Change One Monday on Tuesday

Ummm... I missed a day. LOL.
Im going to keep my challenge from last week because due to the stomach flu I did not take my very expensive medicine. Just did not seem right to swallow something that I was not going to keep inside of me...ya know?
So this week I will be and have been taking my medicine every night before bed.

Anyone else?

Essentials

OK well, maybe not essentials, but these are definatly some of my favorite Christmas/Birthday presents.

First you have the biggest essential. A bookshelf. This looks nothing like the one I got for Christmas. I could not find that one online for anything. The bookshelf was really needed. I have tons of books stored in plastic containers. Im a book junkie. I admit it. Of course I wanted more books for Christmas and more books I got....
This book was tops on my Christmas list. See this month starts our two year plan for real. We are moving full force ahead. This book was a must for learning some of the essentials for our new lifestyle. The first chapter had me enthralled. It talked about buying land and setting up your homestead. Lots of great ideas. This city girl needs all the help she can get. We also have planned to learn as much as we can here and now. Which leads me to my next gift..

I have read two chapters in this book and Im so excited. I can do this. This was one of my birthday presents. My sweet guy listens when I talk. He found it at Target and was so excited.
Growing up my mom worked a lot. She also had hayfever really bad so we never worked in the yard. This is a whole new experience for me.

On our way to a more self sufficient lifestyle I have to start at square one. God started us off on a need to eat healthier. He pointed me towards a natural whole foods lifestyle. While Im still struggling with it, I do see some improvement.
We went the whole month of December eating whatever was put in front of us. We have paid dearly for it as our whole family has spent the whole month of December being sick and tired. Now the burden on my heart is budgeting and saving money. Its a part of my prayer every morning. We are about $2000 dollars in debt right now. Its all little stuff that should not be a problem, but the little stuff adds up. We have paid off our car and once we get these other things cleared up we will be debt free except our mortgage. We have a plan for that as well. While I dont think we will pay off our mortgage in the next two years we will be able to put a dent in it.
This month will be lean trying to keep up with our regular bills but by the first of Feb. we should be able to pay off most of our remaining debt. Thats an exciting prospect.
I will have more to write on that later.
Well, I guess I better get going. Lots to do today. Im not sure why this post took me two days to write. LOL

Be Blessed

I wanted to post my update for Projects and Goals for August on September 1 and here I am! WooHoo!

Take cinnamon every day - this is supposed to help in regulating blood sugar. This has been helping a lot. My blood sugar actually dropped almost 100mg within a few weeks of starting this. Of course Im also on medication, but the Dr was impressed with how well I seem to be doing.

Finish Cleaning and organizing the Master bedroom, bath, and closet. I have one corner of the Master Bedroom to finish. I will then move to the bath and closet which should only take me about a week. Our bedroom was filled with junk. I contemplated taking before pictures but, I was to embarassed. LOL. This project is something I can only work on a little at a time between maintaining the rest of the house and raising my children so its going a little slower. But there is definate progress.

Get our playroom closet setup. We did not get the shelves up so this never happened. Im hoping that since we have a long weekend this weekend we can really buckle down and get this done.

Start planning for Christmas- the kids and I are making most of the gifts so I want to make sure we have plenty of time. Karly and I got the pattern and the test fabric for our first project. We are going to start working on it this week. I have planned the other projects and will begin collecting supplies in the next few weeks. So we can get started.

Pay off our car - we only owe a little over $1,000 dollars and we have an extra paycheck this month. WOOHOO. Unfortunatly this money went to something else. Something unexpected. Its ok. It just means I have to make 2-3 more car payments instead of one big one.


Sort boys and girls clothes and minimize. Another big project that has to be done on a few different days. I was not able to get to it this time. Im going to try to do it in September to get ready to pull out the cooler weather clothes in October.

Plan meals and do prepwork ahead of time. I did not do good here at all. I really need to work on planning our meals better. I will say that I am almost the proud new owner of Nourishing Traditions. It should arrive any day now. I have also been really researching some sites that have great information. But I will save that for another post.


There you have it boys and girls. All in all Im pretty pleased with the progress I made in August. Considering the wild and crazy month it turned into I think I accomplished a lot. LOL.

I have some great plans for September. Maybe it will be a little calmer. :)

Be Blessed

Projects and Goals for August

WOW! I cant believe it is August already. I figured I have not done a habits and projects posts for awhile. I loved doing them before, because I always felt accountable. I am reformatting it a bit though.
For the month of August I would like to:

Take cinnamon every day - this is supposed to help in regulating blood sugar.

Finish Cleaning and organizing the Master bedroom, bath, and closet.

Get our playroom closet setup.

Start planning for Christmas- the kids and I are making most of the gifts so I want to make sure we have plenty of time.

Pay off our car - we only owe a little over $1,000 dollars and we have an extra paycheck this month. WOOHOO.

Sort boys and girls clothes and minimize.

Plan meals and do prepwork ahead of time.


Im hoping by listing these here I will be able to check them off everyday. I have half of the MB cleaned already so Im hoping I can declutter and clean the rest of it this next week.
We hope to have our new floors put in before Christmas. We will start saving for it as soon as the car is paid off. If all goes according to plan we will put our house on the market in another year and a half to two years.
God is so good!

Habits and Goals for June

Well as summer descends upon us I decided to pick this back up. I really think it helps me to know that Im going to report back on my progress at the end of the month. So here we go.

Health:
1. Eat at home more. We eat out entirely to much. I can cook healthy meals here at home. Im learning how to do this more and more and do it quickly. I love allrecipes.com, by the way.

2. Begin taking Cod Liver Oil.... EWWWWWWWWWW! Not looking forward to this at all, but after reading up on the health benefits its definatly something that hubby and I want to do.

3. Walk at least 3 times a week. For awhile there the kids and I were walking every morning before school. It helps them get the wiggles out and its good excercise.


Home:
1. Declutter my bedroom. This is my big project for the next two weeks. Believe me it will take at least 2 weeks.

2. Keep the kitchen clean and functioning. It will be so much easier to accomplish number 3 under health, if I can do this. I cant make bread if my kitchen is not clean. I cant get creative for dinner and baking if my kitchen is not clean. Ya see??

3. Maintain the kids rooms. They are nice and neat now. A little pick up everyday and they will stay that way.




So here we go June.

Be Blessed!

Confession Time

I did nothing on my March habits. AHHHHH!! March was a weird busy month. April is turning out to be the same. I have done one day of blogging in April. I have so much I want to write about and share. Im holding off on another habits post until May though. I will continue through this month to establish March's habits.
Im thinking of turning my blog into an accountability partner of sorts. Coming at the start of the day or week and talking about what needs to be accomplished and then checking in to see how I did that night. Not because I think what I do is ever so interesting that millions cant wait to read it, but it helps me keep track. I have been blogging since Febuary 1, 2005. I love reading some of my older posts and seeing where I came from. And hey if I get to make some friends through comments then thats a bonus. I heard an amazing speaker at my homeschool mom's meeting last night. She really opened my eyes to some stuff. I hope to put up a post about her in the next few days, but as I mentioned earlier we have had two really weird months. Oh well.
I have to go to bed. Im so sleepy. Night Night.

Be Blessed



March Habits
Health:
1. Start a notebook of all Im learning about health and nutrition. Sometimes my mind gets so bogged down with everything.
2. Get some Kefir starter to make my own kefir.
3. Plan smoothies for breakfast and snack at least 3 times a week.
4. Get up to 8 bottles of water a day.
5. Plan to start yeast free diet in April.

Home:
1. Dishes done every night before bed.
2. Sweep and Swiffer the kitchen every night.
3. Keep pantry organized
4. Get all of the boxes out of my kitchen! How did this get to be such a hotspot?
5. Keep computer desk cleaned off.

Family:
1. Look my children in the eye everyday and tell them how much I love them and how blessed I am to have them.
2. Pack a lunch for my hubby.
3. Assign a child to work with me in the kitchen every night.
4. Do scripture memorization with my kids every day.

March Habits

Health:
1. Start a notebook of all Im learning about health and nutrition. Sometimes my mind gets so bogged down with everything.
2. Get some Kefir starter to make my own kefir.
3. Plan smoothies for breakfast and snack at least 3 times a week.
4. Get up to 8 bottles of water a day.
5. Plan to start yeast free diet in April.

Home:
1. Dishes done every night before bed.
2. Sweep and Swiffer the kitchen every night.
3. Keep pantry organized
4. Get all of the boxes out of my kitchen! How did this get to be such a hotspot?
5. Keep computer desk cleaned off.


Family:
1. Look my children in the eye everyday and tell them how much I love them and how blessed I am to have them.
2. Pack a lunch for my hubby.
3. Assign a child to work with me in the kitchen every night.
4. Do scripture memorization with my kids every day.


Be Blessed!!

February's Goals

How did I do?

Health:
1. Start on Yeast Assasin and Tummy Tune up again everyday. Almost everyday. The YA gives me a terrible headache but I think its detoxing. I really want to do this more with a yeast free diet, but so far have not been able to accomplish that.
2. Continue drinking at least three bottles of water everyday. Im almost up to 6. If I do the Water Cure I need to be at about 13 bottles. I am not doing the 1/4t of salt though. I tried that once and thought oh uh-uh! LOL
3. Make my own yogurt and find ways to use it everyday. I made my own yogurt once or twice. It was fun. I mixed it in with potatoes and oatmeal. I used it as topping for anything you would put sour cream on. I also used it in some baking. Honestly, it did not taste half bad without anything.
4. Continue the coconut oil regiment. On that note, I ordered Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sandy Fallon from Amazon the other day. I am hoping to get it this week. I want to read up on the coconut oil some more as I have heard some differing opinions. I will let you know what I think of the book when I read it. I have been mixing this in with oatmeal and using it to cook some other stuff. I cant eat it off the spoon like some people. I have the Eat Fat, Loose Fat book but have not started it yet.
5. Make all of our bread. Done, done, done! Im so excited. I have a goal that if I make all of our bread for the rest of the year I can ask for a Bosch for Christmas.

Home:
1. Dishes done every night before bed. Almost. I still need some work in this area so Im leaving it on the March goals.
2. Sweep and swiffer kitchen floor everyday. Not even a little bit. It stays on for March.
3. Keep kitchen counters clean. Pretty much. There were a few mornings I woke up and had to clean them off. But Im definatly getting better.

Family:
1. Look my children in the eye everyday and tell them how much I love them and what a blessing they are. I thought this would be easy. Im still working on it. Keeping it for March.
2. Pack a lunch for my husband. This one has to stay for March too. I dont think I did it at all.
3. Read aloud to my children everyday. I DID THIS!! We read Charlotte's Web everyday after lunch.
4. Assign one child a day to help me in the kitchen. This needs more work but I did it quiet a bit and found I enjoyed the one on one time.

February's Habits

So we are already 9 days into February, a short month anyway, and I have not posted any habits for this month. *sigh* Maybe the first one should be anti procrastination. :)

Health:
1. Start on Yeast Assasin and Tummy Tune up again everyday.
2. Continue drinking at least three bottles of water everyday.
3. Make my own yogurt and find ways to use it everyday.
4. Continue the coconut oil regiment. On that note, I ordered Eat Fat, Lose Fat by Sandy Fallon from Amazon the other day. I am hoping to get it this week. I want to read up on the coconut oil some more as I have heard some differing opinions. I will let you know what I think of the book when I read it.
5. Make all of our bread.

Home:
1. Dishes done every night before bed
2. Sweep and swiffer kitchen floor everyday.
3. Keep kitchen counters clean.

Family:
1. Look my children in the eye everyday and tell them how much I love them and what a blessing they are.
2. Pack a lunch for my husband.
3. Read aloud to my childreneveryday.
4. Assign one child a day to help me in the kitchen.


I will let you know how it goes!

Be blessed!

January's habits

I forgot all about an update on January's habits.

Health:
1. At least three bottles of water everyday - Been keeping up with this one pretty well. I have noticed a huge change in my energy level.
2. Start taking Yeast Assasin and Tummy TuneUp everyday - Had to stop this towards the middle because of headaches and a wrong suspision on my part about something else.
3. Incorporate 3-4 TBLS. of coconut oil into my diet everyday - Did this adding to my oatmeal and smoothies until I ran out. Just got some more so Im going to try it again.


Around the house:
1. Dishes done every night before I go to bed - Nope. Dishwasher problems and I did not keep on top of the handwashing like I should have.
2. At least 2 loads of laundry a day - Yes! How nice it has been to stay with the laundry instead of having it fall down around me!
3. Sweep and swiffer kitchen everyday - did ok with this. Towards the end I really started to neglect it.


Overall a dissapointing outcome. But I will just pick myself up and try again.

Be Blessed!

New Habits for January

OK so Im forgoing the usual, "This year I resolve to be (fill in the blank)" tradition and starting a new one. I will pick a few new habits to establish every month. Here are my new habits for January.

Health:
1. At least three bottles of water everyday
2. Start taking Yeast Assasin and Tummy TuneUp everyday
3. Incorporate 3-4 TBLS. of coconut oil into my diet everyday

Around the house:
1. Dishes done every night before I go to bed
2. At least 2 loads of laundry a day
3. Sweep and swiffer kitchen everyday

These are the little things I will work on this month. We are also gradually eliminating refinded sugar from our diet. We are replacing with Stevia and honey. For the times we use sugar we are using organic cane juice crystals.

At the end of the month for accountability purposes I will post how the month went with my habits. I will also post weekly to talk about progress being made.
Thanks for reading my blog. I like being able to share the happenings with others.