My Addiction

My name is Julie, and I'm addicted to spray paint.  No, no...  not huffing it, just using it on anything possible.  Spray paint offers those of us with limited budgets (both financially and artistically) to produce something pretty cool.  

It started when I found out you can spray paint shoes.  What?!  How awesome is that?  So when I decided I had nothing to wear my brown shoes with anymore, I just spray painted them silver.  Problem solved...  a "new" pair of shoes.  (Note: do not try this on real leather shoes).

If you don't want to become aware of the countless ways you can use spray paint to transform your surroundings, do not go on Pinterest and enter "spray paint" in the search box.  You've been warned.  Spray paint old metal folding chairs pretty colors?  Never would've thought, and yet now it haunts my thoughts because I have 4 ugly ones.  

My recent obsession started with this lovely product.

I actually bought this about 2 years ago to touch up some spots on a horse trailer.  It never got done, and we no longer own it.  What we do own are quite a few items the previous owner of this house left behind.  Many outdated and ugly, but free nevertheless, so here they have stayed.  Then I had an inspiration.  What if I took that can of Hammered Bronze spray paint to the very outdated brass lamp?  What if?  

I'm in love with the way this lamp turned out!  It now looks like a lamp I'd actually pay money for, but don't have to...because my friend spray paint came to the rescue.  Since then I have done 2 more lamps.  And a few heat registers.  And the cold air return vent.  I spend my days wondering what else I can spray with Hammered Bronze.  I have a few light fixtures that aren't bad, except for the gold accents.  Well their golden days are numbered.  I also have very old kitchen cabinets I cannot replace yet, but the hardware?  I see Hammered Bronze in their near future!  

I have also found that spray paint of any color turns canning jars into things of beauty that can be used as vases, candle holders, etc.* 

It also transforms ugly picture frames in just seconds.  I had a collection of family photos in a total mishmash of frame types and colors all together in one spot on the wall.  Now the frames are all a black matte color and look like they belong together.  It was about an hour of work including putting the photos back in and cleaning the glass.  

We also took a large, brown framed wall mirror that had been left in Alyssa's pink and black bedroom and painted the frame black with an overlay of glitter.  Fabulous!  

*Just a quick tip for those who would like to try spray painting.  I'm lazy and impatient and hate taking any extra steps so for the lamps, picture frames, shoes, and most items, I have not used any primer first.  I did find that the glass jars don't work well without a thin coat of primer. And of course if painting a light color over a dark finish, primer would be helpful. When in doubt you could always prime.  You can buy a paint and primer in one but I think you get a better value for your money with separate primer since it isn't always needed. 

Overdue update

And then I got busy with school.....................



And lost all time to comment on anything.  At the same time, I wish I had more wonderfulness to report. I have done better in taking my afternoon supplements.  I did better with waking up earlier and going to bed earlier.  I haven't had any diet soda, and though I still have some Crystal light type drinks, I make them with double the water now, so less chemicals. But I still need to drink more. Any actual weight loss has been frustrating and full of road blocks. I got sick multiple times at the beginning of the year.  I'd recover, determine to start exercising...   then get sick all over again. 

I have however gotten much more control over my eating portion wise.  This has been a "two steps forward, one step back" routine, but getting better all the time.  I can honestly say over the last month or so I've eaten less each day than in a long time.  And yet, not a pound has left.  By less I mean that before the next meal or snack, my stomach is truly honestly growling. I've had my off days, yes.  But many more on days.  Even on my "off days"....   church party, birthday, etc..   though I ate more than my new slimmed down portions, I still ate less than I would have at an event like that before.  So, frustration is the key word right now.  I had hoped to lose just 5 lbs before my vacation next week.  But no.  A few years ago, I lost 17 lbs just with cutting back portions, but I also found out I was on too much thyroid and as soon as my dose was adjusted....   weight loss over. 

I honestly feel jealous of all those joggers I see on the street (never thought I would say that).  Because I would LOVE to go out and burn off a bunch of fat like that and feel like I had done something amazging for my body.  But I don't think my body could handle it.  It is my biggest obstacle right now.  I think to myself, "I'm going to do yoga tomorrow", then I wake up with this terrible pain in my wrist that does leave for 10 days.  Why?  I wish I knew.  Did I overuse it?  No.  Did I injure it?  No.  It just shows up with no reason, and leaves as suddenly as it came.  Ack!   And I never know when these will attack me. 

So I've come up with a rotating schedule of types of exercise based on how I feel when I wake up.  If my thumb or wrist hurts, then I can walk.  If my hips hurts, then yoga or upper body weights, and so on.  I might just have no other choice but to try and outsmart my body this way and be flexible (gosh I hate being flexible).  I am determined to be healthier and stronger. 

You never know what you've got til it's gone, right?  When my body was stronger, I was too focused on surviving the day with a bunch of kids, or I exercised, but still ate too much so I never saw results.  Now that I've got it all together mentally...  my body has fallen apart. I will not let my frustrations side line me though.  I'll keep finding a way to work around the obstacles. I don't even wish weight loss were easier.  Just that I could DO what I want to be able to do to accomplish it.  

So far, so good

So far, so good.  Of course that lovely stomach bug helped a little.  Not in losing any weight amazingly.  You'd think 3 days of not eating might have an effect.  Such is my life.  But...it did help "reset" things a little.  I admit I got into a really bad habit through the holidays of just grabbing whatever, whenever to eat.  Having no appetite for several days (why couldn't it stay gone?) helped me to get back to smaller portions, eating when my stomach is growling rather than when I feel like it, and detaching from the need for sweet.  

I have done pretty well with my first round of goals.  I am drinking more water.  I am getting up earlier (though it's closer to 6 than 5:30...still working on that). I am remembering my supplements.  And I did yoga twice this past week. It'll be 3 times this coming week since I'm feeling well.  

One of my future goals is to cut out sweet, both real sugar and artificial.  I think being too hooked on the "sweet" flavor just isn't good, even if it's a zero calorie sweet.  I've stopped drinking diet soda (1-2 a week).  I still have some crystal light type drinks, but after I make some I add about 2 parts extra water so it has that watered down "sports-ade" type taste.  And I'm fine with that.  

This next week school ramps up a notch with writing new kinds of papers in a new kind of way.  But I'll keep up with these goals and work on pulling round 2 together!  

The Details

I am usually a bit over ambitious when it comes to setting goals.  I set lots of them, and even write them down and put them somewhere visible.....   where I can be reminded often of how much I'm not really working on them.  Yeah, I'm awesome.  So for this "totally change my health for the better and lose weight along the way" goal, I am starting small.  I'll put some small, but important habits into place first, before moving on.  

The first round of changes:


Take my afternoon supplements
Morning yoga 3 x a week
To bed earlier and awake earlier
Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day


My supplements are fish oil capsules (for inflammation), vitamin D3 with calcium citrate (for better D3 absorption), vitamin B12 (because that's low too), and papaya enzymes and probiotics (for better digestion).  Here's the thing.  I can't take those first thing in the morning because they interfere with my thyroid hormones.  And for the life of me, I just cannot remember to take more pills in the afternoon (or I remember but many little distractions get in the way....  or maybe I'm just lazy).  


I gave up exercising a while back because with even moderate workouts, I would have pain (not muscle soreness), from some "injury" I don't remember getting. I spent more time recovering than exercising. Thank you autoimmune disease.  But I have some yoga DVDs that show modifications (because I am not thin or flexible enough for all the regular poses).  And now that my mysterious thumb pain seems to finally be going away after 3 weeks, maybe I can actually put my hands on the ground and do yoga, which I really enjoy, but rarely do. 

In order to get up and have time to do yoga, read scriptures, and get a good deal of homework done before I wake the kids up, I will need to start getting up at 5:30.  I'm sure that's no big deal for many of you.  But I'm a night person.  Going to bed at 10pm is hard for me because I'm not tired then.  Even if I got up really early.  But I'll at least be in bed, lights out and work on being more of a morning person than I already force myself to be.

Water.  Simple, right?  I rarely feel thirsty though.  So I don't drink much of anything during the day.  But I feel better when I do.  So when I fill up my glass a few times a day..  I'll simply drink the whole thing rather than just a sip.    

These four changes start now.  I'll put reminders everywhere and make it as easy as possible.  The idea is that in 2 weeks or less I'll be in a new routine with these habits and I'll start noticing some small changes in how I feel. And as soon as I feel I have a handle on them, I'll post my next steps.

The Goal

Here we are, New Year, new beginnings! This all seemed like a good idea the other day.  But I have to say I'm not as sure today.  Maybe that's the nasty junk food and lack of sleep from NY Eve talking.  But, I said I was going to put my biggest challenge out there and hope it would give me more incentive to actually follow the steps in my goal.  

Here it is...  (drum roll)...   



my health
  

I won't get into every little detail (for which you are grateful, trust me), but I have some health issues.  I  have an autoimmune thyroid disease, which causes generally high levels of inflammation throughout my body, even when taking my medication, resulting in aches, random pains that can hang on for days, and a stressed system to name a few.  

I also have this crunchy knee... it "crunches" when I walk down stairs.  It's been crunchy and painless..  and now, not always painless (having THE steepest set of stairs ever doesn't help).  It could be a precursor to arthritis which runs in my family.  And I would like to do all I can to heal or reverse this now if possible.  

I found out I have a ridiculously low vitamin D level.  Which increases risk for cancer, autoimmune diseases (uh huh) and inflammation. 

I am clearly not at anything close to my goal weight.

And I have acid reflux.  

Okay..sadly there's more, but before I start sounding like your great grandmother (or maybe I already have), I'll stop here.   My point is, I'm not super young anymore.  I should be taking these things more seriously.  In the past, I've been too busy being mom to be slowed down by a little reflux or knee crunching.  My motto has been something like "blow it off and maybe it'll go away". But where are we without our health?  Where will I be 5 years from now when it's all gotten progressively worse?  

I've been trying to do better at recognizing spiritual promptings in my life (another goal).  A few months ago, when the thought occurred to me again, that I "should" start taking care of myself better I had an epiphany because this thought came to my mind: 

Why are you so willing to follow other promptings, but those regarding your health you dismiss as just another "should" on your list that you don't have time for, rather than Heavenly Father's counsel for you?  

Yes, why indeed?  And I've thought about that and pondered it...   but as you can see, taken no action so far.  Nothing consistent at least.  Not something I'm terribly proud of.  But that's going to change.  

I won't be just blogging about weight loss, though that needs to be part of the goal. After years of struggling with weight I can tell you I know the secret to weight loss.  Eat less, move more.  So I'm not looking for some magic solution, but I do think a body responds better to diet and exercise efforts when it's in balance on all levels. I believe strongly in the mind-body connection.  I am a big believer in integrative medicine, meaning that Western medical practices and pharmaceuticals don't hold all the answers to our health.  I'll be using meditation, coconut oil, essential oils, prayer, and other things I have researched over the years and found to have great benefits.  And some standard medicines too. 

I have started many times, but have never established hard-core habits with any of this.  I do good for a while,  something sidelines me for a few days... and then I completely forget I was ever doing any of it (how does that happen?).  I'll post soon about the specifics of what I'm going to do and why.

That Ghandi was a wise man

I've been thinking about a quote a read a while back.  

This is true.  But we all do it, don't we?  We all believe things, and yet we don't live them.  We believe in being kind, yet sometimes we aren't.  We believe in being forgiving, but sometimes it's easier said than done.  And we all say we want to be better, but then we don't always make the commitment and do the work it takes to actually be better.  Of course no one is perfect.  But the number of things I believe, and yet don't do is....  uncomfortable.  

I'm generally a fairly private person when it comes to personal struggles and issues. My own family rarely knows what goals I'm working on.  I know plenty of my shortcomings are obvious, and I guess I don't want to be brutally honest about all of them.  It's not out of pride...  (okay, maybe it is)...  it's just that if I blab about a certain area I'm trying to improve, and I fail, then everyone will know about it instead of just me.  Which just deepens the disappointment (or the humiliation)... and the fear of failure, for someone that already has a healthy dose.  Please tell me someone out there can relate to that.  

But I've been thinking for some time of being brave enough to use this blog to hold myself more accountable by letting everyone in on some part of life I struggle with.  I would hope that it would help me stick to my efforts better (and make fewer excuses) so as to not suffer the above mentioned humiliation.  And yeah, I know you have so much going on in your own life that you probably don't care whether or not I reach my goals. But as long as it's out there I think I'll work harder (I hope).  

The beginning of a new year is as good a time as any, right?  Honestly, not a New Year's resolution maker.  Resolutions are just wishes.  Goals are plans of action.  I'd rather set goals.  That means deciding what you want, and outlining the steps needed to get there. I've learned to be a great goal setter.  But I let the many little fires of everyday life take my focus away from what I decided was truly important to me, and then I make excuses, and then forget, and then I fail.  Believing in something and not living it....  

So on New Year's day I'll take a deep breath, lay out my biggest challenge, and get started.  And if it bores you to tears to follow along, it's perfectly okay.  If you don't tell, I'll never know.  I hope it'll still give me the kick in the behind I need. 

Changes

The only constant in life is change (according to Heraclitus of Ephasus at least, but I believe him).  Sometimes life is kind of static, and then there are big seasons of change that wash over us like a blustery storm.  I'm in the middle of one of those seasons right now, which is one reason I haven't blogged in 5 months.   Don't get me wrong, storms aren't all bad.  I like a good rainstorm now and then.  I enjoy the beauty of a brooding sky and love the smell of outdoors after rain.  But change can also be disorienting. 

In the past 6 months or so, my oldest child got married, and second oldest moved out.  I went back to college after 24 years.  We decided to sell our home in the country of 18 years, and move to town.  My "baby" gave up "nee-nees" (nursing), and diapers (like I said, change isn't all bad).  Sadly, I also had a good friend of 12 years pass away unexpectedly and suddenly, leaving a hole in the life of her husband, 4 young children, and those who knew her.  Change can be  challenging, often unexpected, and not always pretty.  

Still, I believe that ultimately, most change is good.  It's the adjusting to it that seems to give me fits. For a unashamed planner, who is never far from her notebook and highlighter, going with the flow is just counter-intuitive (even though it's surely the smarter choice).  

Here are a few things I've learned through some of these changes.

1.  Once children leave your home...  they're still going to need you a lot.  

2.  Algebra is hard.  Statistics may be harder.

3.  Homework takes WAY more time than I ever remember (of course I was single and childless then).

4. "House Hunters" is a lie. Buying and selling a house is not that fun or easy.

5.  Always follow promptings.  Not doing so meant missing out on the chance to tell a great man what a wonderful influence he was on this earth. Doing so allowed me to visit with my friend Angi just days before she died, and that is a precious memory to me.  Lesson learned.  

6.  Children grow at light speed and before you know it they're gone.  People before things (and that includes laundry).  

7.  This too shall pass... and when it does something else will take it's place. "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" (John Lennon), so just enjoy the simple things.  

8.  My life is not as focused on the important things as it is the urgent things.  And I need to change that.  

9. The simple life isn't what I thought it was.  And I wish I'd learned that sooner.  But better late than never.  

10.  From chaos springs new life.  (I'm counting on that).  But it can be a slow process. 

This is an example of my current chaos.  Our current dining room has looked liked this for 2 weeks already. Note the absence of an actual table. It will be weeks before my new dining room is put together (after the move next week there are wood floors to refinish before furniture comes in).  For right now, I remind myself to just breathe, and remember #s 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10.  It's all good.