13 in 13 check in

Alrighty - since I managed to attend a meeting last night (I was up .4 lbs - boooo!) I thought I'd do a weekly update on 13 in 13 so far. And (how I plan to accomplish my goals).

To Achieve - Onederland

1. plan meals weekly.  Check!  I am stopping to get some staples on my way home tonight to make it thru the weekend - I'm totally craving veggies!  Full grocery shopping early next week.

2. eat more / new veggies every week (1 recipe from book per week).  Check!  I had brussels sprouts last night.  I had planned to roast them, but found out I had bought a steamer bag so I had them steamed with a couple shots of spray butter.  FYI - these are NOT 0 WW points, even if the scanner app says so.

3. take better care of my skin (lotion AM, wash face PM, lotion PM) Check!  I've been washing & lotioning my face / neck / chest morning & night.  I haven't been getting all of the rest of my body, but I've been doing parts every day.  Elbows after I get out of the shower.  My feet at night with some really thick lotion, etc.

4. be a better blogger.  Meh.  2/3.  I obviously posted here, and on MCG, but not RR since New Years.  Oops!  But tomorrow night we're going to see Monster Jam at Ford Field, so there will be monster truck pictures posted over there!  And we'll have dinner at the Hockeytown Cafe before the show hopefully without a 90 minute wait!

This is going to be a good year, since every other year, Monster Jam is the same night as opening night at the North American International Auto Show (this is Detroit - peeps!  The Motor City!) and sometimes also a Red Wings game.  Parking is scarce on a night like that!  But the Auto Show starts next weekend & the Wings will be playing on the road (YAY HOCKEY!!!)

5. get my house de-cluttered (15 minutes per day) 5/7  I got all the Christmas stuff put away.  The last 2 nights I've done nothing.  I didn't exactly have a headache, but I felt weird and I just wanted silence.  The people at work seem to have no volume control lately!!

6. dust off my WAH DVDs (2 or more x per week / other DVD or Wii) 2/3  Since I have room in my living room now, I've been on the Wii twice.  I opened up a couple new yoga moves and I can feel those today!  My arms / hands are not able to twist so that my palms touch behind my back with fingers pointed up toward my head.  Not without excessive drama & moaning, anyway.  Then leaning forward, too?  HA!!

7. cut back on unnecessary spending (see #5)  ~checks calendar~ Check!!  I confess I went to a few stores that day I was home alone before going back to work.  I ended up getting 2 candy cane blowmolds and a toy soldier blowmold for my Christmas yard display.  And maybe another nutcracker.  They are stored in the shed on the back of the garage.  But that was technically last week, not this one!

8. MGC fence - nada

9. rededicate myself to WW (weekly meeting / track 5/7 day) Meeting - Check! Tracking - maybe 3/7.  I've been doing fine at work, but not so well at night.

10. figure out & use Kindle Fire - nada  Do you know these don't come with manuals???  Guess you're supposed to automatically know what to do with it!!  I will be downloading (uploading?) a book or two this weekend so I have something to do while waiting for Miss Angela at the dentist Monday.

11. get RACES certification (30 min per week) - haven't even touched the book yet!

12.

13. wean myself off pop ( stop drinking one hour earlier every month)  maybe not stopping an hour earlier but I am choosing water over pop more often in the evening.  After after my a.m. can in the morning, I've been drinking green tea at lunchtime.  

So that's the progress this week!  I'm going to try to keep the update posts on Thursday or Fridays for regularity's sake. 

Obstacles / Update

Why does it seem like the fates are working against me attending a flippin' WW meeting?

The last one I made was last Wednesday morning.  I like the morning time frame, but that leader was a bit odd.  I couldn't really put my finger on it.  But since I'm off vacation and back to the grind, no more mornings for me anyway.

So then I planned on going tonight.  Denied!  Normally on Tuesday, Miss Angela has 4 dance classes. Yesterday 2 got rescheduled for tonight & next Wednesday. Crap.  Her usual Thursday dance class is 5:30 - 6:30 and meetings are 6 and 7.  So I guess I'm stuck with going to the 7pm class. I hate going that late, since I'll be starving.  I really wish there was a 4 pm meeting, any night except Tuesday, at the office right here by work.  That would be outstanding.

I fell victim to mindless eating, too.  I follow a Halloween - themed blog that was giving away some cool stuff like zombie mirror clings, a cat costume, and other stuff.  And I was chosen, much to Chester & Maddie's dismay.  They're not thrilled with the costume.  LOL!  However, it also included 2 packages of cookies.  Let's just say that half the box of shortbread cookies (approximately 3 1/2 suggested servings) were gone before I even thought about what I was doing.  Dammit.  I need to get rid of the chocolate chip ones before they attack me, too.  Sad part is....they weren't that good!

I couldn't stop eating yesterday. I realized that since I started different birth control pills in October, I've had at least one day of serious munchies instead of the usual crazy PMS bitchiness.  I haven't decided which is worse yet.  At least when I was bitchy, I recognized that fact and could apologize to my family beforehand and somewhat fight it down.

I have to look at the bright side of things.  I have been reading blog post after Facebook post about people and families being sick.  I am SO thankful and grateful that me and my entire family have been staying healthy.  Whew!  Angel came home from school yesterday with a sinus headache, but she was OK to go to her 2 dance classes last night.  So all is good.

Friend Makin' Monday - Simple Questions!

Happy Monday!

I managed to get my outdoor decorations taken down and put away without freezing fingers off this weekend and started on the inside. So currently, my house is a disaster. And why is it out of all the cheesy ornaments you may have on your tree, the one you break is always a souvenir from someplace hundreds of miles away? Yup. Broke the one we just got this fall from the Shipwreck Museum at Whitefish Point in da U.P. I took a pic and am going to email it to them and see if I can replace it. **fingers crossed**

Ugh. Anyway, I want the tree down & living room rearranged so I can use the Wii again. But until then - here's FMM!

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section over at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

Simple Questions

1. Outside my window I see…a loading dock half full of freight (it would be more exciting if I was home instead of at work)

2. My kitchen counters are…the ugliest poo-brown laminate ever created in the 70s.

3. Yesterday I drank…a couple glasses of water and 2 Coke Zeros.  I have 2 bottles of wine from work that I need to get into.

4. My cell phone is…an iPhone with a blue Otterbox.

5. My computer is…like I said, I'm at work.  It does what its supposed to.  I do like the 19 inch flatscreen monitor, tho.  It's an HP.  I have a Dell desktop and a little Acer Aspire tablet that I really like when hubby is hogging the desk at home.

6. My favorite reality show is…RuPaul's Drag Race.  I can't help it, I'm hooked!  Is it sad that I've gotten makeup tips from a bunch of guys?

7. My workouts are…slowly becoming more frequent.

8. The last book I read is…a smutty historical romance novel.

9. My week will be….getting back to normal after the holidays.

10. So far 2013 has been…good so far!

Now it’s your turn to answer this week’s questions. Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments! Happy Monday, friends!

13 in 13

Ugh, I'm already a day behind in this! Darn vacation - I forgot what day it was! Randy went back to work and Angel went back to school today, so I should be back on track now.  Especially since I head back to the grind tomorrow.

Alrighty - here's the grand, overall scoop on 13 in 13 (thanks, Rebecca!)

* set myself 13 challenges for 2013 - each month will have a theme
* each month, within that theme, I'll need to set myself a mini-goal or two
* the 13th challenge will be slightly different (ooooo, intriguing!!)
* it's up to me if I want to participate in all 13 challenges, but if I do, I'm entered in a prize drawing!

So here we go!

What do I want to achieve in 2013?  I really want to be in Onederland.  Actually, I want to reach 194.6 lbs. That will get me the 75 lb washer from WW to put on my keychain (pic below)  This is just the icing on the cake of health!

If I could wake up tomorrow and everything is all sunshine & roses - what would be look like?  

*I'd like to see Randy lose some weight.  I know he'd feel so much better & healthier.  Right now, he's 5'6' tall and 320 lbs.  When we got home from vacation, I had to yell at him to stop shoveling snow after less than 20 minutes, since he was so winded it really scared me.  And when he does a lot of walking, (well, a lot for him) he complains about his ankle hurting.  Gee - wonder why!  

* I'd also like to see Miss Angela do better in school.  She is making an attempt to bring her grades up, but right now she's got (gasp!) a B+, 3 Cs and 2 Ds.  Honestly, this the best progress report I've seen in a long time!  I'd also like to see her eat healthier. She's thin and athletic (a competitive dancer) but she needs the proper fuel.  She doesn't like to eat when she first gets up in the morning, which means I'm lucky to get her to drink a glass of milk and take her vitamin before running off to the bus.  And I know she doesn't make good choices at lunch at school.  Dinner is about the only thing I can control for her.  

*As for me, I'd be a healthier, somewhat trimmer, more active version of me.  

So overall, mostly the same, but better. 

Set yourself 12 goals to achieve. 

I haven't figured out how to do the fancy block of signs like Rebecca did, but here we go!

1)  plan meals weekly - I usually do this before grocery shopping so I know that I'm getting what I need to make the meals.  I also use it as an opportunity to clean out the fridge as I look for what I need.  I just need to do it religiously every week.  btw, I hate grocery shopping. 

2)  eat more / new veggies every week!  I'm totally in a rut, salad, carrots, corn, potatoes, the usual.  At my last WW meeting, I picked up the Fruits & Veggies A-Z cookbook.  Not only do they give me new ideas for the old stand-bys, it tells how to cook some of the not-usual-to-me things like artichokes, beets and jicama.  Let's say, 1 recipe from this book a week. 

3)  take better care of my skin - I just looked down at the keyboard and noticed my chipped nails, nasty hangnails and crepe-y skin.  My feet and elbows are scaly unless I bathe in lotion.  Ya know what bugs me?  My hubby has the softest, smoothest, clearest skin ever. His feet & elbows are like a baby's.  He hardly ever gets a pimple.  And all he does is wash with Irish Spring bar soap.  That stuff dries me out even more! 

4)  be a better blogger.  I joined the Blogaholic Social Network, but I haven't really figured out what it's good for yet.  I've gotten some good info, but it seems like most of the people on there are just looking for followers.  I personally don't follow a blog unless it interests me.  Anyway, I have 3 blogs.  This one, one about life in general and one Halloween related.  I post here quite regularly, several times a week.  The Halloween one obviously is slowing down until spring /summertime, when I start actively planning and prop-building again.  Random Ramblings has suffered this past year. 

5)  get my house de-cluttered.  We have a serious case of too much stuff and too small of a house.  When Randy & I moved in here, we took 2 fully-furnished 1100+ sq foot apartments and squeezed into 850 sq feet. Needless to say, no car has ever been in our garage.  We also have limited closet space.  Currently, the towels are in a dresser in my daughter's closet and sheets are in a basket on top of it.  But to get to either, I have to move her hamper (and other random stuff) from in front of the closet door, then move the heavy-duty rolling garment rack that she uses for competitions and recitals. Can't do much about that situation, but the rest of the house I can! 

6)  dust off my Walk At Home DVDs.  Right now it's too flipping cold outside and neither the streets nor the path at the park have been cleared of snow.  Makes for crappy walking.  I will do this twice a week.  And some other DVD or use the Wii Fit at least one other day. Once it gets tolerable outside, I'll head back to the park.  If my back porch is the starting / finish line - it's exactly 2 miles there, around & back.  I can make it longer by going thru the neighborhood different ways. 

7)  cut back on unnecessary spending.  We are fortunate that we're not hurting financially, since both of us have good steady jobs and a savings account.  But the extra buying contributes to #5. 

8)  don't laugh - but I have a goal to get a decent (portable) fence made to put around my cemetery at Halloween this year.  The last 2 years I've watched kids cross the ditch and walk across my neighbors dark yard and attempt to shuffle thru the leaves in my yard while trick or treating.  I have a somewhat elaborate cemetery set up and the yard is literally a web of extension cords under those leaves.  So in everyone's best interests - the little demons' safety & my sanity - there will be a fence to force them to go around to get their damn candy.  Then I won't need to yell at anyone while their adult is standing there like a lump.  I'll start deciding on a plan sometime soon and start acquiring material.  I haven't decided if I'm going to recycle old pallets, or buy wooden stakes from Home Depot.  

9)  rededicate myself to Weight Watchers.  I'm liking the 360 program so far.  I went to a meeting this morning - I don't normally get to attend daytime ones which is a bummer, since I like them!  Lots fewer people.   The leader commented about the bling on my purse.  She said I looked "well traveled".  I have the 10% keychain, the silver 25 lb washer and the copper 50 lb washer and 4 of the 16 week clapping hands attendance awards. 

 

10)  figure out and use my Kindle Fire that I got for Christmas.  I love reading and this seems ideal.  But right now all I've done is add books to my wish list and surf the net.  Wouldn't you know that I pass a used book store on the way home from work that is going out of business so I just loaded up on books earlier in December!

11)  get my RACES certification.  This is the Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service. According to the Amateur Radio Relay League it is - administered by local, county and state emergency management agencies, and supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the United States government. It is a part of the Amateur Radio Service that provides radio communications for civil-preparedness purposes only, during periods of local, regional or national civil emergencies. These emergencies are not limited to war-related activities, but can include natural disasters such as fires, floods and earthquakes.

12)

The last challenge is a big one. I want you to take yourself completely out of your comfort zone but keep in mind it must be still achievable. I want you to really do something amazing! A race? A challenge? Give up your car for a month? THINK BIG AND ACHIEVABLE!  

wean myself off pop, soda, whatever you may call it.  Carbonated beverages - there!  I will have a Coke Zero as soon as I get to work and at least 1 or 2 more in the evenings.  This will be the toughest one for me. 

I'm leaving the other open for right now.  I got the idea from one of the others linked up - sorry I forget which blog you are - but it's brilliant!  I don't have a solid 12 goals as of this minute, so there's room.

So there it is.  No New Year's Resolutions for me,  Just Goals that are all entirely do-able.    

Happy New Year!