25.

A quarter of a century. That's how old I turned on the 26th. Hopefully I will only live another 25 or so. I really hate the idea of getting old and slowing down.

It really was a crazy, overwhelming, hard, trying, exciting, and G R E A T year

thanks to all the people in my life. Especially my husband. He is so great. He makes my life sweet. And JR too of course!

I have a lot of goals I would like to accomplish this upcoming year and I am really looking forward to it, so here's to making the next year especially great!

My 10 day cleanse: Days 6 -10

OK, I'll admit it, I lost interest in posting about my cleanse but I do want to sum things up! The second half of the cleanse was waaaaay easier just knowing it was almost over.It sucked having to drink the fiber again on the last three days but I found it was much more tolerable with a little crystal light powder mixed in. I also think if I were naturally a better cook the food would have been better and not so redundant.

Over all I lost 4.8 pounds and Jared lost somewhere between 10 and 15 but because of different scales, a possible incorrect start weight and bad math we aren't really sure. What we are sure of is that Jared lost an inch each around his waist and chest! Totally awesome.

While some of us (not me) have eaten very poorly since the cleanse, some of us have tried to maintain the diet but add little extras back in like mayo with our tuna and salt on our food. Jared claims that after these couple of days off that he is going to be good and will eat whatever I pack him.

So the consensus is that we both felt really good after the cleanse and it has helped us seen how much changing our eating habits benefits us and showed us what willpower we have. I finally bought us a scale today because I saw a rockin' deal on one at Costco. Now we will be able to monitor our weight more closely. The cleanse is recommended for every 90 days I think and I will totally do it again!

Project: Message Boards

Whipped up these little darlings for my sister-in-law as a graduation gift!

A little message board/photo display system made out of mini shutters...

Went to my local re-store looking for shutters a little bigger than the ones I ended up with, but when I saw them I thought they would be just the right size for a desk or something.

They didn't look too bad before...

So I just removed the old hinges, sanded slightly and gave them a new coat of fresh spray paint.

Added a couple of cute clips and they were done!

Originally I thought about finding some pictures of her kids and putting them in the slats but I really didn't have very many on my end and the ones she has on Facebook are from last year but so I ended up attaching the graduation card, which was a little to large to fit in the slats, and some cutie post-its.

Note to anyone who wants to do this project: The smaller the shutter, the smaller the clips you should get. The clips I found I felt pushed the slats out too wide. Also, if you can get them bigger this would make an awesome Christmas card holder. If you got a slatted closet door you could hang it sideways and stick photos in that way too. OOOOH, I like that last one. I think I just changed my mind about the art I was going to do over my couch!

Anyway, way to go JANA! WOOT WOOT! So proud of you for finishing!

My 10 day cleanse: Days 3, 4 & 5

More fruit, more veggies, more fish, more brown rice and chicken. On day four I was about ready to throw in the towel (I know I am pathetic) until Jared came home and told me he had lost 8 POUNDS! that is 8lbs from Friday to Monday! Four days folks! I had renewed hope after that.

Today is day five and I am feeling pretty good. Things have been, ahem, regular, and we are over the half way hump of the cleanse. My friend Misty started the cleanse today and she is super excited, I found out that oatmeal is an acceptable food for breakfast and I have found a satisfaction for my sweet tooth in banana and peanut butter smoothies. Seriously so good. My sister-in-law told me she had made a banana, strawberry and peanut butter smoothie and I thought it sounded awesome minus the strawberries. I wanted to add some sweetness to it so I picked up some vanilla flavored almond milk at the store. It was the lowest carb flavored thing out there.

I am sure these smoothies will be my downfall. I should probably go weigh in soon to make sure I haven't gained or anything.

Yes, I will tell you at the end how much I have lost. No, I will not tell you the actual start and finish weight.

Nothing to show for it

Do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you got a lot done but have nothing to show for it? Today was one of those days for me.

Jared has about a zillion books out on shelves in the garage and they have been collecting dust there for about a year and since I have been on a spring cleaning kick I have wanted to get the dust off them and box them up.

I have been collecting the boxes our computer paper comes in at work and I actually packed up some of the books a while ago but it wasn't organized at all, plus there were some books around the house that needed to go in as well so I unpacked them and organized and repacked them. I also reinforced the boxes with duct tape since books are so heavy and I don't want the paper boxes falling apart.

I ended up with six boxes. Then I started going through all these other boxes full of random junk that was thrown in half hazardly when we moved. I tossed a bunch of junk, recycled a bunch of old papers, and set aside stuff to pass along.

Unfortunately I think the garage is a bigger mess now, plus I really want to organize my sewing and craft things now but the crazy voice inside my head is saying, "Katie! You must have boxes that are all exactly the same size!"

Yes.I am weird.

Anyways, this is what I have to show for my work today,a crappy picture of my boxed books...

Shout out to anyone in the Boise area who dumps these boxes after taking the paper out, give them to me!

My 10 day cleanse: Day 2

Jared's day two breakfast/lunch (what I sent to work with him):

• scrambled egg whites on a whole wheat english muffin
• 2 V8juices
• baby carrots
• apple
• mandarin orange
• strawberries
• grapes
• chicken breast with Montreal chicken seasoning and brown rice

My breakfast was similar to yesterday's:

• scrambled egg whites with salsa on a plain, toasted whole wheat english muffin
• grapes
• oranges
• V8 juice
• spark energy drink

I had carrots and yellow bell pepper slices for snacks and went to the super awesome sister-in-law's house where she made me a yummy baked chicken breast with brown rice which was super yummy and waaaaay better than what I made for Jared. After I got home from her house that afternoon I realized that I don't own a covered baking dish that can go in the oven. Fail.

Anyway, dinner was similar to last night, we had the same veggie mix but this time had tilapia. It is one of the least fishy fishes I have ever had. We had snacks of apple slices and I think Jared had some celery.
Later after dinner I felt a little lightheaded and slightly sick to my stomach. Not sure what that was about. Then early this morning (day 3) I had a headache while I was getting Jared's lunch ready. I think I needed caffeine. I won't tell you how much Diet Coke I drink on a normal day but I promise you that even though Spark had more caffeine in a serving than Diet Coke, I am usually drinking a large enough amount of Diet Coke that I get way more than what Spark gives me. Don't judge me.