Five on Friday - March Goals

February started out strong, but ended on the weak side due to several circumstances that were out of my control.  I spent the last 14 days of the month sick… at first I thought it was a cold, but I’m thinking now that it’s my allergies flaring up again.  I’ve had so much congestion in my head and I’ve had a terrible cough that has been keeping me up all night.  I don’t do well without sleep so my productivity has taken a major hit.  Not to mention my end of winter funk has settled in… we’ve had SO MUCH RAIN (it has literally been cloudy/rainy almost every single day for the last month) and the lack of sun has left me feeling lazy and uninspired. 

I also severely underestimated just how much time having the kitchen cabinets painted/cleaning them out would take, so that sapped way more of my spare time than initially anticipated.  We also had a couple of other unexpected events towards the end of the month that threw our schedule out of whack, but we’re back on track now and I’m hoping that March is going to be a little better than February has been.  All of that plus the fact that it was a short month made for a not-as-productive month.

That said, I still did manage to get a lot of things done and I’m actually pretty pleased with how everything went overall despite not hitting every goal.  And again, since the check marks and Xs don’t translate to all browsers I’m using a Y for YES and N for NO to indicate whether or not I accomplished my goals.

February Goals – How I Did

Personal

Y  Positivity, worry less, complain less, be kind, patience, relationships. – This month had its challenges so trying not to worry was a bit of a struggle sometimes, but I feel like since I am actively working on curbing the worrying that I was actually able to let a lot more of the worry go. 

N  Plan and have a girls’ play date or dinner. – We got the conversation started but there was no date in February that worked for everyone, so March it will be!

Health

N  Drink 4 thermoses of water most days. – I try, I really do, but during the winter months I just tend to drink less. 

Y  Eat an apple most days.

N  Go to the gym at least 2 times per week. – Nope, not even close.  Between being sick and being super busy I haven’t had the drive nor the time.  And you know what?  I don’t even feel bad… I’m giving myself grace on this one. 

Y  Eat less sugar overall. – Yes!  With the exception of eating cake for Brian’s and Olivia’s birthdays, I really haven’t been digging the sweets lately.  I honestly haven’t even been in the mood for my beloved Halo Top.  I guess that’s a good thing since I didn’t hit the gym as much this month!

Y  Moisturize my neck and chest every day.

Family

Y  Continue working on kindness and good manners with the kids.

Y  Create habits of asking to be excused and taking plates to the sink for the kids.

N  Label everything that they take to school, take two. – I think the reason I keep failing at this is because I’m not sure what method I want to use to label said items.  Most of their stuff is already labeled with a permanent marker, but there are several items that I don’t want to write on with permanent marker.  Therefore, I need to find a different way to label them.  Doesn’t somebody make special labels you can use that are removable?  Help! 

Y  Finish Valentine’s Day planning and celebrate.

Y  Plan Brian’s birthday and celebrate.

Y  Finish Olivia’s birthday planning and celebrate.

N  Try a new restaurant. – Failure two months in a row.  EEK!

Y  Have two date nights with B. – Made it to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert and to the Michael Buble concert! 

Home

Y  Organize List Master (phone app), take two. – Finally got it done, y’all!!  It was a big job.  I had so much stuff in those lists!

N  Join Poshmark and start uploading clothes to sell. – This one is a “kind of.”  I did join Poshmark but I haven’t uploaded any clothes yet.  I actually did take a bunch of pictures of items to sell, but then I realized that the pictures are formatted as squares on Poshmark so I need to retake them all since the pictures I took are rectangular.  If it weren’t for that little snafu I would have been able to check this one off the list!

Y  Get kitchen cabinets and entertainment center painted!!!!  EEK! – And they are BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Y  Continue planning and working on Olivia’s big girl bedroom. – I have planned every little detail and rounded most of the items up!  Now I just need to paint in there, buy a mattress, and get it all decorated!

Y  Clean out kitchen cabinets.

N  Clean out kitchen closet under stairs. – Started it, but haven’t finished.

Y  Clean out side table with kids’ art supplies.

Y  Clean out coat closet.

Y  Clean out command center.

Y  Clean out entertainment center.

Y  Redecorate entertainment center after it’s painted.

Y  Clean out coffee table.

Y  Clean out game cabinet in front room.

Y  Clean out buffet table in dining room.

Y  Do 30 things on Master To-Do list. – I didn’t just do 30 things… I did 50 again!!!!  However, I also added 17 new items to the list, so for the sake of decreasing the list by 50% for the year, I’ll have to look at it like I only did 33 things this month.  Even with adding the new items I still beat my goal, though!  A few things I did this month from the list?  Hung new curtains in our front sitting room, hung new curtains in our dining room, had our entertainment center painted, redecorated our entertainment center, moved picture ledges from the living room to the kitchen, had the kitchen cabinets painted, brightened up our command center, put museum putty in our drawers to hold drawer organizers in place, bought a toilet paper holder for our master bathroom, hung my timeline gallery wall in my office, sold my Silhouette, cleaned out and reorganized my List Master app on my phone, updated my Pinterest username, and much much more! 

Blog

Y  Plan all content for March and April.

Y  Work ahead on blog posts so I’m not writing a post every single day.

Y  Complete one post for the summer.

Y  Start working on other post ideas for the summer.

Y  Take 5-6 pictures for Instagram.

Y  Continue sharing all of my cleaning out and decluttering on Instagram Stories.

Y  Pitch to two different brands. – I pitched to at least five or six!

Y  Hit 7K followers on Instagram. – I joined a giveaway earlier this month so I’m sitting at 7,244 as I write this post, but as you all know, they fluctuate every hour of every day so who knows where I’ll be by the time you read this post.

Summary

31 items accomplished

7 items not accomplished

Not great, but not too shabby either!  Now for some pictures of my February successes!

Stuff I got rid of from our kitchen cabinets.

Paperwork I got rid of from the side table full of the kids' art supplies.

Paperwork I saved from the kids' art table.  These were filed in their keepsake boxes.

Stuff I got rid of from our coat closet.

Freshly painted and redecorated entertainment center.

Stuff I got rid of from our game cabinet.

Old curtains in the dining room.

New curtains in the dining room.  WORLDS BETTER.

Spray painting the organizer in our command center from gold to white to brighten it up.

Gallery wall all hung in my office.

Now for my goals for March… keep in mind some of them will be the same from month-to-month as I try to create habits for myself for the year!  And since the kids will be on Spring Break for an entire week during March I’m going a little lighter on the goals!

March Goals

Personal

Positivity, worry less, complain less, be kind, patience, relationships.

Plan and have a girls’ play date or dinner.

Find a new bathing suit for the summer.

Start researching and pursuing my new interest… sorry to be so vague!

Health

Drink 4 thermoses of water most days.

Eat an apple most days.

Go to the gym or work out at home at least 2 times per week.

Eat less sugar overall.

Moisturize my neck and chest every day.

Start newly recommended allergy meds from ENT doc to try to decrease ringing in ears.

Family

Continue working on kindness and good manners with the kids. 

Create habits of asking to be excused and taking plates to the sink for the kids.

Label everything that they take to school, take two.

Try a new restaurant, take three.  Haha.

Attend the Mother Son Dance with Jacob.

Start taking family walks after dinner again since the time will change!

Encourage Jacob to ride his bike more.

Encourage Olivia to ride her new bike so she will get comfortable with it.

Take a little trip during Spring Break and do some fun stuff.

Start preparing for Easter – décor, kids’ baskets, etc.

Start preparing for summer – summer camp, swimming lessons, VBS.

Home

Start uploading clothes to sell on Poshmark.

Complete my office makeover.

Complete Olivia’s bedroom makeover.

Master bedroom refresh – new bedding.

Clean out kitchen closet under stairs.

Clean out master bathroom cabinets.

Do 20 things on Master To-Do list.

Clean off outdoor areas to get ready for spring.

Blog

Start planning content for May and June.

Work ahead on blog posts so I’m not writing a post every single day.

Complete one post for the summer.

Continue working on other post ideas for the summer.

Take 5-6 pictures for Instagram.

Continue sharing all of my cleaning out and decluttering on Instagram Stories.

Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and By BMG for High Five for Friday.