Want to be my Accountability Buddy?

Hard to believe that February is almost over!  Only 2 days left of the no-spend challenge, and, barring anything unforeseen, I should clear my food and household goals with no problem (the toy budget was blown a long time ago).  I've got 9 days left on the shape up for march challenge, but that will barely last me into March.  It's been great doing these challenges; somehow reading about other people doing the same thing makes it easier to keep myself on track.

Looking at my 2011 goals, I am doing well on all fronts except (a) practicing with carry firearm  (b) doing Flylady routines (c) connecting with my friend and (d) working on piano.

If any of these match up with something you've been thinking about getting serious about, I'd love to have an accountability blogging buddy.  Let me know if you're be interested.

Having too Much Fun to Spend Money

Today I:

Went to the library and discovered that I had 4 ILLs in ...

Read one of them on the stationary bike at the gym ...

Castrated, vaccinated, and tagged some calves, and set the rest up to finish first thing tomorrow ...

Discussed purchasing a house in the neighborhood as a rent house with my parents ...

Made it to Judo only 15 minutes late ...

Came home and ate one of the pizzas that I made Saturday ...

And am now heading happily off to dreamland!

Hope your day was great too.

My Chickens Have Come Home to Roost!

Since the farm manager quit, and my parents aren't living in the country, the chickens are back at my house.  Here you can see them giving their seal of approval to my new construction.  It's fun to have the chickens in my backyard; instead of saving food scraps in my "chicken bucket" I just toss them out the back door.

Here you can see what happens when you are absent-minded and leave the chicken feed on the ground where the chickens can get at it. For a while, she was one happy chicken!

I made it to Judo tonight, but not to the gym.  I need to go on Thursday to have 17 check-ins this month.  It might or might not happen, as I am scheduled to castrate that day.  Castrating is a pretty messy business, though, so maybe I'll go shower at the gym and call that a "check-in."

OK, I'd never do it, but I crack myself up thinking about the horror that would greet my mud and blood-splattered self if I showed up at the gym after castrating all afternoon.  I think this must be the famous "farm humor" that you're always hearing about.

Shape Up for March Weekly Update

My weight today was 160.8 lbs.  I did a bit better than last week on Sunday; I ate only 62 WW points (also within weekly point totals) and got 6 hours of sleep.  Next week I am going to get 8 hours for sure, in hopes of continuing this weight loss trend - I am down 2.4 lbs and need only 1.8 lbs over the next two weeks to make my goal!

I missed Judo on Thursday because I had a cow with a breech birth.  We saved the cow but lost the calf.  Aside from that, I am still 100% on Judo and gym, 3/8 and 12/17 respectively.  I realized that, to make 17 gym visits, I will need to go to the gym on one of my Judo days.  I think I'll go tomorrow and do something light like a stationary bicycle.

Saturday Shopping and Challenge Updates

Another week, another grocery run.  Mr. Goat made a midweek run which skewed my budget a bit.  Between his run and this one we've now spent 78% of our food budget.  I generally shop every Saturday, so I plan to shop next Saturday for the whole week, even though most of the week is in March.  So the food budget will be a bit tight, but I think do-able.

I've spent 50% of my non-household food expense for the month; a tank of gas for each car, and $4 for Turtle Bug and Tar Spray (excellent at removing both) to detail Mr. Goats car for Valentine's Day.  (His present was having his oil changed, inspection sticker updated, and a detailing by me.)

 I've also done the two oil changes, two inspection stickers, and the rear brake pads for my car that were the motivation for cutting the budget this month.

My toy budget spending remains over by 49%.  Luckily for me, Infiniti is running a special where you get $20 off every $100 you spend on maintenance, so my brake pads did not cost as much as estimated, and I did not have to dip into savings even a little to pay for it.  So far the no-spend challenge is a success - we'll see if I can make it work all the way to the end of the month.

On the Shape Up for March challenge, I have been moderately sucessful.  I missed Judo on Thursday tring to save a calf, but aside from that I am 100% in both Judo and gym.  That puts me at 3/8 for Judo and 11/17 for gym.

On a completely unrelated note, halfdozendaily has some cute napkins up for sale on her website, and she is giving a set of four away free.  Head on over there and give her some comment love to be eligible to win.

A Few Days Late and Half a Pound Short

My official weigh-in in the Shape Up for March Challenge for Monday, February 14th was 162.6 pounds, down .6 pounds.  I now need to lose on average 1.2 pounds a week to meet my weight goal.  I attribute the slow loss to (1) eating almost 100 weight watchers points on Sunday (still within my points, but will give my weight a bounce the next day) and (2) getting only 4 hours of sleep on Sunday night (I always weigh heavier with no sleep.  I have no idea why).  If I'm not doing better next week, I'll worry about it then.  I'm also still 100% on gym and Judo.

As for the No Spend Challenge, I haven't done a great job of tracking this week, but I'm pretty sure that all we've spent money on is gas, so we should be good.  I'll get back on this tomorrow, as I have a cow in labor atm and (hopefully) Judo to go to after she delivers.

Rest Day

This is my rest day.  I didn't spend anything and I didn't work out.  I used almost all of my WW points this week, but didn't go over.  Tomorrow will tell if that was enough to cause me to lose this week:)

Saturday Shopping

Another run at the grocery store and 47% of my grocery budget is now gone.  More than one third of my money was spent on cheese alone, which is a real eye-opener.  I'd better not let it go to waste, because this stuff is expensive!  Fortunately, today that won't be a problem, as the majority of the cheese will go on this weeks half-dozen frozen pizzas (currently in the process of being made).  Twenty-one pizzas left to go to break even on the pans!

My computer is back up, but the damage to the no-spend challenge is significant.  49% of my toy budget is spent; the goal was zero.  And I used the toy budget again today to buy a raffle ticket from some kids outside the Wal-Mart.  Somehow it's like breaking a diet - once you're off in a big way, the little indulgences seem less significant.

Speaking of diet, the Shape Up For March Challenge is going great.  I've made it to the gym four times this week, and to judo twice, putting me at gym: 6/17 and Judo: 2/6.  Also, I have 70 weekly/activity Weight Watchers points remaining, and my week ends on Sunday night, so I'm confident that I can stay within my points for the week, even if there are sugary Valentine's day treats at church. (I'm torn between hoping there are and hoping there aren't.)  I also had a goat get out onto the highway today, and spent a good fifteen minutes running around after him, thus giving me extra, unplanned calorie burning.  Wasn't that nice of him?

No-Spend, Computer Dead Edition

Good thing this was a no-spend month! I woke up this morning, turned on my computer, did about 5 mins or work, and then the screen went black. I tried to reboot, and it wouldn't acknowledge that I was pushing the reboot button - never a good sign. Cracked it open, all the fans were working, took out the hdd that had been giving me crap earlier and replaced it. Didn't fix problem. Listened to sound it was making, diagnosed motherboard. Husband agreed that it was motherboard, so now have a new one on the way, aa well as new memory that's compatible with it. So much for not spending the toy budget. I'm currently typing this on the very inadequate keyboard of an iPad (cool looking, great for streaming Netflix, not so good for any sort of real typing) but that won't really fly for the rest of the month. I haven't got the total on my damage; I'll have to update that tomorrow.

I did make it to the gym, so I am 4/17 days on that. Swimming doesn't feel like much of a workout, but it really takes it out of you a couple of hours later. It doesn't seem to melt off the pounds like jogging, but it's far more sustainable on the joints. So it's become my new favorite workout. What's yours?

Zoink

Made it to Judo  1/6
Didn't spend anything today!
Going to zone out for a bit and then sleep.

Hope your day was great!

Shape Up for March Challenge Begins Today!

Shape Up for March:
My official starting weight: 163.2lbs
Goal Weight: 159 lbs
Target Weight Loss: 4.2 lbs
How I'm Going to Do It: I follow Weight Watchers
Workout Goals: Gym 4x a Week, Judo 2x a Week, 17x to Gym in Feb
Today: Went to Gym
Gym, 3/17; Judo 0/6

No Spend February:
Food: 75% remaining (no change)
Other: 100% remaining (no change)
Toy: 2% over (down 1%)

I had another toy spend; I realized that I had forgotten to send my Anysoldier package at the end of last month.  So I got it sent off today.  It mostly consisted of toiletries from the hotel I stayed at last month; I used my own shampoo and conditioner and stashed each day's mini-toiletries in my bag, thus getting new ones daily.  I realize that there is a split in the PF world on whether this is allowable, déclassé, or tantamount to stealing.  I'm willing to grant that it might be déclassé, but I figure that the hotel prices the rooms assuming I will use the toiletries, so I've paid for them.  When I lived in Dallas, I would donate them to the local homeless shelter; as soldiers are also concerned about the weight of their possessions, hopefully these will come in handy.  I also sent some magazines and granola bars.  I suppose I could have waited and sent it off next month, but then it would have sat in my house for a month, and in a 900 square foot house, even 1 square foot of box has a tendency to get in the way (also why I don't do the stockpiling thing). 

More Ice, More No-Spend, Temptation Averted

Temptation visited me today in the form of this adorable video:

Volkswagen: The Force @ Yahoo! Video

Not so much for the car, but I was thinking to myself "Why don't I have The Imperial March on my shuffle to swim with?"  And then I remembered - No Spend Month.  If I need it, I'll get it March 1, otherwise I just have find something decent in the 5603 items that I've already got stored in my iTunes collection. (100% legitimately purchased; every album my husband or I has ever bought since the advent of CDs; not all worth the disc space they're printed on.)

The gym was closed for weather, and the roads were icy, so I haven't left the house except to check on the cows and go jogging. I realized this afternoon that Shape Up for March doesn't begin until Monday, but I can't spend the weekend pigging out, because I already have my goal weight set.  You should totally sign up, though, and then pig out all weekend:)

No-Spend, Iced in Edition

The entire world is ice out here, so I basically spent the day at home.  $0 dollars spent.

I did manage to make it to the gym, to discover that the pool is closed and the entire place is closed tomorrow due to weather.  I didn't have real workout clothing, but I did thirty mins on the elliptical machine so that I would have something to show for my time.  Judo was too far for iced-over roads, though.  Since the challenge starts tomorrow, I guess I'll relive my time in Michigan and go for a jog in the cold.  (I'm not supposed to jog, but I can go a bit if I'm careful.)  As I recall, it's quite bracing, after the first five minutes.

You know it's the coldest day of the year because we had two calves born today:

Beva

Kali (taken through the fence; she's a protective mama)

This No-Spend Stuff is Harder than it Looks

I confess, it's the end of day 2 of Sharon's no-spend challenge, and I've already fallen off the wagon twice.  And yesterday, I had a migraine, making it the ultimate no-spend day.  So yes, that's twice in one day.

Mistake number 1:  At Woman's Club today, one of our members asked for small donations to The Smile Train.  She is involved through a friend who is super-involved; the friend has adopted four children from foreign orphanages who had such severe cleft palate that they needed multiple operations over multiple years.  Who could resist a story like that?  I immediately wrote a small cheque.  I was halfway down the road back home before I remembered that I wasn't supposed to spend any money from my toy budget this month.  Ooops!

Mistake Number 2: A family friend came into town, and my parents invited us out to dinner to visit with him.  It's about a 40 mile round trip, and we took my gas guzzler rather than my husband's economy car, thus using two gallons of premium gas instead of one gallon of regular gas.  In our defense, it's below freezing, and here in Southwest Louisiana, we consider that very cold.  And my gas guzzler has heated seats, and much better heating.  This was a smaller lapse in terms of percentage of budget, but I need to watch this sort of thing if I am going to cut my household expenses in half this month.  And once again, it wasn't a conscious decision, I just got in the comfier car without thinking about it.  Doh!

As of today:
Food Budget: 100% left
Household budget - 100% left
Toy Budget - 1% over

As for the Shape Up For March Challenge, well, let's just say it's a good thing that it doesn't officially start until Friday.  A migraine yesterday and dinner out today meant that I have now worked out zero times this month.  Tomorrow we are predicted to have freezing rain; if the driving conditions are as unsafe as the weatherman has indicated, I'm not going to the gym.  On the plus side, if I can't leave the house tomorrow either, I am practically guaranteed a no-spend day (unless Murphy visits and my pipes freeze and burst tonight).

It's not too late to sign up for the No-Spend or the Shape Up Challenge.  And I've very nicely gone and set the bar low already!

Kicking off Challenges for Febuary

As I said yesterday, I'm way better at getting things done if it is part of a group activity.  Luckily for me, Sharon and Serendipity  are both leading challenges in areas that I want to work on.

Serendipity's challenge is Shaping up for March.  All participants are to choose a weight loss goal and, optionally, healthy habits, blogging about them to stay accountable, with a weekly check-in at her site.  The challenge runs from February 7 to March 7.  My goal is to lose four pounds, which would bring my BMI back down to 24.9.  I know I'll feel better about myself once the BMI calculator no longer lists me as overweight.  To do that, I will (1) eat within my Weight Watchers points every day and (2)exercise 6X per week, 2 days of Judo and 4 days of swimming, with one day of swimming and Judo so that I can make my 17X gym goal.  So, basically, I'm making myself accountable for my new years resolutions for the month, which will hopefully spur me to a more faithful execution of them.

Sharon is doing a No-Spend Challenge, which I have already begun by making a dinner menu plan for the month.  My non-fixed budgetary items are divided into Food (this covers both in-home and restaurant dining), Household (non-food items like gas, cleaning supplies, and other miscellaneous things that you need to run a household but that you don't eat), Utilities, Medical, and Toys(out of which I pay for my gym and dojo membership).  My goal is to cut spending in Food and Household by half, and to spend nothing in the Toy category besides membership fees.  I'll use the extra money to pay for some routine car maintenance for both of our vehicles, money which normally would have come out of savings, and thus increase my total savings.

Since these are both day-to-day challenges, I'll be posting daily updates, hopefully as addenda to other things, but in solitary splendor if necessary.  I'll start the money tracking from today and the weight tracking on Friday.  Off we go!