8.15

Since I have been spending so much time reading and learning, I needed to clean desperately.  I woke up and started doing that with breaks of sitting at my computer to check my email.  I did wake up to 25 emails and most were from actual people.  I finally carried some stuff down to our storage room.  I carried the recycling to the car. (Maybe one of these days we'll recycle it.)  I carried our Goodwill donations to the car too. I might have made 6 trips downstairs.

We got our grill back.  They opened our balcony days ago but we were waiting for the contractors to get it back to us.   Now we just have to buy propane and we can cook on the grill.  Well it's scary high out there (to me anyway).  So maybe I'll make Dave cook until I can somehow get more used to it out there.  Dave even said it was slightly scary for him because he's too tall for the railing.  I told him now he has me even more scared.

I did laundry and used my drying rack outside on the balcony.  I believe this is the first time I will have clothes dried outside in all my life. I had to put one shirt under another shirt because it kept blowing off the rack.

I talked to my mom on the phone for an hour.

I made grilled turkey and cheese for lunch and then the same thing for dinner. I made Dave grilled ham and cheese.  He tells me it is supposed to be grilled cheese with a touch of ham not grilled ham and cheese. I said to me there should be a substantial amount of ham.  What is your opinion on this?  I made mine about an inch thing with meat but knew Dave wouldn't like that so his was less than half that. He still said it was too much.  Too bad I didn't have a picture of his to compare to mine. I almost called my  grilled turkey and cheese a turkey melt but I think they have more things on them which I didn't have.

I cleaned off the counter height counter and most of the normal counter today.  It was the first time the junk has been off of there since we moved in.  Now I want it to stay neat.  I doubt that will happen.  As soon as Dave came home, he opened a package and had the box, fan, packing material, and receipt already all sprawled out over it.   I also swept and mopped the kitchen floor and vacuumed the rest of the apartment.  It is nice to see stuff clean but boy do I wish it would just magically get clean.

Our hallway is finally clean going into the office. Stuff accumulated there that needed to go down into storage.

After dinner, I went for a run. I almost forgot too! I finished a few minutes after 8 and it was still light enough for my liking.

I showed Dave stuff I did with all my photoshopping skills on the running pictures. Then he got distracted and said he knew how to fix something.  Over an hour later he was still sitting at my computer doing stuff in Photoshop. I also showed him how to remove the signs on the edge of the trail.  He was impressed.

Here's an example of a before and after that I showed him. I'm impressed by it. I'm no professional so my standards are lower. It doesn't take that long to edit the photos but my problem is that I go in and edit all 150 instead of picking the best 5.  What do you think of the photos above?  Can you pick out everything I removed?

We watched Big Brother.  Then I went back to my computer to work on all the little things on my to-do list. I really don't know what people do that don't use a computer all the time. I feel like there isn't much else to do around the house.

I accidentally stayed up past 3am and still only got 72% of my to-do list done.  There were more things I could have done but the time wasn't worth it at that late in the day.  I wanted it to be my top completion and it's tied with 7th. Maybe someday I'll post my To-do list completion percent graph.

5.22 - Returning Home

In the hotel, we had a king size bed. Dave liked to hog all the room. I was at the edge of the bed. Dave woke up early and he thought it was so funny how far to the edge I was that he even took a picture.  No wonder I have no desire to buy a king size bed. We'd have the extra expense and I wouldn't get any more room anyway.  Also note on top of the covers I have a semi folded up blanket. It was in the closet in the hotel room and after I was freezing the first night, I wanted it for the 2nd night.  I'm also sleeping in my normal shirt that I sleep in but then also wearing the cardigan I wore at the wedding. I wanted all the layers I could get.  I guess it worked enough because my arms weren't under the covers. (Wow I just wrote an entire paragraph about my day that was before I even woke up.)

Sunday was travel home day and I got a grease stain on my one jeans and my other jeans aren't as good for traveling so I decided to wear my yoga pants. I still wore a nicer top half for traveling.  Yoga pants were a lot nicer for driving. 

Shirt: NY&Co

Cardigan: Kohl's

Yoga Pants: VS

Shoes: Brooks

Necklace: Sears

We woke up and packed up. We headed to Pat's for lunch. They open at 11 so we tried to plan accordingly. We got there 5 minutes early so Dave wanted to try to fix the sound thing in the car. I worked on it and did what he said to do.  It took 15 minutes. It was rough going getting to the fuse box (or whatever it was called).
What I did didn't even work. We went inside and ordered. Dave did some googling and learned that he must have turned down the volume when the navigation lady was talking which is why we couldn't hear her. Also he figured the sync on his phone would work again.  After googling he learned that if there is a time when the person is talking, he turns up the volume, it'll work again.  He ran out to the car to test this and sure enough he fixed it. 

I drove the entire way home. It sucked. Why doesn't Dave drive? I mean it is his family.  He drives near Philly but still that isn't much at all and then I drive 5 hours.  We went to my parents to Pick up Poly.

On our way home, at a red light she thought she could exit the cage. She retreated on her own once we started moving again. She realizes it is safer in there.  Dave puts his arm in there when I drive to make her calmer. Poly is much better in a car when it is daylight. Too bad around Christmas, it gets dark so early.

I was tired when we got home. Poly was tired too.  She lounged about but at least didn't hide like she did previous times we ditched her for the weekend or even previous times we traveled with her.

She was zonked on my lap for the longest time.

Day 27 - Green (10/27/10)

Wednesday was telecommuting day. Dave cooked me breakfast. He made me 2 eggs and 4 pieces of toast. I buttered the toast myself.  Dave doesn't even like eggs.  I had 3 pieces of toast with the egg and put jelly on the 4th piece.  It was great.

Telecommuting meant that I would shower during lunch and that before and after the shower I'd half be wearing PJs.  I confess I did go back to work while still in my robe.  Poly sat on me so I couldn't get up. So my "lunch" was broken up by work. I just didn't want to disturb Poly.

I used the exercise bike for 40 minutes during lunch too. 

We got Pizza Hut for dinner and they messed up the order. We got wings from order 43 and not my personal pan pizza from order 41.  I was just going to suffer with the extra wings but Dave reluctantly called to complain.  They brought me my personal pan. It was delicious.

After dinner, Poly slept on me and she slept on Dave.

Shirt: NY&Co ($7 2 years ago)
Pants: Victoria's Secret (These are blue. and my 3rd favorite yoga pants that I own)
Shoes: Famous Footwear
Arm Band: BodyMedia Fit (OK that's not really an accessory but you can sure see it so I'm listing it)

Next time I do color rotation, if I don't really get dressed I'm skipping the day. I was going to but wanted to make sure I was done with Color Rotation before 30 for 30 started.

At least 2 days each week I take over 50 pictures of my cat.  I keep doing it. I mean she doesn't change much.  I really should quit this but I can't.  She just gets cuter and cuter to me.  I think about this often and think how when I have kids, I'm going to go nuts. I'll need extra hard drives just for all my pictures. 

So I notice that I wear loungewear way more often than I used to. I think because of this I eat more. Then I eat more and I gain weight or gain fat and lose muscle and then my other clothes don't fit me as well so then I wear loungewear even more often.  It's a vicious cycle. I need to snap out of it.  There never used to be a day that I stayed in my yoga pants all day. Now I do that once a week at least. 

Day 24 - Red (10.24.10)

I woke up and used the exercise bike. I wore my Shaw Shirt from 3rd grade and my RED shorts.  Red shorts = red day. I either got these shorts in high school or freshman year of college.

Later I put on real clothes... well mostly.
Sweater: Express (2007)
Pants: Yoga Pants
Shoes: Brooks Adrenaline 9 (I have 2 newer pairs of athletic shoes and seem to keep wearing these)

11:25 AM Breakfast - cereal and half a muffin

11: 35 AM Dessert 

11:50 2nd dessert

12:37 PM - Using a knife since we didn't have a clever.

Once I was done eating, Dave and I started making Chicken Noodle Soup. I have a lot of pictures of the process for another post with the recipe.  I'm just really behind now. I don't want to clutter up this one post with everything. It would be a mile long.

The soup took forever. We started by making chicken stock.  We watched the Steeler game while cooking.

2:15 PM - Poly Hiding

3:07 PM Snack 

3:30 PM - Completed Soup

4:09 PM Steelers are close to winning

4:10 PM Poly was still in my seat.

After we ate, I went to my parents to visit. I got there much later than my mom expected. I think it was around 6.  We went to Rivertown for dinner.  I had fried zucchini and french fries. The fries weren't that good so Timmy ate most of them.  Then we went to my aunts, where I got a box of pictures to scan in. We sat there and talked for awhile so it was after 9:00 PM when we left. Then I had to go back to my parents since they drove me there. Then I left from my parents and it was after 9:30 PM.  I got home around 10:30 and boy was I tired.  I'm pretty sure I just went straight to bed after getting home.

I was disappointed we didn't get enough soup. That recipe didn't make enough. I knew it wasn't going to work the entire time. I kept yelling about it even when we were buying the ingredients.  Dave was the one that read the recipe then he was ordering the chicken and I told him right then and there that it wasn't enough. The entire time we were making it and it was taking forever I was mad. My goal of the soup was to make enough so I could freeze a few containers of it for when I get sick.  That wasn't happening.  We weren't having enough even for 2 meals so I couldn't even take any to my parents for them to taste it. I was bummed. I love sharing food I make with others.

Day 20 - Gray (10.20.10)

Day 20 of Color Rotation Challenge = Gray
I didn't get dressed until 4:30 PM but it still counts.
Shirt: Express Baby Doll (2009 or so. I love it. $10)
Cardigan: Forever 21 (10/8/10 - $24.50) - I wore this before but not on Gray day so I was allowed to repeat it.
Pants: Foldover Yoga Pants from VS (January 2009 - $29) - yes I did wear my yoga pants as real pants when people saw me.
Shoes: New Balance from Famous Footwear (10/1/10 - $59.59)

Total: $123.09 (Sometimes I think I shouldn't count shoes in with my total. Shoes are always what makes my outfits seem so expensive.)

My ankle is wrapped, but the pants are long enough to hide it when I'm standing. I win. I love this outfit too. It was so comfortable and casual. Also the cardigan has 2 pockets that are perfect for carrying around my camera and phone.

I was telecommuting so I was able to stay in my PJs until 4:30.  Dave normally telecommutes but he had to go in to take his midterm.  Poly was much more behaved than she normally is when I'm home. I think Dave not being home is what did it.  She usually wants to play. She left me alone though.   She was even resting in her bed for part of the day.

Poly sat on my lap but not until the work day was almost over.

Wednesday I made a roast.  I also had a Stampin' Up Techniques Class.

I'm slowing adding labels to the posts of what clothes I'm wearing but I need to backfill a lot of posts. It'll be fun in the end but I hope it's not too time consuming.