LW 08 - Week 12

This week, I am up a pound (again), but strangely enough I'm not all that upset about it. I'm not where I want to be and my jeans are a bit snug, but here is how I know it's going to be O.K.

• In past years, I just stopped caring over the holidays. I knew I was going to gain, so it became a self-fulfulling prophecy. One more cookie, one more piece of pie, one more serving of _______. This year I care. I'm up, but I'm only up a pound (instead of 5), and I know it'll come off once things calm down.
• I can't gain weight because then I will have no clothes to wear. I got rid of all my clothes in bigger sizes so that I wouldn't allow myself to gain the weight back. Now that a little has creeped back on, it's a reminder that I can't go any higher because I would have to go naked. Noone wants that.
• Within 2 or 3 lbs, I have been at the same weight for 1 year. That's gotta count for something! I'm pretty darn proud of that, thank you very much!
• Once my schedule calms down (the holidays are really throwing me for a loop this year), I will have time to get back to the gym. Besides me, the schedule we've been keeping is really getting to Jake. We're to the point that if we don't HAVE to leave the house, we don't. We've been on the go so much, we all need a little breather. Things will calm down after the first of the year.
• My Fitness magazine will start coming soon. I hope.
  

Visit Tales from the Scales to check out other people's progress!

12/5/07 weight: 158
12/12/07 weight: 159

This week's goal - Breathe and sleep

Winning Outcome for Lose Weight in 2008 Challenge
“I will to maintain my weight between 154 lbs and 157 lbs throughout this challenge. I will increase weight training to 2 times a week. I will continue to do cardio work for 3 or 4 days a week. I will walk between 8,000 and 10,000 steps a day EVERY DAY.”

Um...

I just couldn't think of a clever title. My brain hurts. I've got so much on my plate over the next week and a half that I can't even begin to right a post on anything in particular. So revel in these random happenings of the past weekend and marvel at our upcoming schedule...

• Jacob is old enough this year to participate in this year's Christmas pageant at church. It was this past weekend (dress rehearsal on Friday, performance on Saturday, and performance on Sunday). I was one of the 2 helpers that blindly volunteered to lead the preschool group for the performance. Dave taped parts of the show and there are a lot of cute shots of the kids and my butt while I try to keep the kids from running willy nilly on the stage.
• Our church youth program has a fundraiser every year called Stop, Drop and Shop. It was on Saturday morning. You drop your kids off at the church for 4 hours and they babysit while you go out and shop....or get a massage like my friend did. Whatever.
• We spent 45 minutes of that 4 hour chunk in line at the post office to correct the fact that they had stopped our mail almost 2 weeks before i told them they needed to. Great fun when you are expecting Christmas presents in the mail.
• I went to the grocery.
• Today was lunch with Santa. Well, actually, it was lunch with the parents and then after lunch Santa came and read everybody a story and passed out presents to all the kids. As soon as Jake heard he was going to get a present, he said "Will it be my color-by-numbers??" which is the ONLY THING he has asked for for Christmas. He got a puzzle.

• Barring any snow delays, we have school on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
• On Friday, we have rehearsal for our choir cantata.
• On Saturday, we are going out to dinner and going to see Sweeny Todd.
• On Sunday, we have our choir cantata in the early evening immediately followed by cookies and caroling at the church.
• Monday and Tuesday involves packing and we leave on Wednesday for Illinois for Christmas
• We get back to Ohio on Christmas Eve day and then sing at church at 8pm (after a 7 hour car ride).
  

Taking a breather...

Thankfully, my hand is feeling much better today so I thought I'd try to write a post with substance...and type with 2 hands. It's the little things in life, really...

The last few weeks, I have not been paying very much attention to my calendar when it comes to scheduling new things. This is everything I've had to do this week:

Sunday: Sang at 9:30am service, home by 11:00 and back out the door by 11:05 to go to the grocery. Got home by 1pm, out the door by 2:15pm to take Jake to Christmas Pageant rehearsal, back home to make dinner, after dinner made a snack for monthly Mom's group get together on Monday morning. I made enough to hopefully last 2 or 3 days at our house (Jake loves him some muffins).

Monday: Went to Mom's group from 9:15am to 11:15am. Relaxed (read: blogged) in the afternoon. Made dinner and then went to another meeting Monday night.

Tuesday: Took Jake to school and then ate an unbelievably unhealthy a really good breakfast in the car. I shopped at Wal-Mart for nearly 2 hours then picked the only self-checkout lane that was broken. I picked Jake up from school, took both kids to the bad spelling daycare, so I could go to the doctor about my hand. I called my parents once I got to the doctor to ask them if they could pick the kids up from the bad spelling daycare because the doctor was 45 minutes behind. I waited 45 minutes for them to tell me that I have tendinitis and a possible chipped bone in my hand. On the way to the x-ray facility, I stopped and ate an unbelievably unhealthy a really good lunch in the car. I waited 30 minutes to get x-rays and then went to the pharmacy to pick up an ungodly sized pill bottle and wrist brace. While picking up my prescription, I remembered that I was supposed to bring snack for bowling on Wednesday and picked up an unbelievably unhealthy a really good cinnamon pound cake and grapes. I called Dave to ask him to pick up an unbelievably unhealthy a really good dinner on the way home (hey, at least I was sitting at a table this time).

Wednesday: I took the kids to school and went to bowling...even though I couldn't bowl. I ate too much unbelievably unhealthy really good cinnamon pound cake and grapes. I came home and had lunch and then put the kids down for naps. I tried to read and comment on blogs while trying to mouse and type only using my left hand. I finally had a decent meal for dinner and headed off to choir practice until 9pm. Come home and had ice cream.

Thursday: Took Jake to school and came home with Emma to...do nothing. I finally started feeling a little normal with my hand. Got a call to confirm that our furniture will be arriving between 9:30am and 1:30pm tomorrow. Got another call to confirm that our microwave will be repaired between 1:00pm and 5:00pm tomorrow. Got another call to confirm that the kids have to be at the doctor at 10:00am tomorrow. Got some stuff done around the house and remembered that I was supposed to bring snack for the preschool board meeting that night. Since the first batch of muffins didn't make it past Tuesday, I made more muffins, hopefully to last 2 or 3 days at our house (Jake really loves him some muffins). I went and had an unbelievably HEALTHY lunch with Dave and the kids. Relaxed (read: blogged) in the afternoon. Ate dinner and headed off to preschool meeting where 2 other people also thought it was there turn to bring in snack. I had 1 brownie, 2 muffins, 2 cookies, and 3 pieces of Halloween candy...then tried not to explode during the meeting.

Friday: In light of the furniture being delivered at the exact same time that the kids had to be at the doctor, Dave had to work from home this morning. I Took the kids to the doctor and came home. The furniture was delivered 30 minutes after I got home, and we realized the furniture showroom must be much more spacious than our sunroom because the chairs look huge. We wiped the half chewed carrots off the brand new chairs because Emma spits a little when she talks with carrots in her mouth. I put Emma to bed late because the microwave repair guy got there right when I would normally be putting her down. I paid the microwave repair guy and thanked heaven that one of the two parts that broke had a 5 year warranty (instead of 1 year like the rest of the microwave) and actually costs more than the microwave itself. I put Jake down for his nap and realize that I REALLY want to type something...anything...with two hands and put up an insanely long rambling post...

Organizing Giveaway! - Contest Closed

And the winner is...Kassie from Just Another Day in Paradise! Congratulations!!!


If you weren't the lucky winner, don't forget the bags are available anytime by just clicking on the Organizing Bags button in my sidebar!

Organizing Giveaway!

Have you ever been tackling an organizing project and thought "If only I had a place to keep all this stuff..."?

Have you ever been carrying your keys, drivers license, and membership card into the gym and thought "I wish I had something small to carry this in..."?

Have you ever been putting your kids puzzles away in a box that's falling apart and thought "I wish I had something sturdy to put this in..."?

Have you ever been on a road trip and thought "I wish I had an easy way to keep a first aid kit in the car..."?

Well look no further! My friend Lara is having a giveaway over at her site for 5 free organizing bags! That's 1 each of the x-small, small, medium, large, and x-large bags. I'm telling you, from holding loose change at the bottom of your purse to organizing large craft projects to finally coralling ALL THOSE PUZZLE PIECES, these bags do it all. Check out these pictures for more great ideas and how to use these bags to organize your stuff!

All you have to do is leave a comment at her site for a chance to win. She also has links to her affiliate sites who are "co-hosting" the giveaway (like me!). You can enter once at each site for extra chances to take home the loot! When you are visting me to leave a comment, don't forget to click the button on my sidebar that will take you directly to

So head on over to Lara's site, leave a comment there, then visit all of her affiliates and leave comments with them for extra chances to win! Good luck!

Vacation planning

I'm a planner. For as long as I can remember, I've been a planner. I tend to not like surprises and I like to completely control every second of have a say in vacation planning.

Right now, I am planning two trips. One is a mini family reunion. Since I seem to have developed a reputation for having a little bit of knowledge concerning the Internet, I was designated planner. That's cool with me. But I have to tell you, It's very hard to find a date that works for nearly 30 people. I finally picked one today and we'll hope for the best.

Second, I figure it's about time Dave and I take a solo vacation. We try to get away by ourselves every year. We try to alternate every year between having just a weekend away and taking a full week. And it is SO time to take a week.

But Dave has very little time to think about anything other than work, the kids, or sleeping so we've been having some trouble coming up with a location. After we started talking about it last night, we kind of stalled. So I asked him this morning if he could take a little time today during work just to think about it.

And boy did he think about it. You know what he came back with? Hawaii. HELL YA! Now this could all change in a week or month, but as of right now I can say:

I am planning a trip to Hawaii! ADULTS ONLY!!!

Whoo. O.K. I'm felling much better now. Granted, the trip probably won't be until fall of next year, but still. I may be going to HAWAII!!

Holy crap, I think I might pass out.

Smart Habits Saturday

Things have actually been going really well here, this week, despite the fact that I am a day late on getting this post up. Jacob is still having a few outbursts every now and then, but for the most part we've been having a lot of fun. It's helped that I have been taking the time to do the important things like play with him and Emma, and going places that give me and him an outlet (like the gym while he plays in the childcare room). It's been a huge help.


And since school is starting here in 11 days (not that I'm counting or anything), I think it's time to start getting everyone acclimated to a smoother morning routine. I've made Jake a chore chart for the whole day, broken down by time of day (before breakfast, before school, before quiet time, and nighttime) so that he can see everything he needs to get done during the day. I'd like to get to the point where he can go on autopilot in the morning while I help get Emma ready. We need to be out the door by 8:45am, and we lately we haven't been ready until 9:30 or after.


The other thing I would like to do is get back into the habit of going to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. As a lifetime member, I am only required going once a month, but I find that I really do a lot better when I have that meeting to go to every week. I've been on monthly meetings since February, so this may take some getting used to!


Check out Lara's site for other's habits!


Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Simplifying - getting better

Post to blog before vistiting others - struggling with

Limit kids TV time - not a habit, but doing well

11:30 bedtime - habit

Emma's bedtime routine - doing a lot better

Work before computer time - struggling with

8K a Day - I'm actually up to 10K a day!

Wear my pedometer - habit

R-E-S-P-E-C-T - getting better

Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better

Increased personal reading time - struggling with - just need to find a good book!

Limit personal computer time - struggling with

1 on 1 kids time - getting better

Just a few more weeks

So today was the last day of nature camp, and I have to say I'll miss it. Jake had a blast and came home everyday sweaty and exhausted. I think he really enjoyed it!

All of the parents were invited for a wrap-up cookout today for lunch and that was a lot of fun. The kids had a chance to eat and run off that last little bit of energy before they return to their normal lives. All Emma wanted to do was play in the sand. That girl has an unnatural fascination with all things dirt. And rocks. That girl loooves rocks. She definitely didn't get that from me. I'm no girly girl, but I'm not a big fan of dirt either.

I love my kids, but I am SOOO excited that school starts back up in 2 1/2 weeks. This'll be Emma's first year of preschool so that means on Wednesdays from 9-11:30am, I'll be all by my lonesome. And my grand plan for the time off? Clean. Uninterrupted. Oh, and bowl every other week. Mustn't forget the bowling!!

Smart Habit Saturday

So here we are again. If you read my post yesterday, you would know things haven't been going so well here. If you didn't read my post yesterday, let me tell you. Things haven't been going so well here.

What I need to start doing is simplifying, just like Lara talked about today. I need to stop trying to do everything perfectly and just start doing what I can. It does none of us any good for me to be constantly stressed out and unhappy. No matter how much I want to, I cannot fit everything into one day. My family needs to start coming first and everything else is secondary.

Here's a little list I compiled of things that will not cause the end of my existence:

1. Unmade beds
2. Unfolded laundry
3. Dirty floors
4. Dusty shelves
5. Crusty counters
6. Unwashed dishes
7. Checking e-mail only once a day
8. Excercising
9. Not blogging (GASP!)
10. Eliminating non-essentials from my to-do list

So with this list in mind, I am going back to square one this week. I will not be taking on any new habits. I need to really work on the things I already have, and I need to learn to pare down and not obsess when I haven't done everything on my list, let alone not done them perfectly.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Post to blog before vistiting others - struggling with

Limit kids TV time - struggling with

11:30 bedtime - pretty good

Emma's bedtime routine - struggling with

Work before computer time - struggling with

8K a Day - struggling with

Wear my pedometer - habit

R-E-S-P-E-C-T - struggling with

Food Journal and Scrounging - struggling with

Increased personal reading time - struggling with

Limit personal computer time - struggling with

1 on 1 kids time - struggling with

Slipping away

I'm not feeling a whole lotta joy in my life right now.

It sounds harsh, but it's true. I feel myself wanting to retreat into a little hole of nothingness and not come out until....I don't know when. I don't know what the conditions would need to be to get myself out of this current downward spiral. I feel myself trying to recover from a slippery slope and it ain't going so well.

I've been having a lot of problems with Jacob lately. We just haven't been getting along so well. I am constantly yelling at him and he's being unbelievably whiny and demanding. And it's a vicious cycle, I tell ya. The more demanding he gets, the more upset I get. The more upset I get, the more whiny and uncooperative he gets. I just don't know what to do. He demands so much attention and to be honest, I just don't want to be around him anymore.

Emma is a monkey see, monkey do. So she has been picking up on Jake's bad habits. And she has been taking off her diaper during naptime and totally soaking everything...and then sleeping in it. I'm pretty much done with her, too.

And because of all of that plus other stuff that is going on, I feel myself wanting to retreat from everything. I have almost no interest in anything anymore. I've been on edge and short with the kids and Dave. I seem to be living in a constant state of being annoyed and upset. Most things feel like a burden; blogging, stuff I do for my church, cooking, cleaning, scrapbooking, eating right, you name it. Last night, I had the feeling that I just want to curl up in my bed and hopefully when I wake up I will somehow have miraculously developed new diet/parenting/housekeeping/time management skills.

I am 1 of 6 kids in our family, and most of us have been on medication or in therapy for depression. To this point, I have not been one of them. I have a heightened sense of the warning signs, almost to a fault. I often wonder if I am on the brink of depression, but then a second later wondering if I am just using that as an excuse. I think the difference is that I recognize the behavior I'm exhibiting and want to change it NOW before it gets to the point of therapy or medication, and I think that is definitely possible.

I just don't know where to start. Dave wants to help, and I would gladly accept it if I knew what to tell him. I don't know what I need to do to get myself going in the right direction. Time off (girls night out, dave staying home with the kids) hasn't really been helping lately because it just makes me feel guilty and like I'm a failure, and the behavior still continues after I get home. Things have just been so screwy lately at our house as far as schedules and routines that I'm just feeling totally off kilter. I definitely need an attitude adjustment, but how do I get one of those??

Here are my ideas of things I can change in the house and about our schedule. They may seem silly, but I hope they will help:

• More music - We usually have music playing in the house, but it's general the kids music. I need to play more of my music during the day and definitely listen to it when they are down for naps. Music generally makes me happy and I can actually feel the tension leaving my body while it's on. It may be a struggle though because Jake has a control thing going on now: if it's not his music, then he doesn't want any music.
• Back to a routine - I don't know if it's because of summer or because of Dave's travel schedule, but it seems like we have been flying by the seat of our pants lately. I need to get back to some sort of daily routine. The added bonus of this is that school is starting soon so it'll get Jake and Emma ready for that.
• The gym - Part of our routine was going to the gym. I can't tell you the last time I went. And I don't know why I don't go because the kids love it there. They have a blast because they are playing with kids instead of being stuck at home with me. I think I've stopped going because most days it's a struggle to get to breakfast without someone yelling so the stress of getting out the door to the gym is just something I don't want to deal with.
• Turn off the TV and computer - This is for both me and the kids. It has definitly become a crutch for me, no doubt about it. They are like a drug.
• Get Jake to play by himself - This will be the real challenge. If he's not bossing me around playing with me or watching TV, he really doesn't know what to do with himself. He has never played well by himself and his demands on me are starting to wear me down.

Any other thoughts from you home viewers? Any suggestions are welcome! Or if you just want to tell me I'm not alone in this crazy thing called parenting, I wanna hear about that, too! I don't ask for it often, but I'm asking for it now. I need your help!!

Smart Habit Saturday

I'm posting from my wonderful husband's laptop so I have no nifty graphic to give you. But don't be fooled! This is my official SHS post (for what it's worth).


If I can be quite honest, this was a HORRIBLE week for me for habits. What with crazy giveaways and Dave being gone for a week, I was lucky if I showered every day....oh wait. I didn't do that either.


So I'm just going to pretend that this week didn't happen, umkay? I like to remind myself frequently that de-nile ain't just a river in Egypt.


Check out Lara's site for other's habits!


Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
Post to blog before vistiting others - LOL! I had no idea that I would be sucked in so easily to the crazy giveaways this week! Wait. Who am I kidding? YES I DID!
Limit kids TV time - struggling with
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - slowly returning to this
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - getting better

Smart Habit Saturdays

Seriously? A month? I can't believe I haven't been to SHS since June 30. Needless to say, my committment has been a bit...uh...lacking, shall we say?

I've done a habit checklist which I am not really keeping up with, but that's a habit for another week.

This week, I'm going to focus on getting a post on my own blog before I go galivanting around reading other people's stuff. I do so much better with my time management stuff if I do my own first instead of hurrying to try and fit it in at the end of the day. So we'll give it a whirl.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
Limit kids TV time - struggling with
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - slowly returning to this
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - getting better

Oh my gosh, I can't tell you how much better I feel this week after going to bed at 11:30 every night. O.K., almost every night. There was one where I stayed up until 12:30, and I most certainly felt it the next morning...as did anyone who had the nerve to argue with anything I said that day.

Being that it's summer time, I'm falling into the trap of letting Jake and Emma watch way too much TV. We should be out doing things. Instead, when Dave asks Jake where he went that day, Jake has every reason to answer "the couch".

So this week, I will limit the kids TV time to 1 hour. I already have a system set up to achieve this, I just have to follow through with it. Famous last words...

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
11:30 bedtime - habit
Emma's bedtime routine - habit
Work before computer time - struggling with
8K a Day - need to get back to
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - getting better
Increased personal reading time - habit (and loving it!)
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - struggling with

Smart Habit Saturdays

Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've checked in. Life around here has been a little crazy over the last few weeks, but it finally looks like it's starting to settle down just a bit. VBS is over which leaves me only 1 script to memorize so that's a big relief, but I've still been really tired lately.

Which is why my new old habit makes so much sense for me. I need to get back to a schedule where the lights are out by 11:30pm and the alarm goes off by 6:00am. I have been so exhausted lately because I'm staying up too late, and then sleeping in too late which makes me feel like I am just behind for the rest of the day. I really need the time in the morning before the kids get up to look at my script, too, so this habit just makes sense all the way around.

Because of the craziness, my other habits are slipping through the cracks again. But hopefully one more piece to the puzzle (not being tired) will start to bring the big picture back in focus. I'm going to start working on all my habits this week, too, so things can start getting back to some level of normalcy around here...whatever that means.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:

Emma's bedtime routine - habit

Work before computer time - struggling with

8K a Day - need to get back to

Wear my pedometer - habit

R-E-S-P-E-C-T - habit

Food Journal and Scrounging - working on

Increased personal reading time - habit

Limit personal computer time - working on

1 on 1 kids time - working on

Mother's helpers - Vol. 2

A while back, I wrote about a couple of Mother's Helpers that I had found and Jake really responded to. He doesn't ask for them as often anymore because we now have two new things around the house that help us out (usually) whenver we need it.

The first one is counting, or more accurately racing. Jake is really big into timers, and he always likes to get things done before the timer goes off. One day when he refused to get ready for school and I couldn't get ready myself because he was hanging on me showering me with love, I asked him if he could go potty before I counted to 100. I gave him a ready, set, go and then started counting. He ran down the hall laughing and went to the bathroom, came back and said "You didn't even make it to 30". I told him that was great and asked him if he could get dressed before I counted to 100, and off he went. We use it for everything now, and he gets such a kick out of "beating" me to making it to 100. Once, while I was counting, I said "...thirty-four...thirty-five...thirty-s..." and he comes tearing through the door saying "Did it! You didn't even get to -ix". He's not got it down to syllables what number I'm on. Pretty cool.

The other helper I've discovered is Jacob! Lately, he wants to help me do everything...load the dishwasher, unload the dishwasher, sort the laundry, putting the laundry in, changing it to the dryer. And thanks to Lara, Jacob is now starting to put away his own laundry, including hanging up his clothes. And just the other day, for the first time ever, he OFFERED to help without me asking. I was so excited I nearly wet myself...but since we are trying to re-teach Jacob not to pee his own pants, I thought that mightn't set a good example. And you wanna know what he offered to do? Hang up Dave's and my laundry.

I think I could definitely get used to this!!

Morning Glory

I've never been a morning person. Ever. When I was growing up, it was not unusual for me to sleep until noon or 1pm during the weekends. I enjoy my sleep. A lot. When I don't get enough of it, don't even try to be happy around me. Run. Run fast and find a good hiding place.

When Dave is home, we get to bed by 11:30 and are up (usually) around 6:00am. I don't like it, mind you, but that seems to be a schedule where we can work out together, I can scrapbook and get in a shower, all before a freight train Jake comes barreling in at 7:00am.

When Dave is not home, I don't typically turn out the light until 1:00am and then I sleep in until my own personal human alarm clock lets me know that it's "seven-zero-zero". We take our own sweet time getting ready in the morning and then waste away the day.

Not this week. Dave is not home so I'm still staying up too late and being shocked out of my slumber by Jake at 7:00am. But this week, we had painters coming in everyday at 8:00am which meant that I needed to be up and showered by then to let them in the door.

So you can imagine how frustrated I was when this morning at 4:45am, I heard beeping. This incessant, loud-enough-to-wake-the-dead beeping. This unidentifiable, fingernails-on-a-chalkboard-beeping. This UNLOCATABLE, for-the-love-of-God-PLEASE-STOP-BEEPING beeping.

I was convinced it was the fire alarm mounted in our hallway, so I walked out of the room and gave it a good stare down. The beeping stopped. Triumphant, I returned to bed. Only for the beeping to continue. We had 2 more stare downs before I decided that I had the ultimate power in this situation: I had the power to flip the switch on the circuit breaker. Take that, you electronic coward that doesn't have the nerve to beep when I'm looking you in the eye. HA! Now if I can only remember which breaker it's on. Finally, after 3 tries (which means going up and down the stairs to the basement to test the light switch to make sure I've hit the right breaker), the accused is silenced.

I went back to bed, and the beeping continued. Near tears at the amount of sleep I WASN'T getting, I finally tracked the noise down to the Carbon Monoxide alarm that the painters had unplugged in order to paint the walls. They then put it under some plastic, although I doubt they did it to torture me. But still...

I plugged the unit back in and went back to bed. It was now 5:30am. I drifted off thinking "I've still got an hour and a half left...." Then the crying started. Jake was crying out because his night light was not on. His night light that is controlled by the same circuit breaker as the wrongfully accused fire alarm. The same circuit breaker that I forgot to turn back on after finding the real culprit. So I head back downstairs to the basement to turn the breaker back on.

Finally, with the beeping stopped and all electricity to essential lighting fixtures restored, I return to my bed, already asleep before my head hits the pillow. Then the cat started crying. Deciding the cat can work his own problems out, I lay in bed, wide awake until 6:15am. I must have drifted off because I was asleep when the 7:00am freight train came through right on schedule.

But it all has a happy ending, because you can't beat your 4 year old son lying in bed with you, rubbing your back and giving you kisses on the cheek and saying, "Mommy, you sleep until the clock says seven-two-zero. Then you can get up."

At least he's learning early how to deal with his Morning Glory Mom.

Smart Habit Saturdays

While we were away this past week, I had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to do for my habit this week. That doesn't mean I actually DID think about it, I just had a lot of time to. LOL!

As I was putting Emma to bed tonight, I realized something. Even though she's 2 years old, I never developed a bedtime routine for her. Dave takes care of Jake's bedtime routine and they do a lot! With Emma, I pretty much put a new diaper on her, wrestle her for the toothbrush and put her in her crib. Good night!

Jake gets potty time, teeth brushed, 2 or 3 books, prayers, backrubs, noserubs, usually a little bit of tickling and then lights out. Emma gets zilch. I really need to change that!

So, this week I am going to make a habit of doing a bedtime routine for Emma. We'll do potty time, teeth brushing, 1 or 2 books, and prayers. Dave is on travel again this week, so I'll be happy if the kids get their routines in 5 nights (usually I just want to get them in bed because I am DONE by the end of the day).

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!



Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - habit
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

Smart Habit Saturdays

I did really well this week with my goal of 8,000 steps a day. There was only one day that I didn't get 8,000 steps in, but the other 6 days I surpassed my goal. It's amazing how many steps you can get in when you walk in place while making dinner!

Tuesday is the last day that Jake is in school, so our daily schedules are about to change drastically. So my habit for this week will play off of that and my continuing effort to limit my personal computer time.

This week, I'm going to make it a goal to not do any personal computer time until all my non-computer and "business" computer tasks are done! This is going to be a HUGE excercise in self-discipline, so we'll see how it goes.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - habit
Wear my pedometer - habit
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

So I did not do at all well with my habit this week, but I had a good excuse: my pedometer actually broke on Sunday. And since I wasn't about to count all my steps in my head, I kind of let this one go.

I feel like I've been struggling with my time management this week. And actually, it's something I always struggle with. I've never been very good at setting limits for myself. I put things off, and put things off and then try to do a mad dash of things at the very end of the day. I then proceed to feel crappy about myself because I couldn't get it all done.

So, this week, I am going to go onto autopilot. I'm just going to maintain what I've been doing so far, because I'm not sure that I can add one more thing to my plate. I'm starting to get discouraged with myself (and that spiraling, unsettling feeling of loss of control) which is usually the tell tale sign that I'm taking on too much. So I am going to stop and smell the roses this week, spend some good old fashioned down time with the kids and the hubby, and just slow down.

Check out Lara's site for other's habits!

Here are my other habits/goals for 2007:
8K a Day - on hold
Wear my pedometer - on hold
R-E-S-P-E-C-T - mostly a habit
Food Journal and Scrounging - working on
Increased personal reading time - habit
Limit personal computer time - working on
1 on 1 kids time - working on

I'm DONE!!!

I finally finished up the second part of my 30 day Organizational Challenge: Jake's art/craft area. Just to refresh your memory, here are the before pictures.

Once I cleared everything out, Jake and Emma had already repurposed the space for Hide and Seek. Thankfully, I was able to toss/donate enought stuff that one whole cabinet remained empty!

And here is the end result:

Thanks to advice from Laura herself, I got these oversized drawers that were just the right depth to fit into the cabinet. The top drawer has a container for playdoh, a container for playdoh toys, his container of foam stickers, and a bag of lacing cards. The bottom drawer has all of his coloring and activity books and a box for his crayons and markers. The skinny box on the right has 12x12 scrapbooking paper and scraps that I don't use anymore. There are 2 poly envelopes on the left, 1 for stickers and 1 for loose coloring sheets. Finally, the magazine holder has foam sheets, cardboard sheets, blank paper, and old magazines to cut up.

This is the drawer that's directly above the cabinet. It has the stuff that we don't use quite as often so it didn't need to be with the stuff in the main cabinet.

There are a few questions that Laura wanted us to answer to see what we got out of the challenge:

1. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and were you able to overcome it?

For me, the hardest part was falling into my familiar trap of over-organizing. I was trying to hard to come up with labels for ever little thing instead of coming up with categories that things would fit into. Laura helped me out by sending me a great article that made me realize I was making things harder on myself by trying to pigeonhole every last thing.

2. Tell us what kind of changes/habits you have put into place in order for your area/room to maintain its new order?

Everything is labeled now so that whoever goes in there, they will be able to find things easily (and put them back just as easily).

3. What did you do with the "stuff" you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?

There was a whole bunch of stuff that I threw out - dried up playdoh, empty sticker sheets, unusable paper, unfinished projects that I knew would stay that way. I was able to donate playdoh and some toys to a local daycare center that was more than happy to take them off my hands.

4. What was the biggest lesson you learned from this experience?

That there is no reason to keep every scrap of every piece of paper because "someday" it may get used. More than likely, "someday" will never come, so it's easier on EVERYBODY to just get rid of it. If it doesn't serve a purpose (and won't anytime soon), there is absolutely no reason to keep it.

5. Now that you have completed the PROCESS, do you think having and keeping your space organized will make a difference in your life?

Definitely. This is just a stepping stone for teaching the kids about a lot more than organization. By teaching them to pick up after themselves and where things need to go, I really feel like this will help out as far as their independence and respect is concerned. Because everything is labeled, Jake is already realizing that if he wants to color, all he has to do is go get the stuff out himself instead of needing to come get me to help him. He's really starting to take better care of things, because he sees how important it is.