Working through a slump

I'm sitting here thinking that I should be doing something to better myself, but I don't really want to.  I got two circuits into a workout this morning and quit because I just really didn't want to be doing it.  Not in a "wow this hurts can I be done yet?!" kind of way but in a "the next 20 minutes just seem boring and unpleasant kind of way." Somehow I totally missed that there was no school today, and didn't realize it until my daughter ( heretofore, Lou-Lou) came back from the bus stop and said no one was there so she went by our neighbor's and was told there was no school.  I still don't understand why, but its was on the district calendar so here we are.

So I was sitting there trying to figure out what to do with my three kids on a cloudy cool day when our budget is shot. 

We ended up doing two little science projects. One was about oxidation on pennies, which worked really well, and kept them entertained for quite a while cleaning pennies.  The other was about density in liquids which did not work nearly as well.  My corn syrup was dark syrup not light, so it was hard to tell the difference between that and its neighbors, honey and maple syrup.  And my dish soap was  more dense than my milk, so that didn't work either.  I actually had rubbing alcohol, but my food coloring didn't work on it, and Lou Lou squirted it in with a little too much vigor so it mixed with the water two layers down.  We decided to put it aside for while and see if it separates out at all. 

photos by Fuzzhead

Oh, and the baby cried through most of it.  This is why I don't think I could homeschool. Projects are fun, but I can't handle the stress of helping all three at once.

And here I am at 1:00 pm, Treeleafy is sleeping, the bigger kids are keeping themselves occupied, and I have time to do whatever.  I just don't really want to do anything.  Ennui, I suppose.  I have a couple of books, but they aren't really tripping my trigger right now. I was hopping the science projects would be a catalyst for productivity, but it didn't work out like that. Dinner is simple tonight (baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese sauce; lazy, satisfying and it has vegetables) so I don't need to do much to get that started.  

And here I sit. 

2017 Goals summary

I wrote a meandering post about my goals about a month ago, but I felt like I needed to write something that was a little more organized.

 

My first two are not SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed Upon, Realistic, Time-Based) But maybe I can reword them to make them more so.

1. Focus on the joy of mothering (ironically, I hear whining coming from downstairs as I write this and I'm having to take a couple of deep breaths before I deal with it.)
• Have a loose schedule to give us something fun to do every day. Walks, library day, play group, etc that lets me focus on my kids.
• Give my 3 year old (heretofore known as "Fuzzhead") some one-on-one time, at least 30 min sans cellphone, every day.  This should usually happen during the baby's (heretofore known as "Treeleafy") afternoon nap.
• Try to include Fuzzhead in my chores. He wants to earn money to buy upgrades to his apps (yes, seriously) so I told him he could do that by helping me with my chores.
2. Include Scripture Study in my daily routine.
• This includes reading the the LDS standard works, General Conference Talks, and Sunday School and Relief Society Manuals. 
• Can be completed at any time during the day, but I'd like to start getting up earlier to get in done first thing.  First I have to get myself to go to bed earlier.
• Perfection would be doing it every single day, but I just don't think I can do that. In High School and College I was amazing at this, but my time was my own. Anything I did I had, in one way or another, agreed to do and did so because I wanted to.  I have kids now and my time is not all my own.  So, I'm shooting for an average of 6 days/week by December.
3. Read 52 books
• This includes all of my own-but-haven't-read fiction
• Any of the above books I haven't read by the end of the year will be given to Good Will, because this is the second year I've had this goal. If I hadn't read them by the end of this year, I really don't care about them that much.
• One per week, this include audiobooks.
4. Run a half marathon, and include strength training.
• I plan on doing this towards the end of the year
• We (my husband really) got an adjustable weight kettle bell for Christmas, so if anyone has some good kettle bell workouts, let me know
5. CPR certification
• As I mentioned last month,  I have to wait until Treeleafy can go without me for a while before I can take care of this. 
• Usually MWR offers this 5 or 6 times I year, so I just need to call the gym and find out when.
6. Rock the Cheesecake
• Pretty self explanatory. Maiden Voyage for my birthday.
7. Call an old friend 
• I realized recently that Facebook actually kind of sucks for genuinely helping you keep in touch with friends.  It appraises you of the major happenings in each other's lives, but that's not where real relationships happen.  So, I decided to use my phone for its original purpose and call people. People do it so rarely now that unlimited Talk is the norm.
• At least once, maybe twice a month.
• If you get a call from me, it's not just to check this off the list, but because I like you and want to actually keep in touch.
• Also, if you might like to talk to me, live and in person on the phone, go ahead and send me your phone number in a private FB message  Don't leave it in a public forum, that's not safe.

There we go.  Should keep me busy.

What are you working on this year?