Friday Night Photos

Man, this week has gone by so fast! I have been up to my eyeballs in construction work for the bedroom and bathroom. Lucky for anyone reading this, I won't be posting more pictures of it this week ;)  It's killing me not to go in there and start framing the closet walls (which I have no idea how to do!) and install the bathtub/shower (also don't know how to do). I can't do the cosmetic stuff (flooring, painting, trim, etc) until everything else is done.

This week, I tried to take a lot of pictures--and several of them are from the pets. But I can't help it! They are too cute.

This morning, I went to some garage sales with my parents (I haven't gone in YEARS--it was so fun!) and one of the things I bought was this cat bed. You can see Duck took it over immediately. Not at all surprising.

 

I fell asleep while Jerry and I were watching a movie and Duck decided to come sleep by my head. I miss when he used to do that every single day! Now it's more like once a week. But I really love it when he does.

For some reason, Chick decided to come lie on my lap as well (this was actually before Duck did). Did I ever mention how much I love cats? ;)

Phoebe is still hanging in there. She's been eating less and less and she's starting to look greasy again, but as long as she seems happy, we'll just keep doing what we've been doing.

It's shedding season, and you can see just how disgusted Joey is that I waited so long to brush his undercoat, hahaha. He looks so sad! But honestly, he was thrilled. He LOVES getting brushed and I'm always amazed at how much fur comes off of him. I use the Furminator brush and you can see the big pile of fur next to him. (Here is an affiliate link to the Ferminator on Amazon--it is the BEST brush to get the undercoat of dogs!)

Even if you're not a cat person, you have to admit this is adorable. I wish I could be that comfy!

Noah has really gotten into disc golf with Jerry, which I think is awesome. Eli hasn't shown any interest in it, but he's been regular-golfing a LOT this summer. (If you ever want to get Jerry all riled up, call disc golfing "frisbee" and watch his reaction--hahaha!)

Jerry insisted on taking my picture outside of The Container Store--where we went for our 19th wedding anniversary, hahaha. 

We spent probably two hours in there looking for containers for our closet (ones that didn't cost an arm and a leg). We didn't buy each other gifts, so this was a combined gift to each other. An organized closet! Just what we always imagined for our 19th anniversary. Next year for our 20th, we really do need to plan something nice ahead of time. Maybe a weekend getaway.

And the next day, we busted out the containers and got to work folding and organizing. It's not totally done (can you believe we didn't get enough containers?!) but it'll be nice to have it done soon.

My neighbor has a garden like nothing you've ever seen, and lucky me--she gives me a lot of her extra harvest! Recently, she gave me several eggplants--they're mini-sized, which is perfect. I hoped to love eggplant, and I tried it, but I just don't care for it. I told her I'd try them again though.

I thought this was hilarious. You know how channels will make suggestions for you to watch? Well, this was one that they suggested for me:

I happen to love pesto sauce, but it's not vegan unless you swap out the parmesan. However, I love olives, and when I saw this vegan black olive pesto sauce, I just had to buy it. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe I'll have some with pretzels later for a snack.

The township had our road repaved! Not exciting for the most part, but I am thrilled. It'll be much better for running and/or riding bikes.

Yesterday morning, I spent some time making pre-made mixes to keep things simpler when I cook. I made Nacho Popcorn Seasoning, yellow cake mix (for one-serving mug cakes!), a seasoning for scrambled tofu (like eggs), a vegetable bouillon powder, vegan mac and "cheese" powder, and one (not pictured) vegan parmesan. I made a mug cake today for all of us to try and it was SO good! Something to keep in mind when I want to pig out on sweets. It was very satisfying. Even Eli liked it!

In the hopes of winning over my mom with tofu (and *really* hoping my dad would at least take a bite of hers, I made my mom a salad with avocado, tomatoes, cucumbers, and lemon pepper tofu. Then I made a tahini dressing. It looked fantastic! I hope she liked the taste of it; she and my dad are used to the food they've always eaten, so it's hard for them to try new things with an open mind.

I ordered some more nutritional yeast from Amazon (it's amazing how fast I go through it!) and the seal looked a little weird. I didn't open it, but I wrote Amazon and got a refund for it. They told me just to keep the package, so I ordered a new one. Today, I opened both because I wanted to compare. Well, the one on the left was the one with the wonky seal. So clearly, it had gone bad. It's not supposed to look like that.

After listening to the podcast episode about sprouting from Plant Powdered People, I just had to give it a try. Nothing fancy; I just bought the mesh tops for the mason jars (Amazon affiliate link) and a bag of mung bean seeds (also on Amazon). First I had to soak them, then drain and let rest at an angle (enough for the water to be released but also so that air can get to it). Then each morning and evening, I water them (I don't even have to take the lid off) and then flip it back over to drain. The top picture was on Tuesday. The bottom was today--that's how fast they grew! 

And finally, today is the 13th year anniversary of when I started losing weight. I cannot believe it's been 13 years since that first picture was taken. I remember exactly what I was thinking when I saw the photographers taking pictures. Looking at my neck still blows me away! I think I lost over four inches in my neck alone.

This morning, I was feeling kind of brave and I took a few pictures of me in bra and underwear. I was thinking about posting (no filters, no photoshop, etc--I never alter my appearance that way) a picture of what a 40-year old mom, having had two large babies, having lost 100+ pounds, having had surgery to remove excess skin, and who still has large amounts of excess skin. I would be setting myself up for mean comments, but I think it might be helpful, too. We'll see if I'm brave enough to actually post it!

And that's all I've got. Have a great weekend! xo