Tag Archives: 60 Day Life Makeover

Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man!

Good morning!

I am reading a book that is QUICKLY BECOMING ONE OF MY TOP 10 FAVORITES!!! If you can’t tell by the title of this post, the book is called Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man. This book is written by Fannie Flagg, who also happens to be the author of one of my other ALL-TIME-FAVORITE books, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.

Do you remember a few days ago I was complaining because I was having a hard time locating a book that contained a story that I could just fall into? Well this books is the book I was apparently looking for, because it is ABSOLUTELY CHARMING! The book is set in Mississippi, in the 1950’s, and is written as if you were reading Daisy Fay’s journal, which happens to start out when she is aged 11. and HONEY she is a curious, busybody like NOBODY’S BUSINESS!! OMG!!! She is funny, precocious, a tom boy who happens to also be a member of the Jr Debutante’s Club. So far there has been, burlesque dancing, murder, maggots, adultery, arson, plastic fish-eyeballs, mischief and mayhem of every kind, thievery, gangsters, and I am only about halfway through the book! I am finding that I am laughing out loud almost CONSTANTLY!!! A sure sign of a good book, if I ever heard of one!! Well, I am not sure what else I can say about that – BUT GO PICK UP A COPY OF THIS BOOK!!!! SOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!

Anyway, I have just realized that it is Wednesday, which is the day I try to give you an update on where I am with my 60 Day Life Makeover Plan!! As if you even need a reminder at this point on what my original 5 goals are, but just in case, here they are:

  1. Lose 20 Pounds – I am too chicken to hop up onto the scale to find out how I am doing, but Jason and I have started swimming laps, which is both fun, and leaving me really sore – so it HAD BETTER BEING DOING SOMETHING GOOD FOR ME!!! 😉 UPDATE: I un-chickened out and weighed myself – and I have lost 4 POUNDS – YEAH! I am FINALLY heading in the right direction!!!
  2. Find a church home – this is going slower than I expected, but possibly because we haven’t gone to church in 3 weeks – I am not sure how important this is to me at this point. I am learning that a church family isn’t a building.
  3. Clean, organize, and purge the entire house from top to bottom – ok, so when I originally set out to do this, I realize that I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but if I can apply this to just my two office work desks at home, I would be SUCH A HAPPY GIRL!!! 😉
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture – I may have found a dresser for $10 on Craigslist today that would fit this goal PERFECTLY!!! Let’s just pray that it is still for sale today!!
  5. Put $1000 away into savings, not from my work earnings – this goal is still hovering at around $165, and until I take SOME kind of ACTION – it is going to remain that way!!!

Ok, I am off to have another relaxing day off with my Sweetie, and then it’s back to work for me tomorrow!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

60 Day Life Makeover, Day 33!

Good morning!

Today is Wednesday, the day that I give you an update on where I am with my 60 day life makeover progress.

My 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds.
  2. Find a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

Well, where do I begin?? Looking at this list, as if it were the first time I have ever seen it, and I realize that not only have I NOT made any more progress on these goals, some of them I have either stopped trying or have gone backwards in my progress!! BUMMER!!! I think I want these things, but I can’t seem to get my behaviors and choices to back me up on these things!!!

If I had to choose only ONE THING off of this list to accomplish, it would be #1. Lose20 pounds. You know how most people’s weight might fluctuate up or down by maybe 5  pounds?? Well, my normal to fluctuate by is 20 POUNDS!!! UGH!!! I literally take off and put on the same 20 pounds over, and over, and over, AND OVER again!!! So, here I am, back at the starting line, at my top weight – AGAIN! So, this is my reality. I am going to carry a 3×5 card with me today, so that whenever I do ANYTHING that supports my goal of moving towards health and fitness, I am going to write it down as a BEHAVIOR OF SUCCESS!!! I figure if I accumulate enough mini Behaviors of Success, then wouldn’t that also bring about the goal that I have been dreaming of??? I sure hope so!!

As for all of the other goals on this list, I realize that I may have to re-prioritize and decide what is really important to me, and what I am willing to work for to get. Everything has a price, am I willing to pay the price to accomplish everything on my list?? I don’t yet know, but I will! One way or the other HAPPINESS is the ULTIMATE goal, but I am learning that happiness is a choice, and not necessarily something you get – YOU CREATE IT YOURSELF!!! 😉

I am off to another long day of work, but remembering to practice my exercise of EXTREME SELF-CARE! I am optimistic that it will be a GREAT day!!

As for all of you…

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Day 19 of 60 Day Life Makeover!

Good morning!!

I hope what they say is true, that ‘slow and steady win the race’. Today is day 19 of my 60 Day Life Makeover – I bet you thought I forgot about that! 😉 Today is day 19 of my Life Makeover plan, with means the first third of that time has passed!! It has been a while since I posted anything on my progress for this, so I thought today would be a good day to do that!!!

Just a reminder, here are my 60 Day Life Makeover goals:

  1. Lose 20 pounds
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings
  3. Find a church home
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom
  5. Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love

Progress Update:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. Well, so far I have lost 2.2 pounds. The problem in this area is that I have let myself have too many, ‘Oh, who cares?’ moments. So I have to keep picking myself up off of the floor and jump back on to my own bandwagon, so to speak!! I JUST CAN’T GIVE UP ON MYSELF!!! With Jason doing all of the food prep in the house, that is working out really well for me, as long as I am the one continuing to decide what is on the menu! 😉 Now I have just got to get myself re-committed to my swimming – being as heavy as I am, and with all of the over abundance of walking I did last year to train for the 60 -Mile Walk, my knees, ankles, and feet hurt almost constantly – so swimming it has to be for the time being, which is kind of nice because I like swimming!!!
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings. The idea behind this goal was to find a way to make money, outside of my job, to create this extra money. So far, I have been able to create $166.73, so far, mainly by selling my belongings through eBay. Although I am not LOVING doing this – it is actually costing me A LOT of money, and time to manage this – I have to find another way. So, I am back to researching at this point.
  3. Find a church home. Having grown up in the church, it is important for me to feel like I belong to a church family. Church hopping has been not too productive yet, but we have been out there again, which feels pretty good!! I just have to stop letting being in a bad/sad/grumpy mood (or the mood du jour) keep me from getting my butt out there, and GET GOING!!!
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom. Believe it or not, I am still working on my FIRST ROOM!!! Now, that may not be too surprising to those of you who have seen my craft room/office – it is a HEAP-A-MESS!!! AND I DID start with my ABSOLUTE SCARIEST ROOM, but I think for the most part, I have gotten all of the piles under control. Right now, I am just getting these piles either donated, recycled, trashed, or put away! I think the biggest success I can say about this room is that it is FINALLY being USED!!! It is no longer the MYSTERIOUS CLOSED DOOR!!! I have a long way to go, but I am optimistic that it will be a clean, organized, clutter free space – I just have to be diligent!!!
  5. and FINALLY, Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love. This goal will not only make me happy, but it will REALLY help with goal #2. I haven’t done ANYTHING on this goal yet, but I was watching the Nate Berkus show last evening, and he had a guest that he called the Dumpster Diva, and I GOT TOTALLY INSPIRED!!! She basically goes out once a week, in a van, and picks up all sorts of free furniture and stuff that people have tossed, and she completely refinishes it, WHICH IS SOOOOO WHAT I WANT TO DO!!! Her home was BEAUTIFUL, and apparently she has a whole group of girlfriends who she does this with. She calls this junk night, they meet for dinner someplace and then they head out TREASURE HUNTING!!! Now, I don’t have any girlfriends that I can think of that will do this with me, at least not yet, but the idea of recycling other peoples’ trash into treasures, sounds DIVINE!!! After the show, all I could think was “I CAN DO THAT!!!!” I can, and I will!!!

So there you go!! I have a LOOOONG WAY TO GO, but I am proud of myself that I haven’t quit!!! With that, I am going to go finish getting ready for work, and I will post more later!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Back to Work Monday!!

Good morning!

I am up, showered, dressed, and ready to go face this new day!!! It is back to work for me this week, which is good! I am thankful that I was able to take time off (11 days, matter of fact!! WHOO! HOO!), but I am ready to get back to the office and see my office-mates again!!! I have missed you, Chris!!! 😉

Anyway, as for my 60 Day Life Makeover plan, I did take time out last night to not only plan my weekly goals, but my daily ones for this week as well!!! I have a lot of work to do, but I am excited to see the new me – I KNOW SHE IS IN HERE, JUST RARING TO GET OUT!!! 😉

My biggies for this week are:

  • Lose at least 2 pounds
  • Walk at LEAST 30 minutes each day
  • Go to church this week
  • Put an extra $100 into savings this week
  • Read at least 1/2 a book
  • Finish cleaning, organizing, purging the office

WHEW!!! I can do this, I just have to stay dedicated and focused!!! All of my 60 day goals help support me in getting my little farm – at least in some small way!!! I just have to visualize myself walking the trails on our farm, laughing with our visiting friends and family, or reaping the harvest from my little vegetable garden, and it gets me motivated all over again!!! I am so excited to think that that little farm could be less than 5 years away!! Less, if it is in God’s Will!! 😉

I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. – Philippians 4:13

On another note: I slept GREAT last night! I could have slept a little longer, but that is what happens when you don’t make your sleeping schedule a priority while on vacation.

Talking about vacation…my sis, Nette, and her family just got back from their honeymoon/vacation in Hawaii! I can’t wait to see them and hear all about it. I know that they had fun, they did send us some pics while they were gone!! The pics were of Megan dangling her newly tanned little self from a bamboo tree, and Morgan and the guys were all looking like they were having fun snorkling!! I can’t wait to see you guys!!! 😉

Anyway, I am going to finish up getting ready to head out for work today! I know that today is going to be a MARVELOUS DAY!!! I can just feel it in my bones!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!!

60 Day Life Makeover, Day 8!

Good morning!

Today is day 8 of my 60 Day Life Makeover, and I thought I would give you an update of how it is going! Before I tell you that, however, let me remind you (and myself) what my goals are!

My top 5 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. This body will only carry me for so long, and being at the weight I am is truly starting to become a hindrance, and an anchor to where and what I want to be doing.
  2. Find a church home. I NEED a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

Ok, so now for the updates!!!

  1. Lose 20 pounds. As of this morning, I have lost a TOTAL of 1 POUND (they do say that ‘slow and steady wins the race’ – I REALLY HOPE THEY ARE RIGHT!)!!!
  2. Find a church home. We did go to church this last Sunday. Church was fine, but it wasn’t our “home”, it was just too large – we kinda felt like cattle!!! Anyway, we are going to go to a different church tomorrow morning. Our fingers are crossed!
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home. It quickly became evident that this task may take a lot longer than 60 days. Right now I am focusing on our office/craft room. I am going through each item deciding what needs my attention, what needs to go into the e-bay pile, and what just needs to be gone!! Not easy, but I am already reaping the rewards of the hard work I have been doing. Yesterday I got to spend a good portion of the day creating! That was SOOOOO WORTH all of the time I have spent filing, and clearing out the clutter!!
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground. I haven’t started actively looking for this yet, this will happen as soon as I get my craft room done!
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth. I have created quite a stack of belongings that are going to go up on e-bay tomorrow, so I am hoping that will start my efforts to create this $1,000.

So onward, and upward!!!

For today:

  • Blog
  • 60 minutes Fitness plan
  • Track food
  • Confirm church times for tomorrow
  • Drink 2 liters of water
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour
  • Change bedding
  • Put laundry away
  • Vacuum/Sweep/Mop
  • Spend at least  1 hour filing creative paperwork
  • Go through current bills
  • Update electronic bill tracker
  • Go through at least 10 magazines (I have at least a hundred of these all over the house)
  • Bathe Faye
  • Make time for playing!

Wow! I had better get busy!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Whew! Today has been a pretty good day!!

My sweetie and I went out to Goodwill and I picked up 3 books! We headed over for lunch, and had fun being silly and giggly all through lunch! We then went to St. Vincent de Pauls, then spent a couple of fun hours over at Border’s. After returning home, I went and took a nap and woke up just in time to have my sis, Alex, and the kiddos come over for dinner, a couple of games of Uno, and then off to swim and play in the pool, volleyball anyone???

Having fun all day can be tiresome!! Can I confide in you? I am waaay to young to be feeling this old!!! I have got to get back into shape – yes, I am in shape, if you counted ROUND as a shape!! This is so important to me. I have so many people who count on me being around, not mention I count on me to be around – for as long as possible! I don’t want to become a sad statistic!! Ok, that is enough of my sad-song!!!

As for my to-do list from today:

  • Blog – Done!
  • Track food – I can do this on the go, on my Blackberry – Nope
  • Drink at least 2 liters of water – Done!
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour – Done!
  • Sort bills – Done!
  • Dinner & Swimming with Alex & the kiddos!!! – Done!
  • and last, but not least, GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!! – Done

I spent the past half an hour watching some cool tutorial videos on fashion and beauty. It made me curious about how to create a video of my own. Hmmm…maybe I will have to research that!! Like maybe a video journal of my 60 day life makeover!!! Could be cool!!

While I think on how to do that…

Have a FABULOUS evening!

Good Morning!

I am up! I am dressed! and I am raring to go!!!

I have a lot of actions that I need to take if I am going to accomplish my 60 Day Life Makeover goals:

  1. Lose 20 pounds
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings
  3. Find a church home
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom
  5. Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love

My To-Do List for today is:

  • Blog
  • Walking plan – 3 miles
  • Track Food
  • Drink 2 Liters of water
  • File my stack of creative paperwork
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour
  • Write letter to my sponsor child
  • Mail it
  • Organize bills
  • Update electronic monthly bill tracker
  • Finish Laundry
  • Eyebrow wax appointment
  • Bathe Faye
  • Bathe Sophie
  • Sort all magazines (HUGE project!!)
  • Create a journal bookmark for my planner
  • Go swimming with Jason – make time for play!!!
  • Go to bed by 11

Whew!! Let’s see how much of that I can get done today!!! I have already gotten dressed and ready for my 3-mile walk!!! WHOO-HOO!!! My goal today is to find the fun in any task or situation, and to honor the child inside of me by consciously making time to play as I get these actions done!

I will let you know how it goes this evening!!

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

All Business!

OMG – I woke up this morning, and I am all business! I have a whole laundry list of things that have to get done today, and there is no time like the present to get it all done!! If this 60 day plan of mine is going to work, I am going to seriously have to get crackin’ on getting my action items done!!

Wish me luck! 😉

So here is today’s to do list!!

  • Blog
  • Walking plan – 3 miles
  • Track food
  • Drink 2 Liters of water
  • Spend at least an hour filing paperwork
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour
  • Write letter to sponsor child
  • Schedule teeth cleaning appointment
  • Schedule yearly exam
  • Schedule mammogram
  • Order credit reports
  • Organize this month’s bills
  • Create/update electronic monthly bill tracker
  • Catalog paper books
  • Laundry
  • Sort Magazines for donation/Recycling

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

60 Day Life Makeover – Part 2

Good morning!

I have been giving a lot of thought to the idea of a 60 day life makeover!

Goals, to be successfully achieved have to be measurable, have a target deadline, and have to be believable!

A timed life makeover challenge could be a GREAT push to get me going in the direction that will get me in to where I want to be, but I also can’t try to shoot for so many thing at once, lest I overwhelm myself and give up!!!

My top 5 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. This body will only carry me for so long, and being at the weight I am is truly starting to become a hindrance, and an anchor to where and what I want to be doing.
  2. Find a church home. I NEED a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

There, that wasn’t so hard. WHEW!!! 😉

So, I will start on January 1, 2011, and I will have 60 days to accomplish these goals. In a day or so, I will come back with these larger goals broken down into weekly smaller actions that will help me attain these goals – Tony Robbins calls this “chunking”, to make larger goals more manageable by chunking them down into smaller bits!!

I will be back, in the meantime…

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

60 Day Life Makeover???

Do you think it is possible to completely change the direction of your life in 60 days???? This idea has been running through my mind all day! I know that it is possible to change your life in an instant, but is that decision something that if maintained for a full 60 days, can it really make you a different person than who you are today??? Not that I don’t love who I am, I just know that I want to be the BEST ME THAT I CAN BE!!!

Gosh, the only way I know to figure this conundrum out is to test it!! but, if you’ve followed my blog, you would know that I don’t do so hot at actually following through to completion any of these self-imposed challenges. Anyone else have the same problem????

If I were to completely change my life in 60 days, what would I have to do????

  1. I would have to change how I spend my free time
  2. I would have to change how I spend my money
  3. I would have to change how I see the world

OH, is that all???? I will have to get right on that!!! LOL! 😉

No seriously, New Years is coming in just a few days, and I was thinking about what new resolutions I was going to make this year, and wouldn’t it be cool if I could start it by doing something cool with myself??? I think that would be pretty phenomenal!!

I will have to give this some serious thought, but I think that if I am going to do this, I am going to first have to decide, where do I want to be in 60 days??? 60 days older? 60 days wiser? thinner? richer? more organized? What? What do I want???

Let me give this some serious thought, and I will get back to you!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 😉