65 in 365 Month 3 Update

This will be a list of 65 things I want to accomplish in the next 365 days. (No, I didn't come up with this idea myself, I borrowed it from this Foster Mama, along with some of her items.) I'll update the list once a month (that's the first thing on the list). Completed items are in italics.

1. Update the 65 in 365 once a month (3/12)
2. Come up with 65 goals for the year (35/65)
3. Complete Sophie's baby album
4. Complete 2009 annual album
5. Attend at least 5 StrollerStrides classes a month (5/3/12)
6. Girls Night Out (or Mom's Night Out) at least 4 times (3/4)
7. Go to the movies every other month (0/6)
8. Finish reading 6 books (0/6)
9. Try 26 new recipes (0/26)
10. Make our wills
11. Come up with a system for backing up digital photos
12. Make bed everyday; complete after 30 days, will restart counter when I miss a day (0/30)
13. Have date night once a month (2/12)
14. Build a snowman
15. Join a moms group
16. Set up a cleaning schedule and follow it; complete after 3 months (0/3)
17. Have lawn guys come on a regular basis
18. Take Wrangler to Kady the groomer 6 times (0/6)
19. Purchase a jogging stroller for Paul to use
20. Put items in JBF Consignment sales, 2 sales each sales season (2/4)
21. Make and stick to a weekly menu and grocery list; complete after 5 weeks (0/5)
22. Decorate the tabletop tree for each holiday or season (snowflakes, hearts, green and gold beads, eggs, flowers, red and blue stars, apples, Halloween, fall leaves, Christmas)
23. Update a blog everyday or at least average one new post each day (86/365)
24. Go on a scrapbooking retreat
25. Attend a scrapbooking crop every other month (1/6)
26. Complete 150 scrapbook pages (66/150)
27. Sign Sophie up for swim lessons
28. Attend one playgroup event each month (6/12)
29. Take Sophie to library storytime each month (2/12)
30. Attend a local Chinese New Year event
31. Have teeth cleaned twice a year (1/2)
32. Have Sophie’s picture taken with the Easter Bunny
33. Take Sophie to see a fireworks display
34. Attend Living Last Supper at church
35. Plan Sophie’s first birthday party

Show Us Your Life-Cleaning Tips

Those who know me, please don't laugh too hard. I am not much of a "cleaner". I keep things picked up and put away, but the actually cleaning part is low on my list. I do have a couple of tips that I can share.
1. I love, love, love the Swiffer products. We have pets so a regular broom just wasn't getting all the fur and hair. So the dry swiffer works great for that. I have always found the dirty mop water disgusting, so the wet swiffer products are wonderful.
2. I try to do a load of laundry a day. Others prefer to do it all at once, but that was so depressing for me. Now, I do tend to have a load waiting to be washed in the washer and one that has been dried in the dryer, but I do occasionally have both the washer and dryer empty as well as all the folded clothes put away. I also sort mine differently, which drives my mom insane. It started when I was single, and I've just kept it up. I have darks (blacks, blues, & greens), lights (whites & creams), browns (includes yellows), and reds (includes pinks & oranges). I don't separate the type of clothing (towels get washed with jeans and shirts), but I do separate Sophie's from ours.

You can get more tips at Kelly's Korner.

Sunday Renew Your Spirit

We typically go to church on Sunday, usually the contemporary service with the band leading the praise songs. But this Sunday was a little different. I volunteered to do the PowerPoint for the early service, then I taught children's Sunday School. Mom, Paul and Sophie came up for the third service. It worked out pretty well because Sophie got a little wiggly during the sermon so I stepped out with her since I'd already heard the sermon earlier. After church we went to eat lunch at a local restaurant that was giving a portion of the days proceeds back to the church. There were several of us from the church at that time. This was my "Spirit Renewal" time.

Later in the day we had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. That was my "Spirit Depletion" time. Sophie will NEVER have her birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese! Oh, yes, I said it!

Saturday Family Fun Day

Saturday is the day set aside to enjoy time with your family. These have been hard for us because Paul has had to work most weekends, but today he was off. Yay!!!! We had Sophie's swim lessons in the morning then we went to Stockyards Stations after nap. We had fun petting the animals. Then we stayed and watched a very short parade. Although we didn't stay very long, it was just the right amount of time for Sophie.

Friday Home Blessing

Spend one hour cleaning your house, just the major rooms and main areas.

1. Vacuum

2. Sweep & Mop

3. Glass & Mirrors

4. Dust

5. Change Sheets

6. Empty Trash

I really wanted to just veg in front of the TV when I got home but I have managed to the focus each day and I didn't want to quit now, so I strapped Sophie in her highchair gave her some snacks and a sippy cup and got cleaning. The idea behind today's focus is that if you maintain a fairly clean house then you won't find yourself in the predicament that you would "just die" if someone came by unannounced. We never have that happen but it's nice to feel like my house is presentable.

The good part is we keep the bedroom doors closed because of the cats so I just focused on the entry, hallway, kitchen, and great room (living room and dining). Besides, if we do have guests I lock the cats up in the master bedroom, so no one ever sees that room anyway. Theoretically, you should spend 10 minutes on each item. But for me the dusting and glass don't take as long, so that gives me some extra time for the floors. I also don't do the sheets at this time. I save that for when Paul is home and we usually do that either when we get up in the morning or just before we go to bed. I should really find something different for the trash, because that's gets done on the mornings when the trash gets picked up. I will rework this list before next week to make it work for us better.

Accomplishment for Feb. 24th

I went to the Just Between Friends consignment sale with 2 items in mind and I found them. I wanted a bathtub ring/seat for Sophie. All she wants to do is stand up and it is so hard in the bathtub. I found this seat for half price, it is new and it works great. I know Sophie can still stand up but so far she hasn't figured that out yet.


The next item on my list was a jogging stroller for Paul to use. I had really hoped that he could go with me to pick it out since he's the one using it but he had to work. I found the Jeep one in great condition. I spent more than I initially wanted but I got a great deal. Paul hasn't had a chance to use it yet, but maybe this weekend.

Thursday Anti-Procrastination

Do something you keep putting off!

I chose this as Thursday's focus because I don't have any work obligations on Thursday and it is usually just time for Sophie and I.
But this week was harder for me. We had a really busy day and I didn't end up with as much free time as I normally would have. I did work on a policy document for work. We are trying to update the policy and I needed to review and make changes. I got through a first read of it while waiting to have lunch with Paul (and Sophie was napping). I also read through my Sunday School lesson for this week. I just got it yesterday so I really hadn't procrastinated, but I could have waited until Saturday night to even take it out, so I guess Mission Accomplished!

Wednesday Purse & Car

Clean out your purse and the car!

Before:



After:



My purse is kind of small so I have to clean it out fairly often. The car on the other hand...it really needs to be cleaned everyday.

Tuesday Errand Day

Get all your running around done at once! That is today's focus. I chose to do this on Tuesdays since I have to be out anyway for my staff meeting. It's also the most convenient day to take care of any work shopping that needs to be done. We usually start the day at Stroller Strides but were running late and had a lot of other stops so we just got ready and headed out. We went to Michael's for a sale item (that was already sold out) , Hallmark for a birthday card, Mardel's for bulletin board displays (didn't find anything I liked) then on to church for staff meeting. We ate lunch with the retiree group at church and watched the local high school show choir perform. After that we headed to Dixie's for a charm bracelet, then Dollar Tree for some containers for the teachers before going home for Sophie's nap. After nap we were back in the car going to the post office and then to do the grocery shopping. Whew! Now I need a nap! Sophie played in her kitchen cabinet while I put groceries away, then we both relaxed with our favorite beverage (formula for her, sweet tea for me).

Monday Plan & Play

So, I think I've mentioned this website called Flylady someone told me about that is supposed to help you get your life organized. It has you break down each day of the week with a different focus. I rearranged their days to be more efficient and work with my job schedule. So today's focus is Plan and Play. The idea is that you plan for the rest of your week then reward yourself with some play.

Things to include in your planning day:

1. menu for the week
2. activities

3. wardrobe/laundry needs

4. grocery list

5. errands to be run

Sophie took a really long nap after work which gave me plenty of time to do all my planning and also get in a Tivo'd show or 2. So after she got up and had dinner, she played in the bath. She has just started figuring out that she can splash me with the water. Oh, so much fun!

New Computers

No, that's not a typo in the title. Yes 2 new computers for the Walker family. Paul's pc finally kicked it this week. We thought it was going before Christmas but managed to make it until now. Of course, he's pretty sure he downloaded something that caused it's demise. (Darn gaming crap!) I was/am most worried because there are pictures that haven't been backed up but the computer guru at church says we can get them back. Anyway, we went to Best Buy to day to take a look. Paul decided that since he isn't really doing much gaming on the pc anymore (more on the XBox), that he could probably live with a laptop. And since those are cheaper anyway, then we might as well get 2 so we can both be on at the same time. It should actually be helpful because out computer time is much more limited now that we have Sophie, there's only a little time each night we could get online and this way we don't have to split that time. So here I am finally getting to post, sitting in bed while Paul plays XBox. I promise to get pictures uploaded tomorrow. Then I can get caught up on the other blogs too.

Show Us Your Life: A Typical Day

This week at Kelly's Korner we are telling about our typical day. Since I work part-time I'll start with a workday. I'm about by 6:30, and hopefully have time to get ready and fix lunch before Sophie gets up. I've been playing around with her feeding schedule so right now she gets breakfast at about 7ish with Daddy, then changed and out the door at 7:30am. We are at work at 8am and she hangs out in the stroller for a bit while I get everything situated. Some mornings she'll go into the One's class until about 9:15 other times she's in the pack 'n play. She has a bottle at about 9:30 after most kids have been dropped off and the parents are gone. If I'm lucky she go down for a nap by 10:30 and stay there an hour. During that time I either work in the office on the computer or try to stay out of the office doing things elsewhere. After nap, we'll move to the exersaucer then have lunch about 12noon. After lunch, I just move her from highchair to pack 'n play to exersaucer to keep her entertained. Of course, that's naptime for the kids and usually a teacher or 2 will come get her to play on the floor in their room. The last few days, I've given her a bottle just before we leave at 3pm. Some days she'll fall asleep on the ride home and if I leave her in the carrier she'll sleep 2 hours. Which is great because it gives me a chance to clean up at home and get dinner going. (okay and check email.) I shoot for dinner at 6:30 then move to bedtime routine of bath, books and bottle. Once she's asleep it's time for the TiVO to start. I used to stay up later, but now 10pm is late for me.