March 31, 2007

Spring has Sprung

All sorts of new things, including my first ever business (ad)venture! I've been pondering making this move for just about a year now (I can hardly believe that!), and now just seemed like the time to make a jump for it.

I am so sorry this is going to be so minimal, especially considering I AM a prolific writer, and I AM incredibly chatty, but I wanted to establish this site so I know what I want for it!!! Soon I will detail my reasonings for it.

Until then, Later Days!!!

(Originally posted on my Candle Blog)
I haven't been totally out of it. Thanks to the prompting of a couple of the ladies on my Flying list, I have been writing pretty regularly. Some times it is every day, sometimes it's here and there, when the ideas hit, sometimes it's not at all. But my mind is on it. I've also got SOOOOO many other things going on....crafting of all kinds, a candle biz I'm trying to launch, family, housework, life. It all gets too crowded in my head sometimes. I need the feeling I get creating SOMETHING to clear it all out. And yet I still think I spend too much time in front of the computer. Stupid computer games!!!

But, I was still able to submit a piece to a writing contest. My first. Yay!!! I won't know until the end of April (I believe) if (and I still always think WHEN first :-D) I place, but I won't sweat it. I'll just start looking for other contests, and see if I have stories in the works or can come up with ones to fit the bill!

Wish me luck!!!

Later Days!

March 28, 2007

Update & my week so far

List from the other day:

Lunch - done
Dishes - done (well, a few got left over :-\)
Floor - done
Vac - done
Post story (it's all written, just gotta write out a short bit of biographical information, and I'll be done :-) Oh yeah, and send it!) to contest - done
Go for walk - done

So far, this week has gone pretty well. I went for a walk on Monday---since it was so nice out, I decided to go outside at about 11 with P, and since D was home from school, she was out too. P decided he wanted to go for a walk, so we (he :-S) started down the sidewalk, holding mommy's hand. D came along with, and I joked to her about how daddy must be thinking "where are they?" since I had asked him if he was joining us, and he had yet to come out. Well, we got halfway to the corner, and her friend was outside playing at her house. D stayed there for a little bit while P and I headed back to the house to get his stroller so we could walk the rest of the way to the corner and go to the playground that wasn't too far away. We stayed there for a bit, then P and I went home to get lunch and get ready to get him down for his nap. A little while later, D and dad came home. It ended up just being a nice day all around.

Then we went outside again for a little while yesterday after P's nap. I went to Weight Watchers while they stayed home and played outside some more with the neighbor girls that have been D's friends since we moved in. I also had a couple other errands. I lost another 1.8 pounds this week, making it 17 so far! :-D Go me.

I plan on us going for a walk or playing outside sometime after P gets up from his nap, and probably about the time D gets home from school. The troubles we had been having getting to bed seem to have mostly gone. As long as I keep consistent with our sleep schedule---1-1:30 for naps, and between 8 & 9 for bed. Then he gets up anywhere from 6:30 to after 8. Which means he gets at least 12 hours a day, mostly at night, sometimes as much as 14 depending on how quickly after we lay down he falls asleep and when he gets up. His naps average about 2 hours. I'm very happy about that :-D

I've got a few other things I need to get done today---so far I've already vacced once (will have to again) flipped laundry (folded T's clothes, put the towels in the dryer and mine in the washer), done some dishes, picked up his toys so I can get the vac back out and clear up all that popcorn, and cleared the rest of the floor, plus sort some things out of a bag that I had started because of clearing off the couch to find my cell phone (there wasn't much, just a few things that had accumulated while I was sitting there. :-)).

So, here goes the list:

Dishes
Order more catalogs
Write
Go for walk/go outside
Vac
Fold clothes
Sort out P's to retrieve spring wear
Dinner

Things I'd like to get done this week:

kitchen floor - sweep & mop
sort bills (special attention to looking for treadmill user's manual & find odds and ends I've kept for it)

March 25, 2007

Who said anything about day of rest???

Okay, that's probably sacreligious, but....

I'm not doing any "resting." I take those times during my regular day to just do something for me. Now I'm going to come up with a list of things I would like to get done today...

Lunch
Dishes
Floor
Vac
Post story (it's all written, just gotta write out a short bit of biographical information, and I'll be done :-) Oh yeah, and send it!) to contest
Go for walk

Not as big of a list as I thought I was going to have. Good, it can get accomplished :-)

March 21, 2007

Weight loss and progress

As of yesterday I hit 15 pounds. I'm really proud of me! :-)

My next weight loss goal is 20 pounds by the end of April. You might think that's too little----and you might think that's too much. 5 more pounds by the end of April?? It's 5 weeks away....you can do better than that if you did 2 pounds in one week.

Well, that's what makes it so perfect :-) I can lose at least 1 pound a week, and anything over that is icing.

So, to lose weight I found 2 things are the most effective for me: drinking milk each day and walking. I haven't done much walking yet---it's a bit difficult here in Western New York, since we're infamous for being a very cold winter region. I think what's made my weight loss possible so far is upping my activity at home and making sure to hit the Healthy Eating Guidelines :-) But, it's getting warmer now, since it's Spring :-D, and I walked several times last week. I'm looking forward to popping my headphones on, putting the little guy in the stroller, and dragging the oldest out for a walk once she gets home from school :-)

I'm also making a committment to working on the home business. I've filled out my reasons/contract with my sponsor. Now I have to hear back from her. And I've got to recommit myself to writing again. I was going along really well, then I hit a bit of a snag on the stories. Now I have one that's progressing to it's end, and I'm still a bit stuck on the other one. I just have to write through the hard times. I think that's what I will attack after I get off here, and work on typing more up. :-)

I also started reading Body Clutter. It's helped some. I've recognized some problem foods. I'm half way through chapter 5. I'm going to restart reading that one, and then do that journal.

Hmm...so now I need a slight PODA. Here we go, the things I want to accomplish today:

Write bills for this week
Write
Type up some of some story
Look for 1GB storage
Read Body Clutter and journal
Eat lunch (Split Pea Soup)
Go on walk when oldest gets home
Bring out garbage
Wash towels
Fold clothes

I think that's good for now. I have confidence I can accomplish a good number of those :-D

March 15, 2007

Waxing and Waning

Things aren't going too bad right now. At the beginning of the month I was in a bit of a funk, now I'm doing better. I managed to go to bed at midnight last night, and it felt pretty good---considering I was going to bed at 1 or later for a while before that. It looks like I'm going to get to bed about the same tonight, but I should go to sleep right off. I just wanted to check in and sorta cement my 4 of 5 goals for 2007. I don't know how exactly it became 5, but that's the reoccurring theme of the goals, so I'm going to stick with it. :-)

1. Submit 5 pieces to contests/magazines/etc
2. Lose 50 pounds.
3. make enough to have 5 bills paid off: 4 small and 1 big
4. Visit church 5 times---2 holidays and 3 nonholidays. Easter and another here, Christmas and 2 more when we move to Colorado.
5. Start and work on 5 stories beyond the ones submitted.