The Weekly Chase #14

So much to talk about today that I might have to break it up over a couple of posts! I love days like this!  First and foremost I have my goals to talk about and then you will hear about my “Married To The Army Alaska” recap – so many words for that show – especially since this is based from JBER – where I am right now.  I also have words about Christmas and buying local and making gifts this year.  So many good things going on! I am finally starting to get in a bit of the holiday spirit so I don’t want to waste it! I want to share it!!

 

Last Week Recap:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals:

Read to Abby her Bible every night for school – Check!

Practice memory verses with kids every night – nada…

Read 1 storybook/chapters from a book each night to the girls – Check!

Write Nick a love note – nope – but will this week for sure!

Take kids to play once a week  *This one is already scheduled for Saturday and Sunday as we are going to a birthday party on both days!  We also went bowling in addition to this!

Personal Goals:

Start reading the books I picked out – started and stopped – I didn’t pick a good book sadly.

Schedule exercise for 3 days – nope.

Drink More Water – not exactly – I ende dup drinking iced tea that was watered down about 50% so I could have something that I liked to drink too 🙂

Homemaking Goals:

Make 1 new recipe this week – no – but this week proves promising!

1 Load of laundry everyday – yes except for this weekend 🙂

This Week:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals:

Read to Abby her Bible every night for school

Read 1 storybook/chapters from a book each night to the girls

Write Nick a love note ***Our 8 year anniversary is tomorrow!***

Take kids to play once a week 

Personal Goals:

Find a new book or two to read

Schedule exercise for 3 days

Drink More Water

Homemaking Goals:

Make 1 new recipe this week **I got two planned for Thanksgiving!**

1 Load of laundry everyday

Get house cleaned BEFORE Thursday

This week’s details – this week should be a fun one. We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house and have invited friends, and those who have nowhere to go – mostly single soldiers in that respect. No one should spend the holidays alone as I see it. Each year on the holidays we try to have  people over, our own little band of misfits you could say. It is just too dang expensive to get anywhere from Alaska so we will all do what we can.  I love the fact that each year it is new and interesting and I am hoping to capture more pictures and fun than ever before. We will do it all over again at Christmas so I am going hunting for present deals so they all can have something under our tree. The military is family and I intend to keep it that way.

Tomorrow  Abby has a field trip to base to the play place that is so well-loved by kids. It is our beloved Arctic Oasis. I know that the girls and I loved it when we first moved here as I knew how to get there and it got us out of the house and was free. We found it to be a nice break from our house.

Married To The Army Alaska – No words for this show really. I think it is showing us in a bad light (not all of us but people will assume it is us all). I could care less if you met your husband at Hooters. It isn’t what is in your past – lets face it.  Divorcing an enlisted to marry an officer – yeah, people won’t like her, but it is mainly because of her attitude – not the rank she is wearing but says she is not.  The Brigade Commander’s wife seems like she has her head on her shoulders as she should – I am interested to see how they portray her when she has to deal with the loss of the first soldier. I think Rynn is going to be my favorite and Sara getting upper enlisted house is a joke. I had a friend who was on that same wait list but had 40 people in front of her. It is a wonder what cameras can do for you.  The pregnant one basically left the show after they got mad at her for having to take care of her newborn instead of doing some taping – good for her for having priorities. Shame on Oprah’s network for getting mad.  Tonight will probably be the last night I watch it because my husband might be able to be seen – he had to pull medical coverage for GI Jane Day and was so angry when he came home that day. So much re-taping and so on.  Also I might add that the only other reason I am watching it is because we got the channel for free for a month because it was filmed in Alaska.  Gee thanks.

So much for that. My Monday started with a bang – how about yours???

Managing Monday #9 – Punctuality

Punctuality is the characteristic of being able to complete a required task or fulfill an obligation before or at a previously designated time. “Punctual” is often used synonymously with “on time.” (source Wikipedia)

Being on time is important and shows a lot about people – according to my husband. I can honestly say going anywhere with him we are at least 10 minutes early. I think it is because he is part military and the other part is just his attitude – both good things.  He doesn’t want ever want to be that person who is always late or the one who people have to wait on.

My mom and brother always like to show up to events about 5 minutes before it starts. During the summers we used to who horses a lot. I had a horse that needed to be warmed up and eased into and vent. Showing up when the event started didn’t help, as we still had to unload, sign up, and check out the arena.  I like to show up – walk around, look at the arena, sign up, talk to people, and then saddle and warm up. This is about an hour-long process for me.  My mom made me have anxiety growing up. My brother liked to roll in and show how awesomely fast he could do things – sorry Sid – so not cool.

Interviewing for jobs I think some people thought I was crazy, and some people were happy that I was about 15 minutes early. I always wanted the people interviewing me to realize that I was very appreciative that they were giving me a chance to speak with them. I never wanted to be late and I also hated it when working for a staffing company they would tell me to show up early. I politely told them to stop telling me that as I found it insulting to my character as I was always early. We finally came to an understanding and I want to say I found my current job on my own and without them.

I have plenty of friends who are late people – I have just learned to tell them things start about 10 minutes early then they really do – I love you guys, but I have learned to not let you make me late. 😉

So here are some simple steps to becoming punctual:

Acknowledge that you are a person who is having a hard time being punctual. Isn’t this kind of like an addiction – admitting you have a problem is the first step 🙂

Be conscious of the time. Maybe even set your clocks 5 minutes faster.

Wake up when you are supposed to wake up – go to bed when you should go to bed.

Commit yourself to being 15 minutes early to everything.

Keep your schedule organized and prepare for everything ahead of time.

Try to not accept last-minute invites or tasks that may get in your way of being on time to the next event.

Plan for traffic and enjoy the ease of travel if there is none.

What are your tips for being on time?

 

Managing Monday #8

So this morning we had success! I changed my daily routine list a little bit. I mean the items on it didn’t change, but me adding time periods to it did.  I usually make a list that looks like the following:

4:45 up – get coffee and breakfast started

5:00 unload and load dishwasher – fluff dryer

5:15 news- blog – coffee

5:45 shower – get ready

6:15 wake girls – get girls ready

6:55 – out the door

I make a time frame for each project to be done – and it puts my OCD in overdrive when I screw this up.  I decided to experiment a little and just make a list of things to accomplish and goal times.  My daily routine list looked more like this today:

Morning:

Coffee and Breakfast

Dishwasher – Laundry

Blog – Enjoy Coffee and News

Get girls up and ready

6:55 goal time to be out the door loading the car.

Success happened for us today! It was such a smoother morning – I was happy! I think I have found that if I don’t make a strict list – I don’t feel so much pressure to get it all in and done. It would cause me to feel like a failure for not getting everything right (based on my timetable).  With the new format I can make it all fit and if I am not feeling it, or we have no bread to make breakfast sandwiches, or no laundry to fluff – I can linger longer on other tasks and not feel bad!

Isn’t it funny how little things can affect us in such a large way?  I am going to try to do this with a few other aspects of my life and see how well it works!

Managing Monday #6

Ten Minutes of Purpose.

I hate doing some things. I am sure we are all like this. This townhouse has more carpet than I care for – and I hate to vacuum. I vacuum the upstairs one day and the downstairs another day.  That is easy enough. 

When it comes to organizing and larger tasks – I do ten minute increments to keep me focused. I literally set a timer for 10 minutes and get down to business. My husband is not a fan of this because that means there are unfinished tasks for a week at a time. I feel it makes me focus and do the job right. If I continue to do a job I hate for more than 10 minutes I then lose focus and interest and the job gets completed half-assed.  If I do it just a little at a time I know that full-time period will be successful. How do you do it?

Now obviously if I can have no kids around I can focus a whole lot more and don’t need to break things down into such small time frames.

I usually don’t like help when I do organizing projects.  I don’t like to have someone else organize what I use. Call it OCD. Call it whatever. I like to organize what I use. If it is a common area I might ask for input but do what is best for the group.

Managing Monday #5

I have got to get out of this funk! I try my hardest to keep everything going and make sure things are in order and nothing gets missed.  I just still can’t seem to shake whatever it is that I am in.

My awesome husband got me a yoga mat for no reason. He heard me say I wanted one and then went and brought me home one! He rocks to say the least.  I am hoping to incorporate yoga into my day in both the am and pm to help. I think I need to focus some more attention to my mental health. I worry about getting things done for both my kids, the house, and I think that I just need to schedule me in.

Today I am going to try out a couple new things.  Things for me. This will in turn help my family out I am thinking and then we will all be in a better place! For me Mondays are always a great day to start something new as it is the start of the weekly routine. Why not add something in at the beginning, that is what I always say!

You could say I am going to manage myself this Monday.

I am going to practice more yoga. When researching on yoga some this is what I found on the Gaiam Life Homepage: “Yoga can help women find physical and emotional balance, as well as self-acceptance.” Yes please. I think I am going in the right direction!

I am going to make it a habit to read everyday. I am going to have a couple of books going at the same time. That way I can read for whatever mood I am in. Humor, educational, spiritual, self-help, or maybe just some good old-fashioned mystery reading. I have always enjoyed it, so why again did I stop?

My dear friend Martha made a spot on comment in her blog. She said it is the getting started part that is another story. I love to run, but the thought of getting ready to go do it sucks. I need to get over that and just start running again. It gave me so much energy and just made me feel good. I think I am going to sign up for a St. Patrick’s day 5K and the Run with the Reindeer race to give me some motivation since my running partners are still in North Carolina and I am not.

Last but not least I am going to try to give back some. I don’t think this will be a daily practice just yet – but I want to make it a practice. I feel it is something that I need to show my kids. You should help others if you can. That is just how it is.  I have been reading online some things that other people have done and I like some of them and others I don’t. I feel that helping others is good for the soul.

What are some things that you want to put into practice in your life? When will your start?

 

Managing Monday #4

So….at work if we use the fitness facility, or take a fitness class offered on campus at least 3 times a week – we can earn a paid hour off of work the very next week. No hoarding the hours – you HAVE to use it the next week. I think that is a good thing personally. I like to see the benefit quick, what can I say?

I have been doing this and finally the weather allowed for me to get in all three workouts as it was ABOVE ZERO.  It was nice 🙂

I am thinking about going into work 1 hour later ever Monday (as long as 3 workouts are done the previous week) to help my kids cope with the awful Monday syndrome when it is a really bad Monday. I know I should just make them get used to getting up, but I personally would like the extra hour to make Monday more manageable some days. I can still make them get up, but maybe a warm breakfast or just cuddle time on the couch to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse together.  I just really think that my whole family can benefit from it.

Now – this doesn’t mean I can’t change what I do with this hour. Like maybe I want to take a 2 hour lunch and go do something – I can do that.  It is my hour.

The week of Valentines I will be using my hour on Valentine’s Day so that I can make my kids heart-shaped pancakes and feed them strawberries. I will fill their tummies with love 🙂

Managing Monday #2

My Mondays come fast and I usually hit snooze a couple of times (which puts me at 4:45 and not 4:15 am), take a long shower, and in turn put myself a little bit behind. But I know this ahead of time. To combat this I take care of what I can the night before. I sell Thirty-One bags so of course I have one that is designated for school.  It has snack and juice box pouches on the outside and plenty of room on the inside.

I fill the sippy cups the night before and put them in the fridge, put the snack on the end pouch so they don’t get crushed in the car, and fill it with sheets, blankets, and extra clothes. Once we get to daycare it is emptied and returned to my car.

I typically keep the bag in my car all week and fill it with the take home papers of daycare, the trash that accumulates in the car, and anything else from my week! Then on Friday when I put the kids sheets and dirty clothes from the week in it – it comes in the house.

I have a friend who cleverly personalized a larger bad “Junk In My Truck” and keeps it in the truck with all her supplies for the many activities her kids are in. The possibilities are endless and at $22 (no personalization) you can beat it!

Besides this being just a great all around tote – two of it’s most popular uses are for a home office and a cleaning supply tote – check them out! Let me know if you would like one and I can get it directly to you in about two weeks right now!