Hello!
Inspired by the very impressive Katie at Marriage Confessions, I'm making a month-by-month goal sheet of increasing my happiness by way of well being. I will try to implement the changes from January through March in the designated month and keep them the whole year.
January: Family
-Make Sundays exclusively for my family. Things like exercise, going to church and reading books are okay - I don't have to be glued to them - but no outside social obligations away from my family, and no work.
February: Food Health
-Limit sweets to 3 sweet desserts a week. If craving sweets, eat fruit on other days.
March: Body Movement
-Go to the gym at least 3 times per week- 30 minutes of cardio minimum, yoga counts.
April: Household organization
-Set up upstairs bedroom and clean out closets/drawers, keep it all clean.
-Bear down on finding childcare for younger daughter.
-Sign up older daughter for summer camps, if applicable
May: Finances
-Set up automatic 529 payments for younger daughter
-Be sure I am maxing out Roth IRA
June: Preparation
-Reflect on the school year using a template, adjust future lessons accordingly. If not teaching same subjects, share with another teacher who is.
July: Living in the Present
-Focus on spending the month with my kids. Be present with them, do not get distracted by wanting to surf the web, email/facebook/twitter. Enjoy the time with them.
August: Memories
-Set up a filebox for the kids' art
-Schedule a family photoshoot
September: Fun
-Make both girls' Halloween costumes.
October: Time Management
-Plan birthday parties for both girls and send invitations.
-Make a list of loved ones to check in with about Christmas and order gifts.
November: Gratitude
-Volunteer one weekend day - make sandwiches for the homeless, work at the gift wrap station - anything.
-Plan charities to donate to.
December: Reflection
-Take stock of the year. How did all of these plans work out? If not, why not?
Sunday, January 26, 2014
A New Year
10:25 AMFriday, June 22, 2012
My First Year Lessons
1:03 PMI wrote this when my daughter turned a year old but waited to publish it until I had reflected a little more. So this is nine-month-old writing, but still true. :)
Lord, babies, am I right, people? They are intense. They need, they want, they frustrate and they delight. Having had one now for a year, I need to write down things I've learned to try to do, so that I don't forget them if my baby ever has a baby.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Goodwashing
3:38 PMWhitewashing, a centuries-old chore of priming your to-be-painted surfaces, painting outdoor surfaces with a low-cost and temporarily effective paint, is a colloquialism that has evolved to mean a kind of window-dressing. Just as you could decide, instead of paying the money to paint your fence, to just whitewash it, you may decide, instead of investing in a quality plan to execute, to just do the minimum and hope no one notices.
[Blank]washing has not yet taken on nearly the level of buzzword status of as [Blank]gate (Watergate, Nipplegate, Rathergate, Weinergate) but in light of a lot of tepid do-gooder efforts, maybe it's time.
We've heard of greenwashing - Wal-mart has been accused of hyping its not-all-that-impressive efforts at sustainability even as negative aspects of its track record go unaddressed.
But over at In These Times, Josh Eidelson takes Starbucks to task for a different kind of [Blank]washing - selling little bracelets, and donating proceeds to businesses or non-profits in the hopes they will hire some more people. (Eidelson is a former co-worker who, in the interest of full disclosure, is awesome.) You should read the article to get the gist, but I guess you could call Starbucks' program Recoverywashing or Charitywashing, or maybe just Goodwashing.
A lot of things bother me about Starbucks' approach. I think what most infuriates me is that, in my memory, these types of bracelets originated with cancer awareness. It wasn't that you got a yellow, purple, red, pink or white bracelet and huffed around like you had done your part. It was a call to do more. Starbucks' bracelets are a way to say, "Yep, $5 with my AM coffee is enough."
Another message I get an earful of that troubles me is "Oh, at least Starbucks is doing something about the recession." No. What is actually happening is that you are essentially paying into a slush fund of a company that has taken over its market and whose success has driven others out of business. You are giving your money for a company to give to a company of their own choosing. Why not choose yourself? Why not take that $5 and buy something at a business you support on Etsy or Kickstarter? Or buy your coffee at a local place and pump money into the business of someone who could be your neighbor, or your kids' classmates' family?
I'll be interested to see who bites and gets the bracelet. Meanwhile, I'm excited to try Blessed Coffee for my next caffeinated treat. No bracelets there, at least.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Tonight's Wikipedia K-Hole
10:42 PMWednesday, October 26, 2011
A Compendium of #OWS Backlash
10:45 PMFriday, October 21, 2011
The Power (?) of Num nums
10:40 PMPlease go read this brilliant piece right now, because it is so very spot on, and covers so many situations.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Truth and Consequences
11:47 PMAs I grew up, always an annoying little question-asking gunner, I realized that my dad often made up answers out of convenience.