4 Priorities

It seems that everyone is touting having 4 priorities that you focus your attention on:

Zen Habits

Far Beyond the Stars

Live It With Less - The Big 4

So I have been doing a lot of thinking about my big 4.

Right now, I am concentrating less on what I ultimately want to do, and more on what will get me there, therefore my big 4 for the month of May is:

1. Get the girls' promoted to 3rd grade (they are due to graduate to 2nd, but their teacher agrees with me they would be bored in 2nd and do better in 3rd)- so far I have met with their teacher, who gave her blessing and recommended that I meet with the principal. I have emailed the principal and intend to call her tomorrow. I understand they don't have a history of skipping students, but I think my girls deserve to be in a class that challenges them.

2. Finish all projects in the home that I am responsible for and continue decluttering. I have finished all the pillows, curtains, and cushions for the den. I am waiting for my husband to help me finish making the covered buttons and once I sew those on, the den is done. I have cut and started sewing the kitchen curtains. I have cut the curtains, shams, and roll pillow covers for the bedroom. I hope to have all this sewn tonight. Then all I will have to do is paint our family tree painting. I am decluttering each day, never purging less than 5 items a day. Husband is collecting them all in the garage for an upcoming garage sale.

3. Get work in order. Ugh. This is the one I am dreading. Due to a family emergency and several doctor appointments last week, I have only been at work less than 2 days in the last 2 weeks. I have errands to run in the morning and intend to stay a little later each day this week to try to catch up.

4. Blog. I want to keep this blog up to date as much as possible, not just to track my progress on simplifying, but also to document my recent art projects, home projects, and general goings on. I have a tendency to start and not finish and I want to make this blog a priority..

Now onto sewing! The faster I get this stuff done, the faster I can get to organizing and decluttering, which is much more fun right now!

Love to start, never to finish...

I am always starting something new- scarves, blankets, banners, etc., but rarely finish anything unless it is for payment. So in that tradition, I start a new blog. My older blogs all felt very specific, as though different ideas should go in their own blogs. One blog for work, one for art, one for family. This blog, hopefully, will attempt to combine all of my life into one cohesive reading and writing experience.

Hopefully this will be a fresh start for me in many ways. I am trying to make some changes overall and perhaps a new blog will motivate me towards a new me.

Now, about me: I'm a 40 year old mom to 3, one teen boy and twin preteen girls, wife to one fabulous hubby, fur-mommy to two cats and one Yorkie-poo. I work part-time (supposedly, ends up being more full-time mostly) as a 4K preschool teacher/director at my church. I love to crochet, paint, read, sew, camp, hike, and generally do anything crafty. I love children and would have 20+ kids if my husband would agree, as evidenced by my job and volunteer work. I used to be a Musical Theatre major in college and love to sing and dance. My dream job would either be a librarian or an artist. My favorite thing to do is to dream up new ideas. I am better at envisioning things than following through with them. I tend to be a jack of all trades, master of none. I have a propensity to be a workaholic, though nothing seems to ever get finished.

Current projects I am working on:

Weekly Bible Study: Sacred Romance



Bible Study with Girls: Self-made study on fruits of the spirit, this week we are starting on "love/agape". I found a great website that allows you to look up the original language for any verse, then find verses that use the same word. Helpful, since there are multiple words translated into "love." The website is www.searchgodsword.org.

Crafts with Girls: Both are learning to make potholders on a loom- they are finding this thrilling. Twin2 got a sewing kit which has pre-punched felt with yarn for sewing. It is actually on her level, though she finds the loom more fun right now.

Crocheting: I have started 2 afghans for my craft room. Afghan1 is a ripple using a pattern called "Warm Waves" from this book-


I am using the pink, blue, yellow, and green colors in this yarn-

Afghan2 is in brighter colors and uses a shell pattern from the same book.

I'll try to get pics up later.

Reading:

I just finished The Forgotten Garden. Some say it is overwritten, but I love her flowery, descriptive prose. The story itself was interesting, and the multiple timelines made it unfold in a way that heightened the mystery. It helped that I read it while we camped, so there were very few distractions.

Meal Plan for the week:

Tonight- Chili (canned with added ingredients made by hubby while I was hosting auditions for the children's play at church)
Monday- Homemade Chicken and Dumplings from scratch from Southern Living January 2010. New recipe for the week...
Tuesday- Leftovers
Wednesday- Mini-Meatloafs, Cheese Grits, Salad
Thursday- Grilled chicken, pasta, and a green vegetable
Friday- Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches (hubby cooks!)
Saturday- Chicken Tortellini Soup from cooks.com
Sunday- Hamburger Steak (hubby cooks!)