3 in 30

My sweet friend, Meghan, at The Tuckers Take Tennessee has thrown down the gauntlet, so to speak. She and her friend, Ashley, have created the 3 in 30 challenge.

Accountability is not my strong suit. As much as I know it will help me, I'm more of the ethereal-float-around-my-colander-brain-goals type of gal. You know, if you can't nail down your goals (if you even have any!), then when you fail to accomplish them, you didn't really fail at all, because it wasn't exactly in stone, nor specific, and it's likely that no one really knew about it anyway. Right?

Um, wrong. Seriously wrong.

Safely low expectations. Not really a great way to live life, but one I sometimes default to. Okay, usually default to.

So now Meghan lit a little fire under me and while I'm not big on the whole New Year's resolution-thing (always destined to fail), I'm thinking that maybe three little goals (per month!) might not be so bad. Especially when they're accompanied by that accountability aspect. I figure I'll give it a whirl for January. If I can mange that, I'll go again for February. Like how I give myself a monthly out? Kind of fits the safely low expectations mentality.

Someone smack me already.

I don't know if we're supposed to share our three January goals yet, or not, but I'd better do it before I chicken out get distracted and forget to participate.

Beginning January 1, 2011, my three goals are:

1. Go to bed on time. Minimum 5 days in 7. What does on time mean to me? Lights out (no more reading or Angry Birds) by 11:00 p.m. Earlier, if at all possible. That means from an accountability perspective, if you see me dinking around on Facebook or Twitter after 10:30 p.m. (mountain time), you can officially give me grief, hold my feet to the fire, or just pray that God makes my computer lock up for being disobedient.

2. Drink water. I am horrible about this. Just ask my chiropractor and massage therapist. For a little chunk of time, I did drink plenty of water. They were both very, very happy with me for that. I suspect that my body was very, very happy with me, too. Contrary to my taste buds, pumping Dr Pepper through my veins is not the best choice. What does enough water look like for me? I'm thinking 64 ounces a day. If I can manage that, we'll see where things go. I think based upon actual formulas and such (as in the one our self-defense instructor gives us), I should be drinking more. But to go from the Sahara to some lush place with plenty of moisture, a girl's gotta start someplace. Feel free to ask me about it. Twitter, Facebook, blog comment, whatever. If I don't respond, well, it could be due to dehydration.

3. Create meal plans. Every week. When I have meal plans, I actually prepare meals at home (what a concept!). You know the drill here - we spend less, eat better, and have more time at home. It's a good thing all the way around. We do have times that we eat out (typically plans with others), but it's the other times in between when I just haven't pulled something from the freezer, or have nothing in mind for dinner that can become a problem. Yes, Domino's is totally cheap and delicious thanks to their new recipe, but it should be the rare occasion, not the weekly I-don't-know-what-to-have-for-dinner response. I guess I'll post my plans here and that way those who are a part of the accountability aspect of this challenge will have something to hold me to. For clarification, I say meal plans, but what I really mean is dinner plans. Breakfast is always at home. Lunch is mostly at home, but I'll throw that in there, too.

There'll be a weekly (Friday night) linky for everyone to get in accountability mode. Have something you'd like to achieve/accomplish in January? Need a little prodding, er, accountability? Come join us! You can even have a nifty little button for your blog:

Okay, I'm pushing publish before I have a chance to bail!

Maintenance

I'm so tired of living in Camp Procrastination. What is it about maintaining that is so simple yet so hard?

If I load the dishwasher each night after dinner, I can use the delay set so that it runs during the night while we're all sleeping peacefully. In the morning, voila! We have clean dishes. My son puts away the clean dishes and we are ready to receive the dirty dishes of a new day.

My husband completes approximately 5-6 ROs (repair orders) per day in his business. It takes no more than 15-20 minutes - at the most - to enter those into QuickBooks per week. Add on the handful of receipts for parts and supplies that he purchases, and his books can be maintained in no more than an hour per week.

Homeschool records require a little more time on my part this year. Entering their completed work and time, jotting down some thoughts in the journal, and printing the next day's sheets (I use Homeschool Tracker) takes about 30 minutes per day. Planning a week's worth of assignments? About an hour (plus) on the weekend.

But what happens when I don't enter this week's ROs? Or I don't update the homeschool records today? Or tomorrow? Or this month? It multiplies and grows exponentially, becoming an enormous burden, which continually taps me on the shoulder. I am aware of this phenomenon. I am also acutely aware of the simplicity of maintaining something. I'm not an entirely unintelligent woman. Although my actions may prove me otherwise.

main⋅tain –verb (used with object)

1. to keep in existence or continuance; preserve; retain: to maintain good relations with neighboring countries


2. to keep in an appropriate condition, operation, or force; keep unimpaired: to maintain order; to maintain public highways


3. to keep in a specified state, position, etc.: to maintain a correct posture; to maintain good health


4. to affirm; assert; declare: He maintained that the country was going downhill


5. to provide for the upkeep or support of; carry the expenses of: to maintain a family


6. to sustain or support: not enough water to maintain life

Origin:
1200–50; ME mainteinen < OF maintenir ≪ ML manūtenēre, L manū tenēre lit., to hold in hand, equiv. to manū, abl. of manus hand (see manual ) + tenēre to hold (see tenet )


So here I begin a new week, with a stack of paperwork and administrative responsibilities that makes me want to shirk, run away, and hide. Preferably on a sunny beach. With a good book. My challenge is to tackle this monster, piece by piece, day by day. I want to see at least some progress each day. Yes, we have homeschool. Yes, I have appointments and plans. But it's time to deal with this issue. And who knows? Perhaps one day, I'll move from Camp Procrastination to Camp Maintaining.

And there will be much rejoicing.

A Challenge: 40 Days of Water

I came across this site a few days ago and it's been ruminating in my mind ever since. The basic premise of the 40 Days of Water Challenge is to have only water as a beverage for 40 days, from March 1st to April 9th. You then save the money you would have spent, and donate it to Blood:Water Mission, a ministry begun by Jars of Clay. From the website:

Blood:Water Mission exists to promote clean blood and clean water efforts in Africa, tangibly reducing the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic while addressing the underlying issues of poverty, injustice and oppression. Blood:Water Mission is building clean water wells, supporting medical facilities, and focusing on community and worldview transformation, both here in America and in Africa.

Here's an excerpt from the 40 Days of Water Challenge:

We have the gift of choice: Freedom to choose on any given day what clothes we will wear, what work we will do, what food we will eat and what we will drink. In nearly a third of the world injustice threatens to take away these basic kinds of choices that we take for granted. In these places a woman can choose to drink the unclean river water or the unclean puddle water. She can choose to walk once for four hours to get water or walk twice for eight hours to get more water. She can choose to give her children something to drink that she knows may make them sick or she can give them nothing at all. She can persist or give up. You can help give her a real choice.

Yesterday, I found myself faced with this question:

Why would I NOT participate in the challenge?

Well, when you put it that way . . .

So two more days of feeding my Dr Pepper crave, and then it's nothing but water.