Self-inflicted Ass Kicking

My goal for 2012 is to “do shit and stick to it”. Ironically enough it, has been kinda demanding to stick to but so far so good. I’m holding on for dear life to the last shreds of hope at this point but it’s better than nothing at all. Everything just seems so simple when there’s no accountability for how little productivity is expected. I just gotta keep reminding myself that I’m doing this for me and I’ll be successful. I think.

To help restore some self-awareness that I felt had been slipping away from me over the last few months (read: 8-10 months), I decided to take up some Yoga classes at our base gym.

I actually quite pleased with it. It’s reminded me of how important it is to totally suck at something and how fun it is to stick to it. I suck, not gonna lie. This girl is not the most flexible or graceful – ask anyone. I do feel some progress though which is really inspiring. I’ve even found some pretty decent youtube channels with some instructors that I like so I can do some at home during the weekend.

I also took up another fitness class which is totally more kick-butt-wanna-puke-hope-for-a-quick-and-merciful-death type of physical activity. I totally hated my instructor the next day but totally loved her at the same time. I forgot how much I love pushing myself.

I’m lazy and that’s one of my main issues with ... well, pretty much anything. That’s what self-awareness mixed in with some fitness classes and lifestyle changes has thought me in the first month and a half of this goal focused endeavour.

I’m kind of excited for the next few months to see what else I can take on, suck at and then kick butt in.

Namaste bitches.

Meal Planning 101

As promised, a detailed step-by-step process of our meal planning initiative that’s absolutely exceeded all our expectations both financially and in saving our sanity.

First, here’s a bit of back story. We’re always trying to find ways to simplify our lifestyle I wasn’t entirely convinced that planning out our day-to-day meals would simplify anything. What if we’re in the mood for something else? What if we run out of something and have to run to the store? How about lunches and breakfasts and snacks, are we going to have to plan those also to make it worth our while? Js wasn’t too convinced either. He’s more of a “spur of the moment” and “steak and potatoes” kinda guy so I didn’t envision our meal planning endeavour to last us very long.

One faithful day, while we were out grocery shopping and talking about our finances, we realized we spend way too much money on groceries and time trying to figure out what we’re in the mood for. I took up the challenge to stretch out our current groceries until the end of the month as much as possible.

Meal planning was my only option to make sure we didn’t:

A) Run out of food.
B) Run out of money.
C) Run out of patience.

We’ve been meal planning now for about 3-4 weeks now and it looks like we’ve got a nice rhythm going so I’ve come up with these step-by-step instructions for those who’d like to give it a shot. To make it easier for everyone, I will be posting a series of entries for each step so that you can figure out what works best for you before moving on to the next step rather than giant post.

Here are the basic things you’ll need before you get started.

Pen and paper;
Calculator; and
A book, binder or box would work just fine.

Freezer bags are not necessary but nice to have handy if you normally use them.

Neglect

Lately, I feel like I've neglected some of the things that matter most to me and I'm not exactly proud of myself. Over the last months I've neglected friendships, I've neglected to recognize my emotions, my projects and my health.

Spending all this time by myself, I came to the conclusion that I've allowed neglect to take over my life and I want to move on and change that - hopefully for good. Neglect can be devastating but it can also be a good thing in the sense that it helps you see what matters - what can't really go on unless you put in some effort. I think this blog has been the clearest example and really brought the reality home for me. It can't go on unless I sit here and reflect on my life, my values and beliefs or work hard to find humor in the simplest things. These are all things I cherish - why can't I seem to gather the strength to do it regularly anymore?

That's where the hard work comes in. I know, deep down inside, that it's mostly because I don't want to see what I have to deal with. I don't know what to post about anymore because I've neglected everything around me and it's hard to admit.

I've neglected friends and relationships and I'm not really proud of it. I have to work harder, care more and call often. I also have to work on myself. I have to make healthier choices even if it's harder in the long run (and means more dishes), I have to be honest with myself and reconnect with my values and what I stand for.

It seems like a lot of work but I think once I get one of these aspects under construction, the rest will just fall into place. No one can help me but myself so I really have to suck it up and get crackin'.

Torticollis - not nearly as classy as it sounds.

Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwie. There is never a dull moment in the life of moi. This morning was not any different - one more reason to hate Mondays.

I woke up with a sharp pain going up my arm. Thinking "what the eff!?" I went to get up and quickly realized that my arm was hurting because my neck was a ticking time bomb of pain and misery. I thought I'd just roll around in bed and try to loosen up the tight muscles. It's 7:30 am, I still have plenty of time to shake this off and get to work on time. I fell back asleep until approximately 8am and it only made things worst. I couldn't even move around in bed, I had to toss the pillow to rest my head directly on the mattress and stretch out my neck. I still had a splitting headache and paralyzing pain down my neck and into my shoulder.

Js got me one of those microwavable heat cushion-bag things and I rest that on my neck for a bit as I tried to get a hold of someone to cover my shift. I had to call my boss and let her know so she took care of most of it - bless her little heart. I quickly realized that I would have to go to the ER to at least get some medication and a doctor's note for the day today. That's when the fun began.

I attempted to get up 4 different ways before I asked Js to just pull on my hands so I could sit up. It hurt like all shit but it worked. Do you think my allergies would have given me the day off considering my predicament? No dice. Sneezing while trying not to move your head just hurts more.

Me : Can you get me my bra?
Him : Where is it?
Me : I don't know.
Him : Please be more specific...
Me : Somewhere in the room... on the floor?!
Him : Here.
Me : ... ... can you get me underwear?!
Him : *mumbles*
Me : Okay thanks, you can go now.

Trying to salvage what was left of my dignity I thought : I can fucking do this. I can put on my damn clothes, it can't hurt that much. I just have to be smart about it.

Ten minutes later, sitting on the edge of the bed with my underwear around my knees, my bra failing at doing anything it's supposed to... I was tempted to throw my iota of dignity out the window but that would require too much movement so I left it there, in a small pile by my feet.

Me : Baaaaaaaaabe?!
Him : What?!
Me : I need your help.
Him : Doing what? *comes up the stairs*
Me : ... ... *small-cry-face*
Him : *walks in* ... well that didn't go over very well, didn't it!?
Me : No. *sob*

He helped me get dressed, reached for my clothes as I attempted not to scream out bloody murder with every movement.

Me : You'll need to brush my hair.
Him : Hum, no. I don't know how.
Me : What do you mean you don't know how? You just brush.
Him : How?
Me : Just... brush.
Him : *blink* I feel like we're 70 years old.
Me : I guess I can just put a hair clip for now...

To stop him from seeing his life with me flash before his eyes and reconsider the whole wedding thing, I give up. So not only do I look like shit, I feel like shit. I'm wearing only clothes I could point to, my hair is a cottony mess due to my tossing and turning and I don't even want to dare trying to get into the shower. I'll bathe when I can do it on my own thank you very much.

Now, for the teeth brushing adventure. I had to brush my teeth with my left hand so I feel like I cleaned a third of my teeth. It took me a while to figure out the spitting thing - I worked out a very unclassy system and now, it seems, there is toothpaste everywhere. Take sip of water from cup, rinse, spit in cup, rinse cup, try to ignore mocking boyfriend, repeat.


We made our way to the ER  and I got a prescription and some work restrictions. I can't lift, push or pull anything over 2 kilos - said the pretty pretty doctor with an accent. We went to Wal-Mart to get the pills and picked up a season of The Office for my entertainment today. I'm lucky it's Js' day off (he's not!) because he's home to take care of me. By "taking care" I mean - fluffing my pillow and watching me drool as I sleep away the pain.

No-Eating-Out Dealio - WE DID IT!

Woohoo! We did it - a whole month of no-restaurant!! It wasn't always easy but we stuck to it.

We had to get pretty creative at times :

• Pack a lunch - save time and money! If we had to go to Regina to run errands all day, instead of having lunch when we got there we packed a lunch and ate it on the drive there. We made it back home in time for dinner where our BBQ patiently awaited. Normally, we'd leave home around 11am and come back around 6 or 7pm. This time around, we left home at 12noon and we were back here by 5h30pm but we somehow accomplished more while we were there.
  
• Make plans that work. We would plan our entire day around having to be home for mealtimes and quite frankly, our days turned out way more productive and fun. We had more of a schedule than we normally do and it forced up to get up earlier and to limit our errand trips. We saved a ton on gas and on random spending money or impulse buys.
• Friends don't let friends eat out. Our friends were well aware of our challenge and quite understanding. They didn't ask us to meet them for dinner somewhere, they didn't tempt us with some take-out while we were at their house and they encouraged us to stick to it! I think it's important, when you attempt something like this to let your friends know so they don't lead you to your demise. We'd eat home and then meet them later for drinks or simply bring something we made at home as our contribution to the take-out food.
• Free food is good food. Let's face it now, this whole challenge had some health benefits but the main thing was financial. Free donuts at a little work party - BRING IT! We satisfied our cravings with food we got for free. We didn't crash any wedding buffets or anything but it made us enjoy the free-ness even more. Not only was it free but it was also a thousand times more delicious to us than it really was!
  

...but we managed to learn a couple lessons along the way :

1. Eating out costs a shwack load of money!!
   Well, I think we already knew that but we never really stopped to figure out exactly how much money it cost! ...and it's not always worth it. I haven't received any income or compensation (arg! but that's for another post) over the last month and a bit yet we were still able to save up as we normally do and haven't dug into our savings nearly as much as we anticipated. We're counting on some sick leave benefits to come in soon so it'll put our savings account right back on track for wedding expenses.
   
2. Eating at home is just as fun!
   We realized that eating out had become a hobby for us. Therefore, it's not a necessity - we have a ton more hobbies to choose from to occupy our Saturday nights. Yes, it might be a bit lame to play Scrabble but have you met us!? We thrive on lame. It's also inspired me to try new recipes and stock up on frozen-left-overs. So in the long run our efforts will keep saving us even more money - who doesn't like that?!
3. Doing something together!
   Yes, it was fun cooking together more and spending more time at home together. Most fun though was actually doing a challenge together. Working at something, putting our heads together to come up with solutions or ideas and accomplishing something together. Hurray!!
4. Good health starts at home.
   It's insane how large restaurant portions are and I don't think we notice exactly how that affects our food intake in a week. I feel super healthy and I have much better portion-control-skills now than I've ever had my entire life. Eating only at home helped me kick the habit of stuffing my face until I explode. We also normally buy the "light" version of things when available and not disgusting (aka PC Blue Menu Butter Chicken Sauce *vom*) so we cut back on lots of calories, sugar, fat and a ton of that kind of stuff.
   

All that being sad, today, June 1st - we are having Burger King for dinner. As a reward and because we've been talking about it for the entire month.

Moving forward, we've decided to limit our restaurant outings to twice a month. Once from the 1st to the 15th and then one more time from the 15th until the end of the month. We definitely will be doing the no-eating-out dealio again - it won't have as much of a huge impact but maybe we can cut back on coffee purchases or something like that again next time.

I definitely recommend giving this a try to anyone who's trying to save a bit of money, anyone who wants to get some good eating habits back on track or anyone who simply wonders if they could do it.