Week 3: I'd rather not talk about it

Week 3 was not a great week. I didn't lose any weight, I barely read out of my current book, this is only my first blog of the week, and I spent more money than I should have. Even though it was a disappointing week, I know what went wrong and what I can change next week. Here are the three major factors:

1. I need to drink more water. I worked out for one hour five days this week and only drank about 20 ounces of water each day. That is just not enough. Diet Coke should not be used as a substitute. (I say this as I drink one right now.)

2. I shouldn't stress about things I can't control. This week I retired from a ministry I was a part of for 10 years, and I know that is what God called me to do, but I also know that there are a lot of people that aren't happy with the decision or the timing. But here's the thing: it was God's decision and God's timing, so I don't need to stress out over the fact that people don't agree with that.

3. I should not eat all you can eat tacos. That just opened the door for birthday cake, Ben & Jerry's, cookies, and too much more. Now that I look back on it, I should have gained about 75 pounds this week.

I'm excited about a well-hydrated, stress-free week next week with no appearance from the words "all you can eat" unless it's celery.

Week 2: Frustration

Week two has been frustrating.

I've had headaches all week, which has kept me from reading, so I have some major catching up to do. I started reading Emma, and my goal is to have it done by a week from Sunday because KCPT is airing a movie version that night. Out of 55 chapters, I have read two. I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

My determination kept me from using my headaches as an excuse not to work out, and I managed to get all of my workouts in this week. I'm using the Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start DVD, and it's kicking my butt! I've also spent 30-40 minutes working out at the ROC Fitness Center every day, which is also kicking my butt. My feet hurt so bad I think I would welcome amputation. Now that I've put in the work, what kind of results did I get? Well, if you watch Biggest Loser, you know that week two is notoriously bad for weight loss. My week two wasn't horrible, but it wasn't as good as I was hoping for. I lost .8 pounds bringing my total loss to 3.4 pounds in two weeks, which I'm proud of.

Hopefully week three will be a better one!

The Blogging Church

A few weeks after starting a blog and Facebook and Twitter accounts for my church, I decided I should know how to make the most of them, so I went to Amazon.com to find some good reads. I made a list of about 75 books that I want to read, but only ended up buying two: The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Less Clutter. Less Noise. by Kem Meyer. Those two books moved from flat surface to flat surface in my house for a couple months until I decided to add them to my 2010 reading list. And being the nerd that I am, I was actually reading The Blogging Church when the new year began.

The Blogging Church gives a great overview of the what, why, and how of blogging. So much that if you are an experienced blogger and have decent computer skills, you'll be able to skim and possibly skip several chapters. If you've never blogged before and you want to begin, buy this book, even if you aren't blogging for church. The same principles will still apply.

I think when people start writing about technology it's easy to get wordy, but Brian kept a good pace going throughout the whole book, and to help break up the book, after every few chapters is a five question interview with a blogger and/or pastor, all of whom had a slightly different take on blogging.

The great part about this book is that it tells you what to do, but the best part about this book is that it tells you what not to do in "Build a Really Bad Blog." That was my favorite chapter of the entire book because I have done a lot of those things and probably will still commit a few offenses here and there.

I'm not an avid non-fiction reader, but I do enjoy a book I can learn and grow from, and that's what I got out of The Blogging Church. It made me excited about my job, the church's blog, and my church, as well as excited about my own blog.

Well begun is half done

According to my mom, Mary Poppins was my favorite movie as a kid. Looking back on things, it shows!

I didn't mind cleaning my room because "Snap! The job's a game." My sister and I would sip our cough syrup from the sides of our spoons, although the flavors were never strawberry or lime cordial. I love umbrellas, but I have never found one that will take me up into the air. Carousels used to freak me out and I never knew why, but it's probably because I thought the horses were going to jump off the ride and take off into the countryside. Probably my favorite part about the movie is how much Uncle Albert (Ed Wynn) reminds me of my grandpa. The resemblance in appearance and laugh is uncanny.

I watched Mary Poppins the other day while struggling to write a few articles for a newsletter, and something struck me in the movie: "Well begun is half done." I'm not sure if I got it from the movie or it's just my obsessive compulsive tendencies, but I cannot finish writing anything unless it is well begun. I have struggled with newspaper articles until I had the perfect lead, and the introduction to research papers had to be written before the rest of the pages could flow.

But this week I painfully tried to ignore that writing philosophy. I threw together some empty phrases to get me started and I tried to begin attacking the middle paragraphs. Let me just say that four days later, the article was still not written. This morning I deleted all of the nonsense I had previously written and set out to begin again. About twenty minutes later, I had my opening paragraph done, half of the article written, and the rest of the article in my head.

Mary had it right all along. I guess she really is practically perfect in every way!

The Rabbit Attack

There I was minding my own business at my parents' house when out of nowhere my sister's 8-foot-tall rabbit hurdled toward me and ripped my hand off at the wrist.

Well, maybe that's not how it happened.

Over the years, my family has had dogs, cats, fish, turtles, rats, frogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, chickens, and ducks. I've been beaked by a chicken, bitten by dogs, clawed by cats, and had allergic reactions to rats (go figure!), but never in my life have I been so mistreated by any living creature than I was last night by my little sister's Champagne d'Argent rabbit, Antoinette.

Rabbits are supposedly cuddly little woodland creatures that avoid human contact because they are poor, defenseless animals. WRONG! I attempted to pick up this poor, defenseless animal when it began flailing its front paws in the air while digging its back feet into my flesh. My knee-jerk reaction was the drop the monster, and, luckily, for her sake, she landed on the couch. Needless to say, Antoinette and I will not be exchanging pleasantries any time soon. I spent the rest of the evening without feeling in two of my fingers and with excruciating pain from the impaled area on my wrist.


Everyone roots for Bugs Bunny, but I'm with Elmer Fudd. He's had it right all along.

Week 1: So Far, So Good

We are officially one week into the new year and I have already made some notable progress toward my goals.

The rewarding feeling of extreme stiffness in my legs is a result of working out every day this week, both at the gym and at home. After today, I'll only have to work out 95 more times this year to get that snazzy t-shirt I have my eyes on. According to the scale, the hard work is paying off. I am down 2.5 pounds this week. That may not sound like a lot (especially when you watch The Biggest Loser and they're dropping 15-30 pounds in the first week), but that's a pretty good number for me. I'd be ecstatic if I could lose that every week!

I am almost done with my first book of the year - The Blogging Church. I'm very excited about everything I'm learning and how I'm going to apply it to First Baptist Raytown's blog. I had to laugh because there was an entire chapter about building a bad blog, and I'm pretty sure they checked out our blog before writing it. The FBR Blog is fine for the first blog the church has had, but it is incredibly horrible in the grand scheme of the blogosphere. I'm hoping to change that. Check out the progress at fbrblog.wordpress.com.

Well, one week down. Fifty one to go. As long as my legs don't feel like this the whole time, I think it's going to be a very productive year.

I am resolved

I am resolved not to have New Year's resolutions this year; instead, I have decided to set goals for 2010. I have compiled a list of goals that include such stereotypical items as losing weight, reading more, and becoming debt-free. Why do I think you care? I don't think you care. In fact, I know you don't; however, I also know that if I write down my goals where someone else can see them, those goals are more likely to be reached. So what are these goals?

1. Blog at least twice a week. One down for this week!

2. Become debt-free. Thankfully I never had a huge amount hanging over my head, but I'm much more keen on the idea of no amount.

3. Save more and spend less. I've found that I spend a lot on really ridiculous things like tons of movies and books, which I have no time to watch or read.

4. Read at least 24 books. I love to read, but never make time to do it. The goal is to read at least 12 fiction books and 12 non-fiction books this year. (Seeing as how goal #3 has already been set, my reading list will be comprised of books I already own.)

5. Lose 30 pounds. I took off 20 pounds in six months last year, so I think I'm up to the challenge of 30 pounds in 12 months. (I say that now, but when the cookies start calling, I might be singing a different tune.)

6. Become a ROC Star. No, I don't mean a rockstar. I have no ambition of singing in front of anyone. If I work out 100 times in 2010 at the ROC Fitness Center, I'll be named a ROC Star and get a snazzy t-shirt ... and bragging rights of course!

I think that's enough to keep me busy for a year. I'll help fulfill goal #1 by blogging occasionally about my progress on goals #2-6, so hopefully, for your sake, my progress will be speedy and full of interest.