Tuesday FACED Freewrite

I wrote a whole email for my FACED accountability group, and I thought I would cut and paste it here. It is fun to just review the summer and especially JULY! 

Here is the letter:

I am going to report my food daily for you starting today.  Here is a brief update on the other things in FACE. I realize that they are always really good, but the FOOD is the main thing I need accountability in so this is a general summary, and the rest of my reports will focus on the "F" only! 

I always seem to have ACED the bottom four (GET IT?), but I FALL FLAT on my FACE with FOOD!

A(cademic): Reading daily. On track for my 52 books in 52 weeks. I am reading lots of anatomy, pain management, and Pilates stuff. May go back to school for a Personal Training Diploma (more than just a certification with hands-on experience in a club setting with a personal trainer mentoring me) so I am trying to get ready for school Mon-Thurs 9:30 – 2:30 from October to March. Also going to a four day listening prayer conference in Colorado and then on to Glen Eyrie for another three days to have a refresher for my counseling practice. J

C(ommunion with God and people): Daily SLOW time (Stop, Listen, Obey, Worship). Trying to “Walk for the World” in August and forgot to Sunday and Monday. Also finishing a Revelation study I started maybe 10 years ago (four parts and very long so stopped at part three)? Meeting with girls every other week for prayer and crafts.

E(xercise): Lots of body work as I prepare for the Pilates certification on August 14-16. I am also doing MELT (please google – it is PHENOMENAL and left me with ZERO pain anywhere in my body). Also doing Foundation Training (great for your core – google). I have not done as much cardio because of a sprained ankle and all the body work I am doing, but I am trying to get to more this month as I gained a little in July.

D(aily care of family and self): LOTS of “Hearth and Home” for July – new carpet for living room and hallway, painted living room and hung new pictures, rearranged furniture, stripped wall paper and painted boys’ room (I have directed this for my kids rather than me doing the labor, and they have had a blast together doing it), painted bathroom ceilings and skylights because of mold, finished my 25 year Christmas album (just need to journal in it, but that will be very quick since I was only two Christmases behind), got all our European Grand Tour pictures into one album, but I still need to journal them in August, decluttered my closet so year round clothes all fit in there (rather than having to change in and out in Fall and Summer), decluttered most of my file drawers (one file drawer full left) and moved the file drawer to a perfectly fitting alcove that had a chest of drawers full of unusable cassette tapes and old videos. My son is transferring the videos to digital, and I am throwing away the cassette tapes with abandon! Rearranged the furniture in the office and installed a TREADMILL DESK (I had saved money for our 25^th anniversary, but we ended up having a very cheap four day vacation with free lodging for half of it so I used the extra to buy this that will help my back and my waistline!). I am going to move my counseling room down to the guest room and taking out the double bed futon there and installing a fold up single bed futon that can be neatly stored under desk. I need to think about comfortable counseling chairs down there (I think I do have one already that Michael is using for the summer. (Oh, I also have a little side table because I don’t have a place for the counselees to put their tea, and now I do. Oh joy!). I also am moving all the boys' albums into their bedroom to do with what they choose. This will free up one of the half book cases in the guest room. Oh, I also got a bedspread for our bedroom after FOUR YEARS of not having one (just threw a queen sized comforter down there). I also used a tapestry that would no longer go over the mantle and had been in the closet for three years over our bed, and it matched perfectly! Why did I not think of this before? I also did a photo wall collage next to the tapestry of our family. LOOKS BEAUTIFUL! I am so happy with all the decorative changes we made in July, but it was a BUSY month!

I still need to:

1) Journal in all albums (including the last of the kids’ albums that I am committed to doing until Paul is 21)

2) Declutter the chest of drawers

3) Go through all CD’s and DVD’s and toss

4) Direct going through all VHS tapes for Michael to transfer

5) Declutter kitchen stuff and get all kitchen stuff in the kitchen versus some in the garage and some upstairs

6) Declutter pantry

7) Go through chests of drawer in office and use that for space

8) Declutter papers in file drawer in kitchen and make that the “Current stuff” filing while making the one in the office for old tax stuff and the guest room for archival stuff. Still thinking through the paper stuff as that decluttering book says to toss EVERYTHING!

9) Go through the mementos drawer, action packers full of my grandparents and parents stuff and be ruthless about pictures and stuff that seems valuable but means nothing to me (That will be the hardest thing).

10) Go through bathrooms and toss old medicines and make up (I did this not too long ago so it should not be TOO hard).

11) Touch up wall paint in guest bathroom

12) Paint one wall in the master bedroom

13) Declutter papers in the remaining one drawer in the metal filing cabinet. I think I will have cut all the papers in HALF in the two we have done so far!!