Everyone deserves respect... including me...

I admit I haven't done a poll but I have a feeling I'm not the only one in the "holy crap stop putting yourself last" boat. I buy food that tastes "meh" because the kids like it, stay up later than I wanted because someone wants to talk, and my room is decorated with whatever I could afford after buying stuff for the kids. I've struggled for years to carve some time out for myself, now I'm pushing for a little more.

This year my main treat for me is redecorating my bedroom. This is what I've done so far...

One of the first things I did this week is buy new curtains. My old curtains were floral sheers my Mom made a decade ago. I loved the curtains but they were a decade old and the blinds under them were almost as old and torn. I also picked up a new lamp (my previous lamp was fake brass with a beige shade... chosen because it was the cheapest lamp I liked). Yesterday I went out and bought storage baskets to put my files in and got rid of the ugly beige filing cabinet that used to be where the chair is now and got a smaller chocolate brown mat to go beside my bed (replacing a larger floral mat). My cat Oreo seems to think I bought the mat for him, he loves it. Eventually, when it's warmer out, I'll paint and will slowly work on art for the walls. I'm thinking of framing my own photos for the walls... pictures like this one I took today...

Today's been a wonderful day. I didn't work today so I got to sleep in. Sleeping in these days means I didn't get up until almost to 8am, but no alarm woke me and I got to lie in bed and relax until my stomach urged me out. Then I went on a walk with my Mom, sister, and youngest nephew (that's when I took the above picture). I went home and made pancakes for lunch. Don't tell my son but they were healthy pancakes, stuffed full of ground flax, natural peanut butter, and low fat yogourt. He devoured them. I had two, topped with a lot of thawed frozen fruit, a bit of syrup and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

After lunch my Mom, sister, daughter and I all went out to get our nails done (thanks to my Dad who got us the certificates for Christmas). I don't work tomorrow either (woo hoo... two days off in a row) so I got my nails painted too. I can't wear nail polish at work and will have to wash it off tomorrow evening. But for now my nails are blue-green and very glittery.

We all went back to my parents' house and had Chinese take-out. I was diet conscious and ordered vegetarian hot and sour soup to start then had one spring roll (as a treat) with mixed vegetables and almonds and steamed rice. My Dad and oldest nephew baked a cake yesterday so I had a small slice for dessert (also as a treat).

I'm still working on my diet journal. This is my last fully completed page (the one I started today obviously has only one picture). I've managed a picture each day and, even better, lost two pounds this week and two pounds last week. I'm back down to my 40lb loss... weighing 172lbs now from a weight of 212lbs on January 1st 2009. I'm looking forward to seeing how well I do for the rest of the month!