How to Become an Early Riser

• Don’t make drastic changes. Start slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.
• Allow yourself to sleep earlier. You might be used to staying up late, perhaps watching TV or surfing the Internet. But if you continue this habit, while trying to get up earlier, sooner or later one is going to give. And if it is the early rising that gives, then you will crash and sleep late and have to start over. I suggest going to bed earlier, even if you don’t think you’ll sleep, and read while in bed. If you’re really tired, you just might fall asleep much sooner than you think.
• Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.
• Go out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room. My habit is to stumble into the bathroom and go pee. By the time I’ve done that, and flushed the toilet and washed my hands and looked at my ugly mug in the mirror, I’m awake enough to face the day.
• Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option.
• Have a good reason. Set something to do early in the morning that’s important. This reason will motivate you to get up. I like to write in the morning, so that’s my reason. Also, when I’m done with that, I like to read all of your comments!
• Make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. A good reward is to make a hot cup of coffee or tea and read a book. Other rewards might be a tasty treat for breakfast (smoothies! yum!) or watching the sunrise, or meditating. Find something that’s pleasurable for you, and allow yourself to do it as part of your morning routine.
• Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs, unless that’s a major goal of yours. Don’t wake up early and waste that extra time. Get a jump start on your day! I like to use that time to get a head start on preparing my kids’ lunches, on planning for the rest of the day (when I set my MITs), on exercising or meditating, and on reading. By the time 6:30 rolls around, I’ve done more than many people do the entire day.

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As a result, my eyes are tired all the time, there are dark circles around them and they are all puffy as if I spent the night crying. I’m actually afraid to look at the mirror for fear of not being able to identify myself . I am pretty sure my wrinkles are getting deeper and more prominent by the minute.

I need to make sure I get back to my skin care regimen or else all else will go down wayside. I have been looking for the perfect eye wrinkle cream for me for the longest time -  it either doesn’t work for me (I don’t see the results) or it stopped working for me after a time (maybe after three weeks).

It is a good thing I stumbled upon the review and feedback site of Terri, who has a great site about eye wrinkle cream reviews. The site is easy to navigate and all products reviewed are shown on the site’s side bar.

I plan to try out a couple of creams, as long as budget permits. I just checked here and the only that is available for me to purchase is Murad Lighten and Brighten.

It actually scored the lowest from all the reviews. So Im going to send an email to an aunt who can get a better cream for me. I’m so happy I saved a lot of money by not wasting on buying the cream!

I want to study again, do something productive for me and me alone. But I really cannot go out and take 4-8 hours from home since there will be no one left for the kids. The husband needs to work. Thankfully, the internet has been very kind to me. I find money, friends and amusement there. I am trying to make the internet work to get me to study again as well. So I have been researching for any course I’d like to take.

There is an online Masters of Science in Information Security course available that has flexible schedules and affordable rates. I’m not really sure though if it will be in my line of work. I guess I can take the Managerial aspect of the course at the Lewis University. It focuses on the impact of information security on individual lives and personal privacy, the growing information security risks facing business and government, strategies for securing information, and the influence of laws and public policy on how information is secured.

You are most compatible with people born on the 7th, 16th, and 25th of the month.

Where have I been the entire week you’re wondering? Well, Ive been around, offline and online, just didnt have time to twit at Twitter, plurk at Plurk and even blog (There was no work so I thought Id focus on better things ).

I have been busy helping my mom on something and for once Im thankful I got to know scrapbooking – my scrapbooking skills now have a purpose. Of course to the scrapbooking ignorante (with an accent of course), I am a layout artist

Im going to hitting the treadmill or the ellipticals soon – it is so cold here nowadays I dont even sweat – and that’s a bad thing

End of year months always get me into introspection. I always realize how much I have done and how much time I have wasted. Sometimes I feel good, sometimes I get depressed. Mood swings are going to be the death of me I swear.

So to control my mood swings:

• I have been lying low on my “job”. Im sure Id regret this after a time but Im really nearing a HUGE burn out so I let it be. Screw expenses for a change. We’d survive.
• With lying low on the job, it means Im not online 100% of the time. I have spent it reading (again) and watching movies. And sorting piles of junk.
• I have watched Evan Almighty, the Pursuit of Happyness and Sex and the City.
• I bawled like a baby and my heart hurt while watching SATC.
• Im downloading mp3s like there is no tomorrow. It is rivalling my downloading slash hoarding of scrap kits from SSD (Getting ready for the downtime of the shop come next week. I plan to scrap like crazy)
• Ive been praying and trying to come up with plans for next year. I want change (as if this year wasnt mindblowing no. Im a sucker for torture).
• Im looking for a sitter for Martha this week. Im taking Matthew out on a date. I want to watch High School Musical 3 on the big screen. Provided Martha LOVES HSM, I wont risk her ruining the movie for me by saying she wants to watch Dora instead
• I want to take the week off and do nothing.

Payables have also started coming in, and we are in due big pay-off starting this month. We will turn in Edil’s big bonus on getting ourselves HMO cards and maybe some term life insurance

I haven’t read a book in years – I think 4 years? Exclude Harry Potter books from the confession though. I am so behind. I so want to read but books are  a bit pricier these days and I have to admit Id rather spend it on digital kits and now since money is tight, it needs to go to out budget.

E-books would save me but I simply cannot stand to read a BOOK worth 500 pages when I spend most of the day in front of it already working to death (Yes Im being sarcastic on that one).

A friend has recommended getting myself a PDA. PDAs would allow me to read ebooks while laying down in bed or when Im bored somewhere else.

The handheld Treo would be good for me.

Another one on my wishlist.

I don’t want the standard-sized mugs – it wouldn’t fit me I want the 16-18oz types – wide-mouthed please . Please do not limit yourself to the style you see on the left. I’d want more on the blues or pinks prints. A Tagaytay city mug is perfect. Basta wag lang ung standard mug.

I always have a mug beside me when Im online and working (naks). Im still using a Christmas mug, juskoday. LOL. I want kasi the ones that hold much water (liquid). Tamad ako puno ng puno. It also reminds me to drink a lot. Coffee and cola included
If you can give me a coaster (not necessarily Starbucks, basta matching). Oks na.

Some pictures to give you an idea, everything swiped from Ebay:

Here is what I want to accomplish:

As opposed to this:

A little background: I live for organizers/planners/notebooks. You won’t believe how much notebooks I have lying around. I also spend months and really waste time looking for one. It needs to be PERFECT. Nice pages, lots of room, ORGANIZED. And then Glo led me to Mom Agenda.

My life will forever be changed.

I have this one for 2008.

And I would have bought one for next year but it’s $42 (Starbucks Planners are more or less the same if you think about it). Next month na lang siguro.

I have my eyes on this one: momAgenda All-in-One

It has fillers, a notepad, little slip-ons for receipts, bills, letters, Matthew’s reply slips. AND it is refillable. You can even have your name on the cover for an additional $4.95.

And it may be steep for others. But for me, FOR the sake of my sanity, I need to have this