Happy Feet

I have been trying to get back into running again with the goal of running a half marathon, and maybe eventually a marathon.

I remember running track back in high school, I started off competing in the 3000 m, but gradually reduced my distance, finding myself quite happy with the 400m. Once around the track was quite enough for me.



Back then I would never have considered a marathon.

So what has changed? A desire to challenge myself? Mid-life crisis maybe?

Anyway, I started running again, but my progress has been inhibited by significant toe pain when attempting to run anything further than 4-5 miles. (Side note: the distance I was running has become quite a joke between me and my husband. I was using my phone to track my runs, and thought I was running these awesome times and distances, but come to find out my GPS is quite inaccurate, so now when we talk distance he always questions was that 5 miles or 5 "jemma-miles", but the fact was that I was having a lot of pain.)

I have always had toe pain/cramps when playing sports for any extended periods of time, but usually able to make it through the game of B-ball, Soccer, etc. I tend to run high on the ball of my foot, which puts a lot of stress on my toes. After much research my self-diagnosis is Mortons Neuroma (don't you just love the internet!).

As you can see I have really funky ugly toes. To illustrate how bad they look I remember being at the ER as a teenager for a badly sprained ankle and was messing around in the wheelchair and the ice-pack on my ankle fell onto the floor. A passing doctor picked up the ice-pack for me and looked at my foot to determine where to place the pack and placed the pack on my toes instead of my ankle, that's how bad my toes look. No wonder they always hurt.

So I have been on the hunt for new running shoes that might alleviate some of my foot pain and came across the barefoot shoes by Merrell.

Merrell Shoes

They have a wide toe-box that allows my funky toes the room they need to spread out. Also the low profile promotes a natural "barefoot" running style, landing more on the mid-foot, taking pressure off my toes. I have been gradually acclimating to these new shoes, and this running style, and so far it is going well.

Today I completed 6 pain-free miles Yeah!!! (half-way to my half-marathon)

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Clutter Clearing Challenge - Mission impossible?

(Google images)

When working full time and living in a family of 6 tackling clutter can feel like a losing battle.

I find it hard parting with my stuff, because most of the stuff I have in my home I probably bought or loved at some point in time. However, clutter really bogs me down, and I feel unproductive and hard to focus.

I have read many articles and watched videos for inspiration and tips on how to tackle this task.  Many share the same approach of when tackling a cluttered area you need to decide if each item either; 1. stays, 2. donate/sell, or 3. trash.  For me this is definitely easier said than done. I always tend to be a little ADD when going through this step and unable to stick to one area as recommended, and instead tend to move randomly throughout the house chipping away a bit her and a bit there.  Definitely not the most efficient method, but sometimes I just can't make that decision at the moment and taking a break and working on another area helps me refresh and then I am able to come back and chip away at it again at a later time.

This last week I had the week off work and went on a clutter clearing frenzy and it felt soooooo good.  Maybe not everyone's idea of a fun vacation (ask the hubby), but for me it feels so good and helps me feel back in control.  Having a week off I was really able to focus and easily rid my home of the remaining bags of clutter from the 40 bags in 40 days challenge - Mission completed!
What I learned?  Clutter can be like weeds growing in your garden, and if left unattended will takes over.  Schedule time regularly to address clutter so the task does not seem so overwhelming.

Anyone planning on visiting? Now would probably be a good time.

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Sod-Top Gardening

It's hard to believe it is almost June, and I am so behind in my gardening.  As always I have such good intentions to get started earlier each year, but here it is the end of May (I should of probably named my blog The Happy Procrastinator). 

Grass grows especially well in my garden area, and to get it all turned over and ready to plant is definitely not the fun part, and so I didn't even get around to getting the garden prepped or planted at all last year. 

I read somewhere that turning over the garden just stirs up the dormant weeds, which must be true as my garden is thick with weeds, and especially gives me a good excuse not to do that task anymore. To have minimal weeds the article recommended laying down layers of newspaper and covering with a thick layer of dirt.  

Martha Stewart has instructions and video on how to create a Sod-Top Garden.  

I had planned to do this task in the Fall, so my garden would be nice and ready for Spring, but ..... here it is the end of May! 

I don't get the newspaper so I am trying a different paper method. The hubby scored me a large end role of 7 foot wide heavy duty paper, which made quick work of covering the grass.  The paper was then soaked down with a hose, and then covered in a thick layer of compost.

Ta da! no more grass in the garden.  

In Martha's video it talks about being able to plant right away, so we'll see how it works out.

As you can see painting the arbor and fence is definitely on my to-do list.

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Flower Power

I was thrilled when all 3 of my boys decided to attend a church prom. I had so much fun preparing for the event; shopping for outfits, making props for a planned photo shoot, and making corsages for their dates. 

I had never made a corsage before so I spent many hours searching the net for inspirations and instructions on how to construct one. I really liked the techniques shown on You Tube by Flower School http://www.youtube.com/user/FlowerSchool

where you can find instructions for several wrist corsages. 

I didn't copy any of her designs, but found they really helped me understand the concept of putting a corsage together, and I especially loved her cold glue technique.

To make the corsages extra special I bought a variety of sparkly beaded stretchy bracelets to attach the corsages to, so the girls could have a memento after the flowers are gone. 

On this one I use blue thick floral wire, and painted the edges of the orange roses with silver glitter glue. (Wire and glue found at the Dollar Store)

I found a glass beaded necklace on clearance for a $1 at Walmart which I cut apart for the beads.  I then strung the beads on floral wire double looping through the bead to space them out and hold the beads in place.

On this one I glued the beads to the end of piece of wire and then corkscrewed the wire stems.

I left this project until the night before the event, and I was really getting nervous wondering if I was going to be able to pull it off since I had never tried something like this before.  Once I started I found it was a great creative outlet, and with pretty flowers how can you not succeed.  

Thinking back on it now the hardest part was probably picking out the flowers.

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Favorite Find - Cookie Dough Gifts

Found this great idea on Pinterest which originated from Southern Living.

Make a batch of your favorite cookie dough.
Wrap the dough in a roll shape in Parchment paper or Freezer paper and tie ends (I used ribbon).
I thought rolling the dough was going to be very messy, but it actually rolled up very easily.
Print out the recipe on vellum and wrap around the dough. I also added some cute pink polka dot card stock.
Freeze cookie dough.
Make several batches ahead of time and have some ready to go gifts.
That's if they can last that long :)

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Time to paint - Color Inspirations

It has been at least 5 years since I last painted the walls in the main living areas in my home, so I am way overdue for a change. Currently the walls in my living room, family room and kitchen are all a buttery yellow with reddish/orange accents. I love these colors, but the yellow is a very safe color, and I am ready to mix it up a bit.   I have found myself being drawn to the color blue, which would still go well with the burnt orange color I love.

Some rooms that have inspired me:

Blue/orange room - marthastewart.com

Houzz

Picking a shade of blue was not an easy task, until one day I was looking through old magazine clippings and stumbled upon a color palette from Lowes Creative Ideas Magazine.

(Colors: Sea Sage, Summer Tan, Tealight, and Cup of Cocoa)

I plan to paint my Living room walls Sea Sage. My couches are the Cup of Cocoa color, and I have some light colored bookcases, so I think it should work well.  In the same magazine there was another room makeover with an orange color called Earthern Rose which I think will also work with the above pallette.

 

Wish me luck!

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Be-you-tiful sign

I love this statement "Be-you-tiful", a reminder that just being yourself is beautiful.
I recently organized a conference for 12-13 yr old girls and I knew I wanted to incorporate this statement.  I don't own a fancy vinyl/paper cutting machine or a large budget so I came up with this up-cycling project and made signs out of my old 3 1/2 inch wide vertical blinds.

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