Goals for Week of 10/22/07 (#1)

It's been a while since I posted about life and what I have been up to. Soccer is winding down, we have a tournament next weekend and our last weekend of league games (make-up games) so I can start focusing on life....my life. So I decided that I would post my weekly goals on Sunday of each week and revisit those goals at the end of the week to see if I accomplished them!

Here are my goals for 10.22.07:

1. Start workout program (I would really like to work up to 2 hours per day in the gym on M, T, W and F each week). I really need to get serious about losing the extra weight that I have put on over the last three years.

2. Quiet time each day at 6:45 am-before I need to wake up the girls and get them ready for school.

3. Focus on one zone a week (Flylady) and get my house back in order! This week, I will be working in the Master Bedroom! Good! I think that I am going to do some summer/winter switching of my closet since Fall is in the air!

4. Start my weekly scrapbooking routine. I just purchased a photo album this week for Connor-the outside cover is a leather soccer ball. I have newspaper clippings and pictures from this season which I will get in his album and that will be caught up! I wanted to archive his High School Soccer Career and since that is currently taking place, no time like the present to get that done!

Well, I think 4 goals for this week should do me! It's going to be a struggle to get these accomplished I'm sure!

Wish me luck! Encourage me! I am going to need it :-)

Have a good week! See you on Monday with my weekly Menu Planning!

Tackle It Tuesday (Living Room Organize/Working on Vision)

My Tackle It Tuesday is rather complex-it's more than tackling an area that needs cleaning & organizing. I started reading the Total Mom Makeover so I working on several areas to achieve my vision. In addition to continuing to organize my home so..hence my complex tackling!

Today's challenges-tackles (vision statements) are:

1. Take CSH to High School Soccer Camp. (Nurturing Children)

2. Workout while CSH is at Camp. (Energized & in shape woman)

3. Grocery Store. (Nurturing Family & Getting healthy by eating healthy foods)

4. Laundry-CWH, GLH, & SJH will be going to Arkansas with Grandma. Get clothes ready & packed. (Nurturing Family)

Folded 2 Loads of Towels (on loveseat)Need washing: another load of towels, whites, sheets (in dirty clothes), colors-probably 2 loads, lights-probably 2 loads, scrubs...

5. Clean desk & living room- here are the before pictures. This room is the first room that we walk into from the garage. So it becomes a dropping ground for everything that comes from the vehicles. As well as the laundry room is adjacent to the room as well-laundry comes out of the dryer and piles on the couch until it gets folded. (Nurturing Family) See AFTER pictures BELOW!!!

6. I would like to get my car claned out today & washed. That is if I have enough energy today to get everything done BEFORE this evenings activities!

7. Read first four chapters of Sister Chicks for Book Club. I'm a multi-tasking woman! I read the four chapters while walking on the treadmill this morning!

In addition to the above tackles-we have evening activities-Dance & Soccer. While I'm at the grocery store, I am going to purchase lunch meat, veggies & fruit to pack to take so we can eat our dinner at the soccer fields/dance studio.

Check out some other tackles at 5 Minutes for Moms. Also, scroll down/or use link to sign my virtual guest book!

All done except for the car clean out! Maybe tomorrow....along with taming the chords under my desk...both sound fun! Yuck!

AFTER Pictures:

Total Mom Makeover-Week One-The Starter Mom

I purchased a book by Hannah Keeley called "Total Mom Makeover:The Six-Week Plan to Completely Transform Your Home, Health, Family, and Life" a couple of months ago. I decided to spend my summer working through the book. The Introduction had me hooked:

"I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror as I walked by with a basket full of laundry fresh out of the dryer. My hair was pulled back in the same scrunchie that I had worn to bed. My face, pale & washed out, had not seen a dab of makeup since last Sunday, and the drab gray sweatshirt that I wore only accentuated the fact that I still had twenty-five pounds to lose. But who has time to shower and dress when you have a house to clean and three kids to look after? And even if I did have time, what was the point?"

WOW, could I relate! I feel that way most days with four children, volunteer activities, a part-time job, etc. etc. What was the point? However, I am worth the effort!

So, now I'm on a Total Mom journey....what is a Total Mom? Keeley describes a total mom as "a woman who is changing the face of homemaking and motherhood. Caring for her home & family is not something she does on the side. It is a priority for her, and she loves what she does. She is smart, energetic, powerful, confident, balanced, and sexy. She doesn't sit around and wait for things to happen. She makes things happen!"

Each week is broken down into a Total Mom Needs Pyramid. Each day, I will read out of the book, do some exercises in a journal, and put what I have learned into practice.

Here is a breakdown of what I can expect to accomplish each week:

Week One: The Starter Mom-tear down that faulty pyramid, acquire tools to construct a better life, learn how to develop a vision, make every motion & moment count, how to speak my way to success & develop a winning attitude.

Week Two: The Basic Mom-begin meeting basic needs & build foundation for growth. Learn how to eliminate toxins from my diet, clutter from my home & (this might change my website rating form G to something else!) boredom from my sex life. As well as develop my own inner fashionista and learn key strategies to increase my energy level! Week 2 will be exciting!

Week Three: The Secure Mom-free myself from the fear & uncertainty that tomorrow holds and establish a sense of security in my life. Plug up the leaks in my wallet and work exercise into my daily routine. And develop methods to manage my temper as well as my housekeeping responsibilities.

Week Four: The Nurtured Mom-work on love & relationship needs. Be nurtured not only through relationships with friends and family but through my relationship with myself. Make mealtime special & create a nurturing home. Develop key strategies to make my marriage work.

Week Five: The Confident Mom-will focus on meeting need for personal esteem & competence in all areas of my life. Learn to trust my inner voice & pursue my destiny. Develop muscles in my body and organization throughout my home. Learn beauty secrets that will boost my confidence as well as appearance.

Week Six: The Total Mom-Move on to living the Total Mom life. Fine-tune those attitude skills & experience life to the fullest. Love to meet your children's' basic needs as well as my own personal need for solitude. Develop techniques to help keep up with the life that I created.

Should be an exciting journey. I hope to share my journal with you on my blog & share insights to my discoveries!

Tackle it Tuesdays #6 (Goal Setting)

One month in the new year has come and gone and I'm not any closer to getting my goals for the New Year in my routine. This week's Tackle it Tuesday is getting my goals and routines on paper and to start implementing them this month.

Here are the areas/routines that I would like to establish and accomplish this year:

1. Spiritual

2. Physical

3. Daily Routines for Work

4. Daily Routines for my Home

The first area, which I feel it the most important is setting goals and routines for my Spiritual Life and Well-Being. I think this is key to making sure that all of my other goals will be meet.

1. Have a small devotion and prayer each morning. I have several devotionals to choose from. I think I will start with "God Calling" Edited by A.J. Russell. Here is what the inside cover says about the book "Here is a devotional that will bring the reality of God and His constant concern for you into your heart every day of the year. Whatever your circumstances, God Calling cannot fail to bring you closer to God. It will help you overcome your daily worries and draw you ever closer to the peace you're seeking."

2. I am involved in 2 Bible Studies this Spring semester, they are Pathway to Purpose for Women: Connecting Your To-Do List, Your Passions, and God's Purposes for Your Life by Katherine Brazeltonand 12 Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur. Each study doesn't involve intense study like a Beth Moore study would but each needs attention. So each day I need to devote time to reading and doing the homework in each class. My plan for this semester is to alternate each day for reading and studying each book.


The Second Area is Physical, I would like to lose the extra weight that I have gained. Here are some concrete goals (establishing and carrying them out will be another story):

1. Start drinking water each day (as I take a drink of my Dt Dr Pepper!). I don't particularly enjoy drinking water. Most of you know that I'm a die hard Diet Dr Pepper fan and drink 6 to 7 cans a day. So weaning my system into drinking more water will require more effort on my part (and a miracle....I think that I will add this to my morning prayer to God....please encourage and remind me to drink water instead of soda each day!) I know this is key to achieving the over all goal...losing 50-74 pounds.

2. Start working out at least 3-4 times a week. My kiddos get on the bus by 7:45 am each morning, I can be at the gym each day by 8:00 am and get a good hour work-out in before tackling my day. So...here is my plan for the week:

Monday-Work out 8:00-9:00 am
Tuesday-Work out 8:00-9:00 am
Wednesday-Work out 8:00-9:00 am. Weight Watchers meeting at 9:30 am.
Thursday- Work out after Bible Study/Lunch at home or at gym (depending on my mood)
Friday-Work out 8:00-9:00 am.

3. Start counting my points each day with Weight Watchers. I am allowed 26 points per day plus an additional 35 points for the week. I can add those 35 points equally to each day or save them for a special treat during the week, like a dessert, dinner out etc!

The third area, I need to tackle is establishing specific routines for work. I run a competitive soccer league and there are times when I don't have as much work to do and times where I can't seem to get anything done but work and I really don't to be working at midnight! I think establishing specific routines each day or setting a time line will help those weeks not seem so overwhelming.

Here is what needs to be accomplished for the month of February for work:
1. Brackets set and email out to teams. Need to complete by Friday.
2. Email referees regarding the remaining Futsal schedule. Get schedule set by Wednesday.
3. Email coaches and managers regarding the CMSL Referee Clinic. Need to complete by Wednesday.
4. Set up email group list for Spring 2007 season. Run a test email. Need to complete by Friday.
5. Email referees regarding the Spring season. Need to complete by end of next week.
6. Get black-out dates on spread sheet. Complete by 2/13/07.
7. Spreadsheet to Mick, all registered teams and amount due. Complete by 2/9/07.
8. Referee and Futsal pages sent to webmaster. Complete by 2/15/07.
9. Start working on schedule. Complete by 2/23/07.
10. Schedule coaches meeting and AGM. Complete by 2/12/07.


The last area is establishing daily routines for getting my house in order and de-cluttered. This, I believe, is also key into having a happy and healthy home for my family. I get emails each day from the FlyLady and haven't looked at them much during the last couple of weeks and my house looks like it! I like how she divides your home into zones and each week she tackles that zone. For the month of February, however, I'm going to make a general To-Bo list of everything that needs to be done and tackle it over the month of Feb and starting in March after I have put out all of my Hot Zones I can start the weekly zones and work on keeping my house clean!

Here is what I need to get done this month:
1. Catch up on laundry and put laundry away! Not just set it in each room.
2. Run sweeper in each room.
3. Mop kitchen and bathroom floors.
4. Dust.
5. Organize my closet.
6. Pick up LR and FR and return items to appropriate rooms.

This list doesn't look like much but with my work schedule, it's a doable plan for this month.



Okay....now that I tackled my goals for the month of February, you will need to check back and see if I'm getting them accomplished! Check out other Tackle-it-Tuesday participants at 5 Minutes for Moms! Have a good week!

Weightloss Wednesday #1 1.10.07

I'm joining in on another challenge, Two Moms in a Blog has a challenge called Weightloss Wendesday. Since one of my goals for the new year & on my 40 before 40 list is to lose 50-75 lbs, I thought that this would be a good challenge for me to join! Wednesday's are also my weigh in days for Weight Watchers so this works perfect for me!

So, here is my first Weightloss Wednesday check in!

My Starting Weight: 193 lbs

My Goal Weight: 125 lbs

My Weight today: 187.6

I am amazed...I actually loss weight during the Christmas vacation! Only 1 pound but at least I didn't gain! Yeah for me!

I'm a little nervous about this weigh in because the last three weeks, I haven't been tracking what I'm eating and I haven't been to the gym because of Christmas vacation. So I'm really hoping that I maintained...not gained anything but I'm NOT counting on it!

My one goal for January is to start drinking more water each day...I don't like the taste of water and drink only Diet Dr Pepper everyday. So this is a big BIG challenge for me. I honestly believe that if I could get past this I would lose some of my weight rather easy!

Resolutions for 2007:SMART Habit Saturday (Updated)

Lara-The Lazy Organizer posted a challenge that I decided to participate it. Each year we make a lofty (or not) list of things that we want to change or do better for the next year. I have a list in my head of things that I want to do this year to make myself a better person. I liked Lara's idea about incorporating small task and making them a habit. We are to post each week on Saturday our progress.

I am going to develop one new habit a week in four different areas: Intellectual/Mental, Physical, Social/Creative, and Spiritual.

Intellectual/Mental: Read each day from one of the books on my 2007 Winter Classic Reading Challenge. I'm currently reading the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. One of my 40 before 40 goals is to read these books aloud to my children. I read the book better out loud if I have already read them to myself.

Physical: Drink water each day. I'm a Diet Dr Pepper addict! I don't like water. I know that losing the 50 pounds that I want to lose will come off easier if I drink water each day. So I'm going to start with 32 ounces of water each day. I read in Body Clutter from Flylady that when you think you are hungry, you should drink a bottle of water instead. It just might curve your appetite. I going to keep that in mind each time I'm hungry, I should have no problem drinking water each day!

Social/Creative: I am about six years behind in my kids scrapbooks. I have about 30 rolls of film that I need to develop (before digital camera) but it's APS film and it's a little more expensive to develop so I have put off getting it develop. I need to take a roll each week to get develop. After they are all developed, I can start scrapbooking again.

Spiritual: My goal to get up and have a quick devotional each morning before I start my day. Then in the afternoon have a longer in depth prayer time and Bible study. One of my 40 before 40 goals is to read the Bible through. So for my quick daily devotion, I will read one chapter (ie. Genesis 1:1 etc) each morning.

Oh, this feels really good...I think that I might be able to keep my New Year Goals by taking baby steps. Thanks Lara for this challenge. See you on Saturday!

If you want to join us for the challenge, check it out at SMART Habit Saturday

UPDATED: I had a couple more thoughts and sections that I want to added the my SMART Habit Saturday list. I'm adding another area.....Housekeeping. I am going to add one new habit a month for that area. For the month of January....I will be making my bed each morning. It always feels so much better when you climb into a freshly made bed each morning. This is easier for me to accomplish if one of my girls don't get in bed with me in the middle of the night since I get up before they do.

Points! Points!

I joined Weight Watchers the day before Thanksgiving...yeah, what was I thinking?!

For those of you who don't know what WW is all about, let me tell you. You choose the Core or the Flex Program. I am doing the Flex, which requires you to track points each day. Sounds fun! Some days I do real well at tracking my points and some days I do really bad, no happy medium for me! I can eat 26 points a day and I'm allowed 35 points extra for the week that can be used anytime I wish to use them. Let me give you an idea, Dt Dr Pepper has 0 points! A Sweet Onion Teriyaki Subway Sandwich has 7 points! A salad can have up to 6 points (with the salad dressing) and so on!

Today, CWH and I were driving home from the Elks Free Throw Shoot-Out to meet my Mom and my sister at my house and as we were driving by Sonic, he asked if we could stop so he could get a M&M Sonic Blast. Sure. We stopped. We were going to go eat with my Mom and sister and I thought about getting a little snack and an ice cream cone sounded really yummy at that time. I had already eaten 6 points that morning for breakfast and didn't want to ruin my day! I got out my Dining Out Companion Guide from WW and looked up Sonic. A soft serve cone is 6 points. Did I want to use 6 points? I decided not to. However, CWH asked me lots of questions about what I was doing:

How many points each day can I have?
How do I know how many points a food item is?
How many points a day could he have? (told him that he didn't need to be on a diet and to enjoy his Sonic Blast!)
How many points had he eaten today so far?

Well, he had 2 Breakfast Burritos for breakfast, a chocolate milk and a hashbrown...17 points not counting the chocolate milk! And....

a Sonic M&M Blast is 20 points!!!

Yikes! I also discovered that a Large Cherry Limeade is 7 points a Starbucks Grande Nonfat Carmel Macchiato is 5 points.

What am I eating each day to stay within my points and lose some weight? Well, I eat 2 eggs and a piece of toast in the morning...5 points, a salad for lunch with dressing....6 points and a healthy dinner. I am working out at the ARC at least every other day on the treadmill and lifting weights which allows me 6 more points a day.

Is is working? Well, my first week, I had lost 3 pounds, even with Thanksgiving that week. I lost 1.8 pounds the second week and .2 pounds last week. So far this week I have lost 3 pounds...hopefully I can keep up and lose another 2 pounds before I weigh in on Wednesday!