Okay, Make that Two Years?

I failed to "organize my life" in 1 year, even though I did make tons of progress toward that goal. I plan to get back on track with following the book. I'm going to start all over again this year, revisiting the rooms I decluttered, organized, and cleaned last year--because they can use it again!

In the meantime, I will reclean the study after all the Christmas wrapping and cards are put away for good (it's Christmas at our house until after Epiphany) and take photos to show off our progress. Stay tuned!

I will also work on the family room in between revisiting the other rooms. It's the last big major room to tackle, and it's not helped by the fact that the shelf on which several photo albums were perched fell down today when 6-year-old Kieran reached up to get a spool of thread. Poor thing met me at the door in tears--he felt terrible! But one of my upcoming tasks is to go through old photos, weed some out, and organize the rest.

I have also expanded my life organizing to include organizing my health. After over-indulging during the holidays like so many other people, I decided to try the South Beach Diet. In recent months I've been noticing a spare tire around my middle, and I'm determined to get rid of it (or at least reduce its size!).

Although I've had some success at tracking calories in the past, I felt that this recent weight gain calls for more drastic measures! I'm also reading a bunch of books on healthy eating for inspiration. (That's the way I get inspired...I read.)

So far, Phase One of the South Beach (the hardest phase) has gone fine and has not been as hard as I expected. I started on Saturday. The hardest part has been giving up my beloved granola or oatmeal for breakfast. (During Phase One, you can't eat grains, fruit, sugar, or alcohol, among other things.) The first night I made a delicious dinner of chicken, garlic, fresh basil, red pepper, zucchini, mushrooms, and pesto. I used two pounds of chicken, so I had lots left over to take for lunch this week. I also went grocery shopping to stock up on vegetable juice, vegetables, unsalted mixed nuts, and soups. (I love the fact that I am actually encouraged to eat nuts every day--yum! that helps stave off hunger...)

Last night I cooked some chicken/turkey meatballs in a lime-ginger-tamari sauce (okay, so I cheated on the fruit a bit by using lime), served over a bed of spinach. Tonight my dear sweet husband made steelhead with tomatoes, garlic, onions, and capers (using a South Beach recipe he found online--isn't he a sweetheart??).

I've been eating plain yogurt, turkey bacon, and veggie juice for breakfast, and the yogurt is actually growing on me (forgive the pun). This morning I mixed some cinnamon, nuts, and stevia in the yogurt to sweeten it a bit.

The real test will be on Wednesday, when I'm meeting friends for sushi at the rotating sushi bar. I figure I can eat sashimi, edamame, and miso soup, right?

Beyond organizing my health and my house, my job is changing this year again, so I will add my job to things to organize. And so it continues...in a never-ending cycle.

So far, so good! 2010 will be a good year--I can feel it.