Catching Up

Well, it seems I've fallen behind on doing my Weekly Wrap-Ups...  Oops.  I don't think I would have much good news to share anyway, but I'm still plugging along with my goals and trying to come up with ways that I can rework them and/or my strategies in order to fit into real life.

One reason why they have taken a beating lately is because the ministry I help with and my Bible study have both started up again, and both take up quite a bit of time.  On Mondays, I leave work mid-afternoon and drive straight to the church to serve with a ministry I love, and I don't leave there till 8:30 or 9.  Add almost an hour to get home, and I'm walking in the door pretty late.  On Tuesdays, I leave work mid-afternoon and drive straight to a library near the church so that I can do my Bible study homework and pass the time until we all gather for dinner at 6:30.  Bible study ends at 9, and one hour-long drive later and I'm finally getting home.  Come Wednesday, I'm tired but thankful to have those things I love in my life.  So the workouts that I thought I'd be doing during the week aren't happening as frequently as I'd like, the evening pick-ups around the house don't get done, and my projects happen in spurts on the weekends.  Since these activities will be a part of my life until the end of April, I need to figure out how to adjust my plans in order to be more realistic and achieve what I want.

On the organization front, my office is coming along alright.  I haven't sorted through as much stuff as I would've liked to by now, but it is definitely looking cleaner and cuter, thanks to some storage containers and accessories from IKEA.  I also finally went through all my books and decided which ones I'd like to part with for now.  This freed up a whole shelf on my five-shelf bookcase, which is a pretty big deal for me considering I've been holding onto some of these books forever thinking that someday I'd read them or refer back to them.  Ah, the elusive "someday" that never comes...  If you're interested in seeing which books are up for grabs, I've put them all in a Goodreads list here.  Hopefully I'll get some more work done on the office this weekend.  I haven't figured out if I'll tackle some of the clutter that belongs to the hubs... :)

My time with God has been good.  I'm still going through Jesus Calling and my New-Testament-in-a-year plan, although some days I'm on schedule and some days I'm playing catch-up.  I don't beat myself up about it.  Some days my time with God doesn't involve those things, and that's okay.

[source, found via Pinterest]

I had started to think that simply reading the short devotions in Jesus Calling was good but not really "doing anything" for my day-to-day, moment-to-moment life.  But lately I've noticed something.  You see, I have this bad habit of swearing.  I have the two or three that are my "favorites," and they tend to come out when I'm having an annoyed/angry/worked-up outburst (not justification, just context).  And I noticed yesterday in particular, as I blew a fuse in our kitchen while frying ravioli on the stove-top, that as I dropped each four-letter word while running around in the dark, immediately after the word came out, Jesus' name came to mind.  And not in a cursing, taking-the-Lord's-name-in-vain sort of way.  In the way like the Holy Spirit was reminding me of Who I should be turning to and calling out for in these moments.  It was an interesting realization, a kind I've needed.  Even the shortest moments of time spent aware of God and what He may be trying to teach me are valuable.

And in addition to the wrap-ups I haven't been writing, I've also been pondering another post that I'd like to write in the near future...  I need to make more time for blogging. :)

Finish Year: Week One Wrap-Up

Well, the first week of Finish Year has wrapped up, and I'm not sure that I'm doing that well.  Unfortunately, I came down with a cold in the middle of last week, so the past few days have been all about resting and conserving energy for the important stuff (like me and the hubs celebrating our anniversary).  I can tell that I'm getting better and the cold is going away.  My energy is coming back, although I still need to keep tissues handy and I'm a bit of a mouth-breather at times, haha.  So I don't have a stellar report for you today, but I have made a little progress.

BE HEALTHY

Do a Your Shape workout three times a week: I think I got in about 2.5 workouts this week, if I don't count the one that I did on December 31st.  I was trying to pace myself because I was sore and wanted to work out throughout the week, even though I was so excited to keep going.  But then this cold landed me on the couch for the end of the week.

BE ROMANTIC & LOVING

Weekly date nights with the hubs: Last weekend, we were able to celebrate our anniversary in spite of me being sick and him probably getting sick.  We had a lovely dinner out at a favorite restaurant of ours and stayed overnight at a swanky hotel (that's the word that kept coming to mind when I looked over the decor).  So this was an easy week considering an occasion was provided for me.  I'll need to be more intentional this week.
  
BE THOUGHTFUL

Send out birthday and anniversary cards: Pretty sure it's safe to say that I'm failing at this one.  I missed an anniversary, and I have two family birthdays this week (today and tomorrow), and I did not get cards in the mail for either one.  It doesn't help that they are two birthdays that I have never sent cards for before, so it feels a little awkward, like will they think it's a little odd to receive a card from me/us?  I have to get over that awkward feeling and show people that I remember their birthday and care about them.

BE DEVOTED

Spend 15 minutes with God everyday: This one has been iffy.  I don't think I did it everyday, and I don't think that each time I did it that it was a full 15 minutes.  I have been trying to keep up with my daily devotional (Jesus Calling) and daily Bible reading (the New-Testament-in-a-Year plan from BibleGateway), but I haven't been perfect with it.  I also attempted to spend the 15 minutes with God in the morning before getting ready, but this is difficult for me as a non-morning person, much less as a sick non-morning person.  Ultimately, I would really like a morning quiet time to become a habit instead of an awkward random occurrence that I fumble my way through.  I keep reminding myself, "Grace."  Oh, and patience.  Definitely patience.

BE CREATIVE

Do one creative project a month: I have been brainstorming what my creative project will be this month, and I'm realizing that I need to hurry myself along because I only have 22 days to finish it!  I think back to things that I've pinned on Pinterest, and one thought that I had was to create a recipe book.  Nothing fancy, just something using a photo album or a binder.  But then I thought that maybe this was more of an organizational project...  But since this is my Finish Year and I'm making my own rules for my resolutions, I figure that I can file it into the creative category if I feel like I'm getting creative to accomplish it.  I haven't made any final decisions, so I could always end up doing something completely different if another idea strikes.

BE ORGANIZED

Tackle one organization project a month: I haven't started this either, but I have been wanting to tackle our office for quite a while.  We've lived in our house for almost a year, and there are still random things sitting out that need to be dealt with.  A few trips down to the basement carrying armfuls of stuff would do wonders, but it never seems to happen.  And there are a few "organized piles" that have been sitting for too long...  It is a room with potential, but it rarely gets used.  I think it is sort of uninviting because of the mess and the lack of personality.  So with a new semester starting up soon, I'd like to make this room more user-friendly.

Track our account daily: I gave this one a good effort but wasn't perfect.  However, I have definitely progressed since I used to go a couple weeks or so without tracking our spending!  Grace, patience, progress...

Spend 15 minutes straightening up each evening: This was a bit of a fail, unfortunately.  I remembered to do it the first couple of nights, and there were a couple nights where I got into bed and went, "Crap, I didn't straighten up."  And I'm pretty sure there were nights where I forgot altogether.  I need to make a little reminder note that I'll see in the evenings or before going to bed in order to keep this one on my mind.

So there's my first weekly wrap-up of Finish Year.  51 more weeks to make progress!

Finish Year: Day One & Your Shape

It's been a good first day of my Finish Year!

Things left to do before the end of the day:
Straighten up the house for 15 minutes
Spend 15 minutes with God

Things I did today:
Tracked our account

Did a Your Shape workout

I'm still trying to get the hang of Your Shape and the different workouts, but so far, I LOVE IT!  At first it's a little weird to see yourself on the screen, but creepiness aside, it's a great feature.  Since Kinect makes you a part of the game, it gives you accurate feedback about how to improve and encouragement when you're doing well.  For example, I was doing some beginner yoga as a cool-down, and I was able to see if I was doing the poses correctly because my arms, legs, and torso would light up green on the screen.  SO helpful.

I also love the different activities because either it feels like a game or it distracts you from what you're really doing.  Game example: punching blocks.  You punch these blocks by punching across your body and occasionally in front of you, and it works your abs.  But it just feels like fun; you're punching blocks and the wall in the background falls down a few times.  And then you get points and medals!  I'm thinking that new high scores and achievements will be motivating and be a ton better than obsessing about the scale.  Distraction example: running the world.  I HATE running.  But in this game, you run through different cities, and it tells you about various landmarks.  So the first path is a short run through New York's financial district, and I'm not even that focused on the fact that I'm running because the game is telling me interesting facts about buildings.  Genius!  It makes running slightly less awful.

I haven't done a lot of the actual "workouts," meaning the ones focused on working your arms, legs, abs, etc.  I did one of the ab workouts, and since it required being down on the floor, it was actually pretty painful.  Perhaps some sort of yoga mat would make those workouts more bearable.

I'm so excited about using Your Shape to reach one of my Finish Year goals.  I didn't intend for this post to become such a long review of the game, but I'm loving it a ton after only two workouts with it!

Finish Year: My Resolutions

I'm happy to say that I made it through the brainstorming phase of my personal Finish Year project and settled on some resolutions!  ::happy dance::

In no particular order:

BE HEALTHY
Do a Your Shape workout three times a week (very excited to try this Kinect "game")
[possible "be healthy" resolutions for the future: keep a food diary, plan healthy meals]

BE ROMANTIC & LOVING
Weekly date nights with the hubs
[Just FYI, this will probably be the resolution that I elaborate on the least in the future, but I will still update generally on my progress.]
  
BE THOUGHTFUL
Send out birthday and anniversary cards

BE DEVOTED
Spend 15 minutes with God everyday

BE CREATIVE
Do one craft a month

BE ORGANIZED
Tackle one organization project a month
Track our account daily
Spend 15 minutes straightening up each evening

In order to track my progress, I plan to use the Resolution tools on the Happiness Project Toolbox website.  There you can keep track using the chart on the website, and you can also print out a copy.  I'm going to print out a blank chart to keep in my planner so that I can check things off each night.

I promise it looks better (no missing lines) when you create one through the Toolbox and aren't print-screening it.

Then I can use my print-out to update the chart on the website whenever I decide to do that.

Also, I want to mention that my resolutions are not set in stone.  If I want to up it to four or five workouts a week in a couple months, I can do that.  If I want to make it a goal to spend more than 15 minutes with God, I can change it.  If one of them isn't really working out, I am free to admit that, and if I want to add something later on, I am free to do that also.  I want to give myself room to succeed and not feel like these are rigid expectations on my life.  GRACE is going to be a big theme for me as I seek to "finish" these things.  I want to rely on God to keep going with them, and I want to allow myself to be imperfect.  What's important to me is growth and improvement and learning to depend on God in all these things.

With all this in mind, I'm very much looking forward to the new year!

Finish Year: Brainstorming

Jon Acuff has been blogging this past week about what he is calling "Finish Year."  In the first post, he shared that he is often great at starting things but not so great at finishing them.  I totally feel him on that.  What I feel even more is being great at brainstorming and planning things in my head but then not even actually starting them.  Sad, I know.  So I've been thinking about what I want to "finish" and ultimately be in 2012.  As a first step, I'm making a list of what I want to be, and then I'll brainstorm ways to achieve those things.  And even this list might get pared down in an effort to make my Finish Year realistic and doable.

Without further ado, in 2012 I want to be... [in no particular order]

creative

organized

devoted

thoughtful

romantic

healthy

If you want to read more about Finish Year, here are the links to Jon's blogs:

I dare you to do this with me.
How to build a "Finish List."
Don’t overkill your resolutions.
Fuzzy goals fail. Here’s how to fix yours.
What are you going to finish in 2012?