New Blog

The new blog is now up and running. It's not finished yet, but that is going to take me a fair bit of time to do. Until then, you can feel free to join me over there!

Moving on up

I have made the decision to upgrade the blog. The domain name has been purchased, and I'm just waiting for the all clear from my BIL that I can get everything set up. He did the purchase and I think is doing some initial stuff to get me up and running. I decided to try WordPress. It looks like it should have enough flexibility for what I am looking to do. This is going to take a bit to get up and running though. I'll have it up quickly though. I just might spend a few weeks doing many tweaks. hehe I'll do a post when it's all set up and ready to go...probably this weekendish. The domain name is tanyalavine.com. I figured I would try to set a bit of a name for myself. I'm going to get things going like this:
1) the blog section. It will run similar to this, with just the normal posts and such.
2) the photography section. This will give me a place to put up some of my fav pics/nicer pics that I have taken. It will work a bit like a studio. I'm going to try my hand at some fancier shots along the way.
3) a possible business section at some point. For selling crafts and such.
4) a craft section. I might do something on one of the pages about projects that are on the go, and that sort of thing.

And who knows what else. hehe I might do something for recipes or something too. I have to take a look and see what sort of addons there are for WordPress to decide where to go 100%. The blog and photography is a definite must have. The business section might just have some sort of static page of what I can do, contact info, or maybe a secure email form instead of contact info. I'm looking forward to this. :D

Trying to customize

I'm in the process of trying to get more out of my blog. I feel like something is missing, so I have made a few changes. It's nothing much right now, but a couple of tweaks can help. I am trying to find a way to have a more customized blog, but I'm not even sure of what I want yet. DH wants to have a blog that is more customizable as well. We might look at paying for a service. Who knows. hehe

I'm moving right along with the 365 project. I'm having a blast! There are weekly themes that you can participate in, if you are looking for inspiration or a fun diversion. This weeks theme is clutter, which I am finding particularly fun. lol I have three uploaded so far for the week. You are allowed 7 submissions on the theme, one for each daily upload.

Number 1: I buried the cat in yarn. I think he liked it a bit too much. :D



Number 2: I have a bunch of games on a shelf above my desk that I don't play anymore. So, not only did I get a clutter picture out of it, but I sorted the games and only put 1/4 of the back on the shelf. hehe



Number 3: Today's inspiration happened as I looked across my desk and saw the massive stack of flash cards from the first term of Ancient Greek. I arranged them around my Greek book and had some fun. lol



Oh, and yay me for figuring out how to do the photos arranged as I wanted. :D I'll get this where I want it eventually. lol

So, I'm having a bit of an issue. My brain has decided to go on strike. Ugh! I can't remember anything, I can't concentrate. It's driving me nuts. I am wondering if I might have SAD, or if I've just lost my mind. We've been taking vitamins to curb anything depression related, but my body has apparently adjusted. So, I've adjust the vitamins. I'm adding a bunch of B vitamins back into the routine. I had been taking them as a fertility aide, but it seems like it can be very good for the noodle. hehe We'll see how that goes. Apart from that, I am looking for suggestion on organizational skills. Methods people use to remember things, apart from the basic list/calender. I have a calender going, but I forget to look at it. rofl How funny is that?!

365 Project

It has begun! I'm so excited!! I have uploaded my first 365 project photo. And you want to know what I uploaded? A picture of a piece of popcorn really close up that I sat on my leg. rofl Yeah..popcorn. There was a purpose behind it though. rofl It seemed appropriate in many ways. I picked up the new camera last night, and finally got to play around with it tonight. We went to the Mooseheads game, even though I was not doing well today. I didn't go to class because when I got up this morning I could barely walk...more on that in a minute. Anyway, whenever we go to a Mooseheads game, I buy popcorn. I am a popcorn-a-holic. It's a standing joke around the house. And the 365 project weekly theme is yellow. I got inspired as I sat there nibbling, and thought, "popcorn is yellow!". So, it fit my personality. lol I am really excited to have started this project. I am having so much fun, and I LOVE my new camera. I got the Nikon P90. It had some so so reviews, but I haven't agreed with a single one of them yet. I had the camera on for 3 hours straight, with no battery problems. The review said the battery died too fast. I bought a spare battery just in case, and didn't need it. So, it will totally suit my purpose. Another review complained that it didn't do well with indoor photos. Again, no problems. The funny thing is, you can't turn on the flash for indoor photos. It actually washes or over lights everything, if you do. So, I'm definitely happy with the choice. DH came up with the suggestion of camera for me, and it was perfect. :D

Alright, as for this morning, yeah...the MD knocked me out..again. I'm getting really tired of this. See, the problem is that if something screws up my sleep, I crash, literally. And on Tuesday we had that power outage for about 4 hours that messed up what I could do for studying for a test the next day. So, queue 4am, and I'm still up..bad...very bad. On top of that, last week I came down with a cold, and I am still not quite over it. So, 3am this morning, I'm coughing so bad I could barely breathe. *sigh* I'm not sick any more, but my body just doesn't work. So, and this is major for me, I brought out the cane. I had to. I couldn't even get around the house to the bathroom without stumbling. The only problem is, I am so weak, even that wasn't enough, because my arms couldn't support me. Meh! So, I left it home when we went to the game. I only got up to get to and from the arena, and to go to the bathroom. So, we're home now and I'm relaxing.

I'm hoping for a good day tomorrow. I have all the fixin's in the fridge for seafood chowder. Yummy! And I think I'll make some bread to go with it. I'm going to try a new recipe, if I can find a good one. hehe

Small Success

1) The diet has been going well. I haven't been snacking on bad foods, which is terrific. I have been able to keep my eating at around the 1500 calorie mark. My next goal is to increase my protein intake a bit. I still have some empty calories. Last night we made schnitzel without the normal butter and oil. It was still very good. :)

2) I have started on the FLYlady routine. Yesterday I started step one, which is shine your sink. Today I will continue that process and do the other two kitchen sinks. Their method works amazingly well. I have never seen the sink so shiny! And it felt great. :D

3) The kitchen cabinets are once again in progress. I had a break from them last night to rest my arm and shoulder, but tonight I'll be able to give this section of cabinets it's last coat of stain. Then it's onto the doors. I'm so excited to see it all finished. I have hope now that we will be able to get it all done by the end of February. So much so, that I'm thinking the end of January is possible. :D

Leisure

So, how much leisure would you say is too much? At what point does it become pure sloth and laziness? I think I hit that laziness factor over the summer. The hardest part of it, was getting out of it. lol I am now getting to the point of being able to get done during that day those things which must get done. Things like house cleaning, making meals, doing homework, etc. Today has thrown me for a loop though. I had grand plans. I was going to put another coat of stain on the cabinets when we got home from class, then I would start on my Greek. I could get my homework done, work on my vocabulary, and do some translating. Then I was planning on spending a half hour on the exercise bike, and I could read the material for Augustine that I have to know for a presentation on Tuesday. But, wouldn't you know it....I was almost done the cabinets, and the power went out. That was at 5:30 ish this evening. It's finally back on now. It came on at 9. And of course, being dark and absolutely frigid in the house, we went out to shop for a bit while we waited. We got home, still dark and frigid. So, I was trying to study my Greek by flashlight. It was alright, but not great. So, my whole evening was thrown for a complete loop.

In terms of leisure, we have had some discussions of that in our house. DH has been reading a book about leisure, and how things have changed over the centuries, in terms of the definition of leisure. At one point, leisure was a relaxation time that was essentially a reward for work. But, it wasn't a dominating factor of life. Today, leisure is a big part of our lives. We have the TV, movies, computers, and various hobbies. I find that while going to school, it is hard to make sure I don't spend too much time on leisure activities. But, sometimes time get away from me. But, at what point does leisure pass from a fun activity to being a sinful one? I think that it really happens when leisure gets to the point of neglect. That could be when someone is watching football every Sunday at the neglect of family time....that proverbial, "not now hun, the game is on". Or the times when you have spent so much time at an activity that you haven't touch a single thing for house cleaning. Or you play so many games online that nothing gets done, or perhaps it even ruins your job.

When we start getting into a self destructive behavior, we really need to examine whether that leisure activity is worth it. Do you really need to spend that extra time online tonight, when your kids are asking for you to read them a bedtime story? Do you really have to be so intense on the sports game on TV that you can't hold down a conversation with your spouse? If we don't have time for those people that are right beside us, how do we even remotely have time for God? Our relationship with God is paramount. And yet, so many people sit there doing other things, that they just run out of time.

How should we regard that time? It's not always leisure. Sometimes people overwork. Whatever the reason, is it worth it? Is it worth losing that relationship with God? I think there are a lot of people out there, who claim to be Christians, who do not devote time to their spiritual life. And no, I'm not talking just going to Church on Sundays. I'm talking about the other 6 days of the week. Do you ever stop and just listen? Do you take time every day to just talk to God, or listen to God, or contemplate His word? I admit that I have faltered in this. I am trying very hard to refocus my life. It's not that it is hard to do, it's just that everything else is so habitual. It's like driving somewhere and you go the old way because the new path is different than the old one. You sort of drive on autopilot. But, it's time to turn off the autopilot, and go for the new path.

Resolutions?

So, who actually does resolutions still? I considered it this year. But, the things I need to change for this year are the normal things...lose weight, correct eating habits, get my backside in gear at school, etc etc etc. Nothing exciting there. And I thought, why do a resolution? I always break them anyway. lol Resolutions have become this routine thing that everyone talks about around new years eve, then on new years day, they have already forgotten it, thanks to the drunken stupor from the night before. lol I still have those resolution type things on my list to do, but not in the same area of my brain. I want to give them more weight, so to speak. lol My neurologist wants me to lose weight. How much weight? Well, that is relative. Based on my BMI, I should get down to 135. I am currently about 195. However!, I was at 135 before, and I didn't like it. I was way too thin. So, in my mind, I think 160 is the number to shoot for. It's comfortable, healthy, and very realistic. I read in the newspaper today that X-weighted is starting a 26 week challenge starting this weekend. You can participate as you wish, and you can either weigh in at the national weight in day, or on your own. I'll probably do it on my own, because it's not an easy place for me to get to from where we live.

So, 26 weeks. That's not so bad. It's a realistic time period for weight loss. So, I input my weight, height and measurements. Their program on their website has decided I should lose 31 pounds in 6 months. That seems like a decent enough number. The fun part is actually doing the work that is required to lose that weight. For me, I have a problem of being able to keep up with it. I find if I get to busy, with school or whatever, that I drop the workouts. I think I need to retrain myself on that one., because I do find that when I workout I feel better. I just have to be cautious to not overdo it. I was told that overdoing it is just as bad for me as doing nothing. So, time to find that balance. I'm also hoping that with the exercise and portion control and stuff, that I will be able to better control my sugars. The exercise alone can help a lot with that. Bring on the challenge!!

And the year has begun

Even though New Years was last year, this is our first week of actually living in 2010. lol We were sick and exhausted for the first few days. Now, we are back to classes and getting back into the swing of things. Right now I am trying to get my brain to engage back into studying. Classes started 2 days ago, and being back to the normal routine in Greek, we most likely have a quiz tomorrow on some vocabulary. I am just trying to get my brain to remember it. lol For now, I'll leave it and work on assembling my sweater. I find that if I work on something for too long I just get tired, and irritated. My brain just works better when I work on it for a bit, then go back to it in a little while.

I actually took the time to make lasagna for supper. I hope it turns out well. It looked pretty good in the pan. hehe I only have to wait about another 6 minutes for it to be done, then I just have to cool it for a little bit. Well, maybe not. I get impatient and dig in right away. lol I made my first lasagna with ricotta a few months ago. I absolutely loved it! I don't normally have ricotta cheese in the lasagna, so that was a real treat. Now every lasagna I make has it. :D

My 365 project is on hold already. *sigh* But, I can't do it unless I have a camera to take pictures with. Well, I have a camera I can use, but I can't get the pictures off. So, that defeats the purpose. We have the camera on order, but it could be a couple weeks before it arrives. I settled on the Nikon Coolpix P90. It's not great, but it's not crappy either. It's a middle of the road camera. Many of the reviews said that if you want better quality go to an SLR. Well, since I didn't want to invest in an SLR right now, that seems like it should be a fine camera for what I need. Although one review said not to use it to take pictures of kids or animals. What? There is no reason why it shouldn't be better than what we have now. We are going from a 4 megapixel to a 12 megapixel. That in itself will be an improvement for me. Please, you can't tell me that you can't take a decent picture of pets and kids. Maybe not with the 24X zoom fully out, but duh...that zoom is never going to have great quality. Not for the price of the camera. I'm sure I'll rarely use the 24X zoom. I figure it will be good to have about a 10X zoom to get up tighter on something. But, I don't necessarily want a full zoom like that anyway. This just happens to come with it. lol Once I have it and have used it for a bit, I'll do my own review on it.

2010 already!

Wow! I can't believe that 2009 is gone. Here we sit at the beginning of 2010, and it seems like 2009 shouldn't be done already. I feel so incomplete. lol Either way, I sit here in 2010 looking forward at the year ahead of me. I'm not really a big resolution person, but I do like to set goals and such. Now to plan out the goals.

1) The highest priority on my list is being able to spend time each day in prayer, contemplation, etc. I think it's very important for me to be able to devote time each day to God. I have been very slack in doing that, and that is something that needs to change.

2) Another thing on my list is organization. I am terribly unorganized, which drives me insane. Something that needs to be done is to be able to arrange my day, without being anal about timing on things, but to be able to make sure I allow time for house cleaning, school work, cooking, etc. Right now, time seems to slip by and I have accomplished nothing.

3) A new project that I have taken on is the 365 project. Although first I need a camera. lol The 365 project is a blog project to take picture every day to document a year of your life. I think that is a great project to do. I think it will be fun to document various things.

Those are the main things on my list right now. hehe Although that is subject to change.

Today's Small Successes:
1) I managed to conquer cleaning the kitchen. Everything is totally disinfected, and organized. Even some of the utensils were organized, thanks to some help from my DH.

2) I have finished knitting most of my sweater. Today I finally remembered to pin it together and place it under a damp cloth to shape it.

3) Today the diet started. My portions have been shrunk to a more realistic size. Also, I have drank more water today than most other days.

4) Finally managed to sort the two bookshelves that have been irritating me for weeks. :D They look so much better!