Seasonal Goals Link-up

I started writing this post last night and then the internet went out. This morning, I spent an hour on the phone with CenturyLink, killed a snake, and then the internet came back on for like 20 minutes. Then it went out again and I'm stuck here all day waiting for the repair person to show up. We'll see if they actually do. 
I'm going to post this while I have a connection. Thoughts and prayers while I survive this first-world problem, please. 
I'm kidding. I'm going to go back to my book after I hit publish.

This was my list of things I wanted to accomplish in June. I'm a month by month person; setting goals for a whole season would be setting myself up for failure.

Halfway through the month, let's review...

1. Actually work on my ebook. This was a New Year's Resolution. It's time to get on that. I'm setting a timer for 20 minutes a day and I must work the entire 20 minutes and I'll keep going if I'm making progress.  ---I've worked on it more days than not, so that's good. Progress is better than perfection. 

2. Read 10 books in June. I did it one month last year. I can do it again. ---I'm at about 6 or 7 done.

3. I have a list of TV shows to chip away at. I already crossed one off by catching up on the end of this past season of New Girl yesterday.  ----Nope. Of all the things to not be succeeding at, right? I've been watching True Blood because it's oddly comforting. Oh well. 

4. Find some more furnishings and such for the house. I need a nice armchair and some odds and ends. ---Hey, I got an armchair! My mom bought it for me (us) as an anniversary gift. I kind of want to get another one and am debating a run back to Homegoods this weekend. 

If odds and ends means "new shoes", then I also got some odds and ends. Still working on this I guess. 

5. Continue organizing the basement. ---Uhh no. But I did chip away at landscaping and cleaning up outside so that is a huge win. 

Linking up with Steph!

Helping yourself (when it comes to social media)

I've been limiting my social media presence lately. Aside from this blog, I've never been into posting daily happenings on the various platforms. But here are some changes I made to help ME in the last month. The overarching reason has to do with the comparison trap and wasting time online, but I do go into detail below.

1. I deleted Instagram from my phone in May.
It was not bringing me joy. It was bringing me comparison as I *enjoyed* my 25 minute lunch break each day. And it was stealing all my joy, actually. So until they invent a "hide" function for IG, it'll be gone for a bit. I don't want to unfollow. I don't want to block. I want to "hide".
I'll probably bring it back this summer. Maybe.

2. I blocked notifications from The Balanced Life Sisterhood group on Facebook.
So much of my newsfeed was from this group. I love Pilates. I like the point of the group, but I couldn't relate to 90% of it. The topics usually fall into two categories: how to best do Pilates after a c-section OR how do I get back on track after a workout/food-related setback (and maybe my compassion meter is just running low at this point, but I don't understand how every.single.weekend seems to equal a setback...like do what you want on the weekend, but saying you need a fresh start every Monday is a vicious cycle).

Sure, the group offers encouragement and people post motivational quotes and tips. But the motivation I need is Yes, Kristin. You can find that rattlesnake and shoot it. You can do this.
Or 7 more months of deployment? You can do that too! 
Or I know you can take care of mowing down 35 acres of field this summer. Seriously. You got this.
Plumbing? You can do plumbing too!

That's what I need to hear. And that's what Scott tells me often because he knows I need to hear it. And that's what matters to me right now. Having the issues of others I don't actually know,  however valid, thrown at me when I have so much on my plate isn't what I need right now. Especially when I can't relate at all.

If anyone knows of a group titled Wives living in locations where they don't belong, but they do it because they love their husbands, let me know.

3. I still don't have Facebook on my phone.
This is a blessing.
I spend maybe 5-15 minutes a day scrolling through my newsfeed and it's not really interesting to me at this point.

4. I don't remember my Twitter password so I haven't been using it anyway.
I'm serious.

Is there a tip or trick you use to help yourself get the most out of social media?

Adjusting for Betterment and Convenience in May

Four full months into the year, I might as well revisit some of the resolutions I made that are simply geared toward making life easier.

Sometimes it's just about making life more doable for yourself. Convenience is going to breed productivity after all.

While not much has changed from the original list, here's a few things that have been making life easier...

I deleted the Facebook and messenger apps from my phone. I couldn't deal with the notifications anymore. And looking at Facebook generally makes me feel terrible about myself. Deactivating FB in general usually makes me feel good, but I do a lot of my Rodan+Fields contact on there so I'll keep it up. But there's no need for it to also be on my phone.

I've really given myself over to online ordering. We live 30-40 minutes from stores, depending on what you're looking for, and the only store that's not completely out of my way is Safeway. Unless it's just a few groceries, I really don't have time to shop and browse during the week. Therefore, if I want something, I order it online. And the selection of items online is SO much better than what you see in the stores anyway. I can wait a few days, normally. Currently, I'm awaiting hair highlights and a phone case.

I always get gas on my way TO work. Because the last thing I want to do at 4pm is stop for gas. It makes a HUGE difference. Try it.

Don't throw away Mondays.  I hate Mondays. And Tuesdays. They are awful, awful days.
But I used to treat them that way in what I wore, what I did after work, what I ate for dinner, etc.
These days, I try to make the most of it. I wear something I like. I eat something I like for dinner. I stop at Starbucks if I feel the need to. That's something I used to save for Thursday or Friday. Many people go easy on themselves on Monday nights, but for the past month and a half I've had a class on Tuesday nights, so I tried my hardest to do something (anything!) on Monday nights. Last week, for example, I cleaned the basement floor because it was a task I'd put off over the weekend.
This task-on-Monday, class-on-Tuesday schedule led to a lot of burnout and hatred and bitterness on my part, but my to-do list was kept in check and the rest of the week was much easier.

April was rough.

And something I've not been successful at...

A task I've tried to adjust for convenience and have not been successful at doing: making a trip to the far-away pharmacy every 4-6 weeks. My doctor is actually at the Air Force Academy, and a medication I take every day needs to be picked up at the pharmacy there. I've tried to have it sent to Ft. Carson (much closer!) before and they've messed it up, causing further inconvenience.  THAT was worse than driving farther. Plus, the AFA pharmacy is so nice...walk in, walk out. It takes less than 5 minutes. The Ft. Carson one is like standing-room only and would probably require an hour of my time just to wait. It all evens out I guess. So I've just gotten used to arranging prescription pick-up on days I have off or, even worse, taking a half day to take care of it. I hate it but it's necessary, I suppose. Oh, and they're not open weekends or after 5:00. That's how the military works.
I don't know that I'll ever find a solution to this.

Is there anything you're currently doing just to make life easier?

ABC Update: 3ish months later

Here's January's original post and February's update. 

Things I'm not going to do:

Track books in a serious and/or competitive way (even if I'm just competing with myself).  

My library is kind of awful (both of them...how is that possible?) so I'm hoping to really dig into actual books over spring break. Until then, I've been devouring audiobooks. And that's okay.

Stop doing schoolwork at home.  I've actually started doing this again because Scott's not around and what does it matter? I've set up shop at the kitchen table. No need for my desk when I have a whole house. 

Stuff I won't compromise on:

Pilates.  The #30daysPilatesbody Challenge has been amazing for my mindset and I've spread the word to many people about Pilates. Knowing the peace it's given me (it's not all about the cardio, friends), I'm glad I've been able to share that with others. 

Walking the dogs. With the extra light in the morning and at night, we've got plenty of time to walk and I don't feel rushed like I did in December and January.  

Meal-planning.  This is terrible. I end up having smoothies and crackers for dinner a lot of nights. I will say that the physical act of grocery shopping is going well. I'm not buying a ton of stuff (deployment always saves us money in this regard), but I'm also not really cooking, unless it's on the weekends. Last weekend, I went to Trader Joe's for the first time since last summer, just because I don't need to go to the commissary each weekend now and that is really quite nice.

This is neither here or there (eh, maybe it does fit in well actually...), but I had twizzlers and pepsi for lunch the other day. I did not pack anything the night before. That's how badly meal-planning is going. The presence of someone else usually pushes me to cook, plan, and prep, so it's just not happening. I'm going to try a little harder after spring break. Coming home from work, cooking dinner, and immediately packing my lunch for the next day isn't always appealing to me. 

New things I'm adding in:

Cardio.  Oh my.  I kind of stopped going to spin class and I stopped going simply because it wasn't doing anything for me. I didn't have sore muscles after. I wasn't particularly out of breath or fatigued.  It didn't even give me as much energy as it used to in the hours after class. It just wasn't worth the stress of showing up early (class is crowded) and spending an hour+ of my Saturday on a bike, in a room. 

I'll pick it back up again this summer.  I walk outside each day and I do Pilates each day, so I tell myself that's okay for now. 

De-cluttering.  I'm still doing this. Scott actually gave away two garbage bags of clothes to another soldier a few weeks ago and that was a surprise.  He came home from work, and cleaned out his closet. It was very random and very wonderful.  At this time, I'm working my way through the basement and the sheds. I set a timer for an hour each weekend day and I work, work, work, sometimes going past the timer.  

Also, 

I started taking a new route to school. It takes me about 4 minutes longer because there's a 4-way stop and a couple of lights, but I have the right of way the whole way. I had been taking a shorter route, mileage-wise, but there was an awful intersection where I'd have to sit and wait for sometimes a minute (the horror) because I'd have to cross traffic. It was weirdly stressful, not knowing if I'd shoot right through or have to stop and watch 6 lanes of traffic and wait for a chance to go. This was a huge frustration at 7:45am, so I just eliminated that completely. 

How are your resolutions and changes for 2016 going?

ABC Update: February

Here's the original post from last month if you'd like to see what it is exactly that I'm adjusting for betterment and convenience.  I don't have an update for everything, but some of these bullet points are always in the back of my mind, so that's what I'll have comments for.

Things I'm not going to do:

Track books in a serious and/or competitive way (even if I'm just competing with myself).  

I feel good about this.  I've read a few books so far this year, but I've really just been enjoying podcasts. I have a list I'm chipping away at but, if it gets read, it gets read. Not having to race myself is nice.

Stop doing schoolwork at home.  This is wonderful.  It was like all I needed to do was give myself permission to not bring work home and not do any of it if I did, and it all balanced out.  I found myself writing a plan one night that didn't take long, but I really think that's it.  The weekends are a little different.  I generally bring some papers home to grade because they have lots of tests on Fridays, but I don't mind grading while I drink coffee and watch the Today Show.

I also have a parent helper this semester and she's done some of the regular tasks that I normally bring home with me (sorting book orders, filing graded papers into portfolios, etc.) She's worth her weight in gold.

Giving up just these two things has relaxed me beyond belief.  Thank goodness for our ability to just say no to ourselves, right?

Stuff I won't compromise on:

Pilates. Still going strong.  If I showed my stack of finished Pilates calendars, you'd see how organized and type-A I really can be.  If you join The Balanced Life Sisterhood, you too can have a printable calendar each month. 

Walking the dogs. As long as I'm home before dark, I walk the dogs.  Sometimes we do a lap in the morning before school.  As the days get lighter this will be easier.  Last spring, I invented this term for these walks and called it a "run round" because they dogs can run free all 'round the house.  So our word for "walk" is "run-round".  They react the same way as if I'd pick up the leash and head for the door.

Meal-planning.  This is...going.  I've had trouble lately because I've had no appetite for some reason (stress, most likely, with deployment upcoming), and thinking What do I want for dinner? is hard.  I am still tracking just weekly trips to the grocery store and there's a certain freedom in knowing that I don't have to stop at the store after work for something because we have things to make.  Even if "things" means pancakes and scrambled eggs.  Because sometimes it's Thursday night and it's all you can muster. Scott has been getting home late and I usually make him something, or I make a giant pot of something on Monday and he eats it all week (chicken tortilla soup was an example of this). There's been many nights where I've had cereal/yogurt/fruit/ice cream for dinner. I am doing well with lunches though.  I pack 5 lunches for him on Sunday and I pack mine each night while I'm making dinner (or what we'll call dinner) because I tend to take leftovers and just a giant assortment of somewhat healthy snacks.  

New things I'm adding in:

Cardio.  I've started going to spin classes on Saturdays and it's been lovely.  I found an instructor who is actually good and makes spin fun. Her classes are always so full that I have to get there half an hour early.  They bring in extra bikes!  At some point, I'm going to start incorporating weeknight classes again and day classes in the summer, but it's really hard to do when I know I've had the dogs locked up all day.  Me getting home at 7pm isn't really fair to them. 

De-cluttering.  I've been on a rampage.  After reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, I realized I do have a lot of stuff I don't need and I started filling another garbage bag.  With clothes, I have no problem getting rid of things.  Purses are where I've struggled.  I got rid of a lot of few years ago and my issue is that each purse is tied to a memory.  Even if I'll never use it again, I want to hold onto it. I'm working on this.  My de-cluttering will come to a head as soon as the basement is officially finished and we can clear out all the boxes of stuff. I also have a plan to tackle the boxes of kitchen stuff that we have in the shed. It's not all necessary. 

So if we're making New Year's Resolutions, these have been mine. I'll continue to follow-up...because accountability.

And to end on a humorous note. This is me.