Nothing Crunchy or Crafty this week

I have anything particularly crafty or crunchy to talk about this week, but I'll do my best to write something interesting.

It's World Breastfeeding Week. Facebook is full of photos of moms feeding their babies and I think it's awesome. I was checking out the photos and Little A was next to me. She loves to look at photos of babies. Once she realized ALL the babies were eating, she made her sign for boobies, climbed up in my lap, and got in on the boobie action. I thought that was pretty awesome.

My cat, Jack, caught a chipmunk this week. Ugh! The office building next door is doing some renovations and they've added a fenced in play area. This disrupted the chipmunks and now they're all over the place digging new burrows. My cat has figured out how to jump down from our balcony and usually just hangs out or eats grass. I don't like him down there because the street is pretty close by and he's not an outside cat, but I didn't really worry that much about it. Then, a couple nights ago, he came into the house with a damn chipmunk in his mouth! The little thing was still alive and the cat dropped it right away once we started hollering. The chipmunk hid and we couldn't find it, despite moving the couch and chairs to look under them. I guess the poor thing ran into the kitchen at some point, because BF found it behind the fridge the next afternoon. BF caught the chipmunk with a towel and released it back outside, hopefully only slightly worse for wear.

On July 13^th, I made a commitment to myself to drop 15 pounds by the end of November. I knew just changing my eating habits wouldn't cut it. I have a Gazelle set up in our back bedroom and I can actually get to it now, after rearranging some stuff around in there. That room is sort of our catch all room. I was going to bike 1.6 miles every day (to the park by my house and back), but Big A's bike isn't a good fit and, even with the seat all the way up, I looked like the older brother from The Goonies. So, since I can actually GET TO my Gazelle, I decided to walk for 35 minutes at least four times a week instead of trying to ride a bike not made for someone over five feet tall. I downloaded a bunch of Sci-Fri podcasts to my phone. I get up early to walk. If I wait to walk until I'm more awake, I just won't do it. So, I'm up early with headphones and a podcast or three.

I've lost 5.8 pounds so far and I'm really proud of myself. I don't really like waking up early. Once school starts again for Big A, I'll be up even earlier. I just remind myself that I'm doing this for me so that I can be healthier. It was one of my goals for this year. It's taken me a while to get motivated, but I'm working on it now, and that's what matters. Not the six and a half months it took me to find the motivation... At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

I made a mini schedule for each day of the week. Really more of a task list. I have one item for each day that I work on and the item name starts with the day of the week it's listed under. For example, my Monday task is to Make Imperfect Progress. That's a reminder to me to work on something that I've been putting off such as my GIANT pile of paperwork that needs to be shredded, clearing off my dresser, filing paperwork that needs to be kept, dusting, washing the stove knobs because they're greasy, and just general upkeep.

I really like FlyLady but her schedule just doesn't work for me right now. I make my bed most days which isn't always an easy task with three people sleeping in it! I do wash a load of laundry almost every day, so laundry isn't piled up. I have my sink clear of dishes most nights. Big A picks out her clothes for the next day before she goes to bed. I have a large desk calendar pinned to the wall that I write appointments on so everyone knows what's going on. I also do some meal planning and all meals are written on the calendar so I know how old everything in the fridge is. I don't clean my toilet every day because I just don't want to. I don't wear shoes in my house, but they are right by the door if I need them. I don't put my clothes out before I got to bed anymore, but I also don't work outside of the home, so it's not a big deal if I wear the same denim skirt three or four days in a row.

It's been too hot to do much work on my crochet projects. That hasn't stopped me from making plans, though! I have several patterns I want to try out once school starts again and the nights get a lot cooler. I've been doing a lot of reading. A friend of mine suggested a book called NurtureShock. I LOVE this book!! It's made me rethink SO MANY THINGS about the way I parent. I now give Big A praise that's based on a specific action or idea. I tell her I really like the way she drew the person in her drawing instead of just a general statement that I really like her drawing. I thank her for helping pick up the balls in the living room that Little A threw all over the place instead of just saying thank you for helping. I was considering changing Big A's bedtime to a later time because she'll be in fourth grade this year. Then I read a chapter in the book that talks about how not getting enough sleep can be linked to obesity and depression. Kids Big A's age still need about ten to eleven hours of sleep each night and most get less than nine. She'll probably be the only fourth grader with a 7:30 PM bedtime, but she's also getting up at 5:30 in the morning so she has enough time to eat breakfast before she leaves for school. There's a really great chapter on why young kids lie. From what I read, a lot of it is based on keeping their parents happy. I learned a while back that if I give Big A the opportunity to lie, even if she knows I already know the truth, she will lie. I've been working on not asking questions in a way that give her the option of telling the truth or telling a lie. I don't ask if she did something. Instead I try to ask why she made that choice. It's rewarding to see that something I figured out is actually backed up by science and multiple studies.

I love this book so much that I think it's going to be my standard gift to anyone with kids or who will have kids. I want to go onto Amazon and buy every copy I can find so that I always have a copy on hand to give to someone. Even random people I meet at the grocery store!