Challenge Accepted!

It has been so long...I've missed you! What an incredibly long and busy week.  I finally made it to my sister's house, ready for a jam-packed weekend of zip-lining, mud-running, and a slow-paced (hopefully) finale at the juvenile diabetes walk at the Ohio State University on Sunday to support our great friend, Riley!  

Pretty psyched about the mud run tomorrow.  It sounds a lot like the Warrior Dash, but hoping, hoping, hoping it won't be quite as hard.  At this point, running a 5-K presents enough of a challenge...I'm not sure how many obstacles I can handle!

I have to share what I learned at my first meeting last night for the Twenty-One Day Challenge.  First of all, I knew so little about what I was getting into that I had no clue as to why it was 21 days...why not 28 or 30???  Well, that's how long it takes your body to rid itself of the addiction.  I am determined to give up just about everything...alcohol (no major challenge there), caffeine (am I INSANE???), sugar, and gluten. Cutting out all animal products does not seem realistic for me, though.  My goal is to leave this with some healthier eating habits, so I've decided to cut out all dark meats and animal fats.  What would I do without MarketDay chicken steaks???  The sugar is going to be the worst from me, but I'm one day pop-free and fairly lucid right now.  The biggest challenge today was making it to the bathroom between classes and a three-hour drive after consuming 48 ounces of water and 30 ounces of green tea.  Think I'm over-doing it? 

Sooooo....this weekend I'm going to work on compiling some recipes and planning out my week-one meals.  I already found a recipe for peanut butter buckwheat-hemp cookies; it substitutes with coconut palm sugar. Quiche sounds good, too, but I'm worried about how that will warm up. 

I feel a cold creeping up on me...bad timing.  I sure hope it holds off until after tomorrow's run!  Hopefully I'll have a pretty muddy picture to post for all of you tomorrow!  Until then...

Motivational Monday (I love alliteration!)

This is going to be a great week!  It's finally time for the season premiers of my favorite shows:  How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, and Modern Family.  Watching Brian play Madden Football for the last two weeks is really starting to get on my nerves, so I'm happy my reprieve is finally here!  Unfortunately, all these fabulous television shows are going to make it really hard to focus on my schoolwork and 40 goals.   

My week has started off well...I set up my menu for the week (goal #31) and actually cooked dinner tonight.  Before cleaning up the kitchen, I got tomorrow's dinner ready so that I just have to pop it in the oven to get us to soccer on time.  Finally, I drank my 30-plus ounces of water like a good girl (goal #29) and packed a healthy breakfast and lunch for myself. 

Best part of my day:  my box of perfumes arrived from Demeter Fragrance, just in time since my students start presenting their Greek god projects tomorrow.  The best best part was that I got a free gift (must have ordered enough!), a free ounce of perfume for one of the scents I ordered!  Glad I didn't get Earthworm or Dirt just for kicks! 

Oh, how I wish my camera phone was quicker!  Brian just looked over at me with two pieces of candy corn in his mouth like fangs.  When people ask me why I never tried for that little girl, I'd have that picture for my answer!

No new goals today, but I'm going to see my sister this weekend.  She and I will hammer out our final goals together...after we go zip-lining and mud-run it!  The weekend can't get her quick enough for me. 

Wrinkle-Free Weekend

I am so excited about some new wrinkle-combatting products I got this weekend at Target.  (This does not violate my goal about using my make-up before I could buy any more, in case you were wondering.)  I had run out of my night-time wrinkle-free moisturizer, so I needed more!  I love the L'oreal night cream I had been using and was planning on getting it again, but Target had a "buy two get a $5 gift card" incentive going, and we all know how I can't resist a sale.  I found this L'oreal Youth Code which is a day and night cream and also got this eye cream that said it would get rid of dark circles under your eyes. Since school and allergy season started, I've had really tired-looking eyes, so I was hoping this would take care of it.  Well, I am so pleased with the results after only two days!  My skin already looks smooth and glowy (is that a word?). 

I know you might think I'm crazy for worrying about wrinkles already, but it is my belief that if you wait for the wrinkles to appear, it's too late!  I've been using a variety of different products since I was 30, but L'oreal is my favorite without spending a boat-load of cash.

I've been meaning to add a disclaimer to any of my goals that say "every day."  What that means in my world is "ever school day."  The weekend is my time to reward myself for all the hard work I do throughout the week.

So...revealing #31 & #32...

Goal #31: plan out weekly dinners on Sunday for the entire week (which, you now know, means "Monday through Friday") - I've been much better about cooking and packing lunches; I think we've only done fast food once since school started.  Hopefully, it will be easier if I actually plan out the meals instead of grabbing something out of the freezer each night.

Goal #32: go on a haunted hayride - this is going to be my most disliked goal.  Anyone who knows me is aware of how very easily frightened I am.  For as long as I can remember, I have avoided haunted houses at all costs.  I remember in elementary school, the art room was a long, narrow room with a creaky wooden floor that had a ramp leading in and out of it; on Halloween, they put up a maze of walls and strobe lights to transform it into a haunted house.  I always dreaded it, and I believe that is the last time I ever went in one.  Every year, the boys' school always goes to the Lake Farm Parks for a haunted hayride, and every year, I hide the flyers when they are brought home.  This year, my friend has asked us to join her, and the boys want to go.  I guess it's time to put aside my fears and woman up!  If little kids can do it, so can I...right?

I love the weekend!!!

Is there anything better than a glass of iced milk and a cookie? I found a better version of a cookie by Kashi that satisfies my sweet tooth. It's chocolate almond butter and has 4 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein.  I wish I could get past the 8 o'clock hump when I'm really craving something sweet, but I've finally found something relatively healthy to take away the guilt.
Really excited to settle in for a weekend of reading. My grading is done, and I'm planned up for next week and a little beyond. And thanks to my bawesome (that's not a typo...it's one of Jacob's new words from "boss"  and "awesome") new front-loading washer, my laundry is all caught up!  I'm determined to finish The Fountainhead...only 650 pages to go! The boys are going to Grandma's tomorrow, Brian's going to work, so I have an open day ahead of me. I'm envisioning a massage chair with my Nook and a pedicure :)  That would be called multi-tasking.  I also haven't had much time for Pinterest since school started, so I may have to squeeze that in somewhere.

As far as my goals...next weekend we are heading to Columbus to participate in the Walk for Juvenile Diabetes to support my good friend Alison's daughter.  The walk starts out Sunday morning at the Ohio State University, so I know the boys are going to be psyched.  My sister set up a morning of ZIP LINING for Saturday morning, so I am psyched! It doesn't look like a high-in-the-treetops kind of place like when Brian went at Mohican, but that might be a good thing.  Later in the afternoon, we found a 5-K run called Pretty Muddy, a run that sounds a lot like the Warrior Dash but not quite as daunting!  This will be a tiny stepping stone on my way to the possibility of a half-marathon.

Well, off to bed!  See you tomorrow!

Happy Thursday!

Thursday is quickly becoming my favorite day of the week...no meetings, no practice, no RUSHING!  I fit a short run in after school and have been lounging around in my jammies since I got home.  Papers have been graded, the family has been fed, and I even got one load of laundry done--which in my old life would have been two--and it's not even seven o'clock yet!  I may actually be able to read my book for a half hour tonight before I can't fight to keep my eyes open anymore.  The best part is that tomorrow is Friday which used to be my favorite day of the week, and I can wear jeans to school :)

Last night was a missed night of blogging--sorry to those of you who checked in.  I got caught up on my grading and was searching the Internet for some products referencing the Greek gods that I could get to show my class.  A student had shown me a perfume line called Demeter Fragrances, so I wanted to get one to wear when I'm teaching mythology.  Well, that turned into a very entertaining venture!  Who would have thought that someone would create (and someone else would actually buy!) scents like dirt, earthworm, rubber, and funeral home.  I settled on pomegranate and dragonfruit, as I'm a fruity kind of girl, and was so excited to find that they had already shipped by the time I got out of school today!  Christmas in September. 

I've been racking my brain for more challenges, as I'm beginning to think they are.  I'm realizing that there just aren't enough hours in the day to make the changes I want to make, so this weekend I'm creating a little daily checklist of my priorities.  When I finally collapse in my bed at night, I always remember something I meant to do, so hopefully a little checklist to review my day will help.  My friends have been very helpful in getting the next couple of goals set, so here they are:

#29 drink at least 30 ounces of water each day - if I'm going to be running a half-marathon, which is still a big "if" as far as my body seems to be telling me, I need to keep myself better hydrated.  When I drink a lot of water, it's almost like my body craves it, so that should make it easier to stay off the pop!

#30 get my Christmas calendars done before Thanksgiving - I was getting so excited about starting my 2011 scrapbook, now that I set it as a goal, and realized that I haven't even started my Christmas calendars for the grandmas!  I usually have a pretty good start on them by now.  What is wrong with me???  

Still taking requests for 31-40!



  

12 to go...

I'm not much closer to my 40 goals yet, but I think I'm maintaining what I have fairly well.  As a mother, wife, PTA mom, and teacher, I'm pretty good at multi-tasking (my friends will probably say that is an understatement), so today while the boys were at soccer, I cleaned out the back of my car.  My Thirty-One order had arrived, and I couldn't wait to reorganize with my new goodies.

Before...
I try to keep bags in the car for grocery shopping, towels and blankets for cold and rainy soccer games, and extra clothes for anything from a last-minute running date to muddy mishaps with the boys.  It was getting a little out of hand, though.

After!!!
I love the large utility tote so much that I have two :)  Today's new additions were organizers that fit inside the totes so that when I pull out one thing, the rest won't fall out.





When I grow up, I want to find a job organizing other people's lives.  How great would that be?  It's such a great feeling to see the end result of a disorderly stack of papers sorted into neat files or a pile of miscellaneous junk you don't know what to do with organized into labeled boxes and bins.  Just put me in a cluttered room with a label-maker!

Today was an especially happy day because my new washer and dryer arrived!  I was able to complete three loads of laundry in the time that it used to take me to do six...and contrary to what the lady at Best Buy told me, I think these cycle a lot quicker than my old ones.  My favorite feature, besides the obviously spacious drum, is the count-down timer. 

Well, I've only thought of one more...

#28 weed my garden at least once a week - this summer, after five years of neglect, Brian finally gave me the go-ahead to hire a real landscaper to help minimize the front garden.  This house has way too much for me to handle, and I'm way too dependent on my mother.  Now that it's done, I need to make sure I keep up with it.

See you tomorrow!

Donation Day!

Well, today was blood donation day, and I think the fates were working against me--but I prevailed! Dinner ran late, and I raced out the door to make it to the church by 6:30. The lady asked me three times if I was a female, had I always been a female, so I had to wonder how bad I looked or how many people actually have come in posing as a female that they have to ask that question!!!

After taking my temperature, she said I had a slight fever so I had to wait ten minutes for someone else to retake it...and I was fine. Then they pricked my finger and said my iron was too low so I had to wait ten minutes for someone else to try on my other hand...and I was fine. At this point I was starting to believe that if I did give blood, I was going to faint or something. Good intentions won out and I saved my three lives...finally.

I recalled why I quit reading every night with Jason...it's exhausting! He jumps and rolls and squirms and fidgets...it's no wonder he has trouble remembering what he reads. We are slowly making our way through Flushed, though, and he's starting to really get into it.

It is amazing how motivating this list of goals is...I feel good about myself and my days are so productive! It forces me to follow through on the run I really didn't want to take today but felt so great when it was done...the foods I didn't want to log into My Fitness Pal but did and used it to adjust my meals for tomorrow...the games of words with friends that I'm stuck on but know I will feel so victorious when I hit that triple word play!

No new goals for me today...I'm getting a little stumped, so I'm open to suggestions! I'm off to play some words and read The Fountainhead until I can't keep my eyes open a second longer :)

Where does the weekend go?

I had such high hopes that I would be as productive today as I was yesterday, but I look at the clock now and realize my day is almost over. Time to read with Jason and quiz Jacob on his vocabulary. Looks like my grading will have to wait!

On a sad note, my washer died today and I need to figure out how to empty the drum of water. On a happy note, my washer died today and I finally got to buy my front-loading washer!!! I can't wait until Tuesday delivery day:) 

No running for me today, but I did walk two miles with my friend Kim, whom I haven't seen for ages!  This week's recipe will be lettuce wraps, something I'm hoping I can use as a healthy lunch alternative.  I found the recipe...where else?  PINTEREST!  I had planned on making them today, but it didn't quite work out.  I did make a tasty pasta salad, though.  I found a pasta that contains a serving of vegetable...add some red pepper, cucumber, onion, left-over grilled chicken, and Italian dressing.  YUM!  The only thing missing was some garden fresh tomato.

Slowly ticking away at my list...

# 26 quit biting my nails - this is probably going to be the most challenging one on the list and one I won't be attempting until at least after the 21-day yoga challenge.  My mother will be thrilled if I can pull this one off!  I try at least twice a year and make it maybe a month, then some major stresstastrophe (I'm taking a page out of my son, Jacob's book...he loves making up new words like bawesome and sympacasm) hits and I lose it!

#27 go wine tasting - this is #29 on my sister's list and I'm stealing it!  I always think it's time for me to become a grown-up and start liking wine!  I know I have many friends will help me reach this goal, several times.

What an awesome day!

I am sitting here with coconut oil slathered in my hair, patiently waiting for the next half hour to pass, hoping I will emerge with beautiful, revitalized hair.  I hate to say it, but I'm already second-guessing the idea of growing out my hair.  I found this cure on Pinterest, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Of course, I had to buy the two gallon jugs of it I found on sale at Amazon, so if this doesn't work, I'll be searching out some new uses for coconut oil.

This has been such a pleasant and productive Saturday!  I started out with my boys' soccer game this morning at 8:30 (and yes, Facebook friends, I know I was complaining about it then, but it was a gorgeous day and we didn't lose!!!).  Then I went shopping at the mall and found some really cute new clothes and these awesome blinged out jeans...they fit great, but I'm not sure how the bling will go over when I actually wear them! 

I lunched at Panera and got some grading done, then hit Starbucks on the way home for my favorite Green Tea Lemonade.  The sun was shining and a beautiful breeze beckoned me outside for a run, so I put on some Linkin Park and hit the road--for 4.2 miles!  That's the most I've ever run alone, so I'm feeling good!  The great thing about running is that when I'm done, I have no interest in putting junk food into my body because it would negate the calories I just burned.  So I'm sitting here, enjoying some ice cold water, waiting for my hair to finish cooking, and I came up with a few more goals.

#23 log my food and exercise on My Fitness Pal - I got the app last year, and it really helped me hold myself accountable for what I ate and did throughout the week.  When the evil temptation of a donut threatens to crash my healthy eating, a visual reminder of how bad they are keeps me on my path.  That certainly does not mean I will deprive myself on Friday Jean & Donut Day at school, though! 

#24 attempt some of the sewing projects I pinned on Pinterest - I bought a sewing machine at a garage sale this summer to make these wonderful crafts and gifts...and haven't touched it since.  I used to sew in 4-H; it's like riding a bicycle, right?

#25 be more punctual with my plays on Words with Friends - In my determination to find the best word, I know that I hold up the game and annoy my friends. 

Well, my half hour is up.  Hopefully when I see you all next, my hair will have a healthy glow! 

Must be nice to be a man!

I've been sharing my goals with Brian, my very tolerant husband, who thinks I'm going through a mid-life crisis. I think how lucky he is to be able to eat a cheesecake in two days and not gain a pound. The last time I saw him complete any exercise was when it started sprinkling and he ran to save his new cornhole bags! He has no concept of what has happened to my body in the last ten years, and that is so not fair!

After hearing my first twenty goals, he said they weren't hard enough!!! "You don't have anything on there like eat a bug or touch a spider. You need to hold a spider," says the man who has to rescue me from the eight-legged beasts.  We're not playing fear factor, here! This is serious!

Only two more goals tonight, but they go together...

#21  read every night with my younger son - unfortunately, he did not inherit my love for the written word, so reading at night is like pulling teeth. After dinner and homework and soccer and the other million activities we juggle, it has been easier to send him off to do it on his own as he has gotten older...but I want him to love reading like I do, so I challenge myself to make the time.

#22  help my older son achieve his goal of improving his vocabulary - for some unknown reason, my soon-to-be 12-year-old son decided this summer that he wanted to read Moby Dick, and the abridged version wouldn't cut it! After struggling through two chapters, he finally conceded that it may be a bit out of his reach for now. I thought he had moved on until he came home from the first day of school and announced that his goal for this year was to improve his vocabulary enough to read it by the end of the year. Wow. I got him a vocabulary book, but he's frustrated at how the words just "drop out of his brain," so I make it my goal to help him reach his goal! And this may be my favorite one so far!

On a side note tonight, I discovered a new clothing line called Garnet Hill that I am IN LOVE with...I only wish I could afford it :)  I'll be keeping an eye on their clearance! 

20 down...20 to go!

I'm really excited about some of my next few!  Part of the motivation for doing this is to HAVE FUN!  I really want to enjoy this year, so I worked in a few "goals" to keep me motivated...

#16 finish my 2011 scrapbook - that means I will have to actually start it, but with the beauty of digital scrapbooking, I have faith that I can accomplish this in less than a year.  The added bonus is a girls' weekend...or two!

#17 have my students (and myself) write letters to our troops at least twice this year - I always mean to do this, but the crunch of testing always over-shadows my good intentions.  This needs to be a priority, though!  I started that quest today when one of my students asked me to buy popcorn from his boyscout troop.  They have an option to buy popcorn and have it sent directly to our troops.  What a great idea!

#18 get a pedicure every two months -

a girl's got to take care of her feet!  Especially during the winter months, I feel that I can't justify a pedicure since I'm not wearing flip-flops, but my feet will be doing a lot of work on my path of self-improvement.  They deserve a treat, too--I may even have to go freshen up my polish with some purple Pure Ice tonight! 

#19 clean out my closet and get rid of those clothes I keep hoping will fit someday - let's be honest...my oldest son is almost 12.  If the pants don't fit at this point, they aren't going to!  Plus, there's the incentive to go shopping if I do drop a pants size (not that I've ever had a problem finding a reason to go clothes shopping!).

#20 learn to knit - my favorite accessory on a cold day is a scarf, but I can never seem to find the exact color (or price) that I want when I'm out shopping.  I hear there are some great Pinterest tutorials for knitting, so it's worth a try. 

Well, the first 20 were relatively easy...I can't wait to see what the next 20 will look like!  Thanks, friends, for the encouragement!  I'm anxiously awaiting my sister's list of 40 so I can post them, as well. 

363 and counting!

Day two went well!  I skipped the morning pop, substituting my own version of a Starbucks green-tea lemonade.  Unfortunately, I have to confess that I did not put my shoes away until right before I sat down to write this post...and that's pretty late!  Finally, I scheduled a blood donation for Saturday, so I feel well on my way to a fabulous forty!

Soooo....revealing goals 10-15:  

#11 make a profit selling Thirty-One - actually, that goal needs to be met before tax season, or I may be in big trouble with the hubby!  The key to achieving this goal is to stop buying from myself.  I love organizing, though, and Thirty-One makes it so very easy!

 

#12 go zip-lining - I soooooo wanted to do this when we went camping, but my boys didn't weigh enough.  We ended up going horse-back riding which was just as fun, but I'm definitely going zip-lining this year!

#13 be able to do a pull-up - I stole this one from my sister because I thought it was funny yet challenging.  It may be a little out of my reach since I don't think I could even do one in high school, but how cool would this be???

#14 complete the 21-Day Self-Awareness Challenge at Harmony Yoga Studios - My friend Cindy and I are doing this one together.  The challenge involves giving up at least three of the following:  caffeine, sugar, alcohol, gluten, and animal products.  The alcohol is easy seeing as how I don't really drink, but I don't think it would be fair to make that a sacrifice.  This will definitely be a challenge, but I hope to emerge from this a healthier person!

#15 - get a bicycle (on sale, preferably!) - and complete the Lighthouse Triathalon next year shaving at least eight minutes off my time so that I come in under two hours (special thanks to Carol for letting me use hers this year!)  How is it that I hadn't ridden a bicycle since college???

Well, 25 goals to be determined.  If I don't come up with my 40 goals soon, I may have to make that a goal!  See you tomorrow! 

364 days to go

Today, I begin my 40 before 40 challenge...although I haven't quite finalized my 40 tasks.  Number 8 on my list was to start a blog, so here it is!  Thanks to may favorite twin sister for giving me the nudge to do something I've wanted to do for a year. 

#1:  start a blog!  I've been inspired by the blogs I find on Pinterest.  One of my favorites is Kate at The Small Things Blog...http://www.thesmallthingsblog.com/.  She always has fun new hairstyles for me to try and includes videos for the hair-impaired like me.

#2:  run a 1/2 marathon - my friend, Julie, planted this seed at the beginning of this school year.  At the time, it seemed like an impossibility, as I can barely run a 5-K now, but what is life without a big goal???

#3:  donate blood every 2 months - as my son told me when I donated for his school, it saves three lives!  I always mean to do this, but I'm not always punctual about it, so I've set this high on the goal list.

#4:  not cut my hair until my next birthday...the big 4-0!  Now, I don't mean to let it get all scraggly--that woul defeat the purpose!  I'll do the 6-8 week trims, but I've always wanted to see how long I could grow it.  Usually, I get annoyed after two bad-hair days and chop it off.  This way, I won't be able to, and I might finally get it long enough to donate for Locks of Love.

#5:  make a new recipe every week - I am the ultimate fast food junkie.  When someone asks me for directions, my landmarks usually include Taco Bell and McDonalds.  I've pinned about 50 recipes on my Pinterest board, so it's about time I tried cooking some of them.  Challenge accepted!

#6:  start journaling - practice what I preach.  I'm always encouraging my students to write daily, so it's time I tried it.  This bloomed from the goal, "Write down one positive thing about every day."  Hmmm...does blogging count as journaling?  Am I cheating by counting this as two separate goals?  I'll have to ponder that...

#7:  read 10 books on the 100 best books list - there are many, but I settled on this one for no reason other than there were many that I wanted to read.  http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/100-best-novels/  I'm reading The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand right now.

#8:  use up all of my random make-up and miscellaneous beauty supplies so I can FINALLY join Birchbox - they send a boxful of beauty goodies right to your house for a $10/month subscription.  It looks like a fun way to try out some new products, but I've been trying to restrain myself since my closet is already over-flowing.  Check it out at http://www.birchbox.com/

#9: drink pop only with meals (modified from "stop drinking pop") - that was truly a recipe for disaster, and it would only be punishing my children, husband, students, and anyone else who might unfortunately come in contact with me on a bad day.  This way, I have the flexibility of having a Pepsi with breakfast if I really need one but stops me from carrying one around at school all day! 

#10:  put my shoes in the closet and out of the hallways - this one is for my husband who is constantly grumbling about the shoes when he walks in the door.  It seems relatively easy and will make him VERY happy.

Look for #11 tomorrow...I want to make these meaningful (and fun) so I'm going to take my time with the rest.