Seventeen in '17 Update: January

Alright, time for update number one!  January went by in a total blur; I honestly cannot believe that tomorrow is the first day of February.  With that being said, I was able to work on a few things on my 17 in '17 list!  I count this as a huge victory since "blur" usually means "nothing gets done besides the absolute basics".  Let's go through this one-by-one, shall we?

1.)  Finish Amalia's room redo. - Nope.  Didn't get done.  But Mollie has impressed upon me how important this is for her, so I think this might just be the next project.

2.)  Make our quilt. - I did it!  Well, maybe I should say WE did it.  My mom and sister have made tons more quilts than I have, so I enlisted their help to get this one done.  Christine did the majority of the cutting, Mom did the pinning, the ironing, and the final quilting, and I did the piece sewing and helped feed the quilt to my mom while she worked it through her sewing machine for the quilting.  I am so excited about how it turned out.  (Though now that I look at the picture, I think my husband may have put it on the bed sideways ... still lovely, sideways or not.)

3.)  Make/get the kids Traveler's notebooks. - I didn't get that done, but I think that events (i.e., some impressive meltdowns) this month highlighted to me why I want to get this done.

4.)  Find a new doctor. - I worked on this a bit, but I haven't scheduled an appointment with one yet.  Hopefully this will happen in February.

5.)  Exercise at least five days a week. - This didn't happen, but I got pretty close to it.  I exercised all the days I actually could, so I'm going to chalk this one to a win.

6.)  Stop eating by 9:30 p.m. - I was successful about half the time with this one.  I think more awareness of what time it is will help me be more successful.

7.)  Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. - Nope.  Not once.  The closest I got was 6 hours and 45 minutes, and a couple of the days I didn't get above 6 hours.  *sigh*  We'll see how it goes this month.

8.)  Drink more water. - I was able to do this most days, and I was particularly successful on days I exercised as well.

9.)  Clean off my desk and maintain it.  - *sigh*  Nope.

I mean, it looks slightly better than this now, but I still have to move a bunch of stuff if I want to sit down or actually use my desk.  Definitely need to work on this one.

10.)  Get the unfinished side of the basement into a usable state. - Um ...

Not so much.

11.)  Keep the counter cleaned off. - One end has been stubborn ...

 ... the other end has been more cooperative, but still not ideal.

12.)  Add recipes to my repertoire. - No success here.  I need to work on this one a little more diligently.

13.)  Take more pictures. -  I definitely succeeded at this one!  My family wasn't always thrilled about it, though.

14.)  Write five blog posts per month. - I did not accomplish this one entirely, but this is my third post so I consider that a vast improvement.

When last I wrote, this was the end of the list, three shy of a full seventeen.  Since then I have come up with a couple more goals.

15.)  Do something each week to support or further a cause I believe in. - With the new administration making good on so many of its campaign promises, it has not been difficult for me to find ways to meet this goal.  I started out with the Women's March, then wrote to representatives in my state about 38 "under-performing" schools that may close this year, called three U.S. senators to voice opposition to the nomination of Betsy DeVos, and wrote our two Michigan senators about the rollback of environmental regulations.

 As more issues arise, more opportunities to help will undoubtedly present themselves, and I look forward to doing all I can to lend support.

16.)  Keep a gratitude log. - I have noticed my stress level rising as of late, and I am hoping focusing on what I am grateful for will help lift the fog a bit.

I still have yet to come up with the seventeenth goal, but that is my temporary goal for the coming month.


I look forward to the February update!