52 Days

There's a lot of the number 52 floating around here lately. There's the 52 Lists project I'm doing and the 52 Days system I've been trying this year.

This is an update on the 52 Days deal. That's the one where the year is broken in to 7 sections of 52 days each. You set some goals for the first 52 days (January 2- February 22). If they don't work, or if your life changes too much for them to make sense any more, you change them up for the second round.

Someone figured up the following days to start each round of 52: January 2, February 23, April 16, June 7, July 29, September 19, and November 10.

So, I'm now in the second round. Here's where my goals stand:
Spiritual - I am keeping my goal of daily devotions. That's gone well and I like the three apps I decided to use.
Financial - that one went okay. I was working to only buy books with gift cards rather than the credit card. Now I want to keep that and expand it, working to make our credit card bill only have automatic charges on it, rather than a variety of online shopping, etc. We've gotten lax with our charging and I want to reign that back in.
Physical - I have been waffling on my weekly commitment to Weight Watchers. Some weeks are good and some feel like a lost cause two days in. I want to re-commit to that process and I have set a specific goal and time frame for myself.
Social - This one was pretty vague last time. I'm trying to tighten that up with a more explicit plan to reach out socially every week in some way.
Mental - This was the other goal that was vague last time. This time I want to read one non-fiction book each month (I read Quitter in February) as well as reading one e-book (this was my goal last time - in February I read Buried in Buttercream  on my Nook) and one Advance Reader Copy (ARC) that I have received for my blog (In February I read Killer Honeymoon).
Career - I want to keep the goal of adding 10 new books to the library every week. I haven't done this for a couple weeks, but I haven't felt too badly about that considering I was doing more than that for all of January. I want to get back to that and get caught up on the batch that is almost ready to go before I do another book fair at the end of the month.
Family - This was another vague one last time. This time I want to keep up our reading routine which we re-established at the start of the year. Then I want to add a movie or game night every week where we do that together, really focused on being together rather than just being in the same room but all doing our own thing.

So, those are my new goals for this next block of 52 days.

How are your New Year's goals holding up now that March is here?

New Year. Same God.

I saw this thought posted on a church sign recently, and it really captured my attention. No matter what season of life you or I are in, God is the same.

God is the same for my friends who finalized their adoption of two children at the end of 2012 as He is for another friend who has chosen to give up her business and home here in the states to live in Africa with the baby she is adopting while she waits for the powers that be to finalize her adoption (a process that has had a slew of road blocks so far).

God is the same for my friends who are celebrating healing in the bodies of their family members and for other friends who have had to say a final goodbye to their parents in the last month or so.

God is the same when I am feeling complete joy or contentment with my life as He is when I am railing at Him for trials and seemingly unfair circumstances.

There is comfort in the unchangeableness (how's that for a word?) of God. I can count on Him to be the same yesterday, today and forever.

Goals/52 Days

Over the New Year's holiday I read a blog post from Jon Acuff called, "Why I Quit New Year's Resolutions (And What I Am Doing Instead)."

This really resonated with me because I routinely bail on my New Year's goals by February. Acuff described my experience perfectly - the goals don't work because they are determined without any clue what the new year will hold by way of opportunities and challenges.

The idea of tackling the year - and my goals - in 52 day chunks seems like a great way to change the course for me. I am gradually working on my first set of goals, and I feel optimistic about them because I know if they stink, I will get to change them up in late February.

Jon recommends setting goals in seven areas: Mental, Spiritual, Physical, Financial, Social, Family and Career.  Here are mine for the first 52 days of 2013:

Mental - read one book per month (so one in January and one in February) on a device (Nook, Kindle app, iBooks). This is to help me actually use the books I have downloaded onto a device - and reading is always a winning goal.
Spiritual - download a devotional/Bible reading app and use daily. I want to be more intentional about my spiritual life this year. A colleague posted the following on Facebook:  “We never grow closer to God when we just live life. It takes deliberate pursuit and attentiveness.”   I don't know where she posted it from, but the sentiment challenged me. I have found a great Bible reading app and a couple devotional ones that I am doing every day. I'll post about those another day.
Physical - Join Weight Watchers in January. It's time. It worked well for my husband and I when we did it 6 years ago and I'm ready to get back to it.
Financial - only use gift cards or cash to buy books. We have worked really hard to pay off our credit card, but trips to the book store, at least for me, get pricey. It's too easy to swipe the card and worry about paying for them later.
Social - engage with friends in person - not just Facebook. This one is a little wimpy. I would love to make it more of a "invite friends to our home once a month" sort of goal, but I have issues with feeling comfortable with others seeing our house. It doesn't make sense. We've done a small "gathering" the last two years before Christmas and have really enjoyed it. But I have many more years of house-shame to overcome. Maybe that should be my goal instead - banish my house-shame by inviting people over.
Family - reclaim our bedtime reading routine, starting with Wings of Fire/The Dragonet Prophecy. We've gotten out of the habit of reading together at night and I want to get back to it. So far in the new year, we are doing better about being consistent.
Career - Put 10 new books out in the library every week. Before Christmas break I killed myself, working late even when I was sick, to get a big crop of books cataloged for the library. Now they essentially just need their coverings - laminate or those plastic sheets that libraries use on hard cover books with paper jackets. I brought three bags of books home to work on over break, and I ended up taking all three bags back to school, untouched. I really embraced the idea of a "break" for Christmas break, but I am still committed to getting new materials into kids' hands asap. So, we'll try for 10 a week and see how it works. Hopefully I can actually do more.

So, those are my goals for the first 52 days. What goals have you set for 2013?

One Little Word 2013

It's time to pick my word for 2013.... I'm having trouble settling on one.

It doesn't help that I picked several last year before sticking with one. I tried all sorts of I'm-getting-my-stuff-together goals and plans last January that didn't even make it to February.

This year, I at least want to have my word, even if I don't set any other goals or plans.

I thought about keeping last year's word - SAVOR. It's still a good one and still something I need to remember.

But I'm contemplating the word SLOW for this year.
SLOW down
Take things SLOW
SLOW down my thoughts
SLOW down my plans
SLOW down my pace
SLOW down my expectations

Don't rush through the moment or the day or the week...or my life.

SLOW.


What do you think? Do you pick a word? You can read a smidge about the practice of choosing a word here - this is a link for a class that focuses some activities on the word. I have thought about taking it, but I never finish those because I get too busy. So I'm going to save my money this year, but there I still love the idea of picking a word... You can also go here to read some of my musings on past words I've chosen (and some I've chosen and later discarded).

If you are picking a word, I'd love to know what it is. Feel free to share in the comment section below.

Happy 2013!!

January progress

Rather than set a lot of goals for this year, I just set one - to read more books from my "to be read" (TBR) shelves. Yes, shelves, plural.


To that end, I chose one nonfiction, one general fiction, one book for kids and one series from my shelves for each month of the year.


For January, I chose The Writer's Book of Days as my non-fiction. It's a book of writing prompts and writing advice for a year, so while I have not finished it, I am using it regularly, so I am counting that one "done."


My general fiction book for January was Deep Trouble, a book I received from the author ages ago and hadn't gotten around to reading. You can check out my review of it here. That one is also "done." 


I am on book two out of three I was behind on from the Booktown Mystery series. I finished Bookplate Special and have moved on to Chapter and Hearse. I haven't started my book for kids, The Beyonders: A World Without Heroes, yet. So, of the 6 books I picked for January, I have three done. So far so good. There's a little less than a week left in January, so I hope to be doing a lot of reading this weekend.

2012 Is Here

Well, the tree is down, the ornaments are put away. Christmas is wrapped up for another year.


It feels good to have the house back to semi-normal. Since we are still on winter break here, the house is still in disarray. We did some cleaning around the house - my husband says the trash can has never been so full - and I am trying to get a bunch of books ready for the start of the school year in the library. So, life still feels a little unsettled.


But 2012 is here. I felt a great sense of relief when the clock said 12:00. 2011 was finished. Finally. And we survived.


I spent some time Saturday night with Michael Hyatt's "Seven Questions to Ask About Last Year." It was a good exercise for me to acknowledge the highs and lows of the year and then to put some closure on it and put it behind me. 2011 is finished. Welcome, 2012!


I've decided to use "Finish" as my word for the year. I set aside some books from my many piles of TBRs (to-be-reads) that I want to get through this year. We'll see how that goes.


Hope you had a great New Year's Eve/Day. We are looking forward to a few more days of break before heading back into the school year.

New Year Tradition

Last year I posted here about a tradition in our house. It started in December of 2007. I had just finished a year long scrapbooking class with Heidi Swapp at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The class was called A Year to Remember and we did pages and projects and a journal to help us zero in on the here and now. I loved it. At the end of the year I wanted to create something to help us celebrate all the fun things we did as a family, so I made a collage poster at Snapfish.

We are now on our fourth poster. Here is 2010:

This poster - 20x30 inches - is a great conversation piece in our entry way. People love to look at all the pictures and ask about the events represented in it. It is also a great "memory book." When we put one poster away, we always pull out the old ones and remember all the fun we have had together as a family.

I think a collage poster is a great gift idea, even if it is a gift to your own family - a reminder of your seasons together. 

A New Year of Inspiration

One of my facebook friends posted a new event recently - A New Year of Inspiration. [If you are on facebook, you can find the link for this public event here.]

His description says: 

"A friend once inspired me to dance in the rain, now I hope to pass it on.

Last year I went back to school. This year I packed up family and moved to Indonesia to work at a school. What will I do next year? What will you do next year? Take a moment, now that the holiday season has passed and take one small step in the direction of something new and exciting in your life. Then share it on facebook, with this group, on your profile, or with just one friend.

How will the world be better off next year, because of who you are and what YOU will DO!? Go back to school, mow the neighbors lawn, get a "crazy" new hair cut, start walking to work, take a trip to a new country, make a new friend at school or work, write a book, or a blog, write an encouraging note on facebook once a week, pray for the president, send care packages to a missionary, write a letter to your congressman, volunteer to read to kids, volunteer to read at the nursing-home, kiss your mom everyday for a month...

Pass it on and share"

I am inspired - not sure what I will do with this, but I definitely wanted to "pass it on." This is part of the delightful freshness of a new year! New inspiration - opportunities for change!

One Word

A couple weeks ago I posted about my "word of the year." The idea comes from Ali Edwards - you can go to her blog here and read about her word for 2011 and words from some of her readers. Here you can see the list of words people have submitted for 2011. My post for 2010 is here.

My word for this year - 2011 - is "choice" or "choose." It came to me in early December.

I was really struggling in a lot of ways with God and where to find God in difficult life circumstances. We had been singing in church that Sunday "God is able," and the only thing I could think was, "But is he willing?" How many people have prayed for solutions to life's difficulties and not seen them go they way they hoped?

I knew (and know) in my head that God is there through those struggles and in the alternate routes that life takes, but I was still stuck with that question and how to relate to God in that mindset.

I spent one afternoon in the pick up line at my son's school flipping through a small book of affirmations I made in April of 2009 - just looking for something. It is full of scriptures, altered to be statements of faith and, well, affirmation. This one - the last in the book - hung with me in the midst of my struggle: "I am surrounded and supported by a great cloud of witnesses so I can throw off everything that hinders me and the sin that entangles me. I choose to run with perseverance the race marked out for me. I fix my eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith."  [Hebrews 11: 1&2]

Did you catch it? "I choose to run..." That one word changed everything for me in that moment. I can choose to be stuck or I can choose to keep walking forward, even with all of my questions. I get to choose my attitude. 

Not sure what my "project" will be to cement this word in my day to day life for 2011, but stay tuned. There will be something when inspiration strikes.


[Side note - here is a blog entry from someone else doing a word for the new year. And here is another entry at Ali's site where she posts a recording of someone reading the words - great! And another favorite blogger talks about her word here.]

A Year in Review - Part 4

Since 2007 I have made a journal every year. I enjoy making them (my 2010 is probably my favorite), but I don't think to use them very often. December 31 comes and I find less than 1/3 of the pages are used.

What I've Learned
I need to write when I am overwhelmed. I use journals to process my thoughts and feelings and I use lists to manage my tasks. But when I don't need to journal, I don't use it. I would get more use out of one that could span more than one year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, January 1 is just a couple days away. It's time to put all this pondering about 2010 and blogging and such to use and make some choices. Stay tuned for what's next in 2011

A Year in Review - Part 3

Every January, I set goals for the coming year. This past January, my goals were plentiful, broken down into monthly and quarterly components.

It was a beautiful example of ambition and organization.

It was also ridiculously over the top - too many things, too much pressure, trying to change too much at one time. Within a month or two I had to scale it back. And I still hardly met any of my goals for the year.

What I've Learned
Simple is better. One or two goals to start the year is more manageable. (No goals at all would be even more manageable, but I don't know if I could pull that off....)

Also, if I don't revisit my goals - whatever they are and however many there might be - I will forget them and not pursue them. Maybe a creative/visual project would help like it has with my word of the year....

A Year in Review - Part 2

For the last several years I have tried to pick a theme word/phrase for the year. In 2007, I chose "balance." In 2008 it was "Lord of All." In 2009 I focused on a list of words - laugh, teach, move, create, learn, pray, write, play, hug, save, read, sing, listen and remember - things I wanted more of in my life.

As I started to consider 2010, though, I couldn't remember my word! That did not bode well for me. If I couldn't remember it, it was highly likely I didn't reflect on it, much less make it part of my experience for the year.

I think one reason I don't remember it is that I created no tangible reminder of it. The first two yeras I made scrapbook pages. I can picture them in my mind. I know exactly what they look like. In 2009, I stitched the words on a pillow. 2010? Nothing.

Turns out the word was SAVOR. Good choice, but I only recorded it here on this blog and then "poof," it was gone.

What I've learned
When I make something, the concept is better cemented in my mind - the time spent, the visual memory, the thought during creation, make a difference.

A Year in Review - Part 1

I am a crazy woman when it comes to a new year. I am almost more excited about January 1 than I am about December 25th!

But when I think of January - new beginnings, fresh starts, blank slates - my chest swells with anticipation. There is so much potential, so many possibilities in a new year. I am almost giddy just thinking of it!

To bring a year to a close, though, I like to look back and see where I've been and what I can learn from one year to apply to the next.

Stay tuned for my 2010 in review.

New Year's tradition

One of our New Year's traditions is to print a 20x30 poster with pictures highlighting our year. I first did this in 2007, which was a super busy year of concerts and vacations and events. It was a great year to document in a large format that anyone could see when they came to the house. 2008 and 2009 weren't years with huge events, but the idea of savoring each year for what it brings seemed like a great one. 

I print my posters through Snapfish. I can chose up to 30 pictures from my uploaded pictures, chose my text, font, background color and size of border. This year they even added a feature where you can keep shuffling the pictures until you get a layout you like. My first layout had the peacock picture taking up a good bit of one side of the poster. I thought it was beautiful, but it wasn't the best representation of our year, so I shuffled it around a few times. 

If you are organized enough to have your pictures all uploaded right after Christmas, you can usually take advantage of year end coupons or special pricing to get a better deal on the poster. One this large isn't cheap.

Goals and Plans

Last week I mentioned my monthly goals for 2010. Some of my other plans are

• Develop a plan for my blogs. I have a schedule right now, but I don't always feel like I am giving my best to all three at every moment. I have some resources that I want to read and I want to create a plan that is sustainable and provides a quality experience for me and for my readers. And I would like to attract more readers. Part of my planning will be to look at other platforms and resources to see what is best to help me blog into the future.
• I want to make a quilt in 2010. I have wanted to quilt for ages. This is the year I am going to do it, even if it is no bigger than a pillow. I also want to learn to knit and crochet, even if I only do it enough to make a scarf with each, although I do dream of knitting a pair of socks some day.
• Complete some half-done craft projects. I had over-enthusiastic intentions in 2009. I would like to finish some of what I started.
• Read The Chronicles of Narnia. I still have never read any of these books. I planned to read them in 2009 and never did. I am wondering if my son and I might read them as part of our summer plans while we are home during the days.
• Improve money management. I always aspire to save more and pay off things that hang over our heads. I would love to some day go back to school (when I figure out what I want to be when I grow up), but that requires planning and diligence now to make that a possibility later.

Still thinking through your 2010 goals? Share them here! I would love to hear about them.

Best Intentions

I have talked already this year about some of my goals for 2010. What I didn't mention was how I did on my goals and plans for 2009. In a word, lousy.

In 2009 I wanted to

• Journal more - at least once a week. I did not do this. At least a third of my journal is empty.
• Blog regularly - This was actually a good goal for me. Even with adding new blogs, I stayed on a good schedule.
• Send my son to private school this school year. Thanks to a lot of help, we were able to do this. It is a wonderful environment for him. While I haven't written it down, it is a goal to have him there again this fall.
• Submit 15 pieces of writing. Progress? Zero. Pathetic, really. It all comes down to fear.
• Lose 20 pounds. Everyone has goals like this. I did not do anything to make this happen.
• Cut debt in half. This did not happen either.
• Complete writing Bible study in January. I did this. It was really good. I have another one I hope to do this year.
• Finish Write is a Verb with my SIL. We did this. This was also a really good resource. We are working on Plot and Structure right now, although we took a break for NaNoWriMo and the holidays.
• Memorize 12 passages of Scripture. I started with a big one - 1 Corinthians 13 - and only made it half way through before quitting.
• Read Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia and at least half of my TBR (to be read) stash. I read Harry but that was it.
• Laugh, play, write, read, teach, learn, pray, move,listen, sing, create, hug, save, remember. I would liked to have created, wrote and saved more, but essentially this was a good list and 2009 was a great year.

I hope to do a little better with my goals for 2010, but I think it is better to have made a plan and only completed part of it than to have had no aspirations at all and lived up to them.

Planning Ahead

Happy 2010! I hope your New Year was happy and healthy and safe.

I love a new year. There is something about the fresh start and potential of a new year that makes me giddy. For the last couple weeks I have been brainstorming goals and plans for the new year. It is a great time to start new projects.


I made a new journal for the new year - something I did in 2007 for a class at Big Picture Scrapbooking and have kept up ever since. Each year has a different design. This year I went back to a monthly format. I divided the journal into 12 sections, one for each month. That way I can keep track of my monthly goals. In retrospect, I wish I had done something else, though. In 2008, I had a list of things for each month, so I set the monthly sections up with a couple pages each at the front of the journal. That way I could "journal" in the section after the monthly tabs without worrying about running into the next section. I didn't think that through this time. Oh well. I love how it turned out and will make the best of things.

My monthly goals are:

• Read one writing book from my stash. I have a shelf of writing books that are gathering dust. I want to concentrate on one each month this year so I can make use of the material I have at my disposal. In January I am reading A Novel Idea.
  
• Memorize a verse of scripture. For January I chose Galatians 6:4-5 from The Message.
• Submit three pieces of writing to a publisher. I have toyed with this writing thing for too long. It is time to jump in. Three is a very small number, but doable regardless of how much I am subbing or how intense my parenting load is.
• Prepare one song to sing for church. For January I chose Savior, Please. I only sing once or twice a year at church, but I love to sing. By setting a goal, I can really dig into a new song, memorize it, have it ready in case I am asked to sing. In reality, this is probably more about me making time to sing for myself rather than about performing a song at church (which makes me a nervous wreck).

I have other goals and plans, but I will save those for another blog entry. If you set some goals for yourself, post them here. I love to hear what others are working on.