More Than Just the Home

I realize over the last few days I have been focusing on what is or is not getting accomplished on the home front and not in the overall picture of my life. That was not the intention of this makeover challenge. Today I sat down and evaluated where I am slacking in finding that balance.

The areas that can always be enhanced upon are:

• home
• spiritual connection
• marriage
• family
• relationship with each individual kid
• health
• finances
• career

So I will incorporate at least three things from each category throughout the week. I sat down and marked every appointment in my planner that is coming up next week so that I know what amount of time I have to work with. (Yes, I still have an old fashioned paper planner. While I do have a planning/to-do app on my smartphone, I seem to remember things so much easier when I write them by hand.)

Every night, before bed, I will set aside fifteen minutes to write out the plan for the next day. A new tactic I'm going to try is called time-blocking. Here's a great explanation of time-blocking.

So what are my goals for this year?

• Home: clean, organized, welcoming to all and completely finished with renovations
• Spiritual connection: to embrace prayer and meditation and grow closer to my creator
• Marriage: establish a monthly or bi-monthly date night while learning to have fun together again
• Family: create a closer knit family and teach my kids about becoming productive people with good character and a strong work ethic
• Relationship with each kid: learn more about what they like and dislike and dig more in-depth about what they want to do in life-more one-on-one time
• Health: to lose a total of 50 pounds, become stronger and help my kids to make healthier choices
• Finances: to finally pay off all debt and build a strong savings account
• Career: continue writing and developing my children's series while studying about the restaurant business for a future endeavor

I realize that these are all lofty goals even when you are addressing them individually and to tackle them all is very ambitious. That's where I always think "shoot for the moon and you'll land among the stars". I will be thirty-nine this year and I don't want to be where I am today at the same time next year.

This will be the year where I make real and lasting changes. What about you? Do you have goals you want to achieve? Are you happy where you are or are you simply comfortable? I've been whining about my weight for close to a decade (which is really freaking depressing when you think about it) but today I did something about it. I am no longer a victim of circumstances. This isn't just about goals. This year, 2015, is about looking at what I don't like about my life as a set of challenges that I will meet head on.

What's on the schedule this weekend?


Due to most of my family being gone tomorrow and Sunday I will be doing a major cleaning, writing and laundry boost. Somewhere in there I will play a few games with my youngest and maybe take him to the local bouncy house place. They have wi-fi so I can write while he jumps.

Complete Honesty Even Though It Hurts

I did all of the dishes yesterday, cleaned most of the counter tops and cleaned my stove. Here's how bad it was: I found (in a stack of cookie sheets and dishes) the roasting pan that I cooked the turkey in FOR THANKSGIVING. Yes, things had been piled upon it and even though there was no turkey in it (thank God!) it still had not been washed out. Yes it is 2015 and I had somehow not seen that my Thanksgiving roasting pan never made it to the sink. I read somewhere that is called Time Passage Awareness Disorder. You have no idea how much time actually passes in which something exists in your everyday life.

No, it's not a real disorder. It's a term that Nony over at A Slob Comes Clean has created.

Upon that disgusting discovery(and after cleaning the pan) I decided I had to put away the rest of the groceries that were still sitting in their plastic bags. And that is where my plans for the day changed. While I had planned to sit down at the keyboard and start on the stuff for my paying client, the ants in my pantry had other plans. They had attacked a bag of jerky that someone in the house had put back but not fully closed. But they didn't stop there. They were scattered on several shelves. It was that point that I had to empty the ENTIRE pantry or risk missing something and losing more food that someone forgot to close properly. In a family with four kids it can happen quite easily.

Out went virtually everything and then I had to wipe down the shelves hoping to deter any further ant issues. I took half open boxes and dumped the contents into containers that I had picked up here and there from Goodwill, thrift shops and yard sales months ago (with the full intention of using them to keep the food in the pantry fresh and safe from bugs). It took the ant fiasco to make me use the containers.

Thankfully my kids are old enough to entertain themselves so I was able to knock it out in 2 hours instead of the all day/night event it would have been had they been littles that need constant attention.

So now I must spend the next four days alternating between my housework that I promised to do and writing. My deadline is looming and I have to eliminate all distractions. No more going to bed when my husband does. I'll move to the living room or the dining room to write until I complete each section of the project in front of me. Sleep will have to be sacrificed.

Today and the next few days will be about getting my basic to-do list completed.
Wash all dishes
Wipe off stove and counters
Complete one load of laundry
Make bed

Kicking Myself (or not)

Life often gets in the way of the best laid plans. Hubby had me on a mission yesterday so, other than blogging and doing a load of dishes, I got nothing done. Anyone else ever start working on one thing, leave the room to put something away and then start doing something else in the other room only to realize that you left the original mess unfinished? Maybe it's just me.

I've decided to alter my goals for this week due to the fact that I have to finish my project for my PAYING client. It's called priorities and because this particular payment will go towards one specific bill I need to get it completed ASAP.

I will tackle my sink, counter tops and stove top in order to keep my promise to cook all of our meals at home. I will set the timer so that I spend no more than 30 minutes at a time on this task. Every night I will make sure that each of these surfaces are free of clutter and wiped down.

On the laundry front I have  amended my plan to include one load of clothes per day which includes folding, putting them away and ironing where needed. I will also put a load of towels in every night before bed so that they are ready to go into the dryer first thing in the morning. There is nothing like getting ready to take a shower only to realize there are ZERO clean towels. Not even a hand towel available. And I won't even mention the whole "how come I don't have clean underwear" discussion that my husband has almost given up on me.

Not sure if anyone is reading but this has definitely given me a perspective of how I use my day and how procrastinating can and will bite me in the butt because there are always unexpected things that will pop up.

On a side note, I'm putting myself on a thrift store ban. I love buying stuff that I can rework/reuse but more often than not they end up as clutter until I either get around to refurbishing them or the get donated to Goodwill. For the entire month of January (starting today) I am no longer allowed inside a thrift store or Goodwill.

Real Life Checks In

Yesterday started my official "mommy makeover" and all I have to say is that you have to be thankful for what you accomplish and let the rest go. What did I accomplish? Well my to-do list is over here. The reality is that maybe I achieved half. Well sort of.

I washed three loads of laundry, dried two and folded zero. Yeah, I know. But right now clean laundry is clean laundry. Today will include folding and for me to spend at least 30 minutes ironing because ironing a new shirt every freaking morning is getting old. Not to mention I don't do quite as good a job when I'm rushed. Everyone's life is easier if all clothes are clean and ready for them to pull out of their closets.  But now I'm rambling.

I did make my bed and as I write this post I have already made my bed for today.
Spent 10 min in the kitchen instead of 30. But I'm not going to have a hissy fit about it. Today is a new day and I have set my alarm to tell me to stop writing and go clean the kitchen.

As for writing, I completed two blog posts. One for Mommy Makeover and one for Operation: Ditch the Junk Food. Other than that, writing was a bust.

Lastly I packed lunches for everyone. That was a new experience. I am normally throwing stuff into lunchboxes the morning of and hoping I have enough stuff for each person.

Lessons learned:

• I have to start my day sooner than 10AM. 
• I have to stay off of random homemaking blogs. (Or at least set a timer) I go online to read one post and 2-3 hours later I'm reading something I found three blogs ago. 
• Set a timer for Facebook. While a complete ban of Facebook would possibly be ideal, I belong to several weight loss, writing and other groups where I go to for support. 
• Remind myself that tasks like sweeping the floor or organizing one drawer probably don't take as long as I think they will. Just set a timer and work as fast as I can.
• Block off my time. Just like a school day is scheduled in blocks of time, it would be greatly beneficial for me to do the same. I'm thinking something in general like between 8AM and 10AM I do housework stuff. Then I exercise, then from noon to 2:30pm I write. Just a thought.

Until tomorrow.

And So It Begins

I am not the greatest housekeeper. Quite honestly I sort of suck at housekeeping. I also have a problem finishing things. ANY thing. I have started many projects both around the house as well as at-home businesses that have crashed and burned because I have a lack of follow through. Oh look something shiny! That is me. Always finding something awesome to start but as soon as the "fun"wears off I spiral head first into the abyss.

And as I follow these adventures my family suffers. I spend hours upon hours working on or researching whatever my new thing is and I neglect to plan dinner, "forget" to do laundry and somehow allow them to spend hours playing video games or watching television. Then I get frustrated that things are a mess. Well that changes today. Things can no longer stay the same. Over the last few weeks I have been planning how to make slow changes. Fast changes only leave me exhausted and unable to keep up our home. I don't mind the cleaning necessarily. It's the maintenance that is a problem.

So today I begin my year long experiment to make peace with my spirit, develop my writing skills, make my home and my family my main focus and build new, exciting relationships with my family/kids/friends.

I will start each day with a clean slate, celebrating my daily accomplishments and any things that go undone will be released without guilt.

This week I will completely reorganize my kitchen as I incorporate an actual schedule into my daily life.

Daily:

• 3 loads of laundry: This will include washing/drying/folding and putting clothes away. There are 6 of us and the laundry is constantly a mountain which takes over the bathrooms and a corner of my kitchen where the washer and dryer are located.
• Make my bed
• 30 min on organizing the kitchen (this does not include making sure the kitchen is clean after every meal)
• Sweep the hardwood floors (mop twice a week)
• 15 min a day purging the file cabinet with important papers: This normally would not be a priority but we have our taxes done in February so if I spend 15 min for everyday in January then I should have everything organized and ready for our accountant as soon as the W-2 forms arrive
• Writing: Along with this blog and my healthy eating blog I will be writing for a paying client. After the project for my client is completed I will be working on my picture books and novels. The goal is a minimum of 1 hour a day but until my paying project is finished I will be putting in closer to 5-6 hours per day. 
• Packing lunches the night before for kids and hubby
• Take 5 minutes to pickup/put away things before bed

Weekly:

This week is about getting my act together so I will be:

• exercising for at least an hour 3 times per week
• keeping to my meal plan for the week
• make a list of sewing and home improvement projects to start on next week
• home cleaning day: This is going to take place on Thursday this week. I will ignore the clutter and tackle every room: vacuum, sweep, mop, dust, wash all sheets, clean bathrooms.
• Keeping up with our spending and recording it on our budget excel sheet

Monthly:

This month I am instigating the eat-at-home rule where we only eat out once a week. This is to get our budget under control and work on our junk food addict eating habits.

Other new additions to our life are a monthly date night and a monthly family outing. We have busy schedules and our teenagers don't exactly love spending time with Mom and Dad and their younger siblings. So I sat down and designated two weekends: one for each of these. Just so happened that the grandparents let the kids sleepover this past weekend so hubby and I moved up our date night. So far I have the actual date planned for our family outing, I just have to come up with what we are going to do. Thinking of hiking unless it is just freezing here in Georgia. 

This sounds like a lost but as long as I take it one step at a time and take each day as a new start then here's to a new start to go along with a new attitude. I'll keep posting to keep myself honest. 

I've Got a New Attitude

Excitement, fear, terror, anticipation, panic. Yep, I've got all those at once. As I sit here just a few days before the dawn of a new year I worry that I will crash and burn just as I have before. After all, I've been "trying to lose weight" for seven years. Wow, it's really been that long. I worry that I will continue to talk about my dreams rather than taking action or that if it gets to hard then I will abandon all hope and just quit. Again, true story.

And then I realized something. While I may not be exactly where I want to be at the end of 2014, I am way better off than where I was at the end of 2013. My marriage is growing stronger, my relationships with my kids are better, my overall mindset is much more positive and our money situation is controllable. Oh and I've made peace with the fact that I don't have to bring money in to help my family. I am most helpful to my family when I keep control of the money my husband brings in, provide them with clean laundry, teach the kids basic living skills, cook meals and help bring us all together by planning family activities and events. I wish with all my heart that I had discovered the joy in those things many years ago. That is when the sadness takes over. Knowing that our life has been spent with too many unhappy years breaks my heart.

I go forward into 2015 laying the sadness down and picking up the joy that each moment forward is one to embrace and be thankful for. I am thankful for the many blessings of 2014 and I open my arms to receive the amazing experience that is yet to come.

I will take each day as the gift it is and take action to create the life that is waiting for all of us. You see, I've known all along that dreams without action are just wishful thinking. The problem is that it has always been easier to just let things happen instead of making them happen. I can do just enough to get by or I can take the bull by the horns and ride that sucker until we've covered every inch of excitement there is to be had.

What do you say? You ready to give up just existing and start living?

The One Year Mommy Makeover Challenge-Are You Ready for 2015?

We all have those moments where the very idea of staying the same is more than we can bear. We have New Year's resolutions that start with good intentions and end up falling flatter than Fred Flintstone run over by a steamroller. Then comes Spring with all of its hopefulness and a sense of renewal. We are ready to head out into the great outdoors, throw open the windows and let the sun shine in. Somewhere among the joy we discover that while the weather may be beautiful, we are stuck in the same place we were last year. No changes have been made no matter how much we thought we wanted them. So I propose a challenge. Not against other moms but against ourselves. This challenge is designed to help you look at what you really want to change in your life and make baby steps toward that vision. This isn't your average challenge. It is a year long experiment as to how much we can change our lives if we set our minds to it and take action.

Here's the rules:

• The official starting date is Monday, January 5, 2015. (Because I know we all like to start on a Monday)
• The days leading up to January 5 are about enjoying the holidays and our families while creating our lists of goals that we want to accomplish in 2015. What parts of your life do you need to change that will give you a life you want? Remember that you can't change people, you can only change yourself. As you change, so will everything else.
• Consider everything fair game. Key places to look at making changes are: spiritual, health, home, marriage, career, friends and family.
• Look at changing daily habits that will help you reach realistic goals. If you want to lose 20 lbs then you will need to determine how much exercise per day/week you will need to do as well as how you need to change your diet.
• Use a spiral notebook, journal book, or even your own blog to document your progress. Take five minutes a day to jot down how things are going, how you are feeling, or just things you are thankful for.

A new post will appear daily to assist in your journey. (An experiment on my behalf for sure!)
This is a marathon not a sprint. The key is to take everything day by day.
You can join the Facebook page for more encouragement.