Happy New Year

Happy New year to all!

Where has this year gone? Does not seem like it should be 2008 already, just yesterday Tanner was in Kindergarten, and Seth was sitting on the desk at my store wearing his little red fire helmet. Barely hip high. Now here they are 13 and 18!!

I rarely start a new year, without new resolve. Once in a while I get fed up and say screw the world! LOL.

Not this year. I’m so itching to start over. And a new year makes that easier to do. New Year, new you! If you can make a new lifestyle change for one month, it becomes a habit, so I’m working to hit my one month mark so that it will become lifelong habit(s).

Why am I telling you all this? Well, let me give you some back story. A few years ago, I was VERY overweight and something inside of me clicked and I got on the ball and lost around 85 pounds. I still had more to go, but I was doing well, I was highly motivated, I felt great, best shape I’ve ever been in in my entire life (I really enjoyed weight training and dreamed of doing a body building competition). I felt inspired, and I acted inspiring. I believed in accountability, (even tho sometimes I ignored it).

Fast forward a few years – this part annoys me a lot – I got the big D (d-i-v-o-r-c-e). Blah. It annoys me because I let that be a catalyst to some unhealthy lifestyles. I literally remember thinking “great, I have an excuse to go off this plan for a while”. A while has been almost 4 years. That’s BAD. I gained a bunch of my weight back. I got depressed. Woe is me. Whine whine. Why can’t I be skinny? Why does it have to be so hard.

Then I realized I have to GET OVER IT. It’s the hand I got dealt. Life goes on – with or without you. Another year will pass, will where will I be in another year.

What does this have to do with accountability? Well, it’s part of the GO mentality (see: Kal in my right sidebar links). The past few years, I’ve just told maybe Gene, sometimes no one that I was going to be getting back on track. Makes my accountability fairly low. So it’s easy to get off track if ppl are not looking over your shoulder wondering how you’re doing. So, basically if I let the world know, that’s a bunch of shoulder looking! It sucks, but I feel it’s required. Make me accountable. I intend to post my progress here. If you don’t see it at least a couple times a month, CALL ME ON IT. If I know that I’m going to have to answer to others, I’m motivated.

GRR. LOL

So resolution #1 - Lose 65 Pounds this year.
I’m going to break it into smaller goals. That worked for me before. Only concern myself with 5# ’s at a time. I can do 5 pounds. Anyone can do 5. So then I’ll just do 5 more. I lost 85# that way.

I’m also going to set a goal for each month. And some long term goals too.

This month: 10#. Doable, especially since it’s the first month
Long term – By July 4th, 40# That works out to 1.5# a week.

And don’t nag me, because I have yet to meet one person that knows more about healthy lifestyle than *me* (I know what to do, how to do it, I just need to follow through) – now, the last thing I’m going to do is not worry about exercise, at least this month. Yes I know what it takes (I used to be a gym rat ok?). I just want to focus on one thing at a time, and right now, it’s healthy eating. Next month I’ll try to introduce more exercise. This is especially helpful considering the weather has been horrible here!

Now, let’s move on – away from my big butt and talk about my other goals!

2. Read more. The path between where you want to be and wher you are are the ppl you meet and the BOOKS you read. No romance novels here. (I find them a drag anyway – I’m firmly based in reality). I have a tendency to buy a book, and then still be on the last book, so the next one gets set aside. So to fix that problem I will put them in a book bag and carry them around until I read them. Sigh. I have like 5 right now I’m trying to get out of that bag. They are heavy. LOL.

3. Scrapbook 50 pages just for me. Not that I won’t make pages for other ppl… but I haven’t done many just because I wanted to do them for my own albums. Still having some issues with a creative block, but the room is getting to the point where all the tools are in one spot at one time. I need inspiration. I’m also going to share my pages here more. I have been on here for 7 months now, and I’ve yet to post one page!

4. Blog more. I find myself writing posts In my head, which actually are better than they end up, so logic would say to write it when you think it. Sometimes I’m just tired, but once a week is not enough IMO.

5. Save $100/mo for Christmas. Totally doable, and I’ve already set back month #1. Going to try to only spend around ½ - ¾ of it, and give the rest to charity.

6. Work on my photography business more. Get the website done, market it to others. GET ON THE BALL. Ppl don't just "show up" ding dong. :)

7. Increase my income by $200/mo outside of work. Be it eBay, making purses, making bears again (considering it) or whatever it takes. That’s $2400/year that can go to #8

8. Pay down our debt by 1/3. I won’t share the totals as that’s kinda private, but I’m ready to live a debt free existance. Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” I’d like to be servant to no one thankyouverymuch.

So there you have it, the direction I intend to lead my life in the next 366 days (leap year). OK, a few less because it’s the 4th already, but you get the picture.