I am a little behind here!  Guess just got caught up in life!

We had a quiet New Years Eve.  The younger two were out by 11 and my night owl (B) probably stayed up later than any of us.  On New Years Day we went to some friends house.  They had a few horses, so we tied up a sled to one of the horses and gave the boys a ride around the pasture.  They really enjoyed it.  Because the horse kicked up snow, they had to ride backwards, which added to the fun.

The boys went back to school on Thursday, January 2nd.  Ugh!  I guess given that Christmas was on Wednesday, it threw everything off.  From what a teacher told me, our school district does everything possible to avoid going to school the 2nd week of June.  I have always been in favor of starting later in Aug and getting out earlier in June.  However, this teacher had a great point - June can be such a questionable month with weather.  Why not go later into June and start in September, so we can enjoy all of the beautiful weather in August.  Either way, going back to school on the 2nd was a welcome relief to me but still felt like such a short break.

JR is staying busy.  As I expected, people are finding out about his self-employment and calling him up.  The guy that was hired to replace him at his last job is probably not going to work out.  So, looks like he will take back a few of his rental properties, at least for now.

I am going through my usual first of the year routine.  Getting organized, looking at my current situation and what I want to build on and what I want to change.  Last year my word for the year was intentional.  I made great strides in being deliberate about lots of things - financial goals, relationship goals, family goals.  This year I am striving to be prayerful.  So many times in my life I just make decisions, without really spending time praying for wisdom and guidance.  Even if it is taking 15 seconds to take a deep breath, pray and then proceed with a course of action.

This year I want to be more proactive in some life style changes.  Mid December I joined a gym, again.  This time it is a facility that is connected to a physical therapy office.  So, the PT patients use the gym and the staff are in and out during business hours.  Since most days I go in the afternoon, it has been nice to see the same people every day for they provide some accountability.  One of the gals has finished her course work to be a personal trainer but not yet taken the test or become certified.  She and I have had several conversations and we are going to meet later this week to come up with a plan for me.  She will be the one I check in with periodically to see how I am doing and what goals I am meeting.  I am excited.  I have been focusing on cardio and thought I was doing a good job.  Well, I found a HIIT program (high intensity interval training) workout online.  The goal is to push yourself 100% for short periods and then a longer recovery period.  My goal was 20 seconds of 100% and 40 seconds of recovery.  It just about killed me.  For the first time ever I hit my recommended max heart rate of 175.  It quickly dropped, but was crazy hard.  However, it felt amazing afterwards!  I have set up rewards for every 7 pounds I lose.  The scale is slowly moving.  I know that I am also building some muscle with the weights I am lifting.

Another thing I am hoping to be better about is cutting out the processed/packaged foods, as well as finally getting rid of harsh chemicals and making my own 'stuff' whenever possible.  My first experiment turned out awesome.  I found a website on making your own make-up.  Intrigued, I checked it out.  This was for facial powder - the loose kind.  Three ingredients....arrowroot powder, cocoa and cinnamon.  (I read that corn starch will work but arrowroot is much better).  I headed to local health food store and bought 63 cents worth of arrowroot powder, which was probably 1/2 a cup.  Then I played around with the cocoa and cinnamon to get the right tint.  The first use today was nice!  I am all for being good to the environment and all for cutting out harsh ingredients and all for saving money (63 cents versus my old $10 powder) but what I really love, is just being able to say that I made something myself.  Whatever that something is.  Now I am scouring the internet for my next DIY.

Off to the gym, just wanted to check in!