Schedule, Shmedule

At one point, I had about six different calendars in my house. Chris hated it, always being reminded of how busy we are, so I consolidated and now only have one monthly and one weekly calendar, both of which aren't really calendars at all. My monthly calendar is on my computer, which I love because I can color-code everything without fear of misplacing my one purple pen that Annabelle insisted would be HER color. Another great thing about having your calendar on the computer is that you can, with just one click of the mouse, make it disappear all together. Even though you're fully aware of all the goings-on that are right around the corner, there's no big giant reminder burning your eyeballs every time you glance in its direction.

My weekly calendar is also not a traditional calendar, but instead a big dry erase board that my lovely husband made to look all professional, with days-of-the-week columns and blocks for each member of our little household. This is the calendar that gets a little nuts at times. I write down everything from daily chores to school work assignments on it. I'm pretty sure Chris hates this one, but I did him and favor and blocked it from his normal line of sight with a bookshelf. To be honest, I've really neglected this one recently, being summer and all. I am choosing not to patronize the kids by writing down every little thing they have to do every day and instead just letting them enjoy the summer.

While getting rid of all the obnoxious calendars has helped to lower the stress level in our home, it's made me somewhat lost. I'm a tangible person. I like things I can hold and touch and, most especially, write on. If I write something down, I remember it. I used to copy whole chapters of school books into notebooks just so I'd never have to really study. I assumed the computer would work, but apparently my brain does not process typing the same way it processes writing. Long story short, I'm forgetting a lot.

For instance, when planning out my Rita Project (on my nice, tidy little $.79 spiral notebook), I forgot to factor in my kamikaze trip to Wyoming, the week needed to introduce the kids to their new diet, the MONTH (or more) needed to rehabilitate the kids after three weeks of spoiling by grandparents and aunts, the four weeks I'd need to take off from "exerting myself" after my little procedure, etc. On paper, taking one week to conquer one month of resolutions seemed doable. But, as we all know, everything always looks good on paper. Applying what you've written to real life is something else entirely.

If there is anything that the Army has taught me, it's how to be flexible. Plans change, problems arise. Adapt and survive . . . or resist at your own peril. So in order to avoid certain defeat, I'm adapting my project. Rather than fail due to frustration from missing deadlines I set for myself, I have chosen to move at the pace of the household.

That being said, we're still on Week One: Boost Energy/Get Healthy. And that we have! We are all adjusting to the raw vegan diet really well. I think the part that I love the most is that Chris is so involved in the process. He's helping me prepare meals, the kitchen is almost always clean with his help, and he's taken over the job of "Master Juicer". It's amazing how something as simple as changing your diet can benefit your marriage in such a huge way.

The kids aren't as enthusiastic about the new healthy eating plan, but they're coming around. I'm pretty sure part of the problem stemmed from someone back in Texas spilling the beans (pardon the pun) before Chris and I were able to explain the diet and why we had chosen to do it. When I went to pick them up in Wyoming, I was greeted with, "Are we really never going to eat pizza again?!" and, "But doughnuts and ice cream are my favorites!" Apparently, after they'd put food in their mouths, someone would say, "Enjoy that because you never get to eat it again." Awesome.

But we've overcome and they're enjoying more every day (especially once they found out that cookies and ice cream are actually acceptable if made from the right ingredients). I'd be fibbing if I told you that everything is delicious. As much as I want to be able to say that I like Dolse and kelp noodles covered in ground nuts, I just can't. But that, my friends, is why I have my first commandment: Be Acasha.

And being Acasha means not liking stuff that tastes like a piece of seaweed fresh out of the toilet bowl or has the texture of paper mache paste.

But again, progress is being made, just not on my original schedule. I'll take it though : )

This week's focus is on organization and clearing the clutter. My bedroom sanctuary has been achieved (now if I could only keep the toddler out) and I'm moving on to the rest of the house. The idea is purge first, then organize. Purging has actually been quite exhilarating, and I plan on sharing my "Secrets of Purging" at the end of the week so that you can be as productive and clutter-free as I will be!

Maybe my initial approach was too ambitious. After all, slow and steady does win the race, so maybe slowing down and focusing more time and energy on each individual resolution will help me to have a more enriching experience. Who needs schedules and deadlines anyways? Not this girl!  

PS: I have lost an amazing 15lbs and Chris has lost 20lbs since starting this new diet just three weeks ago! And that's without exercising (since I can't "exert myself" till next week, according to my dr.)!

My Hero : )

Me, In Bed

Ha ha! Made you look!
But no, really, this one's about bed, just not in the way you were hoping. Still in Week #1 of my little project and working on boosting energy and getting healthy. Day #5 of the raw foods diet is going swimmingly. Picked up a wonderful little uncooked book titled "The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book" filled with everything from veggie pasta (no, not vegan . . . no soy or tofu here) to key lime pie and mint chocolate cheesecake. The morning barley and alfalfa is getting easier to swallow, thanks to Chris' amazing juicing skills. We may have ruined Bonnie, though. She was drinking Odwalla carrot juice just fine a week ago, but once we got our juicer (not the greatest, but the it's what we could afford) there was pulp in her juice and now she won't go near the stuff, even when we strain it. We're considering putting her back on Odwalla until we're able to get a good juicer.
And speaking of Bonnie, she's really put a kink in my "getting better sleep" plan. Phase one was to tackle the bedroom itself. My bedroom has a tendency to be the catch-all for the rest of the house. If someone rings my doorbell, the dog and whatever laundry I was folding get rushed back to our room. Ideally, every one's shoes come off when they walk in the door. Unfortunately, this leads to the inevitable pile of shoes in the front hall. The kids are great about picking them up for me, but I trip over them later because they usually just toss them right inside the doorway. In my frustration (and usually because my hands are full), I kick the shoes to the side, building yet another shoe pile in my room. Things that don't match any other room of the house end up in there, that big box of outgrown clothes that needs to go to Goodwill got shoved in there. Like I said, catch-all. But no more! A master bedroom should be a sanctuary, a place for adults only. So I spent all of Sunday afternoon putting away that laundry, moving the boxes out and attempting to restore the calm to the master bedroom. With the bedroom in order, it was time to move on to phase two: getting to bed earlier. Chris and I have a very bad habit of staying up way too late. We've never been good at keeping schedules, so dinner all too often falls around 7pm, making bed time for Chris and I after 11. My new mini-resolution (as part of the larger boost energy/get healthy resolution) is to have dinner ready no later than 5:30. If we eat dinner early, we'll have plenty of time to go for our after dinner walk, get all the kids bathed and in bed by 9 and retreat to our little adults-only sanctuary by 10. With five hours between dinner and bed time, we'll have to go to bed early out of either exhaustion or just sheer boredom : )
While it all looks great on paper, even the best laid plans can be completely obliterated by a toddler. She has absolutely no desire to go to bed at 8:30 because it's still somewhat light out. At 9, when it's nearly dark, she starts to get grumpy. The more you try to get her to bed, the more she fights it . . . and the more she fights, the later we all end up getting to bed. It's a vicious cycle that I don't really know how to end. So for now, we will stick with the plan and hopefully she'll get the memo at some point. After all, shutting off the tv and just laying in darkness while she cries herself out is much better than falling asleep on the couch at midnight with the tv on and waking up at 3am and trying to haul yourself to bed.

Just You and Me and the Beezer Makes Three

It's officially week two of being a single child household and I must say that it's definitely different. My days are incredibly quiet, which I didn't expect. Bonnie is usually the noise maker in the house, so I assumed taking Luke and Belle out of the picture wouldn't change much. I was wrong, which is a good thing : ) Bonnie hasn't had to fight for or demand my attention, she hasn't been bossed around and told to "stop it" every five seconds, and she can play whatever she wants and she's not annoying anyone. She's calmed down so much that she's like a whole new kid sometimes!
On the flip side, while it has certainly been quieter and calmer, it hasn't necessarily been easier. There's no one else here during the day to play with her and entertain her . . . just me. While I absolutely love having all this Beezer time, my productivity hasn't exactly sky-rocketed. Take this blog, for instance. I had hoped that I could write at least every other day, but the second I sit down to the computer, she's climbing all over me or darting back to Luke and Belle's room to try to sneak some of their toys. When I try to fold laundry, there's no one to keep her from unfolding it. I have to get up before dawn if I want a shower, or else wait until Chris gets home.
So while having a temporary three person household has been a nice respite from the normal chaos, I'm really starting to miss my other munchkins. Luke always greets me with a hug and Annabelle lives in this zany alternate reality that makes for interesting and hilarious conversations.
So, T-minus ten days and counting . . .