Friday, April 29, 2011

A New Job

I am going to start a new job next week. I am so excited about starting this job. I'm anxious and nervous about doing well, but mostly I am thrilled to have this opportunity. I will have to drive about a half hour to get there, and then another half hour home, and I will do this four days a week. The pay is not great, but the benefits are too good to pass up.

I will be the Day Care Provider for my new granddaughter. I have agreed to take care of her for six weeks while her parents are working. This will enable my daughter and her husband to take their time finding and checking out various day care possibilities for their daughter, and saving them the hassle of toting a newborn out every day until she is a little older.

I'm finding out very quickly that caring for a newborn is quite different from when I had children. So many of the "must dos" back then are no longer done. So I will do my best to do things "the right way" so that my granddaughter grows up healthy and strong - like her parents, who were raised the old way.

This will be bonding time for us. I probably won't get another chance like this for a long while. Or it might come up often. I don't know. But I'm going to take advantage of this now, and hug her all I can. It goes without saying that I will take lots and lots of pictures (after disabling the tracking device on my iphone, of course), and will put them in my scrapbook.

So what does this mean for my goals? I'm thinking I will still be able to reach them. You see, she's young enough that she still sleeps a lot, so hopefully I can use that time to write and/or work on sewing, crocheting, or other craft projects. She has a stroller so I can take a walk with her every day to the nice park at the end of the street. So I should be able to complete three of my four goals every day while I'm there. On the fifth day, I'll be home long enough to do them here. I think.

Ah, I love it when a plan takes shape. Hopefully they will work out. I've done okay so far this week. I'll have to make a conscientious effort to keep it up, and create a plan for doing so.

Wish me luck.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Starting Again

I didn't do so well with my mini goals this week. I managed to write 750 words each day, but I walked only about three days, and cleaned maybe two days. Maybe not even that. I did manage to either sew or crochet every day, and my afghan is getting larger and larger. That's about it. So I'm going to start another week, and try again. Sometimes life gets in the way and I have to just deal with it and start over.

That seems to happen in other areas of my life, too. My afghan is actually the third one I've started with this yarn. My first two tries didn't turn out so well. It was supposed to be a square but it was more like a flower. It was really ripply on the sides. I was trying out a pattern I had seen someone else do. But I guess I did it wrong, because it wouldn't lie flat. So I started over with a tried and true granny square pattern, and now it looks nice.

I have a story I'm working on. I want to submit something to a publisher who is looking for short stories. I have one short story almost done. But it's not the right type of story. I could maybe try and tweak it into what they want. But then I would have to change all sorts of other things. If I change the location, then I have to change the occupations of the main characters, or at least one of them. And if I do that, then I have to change the whole premise of the story. Best to start from scratch.

Sometimes it works to make adjustments. But other times it's a lost cause. How do you know when it's time for that? I guess it's just one of those things that comes from experience.

Or maybe not having the energy to change too many things. But that’s another story.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Achievable Goals

Mini-goals seem to work for me. I have this little chart, just like the job charts my kids used to have. I have four daily tasks:

1. Write 750 words

2. Clean or organize for at least a half hour

3. Do something creative (other than writing) for at least an hour

4. Walk a mile

Since last Friday, I've managed to do at least three of the four every day. If I know I'm going to have trouble doing all four, I try to manage it so I don't short-change the same goal two days in a row.

So what have I got to show for it? Well:

1. I have a dozen new scenes in a new short story

2. My kitchen floor is cleaner, I have a clean bathroom, and I found a newspaper article I wanted to put in my scrapbook.

3. My granny square afghan is getting bigger.

4. My knees hurt like heck. But I guess I've eaten fewer snacks - it hurts too much to get up and grab them.

I guess I'm going to print out another copy of the sticker chart. Maybe I'll use stickers on it this week instead of check marks. And I guess I'll treat myself to a Starbucks if I manage to earn more than 20 stickers - because I found a Starbucks gift card with $5 still on it!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Revamping Goals

So, this is week two of April. I don't seem to be able to get things done. Still. I guess it's back to the drawing board with mini-goals and making them achievable. I need to be specific and have goals in different areas of my life. I also tend to do better with daily goals rather than weekly or monthly. For example, if my goal is to blog weekly, I’ll wait until the last minute on the seventh day to write! So it's gotta be daily.

Here goes.

Writing: Each day, I need to write at least 750 words. This can include blogging, or creative writing, as well as journaling.

Creativity: Each day, I need to spend at least one hour doing something creative. This can include sewing, scrapbooking, knitting, stitching, or crafting.

Organizing: Each day, I need to spend at least half an hour doing something to make the house look better. This can include clearing off a surface, putting away clothing or other stuff that's not where it should be, or actual cleaning.

Health: Every day, I need to walk at least a mile (this is definitely going to go up as the weather gets better!). It can be outdoor walking, treadmill walking at the gym, or with my wii Fit.

I have made a chart on which I will track my progress each day. And hopefully by this time next week I won't feel like such a failure!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Another Start

Another month begins. Another attempt at organizing my life. Another long list of things I need to do.

Will this be the month I succeed? I suppose I will be able to cross a few things off my list. The college semester ends this month, so in order to turn in my grades on time I will definitely get all these papers graded. And I suppose a few other things will be completed.

But it would be so nice to be able to snap my fingers and get instant results. A clean room, a completed manuscript, a slimmer, fitter body. I sure could use a genie or a Mary Poppins.

Unfortunately, that's not in the cards. So I need to get myself going. It's April 1, but I'm no fool. The only way this stuff will get done is to do it myself. So I will write those words, walk those miles, file those papers. A little at a time. Some of it will get done, and some of it won't.

At least I'll have more done than I do now.

And now my blogging is done, for another week.