Welcome to a new year (and all that cliche stuff)

Well friends, 2020 is over and done...but not all that much has changed yet in 2021. What next?

It is time for a new me. The old me is pretty worn out. She is sort of like an over-loved ragdoll: she was dragged through the mud; her eye fell out and had to be sewed back on; her shoe went missing ages ago; and at one point all her stuffing came out and her owner’s mother had to stuff her full of new stuffing, except she got overstuffed. Through it all, she continued to smile stoically, but in her heart of hearts, she has had enough. It is time for her to retire to the island of misfit toys, and a replacement to take her place.

So folks, that’s me, trying to bring some order to the chaos, trying to clean myself up and move forward. There are a lot of things I need to tackle this year, but I decided that the numero uno thing is my weight. It is atrocious how long I have allowed myself to eat my feelings. More than that, I have eaten most of my feelings over men who were hardly worth it, no correction, definitely not worth it.

I have struggled with my weight since I was a child. Doctors always told me I was overweight and needed to change my habits. They seemed to think I sat around all day popping chocolates like Vicodin. Ok, so sports weren’t my strong suit, but I had hit 12th grade reading level by the age of 10, I knew how to bake any number of cakes, I could sew myself a dress, and crochet a potholder. Besides, I grew up in South Texas, where the average temperature is like 95 everyday, and that’s before humidity. It was dangerous to be outside too long chasing one of those stupid balls people get so obsessed with. My mom warned me if I didn’t make changes when I was young, that it would be so much harder when I got older.

Does 26 still count as young? Or does it count as older? I definitely feel older, and the task definitely does seem daunting, but I lack the perspective of someone older, so it is hard to say.

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Is this one of those blogs where the girl tries really hard to accomplish something and fails for a while only to succeed in the end?

Gosh, I hope so. I wish my life could be so cliché.

Is this one of those blogs where I learn wayyyyy too much information about someone I only vaguely know, but my voyeuristic tendencies prevent me from looking away?

Probably. My life is an open book. WYSIWYG = What you see is what you get.

Is this one of those blogs where the person writing is totally self-absorbed?

Absolutely. I don’t think there is anyone who decided to write a blog who is not self-absorbed a bit. Otherwise, why would you write something that no one thought was good enough to publish, but decide to self-publish it anyway and ask all of your nearest and farthest contacts to read it? Also, I’m an only child. Need I say more?

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So what’s the plan?

Gosh reader, you are impatient, I was just getting to that.

1. Cook healthy food

2. Exercise at least three times a week for one hour, moving towards more

3. Become spiritually fed by delving deep into God’s Word

4. Read 50 books

5. Clean up the black hole room

6. Mark progress by writing this blog with total of 2 followers

a. Follower #1: my Mom – my #1 fan

b. Follower #2: a 30-year-old Zimbabwe man who thought this was a subscription for librarian porn (hey, you do you Mr. Zimbabwe!)

So I guess that’s that. Seems pretty simple, just do that, and everything will work out fine, right?

Yeah cool, so how do I do that?

Healthy Eating

I love eating healthy and I love cooking, but I hate washing dishes. My boyfriend has promised to wash all the dishes (yes, you! Its on the internet now, so it must be true!). That will be a big help toward that end. A fellow blogger (I love how I say fellow blogger as though I am already well-established and renowned in the community, when this is my first post) has created some amazing weekly meal plans featuring breakfast, lunch and dinner for about 1000 calories a day with a schedule and a grocery list. She notes that weekday breakfast and lunch are intended for one person while all dinners and weekend breakfast and lunch are intended for a family of four. Well, I live with my cat, who prefers kibble. My boyfriend usually joins me for dinner, but we are definitely not a family of four, so I think this may need some adjustment.

I went ahead and bought the whole list this week and it cost about $150. That’s about $7 per meal, if it was just me. Considering I should have some hefty, freezable leftovers, I would say its pretty darn cheap.

Woman cannot live on 1000 calories a day, or at least she shouldn’t, so I am supposed to add some snacks, desserts and alcohol into the mix. This wiggle room is where things will get tricky for me, because I love dessert and snacks. I have made some healthy bean dip with baked tortilla chips as well as some Greek yogurt muffins. I’m hoping these will tide me over as snacks this week.

This post now seems about as long as a generous distant contact would read, so I will stop here for tonight, and address each item individually this week while updating you on my progress. I know you will be waiting with bated breath.