Well, I’m still a little out-of-breath trying to keep up with my New Year’s Resolutions.  Also, returning from the holiday break back to real life has been a BIG shock and I’m struggling to get back on track, thus why I don’t have a “Who’s Creating? Wednesday” feature today… I’m so sorry. 

However, I thought I could take today to write about all my New Year’s Resolutions madness because I’m sure you’re all dying to hear about it (lol, probably not, but writing down what I’m doing will help keep me stay accountable to continue).

Ok, here’s the basic run-down of my New Year’s Resolutions:

• get fit and healthy
• get and stay organized
• take better care of my housework
• ditch refined sugar for good

In line with this, my word of the year is “abundance.” I want to focus on all the abundance in my life and strive to live in a near-constant state of gratitude.  Honestly, I am overwhelmed with how blessed I am.  If I was homeless but still had my husband and three children I would still consider myself blessed beyond what I deserve.  Our family (as many families in America are going through) has been in really difficult financial turmoil for the past two years.  It’s been very stressful, but a lot of blessing have come from it, especially that of me finally having the courage to take my entrepreneurial dreams and act on them.  This month we’re particularly stressed, though, as my husband’s work contract is ending and he’s joined the masses in search of a job.  He’s applied for a lot of good ones, so we know good, well-paying jobs are out there, but we have no reason to suspect that he’s being considered for any of them yet.  Every day we hope we’ll hear the phone ring to call him to an interview.  Soooo…. we’re “livin’ on a prayer” and trying to replace our fear with faith.  By focusing on “abundance” in our life I feel much more peaceful about our situation and know that no matter what happens, it will be the Lord’s will and we will be okay.

During the Christmas break, my husband and I went through all the toys in our family room and pulled out the ones the kids don’t play with and threw away the broken-beyond-repair toys.  Then my husband built some great shelves in our big family room closet and we snagged baskets from all over the house and organized all the toys so that the kids just pull out a basket of toys and then have to clean it up before getting out a new one.  I thought we’d have to get childproof locks on the closet doors to get this to work, but so far it’s being going great without them!  Our family room was always the messiest room in the whole house and now it’s staying really tidy… heaven!

To keep myself on track with all my goals, I’ve put together a pretty tight schedule for my weekdays.  Here’s a basic rundown:

• 5am – wake up, grab a snack, exercise and then go shower and get ready for the day
• 6-7:30am – check and respond to emails and write blog post(s) for the day while my kids are starting to wake up
• 7:30am – start cooking breakfast for the kids
• 8am – serve and eat breakfast, get kids ready for the day (bathed and dressed)
• 9am – art or learning time (I’m a BIG believer in the importance of kids being involved in art so we usually pull out the paints, crayons, markers, etc. and get creative for a bit together while listening to fun music like Jack Johnson’s Curious George Soundtrack)
• 10am – housework time (each day rotates as to what housework I do during this time covering laundry, cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors and vacuuming)
• 11am – prepare and serve lunch
• 12pm – put my 20 mo/old down for her nap and then get my older kids involved in some sort of quiet time activity and then I can get to work on design projects and all the other work I have to do
• 3pm – 20 mo/old wakes up from nap and we have a snack, afterwards I play with my kids and we have fun together
• 4pm – start preparing dinner
• 5pm – serve and eat dinner
• 6pm – clean up the kitchen and then have family time
• 7pm – get kids ready for and into bed
• 8pm – get myself ready for and into bed -> detox time so that I can relax and read
• 9pm – asleep

Do you think I’m just crazy for mapping out my time like this?  Part of me wonders if this is really nuts, but so far it’s working really well.  It’s made me realize that I just don’t have masses of amounts of time to work like I had mistakenly believed before.  Also, when I go to bed at night I’m not stressed about all I didn’t get done because I just do the best with the time I’ve allotted things to take and have to plan better my work projects.

And just for a quick “woo-hoo!” moment I should mention that I have not ever been a person that exercises regularly… never.  In fact I “tested out” of gym class in middle school and high school (by taking golf and bowling lessons – can’t believe that actually worked) to get out of exercise because I hated it so much.  Now, however, it’s gotten to the point where I’ve got to take better care of myself.  So, for Christmas “Santa” brought me two Biggest Loser workout DVD’s that I’m using to stay on track.  I rotate each day between the “Boot Camp Workout” and the “Weight Loss Yoga” DVD and it’s AWESOME!!!  I’ve exercised NINE days in a row (minus resting on Sunday, of course)!  Woot!!!  This is a big record for me.

Also, my family is doing a Biggest Loser competition to get us all motivated to take our extra pounds off and get healthy.  We’re weighing in every week and have to put $1 into the pot for every pound we gain during the next 6 weeks (since the idea is to LOSE pounds).  I just can’t afford to gain any weight, lol.

So, next time you see me, your line is: “dang, girl!  You look amazing!  Have you been working out?” (yes, I do want you to ask even though you know I have been).

How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming?  Do you have a word of the year?  I’d love to hear about what you’re doing!

Even though The Biggest Loser has been around for awhile, I had never actually watched an episode until this current season.  Now… I’m completely hooked.  Every time I watch an episode I leave feeling more inspired to take care of myself and push the limits of what I think I’m capable of.

Along with my obsessiveness over the show, I found Jillian’s – one of the trainers – website, JillianMichaels.com.  She has a lot of really great tips and solid motivation to remind me to continue pursuing my fitness/wellness goals.  I want to print this picture of Jillian – from her homepage – and put it on my fridge or somewhere in my kitchen to remind me that she’d kick my butt if I ate that whole bag of chocolates, especially in one sitting.  It’s also a good reminder that her recommended lifestyle choices really do work… cuz she looks freaking fantastic.  However, even with Jillian staring me down in my home, I still have felt like I need something more to help me stay motivated and make great choices.

Thank heavens for Jillian’s creativity to make a fitness/wellness program on her site.  I signed up for the free week and loved it.  You get a weekly meal plan that includes breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.  I was in a big rut on what to fix my family for mealtimes and this resource has been invaluable.  I love how the recipes are really simple and quick to pull together.  They’re also not made with a bunch of crazy and expensive ingredients, so most of it can be made from food I have on hand anyways.  My family’s favorite recipe is the cottage cheese pancakes.  Yes, I know, it sounds kinda nasty, but they are AMAZING.

In the program you also receive a daily fitness plan that’s tailored to your weight loss goals and lifestyle.  Let me give you fair warning, though: it kicks your butt… seriously.  Her whole system is built to be able to do everything in your home – no gym needed.  My husband is a really tough guy who is generally really fit and muscular (yes, I’m bragging a bit – he is a hottie and I love him like crazy because he’s amazing inside and out).  He looked at the recommended workouts and thought it would be a piece of cake to do it with me.  Not only was it not easy, but afterwards he said, “I haven’t struggled with a workout so much since football practice in high school.”  At that time I was on the medium level of fitness and have since moved it down to the easier, just to stay motivated.  Easy level ain’t so easy either, but it’s not as difficult for me to do on a regular basis.  It’s so cool to have a program every day to follow to know exactly what exercise I should do that day.  I love how I don’t have to leave my house and how the workout she recommends burns more calories (like double the calories, in fact) than running for 30+ minutes, cycling and many other hard-core, popular exercises.

I may sound like a spokesperson for the program, but I haven’t been paid to say any of this, I’m not an affiliate and I’ve paid for my membership fee into her program (VERY affordable, by the way, especially when compared to a gym and a trainer).  Honestly, I truly do appreciate Jillian’s ingenuity in making a way for work-at-home moms like me to be able to effectively manage their exercise, diet and wellness.  I’ve only scratched the surface, but the whole program is seriously awesome.  I’ve been so excited to share this that I thought it was definitely appropriate to feature her and her program here.  Being well helps us all to be more able to create.  Wellness breeds creativity.

And what better time to get going with our wellness/fitness/diet goals than right as the holidays are starting?  In a way that seems kind of painful, but truly all that tempting crap really is momentary pleasure that we then spend the rest of the year working on removing from our rear end.  I bet you’re thinking that I’m some crazy exercise nut, but the truth is that exercise and wellness have never been easy for me.  I’ve never been physically fit.  It’s hard for me to see myself really making these big lifestyle changes, but I am confident that with Jillian’s help through her program, it really will happen.  Her program helps me see how my goals are attainable and the methods are manageable.  {insert *sigh* of relief here}

Are you a Biggest Loser fan?  Have you tried Jillian’s program?  Do you believe “wellness breeds creativity?”