Things I'd like to do regularly....

I would love to do some things regularly. For example, I would love to...

... invite people over for dinner after church on Sundays.
... sit down and plan out my week on Sunday evening.
... have one day to file and organize paperwork.
... run 3 days a week.
... invite people over for a party once a month.
... meet with a friend once a month to do cooking for the freezer.


I just don't know how to plan things well enough to actually follow through on the things I want to do.

If we fail to plan, we plan to fail....

I need to remake my plan, revisit my priorities, and reboot my life. It's time to start over. My house is a mess, my waist is becoming a body clutter hot spot, and I can't seem to stay on top of anything! I need help!!

So I'm taking a deep breath (*inhale* *exhale*) and I'm taking a good hard look at what my life looks like and what I want it to look like, what sacrifices I'm willing to make to get it to look like that, and how I'm going to get there. So let's start with the ideal...

In my ideal world, I am not sleep deprived. So I should probably be going to bed much sooner than I do now, as it is close to 1am when I am writing this... But because we are dealing in ideals here, I'm just going to think about how my ideal day would go. It would go something like this...

Morning
6am - get up, eat breakfast, read my Bible, check email
6:30 - yoga / stretching
7:00 - Eliana up, dressed, get her breakfast, read her a Bible story while she eats.
7:30 - laundry into the washer, cardio with Eliana
8:30 - Eliana watches PBS while I do strength training
9:00 - shower
9:15 - dressed, hair, makeup
9:30 - ready to go out the door for the day (on days in town), empty dishwasher, dinner thawing/in crock pot
10:00 - laundry into the dryer, blog / spark people
10:30 - activities with Eliana and around the house
11:30 - lunch
12:00 - Eliana plays by herself while I fold / put away laundry
12:30 - clean zones / hot spots and tidy up
1:00 - art activities with Eliana or playing outside
2:30 - snack time
3:00 - quiet time reading books and reading Eliana a Bible story
4:00 - Eliana plays by herself or watches a video while I get the house cleaned up before Leif comes home
5:00 - cooking dinner
6:00 - dinner time
7:00 - Eliana gets a bath and gets ready for bed while I do Mary Kay
8:00 - Eliana's bed time and I clean up the dinner dishes
8:30 - craft / me time
9:30 - bedtime routine
10:00 - bedtime

Whew! I'm sort of tired just reading all this stuff and typing it out! But it looks like the biggest thing I will need to change if I want to make exercise a priority is going to bed earlier and getting up earlier. I love to sleep in and I love to stay up late, but I just don't think it's conducive to the healthy lifestyle I want to maintain. So... that looks like the first change I will have to make. Bed by 10, up at 6. We'll see how that works.

But for now it's 1:15 am and I really ought to get some sleep. I won't be up by 6 tomorrow morning, but if I don't go to sleep now I'll be lucky to be up by 10!

Meals for December 14-20

Sunday (12/14) - Costco Rotisserie Chicken {Picture taking at Meg's}

Monday (12/15) - DAY 2 - Chicken Tortilla Soup {Watching Zach and Kat 10-4}

Tuesday (12/16) - DAY 3 - Mandarin Salad with Chicken {Making cookies at Erika's 10-4, TNL 7-9}

Wednesday (12/17) - DAY 4 - Fishsticks {Bible Study/Christmas party, Movie watching at Taylor's}

Thursday (12/18) - Out to eat? {Home all day}

Friday (12/19) - DAY 5 - Fried potatoes and onions {Erika over to craft all day}

Saturday (12/20) - DAY 1 - Open Face Broiled Sandwiches {Leif skiing all day}

Emergency Backpack

I'm updating our emergency backpack today. I realized it's been a while since I've done it and with the subzero temperatures again, it was a good reminder that I need to do that again.

Plus, our water is turned off again today. I don't know why, but it's the second time in about a month they've had the water in River Rock turned off. It's pretty frustrating when you realize you need water to do everything, from making soup for dinner to making mac and cheese for the kids. Lucky for me, though, I had some water in that emergency backpack, too.

There's not too much in the bag, but here's what we have already gathered together if we ever need to leave in a hurry:

Clothes for Elizabeth (pants, socks, sweatshirt, t-shirt, underwear)
Clothes for Leif (pants, socks, underwear, t-shirt, insulated shirt)
Clothes for Eliana (pants, shirt, sweater, socks, 5 diapers, wipes)
Hot Hands Warmers (3 sets)
Notebook and Pencil (to write down information if we need it, or for Eliana to draw on)
2 liters filtered water
Granola bars
Trail mix of nuts and dried fruit
Flashlight with extra batteries
Roll of toilet paper
Sample size packets of body care products (shampoo, etc.)
Walmart bags for trash, etc.

Everything (clothes, etc.) is in ziplock bags in case the bag gets wet.

TO-DO

In no particular order, I need to...

... Wash the dishes from Sunday's party and put them away
... Make the bed
... Personalize the books for Marcus and Brooklyn
... Call MK people
... Fold the laundry in the dryer
... Pick up the playroom
... Pick up Ellie's bedroom
... Pick up my bedroom and closet
... Finish Christmas cards
... Write Christmas letter
... Take Christmas picture
... Take pictures off D300
... Blog reading Christmas stories with Ellie
... Record Daily December