Almost to the end of 31 days and I wanted to do a recap of the past 28 days.

So let’s review:

Day 1:  Intro

Day 2:  No-Wheat.  So far so good.  I have lost 2 pounds and 2 inches from my tummy.  Overall I feel good and am not feeling deprived at all.  Mike mentioned yesterday that he hasn’t had to take any meds for a stuffy nose which he has constantly this time of year.  I have to say it hasn’t been difficult at all, but planning and being prepared has been critical to our success.  If you’re interested in checking out a no-wheat lifestyle, go to http://www.wheatbellyblog.com.  In fact, their post from Oct 28th is fascinating.

Day 3:  Household Chores.  I’ve been staying on top of the chores pretty well, but the real proof of this came yesterday, when it took me exactly 30 minutes to get the house straightened up for company.  In the past it would have taken me all day.  It felt really good to not have that nagging feeling of wondering when I last cleaned the toilets.

Day 4: The Backyard.  This hasn’t been progressing as well as we would like.  Mike took care of our back gutter (removed it) and painted the remaining wood.  It looks so much better now.  Part of the problem with this area is that we both need to do this and our weekends have been full with other commitments.  We need to sit down and block out a few Saturdays and say no to other stuff.

Day 5: Reducing Waste.  This has been great.  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: making my own dishwasher soap and keeping it in a mason jar as well as making yogurt and using mason jars to store it as well.  This has significantly reduced the number of plastic yogurt containers we use.

Day 6:  Daily Exercise.  I have been walking at least 5 days a week for 30 minutes and am really feeling the benefit of it.  I need to do my exercise in the mornings because if I wait until the afternoon it just doesn’t get done.  I’ve also been listening to an audio book while I walk to help pass the time.  I’m hoping as I lose weight and get more fit, I’ll begin to enjoy it a little more.

Day 7:  95% No Eating Out.  Been doing really well with this and even declined a couple of invites in favor of eating what we already prepared.  The difficult part about declining invites is that we love to spend time with folks, but don’t necessarily want to eat out.  I think I’m going to start suggesting that we have people over instead of going out.  Kill two birds with one stone.

Day 8:  Meal Planning.  This is definitely getting easy, almost habit now.  We’ve been planning a lot of the same meals, so I’m ready for a little change there, but there’s a great deal of comfort knowing that you’ve got what you need to prepare dinner.  Frees me up to spend time thinking about other things.

Day 9:  Using my Organizer.  This is working out great.  I’m currently working on a plan to enhance it by adding some pages to accommodate my ‘Next Step’ system.

Day 10:  Decluttering.  Moving along pretty nicely.  Are halfway through Mike’s study, completely decluttered all his clothes and am about 25% through my craft room.

Day 11: Walking my Dogs.  Luckily I have two persistent pooches for this one and rarely miss a day.

Day 12:  Organizing my yarn.  Have sorted out and identified all my sock yarn.

Day 13:  Unfinished Projects.  1.  Super hero capes – The sewing machine is out, the fabric is cut.  Just need to sew away.  2.  Alisa’s sweater.  Back still finished.  Started on left side, but haven’t made anymore progress.  Need to schedule time on my calendar for this one.

Day 14:  Project Life. I’ve decided to print my pictures at CVS every week.  We have one just down the road, within walking distance.  It’s cheaper than printing my own pictures, so as I go through the week, I’ll be able to use post-it notes as place holders for the pics, insert my journaling and then just put the pictures in when I pick them up from CVS.  I want to start sharing my album on this blog, but it may be a week behind.

Day 15:  Reading more.  I finished Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and am half way through the second book.  I finished ‘Heaven is for Real’ and started ‘The SuperStress Solution‘.

Day 17:  Lists.  Working on how to incorporate my ‘Next Step’ strategy into my organizer.  I consider this a ‘List Extraordinaire’.

Day 19:  Budgets.  Staying on track, but need to work hard at not just buying stuff on a whim.  This is going to be particularly interested as we are heading into the holiday season.

Day 20:  From Scratch.  Made my first batch of yogurt and granola (both recipes from the Frugal Girl).  Both, I have to say, I scorched a bit.  The second batch of granola was much better and less charcoal in color.  I didn’t throw out the yogurt because I discovered with enough maple syrup you can barely taste the soot :-).  Despite my mishap, I absolutely loved the process.  I can name the ingredients without needed an advanced degree in chemistry and I can use my mason jars over and over again to store my creations.  Now onto powdered laundry detergent.

Day 21:  Curing a Constipated Goldfish.  Well I haven’t started any online classes yet, but I did cure my fish, Faith, or rather she cured herself my doing a couple of very large fishy poops.  Go Faith!

Day 22:  Procrastination.  When I find myself procrastinating I try to figure out why.  Do I need sleep?  Am I avoiding?  Am I afraid to fail so I put off starting?  It’s been helpful going through this process.

Day 23:    Home for the Holidays.  I finalized my 2012 Christmas Movie List and located the Christmas lights.

Day 25:  Accountability.  It really, really helps having someone to share the ups and downs with.

Day 26:  The Next Step.  This has been revolutionary.  Just being able to see all my commitments at a glance and then not being overwhelmed by the enormity of it all, but only needing to focus on the next step has been a game changer for me.

Day 27:  Bloggity Blog.  I have to say I’ve had a few heart palpitations in the time since I shared about my plans for the blog.  Mostly because I know me and my propensity for not following through on my hair-brained ideas.  What has helped has been this review process and the reminders of taking it all in its stride.  I’m actually excited now.

Day 28:  Rest.  So important and a habit that I need to take seriously.

Thanks for sticking with me for the past 28 days.  Only 3 more to go and then the beginning of something totally new.  I’ll share my overall thoughts of this journey on day 31, so until then…

“What we’ve loved about the past 28 days is all our friends coming over to play.   We give you ‘two paws’ up for that.”