Practice makes habit?

If you practice enough, it becomes a habit. So I'm going to practice trying again.

Day	A.M.	Y/N	Noon	Y/N	P.M.	Y/N
Monday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	y
Tuesday	15 minutes cleaning	y	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	n
Wednesday	15 minutes cleaning	y	15 minutes gardening	n	60 minutes gardening	n
Thursday	15 minutes cleaning	y	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	y
Friday	15 minutes cleaning		15 minutes gardening		60 minutes gardening

• Finally got the hour of exercising (not gardening, but still burning calories). I had to work late, so I exercised late, but it got done.
• Yes! Finally got in a proper day's exercise :)

Back into the swing of things

Okay. A new week, a new start. I am going to try to go back to a more regular schedule. If I sound doubtful, it's because I'm not caught up on sleep and inconsequential details like that. But perhaps habit will get me back into the swing of things. Once I start exercising, it's easier to keep going.
I hope your week is going to go swingingly!

Day	A.M.	Y/N	Noon	Y/N	P.M.	Y/N
Monday	15 minutes cleaning	y	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	n
Tuesday	15 minutes cleaning	n	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	n
Wednesday	15 minutes cleaning	y	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	n
Thursday	15 minutes cleaning	n	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	n
Friday	15 minutes cleaning	n	15 minutes gardening	n	60 minutes gardening	n

Not so good. Lots of pressure to Get Work Done! Now! We Have Deadlines! The trouble with that is that this is the third project in a row that's used that line and it's getting old. Or I'm getting old. Or both. Fighting back.

Holy Week, a.k.a. Wholly Overloaded Week

Things look ominous. I'm scheduled to work a series of 15+ hours days this week. The database I'm working in at the moment has to be accessed through a wired network. I cannot use my laptop via a wireless connection. And I have a two bedroom house, the second "bedroom" is my office. It's where my computer network is set up. Everywhere else in the house, the Internet is accessible only through wireless.
And my niece just texted me to ask if she and her family could come stay this week.
On the plus side, I was honest with her. On the negative side, I think I've hurt her feelings. (She's never seen my house. I did try to describe it, but I'm not sure she quite believed me.) I temporized by saying that work would probably ease up by the end of the week, if she wanted to come by then.
So I might have to play hostess at the end of the week, when hopefully things will be less hectic. Which means I have to take time to clean the house, get in groceries, mow the lawn, trim the borders, and still work 15+ hours... oh all right. I'm whining. I know I'm whining. I should get a more reasonable job or find a way to explain things more clearly to my family in a way that does not hurt their feelings. Or become a tougher person.
Somehow, I will get through this week.

Day	A.M.	Y/N	Noon	Y/N	P.M.	Y/N
Monday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	y	15 minutes gardening	Y
Tuesday	15 minutes cleaning	N	15 minutes gardening	N	15 minutes gardening	N
Wednesday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	N	15 minutes gardening	N
Thursday	15 minutes cleaning	N	15 minutes gardening	Y	15 minutes gardening	N
Friday	15 minutes cleaning	N	15 minutes gardening	N	15 minutes gardening	N

Well, I knew it would be brutal. But at least it's over. Next week will surely be easier. I hope.

I could get so much done if I didn't have to work

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
- E. B. White

I could get so much done if people didn't insist upon asking me to get work done. Okay, whine over. (For now. You know I'm not really done.)

Day	A.M.	Y/N	Noon	Y/N	P.M.	Y/N
Monday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	Y
Tuesday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	Y
Wednesday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	Y
Thursday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	y	60 minutes gardening	y
Friday	15 minutes cleaning	N	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	N

Seeing progress again

An update. For the past few months, I've been following the Pretty Good Diet (TM). 100% alcohol free, 90% meat free, 80% caffeine free, 57.0002% sugar free. All the green leafies I can swallow.
It worked for a while. And by "a while" I mean a month.

The weight loss stats:
January: 9 pounds
February: 1 pound

Don't know about you, but to me that signifies a wee bit of a slow down. Something was off. So in March I started the part I was hoping to avoid. Yes, I started Writing It All Down. Everything calorie I ate. Every calorie I exercised. The lot. Plus, March being the start of Lent, I went 100% meat free and started fasting on Fridays.

(Word to the wise: do not attempt to engage me in civil discourse on Fridays.)

Me when I'm fasting

It ain't pretty, but intermittent fasting has definitely had an effect. So far, for March I'm down 8 pounds. (Yes, I know. Keeping it off is another matter. That is a problem for Future Merry.)

This week, I HAVE to focus on getting the garden into shape. So I'm upping the gardening to every day, as much as I can fit in. Even though that means gardening in the rain. I am acting on faith that eventually, one day, if I'm very, very good, it WILL stop raining.

Day	A.M.	Y/N	Noon	Y/N	P.M.	Y/N
Monday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	Y
Tuesday	15 minutes cleaning	N	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	Y
Wednesday	15 minutes cleaning	Y	15 minutes gardening	Y	60 minutes gardening	Y
Thursday	15 minutes cleaning	n	15 minutes gardening	n	60 minutes gardening	n
Friday	15 minutes cleaning	n	15 minutes gardening	n	60 minutes gardening	y

Argh. A pox and a plague upon people who insist on back-to-back-to-back meetings. I should go back to trying to fit in exercise in the a.m., except that would defeat the goal of getting up from the desk every few hours.

Work, work, work. No matter how much I do, there's always more. I let it get the best of me toward the end of the week, but that's okay. I'll try again next week.

Just give me the coffee and no one will get hurt

Mondays would be all right if it weren't for the fact that people expect me to get up out of bed. And then to top it off, they expect me to work. Really. What were they thinking?

So I've been lax about blogging. I've actually managed to keep up with the exercising, more or less, but the cleaning/organizing has been neglected. The dust bunnies are gathering in the corner, waiting their moment to jump in and take over.

Okay, I'll try this a bit differently.

Schedule for the week:

15 minutes cleaning
Yep

Day	A.M.	Y/N	Noon	Y/N	P.M.	Y/N
Monday	15 minutes cleaning	Yes!	15 minutes organizing	Yes!	60 minutes gardening	Yes!
Tuesday	15 minutes cleaning	Yes	15 minutes organizing	Yes!	60 minutes DVD	Yes
Wednesday	15 minutes cleaning	Yes!	15 minutes organizing	Yes	60 minutes gardening	Yes
Thursday	15 minutes cleaning	Yes	15 minutes organizing	Yes	60 minutes DVD	Semi-fail. 30 minutes
Friday	15 minutes cleaning	Yep	15 minutes organizing		60 minutes gardening	Well... 45 minutes. Game called due to rain.

Finally Friday

• early am: 30 minutes exercise DVD, arms and abs
• am: Get up from the desk and clean something
• noon:Get up from the desk and prune something
• pm: 30 minutes gardening, 30 minutes walking
• late pm:30 minutes yoga