Did You Make it to February?

It's February 1st...the beginning of that short month full of long, cold days.  If you live somewhere cold like I do, you may have let some of those January goals fall by the wayside and the multiple layers hide so much and the cold and darkness just sucks the life out of any other goal you may have had.  Now is as good a time as ever to check in on how things are going.  If you've let some goals fall by the wayside, pick them back up.  Take a minute to think of or list out your accomplishments.  Maybe you didn't do everything but I guarantee you did something.  Celebrate that and move forward.  I mean, what else is there to do in February anyway?

Goal 1# - Why wait?  
January Accomplishments - I did pretty well in the "why wait" category.  Things went back where they needed to go, I returned phone calls, RSVPed and wrote letters and cards while I thought of it.  I also did a little patch job on a pair of gloves that I'd been delaying.  Seriously, I spent hours with a cold left hand when it took less than 5 minutes to sew it up....

I mean seriously, why wait?
February Goals - I will continue to force myself to do things when I think of them, clean up after myself, and take risks I've been avoiding.

Goal #2 - Make fitness and healthy eating a routine

January Accomplishments -  I made it to 4 Sundays of Spinning, even the one that Brie wasn't at!  An unexpected outcome is that its become a family affair.  My mother joins me for spinning and my father comes afterward and I "train" him for an hour.  Its a great workout for me and such awesome time with my parents!  I've been "scheduling" workouts on my calendar and highlight the ones that I actually do.  I've got at least three highlights for every week and thats a pretty awesome accomplishment.  I've also completed the 24 day Advocare challenge which has me down 9 inches and 4 pounds.  My husband is on board with healthy eating and we've worked together to plan healthy meals!
February Goals - Continue to work out 3 times a week.  Plan exercise in on the two weekends I am out of town.  Continue the healthy eating and measure in again at the end of the month!

Goal #3 - Have a home that is ready for guests and invite them over!

January Accomplishments - The hubs and I have made some major strides in the house, despite some set backs.  We've been battling with our plumbing and a leak that just won't go away.  We also had one zone of our heater "air locked."  Among all those set backs we've cleaned and organized the den, reorganized the wires around our entertainment center, kept the bathroom and kitchen clean, reorganized the pantry, and I even tackled the yarn corner!  We had family over for a get together after a funeral.  While it was a sad reason to have people over, it was nice to be the place they could all gather together.
February Goals - Have friends over for the Olympic Opening Ceremonies, have a few friends over to do some crafting one night.  Donate the couch and reupholster  the chair I have waiting to replace it.  Get the plumbing fiasco figured out so that the guest room stop being a storage area.

Goal # 4 - Read and write more, watch TV less. 

January Accomplishments- I managed to write 7 blog posts this month, which is higher than the 1 per week average I strive for.  I've been in front of the TV quite a bit, but I've been a baby hat making factory so I justify it in that way.  We having been toying with the idea of canceling the cable and I think we are getting closer to doing just that.  On the book front, I finished and sent my January book earlier this week.  However, that knitting book club I was so excited about got closed out.  Hopefully it will open on soon!
February Goals - Return on the 6-8pm quiet block.  For awhile Mike and I would keep the TV off for those two hours abad read, write or study during that time.  There is nothing good on at that time and often we'd keep the tube off for the rest of the night.  Make plan for canceling cable - will we purchase a Roku or Apple TV? Subscribe to Hulu Plus or Amazon Prime? What will we do with an extra 100 bucks (at least) a month? Read the February book in the allotted time.

In Search of Sleep

Growing up, I had a very strict, self-imposed bed time.  That's right, years after my parents stopped telling us to go to bed, I still went to sleep around 9pm every night.   (I also had a strict "no homework after 8pm" rule which shows you how strict I was about doing homework) The bus came at 7am so there was no room for sleeping in.  I've never been one who can operate on little to no sleep.  It physically makes me ill to be tired and in Middle School and High School years I seemed to understand that.

Now, bed time ranges from 10pm to midnight and waking up ranges anywhere from 6:30 - 8am.  I guess since I now have the luxurious start time of 9 am for work and my Honda moves much faster than that school bus, I let myself be flexible on this whole sleep thing. 

The problem is, I feel like crap.  Every morning and most afternoons my eyes are heavy, my feet drag, and my stomach tells my brain that maybe eating a ton of carbs and sugar will help.  There are so many reasons that this has to stop but the main one is that:

 

Not sleeping means not working out which means even more exhaustion.  We all know how good we feel AFTER we work out.  I don't give my body that because I am too exhausted to get up.  The first week of bootcamp I worked out twice.  TWICE!  I am supposed to be active at least 5 days so I fell hopelessly short of this goal.

Another great aspect of this bootcamp is that we are supposed to make two healthy goals for the week.   Last time, I focused on vitamins and water.  I am pretty consistent with these now, so it was time to really look at what I need to do each week.  I thought of a lot of complicated goals or goals I thought all the other "healthy" people were doing.  But I really need to keep it simple and just get more sleep.  So my goals for the upcoming week are the following:

1.  Go to sleep no later than 10pm

2. Get up no later than 6:30am

In honor of my old High School self, I am adding a third goal:

3.  No "work" after 9pm

I think that one reason why I push my bed time further is that I do "work' (ie blog, update candidate's pages, make schedules, return emails) later and later and then want some time to relax.   If I relax from 9-10 it should be easy to fall into sleep.  

 

I know getting sleep will improve my workout numbers, the food I eat, and what I do for the rest of the day.  It is an easy, simple goal (as long as I turn off Bravo!).  

How do you get enough sleep?  What are your goals for the week?