2016 is, unfortunately, front loaded. If you read my last post, I have a lot of plans for this year, and I’ve already been working on about half of them.
It’s three weeks away, and I can’t tell you how excited I am. There’s a lot to do, though – packing up the house here, finding a house there, planning a long road trip to see family almost immediately (three days) after we get back. We’ll be living out a suitcase for about three weeks. Once we get back from the road trip, we’ll have a house and some of our stuff – the stuff that’s been in storage for four years (which we’ll need to sort through – ugh). We’ll have to wait another three weeks for our stuff from Finland to arrive (which includes most of Baby J’s toys, almost all of my office/writing stuff, and the other items that have made our house a home for the last four years). So February and half of March will be discombobulated as we wait to really get settled.
- 30 Day Challenge: Organize!
I think this is actually the one that made me come up with the idea of doing a different challenge every month. With The Big Move coming up, I needed a way to get through the house, and I was looking for a simple “organize one thing a day” plan. I used this one from Milk and Cuddles, and modified it to suit my needs. I actually started around December 20, so it’s more than 30 days, but January will be cut somewhat short (probably about five days) due to packing and moving, and I missed some days around Christmas. Plus, I needed the time! Things are progressing nicely, though, and I’ve already gone through most of the house. A lot of things have been moved into the office for further sorting and cleaning out, so I’m working my way through that now.
- 30 Day Fitness Challenge – Strong Knees!
My knees are pretty bad, so when I found this 30 Days to Stronger Knees Challenge, I knew this was where to start, especially if I wanted a good base for the rest of the year. Like with the 30 day challenge, I had to keep The Big Move in my mind as I planned this – since some of the equipment needed will be packed up prior to the end of January, I decided to start a few days early. (That’s also why this challenge got done first, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to do it until April, since the equipment would be in transit.) So far it’s going well, I haven’t missed any days yet. I don’t know that my knees are stronger yet, but I’ll let you know at the end of the month!
Podcast has been started! It’s a writing podcast, so if you’re a writer (or are just looking for a writing prompt) or if you know a writer, please share! It’s called The Writing Promptcast, and it’s a writing practice within a podcast, using word prompts, giving you no excuses about finding the time or inspiration. Check it out!
You guys, this has changed my life. I first heard the term “bullet journal” about six weeks ago, while listening to a podcast about a TV show. I didn’t pay it any attention. Then, while browsing (read: wasting time on) Pinterest, I ran across several posts about it, and started looking into it. I am the worst about “keeping” multiple journals…and by that, I mean starting a notebook about one thing or another, writing five pages, and putting it aside. (This notebook is all about photography. This notebook is where I’ll keep all the stuff about the move. This notebook…. Ugh!) The bullet journal puts all that stuff into one notebook, and typing that it sounds like a serious no-brainer, but I love it! I’m still adjusting my format some, as I use it and see what works for me and what doesn’t, but two weeks in I’m a convert. (That’s the other great thing, it’s totally customizable. Some people are way artsy with theirs, others are bare bones. If you need a page to keep track of blog post ideas, recipes, books to read, movies to see, whatever, you just make that page yourself and move on. Do your own thing!)
If you read my blog post from a few weeks ago, I talked about how I’m really having an identity crisis lately, so something I wanted to do this year was take a look at who I am, what I want, and what I need to do to feel comfortable with myself again. I’ve found a couple of questionnaires online, all about finding yourself, and I know it sounds kind of hokey, but I feel like I need it.
I had really wanted to start this one off as a 30 day challenge, but I also wanted to get on it ASAP. So instead of making it a monthly challenge, I decided to do it on top of everything else. So far…I’m not loving it. But I’m trying to give it a chance. I think that once I start working on one of my novels again, it will be a great place to work through some story problems, but for the moment, it’s a cross between a daily journal, a writing journal, and a to-do list, with a lot of “I don’t know what to write” thrown in.
- Write a short story a month
As a part of the Podcast, I started a story challenge, and it’s only right that I craft a story myself. I should also add to my writing plans for 2016 that I want to work on enjoying writing again. So this is part of it. No end goal of being published, just writing for the fun of it. Remembering why I used to love it so much.
- Books I’m currently reading (2 of 16)
Finishing up a couple of books I started in 2015: The Spice Necklace and Bet Me. I need to finish The Spice Necklace before the move, because it’s in print and I’m close enough to the end that I don’t want to put it in my suitcase because I’m two chapters from the end. So I need to finish it in time to box it up to be shipped back. Hard deadline on that one. Bet Me is in e-book format, so I have a little more leniency there. Still, I expect to finish both by the end of this week.
- Get my email cleaned out and organized.
I currently have 100 email accounts. Okay, that’s an exageration. It’s only 15. But I’m working on getting it down to 5 (one of them is for Baby J). I’ve narrowed down the ones I plan on using, and as I sign up for new things I’m using one of these 5, but I still need to change all my current online accounts, as well as notify friends and family. This may take a while…
- I really wanted to start sending birthday cards this month, but with everything else, it’s just not going to happen. Or it might, who knows. No promises.
So, like I said, my plans for the year are pretty heavily front-loaded. I hope it doesn’t hamper my progress. I’m trying to figure out how February is going to work with everything, since we will literally be nomads for much of the month, living out a suitcase. I just keep telling myself, it’s basically like the last two (10-day) vacations we’ve taken. It won’t be as bad as I’m making it out to be, I’m just stressing. My mental reminder: They’re just plans. Plans are meant to be changed.
How is your January going?