S*** Just Got Real

Those of you who know me well know that I have a terrible potty mouth.  I apologize in advance for that, but I am what I am.  Thankfully, I no longer fill my mouth with foods that belong flushed down the potty.  Haha!!

Starting tomorrow, January 1, 2015,  shit.gets.real.  I mean, really real.  No more fake.  Be prepared to feel like crap for a few days.  Be prepared to be crabby.  I am prepared to receive your texts, emails, phone calls, whatever to help you out and answer questions.  If you eliminate sugar (like I am doing for 10 days) you will feel light headed, tired, lethargic, irritated, and well, shitty.  Completely cutting out sugar is optional, but I recommend at least doing it for detox.  If you choose to do the sugar detox no sugar besides natural sugar in fruit/veggies in allowed.  No honey or agave or maple syrup.  Nothing.

By joining this challenge you are making the following commitments:

1.  I will weigh myself in the next few days to see from where I start.  I will not let this number make me depressed.  This number is the beginning of something amazing.  This number doesn't define me.  This number is just one of the many ways I will chart my progress.  I will record this number and not speak of it again for at least a few weeks.

2.  I will drastically or completely limit my intake of added sugar and sweeteners.  In fact, for the next 10 days sugar and I are on a break.  I'm not kidding: the only added sugar I will eat is in my coffee.  Whole fruit is great; fruit juice is off limits.  Naturally occurring sugar in tomatoes and fruit and carrots, etc is acceptable.  Absolutely no artificial sweeteners.  They do bad, bad things to me (including destroying my gut's bacterial balance, giving me headaches and terrible farts, causing MS, increasing my risk of Type-2 diabetes and obesity and maybe even MS).  Eat a banana or have a pear.  I can do this!!  Sugar in all its forms is everywhere in everything.  Click on the link for a great list of all the ways sugar is listed on food labels.

3.  I will read the label of every food before I eat it.  Even better, I will eat foods that don't come with labels: fresh fruits and veggies!!  Any food with artificial sweeteners, colors, or flavors NEVER MAKES IT INTO MY BODY.  Any food with more than five ingredients NEVER MAKES IT INTO MY BODY.  Any food labeled "light" or "low fat" or "non fat" or "diet" NEVER MAKES IT INTO MY BODY.  Stop it.  Now.

4.  I will either start a food diary or log on to My Fitness Pal (or other ap) to keep track of what I eat and how much I exercise.

5.  I will exercise to the point where I am sweating at least 30 minutes 4 or more times per week.  I will be someone's exercise buddy.

6.  I will cook absolutely, positively everything I can from scratch (bread, tortillas, pasta sauce, pizza crust, etc).  I will ask my spouse to help me with meals if I feel overwhelmed.  My kids will help me clean up.  If I can't make it from scratch, I will read the label before I buy it to see what it's made of.  Every single label. Every time.  Look back at numbers 2 and 3 to know whether or not to put said food in your cart.  I will help my friends with food prep and planning if they ask.  I will ask for help when I need it.

7.  I will take time every day for myself.  I am the most important member of my family.  I am the heart and soul and stomach and brain.  I will let myself rest and restore.

So, that's the start of our commitment.  If we stick to these rules we can almost completely eliminate processed foods.  Remember: you have to pick your battles.  If you had a freaking terrible day and having to cook and clean up a meal would be the straw that breaks the camel's back then, hey, feed the kids scrambled eggs and toast (that's a pretty darn good, REAL meal) or a bowl of cereal and some apples.  Once we have these seven tasks mastered, we can expand.  So, if you're ready to get real and be the Best Me you can be...Let's do this!

A Few of My Food Friends

As I begin to look ahead to meal planning for the Best Me, I automatically start to consider my go-to recipes: my food friends.  Food friends are foods, meals and snacks that are tried and true easy and nutritious.  I want to encourage y'all to share your food friends, as well.  Without further ado...

1.  What do I always have on hand?

Produce:  bananas, apples, carrots, Brussels Sprouts, potatoes, garlic, beets, pears, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, celery, and spinach/greens.  These are almost always the cheapest produce, and everyone in my house will eat about 95% of them.  In the summer we have tons of produce and it's cheap!!  In the winter we live on carrots and apples.

Frozen produce: edamame, broccoli (Sam's Club has the best quality frozen broccoli, honest), mango (Trader Joe's), mixed fruit, corn, berries.  We eat a lot of smoothies, so I always have lots of frozen fruit.

Meat: whole chicken (Sam's Club has a two-pack of free range chickens for under $12), grass fed ground beef, ground Smart Chicken, ground pork.  I always have these things.  Always.  Any other meat I have is purchased when it is close-dated or on an amazing sale.

Grains/Nuts: quinoa, whole wheat pasta (Trader Joe's), steel cut oats, whole oats, Jasmine rice and sushi rice, wild rice, all-purpose and whole wheat flour.  Whole Foods and Trader Joe's both make a healthier, whole food macaroni and cheese that the kids love.  I always have a variety of nuts and seeds and dried fruit for snacks.  Nuts are expensive, but Trader Joe's has really good prices.  When I have extra money in the budget I buy coconut and almond flours.

Condiments/Canned:  Tomato paste in a tube, toasted sesame oil, tahini, garbanzos, pinto beans, black beans, olives, pickles, sea weed, pretty much every nut or seed butter, three different kinds of jelly.  Here's one of those times where I choose my battles...I buy canned tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Cans are, apparently, laced with chemicals, but I cannot afford a $3+ box of tomatoes.  I use too many.  I always have tons of homemade chicken stock in the freezer.

Dairy: whole milk, unsweetened coconut milk or hemp milk, cheese sticks, shredded cheese, lactose free half and half, tofuti sour cream.

Snacks: animal crackers, plain potato chips, toasted sea weed, rice crackers, ak-mak crackers, fruit strips, applesauce, dairy-free chocolate chips (Trader Joe's)

2.  What if I'm hungry??  Me, I'm always hungry.

Green tea is an amazing food friend!  You can get a big box of plain green tea at Trader Joe's, and it is very inexpensive.  I love my little plug-in tea pot, too.  Drink it iced in the summer.  Green tea has tons of health benefits.  If weight loss is part of your Best Me journey (like me!), then you should become friends with green tea.

3.  What's for supper tonight?

Whole chickens are my go-to supper food.  I cook two at a time, one in each slow cooker, like this:

Slice some onions, and put them in the bottom of the pot.  This keeps the chicken from soaking in its own juices all day and becoming soggy.  I only had one onion left, so I had to stretch it out.  Usually I slice two onions in half under each chicken.  

My favorite chicken...a two-pack for less than $12.  

Season the chicken.  If you are brave you can rub seasonings under the skin as well as on top.  Some folks don't like touching raw meat, and I totally understand.  Also, you can toss a frozen chicken in the slow cooker this way, and let it cook all day.  It's okay to forget to thaw!!  Yay!

Chicken #2 in slow cooker #2

I always hope to have one chicken for supper and one chicken for the next night.  If the kids are super hungry, sometimes the leftovers are scant.  In that case I usually make a chicken casserole of some kind.  Save the carcasses for broth!!

I promise to introduce you to more food friends throughout the next few months.  I hope that my food friends will help you plan healthy meals with very little extra effort so you can stop eating from a box or can or drive thru.

Choosing Your Battles

I love to cook. I love food. I love other people who love to cook. However, I know not everyone is a talented chef. (Side note: any recipes I share are relatively easy, I swear.)

I buy organic dairy...unless I stop at Super Saver where a half gallon of organic milk costs about as much as a gallon of organic milk at Trader Joe's. I buy Prarieland, instead. Always whole milk. Skim milk is basically like drinking sugar water. Organic milk is really not that much more expensive than conventional milk. Cheese is a different story entirely. Organic cheese is treated like gold and consumed accordingly.

I buy pastured beef straight from the farmer...except for when I run out and it isn't on sale at Whole Foods. (Side note: I can't pay $8/lb for anything). I buy whole, free range chickens at Sam's Club. I buy as much close-dated, reduced-price meat as I can get my hands on. I splurge on nitrate-free hot dogs and lunch meat, but I buy regular bacon.

I buy organic apples because we eat a ton of apples, but I can't afford organic strawberries. I don't buy organic avocados or bananas because we don't eat the peels. I can't buy only non-GMO, organic, humanely raised, hugged and kissed, read a bedtime story food. I can't. It's too expensive. However, you'd be surprised how affordable it is to eat a mostly whole, highly organic, and mostly un-processed diet.

We have a  garden in the summer, and I buy food from a crop share. I raise chickens in my backyard. I freeze close-dated (cheap) bananas, spinach, herbs, and whatever else I can in my deep freeze. Even though it's probably bleached, I buy pre-washed (though organic) salad, spinach, and greens. I just can't waste time washing and soaking and drying greens.

Part of my backyard flock

I can't always drive across town to Natural Grocers.  I can't just pop into Trader Joe's whenever I want.

Are you still with me?? I know it seems like I just said a whole lot of nothing, but I have a point: when it comes to eating and grocery shopping you have to choose your battles. The truth is that many of us cannot afford to purchase all organic foods. However, you can ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS afford whole, healthy food. You can get three pounds of bananas for the cost of a box of Hot Pockets, and I guarantee you the bananas are much better for you.

Eating lesson #1: choose your battles, plan your attack, and win the war against processed food!  The Best Me is determined to honor my body by eating as little processed food as possible.  It's a battle I know I can win.

My Yoga Brain

In my yoga classes I often discuss how yoga has changed my brain.  Yoga has changed me in many ways, but I am continually surprised at how yoga philosophy inspires the way I think and the way I organize my thoughts.  I'm sharing this because as I start planning the Best Me challenge I know I will approach it with my yoga brain.  As we set our goals and plan our meals and exercise our bodies, I will constantly be considering how each goal will impact us in mind, body, and spirit.

When I plan meals I see food as fuel not only for myself but for my family, as well.  I remember how carefully I ate while I was pregnant and nursing.  I remember how I honored and cared for my body.  Why did I stop having this same reverence for myself after I was done nourishing children??  I deserve to have healthy food just as much as my kids.  In fact, I don't deserve healthy food...I need it to to survive and thrive.

However, when I plan meals I also consider how I will feel emotionally after I eat the meal.  Will I feel guilty for indulging in a greasy burger?  Will I feel full?  Will I be proud that my plate was filled with fresh veggies?  We all know that what we eat can not only make us feel full physically.  We can feel emotionally burdened with guilt or regret.  WHY DID I EAT THAT?!!  More on letting go of guilt later on.  We can feel refreshed and fortified. We can have a sense of accomplishment when we don't overeat. When you take the time to plan meals I think you will find yourself less rushed...which means you won't be eating prepackaged foods. That feels soooooooo good. One of my biggest goals for this project is encouraging you to cook meals at home absolutely as often as possible, and I don't mean popping a Stouffer's lasagna in the oven. You will remove almost all of the guilt from your eating if you make as much as you can from scratch. I promise.

Meal time is also an amazing opportunity to sit down with your family and discuss the day. I want meal time to be enjoyable for everyone, so sometimes that means preparing meals that the kids love but maybe aren't nutritionally the best choice. My kids love pigs in a blanket, and even though I use nitrate free hotdogs and make my own "blankets" from scratch, it still isn't a meal I'd feel good about feeding them every night. However, I feel good knowing that I made something they love and something they will probably look back on fondly when they are older.

The point of all this? I hope that you, too, can begin to analyze each goal on your Best Me journey with a yoga brain. I hope you begin asking yourself how decisions impact you not only physically but also mentally and spiritually. I believe that if you can find a yoga brain of your own your journey will be much more enjoyable.

Namaste, friends! I leave you with some photos of me using my yoga brain. :-)

New Year, the Best You

I see that it has been awhile since I've posted...that's about to change.  Why?  Because I'm about to start devoting more time to not only making myself the best I can be, but I'm also going to embark on a "Best You" challenge with a few friends.

What makes you the best??  The answer will be different for everyone.  Here's what I think our goals might be:

1.  Use food as fuel and honor our bodies by eating foods that are worthy of eating.  Does that mean we can't eat junk food?  Of course not!  Food isn't ONLY for fuel.  Food is fun and satisfying and emotional and makes us happy.  However, we put so much into our bodies that just doesn't belong there.   We'll work together to plan meals and talk about what we should and should not be eating.  I want you to see how affordable it can be to eat whole foods.  I want you to forever eliminate certain foods from your grocery list (microwave meals, canned soup, Hot Pockets, soda...bye bye).

2.  Exercise to support useful, strong, supple bodies.  Forget six-pack abs, cellulite-free thighs, or perky boobs.  That shit just ain't happening.  We should be exercising so that we can chase our kids.  We should exercise to build strong bones and flexible muscles.  We should exercise so we have energy and calm and confidence and coordination.

3.  Create a village.  By creating this challenge I hope to create a village of people who are here to support, defend, encourage, and lead each other.  Being the best you can be is so much more than physical health and appearance.   Make friends.  Feed friendships that already exist.

4.  Do more yoga.  I know.  I'm biased.  I could preach forever about the benefits, but I'll keep it simple.  Do more yoga.  Period.

5.  Let go.  Let go of any resentment you have toward your body.  Appreciate it for what it does and not just for how it looks.  Let go of toxic relationships.  Some people aren't meant to come along with you on your journey to the best you.  Let go of comparison.  Your body is yours, and her body is hers.  That's it.  Stop comparing apples and oranges.

6.  Lose weight.  Weight loss usually isn't on my list of goals, but I know that carrying too much fat on our bodies is harmful.  The difference with this challenge is that I will never, ever encourage you to be a certain size or weight.  I want your body to be healthy and functional.  I want your body to ache because of a workout not because it's tired from carrying around extra weight.

7.  Drink more water. Enough said.

8.  Finally, stress less.  I hope that by putting all these pieces together you will have the tools you need to handle stress.   Research shows that stress can prevent you from losing weight and can, in fact, make you fat.  Healthy mind.  Healthy body.  Healthy Spirit.

So, that's a start.  I'll have some work to do getting everything together because I've never embarked on a challenge like this with other people.  So, let's get to work!

Birthday #35

How does it feel to be 35 years old??  The short answer is GREAT! The long answer is that I feel like I don't really know where the last 20 years of my life went, but a lot of really crazy shit happened and now I'm here!

I truly feel that I am more centered and able to appreciate the day-to-day goings on of my life.  It's unfortunate that it took me so long to get here, but there is a saying that goes something like, "youth is wasted on the young."  I would say that my 34th year of life brought lots of changes (new job for the hubs, house fire, adjustments to hotel life and then readjustment to home life), but the one I've noticed the most is that I've become ridiculously laid-back.

I would say that I was never really the most high strung person, but I definitely liked things a certain way at a certain time in a certain order.  I made list after list after list.  I felt like I had too much "stuff" to manage and never had time to slow down.  When I went grocery shopping I looked through every store's weekly ad, wrote down what I needed from each store, and then mapped out in which order I would make each stop.  I had a binder dedicated to coupons and lists and shopping plans.  I felt organized, but really I was micromanaging my life and causing myself unnecessary stress. 

No more of that nonsense. 

Now that we eat more whole foods and less processed stuff coupons don't really matter.  There aren't a lot of coupons out there for organic produce.  I make a menu plan (well, sometimes), and I buy what I need for my plan.  Sure, my grocery bill has gone up, but I feel a million times better about what we eat.  I don't stress out about grocery shopping anymore, and that feels really good.

I've stopped worrying about if Soren's clothes match in the morning.  If she thinks it looks good, then who am I to judge?  I don't make the kids clean their rooms everyday.  I make time to have lunch with my friends and lead free yoga classes and deliver diapers to people who can't afford them.  I send lots of texts to loved ones.  

I've stopped glorifying busy.  Heck, I rarely even put makeup on anymore.  There was a time when I would go to the gym with makeup on.  Seriously.

If only I could get Colby on board.  That's my goal for year #35.  He needs to take some advice from Disney's Frozen and "Let It Go."

For my annual birthday get together this year we kept it pretty low key.  I invited some people over to invade my friend Brynn's house since she has more room than I do.  We ate, played games, had a few drinks, and stayed up later than 11pm.  Her husband grilled meat while the rest of us polished off a few bottles of wine.  

Brynn and me with games and what looks to be one of the wine coolers Brynn thought, "must be good because Nicki Minaj was on the commercial."  Oh, Brynnie.

Mask from New Year's Eve that I didn't get to wear because Brynn's kids got the stomach flu, so we couldn't go out.  She got them out for this special occasion instead.

Me with some of the party guests.

Lighting the candles on my birthday dessert

Opening my present from Brynn with a little help from a photobomber

Brynn gave me a horse mask to cover up my "ugly face."  It's an inside joke. 

 So, here's to year #35.  May it continue to bring obstacles to conquer, intentions to meet, and people to love.

Ready to Garden

Although we know it's a little early to plant flowers outside, the girls and I are so anxious to get into the garden!!  I was discussing this with one of my yoga regulars, and he showed up to class one day with hundreds of little marigolds he got from a local greenhouse.  He gave them to me and said, "Don't put them outside until after May 15!"

Obviously, we have also discussed my green thumb...or lack thereof.

The girls excitedly and gently pulled each small stem to replant them into the cartons I was also given.  It took them the better part of three hours to replant all the baby plants, and when they were done I brought them all inside.  I promise not to plant them outside until after May 15.  If they survive that long. (see previous comment about green thumb)

Making New Friends

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we became the proud "parents" of two sick kittens a few weeks ago.  When we first got them I thought they hated us; they ran away and hid from us at any and all opportunities.  As it turns out, they were actually just deathly ill.  As soon as they came home from the hospital they were like totally different kittens.  Now, they are little furry bundles of purrs and kisses and snuggles.  

You can probably see where I belong in this picture...

Even old man Jefferson is warming up to the kittens.  Who can resist?

While we're on the subject of making new friends, I have to tell an interesting little story about the baby shower I threw for my friend Iryna.   I put together a sweet little get together for my Belarusian friend who s having her third baby...but her first baby born in the good old US of A.  She's never had an American baby shower, and she's actually sort of shy, so I wanted to throw her an intimate shower.  Turns out, baby had other plans.  Still only 36 weeks along, Iryna started having contractions about an hour before our scheduled shower and was put on bed rest until she's 37 weeks.  So, I threw the shower without her and met some very nice ladies over coffee and dessert.  I met five of these ladies (and the two kids) through yoga, which is where I also met Iryna.  One of these women is from Ukraine, and another is from Tajikistan.  Two are from Spain.  How amazing is it that I know women from all over the world here in little old Lincoln, NE?!  And it's all thanks to yoga.  Healthy body, healthy mind, healthy friendships.

Best.Bread.Ever.

It wouldn't be fair for me not to share this sandwich bread recipe.  There is so much amazing packed into these loaves.  I can't even explain it.  If you've never made bread before then this is your opportunity to make the most amazing bread ever on the face of the earth.  

Julia Child knows her stuff.

House Update

We are finally getting stuff up on the walls in the house.

The girls helped make some wreaths for their wall, and I paired them some cute prints off of Etsy (which I got for free because of a loooooong shipment delay) and some owl wall decals.

Thought I'd throw in a photo of the girlies in their natural habitat.

I also ordered some amazingly cute prints for the dining room from Etsy.  I added some fabric to embroidery hoops, and now we've got a pretty nice little wall.  The prints say: "I like to mix it up," "Rollin' with my homies," and "Let the beet drop."  I hope by the end of the weekend I'll have the remainder of the upstairs wall art hung, and next week I'll be on the hunt for some more frames for our master bedroom wall art.

Pretty Packages

My fellow blogger and friend, Sassafras Mama, always posts the sweetly wrapped gifts she so lovingly prepares for her loved ones.  Hoping to one day be as cool as her, I decided I should start by trying to wrap my own pretty package.

Okay, truth be told: my friend was bringing her new baby boy over for a visit, and I had a baby yoga book to give her.  I haven't gotten around to buying wrapping paper, so I had to use what was on hand, namely a Trader Joe's sack and some fabric scraps.

I was pretty proud of the results, and Sara was very happy with the book.  Her baby, by the way, is the cutest thing I've ever seen.  He smelled just like a little newborn baby should, made those cute little baby grunts and gurgles, and slept like a champ through all of Auntie Nichole's shenanigans.  He made my ovaries ache!  Lucky for me his mama had lots of stories about hours-long crying binges, acid reflux, and pulling all-nighters.  Ovary ache all gone.

Kittens!!

All I wanted for my birthday (which isn't until April) was two kittens to fill the void left by the loss of Penny and Sheldon.  My sneaky husband actually kept a secret for once and surprised me with these guys:

We named them Watson and Bogart.  We fell in love with them right away.  And then only a few days after they joined us they got gravely ill.  They had distemper, a nasty virus that almost killed them.  They were hospitalized for four days on the verge of death.  I really needed them to pull through after losing two cats in a fire and two other cats due to health problems.  Cats number five and six seemed not long for this world, but despite all the odds against them, they survived.

Oh my, are they sweet.  They are little purring machines.

Deathly ill kitten (which we didn't know at the time) trying to find a warm place to sleep.  Bogart continues to be our little climber and face snuggler.  He also loves coffee.

This photo was taken after the kittens got home from their hospitalization.  Watson (in the front) is much more curious than his brother.

The dogs quickly got used to having new cats around after checking out our new house mates.

Here's to enjoying the last of your nine lives, boys!  We are so happy you decided to fight to come home to us!

We're Home!

Four months in a hotel.  Four months eating mostly food someone else cooked, food that probably came from a box.  Four months of housekeeping coming every day to empty the trash and run the dishwasher.  Four months without the dogs.  Four months since we lost our beloved cats.  Four months since I slept in my own bed.  Four months of driving back to our neighborhood to take the kids to school and do chicken chores.

Four months.

And now, home.  Home.

Even though the entire interior of the house is remodeled, it feels like we never left.  Our family's memories and moments and spirit are still here.  The fire didn't take any of that.  In fact, having a completely remodeled house isn't like putting on a new, ill-fitting, need-to-be-broken-in pair of shoes.  It seems to me that I've slipped right back into my years old Ugg boots that never leave my feet in the winter.  The girls have gone right back to keeping their room as messy as possible.  The bathroom towel still doesn't get hung up after the kids wipe their hands.  The same sunshine greets us in the front window each morning.  I would give up new cupboards and new floors and new furniture to have our cats back, and I hope that someday guilt won't shoot through me when I think of them.  For now, all the bright, shiny newness will be a little tarnished by their loss.

We still don't have anything hung on the walls, and our hurry to unpack has been somewhat derailed by a constant battle with a nasty virus cycling through the family.  I've been down for days and am only now feeling like a human again.  The house is definitely livable, welcoming, and functioning despite its lack of home decor.  So, here's the tour:

First, the kitchen and dining room...I realized after I uploaded these photos that I didn't really take a good picture of the whole kitchen, just parts of it.  I gained quite a bit of counter and cupboard space with our upgrades (which I am LOVING).  The double oven has also been a well worth the money upgrade for me.  We still don't have any curtains for the deck door, but I've just been too sick to go do any shopping.

The living room...The walls are what I'd call Tiffany Blue with just a little extra green.  It is hard to really appreciate the wall color in photos, but it is quite bright and uplifting.  We went for a vintage look in the living room.  We chose vintage-inspired furniture and fabric for the curtains.  A note about all the curtains in the house: Colby made them with (lots of) help from my step mom.

Two of my favorite blonds on our area rug.  Love them!

No more smoke-damaged door!  The door was the last thing they replaced.

We splurged a little on the railing here.  It was worth it.

Jefferson feels right at home, too.

Colby picked out an orange recliner.  It looks so nice.

The upstairs bathroom is pink and gray.  The old bathroom was in desperate need of upgrading, more so than the other rooms in the house.

The kids enjoy having their own room again.

Brody has a football-themed room complete with Chicago Bears curtains made by dad.

The girls' room is in a perpetual state of messy.  Just the way they like it.

The girls now have a sturdy table that can be made bigger to compensate for all their art projects and sewing.  Soren needs lots of room to play school.  

Dade's room seems typical of a teenage boy, pretty low key.

Probably the heaviest piece of furniture we purchased was Dade's dresser.  The thing is a monster.

The master bedroom is nice and cozy.  We bought a faux fire place to hold the television and keep us warm.   The blue color is much more navy blue than the photos show and isn't quite so bright.  We were able to save our bedroom furniture and have it restored after the fire because it was located downstairs (smoke and heat rise).

Colby picked out Star Wars fabric for our curtains.  I got the fancy mattress; he got the Star Wars curtains,

The large walk-in closets Colby built when we originally remodeled our master bedroom a few years ago look really nice with some new shelves and fresh paint.

While we were in Texas, Colby's dad built us some awesome washer/dryer stands in the laundry room.  Now I can shove baskets of dirty laundry underneath and out of the way.  We replaced the bathroom sink/vanity with a large utility sink.  Now I can fill a mop bucket easily, and Colby can stick his whole dirt-covered arm under the faucet instead of just half his hand.

And that's what we've got so far.  I'm excited to get decorations and photos up on the walls.  I'll post photos as we finish.

We're home!