Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Week 41 of Healthier Living in 2015

10/28/2015
For week of: 10/21 - 10/28/2015
Weigh in Weight: 161.8 lbs
Previous Weigh in Weight: 162.0 lbs lose of 8 oz.

Goals for Week 41:
1) Sell 1-3 books this week and continue to build $1000 emergency fund by various avenues
2) Daily exercise/physical activity
3) 15 to 20 minutes of writing, including timeline project, 3 days this week
4) 30 minutes to 1 hour of reading daily
5) Do fun preschool activities and speech therapy homework with my son

It gets harder and harder to want to do anything as I progress in my pregnancy.  Only 4 weeks and 5 days to go, unless baby boy decides to show up earlier than November 30th at 10 am.

Again, despite my discomfort, I was able to accomplish quite a lot during week 41.  My goal of selling 1-3 books and continuing to build our $1000 emergency fund went really well.  I ended up selling 5 books both full price and through book consignment getting 70% of the retail price of my book per copy.  For week 42, it looks like I will easily be able to sell a couple more books through consignment so to stay motivated, I am going to include this goal in my goals for week 42.  By selling the 5 books this week I am almost half way to $1000 for our emergency fund.  I am so excited about this that I am going to keep going with my current endeavors of book selling.  I also am strategizing how to sell my scarves that I am planning to make or have made online.  I'm leaning towards eBay, but Facebook might be a good avenue too.  I haven't decided yet, but am going to by the end of this week.

Every day during week 41, I walked or did some for of daily physical activity so I could get some form of exercise.  I did skip Sunday, which I have no excuse for doing.  But since daily physically activity has become a major part of my daily routine, I can confidently say that I can take this off my goals list, unless I back slide and have to add it again. :)

I finished my timeline project this week and wrote for 15 to 20 minutes at least 3 days during week 41.  I will have some revisions to do on the project over the next few weeks, but I am confident it will be completely done before baby boy is born.  Writing in my journey was my other main writing activity as well as writing this blog, so overall, it has been a good week of making intensional time to write.  I plan to continue to make finding intentional writing time a priority and one of my goals each week until it becomes part of my daily routine.

I have made reading each day such a part of my routine that I am actually catching up on my reading I have been behind on for a long time.  I am for the time being going take reading off my goals list.  I am happy to say that reading is now routine and I make sure I have time to do it everyday. :)

Throughout the week, I have made a great effort to not only have story time with my son, but to do a fun preschool activity with him each day as well as work on his speech therapy homework.  I want to keep it up even though my energy level is at an all time low these days.  So I am going to keep doing these activities with my son as part of my goals so I hold myself accountable to do it even if I don't feel like it some days.

So there you have it.  That's all I have to add for now.  Until next time, Keep on keeping on! :)

Goals for Week 42: 10/28 - 11/4/2015
1) Sell 1-3 books this week and continue building $1000 emergency fund by various avenues
2) Do one fun preschool activity with son each day as well as speech therapy homework with my son
3) 15 to 20 minutes of writing at least 3 days this week
4) Try to get at least 7 hours of sleep each night

Thursday, October 22, 2015

Week 40 of Healthier Living in 2015

10/21/2015
For week of: 10/14 - 10/21/2015
Weigh in Weight: 162.0 lbs
Previous weigh in weight: 160.6 lbs

Goals for Week 40:
1) Daily exercise (treadmill, stairs, walking outside)
2) Sell 1-3 copies of my book and continue to build $1000 emergency fund, Dave Ramsey baby step #1
3) Work on having a more positive attitude about where I currently am in my life
4) 30 minutes to 1 hour of reading daily
5) 30 minutes to 1 hour of writing daily, including timeline project

Week 40 was a mixed bag week for me.  I managed to sell one book to accomplish my book selling goal for the week, but I didn't make the time to write or work on my timeline project. 

As far as getting to a place where I can be happy again by just the daily moments in life in order to survive my current situation in life, I am doing much better on that score. 

I physically have been feeling worse, but was able to get plenty of fresh air and exercise this past weekend while up at camp chasing my 3 year old son around.  It was a seriously hellish weekend, but there were some really great things that happened too.  Always the ying and yang of life.

I found plenty of time to read this past week too, which was a wonderful distraction from the terrible heartburn, indigestion and general ickiness one feels the last few weeks of pregnancy.

I discovered that walking on the treadmill will not be an activity I can do until after baby boy is born.  My heartburn and nausea in the mornings make it too difficult to do for any length of time.  So, I am going to bundle up and walk to the post office and around town in the mornings with my husband and son until baby boy is born.  It won't be as intense of an exercise routine, but I will get some activity in daily and some much needed fresh air each day.

I am dealing with some water retention issues, which accounts for my almost 2 pounds of weight gain, but I am hoping that after a brief walk outside with my son to the library tonight and our walking around town in the morning tomorrow some of it will be alleviated.

Again, week 40 was a mix of good and bad for me.  I'm trying to come up with more realistic goals for week 41. 

With my husband's schedule being so busy and looking after a 3 year old who doesn't take naps, I am limited in the time I have to really sit down and write or work on the timeline project.  Luckily, I am almost done with the timeline, so I can work on others things I've been wanting to start soon.  So, instead of having a goal of writing 30 minutes to 1 hour everyday, for the time being I am going to give myself a goal of 15 - 20 minutes at least 3 days this week.

The reading is easier to do while my son has his quiet time each day, so that goal will stay the same.  I also want to keep working on having a more positive attitude and focus on the good not the bad in our current situation.  Too many wonderful things on the horizon to focus on the bad.

I already discussed my daily exercise and activity goals, but I need to figure out some more fun, creative activities to do with my son in the afternoons.  The hard part is that I am at my most tired right in the middle of my time with him in the afternoon.  Lately I have been defaulting to TV after we have a substantial reading/story time together after lunch.  I was doing really good for a while with doing a joint craft or water coloring.  I need to get back to doing that with him, so I am making it one of my goals for week 41.  Preschool activities and speech therapy homework daily, during and after story time.  It doesn't have to be a long activity, just something we can do together that allows him to be creative that is fun.  And that means less time in front of the TV.

I am looking forward to a better week for week 41 of my healthier living journey.  So until next week, Keep on keeping on!!!

Goals for Week 41: 10/21 - 10/28/2015
1) Sell 1-3 copies of my book this week and continue building $1000 emergency fund by various avenues
2) Daily exercise/activity
3) 15 to 20 minutes of writing, including timeline project, 3 days this week
4) 30 minutes to 1 hour of reading daily
5) Do fun pre-school activities and speech therapy homework with my 3 year old son.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Week 39 of Healthier Living in 2015

10/14/2015
For week of: 10/7 - 10/14/2015
Weigh in Weight: 160.6 lbs
Previous Weigh in Weight: 159.8 lbs. gain of 8 oz.

Goals for Week 39:
1) Sell 1-3 books this week and continue building $1000 emergency fund (baby step #1 of the Dave Ramsey method)
2) Speech therapy and preschool activities with our 3 year old son
3) Daily exercise (outside weather permitting)
4) 30 minutes to an hour of reading a day
5) 30 minutes to an hour of writing a day

Week 39 was an okay week.  Emotionally, it was not a good week for me.  I was very depressed and felt isolated from the world, people and my family.  I was upset about having to come back to less than decent circumstances and being alone a lot.  And although I am still upset and unhappy, one of my goals for week 40 and beyond is to get back to a place where I am okay with even contemplating "fake it till you make it".  Right now, I can't even do that, which is affecting my marriage and my son.  He knows something is amiss with momma and so he has been super clingy since we returned from our trip to Minnesota.

Despite my, "I could give a crap less" attitude this past week, I managed to work on and do each of my goals for week 39.

I sold one of my books, which helped in a very small way to contribute to our $1000 emergency fund.  We are starting our journey with the Dave Ramsey baby steps to financial freedom.  So far, through my direct selling book sales and presentations, I have been able to pay off the purchasing of the books I have on hand from our credit card and save over 1/3 of our $1000 emergency fund goal.  I'm working on coming up with some other ideas to save along with continuing to sell 1-3 books each week until I run out of my on hand stock.

Each day, my son and I worked on his speech therapy homework and did some fun preschool activities I have found on Pinterest and other online sources.  His speech therapist has also given us some good preschool activity ideas that we have been doing together too.  It has been so much fun to watch him learn and grow and to do it together.

My daily activity for week 39 was a bit more limited than it should have been.  Each day, I did get some form of exercise, whether it was going up and down the basement stairs, walking outside, or walking on the treadmill.  Third trimester exhaustion is really starting to hit me, so some days I just took a nap and stayed rested as much as one can stay rested with an active 3 year old.  But again, despite the exhaustion, I managed to get some form of decent exercise each day.

Part of my resting time each day went towards reading for about an hour each day.  My mom bought us two books and I have been reading "The Highly Sensitive Child" and trying to catch up on my Time magazines.  The book is great.  I will write about it more in the coming weeks.

My writing time was limited week 39.  In fact, that is the one goal, I almost didn't finish but I took time away from my husband most nights after our son went to bed and wrote in my journal.  I need to take more time this coming week to write so I can finish the timeline project I've been working on.  I also have some blog post ideas floating around in my head that would be nice to type up and post on my blog. 

My goals for week 40 of my healthier living journey are just like those of the past several weeks.  They will probably continue to be goals for me until they just become part of my daily and weekly routine.  Once I don't have to look at my goals list anymore because these things are just part of my life, I will start working on new goals.

Until next Wednesday, Keep on keeping on!!!

Goals for Week 40: 10/14 - 10/21/2015
1) Daily exercise (treadmill, stairs, walking outside)
2) Sell 1-3 copies of my book that I have on hand this week.  This will help with continuing to build our $1000 emergency fund Dave Ramsey baby step #1.
3) Work on having a more positive attitude about life.
4) 30 minutes to an hour of writing a day
5) 30 minutes to an hour of reading a day

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Week 38 of Healthier Living in 2015

10/7/2015
For week of: 9/30 - 10/7/2015
Weigh in Weight: 159.8 lbs.
Previous known Weigh in Weight: 160.6 lbs. lose of 8 oz. over a 2 week period

Goals for Week 38:
1) Speech therapy homework and preschool activities with my 3 year old son
2) Daily exercise, stairs and/or walking
3) Continue to build $1000 emergency fund
4) Sell remaining books mom has on hand

My week of vacation was wonderful.  So wonderful, in fact, that it has been a struggle to be back in Fairfield, away from my parents, my brother, many of my friends and the places I love.  So for this week of week 39 in my healthier living journey, I am going to try getting back into a routine that seemed to keep me functioning and in a more positive frame of mind than I have been lately.

I was so busy having fun that I didn't do anything to work on building a $1000 emergency fund or sell the remaining books that my mom may or may not have on hand.  In fact, I didn't even ask my mom if she even had any more on hand that needed to be sold.

I was able to figure out creative ways to get daily exercise.  Whether walking, dancing or doing stair exercises, I found a way to get my heart pumping daily and not suffer from water retention or swelling in various parts of my body.

We worked with our 3 year old son on his speech therapy homework and some fun preschool activities together.  It was a lot of fun to do together.  And it is one of the many things I plan to continue to do as part of our daily routine with each other.

I am planning my goals for week 39 to be emotionally, mentally, intellectually, and physically healthful.  I am labeling each goal with how I hope working on and fulfilling said goal will help me in the areas mentioned, and see if it ends up working out that way.

Goals for Week 39: 10/7 - 10/14/2015
1) Sell 1-3 books this week and continue building up $1000 emergency fund (mental, emotional, financial)
2) Work on speech therapy homework and preschool activities with my son (emotional, mental, bonding activities)
3) Daily exercise (outside if weather permitting) (physical)
4) 30 minutes to 1 hour reading daily (emotional, mental, intellectual)
5) 30 minutes to 1 hour writing daily, including timeline project (emotional, mental, intellectual)

Friday, October 2, 2015

Week 37 of Healthier Living in 2015

9/30/2015
For week of: 9/23 - 9/30/2015
Weigh in Weight: n/a (no access to a scale)
Previous weigh in weight: 160.6 lbs

Goals for week 37:
1) Preschool activities and speech therapy homework with my son
2) 30 minutes to 1 hour reading daily
3) 30 minutes to 1 hour writing/working on timeline project daily (or when I can)
4) Daily exercise/walk on treadmill or outside (weather permitting)
5) Start a $1000 emergency fund Dave Ramsey style

The entire week of week 38 we are on vacation in Minnesota, visiting family, friends and going to one of our best friend from seminary's wedding on Saturday. 

The finally two days of week 37 had us traveling in the car to Minnesota, so not much in the way of daily exercise took place.  We did stop frequently for bathroom breaks and to get out of the car and walk around, but no really exercise. 

Overall, daily exercise was lacking for me most of week 37.  I did my best on Friday and Saturday during the conference I attended with my husband to get out of the building and walk for 10 to 20 minutes after meals and before I had to check my blood sugar.  It didn't happen after every meal but I tried to get up and move around throughout the days of the conference so I wasn't sedentary the whole time. 

I also did not have the time to write for 30 minutes to an hour each day, or work on my timeline project each day either.  It should really have taken the time to at least journal for a few minutes each day.  I think it would have really been a good distressor for me.  My timeline project is slowly coming along and I have at least 7 more weeks to work on it before I'm out of commission for a while.

It was easier for me to find the time to read for a decent amount of time each day and I made the time and was very motivated to do bonding time speech therapy homework and preschool activities with my 3 year old son.  So of my favorite moments of my week 37 journey were doing fun educational activities with my kid.  Of course, he was just having fun, but learning at the same time, but mostly having fun. :)

And despite the craziness of the last several weeks, I was able to start an emergency fund savings ala Dave Ramsey style.  I'm pretty excited about this.  I'm already just over a third of the way to $1000. :) Yay!!!

Okay, since I am on vacation the whole of week 38, I am setting a few less strenuous more vacation friendly, and yet still healthier living related, goals for myself.  So until next time Keep on keeping on! :)

Goals for week 38: 9/30 - 10/7/2015
1) Speech therapy and preschool activities with my son
2) Daily exercise, stairs and/or walking
3) Continuing to build $1000 emergency fund
4) Sell remaining books mom has on hand