Saying Goodbye to 2019

I started 2019 with high hopes and a lot of enthusiasm.  It turned out to be a difficult year in so many different ways.  I'm not sad to leave this year behind.

On the difficult side, I struggled physically with plantar fasciitis, then IT band syndrome, both of which interrupted my physical progress in TRX class.  I lost my mother, dealt with my grief by eating my feelings, which resulted in reaching my highest weight EVER (seriously, I weighed less when I was 9 months pregnant with twins).  Sarah lost a good friend to cancer and then had her own health struggles - and you know as a Mom, when your child struggles, you feel it - deep in your core.  I was finally getting myself back on track, losing weight, feeling good about life, when I learned that I was losing my job.  Now unemployed, I am once again working on getting back on track.

On the happier side, there was a lot of positive in 2019.  Becca passed her PTA program, passed her Boards, got a job, and got engaged.  We had a fabulous family vacation at Disney. I walked and kept up with my family with minimal pain. I found a craft shop that I LOVE and took several in person classes.  We did a LOT of wedding planning stuff. I handled my position elimination with extreme professionalism and left on good terms with all.  And I ticked a LOT off my 2019 goals...

Remember this list?  Here's the final tally:
1. No - changed my mind.
2. DONE! Plus CMLX2 and ICC as well.
3. DONE! 47 books read. Audible really helps.
4. Yes?  Final tally 729 items plus 13+ pounds of paper (old files purged). Paper averaged 100+ sheets per pound, so if we are counting individual sheets of paper, I made it.
5. Progress, but not complete.
6. DONE!
7. DONE!
8. DONE! Plus 3 bedrooms upstairs too!
9. YES! Not yet consistently, but after TRX class I usually can.
10. No.
11. No. I started off well, but then not so much.
12. DONE!
13. DONE!
14. DONE! Even the "repeat" part!
15. DONE!
16. DONE!
17. No.
18. Not even close.  I think I completed two lessons all year.
19. It sure did. Not in ways I had imagined.

So, 13 of my original 19 goals complete.  I'm happy with that number, all things considered.  Now it's time to make plans for 2020... I'm excited for a new year, a new decade, and the promise of so many possibilities to come.  You can remind me I said that if I get all whiny and depressed during the upcoming job search.

Set it Sunday

Last Week's Goals:

1) gym three times. done.

2) at least one Gratitude and one Art Journal layout. Gratitude done. AJ - not done.
3) Order all unprinted digital layouts sitting on my external hard drive. not done. (change of computers slowed this process down)
4) do the Week 3 (aperture) assignments for Get Out of Auto Mode - done.
5) do the Week 1 assignments for Your Life: Captured Through the Lens - done.

This Week's Goals:
1) gym three times.
2) one Gratitude layout.
3) keep up with Creativity Boot Camp.
4) Week 2 & 3 assignments for Your Life: Captured.
5) schedule a hair cut
6) order all unprinted digi layouts

Set it Sunday & A WINNER!

I know I missed a week (losing my EHD for a few days really threw me off kilter), and I know it is Tuesday already (my excuse was that it was my birthday/holiday weekend), so I'm just going to start fresh with a new list for what remains of this week. Here goes:

1) gym three times.
2) at least one Gratitude and one Art Journal layout. I'm way behind on these and miss it.
3) Order all unprinted digital layouts sitting on my external hard drive.
4) do the Week 3 (aperture) assignments for Get Out of Auto Mode
5) do the Week 1 assignments for Your Life: Captured Through the Lens (Week 2 posts tomorrow - I really need to get it in gear!).

And MY WINNER...  I had 16 comments on Saturday's post. I put that into random.org and it gave me the number "12".  The 12th comment was .....
.......
.......

KELLY!

Congratulations Kelly! Please e-mail me your address so I can get the DVD out to you.

Set it Sunday

I'm late again. But I'm here and that's what matters right?  I came off a crazy busy weekend. Soccer car wash, bank, hair salon, prom preparation and laundry on Saturday. Peter (Becca's boyfriend) around all day on Sunday, laundry, grocery shopping, strip & remake bed, trip to the Mall, return Peter's tux, hit sale at Bath & BodyWorks, out to dinner, collapse in front of television and ultimately go to bed early utterly exhausted.  So how did last week go?  Let see...

Last Week's Goals:

1. Gym three times. - check!
2. 1 each Gratitude and Art Journal layouts. um, not exactly. 0 Gratitude layouts, 2 Art Journal layouts. I guess I went where the inspiration took me.
3. Keep up with Picture Spring prompts and post photos on blog. check!                              
4. Take photos, jot notes and collect ephemera for "Week in the Life" project. mostly check - I did take pictures everyday and copious notes through Thursday. I fell apart over the weekend. I'm not surprised. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all that I collected!
5. Spend 20 minutes/weekday tagging photos or digi elements - Wednesday is excluded (yes again - we have a board of directors meeting at work, that really kills my day). um. not so much. I've spent all my time this week just post-processing the photos I've taken and uploaded. And that was definitely more than 20 minutes a day!  So we'll have to call that even.
6. Enroll Leadfoot and Fraidycat in Driver's Ed. check!
7. Set up payment plan for Sarah's tuition next year. check! and first payment made!
 
This Week's Goals:

1. Gym three times.
2. 1 each Gratitude and Art Journal layouts (or 2 Gratitude layouts).
3. Keep up with Picture Spring prompts and post photos on blog.
4. Spend 20 minutes/weekday tagging photos or digi elements or processing photos.
5. Hang new shower curtain. (this sounds like a five minute deal, but it's not. Involves flattening curtain, trimming, and sewing weights at bottom - which is why it isn't done yet, even though I bought the new curtain three weeks ago!)
6. Make some decisions and do SOMETHING with my Week in the Life project!

Where Are You Christmas?

Every year around this time (post Halloween, pre Thanksgiving), I begin to struggle with finding and maintaining my Christmas Spirit. I really relate to the words of this song from the movie “How The Grinch Stole Christmas”:

Inevitably, once I start focusing, I find my Christmas spirit. It really is just a matter of digging myself out from under the commercialism and thinking about what the season means to me and how I want to honor it. Last year I did two things that have made a HUGE difference in how I approach this season.

1. I made a conscious decision to TAKE BACK my Christmas. I used to be so stressed out with plans and preparations that I didn’t get to enjoy the holiday. Through a class at BPS called “Cut the Crazy Out of Christmas” I created a 3 ring binder Christmas Planner. It includes great forms for organizing and planning every aspect of your Christmas holiday. The Planner is reusable by simply printing out new forms each year. You can find similar forms and ideas here.

2. I combined ideas from Shimelle – Journal Your Christmas and Ali Edwards – December Daily to create a daily journal of the month of December that allowed me to be fully present in each moment and each tradition throughout the holiday season. I LOVE my Christmas Journal from last year and am doing the same thing this year.

I have one major new goal for this Christmas. I want to AVOID EXCESS. Christmas in the past few years with my three teenage daughters has felt like a lot of excess with little appreciation - they just EXPECT huge amounts of stuff. I want to buy less and not feel guilty about it. And I’d like to make the gifts more meaningful. Now to figure out how.... I could use some help on this one - Any ideas on how to sell less gifts to three teenagers??