Book Review!

Ah the first book review of the new year!

The Greener Grass Conspiracy by Stephen Altrogge

This book is about how we always think the grass is always greener on the other side. If we can just get out of our situation, things will be better. This is a book that I am reading twice. The first time, I couldn't put it down. I like to underline and make notes in books like these, but I couldn't because I was too anxious to turn the page! The author is hilarious - he writes with a sarcastic, self-effacing voice that shows that he is learning contentment even as he writes the book (truly, he and his wife were house searching during the time the book was written so he adds little "lessons learned" throughout the pages). The meat of this book is centered around this statement:

"The truth is, biblical contentment can't be learned unless something else is unlearned. Contentment can't be put on without first ripping something else out. The only way to grow in contentment is to undergo the process of identifying and destroying the idols in our lives. This always hurts, but the results are wonderful"

And his definition of idols (as side from the ones he says are in Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark :) ), is that the act of idolatry is loving anything more than God.

Throughout the book, Mr. Altrogge addresses contentment in trials, in everyday life, discusses complaining - each smacking you with conviction and a new awareness of the words that come out of your mouth or the thoughts that flit through your mind - and directs you to the only place where true joy can be found - in Jesus Christ. Excellent reading.

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I really can't say enough good things about this trilogy. I read almost the entire first book on the plane ride from Houston to Phoenix. I'm a fast reader, but even that's a bit ridiculous. I could not turn the pages fast enough. The writing style is fantastic, told from the main character, Katniss Everdeen's, point of view. Throughout the trilogy, I actually gasped at a couple of points, surprised by some plot twists (oh yeah, and did a little arm pump towards the end when I guessed something correctly :) ). This triology is based on a Dystopian world - i.e. opposite of perfect (Utopian). It's set in the future. The US is no more, but is now a Capitol surrounded by 12 districts. Years ago, the districts rebelled against the Capitol, lost, and now, as a reminder that they should NEVER rebel again, the districts must participate in The Hunger Games. A forced "Olympics" of sorts - 1 girl and 1 boy (aged 12-18) are randomly selected from each district to compete. And it's a battle to the death. There, now you've read pretty much what they tell you in the movie trailer for the first book. If you ever read Anne McCaffery's "Freedom" series, you will enjoy these books. If you haven't, you will enjoy these books. Bottom line, you will enjoy these books. Read them. (please :) ).

Gluten free - 1 year

Hard to believe, but it's true. I've been eating gluten free for an entire year.

Now remember, my definition of gluten free does not include sauces that might have vinegar, items with modified food starch, etc - I call these things "minor gluten" and don't try to avoid them. I do avoid major gluten items, like pastas, cookies, crackers, breads, etc that have regular wheat flour/gluten in them. I am thankful that I don't have to be strict gluten free like someone with Celiac would have to be.

Eating gluten free hasn't done what I hoped it would do - I wanted it to help with reducing inflammation in body in hopes that my flares would be less painful. Well, not only were my flares painful this year, but I had my longest one ever since being diagnosed. Disappointing, yes, but there still is a glimmer of gluten free hope.

I have solid evidence now that my G.I issues are gluten related. How do I know? In December, I started slowly reintroducing gluten. I ate a piece of zucchini bread. No problems. I waited a few days, ate another piece of bread. No problems. Then I went a bit crazy while putting a goodie plate together for some friends and ended up eating two pieces of zucchini bread and a piece of poppy seed bread. Oh, did I pay for that. Horrible stomach cramps and let's just call it other G.I. issues. Even days later, I wasn't processing food like I normally do. So, I stopped with the bread experiments. When I got to Arizona, I munched on these awesome non-gluten free crackers my mom makes. They are addicting. And I over did it. Thankfully, the reaction wasn't as violent, but my body definitely wasn't happy. So, the great thing about this discovery, is that I can cheat when it comes to gluten, as long as it is in small amounts. This means, I can have a cookie that someone brings into work... A cookie (not 3). I can have a small piece of cake to celebrate someone's birthday.

So, I plan on smartly implementing the cheating plan and maintaining my gluten free diet because of the benefits that I have seen. I am calling my gluten free experiment a success, despite not getting the desired results.

Ode to IT band

It's always gotta be something right? :)

Before the Turkey Trot 10k, both of my knees were giving me some problems, they would hurt under the kneecaps after a run. After the Turkey Trot, my knees were yelling loudly me...it was like ground glass under my kneecaps and the insides of both knees were hurting. It went away after a few days. At the Reindeer Run 5k, the outside of my right knee started hurting after 1 mile. I finished the race, but was hurting pretty bad and gimping around at our traditional Starbucks stop. I had just started using a new running shoe (Brooks Ghost) - I loved them, but started wondering if they were the cause of the knee problems, because, thankfully, I've never had any knees issues (well, until I hit the 11 mile distance mark :) ). I went back to the running store and exchanged the Ghost for my usual Mizuno Wave Riders and went for a run - and was greeted with sharp pain down the side of my right knee. That's where the illiotibial band is...I rolled it out and iced it, but was still hobbling pretty badly the next day so it was off to my awesome chiropractor/PT inflictor, Dr Alice.

After chatting with her some about the knee pain, I think we've determined what the problem is: I've changed my stride when I run. I've subconsciously shortened my stride to reduce the impact/jarring that my back experiences when I run. Go figure. And it's affecting my biomechanics - hence the knee and IT band pain (but, no back pain!). So, the good news is, I can keep running - I'm not damaging anything, it's just going to hurt like the Dickens (where did that saying come from?) until I can retrain myself to not worry about my back hurting and just run like I used to run. I find the whole situation kinda funny, apparently there always has to be something wrong with me...but it keeps me humble and depending on God, so I'll keep welcoming the challenges. Oh and my knee is an awesome purple-y gray color now from the bruises inflicted by Dr. A (I told her my IT band hated her, and she just grinned at me and said that it would like her later. Whatever. Oh the pain of PT). But seriously glad to have Dr A to help me through all these bumps.

Finished projects!!!

My dining table arrived this morning!!! Here I am testing it out with the two rugs I bought:

Espresso/flax (it's not black and white) rug from West Elm


The Yasmin rug from Z Gallerie (sorry for the different angle- but you can see what the table looks like)

And the winner is...


Chevron rug!

Now, I initially was going to Anthropolgize some chairs I bought - intended for this table. I realize now they won't work - but they will work elsewhere...so, I'm on the hunt for some chairs - I want them mismatched - and definitely at least one ghost chair among them...stay tuned!

The shelves are up and after almost two years in boxes, my beloved books are on their shelves. I still have another bin to put up and I haven't started organizing them yet (yes, nerdy) But my room feels so much more ME now. :)

Turkey Trot and Reindeer Run

It's just SO awesome to post about races. I am incredibly thankful to be running again.

My running buddy, Lisa, and I did the Turkey Trot 10k (6.2 miles) on Thanksgiving morning. This was an interesting race for both of us, because neither of us really trained for it. I had only run up to 3 miles due to joint issues and a sinus infection, and she hadn't worked out since she finished her Half-Ironman three weeks prior (so, really, I was the one who hadn't trained...she definitely was ready for it :) ).

Two days before the race, I went and bought new running shoes because I couldn't stand my current ones - they were too stiff around the ankle, and I was finding that any distance over two miles was really starting to hurt. I figured running 6 miles in new running shoes couldn't be any worse than running in the horrible contraptions of Mizunos I had...and I was right...the new Brooks Ghost felt great (although, now I think they hate my knees...might be back to the revamped Mizunos...). We ran the entire thing (me giving my hips and knees a pep talk around mile 5.5) and averaged a 10:51 mile. Not bad for no training! :)

Post race, warming up with some coffee

Today was the Reindeer Run 5k. This was my debut-back-to-running race last year, where I was only able to run the last mile. Today, I ran the entire thing and averaged a 10:16 mile! My awesome running buddy was sweet to remind me today, when we hit the point where we had starting running last year "remember this time last year?" :) Yeah I do. And I am so thrilled to be feeling better and staggered by how much I have grown spiritually and emotionally during the past year and a half. It's been tough, and I still take it one day at a time, but God has been faithful throughout.

Pre-race photo, sporting our now traditional socks and antlers :)

Coming soon to a dining room near you...

It's time. Time to start putting a dining room together. The table I've been eyeing for awhile was on sale this weekend (priced even lower than the one on craiglist that I ran across!), so I ordered it. And then ordered two rugs and will see which works better. And then, scored some awesome tabletop decor as well. Can't wait to post pics of all of this assembled in my dining room :). Stay tuned!

This is the catalog picture of the dining table (Restoration Hardware)


Close-up of the table - it's made from reclaimed elm wood doors (so you still see the hinge marks, love that!) and steel


Rug option 1 (Z Gallerie) (this rug is actually blingier in person - pearly white and gold with beige)


Rug option 2 (West Elm). I heart chevron patterns. But this might be too bold. We'll see.


Found two of these on the Anthropologie sales table!

House Projects and Parents' visit

My Mom and Dad came to visit me for 5 days in October and it was awesome! Not only did we have fun chatting, watching movies, and seeing a bit more of the area, but they gave me some elbow grease and we got a TON done around the house...including the first project I ever started at the house!

But first, their trip couldn't be ALL work, so we went to Brazos Bend State Park and I introduced them to some alligators. It was a gorgeous day and we had a blast having a picnic lunch and playing Uno.

Me and the 'rents

THEN it was time to put them to work. Seriously, though, such a blessing to have them help out on some projects I've been putting off...like finishing the chair rail I started in the entry way over a year ago. They bought me a miter saw (drool!) for Christmas and I was having some serious issues getting the stand to balance properly (wobbly stand = poor cuts).

Dad working out the kinks in the stand while Mom worked her magic in the front yard weeding and tidying it up.


Perfect fit! I didn't even need to caulk it. My mom laughed at my Dad and I 'cause we were all sorts of high fiving each other over our awesome cutting job. :). Oh and I did paint it of course.


Mom making a REAL curtain out of the piece of fabric I just had draped over a curtain rod...


I'm doing these wall/bracket shelves for my massive amount of books. I couldn't do the drilling 'cause of my swollen hands/fingers, so Dad came to the rescue (he let me argue with the stud finder...it's a little unnerving revealing the building flaws/inconsistencies when you use one of those things...).


Today, I finally got around to starting the staining process for the wood we bought for the shelves while they were visiting - I wanted something chunky since 1) it would span about 4 feet and 2) I have a lot of books and 3) I wasn't going with fancy wood, just pine. I hand-sanded and then stained, I did not condition the wood because I wanted the stain to look less perfect (trying to match the vintage furniture I have in my room - bring on the blotchy streaks!)

First four shelves up! Two 12-foot boards will be on the top two brackets (uh, one set of brackets is missing 'cause I need to buy more). So two shelves will go right over the door. The stain came out decently, not a perfect match to the furniture though. I had a water base stained mixed called "American Walnut" but it didn't come out as orange/vintage-y as the sample. Still, it will work for now, I may restain with a more orange tinted stain later. I hope to finish staining the rest of the shelves this weekend and FINALLY unpack the 5 plastic bins of books that have been sitting around since I moved in.

Thanks for all the help Mom and Dad!