Taking Back My Time

So recent events have caused me to re-evaluate how my time is spent. I've realized that I can get so much more done if I am more intentional with my time. So I began to evaluate the things I spent my time on. The biggest time waster on my list was Cityville and Frontierville. What had initially started as filling time while pages loaded had become a game that I played whenever I was online and often before bed (even when I was dead tired). Upon evaluating I realized that it was no longer fun any more, it was just habit. A habit of random clicks that I didn't have to think about. An addiction that I usually didn't go more than 2 days without spending some time on. So today I blocked all the games that don't challenge my brain. I then proceeded to unfriend the people who I had only added because they were regular players of said games (thus making blocking the games a more permanent solution as those games require a lot of assistance from other players). So I'm taking back my time. I only get so much and wasting it with random clicking that is no longer entertaining is not something I need to do. I have so many things I want to do but think I can't because of time, yet here I was, making sure I always had time for mindless clicking when I could have been crocheting stuffed Wookiees or other fun creative projects that engage my brain.

Things I Can Use My Time For:
Finishing the baby blanket for my friend's kiddo.
Crocheting all my little Star Wars stuffed animals. (3/3 - Wookiee done - 9 others to go)
Making the hat Melina designed. (3/3 - done and she loved it!)
Finishing my first knitting project.
Working on my Tauntaun. (3/3 - I made progress on the sculpting of the head)
Working on Hubby's Org. 13 coat.
Making a baby blanket for my niece to be.
Learning how to draw people better.
Learning more Japanese.
Work on my novel.
And so many other projects I am working on.

So I only have so many hours I am awake in the day and I want to be more intentional with how I use them. I'm excited about better utilizing my time. I will let you know what gets completed in the month of Feb.

2011 Goals

I completed 729 miles in 2008 on my elliptical.

My goal for 2009 was 1000 elliptical miles - I hit 500 miles in 2009 and completed my first half-marathon.

So for 2010 my mileage goal was 800 miles. I only clocked 220 miles. I also planned on completing another half-marathon in 2010. I ended up doing the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in San Francisco instead of the Spokane Half. I wanted to beat my Spokane Half-Marathon time from 2009 of 4:39:35 and I did! My NW1/2M time was 04:19:23! It was a fun time with my Mum & Sis-In-Law and our supportive men!

My goal for 2011 is to clock 729 miles like I did the first year I got my elliptical. I plan on doing another half-marathon and would like to improve my time again (if it's the San Fran one I really need to hill train this time).

I lost and kept off 11.7 pounds in 2008.

In 2009 I lost and kept of an additional 3.1 pounds bringing my total pounds gone to 14.8.

In 2010 my minimum weight loss goal was a pound a month to beat my 2008 personal best. I did it. I lost and kept off 12.7 pounds in 2010. That means 3 years in a row of ending the year lighter than I started it! Bringing my total weight loss to 27.5 pounds. Didn't achieve my big goal of a pound a week gone, but still celebrating those pounds kicked to the curb.

So my goal for 2011 is to continue my streak of ending the year lighter than I started it. I'm sitting at 248.5 and so happy to be under 250 pounds! My minimum weight loss goal is to lose 30.2 pounds, because that is the amount I need to lose still to win a bet (first person to lose 50 gets $150). And my big goal is again 52 pounds. A pound a week which would have me entering 2012 in Onederland (that would be under 200 pounds).

So anytime during 2011 feel free to ask me how I am doing towards reaching my goals and give me a kick in the pants if I need it. Thanks!

Big, Fun, Scary List for 2011

• Reach my goal weight of 145 lbs before 2012.
• Find and purchase a house (and move in).
• Finish my TaunTaun & Hoth costume.
• Finish my Organization 13 cloak (and hubby’s).
• Learn how to embroider and start embroidering either Zelda’s cloak or her dress.
• Finish my novel then edit away in order to submit for publishing before 2012.
• Become proficient* at 10 new songs on my bamboo flute.
• Become proficient* at 5 new songs on my ocarina.
• Become proficient* at 5 new songs on my guitar.
• Learn how to draw basic figures (human & beast) - tackling a different part of the body each month (hands, feet, eyes, mouth, arms, legs, tails, torso, hoofs, paws, teeth, ears).
• Learn Japanese. My score on the Transparent Language Japanese Proficiency Test was 31% and consisted of all guessing. My goal will be to achieve at least a 50% score by the year end.(http://www.transparent.com/learn-japanese/proficiency-test.Html) I also have a Japanese short story book. My goal is to read and comprehend at least one story by the end of the year.
• Maintain my blog weekly.
• Write 1000+ words daily.
• Crochet 2 baby blankets and the rest of my Star Wars amigurumi.
• Finish knitting my slippers.
• Get my Mom’s puzzle ornament website up and running.
• Conquer my misplaced fear of the scroll saw by helping her cut out ornaments.
• Clock 17 miles a week (walking, running, biking, elliptical, etc…).
• Finish my third Half-Marathon.
• Start learning Martial Arts.
• Win my second NaNo in November.
• Take my buddy up on getting Fencing lessons (Note to self: wear gloves so the last sword incident doesn’t repeat itself)
• Read at least 50 books this year.

Wow. My list is long. *adds in bit about not getting overwhelmed* If I achieve 1/3 of this list I will consider it a fantastic year, because most of these things have been on the want to do list for years and I just haven't done them. *raises glass* Here's to an awesome 2011! This list will probably get added to as I remember new goals I'd like to accomplish (or old ones I forgot about).

* means that I would be willing to perform the song in front of others and have (if I can’t find a willing audience there is always YouTube).

The $150 Bet & My First BodyRock Workout

So back in July ( or was it June?) I accepted a bet. My father, my grandfather, and I would workout to see who dropped 50 lbs first. I just found out my uncle is in on the bet too. So there are four of us working on dropping our excess weight. The bet was that the first person to that weight would collect $50 dollars from the others. So that means that when I beat them (I'm determined to do so!) I will have $150 dollars towards a new wardrobe for my slimmer self. My bet winning weight is 218.3 lbs - so I have about 40 left to go.

So a while back I found www.bodyrock.tv where Zuzana records her interval workouts and gives directions (and modifications) for us to try them in our home. I bought the gymboss interval timer a while ago with the intent to try her workouts, but it wasn't until today (several months later) that I finally jumped in and tried it.

Zuzana is incredibly fit. I am in the progress of becoming fit. Challenging Zuzana to any type of physical contest would result in me losing terribly (unless it was a cannon ball or bellyflop competition where having greater mass is to my advantage). So I was more than a little bit intimidated by her. However, I'd like my body to one day look similar to hers - thus, I decided, doing her workouts would be beneficial. So here I am all sweaty and gross at the end of my workout. I really, really wanted to quit, but quitting in the past has only aided me in getting to the unhealthy weight I currently sit at. So I pushed past what I thought my limit was and finished. Now I am one workout closer to a healthier body and winning that bet.

Brunette Beating Blonde Workout (that's what the video was called)
1.Flying high knees: 5-4-5-4
2.Side pike jumps: 45-28-15-26
3.Reverse crunch (modified): 13-13-13-13
4.Side step up: 32-32-10-10
I wanted to quit at this point,but quitting isn't going to help me lose my extra pounds. I was breathing pretty hard and felt like I'd lose the contents of my stomach if I went straight into the super girl push ups. So I did a 4 minute moving break. Before attempting super girl push ups on my knees. Did I mention I absolutely despise push ups?
5.Super girl push up (modified): 8-5-6-6

So this was my first ever BodyRock workout and it kicked my butt. I think I got a better workout just now then I did last Sunday walking the Nike Women's Half Marathon (maybe - the hills of San Fransisco kicked my butt too). This was just a different type of butt kicking workout. I now plan on incorporating more www.bodyrock.tv workouts into my routine. Onederland here I come!

Happy Birthday Mikey!

Happy Birthday Mikey! You would have been 23 today. My forever 13 adorable little brother. I love you so much! We had s'mores to celebrate your birthday today. Then Joey, Linda, and I went out to your headstone. We made sure to clean it up. Kandra, Jeffrey, Steven and Mom were out their earlier. They cleaned off all the pine needles and made a nice bouquet of fall flowers. It was a very nice day today. Sunshine and in the 80s - not the typical October weather, but I'm not complaining.

Work went well this morning. Then I went out to Grandma Susie's and Grandpa Ed's for lunch. Grandma made some delicious crab sandwiches. Then we hung out outside around the s'more fire. After visiting Mikey's grave we headed back into town. Stopped by to see Grandpa Larry in the hospital. He had a rough day, but Grandma is helping him through it. Grandpa kept telling Grandma Carolyn that she needed to hitch up the mules so that they could head home. He really wants to be home, but he has a lot of healing to do from his fall before he'll be able to leave the hospital. We are praying that he heals quickly and that he is nice to the nurses. Despite thinking he was in a barn ready to head out into eight foot snow on the ride home, he had good color and his vitals were much better than when he crashed this afternoon. He's strong and he's fighting and we are praying and God is in control. We are all off to bed now. Night!

Silly Snapshot

Star Wars crawl of a portion of my life :p

Just a silly snap shot of one aspect of my life.

Hobbies & Fandom - Harry Potter House Cup

Some people run around on broomsticks playing Quidditch to express their Harry Potter fandom. I'm not one of those people (though if any of my friends ever decided to organize a match, I could easily be one of those people). Instead, for the last eight weeks I have immersed myself into Harry Potter's world by competing in the House Cup. I was Head Prefect of Gryffindor this game. 'How do you compete in a House Cup?' might be the thought running through your head (other thoughts may include questioning my sanity, but I don't mind). The answer to that question is simple. At the beginning of the game you choose your house. A massive task list is then posted and your house has 7-8 weeks to complete as many tasks as possible. Following is a link to all the tasks my house completed (I'm Earwen_Lightrider if you want to know which ones I specifically did):

Completed Tasks for Gryffindor in House Cup 17

Some examples of tasks I enjoyed completing:

Redesign any famous piece of artwork (painting, statue, etc.) so it fits in the HP-verse. I don’t care how you do it – redraw, photoshop, whatever. An example of this would be replacing the Mona Lisa’s head with Dumbledore’s. May do up to 25. 100 points.

I did all 25 which you can view if you click on the above link, but the following are probably my favorites.




There were several musical tasks, including some parody songs, that are always a blast to complete. Which you can listen to here (songs done by me say so).

Go To FileFactory.com

I also did several writing tasks. So if you'd like to read the prank Fred & George pulled on Slytherin or what might happen if Gilderoy Lockhart (pre-memory wipe) became Headmaster of Hogwarts click here to take a look at my tasks or read through the task list and click on the ones that interest you as my fellow housemates did fantastic too.

Basically, each House Cup game is a way for me to challenge my creativity through my fandom based on prompts (the tasks themselves). It's a fun way to get my creative brain active and encourages me to try new things. Oh, and did I mention that I have a complete blast? House Cup competition is fun! So as I just finished submitting all the tasks for Gryffindor, I hope that we beat Slytherin & Ravenclaw (because Slytherin's winning streak really needs shattered), but even if we don't - we had fun! And that's how games should be.

~Nata