How did everyone do on last week’s Challenge? I’m working on making a badge that you can post on your own blog in the future; but for now let’s all chime in here.
I did pretty well on my challenge for last week-to get myself and the whole family outside more. Our yard still needs a lot of work, but I was outside with the kids almost every day and went for several nice, long walks. This week, in honor of Mother’s Day, I’m going to be a little more self-focused with my challenge:
WHO: Me
WHAT: Take better care of my physical health
WHY: A drawn-out, cold and dreary early spring riddled with food-laden events and family celebrations has left me barely able to zip my jeans, and I think that salad I ate three days ago might have been my last green vegetable. I’m feeling sluggish, squooshy and just not up to par.
HOW: I know myself too well to start promising daily trips to the gym. It’ll never happen. What I WILL do? Walk, frequently, fast and far. So I’m going to set aside at least 30 minutes, five days this week, for a brisk walk. I’ll add in some stairs for extra aerobic boost. Oh, and about those missing veggies…it’s back to eating at home three meals a day for a while. When I get around appetizers and bread baskets, I just don’t make good choices.
What is your Mindful Monday Challenge for the upcoming week? Who does it include, why do you want to do it, and how will you pull it off?
Who: the whole family
What: finish the house decluttering for my mom’s 10 day housesitting/babysitting visit
Why: If I finish the decluttering this week, I can finish the actual CLEANING next week and then have it all nice and not-embarrassing when she comes on the 20th.
How: get started on each room prior to 9am, keep laundry going ALL DAY.
Funny! Our intentions align! I am planning on walking this week – and hopefully into future weeks. I loved the intention last Monday – just enough to feel good, no so much I got overwhelmed.
woohoo! I went on a nice, long walk today-the weather was perfect. I can’t count on great weather the rest of this week so I figured I better take advantage while the skies were blue and the temps perfect!
Who: Me
What: Survive the week
Why: We were out of town for the weekend and I’m SO BEHIND already and feeling super overwhelmed.
How: One thing at at time! Breathe!
p.s. I’ve been consciously working on eating more fruits and veggies and it’s a challenge sometimes! Good luck!
Sometimes, survival is a great goal
Hope the week goes well!
Who: Me
What: Turn off the computer and don’t play around with facebook/blogging etc. until the kids are down for their naps, usually around 12:30pm.
Why: My productivity goes WAY up and it’s better for me and my babies. I did this a day or two last week and it’s amazing how much you can get done when you aren’t looking at the computer off and on throughout the morning.
How: Have a little self control!
Huge week for me! Two things.
Who: Me
What: 1) Finish my book manuscript and e-mail it off to editor. 2) Finish preparations for our tag sale next Saturday.
Why: 1) Book: Because it’s due. But also because it will be the culmination of about seven years of work, and turning it in will allow me more time to focus on other writing and marketing tasks during my work hours. 2) Tag sale: Because clutter makes me crabby, and after a particularly hard winter, I have felt a need to really clean out. Plus I told the kids that if they would part with some of their old toys, we could use the tag-sale money to save up for two things they really want: a dog, and a new TV with a game system. The sale won’t fully fund either, certainly not both, but it will help us shore up our savings a bit.
How: Be focused and intentional with my work time (which means I need to stop reading and commenting on blogs!), and with my non-work time (for the tag sale prep). Minimize dawdling on Facebook and other time-wasters. Focus on how good I’ll feel this time next week if both these tasks get accomplished.
Wow Ellen! I didn’t know you were working on a book. Very exciting! Is there more info on your blog?
Yes indeed. I have two blogs-the one I’ve linked to here is the one focused on my book topic so there is info there. Thanks for asking.
I did pretty well last week. But it’s more of an ongoing one, which is to update my blog about my daughter at least once a week. Seeing this weekly challenge reminds me to honor last week’s challenge with a description of our mother’s day.
This week, my challenge is to spend 30 minutes a day cleaning my office and house. Cleaning my office has been on my “to do” list for about two years, no kidding. I find that if I sent a timer to 30 minutes and clean and organize until it goes off, I’m amazed at the amount I can get done. I tried it once last week and today. If I do it every day for at least one week, I think I’ll actually be able to see my entire desk.
Thanks for the nudge Meagan!
I did surprisingly well with last week’s goal of cooking new meals (and thus actually eating a healthy meal). I was derailed a little by life, but having the goal there meant I cooked something interesting to my tastebuds even if it wasn’t truly new or as much planned-ahead cooking as I wanted. This week may be even more of a challenge, but I’m going to try and keep it up… I don’t have another goal I really need to work on this week besides getting healthy, and eating properly is still the biggest hurdle that I can actually do something about right now. (Lots of long-term plans are in the works, but nothing else can be done immediately.)
My intention last week was to be conscious of my use of time and make sure I do fun stuff. Somehow, I accomplished part two without really being sure I made any headway on part one. Accordingly this week the goal is to:
Who: Me
What: Stop screwing off so much
Why: So I can feel better about myself and also do more of what I want to do
How: Well, today I’m just doing it. I’ve had a lot of stuff legitimately distracting me for the last few weeks, but at this point I’m pretty sure it’s all under control. Back to my regularly scheduled life. Which is never scheduled, by the way.
Who: Me
What: be less worthless with chores
Why: I’ve been sick for several weeks and the house has fallen into disarry…but I feel better now and have no excuse anymore!
How: do at least a load of laundry everyday, try not to use very many pots and pans and appliances (like the popcorn maker we use almost daily) until the kitchen is cleaned, and make more serious efforts to sneak away at naptime and bedtime to be productive while the toddler is asleep!
I’m a new reader to your blog – like the idea of having a weekly challenge! Although I’m a day late, I guess my challenge is to make myself play more with my 4yo now that I’m slowing down on the writing projects I’ve been involved with. It’s not that I don’t want to play more w/him, but that I forget that, gee, now I have more time!
who: me
what: actually finish the things i SAY i’m going to do
why: there is so much going on (remodeling our house/home school/baby/meals/work) my list is just getting bigger and bigger.. i need to ship some baked goods, sew curtains, finish getting the girls’ rooms together (we just replaced their floors)… plus now the pool is open and i have to vacuum it every day for a while!
how: quit sleeping in so late, start school earlier, instead of staying up late skyping with the bestie, i should be sewing, cleaning, baking, painting.
also, i see a lot of the ladies leaving comments here are pertaining to eating healthier! you should all go participate in my ‘get healthy challenge’ on my blog. i have a facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/scrumpture) to post before and after pictures of your unhealthy refrigerators turned healthy!
i tossed all our junk food out last week!
My last week’s intention didn’t really fare too well – planning dinner ahead so the sitter can make it to be ready when I walk in the door. Mostly it was fly by the seat of my pants, but my wonderful sitter pretty much had the triplets either eating or done eating every night last week anyway.
Perhaps that should be my intention this week? And, bonus, I’ve already been doing great at it. Planned a week of meal’s on Sunday after cleaning out the fridge. (I know it was Mother’s Day, but hey, I felt a ton better after having a clean fridge even though I “worked” on Mother’s Day). It’s been going great. I found a great site – I think referred by About One – called Plantoeat.com, I’m using the 30 day free trial, and may end up becoming a member if this all keeps up going so well.
Planning meals may sound minor, but it’s a new role for me again since Daddy is now living 150 miles away and commuting home on weekends.
Meagan, thanks again for starting this post, it’s helping me, even if I’m late to the party. (and next time I’ll try not to be quite so verbose