Closing out the year

Took a relaxed approach last week but with the laziness comes the guilt.  And the cupcakes.  I do love that funfetti frosting.  Man oh man is that stuff good. lol  So this week I'm closing out the year with double-duty on the workouts.  I have to burn the cupcake calories and make up for lost burn-time last week.  I have some new dvds for this week that I have yet to try so I'm looking forward to it! A couple of my beloved Ellen Barrett workouts for this evening to start the week off right.

I'm ready for a new year.  I'm ready to cut out the bs, cut out the fat, avoid people and conversations that don't bring anything positive to my life.  I've started taking steps to battle the stress, the stomach fat, the high-strung/on edge constant that circles over my head and my middle.

 The kids and I are eating better (though they are still two fickle eaters...seriously...how can you eat an italian bmt with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, onions, oil & vinegar and mayo and not eat a variety of "simple" foods?? lol)  I have one salty/sour kid who also needs dessert after every meal and one strong/savory eater who also has her mommy's sweet tooth.  Thanks to Dinner Done I now have less to come up with on th entree front but that means I need to be more creative with side dishes the kids will actually eat......so I have some used cookbooks waiting for me in my Amazon cart. ;-)

Our schooling is going well, we've finally been doing lessons each week day and it's one of three goals I have for each day.  1.  Don't lose my mind..breathe...take a time-out..unclench the teeth...and don't kill anyone.  2.  Exercise 3.  Lesson time

We have had a choppy school schedule so far this school year but we've finally found the happy time slots that work well for us.  Running errands is now an afternoon thing (and only every other week) so there's less running around in the cold, less germy people to come in contact with and less "other stuff" keeping us from doing the productive things we have to do here at home.  The kids are re-discovering their many toys, as well as new Christmas gifts.  I'm weeding through the clutter and donating/freecycling as much as I can.  I'd like to organize the schooling cabinets this winter and clean out the spare room downstairs.  I have a couple of storage bins of clothes I'm ready to go through and donate.   If I'm not going to actually wear my shorts from junior year in high school they can be donated.  I WILL keep one or two jean skirts that I wore in high school...and if I can fit into them then I will wear them this summer. ;-)

Speaking of clothes...I tried on a dress 3 sizes smaller than I normally wear and it fit!  Well, not around the boobs but that's not so bad. lol  It's definitely progress considering I couldn't squish myself into any of my dresses a few months ago.  Since I started blogging at the end of September I've now lost 13 pounds.  13 pounds on 60% effort.  Not bad eh?  I cannot eat rabbit food (though Mike says a salad IS rabbit food) but I've cut excess calories and if I decide to treat myself then I just take it easy on the other meals of the day or week.  I'm not exercising every day but for the last couple of weeks I've been setting out 5 days worth of workouts...and if I skip a day then I just make up for it on the weekend.  This week I have catching up to do so I'm doing double, 7 days this week.  You won't see results if you just coast. lol 

Setting out the workouts for the week has been really motivating.  I'm getting a chance to do new workouts instead of choosing the same ones over and over.  I'm looking forward to trying something different and I'm more aware of combining cardio and strength training to balance it out for the week.  I'm also ready to put some dvds on Ebay because I found some new ones I want to try. ;-)

http://www.collagevideo.com/

This site is great for previewing exercise dvds.  You can see clips of the workouts, read reviews, see the breakdown of the workout (how many min for warm up, cardio/strength training, cool down).  I check back with Amazon for additional reviews and price comparison though.  Amazon is usually cheaper but doesn't have new videos in stock.  For some reason CollageVideo gets new dvds before Amazon offers them (every yet to be released dvds). 

Wishing everyone a healthy and happy new year full of positive moments with your loved ones!