Day Zero ~ 101 Things in 1001 Days

If you haven't heard of the Day Zero Project, you should definitely check it out.  I'm excited for it.

http://dayzeroproject.com/

Almost as excited as I am about Christmas.  Almost. Speaking of Christmas, my husband saw my eyes light up at Lowe's this weekend when I caught sight of a pretty, white, metal, tree with lights for outside.  I have one that's done it's duty for almost ten years and needs to retire due to rust.  My cat approves of the colored lights. (we had to try it out) Heck, I approve of the colored lights.  Those led ones are pretty nifty.

ANYWAY.  Day Zero Project.  I'm doing it.

Here is my list:

1    Run a 5k race for time

2    Identify 100 things that make me happy

3    Learn a poem by heart

4    Make a custom recipe book

5    Get to my goal weight and maintain

6    Go on a picnic

7    Learn to say "I love you" in 10 languages

8    Learn to write with my left hand

9    Keep the kitchen spotless for 30 days

10  Be proficient in conversational French

11  Take a photo of the same place every month for year and then turn it into a calendar for the next year

12  Build a piece of furniture I'll want to pass on to my children

13  Be able to play a full Christmas song, by heart, on the piano

14  Make a pie on Pi day

15  Make soap

16  Answer the "50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind"

17  Make a list of the top 5 people who have positively influenced me and write them letters

18  Keep my room tidy for a month

19  Create a painting worthy of hanging in my house

20  Have a new list of 101 Things written before my 1001 days are done

21  Have a monthly game night for a whole year

22  Make a quilt

23  Serve dinner by candlelight every Friday during the dark of winter

24  Read 10 books by local authors

25  Learn to juggle 3 balls

26  Build a gingerbread house

27  Do at least 1 project a month off of Pinterest

28  For one year, pick one person a day and honestly compliment them

29  Do a charity bicycle ride

30  Make a souffle that my husband likes

31  Make a simple household chores chart and stick with it

32  Send 101 postcards via postcrossing.com

33  Draw at least once a week for a year

34  Make a pillow for the bed

35  Go ice skating

36  Read the bible and make a list of bible verses that touch me

37  Sew an apron

38  Take time for a coffee break once a week

39  Do all basic maintenance on my truck for 6 months

40  Lay in the grass and just watch the clouds go by

41  Make homemade pickles

42  Make a last name photo collage from my own pictures

43  Host a non-holiday party

44  Develop a daily stretching routine

45  Do 1 random act of anonymous kindness a week

46  Make mozzarella in my own kitchen

47  Grow my own mushrooms and cook with them

48  Make 10 random babies smile

49  Say "I love you" to my husband. Every day

50  Take 10 minutes a day to just sit and think about non-pressing things

51  Change someone's life for the better

52  Take a day trip to a state park

53  Wear nail polish and keep it looking nice for a month

54  Play a round of golf with my husband

55  Re-learn to cross-stitch and make something useful

56  Make my own candles

57  Study 6 different cultures per year; have a themed weekend for each with food, music, culture and geographical info for the family

58  Wear a sexy halloween costume

59  Make a family tree

60  Learn how to take a compliment

61  Have my make-up done at a make-up counter

62  Learn how to play the harmonica

63  Find a four leaf clover

64  Climb a tree and take a photo of the view

65  Have a Halloween party

66  Decorate my bedroom

67  Find a hat I don't look silly in

68  Write a poem

69  Go to a drive-in movie

70  Make a list of things I'd like to see before I die

71  Develop a signature entree that will one day be what grandchildren compare all other foods to

72  Design and build a vertical garden

73  Learn to love myself even just a little bit

74  Make a pretty calendar of some sort to keep track of birthdays and other special events

75  Decorate the family room properly

76  Teach 6 people to appreciate Christmas

77  Get rid of all clothes in my closet that do not and never will fit

78  Enter something for competition at the Sioux Empire Fair

79  Detail my truck's interior and keep it that way with weekly maintenance

80  Bring back kissing under the mistletoe

81  Get recertified at CPR

82  Make a time capsule to be opened on our 20th anniversary

83  Hit 50 lbs weight loss goal

84  Learn to be comfortable naked

85  Write a list of songs that I want played at my funeral

86  Watch the sunrise and sunset on the same day

87  Knit a blanket

88  Spend a weekend living like it's the 1800's. No electricity, no internet, just old fashioned entertainment

89  Spend an evening watching a meteor shower

90  Develop 5 new soup variations

91  Pick 3 things that are stereotypically "man activities", and learn to do them well

92  Get confident enough to once again sing in the presence of someone else

93  Scan old family pictures and make a book or books of them with proper labels

94  Make 5 new family traditions

95  Sew a week's worth of outfits

96  Learn to do a fancy braid to my own hair

97  Complete the P90X workout system

98  Go on 6 day trips to places I've never gone in my area

99  Sew a patchwork tablecloth that's pretty for any season

100 Combat my negative self talk with positive self talk. Daily

101 Teach my niece something that only I can do 

 

It's a handful but I think if I challenge myself I can do it.  If you'd like to follow me on the Challenge site:

http://dayzeroproject.com/user/KickMeImAnna

I'm a Sinner

Life has been crazy.  I've been sick since last Thursday, demolishing my homework to-do list, cleaning my house, I sold my soul, and made the most delightful pumpkin-carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  Seriously.  If I gain a pound from eating it, I'm fine with it. No really!  SO worth it.

I used this SparkPeople recipe: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=157762

But I altered it a touch.  I definitely didn't use light butter. Paula Deen would approve. I used 3 whole eggs instead of using the egg whites. For the topping, I didn't bake it.  Instead I whipped together 3 C of icing sugar, a brick of cream cheese (not light), a splash of vanilla, a stick of butter, and a big splash of heavy cream.

SO worth it.  Because:

Look at my numbers!  They're almost even!

ALSO:  I'm totally doing the 101 things in 1001 days challenge.  I'm still thinking of my last 10 items but i start November 1st.  If you'd like to get on board here's the link: http://dayzeroproject.com/

I'll post my list and updates here on the blog as I complete.

My Mind is Blown!

I've working out, nothing big, just walking and running mostly.

I've been so busy with school and other stuff that no, I have not been counting my calories on SparkPeople this last week at all.  I eat healthy food to begin with and think I've been snacking enough to keep my calories in an acceptable burn instead of starvation zone.

I stepped on the scale this morning and cringed as I waited for the digital readout to tell me I screwed up and that the Coke I drank on Tuesday, coupled with the 3 chocolate dipped cocoa rice krispie bars in the last three days (but they were good!) has resulted in a big weight loss dud.  NOPE.  I'm officially on the rice krispie treat and Coke diet because dang it works!

In other news:  I found a happy-place today.  I started piano lessons after nearly two decades without touching a piano.  It all came flooding back.  I'm weak and obviously don't have the comfort level I did years ago but it felt so natural and perfect!  It's something I can be a success at no matter what else happens in life.  We don't have a piano at home and I can't afford a snazzy sixty-plus key Yamaha or whatever keyboard, so for the time being I'm going to practice by plugging away on the only thing I could afford.  This:

It's cheesy, cheap, and meant as a kid's toy..  Oh well.  Music is still music.  I'll make do like I always will.  Maybe I'll luck out and Santa will have a spare big-girl keyboard lying around by Christmas  ;)

Weight Loss Goal Met.

Hi.  I'm officially less fat today than I was yesterday.

But you know what?  I can't really see it.  It's 20 pounds!  That's like 3 small newborn babies.  You would think that it would be evident I had lost that much. It's not.  I still feel fat as ever.  SO..  I think it really must be all in my head this time.  That whole "the first step is admitting you have a problem" saying is right.  I'm there.  I know that my perception of myself is skewed.   I'm working on it but I really don't have a clue what I am doing.  No clue other than that I've begun to tell myself to shut up if that little voice in my ear gets loud and negative.

Showing the Fat Chick Who the Boss Is

Happy Monday!  Well, almost Monday.  I'm jumping ahead a bit since I'm actually looking forward to this next week.

I was feeling pretty down last week but some lovely people (and one lady in particular) know how to get me out of a funk.  I needed to snap out of it but I was in a "woe is me" sort of frame of mind.  Damn that fat chick.  Slowly whispering her poison words in my ear.  Damn me for falling for it again! 

She tried to make me feel insignificant.  She tried to make me believe I am a failure.  Well I showed her!

I lost weight again.  Will you look at that!  I'm only 6 pounds away from being halfway to my big goal!  I weighed in at almost 18.5 stone and I'm almost at 17 stone!  What's a stone you ask?  A pound is about .0714 stone.  I'd just flat out say my weight but to be honest, it grosses me out.  So at this point you'll either have to do the math if you're not familiar with units of mass that are used outside the U.S, or just take my word that I'm fat and my current weight indicates a significant improvement.  While it may not seem like a lot of success to you all, I'm just pleased the number is getting smaller instead of bigger.  I was (and still am) terrified that starting school would result in convenience eating, a return to poor nutrition, and a freshman-15 weight gain.  If the fat chick who is the visualization of my negative self image had her way, I'd be blubbering on the couch about how I just want to be happy.  She'd want me to bake a cake because cake makes everything better.  She's partially right, cake is magical, but also calorie laden.  She'd want me to ask my husband to pick up take-out because I'm too busy studying.  Too busy to cook?  Maybe this fat chick doesn't know me as well as she lets on?  She'd also not want me to blog.  The fat chick I see in the mirror wants me to be dependent upon her for all forms of validation.  She wants me to be lonely, fat, and without hope.

The fat chick forgot one thing though.  I really do hate that chick and I really do want to kick her butt.

Hi. I'm Anna and I Have a Problem.

I've always been the girl with one good friend.  The sort of friend who would drop everything and drive 1500 miles in the middle of the night just because I called and said I needed her.  I've never had a lot of real friends.  I mean... I know a lot of people and would totally stop to chat for a minute if we met on a city street, but they're not the sort of friends that call me or throw me a party or hug me when I'm down.  A year ago, just before my birthday, my best girl friend left me.  I've come to grips with the fact that she must not have been a very good friend and I'm probably better without someone in my life that constantly takes and takes without ever giving back.  But it broke my heart.  Not that it's a terrible thing at all, but I feel like I'm missing something with only my husband on my list of real live friends.  He's a sweetheart, but he just doesn't take the place of that great friend.  After all, it's not like I can complain about silly things my husband does when my sounding board IS my husband.

I've been in denial.  I've been filling that missing place in my heart with busy-work.  I was studying anatomy today (and made a kick-butt PowerPoint about the skeletal system) and tried to figure out if there was a physiological reason for how I've been feeling lately.

This picture I took:

It made me realize that I've just been a shell of my former self lately.  I'm all structure with no substance.  I'm terribly, terribly, lonely.  It's gotten to the point that I have begun to devalue myself more than the ever present fat chick inside was ever able to do.  I've even been avoiding online friends.  I feel like I don't want to bother them, bring them down, or assume a level of friendship that perhaps they don't feel like reciprocating. I just don't want to be a bother. I need a friend.  I need someone I can call at midnight if I can't sleep and then argue with over whether any of the chicks on the Real Housewives shows have real boobs, or laugh about some random happening of the day that isn't that funny but is hilarious to us.

I feel terrible because my husband tries so hard and is such a wonderful man who I think would try to find a way to fix any problem if I asked him to.  But I need more.  I'm a social person and I haven't had a heart to heart conversation with another person in a while.  No girl talk.  No spa days for manicures.  No drinks and pie after a chick-flick.  I am so lonely it hurts.  The only conversation I have had today, was with my cats and they were no help at coming up with a game plan for studying for my upcoming exam on Wednesday.  In fact, my limited knowledge of cat-language gave me the impression that Charley thinks I should attempt to learn by osmosis and just sleep on my book, and Lucy just expressed her distaste for science by licking her butt.

My Motivation... Have You Seen It?

Another week, another pound lost.

But I don't even care.  That makes me sad.  I should be all YAY I'M LOSING WEIGHT!!!!!! but instead i really can't even get motivated enough to celebrate.  I'd rather just sit here on the couch and... well... sit.  It's around seven pm on Saturday and my poor husband hasn't been fed dinner.  I don't even really care.  It's not like he's going to starve.  He'll fend for himself if need be.  The kicker?  I'M hungry and can't be bothered to make anything.  So yes, I am depressed. 

It's not a dire sort of depression as of yet.  I'm still here enough to recognize the problem and I'm pretty sure I could snap myself out of this round of it.  I'm gonna try anyway.  I've made a hair appointment for Tuesday.  I hate to spend money on myself. Hate it.  If it will make me feel beautiful, it'll be worth the cost.  Heck, the scalp massage is worth the cost.  While I'm there, I shall peruse their OPI nail polish selection and bring something pretty home to do my nails with.  Maybe something festive!  I wish I could find this:

It's OPI's color called "The Rainbow Connection" that's coming out along with the new Muppets movie in November.  I want it.  Doesn't it just look like a bottle full of happy?  Of course, I'll probably have talked myself out of spending money by then.