Project Organization - 2013

My 2013 Resolutions includes organizing our house room by room so by the end of the year I will have cleaned and organized every room, cupboard and closet.   My goal is to not only to tackle every single space in the room, but also to evaluate the paint job, fix anything that is broken, find a place for everything and my plan has kept me focused and not so overwhelmed. 

PROJECT ORGANIZATION TIMELINE:

January:  KITCHEN
February:  BATHROOM 1 and HALL CLOSET
March:  LIVING ROOM and ENTRY WAY CLOSET
April:   GRAHAM's ROOM
May:  GUS' ROOM and GUS' OFFICE
June:  GRETA's ROOM and SCREENED IN PORCH
July:  EXTRA BASEMENT BEDROOM
August:  LAUNDRY ROOM
September:  BATHROOM 2 and BASEMENT LIVING ROOM
October:  MASTER BEDROOM and BATHROOM 3
November:  HALL CLOSET IN BASEMENT
December:  For me this is the month to survive :) Lol.

JANUARY'S PROJECT:

I've been busy cleaning every single cupboard in the kitchen and I've been able to purge a ton of stuff.  In order to make the project manageable, I divided the kitchen into fours and tackled one section each weekend.  We have a few issues yet (stove has a glitch and we need a new dishwasher) and they may not be resolved until February but it's in the works.   In an attempt to eliminate plastic from our house, I've also ditched most of our Tupperware for glass quart jars which work just as well for storing almost everything.

The organized lazy susan - A before picture would've been embarrassing

UPDATE ON RESOLUTIONS

In addition to implementing the plan to organize the house,  I've successfully implemented my daily gratitude journal and our Family Meal Planning has been so extremely helpful - wow.  I forgot how much stress, money and time it saves to plan ahead!!!  Of course, I'm working on my ski goal which has been more difficult because we had a period where we lost snow and then when we got it back we had frigid temps.

OUR WEEKEND:

Our weekend consisted of skiing, skating, swimming, out to eat (Famous Dave's), skiing again and the movie Lincoln (fantastic) - in that order. 

My 2 favorite 2nd Graders LOVE Famous Dave's Corn Muffins

How was your weekend?  And how are you tackling your goals for 2013?

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Working Out: Gotta' Vent

The Norwegian in me has a really hard time complaining about ANYTHING.  Seriously, if someone says, "it sure is cold outside", I'll say "sure, but it's great to see the sun" or if someone says "it sure gets dark early" I respond with, "only 4 more months until Spring."    Most of the time I can turn any negative into a positive, but I do have a few complaints tonight.


MY LOCAL FITNESS CENTER

My winter workout plan was absolutely perfect - the ideal blend of outdoor activities and some challenging indoor classes but on 01/01/13 the price is doubling.  And if you want to take a shower it is even more.  Granted, there's more included with that increase but doubling the price is just a hard pill to swallow since I can only take a couple of classes a week because of my ski training.  Bummer.  Especially since I was LOVING the classes.  Once I'm done skiing I hope to join up again during the transitional months between skiing and running.

Lifetime Fitness by my sister-in-law
Amazing place and pool for $49 a month
Lucky for me, I have the amazing Birkie trail for only $40 a YEAR

MOM GUILT

When I've been out skiing on my own during our Christmas break I've had extreme guilt and I've cut myself short to rush home to be with the kids.  Every time I've rushed through the door to find them totally engaged in activities and then I'm mad at myself for skipping out on my workout time.  Ever since the kids were in the car accident last year I have a hard time leaving them.  I found a great article about mom guilt:  Mom Guilt - Get Over It.  My favorite quote from the article:   "So many devoted moms think that no matter what they do for their children, it's not enough -- and our culture plays into that insecurity,"    Moving forward, I'm going to remind myself that a happy mom equals happy children.

Skating Again Friday night - how can I NOT feel guilty leaving these cute munchkins (and Graham too)

SERIOUSLY, CAN YOU JUST SAY HEY?

My biggest pet peeve when I'm skiing on the Birkie trail is people who do not say hi back.  Since the trail is almost in my back yard and I know it really well, I feel like a piece of it belongs to me.  Lots of times I'll run into people I know which is always fun, but when I ski past a visitor and they don't say hi back it really bugs me.  I'll give a pass to people under the age of 20, and to those that are clearly giving the trail hell but with everyone else I'd appreciate a little love back.  Hey, life is short - check out your surroundings and say hi. 

If you see us coming down the trail, say hi

THE PLAN

I have a great plan lined up to get me in shape for the Birkie without the use of the gym but I'll share my 50 day Birkie Training plan on my New Year's blog.

Hey, I feel better - I should vent more often.  What's your workout complaint?  Certainly, I can't be the only one with mom guilt?


Thanks for reading,

Kristin