21 Days To Make A Habit

And, I'm 3 days in.

I realized over the last several months that I am the worst procrastinator when it comes to making myself do things that I am a) not good at or b) that require long term commitment. Unfortunately for me, losing the 60+ pounds I have packed on since hitting puberty (yes, it really has been that long) requires me coming to terms with BOTH of these issues.

I saw this picture on Pinterest and it made me laugh but smacked me in the face at the same time because I realized that I have exactly the same mentality.  Gym Avoidance

So, rather than plan out a perfect week with allotted times to do certain things, I realized that the only way I can change is one day at a time. It involves getting out of bed early and doing as much as I can before the babies are awake because it's the only time of day that Pete and I are both home at the moment. It means walking / jogging / running even though I can feel my butt cheeks jiggling around like a plate full of Jello and be painfully aware how out of shape I really am at this point. It means holding myself accountable for what I am eating. It means accepting the fact that my body requires different food at this stage in life. It means going to be earlier than usual. And, it means doing that every single day from this point forward. Otherwise, the change is never going to occur.

So, 3 days in is huge for me because it means for the past three days, I have rolled out of bed before 7am. I have jogged around my huge city block 3 days in a row. I have eaten better. I have had more water to drink. I have remembered to take my thyroid medication. I have gone to bed before 11pm.

It feels good.

Projects and Cranky Babies

What a week! And we're only halfway through!

My sweet, sweet husband volunteered himself to tear down and reconstruct a fence at my aunt's house along with patching some sheetrock, fixing a leak in the roof, patching the ceiling, and finding out what is causing the wall behind her washer to mold. She lives about 1.5 hours north of us so needless to say, he has been VERY busy and gone quite a bit this week.

In the meantime, Elliott has decided that 4 months is the perfect age to start the teething process. Poor baby. It is taking SO much longer for the first tooth to break through that it did for Jackson. Elliott is such a happy baby in most circumstances, but he just looks miserable at the moment. He has zero interest in chewing on anything cold and the baby Orajel does not seem to help at all either. He prefers his chubby little fingers and sitting in my lap over anything else. The only silver lining for him is that he's so tired from lack of napping during the day that he is sleeping REALLY well at night.

Jackson has been a trooper. He is used to me being able to read "The Very Cranky Bear" (or Kinky Bear, as he likes to call him) whenever the mood strikes him, but Elliott has had other plans. Jack just takes it in stride and finds something to entertain himself until Elliott nods off for a 10 min power nap. Then, he runs over with as many books as he can carry and we read them on rotation until Elliott needs me again. Other favorites at the moment include "Corduroy Goes To The Doctor," "Corduroy's Day," "Ten Little Puppies," and "How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Room?" I have all of those memorized, but he's not fooled at all. Even if he is holding the book and I'm saying the words, it's not going to work. He MUST be seated in my lap and able to turn the pages at the appropriate time. I am thinking / hoping we have about worn "Ten Little Puppies" out at this point. We get to "7 little puppies skiing in the snow..." and he will close the book and say, "THE END! NIGHT PUPPIES, NIGHT NIGHT!" which works for me! It has to be his idea, however. I tried skipping from 8 to 3 and he totally caught on to what I was doing.

I have concluded that the only way I can keep my energy going is to stay as active as possible from the time I wake up until it's time for bed. Today this consisted of making breakfast, cleaning the kitchen, reorganizing the pantry, doing 3 loads of laundry, cleaning the living room, cleaning Jackson's room, cleaning our bedroom, sprucing up the guest bathroom, sewing 3 throw pillows for Jackson's room, attaching the ribbons to 10 panels of fabric, attaching ribbons to a scarf, sewing 16 triangles for a pinterest project, making a meatloaf for dinner, and cutting up 4 pairs of Pete's jeans into 6x6 squares for my next project. Oh, and taking care of the boys, OF COURSE. I also tried something I had saved to one of my pinterest boards which was cleaning all of the fruit in my fridge with a vinager and water soak. The berries did great, but the apples were left with this powdery looking white substance that WILL NOT come off. I must have missed a step somewhere.

I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow. I think I feel like taking a nap at some point.

Progress

I am very pleased to report that in the space of two nap sessions today (boys napping, not Momma), I managed to piece together a quilt for Jackson AND a car seat blanket / quilt that is going to get gifted to someone at some point. I'm now waiting for the washer to finish so I can dry the car seat blanket and see if the ends have fringed like they are supposed to!

The blanket for Jackson is my first official attempt at quilting so I plan on finishing the quilting part by hand. Thank goodness I have my next disc of Judge John Deed in from Netflix so I have something to do while I'm watching TV.

Tomorrow, I plan to tackle a huge stack of baby gifts I am working on.

And, then I have to take the sewing machine back to my mother.

Time On My Hands (This has been sitting in Drafts since July 2011....oooops!)

Thanks to J being a very happy, cooperative baby yesterday, I did every single thing on my to do list which means that I am currently lounging in bed in my PJs, catching up on my online reading material, and listening to J giggle and laugh at something in his crib.



I have the entire day to do whatever sounds like fun. Since free days so rarely happen, I'm trying to compile a mental list of what J and I could do today. So far, it's looking pretty good. My only disappointment is that P had to work today. If all three of us were home, the day would be perfect because J loves having his dadddy home during the day...and I like it pretty well myself.



I had a really good conversation with an old friend yesterday. The kind of conversation that brings about clarity and revelation and resolution to some things that have been following me around for years. I know that getting older is a struggle for many people, but I am thankful for the aging / maturing process because it has made it easier to communicate and it has made it easier to wade through emotions that cloud issues and distort memories. Being older also has curbed a lot of my impulses. The ability to make myself stop and wait and really consider my actions PRIOR to taking them is also something I'm thankful for everyday. When I was younger, I would react in a split second to any kind of conflict or struggle and usually end up swinging to the opposite of what I thought I should do. It caused so many problems, strained so many relationships, and burned so many unnecessary bridges. It also allowed too many negative things to have acccess to my life. I wish I had taken the time to stop, detatch from my feelings (which can be quite deceptive), and truly evaluate what was going on, both within myself and around me. I can promise you that my life would look completely different.



And, that's not me detracting from the life that I have now. I love my son, my husband, my parents, my siblings, and my life in Oklahoma. I just wish I didn't have so many things that need to be addressed and dealt with in my heart and mind because of decisions I chose to make along the way. I probably sound like a broken record at this point, but, it's what weighs most heavily for whatever reason. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to work through it and hopefully, lay it to rest once and for all.

Paris 2005 - Part 8

Oh dear. Have no idea where June is getting away to! Apologizing for the slight pause on my memory lane trip. Back to Paris 2005....

Sacre Coeur! Wandering the neighborhood around Sacre Coeur was fascinating for a people watcher like myself. The buildings become much closer together and the "prettiness" around the Eiffel Tower fades away into the reality of people living their lives and going about their business. There were several little cafes and bakeries and most of the tourist shops were located in this neighborhood as well.

Very romantic city...in case you were wondering.

The only thing I did NOT like about Sacre Coeur were the French Algerians who lined the steps leading up to Sacre Coeur because it takes FOREVER to negotiate your way through the throngs of people trying to sell you things without getting caught up in the sales pitch or feeling like you are being pressed into the middle of a mob on slow days. I personally having found being willing to start saying the word, "Policier" in gradual volume increases does the trick of parting the crowd. You must be prepared to make a fool of yourself, however, because sometimes, it takes a while for an actual policeman to make his way over to you. And while we are on the subject of French policemen, can I just say that I find their uniforms the most dashing out of any policemen I have encountered on my world travels to date. Sadly, I was not able to think of a way to snap any pictures without making myself seem like a silly American. You'll just have to take my word for it. ;)

Paris 2005 - Part 7

As previously mentioned, I love traveling with my husband because he manages to find so many great spaces and places "off the beaten (tourist) path." One such place was a beautiful park on the outskirts of the city. We caught the metro to the end of the line and then walked about 10 min and almost out of nowhere, this beautiful green space around a lake emerges from the concrete and houses.

Paris 2005 - Part 6

Ah, the Louvre. I have been a total of three times now and have barely scratched the surface of what there is to see. The next time we go back, we want to block off the entire day and just wander from room to room, spending as much time as we want having a look. AND, while it was cool to see the Mona Lisa, it was not the most buzzworthy painting in the place, IMO.