This Is Me

I live in a world that is not my own that I succumb to in many ways. I live by a code that leaves me to find joy in the small things in life. Not take advantage of anything. Love and learn from everyone I meet in my journey. And especially to learn what it means to be selfless in more ways I thought possible. I am a Army wife. It is what I do. I have a love hate relationship with what I do. But do I regret it? No way.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

WWJD??

I am blogging this week a little early because today is when I have time!

First let's start off with a couple of AWESOME things that have happened this week.

As most of you know, John was injured during his Special Forces Selection and has been battling this hip injury since October.
Well as of this week no surgery is needed, they amplified his physical therapy routines to build strength, and good news for John is that he CAN deploy.
Hooray. (**sarcasm**)
Secondly, we found a buyer for John's car.
We were SO torn on what to do with this car during his deployment and went back and forth until we were dizzy on what to do.
The whole thought process is why pay for two car payments and two car's worth of full coverage insurance if the car isn't even going to be used for a year??
But then there was the question of, well, we are somewhat close to having it paid off, is it worth spending the money to eventually have a paid off car....??
Well then we found out we had negative equity in the car, so it slowly became a no brainer.
I talked to my mom constantly about all the options we had come up with and when I told her we decided to sell it, she prayed with me over the phone for a "miracle" that the car would be sold quickly, without TOO much money out of our pockets, and before John deployed.
Well, turns out a co-worker was looking for a car in this car's price range and so I only had the car advertised for sale for less than 72 hours. :)

God is good and proves to me again what little control I really do have over things. 
And I am ok with that. :)

On to the not so fun stuff.

Tomorrow is the last day of February and signifies a chapter in my life that is about to begin.

John's pre-deployment leave starts on Monday, the 1st of March.
For any of you not familiar with the military way, pre-deployment leave is literally about three weeks vacation you get RIGHT before you deploy. Typically once this leave is over they'll be gone within 1-2 weeks.

Bittersweetness at it's best!

I am thrilled to death because, even though I am not taking three weeks vacation, I am taking SOME so we can go to Colorado this week and also take a mini vacay of our own. Not sure where we are going yet, but it's bound to just be relaxing and totally laid back. That is, IF we even leave! We may just lock ourselves in the house and just turn the phones off and just hang out. 
The sucky part is pretty obvious, so I'm not going to go into detail.

My post title has to do with what is currently going on with one of John's soldiers that is in his team. I have been struggling this whole week and weekend trying to find the appropriate attitude and approach to the situation and I already know that my words/actions have not been 100% warranted. 

Without going into inappropriate detail, the soldier is having "home" issues. When domestic issues like this arise, it is up to the soldier's NCO to get involved and keep everything civil and everyone protected, etc. 

Thanks to these dramas, John has been gone pretty much this whole week commandeering this whole issue with his soldier. On Thursday which is one of our take out date nights, he didn't get home until midnight because of the drama going on over there. THEN some more stuff went down today where on OUR day off TOGETHER BEFORE HE DEPLOYS was cut short by more drama so he had to leave where we were and go take care of this dude's business.

Now, my dilemma.
John's soldier is a grown man.
Whenever John and I have had issues (NONE of which is even in same ballpark as what's going on here) we have never had to get someone else involved. We act like adults and handle our business.
Well, this guy insists on having his hand held the entire time which drags John away from home.

Yes, I am selfish.
No, I do NOT care.
My husband is about to leave for a year.
I have had extreme choice words for this soldier and at one point where I had to meet up with John while he was with him, I plainly told John that he better not be there or I was going to lay it all out for him with not shame at all. 

How DARE you.
Who ARE you anyways??
I hope you are flippin having a GREAT time because now you've got me in the mix, and I can honestly be the worst temper flaring woman you will EVER meet. 
I screeched into that parking lot today like a bat out of hell and as soon as this soldier saw me, he started walking away to the barracks. 
He knew right.
He knew I was pissed as hell that MY husband was using up OUR Saturday holding his hand.

Before I come off as extremely over dramatic and having no compassion, believe me, this guy can't wipe his own butt without help. I am going to respect him to the point by not giving details, but seriously.
MAJOR ISSUES. 

What WOULD Jesus do with someone like this??

Tonight we went to a party at John's platoon leader's house.
It was a pre-deployment platoon get together and needless to say I knew no one but most of the guys. 
A weird realization for me, but it was true. 
Plenty of Army wives I COULD get to know if I was 22 with a billion children.

Well, this soldier was at the party and avoided me like the plague. 

That's when it hit me that this guy is going through hell right now and all I want to tell him is what a dirt bag he is for making my husband never get to come home and when he DOES come home, he has to leave to go clean up HIS mess. 
How am I supposed to LOVE someone like that??
I can't say that this guy doesn't care.
He's 22 with a newborn and is completely in over his head with all this home drama.
Lord only knows that his wife has put him through the ringer once or twice.
And even more ironically, I think the steps he is taking in his home life is what he SHOULD be doing. 

But is it fair that it's at the expense of me and my time with my husband that's about to leave me??
John has reminded me this whole week, "Katie, it's my job to take care of my soldier's when they need me."
But then I retort back that whenever we could have used guidance in a situation here at home no one offered to come help us!!
We've still been dealing with John's hip issue and they continue to send him jumping out of planes compromising something that is NOT healed or fixed.
They DON'T care.
So why the heck should he or I??
Why is John willing to be the leadership example in this case?
He really is just that bigger of a person than me, is the real truth.

He takes his job and position so seriously that he will spend more time helping his soldiers with what they need than helping me with what I need here at home.
It SUCKS!!!
But what sucks even more is I can't get mad at him about it! 
LOL. 
He's doing what he SUPPOSED to do, and who at 25 can really say that the place they are in, in their life is where they are supposed to be??
Not many, that's for sure.

So, back to my question.
I sat there tonight looking at this guy with such mixed emotions that I couldn't stand even being in the same room as him. 
Part of me wanted to just walk up to him and tell him what I really thought.
But the other part of me just hurt for him and his situation.

What WOULD Jesus do???
The easy answer is that he would show compassion, but part of me thinks that he would at least understand my anger and where it was coming from and why I have it. 
Jesus would understand right??
Or would He just point out how selfish I was being....
IDK. 
I'd like to err on the side of the first option, but I don't know.....

Well, I vented, it's out and I am done for now!
This time next week I'll have just gotten BACK from CO so I'll have plenty of adventures to write about!!

Love all, and to some of you, see you this WEEK!! AAUUGGHH!!! :)




Monday, February 22, 2010

LENT & Loss

Let me start off this post with the "loss" part of my title.
As of this weekend, I have lost 10 pounds.
:)
I weighed in on Sunday in the morning before I ate or anything.
I've been going to spin three days a week for about three months now.
I have felt the weight shift around over my whole body but I wasn't seeing the actual numbers go down until this weekend and I feel so elated.
I first noticed the weight shift difference in my legs (thighs).
Considering I've been doing spin this shouldn't be a huge shocker, but what I am surprised about is my "soccer muscles" coming back so quickly. I haven't played since freshman year in college (TYL!) and even then I didn't really work out at all cause I never gained weight.
Now, my butt.
Hasn't moved a bit I am afraid.
That has always been a physical aspect of me that I have a feeling is never going to change. I could seriously hold a cup of coffee on it.
However, my waist has shrunk dramatically and that's where I see the most difference.
I've always had a curvier figure than skinny and before I started working out most of my curves were gone. They were fudged in by fatness making me one big blob of blobbiness.
Now there is definite curvature differences which make me smile.

I am  going to go ahead and attribute some of my weight changes to new eating habits as well. I haven't let go of everything mainly cause of my hubs. We are a walking talking food contradiction the two of us. He wants carbs, calories, and high proteins all day so he can GAIN weight. I am learning moderation of those items so I can LOSE weight. So honestly when he deploys I think I will be able to kick some other habits.
I'm a huge snacker so I've had to get rid of a lot of the junk food and "trick" myself into eating better snacks.
Happy to not have to give up snacks all together.
So instead of Cheeto's I go for snack packs. Instead of vending machine I go for fruit or string cheese. My breakfast habits have changed too.
I usually try to have a banana or apple at every breakfast.
So lots of yogurts, fruits, and oatmeal for breakfasts.

Been off soda for about 4 months now (except for my one day of cheating at the Superbowl).
Haven't had Starbucks in about a month and haven't had coffee in about 2 weeks.
Shoot, except for yesterday before church.
Once a week is ok  with me anyways.
The caffeine withdrawal has been awful. SO tired in the mornings at work, but I am getting better!
I have substituted sweet tea for green tea and have grown an awesome fondness for it.
I am working BIG time on my portions and obeying my "pause-o-meter." (When I'm eating and "pause" to take a break, that's when I stop eating regardless of what I am wasting on my plate.)

And I am even working on becoming a left overs person.
Odd, I know, but I've always HATED left overs.
I plan my weeks worth of breakfasts, snacks, lunches, and dinners a week in advance so I don't wonder around snacking on things while wondering what to make for dinner.

Now, what really puts things in perspective unfortunately is that I was considered overweight for my age and height. Weighing in at 150 lbs. now puts me on the fence between average and overweight for my height/weight category, so I HAVE to keep pushing.
Like I've said in previous posts, my goal is to get back to my wedding day weight of 120-125 lbs. so I still have a ways to go, but I have a whole deployment's worth of time (1 year) to get 'er done. So I'm pumped and optimistic and ready for spin tonight!

Ok, so Lent.
Can I be the first one to say that I never even heard of Lent until I went to SNU for college.
Why all the sudden it appeared there of all places I don't know, but in the Nazarene church I grew up at in Colorado Springs either never focused on it or I just was constantly gone on THAT specific Sunday when it was taught.
I'm going to be honest and say that I have NOT done much research on it just because it wasn't prevalent to me growing up.
From what I have observed and heard though it's all about giving up something during the 40 days previous to Easter.
Well, while at SNU I saw a lot of people put this concept into practice, but I honestly can't say it was for all the right reasons.
I think some did it because their friends were doing it.
I think some did it just to say they were or to have bragging rights later that they did.
I think some did it as a personal challenge instead of a spiritual challenge.
Some gave up things that had no benefit to others.
Like, "I'm giving up soda."
Well, I am sure God can work with that somehow, but let's challenge ourselves a little harder!

I'm not in a place to judge anyone on their true intentions so don't get me wrong, but to me, some were missing the point.
Giving up something of ones self, for others.
Again, from what I've HEARD, you give up something/self-denial in order to help yourself mentally and/or spiritually prepare for the Easter Sunday.
I've also read that the self denial is only part of the picture and that you are also encouraged to pray, repent, and give something whether it be money or time, etc.

Well, yesterday at church our pastor spoke about the verb to give, and although it was not about Lent, it kind of rekindled some feelings I had towards Lent. This sermon was stemming off a week long annual "conference" type event they had at the church which focuses on the different programs/ministries the church is involved in on a community to national level.
He brought up the story of the good samaritan and asked us who the real giver was in this story.
(I'm totally summarizing this, FYI.)
Most of us would all agree that it was the samaritan that showed mercy on the beaten man left on the road.
But what I missed, and perhaps maybe you too, is that once the samaritan took the man on his donkey and took him to the inn, he told that innkeeper to take care of him. He gave him some money and told him the next time he passed through he would give him more if the expenses exceeded what he had just given him.
The innkeeper was the one left to GIVE his time, efforts, and compassion in providing shelter, safety, and human needs for this man to survive.
The samaritan couldn't do that.
Probably like us he had a job, he had obligations, a family, a meeting to go to. ;)
So he provided a way for someone that COULD physically give the help and the means to do it by.

With sermons like these you hear stories of world wide missions in amazing/crazy places like sri lanka, guatemala, the middle east, africa, etc. and you think, man I want to go there! I want to make a difference!
But realistically, how many of us can TRULEY give up our obligations here in our side of the world to actually go out and make a difference.
Very few of us are actually called to do that.
Drop our homes, cars, and comfortable living just to go sacrifice TIME and MONEY for those that have none.
Time is not our own.
We were blessed with it, so are you a samaritan or an innkeeper??

I mentally tied this in with my Lent thoughts in the way that many of us are samaritans, in that we are willing to sacrifice money, food, facebook, etc. but what are we giving to the innkeepers to do their end of the job??
If you gave up facebook, or something of that sort, use that new found time to go volunteer.
Go to an after school program, soup kitchen, or volunteer to help with the janitorial duties at your church.
If you gave up a certain food or something like that, this is what I propose:
I am giving up going out for any type of breakfast during the work week.
I had my weekly routine of stopping by chic-fil-a on Friday's for their amazing breakfast's.
If I felt entitled or justified enough I'd go by the biscuit kitchen and help myself to some southern lovin.
Well, with giving those trips up, I'm going to take the $$ I would spend going there, and give it to an "innkeeper."
THAT is what I am able to do as a samaritan.

I haven't decided where I am going to give it yet.

Of course Haiti relief comes to mind.
John and I sponsor a child that I met in Guatemala a couple years ago. We've been sponsoring him for about three years now and it's been such a blessing. Every month when I write a check for David's school there is a space for extra giving for kids that are in school but not sponsored. Maybe it could go there...??

I may not understand all the fundamentals and "rules" of Lent, but I do know that for me this is not just a "quit eating fast food" challenge. This is a challenge to do more than go without something for 40 days.

It's a quest to provide for the innkeeper taking care of those that I can't.
As our pastor puts it, it's making it hard for someone to go to hell.

:)

PS: I read this article online and I know this may not be a shocker to some of you, but it was to me. I love me some McNuggets!! :(

Sunday, February 21, 2010

"Now We Know What You Don't Like"

What a weekend. I thought the week was a little blah, but this weekend totally made up for this weeks mundaneness.
This work week started off pretty normal. Finished a program for Hastings which is one of our retail clients that should have taken me a day. Not a complex design and only about 20 schools to do in the design. Because I knew the retail orders were slow this week I drug that program into a three day affair and by the third I was so bored with it I started making stupid mistakes.
Had to sit there a second.
Take things into perspective and give myself a little pep talk, and get my stuff straight and get the job done.
Finished.
Awesome.
Then I checked my work email and voila.
Two new messages.
Sweet, who loves me today!?!? I wonder....
Well, it's from the Production manager here at MJ Soffe and she needed Jeanette and I to design some Spring Break designs for some of our east coast and gulf coast outlet stores.
Oh, and I need them in the next 24 hours.
Riigghhtt...
Now, without going into some insane detail, it's REALLY HARD to come up with a clothing line in 24 hours.
I don't care if I work for Versace.
It's HARD.
What sucked even more is she got the request for these designs over a month ago and waited until last minute to give it to us to make.
Awesome.
Ugh.
Got it done, but not without a mini temper tantrum.
I actually really liked what I came up with so I'm excited to see what's taken into production. Jeanette had some awesome stuff too, so we'll see what comes out. It's always so cool to see something of yours "come to life."
:)

So, Friday John tells me that his friend has a revolver (the type of gun we are talking about getting) that he would be willing to let us practice on/use to see if that's the type of gun we want to by for me while John is gone.
Saturday after spin and a quick trip to Sam's, we met up with him at the barracks and went to an outdoor range on post to try this whole thing out.

Factoid #1: I have never shot a gun in my life. (Ok, well according to my dad I shot rifles when I was a kid at our ranch, but I don't think that counts since I don't remember it and I had to have been way to naive to really understand the complexity of what I was dealing with-- aka: a metal stick of death!!)
Factoid #2: I know no gun lingo or jargon. PERIOD.
Factoid #3: I have never been to a shooting range in my life.

We drive up to this wooded area on post and walk towards this long open field of "lanes" where people are shooting. To the right of these lanes is this little metal hut.
We go into this hut and it turns out all the lanes are full of people that bought all day passes.
Bummer, right?
Not really.
While John and Tom were talking to the lady in the hut, I was ducking for cover, jumping at every pop I heard. I probably looked like I had a nervous twitch or something.
I'm a very jumpy person. I can KNOW John is around the corner from me and I'll still jump when I see him. I don't know why I am that way, but I am....John and I have gotten a lot of laughs out of it, but unfortunately for the gun loving public of Fayetteville, this was not going to be one of those days.
People in those lanes were shooting constantly with the most obnoxious and LOUD pops I have ever heard in my life. I felt like fire crackers were going off at my feet.
I felt like I was in a horrible war movie.
So, the lanes are full and the boys decide to take me to a different range off post that is an indoor range.
We go inside and they had us read this waiver and sign it before we could get our eye pro and ear protector thingys.
I'm reading this waiver and ever single "rule" and "guidline" had some type of jargon in it that prevented me from understanding a single thing I was reading?
Why is there brass in range I have to clean up??
What is clearing a weapon??
Etc.
Well, I asked John, "Is this something I need to understand or should I just sign it?"
He tells me to just sign, so I signed my life and nerves away and handed over my ID in return for some eye pro and these huge ear muff things that look like what people wear when they are in helicopters.
They open the door to the indoor range for me and the second I stepped into this cold cement cavern, I FROZE.

The pops were so loud and making me jump so much it probably looked like I was having a seizure.

There were gangster THUGS in there with shot guns and machine guns just going buck wild shooting away.
There was a chick in stripper heels loading up this gun as long as my arm. There were kids in there and old CREEPY people in there just firing away. There were 20 lanes in all, and all were full, so I literally just froze.
All the sudden my head just started spinning and my chest became so tight I could barely breath and I felt like I was going to puke.
In a out of body like experience the guys walked me up to our "booth" and tried to explain to me what to do with the safety and how to load the gun and blah blah blah....
All I heard were echos of mumbles in my head and I just burst into tears.
I seriously just stood there bawling.
I will have you know I had no shame either.
I slowly backed away from the booth and propped myself up against the back wall with my arms crossed clutching myself for dear life.
It was the most petrifying thing I have EVER done.
And I didn't even shoot the weapon.
I was clutching my arms so tight my knuckles were white and I had nail marks in my skin from my nails.
John asked me if I wanted to leave and I couldn't even speak. Every time I tried opening my mouth to say something someone would start shooting and send me into a jumping bean fit.
He told me to just stay there (like I was going to go anywhere!!) while they fired some and if I got comfortable and wanted to try it to let them know.
I sat there and literally rocked myself like a psycho patient.
I'm not joking when I say it was like an out of body experience. I hardly remember anything going on except that the noises were SO LOUD that I felt like was in hell.
I just kept mentally talking to myself that it's ok, and I've never done it before, so it's ok if I freak out, etc.

Finally the guys are done and we walk out of the range. Well, they walked. I split out of there so fast bawling through the entire store to the car still with my arms crossed and knuckles white.
I stood at Tom's truck waiting for him to unlock it.
"I'm sorry that freaked you out," he says. "At least we now know what you don't like!"
Touche.
I actually laughed for a millisecond and then went back into my panic zone.

Needless to say we got home and I ran into our room and jumped in the shower so I could clear my head.
I almost felt dirty.
Like I NEEDED to clean myself off after something like that. It was REALLY weird and I have never experienced anything like that before.

Finally when I calmed down John and I talked about it and have come up with a newer/better approach in this adventure.
TYL.
The only crappy thing is time is not on my side to get comfortable with it.

This is my husband's last week of work before pre-deployment leave.
He'll have the next three weeks off of which we'll get to go back to CO and see family and friends.
It's going to be great.
But that's time that I am going to need to get all of our stuff straight before he leaves.

Shoot, I need to add "How to use the lawn mower" to my list of things John has to teach me before April.
Maybe I can bribe some neighborhood kid to at least scoop the poop, right??

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

D-Day Approaching: BEWARE!

Sigh.
Last night I secretly broke into tears.
I have no shame to admit it.
Sunday night John told me he needed me to help him with some work stuff Monday night.
Of course I'd help him, so once I got home from spin, had a full belly and a shower, I sat down in the living room to receive my task.

Task: Log the items in his tough box that he's packing for deployment.

Not the best assignment for my writing skills, in my opinion. :)

I must admit, at first I didn't mind it.
I'm a sucker for forms and neat lists!
As disorganized as the Army can seem at times, they certainly know how to do forms. The have a form for everything!
But as he listed items and their quantities for me to write down the more somber I became.

My husband is leaving me.
My best friend won't be there for me.
This is really happening.
Again!

At one point he had to stop for a couple minutes to find something and I stepped away telling him to let me know when he was ready again and I'd come back.
I snuck into our bath room, lent against the door as I closed it behind me and let it flow.
It felt REALLY good.

I got myself together, after a couple seconds of drowning in self pity, and puttered around the house picking up and cleaning things while I was on *pause* status.
It made me think of how I am when John is only gone for a class, generally a week or two sometimes a month-ish.
My life becomes a HUGE monotonous cycle where I do the same thing everyday/every week. For someone like me this is actually ideal because I am SUCH a habitual person and once I get in my zone I rarely step out of it.
For anything!!
But I have never done that for a YEAR.
I'm afraid I'll morph into a robot after a couple months.

Although I have done a deployment before, this one is different.

On the last deployment, we weren't married, we were engaged.
I was in OKC graduating college the same week he was here at Ft. Bragg walking the green ramp.
This time I have to go drop him off to the green ramp and watch him fly away.
Last time I was with his and my own family having an awesome time in the good ol' Colorado Springs hanging out with friends and planning my wedding.
This time I will be here alone (with our babies of course!).
Last time I worked for fun.
This time I will work to save my sanity and give myself a distraction.

Things I plan on doing while he's gone:
-Make more trips home for sure
-Finish my wedding photo album (I know it's been almost two years, I have perfectly good intentions!)
-Keep going to the gym
-Lose weight to get back to my wedding day weight (ultimate goal is 120-125 lbs.)
-Find a small group to get involved in at Manna
-Try to get involved with the 108th MP FRG (family readiness group)
-Go to DC with Kristen!!
-Go to London with Kristen to see Dana!
-Have my bro and/or cousins come out and see me or I go out to see them
-We have a savings plan set up to have almost all our debt paid off while he's gone
-Here's a random one, not only know how to shoot a gun, but to surprise my hubs by getting my concealed weapons permit while he's gone

I am sure that there will be more but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. It's like my deployment bucket list.

Actually I think I am going to write one out so it will give me some things to work towards during this next long year.

Valentine's Day

Can I be possibly the first one to say that this day is the same as all the other days?
I am proud to say that I don't need a Hallmark Holiday to feel loved or special.
Just call me lucky I guess!
Blessed for sure.
I did the get bouquet of roses which is always awesome.
No girl will complain about that! :)
Went to church today and Jeanette came with us.
The service ended up being more of those informative type thing instead of a service. They are getting ready for a time in the year where they focus on missions community and world wide and it's a week long ordeal. I don't know a ton about it but it was a service sharing more info about the ministries outside of the church that they are involved in so we as a congregation would be aware of where money goes besides utility bills and Sunday school material, etc.
We are still REALLY enjoying the church.
The best part of it is that we BOTH enjoy it. We come from such diverse backgrounds that it's nice to find common ground. The next step we are working towards is finding a small group.
Afterwards we had Jeanette over for lunch.
We grilled, and yes it snowed yesterday.
But considering where we live it was 90% melted by noon.
Spin was cancelled again because of the snow, so boo for that.
We had about 4-5 inches but it was SO wet that it only stuck on the grass. The sidewalks and pavements just looked like it rained.
Hurley LOVED it. I'll post a video later. John kept tossing him snowballs and Hurley kept getting so frustrated cause when he bit them they disappeared! ;)
He's such a great pup.

So yeah, spin was cancelled, and I was sad. I felt like I was coming out of my plateau. I went Monday and Wednesday and it was great. I pushed myself and even maxed out on the bike on Monday! Def a milestone on my journey.
This weekend, amidst the snow turmoil, John and I ran some errands around town to get him ready for this upcoming deployment.
Kind of coming more real.
We are around a month and a half out from d-day so it's coming up really fast.
Still lots of things to get done before he leaves so we just keep plugging away.
Planning on going to CO next month to see fam during John's pre-deployment leave. He has over 40 days of vacation built up, so he's taking 21days/3 weeks of vacation. I'm planning on going to CO for a couple days while John stays there longer. Then we are hoping to escape for a weekend just us somewhere. Don't know where yet, but somewhere new!
Getting ready for this deployment makes me realize how independent I have to be even though I am married. There are certain roles that John and I play that one is better at than the other. Therefore, that's their role.

Katie: laundry
John: mowing

Katie: messing up the dishes/cooking
John: cleaning up the dishes

Katie: just spray some cleaner on it and wipe it off!
John: pulls out a toothbrush and a bucket and will scrub every crevice until pristine

Katie: getting all the trash and recycling to their appropriate bins
John: takes them to the curb on Tuesdays

Katie: Bella & Jax
John: Hurley

So obviously, when he leaves I have to assume all roles and it's so intimidating!
I know NOTHING about lawn work. I HATE cleaning dishes and DEEP cleaning. Trash I don't mind.
Hurley I don't mind either, except the scoop poop thing. Ugh.
One step we completed was activating the alarm system in the home which we've gotten used to pretty quickly. John has only set it off once and of course it was when he came in REALLY late (like 3AM!!) from work and let the dog out without putting in the code. I hardly remember but apparently we had a full conversation with the alarm people telling them our code words and blah blah blah. I can honestly say all I remember is John asking me our code word and I went back to sleep.  Obviously doesn't make me panic very well, so I've got to learn to be "afraid" I suppose. LOL.

Friday, February 12, 2010

For Now....

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while cause, well, I haven't had much to say!
I'm going to blog more this weekend when I have some more time (I'm on "break" right now at work!") but for now, I found this awesome list of easy things/tricks to do to help yourself ease into healthier living. I can't remember where I found it but it has some awesome tips that I've tried and have worked really well:

1. Celebrate your small accomplishments (I get a "cheat" day if I go to all of my spin classes for the week. This week I think I'm going to go shopping!).

2. Burn just 100 calories more (that's only an extra 15 minutes on the elliptical, that's walking the long way to the parking lot).

3. Become a slow eater (this is a challenge, I don't like to waste food so I either stuff my face or eat it quickly, I've been getting better though!).

4. Sleep an extra hour. (Well, ok, if I HAVE too).
5. Eat more veggies (Not as hard as I thought).
6. Eat soup that is broth based and low in sodium (some soups this is hard to do, so I've had to cut back on the more fatty ones!).

7. Eat more whole grains (I struggle with this, I don't like the whole grain taste...ugh).
8. Keep old clothes to stream motivation (mine is a stretch by saying I want to be swim suit ready this summer or DEF by next!).

9. No bacon (OMG, say it isn't so....I don't know if I can do it).
10. Veggie pizzas (ew, not my fav).
11. Cut out sugars (check! I've cut back on sodas, out of two months I cheated once on Superbowl Sunday. Sugar's really aren't my problem, mine is more of salty food issues).

12. Use tall thin glasses (GENIUS!)
13. Limit alcohol (dang it, I'm such a lush. Ok, for real, I really hardly ever drink. I think the last thing I drank was a glass of wine maybe a month ago??).

14. Drink green tea (I love tea. Hot. Cold. Love it. But green tea is my least favorite, so I've got to find a good brand I can teach myself to like, any advice??).

15. Yoga (Spin? I know I need to work on my flexibility and some of you have been encouraging me to try it, I may have too!).

16. Eat at home (We are working on this. When we were more strapped for cash, going out to eat was a TREAT. Now we're doing really well financially so we go out all the time. This is a constant struggle cause I actually enjoy cooking, but John's schedule is so erratic that I never know what day I will end up cooking! Something we/ I can work one, esp when he deploys).

17. Catch the "eating pause." (This is a major prob for me. Like I said above, I hate wasting food esp if we go out, so I'll make myself eat it all. I HATE leftovers, but I am learning they are not so bad).

18. Chew strong mint gum (This supposedly helps with snacking cravings which is my weakness).
19. Shrink your dishes (Smaller dishes smaller portions!).
20. Go meatless more often (oh man, that's a biggy. My grandma used to give us a full butchered cow for Christmas for goodness sake. I LOVE me some beef. However, I have cut it out a lot and have been focusing more on chicken and fish if I am going to use a meat. That or ground turkey. Meatless? IDK. That seems like a large mountain I am ok with not climbing...we'll see!).

Ok, so there's my list of wisdom. Until this weekend!