The Horror of Shredding

I am terrible at taking care of mail that needs to be shredded. I have at least one full box and several stacks that need to be shredded. Today, because I'm ADD when it comes to organizing and have yet to finish one thing I've started thus far, I decided that it was time to tackle two small stacks (only a fraction of what I have) of mail instead of finishing my kitchen.

Weight Loss Wednesday: Zero Point Smoothie

I found this pin for a strawberry banana slushie sometime last month and I have been obsessed with it. For me it hasn't been as much of a slushie as a smoothie because I don't use the ice. I use a Magic Bullet for single serving drinks and I don't find that it does a good job with ice. It does need something frozen, though. So here is my modified version... though I don't really measure exactly.

A Banana, cut up
Frozen Strawberries, a handful
Diet Citrus Soda like Sprite or 7-UP, about half a can

Blend together until smooth.

I've tried both Sprite and 7-UP. Personally, I liked the 7-UP better because it had a more citrus-y flavor than Sprite.

Kitchen Clean Up Part 1

I decided it was finally time to tackle my kitchen. Like most of what I have, much of my stuff in the kitchen consisted of hand-me-downs from both my parents and my husband's parents. I bought a few things on my own and I've been getting more small appliances as I've started cooking more. So, it was time to clear out what I no longer needed. I'm only a fraction of the way through and I suspect it will take several more days until I get it done.

My Cluttered Kitchen

Fun Old Stuff in the Closet

I went through one of my many closets today. It's closet 7 out of 10, but the 3rd one where I have to get rid of most of the stuff and find a place to put it all until I can have a yard sale. This closet, though, had a bunch of stuff from the 70's, 80's and early 90's and I thought it was kind of fun things I haven't seen in at least 15 years.

 My cat's excited to get into the closet.

 Stuff

 Parts of an old stereo system

 More stuff

 70s art

 An electric typewriter. I know I used this in the early 90s.

 A Clue VHS game from 1985

 3 Space Bags full of pillows that my mom collected in the mid 90s

 Old cowboy hats

 Cassettes

 A Bath and Body Works sample set from the 90s

More 70's art

And, finally, the empty closet

Weight Loss Wednesday: Visualizing Weight Loss

Why Weight Loss Wednesday? Because I like alliteration...

I also go to my Weight Watchers meetings on Tuesday night, so Wednesday is perfect for me to talk about weight loss. It's already on my mind. Unfortunately, this Tuesday was New Year's Day and there was no meeting (I'll just go to the weigh in without the meeting on Friday) so I don't have an updated weight yet this week.

I do know what my goal is, though. I also know what I weighed last week. This was a perfect opportunity to set up my weight loss jars. I've heard of tons of ways over the years to visualize your weight loss- stringing up soda tabs or paperclips, lifting something the equivalent of pounds lost, etc. One that I like is putting marbles or stones into a jar and moving them to another as you lose weight. It's small, doesn't require me to lift things, and is super easy. I also happened to have an entire container full of those glass stones.

STEP ONE: Get your containers. You'll need two- one for pounds to lose and one for pounds lost. I used mason jars, but any jar that fits your stones will work.

STEP TWO: Label your jars. You can make cute labels if you want... I don't want to so I used tape and a sharpie.

STEP THREE: Count out your marbles or whatever you're using to equal the number of pounds you want to lose.

 

This is 75 glass stones

STEP FOUR: Add your marbles to your 'To Lose' jar. As you lose, transfer to your 'Lost' jar. If you gain, you have to move some back to your 'To Lose' jar.

Fixing My Life in 2013

2013 is going to be the year that I fix my life.

For a little over 5 years, my life has been full of clutter, up and down dieting, hand-me-down furniture, and unnecessary spending on things I don't need.

At the same time I got married, my parents moved almost an hour away. It seemed like a really great idea at the time to rent their house- the house I grew up in since I was 12- instead of finding another house. Their new house is a good bit smaller and, again, at the time it seemed like a good way to furnish my house when they had to leave a lot of furniture. And maybe all that was a good idea immediately after I got married, but over 5 years later I'm still living with the hand-me-down furniture.

There was also the problem of the clutter. Because they didn't have to, my parents didn't move a lot of their stuff that just didn't have a place in their new house. Also, when my sister went to college she left everything here. It made sense then, but she never came back to get any of it and it's still here over 10 years later. On top of that, my husband moved his stuff in and I still had everything from when I was a kid. There are 10 closets in this house. That is way too much stuff.

Part of my problem is that I like to collect stuff. I spent years collecting Living Dead Dolls and other horror dolls. I collected anime stuff. I collected video games and old consoles. I'm not into any of that anymore. More recently, I began to collect makeup. I have a huge shopping problem that needs to stop. Now, though, my desire to get rid of the clutter is overpowering my love of stuff and I'd really like a more minimalistic life. I definitely see yard sales and eBay in my future.

I also want to be more healthy. I've been half-assing Weight Watchers over the last year. I've only really been sticking to it for the last 2 months. I still ate out a lot last year- probably at least 2 times a week and sometimes more- which isn't good for my Points Plus total or my wallet. I've started cooking recently but my kitchen is so unorganized that it's not an enjoyable experience.

So, I have a lot I need to work on.