Decorating Help

Okay, so I'm on the home stretch of redecorating my bedroom, but I need a little help. First of all, for those of you that don't know, I have a small house, built in 1955, and the rooms are all tiny. We're okay with this, though, because we don't keep a lot of clutter or junk. So here are some pictures of what we have so far. I forgot to take a picture of the rug, but this is it (sorry, I couldn't size it down).

Also, some of these are crappy iPhone pictures, but you get the general idea. These pictures were taken before I got a lamp on that nightstand, but this is the base I bought (the shade wasn't on the website).

EDITED TO ADD: I found a picture of the lamp on the nightstand.

And the curtains are actually red. So one of my problems is that I need something for the left of this window, but I don't know what. What about a candle sconce? Would that look stupid with a lamp there?Then there's the issue of above the bed. Do I need something there? I thought about making it an accent wall, a pretty, warm orange, but I really don't feel like going through the trouble of painting it (moving everything, taking the curtains down, etc.). But it's an awkward space because the bed isn't centered on that wall, so putting something above it would mean it would have to be centered on the bed, and I guess that wouldn't be so bad. I don't know.
And this is the dresser. I think that's pretty much finished; I just wanted you to get a better feel for the room.So what do you think? I need ideas. I don't really want to do a large, framed picture above the bed or anything like that, but I could be persuaded otherwise. Let me know!! TIA!!

EDITED TO ADD: There's also the issue of this opposite wall. It's got a narrow walkway, so I'm afraid to hang anything there.

Biggest Loser Words of Wisdom

I was watching The Biggest Loser today and heard Jillian say something so profound in terms of dieting. "Unless you've got a reason behind it, then it's torture." That really resonated with me. The purpose for your diet has to outweigh the desire to eat for the diet to work. It has to have purpose and meaning in the grand scheme of your life. And when you have that specific purpose in mind, that turtle cheesecake is a lot less attractive. Thank you, Jillian. That's good.

Jillian was training Julio one day who is a husband and father, and he kept stopping and falling down on the mat and not really trying very hard. So she gets in his face, in typical Jillian fashion, and tells him, "You know what I'm gonna think of every time I see you fall down - dead father!" I thought that was a good, albeit harsh and extreme, way to illustrate that point well. It's a big picture thing. All of those bad choices that we make are more than we think in the moment.

It's just like when you're pregnant or nursing and have all of those dietary restrictions. Alcohol or shellfish or whatever is a lot easier to refuse when you're pregnant or nursing because you have the purpose of not harming your baby. My sister always said it was no problem not smoking while she was pregnant because she didn't want to harm the baby. But once the baby was born, it was a lot harder. When I was breastfeeding Levi from about month 2 to 8 I had to give up ALL dairy, even if something was baked with milk or butter as an ingredient. It was SOOO hard because EVERYTHING has dairy in it. But every time I ate dairy Levi got so sick, so refusing it became a lot easier and eating that piece of cheesecake wasn't even an option for me. That's where I want to get with my day to day diet - that eating crap on a regular basis isn't even an option for me.

Sick and Tired

Well, last night was the first time that Michael and I slept in our own room without kids in 3 years and 4 months...and I was sick. So we sat in bed with the laptop picking out drapes for our new room remodel.

I'm so sick and tired of being sick. I'm normally pretty healthy. I eat well. I exercise. I take care of my body. I used to get sick about once or twice a year, and now I get sick about once a month or more. And, as gracious as Michael is, it's starting to get on his nerves (because he has to take off work, etc.), which makes me feel bad. So I went to the doctor this morning, and she ordered some blood work so we'll see what happens. (BTW, thanks for all of your doctor suggestions. I didn't have time to check into them before I went this morning, but I'm looking for one long term, so those will help a lot.)

So the doctor said that the top two things that she will check for are anemia and my thyroid levels. I looked on WebMD, and I have a lot of the symptoms of both anemia and hypothyroidism. I really hope it's just anemia because I really wanted to start trying for a baby next month. :( I am at higher risk for thyroid issues, though, because my mom has hypothyroidism. I really hope that's not it because it sucks.

OK, there's my vent. I'll let y'all know what they say. I have no idea how long I will have to wait for them to call me with the results of the blood work. We'll see.

Baby #3 Perhaps?

Well, as many of you know, I have said that I'm finished having children since I was pregnant with Levi. I was pretty set on that, but Michael still really wanted a third one and to try for a girl. I had many reservations about it:

• I didn't want to be pregnant again.
• I didn't want to breastfeed again (especially that first two weeks of HELL).
• I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to be as involved in Samuel and Levi's lives.
• I didn't want to get fat again and have to lose the weight again with the possibility that I wouldn't be able to.
• I didn't want to have another C-section.
• I didn't want the inconvenience of a baby (i.e. not being able to go where I want when I want.)
• I just didn't want 3 kids because everything gets more complicated.
• I didn't want a girl because I didn't want to compete with her for Michael's affection (weird, I know, but I'm just being honest.)
• I thought it would be weird to breastfeed a girl.
• I didn't want Levi to be a middle child.
• I didn't want to have to restrict my diet and medication for pregnancy and breastfeeding again.
• I basically just didn't want to do the whole baby thing AGAIN. I'm not big on the baby phase.

So the other night Michael and I were talking as we were laying there in bed. He was saying that it would be really cool for me to have a girl for several reasons:

• I would have someone to do girly stuff with.
• I would have someone to shop with and dress.
• As my boys got older and moved on, my girl and I would have a different kind of connection.

I don't really remember what else he said, and those things don't seem that meaningful, but it really impacted me because I started seeing this potential third child as a person and not just an idea anymore. I saw this person as a teenager and young adult and was really sad when I tried imagining life without her. (I didn't think of the person as another son.) And I really wanted that relationship with a daughter.

So I was still opposed to the idea because I didn't want to do the first 3 years again. But the feelings that the conversation with Michael produced wouldn't go away. So I was talking to my dear friend Andrea about it, and she was saying that I needed to think about the whole picture not just those first few really hard years. I would have 50+ years with this daughter or son, and that would make those first few hard and inconvenient years totally worth it.

Well, that was pretty much my tipping point. I was about 75% decided before that conversation, and a few days after that conversation I was 100% decided that I want to try for a third baby. This morning's sermon was about trusting in God, and that sealed it for me. Then I started looking at baby names and got really excited. So I decided to tell Michael, and he was happy.

We talked about when we would start trying, and we realized that we would need to start trying between now and November or wait until June (to have him/her in a desired month). I'll have to wait and see what I feel like and call my doctor (because I'm taking a medication) to see if now is a good idea or not (well, next month).

And I know you must be thinking, 'Are they going to be way disappointed if they have a boy?' No, absolutely not...well, maybe a little disappointed that we didn't have a girl, but we know boys, so that would be just fine, too. Two other good things that would come of this would be:

• Samuel would be much more aware of this pregnancy and birth to be excited.
• Levi would not be the baby. He's got a personality that would not be conducive to being the baby. I think he would be a more balanced person having another sibling.

So anyway, suggestions as to how to conceive a girl are welcomed. As you would expect from us, we will be getting a book on it, but we welcome other suggestions, too, just not the old wives' tales because those WAY get on my nerves. ;)

Twilight

I swore I would never read Twilight. Well, okay, I didn’t swear, but I seriously had no plans to do it. I just totally didn’t get it. Why in the world would a bunch of MOMS in their late twenties and early thirties want to read about some high schooler vampire? And then they would all swoon over Edward, and it seriously made me cringe. His character is 17! Ewww! I just really didn’t get it and didn’t want to lumped into that group of people - you know...Twilight fans.

So finally the buzz was dying down, and I was soon forgetting about it when out of nowhere Becki writes a blog about finally reading the Twilight series. She said that she was surprised that she actually liked it and that it reminded her that she likes to read (I’m paraphrasing). It was actually just a passing thought tagged onto another blog entry, but I thought, what the heck, I’ll give it a shot. I hadn’t read a fiction book in a while (since Jane Eyre before Levi was born - and that was an audiobook), so I was in the mood for some mindless reading. I ended up getting sick while on vacation in Utah, and had nothing better to do in my hotel room while Michael and the boys had fun elsewhere, so I bought the first book.

I wasn’t sold on it at first. I was totally annoyed by Bella and thought she was a whiny, melodramatic teenage girl, self-absorbed even though the author was trying to portray her as selfless. And why in the hell would Edward, if he was so majestic, be interested in this bratty girl. Wasn’t he supposed to be like over 100 years old? And he’s in love with a 17 year old girl? A 25 year old guy wouldn’t be interested in her, let alone some god of a guy. So I finished that book, and I understood it (you have to read it to know what I mean). I still didn’t buy it completely, but I got it.

It was entertaining, and it passed the time. And I started to understand the obsession with Edward. The author writes him very well. The trouble I ran into, though, was that they put the first chapter of the next book in the end of the first book, so as to take advantage of my OCD. I read it, and I couldn’t just leave the rest of it unread. So I bought the second book. I totally didn’t like it until the last few chapters, but, again, it passed the time. They did the same with the third book, so I bought it, too, even though I was reluctant to spend 8 more bucks on the hardback version since the paperback wasn’t out yet. The third was my favorite, so it was a good thing that I bought the fourth when I bought the third.

They were all such easy reads that I started 11 days ago, and I’m almost finished with the fourth book. So I guess in terms of readability and keeping the reader intrigued, it did a good job; I was entertained. I’m still pretty embarrassed that I read them all, but like Becki said, it was really cool that it reminded me that I really like reading fiction books. Staying up late to read a good fiction book is one of my favorite things to do. And these books reminded me of that, so that was a really cool thing to come out it. That’s really good for high schoolers, too, that might be into the books. If a high schooler can gain a love for reading, then they will be so much further ahead in life than a lot of their peers.

So I finally watched the movie tonight, which of course was the first book. And wow....that was really bad. It had such potential to be a really cool movie, and they just really butchered it. It was so disappointing. The acting was terrible - so over-the-top and melodramatic. There was no color to the acting at all. It was always intense and pained. And there was no buildup to the intensity, either. Someone who didn’t read the book would be left wondering why in the world they were so head-over-heels for each other after like 2 days or whatever. I guess that’s always the trouble with making a book into a movie. It’s hard to blame the actors since they’re so young, but a better director might have channelled some of that intensity a little better.

They didn’t capture the essence of the beauty of the vampires (and mainly Edward) nearly as well as the book did. They’re so magical and mystical in the book and notsomuch in the movie. My impression of Bella in the book, however, was spot-on in the film - whiny, melodramatic, overly intense.

At the end credits they used all these cool black and white shots of scenes, and I thought that that would have been such a cool way to do the film - all edgy and artistic. I, at least, would have enjoyed it more. Oh well. I’ll probably wait until New Moon comes out on DVD to watch that one.

OK, so I’m done with my long boring post about Twilight (which I keep wanting to type as Twiglight). Now it’s off my chest, and I’m done with it! Thoughts? Disagreements? Bring ‘em on. Ha ha!

Nick Arroverated

Oh gosh, I'm a dork, but that title cracks me up. So for all of you What Not to Wear fans, what do you think of the hair stylist Nick Arrojo? On most makeover shows I usually end up liking what they do, but I'd say 9 times out of 10 I think their hair looks awful. Yeah, it usually looks better than what they had, but that isn't saying much.

I especially don't like what he does to curly hair. He usually gives them something very similar to a mullet. Awful! One lady from Dallas (slide 3) hated her hair so much that she was crying and went home and got extensions. I don't know. I could be wrong and just behind the hair fashions, but I think Nick is overrated.

Food Poisoning

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't had time, but now I have time and would rather be busy doing other things. Instead I'm stuck home feeling like I'm about to die. OK, so I exaggerate a little when I don't feel good, but you wouldn't understand unless you've had food poisoning before.

Last night we had our Sharing Life Group (the home group that we lead for young families at our church) at our house, and we usually do pizza or fast food since everyone is on their way from work. Well, I decided to be nice and cook dinner. Pork roast. Oh gosh, I can't even look at those words right now. When I woke up in the middle of the night sick, I was panicked because there were 7 other adults (one of which is pregnant) and 5 kids that ate the said pot roast. Michael sent an email out telling them that I have food poisoning, though, and no one else has replied yet that they might have it. And Michael and the boys are not sick, so that's a good sign.

I think it happened when I took that one little bite off of the top before the meat thermometer said it was ready. You see, I had it in the crock pot all day, but it was taking too long to cook. So I moved it to the oven to finish the job since I was running out of time. Well, the top of the roast looked all yummy and crisp (UGGGHHHH!!!), so I had a little bite, figuring that said little piece was fully cooked. What a mistake!

So now I'm laying on my bed, waiting for the Tylenol PM to kick in so that I can get some sleep. I only slept 2 1/2 hours last night and have been way too achey, nauseated, and uncomfortable to sleep so far today. I know this will pass, and last time I had food poisoning it only took 24 hours, but this day is going by SOOOO slowly. Not to mention I have to miss two my close friends' sons' birthday parties today and will probably not even get to visit much with my dad. : (

I do have the best husband ever, though. My weekend was supposed to be a full one, but he has totally taken the reigns so that I can rest in an empty house. My dad came in town this morning, so he picked him up from the airport with the boys, went to breakfast, and then to the toy store so Pa-pa could spoil Samuel for his birthday (I'm sure the Tiger will come home with something, too.) There's so little to worry about when the boys are in such good hands.

Now if I could only turn back time and not take that God-forsaken bite!