Wednesday Weigh-In: Year 2! (Week 104)

Until today, I completely forgot that I had planned to do a post about it being two years since I started losing the weight I'd gained. A LOT has happened in the last two years--the first year actually felt pretty easy, especially once I became vegan.

The second year has not been kind, unfortunately. My weight went up and down based on how overwhelmed and/or stressed I was. When I feel stressed, I eat. When I feel overwhelmed, I completely lose my appetite. (I think of "stress" as being a harried "to do" list in this situation, and "overwhelmed", to me, is calm but just way too much information being thrown at me.) And I went between both of those more times than I can count (together and separately).

Anyway, when I think back to two years ago, I am in a MUCH better place as far as my diet goes. I started eating a ton of fiber. And then I became vegan with literally no notice, so I started focusing on getting the most nutrition I could. I learned that sugar/sweets just make me crave more sugar/sweets for DAYS--even if I have just one small cookie, I have to be prepared for cravings. A lot of times, I don't think it's worth eating.

Here is a comparison of Day 1 versus today:

Here are some things I've noted--the positives and negatives of my diet change/weight loss over the last two years:

Positives

I feel a million times more in control.
I eat a ton of fiber--it brought on the biggest change in my appetite and cravings.
I feel healthier than ever. My chronic pain was gone after only 1-2 months of eating a vegan diet.
I learned of a long-term iron deficiency, and after supplementing, my symptoms are clearing up.
I eat a lot more vegetables now.
I discovered a million new-to-me ingredients and learned to love cooking again.

Negatives (things to work on)

I eat for emotional reasons (stress is a big one).
I still don't sleep well.
I stopped running and I want to get back to it (I'm lacking the push I need).
I don't drink nearly enough water.

One thing that I really wanted from these weekly weigh-ins was the accountability. To challenge myself to post it every Wednesday, even if I gain weight for weeks and weeks and in a row. I wanted to just stay honest with myself. And aside from probably about four Wednesdays in two years, I've done a Wednesday Weigh-In every week.

I don't really have a "goal weight" anymore. I really like to be around 130 pounds--that's when I feel most comfortable--so I set a goal range on my Happy Scale app for 125-135. I've never maintained the 120s for very long when I've gotten there, so I'll adjust as needed.

Here is a graph of the last two years of weigh-ins:

The green and red indicate where my weight was at in relation to the previous 90 days.

As you can see, other than November 2022 through January of 2023, my weight went down gradually, but relatively steadily. Here it's broken into year (2021, 2022, and 2023). I like that it shows my stats relative to the previous year.

My weight today:

I was at 141.2, so I'm up this week from 140.4 last week. I had a good week other than snacking at night. And it usually happens when I skip a meal during the day--I definitely make up for it with snacks. Jerry found a cashew-based "Hatch Queso" dip at Kroger--it was SO AMAZING and I ate way too much of that. (The dip was actually healthier than the chips I ate it with!)

Well, I know this is nothing super profound; it's a super short summary of the last two years of losing the weight I'd gained. I'm very happy with where my progress is now. I'm not yet in my "happy range", and I can feel it in my clothes. But I'm getting there!

I was going to try to put these photos in a time-lapse video, but since I put this post off until today, I'll just have to settle for a collage. These are my Wednesday Weigh-In Photos (mirror selfies) from the last two years. The first couple of rows were for a DietBet; I didn't start doing the mirror selfies for "real" until Week 10. Then I just turned it into a weekly thing for my Wednesday Weigh-Ins.

The collage goes from left to right, row by row. The first picture is Day 1 and the last picture is from today.

The differences are so subtle from week to week that it's hardly noticeable. But when I look at some of the photos, especially noting the clothes I'm wearing, I can definitely see a difference. Here is the two-year comparison:

I still have no idea how long I plan to continue the weekly accountability weigh-ins, but for now, it's helping--so I'll continue to do it. Let's hope my weight goes back in the right direction this week!

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A Parent's Biggest Fear v. 2.0

(I feel like this is very similar to my post in November 2021, called "A Parent's Biggest Fear", which is why I titled this the way I did.)

I've written way too many times about the series of "misfortunes" we've had over the last year--things just seem to be going wrong, and just when I think our luck must be turning around, something else happens. When we got home from Cedar Point yesterday evening, Jerry and I were working on cooking dinner. Eli had gone fishing with a couple of friends and Noah was in his room.

(Someone commented that I may want to remove some details from this just in case lawyers should happen to get involved. So I'm going to remove some of it--hopefully it will still make sense.)

I got a phone call from Eli and he was really upset. I couldn't get much info from him because I could hear a woman in the background yelling at him. From what I could gather, they had gotten in a car accident and she was yelling at him. I tried to calm him down, but the woman was still yelling and I told him to call the police and not talk to the woman at all (meanwhile, Jerry and Noah ran out the door to head to the accident scene).

I had no idea it would be as bad as it was. (Thankfully, it was not Eli's fault, which I'll explain)

Most importantly, Eli has only minor injuries. Physically, the seatbelt actually tightened so hard that it rubbed his skin away enough to cause it to bleed across his lap; his nose hurts pretty badly because of the airbag hitting his glasses; his wrist and knee are also injured (minor, but not cool for someone who loves to lift weights and play baseball). Mentally, he's very shaken up. He said he keeps hearing the noise of the accident replaying in his head and he's afraid to drive or even be in a car.

Eli's car after the accident

As far as the accident... what happened is that Eli was driving home from fishing when someone pulled out in front of him (when he had the right of way). He had no time to react before crashing into the other car. 

Eli said he saw her pull out and heard the crash practically simultaneously and then the next thing he knew, his ears were ringing really badly and he felt some pain here and there. He got out of the car and ran to check on the other driver. She was okay; but she got out of the car and started yelling at him. Eli didn't know what to do and he called me.

The police arrived to write the accident report and said that it was immediately clear what had happened (based on the position of the cars, there was no question that she'd pulled out in front of Eli--she was 100% at fault). It turned out that she shouldn't have even been driving--her license was suspended. So, she was driving with a suspended license when she pulled out in front of MY KID causing a serious car accident--he could have been killed!

I am SO GRATEFUL that Eli is okay and I'm also grateful that the woman is uninjured. (If she had gotten hurt, Eli would have felt bad, even knowing that it wasn't his fault.) The Jeep (Patriot) is completely totaled, as is the woman's car.

I'm just stunned. Yesterday, I was just kind of taking it one beat at a time, trying to think calmly about the situation. Today, it really hit me--Eli could easily have been seriously injured or even killed last night. And the woman who caused it was screaming at him, trying to make him feel like he was to blame for the whole thing.

I'm not sure what's going to happen next. Jerry called the insurance company today, and they are supposed to contact us about an agent coming out to look at the damage to the car. Eli feels terrible about the car being totaled (we've never had a problem with that Jeep and it had a lot of good miles left on it). We don't have full coverage on it (just the necessary liability insurance), so I'm not sure how the law works as far as any compensation for the damages. I imagine we'll learn that from the insurance agency.

As angry as I am, I just can't say enough how glad I am that Eli is okay. We had a fun day at Cedar Point and it changed so quickly in an instant. It's scary to even think about what could have happened!

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Funday Monday

We had a very last-minute idea to go to Cedar Point today! Cedar Point is a big theme park in Ohio, and we hadn't been there in years. We've had gorgeous weather lately and it's usually a million degrees when we go to Cedar Point (not ideal when waiting in lines for roller coasters), so it was a perfect day to go.

However, it's been a super long day and I'm exhausted, so I'll just post the only family photo I got while we were there. Where on earth did the weekend go?!

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Friday Night Photos #116

This week has flown by! Since Eli hasn't been playing baseball, I've been doing extra little things around the house--essentially just "spring cleaning", but finding myself coming across little projects that need doing (like the bathroom door and the dishwasher that I wrote about a few days ago).

Yesterday, Eli asked me if I could go to the baseball game and take pictures; he goes to the games to support his team, despite not being able to play. (He gets another x-ray next week, but it's still very unlikely he'll be able to play another game this season.) He said that his teammates were asking if I would go take pictures--that made me feel good! So, of course I went. And I took over 300 pictures for them, hahaha.

Anyway, I have a variety of photos from my camera roll this week...

Yesterday, I wrote about how, until our wedding, Jerry and I used to celebrate our anniversary on May 19th. When we were dating, Jerry used to buy me a Cherry 7-Up (my favorite) once in a while and put it in my car for me to find when I got off work. It's not easy to find Cherry 7-Up around here, but I found this in the fridge for me with a note:

I don't really like pop, but I can still go for a Cherry 7-Up once in a while! This is a picture of one of our early anniversaries--maybe two years?

The baby squirrels have been out playing and they are SO CUTE! This one is next to mama, so you can see the size difference:

They look so young. I love seeing the babies in the spring. They're super nervous/jumpy, but they watch the older squirrels come get nuts from the deck. Next year, they'll probably start coming up, too.

This one is a blur, but it's hard to capture a picture of three baby squirrels wrestling with each other on a branch!

This poor little guy broke my heart! He was watching the older squirrels grab nuts and run off with them, but he was too scared to come get one. Instead, he found this rock on the ground, sniffed it, and ran off with it in his mouth. I immediately grabbed some nuts and threw them by the base of the tree, hoping he'd come back and find one. So sad but cute, haha.

I guess I have a lot of animal photos this week! Jerry sent me this picture of a bird that he rescued at work. Sometimes birds get trapped in the plant, so when he finds them, he tries to grab them and let them go outside.

The cats LOVE these chairs that I bought at a garage sale last weekend. And the way Estelle perches on them cracks me up. This is how she sits most of the day:

I was writing a shopping list yesterday morning, and Duck was SO comfy on my lap. He almost made me wish I was a cat--I don't know if I've ever been as comfortable as he looked.

I laughed at him later because he (naturally) climbed in this box the moment it was opened... but then he fell asleep with his mouth open and just sat like that. Noah and I were cracking up.

Eli's nightstand really needed a makeover. I didn't think to take a photo of it before I finished it yesterday, but on the far left is what it looked like when Jerry and I bought it in 2003. I refinished it several years ago (middle photo). After that, I wanted to update the bottom of it--not only did I not like how it looked, it was bulky and took up more space than necessary. So, I cut off the bottom but never finished working on it.

Fast forward about two years, and I finally finished it yesterday (far right). I cut a couple of legs from the dining room tables I've used for wood for various projects; I had saved the legs from the tables, unsure of what to do with them, but they came in handy for this project. I painted it a cream-color and Eli is thrilled--he couldn't care less how it looks, but he wanted it back in his room after it had been in the garage for a few days, haha.

For Mother's Day, I made each of the kids a photo album with pictures of us together throughout the years. I wrote this note to go inside the cover, explaining why they were getting a gift on Mother's Day (I could have sworn the apostrophe came after "Mothers", but I guess I was wrong):

And I really love how they turned out:

I wrote little notes throughout the book, reminding them of what we were doing/where we were in the photos. The kids really liked the books--Noah actually teared up and said he'd forgotten about a lot of the things we'd done, so he loved the memories. I'm usually the one taking photos, so I have a million of Jerry and the kids--I wanted to remind them that I was there a lot, too ;)

And finally, here is a picture of Riley that Becky sent me. She looks ADORABLE, doesn't she?! She doesn't wear glasses, but she was playing school and of course, the teacher needs to wear glasses. I miss the kiddos! They are coming out to Michigan for Memorial Day, so I'm hoping to see them then.

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

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Three Things Thursday: L-O-V-E

Until Jerry and I got married, we celebrated May 19th as our anniversary--it was the day that we decided to "become exclusive" or "go steady" or whatever it was called back in 1999. I know today is only the 18th, but when thinking of three things to write about for Three Things Thursday, I thought I would write about three things that I love about Jerry.

I've done a post like this before--about 100 years ago!--but since it's on my mind, I figured it would be a fun topic to write about today. So, here we go... three things I love about Jerry. (Warning: This is SUPER mushy. I didn't intend that when I started writing, but it just came out.)

1. He's a SUPER fun dad to my kids.

He's the dad that all their friends wish their dads were like: goofy, spontaneous, up for anything, embarrassing (in a good way), funny, and easy to talk to. The kids went through a short phase when they were pre-teens where they were embarrassed that their dad acted like a big kid; but as teenagers, when their friends were always commenting on how cool their dad was, they understood ;)

From the day they were born, Jerry adored being a dad--changing diapers, getting up in the middle of the night, all the things that a lot of dads leave to mom--Jerry lived for it. He loved volunteering to chaperone field trips on his days off work; taking the kids to different events going on (even simple things like touring a fire station); and now that they're older, he goes to Eli's baseball games (yelling loud "embarrassing" things, like "THAT guy works out!"--referring to Eli's body build) and he has movie nights with Noah on his days off (they literally watch a movie in the middle of the night).

Jerry is SO proud of the kids and you can definitely hear it when he talks about them. When Jerry and I got married, we were so young--I never gave a moment's thought as to what he would be like as a dad if we had kids. But I couldn't have chosen anyone better to co-parent with!

2. He treats me like the most important person in the world. (And puts up with having a bipolar wife--which is no joke!)

I was SHOCKED and in total disbelief when I read a statistic that when one spouse is bipolar, the divorce rate is estimated at 90%. NINETY! I thought it had to be wrong, but I started reading more into it and that is an accurate statistic. Jerry and I have now been together for 24 years, and we are as solid as a couple can get. (At least I should hope so, for Jerry's sake--I warned him the tattoo was a bad idea!)

I would say we're lucky, but luck really doesn't have anything to do with it. Jerry is just VERY patient and understanding and accepting of me exactly as I am. I am the first to admit (truly!) that I am an *impossible* person to live with. I feel sorry for him! I don't know how (or why) he does it. I have a ton of quirks and I overthink everything and I'm super stubborn and my moods can shift from depressed to hypomanic ridiculously fast. Somehow, Jerry keeps up with me and he has learned what works and doesn't work when it comes to "putting up with" me.

3. He puts our family first.

When we found out I was pregnant with Noah, I had been working at Curves for Women. Both of our schedules were kind of all over the place, so we talked about what we should do. Pretty much immediately, we both said that we'd like me to be a stay-at-home mom. I don't think there is anything wrong with being a mom who works outside the home, but we wanted to make sure I (or Jerry) was available for any reason at any time--doctor's appointments, field trips, play dates, learning experiences, all of it.

To see if we could handle it financially, we started putting ALL of my paychecks into a savings account. We lived on Jerry's income alone while I was pregnant, and money was very tight, but it was possible to live on just his income. (And of course, we saved a fortune on childcare once Noah was born.) We were so young and had no idea what we were doing, but we made it work--and we raised two AMAZING kids.

Jerry has always taken his job seriously and he's a hard worker. His shifts are kind of crazy at times (he used to work a swing shift, and now he's on night shift--trying to get on a day shift). He works 12-hour shifts, which is a long day for anyone--but he still makes sure that he spends as much free time as possible with the kids and me. He's super grateful for all that I do and I feel the same for him.

I've gotten a lot of comments over the years about how it's unfair to Jerry that I stay at home while he works long hours. However, it's a choice that we made together and we both agree that it was (and is) the best option *for us*. I don't stay home and eat bonbons while watching soap operas all day (are those even a thing anymore?)--I spent the early years with the kids taking them to MOMS Club events, events at the library and preschool, volunteering at the school for things here and there, etc. As the kids got older, my role has evolved--but it hasn't gotten any less demanding. I have always loved being a stay-at-home mom and I love that Jerry makes it possible.

I don't think there was ever a cheesier family photo than this on the entire planet

This is a very mushy post, now that I read it! Normally, I am not a mushy person; but once in a while, I do like it to be known that I couldn't have chosen a better partner in life. We used to say that we fit together like Legos that have been melted together--not only do we just fit together like normal Legos, but we're both oddly misshapen and ONLY fit with each other, hahaha.

When I told Jerry I was writing this topic today, he joked, "But will you be able to come up with three things?" This was an easy one! Three reasons I love Jerry--out of a million :)  [end mushiness]

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 103

Sure enough, setting everything aside last night and sleeping it over, I felt a million times better today... and I was very productive! I think I just needed to refresh my brain and stop thinking about the issues I ran into. Today, I sanded, primed, and caulked the window and the bathroom door frame. I still have to paint them, but I want to wait until the caulk is completely dried, so I'll get that done tomorrow.

I was going to change clothes for my Wednesday Weigh-In mirror selfie, but I figured why bother? This is what I looked like all day today ;)  I'm kind of bummed because I accidentally got bleach on my Friends pajama shirt (the one I'm wearing) so it's become a "work shirt"--I have lots of clothes I've ruined with paint, caulk, wood glue, and even blood from when I've cut myself, haha.

As predicted, the scale was up today:

I was at 140.4, which is up from 138.0 last week. I'm not at all surprised, considering my eating habits were terrible this week. I *know* that I need to stay in a regular routine of eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner for weight loss/maintenance--depending what I have going on in my life, though, I tend to skip meals and then make up for it later on by eating way too much. It's not a conscious thing I do; it's just a poor way of handling stress/anxiety/feeling overwhelmed.

I've definitely had more free time this week since Eli is out for the baseball season due to his broken index finger). I feel really bad for him--he LOVES playing baseball and he's in his junior year of high school. Earlier this year, I'd suggested maybe he should join the golf team instead of baseball this spring because he can golf for free year-round (he loves to golf and it's crazy expensive!). I loved his reason for choosing baseball: he said that he can only play baseball for two more seasons, but he has the rest of his life to golf. A wise decision!

Anyway, with the extra time I've had, I've been hanging out with the kids, which has been fun. For the past few years, I felt like I hardly saw them. And this year, I've felt kind of panicked because they've grown so much and they aren't kids anymore :(  They really liked the photo albums I gave them for Mother's Day. They were very surprised that I made them and I think it made them a bit nostalgic.

Since it's been almost two years since I started doing my weekly weigh-ins, someone mentioned that it would be cool to see a graph of all the ups and downs--I'm interested to look at that as well! I haven't been inputing my weight into the Happy Scale app regularly, so I'll have to go back and do that this week--then next week, considering it will be two years, I'll show what two years of weigh-ins looked like.

I already know there were a LOT of ups and downs (mostly relatively small, but late fall of 2022 and winter was pretty bad--I'm still working on taking that weight gain back off). It's so hard to believe it's been two years already! But then again, it feels like forever ago when I stepped on the scale at 197.0 and nearly had a heart attack. It was such a huge wake-up call.

So, this week I'll work on putting together a post about the last couple of years. It would be cool to do a time-lapse video of all of the mirror selfies, too--each week, I don't really notice a difference from the week prior, but I'm sure seeing it all happen in fast motion would be kind of cool.

My goal for this week is just to get back to eating regular meals instead of the whatever/whenever eating. There is no reason not to, especially since I'm not going to baseball games in the evenings. Regardless of weight gain/loss, I always feel better when I eat regularly!

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D.I.(WH)Y AM I DOING THESE THINGS

Well, Jerry didn't write his usual post today--probably because I was being super bitchy all afternoon and then he had to go to work. I've been SO FRUSTRATED--and it was terrible of me to take it out on him or anyone else--but I wanted to have a temper tantrum like a two-year old today when I was trying to hang our bathroom door.

There have been "little things" here and there that I've noticed need fixing or tweaking--things that I either didn't do correctly back in 2018 when I was first learning to DIY the home makeover (such as the interior doors) or just stuff that needs touching up (like paint).

I didn't even write a post yesterday because I had the same sort of day; frustration beyond comprehension. I'd noticed that one of the windowsills was bubbled up a bit in the corner, indicating that it had gotten wet (likely a leak from underneath). I wanted to make sure it wasn't a big problem that could be getting into the drywall and window framing, so I pulled up the sill a little to take a peek.

Sure enough, there was some water damage to the sill. Nothing serious--the frame wasn't rotted or anything like that--so I decided to just put a new sill on it (which is actually very simple--I made one with wood I already had). That went fine, and I sealed around the whole window just to be safe.

Next, I decided to take a look at the dishwasher. It wasn't washing properly half the time and we were getting really frustrated with it--we hate it, but we don't want to spend the money on a new one until we absolutely have to.

I took the drains out and cleaned them well--they weren't bad, because we clean them pretty frequently. I wondered if the drain tube underneath was kinked or something, so I decided to pull the dishwasher out a few inches and take a look. There are a couple of metal tabs that hold the dishwasher in place (secured to the counter) and naturally, they broke when I was pulling it out.

And so began all afternoon of trying to fix what wasn't even broken to begin with. Somehow, I managed to fix the draining problem (the drain tube was coiled and not working well) but then I had to figure out how to secure the dishwasher back to the countertop. (I could have driven to Lowe's and bought new tabs, and I should have, but I was just pissed off and decided to try to find a different way.)

My dad happened to have some of the tabs I needed (I didn't think to ask, but Jerry did). So Jerry saved my mistake--if only I had asked hours prior, I wouldn't have spent all day in frustration.

Today, I removed the bathroom door ONLY TO CHANGE OUT THE HINGES. The hinges were 20 years old and getting rusted, so changing them out would be easy. Right? Ha!

I was wondering why it was so difficult getting them to line up. I finally got out my six-foot long level and put it against the door jamb. It was not at all plumb! The top and bottom of the jamb both measured 30-1/8 across, but the middle was much wider--probably by 3/4 of an inch--all on the left side.

The bathroom door has always been wonky, and now I know why. I had made new trim that I was going to hang after switching out the hinges, but then I had to decide--do I use the trim to hide the big problem or do I remove all the casing and shim the jamb in order for it to be plumb?

At first, I was just going to go with the cosmetic solution and worry about the rest later. But then I realized I literally couldn't get the new hinges to work with such a big problem with the jamb. So, I had no choice but to remove the casing from both sides of the door, pry the jamb out a bit so that I could use shims to straighten it out, and only THEN could I put new hinges on. (Followed by cutting new casing and painting--AHHHH. I haven't gotten that far yet, so that will be tomorrow's headache.)

I won't go into even more boring details about all of this, but my entire weekend was just frustrating due stupid DIY things. I wasn't *trying* to take on new projects--I either caused new problems or just discovered things that needed more work than I anticipated.

It reminds me of the book I've been reading, "When Panic Attacks" (the one suggested by my psychiatrist--I've not been reading very much, so it's slow going). There are a list of cognitive distortions that we may apply to situations, and I've been applying pretty much all of them to all situations lately, haha.

1. All-or-Nothing Thinking: ("I'm a total failure because I can't do ANYTHING right")

2. Overgeneralization: ("I ALWAYS screw up every project I work on")

3. Mental Filters: ("It doesn't matter that I made over the entire house; I screwed up this dishwasher when there wasn't even anything wrong with it.")

4. Discounting the Positive: ("The door is plumb now, but who cares? It should have been in the first place.")

5. Jumping to Conclusions/Fortune Telling: ("Now I'm just going to cause even more problems and Jerry is going to be super annoyed that I can't leave anything alone.")

6. Magnification: ("I really do suck at DIY'ing--this weekend is proof.")

7. Emotional Reasoning: ("Why do I even try doing these things? I'm terrible at them and I'm just not good at anything.")

8. "Should" Statements: ("If I don't fix this door, the house is going to start falling apart; I really should do this now.")

9. Labeling: ("I'm a failure.")

10. Personalization and Blame: ("I'm not good at fixing things, [even though I didn't cause the problems with the door or the dishwasher or the window] and I ruin the things I try to fix.")

While typing these out, I can clearly see that they are unreasonable; but in the moment, when I'm super frustrated and can't figure out a problem (or I cause new ones while trying to fix something else), I have a lot of these kinds of distortions.

The book, "When Panic Attacks" gives you exercises to do and write down. You have to have a specific situation in mind to do the exercise, and my anxiety is so generalized that I haven't been able to do it. I can't think of a specific situation. But after all of this stuff going on over the weekend, I think it's perfect to use for the exercise in the book.

Anyway, I'm done working on everything for today--I need to put it out of my mind and look at it with fresh eyes tomorrow. (I always tell my kids to do this when they are frustrated about something--I need to listen to my own advice sometimes!)

Even though this is "fortune telling", I already know that tomorrow's weigh-in isn't going to be good. My weekend was terrible and my eating was just as bad!

Noah is going to be home soon and I think we're going to watch a movie. I've been hanging out with him a lot lately, and it's been nice :) 

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Friday Night Photos #115

Somehow Friday feels like it has more meaning now that I'm not going to be posting on Saturdays and Sundays. It's not really going to change much--I still want to do my Friday Night Photos posts--but it feels different somehow.

I'd made plans to go to a city-wide garage sale this morning and I was *so* excited to go! The pandemic kind of ruined garage sale-ing for the last few years and I've missed going. The city-wide sales are the best because, depending on the street, you can just walk from one sale to the next. Saturday mornings are usually the best time to go because that is when most people have their sales; but this city-wide one started this morning.

I was bummed, then, when Eli's orthopedist appointment was at 8:15 this morning. The appointment was obviously more important, so I told my mom I wasn't going to be able to go to the garage sales. However, Jerry (bless his heart!) said he'd be glad to take Eli to his appointment this morning (Jerry got off work at 6:00 AM, so he usually sleeps right when he gets home). He said it would make him feel good to take Eli since I'm the one that usually does the appointments, and he really wanted me to go with my parents. I was so grateful!

Eli had his finger x-rayed again, and we were able to clearly see the break:

The orthopedist said that there is a chip that broke off (which you can see in the x-ray) and he taped Eli's index and middle finger together and he's hoping it will heal that way. He wants to see Eli again in two weeks for another x-ray. I'm crossing my fingers (haha) that it will be okay! But the doctor said no sports for four weeks--which is the rest of the baseball season. Eli's worried he's going to lose his position as catcher on the team for next year. I feel really bad for him--he still goes to the games to support his team, but he said it's hard watching someone else play his position.

Meanwhile, I found a few things at the garage sales that I was excited about! First, I got this set of armchairs. I really don't *need* chairs, but I couldn't help it--I love them! And they are extremely comfortable. I haven't decided where to put them yet, though. I'm going to have to move some things around.

The best part? I got both chairs and the ottoman for $40! We had them in the back of my dad's truck, and several people commented while we were out that they really liked them.

My mom actually wanted them too, so she said if I can't find a place for them, she'll buy them from me. I'm determined to find a spot, though! Estelle was on there in about two seconds flat, and she hasn't moved ever since.

At one sale, I was so excited when I was rifling through a huge container of clothes and I found several Lululemon items--the clothes were listed as $2 a piece, and for Lululemon, that was a steal! They were in great shape, and in my size, so I ended up with about 12 pieces. When I went to pay, however, the woman said, "Oh, those aren't $2--the Lululemon stuff is $10 a piece." I couldn't believe it! My mom had even double checked with her when I was digging through the box of clothes, and she'd said $2. So, I gave everything back and didn't buy any of it.

At another sale, I found a ton of Mr. Potato Head stuff. This may sound odd, but I wanted to get it for Riley. I don't have very many toys here for Luke and Riley to play with when they come over, but Riley LOVES playing with the Mrs. Potato Head set that I have (she doesn't have one herself). When I got home and started going through all of it, I noticed that there were some Star Wars pieces in there! Jerry hasn't seen them yet, but I know he's going to flip out when he does, haha.

I'm not sure if I should hold onto everything for when Riley comes to visit or if I should put it all in a box and mail it to her. It's always fun to get mail, but it would be nice to play it with her.

I also bought something completely random on a whim--I saw it and thought it would be fun for the family to play:

I had to ask Noah if it was even compatible with Jerry's X-box--I have no clue! And I'm sure Noah and Eli have never seen Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy in their lives, but they're going to learn ;)

I can't remember what I've posted this week or not--I'm sure I wrote about some of these things on my "Weekend Happenings" post. But anyway, we got together with Dave and Renee last weekend to play Euchre and it was so fun! It'd been a long time since we played with them. Dave and I were partners and we won both games. It was fun to catch up with Renee, too.

I think I've decided not to coach cross country this fall. My life doesn't seem to be getting any less overwhelming and I really don't want to commit to anything yet. Renee isn't sure if she wants to do it either, so we'll see what happens.

I needed to get out of the house yesterday--everyone was in such a negative mood and I just couldn't take it! So I ended up going to the library to write my blog post. I was hoping for peace and quiet, but it was kind of loud in there. And they had several windows open, so it was breezy and cold. Next time, maybe I'll just go out for a walk when I need some space!

I actually moved spots three times to try to find a quiet/non-breezy spot, but no such luck. I just ended up finishing my post and going back home.

However, a book that I requested had arrived! A reader suggested to me that I read 'Eat & Run' by Scott Jurek (a badass vegan ultrarunner) because she had found it really motivating to get out and run. I'm really in need of that motivation, so I requested the book at the library. I wish they had the Kindle version, but the hardcover was all they had. I've yet to start it--hopefully this weekend.

I finished a new bed for the cat wall/room. There was a hole in that top shelf and I didn't have anything underneath it. I'd been debating over what to do with it--what kind of bed or shelves or whatever to put there--and I finally decided to use the wooden posts from the really ugly cat tree I was so happy to get rid of. I used that fake fur I'd sewn together a while ago to create a bed. And then I hung the bed very close to the shelf above--the cats like to be in tiny spaces so that they feel like nobody can see them. Chick really likes it!

Yesterday, I was noticing how Duck's pupils were SO razor thin--and just how pretty he looked in general--so I took a picture of him.

Kroger recently had those bags of three tri-colored bell peppers on sale (usually they are about $6 and they were on sale for about $2) and they looked really good! I bought two bags and they sat in the fridge for a few days--I wasn't sure what to make with them. Finally, I cut them all up and stir-fried them with homemade fajita seasoning. Then I rehydrated some soy curls (with fajita seasoning in the water) and added those to the skillet.

We ate it over rice and it was SOOOO good! Jerry and I kept exclaiming it was "the best thing we ever ate" (we say that a lot--every time we try a new food we really like). The next time I can get peppers for a reasonable price again, I'm definitely going to make this again.

And finally, I noticed these flowers up on our bookshelf in the living room and I had no idea where they came from. When I got closer, I noticed that they weren't flowers--they were Legos! Noah got the kit (I think it was something he'd wanted for Christmas) and he finally put them together. I love how they look!

And that's all I've got. I'll be back to write on Monday! Have a great weekend. xo

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