"It's Spring?" or "Snow Out My Window"

Snow Out My Window

Well here it is spring, but it hasn't sprung. Here in southwest Michigan it looks like winter has struck again. So instead of working outside on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, I'm stuck inside. The weather was so icky that I didn't even want to do my grocery shopping. So instead of pouting I pulled the shade down and tackled my office project. With all the heavy lifting done (Thanks to my dear hubby and son) I can now move on to more detail oriented items. I have a before pictures somewhere and will dig them up on a later post. It is a pretty intimidating space, the previous owner was a chiropractor and I imagine it was his office. Someone dabbled in woodworking and there's a whole wall that is a glass display case with cupboards. This as well needs to be updated, I'm just drawing a blank on how to do it at the moment. The space doubles as a guest room, well, not a room really just a twin bed. It works out beautifully for me since I work at home more than I have company. (I've had a teleconferencing position with a work at home company for nine years now.) I work about 15-20 hours a week, and what can I say? It's a steady paycheck at the very least. It may even fund the new clik clak couch I want for the space. So, with a little backstory revealed I'll add that I had placed my furniture in a traditional layout that just wasn't doing much for my inspirational juices. 

I had the twin bed sitting in front of the window and my humongous executive desk stuck in the only available corner. With my back to the door and the window I felt like I was a child again, admonished to the corner for 5 hours a day. So I struck out on pinterest looking for suitable home office layouts to no avail, apparently most people place a small desk at the window. This would expose my back to the door and I have never been fond of being in a symbolically vulnerable position, not in public, and not in my house. I desired a position of authority and control over my environment, so I reached the conclusion that I would use the more traditional office executives layout with the desk smack dab in the middle of the room. Being there I could let my creative juices flow freely and no be unawares when the cat decided to execute a sneak attack. 

With inspiration hitting me from all directions now, it's time to put away all the odds and ends, complete my filing that's piled up, and get to work with the hodge podge of the decorating process.  I have pictures to reframe, a family history display to compose of us and our relatives that served proudly. A dream board to construct, some greenery (fake thanks to my plant eating felines) to put together. I'm putting a deadline on the basics of this plan of 16 days. I'll highlight in my next post my timeline flowchart, ideas, references and pictures of before and after.  

On a side note, and trying not to sound like a nutjob, I'm initiating this new office layout to help facilitate my power of intention. It is my intention to run my/our finances with the thought process akin to running a successful business. After all that's what we all desire in life, financial success. So why do so many of us let our paychecks control us? Instead I believe we should control our paychecks just like Fortune 500 companies control their businesses. Do you pay attention to your finances, daily? Weekly? Do you have goals for your income other than paying bills? Wouldn't that be considered a business plan of sorts? If you have goals in place are you picturing yourself achieving these goals? (This is where the dreamboard comes in to play). So from time to time on our little journey of organizing the home office I may take a jaunt to a more spiritual frame of mind and draw upon great writings for inspiration. These writings will include greats like, The Bible, The Secret, The Power of Intention, and others. Feel free to comment or question I just ask that you keep it friendly and clean. 

Until next time. 

(apologies in advance for not proofreading this article, I'm a little rushed). 

I'm Ready!

Doesn't illness bring you down? Here we go again. Take two (more like two hundred and fifty seven.)
Tomorrow I return to work and I am taking back my life. I have 20-somethings trying to live a dorm life in a real house and as a result, I've allowed them to basically suck the energy right out. My aunt persuaded me into letting the maids go, I'm rehiring them tomorrow. I'm not rich by any means, but the time I save cleaning allows me to concentrate on other equally important things. Plus I really do not enjoy cleaning up after ungrateful people. My thought is that instead of dwelling on the pig pen-ish look of my house, I'll have someone who doesn't care focus on the cleaning and I will focus on the organizing. We moved into this house 2 years ago and it's high time that the moving in is completed. My first task, taking my office and turning it into a cute office/guestroom. I need to replace some furniture and make due with some pieces that are past their prime. I think instead of tackling cinder block walls behind the 80's paneling, I'll take some kilz and seal it then find a nice neutral color to compliment our Naval family history display. My biggest decision will probably be; popcorn ceiling stay or go. Leaning towards "stay" for now.
  It is my intention to return in a day with some before pictures and cost/time analysis. Like I said before, not rich so get ready for a multitude of hacks. Until then, have a blessed day! My author friends will be happy to know I'm back. Wink wink to my fave creative mind!

New update on it's way.

OH. MY. GOSH!

Is it really the second week of February tomorrow? Well if you're anything like me in the procrastinating department you are in the same state of shock I am. I haven't got anything done this year yet! I could blame it on menopause, or depression, or fibromyalgia, all of which fall into the classification that is me. I'm trying hard not to let these things weigh me down and define me as a person. It's a daily struggle. As a Gulf War vet, I have seen the syndrome study and it's pretty scary. All of my symptoms fully line up with the symptoms of this illness. My father in-law thinks it's all a bunch of hooey. Just another excuse for people to get free money. I suppose that's why I've delayed in going down to put my name on the registry. I wonder how much of the symptoms are really related to things like getting older, fatter, and less active? So here it goes:

We're going to annihilate that preponderance. Time to step up to the plate and remove my physicality from the equation. I used to be an ACE certified personal trainer, so I have the knowledge. It's all there in my head. I now have the gym equipment in the basement, a few workout videos, and tons of online freebie resources that I love.  I'm hoping I have the drive to see this through. Half way through typing this and the voice in my head is saying, "Yep, surrre you do. You just ate half a pan of carmel brownies in 3 days." Time to shut that voice up, because today is a brand new day! I'm going to add all the motivational hoopla up and put it in one place. That way I can help others achieve what I am achieving and promote my favorite fellow do-gooders in the process. Stop listening to your inner voices, the naysayers in your life. Believe that you can. I won a free t shirt from Coach K's website which states, "That voice in your head that says you can't, is a liar!" It's a mouthful, but totally true. Shut down that voice with me.

Join me on my challenge won't you? I already am stacking up the people in the support group. My two college girls are on board. They're taking on their own challenge at school. The son is in as he's needing to refocus his energies on losing more weight and being more physically fit for Naval boot-camp in June. I warn you to be cautious of your enablers. Identify them and learn to deal with whatever it is they sabotage you with. My worst one is my husband. He loves saying things like, "I love you the way you are." and "I didn't marry you because you were skinny." ...wait, does that mean he thought I was fat? Because, I was not fat when I married him! ...whoa, see how that could have spun me in the wrong direction. He just has never had to struggle with his metabolism, he works in a very physical job, and is outside a lot. So he brings in the chips and the doughnuts, and whatever else he wants to eat.

I'm putting his shenanigans to bed and moving on, setting my goal compass to it's true north. My goal is not to change my husband, it's to change me. I know for a fact that exercise helps depression more than any med they could prescribe you. That eating healthier shows positive results in overall well-being and appearance. I will keep using the supplements that I feel I lack in my diet for now, and I definitely won't be changing any of my meds without my doctors say so. Personally I have found that there are plans out there already in place that I agree with and they have free resources that I will occasionally link here. My intention for my readers is not for them to deem that what I do is what they should do, they especially should not make any major changes in their diet without their doctors supervision.

If you have a question you want to pose, I will certainly put my best foot forward, and if I can't answer it I will direct you to the person I think is best qualified to.

For now, I'm going to put into place a nutrition plan. I have found that making sure you have a well balanced diet is the first step. So instead of learning to cut foods out of your life, familiarize yourself with the AHA diet guidelines. Then make yourself a food log. First simply record everything that passes between those luscious lips of yours then start planning out in advance what you want to eat to meet your goals. I found in my own personal experiences that when I planned out my days food prior to that day I achieved my goals a lot easier. It also saves a lot of time. You can find AHA guidelines  here. You can also see one example of a meal plan that uses logging as one of it's principles at Body for Life,  here.  Also located under the "tools" section of that site is a log you can print out if you want to put pen to paper. If tech is more you, then visit this next site. Spark People has free mobile app you can use, go here for free membership and tons of info! Last but certainly not least is my favorite web coach!  Coach Koz at Hasfit. He has youtube videos, a following on facebook, and tons of motivation gear and free meme's!

Times up for today, do your research and come back tomorrow to see where I'm at on my journey! Thanks for stopping by.

Merry Christmas

Christmas time has come again!
Decorating, cleaning, working, organizing, making up the Christmas cards, baking, cleaning, shopping lists, cleaning, holiday music, taking care of the animals, cleaning, doing laundry, making Christmas crafts, cleaning, repairing old decorations you can't bear to part with, cleaning. Does this sound like your life? Sure sounds like mine. Oh wait, ha! It is mine. Just remember to take time out for yourself in all the hustle and bustle, It's OK to take a bath and relax, or hide out in the basement and do some meditation. Then get back to the grind, knowing that it'll all be over soon, and you'll be wondering where in the world the time went. Reach out to long lost relatives and friends by dropping a Christmas card or two. We have got to support the USPS by continuing to use them or the price of mailing a letter is going to be astronomical! Plus don't you love when someone sends you a card or hand written letter. You never know just how much it'll mean to someone.
I enjoy reaching out and jotting down a note on my blog now and again, but hopefully I'm spending more time living my life than in front of my computer telling y'all about how I live my life.
I'm hoping to start up on my blog again after the new year with little tidbits and  short cuts that make everyone's life a little better. So if you're out there and you're reading this and are wondering about something, or have an idea for a project, hit me up and we'll work on it together. I'm really excited about this spring when I start on my BTE gardening. If you haven't heard about the Back to Eden gardening, and are interested in gardening more than weed pulling then google it and watch the movie. There are forums on facebook and everything to keep in touch with everyone else that's experimenting with this ingenious way to garden without all the hard work.
I'll leave you with the craft that I did for Christmas this year. I bought clothespins from the dollar store, spray can of white primer, some acrylic paints, a fine tip sharpie for the details, scraps of yarn and felt and some magnets. I recommend you spend the money on a full sheet of 8 1/2 x 12 magnets with adhesive from Promag. (more on this product later). They're an American manufacturer out of Ohio. I found their product at Shopko and am currently doing some testing for them because I ran into some issues with what I bought and how I was using it. I'll do a full write up review on my next blog as soon as my product testing is concluded.
I hope you all have a happy holiday, a very merry Christmas, a happy Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or solstice. (whatever it is that you may celebrate). Peace be with you all.
God Bless.

Finding Mojo

I think I lost my mojo. I go through the day lethargic. I have outbursts of anger that sometimes don't have any justification. The little things are driving me nuts. The daily monotony of housekeeping is driving me mad! Where did my happiness go? For that matter, I would be content to just be content again.  Does this sound like you? Well the first step is, "Take a step!" that's it, get moving! I looked up the effect that exercise has on a depressed mind and you'd be surprised. In an article posted online by the APA they stated that, "After four months of treatment, Blumenthal found, patients in the exercise and antidepressant groups had higher rates of remission than did the patients on the placebo. Exercise, he concluded, was generally comparable to antidepressants for patients with major depressive disorder." You can read that article here. So if you think you may be depressed but don't want the ugly and harmful side effects of a prescription medication, start an exercise program.
Easier said then done? I've got a few responses for that excuse. In the same article it is proposed that, "When people exercise above their respiratory threshold — that is, above the point when it gets hard to talk — they postpone exercise's immediate mood boost by about 30 minutes, Otto says. For novices, that delay could turn them off of the treadmill for good. Given that, he recommends that workout neophytes start slowly, with a moderate exercise plan." My next response addresses the fact that what keeps us from doing it is, in fact, an excuse. Too many times in our daily lives we talk ourselves out of doing something that could be beneficial to us. For the worst of reasons we self sabotage our good intentions. I'm too lazy, I'm too tired, It's in my DNA to be this way, I'm too busy. I have better things to do, or (and I have found that way too many of us use this one and don't even know it.) I'm not important enough. I have to put my family/friends first.
You may not think that way deliberately but your actions may speak volumes. It's time to take some stock in your life. If you don't take care of you, you can't take care of anyone else. Personally I don't really care how long I live so longevity is not really a concern of mine. (This is probably another side effect of my depression). However, I do know that I am important in my family. I do a lot so that they can have more time to do what they want, but I may have ended up with doing too much for them. So I will start to lead by example.
I can address things that trigger my depression/anxiety and hope that you find some content that you can apply in your own life. Let's get started. Now! Not later.
With all that said, I have developed a plan. #1 daily exercise, #2 daily goals, #3 retrain self sabotaging excuses, and #4 positivity.
I've posted on this blog some of my favorite sites that inspired me when I started jotting down my thoughts. They're still some of my favorites. Regarding fitness, I've found that people use the excuse that they worked hard that day so it counts as exercise. I hate to burst your bubble but it doesn't. Just the fact that your mind was somewhere else when you were doing that negates it as exercise. Now if, however, you've gone into the task with the mindset of exercise, that's a horse of a different color. Remember if you do it that way, proper form is a must. Vacuum lunges, here I come, however that alone does not fulfill my "leg day" requirements. So plan accordingly. Speaking of plans I'll end each day filling out the "Body for Life" diary. On this effective little form is a spot for goals every day. You'll find it here. It doesn't cost anything to peruse this site and check out the cool forms that you can use for your own goals. All these resources can be found in their library. Retraining oneself of excuses and negativity is a tough one. My inspiration comes from several different places that you may not think go together. I think they do, so all I can say is find what works for you. God is my number one resource for finding inspiration to change. We all are working to become the best at being ourselves, I do it for the glory of God. I believe that's my purpose so a daily dose of meditation and reading the good book is where I start my morning. Bible Gateway is a good source of many different versions of the bible if you are so inclined but don't have one of your own. Other places I go are not listed on my page but if you are interested here they are. The Secret, even if you don't buy into it lock stock and barrel just watching the video changes your perception about your life. The other inspiration I've found is a fellow Detroiter turn motivational speaker, Dr Wayne Dyer. I found him while watching a pbs telethon and have followed his teachings ever since. Even if just to get a daily dose of inspiration. Excuses Be Gone is one of my favorite audio books.
So here I go, I'm not going to say I'll start tomorrow, for clearly I've started today. I will share my diary tomorrow listing my goals and progress. If not for readers who may stumble across this site, but for myself because I need a shove in the right direction.  Until tomorrow!

Welcome back!

Thanks you dear readers for reading the latest and welcome back! You are in for a whole new adventure, so much has happened since my last update. We found, purchased, and moved into our new home. It's pretty rural, very large, and located on one acre. My goal is to make our little plot of land not only beautiful, but functional as a major contribution to sustaining our family. The vegetable garden is all plotted out and I'm excited to share it's progress with you. As it is so late in the season much of the garden will be postponed until next season. This summers focus will mostly be on the flower bed in front, and possibly a patioish area out by the barn. I'll be posting pictures and details of different projects both small and large soon. There's much to be done in this house as it's in need of major updating, but I love it. I'd like to start posting twice a week, with my first post hitting the net this Friday. So stay tuned!
I hope you all had a blessed July 4th!

First on the list is my office, shown here in the picture when the house was listed. This is pre-Woolley, standby for the subtle changes as we take over.

Nutritional Resolutions? This blog's for you!

For those of us that are tracking one thing or another in our diets, I wanted to do a quick comparison on a breakfast toast topper that I'm always debating on. Which would you think is better, hazelnut spread or peanut butter?
Peanut butter VS hazelnut spread
The ads on TV tout that hazelnut is much healthier than plain ole' peanut butter. Let's check those facts.
I used Berryhill hazelnut spread and peter pan creamy in my comparisons. I found it very interesting that all the websites are off by a bit on what they're showing the calories and fat counts to be. They're showing a lot less on the Internet. Look at the "real" label when logging your food. If your logging your food the difference could be detrimental
Hazelnut: Serving size 2 Tbs, Calories 210, total fat 14g, sodium 20mg, total carbs 19g, fiber is 1g of that, and sugars 18g, protein is 2 g. Looking down at the ingredient list Sugar is the number one followed by vegetable oil, then hazelnuts (13%), it goes on.
Peanut butter: Serving size 2 Tbs, Calories 210, total fat 17g, sodium 140 mg, Potassium 180 mg, total carbs 6g, fiber is 2 g of that and sugars 3g, protein 8g.
Vitamin wise iron is 2% in peanut butter and 6% on hazelnut, with hazel beating out peanut by 4% in the calcium, but peanut makes a come back by adding 10% magnesium.
My take on all of this is....both are horrible to put on my toast and I won't use either of them again except in recipes. It doesn't matter, if your counting calories, if your tracking salt, checking out your carb intake or sugars, trying to meat a protein guideline...bha ha ha...get it "meat", there are foods out there that are higher in protein value.
What is even more disturbing during all this research is the fact that NUTRITIONAL VALUE SITES HAVE INCORRECT INFORMATION!!!
Every single site I found had hazel coming in lower in fat and calories then it actually was! Note to self, don't take the easy road, look at the actual label yourself!

I am blogging this because I wanted to reiterate how important it is to track things that pass your lips. Whether it's supplements, food, or especially drinks such as water. Do you know how much water to drink in a day for optimum health? Take your body weight and divide it in half us that number and add ounces behind it. That fact is the most up to date and accurate information that I've found. I googled the question thinking that maybe the first lady's new campaign on drinking water for better health would be one of the top responses but it wasn't. That's kind of disappointing, but runs along the same little pattern today of the Internet not being accurate and up to date. I credit my information coming from many sources, I looked them up on US News, Doc Oz, interestingly Webmd is still showing the old 8 8oz glasses of water. So there again, web info very sketchy. Dividing your weight in half has been around for more than 5 years now. Is this a new problem that we're going to continue to run into. Books can be updated and get rotated out at the library. The Internet, it's up there forever, never updated, just hanging out waiting for the collective consciousness to pull it back down into popularity. Not very comforting stuff is it? My suggestion, take your health into your own hands. Log your foods, and use the most up to date information, get it straight from the source. Having peanut butter toast, read the label, having a burger at McDonald's request their information at the counter.
Stay informed and attain your goals!