Sunday, February 28, 2010

March Designs - Au Revoir February


Many know the phrase "Want to hear God laugh, tell God your plans." Well, THAT was February. The stomach bug knocked me for a loop and certainly laid waste to many of my plans. Though somewhat discouraged by my lack of headway, much like a crocus attempting to bloom through the snow in early spring, I persevere.

February Designs Results
1. Continue one in and one out - Did pretty good
2. Continue no book buying - Did great
3. Cook at home 3x/wk - Not so well, but cooked 2x/wk this past week
4. Exercise 6 days/wk - Not nearly
5. No eating after 7pm. - Accomplished this most days
6. Review finances weekly - Didn't happen
7. Eat at least 1 serving of veggies daily - Sadly, no
8. Almost forgot, limit refined sugar indulgences to once per week - Sadly, during the stomach bug refined sugar was the only thing I could digest.

Oh well, Au Revoir to February. Hello March! Hello Spring! Hello March Designs!

1. Continue one in/one out
2. No book buying :(
3. Cook at home 3x/wk - I can do it, I know I can!
4. Weekly week in review post about my monthly design accomplishments
5. Daily exercise of at least 30min (includes walking the dog if consecutive 30 min).
6. Cease eating by 7pm.
7. limit refined sugar to 1 serving 2x/wk.
8. Increase veggie intake.

I have some more I'd like to accomplish, but I'm not sure it wise to list them. I'll ponder the possibility. Now I'm off to work on my monthly budget and pay bills.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Showing My Thrifty Side


In December I made an impromptu trip to Goodwill. Every now and then I find a good or even great deal. That day I found a great deal. I've been looking for a furniture piece to place at the end of my bed. Low and behold, there it was, for only $10.


The pattern is lovely. As you can see the fabric is worn on the seat and in desperate need of cleaning. Even then, the upholstery may still likely be stained in a few places. In that event, I will make a slip cover for it. I've been doing a bit of research and believe that I can make one that is true to the lovely lines and curves of the piece. I'm VERY pleased with my find.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Ask and the Universe Provides


Last weekend I was preparing a post for V-Day all about self-love. Of course that topic came from my understanding that I need to practice self-love. I was going to talk about how I was going to love myself better. Get in touch with my values, such as health and practice a cleansing. The kind that you clean up your eating allowing the body to eliminate waste and become healthier. Well, that was Sunday. Having not finished my post I planned to finish it Monday. Then the skies opened and the Universe bestowed upon me a fine detoxifying opportunity. I came down with the stomach bug my daughter had seemingly breezed through the previous week. Only I have not breezed through it. Quite the opposite. Yes, the Universe was laughing when she answered, only I was slow to get the joke.

My daughter came down with it last Thursday afternoon and by mid-morning the next day, she was asking for a BLT. Contrarily I've been out since Monday afternoon, and only today tried "real" food (not Jell-O, 7-Up, sorbet or toast) this afternoon. Ironically people pay oodles to do for them what nature did for me for FREE! Sometimes you just gotta make lemonade from those lemons. :)

And in answer to Treacle's question about how my February goals were going. Sadly, the better of them haven't gone well. A work situation exploded the first week leaving me excessively stressed. Unfortunately my primary reaction during such times is to hibernate or effectively zone out when given the chance. So I found myself as usual arriving home to burrow in. Aside from walking the dog regularly, I've done very little exercise. Very little cooking, very little sugar resistance, but did manage to do well respecting the 7pm eating limit.

As I wrote in an earlier post that I am reading Suzy Welch's book 10-10-10 about a strategy for decision making. Because the strategy is value-based, one person's decision may turn out differently than another person's. Of course the strategy only works well if you truly know your values. While reading the book, I realized that over the past few years I've gotten out of touch with my values. If fact, if someone were to come out and ask me about my values, I'd likely only be able to come up with one or two. This left me feeling not only sad, but somewhat disappointed and even ashamed of myself.

These thoughts brewing in my head combined with my standard reaction to high levels of stress, became a cue for me to take some time to re-examine and perhaps, re-orient, my values and how I'm living them. Then came the stomach bug which I suppose is a way to re-set my clock. Not to mention what blessing it is to have our health.