A Semi-Perpetual “To Do” List

In no particular order:

1.  Hop off of the internet for a week.

2.  Run a 10K.

3.  Read The Joy of Less.  (Is it possible that I’ll clutter up my house with books that focus on decluttering?)

4.  Cut my wardrobe by a third.

5.  Plant flowers in my yard.

6.  Eat out of the pantry and freezer for a month.

7.  Cut my kids’ wardrobes by half.

8.  Wear outfits that I would like on someone else but feel too nervous to wear myself.

9.  Buy someone’s meal anonymously.

10.  Make photo book for 2010.

11.  Make photo book for 2011.

12.  Organize and back up iPhoto.

13.  Enjoy not doing anything photo-related for a while.

14.  Make overnight iced coffee.

15.  Tame the tupperware beast that is procreating in my pantry.

16.  Change my passwords to increase my online security.

17.  Put more patterns in my living room.

18.  Buy more birthday presents as I come upon them, no matter what time of year it is.  (For others.  Not me.)

Does anyone else have a perpetual to-do list floating around in their mind?  Not things with particular deadlines, but just things you’d like to do at some point?

 

Three Weeks In

Ah, yes.  Monday is here everyone.  This means that I tear around like a crazy person, doing laundry and cleaning bathrooms with lightening speed.  I could feel the antsy feeling settling in yesterday, toward the end of the day.  Seeing the laundry all backed up, toys in piles around our living room, and the kitchen in disarray- domestic work, I was gunning for you.

Now it is 2:00 and I have gotten all the important things on my list accomplished.  Including grocery shopping- spending $100, but saving $70.  Can I get a whatwhat…

I’ve decided on a new laundry routine.  I was trying to get it all caught up and finished on Mondays, but inevitably I stall out at the “fold and put away clothes” stage.  So now I’m trying to get it all washed and hung outside or in the dryer on Mondays, then Tuesday is my day to fold and put it away.  Breaking it into two tasks over two days seems more realistic than cramming it all in one day.  And honestly I was never getting it all done in that one day, anyway.  It was time to face those facts.

Now Tuesdays are my day to watch hulu and fold laundry while the kids are napping.  Nothing as low-brow as this, of course.  Something muuuuch more intellectually stimulating.

I’m also thinking of selling my kids’ dresser and getting them baskets for their clothes instead.  The drawers on our dresser get stuck and are really heavy, so they can’t put their clothes away very easily.  So I kind of want to just get rid of it altogether and have a system that they can keep up with.  I’m tired of putting their clothes away because they can’t manage the drawers.  This perpetuates the idea that only mom can do clean-up!  (Shakes fist at dresser).  Is this basket idea a good one?  Something like this, but of course at a height they both can reach:

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Or this, just tucked under a bed:

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(Heads up: Subject change without transition.)

I decided recently that I need to rein in my facebook lurking.  It is embarrassing to admit, but my time there has just been excessive.  I have a friend who deleted her account sometime in the recent past, letting me know she thinks facebook is “ruining the world”.  I might blame a few other things for all of the ruining, but I can’t say that facebook improves the world much, either.  At least not my little corner of the world.  I have too many critical thoughts when I’m on facebook.  Too much comparison and envy.  And, last but not least, too many times when I’m telling my kids “not right now” so I can continue to scroll a little bit more.  That’s lame.  I’m all for telling my kids I can’t/won’t help them with something rightthisverysecond, but to say that time and again for the sake of reading status updates?  Um– lame.

So for now, facebook will be relegated to time when my kids are sleeping.  Got to start somewhere.

On another note, today marks the beginning of week four of the 42 Days to Fit challenge.  So far I’ve made a few diet and exercise changes every week, hoping to feel better and, of course, knock off a few pounds.  This week was the one-two punch: our anniversary and my birthday.  So a few diet rules were broken.  But I’m okay with that.  What kind of person denies herself a birthday cupcake?  Not me.

Definitely the toughest rule for me is to stop eating after 7:00 (or 3 hours before bedtime).  My husband gets home from work between 6 and 6:30, so we eat dinner a little later than most.  Then we put the kids down and I’m used to an evening snack of some sort.

Of course, it’s not usually because I’m hungry.  It’s more of a reward for myself.  I really need to find new rewards…

There you have it.  An update on all of the important things: laundry, facebook, and exercise.

Thoughts on the basket idea are welcome.

The Year in Review

With 2011 drawing to a close, it feels appropriate to look back at the year and see what there is to be…seen.

So.  How about a few superlatives?

 

Most Liberating Month:  January.  The month of purging- I got rid of 5 things per day.  Lots of stuff went to Goodwill.  Even more than Goodwill donations, however, were the things like library books, dishes that friends had left at our apartment, or random things that belonged in the shed but had somehow ended up in our living room.  I didn’t realize how much space we were donating in our little apartment to these kinds of items until I took a month to get rid of them, return them, or put them in their proper place.

Our most common dumping area was our bedroom, since it was the only room in the apartment that we kept closed off (usually), so it just became this room of assorted piles “to be dealt with someday”.  Someday was in January, and it felt awesome.

Here is a post about how I stayed focused in the midst of all of the mess and little things, and here is a post that shows just a few of the things that I got rid of during January.

Most Defeating Month:  March.  The month in which I UNSUCCESSFULLY tried to curb my internet usage to 60 minutes per day.  It was a dismal failure.  Yes, I did accomplish a few things that I may not have otherwise (see this and this) but…that might be all.  I had no idea I was so addicted.  Bleh.

Most Indecisive Month: May.  The month of being facebook-free.  I realized my addiction, my perpetual refreshing of the page, and decided it had to stop.  I alternated between missing the announcements about new babies and new jobs (what happened to good old-fashioned email announcements, people?) and feeling totally liberated of the compulsion to check.

I still remember talking to my friend Megan about being off facebook (I just hopped off my account for a month- she canceled hers altogether) and I told her I sometimes thought in status updates.  Let me repeat that:  I THOUGHT IN STATUS UPDATES.  Here is a post about the withdrawal symptoms.

Month I Am Most Likely to Continue to Keep Up With: June.  The month of going to bed by 10:30 and getting up by 6:30.  Months later, and I am still a 6:30′ish riser.  My kids wake up at varying times, so sometimes this gives me 30 minutes of a head-start on them and sometimes it gives me two hours (bless those days).  But any head-start just feels like a nice way to start the day.  Breakfast is frequently the only meal I give my undivided attention to, because I am not sharing that mealtime with a preschooler and a toddler.  I like the quiet and not starting my day in reaction mode.  Here is a brief post on what I liked about getting good sleep and here is when sleep was alluding me.

Wow, I am old.  Only old people wake up at 6:30 on purpose.  Huh.

I learned a lot that month about how to really prepare myself for rest (turning off my laptop well before I am trying to sleep, for example) and how getting adequate sleep makes a pretty big difference in my days.  For example, my need for mid-day snacks (especially sweet ones) really decreased because I wasn’t relying on the sugar to boost my energy.  Also- melatonin.  Love that stuff.  Available at your natural food store.  I use it periodically when my mind is racing and I need help quieting down.

Most Popular Post:  This one.  A few tips for how to add clutter to your life.  As the title says, I cannot take credit for these ideas.  Totally lifted it off another blogger.  But darn funny.

First Runner-Up Most Popular Post:  This one.  About me and my beloved three year old Chicken Little.  I don’t know- I guess this strikes a chord with preschool parents everywhere.

Most Commented Posts:  This one and this one.  The former is about beans (definitely worth the read!) and the latter is about saving money on groceries and fighting over a can of beans (no joke).  Beans- they really inspire people to comment.  Also this one about moving.

Lamest Month for Goals:  December.  Because I did jack-squat all month in terms of goals.

I’m deciding now if I will continue with goals and blogging for the next year.  I think I’ll keep writing because I enjoy it, but I don’t have much inspiration for another year of goals.  I could really see repeating a few from last year, and I have gotten some good ideas from friends about new things to try.  I don’t, however, have the long list like I did at this time last year of things I want to try.  And would people really want to read another months’ worth of writing about 5 more things I got rid of?  The expired medicines?  The trash can lids?

With all that being said, I am taking any and all suggestions for goals for next year.  I need a little more oomph before I roll into 2012.