The desperate need to clean out!

Everything.
I really mean everything.  Closets, cupboards, and myself as well.

I tend to get this way by the end of October every year.   Between all the birthdays, the Halloween craziness, the back to school hangover and the onslaught of those first projects, plus I usually do a boutique the beginning of November so I'm up to my ears in fabric....it all just piles and piles and piles up.

And then I need to purge.

The great purge of 2010 has begun.
Clothes and shoes were round one.  I still haven't gone through nearly as much as I'd like, but with as much as we've already hauled out of here and donated and how full our house still is, I am wondering where it all lived when it was still here.
I got through the overflowing bookshelves this week as well.  I have a thing for books, but when a bookshelf in nearly every room and the huge built-ins that we have in the basement are all overflowing, it's time to go through things.  It was good.

We have a lot of stuff.
Granted, we have a lot of people, so a lot of stuff is to be expected, but lately I find myself wandering around thinking "when was the last time I used this?  Why am I still hanging on to this?"  Then when I think about Christmas and the fact that we will be bringing (hopefully just a little) more into our home, I start feeling claustrophobic.

While on the great clean out rampage, I took a good look at myself and decided it's time.

Sam is only three months old, so it's not like I've been lugging around extra junk on myself for years playing the 'one day I'll get rid of the baby weight' card, but I'm starting to feel it and feel my eating habits, and not loving that feeling.

So starting two weeks ago I gave my intake a huge overhaul.  And started my outgo overhaul as well.
Diet-totally cleaned up.
Ok, well almost totally.  The fact that Sam doesn't do terribly well with dairy gave me a nice jumpstart.  I can sneak in little bits here and there and he does ok, but I am finding I don't crave it the way I thought I would.
The junk food is gone.  I did amazingly well with all the Halloween candy in the house, and am finding my sweet tooth dying down.  Though in passing on the Snickers and M&Ms, I have discovered I really love Yorks.  And I am totally ok with that!
So my eating has gone from whatever to lots of fruits and veggies, power oatmeal every morning (steel cut oats, cinnamon and almonds), and much more appropriate portions. Yay me!
And the "cheat" day every week makes it that much more doable!

Also, it was time to kick workouts into high gear.
I didn't do much besides running for September and October, because I wanted to be able to knock out those 13 miles.  With that checked off the list it's time for some serious cross training with a little running sprinkled in to the off season.   I'm stealing a term from another blogger and calling it my Runbattical.  Easy runs a couple of times a week.
I've taken the last two weeks to settle in to a nice schedule that will hopefully keep up for the next couple of months till it's time to start training for the Spring races.  I'm even squeezing in two-a-days on Monday through Thursday, and after only two weeks I am feeling it!   With boot camp once a week, toning class twice a week, pilates, yoga and good old 30 Day Shred, once running gets sprinkled in there it's a pretty satisfying regimen I've got worked out.

It's nice to feel better, and to see that scale budging.
It's nice to see the shelves a little neater, the closets less crowded.

I'm hoping I can keep this motivation and find my life and myself a little more organized before the Holiday season really kicks in to high gear, and keep it up as we head into a new year!