Habit 3:Day 3

No, MJ. No tacky sweaters. Knitting is not on the list!

I spent more time looking at projects today and identified about a half dozen more to add to the list.

I also know that I have enough material on hand to make 3 or 4 projects without making any purchases.

Tomorrow I will make a list of all the people I hope to gift and make sure that I have something to make for each of them.

So far, so good!

Tomorrow…

Habit3::Day 2

Making progress! Yeah! After spending at least another hour today identifying projects, I now have bookmarks for 22 projects to work on between now and Christmas. Let’s say I have 8 months to complete them – that would be 3 a month! Yikes! I think I might need to just get started and see how quickly it goes. Some projects are more complicated and will take longer. Others can be whipped up in just one day, I think.

Tomorrow I will evaluate my fabric stash and identify what project or projects I can begin without purchasing any or few supplies.

Tomorrow…

Habit 3::Day 1

I think I got off to a good start today.

I was able to work on projects for Christmas for about an hour this morning before Gavin came over at noon. I spent most of that hour researching project tutorials and bookmarking them into one file. I have identified 14 different projects so far. I’ll probably add to that list every day between now and Friday when Emily and I go to Ft. Myers and I can purchase any necessary items for the 1st project I choose.

Lizbeth, an excellent website for crafty sewing projects is the Sew, Mama, Sew blog. If you follow some of the links in the tutorials you like, you will likely find other sites with interesting ideas, but Sew, Mama, Sew is a great place to start.

Tomorrow…

My name is Patricia…

…and I need a new habit. 

The “schedule” was a great idea – and it’s one I’m not going to toss – but it isn’t one that works well with the habitattoo.  A BIG schedule is just too much to control for even one day, much less 21 days in a row. So for the purposes of habitatooing, I’m once again starting over.

I’m really excited about this one. I love the idea of creating gifts for people I love, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of time, and as much as I tell myself that I’m going to start getting ready for Christmas in time to actually make those gifts for more than one or two people - I never do. No more. Beginning tomorrowMonday and for the next 21 days, I am going to make it a habit to do something every day that will help me accomplish that goal this year.  

I might not tell you what it is that I’ve done every day – because it just might be a gift for YOU - but I will be honest about whether I’ve been faithful to the task! 

TomorrowMonday…

Habit 3:1 – Beginning anew

As promised – I’m starting over with habit 3 and fortunately got off to a decent start. Though I was not able to work the schedule EXACTLY as planned, I was able to encorporate most of the required elements – just at different times.

For instance, because it was raining when I awakened and it rained most of the morning, my morning prayer walk became an afternoon prayer walk.

I was back to my no sugar, no flour eating plan by Friday and have had fresh pineapple and the rest of the arthritis diet supplements as ordered every day, as well.

Tomorrow…

Habit 3:?????????

My lack of presence here is not without a good reason – my “Habit 3″ is far from becoming a habit. In fact, for the next week and a half, I’ve put my schedule away and will not look at it again until Monday, March 23rd, where I will begin anew to discipline my time.

Besides the recent multiple interruptions, we are leaving Saturday morning for a week away from home. The schedule did not allow for such an adventure and it was poor planning on my part to not have that foresight.

It will be all I can do over the next week, with Nick’s birthday cake tomorrow and a week on vacation, to not veer off my no sugar, no flour/wheat/grain, arthritis diet and maintain Habits 1 and 2, don’t ya think?

Habit 3:3

It was deja vu this morning when Kristin called shortly after 7:00 am to tell me that Gavin was miserable and inconsolable.  I quickly dressed and drove over to help Kristin determine what was wrong.  The good news is that by the time I got there, Gavin had settled down and after a short while I could return home and start the day over -  a bit behind my planned schedule, but with plenty of wiggle room. It is, after all, Saturday. 

I had no plans to write today, so even if I failed to accomplish other tasks, at least I wasn’t sacrificing writing time. 

Tomorrow I won’t even count as a “habitatoo” day – since I honor the Sabbath and almost never make plans to do chores or other work on Sunday.  I’ll post Habit 3:4 on Monday evening.

Habit 3:2

It’s a good thing that I have a sense of humor, because my schedule was sabotaged this morning within the first hour after I awakened – beginning with a pack of strange dogs that prevented me from taking my prayer walk.  It went downhill from there.  Kristin called just before school started to say that Gavin was sick with a croupy cough and as soon as the pediatrician’s office opened, she was going to call them for an appointment.  I offered to take him for her so she wouldn’t have to leave work and quickly finished a few chores scheduled for later in the day before hopping in the shower to get ready for Kristin to call me back with Gavin’s appointment time.  While in the shower, an elderly lady that I help one morning a week (I help her with a shower and then clean her house) called wondering where I was. I had forgotten that I was supposed to take her this morning for physical therapy. I quickly finished my shower, picked her up, took her to therapy where Kristin called me to tell me that Gavin’s appointment – in Ft. Myers – was at 3:00.  I ran home, finished a few more quick errands before returning to pick  up my elderly friend from therapy and Gavin from preschool. Brought Gavin to the house, took my friend home and helped her get settled, and returned home to feed Gavin lunch. At 1:30, Emily, Gavin and I headed for Ft. Myers.  It is a 1 1/2 hour trip from here to his doctor’s office.  We spent another 1 1/2 hours in the doctor’s office.  A 2 hour trip home – with quick stops for supper, grocery store and library – and more time at Kristin’s showing her how to use the nebulizer.  It was 7:30 before I returned home.

So much for a schedule. 

I’m optimistic about tomorrow.  Even more so about Sunday – since my sabbaths are intentionally blank.   A schedule I know I can keep.  =)

Yes, MJ, I do have the schedule on paper, but I don’t have a fancy phone. I use google calendar, but if I’m not looking at my computer except at certain times of the day, it doesn’t really help me stay on task throughout the day – which is what I am hoping for.  My writing time was seriously lacking – and at the rate I was going, I would be finished with my book a hundred years after I’m dead!  A copy of the new schedule is on a clipboard on the kitchen counter so I can refer to it throughout the day (if I am even home!!!!!).  My hope is that after 21 days, it will be a habit that won’t require a written prompt.

Habit 3:1

With two habit successes behind me, I’m now on to Habit Number 3: Establishing and maintaining a weekly schedule with designated times for reading, studying, writing, editing photos, and answering emails.  Today was a pretty good start.

After my morning walk and prayer time, I began work on the schedule – and by lunchtime, I had developed one that I think I can live with.  It took a while to think through what times are best for me for certain tasks.  Evenings are very difficult times for me to write - despite the lack of distractions, I’m simply too tired to concentrate.   Early afternoons after lunch are not good times for me to read – unless I really want to take a nap!  And the afternoons that Gavin is here are not good for anything else! 

Staying away from the computer - except during the designated times (check emails during 1st cup of coffee, at lunch, and read blogs and answer emails after supper) -  on the days I don’t have Gavin will be my most difficult challenge.  It is too easy to check for emails all day long, get distracted, and fail to accomplish a needed task. 

My schedule appears complicated at first glance (it includes many elements of Habit 2), but it is fluid and I’m willing to amend what doesn’t work.  I also know that I need to be reasonable.  Appointments, unexpected events and phone calls (like the one from Casey today) require that I remaine flexible – but  a schedule will steer me in the direction of those things that are most important to me – reading, writing and study. 

It’s hard for me to evaluate this first day because of the time spent working on the schedule, a long phone conversation with Casey, and the need to prepare for tonight’s small group study, but I still feel like the day was a success.  Tomorrow will be a better opportunity to both assess the workability of this schedule and my ability to stick with it.

Habit 2:18-21

Yeeeeehaw!!!!! We’re done with Habit 2.  Good thing, since I had such a hard time keeping up with the posting about it.  I think I just got into a groove that was easy to keep up and I didn’t feel the need to post – though I should have.

Actually, I came as close to falling off today as I have the whole 6 weeks we have been doing this.  I left the house this morning for an out of town appointment with our accountant without eating breakfast.  One the way home, I picked up a pizza for Emily and it was all I could do to not devour it when I got home.  I stayed focused – heated up a piece of grilled chicken for myself, and the craving passed. 

I’m excited about beginning a new habit tomorrow.  It will be my greatest challenge yet. It has nothing to do with food or health, so I think it will be easier and more fun for me to post about daily……AND I will definitely need the accountability for it.

See y’all in the morning…..