Doing Some Hard Work

   I was doing some really great things last year, eating right (mostly), running, and strength training, then my plantar fasciitis  was getting worse and worse and I knew the only way I was going to fix it was to stop running. So I did quit in July. For almost 5 months. And now I am better. Like completely pain free. And, we figured out at my doctor's appointment in August that a prescription I was on was actually making it very hard for me to lose weight. While training for our half in May, Mark, who wasn't that overweight to begin with, lost 40 pounds. I lost 25. I have like 70 I could lose. So talk about being frustrated. Luckily, my doctor is also an avid runner and she was able to help me out a lot. I am now prescription free and all of my health is so much better. I went from 15 migraine days a month the last 4 months I was on it, to one, maybe, a month. My moods are better. And best of all, losing weight is a little easier!
  But still, in order to fix my foot, I couldn't run. So in the meantime I had to find something else do to try and take off weight. In October I started doing Hip Hop Abs. It was fun, for the first 2 weeks. I soon because very bored and needed something else. Then I found some beginner cross fit workouts on Pinterest and began doing them. Mark also got a free yoga studio app on our iPad and I was doing that a few times a week too. I lost the weight I had regained while trying to figure out a new regimen and things were going good. Then the dishwasher mess started.
   If you haven't been reading this blog, then you have missed out on a couple of things, like the impromptu kitchen remodel we had to do. In November, Home Depot does a huge appliance sale and we decided that our dishwasher needed replaced because the prongs were breaking off and it didn't clean well. The laminate flooring in front of the dishwasher felt spongy, but after repeated looks under the dishwasher in the year we have lived here, we never saw a leak. We even asked the inspector when we bought the house about it and he told us it was nothing and the dishwasher was fine. So imagine how upset we were when we notice the floor sponginess spreading after we ordered our new dishwasher. Mark took another look and BAM! A new leak.
   So we knew at that point we were going to have to pull up the floor. Okay. We hated the floor anyway. The previous owners put it in and the purposely matched the floors to the cabinets to the kitchen table they gave to us. Everything was that honey oak 90's ugliness. YUCK. So okay, we get a new floor. Then we took out or dishwasher and some flooring, only to find that the water had gone to our island and started soaking and staining that. CRAP! So after a great scrubbing or 4 with Clorox, I got the stain kind of off, and the cabinet was fine. Discolored a little, but we didn't have to replace it. Still, if we had the flooring up, we might as well refinish our cabinets in the dark color we always wanted.
   We also bought a new microwave because ours we on the fritz. Mark realized that the new microwave was a couple inches taller than our old one. The old one was too close to the stove as was, so we realized we would need to move the cabinet above the stove up a few inches in order for the new microwave to fit properly. It was at this point we called Mark's dad because we were now way over our heads.

This is after we painted the pantry, removed the old flooring, and installed the dishwasher, but as you can tell, the cabinets are the horrible honey oak. YUCK!

   To start the remodel, I painted the inside of the pantry white and the door a green tea green. We got our new dishwasher and installed it. Then the real work began. So the week before Thanksgiving, Mark went to work for his 9 or so hours and I got everything ready for that day's work. We painted the pantry and the door on Monday. Then we painted the ceiling white on Tuesday (because who DOESN'T keep their ceilings white? Our kitchen was a peachy brown cave of all one color.). Wednesday, we started refinishing our lower cabinets with Rust-Oleum Cabinet Transformations in Kona. The work wasn't nearly as bad as sanding/staining would be, but it was still hard work and we were working until like 2 in the morning every night. Did I mention Mark was working from 9-6 every day too? Thursday we continued with the refinishing and started paining the walls Honey Beige from Glidden. We swear by Glidden Duo paint. Friday was more painting and refinishing.
   Saturday morning Mark's parents came to help us with all the grunt work. Mark and his dad took out the old microwave, moved the cabinet, put in crown molding on the top of the cabinets, and started refinishing the upper boxes. Sunday was more work, leading Mark's dad to decided to stay with us a few more days to install the floors and trim work. So Mark's mom left to go back to work while we were working like crazy people to get the doors redone, the floors in, and the trim done. This went on until Wednesday, when we all had to go back to Idaho for the holiday. Mark and I were DRAGGING from all the very very late nights.
  We came back and slowly got all the doors done. This is what my kitchen looks like now...

Kona brown cabinets. Not quite black. I love them.

If you ignore the high chair tray and the crooked rug, the kitchen is looking  great!

   However, the kitchen remodel, and the month of December (it's Isabel's birthday month. I always eat my feelings this month) took their toll.I gained back 15 pounds I had lost. So I started again in January. Luckily for me I could start running 3 times a week again (with new Altras, so I have been taking it slow to build miles) and doing the Biggest Loser Last Chance Workout 3 times a week. I just started training, again for another half in May (maybe one in April). And, I am back counting calories and as of my weigh in yesterday, I am down 10 pounds already! Yes! 

   I still have a lot of work to do, but I have to look at the work I am doing for me as I did the kitchen. Everything I am doing is only adding value to me.