Sentiments by Denise

Take a Good Look!

Tomorrow all of this will disappear!

 
The cabinets and sink will be removed tomorrow. We've already ordered our new custom cabinetry, but they won't arrive until May 27th or so. We're going to have to be creative if we need to use the kitchen, which I don't anticipate doing much. The gas stove will still be hooked up, but who wants to mess with cooking when nothing is within reach.

 
All of the carpet in the kitchen, living room, and hallway was removed last weekend and

 
we are in the process of removing all the wallpaper in the kitchen - such a time consuming job - and messy, too! There are two rows of border (one at the ceiling and one at the chair rail), plus the bottom third of the entire wall in the kitchen had a country blue paper. This was all in the house when we moved in 17 years ago. It had been newly decorated by the previous owners back then and I was satisfied with it and decorated around it. In all these years I have not changed much in the way of decor. My kitchen had lots of things hanging on the walls, little things to catch dust, and much "eye clutter" - everywhere you'd look there was something else.

That will all change.

Here's what we did to open things up in the house about a week and a half ago when we had the wall between the kitchen and living room partially removed:

 
Things are a mess here - we have a card table and chairs in the kitchen (easy to remove when needed), things not needed daily have been moved to the garage to store, things used daily (food, dishes, microwave, coffee pot for Ed, water cooler) have been moved to the back bedrooms, the washer and dryer have been moved to the garage and I'm going to the laundromat once a week.

We have a lot of wall prep to get done before the cabinets arrive: stripping of wall paper, patching holes, priming/painting walls, ceilings, and trim. The laundry room is completely gutted and Ed had to tear down two walls - one to install our new furnace
 
and another to do some rewiring of the electricals in the house. The furnace "room" has been painted since this photo was taken. The green/blue color you see in the top right of the photo above is the painted wall that was behind the cupboards we removed in the laundry room! What were they thinking using that color!?

This weekend will be a busy one - besides all the remodeling work here at the house, I will be participating with the musical team at our church for four services over the weekend (two on Saturday evening and two on Sunday morning). We plan to have Easter dinner at Emilee's apartment on Sunday, as it will be too messy/challenging to try to put together a meal here.

Have a blessed Easter weekend as you celebrate our Lord's resurrection!

Indianapolis Race for the Cure

This morning, right before dawn, Emilee and I headed downtown to participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The weather was a bit dismal - cloudy, cold, and drizzly, but we persevered and made it a fun time!
 
This is my 7th year as a breast cancer survivor - and my 25th year of surviving cancer the first time around (diagnosed with Hodgkin's Disease when I was in my 9th month of pregnancy for Emilee!). I have so much to be thankful for and feel so blessed for each day that the Lord gives me. I try not to take LIFE for granted and know that I'm here on this earth for a purpose.

There were over 40,000 participants at the Race today - lots of pink! We saw many humorous t-shirts, lots of families walking, many young men out supporting the women they love, and even some pets...
(a little donkey all decked out in a pink blanket and hat!)

The Race for the Cure has brought a lot of attention to breast cancer awareness over the years and continues to promote self exams, early mammos, etc. I would love to see more attention brought to prevention - there are many things that we can do to prevent breast cancer or lessen it's attack on the lives of women across our country. Prevention in the areas of better nutrition, healthier habits (non smoking and drinking), regular exercise, low stress, good sleep management, and giving of ourselves to help others. I have discovered many of these things over the last few years and they've made a significant impact on my health and well being. Some are just common sense; some take discipline.

 
We need to educate ourselves, our daughters and granddaughters to eradicate cancer in our future.

 
I pray my daughter never has to deal with this disease in a personal way (it's enough to go through it with someone you love). I believe PREVENTION is the key!

It was a good day, spent with my sweet daughter who I love dearly, for a cause that is very near to my heart.

 
I am blessed and grateful for those who stood by me seven years ago as I went through my journey with breast cancer - for my husband Ed, who never waivered from the vows of "in sickness and in health" and loves me so strongly; for my son, Stephen, whose silent strength and support gave me a will to fight; for my daughter, Emilee, whose tenacious spirit drove me to work hard to get healthy and stay that way; and for all my other family and friends who prayed, loved, and gave of themselves so generously. Cancer is a dreadful disease, but I must say that I am a stronger, wiser, more caring person because others showed me their strength, their wisdom, and their giving attitude throughout my journey and continue to bless my life today - I did not allow cancer to steal my joy. God has been faithful in my life and I give Him the glory for all that He has done to lift me up and make me stronger. {Phil 4:13}

One thing cancer has made me realize:  learn what is important, prioritize, and
don't sweat the small stuff!

Home Renovation

There is a lot going on at our house these days! We're starting a huge renovation project that involves:

• Completely new kitchen --> new tile floor, freshly painted walls/ceiling, new cabinets, new counter tops, new sink/faucet, updated plumbing, newly designed kitchen table, new window treatments (that might just involve RED!)
• Open concept between the living room and kitchen --> we are taking down part of the wall that separates these two rooms to bring a more open feeling to the space
• Living room updated --> freshly painted walls/ceiling, new carpet, new furniture (sofa sectional), new window treatments
• Other --> updated furnace and air conditioner, freshly painted laundry room w/ new cabinets, updated electrical wiring throughout the house, new patio in the backyard

Lots to do and lots of decisions to make! I'm so fortunate that I have a very organized and thorough husband who researches/budgets/bargains/and is very handy himself - he definitely keeps us on track with everything from the financial end of things to the sequencing of what has to be done when.

We live in a relatively small house (built in 1959), but really prefer it that way for several reasons - the number one reason right now is that we're empty nesters and this house is the perfect size for just the two of us! Also, it's affordable. And since it's smaller, it's much easier to keep clean...or should be!

 
(before  -kitchen with original cabinetry and counter tops...notice how little space there is to work!)

Cleaning is not my strong suit and I have found lately that the things I own and collect have really become more cumbersome than enjoyable. This year during the Lenten season I decided that I would start purging items that I no longer needed/enjoyed/wanted so that life would become more organized and simpler. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is a sacrifice for me (much more than I'd like to admit) because I like to hold onto "things" more than I really should and they clutter up my life so much.

I will share a few pictures of the renovations going on now and then, but I really want to save the before/after photos for when the project is completely done. Our goal is 6-8 weeks to completion, as we are doing many of the updates ourselves (with help from Ed's cousin, Clayton, and our daughter, Emilee and a few others we've contracted to help).

 
(Ed and Emilee ready to knock out the wall in the laundry room to remove the furnace!)

You are welcome to stop by to see how we're doing, but you might be handed a scraper or a paint brush and asked to help out!
When we moved into this house 17 years ago, it had been recently updated with new carpet, paint, and wallpaper. Our children were young and we were a busy family with not much time and money to do any other updates (except a necessary bathroom remodel project and a couple bedrooms painted). This home renovation project has been on the back burner for several years and we decided that it is now time!

I'm looking forward to the process, but even more so to the finished product! So far we've had the wall partially removed between the living room and kitchen, torn out all the old carpet, emptied all the cabinets (my craft room is now my kitchen pantry!), selected and ordered new kitchen cabinets, decided on paint colors, carpet, floor tile, countertop, faucet, started stripping the old wallpaper in the kitchen, new furnace has been installed, removed cabinets from the laundry room, relocated the washer/dryer to the garage (where I won't be able to use it during this renovation, so it's off to the laundromat once a week for me! -don't be jealous!), and we've moved items to new places in our home that are not the norm - microwave in Ed's office, freezer in the living room (it will eventually go to the garage), using a card table in the kitchen (something easy to fold up and move when needed), all the food/dishes from my cabinets are now in my craft room - and I'm continually looking for something I can't find!

Lots to do but the result will be good!

Fresh is Best

Most days I try to eat a salad full of fresh veggies and leafy greens. To do this I have to keep a variety of fresh ingredients on hand.

Tonight I was craving a salad, but also something warm. So I sliced up a large sweet potato, tossed it in a bit of olive oil and roasted it in the oven while I prepared my salad.

 

Into my salad spinner went a couple handfuls of baby spinach and spring mix - both organic. After a good rinse and a spin...

 

...I loaded up 2/3rds of my dinner plate with the greens and topped them with sliced cucumber, green pepper, broccoli slaw, cherry tomatoes, a sprinkling of sunflower seeds, a tablespoon of feta cheese and added a drizzle of Annie's Natural organic salad dressing: Papaya Poppy Seed.

The other 1/3 of my plate held the perfectly roasted sweet potato chunks (25 minutes in a 375deg oven).

 
Yum! Tasty and fresh!

Time for Tea

Yes, I've been on a blogging break - though somewhat unintentional.

My days are so full, with work (I'm away from home at least 11 hours a day) and exercise (I try to hit the gym several evenings a week for either special classes offered or track time) and family (date nights with my husband, helping our kids with different things or just spending time with them, or out of town to visit extended family). Sometimes I have to figure out what is the important parts and leave the not-so-important parts behind for the time being. Like blogging.

Life is going to get a lot more chaotic in our house over the next couple months as Ed & I embark on a much needed remodel project. I just need to take a deep breath and go for it! More on that later.

A little thing that keeps me balanced each day is my tea time. Every morning I prepare a travel mug of tea (like some people prepare coffee) to drink on the way to work and it is a comfort beverage for me.
I really like different flavored teas, especially green tea and chai tea. I've found some wonderful leaves to blend:

 
Remember my Teavana infuser cup? This makes a perfect cup of tea every time with loose leaf tea. I found this Masala Chai to be very strong (chai flavor), so I "tone it down" a bit by putting 1/2 of the chai leaves and 1/2 of the Kyoto Garden green tea (1 tsp of each) into my infuser cup. Add hot water (not boiling) and steep for 3 minutes.

 
(Here's the leaves added to the cup before adding water).

Since I love the taste of Chai/Green tea latte, but need to be careful of the extra calories (I never add sweetener to my tea), I usually heat a small portion (about 1/3 cup) of vanilla flavored almond milk and stir it into my tea when it is finished steeping.

 
A full cup (8oz) of almond milk is 90 calories, so I only add 30 calories to my morning tea latte by adding this. So much better (and healthier) than those options from Starb*cks. And cheaper, too! Give it a try - I'm sure you'll enjoy it even more, knowing you're saving money and choosing something healthier!