Project 365 x 2

So, I've totally slacked on posting for my Project 365 x 2 that I started this year.  I've been quite successful in keeping up with both doing projects each day as well as taking photos every day.  I just haven't had a chance to get on the computer to post them, so I'm going to get caught up in this post.  (If it gets a bit long, I might break it up into a few posts.)

January 1st
I cleaned around the edges of the kitchen floor and the front of all the appliances.  The little nooks and crannies like the edges under the kitchen cabinets and the grate on the bottom of the fridge always seem to get ignored because they're just not up in your face and obvious.  But it's amazing how much cleaner the kitchen looks when they've been cleaned.  I mean, really scrubbed, not just swept up, but scrubbed good with disinfectant wipes.  With two little ones, it's so hard to find time to do these little details, but they're so important.

As for the photos, Sometimes I've been finding it hard to decide on ONE single photo to post.  Especially when I've taken pics of my little guys.  But I'm going to try to narrow it down to only one.

I just love the hilarious expression on Mr. Giggles

January 2nd
Sent out Visiting Teaching cards for this month.

Saw this strange bug outside the bank one day.  Don't know
what kind it is, but he looked really cool.  I think he was hurt,
though.  I think one of his wings was damaged.  He's really
pretty, though!

January 3rd
Large dusting project where the Elders came over to help out.  I hate dusting.  It aggravates my allergies so badly, that I can't stand it.  But then, the dust accumulates so much, that my allergies are affected anyway.  I swear, sometimes I think I just need to live in a bubble.  Anyway, we got a good section done this day.

Buggaboo holding our kitty, Jasmine

January 4th
Started on an ABC book for the kids.  I've been wanting to make one of these for forever, and I finally got it started.  This day I got the letter "A" done.  I'm going to print each of these on a 4x6 photo page (the letter on one and the words on another) and put them in a small photo album.  I think these will be great to keep them occupied, particularly in church or when we go out to dinner.

Photo of the Day:

Mr. Giggles in his Bumbo seat

January 5th
Worked on stuff for Primary and finished the letter "B" since I was on a roll with the letters.  I'm really excited about getting this particular project completed.

 

Photo of the Day:

All three boys, all watching the tube

Ok, the kids are getting too rambunctious and it's time for lunch, so I'll post more later.  I'm hoping to get caught up with all my days (which is my project for today, by the way *wink*)

52 Week Savings Plan Challenge

$ $ $ $

I came across an interesting, brilliant and great idea on how to save money.  (Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the page and Googling the idea gives me a TON of different sites to chose from, but I can't find the one I had seen, so I apologize to the person whose blog I found this on.  If I ever find it again, I'll edit this post and give proper credit.)  But with my husband's paycheck every two weeks, I've decided to make my own pattern of how much to put into savings.  

The basic idea is that each week is numbered and there are 52 weeks in a year, so the first week of the year is week #1 and you would put aside $1, the second week would be week #2 and you would put aside $2 and so on until you get to the last week of the year, the fifty-second week where you would put aside $52.  But if you're like me, the end of the year is a bit tight with Christmas, particularly if you have kids.  So, you can always do it backwards, but I've decided to shift things around a bit.  This makes it easier on us, so that it's not so much put aside in one month.

The following shows the week # and the amount to put aside

1.      $1

2.      $52

3.      $2

4.      $51

5.      $3

6.      $50

7.      $4

8.      $49

9.      $5

10.  $48

11.  $6

12.  $47

13.  $7

14.  $46

15.  $8

16.  $45

17.  $9

18.  $44

19.  $10

20.  $43

21.  $11

22.  $42

23.  $12

24.  $41

25.  $13

26.  $40

27.  $14

28.  $39

29.  $15

30.  $38

31.  $16

32.  $37

33.  $17

34.  $36

35.  $18

36.  $35

37.  $19

38.  $34

39.  $20

40.  $33

41.  $21

42.  $32

43.  $22

44.  $31

45.  $23

46.  $30

47.  $24

48.  $29

49.  $25

50.  $28

51.  $26

52.  $27

  

 I then got my planner out and wrote down each amount on each Friday.  Speaking of which, I need to go transfer some money....

Project 365x2

So, this year has already started to fly by.  Here it is, the 10th already, and I have yet to follow up on here with my (two) Project 365(s).  It's not that I haven't been keeping up with it... surprisingly, I have been!  It's just that with my ambitions for the new year, I've been too busy to get onto the computer hardly at all.  I do plan to get on here and try to post each day (a very lofty goal) and stay updated with my goals.

On the subject of goals, at church the other week, we were all challenged in our goals.  We were asked to write down our top ten things we wanted to accomplish.  Then, from that list, we were to take the #1 item and list the steps it would take to accomplish that one goal.  Well, we did that for our Family Home Evening.

What I've come to realize is that in order to make any of my goals a reality, I need to accomplish one single goal and that is to GET ORGANIZED!  If I got organized (which was #4 on the first list) then ALL the other goals would fall into place.

Ironically, this fell right into my First Project 365 idea... do (at least) one project around the house every day.  It could be a big project that needs a few days, but most of them should only take one day (or less) to complete.  And some projects could be simple quiet tasks like sending out birthday cards for the month.

The Second Project 365 I wanted to do was take a photo every day.  This is something else that I've been able to do, with very little effort.  I'm a shutter-bug by nature, so I take pictures constantly.

The BIG issue that I've had with both of these endeavors has been to actually get on the computer to post about them.  Even as I type, my two year old is nagging/whining/crying about everything:

Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "We don't have any."
Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "They're all gone."
Buggaboo: "I wanna cookie."
Me: "We don't have any cookies, they're all gone, quit asking."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play a game."
Me: "No."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play outside."
Me: "In a minute."
Buggaboo: "I wanna play outside."
Daddy: "We'll go outside in a minute, please let your mother finish what she's doing first...."
Buggaboo then proceeded to occupy himself with something that belongs to the baby and now we're currently in tears, which started off real, but now are just fake because he's realizing no one's paying him any attention.

*Sigh*

Anyway... I'm planning on posting more on these two projects, but that task is turning out to be a major project in and of itself.

To Be Continued.............

Project 365

I know, I haven't posted anything in quite a while.  The holidays and NaNoWriMo did me in.  Where did the time go?!  It's already the second day of 2013 and the evening, no less, and I'm just now finally posting.

But I digress... The main topic of this post is:

I've come up with a terrific year of projects for myself.  Feel free to join along if you would like.  I'm actually going to try to do two different "Project 365"s, but the first one is the most important.... Project 365 = Clean House!  This is no little thing either.  Our house is a disaster.  There's too much stuff and not enough storage/shelf/closet space to put even half of it.  So, I have decided to start doing One Task Per Day for 365 days.

I know I didn't post yesterday, but I did do my task for the day.  I cleaned the edges of the kitchen floor and the front of all the big appliances (dishwasher, stove & fridge including the grate along the bottom front of the fridge.)  Let me just say that whoever designed that stupid grate deserves to be drawn and quartered... slowly.  How on earth are you supposed to clean in those little thin slits in that thing?!  UGH!  Well, I did it, but it took me forever.  And it's certainly not the best job, but the top, bottom, and front view-able sides are all good.  The back, unseen side is definitely way cleaner than it was, but there were some deep corners I couldn't get.  Ah well, c'est la vie.

Anyway, yesterday, January 1st, that was my project.  It actually wasn't the originally intended project.  I was going to do birthday cards for the month.  Well, then I just ended up doing the cleaning and decided to move the projects around.  That's one thing about this P365... it's flexible.  If I want, I can swap tasks around, just so long as I do one of them every day.  I've made a list and keep adding to it as I find things around the house that need to be done.

The goal is to do one task per day, each task should be able to be accomplished in one day (although I might allow for a few two-day projects, so long as quite a bit is done each day) and I need to post about it.  That's basically it.  Very simple, yet very daunting when I look around the house.  But that's the key to this project. One "little" task a day and by the end of the year, all the big stuff should have been taken care of in bits and pieces.  It's a way to take on the really big stuff without becoming too overwhelmed.  For example; our two car garage is overflowing with junk. There's barely room to walk to the washer and dryer and certainly no room at all for any vehicles.  But if I have a bunch of smaller tasks, one little one each day, I should be able to make quite a dent in the garage by the end of the year.  Same with the rest of the house.  I get so overwhelmed that it gets to be too much, so instead, I do nothing because it's just too emotionally draining to even think about "doing it all."

But now, instead, I'm just doing a little piece of the puzzle.  Much easier to deal with and still feel good about.

So, for today, January 2nd, I did Visiting Teaching cards.  I missed the mailman today, but I still got them prepared, so that counts in my book.  Tomorrow's task may change, but I'll be sure to post about it.  Whether or not I actually post every single day, well... that's another story.  I's a lofty goal and I'm going to try to post as often as I can and as close to every day as I can, but I'm more concerned about actually doing the tasks on my list than I am about logging it on the web.  I have my planner and that's keeping me on track so far.  And let's face it, posting every day for me?  Well, I already missed the first day of the year, so I don't think that's a good sign for that particular idea.

I'd love to also do a Photo A Day for 365 days and so far I've done that as well (gee, all two days of the year so far, big deal, let's see how I'm doing in a month!) and I plan on posting those pics weekly.

So, here goes nothin'!  I'm really looking forward to 2013 and the wonders that it will bring into my life and the lives of my family.

Happy New Year, Everyone!  What are your goals for 2013?