Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Determination

I'm determined to live the SWEET Life today. I've been keeping track, all day, on my SWEET Life Plan and will see every letter highlighted on my SWEET Life Cycle. Why the big push today? First, I went camping last weekend where two things happened: We ate a lot! Everyone brought so much food to share with everyone (there were 22 of us), and we were snacking all the time. Also, the shorts I brought in anticipation of the hot weather were uncomfortably tight in the waist, which they didn't use to be! Tight shorts on a hot day is a bad combination! In addition, it's the last week of the month and I'm not near my goal, which was the same goal as last month, which I didn't achieve either. I need to stop the negative cycle, now! I have to focus and live the SWEET Life fully and consistently to see the results I want to see. It's that simple.

Sleep: Despite a midnight interruption and two kids coming in to join us, I slept well. It was nice to be in my own bed again after two nights in a tent.

Water: I've been keeping track of each beverage I've drunk on my SWEET Life Plan, and I've drunk plenty.

Eating: After three days of camp food (i.e., too much and of varying nutritional value), I was ready to eat healthy and make sure I was eating balanced nutrition, marking off each portion on my SWEET Life Plan.

Exercise: I laid in bed this morning, awakened by my "exercise" alarm, asking myself if I needed more sleep. Eventually, I realized I was wasting my time laying in bed, awake! Either sleep, or get up! So I got up and exercised, using my new adjust-a-weight dumbbells. I'm now trying to do toning exercises on Mondays & Wednesdays and cardio on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

Tranquility: There was a surprise knock on the door at 8:30 a.m. It was our babysitter! I'd forgotten that I was starting to use her every Monday morning. What a pleasant surprise! That meant I got some Tranquility this morning, not doing anything in particular, just getting organized post-camping.

How did I do, and how do I feel?
Today, I lived the SWEET Life.

Monday, June 16, 2008

I need Tranquility!

Surprisingly, I have been living the SWEET Life the past week. I say "surprisingly" because I don't feel like I've lived a balanced, healthy lifestyle:
Sleep - 5 nights last week I slept enough hours.
Water - 7 days last week I drank enough water, although I'm not sure how carefully I paid attention to it.
Eating - Also 7 out of 7 last week, supposedly.
Exercise - 5 out of 7 last week, but I'm not challenging myself enough.
Tranquility - 5 out of 7 last week
Yesterday, I had a SWEET Life.

I really miss my girls' naps. I used to be able to count on 3-4 hours of Tranquility every day while they napped. That has suddenly dropped to zero! Not even a decrease to 1-2 hours, like some other kids! Not even a later start time for the naps, like some other kids! I spent a week or two wasting a lot of time trying to get them to nap, to no avail. I'm finally accepting that they don't nap, which means I have no breaks from motherhood for 11 hours/day. That makes for a . . . really . . . long . . . day, with no Tranquility.

But, no, it's actually not even as simple as that. They're still tired, but they don't nap, so they're cranky and hit each other -- quite the opposite of Tranquility. Or, I'll take them to do something, and one will fall asleep on the way there. So, then what? Once, I laid a blanket in a shopping cart, and Zoe slept the whole time we were in the store! Then, Maya fell asleep on the way home! So, they each got their nap, but I didn't' get any Tranquility! I have a photo of them both asleep in a Costco shopping cart, another unexpected nap. Since they were both asleep, I considered going home for some Tranquility, instead of shopping. Unfortunately, food shopping was a must that day, and I had other things to do later in the day, so I had to shop then.

Their lack of naps and Maya being out of preschool mean it's really hard for me to get any Tranquility. I don't feel like I have time to think or plan, and I was really looking forward to having time to think and plan and accomplish more once I finished my ESL class. That was two weeks ago!

The one thing I'd say I've accomplished, related to Tranquility, in the past couple weeks is that I've kept my house tidier than it'd been, which makes me feel relaxed and content.

Fortunately, things are starting to improve because I've arranged for babysitting! That's really what was missing: scheduled time when both my kids would be taken care of. It used to be during Maya's preschool/Zoe's daycare, but preschool ended a few weeks ago. Last week a friend reminded me that we'd discussed a babysitting exchange, so we put it in place. Unfortunately, I spent my entire free time preparing for Maya's birthday party. I also ran into our babysitter, who reminded me that we'd discussed her babysitting the girls half-day starting in June! So that allows me to write this blog right now. I feel more relaxed just knowing I have time to think.