Well, I'm getting there...

First, I haven't gotten my food from NutriSystem yet and am starting to get a little frustrated. I ordered my food on Friday, January 15, and received an email stating it shipped on the 19th. Well, the link in the email to track the package went to UPS, but for several days it never updated to show that there was actually a package on the way.

When I went on their site to check the status, the tracking button on their site would take me to FedEx. And still no information about any package being sent, everything was unknown. So, I called them on Wednesday and they said something along the lines of yes it's on it's way, yes it is with UPS and it will be delivered to your post office. HUH!? UPS delivering to the post office? Oooook. Well, they also took my work address for my new mailing address and said if I hadn't received my order by Wednesday, give them a call.

Now, since this is my first shipment from NutriSystem, I don't know everything that's going to be in it, but I know that there should be some frozen food in it. So, how does frozen food stay frozen without any type of freezer thing for over a week? I don't know about you but that frozen food better be frozen when I get it or it's going back. Yuck!

But as for my other Resolutions, well I've decided to add something else to my list and that is to try to spend 10 minutes during each day organizing, or cleaning, or something else along those lines. Ya know, doing some of those chores that I just hate doing. So far I thing I've done pretty good! Thursday I spent some time before work and some time during lunch pulling some old clothes out of my closet and putting them in a bag so that I can take them to a donation bin in Midland next weekend. They aren't ugly clothes or very old clothes, just clothes that I don't really like any more or that once they got washed, they shrank so bad that now they just don't look good on me. I figure instead of taking up space in my closet, they can get put to good use to someone who needs it.

And I mentioned last post about my garden boxes. Well, they were parked in the side yard by the carport where they were left after I put them together. So, today me and the kids cleaned up (well actually we just moved the pile of stuff that we cleaned out of the storage shed a while back that needs to go to the town dump) the area where my Square Foot Vegetable Garden is going to go and moved the boxes into place.

I'm still going to need to rake the area a little better, put down the landscape fabric and fill the boxes with Mel's mix, and probably would have done a better job with getting them situated, but the wind was so bad this morning, just did the minimum. I'll try again later this week to get my garden area all cleaned up. Wish I had one pretty day off so I could get caught up with the yard work, but that probably won't happen for a while. Oh well, maybe sometime soon!

Let's get this year started

Well, I have finally gotten a few things accomplished towards my New Year's Resolutions! YEA!


First of all, if you remember from my last post, I said I was going to try to get healthy and lose weight. Well, I went to Sam's Club and got my first NutriSystem 35 day card! YEA times 2!! So, sometime this week I should be getting my first shipment from NutriSystem and you can be sure I'll be letting everyone know how I enjoy or don't enjoy the foods. I'm not really a picky eater, I think that's part of why I'm needing to lose weight to begin with, but there are some things I just DON'T like, take brussel sprouts, please! Yuck! But I'm encouraged by what I've read on their website so I think I'll be able to stick with this and get a big jumpstart to my healthier living resolution. So, wish me luck!

Now for Resolution number 2, not waiting anymore. Well, I took a step towards that this weekend too. I was able to go to Lowe's, buy 6 pieces of 2"x8"x8' lumber, some 3 1/2" deck screws and then turn them into my first raised garden beds for my Square Foot Garden! I'm so excited! I was able to make the first three of nine 4'x4' boxes for my vegetable garden. I'm also going to have two 3'x5' boxes in the vegetable garden too, but those boxes are going to be 12" high so I can grow potatoes, onions, and garlic. Any time a get a chance, I'll get a few more pieces of lumber, make them into boxes until I have all the boxes I want and/or need. No more waiting on someone to make them for me.

So, where am I learning about Square Foot Gardening you may ask? Well, I first learned about it from my Dad who showed me his raised beds at Thanksgiving last year and had a good harvest this year from the sound of it. So, since I got a Barnes and Nobles gift card for Christmas from a co-worker, I bought the All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.

I'm very excited about trying this new way of gardening since I have had NO luck so far in the soil around my new house. I usually have a pretty good green thumb, but almost everything I've tried so far just hasn't done very well. I say almost because I have some Rosemary growing next to my carport that has done OK, but hasn't really flourished. Maybe next year it will do a little better.

So, using Mel's method, I should be able to grow just about anything I like, I hope. I love using fresh tomatoes, peppers, onions, and a little garlic with just a squirt of lime for some AWESOME salsa. And I LOVE basil pesto! Basil pesto mixed into a little alfredo sauce on grilled chicken and fettucine or pesto tossed on zuccini, red bell peppers, and squash and roasted in the oven just til it's all tender, oh man, I'm making myself hungry!

Well, at least there are some unlimited vegetables on the NutriSystem diet that I can grow in my garden, thank goodness! Using NutriSystem to learn what and how much I should be eating and then making my garden boxes and doing all the work getting them set up, planting the seeds or plants, etc. should get me well on my way towards fulfilling my New Year's Resolutions. At least that's the plan and I'll keep everyone informed on how everything's going. Oh and once I get my first boxes set up I'll have to post some pictures! Til next time!

New Years Resolutions

Well, it's a new year and it's that time again for resolutions. This year the ones I've decided on are probably some of the most difficult ones I've ever decided on.

The first one, well, I try to do it every year, but somewhere down the line, I just don't keep going and that's lose weight and get healthier. I did lose a little weight last year, but towards the end of the year, well, I quit exercising, ate what I wanted and the weight came back. I guess I just have to keep trying, that's the point of resolutions isn't it? Whenever you get off track you get back on track and keep trying until it becomes a habit and you don't have to think about doing it anymore. I need to keep exercising until it's a daily habit, until taking the dog for a walk becomes normal and until riding my bicycle becomes fun and not a chore. Until choosing to eat healthier foods is enjoyable and I don't grab food just because it's quick to fix or that it's something that I can get the kids to eat. They need to learn to eat healthier too and I need to set a good example for them. That's resolution number one.

Resolution number two, well, it's a little more complex, but I've decided I'm not going to wait anymore. Now I know you're wondering what that means, it just means that I'm not waiting on anyone anymore. I've spent a lot of time the last year being told to "wait until I'm off", or "wait until I'm feeling better", or "wait and see", that sort of thing. I've missed out on a lot of stuff because someone wanted to wait until it was his weekend off and I'm done waiting.

I'm not going to wait anymore for someone to be off so that the yardwork can get done, it may totally exhaust me and give me a heartattack, but I'm not going to wait on something that never gets done because something usually happens to prevent someone from doing what he said he would do anyway.

I'm not going to wait anymore for someone to figure out how to cut a hole in the wall, install a window and move the window a/c unit because "I need to do a little research first on it". I'm sorry, but DIY Network has all the step by step info. on their site on how to install a window, it' doesn't look that difficult, we have all the tools on hand and I've used a jig saw, a hammer, nails, screws and a screwdriver, what is the problem? So, no more waiting on that either.

I'm not waiting on someone to offer to do anything either, because I've been waiting on that for years now and it's not going to happen. Also I'm not going to tell someone to do things ever again. He calls it "nagging" even if I only ask twice, once to say what needs to be done and then again as a reminder on the day he is off when he said he would do it and it's 1/2 way through the day and he hasn't even started yet.

I know, I sound mean and awful, but there are times that I've put off doing things with just me and the kids because I thought that this certain someone would want to spend time with me and the kids doing some of the various things I've asked him to do. Take raking leaves and putting out Christmas decorations for example.

I had asked him to do it the week after Thanksgiving when he was off, I used the time to go do Chrismas shopping so I was gone for at least 3 hours, plenty of time for them to do some good yardwork and have fun putting out the Christmas decorations. Well, I was "nagging" again, so he only did a 1/2 assed job, left piles of leaves on the yard, only put up 2 strings of lights around 2 of our 5 trees, didn't check the bulbs on the ones he strung along the sidewalk and, from what the kids said, complained the whole 30 minutes or so he was out there. When I came home, he was sitting on his butt in front of his computer, the kids had made a mess throughout the rest of the house and I was heartbroken cause he had missed out on what I would consider a fun time playing outside with the kids.

It breaks my heart seeing that my husband doesn't seem to want to spend any time with our children, doesn't want to spend time with me, doesn't want to help make our house into the home that I know it can be turned into, doesn't seem to want to do much of anything but sit on his ass in front of his computer.

So like I said I've decided not to wait anymore, I'm not waiting anymore on my husband. This morning the kids and I went outside, raked the leaves, put them in the compost pile and had fun! My husband did not join us, I don't know what he did, but I decided I wasn't waiting on him to join us, if he wanted to, he could have, but he didn't. It hurts me deeply not knowing what to do to get my husband more involved with us on his 6 days off a month, but he sees things differently then I do.

Raking leaves and being outside with the kids to me is something that not only makes the house look nice, but also is a chance to have fun with the kids, to him, it's all a chore. To me going for a walk with the kids and dog is a chance to talk with the kids, play with the dog and have fun, for him, it's a chore. For me working on the house and making it look nice is a chance to spend time with my husband as partners working toward a common goal, for him, it's a chore.

So, since everything is a chore for him, well, I just won't give him anymore chores. I'll do everything, I guess, like I said, no more waiting on things to get done. If I want something done, I'll do it when I want it done, no more waiting on someone else to do it, especially if I can do it myself. It will take some work on my part not to ask if he would like to do this, or do that, or if he can help me with this or that. In the end I think I'll be the one getting the better deal, I'll be the one spending more time with the kids and making our house into my home. Oh well, his loss my gain!