Project 52 update

Okay. I haven't posted something in a while. Mainly because I knew I had to do a goals update and to be honest, I just didn't want to.

It's not that I haven't accomplished anything. I have accomplished a few things. It's actually the daily and weekly things that I'm having the worst time with. This goal thing is really pointing out to me how unstructured I really am.

So, I'm going to give an update on a few things on my list and if you have any suggestions on how I can actually be successful with them I would really appreciate it. Here we go...

Starting with some successes

• Laundry every other Wednesday. So far so good. I haven't missed one yet. Today just happens to be laundry day. I'm sick. So... today doesn't count. Right?
  
• Volunteer in the community once per quarter of the year. One down. I helped with disaster relief this past Saturday. I went and helped dig out houses that were buried in mud when we had all of those rain storms. Three hours of hard labor shoveling, passing buckets, and using a pick ax, left me with every muscle in my body hurting but feeling so good to have helped save one man's house. One down 3 to go. (A plus with this one is that I got my husband to go with me!)
• Go on 2 hikes. One down one to go. I'm thinking I might actually surpass this goal because I had so much fun on the hike. We went here. I would recommend it. It has a lot of trails for varying degrees of difficulty.
• Complete all visiting teaching every month. January- "check"!
  
• Make and post on blog 52 goals. What can I say? I like making a couple of goals that I can cross off right away:-)
• Invite 2 new couples in the ward for dinner. I will probably surpass this goal also. I love having people over for dinner. We invited a cute new couple over for dinner as well as 3 other people from our ward so that the new couple could make a bunch a friends all at once. It was fun:-)
• Give a fast offering every month. Two down. I even fasted both months. That is saying a lot. Now I am going to be trying to be a little more pleasant while I am fasting. I'm pretty much mean when I don't eat. Poor husband (he, on the other hand, could not eat for 2 days and wouldn't notice. >:-I)
• Take vitamins everyday. I had to buy one of those weekly pill holders to accomplish this one.
  
• Drink 4 glasses of water every day. I fill a water bottle that holds 4 glasses of water and work on it throughout the day. For some reason if I actually have to fill a glass 4 times it won't happen.
  
• Read each book club book. January's book was "The Uglies". I liked it and finished the series while I was at it. I will be hosting the book club party this month.

Now for the Failures

• Ironing every Thursday. Not happening. Not sure why. I actually don't mind ironing.
• Start and attend a spanish class taught by my husband. It's February and I have not made any progress. However, the month isn't over so I still have a chance with this one.
• Learn to play one of the nursery songs on the piano each month till all are learned. Did not happen in Jan. and I haven't started with Feb. I guess pulling my keyboard out of the closet would help this one along. I guess.
• Increase my workout schedule from 3 times per week to 4. Nope. I did it one week and it made my knees hurt. If I do increase the workouts I will have to not run everyday.
• Take a bike ride with my husband at least 3x per week. Started off strong with this one but it has turned out to be one time per week. I'm going to complain that the weather has been cold on some days so we didn't want to. I know all of you living in snowy climates won't accept that as an excuse considering my "cold weather" was like 70 degrees with some wind. That is a beautiful day in Buffalo.
• Make a special gift for our 5 year anniversary. It's next week. Thursday to be exact. I haven't started. Any suggestions?
• Vacuum on Fridays. Happened once. This is embarrassing.
• Write in my journal 52 times. In my head this meant once per week. But considering I didn't actually specify that I guess I'm still okay...at least that is what I keep telling my self.
• Say morning prayers. What is my problem!? I can not seem to accomplish this one. I had a roommate once that I would watch in the morning- literally before she would open her eyes in the morning she would roll off her bed and say her prayers. Now, granted, if I try rolling off my bed I will probably dislocate a knee or something (my bed is 3 ft off the ground). I do say prayers at night and through out the day but the morning ones aren't happening. Any suggestions?
• Be gluten free for entire year. Big fail on this one last Thursday. After 8 mo of being gluten free I ate a flour tortilla. No wonder that burrito tasted so good. Well, I woke up the next day with exhaustion, depressed, and the beginning of a cold. How did I survive before I stopped eating wheat? I would feel like that everyday! Well, my cold is starting to go away and at least I know what will happen if I mess up again.
• Clean off my chair in my bedroom 1x per week. Also not happening. I did it once. It is currently a mess. Any suggestions for this one?

That's about it for now. 9 successes and 11 failures. This needs to improve. For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of the successes and failures mentioned above.

"A Hiking we will go, A Hiking we will go..."
No we didn't actually sing.

At the top of the mountain. Okay, okay, large hill.

On one of our bike-rides

Yes, I do have a small white dog that I put in my basket. He loves it.

The service project.

This one is kind of at the beginning of the the shoveling. About 1 hr in. Notice that the roof
of the house is at that guys shoulder level. That is a normal roof .

This is about 2 hrs in. There is Aaron shoveling and the roof is starting to get higher
(the mud getting lower)

3 1/2 hrs in. We hit the ground!

My dumb chair that I can't keep cleared off.

I know I was going to try to do an update once per month. Well, this one is going to count for Jan. and Feb. ;-) If I don't post an update for March please get after me.