Weekly goals

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Listing my goals really did help last week. I’m going to see if I can make it a weekly habit.

Last week’s goals:
1 – Study Chinese for at least four hours. Success! I clocked 4.1 hours.

2 – Send out birthday cards for the sponsorship kiddos who have birthdays in March. Nope. No excuses; it just didn’t get done.

3 – Start applying what I’ve learned in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. Yes! I posted about it here and here.

This week’s goals:
1. Another four hours of Chinese.

2. Send out the birthday cards that didn’t get mailed last week.

3. Finish knitting my gray hat. I’ve finished all of the pattern repeats and just need to knit the decrease rows. It shouldn’t take more than an hour.

These three items should keep me busy. If I am feeling particularly ambitious, I will start tackling my bookshelves like I tackled my closets. I can’t wait!

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A pile of clothes – literally

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Here is my second project inspired by The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. First I found all of my clothes and tossed them on the bed. I didn’t realize the pile would be so big…

Then I started asking which clothes bring me joy. I actually found two beloved skirts that I had forgotten about. Whoops!

Here are the clothes that didn’t bring me joy, didn’t fit, were worn out, etc.

My half of the closet is still rather packed. It would help if we owned a dresser and could fold some of these things. But at least now everything is in one place so I can tell what I own.

I have a feeling there are still a few items here that I could probably donate. I know of one sweater that is perfectly functional but I despise it. I just can’t get rid of it yet because it’s one of the few sweaters I can wear in public (the rest are too worn out). My winter wardrobe will have to be replaced next year but not until we have some money for clothes shopping.

Until then I will just enjoy knowing that I don’t have a bunch of clothes laying around that I never wear!

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Sorting through the coat closet

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I started applying what I’ve learned in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It’s already made a huge difference. I feel lighter, having gotten rid of unneeded and unwanted excess.

This is our coat closet at the top of the stairs.

before

after
I did a couple of things. First, I moved two pairs of shoes downstairs to our bedroom closet, hiking shoes that we only use a couple times per year. Second, I sorted through my jackets and coats, taking out four that I never wear. I kept four (which still seems excessive) because we do live in Washington and have colder temperatures 2/3 of the year. Because there is now extra room in the closet, I added Cin-Ru’s coat on the far left. Now I can enjoy seeing her coat and look forward to her wearing it.

My library bag is down on the floor. I add books to it throughout the week as I finish them and just grab the bag on my way out the door to the library.

I love the difference just half an hour made!

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Weekly goals

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I find that I get more done when I write down goals for the upcoming week. So here is what I am aiming to accomplish.

1 – At least four solid hours of Chinese studying. My February total was rather low (12 hours) and I plan to make more progress in March.

2 – Send out birthday cards for the sponsorship kiddos who have birthdays in March.

3 – Start applying what I’ve learned in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I plan to post separately about my thoughts regarding the book. In short – I loved it! I wanted to tackle something small today because I didn’t have enough time to go through my entire wardrobe. So I sorted through a stack of paperwork, tossed out at least 75% of it, and filed the rest. I’m so tickled to have the motivation to seriously make a difference in our home.

before

after
So much better!

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House –> Home

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Jeff and I are slowly turning our house into a home. We’ve ordered some long overdue furniture (a kitchen table) and are still adding to Zhi Zhi’s room (a dresser is on order). We’re also adding some small touches to the house, trying to make it look more inviting and homey.

Today we installed new curtains in our living room! The window has been bare for two years.

It is bare no longer!

I love these curtains. They aren’t fancy, but I like them.

If the cats don’t destroy them, we’ll be buying the same curtains (but longer) for the patio doors in the dining room. I can’t wait!

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Small change making a big difference

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Usually I exercise in the late afternoon while my husband is out for his run. Last week I decided to try something new. I started exercising in the morning after breakfast. What a difference it makes! I start the day off feeling productive and it carries me through the day.

Normally I spend way too much time in the mornings reading things online – Facebook, my RSS reader, a couple forums, my email, etc. For the last week, I’ve been allowing myself to browse the internet during breakfast but then I kick myself off the computer to exercise for 45 minutes to an hour. It really is making a huge difference. Because I’ve started the day off well, I continue getting things done. By three in the afternoon, I already feel like I’ve accomplished a lot. I think this is one schedule I will try to make a habit.

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UFO progress

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I’m so excited that I was able to make some progress on my 2014 UFO list today!

Home organization

    Spare bedroom
    Living room storage
    Pantry
    Clothes closet

This sink area is in our living room next to the fireplace. We don’t actually use the sink so I don’t have to worry about water dripping underneath into the storage area.

Before

After

Before, this cupboard was a complete mess. It was basically being used as a catch-all. I still don’t think it’s organized all that well and I would love to buy some more storage bins someday. But at least it’s much tidier now.

The containers on the right are for my knitting and quilting supplies (minus yarn and fabric). Next to that is my stack of cards and stationary, which is mainly used for our child sponsorship kiddos. Then there is a stack of remotes for the blu-ray player and cable box and Wii. AND there is a stack of office supplies like extra printer cartridges and printer paper. It’s still a catch-all but at least it’s now an organized catch-all.

I can’t believe that I was able to throw out half a bag of recyclable papers and half a bag of non-recyclable items. Where does all of the junk come from? I have a hard time fathoming where the clutter originates when we moved to Washington with our belongings backed into 14-ish boxes of books and the contents of our car. It’s amazing how much you can accumulate in a year and a half without even trying.

It feels good to be making some progress! Now what should I tackle next…?

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New Year’s resolutions

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I’ve always been a big fan of New Years because I love writing resolutions. I love the feeling of starting a new year with new goals and aspirations. Over the past year, however, I’ve discovered that I need something more than New Year resolutions. While they are inspirational, if I don’t make a detailed plan of how I am going to accomplish each resolution, I fail. I forget. I get derailed.

This year I’m going to do something different. I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions. Instead, I’m going to focus on just two things.

Bring my daughter home.

Finish all of the half completed projects around the house before we travel to Taiwan.

That’s it.

I get excited about projects, work on them for awhile, and then neglect them. As a result, I have at least a half dozen projects in various states of completion. A homemaker’s schedule. Several knitting projects. Two quilts. A recipe book.

There are probably a few other things as well. Over the next week, I’m going to walk around my house and poke into all of the bags and notebooks to find out what has been started but not completed. When our daughter comes home, I probably won’t have time for personal projects. We will be spending all of our time and energy helping her learn what it’s like to live in a family, teaching her English, and determining her education level. I’m sure we’ll be busy.

Maybe, in a way, I do have a New Year’s resolution – to go to Taiwan without any loose ends plaguing me. As I have no idea when we’re traveling, I don’t know how much time I have to complete everything. It will be at least six months but hopefully less than a year. I’d better get busy!

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December!

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November was a hard month. It seems like most of the month was spent waiting. Waiting for paperwork. Waiting for approvals, some of which arrived and some of which we are still waiting for. I was stressed a lot. Having my future in someone else’s hands is really, really hard, especially when it’s coupled with a complete lack of privacy. I feel like our personal, medical, and financial lives have been turned inside out and placed on display for the American government, our social worker, our adoption agency, and a Taiwan orphanage. I knew it was going to happen but wasn’t prepared for the roller coaster of emotions.

For a few weeks, I forgot to live the life I have now. We don’t know what the future holds. There are no guarantees that we will receive approval to adopt, no guarantees that we will have a daughter in 2014. But right now, I have a life to live. I need to continue developing my relationship with Christ, embrace my role as a wife, and encourage our sponsorship kids to the best of my ability.

December is going to be better! I am so thankful that December is here. We’re not buying a Christmas tree or presents this year but I still plan to make the most of the holiday spirit. I love the holidays, from the cheesy holiday films to the Christmas music to the peppermint mochas to the light displays. Here’s to a wonderful December and a memorable Christmas!

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Preparation Day, Week 1

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I feel more prepared for the Sabbath than I have in a long time. I made a conscientious effort this week to clean my house, to be mindful of what still needed to be done, and to make a plan for today.

On Wednesday and Thursday, I completed the majority of my house cleaning. This made it easier for me to focus today on the last minute things that needed to be done.

This morning I made a quick trip to the grocery store for what we need over the weekend. I washed the laundry so that we have clean clothes for church. The dishes are washed and the dishwasher emptied. The entire house is tidied.

I didn’t prepare our Sabbath meal in advance but I want to learn to do that in the future. If our friend goes to church with us tomorrow, we’ll stay for potluck. Otherwise we’ll come home and have pasta for lunch. (Is it possible to boil the noodles in advance so that everything just needs to be heated?)

All that’s left for today is to go for a run and put the clean sheets back on the bed. I’m ready to welcome the Sabbath!

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