Do One Thing

It takes a lot of effort to be creative.  And sometimes it takes longer to write or post about being creative than it does the task itself!   But sometimes I just feel I need to put things down.  Some day, people may wanna know.  lol  Or not.

Took the day off because it's my dental checkup day.  Usually I just dash in after work, but ... I felt I needed a day to myself, so .....   I spent it working on getting some more pallets apart for the headboard that I'm going to create in the other bedroom.  After the dentist, I dashed into Home Depot, but my son wasn't working, so I just wandered a bit before heading over to Hobby Lobby.

I found this cool scrollwork with blues/greens in it, along with an iron-worked heart in the center that will look just GREAT over the bed ... but it was too much.  And I had forgotten my phone where I found this week's ad for 40% off any one item ....    I may have to go back on Saturday.  Yup yup *puts it on the calendar*

One of my other little things I'm doing is I need a long sign over the photo center I put in my living room.  Because of the odd wall shape, I felt it needed something to define it, so I got a 15foot length of burlap and it runs from one point to another, making a very large rectangle on my wall, which is where I'm posting some of my photography and fav pictures.  It looks pretty neat, but it still needs a little more definition above it.  So I'm creating the word BLESSED out of some wood letters that I'm covering with some turquoise print fabric and mod podge (If you've never worked with it, it can be a really fun for simple crafts!).   pix when it's all done, I promise.

Otherwise, it was my day to relax, enjoy some taco salad, take a bit of a nap.  I did some simple yardwork -- mostly because my garbage goes to the street tonight, and I really needed to get things cleaned up out there.


Lately there are times when it seems like I always have something - sometimes too much! - going on, but my motto has been "Do one thing every day."   It's amazing how much can get accomplished doing just one thing on a daily basis.   Now if only I could do that with my housecleaning..... lol

Sunday's TidBits

Sunday.  Another weekend over, and another busy week coming up.  Ugh.

I was all excited about FitBit's "Goal Day" - and set my goal at 10k steps, which is difficult for me on a weekend.  Work, of course, means lots of walking, but walking around the block, or around the house, just doesn't cut it.  Outdoor walking or hiking isn't a good thing in the heat we get in the desert, so that means early morning walking. Which I love to do!   However, after a busy month, I needed to use my optimal energetic hours in getting my house cleaned up and chores done.   And then a day of terrible IBS or something hit me -- and I got my 5k steps going from couch to bathroom to bed to bathroom ... well, you get the idea.  Another Ugh.

Tracking my sleep has been interesting ... I seem to be getting a total of nearly 8 hours a night, but it's not all in a row - so I guess there's something to improve on, if I can find the secret to that!  According to FitBit I'm awake an average of 5x a night, and I sleep rather restlessly.  I blame that on Sadie.  She likes to snuggle up until she gets hot, then moves, but eventually moves back again and I'm sure that causes me to be the "restless" it senses because I'm moving about, trying to get into a comfy position.  Again.  lol  The perils of owning a dog, I guess.

Worked on this grand idea I have of building a headboard out of old pallets.  This was my original inspiration.  I have gotten a few old pallets from work, I've cut a few of them into usable boards, and experimented with how to make them look a little more "weathered".  According to online sites I sourced, mixing vinegar with some steel wool bits and let sit would create a staining like solution.  That didn't work for me, even when I left it sitting in the warm sun, and then overnight.  So, I took it upon myself to invent something else.  I added a few drops of acrylic paint into the vinegar and sprayed it on.  It sort of dyed the wood without actually applying paint. Right now, they have a hunter green tinge, and if I add a little bit of blue splotches, they may look a little more turquoise, which would be perfectly fine.  Adding a thin layer of some stain, then varnish --- I can see this working.  Or not.  lol

I puttered in my spare bedroom yesterday, touching up paint on the baseboards, etc.  It didn't last too long as the moment I sat on the floor to start painting, Sadie wanted to sit right between me and the wall -- painting around an active dog isn't the easiest thing in the world.  I did manage to get a few things hung on the wall.   :)   A little every day is better than nothing.

Off to finish some laundry, and get some groceries for the week.
Hope it's a good week for you, too!

Finally Friday

Finally Friday!  It always seems like the best day of the week, the one that holds the most promise.  Maybe that's a hold-over from earlier days -- like in my 20s when it meant good things on a weekend!  Orrrrrrrr .... maybe not.  lol

Once I got home, however, I was tired, dragged out, and after a salad for supper, and a few episodes of Fixer Upper (I was hoping for inspiration!) , the evening was over.

The only thing I tried was the recipe I found online for combining steel wool and vinegar to make a kind of stain to weather boards.  Sadly, I don't think it worked.  It sure sounded too good to be true, too simple, too inexpensive.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have a different opinion of it.  In the meantime, I found that a few drops of acrylic paint in the mix make for an interesting combination to spray on them.  And if that's the case, my boards may turn out to be a little more colorful than just rustic woods!   Time will tell.

I skipped the gym today, I have a sore left arm and thought it needed a rest.  It hurts to straighten it out fully, as if the muscle is pulled.   A day's rest won't hurt.


Tomorrow, 5/21, is "Goal Day" for FitBit users.  It'll be tough getting to my goal of 10k steps on a non-working day, but I'm going to give it my best shot.  I wonder how Sadie will like it??  hahaha

My FitBit buzzed me, I reached my 10k steps again today!  and I checked my sleep numbers for last night.  7 hours, 55 minutes of sleep, but awake 6 times, and restless 17 times.   Not sure how that works out, but I know that I feel like I'm not getting enough sleep, which is why I started this in the first place.   I wonder if the weekend will change the numbers at all.  We shall see.

A Journey

Life isn't about getting to a certain point.   I know people who tell themselves "as soon as I get to ___ this point, I'll be happy" or "As soon as I lose 25 lbs, I'll be happy".    It can't be about that.  Sure, I'm all about achievements and productivity.  For me, a good day is when I feel I've done something that was needing to get done.  But Life is really the journey, finding small things that give us purpose, or joy, or a good feeling along the way.

I've been working hard at making sure that life isn't all about work.  I make it a point to take a photo every day.  Even if I don't feel compelled to share it on social media, I make sure I've kept it in my "365photos" folder.  A photo that kind of sums up the day, what I saw, where I was, something that made me smile.  Yes, there are days when that one photo isn't taken.  But the next day, I focus on finding two things that make me smile.

Today, it's hot and humid, so no evening walk for me and Sadie.  During my lunch break, I slipped into the gym and got my workout done.  I started going back this week, missed Weds however, due to work issues and scheduling.  Tuesday was arms day, and I felt like I had noodles instead of arms when I was done!   Today, I had two goals:  a 15 minute mile on the elliptical machine (easier on the knees than the treadmill) and resistance training to work out the soreness in my arms.  I achieved my mile goal in 15:05.   Not bad for an old lady!  Then I did my arm exercises with weight machines again.  And yes, I'm sore.   lol  Aspirin at bedtime tonight!

I got a new FitBit tracker, the Charger HR, because it not only tracks my steps, but calories, heart rate and most important, my sleep pattern.  Just because I wonder if I'm getting enough sleep.  Here's the result for the first night.  It tracks me falling asleep at 8:32, and waking at 4:35am.  Yep, that's about right.  I climb into bed between 7 and 730, depending on what I feel like watching, and it doesn't take long for me to be out like a light.   But it shows that I was awake 5 times.  I remember getting up twice to let Sadie out -- and to pee, cuz yep, I'm an old lady.  Or I drink too much water too late in the evening.  But then it shows I was restless 18 times.  Hmm.  That's not so good, but I'm going to let it keep going, get an average over a week or two, and see if it evens out a little bit.  But according to my little wristband, I got 7 hours, 7 minutes of sleep.

Get out there and do something today!
I did!

Me Time Again!

Wedding done.  Check.
Inventory over.  Check.
Time to get back to ME time.  Check.

Today, I went to the gym on my lunch break, and didn't just "play around" with some cardio.  Some serious arm workouts today - and now?  Noodle Arms has set in!  I was OK with my food intake, could have been better an keeping the calorie count lower, but I stayed mostly within my guidelines, considering where I'm at, and how active I am.

11k+ steps today, which earned me a new fitbit badge:

• You've earned the New Zealand badge
• You've walked 990 lifetime miles—the entire length of New Zealand.

990 miles - that's a lot of mileage since mid September 2015.  even if we call it 9 months, that's 100 miles a month.  OK.  I'll take that.   :D

I'm committing myself to making sure I'm doing more things for me again, getting in my workouts and my walks.  I'm also focusing on my home and home improvements.  Latest project:  fixing up my son's room now that he's moved out.  My goal is to make it a guest bedroom.  So far, it's been painted a soft blue-grey called "Quiet Rain".  The closet was emptied and painted as well - Sunlit White.  All of my son's things that he left behind are in boxes, ready to be labeled and restacked neatly in one half of the closet.

I have hung two things on the walls so far:  one is a rustic board in an off bluish - green that has 3 hooks attached to it.  It's right behind the door, handy for guests to hang jackets, purse, etc.  The other thing is something I found at Target.com but wasn't available for ordering.  I had to track down a store that had it; I drove over and sadly, they didn't have it.  But the nice guy who checked me out happily put the numbers in his little computer-y thing and told me the Chandler South store had one.  After work on Monday, I zoomed over and picked it up.


Home Decor can be fun -- when I get to make all the choices, of course!  haha