End of the Month Review and Preview: February

With the end of February upon us, I look back on what I’ve accomplished so far, and what next month is ushering in. 

January’s habit boot camp of eating healthier was hard right before Lent, and during the 1st and 2nd Sundays of Lent, but overall I continued, and I’ve renewed my commitment and started the Blood Sugar Regulation diet over today. No excuses, no cheat days, nothing for the next 30 days, because on Day 31, I have my next blood sugar and cholesterol  labs and I want to get off of 2 medicines.

February’s boot camps went well. I didn’t make my bed every day, but I’ve done it at least 75-80% of the month, and decided that if I can take a break on Saturdays and Sundays (the days that I sleep in and Hubby likes to take naps), I get it done without complaint during the week. I’ve also developed a few shortcuts to make it easier to make it in the mornings: our “fancy” pillows get stacked in the closet, the ginormous pillows that we can’t sleep on get stacked in an out of the way place, and after my morning prayers, I throw my own 3 pillows to the foot of the bed before I leave the room (Hubby sleeps a little later than I do right now or I would add in making the bed earlier than 8:15 am). 

As far as Morning Prayers, I have said those every day, except for maybe 3-4 days near the beginning, and I not only feel closer to God, but I’ve kept up my Lenten resolutions far better than I ever have before and I feel spiritually stronger and more able to keep up with my duty of state. I’ve also avoided my habitual sins more. All in all, I’m starting to feel more and more Catholic, and less like someone just acting the part in name only. Hopefully by the end of May, I will be more likely to take advantage of the many Church activities that are offered in Kansas when I go down for my brother’s graduation.

What’s coming up next in the month of March? Except for January, the rest of the year has 2 new habits every month, one for my physical nature and one for my spiritual nature. For the spiritual side of things, I’m going to add in a daily Rosary at the beginning of “Quiet Time” upstairs. This way, Eleanor can join me for at least one decade in the beginning and I’ll grow closer to Our Mother, Mary. Christ traditionally gave His mother to us on Good Friday, and by the close of the month I want to be able to renew my previous fervor towards her. She has definitely blessed my family in the past, and I want to keep that legacy going.

For the physical (for lack of a better word… maybe profane is the one I’m looking for?) resolution, I’m going to install an “Electronics Curfew” in my own life. With the exception of a once a week TV show I may or may not watch (depending on when reruns play), I’m going to turn off the TV, get off my phone, stop listening to podcasts, and get ready for bed 1 hour before I want to be asleep. I like to listen to podcasts in the shower, but I think I’d rather take that away as an experiment this month and see in April if listening to podcasts in the shower only prevents me from falling asleep quickly. Some exceptions to my curfew: I’m going to heighten the “warm” setting on my phone and download new podcasts overnight so that they are ready for the next day (an easier way to keep my eyes off the phone during the day), so that 5 minutes will be less harmful to my sleep. I’m going to listen to some classical music during my showers, nothing with words. If Hubby’s up and watching TV late (it comes and goes), I’m going to head upstairs early and listen to classical music on my headphones, to keep out the noise and not worry about getting curious on what he’s watching. I’m looking forward to seeing what this habit brings to my sleep patterns and how it makes me more healthy.

Has anyone else started something like my boot camp project, even to try it out for one month? It would be interesting to hear if I’ve inspired anyone else to focus totally on something they’ve always wanted to do, learn, or even a habit they’ve wanted to break. This won’t work for everyone, and may not be a long-term solution to repeat every single year, but I’m committed to experimenting with these new habits for 12 months, and I’ve only got 10 months and 20 new habits to go! It may seem like a lot of time and habits, but taking it little by little has gone well so far, and after all, the other months are much longer than February was. Stay optimistic!

Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Inevitably, at some point in Lent every Catholic goes, “Have I eaten breakfast today?” This confusion is well-deserved, maybe especially for the very busy or very forgetful. Without being able to gauge more accurately by means of how hungry one currently is, because hunger is the inevitable companion to those who fast every day during Lent, we are dependent totally on memory.  It happened to me today as I was food shopping. I had in fact eaten, an unmemorable but healthy breakfast of egg bake (zucchini and green onions), and I was worried that if I hadn’t, my medicine may cause my blood sugars to go down while not at home, but if I had, I didn’t want to break my fast or have my lunch 3 hours early. As I summarized to my family, #CatholicProblems (I’m not above the occasional well-placed hashtag in a group text). 

Yesterday’s practice from 40 Steps to Easter was to not complain about any hardships we had to face. Today’s was to say something to be admired in the 2 people we most dislike. Obviously, the Church recognizes that the second week of Lent is perhaps the hardest. The first week is always easy, as any beginning is. the third week, penance comes almost second nature, which is why I add on some more at Passiontide (weeks 5 and 6). Week 2 is almost always when I fall, and as experience has proven to me, it’s very likely that a number of others fall just like me. Let us walk up this mountain with our arms about each other, taking turns to be strong when the other is weak, and encouraging each other to go always higher.

Mondays : a Reflection

Recently, Mondays seem to be my most productive days. I have traditionally been tolerant of Mondays, neither hating them as the start of a new week, nor loving them (also as the start of a new week). Mondays are when every diet starts, every new resolution is steadfast (This week I’m going to finally fold all my laundry!), every hope for the upcoming week flourishes. Perhaps because I’m a Questioner (according to Gretchen Rubin’s tendencies framework), I don’t see a special significance to Mondays. It’s just as easy for me to start anything on a Wednesday, or a Saturday, even though Mondays seem vaguely auspicious.

Mondays are probably my most productive days for the simple reason that I have the most to do on them. I have been taking as full a rest as possible on Sundays, neither making my bed or doing dishes, and I’m working towards not having to cook at all, simply warming up something pre-made. On Monday, weekend dishes must be done (even with Saturday dinner dishes, usually only takes me 30 minutes, 45 tops), trash must be gathered for Tuesday’s disposal, laundry must be done, and of course the bed must once again be made. Today, everything that had to get done was done so quickly in fact, that I sat and organized all of Peanut’s toys (now just to cull the herd). Because of my resolution to take care of everything slowly and methodically (in order to avoid my otherwise inevitable burnout), I was able to sit and relax, enjoying a new mystery novel and thinking about what comes next, both today and tomorrow, and then the rest of the week. As far as tonight, I’m going to enjoy one of my favorite shows (Counting On, if you must know), while probably cleaning off the couch, folding blankets, and enjoying the smell of the golden apple wax warmer filling my apple-colored living room.

Second Sunday of Lent

Today we had the Gospel of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, a history that takes place shortly before Christ’s Passion. It really makes one reflect on how easily we are led to deny Christ in our lives. St. Peter, who had been destined as the Head of the Church on earth, who was one of only 3 apostles who saw the physical manifestation of Christ’s divinity, who, according to St. Luke, heard the prophets Moses and Elias discussing Christ’s upcoming sacrifice and St. Peter’s own part in it. If St. Peter, having been blessed and forewarned by all of these events and so many more, could betray Our Lord through his denial 3 times, how much more likely am I to deny Christ every time I choose to be impatient, every time I walk past a basket of clothes to be folded or a sink of dishes to be washed? Every time I choose to do the bare minimum, instead of going higher, I too am abandoning Christ, and He forgives me time and again.

St. Paul’s Epistle today reminds me of my favorite line: “For this is the will of God: your sanctification.” God wants our sanctification, and we need never be afraid that He will withdraw His support, even if we have abandoned Him. This reminder of God’s love brought me to my Godmother’s love, unfailing even when I have seemingly abandoned her to only hear from me once a year. This year, I’m going to make up for it, and I’ve already scheduled letter writing to her for the next month. A little at a time, slowly but surely building up good habits, like I’ve been doing for the past 7 weeks. She will have a great Easter gift waiting for her when the time comes. May we all spend this next 5 weeks reconnecting with someone we lost touch with, because true loved ones don’t count the days, months, or years in between contact, but rather the sincerity of what we communicate.

Progress on Moving into the House

I’ve been told it’s going to take me years to finish moving in to my home… and people clarified, years to empty all the boxes, to have a place for everything, and everything in its place. I’m a stubborn Irish/Scottish girl, always out to prove that every one else is wrong. So I’m not taking years. And I’m right on track to have every box empty and the house decluttered by Thanksgiving this year.

Today I moved every box, bag, and pile of junk off of my kitchen floor and found a space for all of it. Walking into my beautiful kitchen gave me so many ideas about what we could do with it, how much space there really is to add more storage, and what I could do with different spaces. It also gives me more creativity. It felt so good to be able to just make lunch without having to check to see if I had the right pan and other cooking tools. 

The kitchen isn’t totally done. We have been waiting 7 months for a cabinet to be built, and have things on top of our refrigerator that can’t be put away until that cabinet is built. I’d like to get a shelving unit in eventually to make the cabinets a little less cramped. But decorations are almost all hung, everything is off the floor, and everything has a place.

Next week, I’m working on the living room. It’s actually shaping up pretty well now that I’ve gotten the majority of the boxes unpacked. Although the Christmas stuff is boxed up, I still have to move it back into storage until this December. That’ll get about 3-4 storage boxes out of the living room and dining room in one fell swoop. I’ve been going through stuff I want to donate or sell in a yard sale, and I have to get that out of the house, no matter where it’s going. We have to get rid of one of our sectional pieces, move a table, and find a longer-term-but-still-temporary space for a rocking chair, at least until the 3rd bedroom is finished.

As much as I love to plan in advance, I’m playing around with a few ideas of what areas to focus on next. It really depends on when our landlord gets our bedroom floor finished (should’ve been last weekend, actually, so the clock is ticking). It seems weird that one room will help, but having a functional closet, dresser, and the biggest room I’ve ever slept in will allow us to spread out and use all the space we do have in the most efficient way possible.

Complete a Sewing Project Every Month

I finally used for the first time the vintage sewing machine Hubby bought for me. It is so old, a lot of the settings are different than anything I’ve ever used before, it only has (as far as I can tell), 3 stitches, and it has a “darn” setting… and no, I don’t mean the nicer word for “damn”. Good, old-fashioned darning. Definitely going to figure out what that means.

I pulled it out to sew on my daughter’s Princess Elena costume. The costume was a birthday gift, but sadly the hem had started to fray almost instantly. I packed it away until later, because she was still too short for it. Between August and October, Peanut grew what feels like 5 feet, outgrowing all her new clothes. Thank heavens for Grandmother and thrift stores and taking advantage of yard sales to buy next year’s clothes a year early.

Peanut has “dress like a princess” day tomorrow, and wanted to be Princess Elena. After all, she is one of her 3 favorite princesses (Moana and Cinderella are the other 2), and the only costume she has. So I opened up my sewing table, figured out how to rethread it and make it do what I wanted, and went to town. Sewing the hem up felt so good, I went ahead and made Peanut a pillowcase that I had been promising to do since her party in June. Grandmother wrapped her gifts in a Princess Elena fabric instead of disposable wrapping paper (a tradition I hope she keeps doing!), and it was just enough for a simple small pillowcase, bigger than travel size but shorter than a regular pillow. Peanut has a travel sized pillow in it for now (she can’t fit too much on her huge bed, because she has about 50 animals that each need pillows, blankets, and goodnight kisses. Even 2 have to sleep on the floor next to the bed on a rug), but I’m planning on getting some matching material to extend it when it becomes necessary.

My next project, something I’ve wanted to do for more than a year now, is to sew up some sheets and curtains for her room. Grandmother is making her a quilt in beautiful pastel pinks, that will fit exactly the top of her oddly-shaped mattress. I have had the fabric forever, and now I have the machine to do it. I also have to find time to make an Easter dress (thankfully already cut out), and a St. Patrick’s Day outfit (at the very least a skirt). With only weeks for the clothes and a few months for the room decor, I think I’ll have plenty of time.

When Motivation Abandons You

It is 9:24 p.m. CT as I’m typing this out on my computer. No matter that I want to write everyday in order to regain my habit and as a way to keep myself accountable to my habits, resolutions, and values, today I’m just not feeling it. Over the past week that I’ve been writing this blog, I have had no shortage of writing material or inspiration. In fact, I’ve written some posts early and kept writing every day. Yesterday’s post was finished within half an hour. Today, I have spent 2 1/2 hours so far trying to write something, anything, that can mark progress and be inspiring. Something more than “I have writer’s block and my habits failed today.”

Even though I did fast today, I didn’t follow through on healthy eating habits and had instant flavored oatmeal, a cheese quesadilla, and some other random unhealthy for me foods. Then for dinner, I forgot that on Wednesdays I abstain from meat, and had a more healthy meal of chicken thighs and mixed salad (although with some ranch dressing on top of that). I binge-ate late last night on my way home from a health conference I had forgotten I signed up for, and while that conference was amazing and worthwhile, I was ill-prepared to find healthy fast food and fed into my burger cravings. Tomorrow, I’m going to dust myself off and start over, learning from this lesson instead of giving in to the feelings of failure.

Although I did make my bed and say morning prayers, I didn’t accomplish my house goals for today with the deadline of Friday to get the house in some kind of order. I spent way too much time sleeping and trying to come up with a blog topic, instead of folding the literal mountains of clean laundry sitting in the living room and dryer, or working on emptying out more boxes (although I did do a few boxes). Instead of giving up and just allowing my house to stay in disarray for our visitors on Friday, I’m going to re-prioritize, act motivated even if I’m not feeling it, and enlist some help from my husband and daughter tomorrow when they’re both around.

I still have to make preparations for food shopping tomorrow, I have to do some minimal cleaning of the kitchen, and I have to get some kind of sleep. So I’m going to wrap this up, and come back tomorrow with fresh ideas, better writing, and a healthier outlook on life.

February 20, 18 for 2018: Home

18 for 2018: Home

1. Learn how to can
2. Learn how to make jams and jellies
3. Host a dinner party
4. Perfect my kombucha process
5. Have a movie series watch party
6. Hang up all our pictures and decorations

I absolutely love being a homemaker. I love looking around with everything in its place, finding a rhythm I can fall back on when I’m exhausted, or sick, or depressed. I’m just starting to find my own in this area, though, and this year, the Year of Renewal, is the perfect time to accomplish all that I want to in this area of my life. These goals in particular aren’t just a list that I want to check off: they are goals that give me a reason to do the every day little tasks that have to be done before I can get started on any of them.

We have planted gardens over the past 2 years, and our zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and other vegetables have all flourished each summer. We have to give so much away, though, because we can’t possibly eat everything and I haven’t learned how to preserve what we have. My goal this year is to can the fresh vegetables, make them shelf-stable so we don’t have to crowd our freezer, and enjoy home grown vegetables all year round, not just in the summer and fall. Along with this goal is to learn how to make homemade jams and jellies: my aunt made the best every summer and we would eat them year round. At the very least, they would make delightful and easy Christmas gifts.

I love cooking for others, and find a special joy in creating and serving delicious food to people who aren’t my husband or daughter (although I love cooking for them too). My ambition is to host our extended families for Thanksgiving as many years as possible, and I actually know I could do it. Now that we have the space and the kitchen for company visits, I’m determined to have a dinner party or 3 before the end of the year, inviting other couples to sit and enjoy a well made dinner and dessert. Along these lines is the movie series watch party. I’m tempted to do the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I’m still looking for ideas (my personal deadline for this is before the new school year starts in August). My husband would of course vote for the Fast and Furious franchise, and there are a few other series that more people might enjoy (Ocean’s trilogy, Bourne series, even something lighthearted like Legally Blonde). Having a buffet style meal that people could contribute to would be a lot of fun.

I’ve been planning on making kombucha since my 28th birthday, and almost a year has gone by. I actually make a batch this year, and in the process of making my second batch, was hit with mold. Luckily, I got a second SCOBY from my dad, who didn’t have the time right now to make bottle any kombucha for drinking (it turned to vinegar and while still alive, didn’t taste too good. I know, I tried it yesterday). So I used one of his own for a new batch. My first and only successful batch so far turned out to be too sweet and not at all bubbly, so my technique has much to improve upon. I also want to experiment with different flavors until I find one I can fall back on. For example, the Mango Goji Berry one I made was delicious, but the mango slices were difficult to get out of the bottle. Have to find a way to fix that. I have 45 weeks, so about 45 batches, to try and experiment with times, flavors, and strengths to find the perfect mix.

Finally, hanging up all our pictures and decorations. We moved at the beginning of December into an old (1870’s-1880’s) house from a relatively small 2 bedroom apartment. Our living room, dining room, and kitchen are 3 times (quite literally) the size of the same rooms in the apartment, we have 3 bedrooms instead of 2, a basement, 2 bathrooms, and our own laundry area (instead of using the shared laundromat in the building). We literally had to start from scratch as far as painting and decorating go, because of a problem with the previous renters, everything had to be painted or at least primed. It’s a story for a different post. Ultimately what I’m getting at, is that we now have pictures and other hanging objects, a bunch of blank walls, and a need to combine the two. My personal goal is by Thanksgiving (the first one of many I hope to host!), but my husband says it can be done well before then.

18 for 2018, Part 2

18 for 2018: Hobbies

1. Complete one sewing project a month
2. Take a picture every day
3. Complete my children’s book
4. Finish Eleanor’s 1^st Year scrapbook
5. Read books every day
6. Finish my granny square dishcloths

Continuing Saturday’s post on my 18 for 2018 goal list, today focuses on the 6 hobby-oriented goals I want to accomplish this year. I think I’m multi-passionate, which is the new-fangled way of saying that I have meaningful interests in more than one thing. At least, the TED talk about it made sense to me. However, I never really focus in on anything, and I don’t want to be a “Jack of all trades, but master of none”. This year, I’m focusing on 6 things that bring me joy, but the goals I’ve set are to actually finish projects I’ve started.

I have “shopped” in my mom’s craft room for fabric for several years now, and while I have sewn some things that I’m proud of (I made a really cute skirt for my baby 11/2 years ago, and she can still wear it through many washes), I’ve really slacked off and could use some motivation to add beauty to my home.

Taking pictures is something that I love and brings me joy. A talent not cultivated is lost, and even though I haven’t taken a photography class in 4 years, I can keep up with my phone camera until I get a new camera.

I’ve been writing a children’s tourist-y book for several years (since 2011?), and even though my ideas have changed a few times (drastically last year), I still haven’t found an illustrator or written a final draft. This will happen this year, I am determined. Publishing isn’t a requirement, but having illustrations and words to go with them are.

I have bought paper, a scrapbook, everything necessary except for printing pictures to finish this scrapbook. I have procrastinated about printing those pictures for long enough. It shouldn’t be hard to finish 18 pages over the next year. If I can keep on going, I can work on ages 1, 2, and even 3 before her 5th birthday. I definitely have all or most of the materials I need.

While I do read every day, couldn’t live without it, I’ve found that I haven’t actually deepened my daughter’s natural love of books and reading quietly as much as I could have. My habit of reading mostly on my phone that she associates with playing games or talking to someone probably has the biggest impact on this. I definitely have plenty of physical books that I’ve never read, and this habit gets me checking those off my to read list, showing a good example, and keeping my screen time low. In March when I start imposing an electronic curfew an hour (or more!) before I want to get to bed, I’ll have this habit to fall back on.

Finally, my granny square dishcloths. I was given dishcloth yarn 2 years ago, because I wanted to crochet dishcloths for my kitchen. Luckily, my ideal kitchen colors and theme hasn’t changed since then. I also bought a book of 20 different granny square patterns. The granny square is something that I had wanted to learn for a while (I love the way blankets look when they’re made with them), and decided to combine the 2 things and make washcloths with these patterns. Having 20 washcloths isn’t necessary though, so I’m going to combine some into towels and drying mats that can also be used.

First Sunday in Lent

I have been attempting to live liturgically for almost 5 years, and while I manage to celebrate a few feast days here and there, it’s never been even close to perfect. The first Sunday in Lent seems to be a good starting point for trying again, now that I don’t have the pressure to worry about it. It’s not one of my bootcamp habits until December (which is vaguely named “Traditions”), and it’s not on my 18 for 2018. I’d like to resurrect my Making Catholic Traditions Modern blog, but as long as I write daily on this one, I’m not feeling any pressure. So why am I writing about Lent? At least for Sundays, until I get into the habit of writing more and start updating the other blog, I’m going to dedicate my Sunday post to a written meditation on the lessons of the day, from the Sunday readings, the sermon, and my spiritual reading from the book The Year Made Holy.

There were 2 different thoughts from today’s sermon and from the spiritual reading. Most people would focus on the temptation of Christ, but today’s sermon taught the value of humility, referencing St. Benedict’s Rule. Humility reminded me of the not-yet canonized saint, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, whose example gave me my first true idea of humility: knowing exactly the measure of oneself, neither underestimating nor overestimating oneself and one’s capacity for saintliness. Something worthy of contemplating over the next 6 weeks.

The second thought was from my spiritual reading, about confidence in God’s grace. Not a confidence that leads to recklessness, but a confident prayer for help, knowing that with work on our part and supplication for help, God will lead us to attain our goals of developing virtue and gaining Heaven. God will not allow our fasting, almsgiving, or prayers to go unfruitful, but as we celebrate His Son’s Resurrection, we will also celebrate new virtues and  getting closer on our path to Heaven. May we all experience a fruitful Lent, praying with confidence to God, without Whose help we are all lost.

18 for 2018: Saturday, February 17, 2018

18 for 2018: Health

1. Work up to walking 10,000 steps daily
2. Walk 20,000 steps in one day
3. Learn how to eat Paleo
4. Get my fasting sugars below 110
5. Eat breakfast every morning
6. Complete the C25K program

Day 2 of the Paleo program went well, with one exception. I didn't’ eat the planned lunch, because my dad offered to come over and bring lunch with him. He makes the best brisket ever, and also brought a cheddar broccoli soup. In the Lenten spirit (and considering that my lunch is very small), I decided to enjoy a little of this delicious meal. The only thing that wasn’t strictly Paleo was the cheese in the soup, and I’ve already learned that cheese doesn’t do much to my blood sugars or cravings, as long as I have another protein source at the meal. As far as boot camps, made my bed again and said morning prayers amid distractions. On a roll!

Above you’ll find a partial list for my 18 for 2018: 18 goals that I want to accomplish this year. I’m debating on doing this every year for my birthday, but no time like January 1st and a Monday to start! I’ve been able to split my list up into 3 categories: Health, Home, and Habits. I’ve been getting about 6,000 steps a day in (up significantly from less than 4,000 usually), sometimes more, even hitting 13,000 a few times. I’m aiming for 10,000 every day by the end of March, but maybe April if health gets in the way. I’ve found new ways to move daily: walking farther in parking lots, heading upstairs several times a day, going down to the basement to refill our wood fire a few times a week (Matt takes care of it normally, and lets me know if I should top it off since I go to bed later than he does). I’ve found that doing chores ups my step count without noticing. Even if I’m watching TV, walking for 5 minutes at every commercial gets me a few thousand steps (about 100 steps a minute, give or take). Definitely aiming at the 20,000 for this summer, when I can get outside and exercise with Eleanor.

Learning how to eat Paleo is a longer-term goal that I’m planning on knowing by the end of June. By then, paleo should be my new normal and routine, so that’s how I’ll measure that success. I’m also experimenting with what/when/how I eat to get my morning fasting sugars consistently below 110. I can get them lower during the day, but not sure what it is at night. Breakfast every morning also goes under this category: it keeps my hormones (especially the hungry feeling and sleepy ones) under control and working well for me: no more midnight munchies!

I’ve been trying to complete a Couch to 5K program for many years, and have never successfully pulled it off. My hopes are that by losing weight, walking regularly, and gaining more energy, I can finally complete the program that I love, and feel that sense of accomplishment. Maybe even run an actual 5K later this year. The program is 8 weeks long, 3 days a week, so not super time consuming. I’m also going to work on that goal this summer.

Any goals I should try to accomplish after I turn 29? Start thinking as I share my other categories on Monday and Tuesday.

February 16, 2018: Mid-month Check In

Today I started the Blood Sugar Regulation Paleo menu, and it went pretty well! I’m looking forward to the next month’s worth of new recipes. Since I’m fasting for Lent, fighting hunger has been my main challenge. Breakfast was zucchini carrot crustless quiche, lunch was green salad with salmon (canned but still great), and dinner was citrus macadamia fish with broccoli. Delicious. Eleanor is having some problems with no sweets or treats, but that’s to be expected. Next week, we’re going to start cleaning out her room and looking for toys to donate. She still gets pretty attached to them, but I think she’ll be able to start understanding the idea of sacrifice.

Tomorrow, we’ll be excited to get to the library for story hour. I’m in the middle of trying to get a library card, so hopefully that’ll come in soon and I’ll be able to check out books for her and me. I’m looking forward to renting more paleo cookbooks to add some variety to our menus.
This weekend, my kitchen goals are to make some kombucha (it’s pretty sour at this point, so I have to start over), make some clarified butter, and clean out our refrigerator. It’s smaller than our old one, so I may have to consider asking Matt to switch some things around once his back is better and he has some help (being a landlord’s wife has some advantages, one of them being that he has usually has an extra fridge in storage).

I am halfway through this month, and my newest “boot camps” are still going strong. I changed the bed sheets today, still doing positively in that direction for making the bed every day. It really makes a difference to climb into a well-made bed every night, I get decent morning exercise jumping from side to side of a King- size bed, and even though we are still living out of laundry baskets and have boxes all over our temporary room, the bed being made brings some order and peace of mind. Our landlord is supposed to come over tomorrow to finish sanding (and hopefully sealing) the floor, then we’ll have one more layer of seal to put on and maybe move in next weekend! Morning prayers also were said, continuing to further my prayer life.

As far as last month’s habits, it’s hard to measure exactly. The bootcamp was a round of Whole30, and that had continued onto the beginning of this month with reintroduction. I did keep a journal of my reactions to certain foods, and that helped me determine which foods will be worth it in the future. I decided to take a break from eating healthy for 5 days, and figured out that I actually end up doing more work trying to count carbs, if I don’t do it perfectly my sugars start skyrocketing (losing progress gets me down), and I’m hungry because what I’m eating isn’t nourishing my body. The only reason I’m not doing Whole30 right now, is because I’m doing Paleo. Since they are so similar that they’re practically the same thing, I think I’m following through on my habits I cultivated in January. I am cooking healthfully, I’m keeping up with the kitchen skills and cleaning that I implemented as a necessary antidote to all the dishes and cooking that I was doing in January, and Lent is a good time to offer that up as a sacrifice and fulfilling my duty of state currently as a homemaker, wife, and mother.

February 15: Healthy Eating

 Eleanor’s Lenten Resolutions

• Learn to say the Hail Mary

• Give away some toys

• No sweets

Tomorrow I’m starting a new month of healthy eating. I’m trying out the Paleo lifestyle: it’s slightly (very slightly) less restrictive than the Whole30 guidelines, it’s a better way of eating overall, and it’s sustainable in the long run. Last month, I was listening to “The Living Experiment” podcast, hosted by Dallas Hartwig (cofounder of the Whole30) and Pilar Gerasimo, when they were talking about how to encourage others around us to eat more healthfully. It was encouraging and enlightening to hear that it takes about 6 months of hard work and mindfulness to form the habit of healthy eating without thinking about it too much. Although that seemed like such a short period to them, it feels like a long time to me. However, it was encouraging because it explained why it’s been so hard for me to adopt a long term healthy eating goal: I definitely don’t follow through on new habits for 6 months!

I bought a book called Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo. In it, she outlines more specific month-long paleo meal plans for other health problems, rather than the more general Whole30 guidelines. If nothing else, these meal plans will give me a break from extensive meal planning and even grocery shopping lists, since both of those are drawn up for me (including recipes) in one book. She encourages a general paleo diet to begin with, slowly filtering down to various subcategories as problems are solved. Because the Whole30 is more restrictive than her general plan, I’m skipping right to the next category: Blood Sugar Regulation. After this ends on March 17, I think I’ll spend the next month doing mostly general Paleo, using my favorite recipes and learning new ones until April 20, when I’m going to move on to her Fat Loss regimen. After that, who knows yet? I do know that I’ll be following this diet pretty strictly (with a few exceptions: Easter, my birthday, and an upcoming graduation come to mind) until the end of June at the very least, when hopefully my attention to food can relax a little.

I’m also considering giving up certain foods altogether. Gretchen Rubin believes that a lot of people, more than a person would think, are what she calls “Abstainers”. I know that I can moderate when I want to, but in times of need (depression, bad life circumstances, even just exhaustion), I binge on foods if they are in the house. I’d rather remove some of the worst offenders practically forever than take a chance that I’ll slip up and binge again, once more putting my health in jeopardy. I’ll keep that thought in the back of my mind over the next 41/2 months and give updates as I have them. It’s an intriguing idea, at the very least.

Ash Wednesday 2018

 Lenten Resolutions
• 40 Steps to Easter
• Green Scapular Prayer
• No Meat Wednesdays
• Daily Fasting
• Stewardship of talents and Duty of State
• Donations to charity

I have dedicated the year of 2018 as a year of renewal, renewal in my faith, my hope, and my charity towards myself and those around me. I chose to focus on a different project or two for each month of the year, a “year of bootcamps”, where I would learn and cultivate a new talent every month and continue them on as the months passed.

January was simple: the month of Whole30. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes right before Christmas, and this way I could get my health under control, renew my energy, and work on moving into my kitchen and organizing it exactly the way it needed to be in order for me to cook in it. By the end of the month, I had fallen in love with my new way of living, I wasn’t counting carbs, I wasn’t hungry, and my blood sugar was well under control. I learned new recipes, and cooking and eating this way made me feel free, not constrained by measuring and adding and worrying about how to lower my blood sugars. Losing some weight brought me closer to my goal weight that would get me off diabetes medicine and keep me healthy.The past few days that I’ve indulged in carbs, sugars, and dairy, I’ve felt constricted and annoyed, and my sugars went higher into a dangerous zone. I’m getting back on the band wagon tomorrow!

February has worked great. I decided to spend this month making my bed every day and saying morning prayers. At first I wasn’t doing either first thing in the morning, but did get them done in the mornings. Now I say my morning prayers as soon as I wake up, and I am finding myself closer to my faith and to God. I’m finding it easier to practice patience and I’m less likely to be lazy or neglect my duty of state. Making the bed every day has brought me a sense of accomplishment and definitely gives me plenty of exercise.

I look forward to the rest of this year, updating this blog regularly, and promoting new habits that will strengthen my bonds with my own family, my friends, and those around me.