is 33 and lives with my parents) had a bad week last week. On Wednesday he was fired (for something he has been warned about a couple of times that he never really took care of, which was dumb in our current economy!), he didn't tell my parents, who didn't think anything of him not going to work on Thursday (his weekend was Thursday and Friday)...well, after my parents left for the weekend on Thursday evening, he had to call them and let them know that someone had slammed into his parked car and crushed the driver's side doors so badly that they couldn't be opened. Then he had to fess up that he had been fired, and THEN he had to let them know that he didn't have comprehensive insurance (on his 2004 car...we don't have anything other than liability, but our cars are a 95 and a 97, and both worth about $1500...so we could literally replace both tomorrow with cash if we needed to) and surprise, surprise, he has no money saved up, even though he moved in with my parents several years ago so that he could save money to buy a townhouse or something...so, once more, my parents are bailing him out and crippling him in the process...I don't know how a 33-year old can have so little sense, and take so little responsibility for his actions...and my mom keeps asking for my advice as to what she can do to help him...and I don't think my theory of "cut him off, throw him out on the street and make him live his own life on his own" is going to be one that she likes...

More quick takes at Jen's blog!