Saturday, May 31, 2014

Thursday Thoughts


It has been quiet here the last few days.  The only thing of much interest was the End Of Year Pre-K 3 Program at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School in Keller.  It was a lovely program of about a dozen little 3-4 year olds.  The first part of the program was a medley of patriotic tunes, the middle was a popular song that the children performed to with big flower headdresses and the last of the program was a slide show of photographs from throughout the year.  It was delightful and I cried.  Yes, I did.  I have a tendency to get weepy when it comes to milestones and this was definitely a milestone.  There was a lovely little reception afterward and here is our little songstress enjoying her refreshments.







Other than that, all I have been doing is a lot of thinking.  As I have noted in prior posts, I am tending toward a minimalist approach to things and have been giving a lot of thought as to what needs to be eliminated in the house, condensed or re-evaluated. I will be spending the first couple of weeks in June going through a number of things beginning with clothes and accessories.  Books are always an issue here but we are adding two new bookcases to the furnishings.  However, I will still be sorting through and passing on a number of books.  I was thrilled to learn, this week, that the library we frequent accepts donations so that is where I will be taking my books.  I don't like selling them and I can't keep all of them so I think that is a worthy place for them to go.

Another thing I have been thinking about is reading challenges.  I just love to read and don't really have enough time for it but I get it in snatches whenever I can.  I seem to always be distracted by what I "need" to be doing but I would love a day when I can just sit down with a good book and a cuppa and read without guilt -- possibly when I get through the books and the clothes.  That is what I am hoping.   But, back to book challenges.  I find that when I am involved in book challenges I don't enjoy the books as much.  It is like a race to meet a goal and I find that I can't get "into" the book as much.  So, while I am still going to add to the Goodreads 2014 Reading Challenge as I go, I don't think it is going to be a goal anymore.  I will continue to review and list my books on here but I don't think I am going to adhere to a challenge anymore. 

I have also been thinking about exercising.  I don't do enough of it but I am still wearing my pedometer to track my steps. However, this week I have done something a little different.  I have started doing some regular ol' exercise like sit-ups, leg lifts and toe touches, etc. after I have gotten up in the morning.  I find it easier to just do a few of these -- it doesn't take long -- first thing in the morning rather than wait until night because at night -- well, truthfully, it isn't going to happen.  I was also watching a Leslie Sansone walking video on YouTube the other day and was inspired.  I used to have her tapes, in fact, I probably still do -- I just don't have a VCR anymore.  However, her approach is to walk in place, almost like marching.  I have been doing that for the last couple of days while I am standing in the kitchen or waiting for the washer to stop or during commercials on tv and it has definitely upped my step count.  Finally, I did a bit of arm exercise with some cans of green beans.  It is amazing how you can get some exercise in without too much of an effort of expenditure of $$$$.  I have actually enjoyed the morning exercise -- I feel so accomplished.

I have also been thinking about planners.  Everybody I know uses a planner.  I like the idea, I feel like I should use a planner and I WANT to use a planner.  The problem is, I don't have anything to plan.  Once you have your kids grown and your schedule changes, well, a planner is sort of unnecessary. Plus, the commercial versions never seem to work for my needs. However, I ran across this on Pinterest and decided it would be a fun project. 

http://charminglymodern.com/moleskine-notebook-turned-planner/

So, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought the Moleskine -- a black, large, gridded model.  Then, I went to work.  I am not done by a long-shot but I think it is going to work.

Basic Moleskine notebook, gridded, $18.95

Monthly View

Weekly View

Closeup, albeit it blurry, weekly view


I started with January 2014 even though it has passed but I didn't add the weekly pages.  I started the weekly pages with June.  I intend to use the weekly pages for meal planning.  I think the reason that I can't stick with a planner is that they never seem to work for me -- the divisions are too small, they aren't flexible and there isn't any extra room for notes (and doodles, if you will).  So, I am thinking this might be the answer.  I am going to use metallic stars (I love gold stars) to denote birthdays and will maybe use stickers to emphasis other events like Christmas and Easter. 

I am going to use the weekly views for meal planning.  I keep looking for a way to do simple meal planning and I keep trying to use a different notebook, dry erase board, etc. and none of it works for me so I thought I would just do it here -- that it would be a good thing to have it all in one place in my purse.  I figure if I have coupons for products I will be using during any one week I can paper clip them here and just have them with me without so much fuss.

Since there are a LOT of pages in these notebooks, I am planning on using some of the empty pages in the back to keep up with the books I am reading in series.  I have about three or four series going and I keep forgetting which books come next, which I have read and which I own so I thought this would be a good way to keep up with that as well.  I have these lists on my Nook but I find I don't like carrying the Nook with me all the time.

I am not finished with it -- I have only gone to July.  I have ordered some index tabs to put on the monthly view so I can see the month easily.  They are on their way.  I am also planning on using this as somewhat of a diary as well -- making note of anything memorable that happens in a day.  I have never been very successful at journaling so maybe if it is here, in this one place, I will be able to at least attempt it.

I will post more photos as I finish with it, with some pics of embellishments and such.  I haven't decided if I want to embellish the front cover or not -- I have a tendency to just throw things in a bag and am not particularly careful with stuff so it might get really wrecked -- I don't know, more thoughts later.

So, anyway, that is what has been going on.  Not much but apparently enough to ramble about a little too much.

Have a great weekend!



Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...