The New Year

Things are moving right along.

The two previous months before our visit to Beaumont found Darcy sick and at the doctor's office repeatedly. A week in Beaumont, she was right as rain. Now, sick again. Except this time, Lily and I have it, too. I'm beginning to wonder if it isn't something in the air up here that's making her sick. The doctor said that cedar is bad this time of year. Cedar? Who in the world is allergic to cedar?

I did not make any resolutions this year, just recommitments. Is that the same thing? We recommited to our budget and the first ten days of the year have gone pretty well. We had a problem that was affecting two areas of our life: money and eating habits. We were eating out too much. I mean scary, too much. I mean the wait staff knew the names of my kids, too much. And it was hurting our budget/bank account/waistlines. Stop eating out, kill two birds with one stone. The first ten days have gone well. We've only eaten out once and that was with money that was specifically set aside for that purpose. And it felt good in a way that I cannot describe to pay with the allotted cash. Of course, what didn't feel good was finding out that the trip to the doctor today cost nearly $200 instead of the $100 that was budgeted. My kids always need their shots in January, but it always helps the deductibles get met fast. But with a little "creative accounting" all is well again.

And since I am cooking more, I am personally eating less. I am actually thinking about what I'm eating. I'm not officially doing WeightWatchers or tracking Points, but I have a fairly good idea what I should be eating and I am mostly sticking to that. It's working a lot better than my usual method of eating everything in sight and wondering why I can't seem to lose any weight. In addition to "watching" what I eat, I am working out again. I didn't go tonight because there were multiple meltdowns going on and I intended to be in bed long before now. I should have just gone. However, I have lost 6.5 pounds in the first week which makes me feel good. My muscles are busting out. Now, if I could just tolerate enough cardio to slim down so the muscles didn't have anywhere to hide. All in good time, I think.

And FlyLady. Can't forget her. I am actually shining my sink. I did it a couple of times in Beaumont, but I never did it here. Now, I'm doing it here. FlyLady wrote a big long thing about not "skating" by. She said that if I wasn't going to shine my sink then I shouldn't even be a member at all!! Well, I couldn't stand for that. So, I started shining my sink. I've even got Brian doing it, too. If I could just get him to wipe the cabinets and the table, but housework done incorrectly still blesses.