Itching For A Change

I love change.

Not "move across the country and leave all my family behind" change, but things like a new, bold haircut, rearranging furniture, changing styles, etc.

I've always loved dark, elegant colors and decorating. I've been drawn to that. I had been given this gorgeous picture that sits behind my couch a few months ago and it was light and bright colors.

It didn't match my current pillows or my window treatments. 

Best picture I could find of old pillows. (The boys are playing ambulance and Webb is the patient.)

I just knew I had to make my living room match that picture. I LOVED it too much not too. It was no option to get rid of that picture and find one that matched my current style. I was patient though. 

The pillows we had, both Brent and I hated. Last week, I told Brent, "I'm over these pillows. I'm going to buy more." I had a coupon for Kohl's and their pillows were on sale, so off I went. I spent forever trying out pillows, but I left completely satisfied. I brought them home and put them on the couch and OH MY!!!! It totally changed my living room and I LOVED them.

Definitely what my living room needed.

Then, I looked at the curtains. They no longer matched for realz now.

I knew I had to keep looking for something.

I also rearranged the living room and this seemed to fix my need for change for a few days ;-)

I hated that far right corner that had always had an end table there. It also kept the natural light from coming in good.

We dream about adding on all the time. 

I'd say that is a minimum of 3 years down the road, BUT, we still talk about what we want to do all the time. 

Our small house is perfect for us right and now and honestly, my only 3 complaints are: 

1) Our master bathroom is minuscule. I get so frustrated it makes me want to slap my grandmaw (Sorry, Gran!) and almost daily I'm mumbling under my breath (while all 4 of us are in there), "If only this bathroom was a little SMALLER I'd be happy!"

Seriously, so small, this is the best picture you will get.

2) I wish I gym was insulated. It is either blazing hot (which is fine other than not being able to catch your breath) or freezing cold. Only a small fraction of the year is it perfect! I also would love to make higher ceilings and have nice flooring in there.

3) I wish we had a garage. The boys leave their bikes, scooters, helmets, balls, bats, outside shoes, etc. under the carport which is such an eyesore. Then, we have the grill out there, the trash can, etc. (all understandable left outside). There is no attractive way to arrange it all and I am annoyed with it more often than not ;-)

All totally livable things I don't like, but still, we would love to fix the first two. The last one probably would never happen, but we hope to be able to build a new deck and put a concrete pad outback so we could move all that out there.

We dream of adding on a big living room and making the current living room our kitchen eating area. The kitchen eating area now would become a sort of office (with boys, I don't want our computer behind closed doors and this would make homeschooling much easier in my opinion.). We would make a big living room, a small bathroom, a master bedroom with a nice bathroom, and a gym. Oh, and a new deck.

Anyways, I tell you all that to say, my dream for my kitchen eating area is a huge farm table. I could imagine it in my head and see it in there all beautiful and light in color.

I was over our current kitchen table. I love natural light and since it was so dark and tall, it made the room darker and hid lots of the light that would normally come in from the windows behind it.

It hit me last week (after I did some measurements) that we could go ahead and have a farm table in the space we have. It started shopping online. Oh my word. They are all $600+ WITHOUT benches or chairs. I wanted these chairs  in the colors of blue, red, green, beige, and black. That would put me over $500 just for chairs and no bench. GEEZ. Then, I looked at the Website Ana-White and found the exact farm table  I wanted with the plans and everything. Even plans for benches and for chairs and we would come out way under half of the original price for the table alone.

I found the plans and showed Brent and he was completely on board. He researched and read all the details to building it all and said we would go shopping and build the next day (he was off of school for the week so he was actually home. Otherwise, no clue how it would have happened.).

True to his word, the next day, we spent about 3 hours at Lowes. While we were there, my phone was going crazy with people interested in the table I had posted on a yardsale site that morning. We got home just in time for someone to pick it up.

Good thing my hubby was outside and busy!

I only sold 6 of the 8 chairs so we could have 2 chairs on the end of our new table for now.

Here are some pictures of the progress.

Brent worked well into the night the first day (he had just gotten off work). The next day, he worked hard again.

 The table was finally put completely together.

Then, it was time to put wood filler in all the holes (Brent's idea so food wouldn't get stuck down in the cracks. I'm so glad we did. That added a lot to the look of the table.) and sand it.

We then conditioned the wood.

After we conditioned it, we stained it.

Let me stop here. I knew what I wanted. Afterall, I had been envisioning it while we dreamed of adding on. I knew I wanted something completely different than what we currently had. That would mean light. I saw it in my head even though I'd never seen another table or even actual color (that I could pinpoint seeing) like it. While we were at Lowes, Brent wanted Kona color. 

Which was very dark. I was adamant that I wanted lighter to help light up the room instead of darken it. Something we would never normally choose. Brent let me have my way even though he couldn't envision the outcome like me and questioned our decision. His logic was, we could always sand it down and go darker, but we could never sand it down good enough to go lighter.

I was nervous though. Especially since he wasn't technically on board for my color choice.

At Lowes, the only color that was not brown and even remotely close to what I envisioned was Sunbleached.

When we applied it, I LOVED it. It was different, but that is exactly what I was going for. Brent was a little uncertain, but he started loving it too as we painted it on.

After staining it, we had to let it dry good and then put polyurethane on it. Once that dried, we sanded that down a bit.

I knew I wanted the wood to look old and worn down (like a farm table) and not crisp and fresh. Brent talked to a man at Lowes who said to buy Antique Glaze.

I love to glaze (I did my kitchen cabinets). It is soooooo fun because you pick and choose how dark or light and how much to apply. No two boards look the same. I was excited to see what it would look like.

The legs unglazed and the top glazed.

 Never did I imagine it would look so beautiful. AND exactly like I've always envisioned. I almost cried I loved it so much.

Once the glaze dried, we did another heavy coat of poly to give it a shine and to also protect it from sweating cups, crayon, etc.

Table weighs around 300lbs, I'd say. It about killed me moving it it.

 I am in love with it.

Brent will eventually build us chairs (no rush though since school starts back Monday) and I will paint them blue, green, and red (all country colors. Nothing bold.). I will do one to match the table and I knew I wanted a dark one. I knew I wanted one bench at least so he went ahead and made me 2 for now so he won't feel rushed on the chairs. Brent and I decided to do the benches Kona colored like he wanted the table to be since I didn't want it to be all matchy matchy.

Bench probably weighs 50lbs

Brent is cutting down the chair legs so they fit better. I love how this looks. I'm so glad we didn't do the table dark. It would have blended in to our floors too much and been way too dark. See how you can't really tell where the bench ends and the floor begins?!?!?!

We put a coat of poly on it last night. This morning, I sanded it and glazed it. It didn't change the look too much, just enough to make it perfect.

Glazed on the right, not on the left.

Glazed on the top portion, not on the bottom.

Finished glazed bench

I'm really satisfied.

He ran out of wood and had to work today, so only one bench is completed. 

This morning, I was rearranged all the furniture so it fit better.

I took the chest that was in the middle of those two windows and moved it to the living room to make more room for the table.

I circled the love seat and recliner and got rid of one of the end tables.

Notice my new neutral curtains? I got these for on sale at Lowes for $7 a panel! That is a steal! And really really helps lighten up my space. Now, I need new kitchen ones!

I really do like it so much better. We may move the TV down to the chest. You just wouldn't be able to watch it from the recliner and Brent would have to go under the house and we work the satellite wires.

I'm finally feeling satisfied with my house and it really is much lighter and brighter which was my overall goal.

I moved that extra end table to the master bedroom so that I now have a nightstand on my side.

I am sooooooo beyond happy with the turnout of Brent's first time to build furniture. He did an amazing job!!! I can't wait to fill up the table with more kids ;-) or friends and family. This table will always hold a special place in my heart because we built it together, as a family, and lots of love and sweat went into it.

Next up on the list:

A computer desk, a bedroom suit, a desk for the boys, a kitchen island, new living room coffee table and end tables, and outside furniture. YEEEAAAHHH... I'm going to keep him busy!

Healthy Living

It is no secret that we love working out.

I have worked out since I was in highschool.

Brent has worked out for the last 5 years and lots 50lbs when he first started. He has kept all of that off since then.

It is one of our passions.

Not obsessions... passions.

We also strive to eat healthy.

We eat most things in their natural form and the least processed way possible. I make sauces and meals from scratch.

I cook at home every night.

Eating out is a huge treat for us and something that is done approximately 2-4 times a month (this means, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, ice-cream, etc. all combined). We just don't do it. It is really expensive to eat out and it is also really unhealthy.

I also enjoy cooking and providing healthy options for my family.

I love seeing them enjoy a meal I prepared from nothing.

We have had a gym membership during all 5 of these last years except for the year of Brent's unemployment.

During that year, we started buying used gym equipment to make our own home gym.

Since then, we have steadily added to it and it is quite nice now.

We only really lack some sort of cardio equipment and we are wanting a stair stepper to meet that need.

We currently have a gym membership ($25 a mnt for the family with childcare included.). We got it when there was a special going on and we use it mainly in the winter or random times and we signed a 3 year contract. Neither one of us have been in over 2 months. Probably more like 3 months. We don't mind paying $25 a month for something that we will use a few times a year-- more or less depending on the time of the year.

But, we haven't missed a workout.

I personally love not having to get me and the boys ready and rushed out the door.

When we were going to the gym, we were devoting about 2 hours a day to it. I would be rushed for a bit during the day trying to get everything done so that I could devote 2 hours to being gone. I didn't work out for 2 hours, but by the time I got us all ready, snacks and water bottles prepared, all of us loaded up, checked in, I felt like I needed to spend a least an hour there. Then, it would be getting the boys, loading us back up, driving home, and getting us inside. My gym hours were always 8am-10am. Not to mention the gas involved in doing that 5 days (maybe 6) a week. I also struggled with mommy guilt. All that hustle and bustle and then an hour + at the gym for the boys.

Our home gym has no insulation and no heating or air. Winter was just too brutal for me to handle it. Once Spring hit, I just couldn't stand the thought of being inside closed walls working out. I stopped going to the gym and started working out under our carport while the boys played out front or in the gym while they played out back.

I would spend about 25 min-40 min a day working out (if that).

I sometimes get up early and workout and I'm done before the boys get up. Other times, I workout while they pay (with their ticket system) to watch 30 minutes of cartoons or to play outside 30 minutes.

I love having a home gym. Our dream and plan is to eventually build a new gym. It will be bigger, insulated (lol), have nice flooring and mirrors surrounding. We also want a sauna. That is in the future though and for now, we are perfectly content with our little gym. This winter, we plan to get a nice heater that should work great for the time we spend out there.

View when you walk out the living room door

Shelf with extra plates and weights and then a basket holding extra equipment for our Viper. Also the workout binders I have written workouts in.

Far right corner with our plated weight

Bench where we do bench press

The squat rack is in front of the bench press. We do pull ups here  and hanging leg raises as well.

Weight rack-- we buy as we go and since Brent uses the heavier weight, we start with that. We have many handles and plate weight for me to create certain weight since I use lighter. It starts at 10lb and then there is 13, 15, 18, 23, 33, 40, 50, 60, & 70). The metal handles weigh 3lbs each.

Down at the bottom is our extra that won't fit (23lb and 33lb)

Directly behind our weight rack is an open area perfect for cardio or abs. I do all my HIIT right here.

To the right of our shelf that holds extra weight, etc. is where we keep our extra bench so it is out of the way. We also have our exercise balls, exercise mats, and extra handles for the plated weight in the orange barrel.

Our Viper. One of my favorite machines. I can do leg extensions, seated row, lat pull down, chest flies, bicep curls, etc. on this machine! LOVE it! You seen this right when you walk out the door.

Our roman chair is what is directly to the left of the door when you walk in. Brent and I both LOVE the roman chair.

What Webb pays to do almost every time I work out. He loves the John Deer.

What Dane pays for--- Tom and Jerry

Thought it was funny that the workout I did today was one I taught for bootcamp almost exactly a year ago!

Shoulder day means decent pump!

It doesn't take more than 30 minutes a day 4-5 times a week to be toned. Diet is the KEY!!!

I love that I don't have to spend hours a day working out, or even an hour for that matter. My diet is consistent with plenty of cheat meals in there. I am not obsessed with my diet any more than I am obsessed with working out. There is a balance between healthy and obsessed and I am thankful I have finally found that place. I don't starve myself and I never go hungry. I don't punish myself for eating cake and ice-cream or for missing a workout.

Can I also just add here at the end how important body image is. It is crucial that you learn to love yourself... body, personality, looks, etc. 

It is a huge process and one I have only recently began to achieve. 

Hey! News flash!!!

I LOVE ME!!!! 

Why I have always felt the need to compare myself to others is beyond me. It created so much stress in my life to look perfect and workout x amount of hours a day.

I realized one day that I am who I am for a reason. God created me this way-- to look this way and be who I am. Why was I so critical of His work? I am healthy and I am a decent size. My husband finds me attractive and I have energy to do things I enjoy. I workout and eat very healthy. No, I'm not perfect when it comes to diet and exercise, but it is too much dang pressure to be that way and creates major unhappiness. That unhappiness gets expressed in so many areas of life. I don't like being unhappy.

And you know what they say, being beautiful on the inside is more important than the outside. 

Beauty fades.

How true is that?

I have met some beautiful and in shape folks. 

But their heart isn't always beautiful. They don't use their body or looks to glorify God. They are extremely prideful. They get so wrapped up in the external and their looks that they dress immodestly, flirt with the opposite sex (despite being married), and possibly they cheat on their spouse. They treat others who are less in shape as though they aren't as worthy or as good as them. They truly become obsessed and everything comes after working out--- husbands, children, household responsibilities, etc. And not only that, they tend to ridicule themselves constantly. They are never satisfied with how they look. They are always aiming to look better and eat cleaner. They also ridicule other folks. "Oh my gosh! Did you see how much cellulite she has?" "I wonder if she has ever considered a boob job!" "She is skinny. Not in shape. Anyone can look like that if they starve themselves." "She thinks she looks so good! Does she own a mirror???"  The negativity is so unflattering. 

Working on your heart is always more important than working on your physical body.

Who is the judge for beauty anyways? 

I am healthy, I am happy, and I am learning to love myself and my body more each and every day which has freed me from obsessive behaviors (hours a day working out and fretting over "cheat" meals.) and thanks to that, I am at a place where I don't have to kill myself to be in "shape" (what I feel is in shape for me, not what a magazine tells me is in shape or even the medical world). I am truly happier with life in general. I focus on the things I love about myself and I talk to myself about the things I am not happy with. I make it ok for me to not look perfect. I mean, who really looks perfect? Only those in magazines who have been airbrushed and touched up and had many surgeries to fix things they don't like. And if they look perfect in real life, I'm learning, they probably aren't truly happy. Every day is probably a struggle to look that way. They may starve themselves, throw up, or workout for hours a day and punish themselves for eating unhealthy. That is not happy. That is not free. 

Love the body you have. Talk nicely to yourself. Work on the inside MORE than you work on the outside. Have a beautiful heart. Treat your body with respect. Don't fill it with garbage (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, junk food, etc) and move your body in some form or fashion everyday. You only get one life with the body you have. Embrace it and love it! One day, you will look back and wish you had!