Gettin' Organised :: The End of the 2nd Week

There are many ways to keep track of your schedule and your week, depending on the type of person you are. If you're a file-er, you'll dig calendars hanging on the wall, papers put where they belong, socks and grunties separated in their own doors....you know, the usual orderly type personality.

If you're like me, you're a pile-er, someone who can't quite get the papers organised in their little folders in a timely fashion but they can tell you which pile to look in at about what height in the pile to look in. We work better when everything is laided out before us on a horizontal plane, say the top of a desk. Some people have found binders work really well for that kind of paper "clutter"---when a bill or statement, etc comes in the mail, it gets hole-punched and placed in a binder; once a month the binder is taken apart to deal with the bills and file the statements. I've heard of an idea where if you have a laundry room with room for shelving, that bins with marked with family members names are useful for throwing in their socks and grunties...some the monotenous folding of clothes efforts can be saved for more important pieces of laundry like shirts, sweaters, or pants.

This writing things down effort for me has been a trial, but the thing that helped me most is that i've developed a love for crossing things out. It's what i imagine having a fairy godmother is like: except that you actually have done the work. But after, poof...it's wiped away. See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya. :)

When keeping my routines visible for everyone during the week, i've found that a cork board near our dinette works wonders. Moose has his list up there of manly chores that need to be done. I hang the cleaning schedules up there for the zone and the recurring weekly duties. My lists are in plastic sleeves, so i can cross out with a dry erase without printing a new list each week. At the end of the week, it's nice to see that there's more done than undone.


Frankly, i'm surprised that i've lasted this long! 2 weeks! Ivory is on to something with her reorganising efforts and i thank her for sharing her inspiration with us! I'm actually looking forward to seeing what this place is like in a month and a half after i've gone through the whole house. The important thing for me to keep in mind is that the inside of my house is never going to look like the pages of an edition of the British Country Living mag or my favourite book.

Other news that is helping me keep the skip in my step is on the weight loss front. The recommitment i made to myself in October has really helped. My highest then, 310 pounds, was my lowest point ever. It's awful to feel so horrible, especially when you feel so out of control. Maybe it's because we are scheduling everything so much more. We shop once a month for meat from an organic butcher and we order bulk items from a food co-op also once a month. Weekly trips to the grocery are for veg and a smattering of dairy. I've also tried to make sure i eat less food...serve myself out at the kitchen, once. Indulge in good chocolate a couple times a week. Limit the drive thru for coffee and a "little treat" by saving that for my Saturday mornings i steal away by myself--mostly, i find that when i get into the bakery, i'd truely rather an egg on a roll and a black coffee rather than any of those pastries staring me back in the face. oh sure, there's a moment where i debate whether i should get a bear claw or a cheese danish, and then someone in my brain starts saying, "You know, you've had those before. You know how they taste. And, honestly, there don't really taste that good, you know?" :)

Today i was really dreading weighing in, not because i thought i had overindulged too much this week, but something else i couldn't put my finger on. I couldn't see weigh lost in my face anymore. I hadn't noticed any other differences in my body this week. It turns out that i lost half a pound. Yea me! So since October 2010, i've lost 14 pounds. That's almost as much as the bag of whole wheat flour and a little sack of vita-gluten wheat i buy from the co-op. Woot!

When i returned home, i took inventory....i can still see my jawbone emerging, my "shelf" below my lower back is slanting more, but i couldn't tell where the last couple week's weigh loss had came from. While i was waiting for the kettle to boil, i looked down at my feet. Good golly, i think this is the first time i've noticed that my feet don't spread out like hobbit feet so much any more! :) And i can start to see a little ankle emerging! Yippee! While i don't think i'll make my wish of losing 10 lbs before our anniversary, i'll be happy just to keep losing more weight tell then.

Hoping you are enoying success with any of your new endeavours or the old ones that you've just recommitted too! Have a great weekend!