Sophie - Updated Personal Goals and Priorities

Sophie here..

I am undergoing a period of personal growth.. exploring new ideas and mindsets.  Continuing to work on improving my chronic migraines,  improving fitness, and  pulling my life together in a whole new way.

I've redrawn my personal goals and am posting them here.

STRENGTHS

·         Organised ·         Self-Aware ·         Currently have Time ·         Focused ·         Honest ·         Motivated ·         Care for o   Myself o   My family o   My friends o   My home o   My work o   My community ·         Stubborn ·         Methodical ·         Logical ·         I have Support o   Steve o   Jennie o   Mum o   Friends

PRIORITIES FOR MYSELF

HEALTH

GOAL:  Decrease Headaches ACTIONS: ·         Stress Management (meditation, mindfulness, CBT) ·         Acupuncture (weekly) ·         Monitor Activity levels to reduce flare

GOAL:  Increase activity 5% every 2 weeks ACTIONS: ·         monitor all activity with runkeeper & fitbit ·         Investigate Heart Rate Monitor for Flare management ·         Commit to daily exercise Every  week,  review data and headache flares GOAL:  Lose weight and Increase fitness ACTIONS: ·         develop weekly meal plans inc. breakfast and lunch ·         Log food, exercise and body measurements in MFP and runkeeper ·         Develop daily exercise plan including walking, pilates and weight training

GOAL:  Stop Smoking ACTIONS: ·         choose time to stop ·         re-read alan carr method book

SOCIAL

GOAL:  Connect with  Friends ACTIONS: ·         Arrange catch-up with a friend at least once a month

GOAL:  Return to Work ACTIONS: ·         Consider booking session/s with Julie / Leanne for Careers Counselling ·         Identify concerns / barriers ·         Consider what type of work ·         Consider how much is reasonable to start with ·         Re-work resume ·         Apply for jobs

INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS

GOAL:  Make Time for  Doing the Things  and Projects I Love ACTIONS: ·         Crochet ·         Painting (art) ·         Furniture Restoration ·         Reading ·         Maintain and improve Calibre Library ·         Baking ·         Sewing ·         Painting/ Home Improvement ·         Garden projects

MARRIAGE

INDIVIDUAL WORK

GOAL:  Identify Individual Needs, Wants, Areas for Improvement ACTIONS: ·         Attend Individual Counselling with Priya (weekly) ·         Work out what my interests, strengths, priorities, hopes for my future are ·         Continue reading, e.g. anger book, books on self-discovery,  etc  to find what I really want and how I can improve myself as a person ·         Continue to take time for self-reflection ·         Talk with and Listen to friends - multiple perspectives are helpful and can help keep things real

GOAL:  Identify the Positives, strengths and problem areas within the marriage ACTIONS: ·         Attend Individual Counselling with Priya (weekly) ·         Recognise the problems that are not mine to fix ·         Identify my role in problem areas and develop strategies to change my own approach ·         Utilise a strengths-based approach to find solutions ·         Continue to take time for self-reflection ·         Talk with and Listen to friends - multiple perspectives are helpful and can help keep things real

COUPLES WORK

GOAL:  Date Nights ACTIONS: Set aside regular time as a couple.   I would like that time to be a bit "special" not just random tv watching.   To get dressed up and cook a special dinner,  go out for dinner or a movie, Not a huge effort but bit out of the everyday.  GOAL:  Nights out with other couples ACTIONS: Make an effort to arrange to spend adult time with our friends.   ·         double date with Doug and Jen,  ·         dinner with Alexius and Jeff,   ·         going out with a group of grown ups (jacksons, sonya, Gael and Evan..) ·         hosting  dinner parties

FAMILY

EDWARDS FAMILY

GOAL:  Spend More Time Having Fun With the Kids ACTIONS: ·         Ask kids what fun things they would like to do: o   Individually o   with me o   with Steve o   as a family ·         Make a commitment to do the things the kids ask for  - set aside time in the calendar and work to achieve them

GOAL:  Family Fitness ACTIONS: ·         Prioritise Fitness within the family.    ·         It is NOT OK to spend all day on the computer.   ·         Negotiate appropriate boundaries for different activities ·         Facilitate exposing the kids to different types of physical activity.

GOAL:  Kids will assist with maintaining the home ACTIONS: ·         Kids will have age appropriate chores ·         Kids will contribute to meal planning, and meal preparation ·         I will work with each kid to build their organisational and time management skills   (e.g. teach Thomas to use the google calendar system, star charts for Charlie) ·         Expectations and consequences will be negotiated

EXTENDED FAMILY

GOAL:  Hedwacks Days/Nights ACTIONS: ·         Review frequency of Hedwacks Activities and use of google calendar with Hedwacks ·         Develop a list of activities that Hedwacks would like to see this year

GOAL: Spend more time with grandparents ACTIONS: ·         Review frequency of days spent with Midge and Robert.   ·         Consider activities we could do with them ·         Think about how often the kids speak with Libby and Frank  - can we encourage the kids to call/email/write/skype more frequently? ·         Is there a way we can budget to get Sophie/ kids /whole family to Cairns more frequently?

HOME

ORGANISATION

GOAL:  Return the house to a reasonable standard of cleanliness ACTIONS: ·         Work through each room, o   deep cleaning o    decluttering o   reorganising ·         Develop daily routines to do basic day to day cleaning to maintain home ·         Utilise a system, that is accessible to the family so if I am unwell, others can step in and take up the tasks I have not been able to complete ·         Communicate with family what work is not yet completed on a given day, and what I expect them to be doing.

GOAL:  Negotiate areas of responsibility / chore lists for all family members.  ACTIONS: ·         Develop daily chore list, and allocate tasks ·         Agree on consequences for non-completion of tasks ·         Agree on how tasks should be re-allocated in the event of illness/absence/clash of commitments

GOAL:  Get involved in the finances ACTIONS: ·         Get access to bank accounts and up to speed with  where mortages are at ·         Get a handle on current expenses and spending ·         Develop budget o    identify areas to reduce costs o   prioritise repayment of debts o   prioritise and plan savings for things we want ·         Review Long term financial plan, including investment strategy, superannuation, future education costs for the children etc. ·         Develop a plan to save for  known potential costs  (e.g.  replacement of cars,  stoves, dishwashers, rental property maintenance etc.)

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

GOAL:  Develop a priority list for home improvements ACTIONS: ·         List all things we would like to do around the home - open imaginations and dream!  - don't consider the cost or how at this stage.  ·         Prioritise List of Dreams in terms of importance, and cost…  What big ticket items do we want to save for in what order??  o    big garden landscaping project? o   skylights? o   replace tiles with floorboards?  o   custom build desks, and storage in the office?   ·         Factor saving (even tiny amounts) for big ticket items, and smaller projects into family budget ·         Create list of small tasks with less financial impact (e.g. painting a room,  a section of garden etc.)  and prioritise.

GOAL:  Plan and implement small projects ACTIONS: ·         Take small home improvements list and allocate tasks (e.g. Steve fix kids towel rail, Sophie paint the reading room etc.) ·         Negotiate time frames for work to be undertaken, taking into account workloads, budget etc.

1 January 2014 - A new year a new start...at least that's the plan

Too much has happened since we opened, and promptly abandoned this blog, sort of like the healthy eating, which we abandoned, restarted, abandoned, restarted, abandoned, along with the repeated starts and stops with the exercise programs and let's not forget the great health intentions along the way...new year, might as well start over.

This is NOT a reflection of the past...this is a new start from where I am at this moment. I can reflect on why I have started and stopped so many times, but as I have done that ad nausea I have decided to just take one step forward and keep my eyes on the prize (this blog may well end up being full of clichés like these.)

Today is January 1st. It is currently 1.57am as I write this. I did go to bed early and hoped to ring in the new year with snores, but the gunshot like sounds of firecrackers going off outside my house woke me up very quickly, and I rang in the new year being mildly amused by the sight of my 25 kilo dog sitting in the lap of my 130 kilo husband, terrified out of his tiny little mind at the sounds outside.

Anyway, I declare this blog reopened and fully functioning and I am committing to writing in it daily (or at least 5 times per week). This blog is for me (and my family, which extends to the Hedwacks) and is therefore my space to write, reflect, ponder, laugh, potentially offend and share. If someone chooses to follow me they may follow me, if they choose to comment they may choose to comment, if no one participates in my ramblings, that ok too.

I am committed to this space...you should see the pile of fake fingernails next to my computer that I just cut off to make typing an easy feat (I hate typing with fake fingernails on). My nails now look like shit, but I can type once more.

Peace, out!

Better late than never

Well here we are.

5 weeks no sugar.  GO US!

The past few weeks have been a bit crap for exercise in part due to the weather, and illness but also all the usual excuses.   I plan to have a Hedwack Brainstorm to make a list of those excuses so we can refute them.

I am also posting the results of our first fitness test here for posterity. We used the test from the Michelle Bridges 12 Body Transformation.  We are overdue to re-test so we will be doing that soon.

Today we had our friend and Personal Trainer Rob from http://www.organic-fitness.com.au/ come and spend an hour with our families, and how we can better utilise the space in our local park for exercise.  We have a plan now, for better interval training,  incorporating resistance training into our daily exercise.

It felt great to be out in the park, even in the rain, and Rob was fantastic and great with the boys.  We highly recommend him for anyone in the Werribee area.

Now for those fitness test results.

I keep reminding myself that we all have to start somewhere.

	JENNIE	GRAEME	NATHAN	OSCAR	SOPHIE	THOMAS	CHARLIE
1 km RUNNING (min)	9.09	9.04	6.48	8.24	9.31	6.49	DNF
SIT-UPS	3	7	21	8	24	23	14
PUSH-UPS(Knee)	24	1	26	18	24	23	5
REACH(cm)	-10	-17	-20.5	8	-4	-15	12
WALL SIT (sec)	13	20	66	23	34	63	3

Spouse 1 and  Spouse 2 (aka Steve and Doug)  didn't partake of the fitness test, although I believe they will in the next one.  

And I must make a point of telling Charlie that he beat EVERYONE on the reach test.  He is feeling very small and inferior at the moment, and that he cant't do anything.  We don't need to tell him that 4 year olds are supposed the be more flexible than normal people, do we? 

Ups and downs.

Well here we are, into our 4th week, sugar free.  

On the up side

• I have found a cordial sweetened with stevia to keep the boys happy
• We had chocolate cake out at a birthday lunch.  1 slice between 6 of us, and no one liked it except for my sugar-addicted 4 year old 
• i've been offered some casual work with my previous employer
• i've finally arranged to catch up with an old friend  -  catching up with people was on my personal plan

On the down side

• exercise has slackened off this week between weather and migraines
• i'm still not getting to bed on time 
• the 4-year old talks about sugar constantly.  How much he loves lollies.  How much he loves birthday cakes.   However he is accepting when I tell him no. 

Focus points for the next week 

• Bedtime routine 
• Exercise 

Testing testing, 1-2-3...end of week 3 and I some tests are complete

Wow, what an interesting I Quit Sugar weekend.  So this weekend my gorgeous, and generous friend, Neish, took me away for a kid free weekend to her family cabin on the Murray River so that I could complete my school reports in peace and quiet.

Temptations this weekend were going to include:

• Drinking tea as my hot beverage in a cold cabin.
• Drinking tea with sugar as I forgot my Equal tablets at home (apologies for the blatant product placement but they are the only sweetener tablets that don't make me want to claw my eyes out because of the aftertaste)
• The best juice on the planet is available at the local grocery store
• Drinking wine
• I tend to munch out on sugary treats as well as chips and the like while I am working for long periods
• I get stressed and crave sugar

OK. So I drank tea with half a teaspoon of sugar and found it surprisingly sweet. Considering three weeks ago I took my last cup of tea with 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar this is pretty good. I arrived home to a fresh cup of tea, and found one sweetener tablet is now too sweet.

I avoided sugary snacks and drinks all weekend, probably because I had some Vitamin Neisha to keep me grounded and of course, two good movies to keep me occupied. I highly recommend What to Expect When You're Expecting and Rock of Ages (as long as you can manage to keep down the vomit every time you are faced with a rock'n'roll God that is NOT, Tom Cruise.)

I ate a mandarin on Saturday and it was quite sweet. The big surprise was when I arrived home and put them in the fruit bowl the kids (all three of them) took a mandarin to eat as a snack. All three of them commented on how sweet they were...almost to the point of  them not being able to eat them.

I am back to walking this week, after a bit of a break last week because of a sore knee and no interest based on how tired I was from my week of work...exhausting was more like it.  This week I am writing report comments so it's going to be another hell week.

I also read I Quit Sugar, by Sarah Wilson. I found her book to be very conversational, and very short. David Gillespie's, Sweet Poison Quit Plan was far more involved and contained far more information, but Sarah's book raised some great points, and made me feel like I wasn't a sugar pariah by having half a teaspoon in my tea.  I recommend both books.

Anyway, it's now late on Sunday. I apologise for the lack of panache my writing stylings usually produce, but I am tired and I have been staring at children's writing and math all weekend, so now it's bed time for me. More sugar free updates soon, I promise.

Halfway through Week 3

Well here we are, Wednesday of Week 3, and no blog post.

Partly thats been because the past week has been rather hellish  with lots of migraines, so I don't have a lot to report other than I am still sugar free.

I've also being trying to give up coffee on the recommendation of my TCM acupuncturist.

I did manage to do a bit of walking in spite of the headaches last week, but so far this week illness and the cold weather have kept me inside.  Think I might see if Jen wants to hook up the Wii tonight.

Migraines suck

The past few days have been really hard. 

It started on Monday when I stopped by the supermarket after dropping C at kindy. The sugar cravings hit me in a way they hadn't for days.  I was strong and bought myself some pate and rye bread instead of the chocolate I was aching for.  

I concluded that supermarket shopping at lunch time was perhaps not too smart. 

Then I got in the car.   And had trouble driving home.   I kept forgetting to turn the indicator off after changing lanes.  I couldn't focus.  By the time I was half way home I was freaking out. 

It was a weird beginning to a migraine that has lasted 2 days.  Steve left home early to collect C.   I got T to help me with dinner  - savingdinner.com's pizza cups, and had everything ready for T and Steve to eat before taking T to his first night at Cadets.  

Yesterday I was still unwell.  I have some small achievements 

• I did my morning routine done (slowly) 
• I baked some ham and cheese frittatas.  
• I made an amazing roasted capsicum, mushroom and spinach pasta (again from Saving Dinner)  where I roasted the capsicums myself.  
• I drank 2 litres of water. 
• I did my yoga twice (once in the morning, once before bed).

But 

• I haven't walked for 2 days.  
• I haven't done my house blessing 
• I haven't worked in the spare room.   
• the kids got less of my time, and the short end of my temper. 

This morning the pain has gone but I'm still nauseous and spacey and not quite right. 

I didn't shower and dress when I got up, so when the dog started barking like a maniac I emerged outside in my pink poodle pj's to discuss some work with the gardener.  At least  The gardener doesn't appear to judge me.  

Now I need to pull myself together and get my day happening.