Last night I pulled a muscle in my side or something like that while doing push-ups. This morning it felt like I had a broken rib. Therefore, until I can breathe or move my right shoulder without wincing in pain, I’m cutting the pushups out of my Six-Pack March schedule.
I have to be honest… these were my least favorite thing to do, so I’m not that sad. Plus they worked my arms a whole lot more than my abs. I’m going to keep doing the sit-ups, planks, and running, though!
This month has been epic in the goal-achieving department. I feel SO GOOD about myself. So here’s what’s up.
I just finished up my 14th book and started up my 15th. After that, this leaves me with only 135 books to go on my list! Whew! I am super fantastically enjoying my books! They’ve all been really good, except “Call of the Wild”. That’s okay. One out of 15 isn’t so bad.
My oral care routine is, in fact, the awesome I wanted it to be. I haven’t been brushing my teeth at night like I had said I wanted to. But I have been flossing every day, brushing with my Sonicare toothbrush, and I just finished up my Crest Whitening Strips! My teeth are so beautiful and white! It’s gorgeous! Check out pictures on a new post for that category coming soon!
My emergency project to become less apt to get angry is going slowly. I really liked that 30 day program my husband and I were on, but it was hard to remember to read the emails together after he woke up. I check my email every morning after I settle in the kids from waking up for the day, but then when my hubby gets up, I totally forget we have an email to read together. We have missed a lot of emails. I don’t think we’re going to try to catch up. We *do* however remind each other not to yell at the kids, and that’s something we keep as a goal each day, to yell less, if not at all. Also, to love more instead of the yelling. I have seen improvement, but there is much still to improve. I am thinking that maybe I will sign up for the next round of this 30 day program and do it on my own. If my husband wants to do it, too, he can put himself on the email list and we can work separately… but still together. 🙂 I’ve also saved all the emails and continue to do so, so maybe I can just take myself through it when the time is right to add to my schedule.
My handwritten journal is going great! I write almost every day, and be sure to record special memories of the kids. I have already almost filled up an entire notebook! Almost time to get another edition going and add to my stack of old journals from high school!
Learning to Enjoy Running is one of the projects I am extremely proud of myself for right now. I haven’t missed a single day (except when I am scheduled not to run) and have done more than I thought I would be able to do. My level of intensity is increasing at a rate that I feel good with, and so far my knees haven’t put me out of commission like last time! I won’t get into all of what has been going on with that here. You can look for more in-depth details for that in my latest posting under that category as well called “Feeling the Burn”.
I recently printed out a calendar for April to plan my project for next month: Spring Cleaning! This is a continuation of my Mastering House Maintenance goal. Here it comes again! I scheduled what I would be doing on which days and wrote out a detailed checklist of what I want accomplished in each individual area of focus. I’m also brainstorming home improvement projects… So be looking forward to all of that hard work and new cleaning method experimentation next month!
Pursuit of Excellence is going steady and is working hand-in-hand with projects I already wanted to do for myself, so that’s great!
Soda drinking for me has slowed down. I’m trying my best to drink more water with my increased workout activity. We no longer have sodas in the house, and I prohibited my husband from buying surprise 2-liters anymore. I had a strawberry limeade two nights ago, but I didn’t even finish it, and I can’t remember exactly the last time I had a soda. It hasn’t been very long, but I didn’t actively say to myself, “Okay, this is my last soda”. I’ve been taking it one drink choice at a time!
Now here’s my advice for the month. MAKE A PLAN. If you want to do something — REALLY do something — to change your life, it takes work, motivation, determination, endurance… and a good plan to hold it all together. Before I tackle a big project or goal (or even a small one), I sit down and make a plan that works for me that I know will help me succeed with some way to measure my success. I write it down or print it out and put it someplace I will see it every day. Make a checklist, a schedule, a calendar, a motivational picture/quote, a graph, a reward list… whatever works best for you! Just do it! And do it before you start in on whatever it is you want to accomplish. Just like every strong house has a strong foundation laid before it, every great and successful project has a strong, smart plan before it! So get planning, people! Go out and achieve your goals! Don’t just read about me doing it, do it yourself!
It’s been about two weeks since I started up my exercising routine. I feel fabulous about it! I have been so successful! Here’s the two programs I am doing:
(I understand the March calendar is a day off. I just skip forward a day to the rest day on Sundays then back-track to what I missed on Mondays.) They are going together really well for me and accomplishing the things I want to accomplish for myself when it comes to physical fitness. The exercises are increasing in intensity at a rate that is challenging but not overwhelming for me. It’s just right! Towards the middle of last week I started feeling like it was getting harder and I was breaking out in sweat a bit. Now I am definitely feeling “the burn” and like I am really working out my abs, arms and legs!
I just started Week 1 of the Revised Running for Beginners program this week. Up until this past Monday I had been walking for 20 minutes on our treadmill. Every day I would up the speed a few notches. The last two days of that I also added some incline. I did these things as a warm-up to the running program. Last time I attempted the original program I just jumped right into it. I ended up hurting my knees pretty badly shortly after I started and didn’t feel like I could continue. So far my knees haven’t really felt a thing! I truly think that my warm-up for a week and a half really helped get my body ready and tuned-up to start the running portion at the top of my game! And so far, I have taken to it well without a complaint in me! I have zero hatred towards any running I’ve done thus far, and that’s saying something for me! I HATE running!
So today I did 45 sit-ups, 17 push-ups and a 1 minute 10 second plank as well as doing a Week 1 running set. My abs and legs are burning, so I know it was a good workout tonight! I’d also like to note that I have not missed a single day. Not saying that I didn’t have the temptation to skip out, but I have held strong and kept it up even when it was difficult! It’s easier when you know what works for your body (as well as what hasn’t worked in the past) and you work with that. Right now this is perfect for me, and I would recommend either one of these programs to anyone wanting to start out a simple exercise routine for beginners. I think it’s good to start out slow so your body can get used to you working it out to try and help it. It’s no good to go all out all at once and hurt yourself. You’ll just put yourself out of commission, not be able to continue, and then lose all the ground you made by not being able to keep going — not to mention the motivation you built up. It’s hard to start something new, but once you do it long enough to make it a habit, it’s easier. I love that I’m making myself better and working towards a happier, healthier me!
This was the best Percy Jackson book yet. By far! I completely loved it!
My previous problems with Percy were completely resolved — he’s not completely lost and actually knows a thing or two when it comes to Greek mythology now! The character development was astounding. The story-line was nothing short of epic. I have zero complaints about this book. I found myself wanting to cry at one point, and then actually crying real tears at another. Riordan gets into some less-well-known Greek mythology that kept me anxious to know what was going on! I’m extremely excited about the next one! And now I’m also pretty sad that it’s the last one in the series!
This is definitely an AWESOME read, and I’d recommend the series to anyone of any age.
My 15th book to read is “The Three Musketeers” by Alexandre Dumas. I am very excited about this one, too, because I’ve read “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Dumas and loved it! Exciting!!!
Back to our normal routine of school! Also back to my son’s normal level of excitement to do school!
This week we covered the letter F and it’s sound. Here’s our list of things we accomplished:
Colored an “Ff” coloring sheet and went over it’s sound; looked at flashcards for the words ‘feather’, ‘fish’, ‘foot’, ‘funny’, ‘fairy’, ‘forest’, ‘fire’, ‘farm’, and ‘flag’; read the poem “F is the Fighting Fire Truck”; read the books “The Foot Book”, “One Foot, Two Feet”, “Sophie’s Fish” and “Rainbow Fish: 1, 2, 3”; looked at a picture of and talked about Frederic Chopin; listened to “Nocturne in E Flat” and danced to it; sang “The Farmer in the Dell”; talked about fractions with playdough, pizza and water; colored pictures of and talked about flamingos and ferrets; talked about firefighters; made a paper fan; played catch with a football.
We also did 8 workbook pages.
My son definitely needed work on his ‘F’ sounds. He usually says ‘F’ sounds like a ‘P’. This week was so good for him — he is saying the ‘F’ sound so well now with all the words we say often that start with ‘F’! I have found that this curriculum is very good for helping out with his pronunciation!
The highlights of the week were playing with playdough for fractions, workbook pages (which is motivation for him to get other things done first because he likes them so much), and making the paper fan. He has been fanning me for the last two days. I’ve gotta say, though, I sure don’t mind! Hahaha! Of course he also loves playing catch, so football for our activity was a good one. This week seemed like we had so much fun!
We also did a little something extra this week. I was planning to do it during our review week, but it slipped my mind for one reason or another. There’s this great website called Starfall.com that goes over each letter and their respective sounds with fun games, videos and music. My son kept asking over and over again one night if we could do more school, and I remembered we hadn’t done that yet. So I sat him down at the computer and pulled up the website. He LOVED it!!! It was a great way to review the letters and sounds with fun activities, and he was laughing almost the entire time. It’s also a great way to introduce computer skills to little ones. I sat next to him and helped him with the mouse, showing him how to move it and which button to click, etc. It was a great night! And a great week!
This past week was our first review week! Right after a break week it was very relaxed. I devoted a day per letter we learned about in our last 5-week unit, so Monday was A, Tuesday was B, etc. We only spent about 30 minutes per day going over what my son wanted to review. I didn’t insist that we review anything he didn’t want to, but I encouraged him to pick between one topic or another. For example “Would you like to read a poem or a book?” That seemed to work well with him.
The rest of the time we spent on school was making creative letter crafts! The pictures are below of what we made. The ideas or inspirations came from www.notimeforflashcards.com/letter-of-the-week. It’s an awesome website with lots of neat crafts and activities separated into age or subject. When we were done with our letters, I hung them near his ceiling in his room, kind of like an alphabet border. It looks really cute, and now he can see them all the time!
The only extra thing we did was with C on Wednesday — we tried to make C-shaped cookies, but they turned out kind of ugly. It was a good idea, though! Also, the morning after we made our Cookie C, he found it and pulled all the chips off of it and ate them. So I just colored in the spots with brown marker. Voila! Hahaha, enjoy our pictures!
I know it seems like I’m doing a whooooole lot of projects all at once. But really, this one only takes a few minutes a day, so I don’t really feel overwhelmed by taking this one on as well. It is what I had planned when I looked at my calendar for the beginning of the year, so I’m going for it!
We all know that we don’t floss as much as we should. I’m not exception! But I want to take care of my teeth and make them nicer because they are one of my features that bothers me. Not as much as they used to, but definitely still frustrating. I used to purposely not smile showing my teeth, so all my photos used to look kinda funny with me trying to hide them. I came to terms with that long ago and now smile freely! Yay! …But they still could use some more help!
It’s a simple goal, really — take proper care of my teeth. Floss once a day and brush with my awesome Sonicare toothbrush every morning and every night. I also have Crest Whitening Strips to make my teeth whiter. By the end of the month, I want to have strong, non-bleeding gums and whiter teeth. I want to cap off this goal with a visit to my dentist!!! So come April I am going to try to fit that into our schedule.
Brush away, people! And everyone could smile a whole lot more! 😀
With a huge success in burning through some books in my 150 Books goal, I’m pressing forward in March with Physical Challenge #1.
“Establish a physical fitness routine, tailored to your needs, to help you reach a higher level of health. Complete physical fitness activities regularly.”
I am coupling this with my Learning to Enjoy Running goal. I’m going to take it slower than last time and ease into running so I don’t hurt my knees like I did before. Since it’s still so cold out, I’m going to make use of our treadmill in the garage. I’m going to start out walking and work my way up in speed and duration. I’m not even kidding when I say I absolutely hate running, but I know how good it is for your body to run, and it builds up lung strength as well. It’s also something my husband likes to do for exercise, so if I get into it, maybe it will be something we could do together and motivate each other.
The “Running For Beginners” outline I was using last time I tried to enjoy running has recently been revised. As soon as I feel warmed up to that, I may undertake that. There is also a “Six-Pack March” calendar very similar to what I used in my Individual Worth Project that I am considering doing as well. My abdomen is one of what I consider my problem areas that could use improvement. I also thrived well on that calendar program before, so I think it will be a good idea. Depends on how I am feeling as I go along — I have a nasty cold with a super gross cough that comes with it. If it’s too much for me, I will tone my exercise goal down temporarily until I get better.
Pray for me! I need the good thoughts and energies sent my way to keep me motivated for this one! The programs I mentioned are pictured below.
baby steps to giant leaps 