Bathroom Makeover---Picture Overload!

So, I've been wanting to do this bathroom since I moved in 10 months ago, but I was lazy. All the bedrooms, this bathroom and the laundry room have the wallpaper borders and I was too lazy to scrap it off! But I woke up early one Friday morning and started scraping, I already had the paint, so I just needed to do it! I also really wanted the Wainscoat boards on the bottom so I knew I had to get my dad to help me on that. So, 3 Fridays later, my bathroom is complete!

The first Friday, I tore down the wallpaper border and painted!



Isn't it ugly? Why didn't I do this sooner?
Here's the first wall all torn off!



This was the hardest wall, the border was even in the outlets!



All done behind the potty!



Now, I'm patching holes and dings!

More patching!

Now I'm starting to tape and cover everything! This is a pain and the worst part of painting!

Everything getting covered up! I'm a messy painter!

Here's my pretty purple paint!

A couple of walls painted! It's a little dark, but I know as soon as the white wainscoat board is up it'll look great!

It looks like 2 different colors, but it's not

So pretty don't you think?

I love it! The tape and plastic are gone!

Working on the trim!

My light fixture, it was hot up there trying to paint the corner. Someday I might get a new fixture!

Next Friday, we started putting the board up! Doesn't it look great? My dad did such a great job!

I haven't figured out how to cut vinyl on my Cricut yet, so I ordered this from etsy.com. It fits perfect and totally fits me!

This part was tricky! We had to cut the tiny board to fit around the sink, and the top railing too! I thought my dad was going to hate me after this! But it turned out great!

We are going to "frame" the mirror. I have seen this on DIY blogs, and I want it so bad! My boards are warped and not working, but we did get the corners on! SOMEDAY it'll be done!

Here's my handy man! My dad is the best! We had to take the toilet off to get behind it! What a pain! It looks dirty and icky because of how we moved it stuff leaked everywhere....but it's clean now! Great job DADDY!

No, we don't use the potty in the shower.....just a storage place. See how gross it is? I cleaned it I promise!

Here's behind the potty. Another tricky wall, and it's uneven, but not for long!

Doesn't it look great? LOVE IT!

All painted and fixed up!

I experimented with spray paint for the first time. I paint all my accessories white! I have a couple of boo boo's but I don't care!

Doesn't it look good now?

Love this wall!

I have like 5 different purples going on and it may drive people crazy. But I love it! New basket from Michaels and jars from Hobby Lobby!

Doesn't it look so pretty?

I love this wall! It turned out perfectly!

The clean John back in it's place!

All cleaned up and beautifed! I even replaced the knobs on the doors!

My new shower curtain! I had 2 picked out and had help from Clarissa to decide which one to use!

So, I go in there all the time just to admire it! I'm weird! But I love it! And it turned out exactly how I imagined it! Thank you Dad for helping me! I owe my parents big time for all their help on my house! Only one room left that isn't painted, and that's the laundry room. I won't be doing that until my washer and dryer go out (which I hope is a long time away)...then I'll scrape the borders again and paint! All other rooms have new paint! Project complete!

One year ago.....yesterday

One year ago yesterday, I was talking to my friend Heather. We were giving each other tips about weight loss and getting healthy. She told me that she had been without drinking pop for about 6 or 7 years and is only drinking water. I was like, wow! She's amazing! If she can do it, I can do it! So, August 26, 2009, I stopped drinking pop and went to Poweraid. The first 2 weeks were horrible! I had headaches, it was just horrible! But I survived!

Now, I'll have to say this before my mom tells on me, but a couple of months ago, I did have a sip of Sprite (no caffeine) and I about died! It was so disgusting! I dumped it out and went back to water.

So, without that sip, I made it one year! And here's to many years to come!

Hey, if I can do it, you can do it! Give it up! Plus, now it saves me about $2-$3 a day! Which is about $60-$90 a month! (are you thinking what the heck yet?) How about the money I saved this year.....$720-$1080!

DOES THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO STOP NOW????? I think so!

Well, I did buy some Poweraid through the year, but not like I drank the pop! So, this year, I'll save about the $720-$1080! WOO HOO!

21 Day Cleanse....SUCCESS!!!!

Well, I survived the 21 day cleanse. The first 2 or 3 days were rough! I was so hungry and sick of the same food over and over again, but once I started seeing results, something SNAPPED and I was going to get through this. Today is my first day off the cleanse. Let's just say, I lost 15 pounds (YEAH ME) and I'm going to keep going. I can already tell that it is true, 21 days makes a habit. Today, I was tempted 2 times to go get fast food and I survived!

For lunch, I did go to Sonic because I wanted a hamburger so badly. In my mind, I said I would get the hamburger but no fries. Well, I felt guilty and I didn't want to start down the same path I had been on for awhile. I pulled in and got the grilled chicken wrap and that was it. Not the best food, but better than a greasy hamburger with fries right??? I'm so proud!

Then, I went to the dentist after work, and I was driving home and I wanted fast food again, because I didn't have any groceries at home. I thought let's go to Panda Express and I will get a 1 one item bowl, no don't do it. Then I was like, I will go to Wendys and get a chicken sandwich, no, don't do it, bread isn't good for me. Then, let's go to Subway! Nope, that's still bread. So, I headed to Fry's and I bought my groceries and I felt better. I was starving, so I knew I had to make something quick and easy.

I thought, how about a taco bowl, but a healthy taco bowl. I got whole grain healthy tortillas, ground chicken, and romaine lettuce. It was yummy and took me about 10 minutes to make and I feel better! I even got me some healthy treats (because I haven't had that for awhile) and I won't eat them every day.

So, that's that....and here's my dinner! It was yummy, and I made another one for lunch or dinner tomorrow. I'm full as a tick (like Grandma Hall always says) and I feel better about myself. Now, the goal, is to continue eating healthy and go to the gym (this will start Wednesday).

The 21 Day Cleanse is a Success and hopefully a change for the better!

Here's my taco bowl....I added some homemade salsa....DELICIOUS!

Survival Kit

So, my next adventure is Substitute teaching on Fridays! Scary huh? Well, I attended orientation on Wednesday for Mesa Public Schools, and they kept saying to make a Substitute Teaching Survival kit, with things like crayons, paper, dry erase stuff, pens, pencils, games, time fillers, etc. Yikes! Thank goodness Wal-Mart still had a lot of this on sale, so I got my kit ready to go. It all fits in my back pack! So, here it goes...all these bags full of stuff, into one bag! I'm ready to go! I just have to get registered later on this week with their calling system, and then I'm set to be called on Fridays! I'm a little nervous, not knowing what's going to happen. I'm really hoping the teachers are prepared and have the days planned....but here goes nothing! Bring it on....and if you have kids in the East Mesa Elementary Schools, watch out....here comes Miss Hall! How crazy does that sound? I've never been called Miss Hall.....I won't know how to answer to that! WISH ME LUCK!

Do you know what this symbol means?

I didn't until this morning. It's 4:00 AM and it came on. Had to bust out the manual :)

Then, the funny thing is, this article came online today! I'm still laughing, I was in the 46% until this morning....where do you fit in??? Maybe I'm tired, but I LAUGHED OUT LOUD! Now, if you read my blog, we can increase that percentage, because you are in the know! :) LOL

Here's the article:

Do you recognize the symbol here? It lights up in your instrument panel and looks like a U-shaped pictograph with treads and an exclamation point in the middle.

Do you understand what it means now?

If you guessed a low tire-pressure warning, you are right. If you didn’t recognize the symbol, that’s also understandable because one out of three drivers do not, according to Schrader, a company that makes tire pressure monitoring systems.

The warning for the TPMS lights up when one or more of your vehicle’s tires is 25% below the manufacturer’s recommended pressure. The system is now required on all vehicles starting with the 2008 model year.

The issue here seems to be that the public hasn’t been properly educated on the warning symbol, which is supposed to be “idiot proof” and understandable across a wide variety of cultures and languages. Yet 46% of drivers couldn’t figure out that the icon represents a tire and 14% thought the symbol represented another problem with the vehicle entirely, according to Schrader.

As we said earlier in the week, properly inflated tires are vitally important to your safety. Low pressure will affect your braking, acceleration, stability, cornering and fuel economy. The government instituted the TPMS mandate after the Bridgestone/Firestone tire failures on the Ford Explorer in 2000, a controversy that was partly attributed to inadequately inflated tires.

A Week Ago Today....

One week ago from today, I started a 21 Day Cleanse. I'm on a team at work to change our eating habits and get healthy. Our team decided to start out with a 21 day cleanse. Now, this means no sugar, soda, coffee, alcohol or carbs. Well, I'm off soda, coffee and alcohol (LOL, never been on coffee and alcohol, and it's been almost a year without soda). So, basically I just had to change my eating habits.

The menu consists of water, veggies, fruits, and white meat. Sound yummy? I'm so not creative with food, so right now I've been having a lot of the same things over and over, so I need to do some more reading to find good recipes. But so far, it seems to be working.

The first 2 days were so hard! I was always hungry and going to the bathroom (TMI??) . It's all that water going through me, and I guess that's what a cleanse is. Anyway, after the first couple of days, I'm in a routine and it's working, so far. I basically eat every 2 hours (the snacks are veggies or fruit) and then I have my meat for lunch or dinner.

Anyway, I may seem crabby for awhile until I get through this, but I know it'll be good. The going without sugar is probably the hardest thing. If you know me, you know how much I love sugar!!!! But, I'll be good....for now ;)

Now, I just need motivation to go the gym, that's the hard part!