I'm Gonnas

Every year when the 1st comes around, I ramble off my list of 'I'm Gonnas'...I'm gonna do this and I'm gonna do that. Do you actually think I DO any of it? Of course not! It's just what you do that time of year...you make promises to yourself that you can't keep because you did absolutely no planning and didn't give it any more thought than..."Oh! It's the new year! I better come up with some resolutions!" Sure, there is always that little surge of motivation that comes with hitting January 1st, but it dies out pretty quickly. THIS year, however, I'm daring myself to be different. I'm daring myself to actually formulate a plan for the Transformation Of Andrea and maybe DO some of the things that I keep yapping about. Of course my fear is that I will yap about it on the blog and then just pretend I never said anything at all...remember my stint with The Biggest Loser at work at the beginning of the summer? Remember my fall committment to Weight Watchers? Well, we all know what happened with those. WW was a good one...until Thanksgiving hit. Then I went on the Thanksgiving/X-Mas binge...........I swear it was the homemade Chex Mix that did me in. It wasn't about self control or dedication...it was all that yummy Chex Mix-y goodness.

ANYWAY, in order for me to get anything done this year and hopefully end 2010 a better, healthier person than the way I am starting it, I have to come up with a plan. I've been thinking about all of the things that I would like to improve on or change in my life and created a pretty solid list.......boy, is it a doozy! Looking at it, you would think I was a crack whore running the streets of LA, stealing to make ends meet and wondering who all my babies daddies were. Don't worry, I'm not into crack, I make too much money to steal and I'm PRETTY sure I know who my babies daddies are............pretty sure....

Aside from creating the official list of 'I'm Gonnas', I decided that I also need to say HOW I'm going to accomplish these things. Of course things will probably change as the year progresses, but at least there is a starting point for each one. I hate saying, 'I'm gonna lose 300 lbs' with no idea of how to meet that goal. In this post I will outline what I want to do...and in a future post, I will talk about the 'hows', since those require more thought.

So here goes.......


I'M GONNAS
1. Lose 75lbs - I actually have more than this to lose, however my true goal is way more daunting. I want a challenge, but not a complete never-gonna-happen situation. When I look at what I 'should' be losing, it makes me want to eat a pizza. At least this goal only makes me want to eat half a pizza.
2. Drink More Water - If Diet Mt. Dew is considered water, I'd say I have this down pat...unfortunately, I couldn't find it in the list of water-like beverages.
3. Post Every Other Day On My Blog - Every day would be ideal...every OTHER day is more realistic.
4. Organize 24,000 Photos - Yes, this is the number of photos I have taken of my children. Keep in mind that I have not yet purged the blurry, never-want-to-see-that-again photos, so I have a lot of work to do!
5. Improve My SQL Skills - I've become quite the little computer nerd over the last year or so and am getting pretty good at navigating my way through a gazillion tables in the apps that I supoprt. Hoping to be able to run some more complex queries by the end of the year.
6. Learn How To Use My New Camera (Nikon D5000) -That's right folks...I got a new camera. My first official SLR! Of course I have no freakin' idea how to use it...which is why I had to add this to the I'm Gonna list.
7. Learn How To Use Photoshop - My Secret Santa was very nice to me and got me Photoshop. This is another incentive to figure out that camera...
8. Moisturize - Cracked, dry, wrinkly skin should be a good enough reason to moisturize...but it's not. I need to get over my no-products-on-my-skin issues and allow lotions and gentle face moisturizers to be my friends.
9. Wish Everyone A Happy Birthday...On Time - This one is going to be pretty damn hard...that's all I really have to say about it.
10. Pay Attention To Fingers & Toes - I suck at paying attention to fingers and toes...mine and those of my children. At the very least, I need to ensure everyone is trimmed each week. Waiting until I get scratched in the face or until Drew tells me my feet are animal-like, probably isn't the best way to handle this.
11. Cook At Least 5 Nights Per Week - I would love to eliminate eating out, but that really isn't realistic for our current schedules...so, my goal is 5 nights a week.
12. Bag My Lunch (More) - There is no way I will bag my lunch every day. Nice thought, but it won't happen. My goal is to bag my lunch more than I do today. I do pretty well eating at home on the days I telecommute, but when I go into the office I'm much more prone to grabbing something with my coworkers.
13. Ensure We Eat As A Family At Least 3-4 Nights Per Week - I think it's really important for families to eat together. With 2 young kids and 2 parents who work full time, that's not always possible. Lili and Will are like time bombs. Dinner better be cooked and on the table before they explode. I think we can manage to do this 50% of the time though.
14. Implement Love & Logic Techniques - I need to be more consistent in disciplining the kids, but I don't want to be an ogre. I want to feel better about how I am handling certain situations and not let my emotions dictate my reaction.
15. Try A New Recipe Once A Month - I would like us to start trying new dishes. It's good for the kids and I'm hoping we will actually like a few of them and can get some more variety into our lives.
16. Scrap A 2-Page Spread Each Week - I love to scrap and really want to keep up on things. One 2-page spread should be a piece of cake!
17. Create A Regular Cleaning Schedule - We live in a sty. We need a routine.
18. Take Meds At The Right Time Of Day - This one is pretty sad. All I have to do is take 1 pill... every morning...on an empty stomach...and with no other pills/vitamins/etc. Easy, right? Let's just say if I don't meet and maintain this goal soon, I probably won't be able to achieve # 1, since this is supposed to rectify my thyroid issues.