more home decor

Some of the home decor I got was a dark brown or black which would have faded in with my walls. I spray painted and then sanded some parts, so it looked a little worn. It came out nice.

Sorry the pic didn't come out great, but the three words are "Live", "Laugh", "Love", I put them above the sliding doors that lead to the porch.

I also spray painted and sanded this decorative wall vase.

I think it looks nice between the living room and dining room.

Then I moved the star above the dining room window, it has brown vines and blue flowers.

I added blue candles this picture/candle holder, (sweet pea fragrance~ nice aroma when you walk in the hallway)

I added red and orange candles to the mirror in the entrance way (apple and clementine fragrance) the blue, orange, and red are in my rugs, so it all ties in.

Gastroenterologist?

I had my apppoinment today with the Gastro doctor (as I call him). He had my blood taken to test for Celiac Disease. I will get a call in a few days either way. I have to go back in two weeks, depending on what I have, and figure out how to cure/solve the problem.

Starting tomorrow morning, I am going to keep a food journal, as well as write how I feel during the day after I eat each meal. Hopefully all this detail will be helpful in diaganosing what is wrong with me. I'm just SICK and TIRED of not being able to enjoy eating out or enjoy my favorite meals.

I'm Italian!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE TO COOK ~ This is torture!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday

Last night we went out for my sister and Phil's (her fiance) b-day. Her birthday is 9-21 and his is 9-5. My little sister is now 26, boy does time fly.

We went to Olive Garden (my sister's choice), next month Tony and I get to pick the place for our birthdays.

Janet and Phil being silly.

The sisters

Tony and me

Tony laughing at something...?

Phill too hungry to stop eating, he loves his breadsticks......

My parents being silly

Formal pic of my parents

Phil and Janet....

They're giggling about something.....probably a dirty joke from my father.

I was playfully biting Tony and he started screaming like a girl, what a wuss......

My parents deciding what to have for dessert.

The waiters singing Happy Birthday,
I think my sister wants to reach around and punch them......

Janet getting angry about something...... she's ready to stab somene.

Stomach issues

Okay, so.....

Even though I am trying to eat healthy, try living gluten free, and lose weight, I seem to be sick all the time now.

I made an appointment (next Tues) to see a Gastroenterologist, hopefully he will be able to find out what is going on with my digestive system. Part of me hopes I will have celiac disease, since I did feel better eating gluten free, or maybe its something else??? I just wanna know, so then I can see a Nutritionist and learn to eat foods that won't basically hurt me.

Lots of news about the Board of Directors at our Condo, but I can't talk about them yet, but I will let you all know what happens at our next Board meeting Oct 3rd.

Looking Good.......

Okay, so Friday night we had our second Happy Hour at our Condo Clubhouse. Many people showed up, but sadly only Hope (also my neighbor) and I were the only two board members who were there.

I made sure I introduced myself to as many people as possible and mentioned that I was the newest board member. I spoke about all the possitive changes I wanted to make and got great responses. Plus I found out that I replaced someone whose term is not up till Oct 2008. So there is a lot that I can do and PLAN TO DO. We have four openings next month and many residents seemed open to voting in new members who are positive, responsible, and accountable to the residents of our Condo Association. It's just not enough to "sit" on the board, you have to....... take action, be available by phone and email, ask quetsions for the residents, participate, be neighborly, keep a budget, pay your maintenance on time, ....etc.....

Some outcomes of the party.......

• looks bad for the board members who did not come
• some residents volunteered to help bake food for the monthly meetings to make it a friendly atmosphere
• was given the idea to start a welcoming committee
• met many wonderful people who will hopefully start coming to meetings and holding the board accountable
• many people do not like the managment company and want a change

feeling better

So I haven't been exercising, but I get it at work. One of the schools I work in has seperate buildings, so I help walk the students to class. In addition, since I am so busy I don't have time to sit and eat, if I do get the munchies the only food I have in the office is raisins and natural (unroasted) almonds.

I keep eating my hard boiled eggs with 1 slice of low sodium bacon for breakfast. Eating eggs keeps me full in the morning.

I have planned my lunch and dinner for tomorrow. I made a salmon steak, string beans, and brown rice. I have enough for both meals, plus it keeps me from over eating.

I put up some of my home decor from Lakeside Collections. You see this when you open the door, it's in my little entrance cove. It's a little hard to see, but it has tealights in certain spots and brightens the dark hallway. Yes I know right mirror is a little crooked, but I measured for a half and hour, so I refuse to move it.

I also put up this decorative tealight and photo holder. You see it when you walk in, you either look straight into the kitchen or turn right towards the hallway and see this on the wall. I have to get pics of each of us and a group family photo.

This was dark brown, but I spray painted it taupe, I used a shine, but should have went with flat. I then ran sand paper over it to give it a rusted look. I think it looks good. This is on the long wall connecting my dinning room and living room.

You can kinda see the "rustic" look, or am I just kidding myself?

Overwhelmed and Sick

So this was my first week back to work and I have been busy and SICK! I got sick from camping, I guess I didn't bring enough warm clothes and once I get a chill in my back, I get sick. I just need the weekend to relax and get healthy, I didn't want to call in sick my first week back.
.

Work has been and will be crazy. I have to go between to high schools, so I can only spend two and half days at each, wich doesn't leave a lot of time for testing students, evaluting and scoring the tests and eventually planing individual and group lessons. So I'm a little over whelmed right now and stressed.

I want to do the best job I can for fear that if I don't it will look bad for me. On the other hand if I do too good of a job than the work load might increase even more next year. AAAARRRGGGHHH!
.
.
.
The good thing is that since I'm so busy I don't have time to snack, I did buy a large box of raisins and natural (unroasted) almonds to snack on. On Thursday I did a lot of walking (helping out by bringing students to and from class~a lot of confusion in the first week)

For breakfast I make egg salad
For lunch I have one of my premade meals, and make sure its the proper portion.
My snacks are raisins and almonds
For dinner I have some of the premade meals, and some wine.
.
I do have good news, I am on the board of directors for my condo (just for two months). There were two vacancies. The elections are again in the end of October, so I will try and run and hopefully be elected for the year. I am very excited and hope to make lots of positive changes for our place.

Back to normal

So, today was the first day of school (no students ~ they come tomorrow). I have to get the testing done ASAP so I can prioritze the students' needs and set up my schedule.

Of course, the highlight of my day was coming home to Balboa, I missed him so much and feel normal that he is back home again.

I had a good day today (eggs and 1 slice low sodium bacon, two sushi rolls, lot sand lots of water, a few almonds, 1/2 chicken breast, sliced sweet potato, and brocolli)

I made my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow........

egg salad (two hard boiled eggs, 1 slice low sodium bacon, garlic powder, parsely, a drop of balsamic vinegar, small amount of light mayo)
















fillet of sole, sliced potatoes, brocolli and cauliflower (I put everything in the slow cooker, and added lots of fresh sqeezed lemon juice, garlic powder, parsley, and oregano)















Plus I now have lunch for a few days, not including other meals I have made with the slow cooker.

Home all alone

We can't pick up Balboa from the vet till Tuesday, so I won't see him till I get home from work on Tuesday. I am so lonely and sad without him and feeling very guilty. How will I sleep without him?????? Tomrrow I'm heading out to buy him a few new toys and some treats.

I FINALLY got the home decor items I ordered. I guess I'll keep busy by getting ready for work, cleaning, and putting up the rest of the home decor items. (I'll post pictures when I'm done).
.
.
.
So, camping was fun. My sister joined us, but her fiance Phil could not make it, he got stuck fixing a computer problem in Houston.

Our tent, it's a four person tent so two people can sleep comfortably in there. We had an air mattress and our sleeping bags. It was COLD Friday night, but the sleeping bag kept me warm and the mattress kept us off the cold ground.

















The screenhouse, so glad Tony got this. We eventually set up our table and eating are in here.















Me and Janet















Tony eating pasta and turkey sausage I made. (We eat good when we camp!)















Tony chatting away!















Tony stoking the fire.
















Tony being silly, he makes me laugh.
















FIRE!!!!!!!!
















Me and Tony taking a pic in our tent, on our comfy air mattress.

















Me and Tony by the fire, my hair is CRAZY!!!!!
















Me by the fire, you can't see but the cup WAS filled with Sangria!