Oh Em Gee.

It is just over a month until my 40th Birthday.  The reason d'etre for starting this blog (of which I am slacking at!).  I am not where I thought I would be, but oh well!  I am pleased with the things I have done because I started a 40 by 40 list, and feel the push to get a few more things accomplished before I create my 45 by 45 list.  By the way, giving yourself a few years, rather than a few months, makes much more sense!

So here's what I am doing this month to scratch things off my list:

• Exercise more regularly (really for me, this means walking 3-4 times a week
• Lose 10 pounds
• Give Blood
• Get a tattoo
• Prepare for future - Wills, EPOA, PDA
• Clear clutter (an ongoing project!)
• Find my sexy and embrace it
• More date nights with Shaun

Getting it done is the theme for this next few weeks!

1 Week Complete

I have completed 1 week of my vegan challenge!  Check!

I am going to continue on and do the full two weeks, because I feel so good and really it isn't that hard right now for me.

Doing the other things on my list for the month of January has been more challenging for me.  There is always an excuse, but whatever. 

• My room is clean and I intend to keep it that way.  Financially right now I can't afford to do more.  But I am happy with clearing the clutter and wiping the dust.  Oh, I did get a lamp!  I will work on the other bits next few months (new bedding, new bookshelf, and the creation of a beautiful space).  For now I consider it a success that the clutter is clear and the dust bunnies are banished!
• Sugar Detox.  I will see how my willpower feels after week 2 of Vegan Challenge.  Perhaps I can morph straight into a Sugar Free Week after that.
• Lose 10 pounds.  Well.  We'll see how the month goes. 
• Donate Blood.  I will make an appointment this week to get this done by the end of the month.  This really should be the easiest one, but I am a chicken.

Vegan Challenge

On Monday I start my vegan challenge.  I am challenging myself to two weeks.  Two weeks no dairy, no eggs....the no meat part is already under control, I have been a vegetarian for almost two years.  I became a vegetarian after doing a vegan challenge that was very difficult for me. 

This week I have started the process of being a better vegetarian.  Over the last few months, with working full time, having a back injury and Christmas, I have not been eating well.  This week I started cleaning up my diet a little, adding back in more beans and lentils and veggies. 

Next week I go full throttle into veganism.  I am looking forward to the challenge, to seeing how my body feels, to seeing if in the process I can drop the Christmas pounds that I seem to have packed on over the last month.

No dairy, no eggs, no meat - sounds healthy to me!

Consider it done.

19. Do something unexpected and kind for someone, without expectation of something in return.

When I put this on my list, I wasn't sure what it would look like - maybe paying for the person behind me in line's coffee in a Starbucks line....I was unsure, but I wanted to tap into my generous self.

Tonight when going to pick up pizza for my kids, a homeless man was ahead of me in line asking the manager for a pizza.  He was kind and polite, and the manager said no.  He was kind and polite even when the manager said no.

As he was leaving the store, I piped up - "I'll buy you a pizza".  He was very happy and I felt good knowing that a hungry man would not be hungry tonite.  (Incidentally, I don't think the manager was pleased with me - as "they" always come and ask for food apparently - who is this they, the wandering homeless that always end up at Panago.)

It wasn't planned, it wasn't set up, it was unexpected.  And I think it was kind. 

As a social worker, I feel I am often (always) going above and beyond in my work life, but in my personal life, it is harder for me to be generous - with my money, with my time. 
I'm going to consider this one done!

The End of the Year is Coming

But I still have 4+ months to get working on my list.
It's not that I have forgotten my list, it is always there in the back of my mind (kind of like a nagging mosquito), but life has been busy. With working full-time and dealing with a major back injury, my list has been put on the back burner. 
But a new year is upon us, and I feel a new resolve to get things done.

The things I plan to knock off in the first month of the year

• Vegan Challenge (I am going to aim for 2 weeks)
• Make my space a priority
• Donate blood
• Lose 10 pounds (or at least 5!)
• And maybe 1 week sugar detox (depending on how the vegan challenge goes)

I think I can do it!

October List Review

40 By 40

Energy and Wellness

1.     Start exercising regularly – 3-4 times a week.  Walking, join a gym (and go), yoga classes.  Schedule it in and just do it.  (I am working towards this....have started taking a Zumba class)

2.     Clear clutter from the house – everywhere – bedroom, basement, kid’s rooms, etc.  Keep it up and ask for help. Purge the house of stuff we don’t need/love/want, but find a home for it.  Don’t allow that pile to grow.

3.     Put stuff away where it belongs.  Remind the family of this without nagging.

4.     Make my space a priority – bedroom cleaned (and maintained), new sheets, quilt, lamp, etc.  I deserve a space that is beautiful.

5.     Go to bed earlier.  Less TV at bedtime, more reading in bed.

Relationships - Shaun

6.     Date nights, twice a month; at least one has to be more than just a meal out. 

7.      Weekend trip to Vegas with Shaun

8.     Find something we can do together – exercise or hobby

9.     More intimacy – not just sex – hugging, kissing, touching

Relationships – kids

10.  Family outings – monthly

11.  Spend more quality time with the kids – games, walks, etc

12.  Create a peaceful home by lowering the tone, being more joyful, no more yelling.  Remind without nagging. 

13.  Plan a family trip – if it’s not possible to go before 40, at least have it booked!

14.  Get out the door in the mornings on time and with no raised voices.  (Working on this as an ongoing project, I am making lunches the night before, being more organized for the morning - it is not 100%, but it is way better than last year)

Relationships – others

15.  Share with people how I feel about them and my appreciation of them

16.  Start a book club 

17.  Make a new friend

18.  Send birthday cards on time

19.  Do something unexpected and kind for someone, without expectation of something in return.

Health

20.  1 week sugar detox, and then add back a maximum of 1 treat per day

21.  1 week vegan challenge

22.  Buy pedometer and track steps – increase to 10, 000 steps daily and maintain

(Pedometer is purchased, working on tracking my steps)

23.  Do a 10 km walk (Did 5K, it was hard on my body....I will have to work my way up to this)

24.  Lose 10 pounds

25.  Lose 10 pounds 

Home

26.  Paint the living room.

27.  Make this house more of a nice space, on a budget.

28.  Work on a photo wall – I love photos, but have such a hard time getting them into frames

29.  Do five projects that have been nagging me (light in Ciara’s room, take down Christmas lights, caulking in bathroom, wall in basement, yard clean-up)

30.  Work on scrapbooks and get caught up (or at least closer) (Going on a scrapbooking weekend retreat - that will likely be as good as it gets)

Financial

31.  Find a job that I love – either one to supplement this one or another one (I start my new job on monday, it is a 7 month temporary job, but it is a job I will love, and in the direction I want to go for my career)

32.  Work towards being in our own house by Fall 2012

33.  Start saving more (regularly) – for house, trips, emergency

34.  Prepare for future – wills, PDA, EPOA

Self

35.  Start a blog to track my 40/40 Project of Happiness

36.  Waste less time on mindless pursuits that don’t bring joy

37.  Find my sexy and embrace it

38.  Get a tattoo

39.  Go on a trip for my 40^th Birthday

40.  Give blood. 

Book Club

#16 on my list is to start a book club. 

Years ago when I first moved to Calgary, I was invited to join a book club.  It was mostly a good experience and allowed me to get out of the house and meet people once a month.  We read some books, had some laughs, but then the book club dwindled and it was done.  That was about 8 years ago.  The women in the book club were not my type.  They were bitchy and catty and judgemental.  And I never connected with them.  But I loved the idea of a book club. 

I have gathered a group of women together and our first meeting is on October 2.  I hope it goes well and carries forward for years to come.  Although we haven't had our first meeting, I consider this accomplished as the book is being read by nine lovely, kind, compassionate women.  Success!

The book?  We are reading Left Neglected by Lisa Genova.  It is fabulous!  

Other than that my list is not getting accomplished very quickly....time to reassess and see what I can cross off.  I love crossing things off a list.  That itself brings me great joy!