The 2014 Plan that Didn't Happen - Or Did It?

How do you like that for a nice long title?  

My gut reaction when I thought about what to write to wrap up 2014 on my blog was what a failure my "goals" turned out to be.  However, to keep things fair I sat down this morning and read over my goals post from the beginning of the year and had to admit I wasn't a complete failure this year.  

Join me in reviewing my 2014 Post:

This year ... 

• I WANT to begin really learning some basic photography with my new DSLR camera.  I did learn a few more tips and tricks with my camera, though I did not get out my "DSLR for Dummies" book like I'd hoped to. 
• I WANT to clean up clutter spots around my house and stay better organized with my time. I did get better at keeping clutter spots cleaned up more often, and I worked on organizing my time better.  December was my busiest/most stressful month, but even then I made time to clean up easily cluttered areas when they got out of control.  

• I NEED to continue to pay off our credit card and be smarter with frivolous spending.  My plan is to make envelopes for things like hair/makeup and gifts to put money away for those needs and then stick to what's in there.  Unfortunately, some things came up and our credit card was used.  ugh.  BUT..I did buy a mini accordion style envelope used for coupons, label each slot and started using it to some extent to put money away for future things like birthdays, etc.  It worked well when I used it.  
• I NEED to eat better quality food, more of the time.  No major changes here.  In fact, quite the opposite.  

• I will SHARE my life with my husband...again.  And I will enjoy what we learned during deployment. Reintegration back into our normal life hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be.  I was "single" for nine months last year and got a little used to having everything my way. Yikes.  :)  Actually....this has gone well.  We were back to normal soon enough;  just like I'd been told would happen.  My surgery and mother's death last January actually brought us closer together in ways I'm not sure could've been orchestrated any other way. 

• I will SUCCEED at reaching 150 pounds.  BIG FAT FAIL, in-the-negative fail...as I gained weight this year.  
• I will SUCCEED at prioritizing my time and completing to-do's and projects in a more timely manner.  (I'm the queen of procrastination...)  I did try and work on this, so I am giving myself a green light.
• I will SUCCEED at continuing my running.  I have no race goals, but I plan on doing at least one or two 10K's and possibly a half marathon.  A family vacation this summer may prevent me from training for the half, so I'm not committing to that just yet.  :)  When I read this I realized I'm not as much a failure as I feel like (because of the weight gain).  I actually completed the two 10K's I'd hoped to run and just yesterday I went out for a 4-mile run to see how my wonky knee would hold up.  I'll be writing about that soon.  It went well, even if it was slow.  So, I did exactly what I planned this year.  I kept running.

So... even though I would look at my list on my dresser and feel like a huge failure for not sticking to a healthy eating plan, losing more weight after surgery and have a masterpiece of a financial plan working smoothly, I have to admit that this year wasn't as much a bust as I thought it was.  

If nothing else, I think this year I learned having a plan can be a funny thing.  It is good to have some goals, but it is also good to be able to bend with life.  I feel like I got the wind knocked out of me this year;  rightly so -- it was a rough year for me.  However, I also feel ready to fight back.

One of my biggest mantras is I will not give up.  I still feel that way.  I can't let a rough set of events return me to an unhealthy, unhappy woman.  Life threw some blows, I got knocked down, I've had to recover, but I'm not out forever.  Little by little I'm getting back up.

For today, the last day of this year, I'm going to clean house and celebrate the 17th birthday of my twin daughters.  Wish me luck -- they are having a couple friends sleep over tonight and then we are going shopping in the bigger city tomorrow as their birthday party.  Oh, and we're throwing a New Year's Eve party tonight..and I still have pine needles all over my living room floor.  lol

Whee! It's going to be a wild next 24-36 hours.  :-)  

Have a safe and Happy New Year!  

A Musical Merry Christmas For You

From my family to yours I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Here's a video I uploaded of my recent performance of O Holy Night at our church's Saturday night coffee house scene called "The Press"...as in coffee.  :P

I'm the lady in the scarf singing -- one of my favorite pastimes.  :-)

Holiday Happenings

I can hardly believe it has been two weeks since I posted last.  At the same time with everything I've been doing I'm not surprised.  I decided to use my Project Life App to share what the holidays have looked like in my neck of the woods.  :)  

First there was an ornament party I threw at the beginning of the month.  It's becoming a tradition for me and my lady friends and we had a great time.  I love doing it, but it slightly stresses me out since I have to switch from Thanksgiving to Christmas decor in a week to get this done right.  lol

Basketball season has started up, so that means lots of driving to and from practices and games.  One of my daughters made varsity this year (GO HER!!) and the other is the team manager. 

We had fun picking out our tree from a local lot and then using the excess branches to decorate around the house.  

At the last minute I decided to make some scrabble ornaments and get my nails painted festively.  Whee!  The little things....

I managed to get some good runs in until my foot decided to act up, and then my knee...and well, I'll be posting about that later.  When I googled "pain in front of knee" every listing came up "runner's knee".  I'm less-than-thrilled, but taking a break to allow it to heal.  It's been painful for about a month and since it didn't improve I knew it was time to do something about it.  Ice and ibuprofen help too and I can already tell things are getting better.  

As of last night I finished up my holiday baking, but it all started with those little pretzel goodies that are oh, so easy and oh so tasty!

This is the year of singing and stockings for me!  I decided to sew up stockings for all of my nieces and nephews for Christmas and that turned into making one for their parents and aunt and uncle and my mother-in-law as well.

To follow the same theme, I went with making mini stockings for my kids' teachers filled with a  couple homemade treats for Christmas.  

My son joined me in participating in our church's Walk through Bethlehem event.  I sang in a few of the scenes and he helped keep fire pits alive -- it was outside and went very well.  I also work with the teens girls at our church and participate in a caroling group that goes and sings at a nursing home and the hospital at least once a year.  

My son has also had physical therapy three times a week, so the offices have seen me work on Christmas cards, baby blankets, fixing a stocking and such as I have to stay in the building while he has therapy.  My husband helped a lot in coming to take over when he could get off work early, usually so I could run and grab a daughter from practice... anyway... We had a great doctor's report this month that things are looking good, and we played around while waiting for said doctor...noticing that my son's size 10 men's feet make mine look tiny.  

By last Friday I had to stop everything and just CLEAN!  I've been keeping up good enough on the house, but my kitchen had become a disaster.  It felt so good to get some major cleaning done and I felt like I could go ahead and enjoy the rest of my Christmas preparations/festivities after my kitchen received a thorough cleaning.  

I hope you have been enjoying your holiday season as much as we have.  Tonight we have company coming over for our annual pozole dinner and then it's relaxation time.  I have a few more presents to wrap, but that's always enjoyable for me.  We have plans to do nothing but spend time together as a family for Christmas; probably laying around watching Christmas movies to our hearts' content.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you can enjoy these last days of Christmas fun!

I Reached Out and Called

Remember this ad?  I instantly thought of it after a good conversation I had with a friend last Friday morning.  It was a conversation initiated by an early morning text I sent saying, "Can you talk for a few minutes?" 

As much as I don't mind sharing about my life in my blog or often in daily conversation, I have a slightly harder time reaching out for support and encouragement when it comes to more serious matters like my relationship with food.

I think the anonymity of blogging allows me the freedom to be honest about my food issues, but to reach out to someone I know personally and confess some of what I'm going through is more embarrassing.  You allow yourself to be vulnerable to critique when you open up about such sensitive topics.  

However, as I've learned in recent years, when I allow myself to reach out to someone I actually know personally once in a while about an issue I'm dealing with, food or otherwise, I'm always encouraged.  This past Friday was no different. 

Nothing new was really said, only confirmations of what I already know to be true and encouragement that it's all going to be okay.  It's exactly what I needed, and when I got off the phone I was inspired that I'm not losing my mind and I can do this.  

So, if you're struggling with an issue in life, but you think no one will understand, I encourage you to reach out.  Please be smart and make sure that person is trustworthy.  Then talk to them.  You never know but the person you decide to confide in might just have been through something similar, or they might just have an insight to your life that will help you see that the world really isn't falling all the way down around you.  (only just a little... [grin])

Hopefully when you "reach out and touch someone" you will be encouraged like I was.  Yes, it's humbling, but every once in a while it's very much needed.

P.S.  And for the few of you who continue to leave me comments, I really appreciate your words of concern and insight.  I always feel like you haven't given up on me and that's encouraging.  :)  

Weight Issues

It's not really as dramatic as it sounds -- it's always an issue when you're putting on weight and not taking it off -- but I wanted to come update how the scale is looking. 

It's not looking pretty.  

Some people say we should throw away our scales, because we are more than a number.  Well, I need my scale.  It's an accountability tool.  

Stepping on the scale forces me to face what I already know in my gut, literally (ha!).  I know my clothes are snug and the scale confirms that no, I have not lost anything yet.  I don't mind it because it's the reality check I need.  

Actually, what hit me this morning when I saw a number above 175 for the second time this week was, "Is this how people end up gaining all their weight back???  They keep seeing numbers go up and say, 'I'm going to stop this.', but don't??" 

That scares me.  In a healthy way.  

The exercise is getting back on track and now I need to work on tracking my food again and making better food choices.   

I know December is not a good month to try and lose weight, so I will commit to at least being 175 by the end of the month.  However, in my dreamy-not-waiting-until-January-to-start world I want to be at or break 170 by January 1st.  

I know it can be done, because I've lost weight in December before.  

In the meantime, can I just say... for those of you who are keeping the fight and doing well right now....THANK YOU.  It's encouraging to me.  

Exercise Update - Glad I Didn't Wait

As I was running today I realized I haven't kept on top of my weekly exercise updates.  In October I committed to exercising 30 minutes a day to help me stay on track.  I realized early on this was going to turn into 4-5 days a week and I was okay with that. 

And I have kept that up.  

Whether it's my two classes at the gym or running in my neighborhood, I have been able to get good intentional exercise in 4-5 days a week so far.  

It feels so good too.  In fact, yesterday at the end of the class I commented "It feels good to be back!!".  Today while running I felt the same way;  like I'm getting my running legs back.  

This is a busy time of year to make exercise and health commitments, but I tell you what I'm so glad I'm not putting it off until January.  Starting my days off with exercise makes me feel so much better about myself the rest of the time.