Happy New Year!

It's 2012!  Honestly, i'm glad 2011 is over.  It was a tough year with Chad being deployed to Iraq for most of the year.  We stayed as busy as we could, enjoyed R&R for two weeks in April, and then hung on through the summer and into the Fall until he came back.  Since he's been back it's kind of been a whirlwind of activity and never really being able to catch our breath. 

Over Christmas vacation he's put in a new dining room floor, de-wallpapered and painted the pantry and now he's working on an island for the kitchen.  Christmas has been down for several days at our house and we rang in the New Year at home with regular bedtimes and Chad working in the garage on the island. 

I didn't make any resolutions for 2012, but I did choose a word.  My Word for the year is Tranquil.  With all the changes we have coming I thought this a fitting word to remind myself not to stress over unnecessary things, especially things I have no control over.  What happens, happens.  I am going to strive to be tranquil about things. 

Last week I started doing short workouts on my elliptical.  The battery box on the display got corroded and nasty somehow so it's not working, but it still works otherwise so I can workout just not with the display working.  I have been doing 10 minute workouts every other day.  Today was my 3rd workout and a light bulb clicked on in my head.  I realized that I could probably burn more calories doing intervals (slow for 30 seconds, then fast for 30 seconds).  I could also probably work out longer since I would have those slow 30 second breaks in there.  I thought of it halfway through my workout this morning and burned 40 more calories than usual. 

I'm on the search for healthy meal ideas.  I have Dr. Oz's list of 100 foods you should have and have written down what I need from it.  I want to eat healthier this year and drop these 10-15 unwanted pounds.  Like I said, I set no resolutions, i'm just going to roll with it and try to do better, eat healthier most of the time and exercise as much as it suits me.

What are your plans for 2012?