Say Cheese!

Zoey needed a little help with her smile! 

We had Steve's parents over last night so they could say goodbye to Logan as he goes back to college till March. After dinner we all played cribbage then another game that we never played with everyone at Christmas, "Hot Seat". 

I splurged and had two drinks, a new strong 7 beer and a sparkling water. I didn't make or buy a dessert but really wanted an apple pie for some weird reason. Glad I skipped it now! 

Still working on the kids bathroom, more progress was made from when this photo was taken. All the shampoo shelf tile is done and the same tile is done on the floor too! 

 I picked up the special order bull nose tiles from Home Depot last night along with some 4 x 12 tiles for the bottom of the shampoo shelf. The kids did not like it at all! Not sure what we are going to do, but we aren't at that point at the moment. We are off to pick up two more tiles of decorative and some grout. This bathroom project is taking forever!!! 

This stuff isn't cheap either!! Glad its only two more tiles at $16.99! Ouch! 

I hurt my finger back on Jan 5th or some where around there. It's still swollen and is stiff. I just want it back to normal! 

Dieting isn't going great. Eating around 1500 calories for the day and bring around 200 to 600 per day with working out. I've been pretty good about doing a daily plank with lifting weights. Just still avoiding my 10 minute run on the cross ramp! 

 

TGIF!!

 Here is were we are at Friday morning!!! Most of the shower wall tile is finished. Just a few more rows on the very bottom. The shampoo shelf with all the decorative tiles, lots of little cuts to do. Plus a tiny screw up that we are leaving. Can you see it? We are leaving it because the shampoo bottles etc will cover it up, so no need to rip out and redo! 

I was hoping Home Depot would have the bull nose tile at the store ready to pick up yesterday. No such luck. Maybe today? Not sure Steve will get to that point or not today but I want it all here and ready to use to not delay any additional work on making more progress on the shower. 

Here is a new vanity light I found. It's far more $$$ than I'd like to spend, so I'll keep looking. This was just on-line via Wayfair. Maybe Menards or Home Depot will have something similar that is half the price?? 

Pizza with homemade crust again for dinner last night. I didn't have any sauce, but I had plenty of roasted tomatoes. Not as good but okay! 

Still trying to lose weight. I made more frozen Oj, 8 oz glasses set up for an easy treat. It's around 120-150 calories per glass. Much better then grabbing ice cream. My other option is fit yogurt at 80 calories packed with fresh raspberries. That seems to do the trick at night, the only time I crave something sweet. Otherwise its mostly salty. 

Rice is lunch most days with salsa, one of my favorites! Dinner is whatever we are having. Breakfast is mostly a few PB nuggets if anything at all. 

Trying to do my daily planks and lift weights. Awful at getting in cardio on the cross ramp. 

Trying to get a prescription refilled.. omg difficult!! I've been on hold and first caller for how long?? Not sure I should wait any longer on hold or just try later when they open at 7am? 

Thursday warm up!

 We woke up to 30+F temps which will keep falling all day and be cold again Friday in the teens before the weekend warm up again! It's a roller coaster of temps! Just glad the below and negative day time numbers are behind us for at least the next 10 days. 

Nothing like having a toilet in your upstairs hallway! I'll be sooo happy when the kids bathroom remodel is completed. Its taking forever!!! 

Just inching along on the wall shower tile. There was a bit more progress after I took this photo, shower shelf has the decorative tile half done and the wall a bit more tiles added. So far I love it! Wasn't sure how it all would come together but its slowly getting there! 

I have plans to ski this afternoon. I need to get an oil change, pick up dish washer tablets at Costco and maybe pick up the bull nose tile at Home Depot today. Plus, I want to clean my own house, dust, vacuum, kitchen clean up, plus finally put the Christmas tree in the basement along with the extra table. Celina plans to have friends over to celebrate a friends birthday. I must have it all picked up and put away!! 

Bathroom update

15 more tiles on the wall.. how many more today? 

 To be fair, it was -25+F outside yesterday! Far too cold to cut tiles outdoors! It's supposed to warm up today to the 20's but not till 9pm! Not sure how much tile progress we will see after today? 

I did order some matte black bullnose tiles for the shower curb. Special order tiles but I got a notice they will arrive Thursday instead of next week! Lucky us!!! Keep the project moving along! I'm hoping the tile looks good since it's different from the other tiles. We just went with plain black because there wasn't a matching floor bullnose tile! 

- 12 degrees but sunny!

 Back at the home project, kids bathroom!! Steve put the first of the wall tile on the shower walls. Looking good so far! Of course it's -12 degrees today, so I'm guessing he will not want to cut tile in the garage! Burr... 

We ran into a little issue with the shower pan curb. Of course the floor tile the kids chose does not have in stock bull nose tiles. So we opted for some similar floor that has bull nose. I hope it gets their approval. I just thought since its close to the orig tile and same cost, why not switch it out! Not sure that will happen but a decision needs to be made asap! 

Logan started on line at home classes yesterday. It's day 5 since testing positive for covid. He hasn't felt sick at all, but couldn't send him back to college till after 10 days. 

I also finished our business tax report. 100% done! Now, I'm just waiting to get back into the office to print the rest of the records and file them all away. So glad to have all that done. Now fingers crossed we don't owe!!! I'd love to get money back but it's a perk just not paying in more!!

I actually slept in this morning till 8:30am! That doesn't happen very often. I am not working and since the taxes are done all I have is an appointment at the Chiro with Celina this afternoon. I probably should clean up our house, finally put the tree in the basement and carry the extra table down. No one else seems to want to help with that! 

Dieting is not going great! I had purchased a caramel/walnut coffee cake and managed to eat it all myself within a few days. I need to leave the junk at the store and just walk away! 

I still keep track of the calories I've been eating. It ranges from 2000 to 1500, mostly staying around the 1500 to 1700 range. Doesn't feel like I'm losing weight, but I'm not gaining either even with some poor food choices. 

I don't need to start over every time I have a lapse. I just need to continue on. I always have the mind set that I must start over. It shouldn't have to be an all or nothing diet. 

I've been wanting to style my hair and wear it down. Might have to try this today. It's been forever since I've wanted to wear my hair down or actually style it. I've been following some hairstylist on how to do your hair. I did try one idea and that was a huge fail. 

Office is free! Time to get printing!!

Is January Over yet??

 I'm so tired of the cold, cold January! Can we just move on to spring already!!! I know, we have February also to get through the 28days! We got another inch of snow last night and today the temps will start dropping to the high of -1+F on Tuesday! Burrrr....

I might or might not have to go anywhere at least until afternoon! 

Steve spent a good part of Sunday working more on the kids bathroom. I don't have an updated photo, but the shampoo shelf is now finished being framed and the shower plumbing is done. He will add the rest of the denshield to the shower walls and start tiling (the exciting part). 

I'll be finishing up our tax business report today. I just have a few more receipts to enter and some calls to make for grand totals. It will be nice to have that all ready to go for the accountant for February. 

I'm in the baking mood to make something for V-day. We just don't need the stuff around to eat. Celina has been busy perfecting her macroons so we have a lot of fails around to eat up. 

Not much else is going on this week. 

I need to order a new remote for the TV. Looks like it melted a little?? I'll also try to get into the chiropractor this week. Go back to dieting and lose some weight! It's going to warm up by Thursday, time to cross country ski again. Sunday we are going to bring Logan back to college. He starts spring on-line (this week only) classes today! I also have some sample tiles to return (Lowes). Plus, our car insurance is due tomorrow. Good to stay on top of all the bills and get them out on time! 

Working on paying off our Visa. We charged some for Austin, and misc stuff at Christmas. I just paid the minimum in December and January, now its time to pay that off in Feb! I don't like owing and paying interest. I could have paid it off, but wanted to make sure we had enough for the bathroom project and Steve taking off from work Dec - mid January. 

 

What's on my mind?

 #1 baking is on my mind. I wanted to try using Celina's dairy, gluten free cookie recipe and make some variations. I do think the sugar needs to be scaled back in some of the cookies. 

I just used the base recipe and added in some changes to each of the cookies. This one is a cinnamon swirl. Should have used a finer tip pastry bag to pipe the cinnamon swirl on top. A good amount of cinnamon with or without a frosting on top. 

A version of a thumb print cookie. Needed Almond extract added to the dough. I did add it to the frosting. Again too sweet, needs sugar reduced. 

Molasses cookie turned out good, but didn't have all the spices for a true spiced cookie. 

The sprinkle cookie was perfect! Carrot cake cookie a fail. I just didn't like it. 

The progress on the kids bathroom? Not much! The shower base/floor cured for a full 24 hours. Steve determined that it probably doesn't need skim coat. It's at the right height! He also looked at the shower plumbing and complained a little how you pay that much and it's just not right. Who makes these things! Not people who install them. 

The shower doors had arrived last week, so we picked them up from the store even though we aren't ready to install. We had no where else to put them, so they are now in my front sitting room. 

I too a covid test yesterday. Just felt a little like I was on the verge of getting a cold. Nope, negative. I'm the only one in our family that had not had covid! Am I missing out! lol.. My customer did go get tested, so they paid me and sent me on my way. Nice! No work and still got paid! Plus added a Christmas bonus/tip! 

The next big decision we are making. What color grout for the white tiles. A few to choose from!

Steve's mustache is gone! Took off 10 years! Thankfully, he only had it a few weeks! I'm not a mustache person! 

Yet another -8*F Day! I'm staying inside!!! We did get about 3" of snow last night, more tonight in the 1 to 3" range again. It will be nice to have fresh snow for when the temps are back into the 20's for me to cross country ski. 

Since it's a 100% indoor day, I'm back to doing our business taxes/data entry of all receipts and finishing up our tax report to give to the accountant by mid February. 

What am I excited about? A Taco Bell opening up by the lake! Another food choice when camping! We also are getting another Taco Bell by our house! Seems they are always building banks, churches or dumb boring businesses like Auto fix it places or insurance selling etc.. 

What else am I doing today? Soaking my feet to get the rest of the peeling skin off from that foot bootie soak I did a few weeks ago. 

Back to dieting. I had two beers last night while playing cards. Two on Friday night. Back to eating less and losing weight! 

I have been doing my daily planks, and lifting weights. Just not interested in getting on the cross ramp. I need to do that before I am to have a meal for the day! Might get me motivated!

Saturday morning!!

 This kiddo is sick again. This time Covid. Probably omicron, since that's what's going around. Took a test Friday thinking he didn't get covid from his friends last weekend, only to be very positive using the home test. He only has a slight runny nose if that even. Otherwise feels fine. The only reason he took a test is because he was going for coffee with his Meme who is 83. 

He started his winter vacation being sick, in the middle he dealt with 3 of the 4 of us having covid, now he has it. I canceled his flight back to college Sunday. They are all on-line the first week to insure kids get boosted or don't come back to school with covid. I tried to find a flight back the following week, but the cost was an additional $350! Also tried to book the train and all are canceled. So looks like instead of going to Duluth that weekend, we will be driving him back to Milwalkee and saying one night before driving the 5 hours back home. 

On to some good news! The wall tile was discounted a little from the orig prices. We saved a little on each. It all helps. Plus, we saved on the decorative tiles which really added up to a $300 savings! Not needing as much also helped. 

We made zero progress on the bathroom yesterday, other then pick up tile. Is that progress? The cement had to cure 24 hours, so today the skim coat will be poured and we wait another 24 hours. At least with Logan being home an extra week, he most likely will see the bathroom completed or darn near done! 

Packages!

I was super happy to see our kids bathroom fixtures arrived. TP holder, shower sprayer! What didn't arrive is the 16" extension bar. Not even sure if we will use it or not?  It was only $28 dollars and I think it can still be returned if it doesn't work out? 

Now Steve can do the rest of the shower plumbing and pour the skim coat of cement on the shower pan floor. We probably should pickup the tiles tonight since it will be less busy on a Friday night and we'll be ready to go Saturday morning! The bathroom won't be done for Logan to see it before going back to college this Sunday. We'll just send him photo's until he is back home spring break.

I didn't accomplish a whole lot Thursday! I try and make myself be productive. I did work till 12:30pm, came home and that was it. Went to the store two times, but never did any of my tax data entry. 

It might be Friday, but I'll be working tomorrow morning and every day till our tax report is done! I'm hoping to finish it up by Sunday at the latest! 

Dieting was okay yesterday. Splurged on a 400 calorie Mac and cheese dinner. I need to do my 10 minutes of cross ramp which I've been skipping. 

More or less progress

It seems like we are not making much progress on the kids bathroom. A lot happened yesterday! 

Steve got the pan ready to have cement poured in today. He had to do some electrical adding 2 can lights to the ceiling and moved the floor shower drain out. Today the cement will be poured and maybe the shower self build in the back. 

I checked on the shower door and it's in the store to be picked up. We will wait to get that when we are ready for it to be installed. 

I keep looking at the tracking of the other shower parts, shower sprayer, tp and 16" extension sprayer handle. Today is the "arrival date!"

Almost ready to buy all the tile! I'm not excited about the cost. We went over budget on the shower door! 

We are back to stupid cold, the high of 1+F today! I keep checking the weather 10 days out and we will see the 20's for one day next week. Otherwise we are in for highs of the teens! January and February can't go fast enough as those are the coldest months! At least come February, we have a little more hope with V-day and Celina's birthday to get us though this other not so fun month! 

 

Progress! I made some frozen Oj as a snack. I ended up having that for lunch and a afternoon snack because we were out of popcorn and I didn't want to actually make my own popcorn. Maybe I should think about making my own? Probably would save money since a small bag cost $3.50? We go though a bag every 2 days around here. 

Bought brown rice instead of white. It just has a better nutty taste then white rice and a better choice if I'm eating rice with my salsa. 

Still eating around 1500 calories per day. Not seeing much weight loss progress. I'll have to drop my calories to around 1000. A work in progress!!

I am making progress on our tax data entry. I'm on my supply receipt along with some misc receipts for medical, office supplies, advertising etc.. I hope to finish that up by Friday or Sunday at the latest! It will be nice to have that report all ready to go to the accountant! 

Diet.. what diet??

 I'm certainly not going to lose weight eating this stuff! It was a new menu item and we decided to try it. Fries, cheese curds, gravy, pot roast and horseradish sauce drizzled on top. It was a solid 9 out of 10. We though it would be even better with tater tots, garlic and more onion. It was enough to be a meal! 

Played more Bingo last night in Hastings. At least its cheaper $10 per board and you buy extra boards for two coveralls or as many extra boards as you want for an addition $1 per board. I only get 3 total, so its a $13 game fee for me. Our beginner luck ran out and we had zero bingo's! Still a fun night out and something todo. I'm done with Bingo for while. Had 3 beers with this food, so no weightless is going to happen if I keep splurging every week! 

The kids all went out for Sushi last night. This is the sushi boat photo of their meal. I don't care for sushi, so I'll pass!!

I never made it skiing yesterday when the temp was in the 40's. It started to rain and of Course the snow was melting like crazy. Not the best ski conditions. Today its -25 feels like temp with high wind. The snow is all ice now! There won't be any more skiing till we get at least 3 inches of fresh snow! 

A little more progress on the kids bathroom. 2 can lights were added to the ceiling by the shower. The rafters prevented installing lights in the shower, so they are in front of it. That should provide enough light in the bathroom with the vanity light. Years ago Steve added another light to the wall by the shower. Now we can remove that light! It would have looked weird to have two light on the walls!

Early this morning I got an email letting me know the other shower items are on route to be delivered. Does that mean they will show up today? Fingers crossed!

Steve will pick up cement today and make the shower pan. The cement will need to cure 24 hours and then the shampoo shelf can be build, hopefully the shower plumbing can be done and then finally tiling and putting on the new shower door. That was supposed to arrive at the store yesterday, but ?? I'll need to follow up today and see where its at. 

We decided to wait on our bathroom, just because the kids cost way more than we were thinking. With all the changes and added costs we are way above budget. I'll still get my bathroom done, but it will have to wait. I think Steve also wants a project break from doing bathrooms. That's more the issue then the cost! We have plenty of little main level projects to get done, so hopefully those can be finished instead! 

Winter.. January!

 Celina was back baking cookies (gluten/dairy free). They taste amazing!! I'll never go back to using flour again! It's a combo of rice and almond flours, using oil instead of butter and they taste even more buttery without butter! 

I wanted her to try a orange, crasin, almond white chocolate cookie. We just need to not put white chocolate chips into the cookie, only the drizzle on top. I thought a carrot cake cookie with white chocolate drizzle also would taste amazing. More flavors to come!!

Make a very pretty cookie and delicious! 

Steve and I took advantage of warm up and went skiing. 3 quick miles to get in some fast exercise! 

Always feels good to do some exercise! I'll go skiing again today before the cold next two days of zero degrees! 

I'll be waiting for the upper teens again before I go ski.