It's ok to say no.

If you were in my house last week, you would have seen a very excited me jumping around the room. I didn't win the lottery, find out I was pregnant or any huge thing like that. I simply put my jeans on...and they fit.

 photo credit: WarzauWynn via photopin cc

My weight has been known to fluctuate by 14kgs from Summer to Winter. This always went on for years and years until it stopped at the wrong end of the 14kg fluctuation. As time wore on, I gradually stopped fitting into a lot of my clothes and I stashed them away at the bottom of my drawers. Rather than blaming it on my eating habits, I put it down to the fact that I am getting older and that's just what happens- you put on weight. I had never felt the need to really do anything drastic about it as I wasn't overweight exactly. In fact, I didn't do anything about it until my skin forced me to go sugar free.

 I have had bad excema for years and know that it is linked to gluten and sugar. While I can maintain a 90% gluten free diet, I have always struggled to do sugar free for any lengthy period of time...up until a few weeks ago. My skin got so bad I knew I had to do something about it and so have just spent six weeks (with a 1.5 week gap in the middle while I wallowed in self pity) eating sugar free and plan on continuing it right up until the start of July. I honestly can't believe the huge effect it is having on my body. While it is helping my skin, I have also watched the excess weight I was carrying drop off as I am eating less junk food. I am feeling much more energetic and don't get the 3pm slump like I used to. It has really opened my eyes to the fact that, as much as I would like to deny it, I really was eating far too much junk food before. It is only until you have to start saying 'no' to dessert, to the 3pm chocolate bar, the morning tea cake and the sweet drinks that you realise how much junk food you would have normally shovelled into your body each and every day.

photo credit: PetitPlat - Stephanie Kilgast via photopin cc

As I have been eating sugar free, almost every time people have sat in front of me eating something sweet, they have apologised, asked if it is ok etc. I always respond with "Yes, of course". While some people may think it is a cruel form of torture, I see it as a good opportunity to remind myself that I can say 'no' to dessert, and it is ok. In the past I just had to take one look at dessert to be able to convince myself that I couldn't possibly say no to it. Now, I am not just wanting to avoid temptation; I want to be able to say no to eating junk food and to not need it. I think I am beginning to realise though that I actually need to start looking after my body more. While once upon a time I could be a bit more slack, the older I get the more I need to be extra vigilant. It's not just about losing weight (although that is a perk). It's about looking after my health and not allowing food to rule me.

Samara
xo

(All this said and done though- I can't wait to eat a nice chocolate bar. Although I think I'll spread it out over a couple of days...everything in moderation!)

Why painting is like childbirth (from a girl who has never given birth)

Joel and I just spent our weekend painting our bedroom. I decided a few months back that I was sick of cream and wanted to put our own 'touch' on our house. I'm not sure entirely how I managed to convince Joel that it was a good idea, but I did. Which is how I found myself at 10pm on Saturday night on the floor of my bedroom, covered in paint and insisting that I simply could not go on. You know all those home renovation television shows which make painting look like the easy part? Where the women look like they've stepped off the runway (albeit with some designer jeans and chambray shirt on) and they are all smiles as they paint multiple rooms in a 30 minute episode? Yeah, that wasn't me. In fact, I was on the opposite end of the spectrum. To say I really did not like painting is an understatement. It could be because Joel somehow convinced me that I was better at doing the edges and so had me doing them all day (at which point he would butt in and say he had to paint the ceiling, which is a fair call). Anyway, at one point during the day I found myself likening painting to childbirth . Here's why....

1. You spend months planning for one day.

There was a long lead up to 'painting day' and as the day came closer, I wasn't sure if I was looking forward to it or dreading it. I assume that's how pregnant women feel about their due date?

2. There's an awful lot of moaning and groaning.

At one point, if someone was standing outside our room listening to Joel and I, they could easily have been led to believe that I was in labour. I was moaning and groaning an awful lot towards the end as my arms started to become weary and my back started to ache. Joel, being the ever supportive husband that he is, was saying words of encouragement like "You're almost at the end", "You're doing a great job Samara" and "It'll be worth it in the end". I had to laugh at one point when I realised how ridiculous we sounded.

3. It hurts 

From what I hear from everyone, including men and those who have never given birth, childbirth hurts. What people don't tell you is so does painting. My hands have sore spots on them from the rollers, my back is so incredibly sore, my arms feel like I've been lifting weights and my body aches all over. Who knew painting was such an all over work out??

4. You forget the pain

Now that it is all done and our furniture is back in the room, I have forgotten how painful painting was. I love the end result. I found myself saying things like "It was all worth it Joel" and "I can't wait to paint our next room". Now, I know that there is some hormone or something released when a women gives birth that helps her to forget the pain she experienced...perhaps this is the same for painting?

In all seriousness, while the actual painting part was not heaps of fun, being alone in a room with Joel for a whole day was lovely...and we didn't even fight. Not even when Joel dripped white paint down the grey wall that I had just painted or when I walked white paint throughout the house (oops!). It's always nice to spend some quality time with each other over a can of paint.

Here are some before and after shots of our room- I love our new bedroom.I made sure the before shots were of our bedroom at its absolute worst, with junk everywhere, while the after shots are of a room that has not a thing out of place. If only it would stay like that...

I was pretty proud of this little 'upcycle'- I simply spray painted the brass to turn my old, dated light fitting into a pretty, 'new' light.

Are there any other paint-haters out there or are you one of those people who love it? (In which case, feel free to come and paint our loungeroom for us!)

Samara

xo

Remember that time I set myself some goals?

Do you remember at the start of the year when I set myself some goals? I thought it was about time we revisited them seeing as we are almost smack bang half way through the year. There's been some successes and some failures...

My Relationship with God
I wrote that I wanted to work on my Bible reading and start using She Reads Truth. This goal has had its highs and lows. During Lent I was reading the Bible using She Reads Truth every day. After life started to get busy and I started to get tired, this stopped. After being reminded by the lovely ladies in my prayer triplet about my Bible reading, I have decided to start it back up but no longer doing it in the morning when I am tired. I think this will always be a bit of a struggle, but a struggle worth fighting through, right? I also realised that my prayer life was almost non-existent. While I haven't quite worked this one out, I was convicted by a quote I heard somewhere that said something along the lines of "Pray everyday; not just on the days you want to". I have got "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" on my reading list as a helpful way to kick my butt back into gear (apparently it's a great book on prayer- if you too are like me and in a rut, perhaps you should also consider reading it).

Fitness

Oh man, this is the biggest, most epic fail ever. I said I wanted to join the gym or at least do some sort of exercise. I went to the gym to sign up and it was just so darn expensive and I had to get a year long membership. I don't want to sign up for a whole year or pay a butt load of money and it's cold and dark outside in the morning and evenings so I am a bit stuck with this one. Apparently "Insanity Workout" are some good DVDs to use, but again it is a big initial outlay to pay (although considerably less than a gym membership). I really should get onto this one, currently I am doing no exercise. Eek!

photo credit: deleted.scenes via photopin cc

Reading

Hurray! One I am actually succeeding at! I have read something like 6-7 books and am about to go on a tropical island holiday where no doubt at least one more book will be read, so I am well on my way to my goal of at least 10 books. I am loving reading, it is so good to get back into my beloved books.

Life

This is what I wrote at the start of the year "I don't even know exactly how to phrase this, but essentially I want to make sure that, by the end of next year, I am not in the same position where I am wondering where I am going with life. I want to be focused on something, whatever that may be. I want to reclaim my down time and stop letting stresses from work consume me so much."

In some ways I am going well with this, in other ways not. Life feels like it is going places and we are meeting some of the goals we had set ourselves. Joel and I are getting some savings behind us, he has gotten a new job and we're starting to make some solid progress towards some of our future plans. I think I am finally also just enjoying the present; the spontaneous dinner plans Joel and I can make, the weekends away, the lazy nights on the couch. It's all good. I still let work stress get to me however when you have more work to do then hours in the day, how can you not? I am getting slightly less anxious over it all though, so I suppose that's progress?

Loving Joel

I wanted to continue to be intentional with my love for Joel and focusing on our marriage. While there are always times that I could do this better, I can honestly say that not a day goes by where I don't express my love in some way, shape or form. Of course, there are moments where I totally suck at it, but I do think this is one area that I am growing in. I need to keep challenging myself to not just love Joel through words (which I find easy), but through actions (like telling him to go watch TV and while I do the dishes for him), which are often harder to do.

How are you going with the goals you set yourself at the start of the year?

Samara
xo

They Googled what??

Sometimes I like to check out what people have searched to come across my blog. I thought I would share with you some of the funnier ones from this year so far- some of them arefunny, some are weird and some are simply shocking. Let it be known that these come from a list of 500 different keywords used to find my blog; there are many more I could have included...

www.why i think samara's life must be celebrated.com

why do woman sometimes just want to cry

whose response to a marriage proposal in a movie was "yes, yes a thousand times yes"

what makes samara interesting

we're all jolly fellows

we have a monster living in the backyard

using kitchen scourer to exfoliate (Umm...no, just no)

thailand girlie men in samara film

show me were the country samara at

secret life crazy bunny lady

crazy rabbit lady

i have big feet

man with photo shopped makeup

i see old couples

girl rabbit teeth

bare feet in messy food

"happy birthday to me" toilet

And I thought the things that I Googled were weird!

Samara
xo

Thankful Thursday

Hi all,

Here's all the little things that I am thankful for over on my side of the world this week.

Laughter
Yesterday a workmate told me about how she discovered her young daughter using the hand towel in the bathroom to wipe her bottom instead of toilet paper because it was 'softer'. I have not laughed so hard in a long time and am still laughing over that story. I love laughing- it seriously is the best. I'm thankful to have things to laugh about in this life.

Sleep
On Monday night I didn't sleep a wink. I literally laid awake in bed all night. Oh my, it was like my own private hell. I actually couldn't believe it when it came to 6:10 and Joel's alarm went off and I realised that all chances of getting any sleep were gone; the day was beginning. Thank God the next night I got 11 sweet, sweet hours of sleep. I have never been so thankful for sleep in my life!

A patient husband
I think my body chose the wrong day to do an all-nighter as it happened to be the night before Joel's first day at his new job. In true Joel form though, he was super patient and understanding, even when I woke him up at 3am trying to cry myself to sleep. I really am thankful to have married someone with the patience of a saint, especially when I can be a bit trying at times.

A long weekend
We had a long weekend this week and were able to go stay at a friend's beach house with 5 other people. It was so good to have some time away with friends to relax. I got 3 episodes of Hart of Dixie watched, a book read, embroidered a tea towel for myself, did a bit of op shopping, played a few board games, watched movies and did a whole lot of chatting and eating. It was GOOD!

The view from the beach house

To have this quilt finished
I started this quilt a year ago, so I am super thankful to have finally finished it just in time for Dad's birthday (and Winter).

A photogenic bunny
Seriously, I feel so blessed to have such a cute, photogenic bunny. She really is such good company, I love having her around with me. She is especially curious when I am doing the washing. It must be Joel's stinky socks or something because she is constantly sniffing the clothes and watching me put them in the machine. So cute!

She kept biting on dad's quilt while I tried to take a selfie with it...so I put her in the sink. Logical, right?

Nibbles spying on me while I do the washing

What are you thankful for this week?

Samara
xo