Project 52 Update

Well, glory be, believe it or not, I'm finally getting around to Project 52. Here it is, closing in on March, and this is only the second or third update. Oh well, the year is still young.


For some reason, setting goals seems to be much more difficult blah uninteresting uninspired unimportant ...as you can see, I'm having a difficult time just coming up with the right word. Not sure what it is exactly, maybe it's just all due to moving, and my goal list has been put on the back-burner.


With that being said however, there are a few goals which can be crossed off the list! And, after all, that is the whole point of making a goal, being able to cross it off the list, and being able to look back on the year's accomplishments.


#1. Find my (rough draft) list. It has been found. I thought it might have been  lost forever during the move, but it appeared almost out of nowhere. 


#2. Finish the list - as you can clearly see, this has not been accomplished!


#3. Reach my goal weight. This has been accomplished, for the first time in my life. I finished my second round of the Hcg diet in mid-January, so now the test   will be to keep it off.


#7. Move into a new house. This has been accomplished, although it is far from being completed. We are making progress, and the rooms are actually starting to look like rooms and not a storage warehouse. The washer and dryer are hooked up and running. We have a working toilet and a small sink. And we have access to a shower in the basement. Hubby is diligintly working on plumbing today so we will have water in the utility sink in the basement. (Please God, let this be true!) There aren't too many things that he hates working on more than plumbing. Currently, I don't have water or a sink in the kitchen. Let me correct myself, I do have a sink in the kitchen, but it is not hooked up. Hubby bought me a farmhouse-style sink, but it can't be installed or hooked up until the rest of the lower cupboards have all been installed. Oh, it's all quite a frustrating mess, and we find ourselves going round and round in a vicious cycle, trying to get the top priority things finished first, but there's always something else that needs to be completed before that one thing can be done. And, on top of all that, there is the usual "where the heck is _______? I know I saw it somewhere, but where that is, I do not know!" I hope that I will still have my sanity when all is said and done! If you are wondering why we have moved into this sad state of affairs, the short explanation is that we were forced into it. It was not our plan. 


I will be posting some pictures soon, (or later!), but first I have to locate the camera wires for downloading onto the computer. Actually, I may have already downloaded some pictures. Hold on while I check... 

Living room - Before

Living Room - After

Other end of Living Room. I ended up painting the
bookshelves brown. They look much better.

Dining Room - After
I always have to have a yellow room somewhere!

Our Bedroom - After
Blue and planning to have yellow accents.
My favorite color combination.

Jennee's room

Kitchen - It looks much more put together now.
The cupboards are actually against the walls
and not in the middle of the room!

Shared office space with Hubby.
(Hopefully, he won't regret it!)
My area is in the back by the window. He gave
me all the extra kitchen cupboards for my crap
craft and card making supplies.

When everything is put in its place, I'll give you another update. And, now I must get back to work, and start putting things away! Have a happy Monday.

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Project 52

I've been sitting at the computer for nearly three hours, and I'm just now getting around to blogging. That is so wrong! Of course, blogging should have been the first priority!

Here it is Monday already, and time to give a report on Project 52. I'm sad to say that I have not found my original list. Hard to tell what happened to it. I'm positive I put it in a place I was sure to remember, but, of course, I have forgotten where that place might be. I even did some cleaning, and it never showed up. I suspect it might be hiding out with Papa Smurf.

Papa Smurf showed up as a Christmas present for Sweetie Pie. At first, she wasn't too sure about him, but she later befriended him. I mentioned in an earlier post that I had to play "Go fish" or "goldfish" as Sweetie Pie calls it, with Sweetie Pie and Papa Smurf, and I came in last place. Yes, Papa Smurf beat me at "Go fish"! I don't want to talk about that humiliating experience. It was the following night at bedtime that he went missing. Sweetie Pie was looking for him and he was nowhere to be found. We looked everywhere. The night is not happy when a tired little girl can't find her special new friend. I'm pretty sure that Papa Smurf came to life and ran away, taking my Project 52 notes with him, because neither one has made their presence known.


I have done #5 and #16. I know it may seem like cheating to put those two things on my list, but I like to be able to see that I'm making headway early on. Hubby and I also had our first date night in quite awhile. We went to see the Sherlock Holmes movie, something about "shadows" was in the title. As you can see, I don't get too bogged down with trivial things like titles. Any way, we enjoyed the movie, but the winter weather was rolling in, and so we didn't dilly-dally too much in getting home after the movie.


I'm going to keep looking for that darn list, and in the meantime, try to remember what some of my brilliant goals for 2012 are. 

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Project 52 - Part 2

Last week I gave you some perfectly logical excuses explanations on why I have not crossed out the top 11 items on my list. Today, I'll continue with the last 12. Of course, the only reason that I know I have not reached these goals is because I made a list in the first place. Note to self - rethink this goal making list thing for next year! I'm only kidding Karen and Jennee! I have actually started to mull a few things over and over in this little brain of mine.


Okay! Now, on the the excuses explanations!


19. Invite friends over for dinner once a month. This one is a little embarrassing...it turns out I don't have any friends to invite. I know I could invite you, and you would come, I just didn't think you would want to travel that far for one measly meal. Let's make plans for next year! I do have a somewhat good reason for this one. Hubby did a lot of traveling back and forth, so by the time he got home for the weekends, things were just too hectic and he was too tired, and, it just didn't work out. I did invite one couple, but what worked for us didn't work for them, and vice versa, and we never did get together. But I at least made an effort.


20. Take a cooking class. Once again, I made an effort, if you consider cutting the advertisement out of the paper and looking at it for, say, six months, an effort. There were several classes that looked enticing, but it all came down to scheduling and that peskiest of pests - money. 


22. Exercise 3 times a week. What possessed me to make that a goal? Oh yeah, I made this list out in January, and I wanted to lose 30 pounds. Turns out, I lost the weight without exercise. How sweet is that??  I've been exercising for 40 years. I'm kinda tired of it. 


23. Find 365 "Do Not Fear" verses in the Bible. This is a work in progress, and I hope to have it finished by the year's end. I heard someone say that there were that many verses, and I instantly visualized a little calendar with a verse for every day. I'm clever like that. So, I decided I would see how many I could find. I did the Evelyn Woods speed reading technique of running my finger down each page of the Bible. If I saw the words "do not fear" or something close, I wrote it down. I did not find 365 verses, but I am working on copying the verses down that I did find. And, I will share those in a week or two.


24. Get through an entire P90X workout. Again, I don't know what possessed me to even want to get through an entire workout. (Other than those 30 pounds.) I have a faint memory of doing a few of those workouts, and it seems I came close to getting through at least half of a workout. If you are curious about my effort, reading this may put your mind at ease, or give you a good laugh. (You'll notice I made it all the way to January 17!)


29. Make get-well cards and send them out. I made one get-well for my little Sweetie Pie when she was sick, does that count?


35. Drink more water. We all know what the result of this one is. Run, run as fast as you can, unless running also causes a problem, then just walk as quickly as you can with your legs squeezing together. This is not easy, but it can be done. 


36. Organize atonement notes. I think I'll just save this one for next year.


49. Save money for new clothes in a smaller size. Actually, I have saved a little money for this one. I'm just waiting until I reach my goal before I spend it.


51. Make a decision and buy something I like. This one may never be crossed off. Mainly because I can never make a decision. It is because I am so multi-faceted and like so many different things that I can never decide which particular thing I might like best. Or, that I might like something so much that I would actually buy it. But this is what usually happens - I see something that I really really like, but, it happens to be too expensive. So, I settle for something I kinda like but can afford. Do I want something to be bright or subdued, traditional or eclectic, new and shiny or shabby chic? (Actually, I would go shabby chic, but Hubby thinks all that stuff is junk. He likes new and shiny.) 


52. Print off old blogs. This is another one that is a work in progress. I have quite a ways to go to completion. For some reason, my printer won't print off the pictures in  my blogs. 


So, there's the run-down of how my goal list is failing  coming along. I did get a lot of cleaning and organizing done this past year, and Hubby is very thankful for that! 


I'm already starting my new list. I can think of about 20 things already! Even if you're not a goal oriented type of person,(I'm not!) consider joining me and Jennee and Karen in 2012. It's been fun. And, it has helped me see that, even though I didn't accomplish everything on my list, I have, in fact, accomplished several things which would have been forgotten, if they had not been on my list. 

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Project 52

Well, here it is, another Monday, and a rainy Monday at that. It is time, once again to report on my goal failure or success. While scanning my list, it seemed I was doing pretty good because I have a lot of things crossed off. So, while patting myself on the back, I wrote down the few things that I haven't accomplished, to get a better look at them. You probably didn't know that I was talented enough to pull something like that off. Oh ye of little faith!


Well, surprise, surprise, I've barely accomplished a little over half of my goals! This is not good. Not good at all! 


So, if it doesn't bore you out of your gourd (that word has been on my mind lately, thank you Mrsurpole and Theme Thursday!), I will give you a list of my excuses logical explanations on why there are still so many uncrossed items.


1. Lose 30 pounds (we will ignore the "by March" part!) Technically, I'm very close, but I haven't been on the scales since before Thanksgiving...that's all I have to say about that! Comprende?

3. Manage my time better - So, I have been sitting at the computer for almost two hours this morning, and I'm just now getting around to blogging. Sigh. Stupid Spider Solitaire. 'Nuff said about that.


4. Improve my blog - This is a hard one. I'm hoping my content has improved :) but there are also some things I wanted to do to my blog, but for some unexplained reason (spider solitaire) I never seem to get around to getting it done.


6. Start card ministry - I guess it's not too late to get that started, but I haven't even made Christmas cards yet!


8. Finish NC photo scrapbook - It would be very helpful if I actually printed off the photos I want to use.


9. Finish my Vacation Out West scrapbook - (Same reason for #8 - and I should have said START my Vacation Out West scrapbook - not saying that I did start it.)


12. Be better at leaving comments - Actually, I think I have done better on this one, so I'm going to cross this one off. Hold on while I do the crossy-off line.


14. Be more compassionate toward others - This is a hard one to measure. Can you ever reach a point when you say "I am compassionate enough" ?


15. Read the Bible daily - Why is this one such a hard one to do? If I don't start out first thing in the morning, it never usually doesn't get done. I always go in spurts. Sometimes every day for a while, then, I get busy, and.... sigh. 


16. Become more informed on politics - I think I've improved on being informed.(Luckily, I didn't say "Remember".) However, I felt a little stupid when someone asked the question,"Name a country that starts with the letter "u"? Hmmm, what country starts with "u"? Thinking, thinking. Uganda! Oh, let's try, United States of America! USA! USA! (DUH! On second thought, I felt A LOT stupid! Fist to the forehead.) So, that alone, disqualifies #16 from being crossed out. 


17. Learn more about the history of our country - The country called "United States of America"! I have ordered a book called "Being George Washington" which I can't wait to read.


18. Get Passport - I did get the application for my passport, but I haven't filled it out, because I'm not even sure where it is at the moment.


Well, this concludes the excuses logical reasons I have failed to cross these off my list. Stay tuned for next week's edition as I conclude my list!

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Project 52 Week - Whatever

I don't know what week we're on, but I do know that the year is quickly coming to a close. 

It is time to give the list a good lookie-see and hope and pray that I have something to cross off.


Oh yay! I can do the strike through three things.

#2 - Read 10 books. (Technically, I'm two chapters away from finishing book #10, but I promise to finish it today! 
Book #8 - Mini Skirts and Laughter Lines was written by my good friend Carol Wyer. I highly recommend this book. It's a hoot and a half, and I promise that you will love it.

The next one I get to cross of is #28 - Travel somewhere new. Now, don't assume that this means I went anywhere exotic. This has been my "only if I don't go anywhere exotic" option. A month or so ago, Hubby and I traveled up north to a little town with the quaint name of Geneva-On-The-Lake. The purpose was to do a quick painting job for Hubby's brother, before they moved into their new house. It seems everytime we paint for someone, we have about 2 days to do something that should take a week if done correctly. Anyway, after a hard day of painting, we decided to drive to the lake and eat our supper. As we drove, we enjoyed the fall colors on the trees that lined the road. We arrived at the lake just as the sun was starting to set. We congratulated ourselves on our great idea to have a picnic by the lake.  We spotted a couple, sitting on the beach, enjoying the sunset. We grabbed our food, set it on the picnic table, and were immediately attacked by about a million mosquitoes. Those stupid things were everywhere! We flailed our arms all around, trying to eat just one bite in peace. It was not possible. It was a complete and total disaster. We ate a bite. Swatted mosquitoes. Ate another bite. Cursed and swatted. No romantic supper. No romantic sunset. 


I did manage to get a couple of photos in spite of the mosquito attack.

If you look really hard, you can see the lighthouse

Too much zoom makes for a fuzzy photo

The moon was awesome that night

I'm going to go ahead and cross off #33 - Start cooking through the hundreds of recipes I have saved and never made. Technically, I did start cooking. I didn't get very far, but I did indeed, start.


Well, there you have it. That's my quick run-down on my goals. How are you doing on your goals?


Check out Jennee and Karen and see how they are doing.

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Project 52 and the HGC diet

I have been slacking quite a bit with my Project 52 updates. August was crazy busy with canning and pickeling everything under the sun! September has been busy with traveling and cleaning up the outside to get ready for w-i-n-t-e-r!


I LOVE Fall, but I sure hate what follows it! Now, I must admit that the past two or three winters haven't been all that bad (for me), due to the constant stream of hot flashes that I had been having. Since I was always so hot, I thought Hubby would appreciate it if I did my part to save some of his hard-earned money by keeping the thermostat set at about 62 degrees. Unfortunately, while I was quite comfortable, everyone else in the house was freezing!  However, today, I'm sitting here with goose bumps all over me, and the temperature is 60 degrees, outside! I'm starting to get nervous that "hotflash season" may be over, and I'll be back to being the ice cube I used to be! 


That had nothing at all to do with Project 52, but, I was on a roll!

The Number 1 goal on my list was to lose 30 pounds. Ten (or twelve) years ago, my goal was to lose 10 pounds. Five years ago my goal was to lose 20 pounds. Do you see a pattern? I have been going the wrong way for quite some time. The "Face the Moment" came when my normally short and stubby fingers started looking more and more like sausages. I had to pull off my wedding rings before they started cutting off the circulation. Not good.


Although I had been able to lose weight before, since entering the "Big M" stage of life, it just was not happening. My size 12 jeans were getting tighter and tighter to where I could barely breathe. Hubby and Amazing Daughter have always fought the weight issue due to super slow metabolism. 


But, this summer, at a family reunion, we discovered a miracle! One of Hubby's seven brothers had recently lost 34 pounds in a ridiculously short time. Now, you may balk at some of the things I'm going to tell you, but you can check it out for yourself. They had read a book, "Fat2Fab" which is available only in Kindle form. We don't have a Kindle, so I just got my info online.


The secret is a hormone called: hCG. And, it is a miracle. It's inexpensive,it's safe, and it works. I repeat, it works! I just now came across this link, and it has excellent information if you want to check into this further. When Brother D said, "They don't recommend exercise while on this because of the low calorie intake." , I was sold. Ok, I just focused on the "don't exercise" part and not the "low calorie" part.


But, I'm getting ahead of myself. This diet was first discovered by Dr. A.T.W. Simeons back in the 1950's. (If you want to give it a try, do your own research. I checked it out, but when it comes to recording facts, I might possibly forget something...) If you want all the scientific reasoning, you might want to buy the book. Or, you can go right here to read quite a bit of info.


We bought our drops at the health food store for $19.95, much cheaper than anything you'll find online, and we got great results.

So, in a nutshell, this is the diet: Days 1 and 2, take 10 drops three times a day. Eat like crazy. Yes, you read that right. Glut yourself. It's called the "Loading Phase". We quite enjoyed those two days. Because on Day 3, you start the Very Low Calorie Diet of 500 calories a day. Yes, you read that right. But, before you start spazzing out, I will tell you that with the drops you don't get hungry. Well, you might get a little "hungry", but you won't be STARVING! The hCG also helps you lose fat from your fat storage areas and not lean muscle areas. There is a very strict list of foods you can eat, and you MUST NOT STRAY from this list. No cheating what-so-ever! With that being said, I must say that this has been the easiest diet I have ever been on!


This may sound a bit unbelievable coming from a sugar/chocolate addict, but the things I craved the most were more vegetables!


Breakfast consists of black coffee or tea. One tablespoon of milk is allowed, if you don't like your coffee black.


Lunch and supper: 3.5 ounces of protein (weight before cooking), 1 veggie, 1 fruit, 1 melba toast. Everything is to be cooked in water or grilled. Grilled burgers, grilled steak, grilled chicken! Who's complaining? One day each week, I measured/cut the meat to size, then grilled everything all at once. Makes fixing the meal a snap! There is no restriction on salt, pepper, or other spices, so we never ate bland food. 


All day: lots and lots of water, coffee, or tea.


That's it.


Here are some examples of what we ate:

Fresh Tomatoes with Basil, Grilled Chicken, Orange

Lettuce Steak and Orange Salad

Chicken, Green beans, and Apple

Fresh Tomato with Basil, Steak, Strawberries

Spinach Steak Strawberry Salad with
Balsamic Vinegar and Melba Toast

Asparagus, Chicken, and Apple

Asparagus, Grilled Burger and Apple

Drink lots and lots of water, tea, or coffee - a gallon!
My system for keeping track of liquids was to put a
button in the dish for every 16 oz. glass I drank

Something else that may surprise you is that there were many times when we were completely stuffed after eating. Ocassionally, we would have to save our fruit to eat later. We were just too full to eat it! I am not kidding!

 Stay on this regiment for six weeks or until you've lost 34 pounds, whichever comes first. Since the three of us are doing this together, we're following Hubby's lead. He lost his 34 pounds in five weeks. (Brother D did it in three weeks!!) Amazing Daughter and I are at 23 and 21. At that point, stay on 500 calories for two days, but discontinue the drops. I was a little worried that I would be starving, but, I (and Hubby and Daughter) have made it through without any problems. 

The next phase is two weeks at 1500 calories, which now sounds like a feast! I think you work up to 1500 calories, and it is recommended to stay away from sugar and carbs. Following that, go three weeks of just eating. This is to re-set your weight and metabolism. When we finish the program, we should be able to eat whatever we want and not gain any weight. If we do find ourselves gaining more than a pound or two, we're to eat a steak and tomatoes. I can handle that. Brother D stayed within a pound. When that phase is finished, and  if you're not at your goal weight, start all over again.

Do you want to know how good those drops work? Someone offered me these brownies. These were more than offered, they were left in my kitchen! I was not even tempted! I am a true chocoholic! I have stashes of chocolate everywhere! I even put my nose down close and inhaled deeply. Nope. Nothin'. I wrapped them in plastic wrap and put them in my freezer, where they are still sitting! Now, that is sayin' somethin'!

A temptation that I overcame with NO PROBLEM!
(Peanut butter and chocolate brownie)

I had to make a quick stop at the local Goodwill Store, and bought a couple pair of jeans in a size 10. They are loose on me. My wedding rings are back on and are not cutting off the circulation! Whoo hoo! One more phase should do it for me, and I plan to reach my goal. I have never, in my life, actually reached a goal! But this time, I know I will!

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Project 52 - No clue what week

Yes, it's been a loooong time since I did a Project 52 update. The truth is, I haven't had too much to update about. Let me take a moment to gander over my list and refresh my memory.....


Oh yeah, how could I forget? Well, I am making some exciting progress on the dreaded #1. I'm not quite halfway there, but almost. 


And, I can add two more books to my list. It seems like I read three books, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was. (And, it's possible that I could be dreaming, and only imagining that I read three books...)


So, these are the books I've read, and can remember the titles of:

Both are excellent books and very educational. I don't even want to tell you how long it took me to read "Founding Brothers", but it was ridiculous. The reason it took me so long to read is because I read it at the worst possible time. Bedtime. I intend to re-read it. (So, can I still count it?)


The current book I'm reading is the newly released:

This is a very entertaining and hilarious book. I'm loving every minute of it. If you need some laughter in your life, I highly recommend this book!


And, here is the list of books I intend to read, at some point, hopefully (haha) before the year is up:

I've got some work to do!


Here's a little clue on what I've been doing this month:

It's been a busy, busy month!

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Project 52 - Week 25

One of my Project 52 projects is to educate myself, especially in politics and history. These subjects never seemed that important when I was younger, but now that we have an administration that seems hell-bent on turning us into a socialist country, those subjects now seem vitally important.


The only way we can prevent history from repeating itself is to be educated in these areas. 


Freedom! (I always picture Mel Gibson in "Braveheart" when I say "freeeeee-dom"!) I love this speech, and if I did this correctly, you can listen and be inspired also.



Slight digression, there. 


Truth and knowledge set us free. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to be as educated as possible.


We can educate ourselves in many ways. Formal education is an option. However, the cost of a college education is astounding, and the percentage of liberal professors is even more astounding. The cost of a college education is up over 900% since 1978.  Self education is another option, but not if you plan on getting a degree. The answer may lie in the third option, which is taking online college courses such as this one.


We all have busy lives, and one of the great things about online schooling, is the flexibility it offers. I'm not working on a degree, but online courses like this one  provide valuable resources that are attainable and affordable.



Are you keeping focused on your goals? Join in the blog hop at Cheap Therapy or A Peek at Karen's World.

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