A CrossFit Family

I mentioned a few weeks back that our family had joined a CrossFit gym and I promised to tell you more about it.   Today, I'm finally getting around to telling you all about it.

In May, I'd finally had enough of lackluster results with our old gym.  Between boredom and plain dissatisfaction, we'd virtually stopped going to the gym.  Why go?  We weren't getting good results (heck, we weren't really getting any results) and, as a result, we kinda sorta stopped going.  Still, I wasn't at all happy with our fitness levels.  As homeschoolers, I am responsible for our PE as well as our academic curriculum.  I'd been seeing a lot about CrossFit on the Primal and Paleo lifestyle blogs, but, as the nearest CrossFit gym was too far away from my house to make joining up practical, I just filed the information away.

Finally, in April, a CrossFit gym opened near enough to our house to make it worthwhile to investigate.  I headed to the website and saw this video...(video obviously not printable)...

Did you notice that there are old people, young people, fat people, and fit people doing CrossFit?  I fit into some of those categories quite well.  The next hurdle?  Convincing the kids that we could all be CrossFitters.  Much to my surprise, after viewing this video, Buttercup (or Queen Bean, as she has named herself) was all for it and Valiant was willing, if not enthusiastic.

We headed down to the gym to check it out and signed up that day.  It has been five months since we joined the CrossFit world and we've been transformed.  Truly.  My kids all lost that pudgy, we-love-video-games look (they still love video games, it just doesn't show as much!) and my clothes all fit so much better...especially my jeans (woot!).  My chiropractor actually asked me what I've been doing because I've developed so much lean muscle in such a short time.  We've become stronger, more agile, have more endurance, and have more overall energy.  We sleep better.  Buttercup says everyone is more confident and seems to enjoy life more.  The best part?  It didn't take five months to see these results. 

Our first month, Valiant is jumping with the sandbag while I get mine ready.

Within the first month, I could see my children carried themselves differently and friends commented on it, as well.  We're being molded and shaped to be stronger, fitter versions of ourselves.  It is like have a personal trainer each and every day.   Our form is constantly assessed and corrected, weights are adjusted to keep it challenging.  We never get away with phoning it in because our CrossFit trainer is always watching.  Sore muscles are the norm...bruises are pretty common and, yet, we enthusiastically come back for more.   The best part?  It really does start to feel like a tribe...the other CrossFitters do encourage you...they notice the baby steps of improvement you're making and they're not shy about propping you up.  "Don't quit...you've got this!" are some of the most common phrases you'll hear in a CrossFit gym.  As Valiant pointed out after coming with the best time for the workout of the day, "Mom, they started cheering me on.  How could I quit then?"  Yes, we're still some of the slowest, but we really do get honorable mention for doing our very best (and we're not as slow as we were five months ago!).  I love that.

Our second month...I'm playing with the log.

A month after Valiant, Buttercup and I made the commitment to become CrossFitters, Charming took me up on my offer to pay for his membership and he's experiencing all the same things. 

His first month, Charming is getting it above his head.

We've all learned a whole new vocabulary (although I'm still struggling to keep things straight!). 

Last week, Buttercup finally got up the rope!

We're mostly "scaled", but we can occasionally do the "WOD" (workout of the day) to "Rx". We play with kettle bells, sandbags, and tires.  We box jump, we clean and jerk,  we dip and drive, and we push press.  We do Turkish get-ups, burpees and man makers.  We're in awe of muscle ups and 400+ lb deadlifts.  We aspire to perfect push-ups and pull-ups.  We yearn to do hand-stand push-ups and walking hand-stands.   Some of us can even rope climb!  We are a Crossfit family now and we love it.

Chalkboard Markers and Black Contact Paper

Just in case you thought all my creativity was limited to use of the Silhouette machine, I have another little project I did this summer to share with you.

Let me back up.  We have a teeny-tiny "linen" closet at the top of our stairs.  The door to the closet was really just two cabinet doors stacked on top of each other, roughly 20" wide.  The opening was so small that the closet was always an ineffecient mess.

So, last spring, I took off the cabinet doors (discovering that they were just a face, no really cabinetry behind them!) and decided to see if I could live with a no-door linen closet...especially as all of our linens are in our respective bedrooms (they fit better there!).

This really appeals to me.

As does this.

So, even though I haven't quite figured out how to execute my own linen closet redo, I have started liking this open closet system.   And, it gave me an excuse to break out my chalk markers!   I simply wrapped some lightweight cardboard in black contact paper and used the white chalk marker to identify the contents of each bin.

The bright yellow I chose for the baskets and bins makes the entire closet feel cheerful.  Having no doors really keeps us from accumulating clutter. 

Also, I don't overbuy supplies because I don't have any place to put them!

 I still need to refine the shelving and figure out how I'm going to trim out the opening, but I think I'm leaving the doors off.

Oh, and I didn't stop in the closet.  I headed downstairs and made up a few more tags.

I know lots of people have In boxes

and Fabric stashes,

but how many people have bins of Dog Balls?

Organizing makes my heart happy...can you tell?

Ta Da! The Bathroom is Done!

Last January, I started to tackle the last untouched room in our home.  I found one picture of the bathroom and you'll have to be nice, because I was being goofy for a kid with a camera! 

As for anymore pictures, I can't find most of the "before" pictures for the master bathroom, but these "during" few give you a taste of what I was facing when I began the project.  A chair rail that hid an unpleasant surprise.  (This is the true color of the red.)  They painted over wallpaper!  Should I replace the drywall?  Ugh...I hate surprises like these!

Red paint that was somehow flawed, so that the coverage was uneven and left a smear of pink on whatever I used to wipe the walls.  The Behr 2-in-1 Paint and Primer really did cover well.  It only took two coats of Water Sprout to cover that dark red.

 This is where I was testing the Behr paint to see if there was a smear or if it wouldn't cover.   (It was fabulous!)  We discovered that half the plugs in the bathroom were run illegally through the cabinetry, too.  Bye-bye plugs.  The bathroom was a disaster...truly.

Now look at it!

Water Sprout is a lovely pale green (it doesn't have as much yellow as shows in some of these pictures, but it isn't minty, either).  Combined with fresh white paint, we have a light and airy bathroom.   See how much bigger it looks? 

Superman and I decided not to replace the drywall.  Instead I lived with the room in disarray for a few months and we put up wainscoting when Superman was home in April.  During that same leave, we put in a new granite countertop with integrated sink.  Superman even gave me a valance over the window.  Then he headed back to work and left me to do the finishing touches.

I painted the wainscoting and the valance in Behr Premium - in Frost.  Shelves and towel hooks finished it off.   The vanity was painted for me by Mr. R (he's so nice and he's a much better painter than I) and we added drawer pulls to finish it off.

A few more decorative touches and it is done.  (Having first names that begin with letters found in cardinal directions makes it easy to find our initials in home improvement stores.)  A 3M hook holds my brush. 

Cotton balls and q-tips?    They're here, too.

See how beautifully they fit in here?  It may have taken us six months to make it happen, but I love how this bathroom makeover turned out and my beloved stained glass got to stay.  How cool is that?  It was all worth it.

New Use for Old Candle Jars

I love candles.  I really do.  I like them enough that I actually use them up.  My frugal soul hates throwing away the empty jars.  They're really nice looking, but they're not food-grade, so you can't use them for candy or nuts (unless the candy is individually wrapped, of course).

One oldcandle jar from Target with wicks burned all the way down.  (I love this candle...it smells amazing.)  Pop out the last of the wax and save it for your tart burner.  Use Goo Gone to get the label off and wash and dry the jar.  Ta Da!  You have a jar ready to use.

Here are two I've already begun to work with.  One is a little one from Yankee Candle and one is my first Target candle (told you I liked them!).  Took the labels off and washed them and these jars are both pretty enough to be used for all kinds of things:  buttons, paper clips, safety pins, etc.   I thought mine would work beautifully in my bathroom, so I added some q-tips and some cotton balls and they're ready for work. 

Still, I had a little something different in mind.  A quick coat of spray paint gave me black lids.

Much better!  They looked good, but still weren't quite what I was after.

 Ah, a couple of labels gave them the finishing touch!  Perfect, don't you think?

Since the candles were already paid for and used, these little jars were practically free.  I love it when things turn out well, don't you?

It is not how Superman would have done it!

When we moved into this home six years ago, we brought with us Superman's "legacy" 36" Sony Triniton.  (It was cutting edge when Superman got it for our family more than eight years ago--he so loved it when he bought it...still, it is a beast with a huge tube on back.)  We placed it in the place of a "never-worked" gas insert on the main level of our home.  Superman just built a little cubby around it to house the components and it fits in beautifully.

Unfortunately, one of the components died last week.   Honestly, I would have just left it there for him, but it was making a horrible humming noise and I couldn't wait until Christmas to deal with it.

Valiant and I managed to muscle the television forward (OMG! It was so heavy!), but struggled to reach behind it to disconnect the dead component.  (We couldn't pull it all the way out because we'd never have been able to get it back up onto the hearth.)

Fortunately, Buttercup is a small little thing and managed to slip in behind the television.  (We'd just gotten back from the gym when I decided to undertake this little project--can you tell?)  Anyway, she could even stand up in there!  Don't touch the fiberglass insulation, Buttercup!

She got all the wires disconnected for us in no time at all and had fun doing it.  (She even dusted the back of the television while she was in there!)

 See?  The component is gone.  It is definitely not how Superman would have done it, but I'm not as strong as Superman and I think we did pretty well!  I just have one question:

What do I do with the empty space left by the removed component?  For now, the Halloween movies can be stored there.

Words to Live By...

Do you ever think of the messages that bombard your family on a daily basis?  Advertisers have figured out how to inundate us with their messages...billboards, magazine ads, television commercials, radio commercials, brand-name clothing...everything is screaming messages at us.  But how often do we deliberately set out to send messages to ourselves, to our children...messages that are reinforcing our ideals, not Madison Avenues goals.

One of the things I try to do in our home is to surround us with positive messages.  I've had fun coming up with the words we live by.

Whether they're a little bit of humor as we tackle the mundane...

or reminders that we are who we are and no one else...

 or even the reminder that we already know what we need to do, we just need to do it.

Oh, and we even use words as friendly reminders to our young male guests...

What words do you live by?

One more little bunting/pennant/whatever...

My little niece is turning two this week!  (Time sure flies...)  Anyway, the kids and I got to meet her in person this summer and she was adorable.   Since she lives on the East Coast, I don't know much of what she plays with or what she likes to do, so I decided against sending a toy. 

Still, I wanted to send something special and I know she knows the letters of her name.  I came up with this (sorry for the bad photos...I had to finish it up late Sunday night to make the mail on Monday.)

What do you think?  I just love the "little girl" fabrics.  Buttercup is so "old" now, that I can't get away with too many of these anymore.   The Silhouette came the to rescue again and helped with cutting out all the shapes...letters, flowers...they were easy. 

There are some little fairy faces peaking out behind the letters or in the flowers.  (I thought a two-year old would like those!)  I added some rick rack to make it more fun.

I think it turned out nice and girly...I hope she likes it.

Easy Peasy Halloween Craft - Jack-O-Lanterns

The world shifted on its axis recently and my family has been the beneficiary of the effects!   Seriously.  Here it is October 3 and my Halloween decorations are up and I've even had time to do some Halloween crafts.

This little one was so quick and easy (and had my neighbors scratching their heads).  It was so easy, I just had to share it with you. 

You'll need: 
bigger empty plastic jar with lid (clean and no label)
orange paint (spray paint or craft paint)
brown or green paint
a straw
something to make the face:  vinyl, sharpies, paint

I had some empty plastic jars (mayonnaise and beef jerky treats) that I washed and removed the labels.  Took them outside and spray painted the inside of the jars orange.  (Seriously, I wish you could have seen my neighbors' faces when they saw me out on the front lawn painting plastic jars orange and surrounded by a bunch of little kids who were watching with tremendous intensity.  It was so funny.)

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, yeah...  Painted the jars orange (we had orange spray paint...very weird)

and painted the lids brown.  Gave it a little more thought and came up with those "kid's cup" straws from restaurant kid's meals and painted them brown, too.  (The neighborhood kids were equally split between brown and green...I had brown on hand, so brown it was!)

Let everything dry and headed downstairs to get some pumpkin face vinyls via my Silhouette machine.  (Have I mentioned how much I love that machine?  It is so awesome...seriously awesome!)

 Once the paint was dry, we applied the faces.  Isn't my assistant cute? 

 Drilled holes in the lids and inserted the bendy straws and added some hot glue to keep them stable.  (Careful drilling the holes...one of the lids cracked when I drilled the hole.)

  Added our battery operated candle and we're ready for nighttime!

The kids can stick these in their windows and I don't have to worry about anything more than dead batteries.  Love it!