Living the Level 10 Life February Updates 2024
February recap
My February goals for level 10 and updates:
- Health-Weigh 171. Log food into MyFitnessPal app. Focus on calories in/calories out
Results: I started the new year weighing 181. February 1st I weighed 176.2. February 29th 172.4 for a total of 3.6 pounds lost this month and 8.6 for the year. I am really happy with the results! I have been on a weight loss journey for a very long time. I succeeded in reaching my goal weight of 142 in 2019. I lost a total of 60 pounds that year using the MyFitnessPal app. I will be writing more about weight loss adventures in another blog. This month I came upon a book “Portion Savvy” by Carrie Latt Wiatt. (BTW…a side note…If you’re not familiar with thrift books.com I highly recommend them for used books). Something about the way Carrie described calories in and calories out really resonated with me. As a result, I have become scrupulous about portion sizes and calories and increasing my exercise. More about that on Exercise. Using her methods along with MyFitnessPal I am currently set at 1200 daily calories.
2. Exercise-walk with Lula Mae. Bike with Molly.
Results: Based on Portion Savvy books recommendations I have increased my walking from 20 minutes a few times a week to 46 minutes 5 X a week. Lula Mae and I enjoy our walks along the river on the Greenway Trail a few miles from our home. The most exciting thing for me is discovering audio books. I started with Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. I only listen to it while I am walking. I have eagerly looked forward to our walks wanting to know what happens next! I started out using Libby from our local library but was concerned when 14 days were coming to an end and I was still not finished. Molly was able to hook me up to several other library options using Safari which has been a fun blessing. I was able to complete the book without interruption. My daughter Robin has recommended The Housemaid by Freida McFadden which I started yesterday. I couldn’t find this option on library sources but I did find it on YouTube. But alas, today when I went to look it up it had disappeared.
Being that money is on my category list, I was trying to avoid Audible but I do know that a lot of people use that resource. Yesterday I completed 3 weeks of walking. On week 2 of the program, I added 15 minutes on the stationary bike 5 X a week. To help with my bike challenge I collected some good books I have been meaning to get to and plan to save them for biking. I am currently reading Psychic by Sylvia Brown. To finish off the month Molly and I packed up the bikes and headed out to our favorite bike trail. 20 minutes of outdoor biking felt like a first great start. We were both feeling it.
3-Home-Organize 4 rooms
Result: We moved into our beautiful “Magic House” on August 1st, 2023. I am not one to leave boxes lying around. I had everything cleaned, organized, and decorated by October 1st. But now it’s time to go back through every nook and cranny and make sure everything is where I want it. In February I was able to clean and organize the living room, the foyer, the library, and the dining room.
4- Income-Post product on Etsy
Result: I kept putting this off until the last week. But it was a good feeling to finally get my “Summer Sky” crochet doll and full wardrobe posted on my Etsy account Lildragonflykisses. LINK In full transparency I have not sold anything yet on Etsy but I am just starting out and am thrilled to at least have a name, an account, and a product posted.
5-Love-Date nights
Result: Molly and I took daughter Robin and Fiancee Jason to see an amazing concert at the local “Wayne Theater” a few blocks from our home. Selwyn Birchwood is a blues guitarist with a 4-piece band. What a performance! If you ever get a chance, this is a fun evening out!
6-Money-Track spending
Result: Oh what a struggle! I did so well for the first few weeks then gave up. At the end of week 3 I thought “No, I can’t give up, and went back to update my spending. Tracking complete! (Yikes!) Now that February is over, I have solid numbers in black and white for the total of February. EEKS! The good news is that I see many areas in which I can cut back on expenses. It was quite sobering to see the totals.
7-Family-Take meal over to kids
Results: I made a promise to myself to take a hot meal over to the kids once a month. We moved to Waynesboro so we could be closer to our family here. Robin, Jason, and their 3 kids, all teenagers, have extremely busy active lives. I thought “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a hot home-cooked meal waiting for their family at the end of the day without having to wait for delivery pizza or coming over and having to go back home? January I made a Mexican enchilada casserole with guacamole, salad, chips, salsa, lemonade, and chocolate ganache-topped vanilla cupcakes. Needless to say, it was a big hit! For February it was baked ziti, with mixed green salad and Olive Garden salad dressing, garlic sourdough bread, and Strawberry chocolate cupcakes. I was told that I scored a 10 out of 10 for all categories!
8-Social-Contact organization for Lula Maes therapy services
Result: I have reached out to my contact to attempt to make arrangements to have Lula Mae formally tested to become a certified therapy dog. Still have not heard back. But we did get the vet to clear her with a health certificate, did the background check, and printed out the 2024 application. Making progress.
9-Spiritual-Meditate daily
Results: Ugh. Did not accomplish this goal…but I did meditate frequently. And on the 17th and 18th I held a spiritual retreat with kindred fairy soul Hannah and good friend Andrew. I have been doing this monthly since October with various individuals joining us. This month we had fun making toilet paper roll artwork of heart balloons and dried flower art hearts to hang in windows. We do many fun things at our retreats. including affirmations, vision work, meditations, journaling, yoga, long walks, hot tubbing, and of course FOOD! I really enjoy fixing up some awesome healthful offerings. This month included strawberry “nice” cream with Lily’s homemade chocolate ganache. Dinner was broiled salmon, roasted baby potatoes, and steamed asparagus. (all compliant with my portion savvy program!)
10-Create-Crochet
Result: My favorite crochet pattern is Sophies Universe. I started this current one in Spring last year using baby yarn and was able to complete it last week. A really fun pattern. This is my second one and I have yarn to do another one all in one color of pink.
11-Fun-Play monopoly
Result: Have you seen those fun customized Monopoly boards? Well, the kids bought me a Waynesboro, VA Monopoly for my birthday in October. This month we finally got to play it. Jason, Robin, Skylynn, Molly, and I started on a Saturday night. You know how long it takes to play Monopoly, the kids ended up spending the night and we finished up Sunday morning. Lots of fun…but we did have a few dicey moments and conversations on the “rules” lol. My granddaughter’s boyfriend said “Oh no, monopoly ruins families!” lol. Fortunately, we got over the challenge and had a lot of nail-biting fun as we tried to keep from landing on hotels and going out! As Molly previewed this post for me she said “You have to reveal who won! Everyone is going to want to know”. It ended up being a team win. Skylynn was the monopoly queen but by the end of Saturday night, she had other things she wanted to do. Being that Robin had gone out, Robin took over and continued the onslaught. So there you have it!
12-Education-Learn Italian
Result: Oh Lordy! I admit I have an addictive personality. Once I find something I like, I go all out. I found a great channel on YouTube called “Italy Made Easy”. Mano explains a lot about the nuances of the language. He also has a 30-day free course. But what has really got me going is Duolingo! I tried it years ago for Spanish and did ok. But I am motivated to learn Italian for our October trip. And boy have I become addicted. I do it in the mornings, I do it during my break times, I do it when I have just a few extra minutes. I have basically become an overachiever and am absolutely loving it! Ciao! I came in first place my first week in my league and advanced to “gold”. And this week I am again in the number one spot on the leaderboard. I am still finding my way around the app. They do offer a free version but I ended up splurging and bought the super Duolingo for $83.00.
That’s my February recap
One thing I have observed, the categories that I scored the lowest on were actually more of an energy drain than I thought. It seems to me, we know what we need to work on in our lives, and for whatever reason, we put them off, but I am realizing that they are still there in the back of our minds somewhere whispering “When are you going to lose weight? Take control of spending? Launch that creative idea you were talking about? Find time to clean the hallway closet??? By taking action, even baby steps, I am finding that my energy level has increased.
What is it that you know you need and want to do but keep putting off? Try defining those baby steps that will bring you closer to your dream life and start taking action today! You will be glad you did!
What did you accomplish this month that you’re proud of?
Spring is coming!!! What are your March goals? Get out those level 10 graphs and calendars and start taking action today! As always, please feel free to leave comments! They are greatly appreciated.
