Current projects

My most pressing project is to exercise every day and be really diligent about what I eat (and how much). That way if I'm still not losing weight in a couple weeks I can go to my doctor and ask to get my thyroid checked.

That's an ongoing project and the rest of my current ones are pretty much a one-time deal. They should keep me pretty busy during the next week or two.

1. We (Little Miss Sunshine and I) need to make thank you notes for her birthday presents.

2. I need to hang some pictures on the wall. There's a nice open expanse on one wall now that I've rearranged the furniture.

3. Do some sewing- mend a coat and sew a simple dress for a friend, sew an apron for LMS, and whatever else I find that needs to be done, like maybe some fabric food for LMS.

4. Order our credit reports and credit scores so we can find out what they are and make sure they're correct. If not, do whatever needs to be done to fix them, so that they can be as high as possible when we're ready to buy a house.

5. Sort and organize the papers that go in the file cabinets. I now have two in the house and they're both easily accessible so I need to get my filing system in order.

6. Sort LMS's clothes: pack away winter things and dig out her summer clothes.

7. Find out more about MyCAA, which is financial aid for military spouses. Not sure if I'm currently eligible or have to wait for the next deployment.

8. Pick out monograms and make new name tapes for duffel bags (like the suitcases and blankets I've bought before) for hubby's nieces and nephews (Christmas presents for one family- check!)

9. Set up shelves, organize food storage, and make a list of items still needed.

Back from vacation

We went to hubby's post-deployment thing (lots of fun sitting in meetings all day) while Little Miss Sunshine stayed with my sister and had lots of fun playing with her cousins.

After the meetings were all done we hit IKEA, picking up a desktop for hubby (it's on two short filing cabinets) and a child-size table and chair for LMS. I realized awhile ago that she didn't have a table for coloring, doing puzzles, putting dishes out, etc. They were super quick and easy to put together and she loves having a table and chair just her size. We also picked up some miniature cooking utensils and some dishes. The colors of the dishes coordinate quite nicely with her tea set. Not sure if you can see them, but there's also some miniature silverware on the table. They're another IKEA find that she received for her birthday, and I think they are just so cute!

Since we were on a road trip, we decided to do it properly. This meant going through Monterey on the way to Disneyland. We stopped to see my aunt and uncle that live in the area. It was good to see them and talk for a little while. We wanted to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but ran out of time unfortunately. We then headed south and picked up hubby's brother before stopping to see another aunt and uncle.
We ended up with 3-day park-hopper passes (free for the guys and greatly discounted for LMS and me!), and rather than trying to cram everything into one day (which we've done on 3 previous occasions), we took our time. We spent 2 days at Disneyland and 1 at California Adventure. Soo much nicer! We went to Disney on Friday and Saturday and CA on Monday- definitely a good thing to take a breather in the middle. LMS was in overload on Saturday, but after resting on Sunday she was good to go Monday.

LMS is old enough to appreciate things now, and really enjoyed seeing the various characters and riding the rides. She's too small for a lot of them, but there was a good number she could ride. Some of them were scary in parts, but she hid her face in my chest and was fine.

The rider switch passes are such a time-saver! Hubby and his brother would wait in line (using fast passes where available), while LMS and I waited outside. Before they got in line, we got a rider switch pass from the worker, and when they were done with the ride, one of the guys and I would then be able to ride the ride (while the other watched LMS), using the fast pass entrance or going through the exit. The guys liked it because they got to ride some of the rides twice in a row.

We had lots of fun at the parks, and a good time visiting with family, then headed back home. When we got back I unpacked and put everything away and then got down to re-arranging our room again. I got everything in, and I think I like it, so hopefully we won't have to change it again.
LMS and I went for a 4 mile run/walk yesterday. We did a lot of walking at Disneyland, but that was at sea level. I could definitely feel the difference here. That and it's been awhile since I did any running. I have got to be more regular about it from here on out.

I didn't run today, but I did spend several hours in the hot sun raking wood chips from around a large wood pile so we could burn them. Yes, it was as fun as it sounds. But the area looks better and we were able to get rid of unusable (can't be burned in a wood-burning stove) wood that was cluttering up the yard. We have a lot of log splitting to do, and then the rest of the wood can get stacked and we won't have an unsightly pile in the back pasture area anymore.

Thoughts on PCOS

I've been reading about PCOS lately, and it's been quite enlightening. 5 years ago, when I was first diagnosed, I did a little research, but I was busy learning Japanese at language school and didn't have a lot of time for extra things. Later, I pushed it to the back of my mind and tried not to think about it.

In facing it head on and being more proactive, I've learned that a lot of things I've thought were just weird genetic quirks are, in fact, symptoms of PCOS.

1. Excess body hair (yes, it is as bad as it sounds). My dad is a hairy beast, I thought he had passed it on to me. Apparently not. I've noticed over the last few months that this has gotten worse, and it's quite icky. All that extra testosterone in my body is not good.

2. Dark patches on knees, elbows, and stomach. I have them on my knees, and I thought they were callouses from kneeling down while working (sanding, cutting out fabric, whatever). Not so.

3. Weight gain and difficulty losing weight. I got the short end of the gene pool when it comes to height, so I figured I got the shaft in the weight area as well. Unfortunately, this looks like something I will struggle with all my life, along with the other symptoms.

4. Infertility. My hormones are imbalanced, so I don't ovulate on a regular basis.

5. Miscarriage. Because of the hormone imbalance, it is much more difficult to maintain a pregnancy. The more I read, the more I realize that Little Miss Sunshine really is our miracle baby (I've said this along)- I have no idea why we were able to get pregnant and stay pregnant with her, and not the other two.

6. Insulin resistance. Intertwined with the hormone imbalance. The metformin is supposed to help correct the insulin resistance, which in turn should help balance out my hormones.

7. There's others, but I can't think of them right off (must not be too big of an issue for me).

There's no cure for PCOS- you manage it through drugs such as metformin, and through diet and exercise. Eating a low glycemic index diet is also supposed to help with the insulin resistance, and of course exercise is always good for the body.

My goal right now is to lose weight with the metformin, the gf diet, and exercise. If I can get to a healthy weight, I really feel that I'll be able to get pregnant and stay pregnant. I think I've lost a pound or two (improvement over the slow but steady gain that I have been experiencing), which is encouraging, but I have a long way to go- I need to lose 50-60 pounds altogether.

Gluten-free progress report

I've been eating gluten-free for about two and a half weeks now, with some purposeful slip ups on the weekends. I don't notice a huge difference during the week, but I have noticed that on Mondays I'm feeling more blah and tired than the rest of the week. Since I don't have celiac disease, I don't have a definite reaction telling me I ate something I shouldn't have.

I'm definitely eating wheat-free, and I think for the most part I'm managing gluten-free as well. There have been a couple things I haven't been completely sure about, but I'm learning more about which ingredients are gluten-free and which aren't. It's a process. So far I've been pretty happy with the gluten-free products I've used. The pastas taste basically the same to me, and I found some really good rice bread made by a local bakery. I wasn't too impressed with the rice tortillas we tried, but I've found quite a few gf snacks that taste pretty good. So I don't feel deprived, except on Thursdays, when hubby wants to go to Pizza Hut with his family. We did find a good gf pizza crust mix, but it's not the same as Pizza Hut. Oh well.

I'm considering going yeast free when we get back from our trip. It would mean no bread or pizza dough and no aged cheeses. This wouldn't be too bad. I think I could still eat the really yummy gf frozen waffles I found (I need to make a list of the brands I like), but I need to check on that. Technically I think I'm not supposed to eat very much sugar either. I need to check on that as well. I think I'm closer to a yeast-free diet than I have in the past, so hopefully it'll be a lot more doable this time around. And I'm really hoping it will help me finally lose weight.

More de-cluttering

Yesterday we finally got hubby's clothes sorted. We tossed a few, gave some to my dad for rags, gave some that are too small to his brother, and added a bunch to the big box to be donated. Hubby went and dropped those off (I forgot to take a picture first, though) while I rearranged our room. I'm using two short file cabinets as the base for a desk for hubby. This will serve the dual purpose of desk space for him and easy accessibility to storage space for the mountains of papers that always threaten to take over my desk.

We need to get a desk top still, then it will be useable. We'll be near an IKEA next week, so we'll stop in and get a desk top, some wood shelving units for our food storage (so we can see what we have and what we still need), and a small table and chairs for Little Miss Sunshine. I love that place. It's a good thing we don't live closer to an IKEA, because I would spend way too much time and money there.

I've got the room rearranged so everything fits, but I'm not completely happy with the layout. You can't see the computer screen from the couch anymore- it's next to the couch now- which is making me wonder if we should keep the couch in here or not. I'll keep it like this for a while, but once we get the desk top on I may move things around again.

I still need to sort through bags of clothes from LMS's cousin- pull out what I like, leave the rest- and I need to put away her winter things. After I've done that, I think I'm pretty much done with the sorting and tossing till we move into our own place. The next thing I'll do is sell the items that are actually worth something on ebay and craigslist.

However, we're off for a road trip for a week and a half, so I'm done with projects for now. I have to pack today because hubby's grandma is coming for a week-long visit tomorrow and tomorrow is the only day we'll be able to see her. We'll take off early Friday morning and do some more post-deployment stuff this weekend (feels like we just finished the last round), and then head out to CA to visit relatives and go to Disneyland. Hubby gets in free and LMS and I get discounted tickets, but only for another week or two, so we're going to take advantage of it while we can.

'Bin'ing and purging

So I've spent several days reorganizing the storage shed and sorting all our crap. How is it possible that we have so much stuff? Even more amazing is that it's all been in storage for the last year and a half, and we haven't really missed it. Ok, so we are using my parents' furniture and kitchen things, so if we lived in our own place, we would definitely need our own furniture and kitchen things. And it is nice to be able to go out and get camping stuff or biking stuff out and use them. Now that they're easily accessible. As for the rest of the stuff? While I have gotten rid of a lot of unnecessary things, I know there's still a lot that could be tossed/given away/sold. Unfortunately, I don't think I can make the best decisions regarding everything till we have our own place again and I reevaluate how often we actually use each item.

In sorting through the 3 massive bags and one bin of my clothes, I tossed some in a rag pile for my dad, the majority went in one of the big boxes (I really need to post a pict of these boxes so you can appreciate their size) to be donated, and a small portion stayed in a bin. Most of those were winter clothes, with a shirt and pair of pants that I don't fit into yet, but will. All the rest of the clothes that I was hanging onto for when I lose weight got tossed. I realized I've been hauling them around for the last 5+ years, and they've been taking up closet and storage space, but I haven't worn them. Why keep them? When I do lose weight, I want new clothes to celebrate, not old clothes I haven't worn in, well, let's just say it's been too long. When I tackled the project with that mindset, I was able to be quite ruthless in my purging. It was so nice to see just the small bin of clothes that I decided to hang onto.

I used the same thought process when sorting the 3 big boxes of misc. stuff, and was able to winnow them down to a bin half the size of one of the boxes. Some of the things did get put in their proper boxes (baby stuff, bedding, etc), so it didn't all get tossed, but I was able to get rid of a lot of useless little doodads that always seem to collect in odd drawers or baskets around the house.

We still need to sort Hubby's 5 or 6 bins of clothes, and we also need to sort our closet and dresser. Since we only have one of each, space is at a premium, and if we're not using/wearing shoes/clothes, they shouldn't be taking up valuable space. I'm really liking the 'less-is-more' philosophy.

Now if I can just keep my desk clear. For some reason, there is always a stack of papers on it, and I can never seem to completely clear it. It doesn't help that Hubby's things are now finding their way to my desk also. He really needs his own desk that he can do his homework on (he's started his master's degree and has lots of reading and writing to do). He could use mine, but I'm not willing to give it up- I like being able to log on and check something when I think of it (if I don't, I'll forget about it and only remember when I'm far away from the computer), and if he's at my desk, I can't do that. I've found one that looks good on craigslist, we just have to wait and see if it's still available and if I can talk them down a bit on the price.

Beautiful weather is here, let's see if it stays...

We've managed to start exercising again. Last Wednesday we went for a just-under-3-mile run/walk. Yesterday we went for a bike ride, and today we went for another just-under-3-mile run/walk. Both run/walks felt good, and today we drove our route so we know where the 1.5 mile mark is (for a full 3 mile run), as well as the 2 mile mark so we can work up to 4 miles. We need to improve our run to walk ratio, but so far we're doing good. The bike ride yesterday was tough. We did 2.75 miles, and I could definitely tell it's been awhile since I was last on my bike. And it's been who-knows-how-long since I rode with Little Miss Sunshine behind me. Nothing like pulling an extra 60 pounds (LMS and the trailer) behind you to give you a good workout.

After the walk today I spent 5 or 6 hours reorganizing our storage container. That's 5 or 6 hours of lifting and moving heavy boxes and bins. Hopefully I burned lots of calories. I still have more work to do tomorrow: sorting 3 really big boxes of misc. stuff and sorting through 6 bins and 3 large bags of clothing. Most of the stuff will be donated or chucked, so that will open up a bit of space in the container. I've also moved everything around, so hopefully the space is better used now. I also need to sort through 30 boxes of books and 4 trunks of Hubby's stuff. I can hardly wait...

My OCD side was definitely exerting itself today. I went through each of the boxes that have already been opened and moved everything to its appropriately-labeled box. I've been tossing everything into whichever box was open and had space. While convenient, this did not reduce clutter and chaos. I'll still have some decluttering to do when we move into our own place, but at least I'll be able to find things easier in the meantime.

Party time!

I spent several days last week working on two parties. We had Little Miss Sunshine's birthday party on Saturday, and since a bunch of family was coming for that, we had Hubby's graduation celebration also.

Graduation party

Since Hubby's official graduation commencement is on the other side of the country, he won't be attending. So we had our own graduation ceremony and party with family. I made a cake and some treats for the party. I got the ideas online (the source for most of my inspiration these days), and I think they turned out pretty good.

Graduation caps made out of a miniature Reese's cup, a milk chocolate Ghirardelli square, a mini Reese's Pieces, and some yellow frosting. Yummy!

Little Miss Sunshine did not want to cooperate for this round of picture-taking, so this is the best we managed.

Birthday party

Last year I made a Nemo cake and pinata for LMS.

This year, between two parties to plan and prepare for, not feeling great because of the meds I'm on, and general stress from everything that's happening, I made the cake and bought the pinata. So much less stress in that one simple step.

I found some photos of castle cakes online and modified them to my abilities and available materials (regular frosting rather than fondant). It took awhile, but I had fun doing it. I think I'm going to experiment with some white chocolate fondant for next year. Hopefully it won't taste as blah as regular fondant.
LMS really liked her castle cake.

And she had a lot of fun whacking at the pinata.

For one of the activities I had the kids decorate white paper bags with handles. These served the dual purpose of bag to collect pinata candy and take-home treat bag. At the end of the party, I gave each child a bag with a make-your-own edible necklace kit and a bag with Hershey's Kisses with stickers on them and some larger character stickers (Cinderella for the girls, Cars for the boys). I can't claim credit for any of the ideas: the small round stickers I found on ebay and the edible necklace kit idea came from a magazine (Parent, Parenting, one of those, I can't remember which right off).

LMS modeling her necklace.

Progress going gluten-free

Yesterday we went shopping for gluten-free food items. I still need to figure out some menus, so we just bought some basic stuff, and we'll have to do some more shopping in a day or two once I've got a menu figured out. I did find out that just because something is wheat-free, doesn't mean it's gluten-free, so one more thing to be careful of.

We also shopped for stuff for Little Miss Sunshine's birthday party and Hubby's graduation party. We're holding them both this Saturday. I'm making cakes for both of them, and we won't be gluten-free that day. I'm curious to see if I can tell a difference. Last year I made a pinata for LMS' bday, but I bought one this year. I was going to make it, but am just feeling too stressed and crummy. I'm taking metformin again, and while it has the side effect of regulating insulin and helping with weight loss, it also makes me very nauseous, which in turn makes me really tired. Not great overall, but I really need to lose weight and nothing else has worked, so I'm willing to put up with it.

We took advantage of the beautiful weather today and went for a 3 mile run/walk. I haven't gone running since getting my orthotics (just walking), and I felt good. No problems while running, other than being out of shape. Hopefully there won't be any pain tomorrow.

Our busy weekend

Last week we drove around, looking at properties in the area where we might end up moving. Found some possibles, and one we really liked, only to find out a couple days later that it had already been sold. Oh well. The right place will be available when the time is right. We did find out we need to be looking at larger properties: apparently we need a domestic well to water cattle (we want a couple cows), and properties under 35 acres only get permits for residential wells. So we're now looking for 35+ acre lots, which unfortunately cost more and don't have quite the terrain we're looking for. But again, we'll wait and see what's available when we're actually in a position to buy.

We also finally got Hubby's job application finished: 24 pages of very detailed information, going back at least 7 years. Tracking down some of the info proved to be rather difficult. Some we had, some we might have but it's in storage somewhere, and some has gotten lost in the various moves we've made over the years. Made the whole thing quite an ordeal. Now we have to wait 3-4 weeks for it to be processed before we find out if he moves on.

Little Miss Sunshine got to spend the weekend with Hubby's parents while we went to a post-deployment reintegration thing. The setting was nice (a ski resort in the mountains), and it was good to talk to friends we haven't seen in awhile, but the meetings were fairly boring and stuff that's already been covered (suicide prevention, Tricare and VA info, communication, etc). I checked the weather before we left, but neglected to take into account the fact that we were going to a ski resort in the mountains. Just because it's the end of April doesn't mean it's done snowing...

It snowed Saturday evening and all Sunday morning, so instead of taking the tram ride before we left like we'd planned, we headed straight home. Once we got out of the mountains it wasn't bad at all, though we did encounter intermittent rain and snow on the trip home. We made good time and got home just before the snow started falling in earnest. We woke up Monday morning to another 5-6 inches of snow. It's all melted and today was absolutely gorgeous, just like spring should be.

Planting trees for Earth day

I ordered some Blue Spruce trees from the Arbor Day Foundation a while ago, and they arrived last week, just in time for Earth day. Little Miss Sunshine had lots of fun helping to plant them.

Wonderful snow!

We finally got hit by a massive snowstorm! It snowed all day Friday and most of Saturday, dumping around 2 feet of snow on us. It was great! Of course it started melting on Sunday, and by this evening most of it was gone. On the way out the door to go to church Sunday morning, I took a couple quick pics, trying to capture the amount of snow we got before it started melting. Some of Little Miss Sunshine's toys got buried.

Because of the snow, I wasn't able to get into the library in town till yesterday. I picked up a stack of books about PCOS and gluten-free cooking, and have been working my way through them. Two down, six more to go. One of the ones I've read so far wasn't useful, the other was very inspiring (Gluten-Free Girl: How I found the food that loves me back... and how you can too). The author, Cecilia Ahern, is very passionate about food. Finding out that she had celiac disease made her re-focus how and what she cooked, and she's come up with some great recipes. She also has a blog, gluten-free girl, where she posts recipes and talks about all the great food she finds. She lives near Seattle and has lots of great farmer's markets to shop at. Almost makes me want to move there. If it wasn't for all those cloudy days...

I'm hoping to get through enough books to figure out an easy menu for next week. We have a re-integration thing this weekend with my husband's unit, so no point getting started on anything till we get back. Who knows what we'll be eating this weekend.