Still working on most of these diligently.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He’s tried orzo (so so), chicken (no go), wheat breat (like it!), and today some new crackers which he of course loved.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We did reading with g, h, j and k letters. Single and doubt-digit subtraction and writing l, m, n, o, p, q,r , s. He’s doing very well.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces -I haven’t been very good with this. Only one more face so far and not a great one at that.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I made an art journal page today. And I am still continuing to embroider my sample.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week -36 mins on Monday and 30 mins on Wednesday.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I sent my CHA layouts, reserved my parents’ hotel for their upcoming trip, replied to my comments and am working on catching up on email, and I cleaned up my desk and the house for the guests coming tonight.
2. Start and End each day better – For the most part I am still doing great here.
Soul:
1. Write a thank you email every day – I wrote to Lia and Dina and have Severine and Rachel coming up.
That’s it.
I am still going strong on exercise, working with David, my thank-you letters, and the nagging tasks. I do wish I were doing better on the food but I am pretty proud of myself so far.
I am actually on top of my project but I thought it might be boring to update daily. Not sure how to do this on the blog. I have a Google Spreadsheet that I am using to keep track daily, so it’s easy to do these blog posts in batch.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He tried snap pea crisps and loved them. Then he tried spinach quiche. He wasn’t a fan. We didn’t try anything today but I have plans for tomorrow.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We did reading with 3 and 4-letter words that start with d and f. He’s getting really good at reading, I am so glad. We also did some writing letters g, h, i, j, and k. Upper and lowercase. And today we did more math. Addition with two digit numbers (no carryover though) and began subtraction. David’s really doing well with all of our work together. I need to buy some books so I know how to teach him some things. Going to do some research on this tomorrow.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – I did one face a day. Friday was super-rushed since I did it literally 4 minutes before the baby sitter showed up. And I hate today’s but here it is. I am not sure these are getting better but there are 91 more to go so we’ll see.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I did so some embroidery today and I am loving it so far. I love using this sampler.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week -32 minutes on the Wii yesterday. I’ve been doing well with one day on and one day off. I hope to do a little even on my off days this week, let’s see. I generally wake up with lots of pain so I don’t want to say for sure.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Lots of watermelon, some grapes and a banana. Still doing bad on the veggies but I had some tomatoes today and I have broccoli and zucchini and carrots for this week.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I started on a task for my friend’s webpage but waiting on her. I sent a photo to a friend I’d promised almost a month ago. And I finally backed up all my photos and files so I can reboot which I will do as soon as I am done here.
2. Start and End each day better – For the most part I am doing great here. Some days I take off but really very good.
Soul:
1. Write a thank you email every day – I caught up and I sent one to Wendela, too. I have Margie and Monika to write tonight. I will do so after the reboot.
That’s it. Honestly, the things that matter the most are working with David and exercising and I am doing relatively good on those so I promised myself I won’t beat myself up for anything else. Happy happy.
Ok, I did do a bit of catch up. I am still not 100% on schedule and decided this is too much. I might go back to doing all of them but for now I need to pare down. So here’s the update.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He tried salami (he liked) and soy burgers (he did NOT like. more like really disliked).
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We did math again. We reviewed the places 1s, 10s, 100s. And then we compared two numbers, two digit ones and 3 digit ones. He circled the bigger of the two numbers. We then talked about addition. He can do addition with his fingers but I wanted him to get out of that habit so now he can mentally add pretty much any two single-digit numbers. We also talked about the Commutative Property of Addition (without mentioning the title) so he could look at two numbers and add them whichever way is easier for him. We also talked about adding zero and adding one as super simple cases. That was it for today.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – This is on hold until my jaw-pain disappears. Might be on hold for a long while.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – I did three faces today.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I think this is going to go on hold, too until I am done with my layouts. I still have 3 to do for AMM and I have The Girls’ Paperie CHA stuff on the way and they will need to be turned around quickly. So until mid-month or so, this is on hold.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week -32 minutes on the Wii today.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Watermelon. No veggies. I have veggies at home but I’ve been too tired, sick, or frustrated to take the time to cook them. Gotta work on this one.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I bought stuff for jake that I’d meant to months ago, bought some ink for my printer, scheduled doctor and gynie appointments, checked my sons’ dentist and checkup appointments and added them to my calendar and same with my upcoming hair appointments, and I did one more big nagging task today. Doing ok on this one.
2. Start and End each day better – I’m all over this one. Doing it like a champ.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – This, too, is going on hold, not feeling it and too tired. Won’t feel guilty about it any more.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – I’ve sort of incorporated this into my morning workout. So far, so good.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Need to catch up on these. I have ones to send to Kayce, Stacy, and Melody. I plan to get on top of this asap. I am not worried though cause I love doing these.
And that’s that. Not doing perfectly but it’s been a rough-ish month so far and this was a lot more stuff than it first looked like.
I decided to combine day 4 and 5 since both of them were mostly days off for us.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – He tried lychee which he wasn’t a fan of. Neither was I and nor was Jake. We didn’t make Nathaniel try.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – We skipped this.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – Skipped this, too.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – No faces but maybe I’ll do one tonight.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I did a big zentangle and colored with my copics.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – I think a lot of the camping work I did counts but I didn’t do Wii.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and strawberries. No veggies.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I registered for a 5K, woot!
2. Start and End each day better – I’m all over this one. Doing it like a champ.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – none of this. I know I’ve been slacking on it.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – I think the very quiet time this morning counts.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Not one yet but I will send one to Katie and one to Opal today.
And that’s that.
Still rough, mostly cause I am so tired.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – Today’s food was sweet pepper. Orange to be exact. He liked it! and we’ve saved more to eat tomorrow. Also, he did eat the rest of the snap peas and carrots today. At least most of them. This is big progress for us.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – Today we did writing. He practiced letters a, b, c, d, e, and f. Upper and lowercase. He needs more practice but I think we made good progress.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – We didn’t read today. It was his wii day.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – Another one today.
2. Make one art journal page daily – Zentangle again today. I did two layouts today so not a lot of time. Enjoying the zentangles though.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – I did 21 minutes of Wii Fit today. It was painful and I didn’t think I was going to make it. But I did it. Yoga, strength, and step.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and corn.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I finally folded all the laundry. This was weeks overdue.
2. Start and End each day better – Right after I worked out, I flossed, brushed my teeth and showered. It wasn’t first thing in the day but it was still better than I would have done otherwise.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – didn’t do this today. My arms are in a lot of pain. I told myself it was ok to take a break. Might still do it before bed.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – about 4 minutes today.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Wrote one to Amy today. She is so wonderful.
There you go. One more day down.
Day two was even rougher.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – Today he tried a bite of celery – he didn’t like. He then tried snap peas which he did like. And carrots which he also did like. All in all, not so bad.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – Today we did reading. We focused on b-words and c-words. He did great and he’s getting better and better at sounding things out and more importantly his confidence in himself is growing.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – We’ve switched to another book by the Famous Five: Famous Five on a Secret Trail but we’re still reading and I make sure he tells me a short summary afterwards to ensure he really is following.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – One more today. I really dislike this one but I was so tired, I am lucky it happened at all.
2. Make one art journal page daily – I woke up late today and got started in my day even later. And then did a layout for CHA so I didn’t think I was going to get to this at all today. But then I felt like doing a zentangle so I did it.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – No exercise today. I really needed the rest. The goal is 3-days-a-week after all.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and celery today.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I delivered David’s application today, something I’d been meaning to do for over a week. I plan to do a few more nagging tasks that I’ve been ignoring.
2. Start and End each day better – Even though I didn’t work out, I flossed, brushed my teeth and showered right before I put Nathaniel down for his nap.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – done. Still unsure I like to do this but I decided to give it the full month and then decide.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – done.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Wrote one to my friend Larissa today. She is amazing and I am quite thankful for her.
There you go. Day two down.
Day one was rough but I did it.
David:
1. Try one new food every day – Today’s food was persimmon. I obviously should have read about it before we tried it cause ours was still extremely astringent and our mouths puckered up immediately and we ended up trashing the rest of it. But he did try it and that’s a step. That’s all my goal is with this.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – Today we did math. We studied places, 1s, 10s and 100s. We also discussed what makes one number bigger than another and he took a mini quiz comparing numbers and got a 5 out 5 and a gold star. Good so far!
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – When I was little, I used to love and adore the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton so I decided they would be fun for David, too. For now that’s what we’re reading. Let’s see how it goes.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – Only one today, but better than none, right?
2. Make one art journal page daily – Went for something simple today. Just used some of the spare fabric I had. This awesome stamp by Margie and some stitching.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – I did 21 minutes of Wii Fit today. It was painful, trust me. But I did it. Yoga, strength, hula hoop, and step.
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – Banana and Broccoli baby. I even ate some eggs.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – I called the woman from transportation to David’s school, nagging indeed.
2. Start and End each day better – Right after I worked out, I flossed, brushed my teeth and showered. It did make me wake up quicker.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – done. A bit odd and I am not sure if after all this blog writing I still have stuff to journal about but trying it on for now.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – done. As I imagined it was harder than it seems.
3. Write a thank you email every day – Wrote one to my friend Lori today. She is awesome.
There you go. Day one down.
I’ve been loving having these focused projects that I’ve done for the last two months but it’s been a lot of work so I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to continue onward for July or to take a break.
And then I read The Happiness Project and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s so my kind of thing. At first I thought I’d do it in 2011. Then I thought that’s so far why wait? So I wrote down “theme areas” that I might want to tackle each month for the rest of this year. While that idea would normally be perfect for me, I just couldn’t get some of the projects I wanted to do out of my mind. I didn’t want to wait for the “right” month to do them.
So I decided to heck with that plan. I am going to do my own crazy version of this thing. I picked several areas of my life that I’d like to tackle. Most of my projects are about reducing where I am “feeling bad” somehow. Some are about “feeling good” and a few are feeling right. And almost all are all about the “atmosphere of growth” which is what I am all about.
So here are the areas I plan to tackle and exactly how:
David:
1. Try one new food every day – I can’t get rid of the nagging feeling that David’s limited palette is my fault so I asked him if he would do this and he agreed to give it a try. We will try a range of things, sometimes veggies, or fruits or even crackers and bread, etc. This is not as much about eating more “good” food as it is about eating a wider variety and getting used to trying things without fear. The deal is he has to at least try a little bit and then how much more he eats is up to him.
2. Do 30 minutes of work daily – I want to spend more time doing math, reading, writing with David. Help him prepare for Kindergarten a bit. I do this but not most days and not as much as I’d like. And not focused. For July, I will do it when Nathaniel is sleeping so it’s just the two of us with no distractions.
3. Read 20 minutes a day from a book – David doesn’t always have patience for this but we will try. I like the idea of reading an ongoing book with him.
Art:
1. Draw 100 faces – I want to draw better. I figure practice will definitely not hurt. This particular task might extend to August, too. I’ll just make as much headway as I can and I will draw at least one face each day.
2. Make one art journal page daily – These will be small ones. On most days, I hope to just zentangle and maybe use my copics, some days I might do more but the goal is volume more than skill here, just to show myself it’s ok to have fun. I love Donna’s Inspiration Wednesdays so I will likely try some of that, too.
Health:
1. Exercise for 15-20 minutes 3 times a week – I don’t exercise at all. At all. So the goal for July is to take it super simple. To take walks or use the Wii Fit. The main goal is to establish a consistent habit of exercise, no matter how small. (I hope to move to 4 days before July is over but I will be happy with 3 a week.)
2. Eat one fruit and one vegetable every day – The fruit part is easy. I eat a lot of bananas, but I want to focus on eating more raw, good food. Ideally a bit more protein, too but the main goal for July is fruit and veggie.
Productivity:
1. Do one nagging task daily – If I can start the day eating that frog, it will make the rest of the day so much easier.
2. Start and End each day better – Working from home, especially in the summer, it’s easy to stay in my PJs all day. While that has its place, I think it will help me to get up, shower, and get dressed first thing. It will allow me to be more awake and readier to tackle my day.
Soul:
1. Journal for 15 minutes a day – I haven’t done this since Stephanie’s class and I miss it. I want it. I think it’s good for my soul.
2. Mediate for 5 minutes a day – I know it seems tiny but 5 minutes of sitting completely still is going to be hard for me.
3. Write a thank you email every day – I wrote about this already. This will definitely be good for my soul.
That’s it. This is actually a lot of stuff but I think it will make me happy. I plan to track all of these daily and report progress as always.
I’ll also add one caveat that we plan to go on vacation/out-of-town possibly in July. If we do, I give myself permission to skip those days. I might not, but it’s ok if I do.
Let’s see if I can do it. Like last two months, if I can’t it’s ok. The goal is to try.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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