Avoiding Temptation

Hello all, my name is Cindy and I already have a teacher blog which is a lot of fun. So I decided to start a new blog. I have decided that this year, instead of new year's resolutions, that get forgotten about by February, I would choose a word that I want to emulate in my life and my choices this year. The word I chose was DILIGENCE. I want to be diligent in meeting my goals for 2012. Since I am the type of person who needs to write things out and see them in print to work through things I decided to create a 2nd blog where I can blog about my successes and setbacks as I go through 2012 and work to be diligent in meeting my goals.

This blog will be used, like the title states, to avoid temptation, celebrate successes, and work through setbacks (I'm a realist I know there will be set backs - Murphy's law exists). I have been working hard to improve several areas of my life. Recently my main focus has been on weight and finances.

My husband, Gary, and I began Weight Watchers in March of 2011 and we have been very successful. I have lost a total of 30 pounds I went from a size 14 to a size 4/6! Gary has lost almost 80 pounds and went from a size 42 to a size 34/36! I am so proud of him and myself but now comes the hard part - maintaining my current weight and the weight loss along with supporting Gary as he continues to lose his last 15-20 pounds to reach his goal weight.

The other area that I have been really focusing on is our finances. I have been starting with Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. This book outlines "baby steps" to get out of debt which entails paying off and cancelling credit cards which is just fine with me. We are working on Baby Step 1 and 2 at the same time. Baby Step 1 is getting $1000 into savings and Baby Step #2 is called the Debt Snowball. So using this method we have paid off 5 of our little cards. The hardest thing for me is I am a purse, clothes, and shoe junky so it is SOOO hard for me to not go shopping. I need to figure out the best way to avoid that temptation. The worst are purses, and I get emails for sales at the Coach outlet. They are a BIG temptation!

I am hoping this blog will help keep me accountable and give me a place to whine when I need to whine and a place to celebrate the little things and the big things. I don't know if anyone will want to follow this blog but if you do I appreciate your support!