The Queen of Unfinished Business

Yep, that's me. The Queen of Unfinished Business. I LOVE to start new things. I get the excitement, the rush, the passion to begin a new project, new book, new Bible Study, new workout plan (these are all the ones that are coming to mind right now because they are the ones sitting collecting dust somewhere). I start with energy. I start with enthusiasm and as time wears on and days and days pass by, my energy starts to fade. Heck, I have even forgotten most of my "New Year's Resolutions" at this point! It seems that life gets in the way of the things I want to do for myself. I find myself putting other things (the laundry, the screaming baby, the cleaning, the errands, the carpool, the obligations, etc.) all ahead of my own "list." My personal list that would allow me to have some me time. With a toddler and a newborn, who has heard of such a thing?? But I am getting worn down. I have never been the type of person of get any circles under my eyes from sleep deprivation and man oh man...if you could see me without makeup!!! I look like I just went 2 rounds with Mike Tyson. I am tired...so tired that I didn't hear the tornado warnings go off last week...and I'm a light sleeper!! My point is this. It's not just me being tired or other things getting in the way, although I love to use these as excuses. What is really boils down to is this- I get bored. The "sexiness" or the "newness" of whatever it is loses its appeal and I set it down, never to be heard from again. Well, my sister has inspired me this week. She is taking a fast from all things that distract her from God. She is setting down the internet, turning off the TV, cutting back on harmful things that go into her body (ie. fast and junk food) so she can recharge during this holiest of Christian weeks. I am inspired by her and while I am not internet or TV fasting. Caffeine is my lifeline right now so I probably won't be cutting that out either, what I am doing is taking something on to better myself. I have a fantastic Bible Study that I started weeks and weeks ago- The Frazzled Female. My goal is to pick it back up and if I can't complete it this week, I want to take a huge chunk out of it because I loved it so much when I was doing it. I am revamping my workout calendar, putting together something new for myself and am going to work hard to be diligent enough to make and take time to workout. My scrapbook that is sitting there that needs to be updated since Alaina's birth, yep, I am going to tackle that too and get caught up with the pages and events that have been going on. My sister, Jo, blogged about something that is sitting (at this exact moment) uneasy with me. It makes me uneasy because I am not doing it, any of it. She wrote about Seven Special Steps. 7 steps to a more fulfilled you...a fulfilled you in Christ. Things like: take time for rest (say what?!?), don't overproduce and spread yourself too thin (oops!), steward your energy and focus good 100% energy on a few things you should be doing instead of 50% energy of 400 things you are doing. Are you exercising and recharging daily (yeah, I'm not either)? So, it appears, my journey is never ending. It appears this journey to a new me isn't going to come easily and it's going to take a lot of effort and work, constantly. I need to be okay with that. So this week, my big prayers are for God to remind me to do what is actually important and to make time for the things on my list. Speaking of...I better get off here and get to work!!

So what is the goal here?

Good question....what is the goal here? What is my overall purpose and what are my expectations for my end results? Will I ever be finished? Before I tackle these not-so-easy questions, I actually have one for you: How did you do with my challenge for this past Sunday? Did you take advantage of your day, turn off the distractions and enjoy your families, hobbies or the weather? We did. I can happily report that after we got home from church we spent almost the entire day outside, and we all have the sunburns to prove it! This is also why I have been MIA from daily posting recently. I realized how MUCH I enjoyed not affixing myself to the TV or facebook. It was great and I have spent the last few days finding things to do other than these distractions. So now that beings me back to my blog post title. Yesterday after a super fun cardio workout on just a balance ball, Ben asked me what my overall weight goal is this time. Ideally, my ideal goal would be to weigh (and I can't believe I am putting this out into cyber-space) 105-108. This was where I was post-Connor, pre-moving. Right about the time I was running the half-marathon. I felt so confident and good in my skin. I worked hard but didn't beat myself up if we went out to eat and I had dessert after dinner. Post-move, post-baby, this puts me at about a 30 lb. weight loss target. I told Ben this and he just kind of looked at me and said, "Well, it's a goal to work towards." He's right, you know. Not that it is a goal to work towards, which it is, but that look that says "wow, you're being a little over-confident." He's right. I am being a little optimistic. I have lost 1 lb. so far, so says the scale at the OB's office. And it was that weight loss that made me change my "goal." My goal for weight loss after having 2 kids, being over 30 with a metabolism that hates me right now is to lose 1 lb. Yep, you just read that right. I want to lose 1 lb. And when I lose that 1 lb., I want to lose 1 lb. You see the method to the madness? Instead of shooting for the moon and beating myself up for taking steps back or falling down, I am going to wake up each morning and just put one foot infront of the other. Losing 1 lb. is going in the right direction and that it a fanastic goal for me. Ironically, during my run this afternoon I kept singing a little song in my head. Not a song actually, but the line from a song to keep me motivated. It's from Finding Nemo. It's the part where Dora keeps singing, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming." That's all I'm going to do here...keep my head above water and just keep swimming.

How much is too much?

Well, I would love to have something cool and exciting to update you on in my lifestyle journey....but alas, it is the weekend (and a gorgeous one at that!!) and we spent the entire day outside playing and soaking up sun. I guess, in a way, that is part of my lifestyle change. We didn't do anything today but spend quality time outdoors. We lived a slow life today and it was incredible. I guess that is actually where I wanted to go with this tonight....the joys of living the slow life, the simple life. I read something a few weeks ago that has actually stuck with me. The information came from a book on financial security but the reality is, this particular message rings true with every facet of our lives for the current generations. How incredible and amazing it is to me that this is the most advance civilization ever. EVER. We have more medicine, technology, communications, knowledge all at our fingertips. More conveniences than ever before and yet we are the most depressed, overly medicated, unhealthiest, most financially irresponsible group of people. So many people want to quick fix, the fastest way to the results they want. This is why so many people try all those fad diets, play the lottery, go to the doctor for EVERYTHING and demand a pill for EVERYTHING. What happened to good ol' diet and exercise? Eating in moderation? Instead of playing the lottery and wasting your money on the "come on lucky 7's...momma needs a new pair of shoes" every week why aren't we living within our means and stashing away money into savings accounts and retirement accounts? What happened to preventative medicine? Instead of taking more and more drugs why aren't we taking care of ourselves in the first place? It is jaw-dropping to think about how quickly technology has advanced in the past 50 years...we can't even keep up! The second you figure out your new iphone, there is a new model out. So again I say, take a minute and slow down. I challenge you to spend your Sunday (tomorrow) enjoying your family. Really soak up the slow life. Find peace in a technology-free day and let me know how you do!

Change of Mind

This afternoon while I was running around the house, picking up laundry, decorating Alaina's room (finally) and sweeping and moping the floors, I thought about what my blog topic would be tonight. I, at first, wanted to lament about "the curse of the second child" and how slighted they seem to be because of their birth order. Maybe I will save that one for another time. Then I was definitely going to talk about post-pregnancy. The mushy tummy feeling that you have no excuse for since there isn't a baby in there anymore and that need to want to look and feel better. I will definitely get to that one...possibly tomorrow. As the night has worn on and my Facebook continues to explode with comments, posts and links about the government shut down, I changed my mind. I decided to change my topics and talk about stress. Praise the Lord that Ben and I don't live paycheck to paycheck anymore like some couples we know or like we used to live on an E4's salary. Trust me (you non-military readers) when I tell you that the pay, especially for lower enlisted soldiers, isn't anything to write home about. It is certainly more of the attitude that you get minimal pay and great benefits. I can't imagine the stress that some families are feeling right now. I can't imagine the anxiety seeping through all parts of the world, especially our men and women serving in a combat zone. Goodness knows they don't need to worry about the stresses at home since they have enough on their plate with, oh I don't know, piddly little things like keeping themselves alive!!!! The last thing they should have to start worrying about it where the money is going to come from to feed or house their families and they are 10,000 miles away. I am sad that the state of the Union is so poor that this is what our country has come to. We have let pride's, ego's and, realistically, stupid and poor planning turn our great nation into a joke. If the government of the United States of America was a business, it would have been bankrupt years ago. Corrupt as all of Capitol Hill has become, what is more disgusting than anything is that men and women who aren't getting paid will still continue to serve admirably. They will still go to work at 5:30am. and get home after dinner, missing seeing their kids for days on end. They will still miss birthdays, anniversaries, special days because they are out training. They will still deploy. Some will come back with a purple heart, some won't come back at all....and this is first group of people to get the cut. This is first group that Congress decides should be the leverage and negotiation point to get their stupid bills passed. Awesome way to show your respect for all these people have done for this country and way to remind us how important we are.