2012: Results of One Little Word

This year I chose the word CONSISTENCY to help me throughout the year. This year was definitely a challenge with health scares, hospitalizations, ambulance rides and significant dietary changes. I was fortunate to have two months of my new habit under my belt before the craziness started.

Some of my goals for this year were to lose remove weight, get my finances in order, keep my house 15 minutes from company ready a la Fly Lady, do meal planning and work on relationships to keep me connected. I am happy to report that I had wonderful results in all areas. I was even able to keep up with my Project Life, which also makes the crafty part of me uber happy! I was even able to squeeze in a little scrap happiness as well.

Here's how the year wrapped up: I managed to remove 24 pounds (primarily due to the significant dietary changes mentioned above). Finances are looking up. We bought a new house and aside from the moving boxes that still need to be unpacked it's looking pretty good. I started doing freezer cooking which has helped the dinner time quandary and has saved my sanity more than once. With a house feel of people eating gluten, dairy and allergen free, I'm glad I found Once A Month Mom. And, I feel more connected to my immediate family than I have in prior years. The challenges became opportunities to strengthen our relationships and for that I am thankful.

One Little Word

How does one little word make a difference in your life? I heard about Ali Edwards’ idea to pick a word for the year (OLW)  back in the middle of 2010. I figured why not jump in even though it wasn’t something I did on a more traditional day like January 1st. The word I chose was CONNECT. I really wanted to be closer to the wonderful people I was already lucky to have in my life, like my siblings, parents and my immediate family. Additionally, after being laid off from a second job within two years, both of which had me working in my home office, I realized that outside of my far away colleagues that I really didn’t have any friends in close proximity. I did have one wonderful friend locally, my friend Stef. However, she is a single Mom that worked full time crazy hours and her daughter was very active in extra curriculars so we didn’t see as much of each other as she liked. And, to boot, she was planning on moving to Ohio a few months later. At the time, both my husband and I had home offices so I couldn’t even rely on him having any work friends either. I’m the social one of us and that left us essentially friendless.

Since I had so much time on my hands, I picked up the phone. Instead of wondering whether or not one of my siblings would be busy, I just picked up the phone and called. I’d send emails more often just to say I was thinking about them and I really do feel a bit closer. Then, I started just getting out more around the neighborhood and talking to people at our neighborhood pool and that certainly helped. Fortunately, one of my neighbors then invited me to a brunch at her house on the first day of school. There I met my wonderful friend Julie for the first time and we’ve been practically inseparable ever since. Shortly thereafter, Julie had a party and invited her neighbor Katherine, and two became the three musketeers. We have done countless things together, breakfasts, brunches, lunches, dinners, parties, working out, dancing, playing games, birthday kidnappings – it’s been awesome. So thank you to my 2010 word of the year for getting me to connect better with the important people in my life and getting me out there to meet these fabulous gals! I have affectionately named us Annie Gooth (Annie because we all have ‘ann’ in our middle names, and G.O.O.T.H. for Get Out Of The House because we like to do just that!)

In 2011, I choose the word STRENGHTHEN for a variety of reasons. Probably the reason that was the most motivating was the desire to feel stronger in general. I decided to start working out again and join a gym. I’m realistic enough to know that I’ll probably never have a six pack or arms like Angelina Jolie, but I really just wanted to feel stronger at the core. I’ve had back and knee problems for years and I know it’s good for me to keep them strong as well as the rest of me. Fortunately, my two buddies that I made in 2010 were up for the challenge as well. I’m happy to report that over the course of a year I was able to remove (not lose, which implies I want to find it again) 15 pounds and keep them off! I walk taller, I creak less and overall I feel stronger in so many ways. The obvious way is physical, but to be able to set a great example for my kids and let them see me love exercising and doing good things for my body certainly makes me proud.

Now to choose my word for 2012 – or perhaps have it choose me. I’m tossing around a few and can’t seem to settle on one just yet. I’m toying with PURPOSEFUL, FREE, BREAKTHROUGH, NOURISH, STRETCH, and TRANSFORMATION.

Some of the things I’m planning on doing this year are: start meal planning, pay off debt, remove more weight, strengthen my body, balance my time (just started working full time again), be in the moment (leave work at work), keep up with my FLY Lady cleaning routines.

So at the end of the year if I can see a big dent in my debt as well as my @ss that would be awesome. Additionally I don’t want my relationships with my kids nor my husband to suffer because I’ve gone back to work. I’ve been enjoying a house that is mostly 15 minutes away from being ‘company clean’ and I would like to keep it that way because it makes me happy.

To that end dear blog readers, please chime in with some advice on picking my word for the year!

Goodbye Sir Kenmore, Hello Monsieur Whirlpool

Well, it finally happened. The dryer that has been taking longer and longer (and longer) to dry our clothes finally just up and quit. I certainly have to give a shout out to Sir Kenmore for sticking it out until the last load. Fortunately since my life operates a la Fly Lady lately - I had conquered Mount Washmore by doing a load a day and I was all caught up. So even though it took a few days to scrape together the money for the new dryer as well as pick it out and have it delivered, not one person in my house had to go commando. Dare I say it again, life is good.

Please meet my new best friend...

Come in for coffee

I've recently gotten my house much more organized and have fallen into a pleasant routine of keeping my house in order. My downstairs in particular is so much neater. As a true sign of congratulations to myself I was able to invite my neighbor in for coffee on a whim and not worry about a thing. Sure there were breakfast bowls in the sink, but that was about it. I know her to be a clean fanatic and after hanging out at my house for a little bit with her infant twins, I offered to carry one of the babies back into her house. She stopped me at the door and said "that's ok, my house is a mess." I chuckled to myself, proud that I finally got my act together so I can finally invite my neighbors over for coffee without trying to hide things in closets or without that awful feeling of embarassment when someone stops by unexpectedly. Well, it only took me 41 years, but hey, better late than never!

My sink smiled at me this morning

In my own true, crazy fashion whatever I read about I tend to do...so I started reading about organizing and cleaning. I know, you are probably saying to yourself, why on earth would someone need to read about cleaning. Well, I suppose that is me. If I want to do something better, or faster, or more efficiently I grab a book, google it, subscribe to a magazine or blog feed - I've come to terms with it that it's the way I'm wired. What I happy to report is that I found this great website called FLYlady.net. She must be able to read my mind because all of her stuff totally makes sense. Now a side note, even though I am quite certain that my Mom is my biological Mom, there are just some things about us that are wired quite differently. And cleaning is one of them. My mother has this superpower of sorts, that she can go through a room and completely dismantle, clean and reassemble it after spending consecutive hours or days on the project, whichever is appropriate. Bravo to her, but unfortunately I did not inherit that marathon stick-tuitiveness gene. I tend to get bored easily, with everything, not just cleaning. So I have to mix it up a bit and spend a little time here, a little time there. So Mom if your reading this, you may as well stop because it might just drive you a little bit crazy, LOL.
Enter the FLYlady...thankfully, there seem to be other people out there that suffer from the same affliction and she was one of them. So I get daily emails from her site that encourage me to do projects here and there, and wouldn't you know it, it's working! My Mom always told me I needed a routine, and although I never disagreed I never really got one either. So now I'm trying to get one! I've also discovered that just as much as crud can start to creep around, so can 'clean'. Now, my shiny sink, has turned into shiny counters and it's spreading all over my house. I now understand why my mother would always clean the kitchen before she went to bed, because when I came down to a clean kitchen this morning, I could swear that my sink smiled at me.