Month End Update III

It's amazing how quickly you can go back to bad habits!

My girls went to bed tonight without us picking out there clothes for the week. We'll have to wake up early tomorrow to get that done so we aren't struggling all week.

A few weeks ago, I splurged and had a soda. Now two weeks later, I've had many sodas and my body can tell.  I also haven't been staying awake in the morning and exercising like I was a few weeks ago.

Why is it so easy to keep bad habits and so hard to maintain good habits!?! 

But the good news is that tomorrow is a new day.  A new day to try to be better than the last.  So tomorrow I will stay up and restart my workout routine. Tomorrow I stop drinking soda again. Tomorrow I start....

What will you start tomorrow?

You Don't Have To Try

I heard this song on the radio this morning and it reminded me of the video and I felt I needed to share it today.  It’s so easy to get caught up in doing things for the wrong reasons.  This video/song is a reminder that you just need to be yourself and not try so hard to please everyone else.  Love yourself for who you really are and others will too!  Be the real you; show your flaws; don’t be fake.   Now I’m not saying you should run to the bathroom right now and quickly remove your makeup, but just think about why you do the things you do.  Are you putting on that makeup because it makes you feel good or because you think that’s what you need for others to see you as beautiful?   Are you trying to lose that weight because you want to be a healthier version of you or is it because you think you need to be a certain size in order to fit in?  Are you truly being genuine or are you saying and doing things that you think you are supposed to?

This also makes me think of the bible verse I have framed and hanging in my girls bedroom. I hope they remember this verse always!

Basement Disaster I - COMPLETE

The laundry area is complete!  Before the clean up started, we had a large table sitting next to the washer and dryer. You'd think it would be great, someplace to fold things when they get out of the dryer.  It never worked that way.  I have always taken the clothes upstairs to fold them, so the table was just a place for stuff to gather. We decided to move the table to try to stop that from happening. I am not sure yet if it will get used in another area of the basement for a different purpose or if we will get rid of it all together.  It's an old table that came with the house when we bought it.

Instead of the table, I purchased a 5-tiered plastic storage shelf to use next to the dryer. Ideally I'd love to make a laundry basket shelf like the ones I've seen on Pinterest, but since the basement gets wet in spring, I didn't want to waste the money on materials for it and then it end up with water damage. That will have to be something for our next home where we actually have a laundry room without cinder block walls and a wet floor! The storage shelf was the best option for right now.  If, scratch that, WHEN we move, we will still be able to use the storage shelf either in the garage or a storage room so I didn't feel bad about spending the money on it.

I had purchased a couple of plastic bins when I was cleaning out some cabinets in the kitchen, but unfortunately they didn't fit the space. Instead of returning them, I kept them knowing they would be used somewhere.  Now they store my laundry soaps, dryer sheets, stain removers, and some cleaning supplies.  I put those bins along with our extra laundry baskets on the shelving unit.  Everything has a place and it is a relief knowing that a little bit of chaos has been eliminated in the basement.  I will just have to try not looking at the rest of the basement until I decide what area to work on next month.  But for now I can breathe a little easier while doing laundry!

Basement Disaster I

Our basement is a mess and that's a mild way of describing it!  It definitely has its issues.  It's crawling with spiders, it's cold, water comes in every spring, we aren't really able to use all of it as livable space so it has become a storage area.  An incredibly messy storage area.

We did get a ping pong table a few years ago thinking that maybe we'd use the space a little bit more but the table has just become another place to store stuff.  And since nobody goes in our basement, it just keeps getting worse and worse. It has become a dumping ground for anything and everything.  It drives me nuts yet I still ignore it.

It's time to bring some order to the chaos that is our basement!

Our basement is one large room but it has many different functions.  The basement is...
a laundry room,
a sewing/craft room,
a rec room (with ping pong table, couches and tv),
a pantry,
and a storage room for anything that doesn't have a home.

My goal going forward is to take on one area every month.  Hopefully, by being accountable to someone else, I can finally get the mess under control.  In November I am going to tackle the laundry area.  So tell me, how is your laundry area organized? What tips do you have to keep the area organized? What works for you? What doesn't work?

Now I may or may not have clothes sitting in the dryer still from a few days ago so I better get started!  Wish me luck and if you don't hear from me in awhile....send help!!  I could very easily get trapped under all of the mess down there!

Biggest Loser Results

Today was the last weigh in for the Biggest Loser challenge at work.  Eight weeks have gone by very quickly! The results: I won! I lost a total of 12 pounds in 8 weeks!  I am proud of myself for losing the weight!

It wasn't always easy but I did it without any fad diets or cutting things completely out of my diet (except for soda). I started exercising a little more regularly and made smarter choices about what I ate.  I have been eating more fruits and vegetables and drinking tons of water.  Instead of eating four pieces of pizza in one sitting, I cut it down to one piece and a side salad.  Instead of going back for seconds (or thirds) I was satisfied with one helping.  Instead of eating five rolls at Texas Roadhouse, I just took one (but put five in my to go box to ration at home)! I wanted to be able to lose the weight in a way that I could maintain.

The challenge may be done but I'm not where I want to be yet. I am hoping that the changes I have made will continue and that my motivation does not fade because the monetary motivation is gone. A friend of mine at work, who was also in the challenge and did great, wants to continue on as well. Hopefully we can encourage and motivate each other. And those of you reading this can also help keep me accountable. In my initial post I wrote, "You only hold yourself accountable for goals that others know about." So I'm telling everyone that I still want to continue on this weight loss path! My goal is to lose another 15lbs by the end of the year and then after that maintain. If I can do this, it would bring me back down to my weight before baby #1 and I haven't seen that number on the scale in over six years!