Week in Review: March 25

Two posts in 24 hours?  Wild, I know.  This productivity stuff is pretty cool.  Check it out!

Weekly Goals (week of March 18)
* Complete 2x honeymoon scrapbook pages I never made it out to Scrapbooks Plus this week
* Work out 3x Nope...only twice
* Start April menu  
* 3 Acts of Service for Jean
* Clean out plastic drawers in bathroom
* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)
* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby booties, and finish (start!) a scarf for the NSA Live Auction in July.  Once again, I completed a LOT of knitting, but not the projects I set out to do!
* Deep clean both the kitchen and bathroom floors Jean read last week's post and returned my mop :)
* Bake treats for lunches/desserts

The first of my 2012 Resolutions is complete; I've knit my first sock! 
Now I just need to muster up the motivation to knit its mate. . .

Lenten Changes (things I'm refocusing during the Lenten season)

* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion) on time
* No snacking! 3 modest meals a deal with nothing solid in between. Also, no meat on Fridays.   I accidentally sprinkled bacon on our salad at dinner.  Oops.
* Actively speak Jean's 'Love Languages' (Physical Touch & Acts of Service) more often and more effectively


2012 Resolutions & Goals (the 'big-ticket' items I/we would like to accomplish this year)
* Buy a home 
* Move to my parents' town (hopefully we can kill two birds with one stone for #1 & 2!)
* Conceive our first child
* Scrapbook our wedding
* Scrapbook our honeymoon 
* Learn to crochet

* Learn to knit socks Yee-haw, what's up?!

Weekly Goals (week of March 25)

We are headed out of town for my birthday this weekend, so the list is a little short.  It's a hard life :)

* Make a trip to Scrapbooks Plus

* Work out 2x 

* Work on April menu  

* 3 Acts of Service for Jean

* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)

* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby booties and pullover baby sweater, finish (start!) a scarf for the NSA Live Auction in July, start the sock's mate.

* Prepare food/treats to take out of town with us

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!

Anyone else caught up in the Hunger Games craze?  We are.  

I'm a big reader. I frequent bookstores and our public library, and I've usually got several books going on at the same time.  Novels, history, mystery, how-to, you name it.  Jean, on the other hand, claims that he has not finished a book for pleasure since high school.  Recently I started the Hunger Games series (Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay) on the recommendation of my sister-in-law, Laine, and about halfway through the first book, I had a conversation with Jean that went something like this:

Me: Hey, I'm reading this Hunger Games book, and it's pretty good.  I think you'd like it.

Jean: I don't read.

Me: Yeah, but it's kind of a war-post-apocalypse-sci-fi kinda deal.  You like that stuff.

Jean: Yeah, but I don't read.

A few days later . . .

Me: I'm done, and I put the book on your bedside table just in case.

Jean: Uhhh, OK.

A few days later . . .

Me: Nothing on TV tonight.  Why don't we just go to bed and read?

Jean: Uhhh, OK.

A few days later . . .

Jean: HAVE YOU FINISHED MOCKINGJAY YET?!  I'M DYING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS!!!

We went out with our good friends the Herders to see the Hunger Games  movie last night.  I won't spoil it for you, but simply suggest that you read the book.  If you've already seen the movie, and weren't crazy about it, read the book.  Especially if you want to see the movie, but aren't familiar with the story, read the book.  Really, this advice holds for pretty much any book-turned-movie (except maybe Angela's Ashes and To Kill a Mockingbird . . . those were fantastic movies).

Oh, and be sure to drink a few pomegranate margaritas, beer cocktails, and
take a lame-o movie theater pictures first, too :)

Week in Review: March 18

We're halfway through Lent!  I've found it easier to stick to some goals (Bible reading) than others (working out), but I'm still plugging along.  How are all of you doing with your weekly/Lenten/yearly goals and resolutions?  Here's how I've been doing:

Weekly Goals (week of March 11)
* Empty & clean 2 bookshelves, board game shelf, and DVD shelf  I emptied and cleaned our big bookshelf, and organized the others
* Complete 2x honeymoon scrapbook pages I've started! I'll be making a trip to the local scrapbook store this week to purchase the finishing embellishments
* Work out 3x Just one run/walk on the treadmill, in addition to the regular hand-washing laundry (all of it, still!) and gardening
* Bake St. Patrick's Day goodies for the NSA TwST meeting that I co-lead (this Tuesday) Nope!  Good thing, since we only had one teen show up this time :(
* 3 Acts of Service for Jean Just one . . . acting as a spare set of eyes for Jean at work.  Finding out of the ordinary acts is proving more difficult than I thought!
* Clean out medicine cabinet
* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)
* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby blanket #2, one pair of booties, and finish (start!) a scarf for the NSA Live Auction in July. Finished the Telfer's baby blanket #2, as well as a hat, two plush toys, and two pairs of mitts for them, in addition to starting a second hat.
* Deep clean both the kitchen and bathroom floors Jean took my mop to his job site, and I haven't seen it since :)

Even with our recent fertility issues, I'm loving working on this
'Welcome Baby Telfer' care package for our dear friends in Scotland!

Lenten Changes (things I'm refocusing during the Lenten season)

Still going well!
* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion) on time
* No snacking! 3 modest meals a deal with nothing solid in between. Also, no meat on Fridays. 
* Actively speak Jean's 'Love Languages' (Physical Touch & Acts of Service) more often and more effectively


2012 Resolutions & Goals (the 'big-ticket' items I/we would like to accomplish this year)
I can't wait to cross any one of these items off of this list!
* Buy a home 
* Move to my parents' town (hopefully we can kill two birds with one stone for #1 & 2!)
* Conceive our first child
* Scrapbook our wedding
* Scrapbook our honeymoon 
* Learn to crochet

* Learn to knit socks

Weekly Goals (week of March 18)
* Complete 2x honeymoon scrapbook pages
* Work out 3x 
* Start April menu  
* 3 Acts of Service for Jean
* Clean out plastic drawers in bathroom
* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)
* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby booties, and finish (start!) a scarf for the NSA Live Auction in July.
* Deep clean both the kitchen and bathroom floors
* Bake treats for lunches/desserts

Week in Review: March 11

We're now 2 1/2 months into 2012 and almost halfway through Lent, so how is everyone doing with their weekly/Lenten/New Year's goals and resolutions?  Anyone else having trouble?  I slipped a little this past week and didn't do so well with my goals, but that's what this coming week is for, right?  And hey, now I have an extra hour of daylight in which to accomplish my list!  Below is how the week went for me . . . how did you do? 

Weekly Goals (week of March 4)

* Empty & clean 2 bookshelves, board game shelf, and DVD shelf

* Donate (at least) 3 pieces of clothing We ended up donating FOUR BAGS of clothes and shoes to Goodwill!

* Make a Goodwill drop off

*Complete 2x honeymoon scrapbook pages I got them organized . . . but not completed

* Work out 3x Again, I didn't complete 3 intentional workouts, but I'm going to count this as completed after doing some serious muscle-work this week.  I planted our entire garden, as well as hand-washed ALL of our laundry (our washer is broken!), and these both left me so sore!

* 3 Acts of Service for Jean  1- Planting our garden / 2- Hand washing laundry so Jean can put 'fixing the washer' at the bottom of his priority list while still having clean clothes / 3- Making doctor's appointments

* Clean out medicine cabinet

* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)

* Make grocery list

* Make the once-monthly grocery run to Aldi

* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby blanket #2 I haven't finished the blanket, but I did start and finish half of a set of booties for them!

* Finish (start!) the scarf I was hired to knit

Lenten Changes (things I'm refocusing during the Lenten season)
Still plugging along and enjoying all three!

* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion) on time

* No snacking! 3 modest meals a deal with nothing solid in between. Also, no meat on Fridays. I ate meat this Friday.  Whoops.

* Actively speak Jean's 'Love Languages' (Physical Touch & Acts of Service) more often and more effectively

2012 Resolutions & Goals (the 'big-ticket' items I/we would like to accomplish this year)

* Buy a home Taxes are DONE, the official IRS-filed copy just has to be submitted to our mortgage guy.

* Move to my parents' town (hopefully we can kill two birds with one stone for #1 & 2!)

* Conceive our first child We had our first appointment with Dominion Fertility this past Monday, and received some not-so-promising news.  Regardless, we're leaning on our faith and starting the testing and treatment processes.

* Scrapbook our wedding

* Scrapbook our honeymoon I ordered and received our honeymoon prints, and organized the first two scrapbook pages.

* Learn to crochet

* Learn to knit socks

See how OK we look at the fertility clinic, even with all of the baby photos behind us?

Since I didn't do so well this past week, a lot of items will be repeated in this coming week's challenge. Stay tuned to see how I do, and be sure to leave me a comment letting me know what you're working on this week/month/Lent/year!

Weekly Goals (week of March 11)

* Empty & clean 2 bookshelves, board game shelf, and DVD shelf

* Complete 2x honeymoon scrapbook pages 

* Work out 3x 

* Bake St. Patrick's Day goodies for the NSA TwST meeting that I co-lead (this Tuesday)

* 3 Acts of Service for Jean 

* Clean out medicine cabinet

* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)

* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby blanket #2, one pair of booties, and finish (start!) a scarf for the NSA Live Auction in July.

* Deep clean both the kitchen and bathroom floors

Week in Review: March 4th

It's been a week since my last Goals & Resolutions post, so how did everyone else do with their weeks? Here's how mine went:

Weekly goals (the out-of-the-ordinary items I'd like to accomplish this week)
* Exercise at least 3x More or less, yes, but I won't cross this off as 'completed' because I did not intentionally complete 3 workouts this week, rather was just more active than normal
* Keep up-to-date on daily Lenten Bible readings (via YouVersion)
* Make a batch of No-Bake Oatmeal Chocolate Bars
* Complete March menu plan
* Clean out medicine cabinet
* Finish knitting balaclava for Jean, blanket for our friends Janice & Kevin's peanut, and at least 2 dishcloths Finished all of this in addition to 3 more dishcloths and 1/3 of another baby blanket! What can I say, we had some rainy days this week :)
* Organize spice drawer
* Organize utensil drawer
* Find 3 Acts of Service that I can do for Jean to make his week a little easier This one was difficult, but fun! I had to find 3 things that Jean had either asked me to do, but that I'd put off (usually because I did not want to do them), or something that benefited him, but in no way benefited me. So what were those 3 Acts?

Act of Service #1: Groom Emmett.
It's a pain to haul him into the bathtub and deal with a squirmy, unhappy dog, and (as is evident by the photo!), I am not an expert groomer. But, Jean had made a few comments lately about how much Em needed a haircut, so he had a spa day!

Act of Service #2: Call all of our credit card companies and ask for lower interest rates.
This is something that Jean has been hinting at for months, since a couple of our cards have rates that aren't all that low (or, at least not low enough in our minds!). Believe it or not, of the two of us, I'm the one who least likes making phone calls. Yes, I know that I'm the one with the friendly, bubbly personality, and no, I'm not the one who stutters, but I really don't like making phone calls. There, I said it. In the end, we ended up with lower rates on two of the three cards (significantly lower on one!).

Act of Service #3: Act as a runner between home and Jean's current job.
A couple of times I walked lunch over to his job (about 1/2 a mile away), but I'm not really counting this since I got some exercise and a picnic with my hubby out of it. There was one rainy afternoon in particular that I was settled into my nest, knitting happily, when Jean asked me to drive over and bring him some isopropyl alcohol. No fun, and of zero benefit to me, but it helped him out immensely.


So what about our broader goals? We've made some progress on those as well!


Lenten Changes (things I'm refocusing during the Lenten season)
So far, so good on all three!
* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion) on time
* No snacking! 3 modest meals a deal with nothing solid in between. Also, no meat on Fridays.
* Actively speak Jean's 'Love Languages' (Physical Touch & Acts of Service) more often and more effectively


2012 Resolutions & Goals (the 'big-ticket' items I/we would like to accomplish this year)
* Buy a home Taxes are almost done, and then it's off to our mortgage guy!
* Move to my parents' town (hopefully we can kill two birds with one stone for #1 & 2!)
* Conceive our first child We have started the ball rolling for fertility consultations and treatments
* Scrapbook our wedding
* Scrapbook our honeymoon Our honeymoon prints should arrive today!
* Learn to crochet
* Learn to knit socks


I did fairly well this past week, so I'm adding a few more items onto this week's challenge. Stay tuned to see how I do, and be sure to leave me a comment letting me know what you're working on his week/month/Lent/year!


Weekly Goals (week of March 4)
* Empty & clean 2 bookshelves, board game shelf, and DVD shelf
* Donate (at least) 3 pieces of clothing
* Make a Goodwill drop off
*Complete 2x honeymoon scrapbook pages
* Work out 3x
* 3 Acts of Service for Jean
* Clean out medicine cabinet
* Complete all daily Lenten Bible Readings (via YouVersion)
* Make grocery list
* Make the once-monthly grocery run to Aldi
* Finish Janice & Kevin's baby blanket #2
* Finish (start!) the scarf I was hired to knit