Life update

This is just an update on things and how I'm feeling.
The exercise has been going well but I've discovered a new thing about myself. I've discovered that I'm not a fan of interval or circuit training, in videos, I'm okay with it if it's written down and I can take my own time and set my own time. Also I'm really not a fan of timed intervals but intervals with set amount of repetitions are better suited for me. What I really like is yoga, dance cardio, and martial arts style workouts. One of the things I realized is that sometimes I really don't want to workout but if I'm going to be doing yoga or MMA style cardio(both are part of the BeFit in 90 plan) I look forward to the workout, even if it is hard for me. So I'm probably going to be taking a break from the program and doing things like yoga and dance or martial arts style workouts. I might go back and finish the 90 program because I kind of feel like a failure for wanting to quit for now but I also know I shouldn't feel bad because as long as I am exercising I'm sticking with my goals. Plus I still haven't experimented with all the people that I subscribed to.

My diet has been the same. I'm not watching what or how much I'm eating but I am adding more wholesome foods like whole grain and organic. I'm still trying to kick all the chemicals out of my kitchen. Although I haven't changed much of my eating habits I have started to drink a cinnamon and honey diet tea. The tea is supposed to clean out toxins in my system and keep new fat from accumulating, it's not supposed to be a miracle tea but an aid in digestion and such. I've only been drinking it for only two days, I haven't noticed a difference yet, but I've not lost hope yet. Also I may not be drinking it right, I know I'm supposed to drink it on an empty stomach first thing in the morning 30 minutes before breakfast, and just before I go to bed. I haven't had the emptying effect yet but we'll see.

I've started doing home remedies I found on pinterest as beauty treatments. Most are natural and can be organic. I've found a new facial moisturizer that I'm trying, I want to stop using petroleum jelly. On that note I found a recipe for petroleum free jelly but it requires beeswax which may be difficult for me to acquire, but I haven't given up. Also I have been using coconut oil on my hair lately and I love it, I love it just as much as I love the tangle teaser. My hair usually soaks it up over night and it's starting to look more hydrated and lustrous. I'm looking for a way to improve the color, I don't want to dye it but I want my natural color to stand out more, need to do more research. I also want to find a better way to reduce my pimples, I know hydration, diet, sleep, stress, and the like so I need to work on all of these.

Shadow Ninja and I have decided to home school our children. I agree with him, I used to think that I would home school them but use public school as a resource but things that have happened and other parents talking about their experiences with public school. Especially stories from parents that actually pay attention to their children's school lives. I don't want to have to hear about my child getting in trouble for just being a free thinker. Also, I don't want to have to deal with things like other kids bullying my kid and teachers bullying my kid(yes, it happened to me in 3rd and 4th grade). Also I want her to develop her own strength and her own sense of self. I know I didn't have my own strength until after high school, and there are some things that I never would have done if I had though for myself instead of doing what people already thought or expected of me. I've been doing my research and the more I research the more I think that I can really do this. I can school my own children.

I have wanted to improve my time management for a while. I am a bad procrastinator and with Shadow Ninja on a random schedule, being able to create a schedule is difficult. I've come up with a way to keep up with my school work without waiting until the last minute. It seems to be working. I've been ahead in my homework and I even have down time. Now I want to add in time to do things like write, cook, craft, and design. I also need to work in time to teach my daughter the things she needs to know before we start pre-school. I really need to make time to potty train my daughter. Everyone knows that I try to make weekly goals or daily to-do list and I fail every time. I've read several time management advice articles and I know there's some things that I need to put on my to-do list until it becomes habit. Like going to bed, writing and crafting.

On that note I do really want to start writing again. I've never really finished any of my stories. I know I'm not that great of a writer but I at least want to get my stories out there. I've been wanting to set aside time to work on these stores and this blog. I want to start writing in a journal everyday just to get back into the habit of writing. Or typing as I am accustomed to doing. I like typing better because I can type faster than I can write, but I can speak faster than I can type so if I could get something like the dragon software it would be awesome. I've been thinking about re-writing fairy tales, I know cliche. I have two ideas to go on and I will probably do both at some point. One idea is to re-write the tales from another characters perspective, cliche, but I don't mean like from the villains perspective or the princes perspective I mean from the perspective of a completely made up character and that means changing the story a bit, I already have a premise for sleeping beauty. Also my other idea is to rewrite the tales in an urban or contemporary fantasy genre. The urban fantasy tales are going to probably take place in the same world so-as some of my stories could cross-over, for this style I already have an idea for beauty and the beast, cliche again. I really want to brush up on the original stories so I can capture the essence of what they were supposed to be and then turn it into my own.

One last thing I wanted to type about was where I believe this blog is going. I really don't know what I want it to be about, I have many interests so I thought I could just include all of these things in my blog. It's going to be a blog about my life. I am trying to lose weight, so I'm probably going to have  a ton of weight loss posts presently, but when I get tired of thinking about weight I might move on to my garden or my crafts or even hair and make-up. I might even surprise everyone with a post about books or my writings or even music that I see a good story with (if you know what I mean). One thing you got to know about me is that I love everything fantasy. Fantasy hair, fantasy costumes, fantasy settings, artwork and so much more so a lot of my stuff will be based around a fantasy style, except for those that can't be fantasy. Weird I know. I just want to make my blog my own and make it personal, same with my youtube channel, I tried to be like someone else and I just don't like it. I like making music videos and I might try my hand at it again(yeah my dinky slide shows). I've definitely gotten better at editing. I will just see where everything takes me.

February Goals (2013)

January Recap
I was able to keep up with exercising all through January. I'm up to day 13 on the BeFit in 90 program. I have only had 4 sodas this month so hopefully this next month I'll be able to drink more water. We've been good about shopping once a week, considering FIL has been sick so we've only been able to shop when Shadow Ninja is off work. Also we haven't had time to eat out either. I've been doing research about homeschooling Shadow Ninja and I are dead set on a home education, I've researched the NC laws so I don't think we will have legal issues, and I've found a group that I will probably join in a year or two.

Ten goals for February
1. Start weekly to-do list for school work
2. Start daily water tracker
3. Research different home school methods
4. Get up at 10 am or earlier everyday
5. Cook dinner 3 times this week
6. Continue BeFit in 90 program
7. Do 1 month 1 minute plank
8. Take measurements and body shots for weight loss progression
9. Eat half a plate of fruit for breakfast every morning
10. Spend an hour a day on Pre-K skills with Claire

Internet sadness

I try to make a lot of things from scratch. Lately I haven't been buying bread because I've been regularly making it. I've finally gotten to the point where I don't even measure how much flower I use, I go by how my dough feels. I still need work on my bread making but I get by.
I'm sad because I've been using one recipe that I found online a few months back. Just yesterday the person who posted the recipe on food.com took the recipe down, or the website did I don't know I just know it's gone. Now I'm kicking myself for not printing out the recipe when I had the chance because it was a really good recipe and I could change out all purpose flower with wheat flower without much change. Now I have to look for another good recipe but I'm smarter now I know to save recipes as soon as I can. I know that if we were in a grid down situation I wouldn't be able to look for my recipe so I have to print all the recipes that I'm going to use from now on.

On another note I got cabbage for really cheap yesterday so now I'm going to make freezer slaw. I hope it turns out well because I've never made cole slaw, much less freezer slaw. Hopefully it'll be good and it'll be enough to last until I grow some cabbage this summer.

These are the hands we're given
Keildra

January resolution part 3

I'm excited I haven't had a soda in over 2 weeks and I've been exercising everyday. I know I said I was going to start scheduling my workouts but I've decided to try the BeFit in 90 challenge. They give you workouts for each day and I after looking over all the days I think there is a rest day every three days (those will be my Yoga days). I was following the pop Pilates JaNEWary calendar but I can't really do hour long workouts so I'm going with BeFit's 30 minute workouts. Also starting tomorrow I'm going to start working on my planks. I currently do a cheater plank (on my elbows and knees) for 30 seconds so I want to work up to full plank and I want to be able to hold it for at least 1 minute if not more. I also want to work on my splits, doing split stretches, after I accomplish splits I'm going to work on improving my yoga poses(like crow, dancer, wheel, and a full headstand)
I'm still not watching what I'm eating and I've been failing at keeping a food journal but hopefully it'll all workout.
Now I'm off to bed so I can get up at 9 tomorrow and start the 90 day workout.

Resolutions part 2

My first resolution this year was to lose weight, like everyone else. I've been doing really good so far. I'm taking baby steps. Since December 29th I've been working out every morning. It's not been a regular workout, I've been doing what I feel like that day. At first it was one of the many circuit or interval workouts that I found on Pinterest but within the past three days it's been a thirty minute to an hour Youtube workout, whatever I feel like I have time for. I'm still sore especially my legs, I really want to do something that makes my abs sore but I haven't really found a good ab workout.
I haven't been watching what I eat but I haven't had soda since new years day, I have treated myself to a sweet tea but no soda. I have been buying better food and eating more cleanly but no calorie counting.
My only plans are to start organizing my workouts, 3 days of cardio, 3 days of strength training, and 1 day of active recovery. I want to make Sunday my active recovery day, restorative yoga and the like. I'm not sure what days I want to make my cardio and strength but I'll see to organizing that after I get into the habit of a recovery day.
I have plan to start putting more vegetables in my diet, less protein and carbs. I also plan to start counting how much water I'm drinking. I know I'm supposed to drink 64 oz a day or more but no more than 128 oz. I'm going to make sure to drink between those two amounts. I'm also starting a journal to write down everything I eat and drink.

Finally, I made a motivational board on pinterest. It's a secret board because none of my motivation really lead to an actual website just pictures on google or tumblr and I really don't want people to tell me my motivations are unrealistic. I know most of them are but to me it's not about looking like my motivation, it's about feeling like I believe they feel in the picture. I want to feel powerful and sexy. I want to feel like I can take on the world.

New Year's Resolutions

It's that time again, time for new year's resolutions. I know it's that time where I make a goal for the year and then give up half way through January. I'm going to try nonetheless.
First to talk about my big goals for this year, I only have two and that is to lose weight and to get more organized.
When I talk about losing weight my ultimate goal is to get back to the weight I was in high school. I was 120 in high school and I am 185 now, that's 65 lbs to lose, I would be happy at 130 and active. This year I want to get to 150 by my birthday, 35lbs by September 16, after my birthday is Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, I don't want to strain myself too much after my birthday. My plan of attack is to crowd out soda with water and green tea, add in ten minutes of cardio every weekday, add in more vegetables and fruits, and then add in muscle building and yoga. I have high prospects for this coming year.
Now organization, I want to keep my house clean and keep a schedule. I really want to keep a schedule because I want to be able to include time for creativity along with physical activity while still maintaining a household.  I really want to stop procrastinating in school, I really don't think I will have that much of a problem since I no longer have to take a networking class. Hopefully I will enjoy these classes more than the last ones. I'm excited because I start the gaming classes in the fall but I'm getting off track right now. Earlier this year I started a time type schedule that I am hoping to implement again. I'm going to start with a set sleep schedule I want to start getting Claire up by 8 but that means getting myself up and ready for the day by then. I already want to be getting up at 6 so I can be up before the sun.
I have other resolutions, I want to read at least 12 books on my book list, I want to successfully grow a garden, and I want to do at least 3 crafts successfully.
Looking forward to 2013.

December goals 2012

November ends today, it's funny because my husband's birthday is December first and we have so many plans that I don't think I would be able to get a December goals post in anytime tomorrow.
One thing I have to think about this month is that all my classes finish on the 12th, so finals are at the forefront of my mind but that also means after the 12th I don't have to worry about my classes anymore. What's so awesome about my online classes is that all my teachers have opened the rest of the assignments so I could finish early which I'm going to try and do. I have more goals than finishing up my classes, I also have goals that I should make for winter break, too.
For my Database class, tomorrow my writing assignment and my last exam is due but after that all that is left is the final project, which is not difficult should only take an hour or two of focused work (note I said 'focused'). I only have the final exam and skills assessment in networking and then I will be done. The class that I have the most to do in is programming, I've got the final project, one final chapter to do, and the final exam.
Aside from school I'm trying to start some traditions in my house for Christmas. One thing I want to do is a lot of Christmas reading, the only major Christmas themed books I can think of are 'A Christmas Carol' and 'The Best Christmas Pageant Ever' I'll have to do some more research into good Christmas books. I want to start A Christmas Carol on December 1st and that will be my first tradition, another tradition I want to start is reading 'T'was the Night Before Christmas' every Christmas eve.
I'm also going to start making some Christmas gifts for my family and neighbors and experimenting with some DIY, I was also going to make some plans for my blog and channel.
My husband and I are staying home for Christmas so one thing I need to do is make a Christmas dinner plan and a plan of how to spend the day by ourselves.
Some personal plans, I've decided to re-read the Harry Potter series so I got the first book today at the library so that ones of my goals.
Now for my December goals:
1. Finish Classes
2. Read 'A Christmas Carol' aloud to everyone
3. Read 'The Sorcerers Stone' to myself
4. Make hot chocolate mixes for neighbors
5. Make something special for special neighbors
6. Plan Christmas
7. Plan goals for 2013