kapachino

Category: goals

  • february goals update

    Here’s what happened with February’s monthly goals.

    Leave work on time. Well, I did better. I left late half the days I worked instead of the majority. And over half of those times were either less than fifteen minutes (which is pretty good, but still makes a difference in my commute) or because I was in charge. I will probably always be late leaving when I’m in charge and that’s just that. I would say that I am pretty good about leaving on time on regular days, and it is definitely a high priority for me now. It’s actually a good thing for my patients too because I am very prompt with them, which they like. All in all I am happy about my progress with this.

    Buy a natural daily facial sunscreen. I used a birthday gift card from Sephora to buy this sunscreen and it’s great. I’m getting close to having my all-natural skincare regimen totally figured out, and when I do I’ll definitely share. I just have a few more areas where I’m looking for the perfect product (easy to buy in-store, not too expensive, a 2 or less rating on Skin Deep, and effective) so if you use anything that fits that description please send me your recommendation!

    Obtain all fabric for quilt. Got this just a couple days ago and I’m so excited about it. Now I can actually start working on it.

    Set up the writing desk area. Done and so happy about it.

    Use the slow cooker on a work day. Yup! I was afraid that since I have to leave it on for 12 hours the meal might not turn out well, but my cooker switches to warm automatically so I just need to find more recipes that can cook for a long time. This one was a success.

    No phone in church. This turned out to be a terrible month for this goal. The first week my uncle died while we were in church so I was texting with my mom. The next week we missed because Meredith took an early nap. The third week we were out of town. The last week we did go to church and I didn’t use my phone. So…success? I’ll plan to continue this practice in the future.

    March goals coming tomorrow!

  • bookshelves and a new (old) desk

    When we first looked at our house I fell in love with these custom-built bookshelves and immediately asked if the owners would include them with the house in our offer. Thankfully, they agreed. We have a lot of books.

    built-in bookshelves with writing desk

    The left side is David’s. The top two shelves are all Stephen King, the next two are miscellaneous hardbacks and trade paperbacks, the next is stuffed three layers deep full of mass market paperbacks, and the bottom shelf is my overflow, mostly reference books and Bible study stuff. David’s books might not the prettiest, but I decided long ago that since this is OUR house, not mine, I want it to reflect our shared life.

    The right side belongs to me, and it’s organized roughly from top to bottom: classics, assorted fiction & nonfiction, large hardbacks, to-read, faith & Christianity, and magazines/coffee table books. They aren’t organized further than that, but I still know pretty much where everything is.

    The little shelf over top of the desk has photo albums and a basket of letters from my childhood (you know, before email was a thing) that I’ve saved.

    built-in bookshelves with writing desk

    The bookshelves have this gap in between them and it took me awhile to decide what to do with it. Then (a couple years ago…) I came across this secretary-type desk at my parents’ house, which is one of the best places for me to go shopping. It fit the space perfectly and I snatched it up. I immediately primed it and then let it sit, unused, for ages.

    A few weeks ago I finally got around to painting it, with my dad’s help. I am so happy to have this as a usable area now. My computer finally has a home, and I also use it to house assorted stationery so I can do all my card-writing here.

    writing desk

    On top of the desk I have a lamp made out of a mason jar (that I want to fill with things Meredith and I find on our walks), a coconut mailed to me by a friend from Hawaii, a ceramic fish tray from PaperSource, a photo clip my mom made, a thrifted candle holder that I use for pens, and a little incense holder that I think is cute and I’ve had forever.

    built-in bookshelves with writing desk

    The rest of this room isn’t quite ready to show yet, as I need to hang some things on the wall and replace the curtain rod, but it’s getting closer. I also want to get a new chair for the desk since this one belongs in the kitchen. I dream of a rug, but that’s out of the question with our dogs. Still, this space has improved immensely and almost looks finished now. I’m loving it.

  • february goals

    february goals

    ***

    I was trying and trying to come up with a seventh goal to match January’s list, but all the items I considered weren’t anything I’m really feeling right now, so in the end I left it at six for February. Numbers one and two are holdovers from last month. Number three is part of my year-long goal to make a quilt. The writing desk area will involve painting a desk I own and styling the area – this will make me so happy and will also be super useful. I want to master my slow cooker this year, but I need recipes that will still be good if they switch to warm for several hours after they’re done since I’m gone for almost 12 hours most days. And the last item on the list is to get me more focused in church so I can get more out of it.

    Can’t believe it’s February already! My birthday week starts Sunday, I hear there are parties going on all over the country to celebrate that day. :)

     

  • january goals update

    So I set some goals for January and here’s what happened with them.

    Complete the Day by Day class. I did this! It was a self-paced class put on by Studio Calico about Project Life. There were two videos and a whole bunch of articles to read, all of which were helpful, and I even used the stamp set and printables that came along with it. 

    Choose a quilt size and design. Done and talked about in this post.

    Go on a date. We went on two! For David’s birthday we went to Fuddruckers and watched the Texans play on a giant screen, and then a couple weeks later we spontaneously went out to eat sans child. (We didn’t just leave her at home or anything. Someone was babysitting. Just to clarify.)

    Buy sunscreen and use it daily. I haven’t done this yet because we’ve been in a financial crunch and only the necessities have been purchased. But the crunch is over and I think I’ll make this one of my goals for February. Any suggestions for a natural, daily facial sunscreen that is not too expensive?

    Officially join our church. We have this scheduled for February 17 and Meredith is getting baptized at the same time. :)

    Hang a cross stitch project. No, didn’t do this because I didn’t have frames or the money to buy them. Hopefully soon though…

    Leave work on time. Ugh, lots of room for improvement here. Out of the 20 days I worked in January (not counting today), I left early twice, was on time 6 times, and left late 12 times. Most of those were just fifteen minutes late but since I have a long commute from in town to a big suburb, in even that short amount of time the traffic multiplies exponentially. I’m going to leave this goal on for next month because I know I can do better.

    I did fairly well – three goals fully completed, one scheduled and in the works, two intentionally not completed due to financial reasons (out of my control, mostly), and only one truly failed. I’m still nailing down my goals for February and I’ll be back to share tomorrow. :)

  • 10 cross stitch

    10 cross stitch

    This is a simple challenge I’m setting for myself, to make ten cross stitch projects. It doesn’t have a deadline because I can’t handle deadlines right now.

    I do, however, want to keep stitching. It’s one of my favorite crafts and something that I can pick up and put down as needed. Like a book, I want to always have one going. My style is simple, “modern grandma” if you will, so there’s no reason I can’t get through more projects than I do.

    Also, they won’t count until I  finish them off. Right now I have one that’s been done for a couple of months but I haven’t found the right frames for it, and I hope to be able to share it soon. (It’s actually one of my January goals.)

    Any other cross stitchers out there?