Review of March and April's Goals

I can't believe another month has flown by, and it is already time to review March.

My goals were:

1. Finish the skull shawl.
2. Film one of my grandmama's recipes.
3. Spend a week with my grandson.
4. Rotate spring clothes out and update.  I got rid of a lot in a major purge last fall.
5. Plant flowers to go by the front entrance.
6. Clean out and organize my coat closet.
7. Read one good book that isn't associated with school work -- a pleasure read.
8. Work on a give away.
9. Have a girls' night
10. Catch up on all my correspondence.

I was pleasantly surprised to find I had accomplished most of them.  I'm glad I didn't plant the flowers given our weather.  The book reading -- I feel slack about, but I just had other things I wanted to do.  

Now for April's Goals:

1. Eating down the freezer to empty to clean it out and organize.
2. finish a summer sweater top for myself
3. work on my quilt
4. work on my afghan
5. finish out tax season work without losing my patience
6. try at least one new recipe
7. finally plant those flowers
8. sew myself a summer nightgown
9. make pinto bean burgers
10. make some brownie mixes

It's not a bad list.  I'm not sure if it is too ambitious given that tax season goes until the 17th, but who knows -- maybe I can do it all.

March's Top Ten (and a quick review of February)

February went by in a blur.

1. Do the once a month shopping again complete with menu plan (still clearing out the freezer.)
2. Finish the skull shawl — coming over from last month.
3. Get a couple of pinto recipes tested and shared — coming over from last month.
4. Continue utilizing the journal and print some of my own customized stickers.
5. Make a concentrated effort to work a few more food storage items into our meals.
6. Find black out curtains for my bedroom.
7. Finish up my final projects for my courses a week before due.
8. Do my yoga exercises twice a week...three would be ideal, but for now I’ll be happy with twice.
9. Find the perfect birthday present for my grandson.
10. Bake a loaf of gluten free bread

As you can see, there were a few things I didn't get accomplished.  I still haven't baked that loaf of bread.  Sigh!

Life has been busy.  

(I can have partial credit on the skull shawl.  It is almost finished, but is to the point one row takes a while.  I have to work on it when I have an uninterrupted time block, which hasn't happened a whole lot this month.)

March Goals

1. Finish the skull shawl.
2. Film one of my grandmama's recipes.
3. Spend a week with my grandson.
4. Rotate spring clothes out and update.  I got rid of a lot in a major purge last fall.
5. Plant flowers to go by the front entrance.
6. Clean out and organize my coat closet.
7. Read one good book that isn't associated with school work -- a pleasure read.
8. Work on a give away.
9. Have a girls' night
10. Catch up on all my correspondence.

February’s Top Ten

I cannot believe 1/12th of the year is already gone.  Measuring my goals this way seems easier, but it makes me painfully aware of how fast time really goes.  January was a good month, and I am hoping for the same from February. My goals are:

1. Do the once a month shopping again complete with menu plan (still clearing out the freezer.)
2. Finish the skull shawl — coming over from last month.
3. Get a couple of pinto recipes tested and shared — coming over from last month.
4. Continue utilizing the journal and print some of my own customized stickers.
5. Make a concentrated effort to work a few more food storage items into our meals.
6. Find black out curtains for my bedroom.
7. Finish up my final projects for my courses a week before due.
8. Do my yoga exercises twice a week...three would be ideal, but for now I’ll be happy with twice.
9. Find the perfect birthday present for my grandson.
10. Bake a loaf of gluten free bread.

(I know number 10 sounds odd, but every week for January I  said, “I’m going to bake myself some bread.”  Every week I ended up putting it on the back burner.  By adding it to my list I am hoping I will actually get it done.

Do you have any goals for February?

January’s Top Ten Review

The month is at an end so I thought it would be a good time for me to look back over my January goals to see how I did.  

1. Keep grocery purchases to minimal and work on using up what is on hand.
I’m pleased with how we did on this.  While I do not try to separate every piece of household or work related items out, we managed to do pretty well for January.  We spent $385.91 on food and $10.33 on a coffee and fast food meal.

2.  Utilize my planner to help keep things organized.
The planner is fabulous!  I’m able to keep things organized.  Including my school work.  I’m not sure why I didn’t do this before.

3.  Do my best to keep Sunday's free from school work.
This didn’t work.  I did my best, but these classes are intensive and a lot of them have work that is due on Sunday.

4.  Purchase or make Valentine's Cards to mail for next month.
I purchased.  No way was I going to find the time to make them.

5.  Finish the skull shawl I am crocheting. I still haven’t quite finished.  I’m one skeleton repeat and the edging from being there.  Gotta get in gear!

6.  Inventory my freezer. I did this...and I have pasted the list on the side of my refrigerator.  A bit of an eye sore, but I am being faithful about marking things off.  I know if it is too inconvenient I won’t....so this is working.

7.  Continue with my 12 Days of Pintos recipe share. Sigh....I think I got one recipe shared.  I have more recipes.  I’m just having a hard time getting to them.  I promise to keep trying.

8.  Menu plan for the month. I did this.  We managed to stick to it at least in spirit.  In fact, I’ve already made out February’s menu.

9.  Try at least one new pressure cooker recipe. I did this.  I love, love, love using the pressure cooker.  

10.  Don't stress myself by insisting on perfection -- go with the flow. I was hit and miss on this one.  I didn’t do horribly, and I think the only real meltdown I had was related to being sick.  I was just so tired I finally gave up and went to bed in the middle of the day.  A very rare occurrence for me.  

So I am considering this month a success.  Not perfect, but life rarely is.

“Be Careful What You Ask For”

Be careful what you ask for.

Did anyone else’s parents ever tell them that?  

Well, mine sure did.

Look back at my top 10 for the month....number 10 specifically...something about going with the flow.... I freely admit I like to have a plan and on occasion have been known to become quite flustered when plans are changed.  Maybe once or twice or.....well anyway we won’t count.

So on Friday evening I get a phone call from my academic advisor.  One of my classes has been cancelled.  She’s moved me to another one.  It starts Monday.  She’s teaching it.  That class has been rescheduled for summer and she has signed me up for that.  What did I say?  I simply said, “Okay, sounds great to me.”  Does that count as going with the flow?  LOL  

Blessings in this change:

1.  I am grateful that she handled all this for me.

2.  She’s a great advisor.

3.  I’ve ordered my new book and while it won’t be here by Monday she said not to worry about it.

4.  I’m hoping my summer class uses the books I’ve already purchased, but fortunately I want to read them anyway.

5.  I won’t be on campus until mid semester now and can travel for a conference with my husband.

6.  I’m taking an interesting class in place of the one I’ll still get to take later.  

Now if only the rest of 2018’s go with the flow challenges can be so smooth!

January's Top Ten

Last year I started trying to set up my monthly goals rather than annual goals.  It seems to work better for me.  I thought I'd try that again this year and see how it goes.

1.  Keep grocery purchases to minimal and work on using up what is on hand.
2.  Utilize my planner to help keep things organized.
3.  Do my best to keep Sunday's free from school work.
4.  Purchase or make Valentine's Cards to mail for next month.
5.  Finish the skull shawl I am crocheting.
6.  Inventory my freezer.
7.  Continue with my 12 Days of Pintos recipe share.
8.  Menu plan for the month.
9.  Try at least one new pressure cooker recipe.
10.  Don't stress myself by insisting on perfection -- go with the flow.