Sunday, January 30, 2011

Confessions.... Sometimes the problem is me.

I have been thinking a lot about my words for this year that I picked out. Do you remember?
Love
Simple
Create
Explore
Patience
Positive

This week has really shown that I am seriously lacking in the last two. Mike has been gone to school and the kids have been acting up, blah blah blah. By the end of the week when he came home I didn't even want to enjoy time with him I just wanted the chance to run away. Not that I don't absolutely head over heels love my husband, I was just at the end of my rope.
I don't like to complain and can't stand it when people just refuse to see the brighter side of things, and yet I found myself ho humming it all week long crying and moaning on Facebook and to my family about how horrible the kids were acting, how I could just not do anything with them, they never listen to me, etc etc etc.
Pretty depressing.
Add onto that the yelling and screaming and we all were not happy with Mommy this week. We had great times this past week I was just refusing to see them. Refusing to be positive. Refusing to be patient. By a not so simple chance Waldorf Connections was having a free listen-in seminar on discipline. I missed their first play during the week but was able to catch it on the replay this weekend.
And you know what I learned?
It's me.
My kids are mirrors of me.
They reflect the exact same responses that I give them.
Oh boy.
I also was reminded that no matter how smart I think my kids are I need to make sure and not expect too much of them emotionally. They don't need for me to rationalize why they should do the things I tell them to do, they don't need a 5 minute lecture on how "It's not nice to call someone a meanie when they don't give you what you want". They don't need for me to scream and yell at them to stop screaming and yelling at each other.
They need me to shut up and model for them how I want them to act. And model it again and again and again.
Because you know what?
THAT'S MY JOB!!
You know what else that means?
I have to learn to model forgiveness in myself.
I messed up, and probably will again. This will be difficult.
But its important.
And just as I want my children to forgive themselves and move on, I must first model that behavior so that they know how.
The rest of the weekend has gone really nicely. Yes there has been the whining over getting dressed, and hair, and chores but when their poor attitude met with my willingness to accept that they are still in fact children and stand by them and guide them through the things I needed them to do, life was a lot better for everyone.
Its a hard thing to look at the way that your child may be misbehaving and see your actions shouting out at you. But when I stopped to listen and look and truly see, I learned what my children were trying to teach me.
Yes there are times where re-directing doesn't work. Yes there are times where my child will test the fence just to see if the boundary is still there. And yes there will be times when I feel as though I have no more strength to give.
But I will give it anyway.
I will draw that boundary again for them to see clearer.
And I will choose appropriately the work that our bodies seem to crave when we just can't seem to get on the right track and cooperate.

I will add all of this knowledge and stick it into my "Mommy Tool Box" so that we can all live together in the manner that we want, hope for, and dream of.


Saturday, January 29, 2011

Weekly Wrapup- Jan 24th- 28th

This week was wonderful in terms of learning. It was so activity-filled and I am exhausted because of it!
Monday- we reviewed our dry measurements and talked about abbreviations and brainstormed various abbreviations. Jakob also discovered patterns in skip counting so we spent a majority of the morning figuring these out for his times tables. He was so excited every time he found one. We reviewed our Biblical measurements of the shekel and used rice as our grain.

As a fun random knowledge time we looked at shekels, gallons, bushels, and pecks. That intro'd beautifully for me to teach the kids a favorite song my Grandma use to sing to me.
I love you
a bushel and a peck
a bushel and a peck
and a hug around the neck.

Tuesday- This was the day we worked on whole and parts. There was no real explanation there, just two kids, two bowls of flour and some measuring utensils. They discovered how the smaller measuring cups equaled the one cup by putting in the correct number of "fill-ups". Then Jakob worked to see how many Tablespoons and Teaspoons were each in a cup. Lots of fun, lots of mess, and a few blissful minutes where two siblings who have had a rough time getting along this week enjoyed each other's company. Afterwards we baked cookies according to the suggested recipe in our curriculum book. I'm sure that this recipe is illegal in some states because Oh my heavens it was soo good! I omitted the 1 and 1/2 BAGS of chocolate chips and halfed the recipe and still got 24 too delicious cookies. I had to stop myself eating the batter! (not good for my diet by any means) Thankfully my neighbor was home and we shared half and I made the kids scarf down the rest (they were *so* upset over that lol)


Wednesday- Hazel's Birthday! Jakob was very sweet and made her a birthday banner and hung it in the kitchen for her to wake up to. We went to the library to make use of their awesome museum pass program and snagged a pass to the Providence Children's Museum. This place was very awesome and the kids had a blast discovering it all. Unfortunately due to some poor planning on my part and an awfully early snowstorm, we had to leave just in time for a nice birthday tantrum to come on. We spent the rest of the evening just taking it easy as the snow prevented us from going to see Daddy at school that evening.


Thursday- For math we worked on dry conversions from cups to pounds and noted how different things can both be a cupful but weigh differently. Then in following our curriculum story we worked on figuring out how many lbs of bread we would need to make 30 loaves of bread to sell if each loaf needed 3 1/2 cups. It was fun to see Jakob use his own processes to figure out the problem. After that we actually baked bread and was surprised to discover that baked bread weighs considerably less than unbaked bread ;) Then it was an Afternoon of snow shoveling so that we could get to our evening activity at a local Science Store. Here they had a free workshop and set the kids out trying challenges using Citiblocs. Jakob was intense! I always worry about situations like this because failure is not pretty for him. But he pushed through and solved every challenge no matter how hard it was. I was very proud of him.


Friday- Today was suppose to have a lesson or two in it, but the lessons ended up being in responsibility. Meaning that my daily struggles with the kids to do their chores in the mornings came to a head today and we were all worn out from each other. It should not take 3 hours for a morning routine. Shouldn't but it did. I felt like I was running a rat race this morning trying to keep each kid on task and complete my tasks as well. Needless to say I have not been getting up in the mornings when I should have this week and boy has it showed. After the now famous "Hair-do Show down" Hazel said she wanted to go play in the snow and we all jumped at the opportunity to just do our own thing. The kids played and I knitted. And that's it. Hubby is home now so I'm off to enjoy what little time I get with him this weekend before he's off to school again. Happy weekend!

Friday, January 28, 2011

This moment- FOUR!


{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Inspired by Soule Mama
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Interviewing Hazel

I have seen various posts of where you interview your child to record their thoughts at that age. The idea is to record their exact words it can be really hilarious.
Since she is turning 4 in a few short hours I present to you,
"The Interview with Hazel"
January 25, 2011
Me: I'm going to ask you a some questions ok? Just tell what you think.

H: Ok... can I write too?

M: Maybe in a minute, What's your favorite Color?

H: Purple

M: What vegetable do you like?

H: Purple

M: Do you like any special fruit?

H: Purple

Is everything purple?

H: Yes! It's my color.

Ok so what's your favorite drink?

H: The purple one you make for me and Jakob.

You mean the Blue punch we had at Ms. Keli's shower?

H: Yeah that one. It was purple. (ok)

Alright do you have a favorite toy?

H: Yeah my pink Care Bear... its right there!

What's your favorite holiday?

H: My birthday! With my candy!

Do you have a favorite animal?

H: um... my pet Neela! She's a looong dog.

Where would you like to go on vacation?

H: To North Carolina. To play with Grandma and Granny. Grandma has more games than you.

What is your biggest wish?

H: Presents!!! Like makeup, but I know I know I don't bring it in the car and put it on. Mommy why do you wear makeup.

Because I'm older and it helps Mommy's skin look a little better.

H: (whispering) When I get old like you I'm going to wear YOUR makeup! *giggle, giggle*

Ok I'm sure you will. What was the best thing you did today?

H: I played in the snow. No I wanted to play in the snow but it got dark because I wanted to watch a movie and then you said it was too late.

So what did you actually do today?

H: I played with my friend Garrett in Florida. We played in the house with Neela and then we ate out of my lunch box from my butterfly school at Ms Angela's. Ok I'm done. Let's go read my story now.


And there you have it.
Look out world Hazel Makenna is 4!!!





Not So Fat Tuesday

So this week has been different.
At the advice of the Dr. I began eating a more "diabetic-like" diet. I told her I had South Beach at home and she told me to go for it.
Holy Cow.
Did you know sugar withdrawal has very similar side-effects as quitting smoking?
I didn't.
I do now.
I have been a tad grumpy... or aggressively wishful for the foods I "can't" have. It's mainly been the bread. I said before I noticed I was eating a lot of carbs but really didn't understand how they were affecting my body.
So I will share.
All food gets broken down into sugar for the body to consume. The denser the food (think protein and fiber options) the longer it takes to break down. The lighter or more processed the food is means less time to breakdown. Why is that important? Because the more sugar that is dumped into your system at once the harder your pancreas has to work to make insulin so your body can use it. If you are "out eating" your pancreas then that sugar gets stored. If you are causing your pancreas to use it's NOS boosters for every meal you eat then that poor little bugga's gona get worn out and quit making insulin altogether. And then you know what happens?

DIABETES
go ahead click the link

So my main focus this week is to EXTREMELY cut back on the carbs. Even though I make all our breads and bread-like foods I have opted not to indulge (or TRY not to indulge... much) in the attempt to let my body level itself out. Also I read that if need be, pairing a carb with lots of fiber rich foods will help slow the process a bit (so that means you can eat the croutons on your salad IF you actually eat the salad!). So when tortilla night came up on our menu this week I threw in quite a bit of ground flax seed to my tortilla recipe to help me out. Flax seed (especially fresh ground) has some killer fiber quantities.

The results of my efforts?

I feel better. I'm a little tired to be honest but I blame that on burning the candle at both ends a bit this week. I am a lot less bloated and have noticed a dramatic decrease in the bubbly feelings in my belly. I have been sleeping a lot better when I actually make it to the bed, and have noticed my jeans fitting better in the waist. That has to account for something.
The biggest challenge I have had so far is adjusting our family meals to make them edible for me. Meats are the simplest thing to grab when on this diet but we have opted to stick with our 1-2 meat dishes per week regime. I'm learning as I go. I have found it easiest to have 2 meals a day where I have pretty much the same thing each day and save a third for something different or even new. This way I am not trying to come up with 3 new meals each day that fit this plan. I would get extremely burnt out.
I will again resist the urge to hop on the scales this week and maybe after next week I will see more than just my perceived results.
Fingers Crossed!!

Getting into this Handwork thing...

I have been trying to incorporate more handwork into our weeks.
Traditionally for Waldorf this usually includes things like knitting, sewing, cooking, and the like.
There has been no set schedule for this as one might see on other's blogs.
We are new to this.
We do what we can.

So since Hazel's Birthday is coming up soon, I thought a little sewing would be nice to go along with her new doll I made.
Today we read The Hat- by Jan Brett

And since I had fabric I thought a little hat would be fun.


And it was.
For Jakob.
Hazel decided that this was not the project for her and stuck out her lip and opted to play elsewhere. *sigh*
this was to have been her project, I marked where she should sew as a guide. After 2 stitches she was done.
Although clearly was happy to receive the finished product

This is the one Jakob made. He did *sew* well (lol)
Jakob LOVED this activity and was really excited to have made something special to go with Hazel's birthday gift.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Hand-made Birthday

So I am super excited to share this.
I made a toy.
I Knitted a Doll!!!

Hazel's Birthday is Wednesday and I really wanted her to have a special doll this year.
Since my knitting skills are improving a little I decided to tackle this pattern from Wee Folk Art.
I love well written patterns.
My favorite part about this doll is that it is knitted entirely from my great-grandmother's yarn stash that I "inherited" for Christmas.
Not so coincidentally this incredible woman is Hazel's namesake.

Lots of hair! Just like Hazel Bug

I miss you Grandma Messick!!
I was very happy to carry on a piece of her to my daughter.
This part was the hardest for me. Sewing is my thorn

She doesn't have any clothes yet, but I'm hoping to remedy that soon. For now a little tutu I think will suffice for my tiny ballerina baby.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Weekly Wrapup- Jan17-21

This week found me a little more ill prepared that I thought I was. Planning events, making presents, readings, and workouts seemed to just culminate this past weekend and left me a little worn.
Monday was a holiday and Jakob had a buddy over for a sleepover. Man I thought girls were chatty! LOL
Tuesday Hazel and I pretty much hung out as Jakob decided he should spend most of the day in bed recovering and reading from his "all-nighter". We had tried to do a lesson but neither of us were really "in it". So we sang songs and played his flute and called it a day.
Hazel and I folded clothes, played around a bit and did a super fun shiny snowflake craft inspired by this post.

Then it was off in the rain to a fun family Dr. appointment. (It was an appt for me and Mike had to meet me to watch the kids and then potentially go back to work *sigh*)

That night my buddy's water broke so I went and picked up her son and had a sleepover again. Which was great because I still had not really polished my plans for the week (oops!) and there was loads of reading, marshmallow gun fighting, and general good time to be had. Much more appealing at the moment than times table work.

Thursday is our Library Day so Jakob did at least search out and make a new entry in his 50 States Journal. Once home he read another Captain Underpants and helped make guacamole for dinner.
(Now that he feels more comfortable reading, he constantly volunteers to read to Hazel... keeps her calm while I am brushing her hair.)

Friday was our most productive day. After waking to more snow and a bit of a chill in the house, Baking Day was declared and we made a loaf of bread and some rolls for tomorrow night's Chili.
We also did a couple of Science Experiments inspired by this post. We aren't studying Arctic animals but the principle of fat keeping you warm applies to Humans too. I demonstrated this by allowing the kids to feel my hands (which are always cold) and then feel the skin on my tummy. I told them there was more fat on my tummy which kept my organs warm. Not so much fat on my fingers and they were cold. (The things you subject yourself to for your children lol). Afterwards we filled up the sink with ice water and tested out this theory by touching the water with our bare hands and then using the vegetable shortening to insulate our hands in a bag. The kids confirmed that they could not feel the cold through the fat.

We also did the clothes experiment found in the above post and got similar results, but since it was still snowing I was unwilling to traipse outside to set up the experiment and so the garage had to do. It just slowed the process.

The kids discovered a Yoga DVD this week from the Library and have been playing it nonstop. I tried incorporating a daily Yoga sequence for the kids at the beginning of the year, but my knowledge of Yoga is not up to "Child Standard". I am currently trying to rectify that by educating myself, but in the meantime they really enjoy something geared to them.
(oh man, he REALLY has got to start putting his shoes on when goes out in the garage, those socks are terrible!)
The rest of the day has found us shoveling and playing in the snow and generally "chill-axin" till Daddy gets home. Now off to start dinner and get ready for some "Despicable Me".



This Moment- The love they now share


{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. Inspired by SouleMama

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Not So fat Tuesday...

This week was rough. Poor planning on my part meant poor food choices, giving into temptation and emotional eating. Finally braved the Dr's office to figure out some girly issues and she told me she wants to definitely test me for PCOS and at the least suspects I am insulin resistant. This accounts for the struggle with weight gain, acne, girly issues etc. At first I was excited to have some clue of an answer. That I had a base to start from. Then I went home and looked up the "diabetic diet" she suggested I put myself on. Ugh. That's all I can say.
And how did I react to this news? Horribly. Stuffing my face with all kinds of goodies I assume I will never be able to have again (you know because NO ONE can start a diet until Monday.... that's not a holiday).

So when I got on the scale I knew it was going to be bad but was shocked at HOW bad. Like 5 lbs bad!! Ugh. Depression, sadness, crawl back in the covers and cry. Thankfully I decided to go ahead and read for my Bible in 90Days requirements before crawling under the covers. Today started Joshua, and right there in Joshua 1:9 it was...
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

So to take a line from Chicken Little, "Today is a new day." I may have new obstacles but I will be able to learn through this and gain the health I am in desperate need of. It will be hard and obviously more trying than I thought but I am up for the challenge. I won't be hoping on the scales for 2 weeks as I learn the do's and don'ts of this new regime but bee back here as normal on Tuesdays to document any changes in the way I feel or look (I'm hoping for some clearer skin cause right now I look like a 12 year old).

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Weekly Wrapup- Jan 10-14



Lovely aren't they? Lol The kids have had a blast this week. We are still loving our new Waldorf Curriculum and Jakob is making great strides in his math processes.
This week we took what we had learned about ancient measurements and current measurements and spent the week converting the things we had measured in cubits into inches and later into feet. It was definitely a different experience and it took me literally all week to effectively communicate the process, but in the end he got it and was so proud of his work.

Music time is still his favorite part of our week and has really improved here as well. He knows enough of the notes now that we can begin a short daily practice which I think he will LOVE.

This week he devoured no less than THREE Chapter books. Two were Captain Underpants and one was a book on Monster Stories. He's back to Captain Underpants and Geronimo Stilton. My heart is so happy!

Wednesday found us with a mini blizzard here in the North, so Daddy was home and the kids played. I am hosting a baby shower this weekend so I took the opportunity to make up some goodies. The kids helped out with the peppermint bark. Thankfully no fingers were lost in the process. :)

Kids busting up candy canes

A WHOLE LOT of Yumminess!
Inspiration for this was found here. The recipe I actually used was here.

I have been a total wimp about the cold here lately but that hasn't stopped my kiddos from getting out there and making the most of it. Here is a snowman Jakob made and took a picture of himself. He wanted everyone to see it so here it is....
The snow didn't pack well and was froze over so he shoveled and packed a mountain until he could form it into a snowman. Or maybe a snow-dwarf....

This week's Science Day took us to experimenting with frozen water, how to melt water most effectively and why the trucks throw salt and sand on the roads before the snow and ice come.



Salt water vs Tap Water- Which freezes first

This experiment also allowed me to physically show Jakob why we can't just stop on the side of the road and go skating in any pond we thing is frozen over. I must take him skating soon.
That was our week!
Have a fun weekend!

Friday, January 14, 2011

This Moment- a newfound LOVE




{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Not So Fat Tuesday.... Meeting My Day

This past week has been amazing for me. In deciding to embark on all these new changes for the New Year I knew I could not possibly find my rhythm and manage the kiddos at the same time. I am not a morning person but I decided I had to get up to take care of me so I can take care of them.
6:00 AM Every Morning!
Wow.
Got my run in, my reading done, and an amazing thing started to happen. I could see the floor in front of my washing machine!
Then a series of posts began surfacing about getting up to meet your day instead of your day grabbing you and dragging you around. (you can find them here, here and here). This is nothing new. I have heard it before, but I'm not sure I was ready to *listen* until now.
Instead of looking with dread at the alarm clock and how early it is yelling at me, I have been jumping out of bed ready to get things accomplished so we ALL can have a better day.
And there's something else too. For the past two days I have been getting up with Mike (5:00 AM PEOPLE!!) and working out with him for about 30 minutes before he heads off to work and I continue with my run. This allows us a bit of time together, albeit working out but time together while we are fresh and not run down from the day. I love it! Especially because it makes me feel like we've gotten to a new level in our relationship. Cause yeah 6 months ago I would be WAY too self conscious to work out with him. (Probably helps we are doing yoga)
This of course means bedtime is earlier, but not too bad. We are all sleeping better and being more productive. YAY!!

And have I lost any weight because of it? Not a pound! LOL I also have succumb to a tub of Cool Mint Ice Cream hanging out in the fridge and some Kettle Chips. So I am sure that has something to do with the needle staying put. I can say though that will all this running I can SEE my thighs getting smaller, and my "bubble butt" has a lot more room in my jeans. I'm sure I will see a difference in the scale soon. Now I'm off to make breakfast. Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal. What are you having?

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Weekly Wrapup- Jan 3-7

This week of course was our first week "back at school" and boy did we have fun! Back in November I decided to take advantage of a sale and purchased a Waldorf Curriculum through "A Little Garden Flower". I'm not a HUGE curriculum fan as a general rule but I felt the need to make things simpler, and free up a bit of time with the planning so I wasn't tempted to be on the computer all day (not that it EVER happens lol)

ANYWAYS!! I am totally in love with this curriculum. It focuses on one main subject in blocks so this month we are working on a math block of measurements. For fun we have been learning about older methods of Biblical measurement like the cubit. We reread the story of Noah and looked specifically at the measurements of the Ark. Then we took a length of wood I had cut at Lowes that was equal to 4 cubits long and started to measure out the length of the Ark. Such an awesome way to work on our skip counting by 4's review. Well it was cold, and windy outside so we decided to measure the width of the Ark instead. It was pretty cool.
The rest of the week was spent measuring and imagining different things.

The favorite this week was by far the music lessons. Jakob has a guitar that neither of us know how to play so when the curriculum came with music lessons I was stoked. Now we are learning to read music together and play the Tin Penny Whistle (like the recorder). So much fun! Jakob said he wished we could play music everyday. And we will once I get Hazel one too so that we can actually make some progress. Maybe after we master the whistle I will feel confident enough to work through the guitar, or maybe Jakob will on his own.

The Lesson Plans run on a 4 day a week schedule which is great for us since Thursdays we usually spend at our local Library for Story Time, and general outing day. For the afternoon though I decided to utilize this time as "Fun Science Experiment Time". I'm a Literature Girl so Science although is fun, does not come natural to me. Which is a shame because Jakob LOVES Science. So I took out my trusty Janice Vancleave Science book and the cloud book I had checked out from the Library and we went to town discovering how water forms and changes in a cloud. We also did an experiment to see what falls faster a rain drop or a snowflake when they both have the same amount of water in them.

For this we used 2 coffee filters and crumpled one up to be the "drop" of rain and left the other flat to be the "snowflake". The kids lifted them up and let them fall and determined that, "The "rain" falls faster because its a ball and the "snowflake" falls faster because its spread out and catches the air like my paper airplane." :-)

Thursday was also our first celebration using the Waldorf Method, Three Kings Day or Epiphany. Now I know that Waldorf did not create this but the premise I have gathered so far is to embrace various seasonal celebrations from around the world as a family. This brings rhythm and learning in a seasonal fashion. And cake. Who doesn't love cake? *grin*
The kids and I made a cake recipe from "Festivals Family and Food" and Jakob learned how to separate egg whites and yolks. I wasn't sure how this was all going to play out with his sensory aversions to slime and dirt but he LOVED it!

We took down the decorations, sang some songs, and read a cute little Epiphany Tree story. Then we took the tree out of the house. To be honest I was a little sad to see it go. It was our first real tree as a family. Hazel actually cried. It was all very touching. I'm sure we weren't able to fully grasp the intended meaning of the celebration but it seemed very fitting to spend the day in this fashion on our last day with our Tree.

This week has taken a turn on the Reading front. Over the Christmas "Break" Jakob discovered The Captain Underpants Book series. He has been devouring each book as I have requested them from the library. He has even been waking up and reading them until breakfast. Super cool. Not my idea of "quality" when it comes to literature, but at this point I'm willing to let him read cereal boxes if it encourages his love of reading.

We are also still reading the Guardians of GaHoole series. I thought we were done with that excitement but when we took a break over Christmas from lunchtime reads Jakob constantly requested another adventure from Gahoole.

Scouting is coming right along for Jakob and we are only a few little requirements away from completing his Bear Badge. Monday at Scouts he made a Toolbox. He was allowed to cut the wood and attach with screws and everything. He loved it!! I'm thinking I might need to hire him to make me some planter boxes for my gardening attempts this summer. ;-)

Well that's pretty much it. The week has been nice. We all have learned loads and benefited from our new choices. Now to go play in the Snow!!

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Friday, January 7, 2011

this moment- Spinning Pigtails

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A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by SouleMama

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Confessions...Not So Fat Tuesday

Ok first weigh-in of the New Year! First week of my 500 miles in 2011 challenge, first week of Bible in 90 days, AND first week back to "school" with Jakob. Wow! That's a lot. Last time I posted my weight loss I had just started to count calories and wanted to see how that helped. After staying off the scales for a few weeks to allow for "learning curve" I re-entered the weigh-ins 3lbs lighter.

Today I jumped on the scales.... well lets be honest, after the food fest I threw for myself for the New Year I gingerly stepped on the scales today with both eyes tightly closed and prayed for a few moments before looking down.
2lbs down. That means since counting calories I have lost 5lbs! Yay!!
I also realized I had not been giving myself enough credit. When I logged my weight into my Lose It app on my Ipod I noticed this summer when I used the app my weight was 12lbs more! I have lost a total of 12lbs!!! Yipee!

Counting these calories has been a lot less troublesome than I thought now that I have found something that works for me. Plus weighing-in has become a little less scary as I can see how it affects my caloric need (another little fun component of Lose It).
And since the counter automatically adjusts calories for my workouts, I can eat and know exactly where I stand.
I still need to work on lowering the amount of carbs and sodium I intake as the percentages on my weekly totals seem high. But as of now things are working! Slowly but surely.

Monday, January 3, 2011

My Words for my Mind

I have finally settled on my words that I want to focus on this year. I got this idea from a post from Simple Homeschool concerning choosing Purposeful Words for the year. So here they are.

Simple
Love
Create
Peace
Encourage
Explore
Patience
Positive

These are all the things I hope to embody this year. I know it will be a struggle at times, but I truly feel the need to establish a calming in my mind for this year. With my limited computer knowledge I have created a little Word Document with all of these words on here in various fonts. My plan is to print them out, color it, and hang it up in a frame in my house so that I can see them and be reminded of them. There is no big plan in how I am going to accomplish all these words, there's no need. They are things I want, things I need for myself and for my family. I just need the reminder that I am worth it.
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