My fitness pal

I think I may have figured out my fitness pal!! A group of my friends were talking about my fitness pal. I'd heard about it, but really didn't know what it was all about. So I downloaded the app and dove in to figure it out. First I friended my friends, then I looked at the diary section.

Hmmm...how many calories do I eat???

So I filled out that days info...ouch! I was already over by dinner time & there was NO stopping my nightly cookies! At least I had an idea on how it worked.

Start day #2, realize sweet tea is a new nemesis. Drink it anyway. I still went over, but only by about half the amount as the day before.

Day #3...I rocked!!!! I managed to be under, drink a sweet tea & eat cookies. I still ate some good food, didn't starve & had an awesome time at Zumba.

Things I've learned...

Mayonnaise may not be worth the 90 calories per TBS.

In order to eat cookies at night, I'll have to earn them at the gym doing Zumba.

I didn't starve today eating 1500 calories.

Here are my atrocious food diary numbers & my awesome day today....

Dishes are done

My dishes are *done! My sink is clean! I started 2012 the same way though, vowing to do the dishes daily/nightly. It lasted a good while, but somewhere along the way, I fell off the wagon. I'm really hoping I won't do that this time. I hope that by creating a lot of new habits & a new me, I'll stick with everything.

*They're clean. There are 3 glasses & a plate in the sink though. I started the dishwasher tonight before I left for the gym, so I'll have to unload & reload tomorrow after work.

I give you my sink...

Toys & the playroom

Oh, our playroom! Boy has it always been a disaster! No matter how many times I went through it, organized, got rid of toys, etc. it would still turn into a toddler tornado zone. We finally found a solution! I wanted to go o Ikea & get something to store the toys in. We walked around, picked out what we wanted & headed to the check out. But wait!! There's the clearance/As-is section! We mosey on over and low & behold, we find a bunch of sets similar to one we picked! They are from the same collection, just a different one. I had picked out one tall case, but here are FOUR bench sized cases. They were screwed together in a square shape with a train/car rug screwed to the top. My husband could easily see past this HUGE monstrosity that would have engulfed our playroom. "We can just unscrew it!" Genius! I married a genius! So we got 4 of them & a rug for only a little more than we planned to spend originally.

We get home & put 2 in the playroom & 2 upstairs in kids' bedrooms. I had 6 bins to organize & label for the playroom. We came up with - Barbies, My Little Ponies, Lalaloopsies, Baby's toys, Misc. (no label yet, currently has balls & plastic alphabet Popsicles), & babies/dolls. We also have a big toy box with Legos in it & a few toys on top of the benches. I labeled each bin with my label maker (Christmas gift last year from the husband)

It's been a few weeks & the room has stayed clean. It's easy enough for the kids to clean up & if I'm left to pick up it only takes a few minutes!

Am I lazy now?

Ok stupid question...  It's more like I *was* lazy.  But now when I have everything picked up, and I go sit on the couch, I feel lazy.  There is a ton more I could do.  Only the downstairs of my house is presentable, and even that still has a whole room of "crap" to go through.  It is oh so nice though, to look around and feel peace knowing the house is "clean".  There isn't piles of dishes or laundry on the floor.  All the toys are picked up and organized.  It's just so nice.  So far I've been keeping up with what I've accomplished.  I will add more to it soon.  I'm enjoying relaxing, while still cleaning up throughout the day, and receiving compliments on how nice the house STILL looks! :)

Mint.com & a budget

A friend just mentioned trying out mint.com.  After I got over my fear of signing up and linking my bank account, etc., I thought it'd be an awesome site.  I'm not so sure so far though.  It's not that it's bad...but it sure makes me feel poor!  

"Mint.com, not a website for the poor!"  Haha!

I also have either not been able to add certain bills/credit cards or have had trouble with some, which is becoming annoying.  Luckily these accounts will be paid in full with tax money, and no longer a bother on there!

Oh and I need to figure out how to adjust the dates on the monthly budget.  It automatically starts from the 1st-31st of the month (or 30th, 28th, etc).  The problem is usually our pay comes in a few days before the beginning of the month.  So we got paid on the 28th & I went grocery shopping on the 31st.  The budget says I haven't spent any money for groceries this month.

Here's to cleaning up more in my life than just my house!

The Bathroom

I managed to easily tackle the bathroom. Picked up some laundry, wiped down the counters & toilet. Then I put in a new scentsy plug in warmer & a jar of seashells :) so pretty. So the bathroom was looking awesome! My husband comes home, starts playing a game on his phone, goes into the bathroom, and spends 20 or more minutes in there. I asked him what he thought of it & apparently he was too busy with his game to even notice. Men!

I've kept up on the dishes, and general pickup around the lower level of the house. The house is starting to look really good. I want it looking awesome by March, when hopefully my brother & soon to be sister-in-law will be coming for a visit! I need to go through my house and let go of things emotionally & physically.

The Good Housewife

We cleaned the house on January 1st. It was a joint effort with a little bit of help from everyone in the house. I've kept it clean since then. There are still things to be done though. I've been working slowly to clean it up more. My main concern was the dishes. SO many dishes! Today at lunch, as my husband was leaving to go back to work, he said those magical words, the ones I love, "Honey, thanks for being such a good housewife!" I know some may think that's not that big of a deal, but when you suck at being a housewife and manage to get some things done, it's nice to hear.

I do better with praise. With a "regular" job, you have a boss and a paycheck. You get pats on the back from the boss and a weekly paycheck (bi-weekly, monthly, you get it). If this were a "real" job, I'd have been fired by now. I rarely get my work done, never on time. There's always laundry or dishes to be done. But sometimes I go above & beyond my normal. Today I cleaned the kitchen (dishes 99% done, counters cleaned off, table cleaned off & floors crumb free), & I managed to have dinner done when the husband walked through the door!

Tomorrow...clean up the downstairs bathroom, dishes, steam vac & work on some orders & some fun knits!

Pictures - dinner cooking, clean kitchen & happy kids, dinner ready for oven!

Here we are, January 2nd....

It's the beginning of 2013, and here I am again.  Everyone is always making resolutions.  I dislike making them.  I know I won't stick with it.  I suck at that.  My "go to" resolution is to "be a better person."  I figure there's no way I can screw that one up.  Within a years time there has to be some way I've become a better person.  But behind the "better person" line,  is a long laundry list of "things" I intend to do better, so that in my own mind I can call myself a better person, a better parent, a better wife, so on and so forth.

Here's a small list of some of those things...

Yell less

Love more

Facebook less

Give attention more

Clutter less

Clean more

It all stems from one simple, yet to me not so simple thing, my house.  My house you see, is very cluttered.  It's clean, there's not bugs running around everywhere, no dirty diapers strewn about, no big dust bunnies.   But there's piles of "paper" everywhere, clean & dirty laundry thrown everywhere, toys, toys & more toys, books, yarn, etc.  There are things that actually need cleaning too, like the laundry & dishes.  But in my mind, if I can get this house under control, I'll be a better Mom, a better wife, a better person.

So here we are again, at the beginning of a new year & hopefully a new me.  My journey begins here, on this blog.  Hopefully I'll get a small handful of people to read this & hold me accountable.