Week 4

 This week I have been able to finish up some rabbits, chicks, and carrots.  I have decided I will create at my own pace.  I am normally driven by customer requests and buying trends because I don't like disappointing anyone.  Well, I just can't do it.  I get way to burned out.  I don't want it to become a chore to create.  So, here are some pics to show.  I so enjoy creating these guys.  But as you can see it could probably get overwhelming and boring creating the same ones over and over.

I am also happy to report I'm still doing really well eating and have finally figured out my Fitbit app and how the calorie counting works.  It's great because it works in real time and tells you how many more calories you can eat without going over.  My progress... Since Jan 3rd... I'll take it!

Stay tuned as I have been doing some rug hooking in my spare time on weekends.  I'll update that soon.

Week 3

This week started out a bit rough. After I posted last week my weekend was a bit emotional. I hit a wall. Not literally, but I just couldn't function. I had no desire to craft, to get dressed, to leave the house, no anything. I analyzed my entire week, and while I had a busy week running here and there, I just couldn't figure it out. But then it hit me.  I was counting calories with my app and I had been undereating everyday all week. I had 0 energy, had not lost weight, and on Saturday binged all day. I felt horrible. But. This week I stepped up and have done much better. I'm down 1lbs and figuring out my food much better. 

That being said I'm getting busy this week. I felt like crafting so I am doing a little bit at a time so I don't get burned out. I have sheep, chicks, and rabbits in the works. 

Then today I drew out a hooked rug pattern. I want to do a hit or miss pattern with the hearts, but keep going back and forth how I want to proceed. I like tohave other things to do other than painting. Sometimes Bill and I will binge watch Netflix so I sit and hook or whatever in front of the TV. I can't do that with my painting. Plus I don't want to get burned out.  I also cut some wool last weekend hoping to get inspired and it helped.  I have so many ideas swimming around just not enough time to draw them out. The story of my life. 😊

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Week 2

 What a week! It has not gone as planned and I haven't gotten as much done as I had hoped.  Oh well, life happens and I'm learning to roll with it.  I'm trying to do what I can and not beat myself up over it.

I have been keeping up with eating better, but the exercise didn't happen this week. I truly just didn't have time.  Monday I took my Mom to an eye doctor appointment where the office motto is "hurry up and wait."  Once I brought my Mom back home I had to do a few odds and ends for her and my Dad.  I got home at 1:15pm just to turn around eat lunch and leave for work.  Tuesday my daughter and I had hair appointments.   We didn't get home again until after noon.  I ate lunch and left for work.  Wednesday was grocery shopping day.  Yesterday was my first day completely at home before work.  I baked a loaf of banana bread, laundry, loaded the dishwasher, and all the other stuff that I couldn't do before.

So, here we are Friday morning.  I'm going to look at the things I have been able to do.  I have learned to meal prep for work.  (This blog may be more for me then some of you because I am trying to track my journey. ) Anyway, this is a chicken and rice bowl with cilantro lime rice, taco seasoned chicken, peppers and onions , and kidney beans because I didn't have black beans or pinto beans.  I don't mind eating the same thing a couple days in a row, BUT by the last day, today, I'm ready for something else.

I have tried overnight oats before and wasn't a fan.  I have been looking for recipes and ideas to make it better. So far, using oats, almond milk, chia seeds, honey, and salt have made it better.  I don't care for the yogurt in it at this point.  I come home from work at 11:30p and prepare my oats for the next day.

Today I added some fresh berries and it was really good.

I also had time to make a salad in a jar.  I am new to this bandwagon.  Normally I just throw everything in a Tupperware bowl and go.  But I like the idea of prepping it ahead and just grabbing and going.  There is a method to it so certain things don't get soggy.  We'll find out if I did it right.  I did forget to put my eggs in the jar and didn't realize it until the end.  Guess I'll just take them with me and put them on when I dump the salad out on the plate.

I had originally bought these jars to craft with, BUT... don't they look pretty?  

I'm hoping to do some molding of some chcks and rabbits today so I'm going to cut this short.  Have a great day and stay tuned.

What IS Helping

 I know it's only the first few days of the year and everyone is gung ho on resolutions.  We start out strong and as time marches on we fizzle out.  So, I am not calling them resolutions.  These are goals I NEED to reach.  It's not a race to see how fast I get there.  In my heart I know this.  However, I'm very impatient!  I don't care what it is in my life I have a hard time waiting. I want it yesterday.

Things I have accomplished since Jan. 1

1. I have walked on my treadmill 3 days in a row.

2. I have cleaned out most of my kitchen cabinets.

3. I cleaned out the bottom of my dry sink.

4. I cleaned out under my basement stairs.  This will all be donated. YAY!!!!

5. I have made 1 trip to the thrift store.  I just need to load my most recent things from today. See above.

6. I am tracking what I eat and cutting back. This is actually a serving of soup. 1 cup... ugh. I'm going to starve before I get my house organized.😂

I think I have made great strides so far.  I only work an hour or so a day on it so I don't get overwhelmed. I think that planning my day, before I go to work is helping immensely.  I now work 2nd shift so I get more done during the day before work then I ever did working 1st shift.  I never felt like doing anything after getting dinner for everyone in the evenings.  Weekends were always spent running around doing errands and I still got nothing done.  

Tomorrow is a new day to make progress. I'm so proud of myself so far.  I am now going with my Dad to doctor appointments so I need to plan accordingly.  

Motivation

 Some people have a lot of motivation and some don't.  I think I'm in the middle somewhere.  Some days I can get a lot done and others I sit on the couch endlessly scrolling through my phone.  How do find motivation?  How do you make it last?  I wish I had an easy answer.

I can tell you watching videos of already fit people telling me how to lose weight doesn't work.  Obviously I know lose weight quick schemes don't work either.  For those who follow me on FB know 2 years ago I went on WW (Weight Watchers) and lost quite a bit of weight.  What was my motivation?  I was getting ready to buy new pants in a larger size than the current 16 I was wearing.  I walked into work one day and told my coworkers I needed to do something.  I found out our insurance covered part of the WW fee and I signed up.  A couple other coworkers did as well once they found out.  I did great... for awhile.  I stalled out after I lost about 35lbs.  As of today I have put a few pounds back on and need to get back at it.  So, today I got back on my treadmill.  I just need to be consistent. But what will help me do that?  I listened to old country music while I walked and let my mind drift.  It helped pass the time.

Yesterday, I cleaned out under my kitchen sink.  I felt so accomplished.  So, after walking away from doing that I remembered a video I saw about organizing and cleaning out clutter.  Listen I know you should break big jobs into smaller tasks, but that is hard for me.  I tackle the big thing and get burnt out and then it sits undone.  Back to the video.  The woman took a single cardboard box and filled it with stuff to get rid of.  Then that was it for the day.  Right now, I have a lot of boxes around here.  You'd think I was moving or something.  Anyway, I got myself a box. 

I began with one cupboard.  The one that has all of the drinking cups, glasses, mugs, travel mugs, and all that sort of stuff. I have my favorite mugs, cups, and glasses I use all the time.  I loaded up my box with those I haven't touched in YEARS.  What is my motivation?  HOPEFULLY my son will get this house to rent and he needs kitchen stuff. 

I ended up gaining momentum and did all the cabinets EXCEPT the plastic Tupperware/Rubbermaid cabinet.  That is a very overwhelming task that I will have to do by itself. I ended up with all kinds of stuff and told my son and his girlfriend to come look through it before I loaded it into my car to donate.  As I type this the box is sitting next to me and has not been loaded into my car. I have to run into town so I will load it and take it or else I will end up changing my mind and keeping it. 

I guess the point to this post is find something, someone, podcast, music, book, or whatever it takes if you need a push to be more motivated or productive.  How do you get motivated?  What helps you get things done?  I'm always looking for new ideas. I have got to clean the clutter out of here.  I am drowning.