Official October Checklist

October 2013 GOALS

Month is currently 0% over.
Overall: 0% complete.

CAREER - 0% Complete

Hit target number of monthly illustrations. - 0% complete.
Number illustrations completed - 0% complete.

Make target income for the month. - 0% complete.
Correct income shortcomings for August. - 0% complete.

Some notes:  I met my September goal but I was unavailable time-wise to correct my income shortcomings for August.  That will be pertinent to this month.

FINANCIAL - 0% Complete

Create new budget and financial goals based on current bills and new job. - 0% complete.
Make target income for the month. - 0% complete.

Keep budget. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Aaron and I need to completely re-evaluate our budget and 6-month savings target.  That will happen sometime today.

HEALTH - 0% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 0% complete.
Lose 8 pounds through the exercise course. - 0% complete.

Some notes: I have officially resigned to the fact that a 5k is not happening this year.  Next year, definitely!  This year, I just need to hit my weight goals.  I divided the total weight I need to lose by the number of months left in the year and that makes 8 pounds a month.  It's quite a heavy catch-up thanks to the past two months of moving and poor diet, but I actually really think I can do it.

HOME - 0% Complete

Reorganize final storage closet. - 0% complete.
Some notes: On the bright side, you'll see this section diminish never to return.  Our house is officially organized as moving pushed it to 100% completion.  I'm really happy with how clean everything looks, even our closets!  

KNOWLEDGE - 0% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 0% complete.

Continue taking supplements. - 0% complete.

Continue daily mental exercises. - 0% complete.
Read one book. - 0% complete.

Some notes:  Nothing new here.

PERSONAL - 0% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 0% complete.

Meditate three times. - 0% complete.

Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Adhere to my planner schedule. - 0% complete.

RELATIONSHIP - 0% Complete

Do one date night. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Need to choose a date night for the month.

SPIRITUAL - 12.5% Complete

Meditate three times. - 0% complete.
Volunteer for T.A.R.A. for 5 hours this month. - 0% complete.
Volunteer for ESFOA for 2 hours this month. - 0% complete.
Coordinate the COT Samhain event. - 50% complete.
Some notes: Nothing new here.

Final September Check-In

SEPTEMBER 2013 GOALS

Month is currently 100% over.
Overall: 75% complete.

CAREER - 100% Complete

Make target income for the month. - 100% complete.

Some notes:  So I didn't do any character designing this month but still hit my financial goals with caricature events.  I'll call that a 100% anyway.

FINANCIAL - 83% Complete

Make target income for the month. - 100% complete.

Keep budget. - 50% complete.
Buy a new mattress, pillows and bedding. - 100% complete.
Some notes: Our budget was blown to hell this month.  Moving really did a number on us.  We bought a new mattress and bedding supplies, some new shelves, a pantry and I invested in some spiritual room items.  My car also needed some new tie rods and Artie came up with a UTI from the stress of moving which put a dent in our wallet as well.  I did my very best to keep budget but I don't regret any of the money I spent, nor do I think it any of it was unnecessary.  So, you know, that's that.

HEALTH - 33% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 100% complete.
Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Begin training for a 5k and be able to run one mile without stopping. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Everything was so incredibly busy this month between the move and getting settled, my birthday and our anniversary, and all the various things that filled in between.  I didn't lose but I didn't gain.  I'll take it.  My exercise class starts back up tomorrow and I'm in a few new exercise groups.  I will lose the rest of my weight.

HOME - 83% Complete

Notify places of our new address. - 100% complete.
Give keys back to landlord. - 100% complete.
Reorganize final storage closet. - 50% complete.
Some notes: Still trying to get on top of everything here.

KNOWLEDGE - 100% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 100% complete.

Continue taking supplements. - 100% complete.

Continue daily mental exercises. - 100% complete.
Read one book. - 100% complete.

Some notes:  All's good here!

PERSONAL - 75% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 100% complete.

Meditate three times. - 100% complete.

Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Adhere to my planner schedule. - 100% complete.

RELATIONSHIP - 100% Complete

Do one date night. - 100% complete.
Some notes: Aaron and I had a ton of fun at my RenFest Birthday Party.  Not exactly a date date, but we definitely had fun together, so I think it counts.

SPIRITUAL - 108% Complete

Meditate three times. - 100% complete.
Volunteer for T.A.R.A. for 8 hours this month. - 125% complete.
Coordinate the COT Autumn Equinox event. - 100% complete.
Some notes: Put in some extra TARA hours this month.  The Autumn Equinox event was amazing in the new spiritual room!

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Check List for September

1. Correct my income shortcomings from last month.
2. Be 153.4 by the end of September.
3. Finish all moving-related items.
4. Choose a book to read.
5. Decide on a date night this month.
6. Volunteer for 10 hours this month.

September: Week 2 Check-In

SEPTEMBER 2013 GOALS

Month is currently 50% over.
Overall: 34% complete.

CAREER - 16% Complete

Hit target number of monthly illustrations. - 0% complete.
Number illustrations completed - 0% complete.

Make target income for the month. - 48% complete.

Some notes:  I start back at my character design job today.  On top of that, I have three - three - caricature events this weekend and have been asked to join another local agency.  Yes please!  So, despite how the numbers seem in this area, things are going incredibly well.  I can't be more thankful that everything with my job worked out in a way that I could move and take time off without hurting our finances.  To be honest, I've also been having some health issues - because of dust while moving, I developed a corneal ulcer.  Both doctors I've seen have told me to avoid the computer too much.  So, you know, there's that.

FINANCIAL - 58% Complete

Make target income for the month. - 48% complete.

Keep budget. - 25% complete.
Buy a new mattress, pillows and bedding. - 100% complete.
Some notes: Kept budget for a week!  I did spend some significant money on our housewarming party - mostly for food.  On the day back from Michigan, Aaron lost his debit card and everything has been financially on my shoulders.  It should come in tomorrow.  I can't wait for him to be able to pay for things again.  Also, we finally bought a new mattress!  That's super exciting!  I think I'm going to add that in, since that was a major financial goal this year.

HEALTH - 17% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 50% complete.
Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Begin training for a 5k and be able to run one mile without stopping. - 0% complete.
Some notes: I managed the diet for a whole three days and then the housewarming party hit.  We had a lot of leftover pizza and sweets, so indulged for days simply to avoid buying more food.  I want so badly to be back on the diet and exercising properly, but things just aren't working out that way.  I've never been so far off the bandwagon since I started trying to lose weight.

HOME - 33% Complete

Notify places of our new address. - 100% complete.
Give keys back to landlord. - 0% complete.
Reorganize final storage closet. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Still trying to get on top of everything here.

KNOWLEDGE - 44% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 50% complete.

Continue taking supplements. - 50% complete.

Continue daily mental exercises. - 50% complete.
Read one book. - 25% complete.

Some notes:  I was gifted a book I wanted off of my wishlist, so that's my book to read for this month.  I'm super stoked!

PERSONAL - 29% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 50% complete.

Meditate three times. - 66% complete.

Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Adhere to my planner schedule. - 0% complete.

RELATIONSHIP - 0% Complete

Do one date night. - 0% complete.
Some notes: This hasn't happened yet.  Still need to decide on something to do.

SPIRITUAL - 72% Complete

Meditate three times. - 66% complete.
Volunteer for T.A.R.A. for 8 hours this month. - 75% complete.
Volunteer for ESFOA for 2 hours this month. - 0% complete.
Coordinate the COT Autumn Equinox event. - 75% complete.
Some notes: Things are going surprisingly well on this front!  Unfortunately, I have to take ESFOA off of my list for this month.  Their adoption events are always on Saturdays and my caricature events land exactly when I'd be volunteering.  With the caricature portion of my job really taking off, I can't afford to turn down gigs right now.  Plus, why would I want to?

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Check List for September

1. Correct my income shortcomings from last month.
2. Be 153.4 by the end of September.
3. Finish all moving-related items.
4. Choose a book to read.
5. Decide on a date night this month.
6. Volunteer for 10 hours this month.

September: Week 1 Check-In

I am a Lazy Lazy McLazyface.  I can't find motivation anywhere.

SEPTEMBER 2013 GOALS

Month is currently 33% over.
Overall: 17% complete.

CAREER - 11% Complete

Hit target number of monthly illustrations. - 0% complete.
Number illustrations completed - 0% complete.

Make target income for the month. -32% complete.

Some notes:  Caricature events are saving my hide this first week.  For a few years, I was getting burnt out, but now I can't get enough of them!  I'm slowly becoming addicted to being a caricaturist again.

FINANCIAL - 16% Complete

Make target income for the month. - 32% complete.

Keep budget. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Keep budget?  Keep budget!  BWAHAHA.  Le'see, bought two shelves (two of ours disintegrated in the move), bought a bed (our mattress was over 15 years old), bought a pantry (we now have a half-galley kitchen, meaning no cabinet space), bought pillows and a comforter (for the new mattress), bought a new vacuum (because ours bit the big one).  New apartment and being overwhelmingly poor for four years'll do that.  So much money spent.  Ugh.  But there isn't anything else we need at this point, so I think I'm good.

HEALTH - 11% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 33% complete.
Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Begin training for a 5k and be able to run one mile without stopping. - 0% complete.
Some notes: This past week was a lot of good news and celebrations for many of my friends.  2013 is awesome!  However, my weight is not.  I still celebrated today, but tomorrow it's back to the workout.  I don't plan on even touching a scale again until I've been on the workout and diet for two weeks, so I don't know where I'm at on that department.

HOME - 8% Complete

Notify places of our new address. - 25% complete.
Give keys back to landlord. - 0% complete.
Reorganize final storage closet. - 0% complete.
Some notes: I've been really lazy about getting around to things I need to do.  It took me a week to unpack and settle.  Time to get back on things.

KNOWLEDGE - 25% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 33% complete.

Continue taking supplements. - 33% complete.

Continue daily mental exercises. - 33% complete.
Read one book. - 0% complete.

Some notes:  I need to choose a book this month.  Bah.

PERSONAL - 17% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 33% complete.

Meditate three times. - 33% complete.

Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Adhere to my planner schedule. - 0% complete.

RELATIONSHIP - 0% Complete

Do one date night. - 0% complete.
Some notes: This hasn't happened yet.  Still need to decide on something to do.

SPIRITUAL - 37% Complete

Meditate three times. - 33% complete.
Volunteer for T.A.R.A. for 8 hours this month. - 63% complete.
Volunteer for ESFOA for 2 hours this month. - 0% complete.
Coordinate the COT Autumn Equinox event. - 50% complete.
Some notes: Tons of TARA volunteering.  I redesigned our binder that shows what cats we have in fosters.  Hopefully that will help with some adoptions!

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Check List for September

1. Correct my income shortcomings from last month.
2. Be 153.4 by the end of August.
3. Finish all moving-related items.
4. Choose a book to read.
5. Decide on a date night this month.
6. Volunteer for 10 hours this month.

My Exercise and Diet Plan

I have a little under 28 days until my birthday party at RenFest.  When I bought my corset, I was 175 and asked them to fit it extremely tightly.  I want to have to relace that thing this year.  That means, I have to get as small as possible by that day.  With some work, I created a healthy, happy 10 pounds in 28 days plan!

Using the Harris Benedict Equation, I have a daily caloric need of 1853.  My BMR is 1544, so I don't want to drop below that.  That gives me a daily deficit naturally of 309 calories.

As far as eating goes, I'm going to stick it hard to my thyroid diet prescribed to me by my doctors.  Over the years I've been hypothyroid, I do eat mostly to the diet but I cheat every now and then.  Sometimes I just want a glass of milk or a nice bowl of watermelon, dang it!  If I were on maintain, those cheats would be just part of me maintaining my lifestyle and still enjoying my food.  However, I'm not there yet.  That means those little cheats are a big no-no.  I need to cleanse my body of all the foods it can't handle.

On top of that, I used a little calculation to determine the amount of water I need to drink every day.  You take your weight, divide it by 2.2 and then divide that by 8.  I came up with a number just over 9, but I rounded up anyway and ended up with a whopping 10 glasses of water every day.

Unfortunately, that's not enough to lose the weight I need to lose.  I also know from experience that diet alone doesn't work for those of us with hypothyroidism.  Even if the calories are right, your metabolism simply adjusts.  So I've got to add in quite a bit of exercise to the equation.

But how much?  If a pound of fat takes 3500 calories to remove and I have ten of them, I'm looking at burning 35000 calories in the next for weeks.  Yeouch!  Breaking that down, that's 1250 calories a day and I only get 309 from food. That leaves a whopping 941 calories in exercise.

Exercise is a tricky thing.  I don't want to hurt myself or stress myself out about it, so the best bet is to break it into easy, doable segments.

Here's the breakdown:

Activity	Calorie Deficit
Diet	309
Morning Daily Exercises	150
Afternoon Exercise	320
Evening Exercise	320
Night Daily Exercises	150

That creates a grand total of 1250 calories a day.  Well, technically, it's 1249 but I assume at one point I'll go at least a calorie over.

For the Morning and Night Daily Exercises, this is my planned routine:

Activity	Number of Reps
Push-ups	10
Jumping Jacks	50
Sit-ups	20
Plank	45 Seconds
Cannons	10
Mountain Climbers	10
Bicycles	20

Of course, the more I do it, the less calories this will burn.  Every Sunday, I will be doing as many as I can and readjusting the numbers from there.

Now, what about the Afternoon and Evening Exercise sets?

For the afternoon, I've broken it down to four cardio and three muscle building exercise videos a week.  A huge thank you to Fitness Blender, and of course, Les Mills Combat and Chalene Johnson's TurboFire.

For the evening, I'll be beginning my 5k training.  I'll be jogging and walking until my heart rate monitor turns the 320 mark.  Maybe even longer!

Speaking of which, my heart rate monitor is going to play a huge part in this.  How do you know how many calories your burning in an exercise?  A nice wireless heart rate monitor with a chest strap makes everything so much easier!

And finally, on top of all of this, getting back on my levothyroxine will certainly help.  I can't even believe that I fell off of it!  My big goal for the first week of October will be seeing an endocrinologist to help me with my final big 10-13 pounds.

For all of the work this seems, it's actually not too much.    I'm assuming my Daily Exercises will take around 20 minutes per session.  The major exercise sessions in the afternoon and evening should be around 45 minutes each.  Between the two, I'm looking at a little over two hours a day.  The Daily Exercises will be done right when I wake up and right before I go to bed - a time where I'd be spending my 20 minutes doing nothing.  So I'm not losing any time there.  The afternoon slot can be done on my lunch break and my evening slot can be completed with Aaron when he gets home from work and the sun has set a bit.

All in all, I readily expect to lose the weight I want to lose with this and correcting the mistakes I made over the past few months.  Even if I miss out on a few exercise days, I should get extremely close to my goal.

With that being said, I need to hop in to my afternoon exercise!

Official September Checklist

SEPTEMBER 2013 GOALS

Month is currently 7% over.
Overall: 2% complete.

CAREER - 0% Complete

Hit target number of monthly illustrations. - 0% complete.
Number illustrations completed - 0% complete.

Make target income for the month. - 0% complete.

Some notes:  I did not hit my target goal for August, so I will be working to compensate for that this month.

FINANCIAL - 0% Complete

Make target income for the month. - 0% complete.

Keep budget. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Aaron and I had a lot of financial hiccups in the move - things that broke, a vetting expense gone crazy, someone pick-pocketing me.  It was not a good money month.  On the bright side, one month of little spending should help correct the program given Aaron's new job.

HEALTH - 0% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 0% complete.
Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Begin training for a 5k and be able to run one mile without stopping. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Oh weight.  This was the very, very worst part.  I'm going to keep 5k training, but moving totally disrupted it and I don't think I'll be able to make a 5k event now this year.  I'm very saddened by that.

HOME - 0% Complete

Notify places of our new address. - 0% complete.
Give keys back to landlord. - 0% complete.
Reorganize final storage closet. - 0% complete.
Some notes: On the bright side, you'll see this section diminish never to return.  Our house is officially organized as moving pushed it to 100% completion.  I'm really happy with how clean everything looks, even our closets!  

KNOWLEDGE - 0% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 0% complete.

Continue taking supplements. - 0% complete.

Continue daily mental exercises. - 0% complete.
Read one book. - 0% complete.

Some notes:  Getting back on my thyroid meds is important.  They got jumbled in the move and I just got them back in hand yesterday.

PERSONAL - 0% Complete

Continue taking thyroid meds. - 0% complete.

Meditate three times. - 0% complete.

Lose 10 pounds to get back to where I was. - 0% complete.

Adhere to my planner schedule. - 0% complete.

RELATIONSHIP - 0% Complete

Do one date night. - 0% complete.
Some notes: Need to choose a date night that involves no money.  Maybe a movie night once we get our TV hung?

SPIRITUAL - 12.5% Complete

Meditate three times. - 0% complete.
Volunteer for T.A.R.A. for 8 hours this month. - 0% complete.
Volunteer for ESFOA for 2 hours this month. - 0% complete.
Coordinate the COT Autumn Equinox event. - 50% complete.
Some notes: Nothing new here.

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Check List for September

1. Correct my income shortcomings from last month.
2. Be 153.4 by the end of August.
3. Finish all moving-related items.
4. Choose a book to read.
5. Decide on a date night this month.
6. Volunteer for 10 hours this month.

Blew It in August

I suppose moving will do that to you.  Not only did I completely miss most of my target goals, but I actually took some steps backwards.  This was especially bad in my weight area.  A few months of work was completely wiped away.  Instead of filling out a completed check-in, I'm going to skip straight forward to September.  No point in beating a dead horse.  I just need to get back on and ride!