May UFO Goals!

I have been slowly working on my UFOs, and I want to participate in Fiber of All Sorts and Sew Bittersweet Design's "A Lovely Year of Finishes" challenge. So, my goals for this month are:

Put together the center panel of the Bionicle quilt. It has been sitting in pieces for a couple months.
Getting to that point would put a completed top much closer.

My second main goal is getting a sleeve onto my Madrona Road challenge quilt, so I can actually hang it! A full post on this beauty will be coming soon.

Bonus:
Finish the pink & purple dresses for the girls. One mostly needs hemmed and a zipper. The other has yet to be cut out.

Finish a block or two of the Farmer's Wife sampler. It's been waiting a long time to get started!


PS Don't be alarmed if the pictures look different in the next couple of days. I just got my new camera today, as my old one had broken.  The color was all wrong, and the image was distorted with lines across everything. Daylight meant a whited out picture. The new camera is awesome, but I want daylight to take some proper pics of these projects!

Time for a review of last year's goals. Yeah, didn't do all that I had planned, but I did do some. New goals to come, with more frequent review of how I'm doing.

Child of God:
read the entire Bible
Done. Not in the 90 days that I had hoped, but finished nonetheless.
read the Book of Mormon (multiple times? or read at least 20min/day?)
Nope. Not even close. Scripture study was spotty for most of the year.
read the Relief Society lessons each month  
Haha. I don't think I even read one.

Wife:
(keeping these goals private)

Mother:
help my Scouts earn their next ranks
Success with David and Sam. No Progress with Jacob
help Anna learn to read 
We've been pretty consistent with bedtime stories and scripture study, so I'll call this a success
potty train Zeke and Lydia  
Got 1 of 2, but I won't beat myself up over it
help Zeke learn all his letters, numbers and some sounds  
He has gone beyond this and now knows about 30 sight words
get kids to all Dr needed (this is more than just check-ups)  
A definite success here. This has kept me very busy!

Visiting Teacher:
100%
Huge fail here!

Housekeeper:
deep clean house  
Nope - at least there are multiple areas that still need some serious attention
do weekly cleanings  
Nope, and it shows



Repairman:
repair all the currently known issues, including: light switch, broken door, mirror, mixer
Nope. Sigh.

Begin kitchen remodeling  

Still working on getting a plan worked out & drawn up by a professional

Cook:
start making sourdough bread
I did make some starter, but I have yet to actually use it. I have to fix this soon!
dinner by 6pm
Fail for most days of the year. And this is a serious problem.



Blogger:
3 posts each week  
Way too ambitious. I barely did that in an entire year.

Bookkeeper:
reconcile all accounts  
Nope
update accounts weekly  
Nope
create a budget we can follow  
Nope

Daughter/Sister:
call at least 2x/month  
Didn't call even every month, I think.

Friend:
participate in a social group (book club? sewing club?)
I tried to start one up, but it quickly died. A friend wants to try again this year.

Artist:
Finish at least 30 projects, focusing on ones previously started  
Hmmm. I think I finished 4 or 5?

Student:
Read 30 books, including at least 12 classics
I read 23 books, with 3 or 4 classics. Not quite there, but not too bad.

Individual:
Aerobic exercise at least 3x/week 
Improved on this goal - I started lifting weights with the husband 2x/week
Eat more fruits and vegetables  
Probably not, and this goal needs to be more concrete.

I Ran (yes, really) in a Virtual Race

I got inspired by a friend's blog I follow, Taking It On, to run in her annual virtual race - Jingle Bell Hell. The requirements were simple: had to be at least 5k, be challenging, and I had to laugh at some point.

So first, the total mileage that I ran/walked: somewhere around 3.5+ miles. I walked probably about 1/4 of the time. This was 42 laps at our YMCA including warmup and cool down. Since the only real running I've done in a long time is the Jog-A-Thon at the kids' school in September, this was HARD. I have never called myself a "runner." My walking laps were spent panting, and towards the end, trying to keep my stomach calm. My "training" for this consisted of 3x/week Zumba classes and 2x/week weight lifting. Which is not the same thing as running. At all. I timed myself for an overall count of 35 laps (about 3 miles), and that took me 35 minutes. Not fast. At all.

 Yeah, I'm sure I looked somewhat like this. Except white. And take away all the muscles.

So, the laughing. I wish I could say that I laughed out loud. I didn't. I didn't have enough breath to. But I did smile and do a voiceless laugh more than once. The first was around lap 12. I was convinced that I was absolutely crazy for even attempting this. Was I even going to finish? I think some people as they saw my face wondered if I was going to pass out. I know it got flushed more than once. What really surprised me, though, was that by mile 3, breathing actually started to get a little easier. I couldn't get my legs to move much faster, but I wasn't dieing (as much) during my jogging laps. The walking laps got much worse instead. Second laugh was when I decided that I was done jogging. I totally did it! I did more than 3.5 miles in a total time of about 45 minutes. Hopefully I'll be able to walk tomorrow, but I did much more today than I thought I could. I may have to run again. (Did I just say that?)

UFOs!!!!

I'm surrounded by them! I've counted about 100. Yikes!

For the uninitiated, UFO = UnFinished Object. That means some sort of project that was started (or in my case, about to be started), but not completed. The list includes:

5 Block-of-the-Month Quilts. I don't think any have all the blocks completed.
About 30 sets of pajamas. Um, yeah.
13 skirts and dresses for me and the girls.
3 more quilts, 3 x-stitch Christmas stockings, and more.

I hope to make a big dent in this pile this year. I've joined a Facebook group that was created just to encourage each other to finish things this year. I need to be accountable to someone!

Goals for 2012

Most of these goals will be a stretch, but if they are too easy, what's the point, right? They are categorized by the many "hats" I wear.



Child of God:
read the entire Bible
read the Book of Mormon (multiple times? or read at least 20min/day?)
read the Relief Society lessons each month

Wife:
(keeping these goals private)

Mother:
help my Scouts earn their next ranks
help Anna learn to read
potty train Zeke and Lydia
help Zeke learn all his letters, numbers and some sounds
get kids to all Dr needed (this is more than just check-ups)

Visiting Teacher:
100%

Housekeeper:
deep clean house
do weekly cleanings



Repairman:
repair all the currently known issues, including: light switch, broken door, mirror, mixer

Begin kitchen remodeling

image source

Cook:
start making sourdough bread
dinner by 6pm



Blogger:
3 posts each week

Bookkeeper:
reconcile all accounts
update accounts weekly
create a budget we can follow

Daughter/Sister:
call at least 2x/month

Friend:
participate in a social group (book club? sewing club?)

Artist:
Finish at least 30 projects, focusing on ones previously started

image source

Student:
Read 30 books, including at least 12 classics

Individual:
Aerobic exercise at least 3x/week
Eat more fruits and vegetables

image source

Sugar as poison

I watched this video a number of months back, and I have been meaning to share it since that time. If you have the time, it is very informative. If not, here is the gist:

Our body processes different sugars differently. Glucose is not the same as fructose or lactose (our 3 most commonly ingested sugars). Dr Lustig asserts that in order to break down fructose to be usable by our bodies, a number of harmful by-products are created. These by-products, in his opinion, are responsible for many of the issues Americans are facing today. Weight gain. Insulin resistance, and eventually diabetes.

I can't say that I know enough biochemistry to know if he's right or wrong. But he does work through the chemistry, and I think he may have figured it out.

Why is this a big deal? Well, some companies have been pushing fructose as a safe alternative to diabetics, since it doesn't create a blood sugar spike. It may very well cause more damage than the white sugar may have done.

My take-away from this? Cut back white sugar, fruit juices, high-fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup. We already know they aren't good for us, and now we can see at least one theory of the kind of damage they do. Eat lots of fiber. It counteracts the damage caused by fructose. Also, I will continue to avoid sugar alcohols, or what we call in our house "fake sugar." If something natural like fructose can cause so much damage, I can only imagine what something created in a test tube can do.

I stand corrected

Here is a wonderful explanation of the name of James in the New Testament. I always thought that the King James translators had changed it. While it is still very correct to say that James' real name was Jacob (Yakov), the name of James was more very convoluted mispronunciation of his name over the years. I would still argue that if the King James translators noticed this, they kept it as James in consideration of the King. Who would want to be the one to tell him that the famous apostle didn't really share his name?