I think it’s time.

I’m not really feeling fat. I’m not really feeling cranky.

I’m just becoming more and more aware of the effects my eating habits have on my body, my mood, and (for the next 2 months + however long I breastfeed) my boys.

I’ve been playing around with the idea of doing this again. It’s kind of pointless to only do it for a year, though. I’ve already proven to myself that no treats for a year is very possible. Last time, I learned that my body absolutely loves when I don’t eat treats. I sleep better, I have clearer skin, I freak out at Cam less often. Wins all around.

I told a friend of mine that I was going to do it again as soon as the boys were born, because I’m having a hard enough time keeping up with calories, so I just need to keep eating everything right now, but really? That’s lame. These boys don’t need empty calories and high fructose corn syrup. They need real, good, food.

So, I’m starting now.

No more cakes, cookies, brownies, soda, candy, etc.

And it’s not just for a year. It’s for good. To make the lifestyle change realistic though, I know I’ll need “free days” to pick ONE treat. To avoid me justifying extra “free days” (like, HEY! Today is National Sock Day. Let’s celebrate!) I’ve made a list. Every year, I can pick ONE treat on the following days:

1. January 2nd – Our Anniversary
2. Valentine’s Day
3. The Boys’ Birthday
4. Easter Sunday
5. 4th of July
6. My Birthday
7. Cam’s Birthday
8. The Last Day of School (this will eventually be in June, once our boys are in school. For now, it is to celebrate the end of the chiropractic school trimesters that end in May and September.)
9. Halloween
10. Thanksgiving
11. Christmas Eve/Day
12. New Year’s Eve

This gives me roughly 1 treat a month. Do I HAVE to eat a treat? no. I can totally see myself not wanting one after I get going. But I also love celebrating holidays, and to me celebration almost always involves food.

Going off treats the first time made me realize just how much access to junk I have. Multiple times per week there are just plates of brownies and cookies and everything else for the taking. Church activities are the worst for this. Making the decision that I wouldn’t have any before hand made it so easy to avoid it in the moment. And I loved it. It hasn’t even been a year, but I miss it. (I’m sure that sounds strange to some of you, but don’t knock it ’til you try it!) I also think that by having this list made, it will make me really think about what I want to indulge in that day.

Like the day the boys are born? You better believe I’m having an irish cream cocoa bean from the cafe where my sister works. And I really look forward to it!

Also, if I really REALLY just can’t handle the no sweets situation, anything from here is on the good list.

And if any of you are ready to join me, I welcome you with open arms. I feel like this is a very happy medium for me, but maybe with some tweaks (or not) it will fit for you too. I can’t wait for the benefits to start kicking in again!

Bring on the deep sleep, non-crazy dreams, patience, and clear skin!

From reading other blogs and talking to other women in similar situations as mine, it seems we have similar problems. How do we balance all the different facets of our lives and feel fulfilled and NOT burned out at the end of the day?

I found myself being so angry at myself while I was working full time because I had all these things I wanted to do, but never enough time to do them. I did, though, have time to watch TV shows at lunch, and spend time on Facebook/Pinterest/etc. I was also having a hard time keeping up with my design clients because I just flat out didn’t want to do ANYTHING when I got home from work at 5, let alone make a good dinner and tackle even the tiniest of projects.

While trying to find a solution to my productivity dilemma, I stumbled upon this piece of advice:

There is a legendary story that in the 1920′s, Charles Schwab (at the time one of the wealthiest individuals in the United States and founder of Bethlehem steel) wanted to get more done each day for himself and his executive staff. He was approached by Ivy Lee, a public relations expert, who told him a “secret” to increase their productivity.

Mr Lee told Mr Schwab to implement this secret methodology and then, after he had seen the results of the method, to come back and pay him what he thought it was worth. Mr. Schwab and his executives tried the idea for a month and received such amazing results that Mr. Schwab wrote a check to Mr. Lee for $25,000, which at that time was a huge sum of money.

Here’s the trick: At the end of each day, write a list of the six most important things to do for the next day and order them from one to six. In the morning start with number one. Keep working on it until completed, then move to number two. Keep working on this one until completed, and then move to the next item on the list. Continue this way until completing all the priority items on the list.

I decided to take this a step further, because I need a little flexibility in my day. I need to be able to choose what to prioritize or what to work on. Enter, the six list:

I printed two to a sheet, cut them in half, and got them bound into a little pad at Office Max. Since I’m not working anymore, that top section has been modified to be “baby” focused. A lot of you might be thinking that 24 things in a day is too many. You’re right. I shoot to get 3-4 done in each section, but by listing out all 6, in case I’m feeling great I don’t just sit around saying “my list is done!” I know the next thing I want to work on immediately. Also, some of my 6 things are very small. I’ve had a hard time remembering to take my prenatal with food, so under baby, the first 4 normally look like this:

1. Good Breakfast
2. Take Prenatal
3. Good Lunch
4. Take Iron

These might not seem like a big deal, but I know myself well enough to list it because it won’t happen otherwise. And when the days all blur together, it’s nice to be able to look and say “yep. I did take my supplements today.”

Also, when I’m filling out what I want to get done the following day, I already have 2-3 things in each section (because they weren’t crossed off) so making the list each night only takes a minute or two. And because it’s in a notepad, while I’m working on the list, if I notice something that needs to get done the following day, I can just write it in, instead of hoping I remember that night.

Other things that make the lists are: “plan FHE, shower & ready, catch up finances, pay bills, pack Cam’s lunch, read hypnobirthing, take a nap, dishes, sew 1 diaper, deposit cash, grocery shopping, wipe down bathroom, make bed, make dinner, Julie’s insert designs, fold laundry, make freezer breakfasts,” etc. Some are bigger than others. Some take more time than others, but being reminded of the little things that need to be done is often just as important as making sure the big things get done. Before bed each night, I ask Cam if he has any requests. This makes sure that he doesn’t come home from work and ask if something got done that we haven’t clearly discussed earlier. He knows there’s a time at the end of the day where he can put something on my list.

Clearly, all 4 categories probably won’t fit with everyone’s situation. I made a six list for my sister Lindsay at her request. She has said that it has helped her get so much done during the day. Which is when I figured I should probably share with the world, because if something works this great for two people as different as me and her, it will probably work great for a lot of you too! Hers looks a bit like this:

The bottom can be used for phone numbers, reminders, dinner ideas, etc.

This design is copyrighted, but I’m happy to make a custom, print-ready file for anyone who wants it. I was thinking $5 for the time it takes to modify would be fair.

Thoughts?

One of our family new year’s resolutions is to hold family home evening every single week. It’s an opportunity to spend time together as a family and learn about church-related subjects in the home. We tried having family home evening when we first got married but it was so…awkward. Without children or siblings, we’d just end up watching a movie or having a normal night. When there’s just 2 of you at home, it’s really hard to distinguish just what makes a night “family night”.

I set out to tackle this problem, because I really believe in the importance of establishing the habit of family night.

This is what I came up with:

Now our family home evenings go about like this:

• Sing a hymn that goes along with the lesson. Cam plays the piano, we both sing.
• We switch off who says the opening prayer.
• We go over finances. I have a little printout in my wallet that has our budget outline in it. Every time I pay a bill or make a purchase, I record the amount in the budget. That way, every Monday it takes me about 5 minutes to calculate how much we have left in each budget. We talk about upcoming expenses, things we’d like to use the miscellaneous budget for, and potential date ideas.
• We check in with each other on how we’re doing spiritually. How are our family prayers? Personal prayers? What are we studying in the scriptures personally? As a family? Are we happy with how family scripture study is going? etc. We also set a goal together that we want to work on the next week.
• We talk about our relationship. We start off with 3 compliments and an itch. The nice thing is that after you’ve given 3 sincere compliments to the other person, it’s pretty hard to come up with an “itch”. BUT, if there is ever something we really need to talk about, this is an easy way to get it out in the open. And then we do 3-minute massages. (Honestly, these normally wait until right before bedtime, but sometimes we sit on opposite ends of the couch and do foot rubs.) I strongly believe that physical touch is an essential part of feeling like you’re “on the same page.” It’s really hard to be annoyed with each other if you’re touching, and good feelings between spouses invites the spirit into our home. We also go over current stressors. If I don’t know what is stressing Cam out, I can’t help relieve that stress and vice versa. Also, a sure-fire way to increase the love you feel for your spouse or your spouse feels for you is to get rid of whatever it is that is setting off red flags in his or her mind.
• The last part of the paper is a week-at-a-glance calendar. There’s VERY little space here, for a reason. This is where we make sure we’re both planning on the same things for the upcoming week. It has virtually eliminated any freak outs caused by “You didn’t TELL me you were working overtime tonight.” And, “No. My work party is tonight. We have to be there at 6. You’ll have to cancel with so-and-so.” We outline major events in the upcoming week.
• We have a lesson. (Cam and I switch off who gives it).
• We have an activity. (This is anything from organizing the nursery to going on a walk to going to concert to playing a card game etc.)
• We have a treat. (And a closing prayer)

For a while this paper was posted on our fridge for the week, but since we’ve tried it for almost 2 months now, we’ve decided to save some paper because it has worked beautifully. I plopped mine in a frame and we use a dry-erase marker to fill it out every week. It sits on our end table next to the couch where we will see it all the time. Here’s what it looks like all filled out: (This was last week’s)

Every time someone has asked about it, they inevitably ask how long it takes to get through. 15 minutes tops. 10 minute lesson, and then a treat means family night is still about a half hour long, but we are so on the same page and prepared for the week, the difference is incredible.

And we feel like we’re on the same team.

I think that’s worth every second.

Well, last wednesday the year ended. Last tuesday was free cone day at Ben and Jerry’s. As one last grand gesture of self-restraint and love for Cam, I went through the line, got my free cone, and walked around with it until he downed his it started dripping down my hand. At that point, I shoved it into his other hand and let him look like a horker.

Wednesday came and I went to work. I was about halfway through my day when this showed up:

Flowers, balloons, and chocolate covered cinnamon bears. YUM! We had plans to go to the melting pot that night, so those little bears sat on my desk all day long and tormented me. They are my absolute favorite candy, but nothing beats the melting pot, so I waited.

Cam came to pick me up at work and gave me a huge hug. We drove home, got changed, and met up with the Youngs to head to SLC. It was National Cheese Day or something like that, so every reservation received a free pot of cheese fondue. It was so yummy! Green Apples in warm cheese is so so good.

Next up was the chocolate pot. (We opted to not get the broth course of the meal because it’s super expensive. Cheese & Chocolate was it for us!) The group let me pick the first pot. I chose a white chocolate amaretto.

First up, I went for a brownie bite. If you’re breaking a year-long sugar fast you can’t break it on a banana or a strawberry or something lame like that!

Please note Cam’s face. He is quite pleased that I am once again eating treats. lol.

We got a second pot of chocolate (the flaming turtle), which was a lot more rich than the first pot. I had about 2 bites of it and my head started pounding! It was SO good though! I woke up the next morning with a choco-hangover. And I was nice & crabby. A sweet reminder of just exactly why I went off sugar in the first place.

We’ve since gone to a few of our favorite dessert shops, but I’m not convinced I need sugar to be happy. I miss how I felt when I wasn’t eating it. And so, I’m debating whether to just give it up for good or to work out another system that works for me. My current ideas are:

1. I can only have 1 treat per event. (Party with lots of treats, just pick one.)
2. I can only have 1 treat if I work out that day – or -
3. Just quit. Everyone is happier that way.

Cam doesn’t much like #3, but it’s seeming to win out right now. (Coming from the girl who just ate at Farr’s Fresh Ice Cream last night…)

Thoughts?

I submit that it can not! :)

Can’t wait for the phone call that says Jared is safely on the ground.

Also can’t wait for the melting pot tonight! (Especially with an insider tip from Emilee for a certain caramel-ly dessert. YUM!)