Follow-Up Friday - No Complaint Challenge

Follow-Up Fridays are back! Well, sort of... This week, I'm focusing on the first few days of my "No Complaint" challenge. I'm still on-board, still excited, and still hopeful that I'll reach my goal of 21 straight days complaint-free by the end of 2010.

I've gotten funny looks and lots of questions since I started the challenge. Mostly, conversations start out with people asking me what my bracelet is for. (I'm actually wearing my bright orange "Stellan Will Live!" bracelet until my purple challenge bracelet arrives in the mail...) When I explain my goal, people's eyes go wide. When I clarify that "not complaining" also includes not criticizing and not gossiping, their jaws hit the floor. I think everyone realizes that this is a "challenging" challenge.

So, how have the first few days gone? Good news: I don't complain nearly as much as I thought I did! Yay! Not-so-good news: I am way more critical and sarcastic that I thought I was. Ugh... Instead of actually complaining about something that bothers me, I tend to make snarky comments. Normally, people will laugh at these comments, so I guess in my mind, it's "a sense of humor," rather than complaining. Well, that's not the kind of humor I was to have.

I've found myself switching my bracelet from wrist-to-wrist around 16 times a day. My first day was pretty good at 12 - yesterday, I lost count after 18. In the spirit of the challenge, if I think that something might qualify as complaining, gossiping, or criticizing, I switch my bracelet. I'm not going to develop a good habit by trying to justify my comments to myself.

The thing that most people say when I tell them that I'm trying not to complain is that it seems like I'm just laying down and taking whatever is thrown at me. I'm reminded of a scene from the Simpson's (I think it might have even been in the Simpson's Movie) when Lisa tells Marge that she's so angry, and Marge replies (paraphrased) that "We're women and we just keep everything bottled up inside." Thankfully, Will Bowen addresses this in his book. Making the decision to not complain doesn't mean that you sit down and take it (whatever "it" is). There are times when a situation is unjust and needs to be changed, but this can be accomplished without complaining, per se. The idea is that you look for a solution to the issue, determine whom you must speak with to effect change, and then have a conversation with that person regarding what sort of change you'd like to see. Instead of just griping about it ("It was so unfair. I was so angry."), you make the decision to take action to improve it.

I've also had people tell me that complaining is healthy. Um, no. Complaining is negative, and nothing negative is going to help you. Instead of complaining about a situation, the healthy response is to share your feelings about that situation. "I can't believe that awful woman yelled at me!" is very different from "I felt embarrassed and hurt when I was reprimanded in front of my co-workers. It made me feel small and like an undervalued part of the team." If you say the first statement, what's going to happen? The person you're talking to is going to commiserate with you and agree that the woman is awful, horrible, etc. So where are you? Sitting with someone, engaging in negative feelings regarding someone else. If you say the second statement, what is the other person going to say? They'll agree that it was sad that you were yelled at in front of others and then, most likely, tell you what a valuable part of the team your are. So where are you then? Sitting with someone who understands your feelings and being told that you are valuable and valued. Where would you rather be?

Just because I'm trying to give up my bad habits does not mean that I'm planning to turn into a doormat. But I will try to change my outlook. You're going to deal with people who are not happy and who want you to be unhappy, too. You are going to be tempted to join in and criticize, gossip, and complain. But you have to remember that "like attracts like." If you make the conscious decision to be a positive person who takes concrete steps to fix problems and watches the words that come out of your mouth, you'll find yourself surrounded by people who think positively, too.

Follow-Up Fridays - On Hold

Well, a lot has been going on around the Ng household lately, so I'm afraid that Follow-Up Fridays are going to be on hold for awhile. (No one needs to read that I didn't do a darn thing the past two weeks...)

So, in the absence of updates on my New Year's resolutions, what should I write about? How about my darling daughter? Yeah, I think that's a good swap, too. :-)

Abby is doing great. She's feeling better and, despite the fact that she has been waking up a bit earlier than normal this week, she's sleeping well, eating well, and just being plain adorable. One of her new favorite things is to point at us and say our names: mommy, daddy, and Abby. So, so cute.

Enjoying some fresh strawberries last week.
Taking a long, hard look at her pancakes.
Uh oh. Guess who figured out how to open band-aids?
And since Abby had a boo-boo on her leg a few weeks ago (from a fall on the playground), she figured that mommy must have a boo-boo on her leg, too, so Abby gave mommy some bandages.
Walking around the arboretum with daddy.

The Ngs hope that everyone has a great weekend!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The eleventh update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: this weekend I plan to print out some more of my March photos and update my Project Life kit. More pictures next week! :-)
  
• Book Clubs: On hold while I work on finishing the Bible.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I got some cute photos from Abby's first week as a Cherry, so check them out!
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 78! I have finished the Gospels and have moved on to Acts of the Apostles. Yay!
  
• Grocery Budget: The Ng family price book has been created and is in use! The purpose of the price book is to track what stores have the lowest prices for specific items, and when these lowest prices are offered. So, the book won't be of much help right away, but after a few months (and especially after one full year), it will be a valuable tool to help us track when and where to buy the items we need the most.
• Organization: We have been keeping up with our daily household chores. Our first big test: Carey's family is coming over to our house tomorrow to celebrate our niece's 6th birthday. Since we've kept up with our schedule, the only things we should have to do before then are clean the kitchen and bathrooms (tonight) and vacuum the carpets and mop the floors (Saturday). I'll let you all know how it goes next week!

So, that's what week #12 of 2010 looked like. How are you doing with your resolutions? However you're doing, I hope your year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday (A Few Days Late...)

(Better late than never, right?)

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The tenth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Pictures of my Project Life kit! Voila!
  
  
  The beautiful cover
  
  
  
  My first page. I wanted each spread in my book to cover Sunday - Saturday, so I have a mini-layout for January 1st & 2nd. I took one of the papers that was included with the kit to create a make-shift page filler on the opposite page. (And I have to admit, I was quite proud of my craftiness! I showed Carey, who didn't seem too impressed, though... :-p)
  
  Another page layout
  
  Another page layout
  
  I am having such a great time working on this kit. As a wanna-be crafty person, this is such a great way for me to ease into putting our life on paper. It's easy, fun, and I'm already enjoying looking back on the first two months of our year.
  
• Book Clubs: On hold while I work on finishing the Bible.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I am a few days behind, but I hope to get last week's photos up today.
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 75! I am in the New Testament! Hooray! Today I will be finishing Luke and moving on to the Gospel of John. I've finished Matthew and Mark, and it has been interesting to compare the different ways that each writer approached the life of Jesus. I'm looking forward to finishing Luke and John and spending some quality time reflecting on their individual presentations of the story of Christ.
  
• Grocery Budget: I am in the process of creating my Price Book, an idea that I'm borrowing from Lauren, a.k.a. Mama, at Mama's Laundry Talk. It will help us track the best times/places to buy the items that we buy frequently (can you say diapers?). I've ordered my supplies and should have it put together and in use by the upcoming weekend. I've set aside my receipts from this past weekend's shopping outings, so I'm itching to begin my entries!
• Organization: This is a new addition to the resolution list. As I said in my post from last week, I'm resolved to organize my home and my life as much as possible. Carey and I agreed on our cleaning/tasks schedule, which we implemented on Sunday night. I washed windows and mirrors while watching ESPN break down the NCAA Tournament bracket. (On a side note: GO SU!!!) Last night, I dusted while watching 24. I'm still working on how we're going to track our household chores and fridge/freezer/pantry inventory, but I'm pretty sure that I've developed a workable system, so I look forward to implementing it this week.

So, that's what week #11 of 2010 looked like. How are you doing with your resolutions? However you're doing, I hope your year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

Here I sit, hanging my head in shame. It has been three weeks since my last Follow-Up Friday post. Yikes...

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The ninth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Darn it! I keep forgetting to take pictures of my scrapbook! Anyway, I printed out the rest of my February pictures at Walgreen's last week and will be putting them into my scrapbook this weekend. Pictures next week - I promise!
  
• Book Clubs: I came to an important realization over the last few weeks: I was trying to do too much. I needed to make a choice, and I decided that my priority right now, in terms of reading, is my Bible. So, instead of feeling guilty that I haven't logged into Bloom in a while or am behind in my Simple Mom Book Club reading, I decided to concentrate on finishing my Bible and I'll pick up everything else once I'm done finishing His Word.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. I wasn't as good this week about taking photos, so I'm not completely happy with some of my pictures, but I did manage to get a few good ones, including this one from Walgreen's last Sunday.
• The Bible in 90 Days: Day 64! I'm over two-thirds done! Wow! I must admit: I found this week very challenging. As I mentioned on Twitter, Ezekiel was kicking my butt. I think that I hit the wall, and it just happened to be while reading that book of the Bible. But, with words of encouragement from some of the other readers on Twitter, I was able to plow through and move on to Daniel and, starting this morning, Hosea.
  
• Grocery Budget: We're doing pretty well with our grocery shopping. Carey is a sucker for a good sale on meat, so I find that no matter how much meat we consume, my freezer never seems to get any emptier... But, we're also learning ways to make good use of what we have. Case in point: turkey breast. Carey did an awesome herb rub and cooked a turkey breast last week. We ate some of the meat for dinner a few nights last week (Abby LOVES turkey), but then we put it to some other uses as well.
  
  My mom makes an awesome casserole-type dish with turkey and stuffing. Very simple: stuffing on the bottom, layer turkey over it, and cover it with some gravy. Heat and serve, or freeze for later. While I love this dish, the turkey tends to get kinda dry, even with extra gravy on top. So, I added a little twist to it: mashed potatoes. I put my stuffing on the bottom, layer sliced turkey breast on top of it, slather it with gravy (we Ngs are definitely fans of gravy!), and then put a nice think layer of mashed potatoes on top. (My secret: I use my hand-mixer to get the mashed potatoes super smooth. While normally I am a girl who likes some lumps in her taters, for this dish I find that the smooth texture of "whipped" potatoes is much better than lumpy potatoes.)
  
  We had enough turkey to make two casseroles, which are now foil-covered and in the freezer for when we need a quick meal. I usually thaw the dishes in the fridge for about 48 hours before putting them in the oven - the small Corningware dishes that I used this time will probably need 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees to heat all the way through. I re-heat them covered for the first 30-40 minutes, then remove the cover and the foil, put a few pats of butter on top, and stick it back in the over for another 10 minutes or so. This ensures that the potatoes don't dry out. And, well, frankly, while the Ngs are big fans of gravy, we're even bigger fans of butter. (I do try to use a heart healthy spread, just to make myself feel a little bit better...) When the dish is heated through, remove from the oven, spoon out, drizzle (or drown) with additional turkey gravy, and enjoy!
  
  
  
  So, we've enjoyed turkey and now have turkey - stuffing - potato casseroles in the freezer for later. What to do with the turkey carcass? Make soup! We are big fans of making your own broth. While you can find all sorts of recipes on the Internet for making your own poultry stock, we just wing it. We just put the carcass into a pot with water, salt and pepper, and whatever fresh (or dried) herbs we have on hand. Then, turn on the heat and let it simmer. For a few hours, at least. (Since Carey and I both work, we usually do our soup making on the weekends, when we can let it sit in the pot for 6-8 hours.) We test the broth occasionally and add additional seasoning as necessary. After about 6 hours, you'll notice that meat will be coming off the bone. At this point, we strain the broth and pick all the meat off the bones. Once we've cleaned off the bones, we put the meat back into the broth, add whatever we want (usually carrots and pasta) and let the add-ins cook through. Then, you have delicious, homemade soup. We put some in the fridge for the week, and then we freeze some for later. (Space-Saving Tip: freeze soup in a freezer bag on a cookie sheet. Once the bag is frozen through, remove the cookie sheet and you have a flat bag of delicious soup that takes up minimal space and can be stacked in your freezer.)
  
  (For some reason, the soup looks really oily in this picture - it didn't look so bad in person... You can always skim off the oil before you store it, but we usually leave it alone and recheck it when we re-heat it.)
  

So, this was Week #9 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The sixth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: All sorts of progress on my Project Life kit this week, and I'm so excited about that! Last Friday I challenged myself to participate in Project Life Tuesday over on The Mom Creative. Tuesday's post was a re-cap of last week's photos. I also got a lot of work done on my journaling cards - I'm up to January 31st. Walgreen's is offering a few great deals this weekend, so I'll be printing out my photos from January 1st - February 11th and plan to get them into my scrapbook as soon as possible after they arrive.
  
• Book Clubs: Discussions continued with both online book clubs, but they continued without Kristen... :-( This week's challenge to myself: log on to both Bloom and the Simple Mom book club to participate in the discussion. Hopefully, I'll have good progress to report next week!
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily and posted to 365 Days of Ng as frequently as possible. (The photo from February 9th is one of my favorites from 2010 thus far.)
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: This week has been amazing - I'm on schedule with the Challenge, and the past few days have involved reading from Psalms. To sit down and really reflect upon the words in Psalms has been a blessing. As I mentioned on Twitter earlier this week, I find myself speechless in the face of such beauty, humility and wisdom. Sunday will be Day 45, which marks the halfway point of the Challenge.
  
• Grocery Budget: Last week's shopping trip was very small because we'd stocked up on everything we needed the week before. Carey did go out to pick up some bananas (or, as Abby calls them, buh-nuhs), yogurt (there was a super sale on La Yogurt), and some ice cream (because he's a great husband who wants me to be happy!). He spent less than $20, so we're still below $80 on this month's grocery budget. We'll have to be careful over the next two weeks - we have about $40 left for the month - but we should be okay with some planning and using what we have.
  

So, this was Week #6 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The fifth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Good grief. Still no real progress on my Project Life kit. The best laid plans... I was all set to work on it this week, but I was laid low by some bad eggs. While I'm finally getting my appetite back, I'm still lagging in the energy department. So, this weekend is going to be the weekend! Jessica, author of one of my favorite blogs, The Mom Creative, hosts a weekly Project Life Tuesday, where people post their photos from the week and the captions they plan to use in the Project Life kits. Since I apparently need more motivation, I will be participating in Project Life Tuesday this week!
• Book Clubs: Discussions continued with both online book clubs, but I didn't have the energy to log on this week. I'll be popping in this weekend.
  
• Project 365: Photos are being taken daily. I still find myself taking LOTS of pictures of Abby. (But seriously, with a face like this, who wouldn't?)
  I'm going to make more of an effort to not only take pictures of things besides Abby, but to find inspiration in those things. In the meantime, don't forget to stop by 365 Days of Ng!
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: Still going strong. A full day ahead in my reading - finished the Book of Job this morning, which I've been working on since yesterday. It definitely makes you pause to reflect on your own sufferings and how you interact with God throughout those tribulations.
  
• Grocery Budget: As I mentioned last week, January marked the end of the Eat From The Pantry Challenge. Overall, Carey and I did really well. Last week, in an effort to restock our pantry/kitchen a bit, we decided to really go for it at Pathmark. We spent $59.43 on beef roast, chicken, ground beef, fruits and veggies, cereal, bread and stocking up on some of Abby's favorites: chicken nuggets and fish sticks. So, while in one trip we spent almost half of our February grocery budget (total budget for the month: $120), we saved almost $70! It was an expensive shopping trip, but we filled the fridge and freezer with lots of great stuff and will actually have very little shopping that we need to do this week.
  

So, this was Week #5 of 2010. A bit of a slow-down in the resolutions department, but I'm looking forward to picking up steam again next week. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The fourth update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: Yikes! No real progress on my Project Life kit. :-( This is my project for the weekend: I'd like to fiddle around with some pictures and get started on my journaling cards. Keep me honest people! Stop by next week to see what I've gotten done!
  
• Book Clubs: Discussions galore! I popped into the forums at SimpleMom.net. The other folks in the book club have given me some great ideas for being proactive and making deposits into the Emotional Bank Accounts of my family members. (No idea what I'm talking about? Read the book! I finished Chapter 1: Be Proactive this week, and the ideas and tools for really improving your family dynamic are great!) The discussion of Same Kind of Different as Me on Bloom also began this week. I've stopped by the Ning community (the forums that the club uses for discussion), but I want to watch the videos posted on the blog before I start commenting myself. Another goal for this weekend!
  
• Project 365: I continue to keep up with my picture-a-day goal. I'm doing better with taking pictures of things other than Abby (although I'm getting lots of good munchkin pictures, too!). Stop by 365 Days of Ng to see what things, ordinary and extraordinary, are taking my breath away.
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: Despite the fact that today is January 29th, I am a full two days ahead in my reading. Know what that means? I am more than one-third of the way through the Bible! What an amazing experience this has been. I look forward to my daily readings, spending time with the Lord and trying to discern what He is telling me through His Word. (A task, which, I must admit, is more difficult with some passages than others...) The SOAP reflections that Amy posts on her blog, Mom's Toolbox, are a great way to reflect on a verse/passage, and I often find myself scrolling down to re-read past SOAP reflections. I am so thankful for this challenge!
  
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: This was technically the last week of this challenge. (After all, you can only eat from the pantry for so long - then you need to restock the pantry!) The challenge then transforms into a budgeting challenge. I'm on-board for that one, too! Last week, Carey and I stopped by Pathmark to pick up some groceries. How did we do?
  
  
  Total bill: $26.60 - over by $1.60... But, we got a lot of great stuff, including some items to re-stock our pantry (cereal, pasta sauce), so we were still pretty happy. Going forward, we're going to give ourselves a monthly food budget of $120. That way, if there's a great sale on a staple item (e.g. ground beef, rice), we won't feel guilty if we spend more than $25. We'll just have to watch spending the following week(s) to stay within budget.
  

So, this was Week #4 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The third update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: more concrete progress on my Project Life kit - I finalized the layout of my binder! I literally sat on the floor of our living room while Abby took a nap last weekend and laid out all the cards, then color-coordinated the week cards with the journaling cards and inserted the cards into the pages. Also, my Paint Shop Pro software arrived on Wednesday! I've had to work late every night this week, so I haven't had the chance to play around with the software yet. But, I plan to get on the computer this weekend and learn some of the features of the program (and maybe even fiddle around with a few pictures!).
  
• Book Clubs: The discussion of Same Kind of Different as Me begins on Bloom next week! Hooray! Discussion of 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families will also begin next week, on January 28th. I have been battling some sinus issues the past two weeks, so my desire to read when I get home has been very small. However, I will finish up the introduction this weekend!
  
• Project 365: I have kept up with my picture-a-day goal. (I'm not always getting the pictures up on the blog right away, but they are on the camera and will be uploaded!
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: I continue to stay up-to-date with my daily readings. The weekends often see me falling slightly behind, but I have plenty of time during the week to get caught up, so I usually go into the weekend anywhere between a half day and a day and a half ahead. I said it last week, but I'll say it again: I am really enjoying this challenge! I am learning so much from reading His Word, and I am trying hard each day to figure out how the readings are speaking to me. And, I love being able to check off those boxes as I finish each day's reading!
  
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: As I mentioned last week, Carey and I decided to forgo grocery shopping and, instead, donated $25 to the Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti. Wonderful update: Pearson, the parent company of my employer, started their own fundraiser for Haiti. In addition to matching dollar-for-dollar any donations that came through their website, they also agreed to match any donations that had already been made by Pearson employees through other relief organizations. They matched our $25, and I felt great that Carey and mine's small donations was increased by Pearson. The Ngs continue to pray for the safety and comfort of all those people devastated by this tragedy, and we thank God for the people who have been so generous with their time, talents, and treasure to assist the victims.
  
  We return to grocery shopping this weekend. Our sale circulars arrived yesterday, and Carey and I will sit down to plan out next week's menu tonight. We're hoping to stay below $20 this week!
  

So, this was Week #3 of 2010. I hope that your new year continues to be blessed!

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all of my resolutions. The second update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: some concrete progress on my Project Life kit! I watched an awesome video that Becky posted on her blog. The video tutorial was done by Tammy, an amazing scrapbooking coach with lots of great ideas. Her tutorial shows that, while each person who ordered the Project Life kit received the same set of materials to work with, it is still completely possible for individual personalities to show through. I put my binder together and fiddled around with some layouts/color combinations. Second, thanks to Bargain Briana, I was able to score Coral's Paint Shop Pro for just $29.99 on Amazon.com! This is an older version of the software, but it had everything that I would need to edit my photos and it was 70% off! So, I decided to wait to print my photos until I have my new software and am able to edit my pictures. My software isn't scheduled to ship until next week, so it will probably be February before I put together a complete layout with photos and journaling cards. But, I plan to choose my photos and start on my journaling cards while I wait. (HUGE thanks to Carey, who agreed to let me purchase this software as a very, very early birthday present. I'm blessed to have a husband who understands my enthusiasm and is willing to help out in whatever ways he can!)
  
• Book Clubs: I am (not always so patiently) waiting for the discussion of Same Kind of Different as Me to begin on Bloom. The discussion officially begins on January 24th, but I often find myself logging into our Ning community to see what the other wonderful ladies in the book club are talking about. I've also started the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families - I've read the personal message, forward and most of the introduction, which will be discussed on January 28th at SimpleMom.net. I look forward to finishing the introduction and getting started on the first "habit" this weekend.
  
• Project 365: I have kept up with my picture-a-day goal so far, with one hiccup due to Abby's illness. It's still pretty easy to find interesting things to take pictures of - after all, I've got some very cute 16 month old subject matter at home. :-) But, I do want to give myself the goal of taking at least one non-Abby picture every day as well. I want to be sure that 365 Days of Ng (and, in turn, my Project Life scrapbook) showcase as much of our lives as possible. And, while Abby is absolutely a huge part of our lives, I don't want to forgot the other parts that make us who we are.
  
• The Bible in 90 Days: I am now completely caught up with my readings, even though I got behind after Abby's illness last weekend. (In fact, I'm a day and a half ahead!) God continues to open my eyes to the glory of His Word, and I am so thankful that I am able to spend time with Him each day. I would like to challenge myself to make better use of the other resources that are available to help me during my journey. I pray for God's guidance to help me recognize and utilize the tools that He has made available for my growth and learning.
  
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: Carey and I finally got on the ball with this resolution. While we still haven't completed a thorough inventory of our cupboards (gasp!), we did take a look at what we had in the pantry before we went grocery shopping last Saturday. Prior to undertaking the challenge, Carey tried to keep our weekly grocery bill to between $30 and $40, so we decided to challenge ourselves: $20 a week. Gulp. How did we do? A trip to Waldbaum's cost us $20.52, and we got all of this:
  
  (Note: the rice cakes were returned (not on sale, like I thought they were) and exchanged for two containers of ricotta cheese, which were then used to create two pans of lasagna, one for immediate consumption and one for the freezer. Probably a much better use of $3 than a bag of rice cakes...)
  
  We sorta cheated, though. Target had a great sale on whole wheat pasta (which is normally super expensive), so we picked up 5 boxes for $3.85. So, we managed to keep the total bill under $25, which wasn't too bad for our first time. We have decided to forgo grocery shopping this week and, instead, donated $25 to the Red Cross for their relief efforts in Haiti. We'll probably have to pick up a quart of milk for Abigail, but Carey and I realized that we have so much food in the house, and we'll gladly scrimp a little bit this week to know that we were able to help in some way, in addition to our prayers. (Not to worry: Abigail will be well-fed, despite our skipping a grocery shopping trip. The Ngs are nothing if not stock-pilers, so the little munchkin will have plenty of fresh, healthy, delicious yummies to eat. Including some of that broccoli in the photo above!)

So, this was Week #2 of 2010. I'm still very excited about the changes I have decided to make and the challenges that I have placed before myself. God is so good, showing me that, with His help, I can accomplish the goals that I have set for myself and see positive change in my life.

Follow-Up Friday

So, how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions? In an effort to keep myself honest, I've decided to post weekly updates on all the resolutions that I posted about here, here, and here. The first update of 2010 looks something like this:

• Scrapbooking: my Project Life kit arrived yesterday! Can you tell I'm excited???
  
  I plan to browse Becky's site a bit more, to get some tips and ideas, before I attempt my first layout. I'm actually thinking that I might leave the title page for a bit later on, when I've had a bit more practice. I'm thinking my first page will be a layout of the Ng family holiday celebration, which was held at our house on January 2nd.
• Book Clubs: I have finished the first book for 2010 for Bloom. Same Kind of Different as Me was AMAZING. It was such an incredible story, not only of how one or two people can make a huge difference, but also how God puts the right people into our lives at the right times. I highly recommend this book! Next on my reading list is the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families, which is currently on my nightstand. I plan to get started on that book this weekend.
• Project 365: I have kept up with my picture-a-day goal so far. And it's actually been fairly easy: I have the camera in my purse, so I'm always ready to snap a photo. If you haven't stopped by, please check out 365 Days of Ng!
• The Bible in 90 Days: I am almost caught up on my reading. I didn't actually get started with the challenge until January 4th, so I've done a few double-up days to get myself back on the same schedule as everyone else. I'm almost done with Exodus, and the first 14 chapters of Leviticus are on the schedule for tonight's train ride home. I will then be caught up - yay! Even just these last four days have been an amazing experience - beginning my day with the Word of God on my commute into the city and reflecting on that Word through the tools available on The Bible in 90 Days website and the SOAP (Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer) reflections on Amy's blog. I won't lie: some sections of Exodus tested my ability to concentrate - how many times do I need to read about what fabrics should be used for the vestments worn by priests? However, there are surprising sections, too - did you know that, in Exodus, God commanded the priests to wear underwear? (Chapter 28, Verse 42 - go ahead, see for yourself!) I am thankful that God brought this opportunity to my attention, and I look forward to walking closer to Him as I reflect on His Word over the next 3 months.
• Eat From the Pantry Challenge: uh oh... This is the "slacked upon" resolution so far this year. I have yet to inventory my pantry, fridge, and freezer, so I am still in the dark about what treasures are there. However, Carey and I have yet to make our weekly shopping trip, so I still have some time! We've both perused the weekly store ads and have some items in mind - chicken drumsticks for $.69/lb and Bartlett pears for $.69/lb are just two of the deals that are on our grocery list this week. I plan to redeem myself tonight, though - while the laundry is being done, I will be stacking, sorting, and organizing our kitchen. I'm already itching to get started!

I was discussing my resolutions with Carey last night, and I have to say that I am excited and focused. I am very happy with the tasks that I have set before me and am glad to see that I am making progress. I truly believe that these resolutions will help me to strengthen my relationship with God and become a better wife, mother, and household manager. Hooray for positive change! :-)