My 6 goals for 2021: Week 4 of 52

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you are having a good weekend. We had TONS of sunshine yesterday and it was glorious. It was still cold, but the sun made it okay. We took the kids to the park to walk and throw rocks and it was so nice to be outside and get some fresh air. I have been dealing with really sore legs and upper thigh pain from my workout on Friday. I think I severely overdid it. 

Today, I have several things on my to-do list including putting a new mattress cover on my bed, put laundry away, make 2 new recipes, paying some bills, and watch some football. The weather today is supposed to be cold with occasional ice and snow and freezing rain. Who knows? Before I get to those things on my to do list though I thought I would do my goals update.   

So my 6 goals for 2021 were: 

Lose weight. 

I plan on achieving this by making a monthly goal to help. January's goals are to limit myself to one pop a day and to exercise/ walk 4 times a week. Ideally I would like to walk, however it is January in Ohio so weather will be a factor. 

I hopped back on to the exercise band wagon last week. Despite cold weather and snow and some ice, I exercised every day last week. I worked out with the Wii Fit Sunday through Thursday. On Friday I went with a friend to the YMCA to work out. I got a great workout and although I am so sore still, I am thinking about joining the Y. Do any of you belong to your local YMCA and do you think it is worth it? Yesterday, we went on an almost 2 mile walk at the park with the kids. So still doing well on the exercise front.

 

I have also been doing well with only having one pop a day usually. Occasionally I will have 2 but those days have been a lot fewer this week.     

Declutter our house. 

It has become messy and full of stuff again. I am not sure how it got so full of stuff again. I am going to follow along with a 52 week decluttering challenge from "Snail Pace Transformations" blog. The author also has a Facebook page that is offering the challenge titled "Snail Pace Clutter Removers." 

I did one small decluttering project this week. I cleaned out our tool box after I couldn't find a screwdriver that I needed.  

 

Menu Plan, follow it, and blog about it. 

This month I am doing a low spend challenge and am pledging to use up what we have in our big freezer so that I can defrost it. I also made up a monthly meal plan and will blog about it this week. I want to make this a weekly post.

I did okay with the goal this week. I continued with my food posting on Friday:  "Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here?" where I post about what we have been eating. This past week was an good week. I didn't follow everything perfectly but I avoided food waste.  

Be more creative. 

I am wanting to do this for a stress relief more than anything. I got 2 sloth coloring books for Christmas and would like to get in the habit of coloring. I also would like to get back into painting a bit. This could also look like making new recipes in the kitchen, etc. 

I made a pinecone birdfeeder with "A" this week.

Be Grateful.

I love Anne's postings of her daily joys that she was doing weekly on her blog "Cooking and All that Jazz." I have a dollar store planner that I plan on putting by my bed and each night recording at least 1 things each day that I am grateful for.

I have been pretty good about doing this. Some of the things I have been grateful for this week include sunshine, a new president, no violence on Inauguration Day, etc. 

Show Grace. 

And finally, I have chosen a word for the year....GRACE.  I would like to offer grace to others and to myself. I find at times I have a temper and get annoyed at little things. I would like to take a step back, offer grace to others and move on. I have tried to put this into practice the last 2 weeks and I have noticed a difference in my mental state. 

This week took a lot of deep breaths and grace. 

So there you have it. This was an overall good week and I hope I can keep it up in the coming week. Looks like it will be another busy week and the weather is supposed to be dicey which always adds to stress. We shall see how it goes.   

Did you make goals/resolutions/a list of to-dos for 2021? If so, how are you doing?   

 

Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here?

Happy Friday evening everyone! How's your Friday going? I am sitting here in the recliner with our massager and heating pad on me. I am super sore. I went to the YMCA with a friend this morning so I can check it out. She has a membership and wants me to join so that we can exercise together. I don't know. Today we went and worked out for over an hour. I did enjoy it. I think I will apply for a scholarship to see if I can afford a membership. It might be a good way to lose weight and exercise during these cold winter months. So my current mood is:

 

As I mentioned in my New Year's Goal post, I want to menu plan, stick to it and blog about it each week. Well, I thought about what day of the week to post these menu highlights. A lot of people post on Sunday or Monday as that is the days that their menus start. However, that really doesn't work for me. So, I have decided to post on Fridays. I am doing this because Thursdays are days that I try to go to the grocery store for the following week and it is when I really finalize my menu plan for the next week. Therefore, "Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here?" came to mind.

I am going to be doing 2 things with these posts. First I will highlight what we ate the previous week, whether we followed the plan, etc. Then I will post what the plan is for the next week. If you feel inclined to follow along, please do. I get inspiration from blogs and postings online for new recipes to try, things to add to my menus, etc. So without further ado, let's get this Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here? started. 

What did we eat this past week? 

Friday 1-15-21: Make your own mini-pizzas and fruit (moved from last week)

Saturday 1-16-21: Macaroni and cheese and peas for the kids. Date night for Bill and I-- salmon, rice and mixed veggies. We all ended up eating mac and cheese and peas. Bill and I had ice cream after the kids went to bed and watched "The Mandalorian" for date night. 

Sunday 1-17-21: Whole chicken in Crockpot, mashed potatoes, broccoli and pears

Monday 1-18-21: Potato soup and crusty bread

Tuesday 1-19-21: Chicken fajitas and corn casserole

Wednesday 1-20-21: hot dogs, baked beans, Cole slaw leftover potato soup

 

Thursday 1-21-21: Baked omelets, bacon, toast and fruit and blueberry muffins

  

What are we planning to eat this coming week?

Friday 1-22-21: Frozen pizza and fruit 

Saturday 1-23-21: Stuffed shells and salad

Sunday 1-24-21: Chicken pot pie and salad 

Monday 1-25-21: Taco boats, corn, oranges 

Tuesday 1-26-21: Hamburger helper stroganoff and peas

Wednesday 1-27-21: Chicken Noodle Soup and crackers

Thursday 1-28-21: Smoked Sausage, Macaroni and Cheese, green beans 

What have you been eating or cooking lately? Share your menu ideas in the comments! 

New Box Spring, New Art, Inauguration, and Life Lately

 Happy Wednesday everyone! It is Wednesday, right? LOL The kids having a 4 day weekend really threw me off schedule. 

Sunday became the day of staying in pajamas. I worked out but then after my shower I put clean, fresh pajamas on. LOL We watched lots of football over the weekend. Thankfully my Packers won on Saturday. On Sunday Benjamin was glad that the Buccaneers won. That just means it will be Ben versus Mom this weekend for the NFC Championship and to see who plays either the Bills or the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. All I have to say to that is GO PACK GO!! 

Monday the kids were home all and day and I didn't have to go anywhere. It was glorious. I did end up babysitting "A" for a while as she didn't have preschool due to MLK day. I got several things done on Monday. 

I got our new box spring put together for our bed. One of the kids broke ours when they jumped on the bottom of the bed. You could see the divet in the box spring. Considering it was about 20 years old and had been cut in half/folded to get up the steps in our 2nd apartment years ago, I think it served it's purpose and I got my moneys worth. I ordered a ZINUS 9 inch Smart Metal Box Spring off of Amazon that had good reviews. (I also got it on sale for $119 (it retails for $260) plus I had a $15 gift card to Amazon, so I spent $112 after taxes.) 

It was super easy to put together! I was able to put it together myself in less than an hour. We have slept on it the last couple of nights and it is a lot firmer than what I was used to but it is nice NOT to dip when you are laying on the bed. LOL

Monday night we also received a canvas print in the mail that I had ordered. I will be doing a review of the print and company soon. One of my goals is to change things up a little bit including changing around some of our decor. This opportunity came up and I LOVE the canvas that Bill and I chose. Bill hung it up for me Monday and it is perfect. 

Yesterday, the kids were back in school and I had my niece and nephew while my mom worked. While they were here I folded a bunch of laundry. My nephew, who loves to clean, asked me if he could dust my house. LOL I don't know whether I should be offended or not. LOL My niece spent most of her day complaining she was tired and laying around on the couch like a surly teenager. Another example of her being lazy was I had the kids make homemade pizza for lunch. My nephew was all about making his pizza. My niece wouldn't come in to make hers, so I made it. She said she didn't want to get up. LOL 

 

Today, we woke up to an UN-expected 2 hour delay at school due to some snow and ice overnight.  That messed up our plans for the day. Rebecca was supposed to have a well-check doctors appointment after I took the boys to school, but with the delay I called and rescheduled it. The boys and I took Rebecca to school and then came home to wait until it was time to take the boys to school. I started more laundry. After I took the boys to school I came home and turned on the Inauguration. I watched that for about a hour and a half.

 

I posted this on Facebook and I will post it here as well. "I don't care what your political affiliation is, today is a historic day in our country. So glad my daughter is old enough to see and understand what today is about."

Then I exercised on the Wii. I have made it an unofficial goal to exercise on the Wii Fit for 30 minutes everyday for 2 weeks. Our weather has been crappy, cold, snowy, dreary, etc. and it makes it really hard to get out and walk. The kids were playing on the Wii and I decided I would work out. Doing 30 minutes, I was sweating and breathing hard and realizing just how out of shape I really am. So that is my goal. So far I have exercised everyday since Saturday when I began this goal.

Tonight I am doing simple for dinner. I am making hot dogs and heating up leftover potato soup from Monday. I tried freezing the soup in the past and the texture goes weird when it thaws so I am switching up the menu a little. I also need to make a grocery list for a grocery run tomorrow-- I know we need fruit and milk. Will have to see what else.

What are you up to tonight? Did you watch the Inauguration today? Have you ever ordered a big furniture item, like a box spring, off of Amazon or online?

My 6 goals for 2021: Week 3 of 52

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you are having a good weekend. We are in the middle of a 4 day weekend here (for the kids and I). The kids had Friday off of school and they will have tomorrow off. I am trying to get some stuff done this weekend, but also am trying to relax. It is hard though when things are constantly needing my attention. 

For example, Friday I ended up taking Jacob to Urgent Care after he came to me and showed me his finger. Infection near his the bottom side of his nail. He ended up with a 10 day antibiotic and an order to do Epsom salt soaks and Neosporin for 7 days. Later today we need to take Ben to get his staples out of his head. It is always something it seems. So before anything else needs my attention, I thought I would hop on here and do a quick update on how I am doing on my goals.  

So my 6 goals for 2021 were: 

Lose weight. 

I plan on achieving this by making a monthly goal to help. January's goals are to limit myself to one pop a day and to exercise/ walk 4 times a week. Ideally I would like to walk, however it is January in Ohio so weather will be a factor. 

I honestly fell off the exercise wagon this past week. But it was a very LONG week and the weather didn't cooperate. However, I am giving myself GRACE and not beating myself up about it. I tried to make sure that I wasn't stress eating. AND I did end up losing 2 pounds this past week so I will call that a win! And it wasn't a complete loss at exercise as I did half an hour on the Wii Fit and it about knocked me off my butt. LOL I am so out of shape.  

I also have another motivation for this. My parents want to go on a beach vacation with us, all their grandkids, my sister, her girlfriend and my brother and his girlfriend. There is no way at the weight that I am now that I will be seen on the beach in a swimsuit. I HAVE to lose weight. Now I have a concrete time goal to help.   

Declutter our house. 

It has become messy and full of stuff again. I am not sure how it got so full of stuff again. I am going to follow along with a 52 week decluttering challenge from "Snail Pace Transformations" blog. The author also has a Facebook page that is offering the challenge titled "Snail Pace Clutter Removers." 

I was able to clean the boys' room this week as they had lots of shirts in their dressers that were too small for them. I was able to take a whole basket of clothes out of their dressers and pass them on to my mom for my nephew. 

I also gave my mom the small blue table that was in our dining room for my nephew to use in his bedroom for his Lego creations. Stuff out of the house feels so good!  I also cleaned out the junk drawer in our kitchen and a container that is on the side of the refrigerator. I was able to throw old receipts, broken measuring cups, expired coupons, etc. away and put stuff where it belong (like nails go in the tool box, pens go on the desk, etc.). 

Menu Plan, follow it, and blog about it. 

This month I am doing a low spend challenge and am pledging to use up what we have in our big freezer so that I can defrost it. I also made up a monthly meal plan and will blog about it this week. I want to make this a weekly post.

I did okay with the goal this week. I continued with my food posting on Friday:  "Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here?" where I post about what we have been eating. This past week was an okay week. I didn't follow everything exactly but it is all good. I also tried out our air fryer this week. 

Be more creative. 

I am wanting to do this for a stress relief more than anything. I got 2 sloth coloring books for Christmas and would like to get in the habit of coloring. I also would like to get back into painting a bit. This could also look like making new recipes in the kitchen, etc. 

I continued to try to be more intentional with taking time to relax most evenings. A few evenings I colored in my sloth coloring book. Other evenings, I watched an episode of The Mandalorian with Bill.

Be Grateful. 

I love Anne's postings of her daily joys that she was doing weekly on her blog "Cooking and All that Jazz." I have a dollar store planner that I plan on putting by my bed and each night recording at least 1 things each day that I am grateful for.

I have been pretty good about doing this. Some of the things I have been grateful for this week include preschool hugs from my babysitting kiddo, medicine, Urgent Care centers, etc. 

Show Grace. 

And finally, I have chosen a word for the year....GRACE.  I would like to offer grace to others and to myself. I find at times I have a temper and get annoyed at little things. I would like to take a step back, offer grace to others and move on. I have tried to put this into practice the last 2 weeks and I have noticed a difference in my mental state. 

This week took a lot of deep breaths and grace. 

So there you have it. This was a good week to see that life will be trying but I can still achieve my goals.  

I think I am doing pretty good so far.   

Did you make goals/resolutions/a list of to-dos for 2021? If so, how are you doing?   

 

Wordless Saturday: Ben's Whiteboard Artwork

 

Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here?

Happy Friday everyone! Hope your day is going okay so far. Here it is dark, cloudy, rainy, and we might get some snow showers later. I am going to be babysitting my niece and nephew in a bit as my mom has a doctor's appointment. I am thinking we may all watch the live-action "Mulan" movie while they are here. But first, I wanted to stick with my plan of my new foodie posting! 

As I mentioned in my New Year's Goal post, I want to menu plan, stick to it and blog about it each week. Well, I thought about what day of the week to post these menu highlights. A lot of people post on Sunday or Monday as that is the days that their menus start. However, that really doesn't work for me. So, I have decided to post on Fridays. I am doing this because Thursdays are days that I try to go to the grocery store for the following week and it is when I really finalize my menu plan for the next week. Therefore, "Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here?" came to mind.

I am going to be doing 2 things with these posts. First I will highlight what we ate the previous week, whether we followed the plan, etc. Then I will post what the plan is for the next week. If you feel inclined to follow along, please do. I get inspiration from blogs and postings online for new recipes to try, things to add to my menus, etc. So without further ado, let's get this Foodie Friday: What are we eating around here? started. 

What did we eat this past week? 

Friday 1-8-21: Waffles, bacon and pears strawberries.  (Bill and the kids had this. I didn't eat anything as I had a huge late lunch with my friend at a sub shop and I was bloated and didn't want anything.)

Saturday 1-9-21: Dinner with friends. Pasta bake made with penne pasta, Italian sausage and alfredo and marinara sauces. Served with green beans and garlic bread. (Friends are bring dessert.)

 

Sunday 1-10-21: Turkey breast made in crockpot, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas With Ben's accident and the stress of dealing with that, dinner became McDonald's. (No picture as that was the last thing on my mind.) I put the cooked turkey in the fridge for Monday night. 

Monday 1-11-21: Crockpot chicken ranch tater tot casserole, broccoli Turkey breast made in crockpot, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas 

Tuesday 1-12-21: Chicken enchiladas and salad

Wednesday 1-13-21: Chili and grilled cheese crackers

Thursday 1-14-21: Fish sticks/filets, Cole slaw, French fries and corn

You know it wasn't the best of weeks following the plan exactly, but that is real life. Life happens. It has been a long week and I am okay with what we ate this week. Everyone was fed and there was little complaining. It's all good. 

In other news, I finally conquered my new air fryer. I bought one a couple of months ago when Walmart had them on super sale for the big one, however it has sat in it's box. Then I took it out of the box a few weeks ago and put it on top of my freezer. 

Well, last night I decided to take the first step to conquer it and I made the French fries in it. 

The verdict is that my kids and hubby loved them and says never make fries in the regular oven again! LOL I will definitely be using it again. 

What are we planning to eat this coming week?

Friday 1-25-21: Make your own mini-pizzas and fruit (moved from last week)

Saturday 1-16-21: Macaroni and cheese and peas for the kids. Date night for Bill and I-- salmon, rice and mixed veggies 

Sunday 1-17-21: Whole chicken in Crockpot, mashed potatoes, broccoli and pears

Monday 1-18-21: Potato soup and crusty bread

Tuesday 1-19-21: Chicken fajitas and corn casserole

Wednesday 1-20-21: hot dogs, baked beans, Cole slaw

Thursday 1-21-21: Baked omelets, bacon, toast and fruit

What have you been eating or cooking lately? Do you use an air fryer? Care to share any air fryer recipes? Share your menu ideas in the comments! 

Long Week

 Is it Friday yet? 

Seriously this has been a week. First with the mess with Ben's school on Monday. Then yesterday I get a notification that Jacob was in a fight at school but the principal was in a meeting so couldn't speak to the boys until today. Basically, he was getting picked on by the same kid that has been bullying him for the last 2 years. Jacob had enough and when the kid wouldn't shut up Jacob shoved him. The kid then slapped Jacob causing his glasses to cut his nose. Both boys were at fault. Then this morning, I get a notification that my child is not in school. Yes he is. I dropped the boys off to school this morning. I called the school and the secretary said that she had to call the room to see. I expected her to call me back. Well, after 5 minutes she didn't call me so I called the office again and had to leave a message. I try again 5 minutes later. No answer. I get in the car to go to the school and I am at the corner and they call me back. The secretary acted ticked off that she had to call me. I am furious. Long story short after 40 minutes I finally get a call back to say that he is there. It is insane. Needless to say it has not been a good week in regards to the boys' school. Bill apparently emailed the principal a long angry email detailing these issues and she called me this afternoon and we had an hour long conversation concerning these concerns. She addressed our concerns. We shall see. 

Thankfully the kids have a 4 day weekend. Today was the end of the quarter and Monday they have off for MLK day. 

Today we had to get up and out of the house as Jacob had a physical at 8AM. His doctors office is only well child visits in the morning and sick kids in the afternoon. He got a clean bill of health and is good to go for another year. 

What else has been going on this week? I got ALL the laundry done on Tuesday and cleaned the boys' room. I got a whole basket of clothes that the boys had outgrown out of their room. Other than that just been busy with kids, tutoring and babysitting. 

Also had to go buy Bill some back pills as he has been having issues with his back while standing. He says he is getting old. LOL 

Speaking of Bill, if you are looking for another blog to read, Bill is writing about sports and other things on his new blog. He would love to have more followers. You can find him at Off the Bench.

Well, I need to go fix dinner. Tonight is an easy dinner of fish sticks, french fries and cole slaw. Trying to decide if I am brave enough to use my new air fryer that I have never used. We shall see....

How is your week going? Anything fun going on?  

 

Keyboard, Popcorn, Staples in the Head and Other Stuff

Happy Monday everyone! I hope today is being kind to everyone. After the chaos of this weekend, I finally am able to sit and blog for a moment. 

What's been going on? 

Well, we got a keyboard. My in-laws mailed the kids a Christmas present of a teaching keyboard, complete with a stool and books to learn. The kids have been having fun "playing" it. Rebecca has learned a few things about it, although she spends most of her time playing with her guitar. 

Speaking of Rebecca, I cut her hair last week. She wanted to get several inches cut off. I probably cut 6 inches or so off her hair. She likes it. We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night and her friend yelled at her because she got it cut. LOL 

I tried a new snack this weekend. Rebecca had gotten me some popcorn for Christmas. It was quite yummy. I look forward to trying other flavors. 

Sunday, we went on a family walk to enjoy the rare sunshine and saw some cute cows and a llama. 

*If you are squeamish, you can skip the next part* 

After walking the kids wanted to play on the playground. Well, Ben was running away from Rebecca and Jacob during a game of tag and he ducked under the equipment and didn't duck far enough and slammed his head under. By the time he came back to the other side, there was blood gushing down his face. We were able to get the bleeding stopped for the most part and Ben calmed down. When we got up to walk to the van, Ben wanted to know if we could see his brain? LOL After being home, there was one spot that kept re-bleeding. So Bill took him off to Urgent Care and Ben ended up with 7 staples in his head! Apparently it was a much bigger cut than we thought. Apparently from the pressure that we applied it made his hair and the dried blood clot most of the cut but when they cleaned the hair off it opened back up. 

Today, the kids were back to school. They have a 4 day week this week. Ben is at school with restrictions of no gym class or recess until Wednesday. I sent the note in this morning from the doctor with the official excuse. I get a phone call about an hour after school started saying that the note doesn't say anything about Ben not being allowed to participate in gym class? The substitute secretary NOR the principal could see it and so they said that Ben HAD to participate in gym. Um, no. The note was marked as excused from Physical Education until 1/13/21. I had to guide her over the phone to where it said on the note. That is literally all the note said. It was check-marked excused from PE. Oh my word. And besides that can't they see the staples in his head?? Seriously. When I picked Ben up from school, he said he spent gym and recess time in the office playing on his Chromebook. 

Also today, I have tutored my digital academy kiddo and a homeschool kiddo. I have also done a boat load of laundry after not getting ANY done this weekend. I literally folded 7 loads of laundry. Tomorrow I need to go through the boys' clothes and pull out all the shirts that are too small that they keep trying to wear. 

Last night I stayed up late with Bill to watch the Cleveland Browns win their first playoff game in forever. Tonight, I will probably stay up and watch the OSU/Alabama National Championship game, unless I fall asleep on the couch as I am really tired. 

What have you been up to? Do you have a rooting interest in the NFL playoffs, or in the National Championship game tonight?