Timed Thinking

Currently I keep all my clothes in a set of plastic drawers and a plastic tote in my room. Mr. Hotness and I found some money in our budget to get some much needed bedroom furniture, but I went and spent it all. I used it to buy a couple of in-home exercise machines in a desperate attempt to get back in shape (remember my New Year's goal of getting my wedding ring off?). My idea is that for every 1/2 hour I spend on these machines I will "earn" $5 of my bedroom money back. At 4 hours a week I figure it will take me 2 months. So, I've been busting my butt (ha!) trying to get in a 1/2 hour on each machine (a rower and an elliptical) and I've discovered that my thoughts are pretty consistent at various times in the work out. Here is how it usually goes:

1 minute: This is almost too easy, I better increase the resistance by a lot.

3 minutes: Whoa, Nelly, I don't think I need so much resistance.

5 minutes: *Gasp* *Pant* Who am I kidding? I wasn't made for this. My body was created for the purpose of eating ice cream and watching TV. I have no right to be on one of these things, no right at all.

10 minutes: I think I'm dead or having an out of body experience. I no longer feel the burn and have gone completely numb.

13 minutes: I'm starting to really sweat, gross! I find that acid rock music helps keep my mind off the clock.

20 minutes: I look at the clock and see that I'm almost done. HEY, this isn't so bad after all. Just don't watch the clock, don't watch the clock.

25 minutes: Oh, I could SO totally do this all day. I have hit my groove.

29 minutes: And 5... 4... 3... 2... 2 1/2... Come on, come on... 1... Oh, Sweet Cuppin' Cakes, I don't ever want to do that again!!!

.

And it starts all over again on the next machine.

.

Hey, do any of you have some good acid rock bands to recommend?

My Goals

My goals for this year:

1. Loose enough weight to be able to take off my wedding ring. Not that I want to take it of, I just want to be ABLE to take it off.

2. Sell something on Etsy. No, I don't have an Etsy shop, but I fantasize about it so much that I think I ought to give it a try.

3. Start entertaining again. For the first time in 7 years we didn't have our Christmas party and I have yet to have anyone over for dinner since we've moved. I need to get back into the habit of having people over because it really is something I enjoy.

And that is it. Short, sweet, and hopefully doable. I flirted with the idea of going off sugar, being more organized, following a personal chore chart, exercising everyday, writing a novel, etc, etc, etc. Then I laughed till I cried, ate a cracker dipped in ranch with pimento olives (don't ask), and used my sock to wipe up some spilled milk. I think 3 goals is plenty in my current state of mind.

And yes, I know ranch and pimento on crackers isn't going to help me with my wedding ring. I was going through a snack food withdrawal after the big New Year's Eve binge-a-thon. Desperation does ugly things to me.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

New Year's To-Do List

I love To-Do Lists, I really do. I'm sure I've written enough To-Do Lists in my life to fill a book the size of War and Peace. So, this year instead of writing New Years resolutions I decided to make only one resolution. I hereby resolve to complete the following To-Do List before January 1st of 2009. I figure that, as I will be turning 30 in 2009, I should have 30 things to accomplish. Here they are, in no particular order other than the way my brain produced them:

1. Paint a picture for Cookie's and Sweet Terror's bedroom.

2. Paint a picture for Pablo's and Monster Man's bedroom.

3. Finish my novel no matter how silly, or badly written it has to be.

4. Submit my advice column to a publication.

5. Submit it to another publication.

6. Submit it one more time before giving up.

7. Buy new bedding for my bed (which will hopefully lead me to actually decorate my bedroom for the first time since I was 17).

8. Read the Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper (I started it several months ago and never got past page 3. I hate to leave classics unread.)

9. Write 100 personal letters, not emails, to loved ones and friends.

10. Send Grandpa some cinnamon rolls.

11. Learn to play I Stand All Amazed on the keyboard.

12. Teach Pablo to ride the two wheeler he got for Christmas.

13. Teach Monster Man to read.

14. Potty train Sweet Terror.

15. Have Pablo write 15 letters to loved ones and friends.

16. Re-pot all my house plants.

17. Reupholster the 2nd chair (I reupholstered the 1st one and then lost the desire to tackle the 2nd one).

18. Take, print, frame, and hang current pics of the kids.

19. Get a current family photo taken (the last one we had taken was 4 years ago)

20. Organize a holiday binder so I will be better organized in dealing with the holidays.

21. Fully update my address book so I can actually send the Christmas cards I write next year.

22. Walk a total of 365 miles. (you know, as in, "Yes Doctor, of course I'm exercising," kind of walking.

23. Teach Pablo to make lunch till he can make 5 lunches for the family all by himself.

24. Do the same with Monster Man and have him make 3 family lunches all by himself.

25. Teach Cookie to make dinner and have her make 5 dinners for the family all by herself.

26. Watch Ben-Hur with DSSH.

27. Wear my fancy necklace in public at least once.

28. Go dancing with DSSH.

29. Make or buy myself a new apron.

30. Eat stuffed salmon at McCormick & Schmick's (It is stuffed with blue crab, shrimp, and brie cheese. YUMMMM. I will eat this on my Birthday because I didn't get it this last year.)

Resolutions

Are you getting all fired up to make your New Years Resolutions? The Ensign is here to help. Here are some great articles that might help push you in the right direction this coming year.

Trying to cut out the amount of time you spend in front of the tube?

Want to spend less and save more?

Hoping to fight less in your marriage?

Determined to start going to church again?

Want a whole new way to exercise?

And here are two blog posts that are also helping me with my resolution planning:
Using Time Wisely
Putting The Resolve In your Resolutions

Happy Reading!

My Annual Knock On The Head

It happens to me every year. You would think that I'd be prepared, that I'd be ready to meet it at the door to say, "No thanks, I'm not interested" or, "You better get off my property before I SHOOT!". You might think that I'd remember the fatal outcomes, the damaged self esteem, the lost time, the neglected children. Yet, without fail, every year I put myself through the same torture, the same charade, the same silliness. What am I talking about, you ask? I'm talking about that recurring desire to DO IT ALL. And by all, I mean ALL. Yes folks, the mom who has a hard time keeping her floor swept and her laundry done was going to do it all, once again. I was not only going to continue being a full time SAHM-homeschooler, I was going to start an advice column, I was going to blog wonderful things everyday and make lots of money doing it, I was going to start a co-op, I was going to loose 15 pounds, I was going to exercise everyday and love it, I was going to find lots of ways to make money so I could buy my husband a house, I was going to write a book, I was going to write a line of homeschooling curriculum, I was going to totally landscape my yard, AND I was going to be able to all of this while sitting in my bathrobe, eating ice cream, and watching old black and white movies.

Use your imagination folks and I'm sure you can come close to the wreck I made of myself these past few months. I had moments of lucid reason, but most of the time I just sat around beating myself up for not being Wonder Woman. So, last week I decided to "HOLD EVERYTHING"! and just take it easy on myself. I took that time to re-examine the goals I had set for myself at the beginning of this year. I prayed, read my old journals, talked with my husband, talked with my kids. I had amazing epiphanies, heart felt revelations, and received all the answers I was asking for. I would call it a life changing, beautiful experience, if it weren't for the fact that I seem to go through this almost every year. How many times do I have to ask the Lord to hit me on the head to make me realize that my first priority, my first obligation, my first desire is to be a good mother and wife, to raise up a family that will please my Father in Heaven and prepare me for my eternal duties in the here-after?

Now, I am not saying that I shouldn't do more, but I should at least be performing my first duties well before I take on more (and, no, I'm not doing them well even by my standards and mine aren't all that high). So, once again I am nicely folding, stacking, and labeling all my crazy wild schemes and storing them in my "when the kids are older" closet and focusing on the tasks at hand, which are:
Homeschool well
Continue to rebuild my relationship with Cookie
Be frugal with our money (I used to be but I've been enjoying having money and I've lost that desire to "save, Save, SAVE!". I have always said that I can earn more by saving than by working in a part time job)
Keep my home in order
Exercise and be healthy AND happy

Once I feel that I am doing these jobs well (NOT perfect, just well) then I will open up that closet and pick a new task to take on. I will still blog and do my advice column (if people send in questions) but I won't do it unless all my other tasks are taken care of for the day and I happen to have some free relaxing time on my hands.

Maybe my goal for next year will be to not make too many new goals =)

Liz

Sunday Notes

Here are some quick quotes from Elder John B. Dickson's conference talk entitled, "Commitment to the Lord"

..."Your Heavenly Father loves each of you and has sent you to earth with a purpose. He has revealed a plan of happiness that, if followed, will ultimately bring you home to His presence, having triumphed over the trials and challenges of this world. Committing yourself now to live by the pattern the Lord has set will give you great strength in the proper use of your moral agency. The sincere commitments you make to yourself and to the Lord will be vital. We learn from the book of Psalms to "commit thy way unto the Lord; . . . and he shall bring it to pass" (Psalm 37:5)."...

..."As you commit now to do the will of the Lord, He will help and strengthen you. Your faith, trust, and desire to follow Him will be your greatest key to success. I know our Heavenly Father loves each of you and that He truly sent His Only Begotten Son to help you and that you can gloriously succeed as you sincerely commit to follow Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

This was a talk aimed at the youth of the church, but it is a lesson I think we adults need to remember and rethink every now and then. I like to think of my new years resolutions in this manner, as well. Was I fully committed when I made those resolutions, or was I just hoping that maybe I would do those things? I can tell which ones I was fully committed to because they have been the "easiest" to keep. Exercising 4 hours a week isn't easy, but I have been able to keep it up because I fully committed to it. Submitting my writing to magazines and newspapers hasn't happened yet because I didn't really, fully, truly believe I could or would (or will). After reading this talk I feel a desire to "gloriously succeed" and think it is time for me to go over my new years resolutions to find the ones that need more commitment. Then, I'm going to ponder, pray, ask for help, and RE-commit myself in the full sense of the word so that I can benefit from the "ease" of predetermined commitment.

What New Years resolutions have you been keeping? Which ones have been hard to keep? Which ones have you deliberately forgotten?