Crazy life happenings

SOOOOO much has happened since I've been home! Where do I begin?

Well, I keep saying how I'm going to post pictures of these cupcakes I'm going to make, but a week ago (or so), Mom was making chicken in the oven and the oven CAUGHT ON FIRE. Mind you, this is a 20-some year old oven, but STILL. She said a flame popped up, then receded, and she saw that the place where the wires meet looked dangerous, like it could catch on fire again, but worse next time. Needless to say, we haven't touched the oven since. Obviously, this puts a damper on pretty much anything I want to bake. We have a small toaster oven and microwave, but that's it. And we'd love to get a new stove/oven, but 1.) Our oven has to be a drop-in--there is an air vent below our oven. 2.) Mom would like to redo the kitchen completely, including getting 2(?) ovens and a microwave, in the wall (like the cool kinds you see on Food Network). I'll do what I can.

Another thing: Our porch roof--again, decades-old porch roof--is falling apart, and we are getting roofers to fix it (and possibly part of the porch). Yay for a new roof!

With all the goings-on around our house, I feel like it's going to be a crazy summer!

Good things have happened, too. Mom is landscaping her rose garden (mentioned in a prev. blog)! It looks really pretty. We now have bricks lining her garden. And in the corner of the rose garden (because we could only fit a brick diagonally to go around the corner) is......BASIL JR. THE BASIL PLANT!!!!!!! Huzzah!!! After 2 basil plants and a few years of it sitting in the kitchen, lil' Basil Jr. is finally planted! He looks quite spiffy.

Another outdoor project I finished was cutting off the drooping branches of our "pin oak" tree. Dad and Bro struggled to get under the branches to mow it, so I cut them down. Woohoo! My next project (which I'm working on today) is trimming the barberry bushes outside our living room window.

Inside, I'm finally managing to get my stuff picked up and put away from college...oh so lazy. Also, I've decided that now that I'm not in school anymore, I have time to focus on flute, so I'm back to teaching myself from the beginning. It feels great to be able to play again for the sheer enjoyment of it.

In terms of my weight loss, it has SORT OF come to a standstill. My problem is this: now that I'm home, I have easy access to all sorts of foods, good and bad. I'm having trouble controlling my urges for bad food. And my body image is suffering greatly. I hate talking bad about myself, but it's hard not to. I am SLOWLY asking my mom to buy more healthy items from my meal plan--that helps. So far, I have bought cheese cubes and dinner rolls (they make good snacks, especially if they are whole wheat). It's hard, but I'm trying my best. And of course, exercise is non-existent (minus working outside).

Wish me luck for a healthy, productive summer. It's going to be a struggle between me, myself, and I.


Any projects you're doing this summer? Any suggestions on how to eat well at home?