I’m a member of a few different teams on Sparkpeople. One of them just happens to be something called “1 Day Challenge” and is exactly what it sounds like. The fantastic leader posts a new challenge every night for the following day. Tomorrow is, as the title of this post suggests, beautify day. This is pretty fitting for what I had planned for tomorrow, so I’m excited! Since I like lists so much lately, here’s one with my plans for tomorrow!

• Laundry. This is a must. In my last couple of loads I have managed to fail to get all of Matt’s shirts washed and he won’t have anything to wear on Monday when he goes back to work, which is, well, not a good thing.
• Clean my desk. This isn’t the most important thing in the world, but it makes me happy to have a clean work(/play)space in front of me. Plus, it’s gotten pretty cluttered over the past few days and it could be better arranged.
• Clean up the bedroom. Pretty self-explanatory, but the reason it’s such a disaster area right now is because I took almost everything out of the closet the other day in case it was getting repaired. Long story short, it’s not repaired, and I messed up the REST of the room for nothing. Oh well, it needed to be organized anyway, I guess.
• Vacuum. As gross as this is, I’m shedding again. It always happens when I get stressed, and in the wintertime, which means right now, I’m surprised I’m not bald! So I want to vacuum up the room and get rid of the evidence.
• 5v5. You expected me to have a post without any WoW stuff in it? Pfft, shame on you. I have 5v5 (Arenas) tomorrow at 5:00 my time. Wish us luck! We need it. We’re a bit of an, er, unconventional team. Mostly doing it for the experience, I guess.
• Work out. I’m not going to the gym tomorrow (I’ve decided Monday, Wednesday, Friday for the gym. Easiest that way.) but I will do a small workout on Yourself! Fitness if I can get Matt out of the room for 15 minutes. Maybe I’ll ship him off to Wendy’s for food!

So that’s my day tomorrow. It doesn’t sound too busy, but it is for me. And it’s nice having the day mapped out like that, so I know what needs to be done and all that. Oh, I forgot to add one thing to the list, but I’m just going to put it here. I’m going to give myself a bit of a pampering session. Shower and shave, wash my hair and condition it, attempt to style my hair, lotion, mani/pedi… the works. Hey, it is Beautify Day, right? Right.

I might install some new plugins on the site, as well. Any recommendations for things you just can’t live without? I’d appreciate it!

How is everyone? I feel bad that I’ve been so anti-social but I’m dealing with a mess of personal issues that I don’t really want to or know how to talk about with anyone, so I’m dealing with them silently. That’s part of why I’m avoiding socializing online right now… I don’t need more drama to add to the mess that’s in my brain! That said, I hope everyone’s well. My self-induced solitude is a bit depressing and lonely, but I’ll work through it.

I found out Matt’s sister is coming to town for Christmas. The word Christmas gives me a shiver and makes me want to curl up in a ball, but I’ll get past that. I just wish there was a way to make it all go away so I can think about what used to be the happiest time of the year for me be that way again! I think it’s because bad things always happen to me in the winter, and I’m terrified what’s next.

Anyway, I’m trying to get back on track with my diet. I did lots of working out today and counted every calorie that went into my body, which is good. I’m really trying - I want to lose the weight pretty badly and with myself feeling so low I could use the rush that exercise gives me. Only problem was that today I pushed myself too hard and got to the point where I physically couldn’t continue - I collapsed into my chair and didn’t get up for about two hours. I’m just sick of the number on the scale and I want to make it go far, far away!

I really hope you all don’t have to read all this depressing crap until next spring. I want something fun to write about, I do! But I don’t go anywhere or do anything, and I don’t really have many people to talk to, so I just post about the same old crap every day! What’s more fun, reading about how I did absolutely the exact same thing as yesterday and last week, or not seeing me post at all? That’s not a rhetorical question, by the way. If anyone actually reads this, I want answers!

I stepped on the scale this morning, expecting to see the same thing I’ve seen for the last few days. Not that I mind. I’d lost four pounds since starting, and right now, I’m bloated and retaining major water, so I’m okay with it! But instead, the scale indicated something better - I’ve hit 5 pounds lost since starting! I know it’s not a lot, but it makes a difference.

I like seeing results. My waist measurement has gotten smaller, my hip measurement has gotten smaller, I have more energy (well, usually - yesterday was an exception) and I am making better choices with my food. I feel full after a meal instead of wanting to go out and buy a bag of chips.

I know I’ve been talking a lot about this whole weight loss thing I’m doing, but really, it’s helping me stay accountable. The more people know that I’m watching my eating habits and working out, the more people I feel I’ll “let down” if I slack off for a day. This helps me in a way that just writing it down wouldn’t.

I’ve added a link to the top of the page to my SparkPeople profile. Feel free to look at it, criticize my food choices or offer suggestions. Any input is helpful to me, really. And if you’re like me, and want to lose a few pounds or just hold yourself accountable to making better choices, then why not join SparkPeople and join me! I know I sound like a walking advertisement for the site, but really, it’s the only thing that’s ever worked for me. I want to shout it from the rooftops!

I’m getting in the habit of eating healthy and exercising now. I’m kinda on a roll, to be honest. I have done some form of exercise (either a walk or Turbo Jam) every day since last Sunday. I’ve done strength training for the past three days. I’ve stayed within my food intake limits every single day this week. I’ve drank upwards of 8 glasses - usually around ten! - every day. And today, I started a multivitamin.

I’m seeing progress, too. I’ve lost yet another pound, which puts me down 4 pounds from my starting weight. Slow progress is better than no progress, in my opinion.

So, since all my poor friends have heard about for the past few days is my diet/exercise/whatever, time to talk about other things!

Last night, my raiding team took on Void Reaver for the first time. What a fun fight! I was very scared, reading the strategy, when I saw this:

Threat is an issue for high-threat generating classes, particularly shadow priests, so be careful: your threat will also be increased by healing your group members that get hit by Arcane Orbs.

However, I was able to maintain my threat and survive! Well, until the tank died. Y’know. But things happen. We got him to, like, 36% or something on our second try. Sadly, the amount of trash there is and the difficult pulls only gave us two tries on Void Reaver. By the time the second time came around, we had respawns all through the instance and couldn’t go any further. Regardless, it was fantastic fun and I was so excited to see something different for a change!

Kim, my shadow priest, is doing rather well in the gear department. She needs a few more things from Karazhan and one item from Heroic badges, but she’s starting to look pretty good!

Anyway, I think I’m going to play The Movies. Haven’t played it in a while, and decided it sounded like fun!

So, after getting differing opinions between my site and my LiveJournal about whether or not to get a scale, I decided to go for it. I’m pretty glad I did! Since the last time I weighed myself (about two weeks ago), I’ve lost three pounds! I know this isn’t phenomenal by any means, but it’s a step in the right direction for me. Looking at my weight trend from when I joined SparkPeople in February of 2006, I’ve gained a lot of weight. Ten pounds, which is a lot, really, on the chart. But now, I’m down three of them! So this is exciting for me, really.