Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Looking Back

June 4, 2019

When I started reading the book “thirtysomething at thirty” by Scott Ryan and had just finished a lot of reading, I closed the book and thought, “I wish I could do it all over again”. And right then a couple of tears fell down my face knowing that it can never be – I’ll never get those days back. Watching thirtysomething gives me a kind of way to re-live those early days of marriage and motherhood and I’m glad of that. It was a much simpler time in my life (although at the time I probably didn’t think so). I was in my own world doing the best I could as a stay at home mom with three little boys, and when I look back on those years – they were pretty good.

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Weight Loss Goals vs Other Goals

June 3, 2019

This thought keeps coming up with me – if I can (fill in the blank) then shouldn’t I be able to lose weight? One of my counselors even brought it up. So I’m here to talk about my other goals and reaching them and find the lesson in there.

Let’s go simple – Animal Crossing. Yeah, the Nintendo game. I’ve played almost every version since it came out and I love it. Right now I’m playing AC New Leaf (I got it almost 6 years ago) and have every bug, fish, fossil, and art piece giving me a complete museum. I’ve played all the island tours and have got gold medals on all of them. I set a goal to get all the gyroids and made that goal. I’m now working on clothing items and after that finish getting all the furniture. How do I do it? I set little goals for myself and then work on only those until I reach them and then move on to the next goal. Takes some time, but each goal I reach makes me happy and brings me closer to the ultimate goal – finishing the game.

OK this next goal is a little different – housekeeping. I decided to get my house in shape back in 2002 (I think it was before the twins came along) and found Flylady. That was back in the days when it was simpler than it is now but I digress. Every time I went to the bathroom I cleaned a drawer out, organized it, and wiped it out. I took each room one drawer or one surface at a time and in a few months things looked much better and I was proud of my efforts. Here it’s not just a small goal, but one small action at a time. A little bit of work for a bigger payoff later.

Back in 2009 I decided to get out of debt and had a goal of mid 2011 to reach that status. I came up with a plan (debt snowball), backed it up with all the collection agencies (which was a hell unto itself), and reached that goal. It was something that I knew I had to do and there was no other way around it. So in that case it was a kind of emergency. Sure I could have taken a lot longer to get it done, but I didn’t want to do that – I wanted out of debt soon so I could enjoy life again. It was hard – really hard – but the payoff has been wonderful. Losing weight can be an emergency if it threatens your health in which case you really have to do it. You have to make specific changes to get results. Right now my health is not great and I know my weight plays into that. That said, one thing I have been doing is drinking more water – a crucial habit. The payoff? I feel better, sleep better, and have lost a few pounds. So, this route could be helpful for kicking bad habits to the curb.

So there you have it – three different goal settings and how I reached those goals. What have I learned?
- Set small goals and when you reach that goal set another one.
- Do a little each day – every little bit adds up to reach your goal
- Declare an “emergency” and what the most pressing issue is and get that done.
OK – well I guess it’s time to set some goals then! I’ll take a day or so to think on that and get back with you. Or maybe I’ll keep it to myself like my son did. I had no idea anything was going on until he started posting pictures of himself running in races. The results were amazing! I want results and if I want them bad enough I can do it! I know it.

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What I Read In May

June 2, 2019

It’s time to recap my reading from last month. It wasn’t much, but here goes.

I read a novel! Yes – can you believe it? I read “The Elegance of the Hedgehog” by Muriel Barbery. Okay, I didn’t read ALL of it, just most of it. It’s got two story lines going – one written by the main character and one written by a 13 year old girl. I only read the story line of the main character because she is the one I identified with. She is a concierge at an apartment building and she is 56. I did read the last entry of the girl but only because it was the ending of the book and tied up loose ends. All that said, I really enjoyed it. A very quick read, insightful, funny, sad. It was good. I would say more but it would kind of give the theme away so I won’t. But if you’re like me and feel you’re a little less than – you may like this too.

I’ve already mentioned I read “Kitchen Yarns” by Ann Hood so I’ll add a little more here. It is a memoir of Ann Hood’s life up to now (just published this year) and the food around her life. It’s a quick read – I blew through it in 3 days – but it gives food for thought as well as recipes. You may need a kleenex from time to time though – like most memoirs it is happy and sad. I that. I could relate to a lot what she said because we grew up in the same eras – 60s, 70’s, and 80’s – so that was fun to relive. The one recipe I know I am going to try? Swedish Meatballs! Yeah, like the IKEA kind. I am needing new recipes and this looks like something everyone in the family would like.

OK – spiritual reading. I finished the Gospels, Acts, Romans, and 1 Corinthians. I am now in 2 Corinthians and will probably finish the New Testament by the end of summer. I picked up Fr. Oscar Lukefahrs “We Live: To Know, Love, and Serve God” which is really based on Part 3 of the Catholic Catechism. So, I’m reading a chapter of that and then reading the corresponding chapters in the Catechism. And amazingly, it all works with the New Testament as well – a perfect round of spiritual reading. So, that will continue until the end of summer and then we’ll see after that. I may jump to Year 5 in “Read Your Way to Heaven” which is prayer. Or I may continue with the theme of Life in Christ until Advent with my own reading selections. We’ll see.

Looking ahead, I’m reading “The Messies Manual” by Sandra Felton. Along with “Sidetracked Home Executives” I read this one when I was a young mom in an attempt to get hold of my housekeeping skills. It just didn’t make sense though and I fell into the trap of needing all the right tools instead of actually cleaning and making routines. At least I finally got that right.

So, that’s my reading for last month. Not a lot, but what I did read was good. We’ll see how I do this month – I have books upon books I’d like to read and maybe it’s time to make a list for summer reading and work on that. It’s a thought. Happy Reading!

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May Update

June 1, 2019

May as in the month not as in weeeel, I might update. And I might not. :-P

So it was a wild month from start to almost finish and I’m glad it’s over. Mostly I wish I could go somewhere to stare at water for an undetermined amount of time. I’d have to be back before August though because that’s when the new school year starts for my two youngest daughters. So, here’s what’s been going on.

Family – My oldest daughter graduated from high school last Friday and the Kleenex truck has been parked in my driveway all month. It is another transition for me as much as it is for her. I bought a couple of books on how to deal with the grief of the empty nest so I’d better start reading those as my twins will graduate in 3 years. My oldest son came out from CA to visit as well – much fun was had by all.

The Weather – OMG – my town has had over 20″ of rain just for this month alone. The flooding here has been unbelievable and will be ongoing even after the rain stops (if it ever does – we may need an ark soon). And let’s not even discuss all the severe weather we’ve had – it’s been a long time since we had weather like this and I guess our number was just up. I am looking forward to a dryer summer.

My Clothes – OK – I’ve not posted all the things I’ve wanted to say about my quest for a new wardrobe, but I will say here that I’ve been trying Stitch Fix the last few months and the jury is out. I’m not really sure it’s for women over 50 at all and may very well not be for overweight women over 50 as I am. That said, out of 4 boxes (20 pieces of clothes), I’ve kept 4 clothing items and a purse. That’s it. They are really good pieces, but I was hoping to get a little further down the line on this wardrobe thing. I changed stylists again so I’m hoping this one “gets me”. Update to follow.

My Beauty – The ongoing saga of a woman and aging facial skin that can’t make up its mind. I now know that it’s dryer in the winter and gets wetter (not so much oily) in the summer due to the humid weather. After my Fresh products ran out I decided to start using my backlog of stuff but nothing really great. So, I’ve got a Sephora order with only Fresh products poised to check out as I speak. We’ll see if I pull the trigger on that. What I need to do is get to an actual Sephora for a skin care consultation. And once the weather improves (and our car a/c gets fixed) that should be on the table again.

My Sanity – I read something recently that makes me think I’m suffering from chronic stress. Rarely do I have times anymore (and certainly not in the last 30 days) that I feel relaxed. I don’t even know if I know what it feels like. It’s just not something I do well. It seems that I’m always on the go and my mind is always in fight or flight mode depending on what is going on. I just don’t feel I’m getting anywhere. I’m trying to keep moving forward, but right now I want to come to a full stop for about a week (or more) to assess the damage as it were. I wrote a list of all my stressors and it’s no wonder I feel like I’m stuck. I need to figure out how to deal with those things and maybe then I will be able to move forward. And relax.

My Fitness – At least there’s a positive side here. My oldest son gave me an Apple Watch for Mother’s Day and we are both synced up on it for fitness accountability. Now wasn’t that sweet? He’s had an incredible weight loss journey so it’s time to make mine. So far so good! Most days I climb 12 flights of stairs (that’s due to housework), and I walk and stand plenty. The only thing I don’t have is dedicated workout time so I’ll be making room for that. Also – due to all the water I’ve been drinking – I’ve lost 2 more pounds! This is a long time in coming and I believe I am finally ready for it. I have my reasons for wanting to lose weight and they are all good ones.

What I’m Reading – It was a dry month for reading and I’ll make this a separate post. However, I will say that I read Ann Hood’s “Kitchen Yarns” this week. It’s a memoir with recipes and I love those kinds of books. Ann is not much older than me as well, so I relate to a lot of her memories (hello 80’s!). More on this later.

And that’s a wrap. It’s been such a crazy month and I’m ready for some real summer downtime in June. I would also like to start decluttering the homeschool bookshelf as well since most of the books are for younger grades and the fact that I am not homeschooling anymore.

I hope your May has been better and, if not, let’s drink a toast to sunnier days ahead in June. Peace be with you.

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» 2019 » June » Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Looking Back

June 4, 2019

Weight Loss Goals vs Other Goals

June 3, 2019

What I Read In May

June 2, 2019

May Update

June 1, 2019

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