Archive for January, 2010

Day 15: The Basement Project

I wish I could find my real “before” picture of the basement. It was worse than my office. Every square foot had something in it, boxes, tubs, blankets, camping equipment. You could barely walk around down there. Now it looks like this:     
 Day21_BasementMovieTheaterDay21_BasementGameRoom   
In the left corner there will be a wet bar. That side of the room will have a nice foosball table and a treadmill. On the dark wall is a projector screen for our little home theater and a couch will divide the two sides of this very long room. There will also be a small guest bedroom and bathroom.

Comments (1)

Day 14: The Office

I thought it would be really embarrassing to post my weight on the internet but this is far worse. (Sigh.) The picture below was taken about a week ago. It is supposed to be my office but it looks more like an episode of Oprah. For the past year I have worked from my couch downstairs because I have been afraid to go in there. The picture doesn’t even do justice to how bad it was. I say “was” because soon after I took this photo I at least cleared off the floor and desk so I can work in there again. Just straightening it up is not going to cut it this time. I do that every couple months and before long it becomes a dumping ground again. I need to get rid of all this junk!

Comments (1)

Day 13: The Clean Up

Day19caution For the most part we keep our house straightened up. On any given day a person could drop by unannounced and we would not have too much to be embarrassed about. However, there are exceptions, rooms we hope visitors avoid. To make matters worse, for the past year we have been working on finishing our basement. During that time everything we would normally store has been living among us. Being smothered by my own stuff has made me extremely motivated to get rid of all of it. We had a major garage sale in the summer and donated whatever we couldn’t sell. How in the world, then, do we still have so much stuff?

Leave a Comment

Day 12: Volleyball

Day18_BlockSaturday I played Queen of the Court in an indoor beach volleyball tournament. I finished somewhere in the top half which is not bad after not playing in awhile. My next goal is to finish in the top 8. That might take awhile. Sunday I played women’s doubles followed by coed. That’s 8 hours of volleyball in 2 days. I am wiped out but I have to get a run in today before I let my race goal get too far away from me. I am probably still around 9 minute miles. My hip and knee started feeling better right when we got our new bed so I am hoping I am okay to run now. We’ll see.

Day18_weighin2 WEEKLY WEIGH-IN:
Last week: 152
This week: 150
Start: 157
Goal: 137

Comments (4)

Day 11: Haiti Rescue Effort Inspires Me

This week’s feature includes all the people involved in the rescue of Haiti from the destruction caused by last week’s earthquake. We will hear amazing stories about the heroes involved in this effort but there are others I am sure we will never know of.

Day17_HaitiMan

http://blog.changemyselfchangetheworld.com/?page_id=629

Leave a Comment

Day 10: Sleep Number

Day16_SleepNumber Last night was our first night on our new Sleep Number bed. After getting about 4-5 hours a night for the past several weeks I finally got a good night sleep. Good thing too because I was getting pretty crabby.

Apparently people either love everything about the bed or think it is the worst ever. My dad has one friend who put his in a spare room and bought a Tempur-pedic. He has another friend who loves it so much she set a separate sleep number for her dog’s side of the bed. The jury is still out for us. Apparently it takes awhile to fall into one camp or the other. But I have been having pain in my knee, hip, and lower back from a tight IT band and our other bed was so hard it made things worse. I tossed and turned and kept Todd up all night. So for me this bed was an big pain relief. So far so good.

Leave a Comment

Day 9: The Kitchen – The Other Half

I do have kitchen cabinets that stay organized all the time. I never lose a tupperware lid. Canned foods and spices are always in order and my refrigerator is always clean. But there is another side of the kitchen more indicative of my former self.

Day15_big_junk_drawer To the left is the giant utensil drawer. You cannot tell from the photo but it is 3 feet wide and almost 2 feet deep. It is packed front to back. I really have no idea what all is in there. I probably have some great utensils buried in it but I am not sure.

Day15_small_junk_drawerOn the right is another junk drawer in which I found an oven mitt, a cat brush, deck of cards, a network cable, plant food, scotch tape, and a straw from Sonic. I can barely find two items in here that should be in the same room much less the same drawer. I love to cook and I love my kitchen. If I could get this half to work like the other half I would be in kitchen heaven. So I guess that’s the goal.

Comments (1)

Day 8: The Kitchen

Day14_KitchenLet’s start with the kitchen. In college it never occurred to me to do dishes until I didn’t have anything to eat with. Later, I started to notice that every time my family gets together for a big meal, the aunts and uncles practically race each other over who gets to help clean the dishes. At first I assumed they just liked doing it. But it finally sunk in that they just like having it done. Big difference.

Day14_KitchenCabinetsNow I take the same approach in my own house. Get it over with. The big key for me was having organized cabinets. A person might look in that cabinet think ‘Wow! So organized!’ What they don’t realize is that it only represents half of what my kitchen is like behind closed doors.

Tomorrow I will introduce you to the other half…

Leave a Comment

Day 7: Organized People Are Lazy

Day13_lazyshirt_textPeople who are naturally organized don’t seem to have to work as hard to keep their lives in order. I would love to be one of those people. I have no idea how someone like me ended up being a Quality Assurance Engineer. Strangely enough, I am pretty organized at work. I plan well, follow through, and pay very close attention to details. Using those phrases to describe me at home would be more like the punch line of a joke. Without the key hook by the door I would never know where my car keys are. Without automated payments I would most certainly forget to pay my bills on time. I keep a folder for emails from co-workers that say things like ‘You are so organized!’ because it is so highly ironic and strange to hear myself described that way. Don’t get me wrong. I am nothing like I was in college. More on that tomorrow…

Leave a Comment

Day 6: Inventory

Day10_clothesNow for the hard part. I removed every piece of clothing from my closet that is too small for me and took inventory. That was rough, I have to admit. It filled up two storage bins! And there it will remain until it all fits again. So for everyone who has very kindly made sure I am not being too hard on myself, thank you, but hopefully this demonstrates that the issue is not a matter of losing weight to be happier. I am about as happy as a person can be already. I have a much more practical problem at the moment. I can’t wear my clothes.

DSCN237410 swimming suits
10 pairs of board shorts
8 pairs of jeans
7 pairs of capris
7 pairs of exercise shorts
5 pairs of pants
5 pairs of athletic pants
24 undergarments (not shown)

Thank you to my cat Buddy for photobombing the side view of my clothing stacks.

Comments (1)