Finishing up March and Kick Starting April

Okay... well March month certainly threw me for a major loop! Here is what I got accomplished this month...
1) Continue Progress on Clothing - So I did fabulously well on my consignment sale.  I went through all of the summer clothing and sorted out what will fit this year, tagged what was in sell able condition and donated what wasn't.  I left with an SUV full of stuff and came home with one small bin. 
My washer was broken for a week and a half and when it was fixed, I was unable to lift for the remaining 2 weeks of the month.  My mother-in-law really stepped in and saved the day, taking wash to her house to keep me on track.  I still can't carry the wash up and down, but as long as Jim takes it down for me I am able to keep up for the most part. 
Still no under control, but I'm making progress!
2) Cook at least 3 nights per week - Um... a big, fat NO.  Towards the end of the month, I had many wonderful people bringing me meals as I recovered from my surgery, but for the rest of the month... NO.
3) Read a book - Well... I finished the book that I've been working on for awhile.  I kind of thought I would have plenty of time while recovering to read a lot.  Well I didn't anticipate being so extremely tired... I'm talking almost comatose for most of the first week.

April Goals...
1) Organize my pantry, linen closet & play room.  I've never been a neat freak, but I'm trying to get better. 
Playroom: I'm slightly cheating because my mother-in-law and I started the play room last Thursday.  We sorted out every single toy (which had been amassed into huge buckets of mishmosh) into small categorized bins.  I still have to sort through the clothing down there as to what needs to be purged and what needs to be washed and find a home.  I also have some boxes of stuff that were stored from the first floor renovations to find homes.  And some other odd jobs.  I should have taken before pictures, but quite frankly I'm not willing to post how bad it looked.  I will however post pictures if I get it completely this month.
Pantry: I actually did the entire inside of the closet today (which counts since it is April 1st!).  I still have the shoe organizer that I have hanging inside the door for miscellaneous junk drawer items to go through and organize, but looking good so far.  I can actually see everything in it, instead of having things thrown all over!
Linen Closet: This is kind of in the state that the pantry started today.  Things thrown all about.  I hope to empty, purge, organize by the end of the month. 
2) Stick to my diet plan -  I've never been one to diet much, but since my recent gallbladder issues began have been toying with seeing a nutritionist.  One had been advertised in my general practitioners office so I decided to call last week. After having your gallbladder removed, although some have no dietary restrictions, your body can have problems processing too much fat in your diet.  Your liver takes over this job for the gallbladder, but can have trouble breaking down large amounts.  I am having this problem, and I was needing some help with figuring out the right amounts.  I made an appointment and really loved her!  She was extremely helpful and has put me on a plan.  I'm hoping to stick with the plan (90% of the time).  It's going to be tough, so I'm giving myself some leeway.
3) Create a new morning routine - I am happy to announce that beginning next Monday, my husband will be working 8:30-5pm for the first time since we've known each other.  I am so excited that he will actually be home 2-2.5 hours earlier EVERY night!  The only complicating factor to this (which I am not complaining about) is that we need to adjust our morning routine.  Jim didn't have to leave until 9am in the morning, so this gave us a little flexibility with getting the kids ready and dropping them at daycare.  We also have gotten severely off of our normal schedule since I've been off of work for 2 weeks.  The kids have actually be sleeping in until 7:30-8am which is later than we will need to be leaving the house. 
Wish me luck!

Checking in ... 3 in 30

This month of course is not going according to plan!  In the course of one week, I had to finish preparing for my HUGE consignment sale and prepare to be out of work for 2 weeks and prepare to have an internal organ removed and be on the mend with 2 small children.  This was quite enough for me to contend with. 

The came the devastating phone call that a beloved uncle had passed suddenly and much too soon, which meant traveling to the services in an already busy week.  But well worth the travels to be with my family that unfortunately I don't get to see often enough.  Then my breaking point came when my less than 1 year old washing machine started leaking buckets due to a rip on the seal (luckily it was still under warranty and was fixed a week and a half later). 

I am finally feeling somewhat human again after my gallbladder was removed on Monday and here is my progress for the month. 

1) Continue Progress on Clothing - I completed preparing for my consignment sale.  I left with my in-laws CRV full of items and returned with this 1/2 a bin of clothing!  Success! 

Still loving my laundry schedule but with the broken washer and me healing that currently means that my fabulously wonderful mother-in-law has been helping with the laundry.  I have sorted through the hand me down bins and my purchases for both children and have an XL Ziploc (seriously love these bags) of spring/summer size appropriate clothing for each of them. Not perfect, but am happy that I am still progressing thanks to some help from the MIL. 

2) Cook at least 3 nights per week - This has just taken a back seat to all that has been going on.  Getting read for my consignment sale and traveling out of state and being stressed has just not left me in the cooking mood.  This week however there has been a home cooked meal each night, does it count if I didn't cook it??
3) Read a book - DONE!  I have finished the book that I've been picking up and putting down for quite a while.  Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner and am hoping to read another book over my next week at home. 

3-in-30 March Goals

So I am seriously excited by this challenge... the first month was a bit rocky, but I am so happy with my accomplishments so far this year.  Granted they are major baby steps on what I really want to get done, but by breaking them into small realistic pieces I don't give up as easily and actually feel like I am getting somewhere.  Even if it is very slowly!

I have to pull back in the reigns a little bit on this month's goals as I will be having my gallbladder removed on March 19th and out of work recovering for 2 weeks. 
1) Continue Progress on Clothing - this means finishing preparation for my consignment sale, sticking with my laundry schedule and figuring out what clothing is needed for the upcoming season (I have hand-me-downs as well as some newly purchased and consigned clothing to organize). 
2) Cook at least 3 nights per week - I LOVE to cook!  I really do.  However, working 40 hours a week, driving 70 miles a day, 3 1/2 year old twins who would rather eat breakfast for dinner, a husband who does not arrive home until 8pm and numerous other excuses... I do not cook as often as I would like or as I used to.  With my new low-fat diet requirements (not sure what my restrictions after surgery will be yet) and my Summie Lou's dairy free diet, oh and did I mention my extremely picky husband... I've begun exploring some new menu options.  My goal is to plan a menu for the week on the weekend, so that I can do the necessary shopping for the week.
3) Read a book - I have not read a full book for quite some time and I was most likely on vacation when this was accomplished!  Since I will be spending 2 weeks home from work recovering from my surgery mostly by myself... I figure I should be able to read AT LEAST one book!  That's it folks... wish me LUCK!

February is chugging along...

Well this week was certainly interesting in the haztwins family...  Jim had the week off for home renovations.  Don't worry for those of you who know him very well, he was not actually performing the renovations just supervising.  We got new doors, new floors and a new oven!  Pictures to come soon.  Anyway this week was a bit challenging for accomplishing my goals, but I think I did pretty well. 

1) Create and stick to a weekly laundry schedule. - The laundry schedule has been created and a lot of laundry has been done.  This week I'm hoping to actually stick to the schedule and do a little bit of laundry each night. 
2) Organize, sort & tag for my March consignment sale. - I have not done this at all this week, but next weekend is pretty much blocked out for this purpose.  My husband is even planning to take the kids on an excursion on his own to assist. 
3) Try some fun new menu options for me & Summer. - Slightly challenging since I got my new oven on Tuesday and then had my dining room table and entertainment center packed into my kitchen for my new floors to be done... so I could not exactly get to it.  However, I was determined.  I found a recipe online from a mom that created a dairy-free and gluten-free cookbook for her children.  I wanted to try one of the recipes before I decide to buy the cookbook.  One of Summie's favorite things is chicken nuggets and since most breadcrumbs have milk as an ingredient this is a difficulty.  So we made oven fried fritos chicken with homemade honey mustard sauce.  The kids were so excited to help me crush up the corn chips and watch me make the chicken.  We invited over my in-laws who had watched the kids most of the day so we could put the furniture back.  And everyone agreed that it was delicious!  Now that I have a functional oven after 3 weeks, I'm so excited to try more new things. 
http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2010/09/30/silvana-nardones-gluten-dairy-free-oven-fried-frito-chicken-fingers/

February Goals

I truly can't believe that it is February already.  I didn't make out so well with my January goals, but I am hanging in there and trying again!

1) Create and stick to a weekly laundry schedule.  Laundry is beyond out of control and I find myself completely overwhelmed with how to make a dent in it.  I can't just try to catch up on the weekends and the occassional after work load, especially when we are always running here and there on the weekends. 
2) Organize, sort & tag for my March consignment sale.  I need to see if anything from last year will still fit the kids and work on getting the rest ready for the sale. 
3) Try some fun new menu options for me & Summer.  Summer is currently on a dairy free diet (more on reasons for that later) and I am working on a very low fat diet due to my recent gallstone diagnosis. 

There they are... short sweet and I am optimistic that they will get accomplished this month!  Wish me luck!

First month is over

Well January is nearing completion and unfortunately I did not do so great with my goals.  I think I set my sights a little bit too high for my first month and then had a few road blocks thrown my way.  First off my flooring installation was delayed until the firs week of February due to some of the trim being out of stock.  Then my oven broke and since it is over 20 years old, we decided to buy a new one which will be delivered the first week of February as my husband already has off for the flooring to be installed.  I then decided to do a 2 week dairy elimination diet with my 3 year old daughter because of ongoing issues that I had begun to believe were food allergy related, even though her allergist did not see eye to eye with me on this one.  This has meant packing her lunch every day because the majority of the daycare served lunches contain MILK!  And since the school is also PEANUT free, selecting a lunch that is both MILK & PEANUT free has been no easy feat.  The good news here is that after 1 week dairy free, I am seeing an improvement.   At the beginning of the month, I had not anticipated any of these things occuring, but the most shocking road block was an ER visit for me this Thursday.  I had been feeling strange for a few days and then late Wednesday night started having a pain in my right side.  Thursday morning it was still present... so off to the ER I went fearing appendicitis.  Thankfully I was wrong and immediate surgery wasn't on the agenda for me that day, however I do have a rather large gallstone.  FABULOUS!  The ER doctors determined that I did not need immediate surgery, but need to meet with a general surgeon to decide upon a plan of action. 

1) Pack up the Living Room & Dining Room and purge/organize as I un-pack them.  - Well the packing was started and then halted since this project was delayed. 

2) Exercise 2-3 times per week (at least!).  - Well this did not happen either :(

3) Start prepping for my mothers of multiples' spring consignment sale. - I did begin this, but did not get too much completed yet.  I'm hoping to pull out my bins and start entering as much as possible into our new electronic tagging system.  I plan to carry this goal into February as well and to hopefully be mostly completed well in advance of our March sale. 

My plan is to make slightly more realistic goals in February and I already have a few in mind!  I'm not giving up just because my first month was not successful...