Week 3

This week has been a little busy. It has been another successful week! I'm VERY proud to say my #1 goal for 2013 has been accomplished, I QUIT SMOKING!!!! It wasn't easy, but I did it. I haven't had a cigarette since January 12th!!! So here we go for what goals have been accomplished this week...

1- Quit smoking- DONE- It was easier then I thought. I kept my mind and hands occupied. I also left my cigarettes in the car! That way they were not so easy to get to. Living in Tennessee, its a little cold here right now, so to me it wasn't worth going to the car to get a cigarette, when the temp outside is 28 degrees!

2- Family time- This has been working out well. I tried an idea this week (and I will continue with this because it worked out so well) when I start cooking dinner about 4:30-5, I call all the kids in the kitchen with me. My oldest (who is 14) and my youngest (who will be 4 next month) both come in the kitchen with me. My oldest sits at the table with her books to study for school. We TALK about what she learned in school that day. She will open her books to the lessons and read the "study questions" from the lesson that day, and I engage her in discussions about her lessons. The more she repeats and studies the better she does on her tests!!
For the youngest she tries to help me with cooking dinner. She made Parmesan biscuits the other night! I opened the store bought biscuits, but she took over from there! She dipped the biscuits in melted butter, then  patted them into the Parmesan cheese, and put them on the cookie sheet! She had a wonderful time. When I do not have anything she can help with, she sits at the counter and colors in her color books! She hears me and Sissy talk about history and science, etc. She will actually stop and ask questions too! So Sissy will stop and answer her. So everyone is learning and talking to each other.

3- Get Organized- The kitchen is complete! See my previous post Operation Kitchen Reorganization to see what I did. I am getting ideas for doing my youngest's room.

4- Eat Healthy- We are doing great with this! I made homemade banana bread, and sourdough bread this week in my bread maker! I haven't used my bread maker in years! I found it at the back of the cupboard when I was organizing the kitchen. So I am not putting it to GOOD use! Since I quit smoking I have a better appetite!

5- Get in shape- still working on my stretching and yoga. I can't wait until it gets warmer outside so I can go for walks! Last weekend we had unusually warm weather( in the 70's) so all of us got out in the yard and played! We also started weeding the front flower beds.

6- Read More- I have read 6 books this week on gardening in containers! Finding out what flowers do well in pots, and what plants prefer to be free. I also learned about herbs! I found two books that I really liked, it gives you "recipes" for planting beautiful flowering containers/pots. One is called Container Garden by P Allen Smith and Gardening without a garden by Gay Search. I was able to find both books at my local library. So this puts my book count week to date +3. (I was -1 last week) So I have read a total of 7 books.See all the books I have read

7- Brain games- loving my crosswords and  word searches. I sit in the morning with my coffee and try to do one before I start my day. I saw an advertisement for an app on my phone for Lumosity, I did download the app, but haven't tried it yet. When I downloaded the app it shows up as Brain Trainer. I also found a cool app from the NRA  called Practice Range in the app store. The app is free, it gives you a "shooting" range and different weapons to shoot. What I like about this app is you can look up local gun laws, discussions, etc for your area from the app!

8- Still Blogging-

9-Positive thinking- this is awesome. When thinking in a more positive light everything is possible!

10-Crafts- I'm looking for ideas to make the plant labels, and decorating pots for garden.

11-Music- I did a few sessions this week, not as many as I would have liked. But something is better then nothing.

12- No Chemicals- I have done well with this. I'm still making my own coffee creamer, fabric softener, Air freshener (Febreeze), and made my own bread!

13- Gardening- read all those books about gardening, weeded front flower beds Created a little shelf from shoe rack the seedlings are just now coming through. See week 2 about show rack.


HAPPY 2013 EVERYONE!!!