At a little over the halfway point, I wanted to take some time to reflect on the past two weeks and do some followup.

So let’s review:

Day 1:  Intro

Day 2:  No-Wheat.  So far so good.  I have lost 1 pound and my pants feel looser.  Overall I feel good and am not feeling deprived at all.  Hopefully this will last.

Day 3:  Household Chores.  I have been working on keeping high traffic areas of our house under control clutter-wise.  Also each day, I’ve worked for 30 minutes in a particular section of the house.  (Monday-Kitchen, Tuesday-Bathrooms, etc.)  I’m always amazed at how just day-to-day living creates so much mess.  I was overwhelmed at first wanting to work for hours in each room, but I knew if I did that I would lose interest really fast, so I make myself work hard for 30 minutes and then I stop.  You can get a lot done in 30 minutes!

Day 4: The Backyard.  We started on our bricks, but haven’t made anymore progress because we had to work in the front yard.  The wildflower seeds arrived, but I haven’t done anything to prepare the soil.

Day 5: Reducing Waste.  On the food-waste front, we’ve been doing fabulously!  Menuing every week definitely helps to reduce food waste and anything that is perishable that doesn’t get eaten, gets cut up or pureed and frozen.  To the systems I already have in place, I’ve added: Keeping reusable shopping bags in my trunk for our weekly grocery trip and using hand knit dish cloths for all my cleaning.  I was particularly proud of myself this past week because I needed a large piece of paper to design a sewing pattern and used the kraft paper stuffing from a package delivery. 🙂

Day 6:  Daily Exercise.  I have been walking every day for 30 minutes, and want to eventually begin jogging.  My husband wants us to do the Honolulu Marathon in 2013 so I want to start now with training.  In 2004, we walked that marathon in 8 hours, 23 minutes, but this time we would like to beat our time and run most or some of it.  Having a goal really helps with daily exercise and having a plan for each day is even better.

Day 7:  95% No Eating Out.  We’ve eaten out about 3-4 times and those were because we were invited.  We nice thing is that a lot of restaurants have gluten-free options so we didn’t feel deprived.

Day 8:  Meal Planning.  This has been the key to eating healthy, not going out to eat and staying on budget.  My biggest struggle still seems to be deciding what to cook, but once I have that down, I’m fine.  We’re compiling a list of our favorites, but also trying new recipes.

Day 9:  Using my Organizer.  This is working out wonderfully.  I make sure it’s always with me and it’s the only place I write down appointments/notes/menus/anything.  I’ve significantly reduced my miscellaneous piles of notes.

Day 10:  Decluttering.  This is an area that is going to take a loooonnnnngggg time.  I was trying to decide between working on several areas in short spurts or to just tackle one area at a time and get it done.  I tried both for a couple of days and have decided the ‘tackle one area’ plan works best for me.  So I picked a room, our master bath, and started decluttering.  Now I’m moving onto the area closest to that… our clothes closet.  This system has two added benefits:  1.  There’s a feeling of being finished with something and 2.  I am energized and inspired to work on the next area.  Glad I figured this out early on in the game :-).

Day 11: Walking my Dogs.  Feeling really good about this and so are they.  They even got a double walk yesterday.  Enough said.

Day 12:  Organizing my yarn.  I haven’t made it to the yarn yet, but my patterns are nicely organized.  This area is really about organizing my knitting/crochet hobby.

Day 13:  Unfinished Projects.  1.  Super hero capes – The sewing machine is out.  The pattern is made for the capes.  Just need to cut the fabric and sew away.  2.  Alisa’s sweater.  Back is finished.  Started on left side.  Feeling good.

Day 14:  Project Life. I assembled a basket of items I use regularly with Project Life:  tape runner, scissors, corner rounder, pens, journal cards and placed on our baker’s rack where I will see it every day.  I also moved the album next to it and added a section in my organizer to remind me to record stories every day.  I’m currently working on a system for my pictures, trying to choose the most economical and efficient method for printing.

Day 15:  Reading more.  I have wanted to read the Harry Potter books for quite a while now. (I know I’m the last person on the planet to do so)  As an Amazon Prime member they’re available for ‘checkout’ (like a library).  I downloaded the first one last month and am almost done with it.  Additionally a friend loaned me the book ‘Heaven is for Real’ and I am about 75% done.

Things I’ve learned after 15 days.

• Slow and steady wins the race
• Many of the areas (diet/exercise) have positive effects in other areas (energy for organizing/stress relief)
• Discipline is a daily, if not hourly, exercise
• I love the accountability that I feel by sharing on this blog
• There is no shame in sharing your struggles
• I do go on about my doggies 🙂
• I used to be so focused on ‘finishing’.  Now I’m really jazzed by ‘progress’
• I am so thankful for my life and everyone in it

Onto the next 15 days… 

“Go on about us all you want.  We love it.”