Before Pictures

Have you seen the TV show Biggest Loser?  It's a reality show where whoever loses the highest percentage of weight wins a ton of money.

Well, I have gotten together with a few of my friends and we are having our own "Biggest Loser" competition.  We are each putting in $5, then in 3 months, whoever has lost the highest percentage of weight wins all the money.  I'm excited to have the extra incentives!

We had our first weigh-in tonight, so I thought I would have my first weigh-in here as well.

Here are the measurements we took (as well as a few others I took myself):

• weight: 181.5 lbs.
• waist: 41 in.
• hips: 46 in.
• bust: 41 in.
• high bust: 39 in.
• neck: 14 in.
• right arm: 14 in.
• right thigh: 28 in.
• right calf: 15 in.

Phew!  Probably way more than you ever wanted to know about me, huh?


These are my before pictures:

Ugggghh!

Blah!

There are 2 things that I am specifically looking forward to fitting into again.  One is a dress that my mom made for me back when I was a senior in high school:

Unfortunately, I don't think the hanger does it justice.  When I wear it, it fits me really well and I think it looks pretty good.

The other thing I REALLY want to fit into again is my wedding ring.  When I was pregnant with my daughter, my hands swelled up and I couldn't wear my ring, so I wore it on a chain around my neck.  Well, it's still hanging on that chain (see my before picture).  This is how far I can fit it on:

Sheesh!  I think that ring has spent more time around my neck than it has around my finger.  But no more!  I am going to lose the weight!!!!

What's something you'd like to fit into again?

New Year's Eve Traditions

Well, it's New Year's Eve!  Can you believe it?  What are you going to do tonight?

When I was growing up, we used to have a great party on New Year's Eve.  Now, we didn't invite a billion people over...it was always just our family and, every once in a while, a friend or two.  So, why am I calling it a great party if it was just us?  Well, one of the best parts about our New Year's party was that I was able to spend time with my family.

We would make all sorts of appetizers and goodies to snack on, like stuffed mushrooms, a cheese ball with crackers, spinach artichoke dip, chips and dip, small candies, fudge, cookies, mini quiches...ok, now my mouth is watering.

We played board games all night...and every once in a while I would WIN!

When it was almost midnight, we turned on the TV to watch the ball drop in Times Square.  Our whole family would gather around the TV, with our noise makers ready, and count down the last seconds of the year.

5...4...3...2...1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Suddenly, our house would be filled with laughing, banging, singing, clanging, shaking, popping, dancing, and occasionally crying (sometimes our loudness scared whoever was youngest at the time).  The explosion of sound would send chills through my body as I realized that it was a new fresh year.  I loved watching my dad lean over, kiss my mom, and whisper "Happy New Year."

We would then clink our glasses of sparkling cider, offering "Cheers!" to everyone in the house.

When things started to settle down inside the house, we would go outside to watch fireworks over the mountains, and fire crackers on our neighbors' driveway.  Dad would never fail to have a few boxes of snappers for us to throw down on the sidewalk.

Wow, remembering our New year's Eve parties is making me a little homesick.

This year, we just have our small family of four, but we can still have a great party.  The kids are napping now, but they know that when they get up, we will spend the evening baking, playing, and enjoying each other's company.

Of course, since the kids are still little, we're going to have "midnight" at about 7:30 or 8:00, but it doesn't matter...we will be together, having a marvelous time.

Have a wonderful evening!  I'll see you next year!

Keeping Track of my Resolutions

I needed to find a way to keep track of all of my New Year's resolutions.  So, I looked around to see what I could use.


This is what I found:

 

My mother-in-law gave me this "Mom's Planner and Organizer" for Christmas. (Thank you!)  You're supposed to put the names of everyone in your family at the top of each column. Then, you write down what each person has scheduled for each day of the month.

This will work perfectly for me, although I won't be using it quite like it is intended to be used.  As you can see, I started filling in the columns with my goals.  So far, I have a column for scripture reading and a column for exercising.

Each day, I can write down what I did for each goal.  If you look closely, I have already filled in my resting day for exercising, as well as a place to write my weigh-in each Wednesday (Weigh-in Wednesday).

I haven't decided what I'm putting in the other 3 columns yet.  I'll probably put The Love Dare and my classwork in 2 of them.

I'm really excited about this calendar because I can put it on my wall and it will be a physical reminder of all the great things I'm working on and all the progress I am making.

How will you track your progress this year?

Now what?

I have my list of goals and I've written sub-goals to help me achieve them...so, what do I do now?

I guess I'm going to look through all of my sub-goals and decide when I want each of them accomplished.  I will make a calendar and input all of my goals and sub-goals.  If I need anything (like a dream journal), I'll go to the store and make sure that I have it ready.

So, I need to make sure that I have everything I need and that I'm prepared for the new year.

2011 is going to be awesome!

Are you ready yet?

Fill up my dream journal

Ok, so this is my "last" goal for 2011.  I'll  probably come up with more later, but for now this is it.

It seems like I have tons of dreams.  Every morning, I wake up thinking about some strange thing I was dreaming about.  They are always so interesting to me, but then I get on with my day and I forget about them.

Several years ago, I started writing my dreams down when I woke up.  It was so fun to go back and read my old dreams.  Unfortunately, I only did this for a week or two and then I stopped.

I am totally going to start doing this again!

I love it when conversations turn to a dream someone had the night before because then everyone else starts sharing weird dreams that they have had.  It's interesting to hear how different everyone's dreams can be or how strangely similar they are.

Maybe, for one of my books next year, I will read one of those books about dream analysis.  Dream analysis seems kind of silly to me, but it's hilarious to look through a book and see what it's telling you your dream means.

So, how am I going to do this...?

• First, I need to get a special notebook to write all my dreams in
• Whenever I wake up, I need to immediately write down everything I remember about my dreams
• If, during the day, I remember something about my dreams, I need to write it down

Do you dream a lot?

Go out with my husband at least 12 times

I love going on dates and spending time with my husband!  Unfortunately, we almost never go out...just the two of us.

We have dates at home where we watch a movie, have dinner, or play a board game after the kids go to bed.  But we don't really go OUT on dates.

Before we moved, about 5 months ago, we lived near my parents and some of my brothers and sisters, so if we needed a babysitter, we usually asked them to help out.  But now we live away from family and that makes it harder.

We do have friends, but for some reason, I just feel badly about asking someone to watch my kids.

Well, in 2011, We are going to go OUT at least once a month.  So, I will need to:

• Research what fun things there are to do around here
• Talk to my friends to see who they use as a babysitter
• Schedule date nights with my husband
• Remind myself that it's ok to ask someone else to watch my kids because I need a break sometimes
• Make a babysitter folder, or something, with important information that the babysitter may need to know

What kind of dates do you like to go on?

Only one more week!

There is only one more week until 2011!

Are you ready?

Write a weekly meal plan

Lately, when I'm hungry, I'll walk into the kitchen, look through the cupboards, look through the fridge, and decide there is nothing to eat.  In fact, there's plenty of food in the kitchen, I'm just tired of having the same old, same old every day.

So before I go shopping each week or two, I need to know what we're going to be eating.  Then, hopefully, I can spice up the menu a little.  It'll also be nice to know what we're having each day, so I don't have to stand there, trying to figure out what to throw together before the children have a meltdown.

This will also be good for my goal to lose weight.  I can plan meals based on my caloric needs.  Plus, if I schedule my fruits and veggies for specific meals, maybe I will be more likely to eat them.

I guess I will:

• Come up with a format for scheduling meals (list, chart, whatever)
• Put all my recipes in one place
• Get meal suggestions from my husband and children
• Write out my meal plans
• Save meal plans from previous weeks, so I can use them again in future weeks

How do you plan your meals?  Do you like to know what you're having ahead of time, or do you like to just throw something together?

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!!!!

Make a quilt for each of my children

When I was about 8-years-old, my mom made quilts for all the children in our family.  I love that quilt.  I still have it, 20 years later.  It's falling apart, though.

So, I want to make some quilts for my children too.  (Plus it helps to have extra blankets in case one of the kids has an accident in bed, or something like that.)

About a week and a half ago, or maybe two weeks, I decided to make a quilt for my daughter for Christmas.  I went to the fabric store and starting looking around, but then I stopped and realized I was crazy to think that I would have time to make a quilt before Christmas.

So, this year, I'm going to make quilts for my two children.

I need to:

• Decide which patterns to use
• Decide on the color schemes
• Purchase fabric and other supplies
• Cut, cut, cut
• Sew, sew, sew

Do you like to sew?  Have you ever made a quilt?

Get organized

Hmmmm, now this is a tricky one.  Where, or where, do I even begin with this?  How do I want things done?  Where do I want to put everything?  What do I keep?  What do I get rid of?

I've got a lot of work to do!

I suppose I should start with my sewing and crafting stuff.  It would be really nice if it was all in one place, labeled, and ready to be used.

Let's see...

• Figure out exactly where to start
• Decide what kind of system to use
• Figure out a schedule for completing each area of organization

Yep, I definitely have TONS of work to do!

Do you need to organize anything?  How do you like things to be organized?

Get my daughter out of nighttime pull-ups

My daughter has been potty trained for a long time now, but she still wears a pull-up diaper for naps and bedtime.  I admit that part of that is due to the fact that I just don't want to deal with all the yucky sheets.

Unfortunately, I think wearing a diaper to bed is affecting her potty training skills.  It seems as though she holds it all in and goes to the bathroom less frequently because she knows if she waits long enough, I will put a pull-up on her and she can just use that instead of the bathroom.

Uggh!

So, I need to stop being lazy, and help her get out of those diapers once and for all.

I honestly can't really think of a lot of sub-goals for this one...hmmmm...

• Don't buy any more pull-ups
• Make sure that there are always clean sheets available, in case she needs them
• Really show her what a wonderful job she has done when she wakes up dry
• Don't get upset if she has an accident in her bed

Well, look at that, I did come up with some sub-goals.

How did you help your children with their nighttime potty training?

Write a will

Life is a wonderful, wonderful thing!  But we never know when we are going to die, so I need to make sure that I have written a will.

Now, I don't have tons of money, or tons of things that someone will inherit when I die.  I do have 2 amazing children, though.  This is why writing a will is important to me.

If my husband and I die, I want to make sure that our children are taken care of.

My husband and I both have great families, so I know that our children would be loved no matter who looked after them.  But it's nice to know that I can have some say in what happens to them.

Have you ever seen the movie "Raising Helen"?  It's about a woman who ends up taking in her 3 nieces and nephews after their parents die.  Here is a quote from that movie that explains how I feel:

"...when it comes to picking somebody else to raise your kids, no one seems right. No one is you. And so you choose someone who is most like you. Someone that will give the kids a taste of their real mom, the mom they lost and never really got to know."

So, I guess I should:

• Research will writing to figure out what I'm supposed to do exactly
• Prayerfully decide what I want included in the will
• Write any letters that I might wanted included in my will

Do you have a will?

Make a 2010 scrapbook

I got really into digital scrapbooking for a while.  I found a bunch of free kits, papers, and embellishments.  I organized my pictures.  I got Photoshop Elements for my birthday and played around with it for a while, trying to teach myself to use it.

So, how many scrapbook pages would you guess I have made?  40? 165? 400?

2.  I think with all of my fiddling around and finding freebies and adding paper to templates, I only ever completely finished 2 pages.  I have a bunch of other pages that are partially finished, but those don't really count, do they?

So in 2011, I am going to:

• Spend at least an hour every Sunday scrapbooking
• Complete a 2010 scrapbook
• Have the scrapbook published
• Organize my pictures as soon as I upload them to the computer
• Publish a post on my family blog every Sunday

How do you organize your pictures?  Are you a scrapbooker?  Do you prefer simple photo albums?  Do you have stacks of photos in a box in your garage (hopefully, I can tackle this one in 2012)?

Do The Love Dare

Have you ever heard of the Love Dare?

About a year and a half ago, my sister sent me "Fireproof," a movie about a firefighter who uses the Love Dare to try to save his marriage.

If you haven't seen this movie, I would recommend it to you.  I mean, the acting isn't going to win any Academy Awards, but the story is a really good one.  It really inspired me to want to give the Love Dare a try.

The Love Dare is a book that gives you something to do for your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend (or whoever) every day for 40 days.  These are things designed to strengthen your relationship and find the good in your partner.

I guess when my husband reads this, he'll probably be watching me to see how I'm putting the Love Dare into action, but that's ok.  Maybe he'll read the book and give it a shot too.

I'm going to:

• Start the Love Dare on January 1 and follow through every day for 40 days.
• Record all of my experiences, so I can look back later and remember how it worked and how I was feeling

Have you heard of the Love Dare?  Would you like to strengthen your relationship with someone in your life?

Finish my Medical Transcription class

I have been working on a Medical Transcription class for w while.  I really worked hard on it and now all I have left is the practical application part where I have to actually transcribe a bunch of medical dictations.

The problem is that I have a hard time making myself sit down and actually work on the transcriptions.  This is a goal that I have had for a while, but I keep allowing myself to postpone  when I want to have it finished.  I tell myself I'll have it done by June, and when that doesn't happen I give myself until August.  But we were moving in July, so I'll give myself until October.

Well, it's December now and I still haven't finished my class.


It's time to set a few smaller goals to help to accomplish this one:

• Have classwork completed and final taken by the end of April 2011
• Set aside a specific time each day to work on my class
• Transcribe at least 10 dictations each day

Are you in school?  How do/did you motivate yourself to do your homework?

Read at least 26 books

Now that I've added this to my list of goals, I'm wondering if I should have made this number higher.  I think I already read at least one book every 2 weeks.

But I think changing it to 52 books might be a little too much.

Ok, for now I am going to change it to 39 books (one book every week and a half).

Things I need to do:

• Figure out which books I would be interested in reading
• Review the books I read on Goodreads and on my blog
• Get book recommendations for anyone who will give them
• Read at least 5 nonfiction books

Do you like to read?  What kind of books do you read?  What books would you recommend?

Learn a new craft

I love crafting!

I love learning how to do new things!

So, I really love to learn how to make new crafts!

I always have a list with tons of projects I want to try.  Unfortunately, there isn't enough time to do them all.

So this coming year, I want to learn a new craft well enough that I am comfortable selling whatever it is in my Etsy shop.

So, I will:

• Decide which new craft I want to learn
• Research it on the internet and at the library
• Find some tutorials online (I hope)
• Make something to sell in my shop
• Write and post my own tutorial using what I have learned

What kind of crafts do you like to do?  Which craft should I learn this year?

Keep the house clean

Now this is a hard one for me.  I have a very hard time keeping my house presentable.

Growing up, I had chores to do every day, so I know how to do the housework.  The problem I have is that when I am cleaning up, it seems like my children are just following me around undoing everything that I have done.

After we clean up the toys, I sweep the floor.  By the time I'm done sweeping, my son has already dumped the toy box out.  So, we clean up the toys again.  Then it's time for lunch.  By the time lunch is over, the floor needs to be swept again because there are crumbs and food all over the floor.

GRRRRRRR!

It is SO frustrating!!!

I know I could wait until the kids are having naps or something to clean the house, but that's when I get a chance to take a break and work on my own projects.

Do you ever feel like no matter how hard you try to keep your house looking nice it just doesn't matter?

Well, in 2011, I am really going to try to make my house a home.  I'm going to:

• Help my children clean up their toys before they have naps or go to bed
• Put the dishes directly in the dishwasher
• Fold and put away laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer
• Vacuum every other day (It probably needs it every day, but I'm sticking with every other day for now.)
• Sweep every other day (For now)
• Encourage my husband to take out the trash and clean the bathrooms regularly
• Start giving the kids their own chores to take care of (They are getting some child-size cleaning supplies for Christmas.)

How do you keep on top of your housework?  What is your least favorite chore?

Read the Scriptures every day

When I am in the habit of reading my scriptures daily, I feel better about my day and my life.  I feel closer to God.

Lately, I have been really slacking.  I have read every now and then, but it's been a while since I have been really reading and studying the scriptures every day.

It's time for me to do better by:

• Setting aside time each day to study the scriptures
• Not worrying about how much I'm reading, but about what I'm learning
• Praying before and after I read so I have the Holy Spirit with me

What is your favorite scripture story?