No Good Excuses

Cleaning has not been going well this week.  Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure displeasure.

MONDAY MORNING, JUNE 20

SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 25

Ultimate Fitness Plan Week 2

Things are still going well on the new workout routine. I had to switch things up a little this week. I had to go out of town on a business trip on Wednesday (and had to be at work at 6 a.m.). I thought about just doing my workout that evening. However, by the time I got home it was almost 8 p.m., went to eat at my mother-in-law's, and didn't get home again until after 9 (which is my new bed time). I decided to just shift my workouts. So last week, instead of Mon-Fri, I did Mon-Tue and Thu-Sat. I am happy that I still got in all five workouts.

Housekeeping June 6-12

So... How did things go this past week? I will tell you.

Keeping things clean: This went very well. We did a fairly good job of keeping things clutter free. However, there were a couple of reasons that this went better than usual. There were a couple of days that we were expecting guests, so of course we wanted things tidy for them. And, a more unfortunate reason, is that our little ant problem somehow turned into a HUGE ant problem overnight. That is now under control, thank goodness.

Organization: We worked on the house organization for a while on Saturday. We went a lot our possessions in the small room (we still need to go through stuff under the bed). We gathered a lot of stuff to give away or throw away, therefore making more room (woot woot). We just need to continue doing this kind of work most weekends, and it won't be long before we'll have a place for everything.

Ultimate Fitness Plan Week 1

So I have completed week one of the latest workout program for me to try. It actually worked a lot better than I was expecting it to. I expected that it would be harder for me to get to bed on time and harder to get up. I actually did really well getting to bed and getting up on time. I was also pleased with how easy it was to fit in the workout and shower (I normally shower in the evenings) and still be on time to work.

The workouts weren't too difficult, and I, of course, especially enjoyed the run outdoors with the sunrise! It felt good and looked beautiful. I am looking forward to next week.

Clean House Vlog #1

My Breakfasts

First, let me begin by saying, I am quite a small person, and don't eat as much as most people.  I'd like to think that I eat the amount of food that is appropriate for my size, and you should do that too.  ;)  Also, because I am not able to eat too much (it just won't fit into my stomach), I am not always able to have all food groups at all meals, as some people recommend.  I just try to fit a variety of foods in throughout the day.

For breakfast I try to have something from more than one food group, and try to always incorporate some sort of protein.  For example, today I had shredded wheat cereal, grapes, and grilled slice of turkey breast.

Things I like to have for breakfast:

• Cereal
• I love, love, love cereal.
• Any cereal we buy has to meet three requirements.  1) The main ingredient must be some sort of whole grain, 2) it must have at least 3 grams of fiber per serving, and 3) it must not have more than 8 grams of sugar.
• We use 2% fat milk.
• Turkey Bacon
• Grilled turkey or ham
• Oatmeal
• I use pecans or peanut butter to get more protein
• I sweeten the oatmeal with fruit or honey
• Eggs
• boiled, scrambled, omelet
• Toast
• I do indulge in real butter, and often use jelly (no sugar added) or honey.
• Fruit

On the weekends for one breakfast we'll sometimes indulge and have something like pancakes, waffles, french toast, hash browns, etc.  It is very, very rare that we ever eat out for breakfast, and it is very, very, very rare that we ever have any precooked food for breakfast (frozen breakfast meals, etc).

New Workout Plan

So... I have decided that I am more consistent with my workouts if I use a workout plan that is for a specific amount of time.  For instance... the one I am starting tomorrow is a 6 week "Ultimate Fitness Plan".  I find that if I have a specific time period that I will be doing the workouts, then it's easier to push through it when I don't want to work out (I say to myself "just 4 more weeks", etc).  At the completion of the program/plan, I then find and begin a new one.  It keeps things interesting to my mind and my body.

The plan I will be starting tomorrow is definitely ambitious for me.  Not that the workouts are difficult, it's that it is a 5 day a week plan.  I am typically proud of myself if I do 3 days a week, but this is a workout plan that I have been really wanting to try.  I actually found it a year ago on womenshealthmag.com.  It is probably no longer available since its full title is "The Ultimate Fitness Plan 2010."

Each week in the plan has three days of resistance training circuits (5 different circuits, 8 different moves varying by the day and week), and two days of cardio intervals (3 different interval sets with the freedom to choose which one).

This is also ambitious for me since I will be trying to do the workouts in the morning before work.  Which means I will need to go to sleep earlier, which is easier said than done, but let's see how it goes.  I would do the workouts after work, but it is just way to hot outside (and inside actually) here to attempt that.

So... I will update you on how the week goes.

Introduction to Home and Body

This blog will serve to document my efforts in two areas.  Keeping the house clean and organized, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle (working out and eating right).  I will talk about how things are going in the aforementioned areas and will post photos.  I am also seriously considering doing some video blogs, which I will also post to this blog.  Please read the information below to get a glimpse of my struggles.

Home
     My home is small.  We have a lot of stuff.  We are not the most disciplined when it comes to keeping things clean and neat. 
    
     Problem 1.  Ever since my husband and I moved into this home, it's been a huge struggle to keep things tidy.  We don't have enough space for the amount of stuff that we have.  Last year I went through all of my belongings in order to get rid of things that I no longer needed or wanted.  We had a yard sale in October!  We are still going through the process of going through the remaining items to figure out just exactly how to get things to fit.  Unfortunately, though not surprisingly, we have managed to obtain a lot more stuff since the yard sale.
     I had in my mind this idea of how things would go.  1) We'd have a yard sale.  2) With the extra space in our storage room I'd move rarely used items from inside of the house to the storage room.  3) I'd have places for all of the remaining indoor items.
     This plan is not working for several reasons.  I didn't account for the amount of stuff that my husband does not want to get rid of, or has yet to get rid of.  I also didn't account for the fact that my husband would be bringing more stuff from his mom's house to our house.  And I understandably did not account for the fact that our close friend would be moving to another country, and that we would be taking on so much of his stuff.
     So...  My plan so far is to continue to move my rarely used possessions from inside the house to the storage room.  I will also try to help my husband with his stuff, and in his decisions on whether or not it's something worth keeping with the amount of space that we have.  We will of course, have to both re-evaluate what is actually important to keep.  Now... I just need the motivation.  I will document our efforts in this area.

     Problem 2.  How hard is it to walk dirty clothes to the hamper instead of dropping them on the floor?  Well apparently, for me and my husband, it's pretty difficult.  It's little things like this that make it hard to keep the house clean (other than the lack of space).  It's embarrassing, I know.  But that's why I need to put it out there.  It's not something I've always struggled with, and it is something that I think is made more difficult by my husband.  I try to keep things clean, but when it's just me doing it, it gets to be too much for me and I end up just going back to the usual routine, aka. leaving dirty dishes on the table, leaving dirty clothes on the floor, leaving out any object that has just been used instead of taking the 2 seconds to put it away.  So...  I will document our efforts in this area.

Body
     Now, this is not as big of a struggle for me, but I would like to improve on working out regularly.  It was never a problem for me until I started working full time.  Over the past four years of working full time, I have slowly become better at managing my time and at exercising more regularly.  I am finally at a point where I feel comfortable taking on more ambitious exercise routines.  I would like to document my success and trials in this area.  For me, it's not about losing weight or changing my appearance (although I wouldn't mind being a bit firmer and stronger).  It's really about being healthy and feeling good for a long and fulfilling life.