Week #9 of Perfect 10- Challenge

Week #9  for My Goals for the First 10 Weeks of 2010

It's the end of week 9 of Steve's Perfect 10 Challenge, which is a 10 week challenge to make progress on 10 goals.
The Perfect 10 guidelines include updating every Friday on how you're doing.

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: Very well! .planned the menu and studk to it every night for dinner (except for the night the fish smelled too fishy. . . ) I didn't plan snacks though, and it really showed in my snack choices. . .
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: Redeemed from last week! I cooked a tuna casserole recipe use Shiritake noodles (my first take with them.) and I made some Asian Chicken Soup.
3. Plan 2 nights a week where dinner is easy--like hummus & veggies, a vegggie burger or other quick sandwich
• How I did: SUCCESS! One night we ate the above mentioned soup with some frozen chicken poststickers. Another night we ate whole sheat fettacine with jarred spagahettii sauce, with some mushrooms added.
4. Pack my lunches most days and eat the lunch I packed.
• How I did: I stayed at home todays and those days sometimes eat up more loose instead of controllled. . . go figure. Then on my first day back, I let an employee talk me into eating out. . . chose a salad,, but we share d a bit of calamari first. I did well with eathing what I packed the other 2 days. . . but missed planning & eating my snacks. Succumbed to the mini Baby Ruths in the candy dishes (some jerk placed a new bowl near the printer!)
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: BEAUTIFULLY! We swam on Sat. I swam by myself on Sun. We swam on Weds. AM after our training session. And I had my 2nd swimming lesson on Friday night.
6. Learn the breast stroke.
• How I did: Well . . . .I didn't practic this because I'm working on my freestyle with a swim coach.
7. Work out with Hubby & trainer two times a week
• How I did: BETTER THAN GOAL! For our 5th week, we did 3 sessions with Trainer Ray: Monday, Thursday, Friday.
8. Ride the recumbant bike at least 2x a week and increase time at least every two weeks
• How I did: As I've mentioned before, I've adapted this goal for just regular cardio training.
  I did ride the rumbant bike for 20-25 minutes on Monday--mostly out of wanting to avoid the treadmill.
9. Start going to church with Hubby and actively look for friends
• How I did: AHA! FINALLY! With only one more week to go in the challenge I accompanied Hubby to church! Several people introduced themselves, we went to an after-service meeting for folks new to the church, and we stayed for Humanist group meeting.
10. Make a point to be aware of and challenge negative thinking
• How I did: I gave myeslf some time off this week to recoop, regroup, and revitalize. I stayed home from work and shopped and got caught up on laundry and cook and thought about compromising on vacations and continuining being active. It was very helpful, PhD approved (after the fact), and really helped me feel upbeat and energized nd reinvigorated. Maybe this is what they mean  by self care.
  

Another Thrilling Secret About Me
I am rather uninformed about current events. Compared to my core, original family (Mom, Dad, sister), I'm probably the best informed. . .but that isn't a bragworthy claim to fame. I didn't grow up watching the news or reading the paper, and I'm still not big on it now. I watch the Today show as I get ready for work, but that clearly fails big time in terms of  leraning about things like who's running for office or what's happening in Mexico. Sometimes the things Hubby says amaze me, and I'll say in bewillderment, "How do you know these things?!" And he says back flatly: "I read the paper."

But then we moved to Atlana. The AJC sucks. (Sorry) I read Dear Abby and my horoscope. . . and you know sometiems one of them actually does allow me to contribute to a conversation in an entertaining or thought-provoking way!

I do like NPR alot. But I leave too late to hear the news in the AM and I really hate hearing about the individual battles in Iraq or Afganistan. It makes me feel hopeless. But I do liike hearing about and would like to be more informed about the real issues and steps being taken in health care and education. It's amazing to me how many people can burst out with such opinions or ideas with really no true knowledge or facts at all. . . and these are the people who seem to always make it to the polls, no?