Failure to Plan

...is Planning to Fail. Ouch....right in my gut.

Here's the deal. I am not quite ready for it to be pretty much the end of January. I haven't picked out a calendar system to use for 2014. I haven't even spent any time really looking for something that will meet my do something different every single day lifestyle. Except for making sure I eat, routine is not my cup of tea.

I have come to the point that I quit making lists of things to do because I usually am just writing them on random pieces of paper that get shoved in a stack of papers that I never look at again until the pile starts getting in the way or gets so big that it won't stay piled. 

So this week, my goal is to get out of that rut. I need to spend some time working on a good calendar system that can keep all the segments of my life moving in positive directions.

I want to eventually have an all encompassing Home Management Binder system. That is on my ever growing do it one day list. I am finding the process of just finding printables that fit my needs is uber time consuming! One day I will have time to really browse and analyze all my options or make my own printables.

For now, I just need a central location to keep some lists, my personal calendar and some other organizational kinds of papers. Right now I write things down in various notebooks that get toted here and there and never make it back to the place where I need them, when I need them.

I am going to begin my notebook with the To Do Lists from DIY Home Sweet Home. She has some awesome free printables for putting together a Home Management binder. I will eventually use several of these, but for now, I need to get my To Do Lists under control!

I am going to keep using, I use the word keep very loosely since I haven't written a single thing in this calendar for over a month, a store bought daily calendar as a way to micro manage my To Do List and to plan out my daily activities. 

I like to have a calendar on the refrigerator so that everyone can see what is going on for the month since I am not the only person in my house who needs to be aware of where we need to be and when. I don't want to do double entries on a main calendar so we will keep using a calendar on the refrigerator. I actually just print a blank monthly calendar out each month and fill it in. 

Here is a link to the calendar page printables that I am currently using from Krafty Cards, Etc.

 

A few years ago, I started using Cozi on my phone, but without paying the monthly fee there were some functions that would have been helpful to me. You all know I am too cheap to pay a fee to use a calendar. I also have terrible service on my current phone so just pulling up the app was a frustrating ordeal.

Here's to hoping I can keep my calendar and my To Do Lists under some semblance of order.

What system do you use that seems to work for your family? I will take all the advice or leads to good tools that I can get. Happy Calendaring or To Do-ing!

Morning De-Stress

I am not a morning person and mornings at our house start WAY too early. The big kids, and  by big kids I mean everyone but Harper,  have to leave the house at approximately 6:52am to be at the bus stop before the bus arrives. For the most part they are pretty self sufficient. I mean how hard is it to open a pack of pop tarts? There are those inevitable mornings, though, when the sock drawer is empty or the only pants in Bailey's drawer have buttons, not snaps - or Jenna Beth can't find A shoe, or jacket, or glove or her happy heart. She's not a morning person either.

During the fall semester, WE had many morning breakdowns and I am definitely including myself in that WE. I dumped more than one bowl of cereal in the sink because it was the wrong cereal or there was not enough milk while spouting out at the mouth about how much food we waste or just go to school hungry. All really edifying and mature, but at Zero Dark Thirty it is really hard to be mature, right? On two mornings, I walked a screaming 4 year old to the bus stop barefooted, in my tight workout pants that I slept in, holding her hand while escorting her up the steps of the bus. It was a sight to behold.  My picture is probably on the bonus footage of People of Walmart. I am positive I am now THAT mom to the other early  morning bus parents. Hopefully, they didn't get a good look at me since it was dark outside still and I sure didn't make eye contact with any of them.

In my efforts to live with less stress, I have made some changes to my morning routine and so far this semester, except for that one morning when Jenna Beth lost a shoe or glove or something, we have had fairly peaceful mornings. What are those changes, you  ask?

To begin with, I have started doing a little more prep the night before. I have always packed lunches at night, but now I do an inventory of socks, shoes, jackets, gloves, hats, etc. to make sure they can be easily located each morning.

In the mornings, I stay in Jenna Beth's room from the time I pat her little bottom to wake her up until she is fully dressed, head to toe. Not giving her a chance to procrastinate or change her mind helps tremendously. To some I may be babying her, but to me, I am helping get our day off to a good start. It really is just about my sanity.

I have quit fighting breakfast fights. If Jenna Beth wants to eat pudding with whipped cream for breakfast, she eats pudding with whipped cream. I know, dessert for breakfast, but what a fantastic way to start the day.  If I could eat ice cream or cheesecake for breakfast and not gain an ounce, I would - wouldn't you? I figure it is good calcium and probably has less sugar than the pop tarts her brothers are eating. I haven't compared labels, but I feel fairly safe in my assumption.

I am hoping our mornings stay rather calm and peaceful. We have a good thing going right now and I would hate to mess it up. If I have to bend over backwards and do headstands every morning and it results in less chaos before the sun comes up, it's worth it. If only I could do either of those.

Are mornings painful at your house? What do you do to alleviate some of your morning stress?

Confessions of a Perpetual Dieter

Less of Me. That is my desire for this year. Less weight on the scale. Lower numbers on the size of clothing that I purchase. Losing weight is probably one of the most commonly made New Years Resolutions ever! I go into every year saying this is going to be the year that I lose it - the year that I become comfortable with my own body. God willing and me cooperating - THIS is going to be the year!

My body and I have had issues for years - for as long as I can possibly remember thinking about my body. I am talking elementary school. I always viewed myself as the 'fat' one or the ugly duckling compared to my friends. Typically, I was. I didn't necessarily inherit skinny genes and definitely shouldn't be wearing skinny jeans! I have spent years hiding behind a sweatshirt or jacket to hide a body that I spend many days ashamed of. I still hide. I have forfeited many potentially fabulous friendships because I thought I was way too frumpy or chunky to merit a relationship with some skinny, pretty person. (That awful negative self talk).

Before Jake and I got married, we both lost significant weight. I had this goal weight of 135 that I wanted to be on my wedding day. I ran. (I HATE running). I elliptical-ed. (Jake tried to kill me the first time I ever got on one). I ate green beans and nothing else for dinner many nights (I was also broke). I developed an addiction to the scale that I practice to this day!

On the morning of my wedding, I jumped on the scale because I knew I was soooo close to my goal. Believe it or not, that morning and ONLY that morning, I weighed in at 135! I am sure all my bridesmaids and friends staying with me at our condo thought I was insane when I was screaming and shouting that I had reached that coveted number.

Fast forward 10+ years - - I have birthed 4 children and with each of those pregnancies I have gained 50 pounds! I essentially have gained 200 pounds in 9 years. Crazy! I joke that I took the  pregnancy tests and immediately gained 10 pounds just holding the stick in my hands. I used pregnancy and my sweet cravings as an excuse to eat McChicken Sandwiches, milkshakes, french fries and a myriad of other not good for you fried foods. I am obviously still dealing with the lasting effects. A moment on the lips - A lifetime on the hips! (and other places, too, that don't rhyme as well with hips)

After the first 3 I managed to lose down to between 5-7 pounds of my wedding day weight before I found out another tiny being was growing in my belly. After #1, I was just committed to getting back to my pre baby wardrobe. After #2, I was intent on not being a slobby, fat mommy. After #3, who was born while my husband was 'somewhere in the Middle East,' I was intent on losing the weight before he came home for good. After #4, my goal was to be back at, or close to, wedding day weight by our 10th anniversary - that has come and gone - and I am currently nowhere near the elusive wedding day weight!

I am older. I have 4 kids. I have volunteer responsibilities. I have a house that doesn't keep itself clean. I loathe exercising - partly because I don't like to be sore and partly because I can always think of 10 other things that I would rather be doing or need to be doing instead. I have excuses. There are holidays, birthdays, etc. My list of excuses is a mile long. Bottom line, I just couldn't seem to get my act together and stay on any sort of disciplined eating train. Valiant effort made, but nothing lasting!

It is time for things to change!

2014 is the year that I learn to love my body - leftover baby rolls and all - and it's the year that I practice some serious discipline when it comes to eating and exercising. I know that in the long run it is good for me and it's good for my family.

Losing weight is about so much more for me than the number on the scale. I need to deal with my body issues, my comparison issues, my discontent issues, and my serious lack of discipline issues. Being out of control in the body area spills over into so many other places in my life. My frustration with my body affects how I deal with my children. It affects my freedom in my relationship with my husband. It affects my confidence in social situations. I could go on and on. As the year goes on, I will probably divulge more.

Honestly, it is more than just a body and food issue, it is a spiritual issue. It's a self control issue. It's an issue of understanding the depth of Christ's love for me regardless of what size jeans I wear. It's knowing that my body and Jennifer Aniston's bodies were not created the same. (That was the understatement of the year).  It is my need to find comfort and stress relief in Christ and his promises for me instead of in a delicious piece of dark chocolate or cheap crappy chocolate chip cookies or whatever the kids have in their candy stash.

The year of Less is going to be a great year. There will be many battles fought. Many tears will be shed. Hopefully, pounds will be lost and confidence will be gained.

Is Less of you - physical you - in your plans for this year? What positive side effects of Less You are you hoping to find? Leave a comment and let me know! Remember, we're in this together.

2014 - The Year of LESS

For many years I have written down some resolutions at the beginning of a year and by the end of the year I have forgotten what they were and have no idea where the piece of paper on which they were written was.I am sure I am not alone in that!

When the busyness of December hit and I knew the year was nearing its end, I started thinking about how I can do better in 2014 than I have done in the past with being focused on some goals or resolutions or positive changes...whatever you want to call them.

I already had several areas in mind that I planned to work on in 2014 when a friend mentioned the idea of a word for the year. Then I heard several others talk about their word for the year and even read this blog post at The Lettered Cottage about her word of the year. I decided this would be a fabulous method for me and believe it or not all of my areas could fit under one 4 letter word!

There are also a couple of websites I have run across lately whose sole purpose is to join people together to help them stay on top of their word for the year. One is Oneword365 and another is MyOneWord. I will be joining up with both of these. I need all the reminder and prodding I can get!

As I considered my list, I decided that my word for 2014 will be LESS. If you followed along with my 31 Days in October, you know I have been working on less stuff already. But there are other areas of my life where I need to focus on LESS.

These are the 4 places I need to focus my LESS efforts. (in no particular order)

LESS ME

Spiritually and Physically

LESS STUFF

Continuing my dreams of Simple!

LESS STRESS

4 kids and an Army husband will make this quite a challenge

LESS FEAR

Time to conquer some of my debilitating self talk

In the next few weeks, I will expound on some of my plans to accomplish this feat of LESS.

Do you have a word for the year or a verse or a goal? Whatever you call it, leave a comment on this post so we can help encourage each other toward our new focuses in 2014. We are truly in this together.  And it is never too late to join in the fun!

Happy New Year! Enjoy your last moments of 2013 and let's start 2014 off with new vigor and determination!