My Room and Makeovers

You know how they always say that you should let guys think that something it their idea and it will go over better? Well, I had a little mini version of that this weekend. As I think that I have told everyone by now, I am moving in with Craig after my lease expires Sept 30th. I was a little nervous, not because of living with him but of finding a way to make the house seem like it was my home too and not just his. I didn't want to be that girl that moved in and immediately wanted to change everything. His place is not a complete bachelor pad or anything but he shares a different decorating style than I do. There are a lot of darker colors and minimalist type furniture, which looks fine and goes together, but just not my choice. For anyone who saw my condo in Atlanta, I am not a fan of neutral colors and I like soft and homey things. But, we are not married and I honestly don't feel like shopping and spending money on new stuff so I am content with the way it is (not like I have friends to come over anyway). There are a few things that I would change though that drive me nuts, well, three really. 1. The guest bathroom is awful. The counter tops are that 70's yellow color..you know the one that went with olive green and that burnt orange...ugh, but to top that off, Craig thought it would be 'funny' to paint the walls a color that didn't go at all. He said that since it was already ugly, why not make it worse....um, because. So, the walls are a sky blue and the shower curtain is an olive/hunter green. What the heck? It is not good. So, that is an easy fix, cream walls and a shower curtain that minimizes the ugly yellow...I am even hopeful that I can find one that will have pretty colors with only hints of the yellow. I don't know how this will go over so I haven't mentioned it yet. 2. He has a whole bedroom that is nothing but an exercise machine (one of those all in one deals) that I have seen him use once. He had mentioned a long time ago that he thought about getting rid of it but then it still sits there. 3. The basement. He has a full finished basement (well, 95%, there is a place for another bathroom but nothing is hooked up). There is an extra room or two down there (though they are so small, not sure what you could put in them, I think that he has stuff stored in one and a fooz (sp) ball table in the other. He also has a pool table down there and a bar with a refridgerator...cool. But then he has this awful southwestern furniture that his parents gave him. It is their hand-me-downs and it is ugly. He doesn't like it either, but needed something to fill the void so he used that. I haven't approached this one yet either but I am thinking that my pretty yellow couch and chair will replace those nasty sofas or I will get a studio out of the deal :-) Probably the sofas.

So, the one thing that I really wanted was that exercise thing gone so I could use that room to put my bed in, since we would now have two (and I wasn't sure he would go for putting my stuff in the main bedroom, though I have a set so it makes more sense) and I could use it as a craft room. I figured that maybe he would go for it (and I make him sound so uncompromising, and that isn't the case, I just want to be careful not to seem like I am taking over his house and critizing stuff) but I hadn't found the right time to discuss it. Well, on Saturday he said that he was thinking about taking the exercise thing out of there and then I could have that room! YAY!! I was so excited. I didn't even have to pick that battle so now I am free to pick another one! Of course my bed is pretty big so now I am wondering how I am going to get it in there and still have room for a little desk for my craft stuff, and still fit my dresser and stuff (I have one long one and a tall one and sadly they are both filled with clothes and stuff). I measure my stuff this weekend and now I need to measure the room to see what will work....I could always put the tall dresser in the basement in that storage room maybe and just put all the 'other stuff' in there and have my clothes in the long one....ah, decisions.

Anyone have any advice when combining stuff...especially since I am moving into his place and he has lived there alone for like 7 years?

On to makeovers. Apparently the Extreme Makeover Home Edition is in our neighborhood (well, actually across the street from our neighborhood) this week. They tore down the house (which was a perfectly good house in a nice neighborhood but the people getting it done have two people in wheelchairs so they are making it more accessible) on Saturday and are supposed to have the unveiling on Thursday!! I can't believe how fast it will be. I always thought those things were time lapsed but they aren't. It is nuts right now, they have closed roads and rerouted traffic (luckily in the opposite direction to the way Craig and I go to work) and they have a 'staging' area at a local school...nuts how much is there. On Saturday we rode our bikes to go see the house but they had a sign and policemen standing there that said no bikes or skateboards...annoying. What is the point of that? You could walk in, why not ride in? They have huge signs at the highway exit to visit it (maybe they should add "on foot" cause you can't drive there either). Tonight we plan on walking down there to see what we can see. I heard that you could take pictures but not publish them (though how would they know) until after the show airs. If anyone watches that show let me know and I will let you know when it will air :-)

Now for my makeover. The whole eating healthy and losing weight thing has not been going well. I actually have put on 3 more lbs. So, now definitely at my highest weight ever. I would say that I don't know how but I do....the traveling and eating when I wasn't hungry, the ice cream at the beach and the general lack of portion control are all to blame. I think that I realized at the beach that it isn't so much WHAT I eat, but the QUANTITY that gets me into trouble. So, I have decide to try weight watchers again. I hate the feeling of being on a 'diet' and all that but honestly, for me, that is just reality right now. I did ww before and I really did well on it because it made me realize that the portions I was eating were out of control when I never realized it. I never felt hungry or like I couldn't eat something, I just ate less of everything. I don't know why ww has such a negative connotation for me, but it does. I have always been proud of people who have done it and lost weight and it is really the only 'diet' that I have seen people be successful on long term but for some reason I feel embarassed that I have to do it. I will not be one of those people who talk about points all the time or tell everyone I know that I am doing it but I do hope that it will work for me. I realize that Craig will eat whatever I make so I can look up healthy meals and I just need to be prepared. I think that it will get easier when I live in the same house as him full time and don't have to grocery shop and take it to my place and then pack up what I want to make for dinner, but accidentally leave my fruit for snacks behind and that sort of thing. We will see. I am not going to tell him that I am doing it because I feel like boys don't understand (or maybe I just assume they don't) but I am going to tell him that I am trying to eat healthier...he has always been supportive of that. I am not actually joining ww because I have no interest in going to the meetings (though that might be a good way to meet people) so I am just going to do it on my own which is what I did before.

If anyone has any healthy recipes (specifically around chicken and pork) then I am all ears. The biggest problem I run into is that they all seem to involve tomatoes, which I don't like that much and Craig can't eat.

To end on a positive, cute story: Last week I rented a car to go to work on Thursday and because we were limited on parking passes at the condo, I returned it Thursday night and my mom, Richard, and Ariyana picked me up at the airport. My mom told Ariyana on the way that they were going to get Melissa and the whole way she sang "lishla, lishla" (this is what she calls me as she attempts to say "Melissa". Sometimes it comes out "lissa". When I got in the car I got a huge grin and lots of giggles. Well, yesterday they had to take my grandma to the airport and when they got there Ariyana said "lishla?" HA, she knew that was where they had gotten me the last time. Amazing what the little ones remember.

Whew, that was a long blog...hope you guys are still awake...I had to make up for lost time! Pictures coming soon..they are on my new camera which has a different card reader that I keep forgetting at my apartment!