I am a little bit weirded out that tomorrow is already February!

Here's my resolution list for the month:

​February 2021 Resolution List

1. Walk 12,000 steps a day on MWF’s, and 10,000 steps a day on T/Th.
2. Walk 20 minutes seven days a week
3. Sleep 7-8 hours a night.
4. Read 21 minutes a day
5. Renew Professional Development Specialist certificate. This is what allows me to be able to conduct CDA observations for early childhood educators. I’ve done a few now and have enjoyed it, so I am going to ahead and renew my certification to continue doing it. So this month, I’ll work on watching the videos, etc. that I need to watch to renew.
6. Housework M-F: I have a list of house chores I have assigned myself each day of the week. I want to maintain that list and do each “chore” every weekday.
7. Write in my one sentence journal each day
8. Keep the following 2020 resolutions going:

1. Work on paperwork each day (or as needed)
2. Devotional/prayer journal
3. Post in blog each day and Facebook group each day
4. Check and record blood sugar/record food intake
5. Continue drinking 80 oz of water each day
6. De-cluttering Monday-Friday
7. Work on creating classes Monday-Friday
8. Fruits (breakfast and supper)/vegetables (lunch and supper)

​Last year, one of my constants on my resolution chart each month was to record my blood sugar and what I ate (the good, the bad, and the ugly lol). I inadvertently left it off the list of 2020 resolutions I wanted to keep up with this year on my January list. When I realized, I thought, “Well, I’ve done it for a year, it should be pretty ingrained”. Um, WRONG! What I found out was that when I wasn’t checking myself every day to make sure I was writing it down, it didn’t always get done. I still checked my blood sugar consistently, but I forgot to write it down several times. And I missed entire days on writing down food. So back on the list it goes for February!
This made me think of Gretchen Rubin’s “strategy of monitoring” and how she talks about that you manage what you monitor. So obviously, I need to keep monitoring myself each day to be sure I am recording my food and blood sugar readings. Just writing the food down tends to help me make better choices and writing the blood sugar down helps me see trends. 

This week’s update on Happiness Project 2.0:

1. 11,000 steps MWF’s/10,000 steps T/Th’s: Since I moved things around last week due to some scheduling issues, I got over 10,00 steps on Friday, Tuesday, and Thursday and over 11,000 on Monday and Wednesday in the last week. Actually, Wednesday, ended up being over 13,000!
2. Walk 20 minutes each day: did this all seven days
3. Sleep 7-8 hours a night: five of the seven nights
4. Read 21 minutes a day: all seven days
5. Work on “Facts of Life” information: three of the five days I planned to (my goal is to work on it Monday-Friday). I believe I am almost done with it. I am sure I will come up with other stuff to add later. Next week, I plan to post about what all I have included in there so far.
6. Household chores: four of the last seven days (missed last Friday)
7. One sentence journal: every day.
8. Keep up certain 2020 resolutions:

1. Paperwork: four days
2. Devotional/prayer journal: every day
3. Post in Facebook group: every day
4. Write in blog: every day
5. Drink water: every day
6. De-clutter: four days (missed last Friday). The basement is looking amazing. I should have it done or mostly done by the end of February!
7. Work on creating new classes: four days (missed last Friday). I decided what my next webinar topic is going to be and started gathering resources for it.
8. Fruits/veggies: six of the last seven days

So..I did a thing yesterday and got a "new-to-me" car. It's a 2019 Buick Envision and I love it. I only hope it's near as good of a car as the Impala I traded in. That car had been fantastic and I am going to miss it a lot. 

I was trying to post a picture, but my phone wasn't cooperating with emailing them to myself so I could add it to the post. So I will just have to send pics to anyone who wants to see it lol. 

​Okay, I finally got the pictures to come through my email so I added them to the post!

This is another extremely busy week for me. I taught all day Saturday and Sunday in SW Oklahoma (bonus of that was I got to see my parents, sister/brother-in-law, and my grandma. ) 

I have a class tonight to teach in Norman and I am doing 10 hours of training Friday night and Saturday for a center in the OKC area this weekend. 

In between that, I am trying to get organized to do taxes and figure out how to get the tax info from the old computer onto the new computer so I don't have to re-enter everything into the program. Fun times. 

I'm getting close to having what I can get done in the basement done. Some of the stuff I need to figure out what I can do with it. I kid you not, I counted 19 cans of paint down there. Those have been there since we moved in here since 2005, so there's no telling how old they are. 

Can you believe it's almost February? I also need to work on my February list of goals! 

I have been asked several times in the last few weeks how much weight I have lost. Here's the thing, when I started on all of this, my goal was not to lose weight. My goal was to feel better and basically be able to cope with what I knew was coming with Tom. I knew I needed to get myself into a better place mentally and physically and that is what I did (and what I am still working on). 

I don't weigh myself very often. Scales frustrate me, they're so up and down. I mean you can weigh two mornings in a row and there be five pounds difference, sigh. I have set a reminder on my phone for this year to weigh weekly and I'll see how it goes. If I find it too discouraging, I will try for every two weeks or once a month. 

Of course, the side benefit of all this movement and improving my eating habits is that I have lost weight. So here's what I do know.

In February 2019 (almost two years ago); I weighed 308.2 pounds. 

In January of 2020, I was down to 291.4 (some of my journey started in 2019 but that was before I was writing about it all of the time and implementing consistent routines). 

This week when I weighed, I am down to 268.2; so about 40 pounds down from where I was two years ago and about 23 pounds from where I was a year ago. 

But I want to look at this more in terms of how I am feeling. Physically I am feeling much better overall. Mentally, I am also doing much better. Not saying the last year hasn't been a struggle because it has (especially the last few months). But the changes I've worked to implement in my life have helped keep me from going over the edge and for that; I am so grateful. 

I will not post about my weight very often, because that is not the goal here. The goal is wellness. 

Monday: 7706 (taught a class and then drove three hours home)
Tuesday: 11,801
Wednesday: 11,025
Thursday: 13,264
Friday: 10,649

The Cardinal


Looked out the back door,
Saw a cardinal and smiled.
Then burst into tears.

For the last few months, my blood sugar has been a roller coaster. Super high and super low and everywhere in between. I read that grief affects blood sugar which only makes sense because everything else in the world affects blood sugar lol. But since I upped my exercise/steps, I've dealt with more lows than highs. Monday alone, I had three lows throughout the day. Two of them while I was teaching. I've been adjusting my insulin, but it's a tough balance. Just please pray with me as I work on monitoring this and getting it under control. I appreciate it. 

​

This week’s update on Happiness Project 2.0:

1. 11,000 steps MWF’s/10,000 steps T/Th’s: This last week was a little bit different. I reached my goal of doing 11,000 steps three days (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) plus I got over 12,000 last Friday. I was teaching on Monday so I didn’t make it to 10,000. Today I am going to be on the road a good part of the day which is why I decided to get 11,000 T/W/Th this week.
2. Walk 20 minutes each day: did this all seven days
3. Sleep 7-8 hours a night: six of the seven nights
4. Read 21 minutes a day: all seven days. Did a lot more fun reading this week. I have been super busy and just really needed the fun reading during my reading time.
5. Work on “Facts of Life” information: four of the five days I planned to (my goal is to work on it Monday-Friday). Since I was gone all day on Monday teaching (and didn’t get home until about 8:00 p.m.), I missed that day
6. Household chores: four of the last seven days (missed Monday)
7. One sentence journal: every day.
8. Keep up certain 2020 resolutions:

1. Paperwork: four days
2. Devotional/prayer journal: every day
3. Post in Facebook group: every day
4. Write in blog: every day
5. Drink water: every day
6. De-clutter: four days (missed Monday)
7. Work on creating new classes: four days (missed Monday). I finished the new webinar I am working on and got it submitted for approval yesterday.
8. Fruits/veggies: six of the last seven days