12 for 12- February's Changes are for Love

     January flew by at our house.  It seems like every time I turned around there were another three days marked off the calendar!  I managed to do most of my original list.  Some items I had to rethink.  )
     So, here's my goals for February:

• Park at the far end of the parking lot.  I do this most of the time anyway- I like the walk.  However, in February when the snows are knee deep here, this fibro-mama doesn't like the long walk.  That's going to change.  I'm going to park at the far end of the lot and get some exercise and waste less gasoline searching for a spot to park.
• Keep a pitcher of water handy.  When I was in the Navy, after several fainting spells, the doctors determined that I needed 12 glasses of water each day- not the usual 8.  At the moment, I think I drink 6 or so on the average day.  I'm going to begin making a nice large pitcher of iced water and keep it near me throughout the day so I can drink as needed.  By having it readily available, I'll be less tempted to just grab a soda.
• Prepare school work the day before.  If my son sees that I'm not prepared for his home schooling day, it's a stress-filled morning of him hemming and hawing about doing anything.  If I have the work ready, he's all about doing it, getting it done, and going back to play time.  So, being prepared = less stress.
• Stop being a night owl.  Fibromyalgia often means a lot of insomnia.  I rarely go to sleep before 2 am.  I'm going to pull that back to midnight this month.  
• Write a letters each week.  I used to be an avid pen-pal writer.  I've gotten a bit lazy on sending notes which is sad since it used to make me very happy to practice penmanship and send a bit of love out.  So, I'm going to write a letter each week and send them out.
• Schedule in shopping.  I go shopping at the moment for exercise.  The funny thing is that I rarely spend anything.  But, I am wasting gas and stressing myself out over things I can't afford.  So, no shopping for fun and "just because".
• Plan for a treat.  I stress because I spend money on a small treat every now and then.  I'm not saying I spend $40 on a hair cut or anything like that.  I'm talking about spending $1 on a cup of coffee while I'm having "me time" at a coffee shop working on my writing.  Spending anything on myself stresses me out to no end.  So, I'm going to start giving myself an allowance again- I can save it up for big things or dole it out, penny by penny, on little treats.
• Invest in my son's education.  There are a ton of things that Chaos can do in his spare time- but they all cost money.  I'm going to start setting aside a little cash to pay towards things like music lessons or art classes.
• Double prep.  I have a huge deep freezer.  I should put it to better use.  I already do a lot of freezer cooking, but I'm thinking to myself, why chop twice when two meals need onions?  So, if I can do it, I'll double prep my common ingredients- onions, carrots, celery, garlic, etc...
• Stock cookie dough.  For the first time in years, I've gotten out of the habit of having pre-portioned cookie dough in the freezer.  I usually have several batches of dough balls waiting patiently for their turn in the oven.  So, I need to restock.
• Eat more popcorn.  Popcorn is an amazing whole grain food.  Even large volumes of air-popped popcorn have very few calories (as long as you don't toss it in a ton of butter!)  We aren't buttered popcorn people in our house, but we do like it with a tablespoon of grated Asiago or a little Veg-it and Brewer's Yeast sprinkled on.  We also like to make our own snack mix using popcorn, cereal, and graham crackers.  
• Meditate.  I've gotten out of the habit of meditating.  This leaves me feeling very disjointed most days.  I'm going to set aside 15 minutes to meditate each day.