52&7

   The new year. A clean slate. Everyone's full of hope for the future and no one has messed up their resolutions...yet.

Starting today, I'm following Jon Acuff's 52&7 method of goal setting. The idea is to break your goals up into smaller chunks and focus on them for 52 days at a time.It's hard to plan for an entire year - who knows what may happen? But you can do anything for 52 days.

So here are the 7 areas of my life I hope to improve and a few things I'm going to focus on for the next 52 days.

Financial
Update the checkbook daily.
Reduce grocery budget by $25/month.

Physical
Exercise 4 times a week for 30 minutes.
Lose 12 lbs in 52 days.

Social
Refrain from any complaining, whining or ranting social media posts.
Reach out to encourage friends weekly.

Mental
Read a non-fiction book every month. (This month is Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst)

Job
Do dishes every night.
Wake up 15-30 minutes earlier than everyone else.

Family
Stay off of iPad, phone and laptop from 2-8 PM
Focus attention on family when they are talking to me.

Spiritual
Read Joyce Meyer's devotional daily.
Fill my mind with only positive things - this means I'm giving up my love of ghost stories and shows about murderous wives for 52 days. Goodbye I.D. and Bio!


What are your goals for 2013? Are you setting goals for the whole year? Or doing it in chunks?

It Takes A Village

Brenna loves her dollhouses. She currently has three and plays with them frequently. This year, when she was asked what she wanted for Christmas, she kept saying, "A Dora Dollhouse." Ugh.

She doesn't even really care for the Dora cartoon, but that dollhouse was irresistible to her. That was all she wanted. She even made it official and told Santa she wanted a Dora dollhouse.

Every time she would bring it up I would tell her, "Brenna, you already have three dollhouses. You don't need another one! Santa isn't bringing you a Dora dollhouse." It got to the point that she was coming up behind me, whisper, "Dora dollhouse!" And then run away.

I finally asked her, "WHY? Why do you want ANOTHER dollhouse?" Her reply?

                                      "I want a village so they can visit each other."
 

My future Community Organizer.

So this year Santa will be adding the Dora Dollhouse to the village. Maybe four will be enough?

Hey! It's Okay Wednesday!

It's Okay to...

• be a day late and a dollar short. Or several dollars short this time of year.
• give gift cards as presents. It's not lazy, it's saving them from returning the crappy gift you first thought of.
• be conflicted about discussing the tragedy in Newtown, CT with my son. He's 6. I want him to know what to do in an emergency, but I also don't want him to know there is such evil in this world. Not yet. Right now I'm choosing to not mention it unless he does (and he hasn't).
• think these talking points from iMom are brilliant if you DO decide to discuss the shootings.
• make your family watch a Charlie Brown Christmas every time it's on. Every. Time. I love it!

Head over to Airing My Dirty Laundry to see what else is okay!

Little, Yellow Room

Tonight I'm sitting on a little Lightening McQueen stool next to my girls' bed. Grace is very much like her brother. Neither fall asleep easily and both need something or someone to cuddle with. It's 11 PM and she's so tired, but needs to know she's not alone. Brenna, always my good sleeper, is fast asleep next to her. Still, every few minutes Grace will raise her head, look around to make sure I'm still here, and giggle before laying her head back down. Soon she'll be asleep and I can head to bed myself.

I'm posting this from my phone so the grammar, spacing, and such may not be right. No fancy pictures. Just a moment I wanted to capture so I never forget. Sitting in this little yellow room with the twinkling Christmas lights listening to my girls slowly breathing.

Our Favorite iPad Apps : Grace Edition

Playtime for Grace is very different than it was for Brenna at the same age. I don't know if it's because of her visual impairment or just her personality but Grace has no use for dolls, throws the Little People, and doesn't like stuffed animals. She prefers toys with buttons, lights and especially ones that play music. She loves to play on the iPad and will smoosh her nose right up to the screen so she can see the animations. Here are a few of her favorite apps!

Grace playing on the iPad.

• Sparkabilities -  ($4.99) This app has either flash cards or movies that introduce shapes, colors, counting and just silly noises. It's easily Grace's favorite. She'll be getting other versions of this for Christmas!
• Peek-A-Boo Barn - (Lite Version is FREE; $1.99 for full version) The lite version of this app gives you only three animals, but the full version has thirteen. Grace loves to tap the barn to see what animal is inside and mimic their noises.
•  Fisher Price Apps - (Most of them are FREE!) Fisher Price makes bright and colorful apps with great music that keep Grace engaged. Her absolute favorite is Storybook Rhymes Volume 2. It sings and animates her favorite song, "Row, Row, Row Your Boat".

All of these apps are available for both the iPad and iPhone.

Hey! It's Okay Tuesday!

It's Okay to...

• remember "quality, not quantity" when it comes to gifts.
• consider relaxation and work-outs equally important.
• let the kids put Christmas lights up in their rooms. They make perfect night lights!
• be sad that all the December magazines claim to "Beat Holiday Stress" or "Simplify your Christmas". Why does it have to be complicated in the first place?

hello december.

I've been blogging for four years and each year I try to do a daily post in December. Each year I start strong and then peter out as the month goes on. So this year I will try again!

I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

Tonight we're watching Elf. I'm so glad Riley is old enough to appreciate most of the humor in this movie. It's so funny!

What are you up to this fine December 1st?