Jolly Polly Pickins - Vintage Girl at Heart

A sample of my daily diet!

2012-02-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

Ok so that last entry was a little depressing and I thought I should leave today’s postings on a more positive note. Below is my food log for my unplanned Tuesday and happily despite doing everything last minute, I ate reasonably well, with the exception of some chips and dip.

Breakfast was a leftover small portion of dinner from Monday and the rest of the day unfolded fairly normally. I’ve decided that when it comes to breakfast, lunch and my at work snacks I sorta like following the same routine each day. Since I am not a morning person I truly don’t care what I eat in the morning as I am usually half asleep anyway. Sticking to healthy leftovers or something simple like a veggie omelet with chicken bacon, a side of mushrooms and maybe some fruit is perfect. My goal with breakfast is really to make sure I eat one, to eat enough to tide me over to first snack, and to ensure I have some protein and veggies. That’s it. What I actually eat, as long as it’s healthy, I don’t care if it is unimaginative.

My lunch I almost always have a salad with 4 to 5 veggies in it as well as some goat cheese on top. I need to eat more calcium and the strong taste of the goat cheese with the veggies, makes it so I never have to use salad dressing which for me is just a waste of calories. Generally I will have some raw pumpkin seeds or raw almonds as a bit of a crunchy topping for the salad. I also have starting adding some flat breads to lunch to up my carbs and to make my lunch feel fuller. Generally I also have one more serving of a veggie, something like raw carrots or sugar snap peas. First snack is also a veggie serving.

My 2^nd late afternoon snack I try to eat something more filling because this is my hungry time. I’ve started eating my daily serving of steel cut oats (I make them on Monday in the slow cooker, for the whole week) with a quarter cup of almond milk (adds a bit of sweet and more calcium) and I generally had some chia, hemp or flax seeds mixed into the oatmeal. I switch these up and keep them to a tablespoon or less to keep the calories reasonable, but also not to overdo the fiber since I eat so many veggies. The protein boost is awesome though! And depending on how much fruit I have had that day I generally top the oatmeal with some strawberries, blackberries or apple.

Dinner is where things really vary. I am trying to make sure I eat some carbs at dinner in the form of spelt linguine, quinoa or flax pasta or rice. I have a bad habit of not eating enough carbs, and I think it causes me to get very hungry towards the end of the day. I generally also have a number of cooked veggies, plus a salad and then some small portion of a meat. If I eat any processed foods this will be the meal they are in but even my processed foods are now pretty darn healthy as I stick to things like spaghetti sauces, soup (low sodium), and pesto.

My goals right now are to get in a really large serving of spinach at some meal and also make sure I consume enough calcium and carbs. On the flip side I am also trying to avoid eating too much fruit as I really love it and could easily overdo the natural sugar. At the beginning of this lifestyle change I was super focused on fiber and protein, but with all the healthy changes I made these two goals are moot since by eating so healthy I am getting more than enough of them with no effort at all.

I still have not had any pop (Since January 16^th Yeah!!!!) My goal for February is to really keep refining my eating habits and to try to go the entire month without pop, fast food, unhealthy processed foods or large amounts of junk food. (A girl has to have the occasional chocolate!) I’m not weighing myself at all this month so it will be interesting to see on February 29^th, what exactly I have accomplished since the 16^th of January.

Ok gotta fly, I need to get my butt to work and it looks pretty slippery out!

Ugh

2012-02-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

I am so incredibly tired.

This weekend took way more out of me then I initially thought and the fact that there are still cop cars and a forensics truck sitting outside my house is really stressing me out. I’m not sure why, it’s just unsettling, sad and makes me wish I lived elsewhere. I’m not sure if I want to continue this neighbourhood battle of trying to clean this place up, because I honestly can’t say how invested I am anymore. I am definitely not jubilant like many of my good neighbours who now think the hood will magically be all fixed. Sad to say, I am jaded, one dead crackhead does not make for a revitalized neighbourhood. I can’t even fake renewed enthusiasm for “taking back” our streets and I’m avoiding people just so I don’t have to listen to the same spiel over and over or answer any more first person account questions about the actual crime.

I’m debating just cutting my losses, selling my house as is and buying a condo or even just renting an apartment. My house is such a huge money suck and time commitment and now this whole murder and the fallout from that, well it’s just making me rethink my priorities. Do I really want to live in a place where crime is an everyday occurrence just on the probability that years from now this neighbourhood will be completely different and I will make a much larger profit.

I’ve been here 6 years already and obviously it’s not better. The only thing that is changing is my outlook and it’s increasingly becoming darker when it comes to this little world. I just want a home that I can come back to each night and feel content in.

And I am just incredibly tired.

I was home late last night at roughly 9:30 as I went to a co-workers house after work to help them out with their computer. By the time I got home, I was tired and short of doing a few necessary chores, I didn’t do much else other than talk to the boy for 5 minutes on the phone and then go to bed. Today is another long day as I have photography class tonight and will probably not make it home until the same time again. I am way behind with my business and with my chores. I have a mountain of laundry, an equally high mountain of dishes and I have not planned out my meals at all for this week. I also have about 20 e-mails that I have to answer for work and that is going to take a few hours at least. Looks like it will be another late night with no sleep.

Ugh.

I’m just not enthusiastic about anything today and am actually feeling quite whiney. Did you notice? =)

The good news, Thursday and Friday night I’ve managed to clear the schedule so I am dedicating those days to getting some listings up and selling some stuff locally. This weekend will also be a working one. The boy is working overtime and has some homework to complete, so other than a few hours Saturday night I don’t imagine we will be seeing much of each other. This is becoming our new norm and can’t say I am too pleased about it, but there isn’t much else we can do. The partial one night a week relationship is awesome.

Did I mention Ugh?

Ugh

Murder and Mayhem

2012-01-29T09:28:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy weekend. Skip to paragraph 4 if you want to know why faster. =)

It started when I left work in such a terrible mood that I just wanted to go home and cry, but instead opted to have a little sniffle in the car and then collect myself. I had about 30 minutes to waste, so I stopped at a local thrift shop and bought some nice vintage that was a great score. I then picked up the boy, we went out to dinner (using a coupon we got a free meal) I had a chicken skewer, plain rice and Caesar salad. Not horrible but the salad was high in calories. Then we went and saw a movie (Man on a Ledge - OK, but predictable) and I blew the day by having nachoes and processed cheese. The good news is, despite being tempted I did not have any pop (the boy had one and it was killing me)

Saturday I worked all day and did not eat on my proper schedule and actually ended up eating a snickers bar, some processed pre-made oriental appetizer thingies and just totally killed the calories. I was bummed at myself, but accepted that it is gonna happen and decided not to let it ruin the rest of my weekend. Still no pop, and this is becoming a huge motivator for me to keep going and to work harder. I also used a gift card to hit up my local Chapters and I bought the book "The New Rules of Lifting for Women" that has been recommended to me by about a million people. I'm going to read the entire book, and then make a judgement call if this program is something I can do at home, by myself and stick with. I would have to spend about 250 on equipment, because I need weights, a stepper, a ball etc... So it's a big commitment in terms of money (given I'd be breaking the No Buy Challenge) and also desire. I'm hoping to find a lot of used gear, so that amount might be drastically reduced.

Here's where the weekend really went South. At about 12 pm I was working upstairs in my house decluttering my bathroom crap and cleaning out my drains. Terribly exciting stuff to be doing Saturday night, but that kind of chore actually calms me and I was in a bit of a mood. Anyway, I heard all this yelling and screaming from outside. Now I live in a crappy area of the city (long story) and across the road from me (3 lane one way side street) is the most infamous crackhouse in my city so this kind of nighttime activity is not unexpected. About 25 minutes in to the yelling fest it seemed to take on a different level of excitement and volume so I decided to go downstairs, have a look at what was going on and make a judgement call about whether I needed to call 911.

As I opened my front door a woman came out from the back of the crack house screaming things like "My God. There is blood every where. He's dead." No sooner had I dialed 911 when the cops showed up and the within 6 minutes there was many more cop cars on the scene and enough cops that I thought it was a parade. Long story short, turns out that it looks like the guy that lived in that house (and is a bane on my neighbourhood) was murdered. This of course is not official yet, but given the nights events and activities after that time, that is the logical conclusion.

So as of right now Sunday morning, I literally have crime scene tape across my front porch and a all around a huge portion of my block and a giant forensics truck is sitting directly in front of my house. The neighbourhood is all closed off and the neighbourhood grapevine is in full force. We have a really strong neighbourhood watch and I pretty much know all of my law-abiding neighbours for about a 6 block radius on all sides of the block and just about everyone of them has called me this morning. A lot of people were out last night, so didn't see it all go down and "luckily" (note the sarcasm there) for me I had the best view in the house.

Since the night was so crazy and loud with lots of flashing lights and cops knocking on my door, I didn't actually fall asleep until 5am and I got up at 7 because I just couldn't totally fall asleep. I'm not scared at all, I don't truly feel bad for his death as it really was inevitable, I just feel unsettled and sad that it's such a waste of a life and such an ugly event. I feel sorry for his parents that loved him and the fact that he was someones child. But I also have huge anger issues towards that family as do all the neighbours which is why a number of us are suing his parents as they own the house. It's complicated and ultimately turns my stomach to say out loud that his death is the best thing that could have happened to this neighbourhood; full of mostly hard working honest people that just want to live in a safe place and live their lives in peace.

Onwards....

Today I am back on track with my eating and despite being exhausted I'm going to try to get some work done, row for a bit and relax. I actually took some pictures of my meals so far today, so I will post them at the end of the day. They look awesome and totally healthy!

I really do mean to keep adding some pictures too this blog (I take like a million a day) it's just a time issue right now. I will get on it.

Oh and I also found a skirt (size 16) that I was given awhile ago. I am currently a size 24/22 and this skirt has no zipper. I "tried" it on and I literally can not get it past my books (pulling over my head) or past my thighs/butt (pulling up) I have decided to make this my motivational skirt. In 2 years, I want this skirt to be too big! I've decided I will not try it on until my birthday (November 6th) and see if I can at least put it on even if it is skin tight. I'm also debating taking a ridiculous picture of me trying it on. =)

A little honesty for the day

2012-01-27T05:36:00.000-08:00

I stayed up too late Wednesday night reading “The Wife's Tale” by Lori Lansens. I’ve already posted my review of the book on my blog, so I won’t do an actual recap on the book, but I do want to talk a little bit about how the book made me feel.

Uncomfortable, sums it up concisely.

The main character was so relatable to me. She was introspective and clearly understood her own role in being who she was, yet externally she was unable relate to people and events to such a degree that her role became that of a misguided observer. In her eyes any negativity that existed in an event or a relationship was caused by her very presence and her keen awareness that she was always somehow at fault, whether it be her size, her intellect, her abilities, she was just wrong. Her body literally became the external amplification of her internal negativity and her apathetic acceptance of her role as this pathetic, obese, lesser being and nothing more. Worse yet, she was apologetic, but unrepentant, unwilling to change.

It struck close to home. I was once just as negative and judgmental of myself as Mary was. I truly judged my worth by how I thought others saw me or how I felt they judged me. Despite having an active internal life, I was unable to share any of it externally. By that I mean who I was on the inside was in no way reflected by who I was on the outside. I had such a strong body and mind disconnect, that at times I felt like I really was two people.

It’s scary to think that so much of my life has been wasted because I was afraid to live my life as I truly wanted to live it. Apathy is not even really the right word because despite being very similar to Mary I don’t think I have every truly accepted that the way I was, was the right way for me to be. Even at my worse, I always wanted to be more, do more, be less afraid to be exactly who I really am. Perhaps ultimately that desire for more has been and will continue to be my saving grace.

It has been difficult to try to find that connection to my body again and to build upon and strengthen it. But I do have faith that building that connection will eventually become easier and at some point this civil war that has been raging between mind and body will become a truce that will lead to an uneasy treaty and with time a unified front.

It’s not been an easy battle; there have been casualties on both sides. Yet I believe that my slow acceptance that how I see myself is how others will see me; will eventually be reflected on my outside.

I’m looking forward to that day. I’d like to experience whole me and see exactly what I look like. And truthfully I’d like to share me with the world, I want those honest interactions where I’m not hiding behind layers of fat and unsaid things.

Book 7 of 2012

2012-01-26T06:59:00.000-08:00

The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let me start this review by saying that I have a somewhat intimate perspective on this book because I myself am an overweight person who has struggled at times with food issues. I know my opinion of this book is heavily influenced by my own experiences and I am naturally inclined to be empathetic to the main character because I am her in a lot of ways.

Having said that, the book is extremely well written, it flows well and I actually felt a lot of times like the author must at some point had some kind of eating disorder because she was so dead on accurate. I bought it.

I totally believed in the main character and her issues and although the story unfolded with an almost surreal series of events, it was only a slight leap of faith to trust that it all could have happened exactly as it was written.

Most importantly to me personally, this book made me think about my own life and reflect on some of my choices. It even made me slightly uncomfortable at times and to me that is a sign of a book that is well written, it was able to believably transport me a little closer to home then I would have preferred given the choice. However, I recognize that sometimes being uncomfortable is the best way to learn how to be comfortable in the long run, so the author has my thanks for that.

View all my reviews

Figuring out Hunger Pains

2012-01-26T06:26:00.000-08:00

Funny I am eating so frequently these days in comparison to the last few months, is actually comical to me when I consider how many fewer overall calories I am consuming. In a typical day I have the following schedule:

6:30ish – Breakfast
10ish – Snack 1
12:30ish – Lunch
3:00ish – Snack 2
5:00ish – Snack 3
6:30 up until 8:30 – Dinner

Mind you 75% of my diet is vegetables, so I can consume a ton without killing myself with calories and my portions are much smaller for everything not in the vegetable family, but still it sometimes feels like all I do is eat. Yet, I am hungry. My stomach begins to growl before every meal and snack now, which I am ok with because I think it’s natural to be hungry before you eat.

But I recently added the 5:00ish snack to eat in my car on the way home, because by that time my stomach was growling so hard I was beginning to get concerned about overeating since nighttime is my bad time and my dinner time is never consistently the same.

I know the hunger is not a thirst issue because I drink at least 9 glasses of water before 5:00pm (including cold green tea I make myself, no sugar or anything added) I am just genuinely hungry. I’ve been reading up on spreading out my fiber and carbs and I have been trying to do that. I also have added some things like chia, hemp and flax seeds to up my fiber even more and add some additional protein to my diet. Everything in my log seems pretty good, the only real difficult areas are getting enough calcium, some days my carbs are a little low, and I can overdue the fruit on occasion with more than 3 servings, but I think those on a whole are not major issues.

I’m not exactly sure what to do about the hunger, I’m hoping that it will just abate on its own once my body gets used to the new portions and schedule. (I almost typed feeding schedule which makes me feel like a farm animal getting a feedbag strapped on) I’m also making sure I drink all throughout the day so that helps me fill up all day and it’s not concentrated all at one time.

One thing I am considering is flipping my schedule a bit so in the morning for breakfast I have a huge plate of steamed veggies (I like spinach, zucchini, mushrooms and garlic in the morning) with an egg, cheese and mix some seed into the veggies. And then save my steel cut oats for snack number 2 in the hopes that will help with the really intense late afternoon hunger.

I’m also considering calling the Ontario EatRight line where you can talk to a nutritionist for free. I was hoping to have a solid month under my belt before contacting them because I am sure I will have more questions as time progresses and then I realized that’s pretty dumb because I could always just call them back. =) Maybe they will have some helpful suggestions on balancing my day more since I am pretty confident my selection, variety and portion control is pretty dead on right now.

Does anyone else ever have this problem with hunger? Any recommendations?

Persian Food & Lazy Night

2012-01-25T06:07:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was an awesome eating day until we decided to go out to dinner. We went to our favourite Persian restaurant and had hummus, kaske bademjan (roasted eggplant), pita bread, chicken schwarma, basmati rice and a small salad. All fairly healthy food, if eaten in moderation, I of course ate too much! I did bring half my dinner home and had it for breakfast this morning (I added chia seeds and a banana to health it up!) so at least I spread out the calories. I also indulged last night and ate about 20 sour skittles, because I just wanted something candyish. Altogether not totally unhappy with the day I was still in good calorie range with a deficit despite the candy.

I didn’t row. Dang it. By the time we did groceries, eating out, I prepped my salad stuff for the next 3 days and got it all portioned out into containers, it was rolling on to 8pm and all I wanted to do was sit down and read, which is exactly what I did. We both lazily read for an hour, then we talked for another hour, the boy went off to work and I puttered until bed time and that was the night!

I did something I don’t normally which is to stop a book I am reading mid-way through and start another one. A friend recommended “The Wife’s Tale” by Lori Lansens and she made it sound good enough that I decided I wanted to check it out. I’m glad that I did, the writing is compelling and as an overweight person I can definitely see some parallels in how she thinks (as disturbing as it is) and my own thought process. I’m only 40 or 50 pages in, but so far I’m hooked. It will be interesting to see where this book goes.

Tonight I’m definitely rowing and I think I’ve actually finally convinced myself to truly get up earlier and do something active before I go to work. I think I might skip the morning rowing (that’s a tad ambitious, I can now admit) and just go for a walk instead. I can walk, walking is easy, even if I will be doing it half asleep I think I can manage. I really just need to tell myself to suck it up sunshine and set my alarm. I also think that if I take some music along with me that will help me out or at least keep me awake. I’m going to have to find my Blackberry earphones tonight and transfer some upbeat music over.

I woke up this morning thinking about coke, ironic given my entry yesterday about having zero desire, and oddly enough I’m also in the mood to go shopping. I think tonight I just need to keep myself very busy to avoid being silly and breaking my goals in a fit of weakness. Realistically though I can’t afford to go shopping since I’ve put all my extra funds this month down on debt, so even if I did convince myself it’s ok to spend money just for fun, it would be a short trip!

Need an opinion!

2012-01-24T06:22:00.000-08:00

I realized something this morning. I have not had any pop in 8 days and more importantly I feel perfectly fine. I have NEVER gone this long cold turkey without feeling like I want to kill someone, having a crazy headache, or just feeling lethargic and depressed. I kid you not. I have majorly cut back my pop consumption over the years, but I still drank at least one can every other day. I also drink regular Coke, not diet or Coke zero.

I feel perfectly fine, better with each day and although I want a Coke, I’m not craving it with a raw intensity that was always a fierce battle with my willpower. I am shocked. Truly shocked that it has been so long and I’m not a crazy beast. It has to be my drastic change in diet that has killed the cravings. I am still eating sugar and sweets, but definitely in moderation. I pretty much have a system down where breakfast, lunch and all my snacks up until 5pm are ideal and healthy. Dinner and evening snack are where I need work because every few days I definitely slip up. Still considering I’m in the first month I am very proud of the changes I have made so far.

Crikies, this morning I had flax seed in my steel cut oats and my morning snack is raw pumpkin seeds. That’s progress!

Last night I finally got back on the rower and to my dismay after rowing for 20 minutes at a moderately brisk pace/pull I was wiped! I do mean wiped! I realize it’s been almost 2 months since I have rowed, but I didn’t think I would get that out of shape so quickly. The good news is, I feel ok today, not overly sore, so tonight I will aim for a few minutes more and just work my way back into regular sessions.

I’m really dying to weigh myself at this point because my clothes are definitely feeling a little different and I’m convinced my breasts are shrinking (I’m totally ok with that, the boy not so much) but I am going to wait until the end of February. I am hoping for 10lbs in the 2 months, but secretly would love 15!

Tonight is a working date with the boy. I’m going to setup my studio and take some pictures of my latest vintage so I can add some new listings to my shop. I’m also going to be making us dinner (Healthy Tuna Casserole) and prepping food for the rest of the week. The boy is going to work on his homework. The idea is we get to see each other, but we both have a lot of work to do, so we are doing our own thing in the same room together. A working date!

I’m also packing up a number of items I have been collecting on my dining room table to donate. As part of my decluttering project, I have been pulling random items I just don’t use or need with the intention of giving them to someone who can. I’ve been decluttering for a few years now so you would think I would have reached the end, but I always seem to find more things that need a new home. My belongings are definitely becoming quite minimal and oddly enough (a complete flip in my personality) I find this very soothing. Not needing “stuff” and learning to let go has brought me a lot of calmness, whereas before I think I used stuff to feel secure and safe.

I did buy 2 bottles of body lotion yesterday before I used up the stock in my house. This is against my No Buy Challenge policies, but the lotion was on a ridiculous sale and because I have such dry skin in the winter I go through it like crazy. I know I will use it all in the next few months so I don’t consider it stockpiling and I also don’t expect to see such a good sale of it until next year this time. So it made good financial sense to buy it now, plus I used a portion of a gift card, so it actually cost me nothing.

I have to say it’s been almost a month and I’m not having any problem with not buying anything at all. I actually thought books would be a lot harder to give up purchasing, but since I currently have so many books I haven’t read, it’s been fairly painless. I’m willing to guess in 3 months when my currently owned, unread, book selection is getting a lot smaller I’ll feel it then, but other than that it’s been ridiculously easy.

I do want to buy some new mason jars. I have a lot of seeds (Hemp, sunflower, chia, flax, pumpkin) in my fridge right now that I would like to store in mason jars. I also have about 30 antique mason jars in my basement a neighbor gave me. But unfortunately none of the lids came with them and I am having trouble finding properly fitting lids for them because they are unusual sizes and antique. A bit of a dilemma – can I buy new jars because I actually do need them or do I “make” a lid for the ones I currently have?

Because its food storage and seeds can be expensive, I might end up buying new ones. I do however have a gift card for Home Depot and I believe I have seen jars there before. Opinions, am I breaking the rules? Anyone have a good suggestion on how to make a lid?

Weekend Recap

2012-01-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

Does anyone ever manage to get their entire “to do” list done on the weekend? I know I pretty much never do and this weekend was no exception. I didn’t find the time to make my experimental bean chili, nor did I post any previews of my vintage offerings and I missed my hike (although that was because it was pouring out) however I did manage to kill the majority of the chore portion of my list which made me happy.

The boy and I went out for a delightful fancypants dinner at a place called Bella Notte for our 1½ year anniversary. The food was to die for, mostly healthy but I didn’t even make an attempt to calculate the calories. This whole weekend in fact was basically a bust for calorie counting because I ate a lot of leftovers and picked at bits from the fridge, but I ate healthy and I am pretty sure I was well within my goals.

I had to resist the urge to weigh myself this morning, I am just curious to see if I am making any progress, however I know that the first 2 months of changing your eating habits can make you go up and down constantly, as does the new medication I have for my thyroid. I trying my hardest to avoid the scale until the end of February, so I can also avoid getting hung up mentally if nothing has changed.

I was doing some research this weekend on local weight loss/motivational groups that weren’t as expensive as Weight Watchers or similar groups. I found something called TOPS which seems very reasonable ($30 a year plus $5 a month dues) and I am thinking about signing up. It means another commitment on my crazy calendar but I think it’s probably the kind of commitment I need to find the time for.

I finally started to back on track with my rowing and put in 2 good sessions on Saturday and Sunday. I feel a lot better for having done it, although I am feeling a bit stiff. I’m going to row again tonight, take Tuesday off and then row for the next 3 days.

I paid down another $100 on my debt (Credit Card this time) because I sold a few things this weekend. I am now officially at my $1000 goal for the month and man does it ever feel good. I am still battling Paypal for the credit card charge back from one of my customers but on the good news front I did receive an e-mail from the customer that it was a mistake on her part and she is trying to fix it. Bonus!

I’m a little concerned that sales are so slow this month, because I need them to pick up to meet my February goal of $1000 – however I also need to take some responsibility and start adding new items to my shop and get out there and make my rounds locally. It has just been so relaxing this month to not constantly be busting butt, I’m reluctant to end this nice lull. It is a priority to me to meet my financial goals, so I will start focusing a little harder so I can do that.

Next week is the first week of my photography class and I am excited! I haven’t taken any type of course in months and I miss school! I’ve actually be researching going back to school full time and have been doing the math to see if it something I could potentially afford to do before retirement age. =) I’m still mulling it over, but it’s definitely in my feature consideration list.

All in all, it was a slow weekend. I read a lot, relaxed a lot, talked on the phone, drank tea and replied to a million e-mails I was behind on. It was good. I needed that. Just some time to hang out and be. Oh and I started working on the boy’s V-day card. I’m drawing him one. I am not a very good artist, so I’m starting it early so I have plenty of time for re-dos.

Mortgage News

2012-01-21T10:22:00.000-08:00

For some reason I'm always happy when my mortgage goes below another thousand mark. So as of this morning instead of being in the 102 range I am now down to the 101 range! Wooohoo Mind you the actual number is 101,999.84, so I am just squeaking under but it still feels good!

It's the weekend!!

2012-01-21T05:48:00.000-08:00

I tried the Chia Seeds yesterday at breakfast. I ground them and mixed them in with my cottage cheese and the taste was not bad at all. Oddly enough I'm finding that I like cottage cheese less and less (especially the 1% stuff) so the Chia actually helped it taste a bit better. Normally I add fruit to the cottage cheese, but I had already planned out my fruit for the rest of the day and I was at my limit. I think in the future I will just avoid cottage cheese for the most part, it's insanely high in sodium anyway.

This weekend, my first at home in 4 weeks, I intend to make some slow cooker chilli with the dried black beans I bought. I'm debating adding lots of mushrooms (3 kinds)to make it feel "meaty" without actually adding any meat. I typically just go for classic chilli with kidney beans and hamburger, but I want to aim for a healthier version. I will have to check out some recipes online.

I got a credit card charge back notification for one of my vintage sales yesterday. I am a little bummed about this, but since all my ducks are in a row I am hoping that it will be resolved in my favour. Judging from the way it has played out, I don't think it was a genuine mistake on the buyers part, I am fairly certain they are trying to scam the system. The amount is only $62, and I can chalk it up to the cost of doing business but I prefer to keep that money in my pocket where it belongs.

This morning (as soon as I am done writing this in fact) I'm hopping on the rowing machine to try to do a morning row and see how it goes. Then I'm off in the batmobile to hunt vintage for a few hours. I'm hoping I have some luck as this afternoon I want to photograph a bunch of items and make some new listings.

I have been decluttering my vintage storage room for a few weeks now, so surprisingly I don't have a ton of random odds and ends in there, just a collection of 20 or so items that need to be listed. I am hoping to clean out even more items today as I love how much easier it is to work in such an organized space. In a weird way it takes pressure off my shoulders to only have items in there waiting to be listed, not items I have just randomly accumulated that all require "something" before I can use them.

I'm hoping this year that instead of closing for the spring months as I traditionally do, I can keep my vintage sales going and just stop picking for antique dealers for the spring. Honestly I'd like to stop picking entirely, as it is my least favourite part of the business, but the money is pretty good and it requires a lot less effort then selling my own items. But it is not where my interests lie and really it is the one aspect of the business I do strictly for the money.

On a different note, I'm also going to be doing a preview in my blog of yet unlisted items this weekend. I have been obsessing way too much about my diet lately and need to start filling the blog back up with things that might be interesting to people other then myself. =) So look for some pictures tomorrow of new vintage finds and I might sneak some in of our trip to Toronto. I'm going hiking tomorrow morning, so will be taking some pictures then as well. I am hoping to get some good bird shots!

Debt Update

2012-01-20T05:51:00.000-08:00

I put another $150 down on my Home Depot card. So this month I have paid off $900 towards that $1517 interest free debt due at the end of May. Pretty happy with that, since the goal is $1000 towards debt each month. 10 more days to make another $100 which should be no problem.

Scheduling Life!

2012-01-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

I'm getting better at planning out my meals and logging everything on calorie count the day before, it gives me time to make adjustments and plan out my mini-trips to the grocery store on the way home from work, saving both time and money.

Currently as I eat my breakfast each day, I verify and close the previous days log, check the current day to make sure my lunch/snacks are packed right and then I figure out the menu for the next day. It's a bit of effort, especially since I also write the daily update for my blog at the same time - but it does seem to keep me on track.

I'm hoping to eventually plan out each week on the weekend but this gets tricky because there are a lot of potential variables that pop up at night. At the very least I can plan all meals and snacks other then dinner and then just fill in that blank as I go.

Below is today's plan and with the exception of my potassium being a shade too low, it is a good eating day. Carbs spread out, all my other nutrients in line, calories on the dot and more then enough food to keep me satisfied. Most importantly, I love the menu, so it's easy to follow. It is also the first day I am trying Chia seeds, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

My next goal to working on my health is to start exercising in the morning. This is going to be tough, because I am not a morning person by nature and putting the two together is gonna make for some grumpy adjustment days. I'd like to wake up about 45 minutes earlier then I do currently and spend time rowing each morning. I have a custom designed rowing schedule that requires some days I row for 40+ minutes and some days only 20+ minutes so realistically a 45 minute window would give me time to complete whatever was required on the schedule. The odd day where my row requirements are an hour, I can just make sure my breakfast is a pre-made (slow cooker steel cut oats) or a cold one with no prep.

The problem is really waking up and also the motivation to work out so early. I am sorta out of options though. I need to start hunting vintage most nights, so I will be getting home later and later. The first thing I would do when I get home is eat (because I'd be super hungry by then) and rowing right after you eat is really not ideal. Plus by then, I'd have to do the regular chores, fill any orders I have and basically spend the rest of the night just keeping caught up.

So the schedule will be something like this:
5:30 - 6:15ish - Stretch & Row
6:15 - 6:30 - Shower
6:30 - 7:00 - Breakfast
7:00 - 7:30 - Get ready for work
7:30 - 8:00 - Commute
8:00 - 5:00 - Work
5:00 - 5:30 - Commute
5:30 - 8:30ish - Vintage hunt & errands
8:30 - 9:00 - Dinner & make next day lunch
9:00 - until done - Pack orders & answer e-mails

My rowing schedule is 5 days a week and some days I row harder for less time, so I can sneak in a bit more sleep the odd day. I also for the spring months have to work until 6pm, so that will just give me less time to hunt vintage in those months. It's not a great schedule but it's not terrible either. I will be taking 2 nights a week off during the week from working on my business (one for a date night, one for school) and I am really trying to limit the work time on Saturday and Sunday to 6 hours each during the day. That will give me 3 nights I can hang with the boy and friends and still put in the hours necessary on my own business.

Once the No Buy Challenge has ended I really want to get a gym membership again, and then that will totally put a kink in the schedule.

I know I am prone to over-planning and analyzing but I sometimes don't know how else to keep up unless I stay on top of it all.

Sorry for the totally obsessive entry. =)

Healthy additions to my diet

2012-01-19T06:37:00.000-08:00

I've been reading up on healthy foods and small changes I can make to everyday meals to really improve my over all well being. I decided that I would try to incorporate some of the suggestions to see how I feel about them and hopefully form some new habits if they work out well.

While browsing online I came across this Chatelaine article about Chia Seeds I have heard of them before but never really payed much attention. Ironically someone else mentioned them to me right after I read the article and curiosity peaked, this time I did a little investigating. I don't think they are quite the miracle food that some sources are claiming they are, but they definitely seem to have some very healthy properties.

To quote the article "I think it's a daily must as it's loaded with heart-healthy fibre, essential fats, protein and will give you long-lasting energy... Chia also contains a high source of omega-3 fatty acids, similar to flax."

Incorporating 1 tablespoon into my day could up my protein which I struggle with and since I avoid most foods from the sea (allergic to shellfish so I'm paranoid of things that share a water home) I could definitely use some omega-3. I also have a bad habit of wanting 2 egg omelets and eating too much steel cut oats at one sitting, so the fact that the chia can be incorporated into these meals is another bonus. Added to my shopping list.

On the topics of seeds, I decided to give myself a bit of a refresher on flax seed. I have done my homework before but didn't bother to incorporate flax into my diet. Flax seeds have all the benefits of chia seeds, while packing in that much more fiber.

Like all fiber rich foods, I know I need be careful to start small and work my way up to avoid any issues and I don't intend to overdo it by having both seeds each day in great quantities. I will bounce back and forth between the two and keep my dosages small.

Interestingly enough, what I didn't know was that to get the full benefit of both seeds I need to grind them before adding them to my food. Luckily I inherited a brand new coffee grinder (long story) that I have never used since I don't drink coffee, so I am all set! I'm buying the seeds over the pre-ground version because the seeds last a lot longer, I can grind them as I need them and the liquid form doesn't not retain all the benefits therefore is not even a consideration for me.

The third thing I am going to experiment with this week are black beans. Ironically I used to be a vegetarian (7 years) and at the time I hated all beans. My thyroid issues meant I avoided soy products like the plague, as a result getting enough protein in my diet was always a challenge. My doctor got on my case when I started radiation for my thyroid and eventually it was either start eating beans and a few other foods I disliked or start eating meat. Since my objection to meat was a preference not a moral dilemma I slowly started introducing meat back into my diet. As a result I have never really given beans a chance. I decided I disliked them 15 plus years ago and have stuck to my guns since.

Since I'm discovering that I actually do like way more foods then I once did, I've decided to give beans a go. Black beans are the healthiest with the most benefits, so I am going to give them a whirl first. For the sake of my budget and my attempts to avoid unprocessed foods, I'm going to use dried beans rather than the canned version. I am not sure what recipe I am going to try out, but I have heard that black beans and quinoa work well together. Being a wholehearted convert to quinoa, I just might have to test out a recipe incorporating the two.

Next up on healthy additions: Goat cheese (versus others) red peppers (versus others) and nutritional yeast!

Full Disclosure

2012-01-18T06:38:00.000-08:00

For the sake of full disclosure, I added a little something at the very bottom of my blog, left hand side.

Wasn't that brave of me....

Feeling kinda green

2012-01-18T06:26:00.000-08:00

I do not feel well today. I had a very healthy day yesterday but around 8ish my tummy began to grumble and feel uncomfortable. By 10pm I was definitely feeling ill and noticed my back was a little sore without cause. I went to bed around then and slept until exactly 6:03 without moving an inch. I almost never sleep like that unless I am sick, so when I got out of bed and realized my whole body felt sore, my stomach unsettled and my head was pounding, I was not at all surprised. Half an hour later I am still feeling the same but choosing to ignore it because I don't have time to be ill.

Unfortunately because my stomach feels so wobbly, I decided to skip breakfast this morning. I'm honestly not hungry and food just has no appeal to me right now. I've packed my lunch, so I am hoping by that time I will feel like eating. I have no idea what this will do to my system in terms of staying balanced and on track with calories. I'm sure one day isn't going to throw me off too much but I will admit I am a little concerned. I like to stick to my healthy eating program as much as possible to combat those days where I am feeling lazy and unmotivated. I hate to waste a motivated day on being sick, does that make sense?

It was a slow night last night. I had some packages of vintage to wrap up, e-mails to answer, the usual nightly chores and a few hours of research to complete. I need to start picking up the business a bit now that the holidays have passed and the first few traditionally slow weeks of January are behind us. The boy is coming over tonight for dinner and I'm helping out a co-worker Thursday night with his computer, this weekend will be the first chance I have to get out and do some vintage hunting. This is also the first weekend I will be at home in a month and I'm looking forward to hanging out in my own space.

Update for the No Buy Challenge: Still doing excellent on this, I have not bought anything new or even used, other then the one $5 item mentioned previously. I need to update my budget spreadsheet to figure out exactly what I have spent this month, but I know my food and gas are on target, all my bills are paid way ahead of schedule and I have put a huge chunk down on my debt. Sitting in my Paypal account is some extra money from sales and that will go towards the money spent when we went away.

I will be saving quite a bit on groceries in the next 4 to 6 weeks, as I am determined to use up all my excess dry goods (food, toiletries and household items)and not have a stockpile. I did do the inventory of all the dry goods in my house and was surprised with exactly how much stuff I have. In a strange way I am looking forward to the day when I have one tube of toothpaste, one bottle of shampoo, 2 cans of tuna, one bag of pasta, you get the idea.

I'm still finding it hard when I am buying groceries to not grab an extra bottle of on sale laundry detergent for example. I know mentally I have enough laundry detergent to last over a YEAR, yet I see it on sale and I feel that urge to grab it. I also really feel the need to go to Shoppers Drug Mart just to buy some stuff and use the gift card I have. Same for Home Depot and Chapters, 2 other places I have cards for. The gift cards are good for an entire year, I have no idea why I am compelled to spend them ASAP. To date I have been able to resist the urge to needlessly use them. The No Buy Challenge has actually been ridiculously easy for me up until this point, more so than I thought it would be. E-books are the only other item tempting me to spend but even that urge is mild because I have a huge stockpile of excellent unread books to tide me over and I am actively adding books on GoodReads to my "to read" list and that helps to quench the urge to buy.

I will leave you with one last thought, I read this quote the other day and thought it was quite funny:

"My "before" exercise program consisted of jogging my memory, running off at the mouth and jumping to conclusions. It was not very effective in losing weight."

January 17, 2011 - Daily Food Intake

2012-01-17T07:47:00.000-08:00

I'm eating my breakfast as I write this and my lunch is already packed away so no pictures today. However I did weigh all my food last night as I was prepping it for today. I entered it on Calorie Count to log it and I've included a snapshot of the breakdown for today. I'm pretty much dead on with my calories, which ironically I was estimating in my head as I was preparing my food (entirely from memory) and I was close. I guess I remember more than I thought I did.

Side Note: The pork sausage for dinner is made by Mennonites and I purchased it fresh at the Farmer's Market. It has no preservatives and it is a lot healthier then the options Calorie Count gave me to select. So I know the calories are a little lower, as is the sodium etc..

But I am going to try something a little different, upon the advice of a health guru friend of mine. I am going to cycle my calories each week rather then aiming for 1700 each day. Basically the theory is that if some days you eat a little less, others a little more etc.. your body is less likely to adapt to your exact calorie diet and keep the metabolism guessing, which means the metabolism keeps working in an ideal fashion and hopefully you can avoid plateaus!

So instead of 1700 calories a day, I need to consume 11,900 per week, spread out in a healthy fashion without too many or too little on any given day. The other factor of course are days when I do an activity that burns extra calories. Depending on how may calories I burn I have to eat to compensate for them (to a degree) as my goal is to only lose a maximum of 2 pounds a week, but ideally 1.5 to 1 pound. I want to lose the weight by adjusting my food and strengthen my body through activity. In no way am I trying to push a huge calorie deficit each week.

It is pretty simplistic once you follow the steps.
1. Plan your menu for a few days
2. Buy required food for menu
3. Prep food in as much bulk as possible
4. Weigh and record prepped food
5. Record food in log to verify calories and nutrients etc..
6. Make food
7. Eat food
8. Adjust log for any deviations from menu

This time of year when I am only working from 8 to 5 at my day job, have all my weekends off and my own business is chugging along at a moderate pace, the steps are definitely easy. I'm a little concerned once I start adding all the variables that will be popping up shortly. Once February hits, I have a photography class to add to the mix and my business starts to get a little busier. In March I'm adding a second class to the mix and again business starts to pick up even more. April I start to work until 6pm and some Saturdays and my day job becomes a lot more hectic and basically it just all snowballs when the spring hits.

However, it really is just a lot of excuses. I just need to make sure I take the time to stick to my goals and plan out my life accordingly. It might be a little easier this year because I'm not doing any major renovations or house projects. I have a few small painting jobs, some repairs and a few decor projects but nothing like it has been for so long now. I think the fact that I don't have a crazy "to do" list for my house will definitely free up a lot of time and make my life a lot less stressful.

Book 6 of 2012

2012-01-17T06:02:00.001-08:00

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Meh. Even taking into consideration this is a young adult book, I didn't find it to be a very good one. The 13 year old who recommended it to me loved this book and thought it was a really good story. I am willing to bet that by the time she is 15, she will feel completely different. The story is not unique enough to stand out in memory and once she reads a dozen more books she will probably not remember much of this one. (Especially if she reads the books I recommend to her!) Again, this review is coming from an adult that was humoring a teen, so take it with a grain a salt.

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Weekend in Toronto

2012-01-17T05:34:00.000-08:00

We had the best weekend away. I honestly feel like we were gone for 5 days instead of 2. We got off to a bit of a late start on Saturday (because we only had about 4 hours of sleep Friday night) and didn't arrive in the city until around 10ish. We went straight from the GO to the St. Lawrence Market and shopped for food and looked around for a few hours. We ate some crepes stuffed with spinach and feta, had some back bacon off a grill, tried different samples of pickled goods, munched on some unusual cheeses and we bought quite a bit of healthy food to bring home. I didn't take a single picture of any of the food I ate because it was just too crowded and not ideal for pictures.

Once we were all stocked up with goodies and our backpacks were groaning with weight, we went on a short 2 minute walk to my favourite movie place (totally retro Rainbow Cinema's) as it was a little early to check into our hotel, our bags were way too heavy to keep walking around with and it was blistering cold out. We decided to see Contraband which was not bad, typical for the genre. I had a giant Coke during the movie (damn broke my no Coke streak) but didn't have anything else which was good.

The movie let out in perfect time to check in, so we headed downtown a few more blocks to the hotel and got ourselves settled in to our awesome room. On the 32nd floor we had an awesome view of Lake Ontario and the city laid out before us. Our suite had a full compliment of conveniences including a full kitchenette with dishwasher and even a small washer and dryer built in. Very nice! The hotel itself is built on the base of an old Dominion bank so in the basement (which we had to sneak into because it was closed off) there were private party rooms in the old vault which they left intact and private dining rooms in the security box rooms which were also left intact. The lobby itself was huge, lots of marble flooring and original details from the bank. The hotel designed the bistro restaurant and bar right into the lobby space, which was unique and an excellent way to use the huge unusual space.

Once we emptied out our bags, we decided to go out walking and eventually find some dinner as it was getting later and we had only had our snacks at the market to tide us over all day. We walked around the downtown area and eventually ended up in the Eatons Centre because I wanted to go to Mr. Greenjeans for dinner, an old favourite of mine from my early teen years. We ordered 2 entrees (a scrumptious lamb burger and thin pizza with chicken, goat cheese, portobello mushrooms and caramelized onions) and shared them equally so we both could try two things.

After dinner we spent some time in Chapters just looking at books and I managed to escape without buying a single item. Terribly hard because I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket and they had a huge sales section! Eventually we meandered back to the hotel where we decided to go soak in the hot tub and have a swim. We lucked out here and had the entire fitness floor to ourselves until just about 5 minutes before we were ready to leave. The pool was great fun, although small, it had high powered jets so you could swim in one stationary spot, which we didn't do, instead we took turns fighting against the waves and horsing around like 12 year olds.

After our "fitness" time, we cleaned up and went down to the hotel restaurant for some light food. We had a free $25 card to use there, so we ordered a cheese and flat bread plate, a fruit platter and a chocolate mouse to share. With drinks and tip we only spent $25 which was great and it was a pretty healthy mini mealt! Then it was snuggling in bed and lights out. The next morning we slept in and then made our way down to breakfast (included in our coupon) which was totally delicious. They had a huge fruit spread, so I ate quite a bit, along with a small selection of meat to satisfy my protein requirements and then I splurged and ate 2 cheese danishes. Not the healthiest of diets this weekend, but pretty good all things considered.

The boy was still pretty tired and since he had to work that night and we had a late checkout time, he wanted to sleep for a few more hours. I explored the immediate area for a bit, took some pictures and then came back to the hotel to read for 45 minutes because it was fiercely cold out and I was pretty beat myself. Once it was time to check out, we basically took the underground path to Union Station and came directly home. I had made some sales while we were gone so once home I basically spent the rest of the day just working away, while listening to music, feeling perfectly relaxed because it had been such a nice weekend.

Altogether I spent very little this weekend as the hotel Wagjag was purchased in October and most of our food was included. The boy paid for our GO tickets, the hotel taxes and our meal out as I had paid for the majority of our expenses the weekend before. I did buy food at the market and despite it being a bit more expensive it still falls into my food budget for the month. I figure outside of the budget I spent about $35 which I more then earned this weekend on vintage sales. It's still mid month so I expect by the end of the month I will have completely covered any extra costs from our two weekends away, as well as the oil change my car needs and the hair trim I need, both of which I will be doing this weekend. So the budget is still on track for the month and the No Buy Challenge is in excellent shape.

I missed taking pictures of my breakfast and lunch today, I honestly didn't think of it until breakfast was eaten, my lunch packed up and I was halfway out the door. They were/are both healthy though, much like my typical morning meals. I will get back on track with the pictures starting tomorrow, not to mention calorie counting and activity recording. I actually just figured out I can make a huge salad and calculate the total calories for the entire bowl of salad (one ingredient at a time) and then weigh it out each day to determine the calorie per serving for each of my meals. Kinda silly, but it just didn't occur to me to do that for my salads, although I do use that system for any bulk meal I make with more then one serving. Why salad would be different in my head, I have no idea. =) Anyway, I will be on top of it tomorrow!

Confession Update

2012-01-13T07:33:00.000-08:00

Damn! We screwed up our schedules / dates and realized the boy did have to work on the Monday of our booked weekend. So I called back to change the reservation to one night only and the rate went up from 135 to 169 because their sale was over and they would not honour it for one night. After taxes etc.. that would have made the price jump up $50 which is too high in my opinion for what we wanted for the weekend. Plus I am a little disappointed they would not give us the 20% discount still, so I canceled the reservation. So much for the awesome V-day celebration. I will have to resort to a plan B.

A bit of a confession

2012-01-13T06:24:00.000-08:00

Alright confession time. I spent some extra money that is out of line with my No Buy Challenge. The boy and I decided to book one more weekend away before our July holiday, right after my 6 month No Buy Challenge ends. Last year in February we spent the weekend in Toronto at this gorgeous hotel called Cambridge Suites Hote l because they were having a great winter sale. Our room was a corner 500sqft suite and truly was a beautiful luxurious space and we had the best time that weekend exploring the city and spending time snuggling in the beautiful space.

We were talking last night about what we would do for Valentines this year and since that is the only weekend (other than this upcoming one) that the boy doesn't have to work overtime for months, we decided to repeat last years Toronto stay. The same hotel is having a sale again, so we booked the room for two nights and will just enjoy time together as our Valentine present to each other.

Long story short, after we split it we each will be out $150 plus whatever we spend on food. The suite has a kitchenette setup and last time we went to the farmers markets, bought food and ate the majority of our meals in our suite. So nothing too expensive and we intend to repeat that again. However I appreciate that this is $150 I now need to make over and above the budget, add to that the extra money spent in Niagara Falls and what this weekend will cost and I really need to sell some extra vintage in the next 2 months.

The progress report update for this month: I've only bought one $5 item, I've drastically cut back on my food and gas costs and I've already put away my monthly goal amount towards my debt, I am in pretty good financial shape. The rest of the month all profit from my business will go towards offsetting this additional expenditure and hopefully if I continue to have a good sales month, I can pay it off and end the month right on target.

January 12, 2011 - Daily Food Intake

2012-01-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

Breakfast Leftover (leftovers) skinless chicken with ranch flavoured crust and a

mix of cooked spinach, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and leftover

sweet potato and apple mash. (no sugar) 0% fat Greek yogurt, fresh pineapple and strawberries.

Morning snack: A large container of snap peas and 4 ginger cookies.

Lunch: Salad of romaine hearts, sweet & red tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber,

fresh dill, goat cheese and 2 strips of bacon (trying to eat more protein).

Afternoon snack: almonds and some cheese curds.

Same salad as lunch minus the bacon and goat cheese,

Flax pasta with basil pesto, a grilled pork chop and grilled mushrooms.

Book 5 of 2012

2012-01-12T11:06:00.001-08:00

Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book is well written and despite being a vampire book (a very popular genre) the story is quite original. The personal difficulty I have with this book is the relationship between the Ina and their symbionts and how repulsive I truly found it. (I don't want to add any specific details to avoid spoilers.)

I get that the author was trying to examine the themes these relationships represented from an entirely unique angle, however it really did make me uncomfortable to read the sub-text of this book. I appreciate that was probably the point. This review is honestly more my personal reaction and not truly a reflection on the book or the quality of the story.

I have read many historical books, fact and fiction, yet putting some of the more controversial themes from the history of the world in the context of a vampire story was strangely powerful to me. A hat tip to the authors ability to get under your skin.

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Stockpiling food

2012-01-12T06:18:00.000-08:00

Most frugal people will tell you that they stockpile food when it is on sale and always have a quantity of staples on hand. For the longest time I followed the same principle, recently however I became convinced that canned goods, dry food and toiletries that don't expire, stockpiled, is just cash sitting on the shelf.

I stop at a grocery store every 3rd day to buy fresh veggies because the 3 day system keeps everything fresh, in useable small quantities and has saved me quite a bit of cash and guilt as nothing ever goes bad or gets tossed. I drive by 6 different groceries store on the way home, therefore no extra gas expense is incurred. Also, the boy gets a 10% student discount every Tuesday at the local Supercenter (which has already good prices) so we have started meeting there to shop each week.

My new theory: why have all these dry goods stockpiled when I can easily replace what I use each week with a guaranteed 10% off, plus at least once a month everything I normally buy is on sale at least once. I would much rather put more money towards debt and keep my stockpile of food really low. Even if I only have one bag of pasta, 2 cans of tuna, one bag of rice etc... I still have a ton of food for one person and I could easily last a week on it. So in case of emergencies, I wouldn't have an ideal menu, but I would not starve.

Tonight, a total inventory of all non-perishable food and freezer food. Then I will stick the list up in the kitchen and deduct items as I use them, so that when I am out or have only one left then I will buy one to replace it. I'm going to try this for 6 months and see if I actually am saving money and if this makes my life a little simpler.

****

Last night was a slow one. I am still catching up from all the weekends away and the holidays so that meant more laundry, more picking up and getting things organized. I also managed to squeeze in some time to catch up with a friend on the phone, watch a movie, practice my crocheting and wrap some packages for items that sold. Tonight I fully intend to finally finish the laundry, clean my bathroom, vacuum downstairs, do my food inventory and then finish the book I am reading. After this week I will be back on my regular schedule of working on my vintage business each night, so I need to get all caught up prior - which is making for a very boring week. I also am going to set my rowing machine up tonight and start working on getting a session in daily. I have been very lax with it lately and I am feeling pretty darn guilty, not to mention my body feels a little sluggish and stiff.

***

I photographed my breakfast and lunch this morning, so once I am done eating for the day I will post that as well. I'm really liking this daily food log in pictures and think this might really help me be consistent with my healthy choices.

January 11, 2011 - Daily Food Intake

2012-01-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

While in the Etsy Teams Forum last night, I was reading a thread where one of the members had started posting pictures on her blog of everything she ate in the day to keep her "honest" and as motivation to keep on the healthy eating kick. Seemed like a pretty awesome idea to me so I decided to join her. This is my first day, so pretty quick pictures (nothing artistic here) and without any of the calorie information, which I will start adding in tomorrow.

Breakfast: bakery made multi grain bagel (no preservatives)

with cream cheese and a side of fresh strawberries.

Morning snack: A large container of snap peas and one mini croissant. (Not something I buy,

my mom went away and gave me some left over food they didn't want to throw out)

Lunch: Salad of romaine hearts, sweet tomatoes, red pepper, cucumber, fresh dill and
2 strips of bacon (trying to eat more protein). Also some raw almonds and some cheese curds.

Afternoon snack: The two remaining mini croissants.

Dinner -Leftover skinless chicken with ranch flavoured crust from last night and a
mix of cooked spinach, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, garlic and leftover
sweet potato and apple mash. (no sugar)

Evening snack: ~~I actually didn't eat my snap peas for my morning snack so I might~~
~~have them tonight. Then again I made a huge vegetable mix for dinner so I am feeling pretty full.~~
I screwed up here and actually ended up eating an entire large Caramilk bar all by myself.
I knew I shouldn't have bought those buggers. That just shot my calorie/sugar intake for
the day through the roof. Damn! Sorry no picture, I ate it way to fast. =)

Niagara Falls Pictures

2012-01-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

As promised, some cheesy shots of our weekend away in touristy Niagara Falls.

This is us waiting for the shuttle bus to take us downtown.

An awesome outdoor game I fell in love with. Bright colours and a Hillbilly theme, what's not to love?

The Sky Wheel Ferris Wheel I was dying to go on.

Me convinced I AM going to DIE on the Ferris Wheel. I forgot just how much I am afraid of heights and I was really terrified in this all glass shaky bubble. I am clutching the seat in a death grip here.

The boy humouring me for a cheesy shot after we won big at Dave & Busters.

Awesome steampunkish character at Frankenstein's Haunted House.

Nom nom nom

I just love marquees and lit up advertising signs. The cornier the better!

Dracula trying to eat the boy. What a ham!

Awesome sign that I should have taken a picture of at night when we first saw it and it was all lit up.

The next morning we went to the Flying Saucer for a dive breakfast ($1.99) and it was great.
This building is much more impressive at night when it is all lit up and this is the back view of it.

Me very excited about our place mats from the 1950's wildlife design collection.

Just some daily life...

2012-01-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

I was such a good kid last night, after being lazy all through the holidays and getting nothing accomplished all weekend because we were away – I finally started to get my house in order again after the craziness of the holidays.

First stop was the grocery store where I stocked up on a crazy amount of healthy food and only a few unhealthy items such as a box of KD and some cheese bread. Of course then while standing in checkout a man in front of me mentioned that the giant caramel chocolate bars were on sale 3 for $4 so I found myself mighty tempted and I caved. Damn random friendly strangers and their snack recommendations. I will eat them in moderation though and of course share them this weekend with the boy when we go away again (more on that later)

Once home, I scrubbed and chopped veggies like a mad person making a giant salad to last a few days as well as chopping up some raw veggie snacks. I started on Mt. Laundry, finished dishes that have been in the sink since Friday (rinsed, but yeah I know gross) and started putting items away throughout the house. I made myself a lovely unhealthy dinner of KD and my lunch for the next day and then proceeded to spend the remainder of the night curled up in bed reading. (Fledgling by Octavia E. Butler)

Finally since I am back on my regular waking schedule for this time of year I got up this morning at 6am and made the most delicious breakfast and the boy (who stopped by on his way home from work) and I ate like kings.

This evening I will attempt to edit and post some of our funny pictures from Niagara Falls, a task that fell on the wayside last night when I became engrossed in figuring out a system to storing my excess Christmas wrapping paper. My life is so captivating, hard to believe huh.

This weekend we are off for a one night stay in Toronto at a gorgeous swanky hotel called One King West. Again we purchased this wagjag deal 3 months ago, because we wanted to get in as much together time before the boy gets seriously swamped by school again and I start working crazy hours at work. Our goal is to hop on the GO super early (7am) and to hit the St. Lawrence Market by 8:30 at the latest. For anyone not familiar with this market, it is a giant Farmers Market spanning several blocks in downtown Toronto. They have a hugely diverse selection of foods and goods and most of it is grown/made locally. I intend to stock up on veggies and items hard to find closer to home, as well as take some great pictures of the very scenic market.

Sunday morning after sleeping the night away on our million count sheets that I would never to be able to afford to sleep on without the help of discount coupons – we are going to head over to Kensington Market which is actually a collection of indoor and outdoor shops selling all sorts of eclectic craziness. This is a really vibrant neighborhood and it’s fun just to walk through even if you have no intention of actually shopping. I of course will also bring the camera for this outing, because there is always something of interest to shoot here.

This will be our last little “mini vacation” for a number of months as we will both be officially crazy busy. The first 2 weeks of July we have planned a very special trip because the boy and I will both be able to take those two weeks off together. This coincidentally, coincides with our 2nd year anniversary of dating, which works out rather well. I’m hoping if I keep up with my pretty healthy eating I will be able to drop some significant weight by then. The goal is 30lbs, but I’m not putting any pressure on myself. I’m actually considering not weighing myself until then but realistically I will not be able to resist.

I actually opened up my account on Calorie Count again just this morning, and I am going to start tracking my calorie intake and activity levels. That has worked amazingly well for me in the past so I really just need to commit to it. Just to give you a sample of a typical eating say for me this was today’s menu:

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with a little old cheddar cheese, lots of spinach, mushrooms, garlic and some dill. I also had 2 slices of organic pumpernickel bread.

Morning snack: Cut up apple

Lunch: Salad: Romaine hearts, fresh dill, sweet tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, goat cheese and the tiniest bit of raspberry vinegerette. Raw almonds and a boatload of snap peas.

Afternoon Snack: Organic granola bar

Dinner: Chicken, sweet potatoes, salad (same as lunch minus the goat cheese and dressing) and one more cooked veggie (I'm thinking brocolli)

Snack - Something sweet like another piece of fruit with some yogurt or cottage cheese.

I am also sticking to drinking plain green tea (hot or cold) and gallons of water.
And that folks is my exciting recap of the last few day’s events. No items purchased, no money spent outside of the budget and no major or minor 2012 goals accomplished.

Book 4 of 2012

2012-01-09T06:19:00.001-08:00

A Place Called Freedom by Ken Follett

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A good read. I really like the way Ken Follett writes, he knows how to get you wrapped up in his stories so that you can read for hours and feel as though no time has passed at all. Yes this is one of those books that follows a pretty standard storyline in terms of how the characters relationships develop and the ending you can pretty much guess at before opening the book. However, I generally read this type of book when I am away for the weekend (as I did this one) and want to be able to read without the need to commit a great deal of time or concentration to following a more complicated storyline. It's a fun read, a bedtime story for adults.

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Budget Confession

2012-01-09T06:05:00.000-08:00

Ok so far I have spent a bit outside of the budget and bought one thing this weekend outside of the No Buy Challenge.

I worked very late Wednesday night and accidentally slept in on Thursday morning so bought myself lunch and a morning tea which was $9.21 and then this weekend we went out Friday night with friends, and then away to Niagara Falls for some cheesy fun for the weekend.

We ate out 4 times (twice more then the weekly goal) And although I only paid for one meal it was not a cheap one. I also did all the driving and paid for the gas and hotel fees, while the boy paid for the majority of the meals and bought all the snacks, water and a couple of tickets etc.. which adds up pretty quick.

So money spent for the weekend by me about $100 on food, $50 on gas, $25 (hotel taxes and parking - the hotel we had already paid for months ago) I also bought a small Sheffield pocket knife for $5 that normally would have been in the $30 range. My last pocket slipped out of my pocket when I took a tumble down a hill and we could not find it anywhere. So this was something bought new, but in my defense it is to replace something lost, and I do use it as a functional item. Still it is a new item! Bad Jolly!

The good news is so far this month I have put $1000 towards my debt which is my monthly goal, and it's only the 9th of the month so I have 3 more weeks to make some extra cash to pay the overspend on the budget. I think I'm in for some late nights working. =)

The weekend itself was awesome and I'll do a post about it this evening and share lots of my funny pictures. It was a lot of fun and I'm glad we did it.

Book 3 of 2012

2012-01-06T10:02:00.001-08:00

The Book of Fires by Jane Borodale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really fell in love with this book. The prose was beautiful and the story was told in such a natural rhythm that I lost all sense of time when reading it. I liked how the ending was different then I expected and not a completely neat and tidy ending. The only negative was the last few chapters that were basically multiple epilogues, the flow was a bit weak here and it felt like the story was stuttering to a stop. Regardless of the only slightly off writing at the end, this book was so good I will be recommending it to a number of people.

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Book 2 of 2012

2012-01-04T11:53:00.001-08:00

A World I Never Made by James LePore

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was an easy read that was enjoyable at best. The style of writing, with multiple timelines saved it from being entirely typical. As did the nature of some of the characters that made them rather unlikeable but still intriguing. However, parts of the story were rushed and the way the story unfolded really was too predictable to make this anything more then a quick read for me. This would be a good lazy day beach read.

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Book 1 of 2012

2012-01-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Simultaneously heartbreaking and darkly funny. As I read this book I felt like I was living the main characters life alongside her and not just reading a story. Sometimes the best story truly feels like there is no specific start, middle and ending.

As I closed this book I felt like there was so much about the main characters life I would never know, yet my imagination was running wild with the possibilities. It was like parting the curtains and taking a personal peak at someone's life in progress and then the curtains swing closed and you are left wondering. There is no sense of closure, but in that brief moment you experienced a connection and saw something of value.

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Looking to the weekend!

2012-01-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

4 days in and things are still going well. So far I have only spent money on necessary monthly bills and I am well within my fixed budget. Of course in 4 days, how much money could I spend?

Truth be told, I actually have a fairly high answer to that. In the average work day I stop for a tea in the morning most days and will sometimes get a snack - that’s a potential $3-$4 a day. I also would frequently buy something small and cheap at lunch because I typically do my personal running around on my break and skip the traditional sit down lunch. That’s another $3 to $5 a day potentially on food– not to mention the gas I use up. I’m guessing that I burn almost the equivalent gas during lunch as I do in my normal commute to and from work.

Potentially I am saving around $10 a day by eliminating the morning tea stop, brown bagging my lunch, staying at work to eat and running errands on the way home. Not a perfect example, I don’t do this exact combination of things each day, however it’s fair to say this could be a pretty high monthly savings.

***

Last night in an effort to also conserve some heat in my 100 year old house, I covered up the large wall grate in my small storage room I use to store my vintage shop items and I also hung a heavy vinly curtain over the large glass window. Due to the location and use of this room in my house, it seems silly to heat the room. The only downfall is I like the natural light from that window in my upper hallway, but since I leave when it’s dark and return when it’s dark – this is a moot point in the winter. All the other windows in my house with a few exceptions I have covered with plastic to help contain air leaks and prevent drafts. I’m considering next year investing in some heavier curtains for a few large windows that are particularily drafty and since I have such an abundance of weird shaped and currently uncovered windows this would be a great sewing project for me. (One of my goals is to learn to sew)

***

Tonight is a bit of a boring night. I need to stop on the way home for some groceries and then I really need to spend the evening cleaning up all the holiday clutter that accumulated in our week off. This week has actually been incredibly slow which I don’t feel badly about. Work is just going to get busier and busier and a slow week at home will help to ease me into working mode again.

Friday night we are going to see Cirgue du Soleil the Quidam show a Christmas gift from my parents. I’m super excited about that as I have not seen them since I was very young. Then on Saturday morning we are driving to Niagara Falls to spend the night using a WagJag voucher we purchased months ago. It’s our way of extending the holidays and it works out amazing well because I have a friend who is redoing the floors in his house who will be housesitting for me while his floors dry. I love when stuff like that works out so well.

I will definitely be cracking out the camera when we get to Niagara I am hoping they have a lot of cheesy stuff lit up, because I want to experiment with some night photography lighted shots. We also intend to eat well (The WagJag came with a lot of food vouchers for the Outback, the Keg, Dave & Busters etc..) So the better eating diet will temporarily be on hold while we indulge. This will also count as our twice eating out a week goal – although the majority of our food will already be paid for which is fantastic.

This doesn't bode well

2012-01-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

This morning I popped out of bed (surprisingly jolly for a Monday morning after a week off) and went through the regular work day morning routine. Like a good kid I ate breakfast of 0% cottage cheese and an apple. Not the most balanced breakfast, but I just wasn't hungry this morning. I also made a healthy lunch of salad, strawberries, goat cheese and almonds. Add to that my daily liter of cold green tea (made by me with no sugar) and my frozen water bottle and I was all set for work.

Oddly enough when I arrived at work, I realized I was the first one there. That never happens. I wandered around the building for a bit, slowly getting this sensation that I was possibly in the wrong place at the wrong time. Paranoid I checked my cell phone and verified the date and time, then I had a brief moment where I questioned if I had forgotten daylight savings time or something like that and it finally dawned on me that perhaps we were closed today. A quick call to my bosses cell and it was confirmed that I indeed started the year as a dumbass. =)

Blessed with a bonus day I got back into the junkmobile and zoomed off in high spirits. Stopping at the local gas station I spent the first chunk of change for the year, $50 on gas. The gas was a good price and it got me thinking on the ride home how I wished I could stock up on gas like I would rice on sale or shampoo. Thinking along those lines I began to mentally calculate exactly how much stuff at home I was stocked up on. A lot I bet.

Sure enough when I got home I decided to do a quick survey of some of the items I typically have a lot of on hand because I buy in bulk on sale, some examples:

Toilet Paper = 48 double rolls
Laundry Detergent = 276 loads
Shampoo = 6 giant bottles
Dish Detergent = 5 concentrated bottles
Deodorant - 3 sticks
Toothpaste - 3 extra large tubes
Pasta - 10 boxes of various whole wheat shapes

Well there is a lot to be said about buying items on sale, I think I might be taking it to the extreme. I could easily go an entire year at least without buying laundry detergent. On average I do 3 loads of laundry a week, so using that math I have 92 weeks of detergent. I live alone, so toilet paper even with the boy and regular visitors I could last 4 or so months. Personal toiletries at least 3 months for all items. Given the fact that I live in a city and pass numerous stores of all varieties on my way to and from work, having such a stockpile is a little silly. There are always sales and it would make more sense to keep only one item in use and possibly one backup in case I run out of something. That should be it. I'll save on storage, items will be fresher and it will keep my house that more organized and simplistic.

It will be interesting to see how long I will actually last with all these items that I am bound and determined to use up before I buy any more. I'm betting at least 3 months before I will need any kind of toiletry item. I'm also debating doing a more in-depth inventory which sounds a little OCD, but I am just curious to see what exactly I own. I know that once a year household inventory's used to be very common 100 or so years ago and I think it will have some merit. Something to consider.

So to summarize. I started the year as a dumbass but I did get a bonus day off. I've spent $50 of my $160 monthly gas budget and so far I've been eating pretty healthy!

January 1st!

2012-01-01T15:16:00.000-08:00

Today was an incredibly lazy day with a whole lot of reading, napping, watching movies and basically just lazing about before back to work tomorrow. At the moment the boy is downstairs cooking dinner (french onion soup & salad) and the smells wafting upstairs along with the excellent mix of 80's songs on the radio are making my stomach growl and my toes tap.

My parents who are birds of the snow variety sent an e-mail to let me know they have safely arrived in their temporary winter home and on the way down they stuffed themselves with handmade treats courtesy of the baking boy, so the drive was quite enjoyable weather wise and contented bellies both. I have also been receiving texts and the odd call with well wishes for the New Year all day, so who can't help but smile under the welcome weight of all those good vibrations.

All in all day one went smashing well. I didn't buy anything (kinda hard when all the shops are closed and I have yet to emerge from my pajamas, but it still counts) I updated my budget and have my starting 2012 debt number ($129,619.69 mortgage included) and I am feeling content to focus on my crazy projects for the year, one day at a time.

It's almost January!

2011-12-31T09:10:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy busy month with the holidays, sales in my shop and even at my day job. This past week I have been off and boy did I need it to catch up on sleep, relaxing and one hell of a mountain of laundry. This post will be brief because I'm off to do some vintage treasure hunting, I just wanted to post and say I am really looking forward to officially starting this blog tomorrow with daily posts on my goals list, no buy challenge and everything else going on this year. This morning as big of a dork as I am, I made myself a really detailed budget tracking spreadsheet for the year for both my personal finances and my business finances. I actually get excited about spreadsheets so it was the perfect quiet morning working away! It starts tomorrow - I'm pretty excited!

Updating the Goals

2011-12-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

I guess since it's not technically 2012 yet, I am still allowed to adjust my goal list. I decided to take off 3 goals that related to renovating my house because these are things I should already be doing and should not be "goals" exactly. I also did a little research and made some progress on planning out how to reach some of my goals. (see notes in yellow) and I've added a couple of new goals.

Take a beginners sewing class

Found a local place that has lessons for a reasonable price

Go zip lining to celebrate meeting my weight loss goal

Found a park that does zip living, tree top excursions (goal 20) is in a new city (goal 7) and would be a place I have not hiked before (goal 11) I'm thinking I can make this a long weekend holiday - aiming for the fall for this trip.

Go white water rafting
Go up in a hot air balloon (tricky one because it’s so expensive)
Take an art class in any medium I have not worked with before
Go camping alone for 4 days of total silence
Visit 3 new cities
Go on a weeks vacation somewhere completely new
Take a photography class

Signed up for a 6 week class, starting the beginning of February!

Minimum of 50 hours of volunteer time
Hike in 10 new places (conservations parks, provincial park etc…)
Make my own custom concrete garden path
Take 2 exercise classes with a duration of 6 weeks or more for each class.
Join the local gym – after the No Buy Challenge ends
Make all of my Christmas gifts for Christmas 2012
Blog 4 times a week
Learn to drive a standard car
Read all unread books I own
Start a vegetable garden
Go on a treetop excursion
Continue to streamline my house/garage to remove at least 40% of my current possessions
Join a camera club and enter at least one photography contest
Join an active bookclub
Follow a recipe and make 2 completely new to me meals a week. (I’m a terrible cook)
Carry a camera daily and post a photograph a day.
Spend 2 weekends alone in a city exploring by myself.
Buy a bike (after No Buy Challenge) and use it!
Go horseback riding at least once
Take at kayaking class (minimum of one full day)

~~Design, price and plan a new kitchen to be completed in 2013~~
~~Clean out my garage and donate all excess~~
~~Finish painting/decorating all the rooms of my house (exception kitchen)~~

Challenge Preparation

2011-12-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

There are a few things I have been thinking about in preparation of the 2012 No Buy Challenge. I'm questioning what falls into the no buy category and what doesn't. As an example I currently have 3 magazine subscriptions that cost me about $7 a month. A small amount, but technically they aren't a necessity and I am questioning if I even need them. Canceling them will save me $84 a year.

The next move makes me genuinely cringe because I can't believe it took me so long to make it. It's embarrassing that I just never gave it much thought. To save some money while paying down my debts I did some research and decided to transfer my credit card amount to a different credit card company with a much lower interest rate that is fixed for the next 3 years. This will save me at least $100 a month (the first month and exponentially less as I pay off the credit card) That's HUGE and I am so annoyed with myself that I didn't do it sooner.

As it stands I owe approximately $1500 on my Home Depot card (interest free until May) from a fridge and stove I bought in the summer. I had no choice here as my fridge that was about 30 years old died and was unrepairable and my stove suffered a similar fate the same week - What timing. Since the stove was also very old, around 20 years, I chose to replace it as well. I picked mid-price range models that both had excellent energy efficient ratings. Anyway, for the first 3 months of 2012 I am going to put $500 a month onto that bill to have it paid off by the end of March, well before my interest free period expires. At the same time I will also be putting $500 a month split between my credit card and personal line of credit to reduce those amounts.

In March because of the way my bi-weekly pays fall I actually receive an extra pay cheque. This pay cheque I will use to pay off the last of my student loans which as of right now is $1440. This is a very low interest student loan, a little less that my credit card interest amount. However, I'm sorta using the debt snowball concept here by paying off this small loan I will have made it so that I only owe money on my credit card and personal line of credit. Also because I have been paying this loan off for so long, it will just feel good to see it gone. It will only say me $25 a month, but it's more a mental thing.

After that the goal is to put equal payments on both my credit card and personal line of credit for the remainder of the year. The logic here is that they both have approximately the same interest rate. By paying them off both simultaneously I am giving myself an emergency cushion on my line of credit and also some room on my credit card. I could concentrate on just paying off one and making only a minimum payment on the other - but I think from a mental perspective seeing both amounts going down each month will be more encouragement.

There is one other bill that I am going to look into this month which is my monthly insurance bill for my house, car and life insurance. It's approximately $250 a month, which I believe to be high. I'm going to start researching different insurance options and see if I can get that lowered with the same level of service from a different insurance company.

Finally I am also considering breaking my mortgage and transferring to another company. I just renewed my mortgage about a a year and a half ago for a 5 year term at 4.64% fixed. However I have found another reliable company (ING) with a current fixed rate of 3.59% for a 5 year term. Which is more than a percent lower than my current rate. Even with paying the penalty for breaking my mortgage early, I will still be saving money for the five year term or I could keep my monthly mortgage payment the same and be paying off more of my mortgage. I'm very tempted to do this, although hesitant only because last time breaking my mortgage was a total nightmare because the person handling it was fired from the company and completely screwed up my file.

Sigh, so many things to consider. Sometimes I really wish I had a sugar daddy! =)

Thirty Mini-Goals for 2012

2011-12-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

Take a beginners sewing class
Go zip lining to celebrate meeting my weight loss goal
Go white water rafting
Go up in a hot air balloon (tricky one because it’s so expensive)
Take an art class in any medium I have not worked with before
Go camping alone for 4 days of total silence
Visit 3 new cities
Go on a weeks vacation somewhere completely new that I have never been to before
Take a photography class
Minimum of 50 hours of volunteer time
Hike in 10 new places (conservations parks, provincial park etc…)
Finish painting/decorating all the rooms of my house (exception kitchen)
Make my own custom concrete garden path
Clean out my garage and donate all excess
Take 2 exercise classes with a duration of 6 weeks or more for each class.
Join the local gym – after the No Buy Challenge ends
Make all of my Christmas gifts for Christmas 2012
Blog 4 times a week
Learn to drive a standard car
Read all unread books I own
Start a vegetable garden
Go on a treetop excursion
Continue to streamline my house to remove at least 40% of my current possessions
Join a camera club and enter at least one photography contest
Join an active bookclub
Follow a recipe and make 2 completely new to me meals a week. (I’m a terrible cook)
Carry a camera daily and post a photograph a day.
Spend 2 weekends alone in a city exploring by myself.
Design, price and plan a new kitchen to be completed in 2013

I am missing my 30th goal, because I am debating a few different ones. Truthfully, there is a good chance I will be editing this list before January 1st. However, at current these are the things I would like to accomplish. I'll provide some further information about some of them (and my bigger top ten goals) as time passes and I take some of them on.

10 Year Long Goals for 2012

2011-12-07T11:36:00.000-08:00

Pay of $15,000 worth of debt acquired through student loans, buying an investment fixer upper house and starting my businesses. This amount represents half of my total outstanding debt (not counting my very small mortgage) and the ultimate goal is to be debt free in 2 years.
Lose 52lbs. I have been losing weight (very slowly) for 2 years now and I have never gained any weight back. However, because I have been doing it so slowly (less than 2 pounds a month on average) I don’t really see any progress. It is time to recommit to this more seriously and reach my end goal.
Build a photography catalogue of 50 pictures that I feel are worthy of being sold. I used to sell my photography a few years ago but got away from it for a few reasons. By the end of the year I want to be able to go back to considering myself a dedicated amateur photographer.
Teach myself 3 software programs: Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator. I have the CS5 suite, I can use it on a basic level (Photoshop is more intermediate) but I want to use them really well.
Brown bag lunches for a year, eat out only twice a week (once on my tab, once on the boyfriends) and eat breakfast daily. This is a combination save money and encourages a healthier lifestyle goal.
Learn to crochet to the point where I can pick-up a pattern and make an item easily.
Solid exercise plan which includes rowing 5 times a week, a regular weekly 2 hour hike, and walking as much as possible. I am going to add to this once the 6 month No Buy Challenge is up, by getting a gym membership.
Keep a total budget record. Sounds so simple, but it is difficult to record absolutely every dollar that passes through my hands both in my personal life and for my business. (The business is hard enough to keep on top of for tax time)
Participate in three 5km charity runs (at a jogging pace)
Use my day job pay cheque only for necessary living expenses/bills and commit 100% of the remainder to debt repayment. Use only my secondary income for all other expenditures. This is a big one become my secondary income is not guaranteed and is totally based on how much time I can put into my business. My day job is seasonal so in the slow period I am at work for 45 hours a week but in the busy periods (about 5 months a year) I can be at work anywhere from 50 to 60 hours a week. Again there is a lot of variance there but generally 50 hours is guaranteed. This makes it difficult to keep up with my business, forget even trying to expand.

The Grand Challenge for 2012

2011-12-07T06:37:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in a previous post that I wanted to give myself a “GRAND” challenge for 2012. Just to add some additional craziness to the year of self improvement. =) Basically I am going to be doing my own version of a No Buy Challenge for the first 6 months of the year and possibly I might even extend it to the entire year. A year might be pushing it, so that is why at this time I am only committing 100% to 6 months

A No Buy Challenge is not a new idea but for those not familiar with the concept; the basic rules are that you commit to not buying anything new (with a few exceptions) for a specific length of time. Some people do it for environmental, financial or political reasons but for me it is a combination of things. It's also not some carved in stone, life altering, completely inflexible plan. It is just a personal challenge that I think fits my lifestyle, how I would like to evolve as a consumer and my personality. To better understand how I am approaching this challenge here are a few of my reasons for partaking:

To form a better understanding of my relationship with stuff.
To examine how money influences the decisions I make.
To save money to further expedite my goal of becoming completely debt free in two years.
To learn new ways to acquire items and services and to form a stronger system of barter and exchange among my friends, family, within my neighbourhood and even on a global community level.
To streamline my current possessions and to use up any excess I currently own.

I am incorporating this challenge with all the other self-improvement goals I have for the year, so I have a few enhanced guidelines for my personal challenge.

For starters, I have a regular day job and a couple of side business which bring in some additional income. One of my major goals for the entire year of 2012 is to only use my day job income to pay my necessary living expenses/bills and to funnel all remaining income into paying off any of my outstanding debts.

Any income that I make outside of my regular pay cheque I will use to expand my businesses but also to pay for any additional expenses outside of my regular pay cheque. As an example of what I mean. If I want to get a haircut, I need to earn the extra income. If I want to pay my mortgage, I use my day job pay.

I also have a few additional exceptions to the No Buy aspect.

Buying used, trading or free-cycling is allowed. But I am encouraging myself to shop as little as possible for non-essential items. Since you can buy anything used these days, I could easily spend a great deal of money on things I don’t need just as easily if I was buying new.
Gifts can be purchased new, however only handmade gifts are allowed. (Etsy I am all over you)
I am giving myself an allowance to buy 2 new pairs of shoes for the whole year because I have special requirements for footwear due to one wonky foot.
Any home renovations where I can’t buy used material; I can buy new using my day job funds. I have been renovating my house for years and for the success of my financial future I can’t stop doing these renovations. I bought my house as a fixer upper, so I need to continue to do that to make it a saleable sound investment.
Emergency situations will arise, I will fit them in the budget in the most appropriate way possible to maintain the No Buy Challenge but also to meet the urgency of the emergency situation in a reasonable fashion.
Continuing education is an integral part of my other goals for the year so I am allowing myself to attend paid classes, buy required textbooks/materials and although ideally I would like to do this all with secondary income, I will allow some flexibility here because I think education is more important than the No Buy Challenge.
The last one is a little tricky. Entertainment. I am letting myself buy entertainment (solely with my secondary income) but with reasonable limitations. I can eat out once a week (a huge cutback for me) and I am going to do my hardest to ensure that any and all entertainment is done with the aid of couponing and frugality in mind.

So that’s it. A complicated breakdown of my challenge, but there are a lot of aspects to consider. I am commencing this officially starting January 1^st, but have already found myself adjusting my expenditures since I started thinking about this project about a month ago, the project is already having an influence on my life.

I am going to be recording daily what I spend that day and keeping an actual record of how I am meeting my goals and the difficulties the challenge is giving me. I will be honest and provide full disclosure because I think I am going to need some encouragement at times, and also because I think it will aid me in sticking to my guns.

Next up the top 10 goals for the year that will probably take me the year to accomplish and the list of 30 mini-goals of things I would like to accomplish for the year!

Any questions?

The 2012 Challenge

2011-12-06T13:05:00.000-08:00

I am starting this page because I have given myself a series of challenges for 2012. Basically what it comes down to is personal goals and pushing myself to meet them. I have a daydreamers hazy mental list of aspirations, a plethora of written "to do" lists and an endless supply of hastily scratched ideas poking out of every aspect of my life. I want to accomplish a lot and I have accomplished a lot, but never quite enough to feel like I am making huge progress in all the far flung directions I would like my life to go in.

So the challenge. A year of accomplishment with actual quantifiable goals and an audience in which to keep me honest. And call me a crazy type A personality but I've decided I need to organize this challenge in such a way as it becomes like an actual project I can manage. Nope, not trying to take the fun out of it, that's not it at all. I just want to be able to put some checks down beside a list or some sparkly stars, something to indicate I met this goal!

My first list is going to be 10 items I want to accomplish, but which will likely take me the entire year to complete. The second list will be 30 random items that I really want to complete, but will not cause me a major time commitment and that I can spread out over the year. And finally to jump start the year, I've decided to give myself a grand challenge with a pretty rigid framework, in which all the other goals have to be accomplished under.

Confused yet? Yep me too. I'm new to this, you will have to bear with me.

Amongst all this accomplishing of goals and becoming a better person mumbo jumbo. I hope to write about my day to day life and my other interests outside of this particular OCD-esque area of goals. So stay tuned, I'll be back soon to give you my first list. I'm starting this blog a month early, so that should give me plenty of time to obsessively update my lists and change my mind a million times.