Friday, December 2, 2011

Month-end Round-up

Ahh. . I really like Ali Edwards.  Her blog is a constant source of information and inspiration.  One Little Word.  Simplify is my 2011 word.  December Daily.  Week in the Life.  Various posts that drill home, "there is no perfect or right way."  Engage.  Be Present (this is a constant work in progress).  And so much more.


Now I have this:  Monthly Round-up.  I think it'd be a fun way to track what's going on on a monthly basis.  Now if I can combine it with her other "monthly-to-do" items in that post, I'll be golden.  Actually, I did start to mess with my digital photos - I have some coupons and credits to use up.  But all of this comes about because I'm starting to look at my 2012 objectives and this will be added to my list.

As we come up on this last month of the year I'm looking back at the goals I set in January.  I was posting monthly updates on my progress with them, but I think the last post was in August. . .though I kept on top of the goals, I just haven't posted.  I have to say, laying it all out for everyone to see has definitely kept them in my mind all year and I think I was more productive because of it.
  • Eating/Meal Planning - I just wanted to make my life easier by planning our meals around the schedule of the week.  Cut down on our eating out.  I did pretty go overall.  We definitely ate home more often.  Though I didn't start out strong with menus for the week, I have definitely ended that way.  For the past few months I've mapped out weekly meals; life is more simple when I do.  Tonight - turkey noodle soup. ;)
  • I wanted to improve my eating.  This is sort of the reverse of meal planning.  I started out strong with eating three meals and snacking healthily.  The last few months and the changes within them have cause my good habits to fly right out the window.  I'm working on getting that back on track as well.  Some days have been better than others.
  • I wanted to incorporate some worthwhile movement into my life.  I was doing plenty of walking, stair climbing, bending and lifting, but I've been told household chores and chasing the 3 y.o. doesn't count.  So I was going to walk.  I had moments that were good.  Overall, it just didn't happen.  I'm not surprised, since no matter what I called it, it was exercise - my feelings about exercise are well documented.  I'm not giving up on it, and will take another swing at it in 2012.
  • I wanted to get my house (or disorganized pockets of it) and my chores under control and back on schedule.  The house cleaning is back, more or less, into a routine.  I made decent dents in various cluttered spots over the year - the kids' rooms (though they seem to need another go through), a couple closets, a few cupboards, some drawers.  Plenty of items have been given away, but it must multiple overnight because it seems there's always more to deal with. 
  • I wanted to really carve out Me Time and I think I did pretty good.  The last couple of months aside, I got out to crop once a month, I read three books and have been plowing through magazines.  The magazines are double-duty, falling under the heading of both "Me Time" and organizing.  I read them over breakfast and I had a huge back-log that I have a nice dent in.
  • I wanted to wrangle my Studio Space into something that was more inviting rather than the terror-of-doom it had become.  Overall, it remains a work in progress.  IKEA was put on hold.  But it is 1,000 times better than it was at the start of the year.  It definitely ebbs and flows with clutter, but it's certainly much better.  I'll continue working on it here and there and over Christmas Break I really hope it's in a more "working order" condition.
I think I'll save the actual "Round-Up" part for next week.  How did your year wind up?  Did you make progress or take giant leaps backwards?

Happy Friday!


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