Currently...

Listening to the hum of the refrigerator and the puggly pup snoring away
Eating an enormous bowl of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and pineapple
Drinking a bottle of water - drinking water from the tap around here is asking for trouble!
Wearing My workout clothes still, but I did take off my shoes and socks
Feeling a little excited because I feel like I finally have a time frame for seeing my man  - fingers crossed, two weeks!
Weather is hot and sunny lately!  Let's hope it stays
Wanting a maid to help clean the house and do the laundry
Needing to do school work, but I have no desire to after my computer freaked out and wants to spell check everything using a French dictionary
Thinking about all the things on my list that I still want to do before Mr. Fantastic gets home
Enjoying my healthier new body and the process of getting to where I want it to be

Computer Banning

I have made a huge decision this week.  Since Mr. Fantastic has been away, I have been reluctant to start very many projects, let alone finish any of the ones that I had on my list to finish while he was away.  Part of it is loneliness and part of it is laziness.  My school work has been suffering as well.  Most of the time it is because I don't feel like doing much.  I don't like that one bit though.  I need to do stuff.

Now, I have done stuff, but it is not what I want to actually do in the long run.  In other words, I have been the worlds biggest procrastinator!  No good.  What have I done to procrastinate, you ask.  Well, I have an addiction.  Dun, dun, dun!  I am addicted to the internet!  Yuck!

So, my biggest hugely big project starts today, April 15th.  It is called "THE COMPUTER BANNING PROJECT"  *gasp* Yes, I am actually going to do this, and not just for a week either.  I am banning myself from the computer from now until Summer is over!  Holy Crap!  You read that right, I am banned from the computer for 160 days!

Okay, so that sounds extremely dramatic!  I think that is exactly what I need though - dramatic change - in order to be happier, more productive, and an overall better person.  However, let me say this, there are exceptions that will make this seem far less dramatic.  So, here are my "rules" to follow in order for this project to be successful:

1.  Computer and Internet use is acceptable for school.  Duh, I'm going to school online so I can't exactly ban myself from that if I want to get anywhere with my education.
2.  Messenger and Video Messenger are acceptable for use with AND ONLY WITH Mr. Fantastic.  With him away, it would hardly be a good idea for me to ban that.  I do need to see him/talk with him from time to time in order to keep myself sane and for the obvious reason of keeping our relationship in tact!
3.  Since email is also a very important tool for communication, I will allow myself to check my email from my phone.  By checking it from my phone, it will keep me from accidentally getting caught up and getting online.
4.  Each week I will allow myself to watch my 3 television shows on Hulu.  Since Hulu is on the internet, I will need to use my computer/internet for this.
5.  Each week I may also have 2 hours of "play time" on the internet to update my blog, and maybe use pinterest to inspire me for new recipes and projects. 
6.  I may use my phone a few times a week when it becomes important to update my facebook status in order to show my family that I have not jumped off a cliff somewhere and I am still alive!

Oh my goodness, I still can't quite believe that I have decided to do this.  I am obsessed with the internet. 

I would challenge you to try something similar.  I am not suggesting that you give up the internet for 160 days, but try doing it for a day maybe, or even a week.  I think that you would be surprised at all the things that you can accomplish in that time-frame.  When we aren't distracted by technology, it leaves us plenty of time to fill up with things that actually matter - family, friends, hobbies, talents, new food experiments, going to the gym, gardening, journaling, crafting, photography, and the list just goes on and on!  Try it!

This last week, although I have not banned myself, I have tried to cut down on my time.  Look at what I have accomplished:

Got the living room a little more organized

Hung up new artwork in the living room - this is still not complete though

Created a cute little nook in the entryway

Straitened up the formal living room and got a rug for in there

Made and drank a lovely sangria

Put together a staircase for Pugly Butt to climb into bed with

Started my seeds for the garden

Planted Sweet Basil in the pugly planter

Got my hairs did!  Had all the ugly unhealthy stuff cut off and added some layers

Drew up plans for the garden as well as had a friend help me get the lumber from Lowes

Have you done anything great and fun this week?
Loves!!!

40 Questions - Part 1

Have you ever been over to the website Marc and Angel Hack Life?  Let me just say that I love it.  There are always amazing posts over there that really get you thinking about the deeper things in life instead of just the superficial surface stuff.  They had a great post yesterday that got me thinking about life.  Life is tough, and so were the questions they posted up.  I challenge you to think about these questions yourself. Not all of them are pretty or glamorous or even fun, but they are serious questions that you should be asking yourself.  Ponder the depth of your life with these questions.

If today was the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today?
This one reminds me of my favorite quote, "Do you want this once more and numerable times more?"  Nietzsche was an amazing philosopher that believed that our eternity would be one moment of our life lived over and over forever.  The question he posed was with the intent of making you question each thing you did and whether it was worth spending eternity doing it. 
Today I got up and cleaned the house.  Then I left for the gym were I did an hour of Zumba with some pretty cool gals.  After that, I met a friend at Lowe's to pick up a ton of lumber - he hauled it in his suburban for me.  I drank a full coconut of coconut water, ate half a watermelon, relaxed for a few minutes, and now I am blogging before I start my school work.  I'd say I feel pretty good about what I have accomplished today and could live with myself for it.  Is it what I want to be doing on my last day?  No!  However, I really don't think that flying to Virginia for the day to spend it with Mr. Fantastic would really work out well since it is not actually my last day and I have a lot of school work to catch up on!

What worries you most about the future?
For me, this one is more than just a worry, it is me being scared.  Mr. Fantastic leaves in May for Afghanistan for a year.  What could possibly worry me more than that?  I worry about being alone.  I worry about him being away from me.  I worry about the obvious trouble that could come of him there.  I worry about when I will see him again.  The list goes on. 

Are you holding onto something that you need to let go of?
I'm holding onto the grudges I create for myself.  I let the negative things that people do, outweigh the positive things they do.  I feel that friends should act a certain way, and when they don't I hold onto their failures.  I hold onto them like they are the worst things in the world.  For that reason, it is hard for me to feel kindness toward friends who have hurt my feelings and/or betrayed me. 

If you had a friend that spoke to you in the same way that you sometimes speak to yourself, how long would you allow that person to be your friend?
I guess this kind of relates to the last answer for me.  If I feel betrayed, I don't hang around those people too much after that.  Lately I have been doing a lot of positive self talk.  I am starting to actually feel great about myself again.  Before I started eating healthy, going to the gym, and loosing weight though, it was an entirely different story.  I would have never remained friends with someone like myself if I had thought of it that way!

What is the difference between living and existing?
Living is all about doing, being present, loving, enjoying, singing, dancing, and being excited about life.  Existing is simply being here physically and going through the motions.  I choose to live.  (I will be posting about this more later this week.)

That is a lot to think about in one sitting.  I will continue this short series in increments of five.  Yup, that means you get this series for a total of eight posts!!

Olive Juice

Have you ever heard of people saying olive juice instead of I Love You.  If you watch someone say it, it actually looks like they are saying I Love You.  It's kind of one of our things from time to time, so when I had to design three posters for one of my classes, it came to mind.  The posters are movie posters advertising a fictitious autobiographical romantic comedy.  Want to see what I came up with?

The idea of them is to use a phoot of ourselves and use Photoshop to manipulate it.  The first poster has to make use of changing our photo.  The second has to change another aspect of the images and focus on color painting.  The third poster must use glyphs.  all three must have underlying similarities and be considered part of a series.  My favorite is the third poster because I taught myself this very cool comic book technique.  I only wish it had not taken so long to do.  Do to time constraints I did not have time to add Mr. Fantastic to this one.  Perhaps this will be a free time type of thing!
Loves!!!

Currently

relieved that I have tomorrow off from work and finally get to start addressing my hearing loss issue again!
running around with my head cut off trying to knock out my to-do list before Mr Fantastic gets home
determined to lose 10 more pounds before he gets back in May
addicted to pigtail braids.
loving my leaner body since I've been eating so great and going to the gym at least 4-5 days per week
making raw cookies
noticing how much work Mr. Fantastic does now that I am the only one around to do it
thankful that I got my taxes back today!  Nailed it!
proud the determination that I have had the last 6 weeks although, I need to remember to stick to it hard!
watching Once Upon a Time, Community, and about to start Battlefield on Hulu
anxious to ease up on myself and start going to school only part time instead of full time while working full time and doing everything else as well.
happy that Spring is finally here
ready to start building my raised beds for my garden
working on about 8 million projects at once
marveling That tomorrow makes one month since Mr. Fantastic has been away.  Just over a month to go before he comes home for a few days before deploying.
wondering when I will get to see my family again.
changing my "get energy fast" techniques to eating carrots and apples instead of drinking coffee and soda!
planning a tropical all inclusive vacation for sometime in the next few years.