101 Things..... No problem!

I feel like I am on top of the world with my progress lately. I'm being inspired by other blogger's lists, friends creating and diving into their own new 101 lists, and even a couple of Geezers who are out there, seeing the world!

We are one week into Lent. I actually like Lent because I like a challenge (obviously), and I try to do something every year that I will have to push myself to stick to for 40 days. This year, I was a little stumped with what to do, until I came up with a brilliant plan. Maybe not brilliant, since there is no way for me to really MEASURE my success, but I feel super confident about my decision. No, I didn't give up religion, as I posted on facebook. (Sorry all those who were offended, it was meant to be a joke). I decided to not only give something up, but make it one of the seven deadly sins (and hopefully get bonus points with the Big Guy): I gave up SLOTH.

What the heck does that mean?

It is not unusual in my life to sit back and NOT do something just because I do not feel like it. Yeah, I shoooooould go to the gym, but The Golden Girls just came on TV! Or, I take the hassle-free route because it is simple. I know we just went grocery shopping, but ordering Chinese food is so much easier than cooking! .... I can go through that pile of papers later - just set it to the side with the others! But not during Lent! Now, this doesn't mean that I am going to the gym every single day and being the new June Cleaver, fixin' up some delightful dinner with a smile every night. What it DOES mean is that every time I think of doing something and then say "Nah...." without a good reason for why I can't do it, I am giving myself a boot in the butt to get up and do it anyway.

So far, I have gone to the gym, done a major cleaning job in the apartment, created a filing system for all of our important papers and documents (#57 on my list - complete with partitions and labels), tried a few new healthy recipes, paid off my credit card debt in full, set up my exercise ball at work to sit on instead of a chair, bought tickets to more Broadway shows (La Cage Aux Folles tonight!), logged every single thing I ate into a calorie tracker every day, and stopped drinking coffee. (The original goal was just to not BUY any of my coffee for one month so I would make it rather than purchase it, but if I am not drinking it at all, there is no reason to spend money on it!)

Here is a picture of the delicious FISH dish that I made last night! Thank you Cortney for sharing this recipe - it turned out great, and even Andy had a clean plate at the end of the meal. (This was a major feat for both of us, as we are not fish eaters in any way). Parmesan-crusted Tilapia with steamed vegetables and brown rice. Yum.


I am feeling good about this new motivation and the satisfaction I have been getting from being able to say "I actually got this DONE today", and I am looking forward to keeping the momentum going. I still haven't quite gotten to the point where I am springing out of bed at 5am to go to the gym and get home in time to make lunch before getting ready for work, but we're moving in baby steps here. Baby steps.