Week two of 2012 has come and gone. Let's see how I did!
Resolution 1: Take better care of myself
I flossed every day this week!
I exercised twice this week! Check out my post on Fat Burning Jam.
While I went to bed around 9:00 almost every night (except Thursday night, when I stayed up til 9:30 to watch The Office), I'm not sure I can say that I slept for 8 hours each night. There were a couple of nights where I couldn't fall asleep right away, and a couple nights when I woke up in the middle of the night.
Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family
I talked to my Mom twice this week.
I talked to my Dad twice this week.
I talked to my sister once this week.
I wrote and mailed letters to my grandma and aunt.
Resolution 3: Stay organized
As I mentioned before, I completed this month's home improvement project last week! I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.
I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists. I don't know how I survived without one for this long.
I vacuumed and dusted early in the week, then swept and mopped later in the week, so the floors would be freshly cleaned for friends who are staying over. Plus! I also cleaned the bathtub.
Resolution 4: Save money
I made lunch for me and David every day this week - mostly sandwiches, but also salads and leftovers.
I made two vegetarian meals this week! Check them out here.
No DIY projects this week.
The verdict? I've been doing fairly well. The only resolution I didn't keep this week was to talk twice to my sister, but we did have a nice, long mid-week conversation. I didn't do any DIY projects either, but I didn't really set any time frames on that, so while I can't say that I succeeded, I also didn't fall short of expectations.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
Vegetarian Dinners: Week 2
As you know, I have been trying to save money on groceries by making vegetatarian dinners twice a week. While I did not surpass my goal like I did last week, I did make two vegetarian dinners this week.
Tuesday: Tortilla Espanola and Spinach Salad with Apples
When I studied abroad in Spain, my host mom used to make tortilla espanola a lot. Tortillas in Spain are not like Mexican tortillas - they're basically huge potato omelets - and they are delicious. You make them by cutting three large potatoes (I used four, and it ended up being insanely huge) into thin shards, frying them in olive oil, mixing the cooked potatoes in a bowl with about 10 eggs, then pouring the whole mixture into a medium frying pan and cooking it on low heat. Once it's mostly set, you have to figure out a way to flip it over, which is always scary, but oh my goodness, the results are worth it. My host mom always served this with a spinach salad with diced apples, walnuts (I used candied pecans), and manchego cheese, all drizzled with honey. The salad is very simple and delicious.
Thursday: Teriyaki Tofu with Broccoli and Carrots
This meal was pretty simple - I cut up a block of tofu into cubes, threw it into a wok with some broccoli and sliced carrots, cooked it with bottled teriyaki sauce (I didn't measure - I just poured it on until it looked like enough), and served it with steamed rice.
I could have had another vegetarian meal on Monday - I used a lot of leftovers to make fried rice - but I ended up putting in turkey bacon. You can't have fried rice without bacon. Seriously. If there's no bacon, then what's even the point of fried rice?
Since I made the fried rice using leftovers, and since David and I ate leftover tortilla on Wednesday and are eating leftover teriyaki tonight, I only spent about $10 on dinner ingredients this week. I feel pretty darn accomplished.
Tuesday: Tortilla Espanola and Spinach Salad with Apples
When I studied abroad in Spain, my host mom used to make tortilla espanola a lot. Tortillas in Spain are not like Mexican tortillas - they're basically huge potato omelets - and they are delicious. You make them by cutting three large potatoes (I used four, and it ended up being insanely huge) into thin shards, frying them in olive oil, mixing the cooked potatoes in a bowl with about 10 eggs, then pouring the whole mixture into a medium frying pan and cooking it on low heat. Once it's mostly set, you have to figure out a way to flip it over, which is always scary, but oh my goodness, the results are worth it. My host mom always served this with a spinach salad with diced apples, walnuts (I used candied pecans), and manchego cheese, all drizzled with honey. The salad is very simple and delicious.
Thursday: Teriyaki Tofu with Broccoli and Carrots
This meal was pretty simple - I cut up a block of tofu into cubes, threw it into a wok with some broccoli and sliced carrots, cooked it with bottled teriyaki sauce (I didn't measure - I just poured it on until it looked like enough), and served it with steamed rice.
I could have had another vegetarian meal on Monday - I used a lot of leftovers to make fried rice - but I ended up putting in turkey bacon. You can't have fried rice without bacon. Seriously. If there's no bacon, then what's even the point of fried rice?
Since I made the fried rice using leftovers, and since David and I ate leftover tortilla on Wednesday and are eating leftover teriyaki tonight, I only spent about $10 on dinner ingredients this week. I feel pretty darn accomplished.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Netflix Instant Workouts - Dance Off the Inches: Fat Burning Jam
Note: To fulfill my exercise resolutions, I am trying every single workout program that Netflix Instant Watch has to offer. Join me each week as I try out a new program.
I know what you're thinking, and I would have to agree - wouldn't it be great if we could burn fat by eating jam? Sadly, this workout video did not involve any peanut butter sandwiches. I should sue for false advertising.
I thought that since I had so much fun with Tummy Tone Party Zone, I would try out the other Dance Off the Inches program offered by Netflix Instant Watch. Like the other program, there were three different sections, but the third section was another dance routine instead of a bunch of crunches. Another difference that I enjoyed: the instructor and back-up dancers interacted more with each other, making jokes that resulted in stilted, awkward laughter.
I am not even sure if I can attribute a dance genre to the first section. It mostly involved stepping side-to-side and swinging our hips. I suppose this is the type of dancing that occurs at a "jam" (An aside: whenever I mention "jam", for some reason, it makes me visualize A Night at the Roxbury). Despite being ridiculously easy, it was much faster-paced than the other program, which I definitely appreciated.
For the second section, we did a dance routine that apparently involved going "south of the border." (What if we had been in Canada? Then would it be an American dance routine?) This section started off with a "spicy march", which sounds like an oxymoron, but makes sense if you think of it being done at football halftime show by a trombonist who ate one too many chile rellenos. While the routine did incorporate more Latin-based moves than the last program (for example, the mambo and cha-cha), it was still pretty vanilla. And when I say vanilla, I mean that one move involved walking in a circle and shimmying as though you were trying really hard to lose a game of limbo at a retirement home's tropical-themed party.
The third section was a jazz routine, and I imagine that this section might have been a bit more difficult for those who hadn't gone through the step guide section (which, like with the last program, didn't show up until the end). This section involved a lot of sliding and turning, which is not easy to do on carpet. It also involved a lot of hopping while raising your arms, like the Easter Bunny having a religious moment of transcendence while on acid.
Would I do it again? I actually got really into it and had some fun (but then again, I tend to take the attitude that it's not worth doing anything if you don't do it wholeheartedly). However, in the end, it was a bit too repetitive, it was too difficult to slide around on the carpet, and all the hopping was hard on my weak ankles. Still, though, I'm glad I did it at least for one week.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
"Boomerang" Tasks
Lately, I've been reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin, partly because it might contain something useful and applicable for my new year's resolutions, and partly because it was 20% off at Target. Plus, the cover looks so happy - like a bright sunny morning.
In her book, she writes about what she calls "boomerang" tasks - something you try to cross of your to-do list but ends up creating more work. I have been experiencing a bit of this lately, and it is interfering with my sense of productivity and accomplishment.
For example, in cleaning out my closet, I wanted to do something with my wedding dress, which has been hanging in the back in a garbage bag, taking up a ton of space. I took it to get it cleaned or preserved, or whatever you call it, and it ended up costing $250, which I wasn't willing to pay. The woman at the store referred me to a place that would be cheaper, but now I'm considering just dry cleaning it and selling it, either online or at a consignment shop. Unfortunately, this creates a bit of extra research and work.
I've also been trying to finish my fieldwork for my Master's program. I'm in the process of transitioning from a middle school internship to a high school internship. I finally got around to e-mailing the program director, which I thought would bring me closer to my goal. Instead, it ended up adding about seven more steps to the process, and I feel even farther away from my goal. I think the most frustrating part is that many steps end up being dependent on the responsiveness of other people, which I have no control over. Crossing tasks off my to-do list "unclutters" my mind, so to speak. It's frustrating to me to have extraneous tasks circling around in my head, like thought-vultures waiting to dig into my mind-carcasses.
Something the head counselor at my school always tells me is, "It's a process." I think this is important for me to remember (easier said than done!). I think that sometimes I am so focused on the end-goal that I forget to pay attention to the journey. Accomplishment is great, but I think the process of growing and self-betterment is valuable as well, which, of course, is why I made my resolutions in the first place. I'm hoping that if I repeat this to myself enough, it will help me to feel less stressed.
In her book, she writes about what she calls "boomerang" tasks - something you try to cross of your to-do list but ends up creating more work. I have been experiencing a bit of this lately, and it is interfering with my sense of productivity and accomplishment.
For example, in cleaning out my closet, I wanted to do something with my wedding dress, which has been hanging in the back in a garbage bag, taking up a ton of space. I took it to get it cleaned or preserved, or whatever you call it, and it ended up costing $250, which I wasn't willing to pay. The woman at the store referred me to a place that would be cheaper, but now I'm considering just dry cleaning it and selling it, either online or at a consignment shop. Unfortunately, this creates a bit of extra research and work.
I've also been trying to finish my fieldwork for my Master's program. I'm in the process of transitioning from a middle school internship to a high school internship. I finally got around to e-mailing the program director, which I thought would bring me closer to my goal. Instead, it ended up adding about seven more steps to the process, and I feel even farther away from my goal. I think the most frustrating part is that many steps end up being dependent on the responsiveness of other people, which I have no control over. Crossing tasks off my to-do list "unclutters" my mind, so to speak. It's frustrating to me to have extraneous tasks circling around in my head, like thought-vultures waiting to dig into my mind-carcasses.
Something the head counselor at my school always tells me is, "It's a process." I think this is important for me to remember (easier said than done!). I think that sometimes I am so focused on the end-goal that I forget to pay attention to the journey. Accomplishment is great, but I think the process of growing and self-betterment is valuable as well, which, of course, is why I made my resolutions in the first place. I'm hoping that if I repeat this to myself enough, it will help me to feel less stressed.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Vegetarian Vindication!
While searching for some vegetarian recipes online, I stumbled across an article from Eating Well on how to save $3,000 a year on groceries. I felt slightly vindicated to see that my resolution to make more vegetarian meals AND my resolution to pack a lunch every day both showed up on the list. I doubt that I will actually save $3,000 a year, as that number was based on the amount of money the average family of four spends on food, but nonetheless, it is encouraging.
You know how on receipts at grocery stores, they have a number that is supposedly the amount of money you've saved by shopping sales and using coupons? I think it might be fun to transfer that money into our savings account after every grocery trip to see how much money we save in a month.
Speaking saving money on groceries, thanks to a confluence of sales and coupons, our apartment is currently overflowing with cereal. I kid you not, we have 10 boxes sitting on top of the fridge, including Frosted Mini Wheats, Special K, and Cheerios (new flavors - Dulce de Leche and Peanut Butter!). They were each less than $2, which is great when you consider how expensive cereal is these days. These will hopefully last us for a couple of months.
You know how on receipts at grocery stores, they have a number that is supposedly the amount of money you've saved by shopping sales and using coupons? I think it might be fun to transfer that money into our savings account after every grocery trip to see how much money we save in a month.
Speaking saving money on groceries, thanks to a confluence of sales and coupons, our apartment is currently overflowing with cereal. I kid you not, we have 10 boxes sitting on top of the fridge, including Frosted Mini Wheats, Special K, and Cheerios (new flavors - Dulce de Leche and Peanut Butter!). They were each less than $2, which is great when you consider how expensive cereal is these days. These will hopefully last us for a couple of months.
Monday, January 9, 2012
A Jump-Start on Organizing
I started on one of my New Year's resolutions before 2012 came around. The week after Christmas, I spent a pretty significant about of time cleaning and organizing the house. I guess I wanted to start the new year with some momentum.
Anyways, here are some of the projects I did:
1. I cleaned out my closet. I havn't really touched the clothes yet (though I will) - just the boxes sitting on the shelves and floors. I came to the realization that I had no idea what was in those boxes, but whatever they were, I haven't needed them in the past 2 1/2 years. So I took them down, sorted through them, and consolidated what I wanted to keep into one shoebox. The rest I either trashed or donated to the local Mission Rescue thrift store. I also got one of these purse organizers for my closet. My purses had been sitting in a box on a floor, and I think this makes my closet look and feel a lot more clean and organized. The best part about cleaning out my closet was finding an IKEA gift card (which I thought I had lost) and a little cash in a birthday card from my grandma. Which leads to my next project...
2. I reorganized the bathroom. David and I went to Ikea and bought a new bathroom cabinet (we had been using my old broken-down college bookshelf to store toiletries). I also went through all our toiletries and trashed everything that was too old.
3. I reorganized our cleaning closet. David and I hung a shoe organizer to the back wall and are storing our cleaning supplies in the pockets. Previously, our cleaning supplies were stored either in the cleaning closet, under the kitchen sink, or under the bathroom sink. Now everything is consolidated in one place, and it clears up a lot of under-sink space.
I've done some other projects since then, but I want to take some pictures before I share the updates with you. I'll be sure to post pictures of these projects, too, once I get the apartment looking respectable enough for pictures :).
Anyways, here are some of the projects I did:
1. I cleaned out my closet. I havn't really touched the clothes yet (though I will) - just the boxes sitting on the shelves and floors. I came to the realization that I had no idea what was in those boxes, but whatever they were, I haven't needed them in the past 2 1/2 years. So I took them down, sorted through them, and consolidated what I wanted to keep into one shoebox. The rest I either trashed or donated to the local Mission Rescue thrift store. I also got one of these purse organizers for my closet. My purses had been sitting in a box on a floor, and I think this makes my closet look and feel a lot more clean and organized. The best part about cleaning out my closet was finding an IKEA gift card (which I thought I had lost) and a little cash in a birthday card from my grandma. Which leads to my next project...
2. I reorganized the bathroom. David and I went to Ikea and bought a new bathroom cabinet (we had been using my old broken-down college bookshelf to store toiletries). I also went through all our toiletries and trashed everything that was too old.
3. I reorganized our cleaning closet. David and I hung a shoe organizer to the back wall and are storing our cleaning supplies in the pockets. Previously, our cleaning supplies were stored either in the cleaning closet, under the kitchen sink, or under the bathroom sink. Now everything is consolidated in one place, and it clears up a lot of under-sink space.
I've done some other projects since then, but I want to take some pictures before I share the updates with you. I'll be sure to post pictures of these projects, too, once I get the apartment looking respectable enough for pictures :).
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Week 1 Round-up: How'd I do?
Week one of 2012 has come and gone. Let's see how I did!
Resolution 1: Take better care of myself
I flossed every day this week! Yay! By the way, did you know that it is really hard to floss behind your back molars? Hopefully, practice makes perfect.
I exercised twice this week! Check out my post on Tummy Tone Party Zone, my first installment of my Netflix Instant Watch challenge.
I slept for 8 hours every night. Of course, this was fairly easy as I'm still on winter break...we'll see how things go once I have to wake up at 5:00 every morning for work.
Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family
I talked to my Mom twice this week.
I talked to my Dad twice this week.
I talked to my sister twice this week.
I started composing letters to my grandma and aunt...mentally. In my head. It has yet to appear on paper. But it will.
Resolution 3: Stay organized
I completed this month's home improvement project! I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.
I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists. It has been wonderful so far. My grandma told my mom that I was the first one to call her and wish her a happy birthday. Thanks, planner!
Cleaning...I have not done it. My home improvement project took a while to complete, and I just finished it this afternoon, so I have yet to clean up the aftermath. But! I washed out my vacuum's HEPA filter earlier this week, per my doctor's instructions AND David and I cleaned out the fridge today, so that kind of makes up for it...right?
Resolution 4: Save money
I haven't been working, so I haven't been packing lunches...but I have eaten leftovers for lunch almost every day (except for Thursday, when I had a lunch date with a friend).
I made three vegetarian meals this week! Check them out here.
Well, you could say that my home improvement project is also a DIY project. I mean, I DID do it myself.
The verdict? I haven't perfect, but I think I've been doing pretty well. Plus, imperfection means that there's room for improvement! I hope that I can keep everything up once my schedule gets crazy again.
Resolution 1: Take better care of myself
I flossed every day this week! Yay! By the way, did you know that it is really hard to floss behind your back molars? Hopefully, practice makes perfect.
I exercised twice this week! Check out my post on Tummy Tone Party Zone, my first installment of my Netflix Instant Watch challenge.
I slept for 8 hours every night. Of course, this was fairly easy as I'm still on winter break...we'll see how things go once I have to wake up at 5:00 every morning for work.
Resolution 2: Stay in touch with my family
I talked to my Mom twice this week.
I talked to my Dad twice this week.
I talked to my sister twice this week.
I started composing letters to my grandma and aunt...mentally. In my head. It has yet to appear on paper. But it will.
Resolution 3: Stay organized
I completed this month's home improvement project! I'll share pictures and details in the upcoming week.
I have been using my planner every day to keep track of important dates and write down to-do lists. It has been wonderful so far. My grandma told my mom that I was the first one to call her and wish her a happy birthday. Thanks, planner!
Cleaning...I have not done it. My home improvement project took a while to complete, and I just finished it this afternoon, so I have yet to clean up the aftermath. But! I washed out my vacuum's HEPA filter earlier this week, per my doctor's instructions AND David and I cleaned out the fridge today, so that kind of makes up for it...right?
Resolution 4: Save money
I haven't been working, so I haven't been packing lunches...but I have eaten leftovers for lunch almost every day (except for Thursday, when I had a lunch date with a friend).
I made three vegetarian meals this week! Check them out here.
Well, you could say that my home improvement project is also a DIY project. I mean, I DID do it myself.
The verdict? I haven't perfect, but I think I've been doing pretty well. Plus, imperfection means that there's room for improvement! I hope that I can keep everything up once my schedule gets crazy again.
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