Goal completion recap - May & June

Hey so i have finally conoured many of my goals! woot woot!!  There are some goals that i have slacked on-but life happens. I am really happy at the amount of goals i have completed in the last two months!! So to start things off, I finished goal #11 - have a large picnic party with relatives family and friends.  Well we had one on the 19th of june. It was alot of work, but fun and we are planning to do it next year. We had between 25 and 30 people at the party. We had his family represented quite well by relatives and mine was represented only by my sister and her fam. Ah well- I will remember that next time relatives of mine... We also had BUTT LOADS of food-omg next year i am not going to buy as much food seriously.  We provided the meat (beer brats and hamburgers)  I also made a grape salad and did a veggie platter and made some cupcakes. Everyone that came brought something to pass.  I am so going to only count 1 and a quarter brats at most per person next year-holy crap way to many brats and burgers left over.  Also-Kevin's dad brought ALOT of food, some awesome chinese pulled pork, some salsa and some desserts.  So with everyone bringing food to pass and the stuff we made we had huge amounts of food.  I had alot of fun chit chatting with everyone-showing off the house and playing games. We set up croquet, ladderball and had a frisbee and sidewalk chalk.  It was fun, and there was no histerics wich was also VERY good-i was most concerned about that.  Also technically I could include goal #10  - Have people from church over. But I am not.  I invited three familys from our church to the party, out of those three only one couple ended up being able to come-it was our pastor and his wife.  It was nice that they came-they got to see our house and chit chat with our friends. They had an interesting convo about godparents and the catholic faith with another couple who is our friends.  So since it was only them, I dont think I will be counting that as a completed goal.  Some photos from the event follow!

So, another goal that i completed in the last two months is #18 finish and get printed a digital scrapbook.  I finished it yeah!! I made a digitalscrapbook for my parents anniversary. I will post pictures of that-just not today. I have jpegs of the pages, i just need to combine them into one image.  Soo-you'll have to wait on that one!!

We all know that we went to the shedd and to museum of science & industry over our anniversary. That was early in may. They were goal #34 & #35.

Also in prep for our big party I completed goal #45 & #46. Clean and organize closet in basement & clean and organize basement.  Now my basement looks pretty!! well sorta-it is a basement after all!!

I also did #90 - Write "the letter." It was not as elaborate or as indepth as i had imagined it to be. She called and we talked a little. She interpreted something I had saaid on FB was about her, I explained we talked a little more. It was good. Thats all.  

So other than these I havent really worked on many goals. I am working on the no soda thing tho-I am 3 weeks in and feeling good! I have been tempted alot lately but i have avoided my temptation with some luck!!

A long ass blog!!

So here I am, falling behind on my goals but still attempting them.  This isnt the reason for todays blog.  I feel just so out of it, frustrated and alot like a failure, and really need to flesh it out-so sorry peeps!  I have struggled with my weight since I was born practically.  I have medical issues that have held me back in different ways at different times.  And currently I dont have a job. I quite my job a year ago, I worked for my dad and it just got to be to much of an emotional drain for me.  My sister also worked there-and we have never gotten along.  It was an issue of never really having a set list of this is what you do at your job. Yes there was billing and ebay, but beyond that it was whatever they had for me whether it was inventory counting, shipping, light repetitive menufacturing (making ditty bags or two ball and tee packs) or just cleaning.  And it really got frustrating to be treated as lowest man on the totem pole, even though I wasnt the newest employee.  So needless to say, I know my dad was helping me by giving me a job, but I quit.  And looking back, I really am happy about my choice.  But a year has passed, I feel so bad that I am not helping to keep the house afloat.  But I really enjoy my time at home and sometimes wish I could be a stay at home wife (cook/clean/whatever). Pretty much that is what I do now. I dont know, I am sick of  really hearing about money and how if we had x we can do y.  This last month was hard on me guilt wise about money.  We have a large medical bill, a large dental bill, and our regular expenses.

So also I have really struggled with my weight and weight loss my whole life. I have had highs and lows of weight happyness, and really until I started this list I was more on the happier side of weight happyness.  I have delt with parents getting mad at me for eating sweets from their stash, my dad bribeing me to loose weight and my parents telling me how i need to watch what i am eating cuz diabetes runs in the family.  Seriously-shut up, dont you think I think about this myself enough?  Help me/support me-dont just tell me what i need to do. I am just really frustrated about my weight. I know I have to do it, and I have to choose to do it, but i know i really need support to stay on track, and hubby isnt that good when it comes to diet support-he tells me what i want to hear-not what i need to hear.  I know he loves me for who I am, but would like me to loose weight. It is just so hard to stay motivated on my own.  But I am going to try something new - not beating my self up and changing how I think. I am "trying" to get rid of the word diet from my vocabulary and change it with lifestyle change.  As a part of my lifestyle change I am going to only tackle one or two change per month.  Once it becomes habit or at least stuck to and scheduled, I will add a new lifestyle change goal.  So far I have crossed water drinking off my list of lifestyle goals as I regularly drink 2-3 liters a day.  As of tommorow a new lifestyle goal will be added.  I have dabbled in the arena before, but never really stuck to it.  A biggie goal on my 101 in 1001 is to walk a half marathon. Well officially I start training tommorow with Kevin. He has decided to join me. I asked him though that if he says yes-he needs to not say oh im tired on a day or something, he has to stick with it so i can stick with it.  I am a little nervous and excited at the same time.  It will be something for kevin and I to do together that is free and might help us connect a little more.  I am nervous because I hurt my back the weekend of our trip (clutzo me) and it still bothers me a bit, but i am sure excersize in the long run will be good.  So after I have successfuly integrated excersize into my routine I plan to adjust how i eat, now granted I am not going to go all out now, but I will have mini goals that go along with eating change.  Another goal that i have in terms of lifestyle changes, I have decided this month would be a good month to give up soda.  We are only one week into the month but i am doing good!! No soda for me!! I am very tempted though! We recently bought a bunch of two liter bottles of soda for the party and they are still sitting in the family room... So they are tempting but I will be ok-I think!! 

So in other goals, I finished a bigg ass digital scrapbook!!! woot woot!!  It is for an anniversary for someone I love. I promise to put a picture or two up here of the pages.  I did finish another book-I know rare right?? It was the rosie odonnel book "celebrity detox" good book!  Now I am reading "The Increadable Henry House"  I am really diggin the book-check it out if you like reading about the 40's and 50's. Um, other than that I havent done many of the goals, but i have another year and a half!! :p!  Ok peace out peeps!  Gotta go swish & swipe my bathroom!!

Procrastination!!

Oh man-ok so I have come to realize that I procrastinate big projects...  So here I am, four days away from needing to get my photo book turned in to blurb to redeem a coupon and to get said book done before the anniversary.  I have 5 pages done... yes I know sad but true.  I think for a while I was trying to decide if I wanted the professional black and white or if I wanted to use digi scrap stuff. Well I have decided to use the professional look.  I am almost done with another page-so we will see, I gotta get my butt moving on it! Oh-hubbys home GTG make food.  I have a blog planned for later-maybe after I finish the book.  It will be about happyness and how some people think just cause you are not fit you arnt happy.   Ok later y'all!

Goal #72 - Create a House cleaning schedule

Ok, so I am going to start by saying I HATE HOUSE CLEANING. I hate it with a passion. I think it has to do with that my mother is a house cleaning freak and lots of times growing up she would ask me to help and I wouldnt do it to her satisfaction and we would argue.  So I think that is why I hate cleaning-not totally sure-maybe I am just naturally a slob!  My roomates in college would deffinatly call me the later!! So I have checked out a website in the past and attempted to stick to the routines with little to no luck.  Well this time I also purchased a daily calendar thing.  The website is called FlyLady.com.  It helps you build a control journal for tasks to do on a daily basis and build a habit to it.  They also have weekly zones for deeper cleaning - but each task on a given day should only take you fifteen minutes.  So really each day I only pick up/clean whatever for like an hour total.  An example of my schedule is
Monday: My Errand Day
-Go to Library - return books
-Go to Grocery Store
-Decide what to make for wednesday Potluck
-Declutter for 15 Min.
-2min. in Hot spots
-Clean off hot spots in back of tub
-Swish & Swipe
So that is monday, some days have more-some have less.  Tuesdays and thursdays are my home blessing hour-I seperate otherwise I would get frustrated.  So I use my daily calender to write down what I have to do for the day, and cross off as I go. I was never a list maker-but I am liking how it is working out. I also get daily emails from Flylady.com to keep me on schedule.  So other than this I have been busy working on the photobook.  Also getting everything in order for our party next month.  So I have been busy!

3 Birds one stone and my anniversary!!

So, my third wedding anniversary has come and gone. It was May 5th, but it totally didnt start off on the right foot. OMG, the weekend will be most memorable because of all the issues that arose!!  So I figure I might as write this since I am certain it will come out at some point otherwise.  So if we look at our calender's may 5th was a wednesday.  It was originally supposed to be nothing super big since we planned to go to chi town for the weekend.  Well wednesday I got sick, like vomiting sick.  So, needless to say I ended up sleeping and vomiting all day-fun huh?  So by the time Kevin came home I was quite out of it, due to dehydration and adrenal crisis. Kevin wanted to take me to the hospital-I didnt want to go.  So after calling my parents to see what he should do, Kevin took me to the emergency room.  Also my mother met us there.  So, due to having sucky deep veins and dehydration, the only vein they could access-after 6 attemptes mind you - they got a vein in my thumb.  Then they pumped with fluids and solucortef and about three hours later they wanted to find a bigger vein. So they put a central line thingy in my neck-yeah fun  not.  So after getting but loads of tests done they moved me into the ICU overnight. They were concerned with my low bp (lowest was about 74/50) and my high heart rate-about 120 at it's highest.  The bp and hr were both caused by severe dehydration.  So after spending a night and most of a day in ICU, I got transfered to a regular room for another night and part of day.  I was ready to leave the hospital by the time I got transfered to a regular room, but they wanted to monitor me for another day.  I was super eager to get out especially that last day in the regular room.  We had planned to leave early for chicago that day.  But didnt leave until just after rush hour.  So I got released from the hospital friday afternoon-like 3ish we went home packed real fast and got on the road.  So friday night we kinda just chilled-we went to an awesome restaraunt.  It was called Miller's ale house-I think it was in oak terrace.  Really good food.  They even had fried clams!!  So cool.  Also kevin and I got a fish fry that was good as well-a little rich and over fried, but good.  So that night we came back to the hotel and slept. Got up early the next day and went to the museum of science and industry-so cool i must say!!  Very awesome exibits and stuff.  So we were half way through and went to go and sit at a mini computerized exibit that was about the earth-a big computerized globe in the middle.  Well there is like two steps up and then a row of chairs.  Well the exibit ended and we were getting up to leave and clutzo me didnt remeber or pay attention to the steps and tripped somehow and fell.  All I could think about for a minute was omg-I look like an idiot!!  But I must say, museum of S & I was VERY responsive-within a few seconds of falling they asked if I wanted an ambulance-I said no. No way in hell was I going back to a hospital!!  So in the end I beleive I pulled a muscle in my foot and two muscles in my back.  I have been taking pain meds and iced it a few times the first day or so.  Kevin and I continued through the m of s&i and I still had a good time even though my back was killing me and I had to walk funny cuz my foot hurt.  So that night we went back to the hotel and kevin got sick.  He was vomiting a few times. I kept him hydrated though.  I let him sleep it off for a few hours then we went out so I could get some grub and we went to walgreens again.  He ended up really just eating to much greasy food i think.  He still wasnt 100% the next morning, but good enough to go to the Shedd aquarium.  I loved it-I love the fish stuff! LOL!! We also went to the Field museum wich was just eh in my opinion. Kevin liked it-he liked the dino stuff.   So we wanted to see the adler as well, but we were to tired so we drove home.  We stopped at the bridge oasis thingy. I wanted a munchy for the drive and kevin was hungry as well.  So that was my three birds with one stone. We celebrated our anniversary (#1), Completed goal #34 go to museum of science & industry (#2) and goal #35 go to shedd aquarium.  Other than that not many goals have been worked on.  I want to start reading agin, but I am still so busy with my photo projects.  I finally finished the invites for the party and finally sent them out-thank God it is done!! Now I am just searching through my photos to make sure I scanned all the ones I need. I am also going through my previously scanned photos and cropping them down.  I have completed about four pages of the book, so we will see. I gotta finish by June 1, so I can send it off to blurb. 
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I am thankful for my husband and his concern he showed towards me. It is nice to have someone other than your parents concerned/thinking about you. 

And The Adventure Continues!!

So my week so far has been good.  Got my invites done for the party-I'll put some pics up later of them.  I am also done scanning all my parents paper photos! woohoo on that on!!  No more sneaking around to take photos and bring them back while my parents are on vacation.  I have also started stuff for selling on etsy. I have some photo cards made, and i made a few sets of decopage (sp) clippys!  I'll let y'all know when the store is up and running.  A big project i have to start is a photo book that I need to finish by early june so i can get it made up.
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On the vegan/vegetarian food eating front, I have borrowed a few books from the library that look very promiseing.  I am starting as of today to try a week eating vegetarian/vegan.  I tryed a while back i know...hopefully this time it will be better.  My reasons for choosing to do this is because of the animal cruelty fact and really that meat is really not that totally healthy for you.  Also, this will not be a "new" "diet" or something. I will be writting what I eat still, and staying within a lower calorie guideline.  Also am going to restart(I know...we wont go there) the walking program. I really actually enjoyed walking and haveing some me time.  When I started the walking originally I TOTALLY dreaded it!  I remember walking with my mom when I was younger and always upset that I couldnt keep up with her!  I do not have timeing goals with the walking - just completed or not completed.  I am gonna start small again since I havent walked in about a month(yes  yess - hush now I know I have strayed!) 
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So I have been totally researching the whole vegetarian/vegan thing to get myself prepared. I am also following QUITE a few veg blogs.  One of the blogs directed me to a documentary film about animal cruelty. It was NOT produced by PETA-wich was good in my book since peta is a hypocritical orginazation. If you dont know what I'm talking about google em.  The documentary is called Earthlings. It is about all the aspects of animal cruelty, very very interesting. I say watch it!!  Although-dont eat aroung the time you watch it-you may loose your lunch!  Also not children friendly at all.  But very informative for the average consumer.  Another warning-it has been called "The vegan maker" movie.  So link is provided to site. On the top there is a thing that says watch movie. you can actually watch a low quality version on line.  Again-very worth the hour and a half of you time it will take to watch!! http://www.earthlings.com/
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Not much else really going on.  Planning to blog about my week eating veg.  I started out today with a vegan oatmeal raison cookie panuffin-yummo!  comment if ya want the recipe!!

Ahh... I am relaxed and Rejuvinated...and I have alot on my mind at the same time...

So, today I got back from an awesome women's retreat!! I liked the previous years retreats, but for some reason I really really enjoyed myself.  I got to see a good ole friend of mine. I went to HS with this girl, and she has recently (within the last two years) turned her life to Christ. I don't have many friends at all and often dont see them as often as I'd like, so it was really nice to spend a small part of the weekend with her, and giggle like how we used to.  Also, we had a great speaker! We studyed the story of Joseph, his teen years, his 30's and later. It was good.  The part that really "hit me" was when we talked about the waiting rooms in our life. I totally feel that way... Again, yes I'm going there, so leave now if you dont want to read!  I feel at a total crossroads right now. I guess I dont know how to put it.  God has a plan laid out for us all, whether we know it yet or not.  I feel that we (I) am in the waiting room of "here I am Lord, I'm married, now what? Where are the kids that we are wanting?"  Waiting for the path to be laid out.  I really struggle with that, and have been since EVERYONE (ok well maybe about 6 people) we know are either pregnant, had a baby recently, or are thinking they could be preg. since they havent had a period in XYZ days. (sorry if that is tmi for some!)  I know this is a test from God, but seriously-does it have to be this hard? Well ok, guess that went better than I thought it would be.  A good thing out of this whole weekend, is Kevin and I talked and he knows how my heart is and how I am feeling about all this.  Also, in case any one doesnt know, he doesnt really truly believe in God, he goes to church, but that is it!  So I got motivated from my good friend I had at the retreat, to start a go through the bible in a year plan thing. Kevin is gonna do it to!! yeah!! I am happy.
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Ok, so on to other things, the diet has been WAY on the back burner...I know I know...   I plan to for sure start back up on monday. I was really hit in the face again today as why I need to loose weight, I am out of breath after walking up a flight and a half of stairs-seriously... sad...   I know how I got off track, so it wont be to hard to get back on track. But sticking to it...thats were I fail...alot. 
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I have alot of "goals" for this coming week.  I am gonna finish my invites for a party we are gonna have mid june. I made them on photoshop with digiscrap elements and am getting them printed in photo format.  Also, I am very serious on making photo cards to sell on etsy.  I am not expecting to make alot of money, but I really enjoy taking photos with my SLR, and want others to experience my view through the lens in a card they can mail to a friend.  Oh yes, and working on the diet. Those are the main goals for the week.   Oh also, one HUGE goal was completed!! woot!! I finished scanning all of my parents paper photos!! woo hoo!!   ok night all!!