Ice And Snow And A Cozy Home

Seems like we've had our share of snow and ice and cold weather this winter! But, we live in Wisconsin so I guess we can expect that... Jere's thriving in it, and thinking winter just isn't long enough. Hmmm. Anyway, we decided to take advantage of a not quite so cold evening and take the children out for a winter sport: ice skating! Mama lasted about ten minutes (I wasn't skating, though), Leanna lasted 11, and Daddy and the boys went at it for almost an hour. At that point Eliott was ready to go in and Jaron was begging to play hockey just a little longer! :-)

 

 

 With much thankfulness, I realized recently that my strength and energy has come back! In fact, on occasion I feel MORE energetic than I have for a LONG time. Maybe because I'm also at the lowest weight I've been for a LONG time? Hooray! Anyway, I took advantage of a couple of energetic days and finally got some sewing done. How do you like the new curtains in our school room?? I think they make it feel SO much cozier and home-like! I can hardly wait to get enough done on the rest of the house to get some more curtains up. But it all takes time...

 

 

 

And, just a quick peek at the newly organized laundry room, waiting expectantly for some shelves in our next project!

 

Puppy-full days

Well, things have kind of been put on hold around here for a bit. We sold our last two puppies, then one of them got sick. Very sick. So, this week "all" I've gotten done is run to the vet and doctor the sick pup. Please pray that "Chase" gets better and her new owners will be able to come get her. And that none of the other puppies gets sick.

Last week, though, thanks to some help (and neglecting the laundry and dishes--oops) we DID get some paint on the walls. The main floor bathroom is now painted, and all the main floor ceilings are done. We have the first coat on the laundry room, and one wall in the kitchen. So, there IS progress made, just not any this week. Oh, never mind. Jere worked till late one night and got all the drain system hooked together, so now we have drains, even if we don't have any running water! :-) So, that was one piece of progress! He's hoping it won't take long to hook up the water lines, but we'll see. He also needs to do some work on the cabinets so that they're ready to paint. And we need to get this place cleaned up, at least a little, for when the new puppy owners come to get their puppies. The first pup leaves us Sunday, I believe, and that's always an exciting event!

I hope I have time to take the camera for a walk today and get a few more pictures of our progress. We'll see! It's foggy and chilly today, reminding us that soon it will be fire starting season... and we still don't have the furnace hooked up in the new house, OR firewood stashed for the winter. Well, it will come. Meanwhile, I'm actually wearing socks and a flannel shirt. :-)

I'm also VERY excited to be starting the THM (Trim Healthy Mama) "diet". I've known for a long time that my diet wasn't the best, with a fair amount of processed foods, and sugar. What I didn't realize was that wheat in general was also causing problems, and a visit with my healthcare provider informed me that in order to improve my health I needed to go on a low carb diet. With visions of diabetes around the corner if I didn't listen, and the pressure of having no time to dive into research, I bought the book "Trim Healthy Mama" as I knew it contained low carb recipes. Wow, did I ever learn a lot through that book about healthy foods, things I never knew. And why my body was slowly going downhill health wise. So, no more wheat, corn, sugar, potatoes, or rice for me! But lest you feel too sorry for me, I get to eat brownies, chocolate muffins, pudding, and other such delectable treats for breakfast if I want to--and NOT feel guilty because I know those foods are supporting my body. Ok, I don't gorge on that stuff all the time. Even chocolate gets old when you eat it three times a day... :-) And I'm a chocoholic. I'm SO glad I found a way of eating I can make into a lifestyle of healthy choices. I've cheated a few times (thanks for inviting us for a campfire doughnut fry, Aunt Eunice!) but I know that's OK as long as it doesn't happen too often. (They are carefully chosen cheats, and I go right back to my chocolate muffin once I'm home if I need to feel indulged.) And, as a bonus I've lost a few pounds, so that's exciting too! :-) I've had more energy, too, which is incredibly helpful these days, even though I still don't reach around. I'm very excited about it, and just wanted to give you another brief glimpse into what's going on around here!