Friendship Friday (F) Focus, Snow Fun and the number Fifteen

Focus

I did not post last week. This had much to do with the fact that we were without power for a couple of days due to the lovely snowstorm. It was enough time to put the online projects behind a bit. I am happy to report that I was successful in spending time focused on working out rather than updating my blog, once things returned to normal. A good lesson for me: I did not post to my blog and the world did not end. 

Snow Fun

Ugh. Snow and more snow, and more snow. In an attempt to find the fun in all of this snow, we jumped in and tried the circulating Snow Ice Cream recipe. It worked, and it was a hit. Thanks to Gimme Some Oven for posting her Snow Ice Cream information. 


Fifteen

I may not update this blog every week, but I'm okay with that. After all, my goals are to "work on my health" not update my personal blog. With that being said, I have made it to week 5 of Jillian Michael's Six Week Six Pack workout (via Amazon Prime). Wow, does that workout deliver. It kicks my butt and my butt is getting smaller, oh, and so is my stomach. I haven't lost a ton of weight but I have lost over 15 inches overall. Seriously. 

15 inches gone from my body! Yippee!!!

I also am able to do almost every exercise in it without stopping - almost. A huge improvement from the first time I worked out with that video. 

This post is a part of 

"Friendship Friday (F) Snow Fun & more" Click to Tweet

========

  Now it is your turn. I invite you to join me in getting healthy or share with me how you have made your life healthier by joining my Healthy Life Linky Party for this month. Healthy Life - whatever that means to you. The linky list is open through the entire month of February. You may link as many appropriate posts as you would like.

Linky Party "Rules" Requests:
I am thrilled that you stopped by and would love for you to participate in any and/or all of the ways that work for you, below: 

• Join in by linking up a current or old post to our party. A post that shares about "getting a healthier life." This could be nutrition, exercise, simplifying your life, organizing your life, learning to say, "No," etc.

• Top Request: Visit the blog in front of your post on the linky and leave them a comment.

• Comment below. Introduce yourself, if this is our first "meeting" and let me know how you found my blog. Need a writing prompt? Tell me how you are doing on your healthy journey. 

• Tweet about this linky party or share it on your favorite social media network. Click to Tweet.

• Follow my blog via email (sign-up on the right-hand side of this page) or add me to one of your Google+ Circles.

~Christine :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Friendship Friday (D) & February's Healthy Life Linky Party is Open

What do you dream about doing?  Are you going after that dream? 

I have never been one to sit back and hope my dreams will take place. I always have gone after them. I have been blessed to always have family and friends to support my crazy pursuits. Some dreams that I have chased have turned out to be more than what I ever would have expected - in a fantastic way. Others, once on the path, revealed that I didn't have the passion or desire truly needed to keep going down the road toward that dream. Do I regret those times? No, they made me what I am today and the fact that I tried them, makes me proud. 

As a parent, I want my daughter to go after her dreams. If she finds a passion - I pray that she explores it and continues to explore until she discovers that she can't get enough of it, or she has had enough and never wants to do that again. Maybe she will discover that she enjoys something, but more as a hobby than as a way of life. I have found that sometimes knowing what I DON'T want to do can be as much of a blessing as knowing what I DO want to do. 

I wonder sometimes...how many people ever get to do this - even just once? There are so many voices in our own heads and in the world telling us what we SHOULD or SHOULD NOT do. I wonder, if we all could do what we really love, how different this world would be? After all, when you are passionate about following a dream, you tend to be happy and excited to share with others. Can you imagine a world where everyone was excited to go to their place of employment?

I don't know about you, but I find passionate people interesting. They are in a focused zone that is enthralling to listen to, or watch. Why wouldn't they be? They are going after their dreams. 

Sometimes your dreams feel too big. They can almost become your Goliath. That is when you need to become David and pick up your first stone to go after that dream. When you look back, you may be surprised to see how few others have taken that first step - most are happy to stay behind and simply talk about the dreams they would like to pursue. 

Do you have a dream you are passionate about? What are your thoughts?

Side note: I had no idea what I was going to blog about today...this is what came out. I hope it blesses someone. Pursue, go after and work toward your dream!

This post is a part of 

"What do you dream to do?" Click to Tweet

January's Featured Favorites

Tomorrow is February and that means it is time for a new linky (open below). I would like to feature a couple of posts from January that were blessings in my life. 

CREATE WITH JOY - 2014: Year of Balance, New Year's Tips
Why? This post gets my vote for three reasons.

1) It is full of great tips for staying balanced. 

2) This post was the point when I realized that someone else was following my little blog and would be checking up to see how I am doing on my own journey. Thanks, Create With Joy!

3) I won the Giveaway!!! Yeah, that's right - Balance Bars coming my way. I will let you know what I think of them, too.

Jenny Evolution's The Benefits of Exercising: 10 Reasons Why You Should Make Fitness Your New Year's Resolution

Do you really need more than the title? 

Thank you, everyone for joining the Healthy Life Linky Party. I look forward to featuring two of my favorites next month. Now for my Goal Updates...

(Weekly Goal Update)

1. Daily Devotional/Bible Reading - Going well. Yay!
2. Eat Better -  I am successfully using my Daily Health Tracker to keep count of my calories, and it is working.  
3. Be More Active -Yay! I actually completed 5 days of workouts in a row and am enjoying a day off, today. The best news is that I feel antsy that I am not working out - miracles do happen. ;) 
4. Focus Computer Time - Continually working on this.

  Now it is your turn. I invite you to join me in getting healthy or share with me how you have made your life healthier by joining my Healthy Life Linky Party for this month. Healthy Life - whatever that means to you. The linky list is open through the entire month of February. You may link as many appropriate posts as you would like.

Linky Party "Rules" Requests:
I am thrilled that you stopped by and would love for you to participate in any and/or all of the ways that work for you, below: 

• Join in by linking up a current or old post to our party. A post that shares about "getting a healthier life." This could be nutrition, exercise, simplifying your life, organizing your life, learning to say, "No," etc.

• Top Request: Visit the blog in front of your post on the linky and leave them a comment.

• Comment below. Introduce yourself, if this is our first "meeting" and let me know how you found my blog. Need a writing prompt? Tell me how you are doing on your healthy journey. 

• Tweet about this linky party or share it on your favorite social media network. Click to Tweet.

• Follow my blog via email (sign-up on the right-hand side of this page) or add me to one of your Google+ Circles.

~Christine :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Friendship Friday: C is for Choices. Healthy Life Linky Party, too!

Choices

I have been working on making different choices, lately. I have made the choice to make workouts a regular part of my weeks. Which means that each day I need to make the choice to follow through on that decision. I have been doing well on these so far, and thankfully, the choice to start this blog to hold me accountable has proven a wise choice. There were days when I did not want to work out but knowing I had to post on Friday about my status, I chose to take a step toward completion. 

The best news is that the workouts ARE getting easier and my recovery time needed is shortening.

Did all of my choices prove as successful this week? Oh, of course not, but rather than focus on my bad choices, I'm choosing to focus on the good choices that I made this week. Focus on the positive, right? 

Interestingly enough, the choice to workout takes time, and leaves me with a bit less time to maintain my blog, and administer Stanley and Katrina's blog. I have had to make the choice to not respond to every email immediately and keep them in my inbox (this is almost painful for me) until I do have the time to respond, or visit the blog that has sent me the update. This choice, while initially was causing me anxiety, is now proving a good one. I'm skimming less through the posts when I have time to read them. 

I have also made the choice to participate in less blog hops and linkys overall. Friendship Friday is (for now) the only one I'm keeping for this blog. The choice here is  to keep it simple. 

In other news, Stanley & Katrina kept me busy this week, with preparing for their participation in the Multicultural Children's Book Day (a fantastic initiative). This has proven to be an educational and fun choice. My daughter also agreed to include videos of guest bloggers/families/students in the upcoming Word of the Week posts, so we have had fun coordinating upcoming guests as well as creating and editing the first video. The choice to add these videos may prove to be a good one, as we always love meeting and making new friends. 

I am choosing now to update my health goals below, and say good-bye for this week. What are some important choices that you have made? How are you working on staying healthy? 

This post is a part of 

"Life is all about choices." Click to Tweet

Action Toward My Goals 

(Weekly Goal Update)

1. Daily Devotional/Bible Reading - Going well. Yay!
2. Eat Better -  I am successfully using my Daily Health Tracker to keep count of my calories, and it is working.  
3. Be More Active -5 workouts in last week and this week. I am on track to get five, this week, as well. 
4. Focus Computer Time - Continually working on this.

  Now it is your turn. I invite you to join me in getting healthy or share with me how you have made your life healthier by joining my Healthy Life Linky Party. Healthy Life - whatever that means to you. I'm keeping this linky list open for the month of January and will have a new one for February. I will re-evaluate making it a shorter time, if it begins to fill up quickly. 

Linky Party "Rules" Requests:
I am thrilled that you stopped by and would love for you to participate in any and/or all of the ways that work for you, below: 

• Join in by linking up a current or old post to our party. A post that shares about "getting a healthier life." This could be nutrition, exercise, simplifying your life, organizing your life, learning to say, "No," etc.

• Top Request: Visit the blog in front of your post on the linky and leave them a comment.

• Comment below. Introduce yourself, if this is our first "meeting" and let me know how you found my blog. Need a writing prompt? Tell me how you are doing on your healthy journey. 

• Tweet about this linky party or share it on your favorite social media network. Click to Tweet.

• Follow my blog via email (sign-up on the right-hand side of this page) or add me to one of your Google+ Circles.

~Christine :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Balance? Maybe this year.

"I've learned that you can't have everything and do everything at the same time."  ~Oprah Winfrey
This post is a part of 

Balance

  Balance. 

       Seek balance. 

                    Balance. 

                         Balance will bless you. 

                                            Achieve Balance. 

  Balance is great, if you can reach it.  I wonder if the striving of balance in life is what is needed more than actually reaching it. You know, that whole idea of the journey being greater than the destination. Does anyone ever get "balanced" anyway? 

  Life is all about choices. When I'm focusing on my daughter, my husband doesn't have my attention. When my husband has my focus, my daughter does not. When they both have my focus, not much is spent on myself. Choices. Is it about seeking this phantom-like goal of "balance", or is it about simply making wiser choices throughout our day? The best choice that you can make in each moment throughout your day. Hmmm.. I think I have my word for next week... Choices. 

  What does balance mean to you? Comment below to let me know your thoughts. 

"What is this thing called balance?" Click to Tweet

Action Toward My Goals 

(Weekly Goal Update)

1. Daily Devotional/Bible Reading - Going well. I am reading on my ipad before getting out of bed and it has been a great start to my day.
2. Eat Better -  I am successfully using my Daily Health Tracker to keep count of my calories, and it is working.  
3. Be More Active - I felt better this week and began working with Jillian Michaels courtesy of my Amazon Prime membership and the Instant Videos available. She is tough. Really tough. But I have completed them 3 out of 4 days so far this week. Two more to go to hit my weekly goal. I feel confident I can do this. I have to say, I really enjoy the comments that Jillian (yeah, sure, I'm on a first name basis with her) makes at the end of the videos. 
4. Focus Computer Time - I'm getting there. Why does it seem that as soon as I can get organized, I give myself another project on the computer? At least this week's was fun and totally a family thing to do. 

  Now it is your turn. I invite you to join me in getting healthy or share with me how you have made your life healthier by joining my Healthy Life Linky Party. Healthy Life - whatever that means to you. I'm keeping this linky list open for the month of January and will have a new one for February. I will re-evaluate making it a shorter time, if it begins to fill up quickly. 

Linky Party "Rules" Requests:
I am thrilled that you stopped by and would love for you to participate in any and/or all of the ways that work for you, below: 

• Join in by linking up a current or old post to our party. A post that shares about "getting a healthier life." This could be nutrition, exercise, simplifying your life, organizing your life, learning to say, "No," etc.

• Top Request: Visit the blog in front of your on the linky and leave them a comment.

• Comment below. Introduce yourself, if this is our first "meeting" and let me know how you found my blog. Need a writing prompt? Tell me how you are doing on your healthy journey. 

• Tweet about this linky party or share it on your favorite social media network. Click to Tweet.

• Follow my blog via email (sign-up on the right-hand side of this page) or add me to one of your Google+ Circles.

~Christine :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Friendship Friday & Healthy Life Linky Party - Keeping it Going.

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming." ~Dory of Finding Nemo
This post is a part of  Hi! Yay, I made it to the end of my first continual week of blogging here and I am working on those goals, which I will post an update on at the bottom of this post. Overall, I did alright this week and don't feel like giving up, so that is a win. 

Create with Joy has added to Friendship Friday an A to Z theme. This week is A. 

Art Studio iPad App

  This is an app I discovered mentioned at the blog Surfing to Success when I was looking for clip art to use in printables. After reading her blog post, I installed the app on our family iPad to give it a whirl. Woo hoo! 

  I then decided to use the money that I thought I was going to use to purchase licensing rights to clipart (and a few other things), to get an iPad mini and make my own stuff. A week or so later...between this app and PicMonkey (more on that on Monday), I'm having fun working on my artistic talent - or should I say, cultivating it. :)  Here are a few of my creations. Borders are the most fun for me. I can do squiggles. :) 

Action Toward My Goals (Weekly Goal Update)

1. Daily Devotional/Bible Reading - Recently, I purchased an iPad Mini, to work on creating some clip art (like the flower for the linky party) and to have e-books accessible to me. However, I have found that the biggest blessing of this iPad has been to have The Bible (in whatever translation I feel like reading) and devotions accessible to me in one slim electronic item. I even downloaded a prayer journal to keep track of my prayer requests. I haven't missed a day and I am working on reading through the Bible again.  Overall: Going well. 
2. Eat Better -  I counted calories and did well all week. I used my Daily Health Tracker to keep count and it worked well for me. Overall: Going well. 
3. Be More Active - This didn't happen. I've been fighting a cold for going on two weeks and the doctor did tell me to take it easy, so I've been following the doctor's orders. On the positive side, the cold has made it easier to adjust to my new caloric intake. :)
4. Focus Computer Time - Well, the cold really made it easy to catch up on computer stuff, so I didn't have set aside "focused computer time" this week but I did work on organizing things. I unsubscribed from about 20 emails that come in daily, and I delete without reading and setup some folders in my inbox to move things to so that when I open my email I'm not completely overwhelmed but then when I have the time, I will read/respond to the emails in my new folders; "Important/ToDos" & "ThingsToRead." 

I invite you to join me in getting healthy or share with me how you have made your life healthier by joining my Healthy Life Linky Party. Healthy Life - whatever that means to you. I'm keeping this linky list open for the month of January and will have a new one for February. I will re-evaluate making it a shorter time, if it begins to fill up quickly. 

Linky Party "Rules" Requests:
I am thrilled that you stopped by and would love for you to participate in any and/or all of the ways that work for you, below: 

• Top Request: Visit the blog in front of your on the linky and leave them a comment.

• Join in by linking up a current or old post to our party. A post that shares about "getting a healthier life." This could be nutrition, exercise, simplifying your life, organizing your life, learning to say, "No," etc.

• Comment below. Introduce yourself, if this is our first "meeting" and let me know how you found my blog. Need a writing prompt? Tell me how you are doing on your healthy journey. 

• Tweet about this linky party or share it on your favorite social media network. Click to Tweet.

• Follow my blog via email (sign-up on the right-hand side of this page) or add me to one of your Google+ Circles.

~Christine :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Sharing my Daily/Weekly Health Tracker Printables

Well, I am under the weather big time. My head cold from a week ago decided to come back and hit my sinuses. Those sweat inducing exercise times will have to wait. That is okay, I'm not super hungry so my calorie counting is going well.  (Looking at the positive).

I made these printables for myself based on my goals. They ARE specific to my own goals/chores. Just in case someone else could use them, they are available to download clicking on the links/pictures below. Feel free to use them and share them.

   

Daily Health Goal Tracker  &  Weekly Health Goal Tracker

It is funny, even though I love technology, I still find I do better with a printed or handwritten list in front of me. I'm sure there are fantastic apps for this. I've even tried some but I don't like being tied to my technology any more than I have to be. So, geeky Christine prefers paper - just like when I read books. 

This post is part of Create with Joy's wonderful Inspire Me Monday. This is an awesome linky where you may share what is inspiring you this week or any creative projects you are working on. These printables were my latest creation. As for inspiring me. how about this awesome video from Kid President. He continues to inspire my daughter and I.

Don't forget to join in the Healthy Life Linky Party. 

What inspires you? 

Happy Sunday, all!

~Christine :) 

Friendship Friday: This Blog is Not Dead.

"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus" ~Mark Twain 
This post is a part of 

2014 Focus: Health

First of all, thanks for visiting. Holy Cow, this is my third post. Yippee! I have considered posting on here for months, but have been unsure about what exactly to post about. 

1. Social Media? I do LOVE social media. I enjoy learning about what is new, trying new things and especially focusing on doing it all as inexpensively as possible. However, there are so many fantastic resources out there already, and I don't have the energy to put into the blog what I could see it becoming... maybe in a few more years...hmmm.
2. Books? This seems to be the logical choice, since I am the mother of a young author and already have an amazing set of connections in the book blogging world. Again, there are too many great bloggers out there already doing this and I do get my fill enough of it in the Stanley & Katrina world. 
3. Literacy & Printables? - I do enjoy making printables (and will continue to do so) but I don't know that I can blog about them continuously at this point in my life.
4. Pets? Oh my goodness, I LOVE the pet blogging world and would love to join in, but there is a problem... at the moment, our family doesn't have any pets. :) 
5. Motherhood? Sure, I can comment on my life experiences and I'm sure it would entertain here and there but I'm not feeling led to do that. 
6. More Ideas? Yes, I had more ideas but I am not feeling led to focus on any of them.

It hit me this evening, after a discussion with my husband. The one thing I need to work on more than anything RIGHT NOW is staying healthy. I need to lose 20 lbs. That is on the conservative side, too. I have already lost my first 10 lbs (total of 30 lbs to lose), but it is winter and my bear-like instinct to hibernate on the couch is beginning to has set in. 

I do enjoy blogging, so I have decided (as of two hours ago) that for 2014, my blog focus will be on health. I will share my journey on losing the 20 lbs I need to lose. By putting it out there for all to read/see, it will hold me accountable. I am not going to wait until I have all of my social media outlets in place - this blog isn't about that. I just need to post it to get myself going. 

Will I post on other topics? I have no doubt I will. It is in my nature to share things I learn, no matter the topic.

My Personal Goals*

1. Daily Devotional/Bible Reading - This may not be for everyone, but I need it in my life.
2. Eat Better -  Count calories. I have to. I know what I need to do and right now the calories coming in are way more than should be coming in. I started this morning, and did well. Funny, I have more energy. ;) 
3. Be More Active - 5 Days a Week, sweat inducing activity for a minimum of 30 minutes.
4. Focus Computer Time - Set aside specific times to work on projects on the computer uninterrupted, rather than off and on all day long. (This also helps me to be more active). 

My true goal is to be down 20 lbs and a minimum of two pant sizes, but I want to focus on the top items more than the scale/size of my clothes. Focusing on feeling healthy and having the energy to be the best wife and mother that I can be. 

I invite you to join me in getting healthy or share with me how you have made your life healthier by joining my Healthy Life Linky Party. Healthy Life - whatever that means to you.

Linky Party "Rules" Requests:
I am thrilled that you stopped by and would love for you to participate in any and/or all of the ways that work for you, below: 

• Top Request: Visit the blog in front of your on the linky (once this linky gets going) and leave them a comment.

• Join in by linking up a current or old post to our party. A post that shares about "getting a healthier life." This could be nutrition, exercise, simplifying your life, organizing your life, learning to say, "No," etc.

• Comment below. Introduce yourself, if this is our first "meeting" and let me know how you found my blog. Need a writing prompt? Tell me how you are doing on your healthy journey. 

• Tweet about this linky party or share it on your favorite social media network. Click to Tweet.

• Follow my blog via email or add me to one of your Google+ Circles.

~Christine :) Special thanks to Create with Joy for motivating me to get back to this blog.

An InLinkz Link-up