Goals Check!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2012 is officially here and that means the time has come to look into my goals and see if I accomplished them or not. Here goes.

Health and Wellness Goals

Goal 1: Plan and execute menus every week: Success!
Goal 2: Track all food every day on my calorie count app: Success!
Goal 3: Run 3 times a week and do weights the other 3 (1 rest day): Umm not so successful.
School Goals
Goal 4: Read out of one of my textbooks every night: not so successful.
Goal 5: Study: Ended up getting the hang of this at the end of the semester. Half success.
Goal 6: Attend class every day unless there is sickness or death in the family: Success!
Family Goals
Goal 7: Do homework as a family every night: Semi-success
Goal 8: Eat dinner at the table as a family: Semi-success
Goal 9: Work on sticking to bedtime routine: Semi-success. Just depends on the night.
Religious Goals
Goal 10: Have FHE every Monday night: Success!
Goal 11: Read the Book of Mormon every night: Not as good as I had hoped. Needs Improvement.
Goal 12: Have family prayer every day: Success!
Financial Goals
Goal 13: No using the overdraft account: Semi-success
Goal 14: Put money aside in savings: Fail. Big fail.
Goal 15: Get Christmas bought ahead of time while I still have money: Big success and I will definitely be doing it again next year, totally worth it!
I feel good about 2011 goals. There were ALOT to work on and I had mostly successes. The fails I can just keep working on. For 2012 I am going to have a new approach however. I am going to set quarterly goals (and not so many at a time) so that they are a little more obtainable. So here are my first 2012 quarterly goals.

Health and Wellness Goal: Lose 15 pounds by March 31
School Goal: Give 100% effort to assignments/tests and turn in ALL assignments required (most my classes are online and sometimes I slack on those)
Family Goal: Be consistent. I'm having an issue being consistent in how I'm parenting. So...be consistent.
Religious Goal: Keep up with the Book of Mormon reading schedule that was given to me on Sunday
Financial Goal: Secure a job! No really...keep my cushion of money saved away just in case none of these job offers come through. Its sooo tempting to spend it.
One of the girls at work found a superb idea on Pinterest for accomplishing health/wellness goals that we are going to do. For every workout, put a dollar in a jar. Once you reach $100, you are free to spend that money. I know my discipline is lacking, so I might have to store my jar at the parents house to keep me accountable, but I think its a great idea and will keep me motivated. Plus that gives me reward money to spend for accomplishing weight loss goals.

As a blanket goal...since this year is supposed to be the last of existence (thank you Mayans)....I plan on living every day as if it is the last day of my life. I need to appreciate every moment more instead of just letting precious time slide by. Regardless of if some weird apocolypse happens or whatever...this is something I've needed to do for a long time.

I send best wishes to everyone for a happy and successful 2012!

Goals....check!

Yesterday was a pretty good day for completely goals. I REALLY wanted to go out to a new Chinese place here in town even though I didn't have the money. I resisted and instead had some delish Shepards Pie that was totally worth making. I'm looking forward to leftovers for lunch.
Healthy (or healthier than fast food) meal....check! 
After dinner, we went for a walk with some good friends. I'm looking forward to starting this new habit of walking every night with them...it helps the boys and I get out of the house and gives us exercise. We ended up walking 1.71 miles but didn't even seem like that long.
So exercise every night....check!
After some play time, the boys got jammies on and we read stories. I've been really wanting to get into a good bedtime routine. I give that half a check since we didn't get our nightly shower in....
but still...half check!
And when they went to bed....I read the accounting chapter that I knew I needed to read. I really didn't want to....but I did. And I get it now. And the chapter was insanely long...but I get it now.
Homework every night....check!
I've also made a goal to read two different books. The first is Daughters In My Kingdom which was given to me at church and we were encouraged to incorporate it with our normal study. The second is When Times Are Tough by John Bytheway. I have the goal of reading a chapter of each every night. Last night I did it.
Reading nightly....check!
The only thing I faltered on last night was FHE. By the time dinner was made and eaten, it was getting dark so we needed to go walking before it was too dark to go very far. Next week though.
I'm looking forward to tonight and seeing how far I get on my goals. Tomorrow I will be in Salt Lake for a meeting, so tonight and tomorrow will be a bit skewed....but we will try our best as always.

OH! In other news....
Have ya'll heard that your bank could most likely be charging you a fee every time you use a debit card? Yep. I've seen them as low as $2 and as high as $5 FOR EVERY TRANSACTION you making using a debit card! Call me crazy...but I'm going to start using  cash for absolutely everything if this is what its going to be like. I take that back...I'll strictly use bill pay for my bills (since no fees are being charged for that service......yet) and cash for everything else. I refuse to have my bank take my hard earned money because they feel I owe them for the honor of using their institution for my banking needs. Ludicrous ya'll....ludicrous. I know that so far, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, and Regions Financial are on board and some have already started charging. Is your bank next?

Yesterday...

...was a good day. For the most part. When I woke up I found a monster spider, seriously...like the size of a baby kangaroo. It was huge. And it was up in the corner of my vaulted ceiling in my kitchen, obviously not easily reached. I hate spiders. Hate them with a passion and have a bit of a phobia about them. I prayed it would still be in that spot when I got home so I could try to catch it or smoosh it or something. I didn't want to have to wonder if I would wake up to it crawling on my face.


seriously...look at this bad boy!

So we got home and it was indeed still there. As a tangent....we did good on our goals yesterday. The boys got out their homework and finished it up, cleaned out backpacks, and got everything organized for today while I made dinner. Then we ate as a family at the table. My planned dinner (Shepards Pie) didn't happen because I realized I was out of hamburger so we just had a wierd assortment of leftovers. But it was relatively healthy all the same. After dinner, we cleaned up and had FHE. We are learning about the 6 bees from President Gordon B Hinckley. The 3 we focused on last night were Be Grateful, Be Smart, and Be Clean. I have told the boys that if they really try to work on these this week, they can get a prize.
Then came one of the most shocking experiences I've had in awhile. We needed to return some Redbox movies, so Nate when to go turn them in and I parked in the parking lot. The lady parked next to me door dinged me not once...not twice...4 TIMES. She almost knocked my mirror off with her door and left 3 visible dings on my door. And I was sitting RIGHT THERE. She didn't apologize, didn't acknowledge I was even there...just went on her merry way. Wow. I was shocked.
Ok back to the spider. We get done with all this side stuff and the spider is gone. And then scared the crap outta me because he'd hauled butt to the opposite wall and when I turned around I swear I could see his eyeballs. So I tried to get one of the boys to smash him, but they wouldn't. They told me to quit being a scaredy momma. So I got the vacuum and tried to suck it up but he resisted. That thing was strong. It finally got sucked up, but I made Tyler look in the vacuum attachment to make sure it went down and we both swear it was climbing up so I left the vacuum running and took it outside. Needless to say...the vacuum slept outside last night. And my neighbors probably think I'm a tard from all the dancing around and squeeling that was going on. Oy. Anyway. Let's hope the spider doesn't crawl in again. Too much trauma.

July 1

Ok. Here it goes. I need to get serious about my goals. With my life changing so drastically here in the near future, I REALLY need to get focused. There are specific areas I want to see changed in my life, improved on if you will. So I'm going to be setting up my goals for the rest of the year. And I'm actually going to work at them instead of just fizzling off and letting them go. So keep me accountable folks!
MONEY
Goal 1: Incorporate the Spend Less theory in my daily life. For real. And no excuses or letting it fizzle off.
Goal 2: Save $300 for Christmas.
Goal 3: Not going overdrawn in my account at all.
mini short term goal: have Disneyland money

LIFE
Goal 1: Keep myself worthy for when the right guy comes along (it sounds simple enough...but its not)
Goal 2: Be a better momma to my boys. Play more...turn off the TV and go out and play. And no yelling
Goal 3: Remember birthdays and important dates so that they can be properly recognized
*mini goal: Keep eye open and apply for jobs as the end of this job gets nearer

WEIGHT
Goal 1: Lose 30 lbs by New Years (or more) 
Goal 2: Come to enjoy running. Run at least 4 nights a week. (I do like it, just have to get in the habit again)
Goal 3: Limit eating out and sweet treats to a minimum. Try new fruits and veggies to mix things up

SCHOOL
Goal 1: Get in and assisted financially! (the rest of the goals are dependent on that)
Goal 2: Finish the semester with a C or better in all courses
Goal 3: Never miss a course unless there is a significant/legit emergency

I'm going to do my best to remember these and try to recap on these goals as the months pass. But again... keep me accountable folks!

My Life's Directions

Last night I had 5 years worth of weight lifted off my shoulders, and its a bit personal but those who are close to me will know what I'm talking about. This makes me happy for the future and what I have in store for me. So on with it.....

Gotta get my money situation under control. Not that its out of control, but I have less faith now than I ever did in retaining my job past September. This is obviously very scary to me since I am the only source of income for my kiddos. So....saying prayers and having faith that I will be lead in the right direction there.

Next up...find me good ol' southern gentleman. Or just good ol' man who will also be............

A great father figure for my kids. They need that in their lives since the current father situation is a pretty sad one. So lets also say lots of prayers and have alot of faith that someone fantastic will come along soon.

And of course....this is my next destination with that fantastic gentleman and father figure so that we can be an eternal family. Poor guy...I hope he can put up with my constant dorky side and harassment (I think its the Carlile gene...the sister-in-laws and brother-in-law would probably agree) for the eternities.

And of course....the above mentioned will lead to a romantic swooping kiss like this after all is said and done (at least I can hope for one....) and a Happily Ever After as well.

:)

Day 1 of 5/5/30 Challenge

After a bit of a hardcore deep post yesterday...I'm going lighthearted at it today. It is officially Day 1 of my challenge. Time to lay out the goals and see what happens.

Goal 1: Lose a minimum of 5 lbs in the month of June. I'm shooting for 8.2 so I can hit my next Weight Watchers goal before the end of the month. Even more than that would be ideal...but I've learned not to aim too high or I crash.

Goal 2: Run a 5k by June 30. I'm good with official race or unofficial running, I just want to get to that point. Although there are loads of 5ks here during the summer I've realized, so if I see one near my ending time frame...I'll register.

Goal 3: I'm really and truly going to go for 1 month with no sweets. It's going to be hard, but they will be there come July 1st. Granted I'm hoping that by July 1st I won't have such a desire to eat them all.

 So there it is. No looking back. I'm accepting the challenge. I'll be following Weight Watchers and the Couch To 5k training program, starting at week 5 (works out perfectly...because thats pretty much where I'm at anyway).

*Also side note....I'm sorry I haven't been responding to comments. My blogger won't let me comment on my blog or anyone else's right now. So sorry! I appreciate all the comments though, helps me know I'm not writing to dead air :)

April Fools! Ok Not Really

Its April! This year is flying by! Since its a new month, its once again time to tally it up and set some goals. For the Spend Less, I have been a slacker. Although I have not gone overdrawn in my account (miracle! I count that alone as a success) I have also not kept real good track of my spending. So here is the long and short of it.

Spending wise....I have no idea.

Disneyland Fund: $50 (I had to pull some out to put gas in my truck this month sadly)

Weight: 12.2 lbs (crossing fingers its more on Saturday!)

This month I will be tracking my spending again like I did in February. I need to be able to do that again until I get in the habit of tracking it on my own. So bear with me. I get paid today...so I will start today. Since I now have the added expense of attorney fees, I have to be a little bit more tight on the budget. I got a little raise at work though, so that helps out a little bit too. So here are my goals for April.

Spend Less: $100/week

Disneyland Savings goal: $200

Weight Goal: 8 lbs down

-So on the weekly amount, I'm hoping to have money roll over to the next week. Since starting WW, we hardly ever eat out so that will help. So that money will be for any household items needed, gas for the truck, and any fun stuff we decide to do. Where I only fill up my truck twice a month (generally speaking) that will knock out about $180 of that money for gas leaving me $220 for everything else. Thats managable.

-I'm hoping I can actually sock more money away than that in my Disneyland account. I have a really good paycheck today due to extra hours for the home and garden show, plus I will be going up north on the 8th-9th for work, so that will be extra money on that check as well. All of which I plan to put towards disneyland fund and attorney fees.

-On the weight lost...I sure hope I can make that goal. It doesn't seem like much weight, but thats 2 lbs a week and where I've had little weeks like my .8 lb lost last week...I gotta get my butt in the groove and start losing. I really have my eye on the prize of being able to be comfortable and confident when we go to Disneyland, instead of people wondering why theres a beached whale in a swimsuit chillin in the sand. If I lose the desired amount of weight I've set for myself, my reward is going to be buying a new swimsuit that makes me feel good. I really want that new swimsuit....so I'm gonna work hard. That goal is more personal, however, so I won't disclose it at the moment but you shall know if/when I reach it. I still get a little weary about disclosing how much I actually want to lose doing this program...only because...well...that means

I have to admit thats how much I gotta lose. And its embarassing to me that I've let myself go that much. Me and H at work have also been chatting about the weight loss and shes told me I've inspired her and shes vicariously living through me. I am soo happy that throwing my focus at this is helping other people get motivated to change something in their life as well. I know alot of my motivation to keep going comes from those around me that have worked hard and trimmed down....so I am soo happy I can do that for someone else too!

I have some other things I'd like to accomplish this month as well. They are my honey do items, except I'm the honey so I gotta do 'em.

-Spring Cleaning! My house needs a good scrub down, which is going to take more time than I thought. I'm hoping to accomplish this before the end of the month. I figure if I focus every weekend on getting two rooms cleaned and organized I can knock it out.

-Spring Maintanence! I really need to change my furnace filters and snake my drains. And do some other little things. And get my fridge looked at, since it constantly drips water onto all my food in the fridge. Its annoying and I just haven't remembered to call ERA and have them look at it.

-Spring De-Junking! I guess this goes along with spring cleaning kinda. I really need to go through the boys clothes and DI the ones that are not fitting anymore. Also need to do the same with my clothes...I'm tired of doing 80 loads of laundry a month I swear. I also need to go through the boys toys and DI the ones that are not working as well anymore, or that no one plays with anymore.

Here is to a good month of April!

The Weekly Tallies

Last week was an OK week I think. And its time to do my tally stuff.

Saturday morning I wieghed in at WW and amazingly lost 2 lbs! That means I have officially passed my first 10 lbs lost (I got my 10 lb ribbon woot woot!) and my grand total amount lost is 11.4 lbs! I'm only 2.6 lbs away from my first mini goal of 14 lbs lost. I'm excited! I just might kick that mini goal before the the end of March. I'm going to work real hard this week to hopefully kick it out this week. Although today I forgot all of my food on the counter. BUT I luckily have stockpiled alittle bit at work too so I should be good until I can run and get stuff on lunch.

I've also limited my spending since payday. I took out $40 cash to spend and I'm still working on spending it all. Its nice to be on a budget actually. That $200 that I put in my Disneyland fund is socked away still and I haven't even been a little tempted to use it. So my spendless is doing good so far as well. Last week was a good week for goals. This week I'm hoping to make it an even better week. I have a couple things I want to get accomplished. I know is SNOWING right now but generally today is the first day of spring. Which means I'm going to start on my spring cleaning and repairs of the home. No major repairs don't worry...I'd call in the experts for that. But I do need to snake a couple drains and work on getting some stains out of the carpet upstairs. And change my filters. And replace a couple light bulbs. And DE-JUNK! I'm hoping to complete these things by the end of the month and I think thats obtainable. I shall keep you updated on how its going.

March 1

Its officially March 1. I cannot believe how quickly the time is speeding by. I've decided to set forth goals every month that I want to accomplish. So here is how it rolls.



Goal 1: Add $100 in savings by the end of the month
Goal 2: My short term goal for WW is to lose 14 lbs, so I'm trying to knock that out this month. I only got 8.6 more lbs to go!
Goal 3: Walk on the treadmill every night for at least 30 minutes
Goal 4: No eating out (for dinner) month! I want to be able to say I cooked a meal for dinner every night this month.

I think those are managable goals. They all kind of coincide with each other as well. Funny how that works....
So yesterday my cousin gave me a delicious meal idea for coke pork chops. And even better, the entire meal (meat, rice and veggies) was only 12 points. I could've even trimmed the points down more had I used whole grain rice and different veggies that didn't have point values. It was super tasty and the boys joined the clean plate club for the first time in a VERY long time. So here it is...

1 c ketchup
1 c bbq sauce
6 oz coke
4 pork chops
Throw em all in the crock pot and cook on high for 4-5 hrs or until tender. Prep time, 5 minutes.
I love rice so I paired mine with rice and veggies but I'm sure it would be good with whatever you eat chops with. I can bet money the sauce combo would be delightful on chicken as well, it is just a really rich and hearty sauce.