Ready for Lent!

I'm actually excited for lent this year! I'm excited about the idea of letting go of the rut that I'm stuck in. A rut that I feel is holding me back from living life more fully, as well as, keeping me from fully trusting God.

I'll admit that I'm scared too. Not only scared that I'll go back to my old ways, but also scared that I'll allow myself to be miserable for the changes instead of embracing what God has in store for me for making the changes. I know it's only 40 days, but I'm hoping those 40 days are a jump start to a better, more faith-filled life.

It almost seems silly that the couple things that I plan to give up are going to affect me so greatly. They really shouldn't, and in the past they wouldn't have affected me at all! Over the last few years I've slowly gotten in the habit of turning on the TV between 8 and 9 at night and watching until at least 11:00. It doesn't seem to matter what is on as long as I'm watching something to wind down from the day. A little TV wouldn't be bad, but I almost think it's become an addiction and that's not good! So for the next 40 days there will be NO television (for anyone in the family!) This is what I plan on doing instead:

*Reading: I've started to do a devotion each day, which I'd like to stick with, but I'd also like to read the Bible more. I'd also like to read more Christian books. I'd like to read some to help me stay focused on Christ-ones that relate to my personal struggles and will help me overcome them and others that are just for fun and send a good message.

*Family Time: I'd like to play more games with the kids...mostly. We do activities quite often and have reading time a couple times a day, but I'd like to just play more with the kids!

*Exercise: For some reason when I count calories, I don't exercise and when I exercise I don't count calories! I REALLY need to do both at the SAME TIME! LOL! I've been counting calories since the beginning of the year (and have actually lost ~10 lbs! YAY!), but haven't exercised, except for shoveling snow, and I just feel run down. I know I'd feel better if I were in better shape. I actually felt better last year exercising and being 10 lbs heavier...*sigh*

*Spring Cleaning: I have a list and I plan to get it done this year in a timely manner!!! I'd also like to keep a tidier, more organized home.

**I also plan to limit Internet time so that I'm not jumping on the Internet instead of doing all these things I have planned. I'm thinking 2 hours a day should be plenty of time online and only extending it for updating my blog and researching activities to do with the kids, then turning the computer off when my time is up. I even have a timer that I plan to use to make sure I stick to it!! :-)

The other thing that I'm giving up again is my diet pop! I became addicted to it when I lost weight after having the kids. I gave it up last year and I'm really bummed that I allowed myself to go back to it after I was doing SO WELL!! (It lasted at least a month or two past lent.) When I think back to lent last year, though, I HAD to stop drinking pop the first few days because I had my wisdom teeth out and the Vicodin helped me through the withdrawals the first week or so....this time I have to do it without Vicodin's help and with God's help!

It truly saddens me that I cling to these things so dearly when I should be clinging to God. I know it's going to be rough at first, but I'm sure with time and with putting my faith in God that I'll make it through...not only with 2 fewer addictions (a 3rd if you include the Internet), but also with a stronger relationship with God :-)

If you have ANY suggestions to help with ANY of this, please feel free to leave a comment! :-)

Odds & Ends

Just a little over a week left of lent and I'm still pop (soda) free! I've noticed the hardest times to avoid it are at restaurants, because I'd still like to order my diet Coke/Pepsi and at my parents' place! They have cans of pop easily available at any time, so that's tough...not as bad as it would have been at the beginning though! I hope that giving pop up for lent will kick-start healthier drinking and hopefully healthier eating! :-)

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So did anyone else notice that I tend to spell 'refrigerator' wrong? I didn't even realize it until after posting the St. Patrick's Day activities with the kids....and I couldn't even change it, because it was spelled wrong in the picture too! Needless to say, I was quite embarrassed! I now know that 'refrigerator' does NOT have a 'D' in it....and I'm pretty sure I'll never forget-LOL!

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I went for my first run this year last night! The kids went to bed early because they hadn't had a nap and Rich was home and suggested I run for my workout. It felt SO good to run again! I've been trying for the last couple years to get back into it, but my knees tend to start hurting and I have to stop for a while, then I don't start up again. Hopefully I can make it to a doctor soon and figure out what's up with my knees...I never had problems with them before having kids! Anyway, I made it 2 whole miles non-stop! I'm so excited! A little sore, but my knees are okay...so far. :-)

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So Rich gathered our chickens' eggs last night and brought them in to me saying he had 2-1/2 eggs for me. I could not figure out what he was talking about, until I saw this....

*The bigger of the eggs is actually a normal size egg*

We don't have little chickens to lay little eggs, yet somehow we ended up with a little egg! (Isn't it cute?) We haven't had chickens long enough to know all the little oddities about them and the eggs, so maybe this is common? Anyway, I thought it was neat and wanted to share! :-)

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With Easter coming up, I wanted to show you a couple things that Morgan has done.

She entered her first coloring contest through a local newspaper!

She painted this a while ago. I don't think she was trying to make anything in particular, but I like how it resembles an Easter bunny...sort of ;-)

Both Morgan and Blake saw the Easter bunny at the mall yesterday too. They were so excited to go see him, but when they got to him, all they would do is stand a good distance away and wave-LOL! They were still given bunny ear hats for visiting the Easter bunny and they loved wearing those bunny ears! :-)

Trying to kick a habit

For those of you who don't know, I'm addicted to diet pop (soda). Doesn't matter what diet pop it is as long as I HAVE IT! (My favorite is the one pictured though!) I started drinking it when I lost a bunch of weight 2 summers ago and haven't been able to kick the habit since.

I've tried cutting it out completely, but that lasted less than a day. I've tried switching from 2 liters to cans, so I could monitor what I drank and my drinking glass could be free of pop residue so that I would drink more water.....I ended up just drinking a bunch of cans!

Now I'm going to try to kick my pop habit with lent! I haven't participated in the custom of giving something up for lent in years, but decided that this year would be a good year to start it back up. I wasn't able to have pop after having my wisdom teeth out, and I haven't since last Monday, so I decided I'd just continue through the Lenten season.

My sister got me a water bottle for my birthday. It's a pink one, so I can't just hand it over to Rich and say he needs it more than I do since he is always working outside. (He wouldn't drink from a pink water bottle if his life depended on it....okay, maybe if his life depended on it, but you know what I mean. ;-) ) It will be great to take when I go shopping, so I don't give in and buy myself a pop.

I also saved up enough amazon gift cards through Swagbucks to buy myself a PUR flavor options water pitcher. It doesn't work too well, and the flavor is kinda non-existent, but it's something more than just water, for when I'm craving more, and I think I can get used to it.

So I've been pop-free for 7 (almost 8) days and I'm surviving. Starting tomorrow I'll have 40 more days to go. I know I can do it. I just hope it's enough that I'll never go back to drinking nothing but diet pop again! Wish me luck! :-)

What about you? Are you addicted to something that you're going to be giving up for lent this year? If not, are you at least going out and getting yourself a pączki to eat today for Fat Tuesday? I'm hoping Rich remembers to grab some for us between his 2 meetings tonight...not that I NEED it or anything-LOL! :-)