Is ice cream better than beer? I just don't know. Instead of coming home and drinking a couple of beers, I've started having a cup of tea and after a 30-60 min battle with myself, a bowl of Tillamook caramel butter pecan ice cream!! I start out with a small bowl, but then wind up going back for seconds. Now mind you, my goal is not to lose weight, or get fit or anything like that. It's to reduce my drinking and to start taking better care of myself. So I guess as far as the alcohol goes, I'm succeeding. 3 out of the last 4 nights have been sans booze. I just hope I don't wind up gaining 20 lbs in the pursuit of increase sobriety.

Tell me, do you like me better fat or drunk?

And I've been too tired and sick to cook anything healthy. I'll make up for it by having a big bowl of brussel sprouts for lunch tomorrow. Prolly.

But I am really getting into this tea thing. It won't replace my morning coffee but I can totally see myself eventually becoming a tea aficionado one day.

Gina

Not very long ago, I was a hip, happening, saucy woman taking Winterpeg by storm.

Or so I like to think, anyway.

I gave up my amazing apartment downtown and bought a house (the perfect house!) in the middle of nowhere.

Now that I'm miles away from everything I love, I don't walk anywhere. Over the past couple years, the weight's crept up and I no longer look like the sexy, awesome person I know I am.

So, my goal for February was to get walking again. Get used to moving by my own two feet rather than Transit Tom.

Fail! I did well on Sunday. Monday - too many things, too busy. Tuesday - too many things, too busy. Wednesday - too many things, too tired.

Plus, it's cold. Very, very cold.

Somebody, please, kick my ass out of the office at lunch, and send me walking! Even if it is 35 below! I have the warm clothes!

I want to not die from exhaustion when I start riding my bicycle in the spring (late April, if I am lucky). I know once I start moving, that weight will just fall off. The hardest part is getting started.

Yo. My goals for the month are to wake up at 8am, insomnia be damned, and to do some low-impact exercise each morning. I think that the exercise will help with the insomnia, even if it's just yoga, because that's clearly something that's lacking in my life. Exercising more = sleeping better. Plus, I know that when I work out first thing in the morning (instead of checking my email), I am more productive and am a more involved mama throughout the day. I'll be doing healthmonth for lent, so eating better will begin on Ash Wednesday. I'm going to make the most of Fat Tuesday for damn sure. I was raised Catholic, and I kind of like this particular season, even if I don't believe in the whole judgmental-dude-in-the-sky part of it.

-mykind on ravelry, Stephanie/Stevie to the world

So my motivational attempts - at daily floor-cleaning, because there's three long-haired cats and two immensely fluffy white dogs here, and at surviving the first few weeks of that blasted Couch to 5K thing that everyone and their momma have been suckered into - are going fine today. Fine, because today is an off day for the whole couch-to-etc.

Yesterday, on the other hand...well, first, suffice it to say that intensely fluffy dogs and running seem like they should be a match made in heaven. If nothing else, I got a good laugh at the looks on their faces the when the first 60 second running interval spun up on my ipod. "What? Wait, she can go faster? Are we being chased? Is there lava??" And everything went well for about the first 4 of those 60 second intervals.

But then. As round five got closer, one of my dogs seemed to be getting slower. More interested in every passing shrub, leaf, and blade of grass. More...focused.

And just - to the nanosecond, just, as the music kicked into OMG GO GO GO speed, my dog WENT WENT WENT.

Shit. EVERYWHERE. Any one want to venture a guess how many other evening stroll types were out and bore witness to the shit-geyser that came out of my dog? Because I'll tell you right now, the number was greater than zero, and that's by definition TOO DAMNED MANY.

Well, there went that interval. And the next. And basically, the rest of the adventure in speed. God knows I tried to get back up to speed, but apparently moving to fast shook things loose, because every time we got up above a walk, Jas got right back down into a squat. I run, she gets the runs. Terrific.

The worst, most mortifying part wasn't the pooptastic voyage - no, it's the fact that despite an abbreviated run-walk, I STILL got home feeling like someone had secretly replaced my oxygen supply with porcupines and bees.

And to think, I get to do it all over again tomorrow! But, hey, my floors? They look fucking fantastic.

Hey guys, I'm Goethe on Ravelry, Kate to the rest of the world. I'm starting today because I'm a little on the slow side. Most of my goals have to do with making time for art, because it makes me feel good.

My goals are:

• Keep my house clean. Make sure clean laundry goes into the dresser instead of onto the floor, keep the kitchen clean, pack leftovers into the fridge right away before I get too paranoid about bacteria to eat them. Includes keeping the counters clean, dishes done, floor swept. Basically stop being such a slob.
• Start sketch studies of anatomy to improve my artistic ability and identify my "style".
• Begin the Artist's Way and really see it through. I bought the book for $3 at Value Village last time I was back home and I've read it, I just haven't bothered with the exercises.
• Get at least one painting finished that I can display in the gallery at the Art Society when I decide I'm ready.
• Finish my Clapotis this month.
• Get some reputable news feeds to add to my RSS reader so I can stay caught up with current events.

That should do it, folks. Anyone have any trustworthy and unbiased international news sources I can follow to get caught up?

Hey twinkletwats! How have the first few day gone? OK? Shitty? Fess up!

Since I just started today, things are going fantastic ;) We ate oatmeal with raisins for breakfast, apple with a cheese sandwich for lunch. We had some ritz crackers for a snack today, and I think dinner will be a beef stew/ or soup. Not sure yet.

As for budget, I need the Mr. to sit down and go over the bills with me. Since I am a sahm, I think it's only fair to him that I take the burden of bill paying and budgeting, since he is usually tired and worn out by work. Hopefully starting a grown up budget won't be too shocking for us. :/


jeanius80- Jeanie

Yes, yes. I need to eat more fruit (fiber is good!), stand up straight, be more cheerful...

...and draw more.

See, that's the big one. I fell out of the daily art habit way back when I was shacking up with the otaku, and I've felt kinda sad about it ever since. I'll be trying to cover 28 sketchbook pages with sketches, doodles, and drawings by the end of the month - and I'll be showing you them. Accountability FTW!

So, the goals I want to concentrate on first will be:

1. Make and keep a family budget.
2. Eat better! Less junk, more fruits & veggies.

I am hoping by doing #1, it will help get us out of credit card debt. #2 will hopefully kick start all sorts of other healthy habits as well :)

I set my goals of drinking less alcohol, and taking better care of myself, and then promptly got sick. On the plus side, I've had no alcohol and have had lots and lots of tea and water. On the down side I've not felt like cooking. I spent the afternoon sleeping and the evening shivering under a blanket on the couch. I'm determined to feel well enough to go to work tomorrow, and will try to take something at least semi healthy for my meals (I'm at work for lunch and dinner). And I have my new stainless steel water bottles for my H2O intake, so there's that to feel good about.

I guess I should post, huh?

My personal challenge: blog every day. Concurrent with the goal of "write something every day, even if it's only a blog post." Ideally, I will have gotten over the debilitating fear of suckitude by 2/28 and will thus be able to write what I want to get published, as I realized a few days ago that it is not a novel, but a memoir that is kicking around in my grey matter.

So, my lovelies, what are your goals, and what do you hope to gain from making them?

~jen g~
gonzopants