January review, February planning

How did I do in January?

Wellbeing: Enjoy the outside
I didn't really achieve this. It's very muddy and claggy out there. Felling the tree last weekend meant lots of walking on the lawn with the results that I feared, compaction and loss of grass in some places.

Home and Garden: Kitchen, start garden planning
The kitchen has moved on albeit at a snails pace. The first few seeds have been sown for my garden this year

Health: Walk!
Update posted here, another one blamed on the weather

Celebrations: Grandmothers birthday
I missed her birthday but yet again due to weather and floods. But we did finally visit with gift in tow.

I'm not too happy with my list of excuses blaming the weather but none the less they stand. I do feel as if I've achieved a lot this month, but it isn't all visible and wasn't all planned.

And for February?
I usually consider February to be the coldest month though the longer days make it more enjoyable that January. I don't think that our wet weather is anywhere near over so I need to take this into account with my plans

Wellbeing: more music
Home and Garden: keep sowing seeds
Health: My son and I have started irish dancing, I want to get a lot of practice in.
Celebrations: Candlemas
Arts and Crafts: Yarn crafts
Self Learning: pick up guitar again

December review, January planning

Last months plan:

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!!
Christmas definitely happened and there is little about it that I would bother changing. Well, maybe not add a second set of lights to the Christmas tree after it had been decorated! I do still have a couple of posts to share but I am now Christmassed out and ready to move on.

November review, December planning

Last months plan:

 Nanowrimo. I gave it a go. I didn't get very far. But I did learn more about me. The first thing that I learned is that I have too many other priorities at the moment to give this a fair chance. I also learned that I do want to give this a fair chance at some point, I really enjoyed the writing that I did. I am still too much of a perfectionist and whilst I have improved a lot on this over the past year there is plenty of room for progress. The final big point is that much as I enjoy writing I seem to work best when I have a structure to work around rather than some hazy idea.

Another goal that slipped past without me noticing was that I have reached over 200 posts! Not bad going.

This month? It's all Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! I'm not setting any goals other than the usual time related mad rush happenings that commonly occur in December. I love preparing for Christmas, I think that I enjoy this more than the day itself!

October review, November planning

September review, October planning

Last months plan:

Wellbeing: Say no to spending

Overall I didn't substantially cut back on spending as there were a few expensive investment purchases, I don't regret these. But I have started keeping track of where my money is going again. I used to have a tight control over my money but stopped when I had to really cut back and didn't splash out on anything. But times have changed and treats have snuck back in far too often. It feels good to know exactly where I stand again, I definitely intend to keep up with this.

August review, September planning

Last months plan:

Wellbeing: Keep sane and plan days out
Keeping sane wasn't much of an issue this year, it was actually pretty peaceful though I did wonder if I was missing something! We didn't have many days out but the few that we did were remarkably stress free and enjoyed by us all.

June review, July planning

Last months plan:
Wellbeing: Keep my blog updated.
Home & Garden: Rearrange bedrooms/living space
Health: Stretch
Celebrations: Midsummer
Arts & Crafts: work on the sewing machine.

How did I do? Pretty well! No progress on the sewing machine but I'm not upset about that, there will be time when the weather goes downhill.

Now for the next month:
Wellbeing: Make sure that I take time to appreciate my garden
Home & Garden: Keep on top of the veg patch
Health: Stretch - keep going!
Arts & Crafts: Puddle art to do
Self Learning: How to store our harvest

May review, June planning

Not just a little late but very late! Anyway, how did I do for May?

The plan was: I don't have any particular goals this month, the garden requires a lot of my attention over the next few weeks. So I'm going to let things slide a bit and see how it goes.

What a disastrous idea. The lack of planning meant that I just drifted along with quite a few wasted opportunities. Gardening did happen and life was also overtaken by my boy's scouts summer show which is thankfully behind us now. But I personally feel as if I have achieved little.

So, back to attempting to be organised, here is my plan for the remainder of June:

Wellbeing: Keep my blog updated.
Home & Garden: Rearrange bedrooms/living space
Health: Stretch
Celebrations: Midsummer
Arts & Crafts: work on the sewing machine.



 

April review, May planning

How did I do for April?

Home & garden: Get into the garden everyday, even if it's just a walk.
Definite tick here, this happened. Helped by the dropping of the bitter cold wind and a return to our mild but not exciting weather.

Wellbeing: No romantic fiction.
I succeeded here too. I probably ought to write a whole post on this at some point but suffice to say I wasted very little time glued to books that aren't reference.

Health & Fitness: Plan meals for healthy eating.
Did well here. With the warmer weather I took this a step further and am now trying to lose weight.

Celebrations: Easter (though almost over)! St Georges Day
Tick

Arts & Crafts: Sketch a little something everyday.
I started well, I think I will revisit this challenge in the future. Too much time spent productively in the garden!

Self learning: Limit shopping budget.
Still trying my best here.

All in all a very successful month and highly influenced by the weather improvement. I need to accept that I am strongly influenced by the weather and seasons and work with this rather than fighting against it.

And for May?
I don't have any particular goals this month, the garden requires a lot of my attention over the next few weeks. So I'm going to let things slide a bit and see how it goes.

March review and April planning

How did I do with my March goals? I think that I succeeded from the point of view of putting family first again for a while. Not always but often enough. Here were my more specific goals:

Home & garden: Complete the decor in the front room. Clear out my craft room.
Complete! Well, sort of. The front room is decorated but not really furnished. The craft room is much better but I really must start using up my junk.

Wellbeing: Post on blog 4 times a week
Yep, I did this! I'm not sure if I'm going to worry about posting quite so continuously but it definitely helped me feel that things were back on track.

Health & Fitness: rediscover yoga
Not yet...

Celebrations: My partners birthday. 11th Commonwealth day. 17th St Patricks. 10th Mothering Sunday. 20th Spring Equinox.
Another tick here. St Patricks was ignored but as we're not Irish that's not a big deal!

Arts & Crafts: Explore art with different materials with my children
We certainly looked at wax crayons!

Self learning: I need to focus on doing rather than planning.
Mixed success here but I did manage to finish off a few things that had been ticking over too long.

And for April?
The pendulum swings back to me again. This month could be tough!
Home & garden: Get into the garden everyday, even if it's just a walk.
Wellbeing: No romantic fiction.
Health & Fitness: Plan meals for healthy eating.
Celebrations: Easter (though almost over)! St Georges Day
Arts & Crafts: Sketch a little something everyday.
Self learning: Limit shopping budget.

February review and March planning

So how did I do with my February goals... pretty poorly to be honest but none the less it was a good month for me. The focus shifted from myself towards my family more... which is probably why I wasn't successful with my original intentions.

Home & garden, Wellbeing: Work in the garden at least 3 days a week
This didn't happen, I don't enjoy the cold. Also, as most of my weekends are spent outside I just don't have the time to do this throughout the week too as intended. However, my vegetable patch has been tidied and my compost area has also improved. I'm quite happy with my progress so far.

Health & Fitness: Plan healthy meals and cut out the rubbish
This was an epic failure.

Celebrations: Enjoy Candlemas & Valentines
Did it!!

Arts & Crafts: Complete one unfinished project, start and finish one new project
Did it!! I must take photos though..

Self learning: Continue with keyboard practise
Another epic failure. Much as I love playing the keyboard I need to use my goal setting for new ideas rather than continue a previous goal.


Goals for March?
I'm going to make these more family focused. January was very much about me, February became  a mess because I had to catch up with family stuff. So bearing this in mind I'm setting my March goals with a better awareness of how much time I need for my family, but I hope to swing back to me more in April.

Home & garden: Complete the decor in the front room. Clear out my craft room.
Wellbeing: Post on blog 4 times a week
Health & Fitness: rediscover yoga
Celebrations: My partners birthday. 11th Commonwealth day. 17th St Patricks. 10th Mothering Sunday. 20th Spring Equinox.
Arts & Crafts: Explore art with different materials with my children
Self learning: I need to focus on doing rather than planning.

Let's see how I do.

January review and February plans.

January is over, how have I done?

Home and garden: I have the parlour to complete decorating, this has been proceeding at a snails pace as I really haven't had any enthusiasm. It does need finishing so this needs to move up my priority list. I have made a start with de-cluttering drawers and cupboards throughout the house, so far there has not been much to get rid of but many things have now found their correct home.

Health & Fitness: I did very well initially with walking three days a week but illness with my young boys meant that I had a few late nights and quickly fell out of this habit. There is more daylight in the mornings so I hope to continue but my priority is going to be on my diet and to get some of these pounds shifted.

Celebrations: I'm feeling pretty good here. We started the new year well and I have simple plans for Candlemas.

Arts & Crafts: I managed to tick off a couple of practical projects this month. I also had fun playing with making candles and invested some time researching this hobby.

Self learning: A definite success here. I have really enjoyed my keyboard practice. Not much progress yet, more relearning what I used to be able to do. But this has been fun and I credit being able to keep up my practice with having the instrument easily accessible.

Wellbeing: I have progressed far even in this short time of just one month. I am generally feeling happier and have had few despondent days. I believe that the meditation has helped though I am sure that longer days have also played their part.

Goals for February?

Home & garden, Wellbeing: Work in the garden at least 3 days a week
Health & Fitness: Plan healthy meals and cut out the rubbish
Celebrations: Enjoy Candlemas & Valentines
Arts & Crafts: Complete one unfinished project, start and finish one new project
Self learning: Continue with keyboard practice

Long term goals

Since investigating Candlemas the idea of well planned goals has been ticking over in my mind. All those new years resolutions that I've made over the years really haven't helped me towards my goals. Because resolutions, without the work, don't add up to much. I've dreamed of being able to do many things over the years, even worked towards some for a while, but overall I've made very little progress.

I wish that I could:

Play the piano - I'm not worried about being an expert but I do enjoy piano music and would love to shift my skill level on from Grade 1.
Play the guitar - I'm actually wondering if this is a dream I should let go of. I can play chords, I was even pretty good at arpeggio for a while but am now sorely out of practice. I really don't know if I'm interested in doing all the practice needed to recover where I was let alone get any better!

Speak a foreign language - I've dipped into both French and Spanish in the past, I did German at school but have never revisited that particular language so far. I am currently interested in Welsh but in order to pursue this I need to set up a base where I can settle for a few minutes each day, I genuinely feel that I don't have the space for this at the moment.

Be slim - It's been many years since I've worn a size 12, I want to rediscover how good this feels.
Run a marathon - I would like to achieve this just once. I don't want to become a regular long distance runner as I'm not convinced that putting that much stress on your body on a regular basis is a good idea but I would like to complete just one marathon.
Touch my toes - I'm not even going to admit how long it's been since I could touch my toes with straight legs. I've never been very flexible, even as a child when I did gymnastics, but the older I get the more important I realise flexibility is.

Having written this list I'm slightly surprised at how short it is. There are other skills I've wanted over the years but they are generally related to fitness one way or the other. It is really uplifting reading through this, it is all very achievable. Not over night though!