April is Here!

A new month is upon us! That means it's time to wrap up and review my goal for March. If you need a refresher, the March plan was:

1. Track food and exercise on My Fitness Pal every day during the month of March.
2. Assess utility of this plan at the end of the month and decide whether or not to continue.

For #1, I was successful. I logged my food and exercise onto My Fitness Pal every day for the month of March.

For #2, I would have to say that this plan was extremely useful. I lost some weight, and have definitely adjusted to eating a bit less than I was before.

I will definitely keep it up and continue using My Fitness Pal into the foreseeable future.

And now onto April!

I have a goal for April, but I am SERIOUSLY not looking forward to it. The goal for April?

SPRING CLEANING.

Just shoot me now. I hate cleaning. So. Very. Much. I especially hate this month's plan, because I am going to include the loathsome process of putting some things up for sale on Ebay and other places. I think I'd rather get clocked in the shin with a golf club.

So, here goes:

1. Clean condo, section by section, reorganize, dust, throw away items as you go.
2. Photograph and list items for sale online
3. Consider photographing before/ after
4. Assess utility of the plan, consider developing a maintenance plan

So, there you have it. Let the fun begin.

Halfway Through March

Well, seeing as it's halfway through the month, I figured it would be a good time to post and share the update. My March goal of utilizing My Fitness Pal to track diet and exercise is going well so far. The first week was kind of rough as I got used to eating a smaller volume of food... I was so hungry for a few days! Now, I have adjusted nicely to eating a little less. I plan it so I have lots of snacks throughout the day, and never feel hungry.

I have also been exercising regularly, but it is still a little bit of a mental fight with myself to go ahead and do it. I'm just so tired all the time!

Speaking of which, I did bring it up to my doctor. She ordered some bloodwork to make sure it's not my thyroid or something. I've gotten myself on as good a sleep schedule as I can manage, I've been exercising regularly for 2 1/2 months, and my diet has improved drastically over the past couple of weeks. I'm tired even after getting what should be a "good" night's sleep. My doctor is considering ordering a sleep study for me. I have such a hard time sleeping in a strange bed, though... I'm skeptical that they'd get usable results.

But back to the original topic: I've been doing a good job of watching what I eat, and have managed to lose a few pounds so far. I"m optimistic that this trend will continue. However, LOSING weight, while not EASY, is a whole lot easier than KEEPING it off. The true challenge for me will begin once I have reached my weight loss goal. I guess I'll just have to wait and see... let's face it, 95% of people who lose weight gain it back, so the statistics are not in my favor. I don't have to worry about that for a good 6+ months, though!

And jumping back to My Fitness Pal itself: I really like the site/ app. It's got every food in it, including some foods from chain restaurants. It's easy and intuitive to enter foods and recipes. There are groups and message boards if you need extra support or if you're a social person who likes to chat with people. I definitely recommend it!

Monday afternoon update

Well, today marks the one week point for my latest goal. I started tracking stuff on My Fitness Pal last Monday, and weighed in this morning. I am pleased to announce that I did indeed lose some weight, and that I didn't find it overly cumbersome or difficult to enter in my recipes and foods throughout the week.

I also posted on Facebook for anyone who also uses MFP to "friend" me so we can check in and encourage each other. I was surprised to get a response from my brother... who knew that he uses it, too? I guess that speaks well for the program, since he tends to do a lot of research before signing up for/ utilizing tools like that. Anyway, if you are also on MFP, my username is amandammmq. Find me and we can be pals!

In Like a Lion

It's the end of another month, so it's time for installment #3 of my 12 in 2012.

This month, things are getting serious, people! I have decided to address the issue of my growing waistline and my lack of exercise. 2011 was not a very exercisey year for me. Therefore, March will be the month of "Myfitnesspal.com". My Fitness Pal is a website that helps you track your meals and your exercise. You plug in some basic info about yourself, and it gives you daily calorie/ exercise recommendations, and away you go! What makes it better than some of the other sites that I've visited is that it actually HAS the various foods that I eat. A bunch of the other sites didn't have quinoa, steel cut oats, chia seeds, psyllium husks, among other weird things that I sometimes eat. If a program didn't have steel cut oats, then I had failed being able to track my food starting with breakfast!

Also, this site is free. always a bonus.

March Goal:
1. Track food and exercise on My Fitness Pal every day during the month of March.
2. Assess utility of this plan at the end of the month and decide whether or not to continue.

And so, away we go!

If anyone else is on My Fitness Pal and wants to be my 'friend', my screen name is "amandammmq".

The Verdict for February

Sure, it's not quite the end of the month, but I'm calling it close enough. My goal for the month was to focus on my sleep habits and try to improve the quality and quantity of my nightly sleep.

The verdict is guarded. I do not seem to be able to sleep for more than 6 or so hours at a time. I am awakened by noises, or needing to use the bathroom. It is sometimes hard to fall asleep at first, and it is very difficult to stay asleep for a whole night's sleep, regardless of the consistency with which I stick to a bed time routine. (Includes not drinking water in the evening, exercising almost daily, eating well, getting into bed by 10, not napping, using white noise machine, etc)

My mother has lent me a book that she said helped her meditate to the point of falling asleep. I will be reading it and seeing if anything in there is helpful. I think my biggest resistance is that I don't feel like I should HAVE to take heroic measures in order to SLEEP. I'm not stressed, other than being TIRED, I am not ruminating over things that are bothering me, I am just AWAKE and it is incredibly annoying.

I think it's also true that my body naturally wants to sleep at times that are very different from the time frame that is available to me. Unfortunately, nothing can be done about that.

Final verdict: I will continue to practice the good habits I put into place this month, and sincerely hope that my body will take it all under advisement. I'll also see if meditating will help at all.

Stay tuned for March's goal... it's a big one!

Elusive Sleep

It's been a week, and I have been in bed at 10 PM or earlier every night, including the weekends. However, even when I drop off to sleep right away (which always the case), I never EVER stay asleep all night. Not even once. I wake up to use the bathroom, and about 50% of the time, I stay awake for 2-3 hours. So, it seems that if I go to bed at 11 or 12, I have a chance of staying asleep all night, since I can make it 6 hours without peeing, evidently. OR, I can go to bed earlier, and be guaranteed to have to wake up, and STILL only get 6 hours of sleep.

And yes, I am limiting liquid intake - nothing to drink after dinner.

I am not lying awake worrying about anything; not even worrying about not being asleep. Just. Lying. There.

I'm not giving up yet, though... it's only been a week, and who knows... maybe it takes longer than a week for a person to adjust to an earlier bed time? A girl can hope.

The Power of Suggestion

So, I mentioned yesterday that I would be reminding myself before I went to bed that I needed to GET UP and use the bathroom if I woke up feeling the urge.

Last night, I got into bed at 10, and before I turned off the light, I consciously reminded myself of this... and it totally worked! I actually had to get up twice, and both times I hopped right up.

The power of suggestion: it can work!

Of course, I still feel lousy today, but I guess it's only been a couple of nights in a row of going to bed early. We'll see.

2 of 12 in 2012

It is February First, which means it's time for goal #2! I have been struggling with what to pursue as my goal, but have decided upon tackling.....

SLEEP PROBLEMS.

I don't know about you, but I basically wake up feeling like total crap each and every morning. It doesn't actually seem to matter how many hours of sleep I get, but I suppose I feel like a BIGGER pile of crap on mornings after fewer hours of sleep. I rarely get 8 hours of sleep in a night, and they are never uninterrupted. And even when I get 8-12 hours of sleep in a night, I STILL feel horrible. Every. Single. Day.

I will also point out here that I deleted "shit" and added in "crap", but couldn't manage to keep it totally out of this post. I feel very strongly about how lousy I feel in the morning!

Anyway, I see the sleep problem like this:

*I am more of a night owl. If I could, I would go to sleep at midnight and wake up around 9. As a matter of fact, over the summer when I am not working, this is the pattern I seem to fall into. However, I need to be at work by 7:30, so clearly my natural pattern must be disobeyed if I am to keep my job.

*I am a light sleeper. Noises, even my own snoring when I have a cold, wake me up. Bad dreams wake me up. Needing to use the bathroom wakes me up.

*I wake up almost every night because I need to pee, but I don't always wake up enough to actually get up and GO. This means that I'm half awake, I still have to pee, can't figure out that I should probably just get up and take care of it, and can't fall back asleep. I think this problem arose because sometimes when I get up to pee, I can't fall back asleep, so I'm unconsciously afraid to get out of bed, for fear of tossing and turning for the rest of the night. Which I'm doing anyway.

*I'd rather stay up later, and 10pm doesn't feel like a good bed time for me.

*I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep for HOURS.

*I am so tired when I get home from work, that I sometimes (not always) take a nap, which makes it even harder to fall asleep at night.

So, here's my plan. I don't think each of the above problems is solvable, but I'm hoping I can at least increase the hours of sleep I'm getting every night.

1. All electronics with a glowy screen get turned off at 10. This includes weekends unless I am out socializing with friends.

2. Caffeine is only to be consumed prior to noon. (I already do this, so it should be no problem)

3. In bed by 10:30. (Although with electronics turned off, I assume I'll get into bed right at 10!)

4. Try to limit liquid intake in the evening. This one is going to be tough, though, because I exercise in the evenings and get thirsty!

5. Remind myself before going to bed that I have to get up if I feel the need to use the bathroom.

6. If sticking to the bed time routine is not helping, I will begin working with a book my Mom gave me about meditation.

7. Keep a sleep log to track my progress.

8. NO NAPS. This one is going to be tough.

9. At the end of the month, analyze the results and see whether it's worth continuing with this goal.

One of my fears is that even if I'm getting more sleep on a regular basis, I'll still feel like crap every morning. I mean, I feel that way now even when I get, say, 12 hours of sleep, so why in the world would I think it would be any different otherwise? However, I at least need to give it a shot.

Month 1: Results are in

As today is the end of January, it seems appropriate that I review my first month's goal. To review, my goals were:

1. Tracking all of the money I spend
2. Analyzing the results to see whether I could/should continue for the rest of the year


For the first part of the goal, I successfully tracked every penny I spent for the month of January. As one would expect, the simple act of writing everything down makes you reassess whether or not you want to buy something, because you don't want to write it down!

I figured out that once all of my "fixed" bills were paid, I spent about 2/3 of the money that was left over. Frankly, I was hoping that I'd do better than that, but there weren't a whole lot of areas where I could have shaved down. I did buy some coffees in the morning, and bought some yarn I probably could have lived without, but those expenses weren't high enough that they would have made THAT big a difference in the overall percentage of "extra" money spent.

Still, I do think that the exercise was worthwhile, and I do intend to continue for the rest of the year. I assume that there will be months where I spend 100% of the extra, and maybe there might even be some months that I do better than I think I could. We'll see!

I haven't even decided yet what February's goal will be. I figure I have another 24 hours to figure that one out.

TGIF!

I haven't been in this good a mood in quite a while. It's Friday, I slept for 7 hours in a row last night, I didn't realize it had snowed until I stepped out the door to go to work (and it looked so pretty), I have dinner plans with friends tonight, I stopped at Brew'd Awakening this morning and have a GOOD cup of coffee at the ready...

all seems right with the world.

Halfway Through January

So, it's halfway through January, and I figured I'd provide an update thus far. Good news- I have stuck to resolution #1! I have indeed been writing down every penny spent, and it's been interesting thus far. I find that I naturally curb my spending more if I'm paying close, daily attention than otherwise. It is what you'd expect, naturally! Of course, it does take a little time and attention every day, going through receipts, quickly jotting down expenses when there are no receipts, and tallying things up at the end of the month... that part I haven't gotten to yet this month, of course.

Anyway, I am glad that I've started back up with this habit. Only a couple more weeks until I unveil Resolution #2! Stay tuned!

12 in 12 in 2012

I've never had much luck with resolutions. The only one I ever got to stick was the resolution to start using reusable shopping bags... that resolution went quite well, to the point that I didn't have any plastic bags left in the house to use for garbage bags! I also did quite well with my "five year plan" to pay down a bunch of debt. *pats self on back*

2011 was an all right year for me, but looking back, nothing really stellar stands out for me. I'd like for 2012 to be a little different. To that end, I'm going to try to make 12 changes over 12 months. I'm going to start with what I consider to be a "gimme", because I want to start with a success. For me, making financial changes seems to be easy in comparison to, say, going to bed early. So, we start with that.

For the month of January, I will improve my financial health by doing the following:

1. Tracking all of the money I spend
2. Analyzing the results to see whether I could/should continue for the rest of the year

Folks, I have done this for years at a time. I fell off the wagon in 2011, but it should be easy enough to start back up. I can do this one!

I haven't actually figured out goals 2-11 yet. I am thinking about the following:

Improve my sleep habits
Exercise regularly
Track my eating habits (I have gained a lot of weight over the last 1 1/2 years, and am not feeling my best)
Rekindle my enjoyment of my camera
Spend less time mindlessly surfing internet
Learn to meditate
Blog more often
Read more (I love to read - why don't I read more???)
Keep home in a tidier state

Part of the problem, as I see it: We all want to do better on most of these things. But why don't we? Why is it so hard to get it together? For me, it's certainly not a lack of time or finances. I work very close to home, don't work long hours, don't have a family. None of these tasks will cost much money, if any at all. In fact, #1 will hopefully have me SAVING money. I guess we get tired, distracted, or the to-do list just looks too long for us to actually believe that we can ever make a dent in it.

At any rate, I'm going to give this a try. For what it's worth, it's already January 9 and I've been tracking my spending all month, and have set up a nifty little spreadsheet and everything.

Heartwarming

I was in an unusually good mood when I left work today. I have a cold, had to stay late and STILL didn't get all of my work finished, and had more than one reason to be crabby, but for some reason, I wasn't. Because of this good mood, I stopped for some teenagers to jaywalk downtown... I think part of it was the good mood, and part of it was because they were waiting politely rather than just blasting into traffic.

Anyway, I thought I recognized one of the students, so I said his name out of the window of my car, but then decided I was wrong; it wasn't who I thought it was. A moment later, after I had parked in the parking garage, there he was, standing outside waiting for me. "You were right, it was me... so I figured I'd better come and find out who was saying my name!" I re-introduced myself, and once he remembered who I was, he gave me a big hug and I said I'd walk him to his next destination as we chatted.

I was his counselor almost ten years ago. He had been referred to me after he witnessed a terrible event that left him parentless. He struggled a little in school, but was always such a nice and lovable little kid. A Now, he is a senior in high school, and is looking at colleges he wants to go to next year. He has a nice group of friends, a nice variety of after school activities, and he seems well spoken, sociable, and is as kind as always.

I was just thrilled that he is living a nice life. I was also secretly pleased that he remembered me, and that he was willing to share a little bit about how his life has been going. I hope I run into him again someday; I would love to see him in another ten years and see how he's doing. Here's hoping he crosses the road in front of me one day, when I'm in another good mood!

Fruit Bento

Fruit Bento 9-6-11, a photo by BrickMillStudio on Flickr.

(Click on photo for uncropped version)

Tomorrow's lunch is a major departure from the one I had packed for today... rather than traditional Korean foods, I packed various fresh fruits, some pita slices, cheese, yogurt, and a little quail egg.

In case you were curious, a quail egg is about 1/4 the size of a chicken egg, but tastes the same.

I enjoyed eating my fancy Bento lunch today, but interestingly, I found it to be a bit too much food, and will think about using a smaller container for heavy, meaty meals in the future... but for the fruit plate, I think a bigger container will be fine, as there are a lot fewer calories!

Korean Chicken Bento 9-5-11, a photo by BrickMillStudio on Flickr.

(click on the photo to see an un-awkwardly cropped version)

I love learning new things. This past summer, I took a bartending course, because I've always wanted to. Actually tending a bar for money sounds hellish to me... standing on your feet for hours and hours, dealing with drunk people, trying to remember drinks, ruining your shoes from all that sticky liquor dripping onto them (or so I would imagine), loud environment, late, late hours... but I'm getting away from the point. I really enjoyed learning how to do a counted pour, how to mix drinks, and it was fun to meet new people.

The latest thing I became interested in learning about was how to create a Bento Box meal. I have only ever eaten such meals at Korean or Japanese restaurants, but recently saw cute pictures of Bento style meals online. So, I decided I needed to try it for myself!

I didn't want to invest in any fancy boxes or materials quite yet, in case I didn't really enjoy making or eating meals in this way. I did, however, go to HMart, a giant Korean grocery store in Burlington, to get a few interesting ingredients.

I bought some ready - made items, such as the Korean omelet, Kimchi, spicy anchovies, and marinated (uncooked) chicken. I also cooked up some millet and some brussels sprouts.

I then read up on how to pack the food into a bento box, and tried to make mine look okay. I think it's all right for a first try, but I will try to plan ahead better for more colorful meals and try to get better at packing things neatly.

I don't have the cutesy rice balls with faces, or interestingly molded hard boiled eggs... but I do think it makes the meal look pretty interesting! What do you think?

My adorable nephew!

I can't help it, I think my nephew is sincerely adorable. And luckily for me, my brother indulges me with pictures of him in the things that I knit for him. Evidently, Max loves the sock monkey hat that I made for him, and he gets complimented on it all the time.



I also knitted him an amazing cardigan (if I do say so myself) that Max needed a little time to warm up to, evidently... initially, the phrase, "let's try on your Christmas sweater" struck fear and horror into Max's soul... but now, he asks for it by name, "dozer"! Awwwww!



Sorry, those images are smaller than I'd like, but you get the point. I'm quite pleased with how it came out, and am relieved that Max likes it. I realize that within a couple of years, he's going to think that items knitted by his auntie are 'lame', and a few years after that, he'll be asking for itunes gift cards or a new game for his nintendo ds. But for now, he likes wearing his dozer sweater and his sock monkey hat.

Stay tuned... next month, Mr. Max is visiting the Northeast, and I plan on taking fifty bajillion pictures as usual. I won't lie and say that it is likely that I'll post before then... but who knows - stranger things have happened!

Hair Cut!

All right, might as well try and breathe some new life back into this blog. I have taken loads of pictures over the last six months that I never got to edit, but that endeavor sounds a little overwhelming for bed time on a Thursday night. Boy howdy.

So instead, I will begin this story with a picture:


Yes, that is a giant pile of hair next to my toe! The end result was this:



After two months, it now looks like this:


At first, I was a little dazed - it's a big change, after all! Now, I'm used to it for the most part... but looking at that last picture (yes, I'm wearing my zebra print bathrobe, what of it???), I'm thinking I shouldn't wait a whole month for my next hair cut... although I am going to wait! Shaggy city!

Anyway, that's what's new with me. Or, new-ish. Next, I'll have to start hacking away at those pictures I have been taking of those amazingly wild and exciting adventures I've been having.

A Product That Works!

I know, I know... it has been a REALLY long time since I've posted. I find myself really busy, working a hectic, full time job, two part time jobs, with a languishing jewelry business somewhere in the background. However, I have the day off today, and was so excited by a product that I bought that actually does what it says, that I figured I'd take a minute to post and share.

It's the Thermos Sipp Travel Mug, and just as advertised, it keeps your beverage hot or cold for a long, long time. I brewed some hot tea two hours ago and put it into the mug. I just tried to take a sip, and it was still so hot, I burned my tongue! After two hours! Did I mention that, because I didn't know how the valve worked yet, the mug was actually in the "open" position during those two hours??? Holy moly! This would be an ideal gift for yourself, or for anyone you know who is a sipper of hot or cold beverages. It's so nice and insulatey, that the outside stays room temperature.

Additionally, I was able to determine whether or not I'd be able to buy the mug at my local Target via their website, which I linked to above... just click on the "Find It At A Target Store" button below the product pic, put in your local zip, and it will tell you where it's in stock. Now, an employee at the actual store couldn't tell me whether or not it was in stock, but when I did the search on my smartphone, I was even told what aisle the product was in... I can't seem to find that info on my computer, though. (For locals, it's in aisle E39 of the Lowell Target)

Never again will I have to take a sip of coldish coffee or tea after I've been at work for a couple of hours... huzzah!

Spreadin' the Love

I saw a student today who has two older sisters. I asked him how they were, and told him that they had both been in my after school knitting group a few years ago. He told me that they both still knit "all the time", as he put it - the younger one even made a blanket for her new baby brother!

Naturally, I am thrilled. I know how much I enjoyed being able to knit when I was a kid, and if they are still knitting several years later, I know that it is a skill that they can and will enjoy for the rest of their lives.

Hooray!

WOOOOOO! YEAHHHHH!

I still haven't had much time for blogging lately, have I? I did think I would take a moment to share a funny interaction I just had with a gaggle of teenagers. I was in my building, waiting for the elevator, and when the door opened, about 10 kids were in there, and before they saw me, one of the boys shouted VERY loudly, "WOOOOOOO!" he then saw me, looked embarrassed, so I screamed at the top of my lungs, "YEAHHHHHH!" He then started laughing, and said to his friends several times, "That was awesome!"

Heaven forbid he actually address me directly and tell me that my unexpected action was awesome, but I'll take an indirect affirmation of my awesomeness any day.