July 13 2017

2nd Quarter Goal Check-in

Way back in January, I shared my 2017 SMART Goals. Half the year is gone and it is time to see how I am doing on those goals. In the past, I have made goals, written them down, shared them with a group, and then forgotten all about them until the end of the year when it was time to make new goals for the coming year.

That system wasn’t working for me at all. Then only goals I got done were the ones that were accidental, never because I planned to get them done. Usually, when I found the list again, I was pleasantly surprised if I managed to get any of my goals accomplished. This year, I am trying something different and if you are reading this, I could really use your help. I need you to ask me about my goals and check in with me from time to time to see if I am getting them done. This is the piece that was missing in the past.

Here are the goals I set at the beginning of the year:

FAMILY FUN GOALS: (2/3)
1) Do a cabin weekend DONE!
2) April trip DONE!
3) Annual Hockey Trip for the kids’ birthdays (not scheduled yet)

FITNESS GOALS: (meh, but ongoing)
1) Get 6 hours of sleep a night (85/181 = 47%)
2) Drink 6 cups of water a day (142/181 = 78%)
3) Continue using MyFitnessPal app (180 day streak!)

HOUSE GOALS: (1/3)
1) Clean out my home office (Real progress on the parts that show)
2) Declutter the landing DONE!
3) Declutter my clothes (1st pass done)

PERSONAL GOALS: (1/3)
1) Do some genealogy (Does tidying up the paper files count?)
2) Take three writing classes DONE! (6 so far)
3) Read for thirty minutes a day (Consistent)  (47 books so far)

SPIRITUAL/CHARITY GOALS: (1/3)
1) Pray daily (Consistent & Constant)
2) Read 15 inspirational fiction books (9/15)
3) Crochet 26 hats to donate to charity DONE as of 7/8! Do you want to see photos?

WRITING GOALS: (ongoing)
1) Finish one of my previous NaNoWriMo novels (working on edits and revisions again during July)
2) Publish something (see writing goal #1 above)
3) Participate in NaNoWriMo (and hopefully win again)

OK, I know I am making progress. I have finished 5 out of the 18 goals I set! Two of those not done are not able to be done until a future date. Five goals are ongoing and cannot really be considered done as long as there are still days left in the year.

Editing and revisions to my 2016 NaNo Novel continue to be more difficult than I expected. The writing goals have proven to be much more difficult for me to feel like I am making progress on. I should have made a writing goal to write at least one blog post a week or 52 posts in the year would have been better. Becoming a year-round writer was one of my goals for 2014, 2015 and 2016. It took a long time and a concerted effort, but I am finally considering myself a year-round writer thanks to this blog. It gives me a reason to write and a place to post and the feeling of accountability and accomplishment.

I think the crochet goals was easily accomplished because it was reasonable. I think I made 30 hats last year and knew my carpel tunnel is getting worse, so I thought I would back off what I knew I had done last year. I chose 26 because making a hat every other week seemed completely doable. The reason for the early success is because we took driving trips over new years weekend and the trip in April, both of these gave me hours of riding in a car with hubby driving. I have discovered that keeping myself occupied while hubby drives keeps me from gasping in fear while he drives so I get a lot of crocheting done and even some reading. The reading goal is helped along because I take my nook with me to work each day and read for the 30-minute lunch break. It also comes along when we go to restaurants and on all trips. The best part about reading on my nook is that every book can be read with a large font if my eyes are tired and I can even read in the dark.

How are you doing on your goals for 2017? What have you learned about goal setting? I learned that I need to set more measurable goals and goals that are not ongoing. Those ongoing goals are nice enough, but unless you do them every day for the whole year you feel like you failed at least a little.

Category: Goals | Comments Off on 2nd Quarter Goal Check-in
July 8 2017

Play (Five Minute Friday)

play

When was the last time you, as an adult, took the time to play? I have found that taking the time to do things just for me, like participate in groups related to my hobbies, helps recharge me.
I participate in 3 different monthly meetings with crochet groups. I attend weekly writing group meetings and really look forward to seeing the revolving group of writers each week. Not everyone makes it to every meeting, but there are always a few of us there to write together. For me, these meetings are play time. I look forward to them and really miss not going when my schedule keeps me from attending.
You need to decide what it is that you consider play and find ways to work those activities into your life. “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” and it makes me grumpy. This is why I make it a point to fit these meetings into my schedule before other things that I might enjoy less and not look forward to. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when something else is more important than attending one of my meetings and sometimes it is impossible to plan vacations so I don’t have to miss any of them, but it can be easier than you might think if you prioritize play. Take time to play and you will be glad you did!

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Play
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday | 3 Comments on Play (Five Minute Friday)
July 8 2017

Blessing (Five Minute Friday)

Blessing

I have been thinking a lot lately about blessings. I have been having trouble with my leg for the past couple of weeks since my knee decided it would be a good idea to try bending the wrong way while walking up the ramp after work to my car. Even when it first happened, it was a blessing that it was no worse than it was. It hurt, yes, but I could still walk on it ever so gently. I got the rest of the way up the ramp of the parking garage and into my car where I could sit and rest it for a while and consult Google to see what I might have just done to my leg and whether it was bad enough that I needed to get it looked at. Even Google was a blessing at that point. I was further blessed when I went to my writing group meeting because I could still use the leg to work the gas and brake and drive myself around. The meeting was very near a hospital that night, another blessing. There was nobody home to help me if I needed it, so hanging out where I could get dinner and sit and write while I rested my leg with friends around to help me if I needed it seemed like another blessing.
Two weeks later, it still hurts most of the time but is tolerable. I tell myself it is a blessing that, even with this pain, I still have both legs and they still work, although not as good as they once did. I can get up and down out of a chair and walk pretty much anywhere I need to. It still doesn’t feel strong enough to actually think about walking for exercise but at this point when it heals some then I tweek it again somehow, I am just glad it is still basically functioning. It is getting steadily better and that too is a blessing.
Your life is full of blessings every day. When you are feeling like you are a burden or life is not worth living for whatever reason, take a look around you and you can ALWAYS find someone else whose life is worse than yours who would trade you lives in a heartbeat if they could. Counting your blessings and thanking God for all of them is a great way to have a positive outlook on life. Give it a try.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!

The prompt this week is: Blessing

The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Sorry, this one is over a week late. This was the prompt for Friday 6/30/2017.

Category: Five Minute Friday | 1 Comment on Blessing (Five Minute Friday)
July 6 2017

Aunt Mary’s Antique Crochet circa 1974

I was thinking about crochet and talking to someone about granny squares and that got me thinking about the things my favorite Aunt Mary made us when we were kids. It meant to much that she made these things especially for me, that I save them. I know I wasn’t given special treatment because she made them for all her nieces I think. I recall a photo that was taken at our grandfather’s funeral in 1974 with many of the girl cousins dresses in matching patriotic ponchos. The only difference was that I think some had blue fringe and trim and some had red like the one shown here. I was eight years old at the time and I would guess all three of these pieces were about the same size. The two granny square ones were made the same front and back, so there wasn’t the need to take so many photos to show measurements and such as there was with the little red vest.

If you are handy with figuring out patterns, please feel free to do so. I do ask that you share a copy of the pattern with me, link back to this blog post and that you not use my photos without my permission.

 

My sisters and I all had a tank vest like this but they were in different color combinations. One had bright yellow where the pink is on this one if I recall correctly.

 

I don’t know if Aunt Mary made this little red vest shown below or not because quite honestly, I don’t recall ever having seen it before. I thought it worthy of sharing anyway, and because it is more complex I tried to take the photos so anyone who wants to can make a pattern.

This is the back with side seams showing, though they are barely noticeable, really.

The right front has little ties to loop through the hole on the left front and tie it closed.

The edging is the same all the way around the neck, hem and front opening.

This shows the edging and side seam areas pretty well.

All three of these pieces appear to be made with acrylic yarn similar to Red Heart Super Saver, a worsted weight “4” size would be my guess. It suddenly dawns on me just how much time my aunts must have spent crocheting, but then again they didn’t have the internet or nearly as many television channels to distract them.

If I can find them, somewhere I also have several Barbie dresses made by my aunt Mary or Aunt Norma (Mom’s side). I also have a knitted Christmas stocking made by my grandmother (on Dad’s side) that is personalized with name and birth year. If these sound like something you would be interested in seeing photos of also, please leave a comment below. Subscribe to the blog using the box on the right side of this page so you won’t miss any future posts. Stay tuned!

Category: Crochet, Family | Comments Off on Aunt Mary’s Antique Crochet circa 1974