The Plan for April

A few weeks ago I lamented the lack of motivation and challenging areas of my life.  I had plans to organize my month. I got a menu done, but have not held to it very well - I think I'm going to work off the menu as a list this month and not so much a night-by-night menu.  Part of the problem is that April weather means that one night is 75 and I'm ready to grill and the next night is 31 and soup and bread look better.  So, this month, the menu is a meal list and we'll pick from it until all our options are used up.

One area that I needed to deal with was my work room.  In a small room I had four tables set up for three different projects in various stages of completeness:  Candles that were poured and waiting for packaging, sewing projects halfway done, a stack of items waiting for their day on eBay, other stacks that got tossed in the workroom since it's the closest place to put things out of GBaby's reach. Thanks to a gal from church who was on spring break and wanted to hang out with GBaby, I was able to spend a good chunk of time clearing out that room.  Now it is a much more workable space and I've given myself a "one project at a time" rule for that area.

For April, I'm starting my days with 5 things on my task list that are my priorities.  I know, doesn't seem like much but caring for Ms. I'm-Cutting-4-Teeth-All-At-Once has been taking more time than usual lately.  So 5 tasks it is, and anything else I see around the house that need to get done - just do it.  Then and there on the spot.  So far the house is still standing and we've all been fed and have clean laundry.  I'm calling it a success for this month.

There are a number of online communities that are taking the spring cleaning and organizing thing to a whole new level.  If you need the motivation to do that check them out.  Two that I know of are  Money Saving Mom's Clear the Clutter Challenge and Christian HomeKeeper Network Spring Cleaning.  They've served to spark my attention to areas of my house that need help and as a result I did get the refrigerator shelves wiped down this week and cleaned out from behind and under the fridge-oh the nastiness!  I also got the kitchen swept, but that's about it.

So for the rest of this month, I'll keep with my "just do it" mantra and take one day at a time.  My inner-planner needs a break.   How is your month going?

February Wrap Up & March Madness!

As I wrapped up February with a family vacation I took a little bit of time to go back to my 2010 Goals and found that I'm actually doing quite well!  I did well with my February Kitchen Goals as well. Watch for an upcoming blog on how to incorporate whole grain flours in your every day baking!

Now by some warp-speed of my calendar, it is March already!  How did that happen?  This month things are going to be very goal focused for me.  Here's what will be going on in my house this month:

De-cluttering through my the Forty Bags in Forty Days project.  We started this on February 17th and so far 12 bags have left our house.   Since we were gone last week we have a little bit of catching up to do this week.

In the kitchen this month, we are working on a freezer challenge to try to empty down our chest freezer before spring and summer bring a new wave of fresh produce.  Most of our main dishes will be meals that are already prepared and in the freezer, or from ingredients that are in the freezer.   My Freezer Friday posts this month will not be what went into the freezer, but link-backs to recipes that have gone into the freezer over the previous months.

I will also be working diligently on baby food to keep GBaby in a healthy balanced diet that is full of iron (as we were informed of a deficiency last month).  I also plan to do a bit of baking and experimenting with a new technique of bread-making.

From the time that I'm not spending cooking this month, I will be sewing - stay tuned for updates from the sewing table too!

There is a lot in store for March - make sure to subscribe to ThrivingMama for your favorite blog reader or follow us on FaceBook so you don't miss out!

My Season of Lent

Many Christian traditions celebrate the season of Lent, which is observed beginning on Ash Wednesday and spans 40 days until Easter.  While the Catholic Church is the most known for calling parishioners to sacrifice something during this time in order to deepen their focus on Christ, other denominations like Presbyterians and Lutherans also follow this tradition.

This is not a tradition that I grew up with and every year I find myself struggling to figure out what I’m going to “give up” because everyone else is talking about it.  This year our congregation was challenged to make a difference with your sacrifice.  If giving up chocolate, donate the money that you would have spent on chocolate to the soup kitchen.  If you sacrifice an activity, use the time to volunteer.

While discussing this year’s Lent season and batting around a few ideas, as a family we settled on minimizing our grocery budget as much as possible by eating meals that are stashed in the freezer and using the extra money (and time saved on cooking) to put together Hygiene Kits and Baby Kits for our denominational disaster assistance program.  I often feel convicted of how I spend my time, and was feeling this conviction when I came across Katie’s “What are you doing for Lent” post over at Kitchen Stewardship.  As I read the post my “what doing with your time” voice kept echoing in my head.  Then the first linked response on Forty Bags in Forty Days de-cluttering challenge caught my eye and was the catalyst that gelled in my heart what this year’s Lent season needs to be about for me: the spiritual disciplines of gratefulness and giving.

I strive to focus on being content and know that we have so much more than we need, but that does not turn into true gratefulness as often as it should. Rarely do I look around to see how much I really have and sometimes how little we actually use.  So over the course of the 40 days of Lent, 40 bags of various sizes (nothing smaller than a plastic shopping bag) will leave my house destined to be donated or recycled and I will daily strive to allow gratitude to fill my heart and life.

Would you like more ideas for observing the season of Lent in a unique way? Visit this Kitchen Stewardship post for ideas (scroll to the bottom of the post for link ups.)

2010 Goals Update

I went back to my 2010 Goals List last night to check in on myself.  I'll be honest, I fired off the list into cyber space and then didn't glace back until now.

I'm happy to say that I've completley RAFTED my personl in-box. Purging, filing and sorting through over 600 old e-mails plus all the daily correspondence and junk that comes through.

I'm making progress in some areas (budgeting, grocery bills, healthier recipes) and have yet to start my progress in some other areas (exercise - hoping warmer weather will help with this one).  I have all year to work on it,  right?

How are you doing with your goals?

2010 Goals

I'm really not one for new year's resolutions.  They've struck me too rigid and better markers for where I'm not meeting my own expectations.  Then I get discouraged, then the resolutions fade and are forgotten, usually before it's time to even turn the page on the calendar in the kitchen.

The beginning of the new year does encourage me to examine my life, my business and the life of my family and recognize areas that I would like to/need to change.  Here are a few things that I will be working on this year (some with the help and involvement of HandyMan) as a blogger, a business owner, a wife & mom and just for me.  What are you working on this year?

ThrivingMama

1.  Work on changing out our chemically based cleaners for more natural alternatives.  I'm currently working on make your own dishwasher soap :)

2.  Work to keep the grocery bill under budget through Monthly Menus and batch cooking.

3.  Continue to find ways to make favorite recipes healthier for us by hiding vegetables and whole grains.

Business Goals:

1. Craft Fairs: I have five craft fairs that I attended as a vendor in 2009.  I am hoping to add 3 more to my 2010 schedule including the Owego Strawberry Festival, and two others.  I'm currently researching for fairs in the Cortland and Delhi NY areas -if anyone knows of anything, please let me know!

2.  WebSite: I was a slacker on my website last year-and I've only linked it so that you can skim it over and truly appreciate the make-over that is coming.  It is my goal to update the site monthly and to have the make-over done by January 25th.  Stay tuned for more info on that!

Family Goals

1. Friday Night Family Nights - I had begun to notice that when we were all home, life was a game of shuffle GBaby back and forth so we could each get stuff done, and very little time away from the meal table was being spent together-all three of us.  So, we are instituting Friday Family nights.  This will mean that we cook dinner together, do bath and play time together with GBaby and once she goes to bed, HandyMan and I will have our own time together to watch a movie, talk about the week, etc.

2.  Work Down Debt-We are on track to pay off HandyMan's student loans this year. The next stop is our mortgage.  We really don't have any idea how much we'll be able to put towards the mortgage principle, but plan to put the excess from our frugal lifestyle towards paying off our home.  When I did the numbers and realized that by paying an additional $50 a month to our mortgage, we'd save $2,075 in interest over the life of the loan, it put the return on investment in black and white.

Personal Goals

1.  RAFT the Inbox - HandyMan has this knack for keeping his e-mail inbox empty.  I've always been amazed and just this last week he spilled the secret.  With every message that comes in you do one of four things as soon as you open it: Reply-Act-File-Trash, RAFT.  I'm a bit hesitant to admit that when I started RAFTing my inbox there were over 650 messages, some read, some not.  It is my goal to have my inbox cleaned out before we leave for vacation in February.  With a bit of work, I've managed to get it down to 550 messages already ;)

2.  Begin exercising again, for real.  The last year since GBaby entered my world, I've called her my workout routine, and she does require me to be on the go a lot.  But now she's heading for walking which means those upper body mommy muscles won't be used quite as much, and I'd kind of like to keep them in shape.  So, I plan to start exercising again and HandyMan has agreed to continue the "AM Shift" before he has to go to work so that I can do this.