Bathroom Rennovation and lots of swimming!

I had an amazing weekend!  Three whole days away from work.  I got my homework done early.  Because I knew that I had lots that I wanted to get done this weekend. I had pulled off the old and dilapidated wallpaper from my master bathroom walls last weekend.  So I was ready to paint.  I spent Saturday and Sunday painting and finishing.  I love it.  It is clean and looks so much better.  I am trying to do one room at a time.  My house is only 18 years old but it is need of repainting really badly.

 I now have three rooms done!  The two bathrooms and the boys bedroom.  My brother is an artist and this summer he spent two months in the boys room painting murals on the walls.  Adam loves dinosaurs and Cole is into Super Mario Brothers.  I will post some pictures of that with another post. I don't have access to them on this computer.  It turned out amazing!

I am thrilled to announce that my swimming laps is going very, very well.  I used to believe that I would always be the one on the side watching others do their laps in the pool.  Nichole and I have been treading water for 40 minutes for about a month now.  10 days ago I said to her,  you know we could be like those people in the lap pool.  She laughed at me.  I said "no, we could be, honest".  She smiled and said well lets give it a try.  So we started 10 days ago.  The first night it was for 15 minutes.  I thought I had died for a moment.  I could hardly breathe, my legs felt like razors were piercing them.  My heart felt like it was jumping or leaping from my chest.  The next night, it was still hard, but we made it the full 15 minutes.  Then something started to happen.  It began to get a little bit easier.  By the 4th day we had increased to 30 minutes.  I was actually swimming laps for 30 "freaking minutes".  I was amazed and not only that but I felt so accomplished.  Especially when I logged my exercise and realized how many calories were being burned by this effort.

I have been swimming laps  now, every day since last Monday!  Yesterday I swam for 45 minutes,  it is getting easier, to do it longer each and every time.  I am increasing it by 5 minutes when I can.  Nichole is amazing, she keeps me focused we both are doing this together.  I look forward to the time with her.  

My scale has been stuck for three weeks!  The increase in cardio was my tipping point.  I am back to losing.  I lost 2.6 pounds last week.  I know it is from the swimming.  I am addicted now.  I am looking forward to swimming every day!  I plan on just increasing my time slowly each day.

I hope everyone had as productive a weekend as I did.  We cooked out on Sunday and Monday with friends and that was really nice.  I am able to eat small amounts and feel satisfied.  I love this band.  It truly is my "best friend".