It has been a monumental week for me – I accomplished six days in a row of exercise goals! 😀 In all seriousness, though, that’s kind of a big deal for me. I am an absolute control freak and want to have a perfect handle on everything, and I usually do (within my control of to do lists and tasks and general family and household upkeep) – until it comes to taking care of myself physically. I suck at eating well and I hate exercise. It’s certainly gotten a lot harder since I broke my ankle, but that was a good 19 months ago now, so I can’t keep using it as an excuse, even though it does still give me pain every single day. Too bad! Get over it! TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF.
It’s started to really hit home that I’m about to turn 35 and I should not be as broken and unhealthy as I am at this age if I want to live for decades more. Right around this time last year is when I also came to these conclusions and spent about three months really focusing on my health (mostly because my doctor was counting on me to after we found out my liver is NOT in great condition). And then a lot of crappy stuff happened at the beginning of this year and the months went by and I totally stopped caring again. I have excuses galore, but I don’t want to focus on that anymore. I want to just take one day at a time, decision by decision, doing what will be GOOD FOR ME. It’s so easy to make the choices that will be right for me mentally. WHY is it so hard to take care of myself physically as well?
I don’t have any grand plans or programs the way I did last fall to get back in shape and lose weight. But I’ve decided to make one simple change that I’m hoping will be a catalyst to more and more positive choices. That change: write down one exercise goal every single day and DO IT BEFORE ALL ELSE. Well, technically, this week I woke up around 4am every day and I didn’t get to that goal until after the boys went to school at 7:30. But, as soon as they’re out the door, I WILL do my task before anything else because it is my highest priority of the entire day. And doing it first thing is key because that’s the one and only thing that will inspire me to follow suit and ALSO make better eating choices throughout the day. So far, while the weather is still amazing, I’m trying to focus on mostly going on long walks. But this week I alternated each day with a yoga video and I liked the variety. I’ll probably keep the plan simple like that for now.
Anyway! Back to the week’s recap. Caden’s birthday was Monday, but I already wrote all about that. I believe I started some dolls on Tuesday. I saved my errand running for Wednesday, though I didn’t actually need much – it was kind of more of a fun run. I have been VERY unmotivated this week to be super productive. Last week kind of did me in.
On Thursday I got my act together and finished up seven more Halloween dolls. They’re not selling as well as they usually do, so I’m wondering if I should just move on to something else. Maybe it would be fun to make a batch of birthday dolls. I don’t particularly like Halloween, so it’s hard for me to get really excited about making witches and spooky dolls. No excitement means no motivation.
Thursday was also my mother-in-law Cindy’s birthday. We all ate dinner together at Tipsy Cow in Sun Prairie and then came back to our house for present opening.
Friday was the day I look forward to all year – Cranberry Fest day! My parents picked me up at 5 and we headed up to Warrens for the festival. Unfortunately, it rained the entire day. BUT it wasn’t so hard that we had to change into our backup clothes at any point. It was just a tad uncomfortable and annoying. We spent about five hours there and then moved on to all the stores we like to visit each year in Tomah, Onalaska, and the Dells. We finished up the night at a deli for a late dinner. It was a really fun day!
My favorite finds of the day were all these black and white tin signs. I already have a whole black and white gallery wall going on in my kitchen, so I was excited to find a few more things to add (I’m pretty sure this will use up all remaining space, to my great dismay!).
This is my very eclectic mix of random things I actually bought AT Cranberry Fest. Nothing crafty at all. But I’m quite excited to try out all the different garlic varieties and see if I can taste a difference! I’ve been eyeing up that pink trimmed green leather business card case for years and finally decided to get it. I’m always wishing I had business cards on me, but never actually find a way to get them into my purse. No excuses now! I also bought Shepard some soap (he think bar soap is an amazing new concept), the boys some fancy treats, and a calzone dog treat for Annie.
I also found some great additions to my large stock of delightful smelling candles. I’ve been a little obsessed with candles lately. I LOVE smell and how such a tiny change in your atmosphere can alter your mood and uplift your spirits. Unfortunately, I’m married to someone who is super sensitive and revolted by most smells, so I’m pretty limited to when I can light them and what they can smell like. You better believe I’m lighting about ten candles at once when I’m home alone during the day, though! They make me so happy. I also found some cute new cat bowls to match my rainbow sewing room at TJMaxx. It ended up being a pretty great day for shopping finds, even if I didn’t get most of them at actual Cranberry Fest!
And that was my week! I keep hoping that life might start settling down and being a little less chaotic, but I’ve realized in the next couple weeks I need to make and go to like ten different appointments for different family members, pets, and cars, so I’m already stressed out and feeling drained. It was also pointed out to me that Christmas is less than three months away. But I’m going to continue to fight for my down time and soak up every possible minute of the beautiful fall weather while walking with Annie, reading good books in my favorite chair, and breathing in the lovely scents of my apple and pumpkin scented candles!
