Category Archives: Self Improvement

Getting Over Overwhelm!

Good morning!
I know that I do not normally post in the morning, but I had some free time this morning, and decided to not procrastinate any longer! I know that I have been MIA for a few days, and I have to confess I have just really let myself get overwhelmed with my normal daily life.

Let me back up a little bit:

The other day when I was so worried that I was going to have our place flooded, I sat at work with that thought in my head for almost 8 hours. Over and over, I kept making a mental note of what things I HAD to have saved from the first floor of the house. What both surprised, and disturbed me to know is that there isn’t much that I care about losing down here. Besides my sweetie and my two dogs, I have a chest that belonged to my grandpa – he was an artist, and it is where he kept his art pens, that I would want saved, and the other thing would be my books that live downstairs. Not all of those, but a few that I consider “friends”, I would feel sick if I lost those too.

What does that mean in the big scheme of things???

Well, what kept going through my mind as I was thinking of these “HAD TO HAVE” items, is that maybe I have surrounded myself with things that I thought were bringing me happiness, when in reality, they might just be taking up space in both my home and in my life. I don’t want things that just take up space, I want things that add joy and value to my life. Even in saying that I know that things will never really do that, only people and experiences will bring me joy and value, but I live here. This is the place that should rise up to meet me when I get home. I started to wonder if that was what was making me feel run down and overwhelmed in my life.

I literally spent all weekend wallowing about this, and pining for the life I might have been if I would have not been focusing on unimportant “things” (yes, it was a very deep weekend for me!)  This morning I woke up and decided I was done wallowing. Today is that day that I start taking some kind of action to clean it all out, clear it all out, and decide what I am going to surround myself with from now on. No more unconscious living for me, thank you very much.

So, this morning as I sit in my living room, writing all of this down, I am surrounded by all of our Christmas containers, both old and new. I am working on getting all of the Christmas decorations cleaned out and re-organized into new, un-mangled bins/drawers  so that I can help make Christmas decorating more fun, less chore. It may take me all week to get this all put away, but as in all things baby steps, baby steps.

In the meantime, I have also created a daily chore list for my sweetie and I, so we can get make the cleaning of this place a little more manageable as well. No ladies, chore charts are not just for your children any longer!! 😉 Before I zip off to work this morning, I just thought I would share this new chore chart with you!! 😉

Daily:

  • Make the bed
  • Cycle the dishes through the dishwasher
  • Wipe down stove top, counters, and microwave, if needed
  • Take the garbage out, if needed
  • Wipe down the dining room table
  • Straighten the sofa
  • Clean the dog’s water bowl, if needed
  • Fill the dog’s water bowl
  • Pack lunches
  • Empty lunch bags as soon as get home so it is ready for next days’ lunch
  • Cycle laundry, if needed
  • Remove garbage from car if needed
  • 15 minutes picking up after ourselves before heading up to bed

Whew!! between the two of us, we should be able to manage that pretty well!! and I bet it will make a nice difference on how well this place looks. I will keep you posted!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day! :-)

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

It is that time of week again, Chunky Dunker’s night!! A casual, but fun group for people from all walks of life to get together online to support one another in their health and fitness goals, whether it be to lose a few pounds, or to do one situp; I am very happy to welcome you here every Wednesday evening, where we “meet” in the comments section to catch up, share hints, tips, and ideas and to just encourage each other as we go through our health &  fitness path together!!

I don’t really have too much to report this evening! This is officially my second weigh-in day since on Weight Watchers online. I have to admit I didn’t lose any weight this week, but I didn’t gain any either, so I am going to call it a good week!! I did have quite the splurge on Monday evening, going to a Chinese restaurant, and then making a beeline to Cold Stone Creamery. UGH!! It was yummy, and I would probably do it again, if I had the points for it, which I did! Dinner, I didn’t do so hot choice-wise, but instead of having my own ice cream at Cold Stone, my sweetie and I shared one, so it could have been much MUCH worse!! 😉

Anyway, I got my camera back from the repair service place!! YEAH!! It took a couple of weeks to get back and I have just been going crazy waiting for it to get here! I am happy to report that it seems to be in working order, and I will be back to taking a ton of pictures of anything and everything starting tomorrow morning, I have even warned my co-workers!! MWA-HA-HAAAAAA!!! I have noticed that my blog posts have been looking a little sad without their pictures, so I will be fixing that SOON!! 😉

Oh, and a slight explanation about tonight’s pic. This is how I look right now, as I post this evening. I am in my jammies, and ready for bed. I know I look tired in this pic, and that is because I AM!!! I have been keeping myself pretty busy!!!  I just love talking to all of you for as long as possible, but being someone who habitually goes to bed early, I thought tonight I would just be  little proactive, and get all my ablutions done BEFORE I get online to to chat this evening!!! So, my apologies if my pic scared anyone!! LOL!! 😉 Now you know what my sweetie gets to look forward to every night!!! I love you, Babe!! 😉

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all in the comments section!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

You Have to Start Somewhere!

Good evening

I wasn’t planning on posting tonight, and I know that I have been out for the past couple of evenings. I have been having a rough few days; a pretty bad case of “the mean reds” a la Breakfast at Tiffany’s, if you know what that means?

Anyway,  I have a dream – not a Martin Luther King Jr grand kind of a dream, but a small, made just for me and my little family kind of dream. I have been wallowing, because I really just didn’t know how I was going to make my little dream come true, and then this evening, I ran across a post that said…

You Have to Start Somewhere!

That one little phrase got me to thinking; I need to start somewhere, which is right here, right now, and with what I have on hand, which happens to be quite a lot!! My word for 2012 is Freedom, but true freedom is not going to happen because I wish it to happen!! I have got to stop sniveling, and whining, and I have got to start taking some action. So, here I am, shouting it out to the universe that I am ready to stop talking and start doing.

I have to go grab a pen and some paper and get a rough plan out on paper!!! Here’s to making my little dreams come true!!!

Have a FABULOUS day! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Flannel Jammy Day!

Good morning!!

As many of you may already know, I am a to-do list kind of girl! I keep to do lists for what needs to get done in my lifetime, this year, this month, this week,, and today! Even though things are getting accomplished and things are getting crossed off my lists, I have been feeling a little burnt out by it all; combine that with the fact that since my sweetie is out working today, I have the day to myself!! Aaaaaah!! 😉

So, I am declaring that today is…

FLANNEL JAMMY DAY!!!

Today is the day that I am going to put away my normal to-do list, just for the day, and replace it with a to-do list of things that I can do to gently take care of my inner self today (the key word being GENTLY)!!

Some of the things on today’s list are:

  1. Take a relaxing shower and take time to just enjoy the sensation.
  2. Wash, tone, and moisturize your face, neck, and decollete, and really take time to see yourself in the mirror.
  3. Brush and floss your teeth, don’t forget to mouthwash, this instantly makes me feel like I’m taking care of myself.
  4. Use your favorite body lotion all over to make all your bits feel baby soft.
  5. Slip into your favorite comfy jammy’s – preferably non-holey, and something you feel beautiful in.
  6. Give yourself a manicure.
  7. Give yourself a pedicure.
  8. Eat whatever whole, healthy foods you want all day today, no stress, no pressure.
  9. If you must get dressed in your real clothes, take yourself out for a casual walk where you can enjoy the sights and sounds of nature.
  10. Spend some time in the quiet just meditating.
  11. Make yourself a lovely cup of tea and snuggle up with a good book, and don’t feel guilty if you happen to doze off.
  12. Water, water, water! Keep yourself hydrated. Add a few slices of cucumber or lemon, and serve it in a chilled wine glass to make it feel special.
  13. Spend some time loving on your pets, your stress level will immediately lower.
  14. If you have kids, spend some time just observing them while they play.
  15. Join them.
  16. Smile for no reason.
  17. Spend some time writing your thoughts in a journal.
  18. Don’t be afraid to be alone. Alone time can be really nourishing to your soul.
  19. Keep the tele off today, but if you must watch something pop in  a great chick flick you have been wanting to see.
  20. If you must keep your phone on, keep it to a lower volume so as not to cause any unnecessary anxiety.
  21. Make it a point to do something you LOVE today.

What would your list look like? If you don’t have an entire Flannel Jammy Day, is there something you would like to do in just a spare hour? Half hour? 5 minutes??

As I go and thoroughly enjoy my new found Flannel Jammy Day…

Have a FABULOUS day! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Getting Back to the Artist Within!

Good evening!

I am having the best kind of quiet evening at home!! 😉 My sweetie picked me up from work, and as soon as I got home, I got busy cooking a healthy dinner for the two of us. It was a new little ditty that I kind of dreamed up, thinking that the combo sounded really veggie-sentric, filling, but still very delicious!! For my sis,Alex, who I know will be reading this and will want to know EXACTLY what I made, this is for you!!

  • Prepare 2 servings of whole wheat angel hair pasta – enough for each person to have about 1 cup of cooked pasta!
  • Next steam about 1 1/2 cups of diced broccoli – leaving it a little on the crunchy side (just a little though!)
  • Slice 1 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes in half
  • Cube two boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • and dice about a third of a large sweet onion

Here comes the fun part! The putting it all together!!! 😉

In a medium-sized saute pan, pour 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and heat over low to medium heat. Once heated, add 1/2 of the diced onions and sautee them until they are clear. Next add one chicken breast worth of the chunked chicken, and cover with lid, while stirring frequently to brown chicken. Keep an eye on it at this point, so you don’t accidentally dry out your chicken.

Once your chicken has cooked through, add 1/2 of the steamed broccoli, and 1/2 of the slice cherry tomatoes. Heat thoroughly. Then add 1 cup of pasta, and toss until all ingredients have been warmed back up. Add 1/2 a cup of your favorite store-bought Alfredo white sauce (we used Bertolli’s – YUMMY!!) Toss a few times to coat all ingredients!!

Serve immediately with some freshly sliced French bread, that has been sprinkled with some good olive oil and sprinkled with some fresh cracked pepper.

Let me tell you, it was ABSOLUTELY DELISH!!! 😉

This meal was TOTALLY healthy, very Weight Watchers friendly, and my sweetie LOVED it too!! Here is the kicker though, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the dish – my camera should be here within 2 weeks, I really can’t wait!! and when I make it again, I will make sure to share a pic then!! 😉

As for this evening, I am going to continue my night of flexing my creativity muscles by spending the evening up in my art studio – something I haven’t done in literally MONTHS!! and play! Play! PLAY!!

I will make sure to keep you posted!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Welcome to another exciting night of Chunky Dunker’s night!!! A club for people from all walks of life to get together online to support one another in their health and fitness goals, whether it be to lose a few pounds, or to do one situp; I am very happy to welcome you here every Wednesday evening, where we “meet” in the comments section to catch up, share hints, tips, and ideas and to just encourage each other as we go through our health &  fitness path together!!

Tonight, I thought I would talk about Making Progress!

Today I have been on Weight Watchers for one week, and in that time I have lost 3.8 pounds – YEAH!!! I’ll take it!!!

I am not exactly sure HOW I lost that much weight, I really didn’t do so well tracking, but maybe it was because it was in the back of my mind that I really could get healthy if a I make smart choices!! 😉

I haven’t done much in the way of exercising much more than normal either. I have a knee that I really tweaked going up the stairs to my office the other day, so I am going to get back into the pool and start working it out!! I also have a belly dancing, and a plus size Pilates DVD that I want to get into the habit of using when the weather is not cooperating outside! Once the days get a little longer, I will be able to start doing my daily walks outside again – that will be good!!!

Also, because of the book I am reading, Living the Savvy Life, I have really become inspired to try and eat at home more often, which means getting creative in the kitchen! I know how to cook, pretty well (if I may say so), but generally I don’t enjoy it! Too many years of HAVING to cook, makes cooking not so much fun now. That is, EXCEPT when I GET TO cook!! That somehow feels different. Especially when it is just for my sweetie and I. I generally look forward to those cooking nights!!

This evening, I assembled a healthy dinner this evening of a chicken strip, covered in lots of fresh spinach, a couple of sprays of Ranch vinagrette, all wrapped up in a large whole wheat tortilla. It was incredibly satisfying!!! 😉 Tomorrow evening, I will be making us something very Olive Garden-ey, but WAAAAAY healthier!! I can’t wait, it should be fun!! 😉

Well, I seem to really be going on-and-on here this evening, so without further ado, I will meet you in the comments section of tonight’s post so we can all chat!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”


Getting Things Done!

Good evening!

This evening, I am working on getting my day’s to-do list done so that I can spend some additional time reading for bed this evening! I am reading two really great books at once. One book is called Living the Savvy Life, and the other book is called, The Sorceress, (book 3 of the Secrets of the Immortal Nicolas Flamel Series) !! 😉

I don’t have anything deep or profound this evening. I am just focusing on creating balance in my life for just this evening. Baby steps, baby steps!! Do a chore, do something you want to do, do something fun, do something you want to do. It is slow going, but it seems to be working!!

Jason is in the kitchen making dinner. He is grilling some barbecue chicken (one of my FAVORITES!!), and making some steamed broccoli, and steamed rice. We are going to eat well this evening! 😉

Talking about eating well, tomorrow is my very first Weight Watcher weigh in day, and I have to confess I am a little bit nervous!! I have been writing down what I eat, but not really tracking my points well. That is one of the hard things about not being able to go on the internet while at work to track my points. WW does have an app available, but unfortunately not for Blackberry – dang phone.

Which segues me nicely into the fact that my sweetie is trying to talk me into getting a new phone. I am a creature of habit, and I have grown accustomed to having my Blackberry, so I am not sure how I feel about a new phone. However, it would be really nice to have one that takes pictures, and doesn’t click when you are texting someone!! So we will see, I have been eying the new Samsung phone that is out, and an i-phone might be kind of cool, but I would have to change carriers to get an i-phone!! Hmmmm…decisions, decisions!! 😉

Anyway, I have got a few more chores this evening that need my attention, including hopping on over to my Fly Tribe’s Blog site, to check out some more of the artists who are currently participating in our blog hop!! It has been fun seeing everyone’s blogs, and getting to know all of the fun people that I have been “Flying” with!! I hope you take the time to go check them all out!! 😉

So, I am going to call it a night for now!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

My Word for 2012, Freedom!

Good evening!

I have been giving this a lot of thought for the past few days, what should my word for 2012 be?  Even now, as I sit here with my sweetie and two four-legged girls, I was struggling to decide what word would I love to sum up my life for this new year. I turned to me sweetie, and out of sheer desperation, I whined to him

“If I had one word that I would want to describe 2012, what would it be???”

Without missing a beat, he said, “Freedom”.

My jaw practically dropped onto the floor. DUH!!! That is such a PERFECT WORD for me, and my 2012!!

Freedom in my life is something that I have been really struggling with!!

Freedom from fear!

Freedom from debt!

Freedom from clutter!

Freedom from indecision!

Freedom from my own perceived limitations!

Freedom from negativity!

This is the year that I want to get out of my own way, and live the creative life that I know that God must have put me on this earth to live.

There is a quote from one of my favorite movies that keeps running through my head. It is from the movie Answer Man:

Kris Lucas: Why can’t I do the things I want to do? There’s so much I know I’m capable of that I never actually do. Why is that?
Arben Faber: The trick is to realize that you’re always doing what you want to do… always. Nobody’s making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you’re free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose.

This is something that I need to remember, freedom is a choice, that I either take advantage of or miserably neglect. I am already free!!

What a perfect word for me…Thank you, my love, You still know me so well!!!

FREEDOM!!! I am so excited to see what this new year brings!!! 😉

I hope you will take the time to check out my Fly Tribe’s Blog and visit my friend’s sites. I’d like you to meet them, and see what their words for the year are. Maybe you will be moved to adopt one for yourself!

To access these blogs, either click on the red words above, or the “Word Hop” logo on the right side bar. Either will take you directly to the blog where you will find links to their posts! Enjoy!

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Chunky Dunker’s Night!

Good evening!

Welcome back to Chunky Dunker’s Club! A club for people from all walks of life to get together online to support one another in their health and fitness goals, whether it be to lose a few pounds, or to do one situp; I am very happy to welcome you here every Wednesday evening, where we “meet” in the comments section to catch up, share hints, tips, and ideas and to just encourage each other as we go through our health &  fitness path together!!

Tonight, I thought I would talk about Not Giving Up!

I may have talked about this before, but I feel that now more than ever, I have kind of given up on my fitness goals. I have let them and regular life overwhelm me to the point of not caring! A friend reminded me today, that God put us here to support each other, and when she told me that I realized, that I wasn’t on this journey alone.

That is pretty powerful!

Maybe that is for you too!

This week I want you to recommit to your goals and to reach out to one friend that you trust and tell them what you have recommitted to. They do not have to hold you accountable, but just reaching out to someone, telling them what you are going for helps solidify the fact within yourself.

That you are gonna do it.

Little by little.

Step by step!

I am here for you!!!

We are in this TOGETHER!!! 😉

So, tonight I start my journey over. Having had a bad day of eating not-so-good-for-me-foods, having no idea how much I weigh this evening, but knowing that NOW is exactly the PERFECT time for change.

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)

“If you want to have a different life, live differently!”

Randomness Tuesday!

Good evening!

I thought I would share with you some random thoughts on this randomness Tuesday!

I woke up this morning, with my first alarm, which is not something I have a tendency to do. I usually let the first alarm wake me up, but the second one, that goes off a half an hour later is the one that says, “Ok, you have been lazing around in bed long enough – get up!!” Well, today I got up with the first one. You see, I had this thought that was running over and over through my mind, and it was saying:

“If you want a different life, live differently.”

Simple, sweet, and powerfully true!!

This was a message that apparently my subconscious thought I needed to hear, and my conscious self has been taking it to heart all day today!!

So, I got up with the first alarm, because it was different then I normally do, hopped in the shower first thing, and I was ready, having eaten a healthy breakfast and all, and I got to work a little over half an hour earlier than normal. I concentrated on staying focused at work, and trying to find the very little things to do better than I normally do. It made for a pretty good day! I even got a 15 minute walk in, which may not sound impressive, but when you sit confined like veal in a small cubicle all day, every day, a 15 minute walk, out in nature, with one of my girlfriends really means a lot!!

Anyway, after work today, I knew I had to head over to Nordstroms to pick up some more of my facial products, which I did, and then I picked up two eye shadows that the old me would not have tried before!!

Jason sent my camera off to Texas to be fixed or replaced. I don’t care which as long as my baby returns to me in one piece and in working order!!! I really miss taking pictures!!!

Tonight would have been a great time to have my camera, because in my quest to have a different life by living differently, when my sweetie called me while at work and asked if we could have a spontaneous dinner, I jumped at the chance. I am sooo glad that I did!! Dinner was delicious, and I haven’t had a chance to hang out with my sis, Nette and her kids in AGES!! Megan had basketball practice tonight, and she asked me if I could go watch, normally I would have made excuses, because I knew that my to-do list for this evening was just so long, but again, if I want a different life, I have to live differently. So, you guessed it, I agreed to go with her and Nette to her practice. Nette is one of her coaches. It was so much fun to watch Megan!! She is really growing up so fast, and she is such a girly-girl, and yet still such a sporty girl that she is such a hoot!!! I really love her so much, and sometimes I feel like I am missing all of these special moments with the kiddos, so I am really so thankful for my new attitude about living!! AND I can’t wait to have my camera back because I would have had SOOOO MANY GREAT pics of the girls practicing!!!

I am finally home for the evening, a little later than I had expected, but feeling really blessed! I still have a little time to get a couple of chores crossed off of the to-do list before I crawl into bed early this evening and get some reading done before bed!!

What a good life. I am very thankful for new beginnings. I know it is still early, but it is looking like 2012 is really going to be a GREAT year!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening! :-)