April Goal Update!

April was a solid month for my goals. I kept on track with my daily goals and everything else kind of falls into place when my days go to plan. I have taken the last couple of days off from focusing on my daily goals, so I want to start next month off strong and have a good week right off the bat. 

May will be hectic with the end of school and graduations but I'm looking forward to it! 

Read 21 Books: 7/21

I finished two books this month and am actually close to finishing two more! I had some good reading time in April and the two books I finished are actually non fiction. That is not my normal style and I really enjoyed them both. 

The first book I read was Mindset by Carol Dweck. I had read excerpts of this book in my graduate program and I enjoyed going back to it and reading it cover to cover. Dweck is a brilliant psychologist but she writes this book in a very conversational way. She talked about how mindset affects our parenting, our work, our relationships and how we can coach kids in mindset. She also talked about how no one has a closed or open mindset. We all operate in both worlds everyday. That was reassuring. Overall, I recommend. 

The second book I read was Too Much of a Good Thing by Lee Goldman. This book was interesting and connected some dots for me about human health. It talked about the origin of humans and how we are genetically different from those humans today. It talks about how the things that let us survive as a species are killing us now. It talks about obesity, blood clotting, anxiety and fear and blood pressure. I understood 85% of this book, people with more science background would probably understand all of it. LOL 

Run 720 Miles: 272/720

I logged 72 miles this month! I also ran a very windy half this month. I hope to get three in this year and to better my time each half. My time for the TopCity half was 2:12, my  next half isn't till August. Hopefully I can get some 5K or 10K races in before that. 

Money Goals: Didn't get really anything done towards this goal this month because....I had some termites decide they wanted to much on my house! Ugh! I called a service immediately and got the whole house treated within a week. Darn buggers took up all the extra funds for April. So an unexpected house improvement....closing the buffet for good! 

Add 2K to Savings, Done Feb 2022 

Pay Mortg. principle down 5K

New Living Room Furniture (Home), Done Feb 2022

Replace Some Windows (Home) 

Replace Window Blinds (Home) 

Create Backyard Oasis (Home) 

Trips: 1/3

Mom and I knocked out trip number 1 going to Las Vegas and Zion earlier this month. It was so much fun! I love traveling with my #1 fan. :-) If you want the deets there is a blog post about that here.

Days I hit all of my Daily Habits: 17, This was my best month so far on my daily goals. And eating at the table every night with no phones was fun! The boys were a little put out at first, but now they just get their plates and sit down at the table. That habit changes so quickly, it lets me know they like it too. We have also had some very fun conversations!  

I don't like mowing, thankfully I have help!

Not a bad month on the habit tracker! 

Daryl finished his 5th book for the year
tonight. He was sad we don't have the third book
so he could have started it right away. 
He does not appreciate a cliff hanger! 

TopCity Half Marathon 2022

 On Saturday I ran my first half marathon for 2022. The temperature was great but the 30 mph winds was not so great. I still love this race for many reasons. The biggest is because it is in my home town and I love not having to travel to a race. Another reason is I see a lot of my running friends who I mostly just connect with via Facebook. So it is a real life meet up for us. 

My official stats are as follows: 

Chip Time: 2:12:21

averaged 10:06/mile 

My fastest mile was 9:29 and my slowest was 12:07. 

I was the 79th overall finisher

21st female finisher 

8th of 32 in my age category

I don't think I was any more prepared last year than this year so I only blame the wind for my time. In 2021 I ran the same course in 2:06. My next race isn't until August in South Dakota and I would like to be under 2:10 again. 

Other than running I also got to see Alex play another Flag Football game and on Sunday I got to watch a soccer game. It was a sports weekend! I should have mowed the yard but that will have to get done some time after work this week. I just ran out of steam on Sunday. 

The before picture of some of my running friends, 
should have grabbed Kate from across the street!

Runners get a celebratory Bloody Mary
spectators get a celebratory beer!

Alex doing his Flag Football thing again!

All About Alex!

 Alex has been having a big month and it has been a lot of fun watching it happen. First, he has started flag football, a new sport for him. For the first time, maybe ever, he is playing a sport and Daryl isn't. So the whole family is getting to watch him grow, learn and have fun! Bonus he practices at Topeka High so Daryl and I walk the track while he is learning the game. 

Second, last week his school had a Spring Fling dance. I hear about Alex's friends daily, but I don't get to meet them very often. I loved watching him with his friends and dancing his rear off. I got some really cute video I will keep for blackmail when he is a teenager! Side note-kids can still do the Macarena, who is teaching them this? Can we let this one die!? 

Lastly, as a family we eat out on Friday night. One Friday Daryl chooses and the next Friday Alex chooses. But, since I have them every other Friday they really only get to choose once a month. Alex remembered IHOP last Friday. It was very good but that's not the reason I tell you this. As a family we ate dinner at a table with no phones for five days in a row, including IHOP! The boys were a little annoyed on Monday, Tuesday Daryl announced "we have nothing else to talk about!" Then on Wednesday we started playing games like go around the table and alphabetically name an animal. The boys picked the game and subject and on Saturday they both said they really liked talking at dinner. Yay for small victories! I'm downloading some conversation cards for next week. 

The only time I took my phone out was to take 
a picture of Alex's lemonade, at his request. 

Vegas and Zion Trip

     What a trip Mom and I had! I have traveled with many different people and mom is my number 1 travel buddy. She is so go with the flow, and that is good for me because I can get stressed when things don't go according to plan. We usually have one hiccup on our trips so I was waiting for it, but this trip was almost flawless! We even both ended "up" on the slot machines! 

    Our trip plans all started with getting mom a golf game in Utah. (See last post) Other than that she was willing to do anything! We spent two days in Vegas and three days in Utah. After mom Golfed we visited Zion National Park, it was my favorite! In Utah we stayed in a Tiny home and that was really cool. Although I could not live in one for real, too small!! Even for just me and Purl. 

Now I'm just going to overload you on pictures. 

Trip #1 of 3 is in the books! Thanks Mom! 

The one trail I hiked without mom to Watchman Lookout

I made it to the top! 

Mom did two trails! Yay Mom! 

Our Tiny House in Utah 

We slept in the loft area

The hotel we stayed at off Freemont 
had a putting green! 

The botanical gardens in the Bellagio were impressive!

Mom doesn't think she got her half of the
Bloody Mary...

She is right! LOL 

We got to watch the KU vs Nova game 
on huge screens in the Circa Casino. It was such a fun
atmosphere!

She did it!

As of today Grandma Rosie has golfed in all 50 states! She checked Utah off the list today and that was her last state. Yay mom!

 I interviewed her about this accomplishment for her!

 What was your favorite state to golf? Mom- Maybe Florida because I saw an alligator on the course. 

 

What was your least favorite course. Mom- the course I played in Las Vegas was nothing but sand and rocks. yuck! 

What was the prettiest course? Mom- it's hard because all golf courses try to be pretty, either Hawaii or Alaska.

 When did you start this goal? Mom-2009 

 Good job mom, you did it! Love you and I'm always happy to drive your golf cart.

March Goal Update

March seemed like a really long month! And this last week I have just been so sleepy. I have not been getting anything done after work and I need to shake that off. I know it's not lack of sleep so I'm going to blame the cold snap in weather. I need to not power down till at least 8pm. There is too much to get done.  

Read 21 Books: 5/21

I finished two books this month and was dangerously close to finishing a third. That's good news for how many books I'll finish in April. 

The first book I read was The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. This fiction story had a pretty good plot line but the main character were not really built up. It read a little hollow for me. I passed along to mom for her to read and then I'll donate it. It's not a bad book but after the backstory I got with We were the Mulvaney's I wished I had more story in this one. 

The second book I read was almost all finished in airports. The fiction story Blame by Michelle Huneven was a page turner! It was good from the first chapter to the last. I will be keeping this one, it was not a super long book even though it covers a woman's adult life, I highly recommend! I'm glad I read this book right after The Last Thing He Told Me, because it was an example that a book doesn't have to be long to tell a very full story. Not all written pages are created the same! 

Run 720 Miles: 200/720

I logged 73 miles this month! This is because long runs have gotten, how do I put this....LONG. In four weekends I ran 7.5 miles, 8, 8.5 miles and 9.5. Pretty proud of those runs, I will just log a 10 mile run before my half marathon in Topeka on April 23rd. 

Money Goals: Added more to savings for upcoming trips and made another healthy principle payment. Yay me! I need to start to get bids for the other works I want done...procrastinating because I don't want to know how expensive things really are! 

Add 2K to Savings, Done Feb 2022 

Pay Mortg. principle down 5K, Another extra principle payment made in March. I've paid down the principle 1,000 so far, only 4K to go! 

New Living Room Furniture (Home), Done Feb 2022

Replace Some Windows (Home) 

Replace Window Blinds (Home) 

Create Backyard Oasis (Home) 

Trips: 0/3

First trip will be this month! Yay! I hope mom is ready to PARTY! (By party I mean be in bed at a reasonable hour....)

Days I hit all of my Daily Habits: 14, Ran out of gas towards the end of the month. I wanted to hit all goals over half the days of the month but that 8 glasses of water really does me in! 

I'm changing my daily habits once again and adding one that will probably be even harder than the water. One of my April daily goals is to eat dinner at the table without my phone. The boys and I have a bad habit of eating in the living room and when I'm by myself I always eat in the living room. I want to use dinner time to connect and it's just a habit I have to make automatic! Wish me luck! 

My mom stitched this lovely piece for me for my birthday.
I finally got it framed!

Did anyone say April Fool's day?!
Prepare the pranks!

I hope to have 16 perfect days in April!

I guess I did ok, just not great!