Catching Up

[This post is part of the January Cure project. Read more here: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13 | Day 14] 

I know what you're going to say. Really, Jessica, another abandoned project? NAY, I tell you. I'm pretty behind in posting, but I'm actual not behind in doing the tasks, I swear. Scouts honor. I can say that because I was a Brownie.

DAY 9: Create a Landing Strip

Monday, February 11th

"Create a Landing Strip and Start Using it...'The landing strip is where you can lay things down and sort the mail along with your change, keys and other odds and ends.'"

This is actually one of the things that's pretty much always on my mind in terms of projects for the apartment. In fact, once I'm done with the plethora of projects in Harrison's room, it's the first thing I want to tackle. So I wasn't expecting to have to deal with it so soon and was actually considering skipping the task for two reasons: 1. It was already on my to-do list "down the line," and 2. I was afraid that creating an "in the meantime" area would deter me from tackling the project in the future.

But I decided that I was tired of having nowhere to put mail, bags, and keys. The couch wasn't cutting it. Mail was everywhere like that scene in Harry Potter. It was crazy.

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We had a wall mail holder that we used in our last apartment but had never gotten around to putting up in our new place (because obviously I was going to create an awesome landing space and we wouldn't need a small wall hanging mail holder...). So I got it out of the closet. And couldn't find the screws. So I decided to try hanging it with 3M poster strips because I have a ton of them. Let's just say when I was in high school I entered myself into a Smallville contest and didn't realize that every time you entered you got a free poster (with 3M strips) so I ended up with like...50 of them. So I opened them all and hoarded all of the strips for later use. I'm pretty sure I still have the other 49 posters in their original envelopes in the closet of my old room, if anyone's interested...

Anyway, it looked great!

And then about 15 minutes later, this happened.

Luckily a few days later I found some screws & wall anchors and secured that puppy to the wall for good.

DAY 10: Work on Your Goal Project

Tuesday, February 12th

 

"Put some time and effort into your goal project" 

 

I'm not going to lie, this didn't happen. I had an insane couple of days and just couldn't find a chunk of time to get my sanding on. I still plan on having my goal project ready by the end of the month....fingers crossed.

DAY 11: Try a Media Fast

Wednesday, February 13th

 

"Do a Media Fast this evening" 

 

I'll be the first one to admit I'm probably a bit addicted to my phone/computer/social media. I actually tried this a few months ago on a Sunday - I went the whole day without checking anything and it felt pretty awesome. Instead of checking Facebook every hour, I put in a lot more quality time with ma' man Jesus. But even though I've thought about doing it again, I just haven't done it. Hence the addiction proclamation.

 

The hard thing is that my work is 100% on the computer. I work from home doing web/graphic whatnots for a small publishing/web company so I can't exactly abandon any and all screens, as refreshing as that would be. Instead of doing the fast in the evening, which is when I get a bulk of my work done because the little Monster is sleeping, I did this in the middle of the day. I allowed myself to check everything once in the morning and then my phone was off limits except for communication and camera uses. I stuck to it except when I hopped on the computer once in the middle of the day to check something and then I was on Facebook for a full 5 minutes before I remembered about the fast. Serious brain fart.

 

I wouldn't mind eventually making one day/night a week completely off limits to screens. I'm sure Charles would be thrilled with the idea, but I think it would be good for us. And as Harrison/any subsequent siblings get older, we could do game nights, ice cream outings...who knows. Who needs you, Facebook?

Month of Thanks

So in an effort to 1. Get in the habit of blogging more often and 2. Finding joy in the little things around me (due to my seemingly increasing annoyance at things that really shouldn't matter), I've decided to put into effect:

I know a lot of people do this in varying degrees across social media, so pardon me if you find it cliche. I think it will be a good exercise and it will make the build up to Thanksgiving all the more exciting, at the end of which I will gorge myself on pumpkin pie. Yummm.

As a bonus, it will help me blog more consistently, which we all know, doesn't really happen. See I have this baby.....

Anyway, my plan is to post every couple of days with a recap of the little things (and sometimes big things, ya know, like family and junk). Since I'm a visual person I made that there graphic at the top (feel free to use it if you'd like to join in) and I'll be doing my best to post photos along with my daily thanks.

So without further ado...

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Thursday, November 1st

I'm thankful for community - yes, the tv show too, which FINALLY got a premiere date #comeonNBC - but more importantly our church community. On Thursdays I have a women's bible study in the morning for about two hours, which not only gives me two hours of "alone time" (hey, any time without a 7 month old is alone time, even if it is around a couple of hundred other women), but it also helps me connect with some great ladies here in the area as we learn more about our Lord. Then in the evening we have our small group, which Charles and I (and Harrison) go to along with about 5 other couples. We've gotten to know them over the past 10 months and have been so blessed with their friendship. So basically Thursdays are like a Jesus overload. But the good kind.

 

 

Friday, November 2nd

 

I'm thankful for date night with my hubby! For the past few years we've always participated in "Comedy Night Done Right," which is what NBC calls their block of comedy shows on Thursday nights (currently 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation, and The Office). But seeing how we're gone on Thursday evenings for our small group and Harrison isn't in bed until 9pm or so, we realized that CNDR wasn't a real possibility this year. At least on Thursdays. So a few weeks ago we started date night on Fridays - we pop some popcorn, sit in bed with our laptop, and stream the shows we missed the night before. I look forward to it all week!

 

Saturday, November 3rd

I'm really thankful for quiet time (and weekends in general)! I love my boys more than anything on this earth, but I'm home alone with a baby for the majority of the week and it can get pretty exhausting. Today both my husband and my baby took a 2+ hour nap (and if you know my kid, that's probably a sign that the apocalypse is coming), which meant the apartment was quiet and I was able to write this post. Holla!

Thanks, honey, for being my unsuspecting model. Don't worry, you're cute when you sleep :D