Date Night (Project 52) #3

I can't get the logo to work this week, so here is the link to Simply Modern Mom's blog. You can check out other bloggers who are participating in the Project 52 challenge.

To be honest, I am not sure if this really counts as a date, per say.

Over the weekend (which was lovely, by the way!), Yusuke came down with some kind of headache cold (which he wondered allowed was actually some form of cancer...typical!), and wasn't feeling well both Saturday night and Sunday. It was his turn to plan the date, and he assured me all week that he would take care of it.

On Saturday night, we had a family walk in Tokyo and then rushed back home to go grocery shopping at our local department store as they were having their monthly sale, and then off to his mom's for dinner. A little too much packed in one day plus the headache problem, so he said we would have our date on Sunday night.

I waited until dinner time on Sunday to inquire about it. Big mistake. He said we'd have to skip for this week.

Skip! No, no, no, it doesn't work that way. We can't skip.

Okay, he said, then our family walk in Tokyo can be like our date.

Uh, no. That doesn't work either. No kids allowed.

So, on Monday, I picked up some ice cream at the store and called him to remind him to be home by 10pm, if at all possible.

To make a long story short, I fell asleep with the kids and woke up a bit later than 10pm (10:45 pm). He was in the middle of cooking his dinner and he ate that while watching TV. Just as he was about to go for his snacks, I stopped him and showed him the ice cream surprise. I made a pot of tea and then served the ice cream and tea on a tray, asking him to turn off the TV so we could talk.

Just then, one of the kids started crying so I had to go take care of that. Twenty minutes later, the tea was bitter from being steeped too long. We quickly ate the ice cream and drank the tea, but all he could talk about was the kids and something about childproofing the house again. I tried to steer him away from those topics, but I was not in a very good mood by then.

He did ask what I had done all day, and I showed him some of my organizing projects. He was happy to see I had made progress there. Then, one of the kids started crying again and that was the end of our date.

We'll do better next time. Promise!

Weight Reduction Plan

Kaz advised me to not say "weight loss" because it causes my sub-conscious mind to avoid "loss" because it sounds negative. From what I have read, the sub-conscious mind is always trying to move towards the positive.

So, weight reduction plan it is then!

First, I'll explain this wonderful lay out. It was made for the Big Picture Scrapbooking class I am taking called "Design Your Life". For this assignment, we were supposed to make an entire album (with repetitive elements throughout) about our loved ones, but I just finished making one of those for a different class and didn't feel like doing it again. So, I decided to start a mini-album about my WRP, and then just take a new photo and add to it each month. This is January's installment, the first of 12.

Yep, that's right. This is a 12 month plan. It is, as you read in a previous entry, my MAIN goal for 2010.

My three rules this time are simple:
1. Wear the pedometer and shoot for 12,000 steps a day.
2. Limit to ONE vice ONCE a day.
3. Half-size portions of carbs.

The long walks are going well because I can listen to audio books while I'm walking, and for the last couple weekends, I have even managed to leave Yusuke at home while I go walking (with one or both kids and the dog). He knows what I am doing and why, so he doesn't complain about it.

The vice rule is going surprisingly well. I like to refer to it as "vice bucks", as in "Am I willing to spend my vice bucks NOW? Or should I wait until later in the day?" I realized that I have 3 vices - cafe mocha, chocolate & coke. Since I am allowed to have only one of those each day, I have to choose when and where very carefully. Sometimes, I am saving myself for the end of the day and that moment of bliss never arrives. It makes me realize that I CAN live without my vices after all! At the same time, I feel happy just thinking that I can have my vice later rather than NOT AT ALL. So, I think this rule does work for me.

Hey, this is Japan. Saying you'll pass on the rice will get you a lot of shocked reactions, and my husband is absolutely no exception. I decided instead of NO CARB, I would go for half-portions since I do need to set a good example for my dinner partner, Ailin. For lunches, I sometimes forgo carbs altogether.

I am taking this one day at a time, and for the first time in quite a while, I actually feel my stomach churning hungrily, but I am not starving. I just choose not to snack on candy bars and sugary drinks. That said, I do realize that I have to keep my blood sugar from dropping low - that's when I grab anything I can get my hands on and gobble it down. Healthy snacks like bananas or cheese have been helping me avoid those types of moments.

As part of the Create the Life you Love class, I am working up a rewards system for myself. I can reward myself in a variety of ways depending on the nature of the goal. For the WRP goal, I am planning to reward myself for every 5 pounds. I am 1 pound away from my first milestone! The reward is a trip to Lupicia to buy more tea. Normally, I would just go when I need more tea, but this time, I am holding myself back in order to use it as a reward.

For other goals, I am also working up some action plans and rewards systems for myself. The idea is to work a little bit each day on your goals. The background goals are pretty simple as they don't require a lot of thought, but the most challenging ones for me will be "weekly menu planning" and "keeping up with my cleaning routine". I am thinking about subscribing to a menu planning site, but I have to keep in mind that I cook A LOT of Japanese food so an American menu planning site won't help all that much. As for the cleaning routine, anyone know of a good cleaning person who is looking for more work?

Oh, and trying to think of rewards that don't involve food - that is challenging! More on that later!

Decoupage is back in a big way

When I first heard about decoupage in the Org 101 class at Simplify 101 last fall, I was a little perplexed. Is that something housewives used to do in the 70's? I barely remember the 70's myself.

So, curious, I started asking around in my circles, and the response I got was laughter. How could I not know? Where was I? (Uh, in the 80's when we didn't do decoupage, maybe.) Obviously, my friends remembered doing decoupage when they were young, so it was explained to me that it had something to do with gluing paper.

I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that the art of decoupage was imported from Japan to Europe during the Victorian age and it was called, fittingly, "the art of Japanning." Well, I am IN Japan, so I should know all about decoupage, right? I looked around my house. I did indeed have some tea canisters that were covered with paper and perhaps even glue. Now, I sort of had a inkling of what decoupaging might be, so I decided to give it a try.

Turns out the decoupage is simply the art of attaching paper to a wooden surface and then painting over it with glue (the most popular decoupage glue brand is Mod Podge which comes in glossy and matte). This decoupage glue dries over the paper and causes it to appear laminated.

One suggested project in the Create a Life You Love class (simplify 101) was to create a goals binder that you can keep updated with your progress.

I bought this binder at a local department store, covered it with some nice paper, decoupaged it and then drilled a hole to add my label with a ribbon.

The binder tabs are made from chipboard, covered with paper and also decoupaged. I made labels on the computer and printed them onto an overhead projector sheet. The labels read "dreams into goals," "planning," "take action," and "victory."

Okay, so now that I had some practice, Yoko and I decided to make decoupaged frames for our goals boards. Aby from simplify 101 had made a beautiful magnetic board using a picture frame, so we decided to copy hers.

We bought picture frames at Ikea and then went to a Home Store to buy a large sheet of steel. In the store's workroom, we had them cut the steel to fit within our picture frames. We kept the frame's original glass behind the steel to make it more stable, but it also makes it quite heavy. Then, we went to a craft store to choose paper. I chose one pattern, one plain, one striped and one simple pattern in oranges and dark grays to match the decor in my house. Yoko chose pastel colors.

At home, we first had to measure the frames from inside out to determine how long each of the paper strips should be. Then, we cut the paper using our paper cutters. 

Like Aby, I chose to sand down the edges of my papers to blend with the white color of the frame. Yoko chose not to do this. I used a clipboard to keep the papers stable while I sanded. (Note the little guy in the background. I was feeding him his lunch at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking!)

Finally, all the papers are cut and sanded. Now, for the gluing.

Here, Yoko is gluing the paper to her wooden frame. She used wood glue while I used regular craft glue. Both seemed to work fine.

Notice how the paper wraps around the frame, and how I glued the papers down in a sequence.

Then, we used paint brushes to apply the Mod Podge. Just cover the entire frame in thin layers of mod podge, letting each dry in between. 

We made sure to sign our frames before applying the mod podge. You never know. They could become family heirlooms!

Here is Yoko with her finished magnetic board.

Here is my magnetic board. It will hang on the wall next to my computer.

I now love decoupage. I love it so much that I want to make a smaller magnetic frame for my desk at work, a cool frame for Shannon (because I love her so much and I always feel compelled to make stuff for her!) and maybe even one for Yusuke's desk at work! Plus, I am going to make an 8x8 picture frame to house my monthly lay outs about my weight reduction progress (will post about that later!). If I had time, I would make decoupaged frames and sell them...that is how much fun this is! No, even better, I would hire an assistant to make them for me and I would sell them. Okay, let's get back to just enjoying this wonderful goals board...first things first.