Change is a’comin - July 21, 2008 -

Lots of things are happening on the horizon right now and I’m just trying to stay positive and motivated. The hubby and I are making a move to gain some assets in the form of land around our current house which has been very exciting. Scary and exciting at the same time. We have been so focused on getting out of revolving debt and living on the cheap, sacrificing, saving every penny to get to where we can purchase what we want with cash that these two land purchases are a change in direction for sure.

Another big change has been my exercise routine. I have officially withdrawn from Jazzercise to focus on a gym membership. As much as I love and enjoy Jazzercise, I needed something new following P90 X. I saw results from the intense weight lifting aspect of the program that I just couldn’t continue if I went back to Jazzercise. Of course, the option to go back is always there for me. The scheduling is going to work out for me a lot more too. I was spoiled with having my evenings with the hubby by working earlier to be able to come home and exercise. Now, I am starting to take advantage of the earlier aerobics classes. Mom, get prepared for this upcoming statement because I think you may stroke out…
I got up at 4:30 a.m. this morning to make a 5:10 am. spin class before going to work at 6:45. Tomorrow morning is the same thing except it is a 5:30 cardio class. It will be a little harder to get ready for work with only 15 minutes but I will just have to hurry and see how it all works out. I also have a workout buddy which was supposed to be there this morning except she stayed in Memphis last night so she didn’t make it. We will both be there tomorrow morning though! The best thing, I was off at 4:00 p.m. today…and I was really off the rest of the day. I’m at home at a decent hour and have all night to get things done! It’s amazing!!! Of course, I’m sure at 8:00 tonight I will crash since I was up so early but so far so good.

Another change may be happening at work that details will have to come later. Hopefully it will lead to good things… 

And of course, the upcoming bakery plans. Tomorrow we are visiting a retail space for sale downtown and will be planning, scheming, purchasing needs for the next year to open the best darn bakery in Conway! It’s an exciting time and the hubby and I are hoping that the changes and chances that we are taking now will end up leading to a better life in the future.

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Setting Goals - July 16, 2008 -

Setting goals in life is a key for successful people. It has given me small accomplishments in the past week and also gives me hope for the future. I haven’t been feeling so great recently as the blog entries have related. I haven’t had any particular reason other than the hum-drum of life pulling me down. As much as I abhorred doing the housework that needed to be done, I set a goal to do it a little each night through the week rather than my normal all day Sunday push. When things went to crap last week, it was nice to not have those piles of laundry facing me everytime I went to bed…having to trudge through the piles on the floor. It was nice to know I was getting closer and closer to finishing before the weekend. Then on Sunday, I worked on tidying up and it felt really nice. Those were small goals that made the outlook of the next week much more bearable.

While this week hasn’t necessarily started off any less bumpy at work, I haven’t had overwhelming duties at home to face since I bit the bullet and got it done last week. Now, I have a partner in crime that I am working on making our dreams come true…together. Two minds are always better than one, right? A bakery is in the works and we are putting our goals down in writing. We have lofty goals and we intend to share our wonders with the world! We are both excited about the undertaking but want to do it as carefully as possible. We want to do it right for the doors to open and have the word spread like wildfire. You won’t be able to resist our specialty cookies and cupcakes!!!

As for my food goals, I had a goal to increase my protein and getting my percentage of carbs, protein, and fat in better order. We are halfway through the month and I really felt like I was doing better. I’ve been adding whey protein powder to my morning cereal and adding a protein bar as my afternoon snack about once or twice a week. I pulled my monthly report today and things were both good and bad.

Last month: 53.6% carbs, 14.4% protein, 32% fat

This month (so far): 52.6% carbs, 17.6% protein, 29.8% fat

The good news is that I have decreased my carbs and increased my protein. The bad news is that my goal is to be at 20% protein and 50% or less for carbs. Without knowing my standings for the month, I think my planned upcoming meals are already going to help me. The hubby and I have begun to get into the habit of eating things like cereal, fruit, yogurt, and granola bars at night after the P90X workouts since it was late when we would finish and there wasn’t too much cooking going on. However, at the grocery store last night, I picked up some more meat filled meals. We are going to have steak fajitas made with an organic sirloin, german casserole with turkey sausage, shrimp of some sort, pork chops and kraut. So we should be adding a little protein to our evenings which should help me with my goals.

On another note, the reason I should be able to cook a little more is because the exercise program is going to change drastically. After completing Phase 1 & 2 completely and week 1 of Phase 3, the hubby and I have decided to call the P90X complete. We did it as religiously as possible for 6 months now and have run its course. I have officially joined Conway Regional Health Center here in Conway and the hubby plans to join soon. He is going to do his old routine again with new weights that he bought and continue to play racquetball for another month or so. Then, we may take advantage of the personal training sessions the center has to offer. I went for a free visit on Monday and took a 30 minute “core strength” class. I thought I was in shape until I couldn’t even hold a plank position for 15 seconds. As I sit here typing almost 36 hours later, my abs are throbbing. After the first 10 minutes, I was thinking what I had gotten myself into! We were going into a modified plank position (on our elbows) for 1 minute. The instructor announced 45 seconds to which I thought for sure she meant that we only had 15 seconds left in this position. Nope, the next announcement was 30 by which time I was on my knees, and then another announcement of 15 more seconds… followed by “get those backs straight and butts in the air!” OOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH
Then, if it could get worse, we moved onto the full plank (push up position). The same 1 minute. By the end of 30 minutes up until this point, I have known where my abs are everytime I breath. I think this is going to be a good change. Tomorrow morning… Fusion…whatever that means. And if I really want to punish myself…another core strength class!  

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Proud new owners - July 9, 2008 -

The hubby and I are proud new owners of a payment! No, really…we have purchased a 3 acre view lot 3 “houses” over that we plan on building our dream house in another decade. It will be a glorious house once we get around to building it with a full wall of windows along the back side of the house, very open floor plan, loft style upper room. It’s a beautiful house…in our heads.

I’m still not quite out of my funk but I see the light at the end of the tunnel in the form of a relaxing weekend. I have completed 3 of an estimated 6 loads of laundry to be semi-housework-free for the weekend. I will be off early on Thursday and Friday since I open to give me time to tidy up on the miscellaneous things around the house. Then, maybe a matinee of Hellboy…the hubby has been waiting for this premier since last year!!! I’m tyring to arrange a matinee and dinner with a friend I graduated college with and her husband. We have drifted apart the last 6 years and she now has 2 little ones but we see each other now and then at events involving sign language. She was actually a graduate that used her degree as opposed to myself. She and her husband had dinner with us once after we graduated and then came to a disastrous 4th of July party when we first moved into the hizzie in 2003. That’s the last official time we got together but everytime we see each other, we promise to make a date to get together. I texted her today to make it this weekend with Hellboy or maybe next weekend with Batman at the new theatre built in Little Rock. Batman is the first Imax movie to be released since the opening. We’ll see if it works out!

I think I’m just getting over the whole whirlwind of work, meeting high goals, trying to pay off debt, purchasing this land…just lots of pressures and now things are dying down so there is just this sense of now what? And the fact that I’m a budget kind of girl and we haven’t been on a regular budget for paying off debt and savings for a few months now. This is going to seem strange but it’s not the stress of not having money but rather having extra here and there, setting the goal and being within months of reaching it…over and over again. We made progress with the tax returns, then my work’s profit sharing bonus, then 1st quarter goals bonus, then the tax rebate check, now this quarter’s bonus coming…so much progress but still just not quite there. So I’m just ready to be officially out of debt besides the car, student loan and house (& now the new land) to be able to set a true budget.  It’s not a negative stress but a hurry up and be over with stress that makes me lose focus and become unsatisfied at work and with daily house duties. With these big goals on the horizon, how do you balance the everyday mundane things in life? That’s what I have to figure out and get off the roller coaster.

So things are good and I know it in my head…just have to figure it out in my heart. And plus I have the bestest hubby that is expressing his ever loving devotion to me and my current needs! I love you honey!  

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