Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Bathroom Progress

Finally it is seeming like things are moving forward. This has been what our guest room has looked like:
Um, yeah, that would be a washer and dryer. Don't you think it goes with my shabby chic motif?
Finally, on Tuesday after work, I began to have a floor again. Thank God! Or thank Jerad who worked very hard:
The dogs were not thrilled to be baby-gated out:
By the end of the night he had 2 layers down, it feels so much stronger than the way they did the old floor. And it still gets one layer of something else then all the tile stuff also. He also hooked back up the washer and dryer so I have laundry again, YES!
Tonight we are hoping to make big progress and by the end of the weekend have walls framed and drywall up. Things never seem to workout though so we'll see;)

Date Night

Alright, last night was our mysterious date night. I was on pins and needles for days trying to figure out what Jerad had planned. He is normally not the planning type of person. Plus I knew it was in SLO and he said we should dress up. What the heck is on a Wed night in SLO that you dress up for?!?

Jerad really went all out, and managed to keep everything a secret. I love Italian food so he get online and looked at menus for different Italian places and tried to choose a place he thought I would like. He ended up picking one of my favorite restaurants.





After dinner we headed to the real surprise. The Performing Arts Center.
The PAC didn't even dawn on me! The only theatre experiences Jerad has really had are little local things I have taken him too. What was there that night you ask?
Um... pretty much one of my all time favorite movies! I didn't even know that had made it into a musical!!! It was great! We had great seats, and the show was fantastic!






Such a fun fun fun night. And in the middle of a work week too!!! I am so lucky:)


Thanks babe, I love you :)

Life is improving

I have a floor in the laundry room again, yeay!!! Its just plywood, but I can walk on it and the washer and dryer are back and hooked up (correctly, no more garden hose in the window). The floor isn't finished but already it feels stronger than the old floor. It is nice not having to walk the dogs all the way around the front to let them into the house. There is no floor in what will be the bathroom yet, but there will be soon.

I have been taking my anti depression/anxiety meds for 2 weeks now and am really noticing a difference. I am not snapping and freaking about about little things anymore. I feel so much calmer. Also I am functioning so much better at work and at home. I had started feeling overwhelmed and I am just handling things so much better. I have also been on the thyroid meds for 2 weeks now and am noticing how much more energy I have! That and how much easier it is to sleep. It never takes me more than 10 minutes to fall asleep (as opposed to an hour) and when I wake up, even if I only had a few hours I feel totally rested. Life is good....

Something is also going on with Jerad. It's like he has been bitten by a responsible bug. Yesterday he not only had his co worker come over and check out what it would take to move our air conditioning, and schedules him to come over on Thursday, he also called and added his non-oped truck to his insurance, called DMV in Sacramento to register it so that by the weekend he could take all the crap that has been sitting in our driveway driving me CRAZY that has been torn out of the bathroom and laundry room to the landfill. Yes, our driveway does have a toilet in it. His truck bed is so huge it would take at least 4 loads in a regular truck to haul the same amount of stuff, and we have at least 2 loads in his truck. Before he did all this he also called and checked the balances in the bank accounts and transferred the money that he needed. I didn't ask or tell him to do ANY of this. I still can't get over it.

After he tells me all this and I am just about ready to pass out, he tells me that after work I need to ruch home and get all dolled up because we are going on some surprise date in SLO. All I know is I am supposed to wear a dress, it starts at 8, and we are having a nice dinner first, and probably wont be home till midnight or so. I thought maybe he accidentally poisoned my dog and was making up for it, but I checked and all the pets are fine. WTF? I hope this new Jerad lasts for awhile cause I am digging it. I'll take pics and update you tomorrow!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Sweet Sassy Molassy.

Kudos to Baskin Robbins for making it into the top 5 with 3 out of 5!!!
***********

Americans have a drinking problem, and not the type you might think. As the authors of the best-selling book Eat This, Not That!, David Zinczenko and co-author Matt Goulding get e-mails all the time from readers who claim they eat carefully, they work out consistently, but they still can't get the needle on the scale to budge. "What gives?" goes the collective, exasperated refrain from the stagnant dieter.

What most people don't know is that the biggest roadblock between you and the body you want isn't found at the end of a fork, but at the bottom of a glass. As a country we take in 21 percent of our daily calories from beverages and, according to the FDA, the average American takes in 82 grams of added sugars every day. That's 20 teaspoons, which contribute an empty 317 calories to our already calorie-saturated diets.

Sure, some of that comes from soda, but even if you've traded regular Coke for diet, whole milk coffee drinks for low-fat lattes, and you barely touch the booze, you could still be taking in 20 percent or more of your calories from beverages. Add in a few of those other indulgences-or consume one of the liquid disasters listed here- and you can suddenly be sucking in a few days' worth of calories through a straw! (You read that last sentence right.)

To give you a better idea of the drinks most responsible for sabotaging your health, fitness, and weight-loss goals, we created a list of America's Unhealthiest Drinks.

20. Worst Light Beer

Samuel Adams Light (12 oz bottle)


124 calories
10 g carbohydrates

Not a bad beer, but don't think you can sit around sipping these for four quarters without eventually paying the price in belly fat. With tasty beers like Beck's 64-calorie Premier Light readily available, why throw away 60 calories every time you twist the top?

19. Worst "Healthy" Drink

Glaceau VitaminWater (20 oz bottle)


130 calories
33 g sugar

Vitamins and water might sound like the ultimate nutritional tag team, but what the label doesn't say is that a bottle of this stuff carries nearly as much sugar and calories as a can of Coke. Makes sense, though, since this so-called functional beverage is produced by our often-sugar-crazy friends at The Coca-Cola Company.

18. Worst Soda

Sunkist (12 oz can)


190 calories
52 g sugar

Sweetened soft drinks account for about 10 percent of the average American's calorie consumption-about 200 completely unnecessary calories a day. For someone looking to lose 10 pounds fast, there is no simpler, quicker way to do it than by canning the soda.

17. Worst Beer

Sierra Nevada Stout (12 oz bottle)


210 calories
20 g carbohydrates

A full-flavored beer, no doubt, but one that packs a hefty caloric wallop. Switching out a sixer a week for a lighter beer would save you 9 pounds of extra flab this year. Cheers to that!

16. Worst Lemonade

Minute Maid Lemonade (20 oz bottle)


250 calories
68 g sugar

This is little more than glorified sugar water, with only a trace amount of real juice. Lemonade in general is a dubious drink, but if you can't stand the thought of summer without it, try Santa Cruz-brand lemonade. When you bring the bottle home, dump it into a pitcher and add 4 ounces of water for every 8 ounces of lemonade. Otherwise, you may as well drink a Coke with a squeeze of lemon.

15. Worst Tea-Like Substance

SoBe Zen Tea (20 oz bottle)


275 calories
70 g sugar

Though the name might scream "healthy" to the unsuspecting drinker, there is little to celebrate about this beverage. SoBe can cram their drinks full of healthy-sounding extracts and vitamin supplements, but they can't escape the fact that high-fructose corn syrup outranks tea on the ingredients list.

14. Worst Energy Drink

Rockstar Original (16 oz can)


280 calories
62 g sugar

Energy drink makers might feign a level of health by fortifying their products with a cocktail of vitamins and minerals, but don't be fooled: Any minimal benefit they might provide is snuffed out by the blanket of sugar and calories each can contains. Want energy? Try a cup of homebrewed black tea. It nearly zero calories and contains a deluge of disease-fighting antioxidants.

13. Worst Iced Tea

Lipton Iced Brisk Lemon Iced Tea (20 oz bottle)


325 calories
81 g sugar

Iced tea is loaded with metabolism-boosting, cancer-fighting compounds called polyphenols, but Lipton does its best to undo any potential healthy benefit you might derive from the tea's antioxidants by drowning them in 20 teaspoons of sugar. Your tea of choice should carry no more than 15 grams of sugar per 20-ounce serving.

12. Worst Juice Imposter

Arizona Kiwi Strawberry (23.5 oz can)


360 calories
84 grams of sugar

These hulking calorie cannons (5 percent juice, 95 percent sugar water) are sold at gas stations and convenience stores across America for the low, low price of 99 cents, making this quite possibly the cheapest source of empty calories in the country.

11. Worst Chocolate Milk

Nesquik (16 oz bottle)


400 calories
10 g fat (6 g saturated)
60 g sugar

Quik and other chocolate milk manufacturers try to sell parents on the bone-building calcium found in their product, but what they don't talk about is the fact that a single bottle of this stuff contains as much sugar as three Haagen Dazs Vanilla and Almond ice cream bars. Yikes. Make it yourself at home with 2 percent milk and a scoop of real powdered cocoa-you'll save about 150 calories, plus get the antioxidant benefits of cacao without the high-fructose corn syrup.

10. Worst Chai Tea Drink

Caribou Coffee Large Chai Tea Latte


420 calories
47 g sugar

This is exactly the kind of drink that health-conscious consumers knock down each morning thinking they're doing themselves a favor. Nothing could be further from the truth. Flavored lattes-even ones flavored with seemingly healthy stuff like chai-are bad news. Stick to skinny lattes or unsweetened chai.

9. Worst Kid's Hot Beverage

Cosi Kid's Hot Chocolate (12 oz)


436 calories
60 g sugar

While most parents sip their lattes and cappuccinos, most kids sip on hot chocolate. Problem is, few things could be worse for a growing body. There are more calories in this small drink than in Cosi's Gooey Grilled Cheese sandwich, plus enough sugar to send your kids bouncing off the walls.

8. Worst Summer Cocktail

Pina Colada


625 calories
75 g sugars

Made from a blend of sickly-sweet pineapple juice and fat-riddled coconut milk, pina coladas may be this summer's biggest beach-body saboteurs. In fact, the only redeeming part of this drink is the garnish - that lonely chunk of pineapple hanging from the rim. Try a lime daiquiri or a mojito instead and save up to 400 calories.

7. Worst Coffee Alternative

Starbucks Venti White Hot Chocolate


640 calories
23 g fat (15 g saturated)
76 g sugar

Caffeine abstainers will find little nutritional refuge in Starbucks' hot chocolate concoctions. This one packs an entire day's worth of saturated fat, with more than enough sugar to set you up for a dramatic mid-afternoon energy crash. Stick with the Steamed Apple Juice instead.

6. Worst Hot Coffee

Starbucks Venti 2% Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha


660 calories
22 g fat (14 g saturated)
95 g sugar

Important Rule of Thumb: Avoid holiday-themed items from coffee shops at all costs. From peppermint to egg nog to pumpkin, these are often the most sugar- and fat-packed drinks you'll find at places like Starbucks. Make your own flavored drinks instead, using skim milk, sugar-free syrups, and, of course, skipping the whip.

5. Worst Blended Fruit Drink

Baskin-Robbins Pomegranate Banana Fruit Blast Smoothie (32 oz)


1,020 calories
232 g sugar

With three of the five worst drinks in America, you have to wonder if Baskin-Robbins is in bed with the sugar cane industry. One thing is for sure: People ordering this "smoothie" expecting a healthy afternoon snack have something else coming to them. The second ingredient, after water, is sugar. If you must sip on something at Baskin- Robbins, make it a small low-fat Cappuccino Blast, which has just 220 calories and one-fifth of the sugar of this Fruit Blast.

4. Worst Frozen Coffee Drink

Cosi Gigante Double OH! Arctic (24 oz)


1,033 calories
35 g fat
177 g carbohydrates

Frozen coffee amalgamations pollute the antioxidant powers of a simple cup of joe with a huge hit of whole milk, sugary syrups, and whipped cream. What you end up with, in worst-case scenarios like this, is half a day's worth of calories, ready to be sipped down in a matter of minutes. Want a cold caffeine kick? Try iced coffee.

3. Worst Smoothie

Jamba Juice Peanut Butter Moo'd Power Smoothie (30 oz)


1,170 calories
169 g sugars

Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie; we call it a milkshake, with more sugar than an entire bag of chocolate chips. (Note: We're pretty sure this is the drink Hollywood actors rely on when looking to put on 20 pounds for the role as a heavy!)

2. Worst Milkshake

Baskin-Robbins Large York Peppermint Pattie Shake (32 oz)


2,210 calories
103 g fat (57 g saturated)
281 g sugar

The freakish brother of the Heath monster, the York shake earns its title as the most sugar-saturated product in America. To put it in perspective, you'd have to down 15 Twinkies to match the sugar content in this Baskin-Robbins blunder.

1. The Worst Drink in America

Baskin-Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake


2,310 calories
108 g fat (64 g saturated)
266 g

Let's look at America's Worst Drink in numbers:

73: The number of ingredients that go into this milkshake.
66: The number of teaspoons of sugar this drink contains.
11: The number of Heath Bars you would have to eat to equal the number of calories found in one Baskin Robbins Large Heath Bar Shake.
12: The average number of minutes it takes to consume this drink.
240: The number of minutes you'd need to spend on a treadmill, running at a moderate pace, to burn it off.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Wowee what a weekend

Okay, where to start. I had a productive weekend to say the least. Besides being a holiday weekend, school is OVER so I had more free time than I knew what to do with. Plus my bff and her honey bunny and puppy were in town all weekend. Add that all together and You get lots of fun!

Thursday I went to a little estrogen fest at Kari's house with Beth. There was a chocolate fountain, fondue, toenail painting, music, Juno, champagne, and merlot. Could there be anything better? The night ended with me spending the night at Kari's and doing the walk of shame in yesterday's clothes to Beth's house at about 7:30am the next morning. Good way to start a weekend!!!



Friday I layed low and cleaned up the house and ran some errands and played with the dogs. Oh, and washed about 12 loads of laundry since we decided to tear out the laundry room floor as well and my washer and dryer would be out of commission for awhile. Yikes. I was about a week behind because of the whole no water thing LAST weekend. So, it was a little laundromat over at the Brown-Hutchinson household.

Friday night Tina and Tom and Belle got here, yeay!!!

Saturday was a busy day. At 7:30am Alex got to our house to help Jerad with a few things. They worked for about 3 hours while I went and got my eyebrows waxed, ran MORE errands, and put away a few more loads of the laundry. Then Jerad and I met Tina and Tom at Touch of Paso for breakfast. After that we saw the new Indiana Jones, and headed Olive Oil Tasting, then to Penman Springs for wine tasting.

When we got to Penman, they noticed that I had a new hair color, asked where I had been the last weekend and told me they missed me. Hmm, I am so in there too much. Boys and their puzzles, like moths to a flame:

When I went to buy a bottle of wine, they just gave it to me. I guess as payback for bringing in a different group of people at least every other week for the last few months. Ha, thanks guys!

We stopped at Falcon Nest and the boys walked around outside looking at the birds while we went in to check it out... but the tasting was sort of pricey and they only had I think 4 wines on their list, so as soon as the tasting room attendant turned around, we ran away. I guess we will never know if the wine is good or not.

After that we went to Tobin where I apparently have no pictures, but it was PACKED, all three bars were open and Tina and I could barely squeeze in. The boys played video golf. We got our drunk on and decided what we really needed in our lives was some Castle Action, so off to Eagle Castle which is on the west side, but thats okay because they have a moat. And this:






What goes well after wine tasting? Beer tasting! Because "Beer before liquor, you've never been sicker, but liquor before beer and you're in the clear." So, we fell into the later category. Plus we went to Firestone which is right around the corner from my work and I have always been curious about.
After that we had dinner at Artisan which is pretty classy, so an interesting choice for people who have been drinking for like 5 hours straight. It was soooo worth it though because the food was delicious. And we sat at the bar so it all worked out.

Then we headed to our house to grab some socks and have a quick play sesh with our dogs. Then it was off to Rockin Bowl at the bowling alley. We were a little early for the next session so we killed some time in the arcade.







I have no pictures of us bowling... all you need to know is there was 80's music mostly, and a big screen with the music videos. And Tina and I totally beat the boys every game. Ha, its my blog, I can spin things however I want right? Well, after loosing 3 games in a row we decided we were tired and the guys could play and we would watch. So they bowled regularly, and then also under our names with their left hands. They may or may not have beaten our scores with their left hands. Hmmmmm. I think we got home around midnight and I fell asleep before I hit the pillow.

The next morning Jerad and Tom got together at 8:30 to play golf... only the golf course was closed. So, they did the next best thing, went to home depot for hours and got everything Jerad needed to make some more progress on the nightmare that is the back of our house. Then Tom went to spend some time with Tina's grandparents.

Guess what, we have real hardwood floors under our laminate ones. Ha. They probably could have been refinished. In the laundry room it went hardwood, UGLY linoleum, then the linoleum we had.
After Jerad worked a few hours on the house and I scrubbed did lots of cleaning, we had a little dinner party with Tina and Tom, Beth and Tyson. Except Tyson couldn't make it at the last minute. Forget the dinner, the starters are always my favorite part:

One more time to ooh and awe at my new loves. Ahh....
At about 11 Jerad and I met My sis and her hubby at Downtown Brew for karaoke. Good times. It was also packed. Jerad put in a song right away and didn't get to sing it till 12:30. There were a few interesting things... such as nevermind. I can't do it justice without a picture. Forget I said anything. Long story short, group of 10 drunk lesbians on a 21st b-day bash w/ homemade beer hat, and a 70 something grandma grinding with college guys. Hmm. In baggy grandma clothes. That she kept taking layers off of. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Melinda and Larry:

Us:

Oh, this is better:
Since we had sooo much fun over the weekend, we decided to work all day long on Monday. Besides, it was a paid holiday, so since we were both "on the clock" we might as well be working. Jerad worked inside all day (and has lungs full of sawdust to prove it) and I worked outside (tanlines and freckles).

We decided that since we were tiling the bathroom floor, we might as well do the laundry room too. And the way the floor was built was kinda sketchy anyways, as replacing it was a good idea. So, he ripped that all out, reinforced all the joists that needed it, and got the water lines all ready for the washer and dryer to hook back up (they will be sitting on a stylish plywood floor for awhile). We were going to have dinner with Beth and Ty since we missed Tyson the night before (and Jerad may or may not have cried a little tear) but we were making such crazy good progress that we rain checked. I hear Beth painted her kitchen though which I am dying to see....
I took all the pots off of the porch, and mopped it with soap and water. Then I washed the front door, front windows, trim, and siding. I re-potted all the plants and put rocks in the bottom to help with drainage like I should have in the first place.
I moved my tomato plants into wine barrels, and got rid of 4 of them because 8 tomatoes is way too many for us. 4 is good, and I picked a mix so yummy salsa. Now I just need to get tomato cages. I also cleaned and returned the pots that they had been in.
You can't really tell in this pic, but I trimmed about 3 feet off of our Orchid tree which really cleaned it up, and now you can mow the grass under it without being attacked by branches. and by "I trimmed" I mean when Jerad was walking by, I asked him to get a saw, then pointed at which branches to cut off.... because they are really big and hard to do and I am afraid of climbing in the tree with spiders.

I also finally got coat of white paint on the legs of the window box which I have been meaning to do since about March... it matches the house so much better now.
Bailey was more than happy to sit and critique.
I also weeded, trimmed all the dead flowers, raked the leaves off the lawn under my orchid tree, watered all my flowers, plants, veggies, and herbs, and added more potting soil to anything that was looking low. I am NOT a good gardener but I am trying hard. I come from a really green thumbed family so I am paranoid that they are going to stop by and see a brown spot on a plant of something so I am very motivated to keep everything very much well taken care of.

This weekend was great, not only did we have tons of fun, we got tons of stuff done! If only every weekend were like this:) Maybe now that school is out, every weekend will be. One can only hope... Speaking of hoping, I am hoping that Jerad's Hvac coworker will come by after work today and move our air-conditioner fan outside so that we can seal up the floor and move my washer and dryer back. Please Gary... I am sending mental vibes your way...