Some Goals for Today

I guess the challenge is doing what you plan to do regardless of what comes in the way.  Unfortunately I guess I didn't meet that challenge.  This family seems to come to it's knees in the wake of cold and flu season. Thankfully none of us have been hit really hard with a serious flu (knock on wood), but the general feeling of being unwell seems to be enough to knock us on our butt.  And all good intentions go out the window. 

I haven't slept well in quite a while.  I have a hard time letting my daughter be uncomfortable through the night, and while at age 5 she should be sleeping through the night - she's not.  Mostly due to her cold.  So I am up, sleeping in fits and spurts which means that while I was feeling better - I now have a cold too.  I woke this morning (very early) and forced myself to not lie around trying to go back to sleep.  Once dressed, I actually had a spring in my step.  I started making lists of everything I wanted to accomplish today.  I wrote some down on the fridge so I can have that wonderful feeling of scratching it off the list!  Then I sat down to drink my coffee and have breakfast and now I'm fighting my body for control.

So here are my goals for today.  The first has to do with a deep dark secret.  It's awful, it's humiliating but it has to be said so that I can deal with it.  I still have my Christmas tree up.  Don't dismiss the severity of this.  My tree isn't in the basement out of the view of visitors, it's in my front window in the middle of the living room.  So goal one, is to pack it all away once and for all.

Goal two is to clean the main level of the house and put away laundry.  Not a big deal for most people but I would seriously rather be taking a nap.

Goal three is to set up the wii.  I was waiting for the delivery of our new tv stand to come in today, but it's been delayed.  I have to set it up regardless because I've been using it as an excuse to not exercise.  I have not exercised once since my first post and my clothes are getting tighter not looser as was the plan.  There are so many other ways to exercise, but this has been my excuse.

There it is - I'm trying to keep it simple for now as I really want to take a nap today.  Plus, the snow is falling quite fast outside and I know I'm destined to clear the driveway at least once today.

First, I have a decision to make.  Do I make another pot of coffee or fill up the water reservoir in the Tassimo?  I'll clean up the kitchen and ponder the answer to that.  It's a great snow day to get things done around the house and hopefully my daughter is in an agreeable mood.

Now, where is that bottle of Baileys????

Challenge Accepted

I've been putting this off.  I said that I had to finally finish something.  I want to work hard at it, but also complete it.  I thought about all the things that I want to do and have been debating back and forth what I should do.  I would love to say that I will finally practice the guitar daily and become a good enough player that I can 'jam' with people.  I would like to be a better home owner and keep my house neat and clean.  And oh, the joy at thinking I could get at all my scrapbooking stuff!

However, my priority must be my health.  I need to lose weight and get into better shape.  If I think back to my first post and about who I want my daughter to be?  The answer is healthy.  I don't care what she does with her life, but I want her to value the body she has, make food choices that fuel it, and enjoy challenging it with exercise to remain healthy.

Late last year, I started at the Dr. Poon weight loss clinic.  I had a lot of problems adapting, and everything fell apart when I got too busy with work.  I still haven't started regular exercise.  So this is my challenge, what I want to finish.  I will get back on track and follow the program.  This alone helps my family as I refuse to make separate meals for everyone, so they eat what I eat.  I'm just starting to feel better from a nasty bug, but I will start first thing tomorrow.  My meal plan is done and mentally I'm ready (meaning all the chocolates have been thrown away). 

The other step I need to take is incorporating exercise into every day.  I can't say I'll start slow with only 4 days a week or something as I always change what days it is I need to exercise...  Every day.  30 minutes won't kill me, and I can tailor it to my mood at the beginning.  I'll start something more structured once I make it a habit.  For now, it's yoga on Thursdays.  This will be how I incorporate spending time with my family.  My daughter really likes yoga, and my husband needs to unwind.  I've scheduled some family time every Thursday evening for us all to stretch and meditate together.  Saturdays, we ice skate.  So that's two days taken care of, the rest I'll have to fit in somewhere.

By the end of 2011, I want to be at my goal weight, and not thinking of this as a diet.  I know that this is a lifestyle choice, and I'm sure that will come, but right now, it is hard.  In May, we have a family trip, and my goal by then is to accept what I look like in front of the camera. 

Hey, if I find time to get my house in order, pick up the guitar or scrapbook in the meantime, then great.  But my goal is to get healthy in 2011.  There, I said it so it must be true :)

New Year, Same Old Challenges

I am not a writer.  I have friends that blog that are so eloquent, and I always have things to say, but feel I lack the skills to say it appropriately.  My other problem is that I start something, just to never finish it.  I have decided that I will try blogging regardless, so bear with me.

There are so many things that I am interested in, and try everything, but feel I'm a little spread thin and I never do anything well.  I have many examples of this, but I'll leave it at that for now and maybe expand on it at another time.  I do believe this is my biggest character flaw.  So when it came to New Years resolutions, I gave great thought to what I wanted to focus on this year.  All of the standards came up, but before I settled on anything, I saw this:

"Imagine who you want your kids to become.  Be that."

I have a young daughter, and this really spoke to me.  Immediately I latched onto the idea, but that's when the trouble started.  What do I want her to become?  To me, she already has such personality, I don't think much about 'who' she'll become, she seems to already 'be' somebody.  I've been asking myself, what do I need to model so she learns from the best?  I know I'm only one of several people that will influence her, but I do want to teach her to be the best she can be.  I only have the most enormous respect for my own mother, and have only just began to see how I am just like her.  Teachers, bosses, friends have all influenced me, but in my 30's, with my own daughter, I have turned into my mother.

I am different from my mother.  But it is her character traits that are becoming more obvious to me.  So, again I started reflecting on what traits I'd like my own daughter to inherit from me.  Therefore, I have to be the best person I can be in order to teach my daughter the best.

I believe that brings me right back to the beginning of a new years resolution.  Whatever it is, I want to finish it.  I want to do it to the best of my ability and actually have an effect on myself.  Saying I would do this for myself has never worked before, so maybe by saying I will do it to be a good teacher for my daughter will make it so.