Home project

The hubby is away in warm Florida fishing for two weeks.  He is missing all this nasty cold weather. I normally do a project while he is gone.  This time I didn't really have any plans.  I did take a big load of stuff to the KARM store. I've been doing lots of research on cabinets, counters, windows, doors, appliances, paint, tile, ...you name it.  Anything to do with building a new home.  I've decided I want some kind of privacy glass in our front door.  Let's light in but distorts the image from the outside. A friend told me about some vinyl stuff you can put on glass.  Easy to apply and remove.  Thought I would try some out.
 Before....

After...

Not a huge difference but I like it.  My cabinets are just too messy for clear glass.  We use these for all the dishes we use. This is definitely an option to consider when picking glass for a front door or new kitchen cabinets.  I think I've picked my counters.

 This is a Quartz by LG called Aria.  The overall look is very light but a little warm.  It has whites, creams, beige, grey, greige, black and some tiny little blue glass bits in it. I am hoping it will look good with a creamy white cabinet.

 One of the things I do better at when the hubby is gone, is eating.  I've been trying to lose about 5 pounds for 5 months. I am logging all my food in My Fitness Pal.  Not sure what I've suddenly started doing different, but this month, it happened.  I lost over 4 pounds this month for a total of 5.8. I am happy about that and may try to drop 2-3 more.  I have been trying to get in my required steps at least 5 or 6 days a week. Cooking more low carb recipes, not eating bread like I used to.  Still eating my sweets. I'm into Harney and Sons Earl Grey tea right now.  So yummy with a tsp of sugar and half and half cream.

I hope to sew a little while Jim is gone.  It will probably be too cold to do much else tomorrow.  Hopefully I can stay off the internet and get some sewing done.

2018

Wow, 2018.  I remember when my son was young, thinking how old he'd be at the turn of the century (he was born in 1985).  I remember Y2K, and the fears some had of power outages, etc.  The days may be long but the years fly by. I will turn 59 in a few days, and am having a hard time wrapping my head around that number.

I've not been out of the house much in the last five days.  A run Friday, church Sunday, our friends house Sunday evening to ring in the new year. I'm kind of ready to go back to work tomorrow....except it is supposed to be 11 degrees with a feels like of 4 when I am making that 1/2 mile walk into the work area.  Goodness gracious!  I dread that.  There will be wool socks, running pants under jeans, two tops, down coat, gloves, scarf, ear muffs, and hat.

Piddled around here today. One project I've been wanting to do is get rid of all the oils and chemicals my son collected when he worked at a laboratory about 10 years ago.  I sent him pictures of the chemicals and he told me how to dispose of them. The oils, he wasn't quite sure.  I don't know if they are still good for use in cooking, but there is so much of them....The lavender seems to be a bit different than what I usually use, so I am a little afraid of it. I think these are industrial strengths.

So I've still got to figure out what to do with these.  However, the shelf is cleaned out.....

We had food and games with out friends for New Year's Eve.  Ha-- the girls won all the games!  These are the looks of defeat.

I reviewed my last few years running goals, and am very happy with 2017's milage, but I'm setting the goal a little lower for 2018.  Not sure if it will be 400 or 500 miles.  We are going to be super busy with building and I don't like having goals I can't meet.  I'm just not sure I'll have to time to always run 3 times a week.  If not, that means I'll have to focus more on healthy food, for sure.  I do want to stay in shape.  That might look a little different this year.

2018 is going to bring lots of changes for our family.  We are praying for a job for my son, which will mean a move for his family.  We plan to build a new home, and sell our current one.  Lots of decisions to make, products to see, pick out, buy.

This is probably the first year in many, I've not already got my goals defined for the year.  I've only half heartedly thought about them. They seem much simpler this year. More general.

--sell the house
--build the new house
--do some quilting and designing
--continue my running
--continue working part-time
--a few visits with the kids/grandkids
--be a little kinder, a little more compassionate, intentional in my friendships, a better wife, mother, grandmother, friend, sister, employee.

Do you have goals for 2018?  Share with me!

Rachel