Finding My Way

We were pummeled with 17” of snow over the weekend.  School was even called off on Monday and pretty much the whole town was shut down.  Pretty surreal considering we normally have this little bubble that protects us from all the major snowstorms. 

That wasn’t the only bubble that burst.  My healthy habits bubble burst as well.  I wish I could pop in here and say how peachy keen everything is going for me and that this new me is loving the changes healthy habits I’m trying to incorporate into my life.  But I can’t because I’m not.  This is hard.  For me, the hardest part is that my whole family isn’t on board with me.  It’s just me (less sugar) against them (lotsa sugar).

Maybe it’s not that I’m not enjoying the changes…I just haven’t fully adjusted.  I broke down allowed myself to have sweets last week.  One day it was 2 jellybeans, the next it was ice cream, then some gobstoppers, and it seems that now I can’t stop.  The first week when I cut back on sugar I did fine.  Then the second week has been a whole ‘nother story.  I’m trying my hardest to remember this is a journey, not an overnight “ta-da!”.  One day at a time. 

The other main habit I was trying to incorporate for April is to wake up by 7 a.m each morning.  I’m sure you are wondering how that’s going for me.  Yeah, not so well.  I have only been up before 7 three or so days this month, which is pretty frustrating.  I know that it would help if I could actually get my butt in bed before 11:30, but I’m going to be honest and say that I haven’t really been trying that hard.  Most nights my head hits the pillow at 11:30 and I’m out within a few minutes.

As for exercise, I’m still keeping up.  I even went so far as to restart the C25K.  I’m not starting over from the very beginning, I decided to start at week 6.  I did w6d1 yesterday and felt pretty good afterwards.  No foot pain!  I have been having some slight hip pain though, and I’m not sure if it’s from the walking at home video or what.  It’s not uber painful though, so for now I’m just pushing through, with the help of Advil.

Even though this week was less than perfect, I do have one good thing that happened.  Weigh-in was at 171!!! 

Thoughts from you?  Any suggestions on how to make myself get out of bed earlier each morning?

Focus

As I said in my last post, SparkPeople is running a #RiseandShine Challenge for the month of April.  Basically, they want you to take time for yourself by waking up and starting your day with a healthy breakfast and/or exercise first thing.  I already wake up and eat a healthy breakfast, but I still don’t have make time to exercise first thing.  Therefore, I kind of turned April into my own challenge.  I’m challenging myself to get my booty to bed by 11:30 and to wake up by 7 a.m. so I can eat my breakfast before having to deal with the hustle and bustle known as breakfast time with 3 kids. 

Most of you are probably thinking that this isn’t really any sort of challenge, but for me, it’s tough!  My whole life, I’ve been a night-owl, usually staying up until 1-2 a.m.  Since having kids, I really haven’t changed too much, I’m still usually up until at least midnight, sometimes even 1-1:30 a.m – only to be woken up bright and early by one or all of the kiddos.  Talk about a crabby mama!

I started my challenge on April 1st, and honestly haven’t been doing so well.  Out of the 9 days so far, I’ve only been awake at 7 a.m. three times.  Two of them being yesterday and today.  I am totally giving credit to my new little fitbit that I bought for myself and the little silent alarm that vibrates me out of bed!  lol.

I’ve also decided to start tracking my “healthy habits”.  I got the idea from a multi-behavior reward chart that is supposed to help children with their behavior.  This is my tracker:

The habits I’m tracking are

1. Wake up at 7 a.m.  Like I said earlier, I’m not doing so well here.  Ultimately my goal is to wake up and exercise right away, but for now, I’m just working on getting up at 7!
2. Exercise 30 minutes.  I’m giving myself two rest days a week, otherwise I feel like I’m going to burn myself out.  I finally received my 3 workout DVDs in the mail and so far I am loving them!  Plus, spring never seems like it’s going to get here is just around the corner so I foresee myself heading outside for my walks.
3. Drink my water.  My aim is 8 cups daily, but will take whatever I get.  I do notice I seem to eat less when I drink more water.
4. Less sugar.  Notice I didn’t say NO sugar?  For me, it’s all about balance.  Obviously I was taking in way too much sugar, even though I wasn’t drinking pop.  My sugar overload came in the form of candy, cookies, and ice cream on a very daily basis.  So, I’ve decided to cut it out of my daily intake.  You’ll notice on my tracker sheet that I still allowed myself to have a piece of birthday cake at a party that I went to over the weekend.
5. More fruits and veggies.  My daily goal is 3-5, but mostly I just aim to have a piece of fruit for my snacks and also a fruit or veggie with my lunch and supper. 
6. Track ALL of my food.  The number one thing I give credit to my pounds disappearing!  Okay, and my willpower to resist all the sugary goodness still lurking in my cupboards.  Honestly though, when I wasn’t tracking, I didn’t give a whoop what I put in my mouth.
7. Lights out by 11:30.  Not to repeat myself, but I’m a night owl.  This is tough.  Ultimately I would like to get myself to bed by 10:30.  I’m hoping this will help me be a much happier person.

Whew, this is getting to be quite the lengthy post.  If you stuck by me, thank you.  I truly appreciate it! I would like to close by telling you that I weighed in this morning and I saw a loss…again.  {I’m totally doing the happy dance right now}  I’m down another two pounds, bringing me to 172!!

How was your week?  Have you been adding in any healthy habits?

A New Month, A New ME!

Oh, boy.  I’m not even sure where to begin.  I’m sure you (the whole one person who reads this) noticed that I took a semi-hiatus from my blog.  Other than the fact that I plain and simple just gave up on myself, I have no good reason for ignoring this little ol’ blog of mine.

On that note, Hi!!  {Insert me waving hello!}  As I mentioned above, I pretty much gave up on myself.  I had quite the pity party for me as for why I can’t figure out this weight-loss thing.  I mean I’ve been working on losing those last 10 lbs. since last summer, only to have gained an extra 10 lbs. in the meantime.  Obviously my eating was out of control and I just didn’t seem to want to do anything about it.

I do feel as though I’ve been working my butt off, exercise wise.  I’ve been doing the c25k and have gotten all the way to week 8 day 1.  Yup, I’ve ran for 28 minutes straight!  Seriously!?  I didn’t ever think I would be able to run for longer than 30 seconds.  Heck, when I hit week 4 of the c25k and had to run for 5-minutes I thought it was over.  But, I persevered and just kept pushing my way through. 

Then, the foot pain started, right about the time I started running for 20+ minutes at a time.  I’ve tried a couple of different things to relieve it, both of which didn’t.  In the meantime, I’ve taken the past week and a half off from running, hoping to give my foot a little relief.  I also returned the new pair of shoes and orthotics that I thought might help, but didn’t make the pain any better.  While at the shoe store today, I had the lady measure my foot so I knew exactly what size I should be getting. 

Funny how you think you know what size shoes you wear because you’ve worn the same size since like 7th grade.  Even funnier - while pregnant with my kiddos I remember hearing that some women’s feet grow while they are pregnant.  I felt so lucky that didn’t happen to me throughout my three pregnancies.  Guess the joke is on me as my feet really did grow.  When the lady measured my foot, I measured past the 10.  Past it!  I’ve always only bought size 10.  Pretty sure this would be why I’ve been having foot pain for the past YEAR!

So, here’s what I have realized in the three weeks I’ve been away: 

1. Consuming sugar, and lots of it, will not help with weight loss
2. I’m not losing because I’m not tracking
3. The reason I’m having constant foot pain isn’t because I need orthotics or a foot doctor – rather, I need the right SIZE shoes!
4. Walking really does my body good!

I’m not sure what came over me this month but I’ve really, honestly been trying my damnedest to stay dedicated to myself and my health.  Since the calendar changed to April 1st, I’ve been more focused and able to resist the candy & cookies; I’ve been very dedicated to my food tracker at SparkPeople (and even staying in range!!); and best of all, I’m beginning to move more and I feel so good!! 

On Tuesday, March 26 I weighed in at 176.  I forgot to weigh myself this past Tuesday so I decided to do it on Wednesday.  174!  So two pounds down and I’ve only put in the effort for 4 days.  Totally motivating if you ask me.  Now, the old me would be “rewarding” myself with all of my kids’ Easter candy or the best chocolate chip cookies made by Aunt Sandy (6 dozen that she sent home with us).  The new me is totally rejuvenated and ready for spring!  We’ve had gorgeous weather (40s & 50s) which makes it super nice to be outside.

That’s my past three weeks in a nutshell.  SparkPeople is running a #RiseandShine Challenge for April.  I’ve decided to partake and will update what exactly this means for me with my next blog.  Along with the #RiseandShine Challenge, I’ve started tracking my healthy habits this month so that I can see and celebrate my triumphs, big and small.  I’ll also update you with those healthy habits that I’m trying to reestablish into my life.

Tuesday Weigh-In…late again

=(  Why am I either IN or OUT?  I need to find my happy medium so I can get this scale moving down!  I stayed the same this weigh-in, which I’m fine with.  I mean I obviously would have been happy to see the scale go down, but like I said before, I have to really start putting in more effort.  It’s like I try and try and try, only to sabotage myself later with cookies or ice cream.  I have to get this moderation thing under control because I’m outta control right now.  I was talking with a friend today and told her about my poor eating habits.  She said when she started running she was always wanting to eat too.  She recommended those little cheese wedges, but I completely forgot to check for them at Target tonight.  I am 100% proud of myself today as far as eating – Pretty good on portion sizes, NO cookies or ice cream and only ONE Frootie tootsie roll (normally it would be like 50!).  Progress baby! =)  As for exercise, I was on a roll last week and repeated week 6 of C25K.  I also had Jillian kick my booty with the 30 Day Shred.  Then I took a break and didn’t go back to my routine the next day. =(  I started up again yesterday with w6d3 of c25k and will be starting week 7 tomorrow.
Here are my stats for the week:
12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI): 173
01/08/13 WI: 171.5 (-1.5)
01/15/13 GW: 170 WI: 173 (+1.5)
01/22/13 GW: 168.5 WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13 GW: 167 WI: 172.5 (-2!!)
02/05/13 GW: 171 WI:  174.5 (+2)
02/12/13 GW: 169.5  WI: 172.5 (-2)
02/19/13 GW: 168  WI:  176 (+3.5)
02/26/13 GW: 166.5  WI:  175 (-1)
03/05/13  GW:  174  WI:  176.5 (+1.5)
03/12/13  GW: 175 WI:  176.5 (no change)
03/19/13  GW: 175 WI: 
03/26/13  GW:  173.5  WI:
My goal this week is to keep up the momentum with minimal candy, and no ice cream treats or cookies!  Did you reach your goal for the week?  What are your goals for the upcoming week?

***edited to add - I just remembered why I made myself take a break last week from Friday - Monday.  My baby boy has a double ear infection and strep throat and had pretty much been glued to me the entire four days.  He's on the mend though after being on an antibiotic so am hoping he keeps getting better.***

Tuesday Weigh-In…A Day Late

Okay, well, here I stand…so utterly embarrassed.  I know I can’t hide forever though just because the scale isn’t going the way I want it to go.  The scale might move in the right direction if I actually put forth some effort.  I’m still trying to figure out why I just don’t seem to care.  The scale keeps going up, uP, UP and I don’t find myself doing a damn thing to change the old habits that crept back into my life.

Basically, the entire last week of February I just gave up the exercise and continued to give into any and every thing that has sugar in it.

Even though I didn’t report my weight last week, I did do a weigh-in.  I was just too embarrassed.  I don’t even know why, I thought for sure you’d be proud of me since I actually lost a pound.  However, as you can see from my chart, I went back up 1.5 pounds this week.  I am still way over my goal weight from the end of February.

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI): 173
01/08/13 WI: 171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13 GW: 170 WI: 173 (+1.5)
01/22/13 GW: 168.5 WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13 GW: 167 WI: 172.5 (-2!!)
02/05/13 GW: 171 WI:  174.5 (+2)
02/12/13 GW: 169.5  WI: 172.5 (-2)
02/19/13 GW: 168  WI:  176 (+3.5)
02/26/13 GW: 166.5  WI:  175 (-1)
03/05/13  GW:  174  WI:  176.5 (+1.5)
03/12/13  GW: 175

I really need to find my inner strength to do this.  My “sugar baby” keeps on growing and growing and I’m really not comfortable anymore.  I’ve been doing great this week for exercise…Sunday and Tuesday I did the C25K.  Monday and Wednesday I found myself grueling my way through the 30 Day Shred.  I’m still working on getting my eating under control.  I really need to get my portions in check.  Obviously.  That and my late night snacking, which I completely blame on Mr. Chaotic. 

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Tuesday Weigh-In

Did it again.  The scale moved up, up, up.  =(  I’m 100% positive that I gave up on myself last week after a very crabby night with Mr. Chaotic.  Healthy food?  Yeah right!  Exercise?  What’s that?  I was furious at him so rather than turn to the treadmill for a run, I just gave up altogether.  Stupid, huh!

Here are my stats:

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI): 173
01/08/13 WI: 171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13 GW: 170 WI: 173 (+1.5)
01/22/13 GW: 168.5 WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13 GW: 167 WI: 172.5 (-2!!)
02/05/13 GW: 171 WI:  174.5 (+2)
02/12/13 GW: 169.5  WI: 172.5 (-2)
02/19/13 GW: 168  WI:  176 (3.5)
02/26/13 GW: 166.5

As you can see, my self-sabotage really affected my weight this week.  But, rather than beat myself up about it, I made the decision to just get over it and get on with my progress.  I did W5D3 of the C25K on Sunday.  I had to run for 20 minutes straight!  It says it was supposed to be 2 miles, but I’m pretty slow on my treadmill, so it was more like 1.5 miles.  But, the point is I ran for 20 minutes without stopping!!!!

Have you been where I am?  Any advice for how to deal with self-sabotage would be greatly appreciated.

Tuesday Weigh-In

I feel like I had a much better week, though I’m still a sucker for sugar.  My eating wasn’t out of control crazy, but I still need to relearn portions.  I hit my weekly cardio goal of four days last week, completing Week 4 of the C25K.  Dare I say I’m actually starting to enjoy running?  I’m sure I just jinxed myself and now I’m going to get an injury.  As for strength training last week I didn’t make goal as I only did it one day.

Here are my stats:

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI): 173
01/08/13 WI: 171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13 GW: 170 WI: 173 (+1.5)
01/22/13 GW: 168.5 WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13 GW: 167 WI: 172.5 (-2!!)
02/05/13 GW: 171 WI:  174.5 (+2)
02/12/13 GW: 169.5  WI: 172.5 (-2)
02/19/13 GW: 168
02/26/13 GW: 166.5

The positive is that I lost this week!  As you can see though, I keep gaining and losing those same two dang pounds.  I’m hoping to change that.  I’ve increased my protein by adding protein powder to my smoothies.  I’ve been trying to have oatmeal for breakfast most days and eggs (1 egg, 2 whites) or salad (with chicken breast) for lunch.

I also came across an article on the benefits of an Omega 3-6-9 supplement.  The article said that the blend of fatty acids helps regulate blood sugar and hormones to reduce sugar cravings.  It also aids in weight loss, boosts the immune system, helps the digestive system, plus improves the appearance of your skin, hair, and nails.  The instant I saw that it reduces sugar cravings, I thought I have to give it a try.  I went to the health food store yesterday and found a supplement in soft gel form.

My goals for this week are to keep up with the C25K (week 5) and keep my portions in check and my sugar consumption low.  I’m also going to continue increasing my protein and taking my new Omega 3-6-9 supplement along with my other daily vitamins in hopes that it helps reduce my sugar cravings.

Are you making an effort towards your health?  Just start with 10 minutes a day and before you know it you’ll be up to 30.

**Disclaimer:  Obviously, I am not a professional so please consult with a physician before altering your diet, medications or starting an exercise program.

Tuesday Weigh-In

What goes up and down, up and down, up and down?  Roller coaster, you say?  Wrong!  It’s my weight and it’s making me really, really frustrated! =(

I did a much better job at making exercise a priority this week – including strength training.  However, my eating suffered, severely.  Like they say, “you can’t out-exercise a bad diet.”   I thought I had the week under control and then we ended up getting pizza in Thursday night (I’ll spare you the excuses), which meant leftovers, which meant I had to eat it for lunch on Friday.  Plus, we had a birthday party on Saturday at a pizza place with pizza and cake plus lots of candy in the goodie bags.  I didn’t go WAY overboard, but I know I had more than I should have.

Here are my stats:

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI): 173
01/08/13 WI: 171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13 GW: 170 WI: 173 (+1.5)
01/22/13 GW: 168.5 WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13 GW: 167 WI: 172.5 (-2!!)
02/05/13 GW: 171 WI:  174.5 (+2)
02/12/13 GW: 169.5
02/19/13 GW: 168
02/26/13 GW: 166.5

See.  So frustrating!  You’d think I’d just work through this already, but I’m having a really tough time.  This week my goals are to continue my workout regimen that I set up last week, including Sunday as a rest day.  So, 4 days of cardio and 2 days of strength. 

I’m also going to be incorporating more protein into my daily intake.  I stopped at the nutrition store today and ended up leaving with three different flavored tubs of protein powder!  I read somewhere that a lot of times the sugar craving is because you’re missing out on protein so I am hoping this will curb the sugar addiction!  Also, as long as I exercise, I’m pretty good about getting in my eight cups of water each day.  I’ve also started drinking green tea w/honey daily.  Some days I even have 2 cups! 

Progress, not perfection.  Any advice on how to get out of this rut I’ve put myself in?

Tuesday Weigh-In

We meet again, Tuesday.  This time, with much better results!  The scale moved {in the right direction} this week!  Yay!  Go me!  I’m pumped and totally ready to do this!  That being said, I still didn’t reach my end of January goal weight due to the excess slacking I did the entire month! Grrrr…..:-/

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI):  173
01/08/13 WI:  171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13  GW:  170  WI:  173 (+1.5)
01/22/13  GW:  168.5  WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13  GW:  167  WI:  172.5 (-2!!)

I know, I know, I’m a broken record, but I’m going to give it another try for the month of February next TWELVE weeks and I would like you to join me!  Over the weekend, I stumbled upon this incredible workout tracker from Design Finch.  Look at how fun it is!  Doesn’t it just make you want to work out?! Click the picture to go grab it from Design Finch!

I printed it out Saturday and did my first workout on Sunday.  Oops, I didn’t realize it started on a Monday. Oh well – bonus workout for me!  Side note --- I used to be really picky and only liked calendars that started on Sunday, but now that my oldest is in school, I think I might prefer the Monday start.  Does this make me weird? 

So this is what I’ve worked out for my weekly workouts:

Monday – cardio

Tuesday – strength

Wednesday – cardio

Thursday – cardio

Friday – strength

Saturday – cardio

Sunday – strength/rest?

I’m aiming for a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio at least three days per week and am hoping that since I wrote it down on four days, I’ll actually do it four days.  Right now that means I’m going to continue the Couch to 5K on my treadmill.  If I’m not doing the C25K that day, then I will use the iFit programming that came with my treadmill.  I love it.  It’s an interval walking workout by Jillian Michaels. 

As for strength days, I know that I need to start incorporating strength training into my workout regimen so I added in two strength days and possibly that third one on Sundays.  I also know that rest days are important so I’m just going to see how Sundays play out.  I will mostly be using the Spark People strength videos or any others I may find while perusing the internet. 

This past week I did great at getting in my water and being more mindful of my food intake.  I’m going to continue with that this week and aim for another loss next Tuesday.  I did have one not so great night {last night} when I gave in and had some Chex Mix with Mr. Chaotic.  I swear he wants me to fail because he always makes sure it’s right near me.  Ultimately though, it is my decision to eat it so it’s entirely my fault for doing so. =(

Okay, onto my February goal weigh-ins:

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI): 173
01/08/13 WI: 171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13 GW: 170 WI: 173 (+1.5)
01/22/13 GW: 168.5 WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13 GW: 167 WI: 172.5 (-2!!)
02/05/13 GW: 171
02/12/13 GW: 169.5
02/19/13 GW: 168
02/26/13 GW: 166.5

Wish me luck!  Also, I would love for you to leave your blog link in the comments so I can come check out your progress and find some motivation!

Organizing Revolution–Week 4: Living Room/Playroom

We actually have a separate living room and play room, but for this task, I am focusing solely on the living room.  We do keep some toys in there as well to keep the baby occupied.

I don’t know about you, but cleaning is not something that I enjoy.  To be honest, I think it kind of sucks!  Most times, I just let everything accumulate until I can’t take it anymore.  And the dust.  Seriously….so.much.dust.  I swear if I were up for it I would have to dust every.single.day just to keep up with it.  But I’m not up for it and I don’t dust everyday.

My kids are six, three-and-a-half, and fifteen-months.  Since day one, I’ve always been the one to clean up after them.  Sometimes the two older ones volunteer to help me with dusting and picking up.  When they do, I’ve always been ungrateful because it wasn’t done the way I want it done so I’ve always thought it’s just easier to do it myself.  Which, in turn, has made me so overwhelmed.  I’ve never actually taken the time to teach them how to pick up/clean up after themselves.  I guess I just thought they should already know that.  We’ve tried instituting rules but we aren’t very consistent and the kids know that.  It is something we have started working on as I don’t want my kids to grow up feeling entitled.  Entitled to not have to do anything for themselves ever.  It drives me crazy!  I was never raised like that and I definitely don’t want my kids to be either.

Anyways, onto my living room.  The before pictures actually aren’t horribly cluttered, but it still was driving me crazy.  Maybe it was all the dust!  School was not in session on Monday for Martin Luther King Day so my oldest was surprisingly very willing to help me clean.  We worked on both the bathroom and the living room area.  Here is the before:

I should have taken a close-up of the dust, but completely spaced it.  Here is the after:

The pictures were taken Monday and every evening since, it’s looked very similar.  We’ve all been making an effort to pick up the clutter and put it where it belongs.  Well, all of us except Mr. Chaotic.  That’s a whole ‘nother story though.

How did you do this week with the organizing revolution?  Leave me a link to your blog so I can check out your organized space!  Don’t forget to head on over to vote for me!

Tuesday Weigh-In

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Ugh, I feel like a complete failure this week.  =(  I keep telling myself and reminding myself how great I feel when I am making healthy choices but then something comes over me and I lose all willpower and go in for the J-U-N-K!  I am literally my own worst enemy!  I know what I need to do and I am just plain and simple not doing it.  I just don’t seem to have the same drive and determination to not eat the junk food as I did almost three years ago. 

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI):  173
01/08/13 WI:  171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13  GW:  170  WI:  173 (+1.5)
01/22/13  GW:  168.5  WI: 174.5 (+1.5)
01/29/13  GW:  167

Yikes!  The scale is moving the wrong direction once again.  I am going to try my damnedest to get on the treadmill again this week.  My oldest daughter and I did a 10-minute cardio workout tonight from an app on our Kindle and all I can say is I’m way out of shape.  I about keeled over after those 10 minutes were up.  Maybe that’s what I need to do – three 10-minute workouts vs. one 30-minute or so workout.  Hmmm….maybe I should print the two quotes in this post and hang them on my fridge and cupboards so I see them as I’m reaching for the junk food.

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I hope you are having a better week than I am!  Where do you find the willpower to resist the sugary junk food? 

Organizing Revolution Week 3–Closet

This task couldn’t have come at a better time for me.  As I said back in week 1, my oldest daughter decided to move to the guest/storage room in the basement.  Mind you, we’ve been using that room for storage since we moved in almost eight years ago.  Let’s just say that a lot of it is being held onto for no reason.  I don’t know, maybe there’s a bit of an emotional attachment to the ginormous box of miscellaneous stuff from my hubby over the years.  There were books – some had been read, some hadn’t;  I even found some old college textbooks.  Oy vey!

So anyways, this week wasn’t as successful for me as far as actually completing this project.  But, my motto is progress, not perfection.  With that, I did make a lot of progress in the storage closet.  She has basically half of the closet that’s usable for her and the other half that still has to be organized and purged by me. 

As you can see in the top left “before” picture, there is a lot of miscellaneous stuff being stored in this closet.  There’s still one shelf you can’t see at the top of the closet, but I didn’t make it that far this go around, so I won’t share that one.  I was able to get half of each closet shelf cleaned off so that my daughter is able to put her pajamas, jeans, shorts, etc. on them.  As I have more time, I obviously still have a lot of work to get done in there, I plan on working on the closet over the next few months.  Okay fine, it will probably take me the entire next year.  Ha!

I’m linking this post up to Week 3 at the New Year’s Organizing Revolution!

Have you joined the Organizing Revolution?  If not, click on over to check it out.  If you have joined, leave me a comment so I can come check out your space!

Don’t forget to stop by and vote for me!!

Tuesday Weigh-In

Source

After my weigh-in last Tuesday, I was on fire!  I actually looked forward to my time on the treadmill and I did a great job of tracking my food for the week, if I do say so myself.  Then, the weekend hit, my girls suckered their dad into getting them each a bag of candy, and I thought I did pretty good, considering the sugar monster that lives within me.  I will admit that I did have a few chewy sweettarts and a couple gummy worms, though they made me feel sick to my stomach.  I would have thought after feeling like that and knowing that I didn’t need that extra sugar, it would have been enough to just have had that taste.  I’m not going to lie.  It wasn’t.  By the end of the weekend, I had basically eaten the whole bag of those dang chewy sweettarts.  I also found myself munching on late night Doritos or Chex Mix with hubby.  The worst part – I didn’t track any of it!

Ugh!!!  Why do I sabotage myself?  I was on the right trail  for a change and then I just belly-flop right off the wagon.  For what?  For the measly few seconds of satisfaction that the junk food provides.  Gross.  When am I going to learn?  I need to stop feeding the sugar/snack monster.  This week’s weigh-in definitely was affected by my sabotage.  Let’s check out the damage, shall we?

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI):  173
01/08/13 WI:  171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13  GW:  170  WI:  173 (+1.5)
01/22/13  GW:  168.5
01/29/13  GW:  167

The scale moved the wrong way!  So frustrating!  But I know why and I just need to figure out how I can stop sabotaging myself.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated! =)

How did you do this week?  Join me in keeping yourself accountable by leaving your stats in my comments.  I also link my weigh-in up to Tammy’s Tuesday Weigh-In over at Skinny Mom’s Kitchen so be sure to check out her page!

Organizing Revolution Week 2: Kitchen

Ah, the kitchen.  We meet again.  Ha.  My kitchen and I have always had a love/hate relationship.  You see, my house is a mere 764 square feet upstairs so the kitchen is teeny-tiny.  Even though I complain all the time how little it is, I really honestly don’t mind.  The thing is, there’s really only enough room for one person to be using the kitchen at a time (which I LOVE).  That being said, with five of us in the family (not including the dogs), there’s always more than one person in the kitchen (which can be quite irksome at times).  Oh, and the most annoying thing about my kitchen – it’s always cluttered!!

Whether it’s papers or miscellaneous whatever, there’s always something on my countertops and there’s literally no vacancies inside the cabinets.  Let’s just say the cabinet space is limited (even more so since I gave up an entire large cabinet and drawer so my husband could install a dishwasher for me – I am definitely not complaining about losing that cabinet & drawer considering how much I love my dishwasher!).  Limited cabinet space equals even more limited countertop space.  Case-in-point – what you see here is the only countertop space that I have.  Told you it was little.

Oh, and speaking of clutter, check out the top of my refrigerator.  I swear there is no help for me!  Somehow, junk always manages to find its way to the top of my fridge.  Mostly it’s to keep stuff away from the kids, but it’s also kind of just a quick stow-away spot.

Onto my oven.  In the almost 8 years that we’ve lived here, I think my oven has been cleaned once (and that was with the super stinky self-cleaning mode).  So embarrassing!  I found a recipe for an easy homemade oven cleaner and thought I’d put that to the test.  Around 8 p.m. on Tuesday evening, as the kids were eating their bedtime snack, I found the ammonia and went to work. 

Then, this morning after walking my kindergartener to school (in our brisk 16 degree weather), I came home and got to work scrubbing the oven.  I’m not quite sure how long it took, but I do know that it required plenty of scrubbing.  My 3-year old even thought she had to help.  I wasn’t too excited about that since we were breathing in the ammonia fumes as we worked, but she insisted.  After scrubbing with the diluted ammonia/dish soap solution, my oven still needed some extra scrubbing as there were still charred spots on the oven.  So, we liberally sprinkled baking soda over the entire bottom of the oven.  I then used the ammonia/soap solution to make a paste and scrubbed some more.  When we were done with that, I took a dry rag and wiped it out, only to find that it looked chalky.  We found our vinegar/water spray bottle and sprayed that all over the oven.  After wiping the vinegar away, look at how incredibly spic and span my oven looks!!  Amazing I tell you.  Simply ah-mazing!

Not completely charbroiled-spot free, but I’m very happy with the results.  I’m sure if I had the time and patience, I could have a spotless oven, but these few teeny-tiny spots look much better than the big black charred spots that were there just 24 hours ago.

There you have it.  I have linked this post to Week 2 of the Organizing Revolution.  I did not know this last week, but you can pop on over to Clean Mama’s Organizing Revolution Week 2 and vote for me!  Voting starts Friday! 

Have you joined the Organizing Revolution?  If not, click on over to check it out.  If you have joined, leave me a comment so I can come check out your space!

Tuesday Weigh-In

I need to start holding myself accountable for my actions again.  If I don’t, I’m afraid I might find myself right back where I started almost 3 years ago – very overweight and very unhappy with myself.  So here we go again…the weekly weigh-ins.  I follow a blog called Skinny Mom’s Kitchen and she also has been struggling to lose those unwanted pounds and has decided to have a Tuesday Weigh-In to keep her accountable.  She has also asked for her readers to join her…so I did just that.  Since I am posting it there, I might as well make it a point to post it here as well.

Source

Oy vey.  Looking through my Spark Summary Calendar, looks like the last time I weighed myself and recorded it was December 18, 2012.  I stepped on the scale last week Wednesday, but didn’t record it.  I stepped on the scale this morning and it said 171.5, so that’s a pound and a half gone! 

02/14/10 Starting Weight (SW):  199
05/26/13 Goal Weight (GW): 152

12/18/12 Weigh-In (WI):  173
01/08/13 WI:  171.5 (-1.5)

01/15/13  GW:  170  WI:
01/22/13  GW:  168.5
01/29/13  GW:  167

How did I choose that goal weight you ask?  Well, it’s the weight I was before I had my third baby.  When I get there, I’ll reevaluate, but for now my goal is just to get to pre-preggo weight.

What exactly is my plan of attack?  As Tammy says over at Skinny Mom’s Kitchen, “I need to return back to the basics.”  For me, that means:

1. Tracking my food intake…every.single.morsel.
2. Moving my body
3. Hydrating my body
4. Weekly weigh-ins
5. Everything in Moderation

Want to keep yourself accountable with me?  Leave a comment with your starting weight, goal weight, and current weight.

Organizing Revolution: Week 1 DONE!

Office/Desk
Technically we don’t have an office anymore as we gave that room up for our first baby six years ago.  We do, however, have “office supplies” scattered everywhere throughout the house and our desk tucked away in the basement. 
For this week’s project, I’m working solely on organizing our desk.  Being in the basement, I guess we thought out of sight, out of mind…right?  WRONG!  I am so happy I found this Organizing Revolution to help get me off the chaos train because that oversized desk always has mountains of junk on it.  The sad thing is we hardly ever really use the desk.  Occasionally one of the girls will use the computer, though more often they use the desk to make scribbles notes for everyone and anyone. 
I honestly didn’t know if I was going to get this week’s task accomplished beings that the week is half over already, school just started back up today, and Mr. Chaos had to go back to work as well.   I found myself wanting to go organize my desk instead of spending the kids’ naptime checking email and Pinterest.  Drumroll, please…

Look you can see most of the wood top!  I should be feeling on top of the world because this is a HUGE accomplishment for me.  But I’m not.  I’m feeling like I should have done more because off to the right of this picture is our file cabinet, which holds the printer.  I didn’t get a picture of it, however, I want to come clean.  The stack of papers on there were from the bills that had been paid all the way back to April!!  I don’t know why I keep the invoice thingy that doesn’t get sent back with bill when it just ends up in a heap.  For real.  So now I have a very large stack of papers next to the trash/shredder so that I can work on shredding papers over the next few days.  I don’t know how much shredding my shredder can handle at one time.  I’m also going to take a proactive approach and just start shredding things weekly, or at least 2-3 times a month!
I then made time to organize the “phone book nook” area of our kitchen while dinner was cooking.  When we moved in to our home, there was this little built in that we’ve used to store some office-type supplies in.  Stamps, scratch paper, pens, and anything else that happened to land there.  Drumroll, please…

Notice the little black desk organizer in the after picture?  I stole it from the desk to use in the phone book nook.  The round spinny one just wasn’t working for me.  I’m not sure if I like the desk organizer either.  To me, it seems more cluttered.
So yeah.  This is my organizing revolution for week 1.  What do you think so far?  I’m beyond excited to see what this month brings for me organization-wise.  While I had my camera out today, I went around the basement snapping more pictures of things that need to be organized.  My oldest daughter has decided to move to the basement bedroom so I have to work on clearing out that room and closet.  It’s our guest room, but it’s also our quick stow-it there until we need to use the room for guests again.
Did you join the Organization Revolution?  If so, how did you do this week?

Welcome…and Happy New Year!!

Hi there!  I’m Stacy.  Welcome to my cozy corner of the world wide web.  Just wanted to wish you all a Happy New Year and hope that 2013 is an amazing year for all of us.  2013!!  Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks that the past year has whizzed by.  I’ve been meaning to and meaning to get started with this blog for the past month, however, December turned out to be a very busy month and of course I didn’t get very far with it.  So, stick with me as I make a few changes & updates as the year progresses.
As you can tell from my blog name, my world is pretty chaotic.  My family of five, plus two small dogs, has outgrown our humble little abode and we have no plans on moving anytime in the near future.  With our first daughter in kindergarten and a husband that has a love for dawdling shopping, we rarely make time to get things done around the house since it seems we are always going.  Toys and clutter are taking over the place.  My cleaning and to-do lists are never-ending. I seem to run out of time before the day is over so it seems nothing ever gets done.  I’m hoping that by me blogging to the public about my progress (or lack thereof), that will be the motivation I need to get myself, my family, and my home more organized.  I’ve always just gone through life getting by with no real motivation to do much, doing things “good enough” to make the house presentable.  Good enough is driving me crazy and I want to work towards change.
I’m also going to use this space as a place to document my life, whether it’s what I happened to eat that day, or if I actually got my butt moving on the treadmill, something fun or funny that happened, or maybe even just a picture of the kiddos.
I’m going to start this new year off on the right foot.  I have stumbled upon an organizing challenge being hosted by seven organizing bloggers in blogland.

There’s no better way to get control of the chaos than for me to join this challenge.  I am in!  I’ll be sharing photos later this week and I can’t wait to show you the progress.  Click on the button to check out the challenge.  I’d love it for you to join me, maybe cheer me on, as I organize this chaotic mess that I call life.
Cheers to the New Year!