Words of Wisdom

When I was a kid I lived across the street from the library. In those days, the librarian had to actually hand print the book titles onto my card. I seem to remember the rule being no more than six books could be borrowed at once. I'd take out six books, carry them home, read them and bring them back...about three times a day. Not sure why I didn't just stay there. My sister and I always had books with us whenever we went anywhere. My uncle's wife told me years later that when they first started dating she found it weird that I would actually sit and read encyclopedias. Until I moved to Korea, I probably read five to ten books a week. My lifestyle was always so busy and  I just didn't make the time. I still read but not to the degree that I had my whole life. I LOVE books. All kind of books! The best is now the child loves books, too.She ALWAYS has a novel or two with her when she leaves the house.

I promise to make time for reading and to spend at least 30 minutes a day reading.

Today I:
1. checked TPP.
2. danced with my kid to BEP's Dirty Bit.
3. will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink and with a huge slice on the side of my hand where a glass popped while I was washing it.
4. worked on teaching The Peanut something new. Hula-hooping.  
5. blogged.
6. ate off the monthly menu. Dinner was homemade Shepard's pie.
7. am on day day of training the kittens to use the toilet. Another big step tomorrow. 
8. said  the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
9. did not go to sleep by 12:35, but I slept A LOT today.
10. did a yoga video.
11. ate dinner with my child.
12. listened to music...see #2.
13. finished organizing the hall closet.
14. took my vitamins.
15. read for a few hours.

One A Day

To be perfectly frank, there are a few promises that are easy-peazy! They are things that I need to do every day that don't need a big 'ole explanation and don't have a warm story to go along. I'll be using those on the days that I just don't have any more in me to give. Sorry. I may be growing into a more positive person but I'm still human. Despite being pieces of cake, these are still important things that will improve my life.

Today I'm pulling out an easy promise because I volunteered at the child's school until lunch, did some errands and ran around even more after school. Momma's wiped! This promise will help to improve that exhaustion, though. Everyday I promise to take a multi-vitamin. Actually I'm taking a vitamin D, too, because I'm not out in the sun like I am in the summer, so make that: everyday I will take my vitamins. Chee-ahs!

Today I:
1. checked TPP.
2. danced with my kid to P!nk...again! She is our fave!
3. will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink.
4. worked on teaching The Peanut something new. The hooping of the hula continues as I expect it will for the next week. This one will take a while.  
5. blogged.
6. ate off the monthly menu. Dinner was Korean take-out.
7. am on day eight of training the kittens to use the toilet. One major break-thru today! 
8. said  the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
9. will go to sleep by 12:35.
10. did not go to the gym...again but I got my ass seriously kicked by Jillian Michaels...bee-otch!
11. ate dinner with my child.
12. listened to music...see #2.
13. organized the hall closet but this will take more than one day.
14. took my vitamins.

Get 'er Done!

Today was a snow day. No school. Yay! It gave me some time to do one of the promises I'm dreading. I'm dreading it because once I start that means I'll have to do it everyday. Yikes! See here's the deal: When we moved back to the land of the great white north from the land of the morning calm I shipped almost our whole household, including the TV and the desktop computer. A few months later I moved into an apartment of a friend that was moving back to Korea. She left a lot of things for me. Then less than a year later my grandmother and then my aunt passed away and I moved into their house. To contribute to that, I may have a tiny shopping problem. Let's just say I have way too much stuff. Actually come to think of it this explanation is leading to two other promises, but I'll let you know the others another day. Anyway, I need to get more organized and today on snow day I did a bit of that. And now I'll do more everyday. This promise will be to organize a specific area in the house. Maybe someday I'll be able to cross this promise right off the list. Here's to hoping!

Today I:
1. checked TPP.
2. danced with my kid to John Cougar Mellencamp's (does he still use the Mellencamp?) Hurt so Good.
3. will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink.
4. worked on teaching The Peanut something new. Tons of hula-hooping. 
5. blogged.
6. ate off the monthly menu. Dinner was pork chops and rice.
7. am on day seven of training the kittens to use the toilet. New step is going better. Next new step tomorrow. 
8. said  the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
9. will go to sleep by 12:35.
10. did not go to the gym...again but I shoveled snow and hula-hooped again.
11. ate dinner with my child.
12. listened to music...see #2.
13. organized the linen closet.

Tangly

Second day back to school for the little one and this whole project is starting to get a bit tangly. Tangly!  I love this word. The first time I heard it was from one of my friends from Newfoundland while he was behind the bar playing some tunes. We were hanging out in our local pub in Korea and he was using it to describe one of my very favorite people, my dear Irish friend. It was appropriate usage as those that know No-no will attest. She is prone to get a bit tangly after a few rum and cokes (or white Russians). The smartest, kindest, most generous friend EVAH (I actually have two of them...I'm quite blessed), but definitely tangly after a few. The thing is in our very tight group of international expat chingus, No-no and I were the few non-musical ones. Most of the others belong to an amazing band that plays the local clubs, still to this day. The others as superbly musically inclined play in other bands or solo.

I love music. Love going to see live bands. And absolutely adore watching my talented friends do it up. The problem is I don't know music. I've never quite figured out how people just know what to listen to. Since I started going to the gym I've needed to load the iPod passed on to me (probably two years ago now) by my cousin. I've never used it. I sent out a request for some tunes to help me move it. The most awesome TS from isinginthekitchen.com obliged and then some. Heaps of moving it songs. Today's promise is an easy one because it can be combined with another. Yay for killing two birds! In order to progress positively I need music! Luckily for me I also need music to dance with my baby. This evening I had a chance to test one of TS's suggestions and it was a hit with the girlie & her momma.

Today's promise is to listen to music everyday!

Today I:
1. checked TPP.
2. danced with my kid to The Decemberists' The Perfect Crime #2.
3. will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink.
4. worked on teaching The Peanut something new. We have moved from shoes to hula-hoops, which to my surprise are nothing like swimming & riding a bike. Just because you could do it at age 9 doesn't mean you still can. Just sayin'. 
5. blogged.
6. ate off the monthly menu. Dinner was tilapia with steamed veggies and rice.
7. am on day six of training the kittens to use the toilet. New step is not going well. One more day and it could be over. 
8. said  the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
9. will go to sleep by 12:35.
10. did not go to the gym but I shoveled snow for an hour, twice. That'll do. Plus that hula-hooping is freakin' hard!
11. ate dinner with my child.
12. listened to music...see #2.

Dinner With My Baby

Today was day two of the monthly menu plan. I've had to make some adjustments already but that's okay. Yesterday we went to my aunt's for dinner. We usually go on Sunday but we were going to be out of town so it was changed to Monday. The dinner for today was meant to be Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli. I took the chicken out of the freezer this morning when getting The Peanut ready for school.

While getting my lunch ready I noticed a jar of roasted red peppers that I have had in the cupboard for a month or so. I don't know if I mentioned it before but it's a big thing so it's okay if I repeat it: I don't cook. I often have the greatest of intentions, but I rarely follow through. I do like red peppers and bought the jar in hopes of making something with them. So I found this jar and started looking around for things that would go with the red peppers along of thinking of ways to cook the chicken using said RRPs. I chopped them up with some garlic, basil and cheddar cheese; cut the poulet sideways; stuffed the mixture in and popped it all in the oven.

Then I went to grab the girlie from her friend's where she had been playing in the snow for three hours. Even though the house smelled amazing, I was highly sceptical that she would actually like it. I was pleasantly surprised. She LOVED it! We both ate it right up! And while she was eating her lovingly-created-by-her-momma dinner, we had a nice chat. Today was the first day back to school after 18 days off. She had a great day and I loved hearing about it.

Today's promise is to eat dinner everyday with my baby. I know I won't be able to do this everyday, but everyday I can, I will. And we will chat. And I will find out things like so-and-so had a grumpy face in gym class when she was tagged out in freeze tag. I need to know these things, you know!

Today I (will add numbers because it's getting complicated):
1. checked TPP.
2. danced with my kid to Katy Perry's Firework.
3. will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink.
4. worked on teaching The Peanut something new. She tied the shoe twice in her room without my help. Something new is necessary, I think. 
5. blogged.
6. ate off the monthly menu. Dinner was chicken stuffed with roasted red peppers.
7. am on day six of training the kittens to use the toilet. New step in place. It'll be about two more days until the next one.
8. said  the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
9. will go to sleep by 12:35.
10. went to the gym and exercised for 30 minutes as soon as I took the kid to school instead of coming home and sleeping like I usually do.
11. ate dinner with my child.

Monday Madness

It's Monday. School starts back tomorrow after the holiday break. I have spent the ENTIRE freakin' day running around. This will be brief.

I am not my ideal weight. I need to exercise. I joined the gym with my cousin a month ago but I haven't gone since the child has been out of school. I returned today. It was good.

Today's promise is to exercise everyday.  끝

Today I:
checked TPP.
danced with my kid to Pitbull's Calle Ocho.
will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink.
worked on teaching The Peanut something new. She practice with the shoe again.
blogged.
ate off the monthly menu. Dinner was at Hyla's.
am on day five of training the kittens to use the toilet. The next step didn't happen but it will tomorrow.
said the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
will go to sleep by 12:35, if not sooner even though Jon will be on fire tonight!
went to the gym and exercised for 30 minutes, which isn't great but it's better than nada.

Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

This will be short and sweet...I hope. The Peanut goes to a school that starts quite early which means she must get up early. And since she has eating and weight issues which I cannot be bothered to get into too deeply on this Sunday evening, she has to get up even earlier than most of her peers. Basically she doesn't feel hunger, has no interest in food, and needs to be told to have EVERY.SINGLE.BITE. I could just give her a set time frame and let her deal with the consequences later, but like I said, she doesn't feel hunger...and she's underweight. She doesn't eat much of her lunch at school so it's my job to make sure she has a full, healthy brekkie and dinner because that's all I can control. The breakfast battle takes a LONG time and requires much patience.

For years before she was born, and before she went to school, I was a night-owl. These days, I've discovered I need more sleep. Ideally, I should be going to sleep around 10:30 so that I would get 8 hours and maybe I'll strive for that long-term but for now I'm hoping to be asleep by 12:35. Yeah, I know the thirty-five is odd but that's because I *heart* Jon Stewart and his show ends at 12:35. I'm going to try to watch it online so that I get to sleep earlier, but like I said, that'll be down the road a tiny bit. One step at a time!

Today's promise is to go to sleep by 12:35...and now I'm off to get that started.

Today I:
checked TPP.
danced with my kid to Shakira's Wherever, Whenever.
will go to bed with an empty kitchen sink.
worked on teaching The Peanut something new. She tied a shoe twice!
blogged.
put the monthly menu that will start on Monday on the fridge.
am on day four of training the kittens to use the toilet. Next step will happen tomorrow.
said the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.
will go to sleep by 12:35 (even though Jon's not on tonight).