2013 In Review

I started this blog as a way to consolidate and blog about all of the things I am into: fitness, knitting, quilting, scrap-booking,crafting in general, reading, and of course, my family! Like a lot of things in my life, I got sidetracked and didn't stick with it. Hopefully I will be more "faithful" to my blog in 2014!

Before we head into the new year, though, let's look back at 2013. I was inspired to do this by Jennifer, who is an amazing, incredibly strong woman, IMHO!

 Let's wrap up 2013 and put a bow on it, shall we?

  

Gained or lost weight? Yes


Predominant feeling in 2013? Up and down!

Predominant feeling for 2014? Anticipation! New state, new home, and so many new possibilities!

Something you did for the first time in 2013? Became a licensed Zumba instructor and taught my first class. I continued for a few months until we moved.

Something you did again in 2013 after a long pause? I'm knitting and crocheting again! Loving it!

Something you unfortunately did not do in 2013?  Two things did not get crossed of my goals list from 2013: size 9 and paying off bills. I made big progress on both, though! Mark my words, I WILL achieve these two in 2014! Watch me!

Word of the year? Changes! We waved bye bye to Chuck, our 50 year old mental patient and moved from California to Texas, to name a few1

Hair longer or shorter? Longer and more red.

Hospital stays? I didn't stay, but I did end up in the ER the night before my daughter's birthday due to getting oils from the world's hottest pepper in BOTH of my eyes.

(Fallen) In love? Still very much in love with my husband!

Most called person? I don't talk on the phone much these days. I guess I talk to my mom the most.

Whom did you spend the most beautiful time with? Wow. That's a tough one. Most of the moments with my daughter are beautiful! I also had a very memorable night out with my BFF, J'Ho of Mom Rocks Mealtime!


Song of the year? Overcomer by Mandissa


Book of the year? 1, 2, 3 Magic


Movie of the year? Frozen. Proabbly cuz it's the most recent one we saw and the only one I can think of right now.


TV Show of the year? SCANDAL! Hands DOWN! I don't even want to wait and play catch up on DVR. I HAVE to watch it as soon as it comes on!

Insight of the year?  It's never to late to become the person you've always wanted to be.

Three things you totally could have done without?

• The whole oil of the hottest pepper in the world in my eye thing.
• Ugliness from someone I love. 
• Escalation of Charlie's condition.

The most expensive thing you bought? A new to me Chevy Traverse

The most delicious meal or food you ate? Wasabi Crusted Tuna with Ginger-Soy Sauce!

The best party? Girls Night Out with J'Ho! It was EPIC!

The most important thing you wanted to convince somebody of? Myself: That I can accomplish anything I set my mind to!

How will you celebrate New Year's Eve? At home. Nothing exciting.

What will you have for dinner? I need to check the menu and get back to you.

What drinks will be in your glasses to clink? If I know my hubby, he got champagne.

Will you ignite any fireworks? No.

What are you going to wear? Comfy or glamorous? Comfy!

Did you have any resolutions for 2013? And how about 2014? I prefer to call them commitments. I sure did for 2013. Wrote 'em on a white board and posted it on FaceBook. I then checked 'em off (almost all of them anyway) and re-posted it each time I accomplished something. Definitely going to do it again!


What are your wishes for the new year? I really hope to start teaching Zumba again. And get plugged in to a church that feels as much like home as our church in Chico, California did. That's a pretty tall order.

In one word, 2013 was... Dramatic.

Now it's your turn. Pick a question or two or all, and tell me what your answer would be!

Fail to Plan or Plan to Fail Part 2

When I posted Fail to Plan or Plan to Fail Part 1, about two weeks ago, I had another post planned out in my head. That post was going to include how clever I was to plan my NaBloPoMo in advance. I used a calendar from Calendars That Work and plotted out all my topics. Ok, not ALL the topics and not one for every day...

And there en-lies the problem!

Life just up and got in the way. Between sickness in the home, searching for and buying a house, on top of a sudden influx of actual work to do at the jobby job, my lack of planning for NaBloPoMo really kicked me in the backside. I didn't actually complete the plan. I didn't plan for contingencies like sick kids or sick me or deadlines piling up.

That's what I get for being smug! 

As we stare down the countdown app which currently reads "8" days, and January 1st hot on the heels of Christmas, I find myself setting some lofty goals. I had some pretty good ones last year, and I've crossed all but one off the list! I didn't even really have a plan when I set those goals. That may explain why that last one is still on there.

I have goals for my own health and fitness, reading goals, and business goals. What will determine whether or not I achieve them? What is the difference between crossing one off the list and checking them all off completely? You guessed it...it's whether I: 

Plan, Schedule, Plan Some More

Plan: This involves taking each of my goals and breaking them into mini goals. For example, take the amount of weight I want to lose over the next 12 months and break it down into monthly and weekly goals. 

Schedule: I can vow to exercise more and eat healthier, but unless I get my workouts on the calendar and plan some healthy meals ahead of time, life is guaranteed to come up again and get in the way. I will put my workouts on my calendar and stick to them like I would a meeting with my boss, a doctor's appointment, or a date with my husband! 

Plan Some More: Once I've got my goals figured out, broken down, and scheduled, I also need to review it all now and frequently. I'll check my progress and make sure I'm on track. These check-ins will go on the calendar as well, or they won't happen. 12 months will slip right by and I'll weigh the same and not have read any more or gotten any scrap-booking done! 

There you have it. That is my strategy for 2014. What about you? Do you have goals? Do you have a plan in place to make sure you'll get there?

Fail to Plan Or Plan to Fail Part 1

Last night was supposed to be ballet night for the girls (my almost 5 year old and her 5 year old 2nd cousin). Unfortunately, time got away from us adults. I picked up my kiddo after work with cousin in tow. After the pre-k pickup, we headed to the pharmacy to get antibiotics for the cousin. This task took way longer than I had counted on.

By the time I was in the drive through line, it was determined it was too late to get the girls home and fed before ballet. Hubs had gotten waylayed and dinner wasn't started yet. A flurry of miscommunication ensued between hubs, niece, and myself. We decided to cancel ballet and just go out to eat. That plan eventually got canned to. In the end, niece and daughter went home and I took my munchkin to ballet on an empty stomach.

This story plays out every night in a kajillion households. There's nothing to eat, so we make a bad choice: let's eat. This rash decision is often costly and not very healthy.  We plan our dinner menus for the week with the help of my bff, J'Ho at Mom Rocks Mealtime, and a variety of other recipe sites to inspire our taste buds. Unfortunately, life happens and plans get changed.

Jen posted an incredible blog about freezer meals this week. I am definitely going to check out the book it is based on and get some of those puppies in my freezer ASAP so we don't push the dining out emergency button again.

I have more to say about the topic of "Fail to plan, or plan to fail," so stay tuned for part 2!

On How We Talk to Ourselves

Have you ever heard someone speak and the message just hit you right between the eyes?  This past Sunday I attended another church. My family is still looking for our "church home" here in Texas. I posted about the challenges with that before. Anyway, this other church had a substitute speaker. It was a woman, which was different for me. I didn't even realize she was giving the message until she was a ways into it! The church's regular pastor was preaching at his home church, so she was standing in.

I thought she did an amazing job. She was very well prepared. She had created a biblical time line and put it on the alter. As she spoke, she moved from one end of the timeline to the other, as appropriate for the scripture she was talking about at the moment.

All that aside, one story she told blew me away. Evidently the gal speaking is a school counselor or a teacher. She talked about a fifth grade student who had been cutting herself. She had old and new cuts up and down her forearms. The counselor had to think on her feet about how to get through to this gal. How could she possibly convey to her how precious she is?

Well, she approached it by asking the pre-teen what would happen if the youngster had put those cuts on another student? The gal knew enough to realize that would be wrong, and the the counselor would likely call the cops and she would be charged with assault! What an eye opener that was for her, to realize she has essentially assaulted herself.

There was way more to the message about how we are precious in God's sight, all the verses that talk about holiness and so on. That is all awesome stuff, but what really hit me was how I talk to myself. For goodness sake! I would never, I mean NEVER talk to anyone else on the PLANET the way I talk to myself sometimes!

The message really stopped me in my tracks. It made me realize how I mentally cut myself day in and day out. I am trying hard to put a stop to it by putting positivity into my brain.

What about you? What do you say to yourself throughout the day? Would you talk to anyone else the way you talk to yourself? Not just out loud, but those silent whispers, those thoughts that echo louder in our brain that if we'd spoken the words out loud.

Saturday's Blogs of the Week Recap

Oopsies! I was supposed to post this yesterday, but hubs and I were celebrating our anniversary again. He had taken me out on the town before our anniversary, but this weekend he really wanted to cook me a nice dinner. It was fabulous, as always.

Now, for this week's best blog posts!

This one was supposed to make last week's list. I don't know how I missed it! I always turn to Mom Rock Mealtime when it comes time to sit down and plan out the menus for the week. I come up with the recipes, and hubs does the shopping and most of the cooking. I think I got the better end of the deal, that's for sure! Jen, a.k.a. J'Ho, a.k.a my BFF is the author of Mom Rocks Mealtime. You can follow her on Twitter or sign up to receive her weekly, family tested recipes. Whatever you do, do NOT miss this post, Dueling Tuna Steaks!!! The Wasabi-Crusted Tuna will change your life forever, I promise! I haven't had a chance to try out the other Jennifer's (blogger at I'm Dancing In the Rain) tuna recipe, but it's on my to-do list!

Speaking of I'm Dancing in the Rain, Jennifer has another post that really made me pause and think. Check out Medical Preparedness for Kids!  She covers a topic most of us never think about, but really do need to spend some time on!

I discovered these next two blogs over at the Texas Women's Sweet Tea Link of party. My new faves over there this week were by Taylor Brione Ballard  and Michelle at Life on the Horizon. Taylor's post reminds us the importance and beauty of staying true to ourselves, no matter what the "rule book" says. Who wrote the "rules," anyway? Fitness is a big part of my life. Michelle has a 100 miles in 100 days challenge I signed up for. This is in addition to my current fitness regimen.

This post made me grateful that even though I signed up for NaNoWriMo AND NaBloPoMo, I really only ended up going for it with the latter. I'm so glad I did.

Image: Gifrific

Finally, though it is not a blog post, I give it two thumbs up and five starts. I had the privilege this week of reviewing a book that cracked me up to the point of needing oxygen. Nothing will turn a bad day/week/month/year around like a good ol' belly laugh. I highly recommend Monkeys Wearing Pants by Jon Waldrep. It's only $0.99 for 66 pages of the best therapy you can get for that kindda money.

Five Minute Friday: Truth

This is my first Five Minute Friday post. Who knew it would tie in so well with the Confident Heart Bible Study this week? I think that it's no coincidence and today is a good day to remind me about the Truth about me.

Why? Well, I am noticing some positive changes in myself since starting the Bible study and reading scripture more frequently. I won't say regularly because I'm not on a regular schedule yet. But, it's definitely becoming more frequent and it's paying off.

Oops! Forgot to set the timer for five minutes...

I am noticing:

• I haven't had a headache since last Thursday. This could totally be coincidence, I mean I did start the study about a month ago. It's still worth pointing out because I'm SO thankful for being pain free for a whole week! 
• I haven't dropped any F bombs lately, other than the usual cartoon cursing characters in chat with my BFF at work. Work brings that out of a girl. 
• I haven't gotten irrationally, crazy angry at anyone lately (usually my husband is the one standing in the path of Hurricane Sara). 
• I generally feel less stressed. 
• God's word seems to be seeping in. The letter I wrote to myself on my post yesterday was based on scripture, without looking it up or even thinking about it. That letter really just kindda flowed out of my fingers. Pretty cool. The perfectionist inside of me believes I need to look up and memorize the scripture references that go with the verses.  The TRUTH is, the fact they are written on my heart is plenty!

Quick check of the timer...minute and a half left...need to grab some links and an image!

Here's some TRUTH about this post:

• I am going over 5 minutes. 
• I started looking for an image and decided to create my own. 
• In the process, my Firefox crashed
• I let loose a silent, yet exaggerated F bomb when that happened. I guess He isn't finished with me yet (Philippians 1:6, I looked it up!).

 

I am fearfully, wonderfully made

A Confident Heart Blog Hop - Week 4

His Goodness Makes Me Good Enough

I started this Proverbs 31 Online Bible study about a month ago.  It has been and continues to be a fun way to keep the topics covered during the study at the forefront of my mind. I like to sit down at the beginning of the week and read the week's chapter(s), make a few journal notes about the memory verse and the hashtag of the week (this week's is #WhoIam). I get emails from the hostesses of the studies with videos that make me reflect and think about the reading for the week. 

This week we're reading chapter four of the book, titled "When Doubt Whispers 'I'm Not Good Enough.'" The memory verse is John 1:2 Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

One of the assignments, if you will is to write about what are of my life I feel not good enough and to write a letter to myself as a reminder that because of Jesus I am good enough. Here goes: 

I have been a full time telecommuter since 2007, shortly after my husband and I got married. I don't remember much about my homemaking in the beginning. What I do know is that I often get frustrated with myself, to the point of tears, wondering, "How do NORMAL people (as in, people with normal, have to get dressed and go to work jobs) do it!?" I don't understand how I could ever get my kid fed and dressed and out the door on time and still have time to actually shower, dress, and feed myself, and still allow time to wait patiently in the carpool lane. 

Then there's all the errands that have to be run (I am so grateful my husband takes care of that stuff), laundry to be washed, folded, and put away! Meals to plan, shop for, and prepare...and I don't even have to pack lunches for the little on yet! 

I am so grateful for the opportunity to work from home, because I don't see how I could do it all any other way! 

That, my friends, is the "Readers Digest version." I can get really worked up and deeply depressed about what a failure I am on a daily basis if I'm not careful. My husband breathes deeply and I assume he's disappointed in something I haven't done. He has NEVER said anything to make me feel this way. I talk myself into thinking he thinks I'm in adequate! It's quite silly, really. I mean, I know I could certainly do all those things if I had to. But I don't have to, so I don't.

Ok, now for the letter to myself. This is going to feel silly, but it's the assignment, so here goes:

Dear Sara, 

You are fearfully and wonderfully made. I created you. I knew what kind of mother and wife you were going to be, long before your parents even considered starting a family. You have a unique situation. I put people in your path while you were pregnant and worrying about things that will probably never happened when Miss M gets older. They pointed out that you grow with her. When the time comes for packing lunches and waiting in the carpool lane, you will be ready. That, or you'll have the Mister do it. ;)  I had a plan when I introduced you to him, too, you see! Please, stop beating yourself up about the wife and mother you are not, and focus on the wife and mother that you are, the one you are growing into. 

Husbands and children do not come with instructions. That's because it's so much more interesting to learn as you go, hands-on, and get a little messy in the process. You're doing fine. Your husband loves you very much. So does your daughter, So do I. 

Love, 

Jesus