The school year begins with a bang

With the bus coming nearly 90 minutes earlier than last year, our routines are in havoc.  Add that to being out of town for at least half of five weekends, and you have a recipe for disaster.  Lost keys, lost phones, lost work badges, found phones with no charge, missing sports schedules, and already one sick day from school.  This weekend is about rediscovering our routine and taking the time to prepare for the week before it's too late to do anything about missing items.

Here's to a good start.  I got out of bed at 7am when the cat woke me up.  Did two loads of laundry, cleaned up the kitchen (still have to load the dishwasher), balanced the checkbook, and checked progress for the rest of the year's household budget before anyone else got up.  When or daughter rose, I reminded her she needed to finish her project before she did anything else.  She is now working on that (after a little huff about my not letting her play on her ipod) and if she's made enough progress, we will do C25K together at 10am before the rain comes.  while she does that, I'll make my football picks, and then it will be off to the races of organization and catch up.  It feels good to be home.

Doing things the same way and expecting different results is the definition of...

Insanity!  My weight had not gone down in weeks, so I decided I needed to do something different.  In May, the power yoga class I attended regularly at the Y was cancelled, so I needed to find something else to fill that calorie burn void.  I added a 4:30 Wednesday class so our daughter could attend her 5pm piano lesson while I was in the loft at the crazy class.  Then I did some research because I thought lack of aerobic exercise was the case.  (That and my sweet tooth!)  I decided to do the Couch 2 5K program.  It took two weeks to prepare--downloading the podcasts, creating the schedule, and stocking up on more exercise clothes.  So I started doing the program on September 11.  I think this will help to jump start the weight loss.  I am now exercising six times per week with Fridays off and I have to watch the sweet tooth.  Here's hoping I'm down below 170 by Halloween, then at 165 by Thanksgiving.  Today is a C25K day, so I have to get it in before it begins to rain!

Making Peace with a Goal

I realized this week that it's silly for me to dread getting my rings sized so they fit.  They don't fit me even though I'm exercising regularly and have been for 7 1/2 months now.  It's likely that they won't fit me even when I hit the weight at which they used to fit me.  My joints are larger and my fingers are pudgier than they were years ago.  So I can just have the rings sized for our anniversary, giving me the pleasure of another item off my list and seeing the rings on my hand again.  Double the pleasure with no worries about it taking another year to get to my ultimate goal weight.  After all, it's about being healthy on the inside, not just looking good on the outside.  And it's worth doing the right way, so I'll keep at it as long as it takes to get there.  If my hands look good doing it, that's just another plus for me to enjoy.

Nothing's ever easy!

For a few months, the shades on our vanity light have been removed because the light fixture settled so the shades hit the door.  I decided I would take care of it on a day off. The glazier couldn't cut them, so I went to a lighting store to order particular shorter shades.  Turns out the fixtures are an odd size which they don't stock so the employee suggested I order online.  When I asked which site I might use, he told me to google it.  After days of searching and not finding anything with the fitter size he told me I needed, I found a site which explained how to measure for shades.  You measure the fixture, not the glass shade!  I heard the angels singing because the shade I need is indeed the standard 2 1/4 inch fitter.  So off I went online to find ones in a color and shape I liked.  I called the 800 number and was given good advice.  Order all three of whatever different ones I like and then return the ones I don't like.  Now the shades are installed and the box of ones to return sits at the top of my stairs.  One task down, eliminating the stress it caused me to see bare light bulbs and one more item on the list giving me visual stress at the stairs.  At least the items currently on the to do list aren't the same as the items on the list I started with!

Two months to accomplish Goal #2

I realized I have only 8 weeks left to get to the weight where my wedding and engagement rings fit me again.  That means I have 8 weeks to lose 10 pounds.  So yesterday when my daughter asked me to run with her (Yes, this is new.  We do not have runners in our family.), I said yes and alternated run, walk, run.  Tonight she asked me to do yoga with her, so I'm going to do that when this post is finished.

In addition to embracing this, I knocked off four more items on the vacation to do list.

Tomorrow I go to work early to prevent some stress, so I better get stretching so I can read for a little while after yoga and still get to bed at a decent time.

"Vacation" week

This is my long vacation week and I have accomplished a number of items on my to do list including:

• Read one book per day
• organize food cabinet in kitchen
• organize freezer
• organize fridge
• pick up the war-torn guest room
• catch up laundry
• weed the garden
• make the cats' vet appt.
• make the energy audit appt.
• drop of some clothes at the Rescue Mission
• drop off cans and bags to re-use at the library
• go to movies to see Rock of Ages
• water ski!!

Still to go with three days left:

• put strings up for peas in garden
• trim the tomato plants
• weed and organize the crafty area
• make REM's 5th grade memory book
• make REM's 6th grade memory book
• figure out a shelf set up for the cupboard over the bread box
• figure out how to fix the problem with the globes too long over the medicine chest
• grocery shopping
• make fruit salad for July 4th family gathering

Many of the remaining items are ones on the list of things I made in January.  That list is much shorter now, so I need to focus on the satisfaction of a place for everything and everything in its place.  One or two small things or one big thing each day/week and by the end of the year, you're where you want to be.  Oh, happiness!  You do not elude me!

One more cabinet is organized!

After weeding and organizing the kitchen cabinets, there were two left which needed shelves inside cavities that didn't lend themselves to organization.  Last night, after months of requesting, hubby brought home a shelf set to put into the large cabinet which used to house our small wall oven.  I organized the jumble of drinks, food (potatoes, onions, garlic) and it looks fantastic!  $20 and about 45 minutes between the two of us.  I've asked him to being one home for the the other cabinet.  Fingers crossed!