You know it's a bad sign when you have forgotten the password to sign in to edit your own blog! I promise to be more on top of things for my 3 dedicated followers (you know who you are) in the upcoming year.

I have been thinking about my eating habits as of late and what I want to change about them in order to become more healthy and in control of what I consume. I have been a very healthy eater for the past years, but the last few months I have 'fallen off the wagon' so to speak, so I am implementing some new things to help me get back on. I have come up with 5 things that help me to eat well.

1. Drink 2 cups of water before each meal. I literally have a big cup (16 oz) by my sink, I fill it and guzzle it back. This helps me eat less and I feel full way longer after the meal

2. Find something to chew on. I like to eat nachos, Doritos, chips-I like crunchy things. I even, apparently, have a deep affection for caramel popcorn. My daughter brought it home from work and I finally had to have my son hide it as it was sweet and crunchy and it began to control me :). Soooo now I eat celery or brocolli, with dip (who are we kidding-I'm no saint!) and if I can start eating that before I am too hungry during my craving times, it helps me to not crave the junk food.

3. Bake something sweet. Make something healthy-lots of fibre, apple sauce instead of oil or butter, splenda instead of sugar and enjoy it! I have lots of recipes-I can post some if you so desire...

4. Make guilt free hot chocolate. I love chocolate and I live in Canada (bbrrrrr) so in the afternoon when the chocolate craving hits, I make hot chocolate. Warm up the milk, add a teaspoon or 2 of cocoa and some splenda-Voila! Yum! Sweet and filled with protein so it serves as a great snack!

5. Chew gum. Chewing gum helps distract you from the need to be eating at all times (okay maybe that's only me-but it is the honest truth). Try it! Plus your breath will always be minty fresh which also lessens your desire to eat just like not wanting to eat just after brushing your teeth

Bonus... sit and eat. Enjoy, savor and be grateful for each mouthful, put your fork down in between bites...it all makes a difference

great poem

Our Deepest Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

Marianne Williamson

My House!!!

Here's my new house. I move in a month. We have lived in our house for over 12 years and we have WAY too much stuff and a ton of work to do in order to get this one ready to put on the market. I am not sure how we will get it all done. Nevertheless, the new house is a wonderful, cheery blessing and I look forward to our new life there.

'new' lamp stands

Here is one of the lamp stands that I bought for $5 at a Thrift store. I decided to spray paint it. I have never spray painted anything in my life, but thought I couldn't let that stop me. I sprayed them with a 'hammered nickel' finish. They turned out great! I half expected to walk out of my garage looking like a silver alien from the over spray, but I came out unscathed. I did walk into my house looking at everything that I could possibly spray paint, I have read that's a normal reaction to a first successful spray painting project :).

upholstered head board

I have always wanted an upholstered head board. I decided I better not wait another 20 years to make one. I used 1/2" plywood from home depot (went on a saturday night so the guy there would have time to cut it for me). I got the foam, batting, fabric and buttons from Walmart. Gotta love it! I will post a photo of when I have it in place soon. I love how it turned out and for less than $50-can't beat that!(the directions are here-http://theordinarybeautiful.blogspot.com/2010/07/tufted-headboard.html).

Kijiji can be addicting

I am a frugal one and I love a good deal! Almost all of my clothes are from a thrift store (although I have my favourite-it's small and I am committed and too lazy to go else where) I will have to post a photo so you can see I am not dressed in what looks like some one else's cast offs :).

I am in a life transition and looking to furnish a house on a budget so thus my obsession with Kijiji has begun! I drove across town today to buy the night tables on the left hand side of the photo for $10 each ( I like to ignore the fact that I may have spent $20 on gas to get them and who needs to know that I had to drive home in 2nd gear because the night table was over top of my gear shift!?) All this for a bargain!!! I am home, my wares are in my garage awaiting some refinishing and I am happy! I need to run to see if anything new was posted on Kijiji in the last hour since I checked!! (Maybe a wee bit OCD!?_ ya think)

I like a bargain!

I thought I would post a picture of my self at my daughter's grade 12 graduation. I love a good bargain and am dressed almost always in clothes that I have bought at a thrift store. This dress I bought for $5.99. I get a great thrill out of saving money! Thought it might be important to see that I may wear all second hand clothes, but just because they are inexpensive, it doesn't mean that they have to look that way. (sorry to my girls that got cropped out of the photo :(-Leah mentioned that her partial leg looked great, so I did want to give her credit for that!)