life is nuts.

september is always a tough month for me. the transition back to a new school year is hard. i go from making my own schedule every day to now being assigned my schedule. i also have started my last grad class ever... and it was instant overwhelming. i have assignments due every week. EVERY week. 

i have been stepping on the scale. and i am down a pound so far this september. which means i only have one more pound to lose to meet my september goal. i have lost a total of 22.2 pounds since the beginning of the summer.

i haven't been too diligent with focusing on myself. i have tried to stay away from horrible things that i love. for example, tim and i went out for dinner on friday night and i ordered the cheese ravioli instead of my ultimate favorite, fettuccine alfredo. last night i had a fantabulous dessert... i split it with a friend rather than eating the whole thing... which i could have TOTALLY done. 

exercise has been minimal. went to the orthopedic surgeon on friday afternoon. my stress fracture is still not healed. another six weeks of no impact on my left leg. i was given the "okay" to use an exercise bike... so that will be my next plan at the gym. riding a bike.

i just need to figure out how put exercise in my day. but life is nuts right now... and i have no idea where to even squeeze it in.

balancing life.

Happy sunday! well... another week down. this week was a tough one to focus on. i am back to work and i have my VERY last graduate class. or so i hope. this graduate class is going to be the death of me.  lots of papers and lots of writing. but once i am finished, i will officially have my principal certification... jeepers, that took FOREVER!! i might as well move on to work on my doctorate... why not?! kidding!!

one of my goals for the month of september is to pack a lunch every single day. i plan on packing it the night before. i am really working on giving my self time to get things accomplished this year. i am trying to balance work, grad school, wife, mom, and me. i have made the decision to work my hardest the 9 hours i am at work on work stuff. then the minute i leave work, i focus on being a mom and wife from 4:30-8. After 8, i work on myself except on grad school nights and projects.

i also plan to work out on saturdays, wednesdays and thursdays. i know it is only three days a week, but honestly, that is the only time i can make it work in my weekly schedule. there is only so many hours in a day.

down just a tad. but it is a loss. 21.2 pounds so far. going to keep focused and continue trucking along!!

20.8 pounds... GONE!

boy. days are flying by. i am here and trying to continue to make healthy choices. i am down a little over two pounds which means i made my 20 pound loss for the summer!

my next goal is another small one... i would like to be in the low 170s by the end of september. so that means i can lose any where from 2 pounds to 6 pounds and still meet my goal.

Holy 20 pounds!! 

170's BABY!

woo hooo! i hit my mini goal of being in the 170's by the time school started! i am down a total of 18.6 pounds since school left out on june 20th. my next mini goal is to lose 20 total by the time the students come back on the first day of school next monday. that is just a measly 1.4 pounds to lose.

i haven't been in the 170's in a long time. it feels good. still don't have a final weight goal. i just want to feel better about myself. that is my main goal. i don't want to fail like i have done SO many other times... another goal. not to fail.

here is to another successful week!

ear tubes- take TWO

another week down. it has been a crazy, hectic week. i had a ton of appointments for both Landon and  me. the most recent one is an ENT appointment for Landon to do a quick check up on his ear tubes that were placed in his little ears when he was five months old. we have been going to the ENT every six months since then and the appointments have been quick and painless so i thought the appointment this week would be the same.......

well. i was wrong. dr. j told me that landon's ear tubes are out of the drum and there is a good amount of fluid in the left ear. this could be why we saw such a significant drop in his hearing test in may in the left ear. this could also be why we are having some speech issues. 

so surgery number TWO is set. the old set of ear tubes will come out and a new set of ear tubes will go in on september 30th. i get sad and worried just thinking about it, but know how quick and painless the whole procedure is. 

i had my MRI appointment on Monday... and i recently got a phone call from the orthopedic specialist suggesting i wear another brace on my knee to help it out. i may need to wear this brace for all exercise when i decide to go back to the treadmill.

finally, i am ending this post with a summary of my two weeks in water fitness classes. I LOVED THEM. i was super sad today as i was finishing up my last water fitness class this summer. it is truly an AMAZING way to work out and i seriously can't believe not many young people are in to it. the hour FLYS by. i keep comparing the workout to running on a treadmill. running feels like it takes FOREVER. water fitness goes so fast with all the different activities done in the pool. i plan on joining the monday evening class and hopefully go to the classes during days off during the school year. 

onto the weekend... hoping to meet my goal and touch the 170s!! 

heathy food hater.

i have come to the realization of something over the past six weeks. i will openly admit this since it has been on my mind.

i really don't like healthy food. i usually start out liking it... but then i just get tired of it. i get tired of veggies, chicken, and fruit. i get tired of almonds, granola bars, and fiber cereal. i get tired of eating healthy.

BUT WHY don't i get tired of eating junk. i don't get tired of cookies. EVER. i don't get tired of eating doritos. NEVER. i don't get tired of candy or pizza. or wings. or ice cream. NOT AT ALL.

so why do i get sick of healthy food. why do i not like healthy food. this is why i am in a constant battle with my weight.

because i HATE healthy food. and LOVE junk food.

a cheese doodle.

the past few days i have really been pushing through cravings. i have wanted every snack food in the book. it doesn't help that i have every snack food in the book right now at the house.

we had to buy some snack foods to provide for our babysitter on saturday night. cheese doodles are the "big" thing on my mind right now. an unopened bag of cheese doodles. yum. every time i open the pantry, i see them! i can easily consume the whole bag in on sitting.

tim isn't eating them. i don't want landon to eat a whole bag of cheese doodles. so they sit unopened in my closet screaming, "EAT ME!" over and over again.

it is me against the cheese doodle.

come on WILL POWER!!

Tough weekend.

it was a tough weekend. the weekend started off with a double date with couple friends at the Cheesecake Factory.

i ate half a grilled chicken and avocado sandwich on butter drenched bread. it was pretty amazing. i had two lemon drop martinis and an amazing appetizer of chips and spinach dip. i, of course, finished off the meal with a piece of reese peanut butter cheese cake. it was out of this world. luckily, i was pretty full from dinner and drinks that i barely made a dent into the cheesecake.... so i brought it home!

today, i went to a beautiful bridal shower. it was super adorable. i skipped all desserts and stuck with fruit. i ate okay throughout the day... but, i knew the cheesecake was waiting for me in the fridge when i got home tonight. i ate a few bites and boxed it back up to finish tomorrow.

i didn't eat the healthiest this weekend, but didn't do my usual ridiculous eating either. weighed in this morning. down 3.2 pounds... for a total of 17 pounds. only one more pound until the 170s... and three more until the big 20 pound loss for the summer.

super busy week ahead... crazy week. here i go........

Water Fitness

happy friday!! another week is almost in the books. my knee is feeling better. i go for an MRI on Monday to check out the degree of the stress fracture. i haven't had to wear my brace in a few days. i can honestly say that i have been pain free.  i am hoping the MRI comes back okay and i can slowly start increasing my exercise. but until then...

 i started to do water fitness for an hour a day. my first day was on tuesday. i am not going to lie. i felt funny jumping into a pool full of women who were twice my age or more. not one single person was near my age bracket. but, i decided to make the most of it and prayed that it would be somewhat of a good workout... and it totally was!

i coud do every exercise at my pace and push myself harder than the older ladies. the instructor took time to show me ways to make the exercises more challenging... and to be honest. i was dying during a few of them! i couldn't believe the amount of energy i was using to workout in the water. doing jumping jacks in the water is SOOO much better on my knee than on land... i still felt like my heart rate was increased, but without any pain.

i plan on going to water fitness classes all next week... and then i head back to school the following week. it has been nice not having to work and just focus on me over the past six weeks. i honestly have NO clue how i am going to balance work, wife, mom, and me in a couple weeks. i will be happy to take any ideas. because i am stressing just thinking about it.

stress fracture.

another week in the books. still doing okay. i got off the beaten path on thursday thanks to a wonderful dinner out in Philadelphia to celebrate my anniversary. we ate an amazing steak house. we also went to hershey park today. i had chicken fingers for lunch and a hot dog for dinner... i keep telling myself, that i could have done A LOT worse, but i focused on landon in the park and not on the food.
down another 1.8 pounds... that puts me down 14 pounds total. only a little over three more pounds to get into the 170s again. haven't seen that number in over a year!

went to the orthopedic specialist on thursday... turns out, i have a stress fracture in my knee. he wanted me on crutches, but i explained about having a toddler. he decided to put me in a ginormous knee brace instead. so no impact exercise for a while. like months....

so i decided to start something new. i am going to join the water fitness group at the gym starting monday morning. i need to keep this body moving if i plan on feeling better about myself.

bring on another week. my goal is to lose another two pounds! remember to check out "my journey" page for weight updates!

Still going.

weighed in this afternoon... and i am down 12.2 pounds since the summer kicked off. it has been frustrating not being able to exercise, but i guess just eating less has been working. i would LOVE to be in the 170s by the time school starts in three weeks. only five pounds to lose. sounds totally doable if i pay close attention to healthy eating. 

tim has been away on business over the past week. it will be so nice to have him home and get back on a normal schedule. looking forward to his plane landing this evening! 

i am updating weight loss on "my journey" page if you are interested in checking it out! 

Happy Tuesday!!

an update.

well. the knee is doing horrible. can't really function without a high dose of pain killers... but even when i take those, i still feel pain.

i went to the my family doctor yesterday because the pain continues to be unbearable. he basically said ice, elevate, and ibuprofen. he thought maybe a stress fracture, but that didn't show up in the x-ray. i was hoping he would send me to get an MRI... but that was a no go.

i go to the orthopedic specialist next thursday... ughhhh! that seems so far away! my family doctor mentioned that the orthopedic doctor will take a look and maybe suggest an MRI... which means i have longer to be in pain.

pain is the worst. i do not tolerate it well at all. i always think to myself, "what if this pain NEVER goes away and i have to live with it for the rest of my life." i scare myself.

even through the knee injury, i have been eating healthy. i won't step on a scale until sunday, so i am not exactly sure how weight loss is going. i am not really too concerned, because all i want now is to feel better. i want to be able to take a step without cringing.

it will be a week on sunday since my knee injury. praying that the knee heals on its own and i can go back to walking normal. because... i miss doing that.

a set back.

i have hit a bit of a bump in the road on sunday. i ran amazingly on sunday. i felt SO good. i could feel myself being the runner i use to be. i loved EVERY second. then, i came home and took a nap during landon's nap time. and then i woke up....  with the worst knee pain ever.

not sure where it came from. i didn't feel like i injured it at any point on the treadmill. i wasn't going very fast and did a good walking warm up and cool down.

i keep wondering if it is from going back to exercise. i feel like my knee hurt last time i tried working out again. i have eased myself into working out... not going super fast. mixing in walking. and going no longer than 35 minutes... and that is with a warm up and cool down...

i went to the hospital to get my knee x-rayed and it came back fine. the doctor mentioned to me to go to a sports medicine doctor to get a clear picture of my knee with an MRI. it could be injured from the 20 years of long distance running and trying to workout out on it is wearing it down.

deciding what to do is tough. i am wondering if i just wait it out with ice and ibuprofen, the pain will go away eventually and i can work out again. or should i go to the doctor to check it out so i know it isn't anything serious.

decisions... decisions....

two weeks.

i made it two weeks. i think i heard somewhere that it takes two weeks to break a habit and form new ones. it has definitely been easier as the days go by...

here are some changes i have made over the past two weeks:

• 30 minutes of exercise every day: i have been running on the treadmill almost daily and i have also implemented The Shred into my exercise routine to start toning up some soft and mushy spots on my body.
• cutting out soda: i was drinking soda WAY too much. like everyday... sometimes twice a day. both regular and diet. i decided to only splurge on a diet soda if i was out and about. and that has been working.
• water: since i cut out soda, i have been drinking only water. i add ice and a squirt of lemon juice and i have been able to tolerate it.
• planned dinners and snacks: meals have been much more planned over the past two weeks. grocery shops have been organized. this has helped with eating out and ordering a last minute pizza.
• sugar: sugar is my weakness. can't get enough of candy, cakes, cookies, and any sweet in general. i have really cut back on the sugar. i had to stop drinking coffee because i can't drink it without a TON of sugar.

i have to admit that i have been feeling much better over the past couple of weeks. i even feel as though my skin is looking better. strange. i know. i will admit that my body hurts. especially the right ankle. i think this is because i broke it last summer and haven't exercised on it EVER since then. hoping it will get stronger and feel better soon. i have a lot of weight using that ankle right now. maybe, as i drop pounds, it will be better. 

my goals for the next two weeks are:

• exercise 30 minutes a day
• eat a vegetable every day.
• only step on a scale on Sunday

wish me luck!! 

trying it solo.

i am almost to the two week mark of eating healthy and exercising... i haven't really told anyone that i was starting to try to eat healthy and exercise again. tim knows. my mom kind of knows. and that is about it.  i am keeping it quiet because i am scared to fail once again. i have failed at this weight loss thing way too many times over the past two years. 

i was debating on joining weight watchers... i thought maybe going to weekly meetings would hold me accountable to stay on track through the days. however, as of right now, i am doing this whole thing solo unless i really feel as though i can't follow through with becoming healthier. 

today, i cleaned out all my dressers and closets. it felt good to put clothes in trash bags that i haven't worn in years! i realized i have three sets of clothes... my before pregnancy clothes, my during pregnancy clothes, and my after pregnancy clothes. i hate them all. so i bagged up everything. and i mean EVERYTHING. my plan is to slowly buy new clothes that fit this awkward body. i am starting with the workout clothes and then transition to work clothes. 

i did keep a few dresses from my pre pregnancy days. i LOVED them. i am not sure i will ever fit in them again, but i guess i can hope! 

i made it.

i made it!! the weekend turned out great. tim really helped me through it. we started off friday night with a home cooked meal. we then decided to go grocery shopping for the week on saturday. this helped us buy dinners for saturday and sunday.

we went the whole weekend NOT eating out. this is huge for us!! i wasn't faced with temptation at every corner. i wasn't faced with the decision of choosing a salad over french fries. or a grilled chicken sandwich over buffalo wings. i am not ready for that yet.

because of the successful weekend, i treated myself to a pedicure and an eyebrow wax. it felt good to spoil myself for an hour and take care of me. something i really have forgotten how to do... or maybe just felt guilty doing.

going to the gym is coming along. i am working my way up to running 30 minutes without stopping. my goal is to accomplish this by the end of this week. i am now successfully running 25 minutes at a 12 minute pace without stopping.  i started this journey barely being able to run for two minutes. i have been increasing minutes slowly every day and i can feel myself getting stronger.

i also attended an abs class yesterday. and boy am i EVER so achey today. i was DYING on the floor trying to do crunches with my post baby/food pouch of a belly. a couple times, i had to just stop and watch the others do the ab workouts... one lady was doing them all with a weight in her hand!!! what!? WHAT!?

and i will end this post with a picture of my little guy. he has been a bit under the weather lately with spiked fevers... praying he feels better soon and whatever his little body is fighting gets beat.

approaching weekend...

i stink at weekends. i mean stink. i just don't know how to handle them. i eat my face off EVERY weekend.

so i attacked it with a plan. i told tim this morning, i would make a ham steak, baked potato, and veggie for dinner tonight. he looked at me a little funny, but agreed. he looked at me funny because we usually eat out EVERY friday night. but i can't do it right now. i want french fries. i want chips and salsa. i want buffalo wings. but i know i need to be eating a salad.

hoping to work out on saturday and sunday. that should maybe help me stay focused. fingers crossed and here i go!

bring it, weekend!

first swim lesson.

it has been five days when i decided to start to feeling better about myself... feels like longer. ugh.

to be honest, eating healthy has been easy since i trashed everything "junk" in my house on sunday when we got back from vacation. we also went grocery shopping on sunday and bought a ton of healthy food for dinners and snacks... that helps.

the hard part is making healthy choices when i am on the run. today, i took landon to Sky Zone, which is an AMAZING place...i'm talking trampoline galore! on the way home, a friend and i decided to do wendy's for lunch. crap. i could do a salad. but i really don't enjoy fast food salads. so i chose to just order a grilled chicken sandwich and call it a day. i did. and it worked.

it has been bit of a crazy day, but i am hoping to squeeze in thirty minutes at the gym tonight. last night, landon had his first swim lesson at the YMCA and it was no joke. it is no longer singing songs and swooshing my baby around the pool. we were doing back floats, kicks, and arm strokes... needless to say, he slept GREAT last night.

(Landon's "cheese" face before his first swimming lesson)

mini goals.

in the past i did weight goals... if i lost 5 pounds, i earned a pedicure for example. this time around i HAVE to do something different... because it is way too hard to wait to around and lose five pounds. i have no patience. i reflected on this and came up with a new plan.

i decided that every day that i complete thirty minutes of exercise and eat healthy, i will earn something the next day. it is like INSTANT gratification.

so on sunday, i ate healthy (no exercise), but ate healthy. i decided on Monday to buy a new pair of sneakers... it has been 4 years since i bought a pair!!

on monday, i ate healthy and worked out for thirty minutes. so on Tuesday, I decided to treat myself with a gym membership to the local YMCA.

on Tuesday, i ate healthy and worked out for thirty minutes. so today, i purchased new running socks, since i can't even tell you the last time i bought new socks. gross. i know.

if i do well today, i am buying myself new workout shorts tomorrow, since NONE of my old ones fit me anymore.

I already got my workout done this morning... thirty minutes on the treadmill! and it wasn't too bad. it was a little strange because there is babysitting at the gym. so i had to drop off my little guy and leave him with strangers. this was very weird, but i realized it is something i NEED to do to feel better about myself. Landon did wonderful and easily transitioned in and out of the play area.

i have figured i am going to create mini goals and focus on these goals two weeks at a time. for the next two weeks, my only plan is to eat healthy and workout for thirty minutes a day.

operation feel better about myself.

this weight thing will always be a battle simply because i love to eat. every time i decide to jump back on the wagon, i like to write about. i started to write in my notebook. i was writing my goals. i was writing my exercise plans. but i realized this would be so much EASIER if i typed it. so back to the blog.

i am embarrassed by my eating. i am embarrassed by my lack of exercise. and i am embarrassed by the way i look. but i need to accept what i look like and start doing something about it. so i did...

i joined a gym. it was the first time i did this as an adult. i always thought they were a waste of money, because you can just exercise outside, but exercising outside just wasn't happening in my case. in fact, NO exercising was happening. i haven't ran since 2011. CRAZY to type that.

i am not making a weight goal. i just want to feel better about myself. the first two weeks are going to be tough. in fact, the first two days have sucked. but here we go... again.

Step On Scale Sunday

you have to excuse my lack of blog posts. this balancing act of being a working mom is a tough one. i also just registered for my VERY last graduate class ever. this one will be the biggest doozy of them all. the good news is that i officially have my masters degree as of january 6th. however, the principal certification requires a practicum class and 180 hours of extra work outside of the classroom. so i will be adding this on top of everything else going on in our little lives. i think i can, i think i can, i THINK i can.

weighed in this morning. 184.2. that is a loss of 1.8. not a big one but a little move. i'll take it! here comes week 2!

Next weigh-in: January 19th.

cookies and a potty.

i love being a teacher. it is a very busy job and can be challenging... but at the same time, very rewarding.

this morning, i was checking in homework, taking attendance, paying my students for their jobs, and organizing the day when one of my students came up to me with two cookies in a sandwich bag. i know those cookies were for her lunch, but out of the kindness of her heart, she gave them to me. i told her that she should eat them for her lunch. but she looked at me and said, no, i want you to have them. so i thanked her over and over again... and told her i couldn't wait to eat them. i placed them on my desk and continued with the morning.

after lunch, the little sweet pea asked me if i enjoyed the cookies. i told her that i was saving them for later to eat. and that seemed to make her happy. i looked at those cookies all day on my desk. they looked delicious. especially, since my lunch didn't quite fill me the way i had hoped. 

at the end of the day, i placed the cookies in my school bag to bring home. i didn't have the heart to throw them away at school since i knew she really wanted me to have them. i took a nibble of one for dessert tonight and put it back in the sandwich bag. 

the december theresa would have inhaled those two cookies and not thought twice about it. now those cookies are sitting on my kitchen table. looks like someone else may be enjoying those cookies. 

maybe this guy will get a bite of a cookie when he uses his potty! we are on the road of potty training!

Step on Scale Sunday

I mentioned that i stepped on the scale last Monday. i was seriously ready to see a number in the 200s by the way i was eating my face off for the past few months. it was a tough number to see, but i was pleasantly surprised to see it in the 180s.

let me explain why, you see... it was a hard thing to do, but i got rid of all maternity clothes in september. i bagged them all up and decided that i needed to go to the store and finally figure out what size i really was. i grabbed a TON of pants from the rack and started to try them on. i bought five new pairs of pants in two different sizes. 14 and 16. my jeans i purchased were a size 14. those jeans fit GREAT. i remember it feeling really weird wearing them AND remembering to put my fly up since i hadn't done that in almost two years!

fast forward to december. those jeans no longer fit right. they were tight. and actually started to fall down since they couldn't fit over my hips any more and they actually sat on my hips instead. and... well... i ended up digging for my maternity bag and pulling out my maternity jeans. they fit amazingly and i forgot how much i loved them! i really missed them. tim pretty much laughed at me when he noticed me wearing them again. it is time to retire them for good. the past few months have killed me with trying to balance work, grad school, mother, wife...

i am stepping it up to finish all the steps to become a healthier me. step one was stepping on the scale and acknowledging my weight gain. step two will be to take just a few minutes a day to focus on me.

the number is 186.0. here we go folks, welcome to always twenty pounds to go... 2014!!

next weigh-in: Sunday, January, 12th.

maybe...

i have been trying to watch my food intake over the past few days. i have been trying to be aware of what i am eating. i have been trying to stay away from soda and sweets. i have been trying to have the will power to walk away from foods i love.

will power. ugh. i don't have it like i use to. or maybe i am just not as motivated as i was in the past. i have a friend who wrote a fantastic blog post on focusing more on herself as a resolution. Click HERE to read her post!

i feel that since Landon has been born, i have absolutely put myself on the back burner. i feel like he has to come first to everything. maybe it started with all the health concerns he had during his first year. maybe it continued when i became a "working" mom and definitely have the working mom guilt.  maybe it is just from being a mom. period.

maybe, i need to start putting a little more focus on me. whether it be to blog. or read. spend time with a friend. or even get a pedicure ( i haven't had one of those since APRIL!)... maybe if i spend a little time on myself a day, i will start to find the will power to eat healthier. maybe as i start to take care of myself more, i will find the will power to succeed more.

starting tomorrow i will begin stepping on the scale sunday. if you are interested in participating with me, let me know! it is always nice to have a friend or two to check in with!

and i will end this post with a picture of the two cutest bald babies in overalls i have ever seen!

what are ways that you are able to balance being a mom and taking some time out for yourself?

sugar addiction

peppermint patties. snowcaps. reese pieces. pez. chocolate chip cookies. chocolate covered cherries... these are just a few of the items i had in my cabinet over the past week. the keyword in that last sentence being "had."

last night, tim and i fed our faces (okay, more me) with all the junk in the house to get rid of it all. we placed all the candy and cookies on the table and had a feast. it was the last HOO-RAH! i mean, it is IMPOSSIBLE to start counting calories when you have a cabinet full of junk.

this time around is going to be really hard. i seriously think i have an addiction to sweet stuff. i can't get enough of the chocolates, cookies, cakes, and candies. i have been eating it over the past month like there is no tomorrow. over christmas break, i had cookies for breakfast way more than i should have. but they went PERFECTLY with my cup of coffee!

this is why i need to cut out sugar the best i can. once i start eating it, i just can't stop!

i stepped on the scale on monday.... it was a tough number to see. still trying to figure out how i am going to do weigh-ins this year. i was thinking about doing "step on scale sundays." this may get me through the weekend and stay focused.

and of course i will end this post with a picture of landon. his little smile just melts my heart every time.

Resolutions

tim and i rang in 2014 with just the two of us this year. one of the many changes that occurred after having landon. after putting landon to bed, we enjoyed appetizers, a nice dinner, and of course dessert. we talked about our resolutions for the new year like many people do. and funny enough we have the same exact resolutions: living healthier and laundry. yes. laundry.

living healthier has always been my new year's resolution. i'm talking FOR YEARS. and i will of course be writing a blog post on that topic alone soon. but, laundry... this post will be about laundry.

boring. waste of time. other things i could be doing. annoying. pain in the neck... are just a few words that come to mind when i think of laundry. i hate it. i have hated it forever. if laundry only had two steps to it... i would be golden and would tolerate it like other tedious chores. but, it has four. and the last two steps are where i fail. and tim too. folding and putting the clothes away.

i am not much of a nagger with completing those last two steps since i am just as guilty as not wanting to do them. so laundry either:
a. stays in laundry baskets or
b. gets folded on the basement couch and stays there.
many times i feel ambitious and think, "i will finish all the laundry to the bitter end" and then the last load sits in the dryer for a day, then placed in a basket, and maybe folded on the couch. i make the excuse of it being difficult to carry the folded clothes in a heavy basket up two flights of steps. excuses, excuses......

i can NEVER finish the whole chore. and because of this, tim and i are constantly ironing or "fluffing" up clothes in the dryer to make them look presentable. we have decided to take on the laundry challenge this new year. we will try to do a load every other day instead of just weekly. we will complete the last two steps. especially the LAST step.

and of course, i will be connecting my laundry to my living healthier. the year is 365 days. not 90. or 180. 365. i am the champ at making it through the first few steps of my weight loss journey. but then i can never finish it. i can never complete the last steps. i am hoping this year i can follow through. complete the last step of being healthy and figuring out how to get there. i am the worst at starting out my journey strong and willing... but only to finish it weak and hungry.

here's to finishing things when i start them. here's to folding laundry. and putting everything away. here's to losing this weight. here's to 2014!!