8 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all!

  One goal I am achieving is taking more time to do the things I love rather than wasting that time on mindless tv watching and surfing the web.  I have been crocheting away.  My employees reap the benefits, as I often have this homemade goodies as prizes for fun contests at work.  The last contest I held was that the winner was to get a ruffled scarf made by me with the color of their choice.  The winner happens to be a huge Green Bay fan, so she opt'd for the Green and Gold Team Spirit Sashay yarn by Red Heart.  I really love working with this yarn.  I fun twist to regular crocheting with traditional yarn.

  As promised here is the finish project from the yarn in my previous post……..

  I don't know why the green looks so black, but it is definitely Green Bay green and gold!  Again, I need to learn how to take better pictures.  I think I should add that to the list of goals as well. :)  If anyone knows of a good website to help me out with that I would love to hear it!

Have a great day everyone!

Jennifer 

7 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all,

  Seeing as how behind I got on my weekly posting, I figure I'll post more often when I can in an effort to get back on track.  This month I have several things I want to accomplish on my journey to living full.  I'll list several of the things here, then post about each one individually as they come about.

  First, as you all may have read in previous blogs, I am a Flylady fan.  If you are not familiar with this you can read all about it here.  While I do fall off the wagon often, I try to just hop right back on.  I also have to adjust the cleaning goals/expectations as life/schedules in general changes.  With the new year upon us I have decided to get back on track with just making sure that my sink is clean, and stays clean throughout the day.  So, I did a nice thorough cleaning of my sink this weekend, and between my daughter, husband, and I we have managed to keep our dirty dishes in the dishwasher and clean stovetop and counters as we go.

    Secondly, I need to get down all of my Christmas decorations.  Since I have so many decorations out, and don't want to burn myself out by taking my entire off day working at home, I have decided to do this in stages.  Today my daughter and I took down our outside and family room decorations and they are now packed up and stacked away in the basement.

Before

  Yes, that is a pile of laundry on the coffee table waiting for me to fold and put away.  Just keeping it real. ;)

After

  I gave the room a nice vacuum and lit a candle to give some warmth, since the rooms always feel so empty after taking down all the Christmas.

  Now for the outside before and after pictures….

Figured I would show the night shot, since that is when the decorations are the prettiest. :)

After

  That's good enough for me on the Christmas decoration take down for one day.  Will continue on another day with the rest.

  Third, I like to have fun when making goals for myself.  No matter what the goals are, cleaning, work related, recreational, giving to others, making a game of it puts a fun spin on it.  So for the month of January I'm going to make a list of things I want to do by using each letter in the words "Happy New Year!"  

Here's my list….

Hamper (determined to wash, dry, iron, put away all clothes and get back to 1 load a day)

Appliances in kitchen need a good cleaning

Prepare a meal that I can freeze for quick lunches.

Pup needs a bath

Yarn needs organizing

New recipe (daughter and I will have fun looking through cookbooks passed down from her great-grandmother--Love you, Nanny!  We miss you!)

Exercise with my daughter (join her while she practices clogging).

Wear my new stylish bright orange hat I plan to crochet for myself for hunting.

Yield a nice batch of homemade dishwasher soap

Evaluate and exile the dreaded unused kitchen supplies cluttering up cabinets

Apron (finish apron that was begun 2 years ago!)

Rest (I need to force myself to go to bed earlier, so that I can get up feeling refreshed and ready to go)

  It was challenging to come up with something for all these letters, but will be a lot of fun checking off this list. :)  I'll keep you posted as I complete things.  

  Fourth, I held a contest at work for my employees.  I will be working on crocheting a prize for the winner who is a big Green Bay fan.  Here's the yarn…

You'll have to visit again to see the result. ;)

   So, what do you have going on/planned in this fresh new year?  Feel free to play along with me and make a list of you own.  Would love to see your goals in the comments.

Have a great day!

Jennifer

6 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!

Hello all!

  Seems I have some catching up to do!  Christmas preparation, and holiday rush at work just took more out of me than I expected.  Couldn't muster up much more than getting the basics done, and even that was a challenge some days.  While still always going from one season into the next at work and constantly being busy, I feel I have a moment or two to just breathe.  So, back to doing things I love!

  For Christmas, I received some new cotton yarn from my daughter.  Woo Hoo!!  I just love working with it and making useful items to keep and to give away.  I couldn't wait to get started on something.  Right after the morning Christmas celebrations I showered, snuggled up on the couch and crocheted away.

  I've given most everything I've made away lately, so this time I made some washcloths and face scrubbies for myself.  I just love the color combinations.  (Sidenote:  Adding to my goals for the 52 weeks of living…..learning to take better pictures for blog. ;)  )

 

 

Happy New Year!!

Jennifer

5 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hello all!

  I know I'm behind still one whole week, but I plan to catch up hopefully this week with posting twice.  I fell off the wagon being tempted to sit and watch mindless tv.  However, my worst enemy….the internet!  I am so easily tempted to read work emails, work on schedules, read upcoming tasks that need to be completed, which then leads me into free time internet time wasting.  I love the internet!  I will always take time on it because that is where I learn crafts, home decor ideas, recipes, etc.  However, I have figured out the key to a successful balance.  Work first, play later!  Here's how….

     I am not a morning person in respect to hoping out of bed whistling Dixie…..OH NO!!  I want a cup of coffee, no talking, please!  Although on the flip side of that I have discovered I am at my most productive early in the morning.  The further the day goes, I quickly run out of gas, I figure…..it's so late now why bother making the bed now or I'll do that load of laundry tomorrow, and then I am tempted to just sit.  Another wasted day!  So, my new mode of operation…..all started last night with going to bed at a decent hour to get a nice full night's rest.  This morning I woke up feeling fully rested. The minute my feet hit the floor, I made the bed.  Nice! On thing off my list….check!  I resisted the urge to check emails….this was sooooooo hard!  Quickly ran away from my phone and into the bathroom to go ahead and shower/dress…..another pothole averted by not even leaving my room to get coffee (which was freshly brewed and awaiting since I prepared it last nigh ;) ).  Again!  Success!  Once completely showered and dressed hair/makeup and all, I then fixed myself a cup of coffee and turned my head away from the couch and laptop that was beckoning me to sit a while.  Nope! Not going to do it!  Instead I took the dog out, filled his food/water, read a daily devotional, started a load of laundry, made two beds, swished and swiped to toilets, emptied dishwasher…Woo Hoo….now that's ready for dirty dish maintenance throughout the day…check! check! check!…cleaned two bathroom countertops/sinks thoroughly, set out something for dinner….check! check!...then spent 15 minutes walking through the house fluffing couch pillows from last night's lounging, picked up any things that didn't belong/put away, then still had time to clean/declutter two drawers in the bathroom before the 15 minutes was up!  Now, the only thing left to do is to fold/put away the clothes that I transferred to the dryer.

  Yes!  Victory!!!!  I resisted the urge to waste time and now I can sit here guilt free, doing something I love while candles burn filling my home with wonderful smells, and looking all clean and fresh.  Yes, I actually think my house is smiling at me this morning! :)   ahhhhh…… Once I had completed my tasks, I looked at the clock and realized I did this in exactly two hours on the dot from the moment my eyes opened and looked at the clock this morning.  Wow!  Just two hours of my day and I'm dressed and house is company ready, and I have the entire rest of the day to work, run errands, craft, read or whatever, completely free of thinking about all the things I didn't get done today!

  Now, I can do more things like this on the inside of my house…..

 My daughter and I just couldn't wait any longer!  We decorated the front door for Fall this past weekend.  Can't wait for the mums to burst in full bloom.  I'll take another picture when it does.  

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Happy Living Full!

Jennifer

4 of 52 Weeks of Living Full!!

Hi all,

  So sorry for the delay on my mid weekly post!  Since my last post, I finished the rest of my vacation with more successful goal achievements.  First to report, there was I know for sure four….possibly….five days that the tv did not even get turned on.  Now, I did hop on the computer a few times but even those lapses were under an hour each time.

  Second, we had a great time spending time outdoors on our ATV.  We rode trails, had some fun target shooting, found a couple of great spots to put our trail cam and got some great pictures of deer, and turkey.  I really prefer being outdoors in cool/cold weather.  It's just much more comfortable, not to mention the cold keeps many of the scary critters away.  Which brings me to this story…..

  While riding along in our Rhino enjoying the scenery of the woods, spotting tracks, laughing while going over all the bumpity, bumps, we end up on a very narrow trail.  Lots of low hanging branches smacked the windshield while we leaned in toward the middle to avoid being smacked ourselves.  We had done this for three days off and on with no issues, only a few small bugs to swat away some of which were tiny little spiders.  Now I have to just say here….I am no fan of spiders!  They terrify me!  No joke!  So even the smallest of the small cause me to squeal with a quick swatting away to stomping them repeatedly to there death, with a few more good stomps and drag of the shoe just for good measure.  So again, we are just riding along smacking into limbs when all of a sudden I feel a thud on my forehead, and see something just like this……

Researched here...

 
Now just imagine it dangling from a silk thread from the rooftop of the ATV, swaying closer to my face from the momentum of the vehicle, splaying it's legs out in a defensive display of aggression!  I did what any rational thinking person with a severe case of arachnophobia would do….screamed bloody murder, and since my door was not an option due to the menacing, furry, eight legged monster, I chose to dive over my husband out the drivers side.  Yep, that's right….it was all out Dukes of Hazard style head first and out as fast as I could move!  My husband didn't even have time to put the brakes on from my clamoring over him.  The minute I hit the dirt he and I had to grab the ATV in order to keep it from continuing on down the hill without us.

  As a result I incurred some terrible bruises!!!!

  Needless to say, I had my fill with nature at that point for the rest of the vacation!  I'l be perfectly happy to not go out again until the cold weather hits and I see the creepy crawlies more rarely.

  On a much more mundane note…I was able to crochet some more.

 I love doing this!  My employees love them in the prize bucket!  It's a win, win. 

  We also made attempts to find a home on property to begin our more sustainable living.  We saw a house but it just wasn't The One.  The search continues.  I know that when it's meant to be we'll find our perfect little farmhouse on a nice piece of land. 

  Well, that's it for now.  I'll post again soon revealing what I accomplished in week five.  

Happy Living Full!

Jennifer