Hello Monday! Hello Get Your Paint on Beyond the Basics! (So happy to get back to some painting.)
Peter's parents recently moved to New Mexico. There is always a little good natured elbowing and scrambling for the best guest room between Peter and his sister Jennifer. Jen won at the last house (um, how exactly did that happen again?) but this house we're laying claim. I made a little housewarming Ojo de Dios for them, with a bit of a Native American/Southwestern slant (as much as my yarn stash colors would allow). I even did the photo above in an Instagram filter to add a little 70's film touch to it (did it work?) This measures 16" in diameter, the same as the first one I made, which still sits proudly in our family room. I really love making these, and they are surprisingly easy, although I swear I'm making them differently than the PDF directions Jay sells. Heh, that seems to be the way I do things.
I am proud to say I finished the full 21 days of the Clean program last Tuesday. Part of wanting to do it was to prove to myself I could. And I did. It wasn't hard, and its quite motivating to keep it up when you feel so great. I had a lot of energy, I wasn't hungry, and felt really good overall (several asked if I bought the $450 program they sell, I didn't, but I was careful to follow the recipes and did buy a fair amount of supplements). I really thought the no caffeine would do me in, but it never did. I felt like I was in a general fog for the first 4 days, but after that, nothing. Interestingly, the program allows Yerba Mate tea, which has a little caffeine in it, so I did drink that, but sparingly. I lost ten pounds, I stopped drinking Diet Coke cold turkey and haven't gone back. Now that I am off the program, I am planning to drink alcohol only a couple of times a week. I have completely cut out the mid morning and mid afternoon (and evening) snacking that got me into trouble and am very aware of my portion sizes. Interestingly, the program killed my craving for sweets. This is a major problem for me. I crave sugar and never seem to be able to get enough, but by the end of the first week I was totally ok turning away from sweets and didn't feel deprived. I think the trick is that my body and energy level feel so improved, its not worth it to back up. I would recommend it to anyone that's looking for a reset. I will do it again in the future (the book recommends every 12 months or so).
We are nearly done with Emma's room. What a journey it has been. More on that soon.
