The Nelson Narrative

2019 Resolutions I've said it before but I love the start of a new year.  I'm always excited for a fresh start and I have lots of motivation for new projects and weight loss.  If only it would last more than a few weeks.  Sigh.  Here are my resolutions for 2019:    Lose weight.  Always my #1 resolution, every year.  I don't care how much, I just want to start 2020 lighter than I am today (and then keep going from there). Have more date nights.  Now that the girls are old enough to stay home alone for up to a few hours I figured we can do some earlier happy hour type stuff close to home instead of paying a babysitter for an evening out.  We will still do that occasionally, but being able to do something earlier in the evening and not have to get a sitter (if we're going to leave them alone we prefer it to be earlier in the day, not late at night) will be a great way to make more date nights feasible. Spend more...

It's the first of the month and time to see how I'm doing on my resolutions. Grocery Spending I've been trying to cut spending/save on groceries through better meal planning/shopping sales/using more coupons, etc.  The first step was to track all of our grocery spending.  Every time one of us came home from the grocery store I wrote down what we spent.  The grand total for January was $756.34.  That includes things like paper towels and toilet paper, cleaning supplies and toiletries.  My goal for February is to come in under that, which on one hand might be easy because it's a shorter month (a whole two days shorter with it being leap year), but on the other hand we have the girls' birthday party so that will skew things a bit. Waking/Going to Bed Schedule I had made good progress on getting the girls on an earlier waking/going to bed schedule.  They were consistently getting up between 7:40 and 8:10, usually right around 8:00, and they were in b...

Two of my New Year's resolutions are going pretty well so far (although I realize it's very early in the game).  First, I'm down 3.4 pounds!  Plus the 1.4 I lost right before Christmas (that is, the 1.4 of the original 2.4 that I didn't gain back), for a total of 4.8. Secondly, the girls are getting to bed and waking up earlier.  I started waking them up a little earlier each day, and the last few days they have gotten up on their own a little earlier still.  For instance, Sunday and Monday I woke them up at 8:50.  Tuesday it was 8:45.  Wednesday they got up at 8:30 on their own, and Thursday Olivia got up at 8:20 on her own and Kayley got up at 8:30.  Today they both came in my room and woke ME up at 8:08 (I had been getting up between 7:00 and 7:30 until today). So, it's working!  No more sleeping until 9:00 or 9:30.  And as a byproduct of getting up earlier, they are going to bed a tad earlier, also.  Last night I had th...

I went to look at last year's resolutions to do a re-cap and for once I never made any.  Excpet to lose weight.  That's a given every year.  Here's my resolutions for 2012: Lose 20 pounds Get more organized Get the girls on an earlier going to bed/waking up schedule Use more coupons/try to save more on groceries by meal planning around sales, etc./spend less in general Call my dad more and send him more pictures (sorry, Dad!) I also have a list of projects I/we plan/hope to get done in 2012: Replace the girls' toddler beds with twins, paint and redecorate their room. Hang curtains in our dining room and bedroom (we've been in our house 4 years and still haven't done that!) Purge/de-clutter/reorganize the entire house and garage.  Did a bunch of that today and it felt great. Finish putting photos in albums and/or scrapbook (I've had piles of photos just hanging around in envelopes or boxes for years and I finally started but didn't finish). ...

Here are a few of the resolutions I made for 2010.  Let's see how I did: One was to lose 22 pounds.  Hey, I did it!  Oh wait-I think I meant I wanted to actaully be down 22 pounds.  I've definitely lost at least 22 pounds, but it's been the same 3 or 4 pounds over and over.  Guess that doesn't count... Another was to read more.  My goal was 15 books.  I read 14 1/2.  Shoot.  So close.  If only the girls still napped I surely would have exceeded my goal.  Oh well. Guess what my resolution is for 2011 (See #1 above)?  4 1/2 months until our Hawaii trip so I need to get on it.  My goal is to lose about 17 or so by then.

One of my new year's resolutions was to read more.  It took several days into the new year to get going but I finally did and recently finished To Kill a Mockingbird which, no, I had never read in High School or any other time.  Now I am reading Eat, Love, Pray which I am thoroughly enjoying.  It's amazing how much reading you can get done when you give up Farmville and Cafe World on Facebook!  OK, I haven't given them up entirely but I have cut WAY back.  Although I'm never going to be one of those people who can read 50+ books a year or go on a weeks vacation and devour 5 or 6 (or 10) books, but I'll be happy to read one a month for the whole year.

Here are my New Year's Resolutions for 2010: Lose 22 pounds.  I am already on day 4 of the 30 Day Shred and it's still 2009.  I'm going to shoot to do it 5 days a week for 6 consecutive weeks, just like I did this time last year. Read more.  Let's see...I think I read about 5 1/2 books last year, mostly in the summer, so I'll shoot for 7 this year. Get organized.  I still have to figure out what specifically I need to do but I just know I need to be more organized in all areas. Spend more time with friends. Now, here are some specific tasks that I want to accomplish in 2010: Paint the living room. Paint the hall. Hang curtains in the living room and our bedroom Put up shelves in the powder room (to put knick-knacks, candles, etc. on) Put up a shelf or shelves in the office/spare bedroom Organize the linen closet Sell some of my model horse collection on Ebay Take the girls to the Children's Museum