Get Healthy - Blood Work and doctor

I just went to the doctor this morning to get the results of my blood work. And like expected my cholesterol is high. (everything else is fine. My thyroid might be a tad low, but she said it fluctuated throughout the day so she's not worried).

My total cholesterol was 6.39. Normal range is 3.8-5.2.
Triglyceride was 2.18 (0.6-2.3)
HDL 1.06 (0.9-2.2)
LDL 4.34 (2.0-3.4)
Cholesterol ratio of 6.0 (which falls in 2x the average risk.) plus I think she said that with a family history they double that again?)

Anyway, the point was my cholesterol was high. And that I was at like a 3% risk of having a heart attack in the next 5 years or something (which seems kinda high, but she was saying it as if it was low).  She said if my LDL got above 5 then I'd need medication. So that's kinda nuts. She very much tried to be calm and explain things as if it was no big deal, but I kinda think it is.

So I'm googling how to reduce cholesterol. I know that exercise will help. Increasing fibre will help. Losing weight will help. Those will be my aims.


She also had a look at my Diastasis Recti. We debated just doing physio intensively and seeing if that made me happy, and then see a surgeon. Or to see a surgeon first to see their opinion. We opted for the second because I have tried physio and it got a certain degree better but that's it. I still may go with physio but I'd like to know if it's even feasible to repair it that way. So I'm quite excited to see what happens there.

Bad bad blogger

Oh geez. Leave for a weekend and let it all fall apart.  I did have a bit of an off week. But here's a recap:

Get in shape - last week I didn't do so good on the exercise. I was pretty busy and stressed at work, which is actually pretty rare, but I just didn't want to do anything at night.

Be present with family - oddly my husband and I had 2 date nights in the last week. We went out with a friend of his while his daughters stayed with the boys. We were home in time for bedtime so they hardly noticed we were gone! Then we traded babysitting with my sister on Saturday so went to a movie and supper then watched her baby while she went out.

Save money - well the first date night was unbudgeted. oops. The second was all on gift cards, but we did get a parking ticket I'm trying to fight. Groceries were cheap too, since we used a gift card, but I did bring my husband so it was more than it should be!

Learn meditation - basically nada. I do think of it as I'm going to bed, but by then I think I'm too tired and would just fall asleep.

GO - last week was rough. I was busy several nights, with curling and date nights, and just grumpy. Plus I discovered Downton Abby and watched a ton!

But this week is more on track!!

Friday Goal Check-In

I talked a bit about meditation, but here's how the rest of my goals are doing this week!

Get in Shape - I dropped the ball and didn't register for bootcamp at work earlier enough, now it's full. BUT I've been doing PIYO videos after the boys go to sleep. And by doing I mean I did it twice this week. I'm hoping to find the schedule you're supposed to follow and mostly do that. I think it's just a month, but most days. I'll give myself a little flexibility depending how the boys go to bed. I didn't exercise last night because I just wanted to do nothing since I was grumpy from work (another story). But I should have. So I'll set up a calendar.

Be Present with my Family - A bit of a bummer weekend since my husband is at a hockey tournament all weekend. But I made plans to take the boys to the dinosaurs with my sister Saturday morning. And Jack has gymnastics starting again on Sunday. So Jack has a special time, and we've got a family thing. I really should schedule some one on one time with Tom. He's been really needy lately and just wants Mom Mom Mom Mom. It's going to be a bit of a stretch for ME time this weekend since I'm solo parenting. But maybe we'll just let some things slide and have a big more screen time so I can chill. It is strange since I have basically no agenda this weekend. (which makes me itch, so maybe I'll make bread or clean out my closet or something).

Save Money - I haven't spent any money this week, at least on my cards. I bought milk with the change I found in my coat. But I'll need gas and groceries this weekend. So I need to get cash, and make a good list, referencing my menu plan. But I feel really on top of it so far. Plus we planned a free activity with the boys. I have a feeling we'll want to grab fast food lunch, so I guess I should plan ahead and pack a lunch? I can use my Timmy's gift card to grab an iced cap and/or donuts and still not spend money.

GO - The way I'm interpreting this right now is in terms of house cleaning. And since my husband had a couple days off this week he cleaned the house like crazy. So it doesn't look too bad. And I'm on top of dishes etc. So I guess the GO goal this weekend is to KEEP it looking like this until Sunday night. I do tend to make a big mess with my projects (baking bread). So I'll make sure to stay on top of it. PLUS in terms of the GO, I'm going to make sure to exercise this weekend. And get dressed! Haha! I have to say it because otherwise I won't!

Learn: Meditation - I tried to find some app that has guided meditations but didn't like any that I saw. So I might keep looking a bit, until I'm tired of the free Chopra ones. I did a dream one and I didn't like it much.

Meditation #1

So I did my first meditation last night. Well first for the new "goals". It was terrific!! I did a short guided meditation about gratitude from the Chopra Center. I laid on the floor in my living room, right next to my laptop, put a pillow under my knees and breathed. I don't know if it helped me be more grateful but I had a really cool experience where time stopped. The guy was listing things, and I got lost and there was a really long time between #4 and #5. It was kind of like sleeping or dreaming. Just felt awesome. Reminded me of a time when I was in a yoga class and there was a guy chanting and I had a crazy out of body experience where I felt like I was hovering above my body and looking down at myself.  I'm excited to do another meditation tonight. I'll report back on my experience tomorrow!

Soo... meditation!

So January's learning task is meditation!  I have toyed with mediation a few times in the past. As in decided it was my new thing, and then proceeded to do it twice. We'll see if it sticks better this time.  I've found the following links with some guided meditations I want to try.

http://www.chopra.com/ccl/guided-meditations


http://www.mindfulmuscle.com/5-top-guided-meditations/#14dZdChS79I8qmYx.32


The reason I decided I wanted to try meditation as one of my first goals is not about the benefits. But rather because I had goals in other areas of my life, but couldn't come up with one for myself. I found this website that had 7 areas of life to set goals. They were:
Energy, Spiritual, Physical, Mental, Emotional, Legacy, and Wealth.
(if you pay attention most of my goals tie into one of these areas! I'm sure I'll come back to this!)

So I was working through this and really liked it. The one thing that seemed quite different was the set an ultimate goal, rather than just a new year's resolution or whatever. Sort of what you want to feel or achieve in your whole life.

One of the things was Spiritual. It was so vague to me I didn't know what to say. If I was religious I could have done better, the goal to be closer to God or something. But that's not me. The only thing I could even think of was Be Zen. "Why" was also something that website talked about. My WHY for Being Zen is to "reset my mind to what's really important and to really connect with how I feel." I'm not sure if I can elaborate on that much right now. Maybe meditating will help. ;)

So my goal for that is to meditate regularly. Here goes. I'll attempt my first (short) guided meditation tonight!

Goals defined

Just what are all my goals I'll be attempting this year? Why thank you for asking:

1. Save money smarter
2. Learn new things regularly
3. Get in shape
4. Be in the present with my family
5. GO

What does that mean?

Save money smarter - right now my husband and I make a decent amount of money, and we have savings for retirement and for the kids and for miscellaneous. But I feel like it's chaotic. We are not in control of our money, we can always make it work when something comes up, but it's more reactionary than planned. So I want to get on top of it! Create a budget, set aside specific savings for the short term little things and the long term big things. Figure out just what those big things are. Plus, our investing is sort of a mystery to me, I'd like to take control of that too.

Learn new things regularly - I decided to learn a new "thing" every month this year. So far this is my list:

January - Meditate

February - Investing

March - set up home network

April - Basic carpentry (power tools)

May - Skateboard

June - Learn Piano Song

July - 

August - 

September - 

October - 

November - knit/crochet (here for Christmas presents)

December - 

Some of them tie in nicely with other goals for the year. Some just sound fun. Trying to time it so it's useful in my life.

Get in shape - There was a time when I was in shape. I did triathlons and ran 10Ks and could wear anything and wasn't tired. I'm sick of looking back on that and would rather be in the middle of it again. This will also involve other "health" sort of things like figuring out my cholesterol, and getting my abdominal hernia checked out. 

Be Present with my Family - I'm pretty good about this with my boys. We plan fun activities and ditch the housework and go to the playground etc. I'm not great at this with my husband. We mostly just talk to cover the basics like when somebody has a meeting or who's going to take J to gymnastics. And when there's time that the whole family is present, I use that as an excuse to duck out and take some me time. I'd like to get better at a few things with this goal: a) schedule some me time into my life so I don't feel like I need to escape. b) schedule some one on one time with EACH member of the family. The boys aren't just The Boys, they're T and J, and my husband. c) schedule some family time, where we ALL are present and together having fun.

GO - the vaguest one of all, but it's sort of my mantra that I've been trying to live by more and more for the last couple years and a goals list couldn't be complete without it. I want to just DO it, not procrastinate, or put it on a list. Just move. Now. This tends to involve housework (just do the annoying jobs and they'll be done, rather than staring you in the face all weekend). But it also involves my job (get off facebook and DO that work). I often feel like I'm waiting around and not going, so I just want to start to Go more.