April was a very slow and relaxed month for me. Not a whole lot of big stuff happened but I got to enjoy being fully Catholic, we celebrated Easter, we went to an Astros’ game with my family (my brother was even in town from New York), my mom had her gallbladder removed, we took the school hamster home for a weekend, we had our first book club revival meeting, David and I went to a concert, and I focused on some personal projects like crafting and deep cleaning the kitchen.

As for my goals, I had intentionally simplified this month and made a lot of white space. The beginning of the year felt frenzied, mostly due to circumstances beyond my control, and I wanted to rest. Well, I accomplished that! In the meantime, I discovered that I am happier, more productive, and have more energy when I have more going on. More on this in a little bit, but here is how I did with my April goals:

• Do taxes – Yes, and we owed less than $100 which I consider a win!
• Complete Jesus tree ornaments – Finished this one on the last night of the month. I love them!
• Go on a date – We went to see a favorite band, Over the Rhine, in concert.
• Read four books (one spiritual) – I only read three, and I counted Pope Francis’s exhortation “Gaudete et Exultate” as my spiritual book.
• Go to confession – Fail. I went up to church to do this, but the line was so long that I was afraid I would be late to mass. I’m going to try to go this month.

 

may goals

1 / One hour of adoration – I joined a new membership community for Catholic women, and the month’s topic is prayer. One hour of Eucharistic adoration is this month’s challenge.

2/ Read four books (one spiritual)

3/ Productive Life E-course – I bought the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle, and this course from Crystal Paine is the first thing I want to tackle.

4/ Go on a date

5/ Family small adventure – No plans yet, but Memorial Day weekend might be a good time for this.

6/ Clean moldings & fixtures – Next on my list of spring cleaning!

7/ Make grocery staples price list – I am also working through this course on cutting your grocery budget, and my next task is to visit all the local grocery stores and note the prices of the groceries we are always buying. This is to figure out where it would be best to shop.

8/ Pay off student loan – We are doing the debt snowball and I’m so excited that we are paying off a huge loan this month! This goal would probably happen anyway but I wanted to note it.

9/ Send three specific invitations to friends – I was bemoaning the state of my friendships – how I don’t seem to see friends as often as I’d like – when I realized I should take things into my own hands. :)