Monday, January 28, 2013

Spring Cleaning

Can it really be called spring cleaning if I'm doing it in the winter?  I repinned this pin from Oprah.com the other day and have been using it as a cleaning guide. 
Pinned Image
I believe the title stated something like Spring Cleaning in 8 Hours.  Of course, I was hooked.  Wow, spring cleaning done in 8 hours?  Well I'm six hours in and seriously doubt I will be done in two more hours.  However, the article provides some really good info. 
I worked three hours on Friday on the Kids' room (Dos and Tres'), the main hallway, the kids' bathroom, and the kitchen.  I worked an hour on the Living Room, Dining Room, Laundry room and side hallway on Saturday and about two hours today on the Toy Room and finishing the windows of the Living and Dining Rooms.  I believe the plan would work best for a one bedroom, one bath home.  With a four bedroom, two and a half bath home I'm still working the plan.  I have yet to complete: the Master bedroom and en suite bathroom, half bath, Uno's bedroom, and Quattro's bedroom.  I'm not sure if I could get everything done in eight straight hours due to the size of the house but also I would really need to have the house all to myself for eight straight hours and I'm just not sure that is possible. 
What I do like about this plan is that the author tells you in what order to work your rooms.  For example, in the Kids' Room I:
1.  Dusted the fan, wiped down the walls, and vacuumed.
2.  Aired the room out by raising the windows.
3.  Stripped the beds and flipped the mattresses.
4.  Put on new sheets.
5.  Wiped down the baseboards and washed them.
6.  Swept the floors.

We put the house on the market this Friday.  We are still on the fence as to whether we should list it for sale by owner or with a realtor.  Your thoughts?

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Friday Weigh-In #2

I tried to post this yesterday ( I was just way too tired Friday) but there was problems with the site.  So, here I am today. 
I weighed Friday and my weight was 165.8.  Yes, yes I did gain two pounds not lose two pounds like I had hoped.  Welcome to my life of trying to lose weight.  Now, no matter how down I can get about the gain, I'm still holding on to the belief that this time will be different.  I am determined to stay the course and lose the weight I have set out to.  I just may post the good, the bad, and the ugly along the way:)
To recap the last week, I'll look at the pros and the cons. 
Pros:
1.  I exercised 6 out of seven days.
2.  I did log my eating on MyFitnessPal each day.
 
Cons:
1.  I went over my calorie limit 5 out of 7 days.
2.  I refuse to eat healthy food which obviously is detrimental to weight loss.  There's something in me that would rather starve to the point where I eat everything in sight instead of pick up the carrot and eat it. 
 
So, for this week my goal is to stay within my calorie limit each day.  I don't think I'll set a pound goal. (I probably will I can't seem to get away from wanting to see the numbers change)  Okay, so what do we think of a three pound loss?  Or should I stay with two?

Friday, January 18, 2013

Friday Weigh-In

I'm still surprised that as of November I had no goals, no aspirations for the new year.  Boy did that change by the end of December.  As stated previously, I have five B-SHAGs (Big Scary Hairy Audacious Goals) and my number one B-SHAG is probably my scariest, hairiest one to me: lose 45 pounds. 
Why is it that we get hung up on the same things over and over?  For me, food is my downfall.  To those that do not know me, I'm 4'10" which translates into my weight shows up in spades on me.  After Quattro (after being the key word), I weighed 170 pounds.  170 pounds on a 4'10" lady is a lot.  So I decided I would lose 50 pounds.  I think I wished I would lose 50 pounds.  As a result, I lost a total of 5 pounds in all of 2012 but at least it was a loss. 
Sunday, I believe was a turning point for me; however, I believe my prayer life has helped me come up with the B-SHAGs I've created for this year starting back in November. What I mean is, I believe the Lord has been doing some prep work in my life. On Sunday, my pastor said something, something that when I take it out of context seems silly and ridiculous.  He said, "God will make the impossible, possible".  I get that other people are facing major obstacles: job loss, disease, divorce, etc.  But for me, my weight has been an impossibility for as long as I can remember.  Not that I've always been overweight but I've never been petite like my mom and sister who are 4'9" and 4'8" respectively. I've made years of poor choices and exhibited lack of self-control.  Those choices really became an issue back in 2009.  I wanted to get pregnant again and Tres was two so I thought it was a good time.  However, I'd been crying over anything and everything, breaking out with acne (I was fortunate, I didn't have acne in high school - at all), moody, and irregular cycles.  I went to a holistic store and bought hormone cream and thought that would do the trick.  Finally, I went to see my doctor (probably should have done that first).  What I didn't realize was the hormone cream was acting similar to birth control pills (which I have never taken due to personal beliefs) in the fact that the cream was forcing me to have a regular cycle.  The regular cycle made me think everything was okay.  So my doctor did blood work on me and revealed that the hormone levels in my blood were showing I had PCOS.  Poly cystic Ovarian Syndrome.  For me, this condition was weight related.  Translation?  My body wasn't ovulating and insulin resistance was a big factor.  I was devastated but honestly didn't know what it all meant.  Over time, I've become more familiar with the syndrome.  At the time I was 160 pounds and began working out and lost 5 pounds.  In April 2011, I became pregnant with Quattro and I was pumped!  However, 155 was the heaviest I had ever been starting a pregnancy.  By the time I went in to the hospital to deliver Quattro, I weighed 186 pounds!  Too much for a 4'10" girl. 
Fast forward to the end of 2012 and I finally went to see a doctor because I was so tired everyday.  Now my big issue: Insulin Resistance, a precursor to diabetes.  And why do I have this?  My weight.  The good news and the "Aha! moment" all at the same time?  This is not a life long condition.  It can be COMPLETELY reversed with weight loss.  I am intelligent individual - now is the time to change my condition.  So the reason for this long post?  I am going to detail out my plan, open the door for any comments you may have, and finally, post my weight as of today.  I will track my progress toward achieving my #1 B-SHAG.
Since praying Sunday that God would make this impossible thing in my life possible, I have been listening to any guidance or encouragement as related to me losing weight.  I noticed a post on a news site about a man that lost over 125 pounds by counting calories and I was intrigued.  You see, the only times I have seen significant improvement in my weight has been when I count calories.  Well this guy did just that.  He still ate foods he loved, he just counted calories and moved.  He's documented his success on his blog 344pounds and I'm liking what he has to say.  I'm currently reading his book, "344: How I lost 125 pounds by counting calories" via Numero Uno's  Kindle Fire.
Here's my plan:
1.  I will track my caloric intake via MyFitnessPal.  My daily allotment is 1500 calories.
2.  I will exercise for 15 minutes a day plus do 5 set ups and 5 push ups.  Monday through Saturday.
3.  I will lose two pounds per week.
4.  Sundays will be my absolute free day (eat whatever and no exercise).  In the event that I do not lose two pounds in a week, I forfeit my free day.





 
This is me, in all my glory:)  We do not own a full length mirror (I'm sure my weight has had something to do with that decision as well).  As of today, I weigh 163.6 pounds.  I'll post next Friday my progress. 
 
Now, to tackle this messy house:)

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Snow Day!

Quattro has woke up at 5:45 a.m. the last two days.  So, for today, I'm on my game. Putting up clothes while pretending I have the vocal capabilities of Nate Ruess, who, by the way, is my latest fave. 
I have worked on this hall closet for two days now, shredding three bags full of old paperwork, throwing away old items, returning odd items to their home and yet the closet does not yet feel amazing.  Here's my before pic....
 
And after my work, this is what I have to show off...
 

 
I was really wanting the WOW factor and I'm not feeling it.  Grant it, it does look better than it did but I doubt I make any Pinterest boards anytime soon:)  Maybe I will work on it more tomorrow or when Bowl Full of Lemons covers it on her 14 week program. 
 
On a lighter note...we had school called off at 12:00 and have had a fun snow day!  I even made hot cocoa from The Pioneer Woman's recipe:)  Yummo!
 

 
Happy Snow Day!!!

Monday, January 14, 2013

A Plan

I have a bad habit of becoming excited about a task and jumping in it in the middle.  I somehow bypass the beginning, forget the labor of the finish, and get knee deep in whatever the task may be.  Today, the task is closet and pantry organization.  I spent the afternoon organizing the kids' closet.  From the pictures it may not looked organized to you but trust me this is a LARGE improvement from the former state of the closet.
 

Now, I am attacking my pantry.  As you know I have stumbled upon the Bowl Full of Lemons site and am following her 14 week decluttering program.  Week #1 was the kitchen, Week #2 was the garage, and Week #3 is the pantry.  I think I may be done with the pantry tonight so I will see what this week will hold for me.  However, I'm big talk right now considering the contents of my pantry are currently strewn across my entire kitchen. 

...well, I couldn't post my pics last night so I finally googled the problem and fixed it today!  And I did finish the pantry and am excited to tackle Quattro's closet today.  Here's the pantry:
Everything displayed all over my kitchen.
I cleaned each shelf and swept the floor.
Ta da!  Finished product.
 
 
 
For me, the best piece of advice I gleaned from A Bowl Full of Lemons was to take all the empty bins and storage containers I had available and display them on the counter. Although the image is a little blurry, you can see my empty storage container across the top of my cabinet counter.  As I cleaned out my pantry I created a list of categories in my pantry then matched those categories with available storage bins.  Now I did not put everything in a container like she does but what I did helped streamline and sort my available food supply.
 
Now that I have figured out my Blogger problem and organized the pantry and closet, I must now tackle the rest of the day!



Friday, January 11, 2013

Freezer Cooking

I really have to have a structured plan in order to have supper prepared for my family.  I lack the creativity to come up with meals on my own.  Typically I dread the meal time not because I don't like to cook but that I don't know what to make.  With lures of freezer meal pins, plus my BFF participating in a Freezer Meal cooking group at her church, I have been in search of help for my dinner dilemma. 
As I've shared before, a lot of the pins list tons of soups but not a real plan for me to follow.  I really like this pin.
Pinned Image
It's from FabulesslyFrugal.  Thus far, this is the best site for organizing freezer meal cooking as well as including some great recipe ideas. 
Right now my list includes one thing:
1.  Plan and list meals for the next two weeks.
Okay, now I've added more to my list:
2.  Make shopping list from the four stores I will visit tomorrow (CVS, Walgreens, Target, and Wal-Mart) then match up sale items with my menu.
3.  Try to prepare at least to make-ahead meals tomorrow. 

Well this will keep me pretty busy, good night!


Thursday, January 10, 2013

Progress Report

As eternal as the comments are of "time flies", I still am amazed at how quickly the days pass.  It has already been over a week since my last post.  I want to accomplish each of my B-SHAGS this year but am a little overwhelmed at which process to pursue to accomplish these goals. I have just been incredibly hungry for knowledge about people that have experienced success in there lives.  What methods worked for them?  What character traits do they possess?  I recently checked out Good to Great from the library.  It is one of Dave Ramsey's recommended books. I'm very excited about the information provided in the book. 

My sister recently informed me that ADD is hereditary.  After talking to her, things that I have always found odd behavior for my family, I'm now considering, "do we all have ADD?"  If I do have ADD, I would find humor in this considering I was a special education teacher for six years.  One would think I would have identified myself before now:)  So in using the term loosely I now can kinda understand why my thoughts jump from subject to subject and why I seem to have a difficult time completing mundane tasks. For now, what have I been doing?  I made a schedule for my daily routine.  I got to thinking, elementary teachers usually list out their daily routine so the kids will know what to expect out of the day so why not do that myself?  And it's really helped.  I started with what time I need to get up in the morning all the way through til when I need to get in bed.  Now I know there is always something for me to be doing. 

Weight Loss is being monitored but my progress is dismal at this point.  I'm not sure why I do this but I get pretty angry when having to watch what I eat.  I know this is a good move for me but until I see some real results, I'm typically ill until then - poor Numero Uno.  I did work out this week and have stopped eating by 7:30 p.m. each day.  We'll see how I do when I weigh in this Saturday.  My family and friends have been very encouraging which I take as a blessing from the Lord.  I know they all want to see me healthier.  My Fitness Pal is still a big source of help for me. 

As far as selling our home, I am working on decluttering the house and getting it ready to put on the market.  I am following A Bowl Full of Lemons 14 week program.  This woman is amazing!  I will admit though I still struggle with being paralyzed with a feeling of being overwhelmed when I look at my clutter.  Right now I'm working on my garage and I will say this website has encouraged me to buy more storage containers, label more, and throw away or donate what I do not use.  I have already made two trips this week to the local thrift store to make donations:)  I will try to post some pics before this week is up. 

I would like to set up a better method of progress tracking.  Hopefully, I will accomplish that task this weekend.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

B-SHAGs

I have been looking forward to this post since November.  But honestly it has taken this long to formulate my very own B-SHAGs. This past November, my pastor shared with the church the B-SHAGs he had for the upcoming year.  Might I add, very wise of him to do this in November since December brings chaos for families everywhere with the holiday season. What is a B-SHAG?  A Big Hairy, Scary, Audacious Goal.  Listening to the vision he had for our congregation was awe inspiring yet left me bewildered.  What were my Big Hairy, Scary, Audacious Goals?  I drew a blank.  I had nothing to challenge me.  Had I gone so long of not setting any goals that I had a blank slate staring back at me for aspirations?  Now, I am old enough to realize there seasons of life.  Seasons of growth and seasons of pruning; seasons of change and seasons of stagnate life.  I would say 2011 and 2012 were changes and prunings which sometimes felt like a cutting knife to my heart.  I set no goals save maybe the one of survival.
I love the scripture that is a warning and yet beautiful that says, "where there is no vision, the people perish."  Without your eye on the prize, what will you achieve?  What work is to be done?  If I have the ability, why not do it?  In these questions there is hope and desire and excitement - traits missing from my repertoire of emotions here lately. 
So, it took me some time.  I asked questions of  my friends ( I love asking questions, it's an annoyance to most, but I really want to learn).  Some of my friends gave careful thoughts to their plans for 2013 and others vowed to make no goals.  I did get tickled at how we all label our ideals: "goals, love lists, plans, ideas".  Each person seems to give the resolutions a different name but I think we want the same in the end: success, productivity, growth, change.
Well, what are mine?  What did I consider BIG? That without God's help I'm doomed to fail?  The good news about humans is that each of us, each of us, are at different levels.  What is minuscule to one is insurmountable to another.  Here is my list of B-SHAGs as well as some of my "ideas" for this new year:

B-SHAGs:
1. I will lose 45 pounds.
2. I will complete a 5k and a 10k with my "success" run being at the Shrimpfest down at the Gulf.
3.  We will get out of debt.
4.  I will "coupon" our way to our 10th anniversary trip.
5.  We will sell our house.

Ideas:
1.  Read more.
2.  Speak less, listen more.
3.  Play pretend with my daughter.
4.  Say, "yes" to my kids as much as I can, and a firm, "no" when necessary.
5.  Complete acts of service.
6.  Take a road trip with my BFF.
7.  Set up at least 6 play dates for my kids throughout the year.
8.  Give.
9.  Love more.
10.  Forgive A LOT more.
11.  Use reusable bags when going to the grocery store.
12.  Sew curtains for the living room.
13.  Markedly declutter my home.
14.  Plan get togethers with other couples that both my husband and I enjoy spending time with.
15.  Blog weekly.
16.  Clean the baseboards of my house.
17.  Leave my house by 7:30 each morning so my kids will arrive at school on time.

As far as tracking my progress, I believe this blog will be my best source of support and consistency. 
What are your New Year resolutions?  What do you want to change or improve?  What's your plan of action?  Do you have any B-SHAGs?

About Me

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I'm a thirty-three year old stay-at-home mom to four beautiful children. I am daily learning what it means to be a Christian who loves God.