Week #5: My Goals for the First 10 Weeks of 2010

Week #5 for My Goals for the First 10 Weeks of 2010

Wow! I realize we are half way through the timespan on Steve's Perfect 10 Challenge, which is a 10 week challenge to make progress on 10 goals. The guidelines include updating every Friday on how you're doing. I'm late this week. . . but here are my goals and my status.

1. Plan out my weekly menu in advance and preferably use it to grocery shop (weekly menu comes from new Eating Well Diet cookbook or site, SparkPeople, Weight Watchers, or other healthy meals); meals should equal ~1500 calories a day
• How I did: I failed to plan this week in advance. Didn't shop until Tuesday and was left floundering. It led to my epiphany about how necessary meal plans are to me.
2. 
   Use one weekend day (or an weekday evening night) to cook ahead--soups for lunches, veggies for the week, and perhaps 1 dinner entree.
• How I did: Early in the week I did make a cabbage roll casserole (no rolls just the ingredient). It was good and provided dinner one night and 2 lunches. 
3.  Plan 2 nights a week where dinner is easy--like hummus & veggies, a vegggie burger or other quick sandwich
• How I did: As mentioned the planning was close to the event. We did have baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and a slice of Swiss cheese torn to melt on it. Tasty! Our stand by fast meal has been whole wheat pasta with jarred sauce--some mushrooms thrown in. Another night we boiled some froze perogies and ate them with sauteed mushrooms, onions, & spinach.
4. Pack my lunches most days and eat the lunch I packed.
• How I did: I'm proud to say I made this work despite my lack of initial planning. One day I even ate my back up emergency can of soup on my desk..
5. Get up 4-6 days a week with Hubby to swim at the gym, and keep increasing the intensity each week. [Modified week 2 to be get up to do cardio--but not necessarily swim]
• How I did: We swam on Tuesday AM after doing an elliptcal workout (Treadmill for Hubby). It felt divine. That was the only day we swam. (Plan to get to the pool tomorrow). But we were at the gym every morning except Weds.
6. Learn the breast stroke.
• How I did: Practiced on this this week--on Sat. & Tues.
7. Work out with Hubby & trainer two times a week
• How I did: Our second week with 3 sessions. Worked out with Trainer Ray on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. (The woman who trained with us last week and who was supposed to keep joining us was MIA all this week.)
8. Ride the recumbant bike at least 2x a week and increase time at least every two weeks
• How I did: No bike this week since the elliptical burns more calories.
9. Start going to church with Hubby and actively look for friends
• How I did: Didn't go to church last Sunday but looked at start times and made a plan to go tomorrw.
10. Make a point to be aware of and challenge negative thinking
• How I did: Not a good week for me. Had a rough hormonal time that didn't ease up until about Thursday. Still, made the decision to only weigh every other week (which was in response to very negative thinking about the scale) and redirected my focus about meal planning. So I think this is good.

Another Thrilling Secret About Me

Until I stayed at a friend's house in Cape Cod, my only experience with outdoor showers was with showers on the beach in Pensacola. Those showers were thin poles erected in about a 5 x 5 block of concrete, covered with a layer of wet sand. Their purpose was to attempt to wash the sand off you before going to your car. That was practically impossible, given that you had to walk through sand (or sand covered sidewalks) directly after showering. And I remember my mom wanting me and my sister to go ahead and strip to get the sand off us and step into clean shorts--long after I had the innocent obliviousness about being naked in public. Given that experience, I didn't understand all the hoo ha of the New Englanders/Cape Cod lovers who went on and on about outdoor showers on the Cape. Until I took one.

Those Cape showers weren't on the beach. At our friend's, it was a shower in the backyard of a plain little 3 bedroom house ~2 blocks from the beach. It looked simple enough--a shower head coming out of the back of the house. A small concrete pad with a drain. But it was private. The concrete surrounded by wooden walls. A handy soap dish hanging on the inside. You stepped out of the sliding glass doors, walked on some concrete stepping stones to the shower--in your robe.

And then you took your shower--all naked, but sheltered, looking up at the blue sky above and the leaves. And even threads of a spider web in the corner above. The breeze rustled against your skin. It was amazingly refreshing. Once was all I needed to long for an outdoor shower of my own. GA would be the perfect place for one since it's warm so much of the year. Imagine showering outdoors on an August night under the stars, hearing the crickets. Heavenly.

There's a great Bailey White story about her Mama taking a bath on the front porch and trying to stay immobilized so she wouldn't be noticed when hundreds of bikers come out of the woods on a country tour. We don't live in deep enough conntry to have a tub on the porch! (Our Homeowner's Assn would likely freak out!) But the idea always appealed to me. Bathing on the porch with hanging pots nearby and the sound of wind chimes along with birds singing. Doesn't it seem romantic?