One month down, 11 to go!

 I am pretty proud of my progress this month. I had three days of doing absolutely nothing, but was ahead of the game to that point so I still finished strong! How did you all do? 

Read 21 Books: 2/21

This month I read Maid by Stephanie Land and I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Reid. The first book is now a Netflix series but based off of Land's life as a part of the working poor. For me I enjoy books that broaden my viewpoint and this one did. If you don't understand welfare programs, you should read this book. People paying for groceries with benefits should not be the subject of scorn but the system. Eye opening. 

The next book I picked up was a fiction thriller and it was not my favorite. If you like the genre of wondering "what the heck is going on," it would probably be for you. The upside is it was a shorter book so like it or not, it will go quick. LOL 

Run 720 Miles: 61!

To hit 720 I need to get 60 miles a month. I had to take some time off because I was sick, so in the last three days of this month I needed to run 11 miles! I did 12 and ended my run this morning at 61 for the month. Yay me! 

Money Goals: (You gotta tell your money what to do, or it will just disappear) 

Add 2K to Savings, Was able to put some money in savings this month. 

Pay Mortg principle down 5K, Did make an extra principle payment 

New Living Room Furniture (Home), Got a rug and I have a couch in mind that I want. I think this will be done in Feb. 

Replace Some Windows (Home) 

Replace Window Blinds (Home) 

Create Backyard Oasis (Home) 

Trips: 0/3

Days I hit all of my Daily Habits: 11, that was with a lot of effort, too! 

Daryl and Alex both finished one book in January. Daryl read To Kill a Mockingbird and Alex read Dog Man Grime and Punishment. They are right on track too! 

How I keep track of my daily habits. This 
is really going to challenge me this year! 

I made a fruit pizza for the chiefs game. 
The pizza ended up better than the game. 

Keeping my New Year's resolution of ordering more dessert! 
Who knew a triple brownie delight was actually 
3 brownies stacked on top of each other! LOL 

2022 Goals!

2022 Motto: I am only competing with myself, I just want to be better than the woman I was yesterday. I make my yearly goals for this reason. If you don't know what you want to do with your time, it will just float away anyway. I want to be intentional the year with my most precious resource, my time. I feel the same way about money which is why I live by my monthly budget, and have for about 12 years now. 

For clarity, what am I  trying to personally improve? The monthly goals should make me healthier, my home cozier and my point of view wider. So this is the year of health, home and viewpoint. I've always liked even number years, so let's go! 

Read 21 Books: 

This is up one book from last year, and I'm going to try and keep a good mix of fiction and non fiction, even thought I really love fiction. (Viewpoint) 

Run 720 Miles:

This is down from 800 last year but I realize I also like to lift weights and play tennis with the boys. So not all my fitness is measured in miles. Yet, last year miles was demanding more of my fitness time than I liked. And I got hurt and didn't make it to 800 anyway. Here is to 60 miles a month and 720 for the year! (Health) 

Money Goals: (You gotta tell your money what to do, or it will just disappear) 

Add 2K to Savings

Pay Mortg principle down 5K 

New Living Room Furniture (Home) 

Replace Some Windows (Home) 

Replace Window Blinds (Home) 

Create Backyard Oasis (Home) 

Trips: I would like to take three trips this year. One with Mom, one with the boys and one with the girlfriends. (Viewpoint) 

The newest thing I'm trying this year is to keep a daily habit tracker. I got this idea from a book I read last year "The Happiness Project." The author tracked the good habits she did everyday in hopes of making them automatic. It is an idea that has been around a long time and I like the quote about it that goes, "It doesn't matter what you do every day, it matters what you do most days." So I will update monthly how many days I did all five of my good habits. The habits might change but for January they are 1.) 8 glasses of water 2.) Read 15 min. 3.) 10 min Tidy Up 4.) Move 30 minutes 5.) Declutter 1 thing.

That is a lot of plans for my year. Now it is time to get to 'em! 

Never got these posted from Bowling with Grandma before she moved
back to SW Kansas. 

 

She beat us all, of course! 

Anyone Else Done with January?

 It is the 25th but this first month of the year feels like it has been going on for awhile. Maybe it's because we have had a couple of cold snaps, maybe it's because I haven't bought any clothes since November, most likely it's because Daryl and I caught Covid last week.  

Daryl and I are vaccinated so we were very lucky that we had minimal symptoms. Alex was with us the entire week and he never got sick and tested negative. So for our five day isolation we sent Alex to dad's house and we became the sick house. In the sick house you do work and homework and take naps. Daryl was climbing the walls! We are out of isolation tomorrow so Daryl got picked up by Dad tonight, he was ready, mom is mean if you live with her for more than a week. I'm sure his dad can commiserate! LOL!

He did finish his first book of the year yesterday. I had him read one of my favorites "To Kill a Mockingbird." He really liked it! Him and Alex have the same reading goal as last year, 12 books, and they are both on track. 

Alex has been playing indoor soccer for about a month now. He really likes his team and I like indoor sports! We missed last weekend but it is going well. Daryl has been practicing for Middle School basketball and was bummed he missed the first games. Hopefully next week I will get to see him on the court! 

Hope everyone is having a better start to the year than we have had! It's going up from here! 

Purl is in favor of working from home!

Very hard to take pictures with that net. grrr

January Jamboree

 This year was a first, the Meerpohl boys ran a 4-H January Jamboree craft table! Our club decided to make Pom Pom Shooters and members that couldn't be there to help got all of the supplies for us. Making our job a piece of cake. 

The boys were able to help the kids put their craft together with minimal help from me. Business got a little slow at the end and a balloon game was created. It got a little wild, I get what I get for telling them to get off their phones. Never underestimate the imagination of a group of boys! 

It was a good day ending with the Chiefs beating the Broncos! Now I just need to gather some motivation to finish the laundry and vacuum...there is always tomorrow! LOL!

Demonstrating our shooter

2021, How'd we do?

 I set goals for last year and I made progress on all of them. I would like to have completed them all but when you are trying to stretch yourself sometimes you come up short. I'm not too mad about it, probably because I just got home from a vacation. That helps ;-) 

I do have goals for 2022 and I'm pretty determined to do better than I did this year. My next post will be my 2022 goals but I do need to say, I've already booked some miles running for the new year! 

I make goals I can track so I can see progress. You can't do that for your feelings so I will just write, 2021 felt good. I was challenged and I was supported. I was hurt (my darn hip) and I healed. I got to take the boys on a summer vacation, watch them play sports and watch them continue to grow. 

I know I should bite my tongue before making any declarations about what kind of year 2022 will be. I'm just saying on day 2 I'm feeling good, and I'm going to see how long I can hold onto that! 

Read 20 Books: 19/20  

I read two books in December and finished the year with 19 books. The boys had a goal to read 12 books in 2021; Alex read 14 and Daryl read 8. They were not thrilled that they have another 12 book reading goal for this year, but I don't like reading alone ;-) 

The first book I read was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, This book was not one of my favorites because it was written in a very disjointed way. Once I got the hang of the writing it was a quick read. I think my ultimate grade on a book is weather it goes on my bookshelf or in the Goodwill box. This one is hitting the box. 

The second book I read in Dec. was Where'd you go Bernadette. This one is staying on my shelf. I haven't seen the movie that was made from it and probably don't need to. It is a beach read and I devoured it in five days. Definitely recommend! It even got me motivated to work on my knitting again. Bernadette is a creator and when she stops she looses herself. Creators must create! 

 Run 800 700 miles: 667/700

I logged 40 miles in December. I wanted to run 50 but it is what it is. Running will be one of my goals I take more seriously next year. I just never found my motivation once I had to lower my original miles goal. I just didn't care about not hitting my new lower goal. I know, I know, that' not very like me. 

Money Goals: Since I did't find a contractor this year for the stairs that project will carry over to next year. However that did help my savings goal. I actually saved $3,000 dollars this year and after I paid my car off I started putting my old car payment amount towards my Mortgage principle. I will start again on house projects in 2022 but keeping track of where my money is going is my first priority. 

• Pay Off my Car - Done March
• Replace my Car's Windshield-Done Jan. 
• New Fridge
• Fix Stairs
• Install a shower in hall bathroom and fix the sink in my bathroom Done July 
• Add $2,000 to savings  Done August 
• Replace some windows

Knit four new things: 3/4

I finished another dish towel! 

Do you know that if you visit six Bourbon 
bars in Louisville KY you get a T-Shirt?

I got the shirt! 

I didn't even get a picture of my favorite drink, 
It was  a hot bourbon spiced tea at Makers Mark!