Seventeen in '17 Update: February

I realize it is already March, but I thought I'd better do my February update before much more time passed.

February was less of a blur than January, so I felt a little more aware of my time and a little more able to get a handle on some things.  Here's how my 17 in '17 list went this past month ...

1.)  Finish Amalia's room redo. - I did it!  I even got it started one day and was able to return to it within a couple of days to finish, thereby keeping it from falling into the projects-I-started-but-never-finished category.  Mollie even helped take some photographs while I worked on converting the frames into her gallery.

She was such a good little helper!

After all the frames were converted - eye hooks, filament wire, and small clothespins added - my dear girl told me how she wanted everything laid out.  We took this picture - which is, of course, sideways because my camera just couldn't figure out what was going on - to help us measure the space between each frame so I could get it up on the wall just the way she wanted.

I think it turned out pretty darn great, if I do say so myself.

Mollie also asked if we could figure out a way to allow her to put the titles of each picture up as well, just like a real gallery, so we added six 3M clips to the walls as well.  Once she added some of her artwork, it started looking like a real gallery!

2.)  Exercise at least five days a week. - I was not as successful here as I was last month.  I only exercised nine days out of the whole month, but there were some extenuating circumstances that did keep me active ... like physically bringing 114 cases of Girl Scout cookies into our home and then getting them distributed to other Girl Scouts and customers as quickly as possible.

I did manage to find my favorite Pilates DVDs (that I thought I had accidentally donated), so hopefully I'll be able to use them to round out my exercise routine and to fill in on the days when I don't have time to run on the treadmill.  Yay!

3.)  Clean off my desk and maintain it. - Nope.  This did not happen.  It is ever so slightly better in a couple spots and a little worse in others.  Hopefully I can tackle this a little bit more in March.

4.)  Get the unfinished side of the basement into a usable state. - I made a little headway with this one at the very end of the month.  I went through the gigantic mountain of boxes and whittled it down into a more reasonable stack, few of which are nested into each other making it easier to get at each and every box.  Some might contend that I have kept too many boxes, but I kept what I wanted and I am comfortable with that.  Hopefully I will be able to go through more of the basement this month.

5.)  Make/get the kids' Traveler's notebooks. - I haven't done this yet, but I did make the kids something I put in my own notebook.  I found the idea on several YouTube videos and thought it would be fun and simple enough for them to do.  It is called My Life in Pixels; each day you fill in a little box according to how you felt your day went.  Each color coordinates to a different emotion (e.g., happy, sad, angry) or state of being (e.g., relaxed, stressed, productive) that I can use to show how my day went.  I chose to use only one color for each day, but the kids have decided to split some or all of their boxes in two.

6.)  Stop eating by 9:30 p.m. - I was only successful with this 16 of 28 days, but the days I ate after 9:30 I did a reasonably good job of not overeating.

7.)  Get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. - I was actually successful with this two of the nights in February!  Is that even close to my goal?  Nope.  But it's two more nights than I was able to do in January, so it's an improvement.  Baby steps, right?

8.)  Write at least five blog posts per month. - I wrote four blog posts last month, and I would have had five if I had managed to get this written last month when I intended to.  Not too bad!

9.)  Keep the counter cleaned off. - The counter got pretty bad at a couple points this month (right around when the cookies arrived), but I was able to get it mostly cleaned off, at least at one end.  This end, though has been incredibly stubborn and is the pile I will be tackling in the next few days.  The thought of what important information might be hidden in there is uncomfortable for me.  

10.)  Make our quilt. - The quilt is still made and having it has increased the amount of times our bed has been made in the last month.  Score!

11.)  Find a new doctor. - This one sat on the back burner in February.  I am hoping to get more done with this in March so I don't end up having to delay any appointments.

12.)  Drink more water. - I am having trouble really telling whether or not I was successful with this because I haven't properly quantified "more" water.  I think this month is a good time to define exactly what that means and then try to reach that goal.

13.)  Add recipes to repertoire. - I did not add any new recipes this month, but my husband cooked a couple times and tried out some new things.  I did manage to add back in something we used to make a lot - fajitas!  They are awesome, but since they do somehow create a lot of dishes to do it'll have to be made on nights when we have a little extra time.

14.)  Take more pictures. - I took a decent amount of pictures in February, though it was a little more sporadic than January.

I took a bunch when the kids decided to clean the wagon at my parents' house on one of the nicer days of the month.

 And I took some when the guys worked on Baylor's whittling project for Cub Scouts - though most of them will remain in my computer since he did most of the work without a shirt on.  He did such a great job, though!  And with a real pocket knife, too!

15.)  Do something each week to support or further a cause I believe in. - This one was more difficult in February, if only because of the sheer onslaught of craptastic-ness that was coming out of Washington D.C.  If their strategy is to overwhelm us with the amount of awfulness they can achieve in one month, then they are winning.  But that is a different blog post.

16.)  Keep a gratitude log. - I was able to start up and keep a gratitude log this month.  It is inspired by the one Kara keeps over at Boho Berry, and I really enjoyed being able to use either script or pictures to show my gratitude.  Can't wait to use this again this month!

 And now for the 17th goal for this year ...

17.)  Teach Baylor and Amalia how to catch (and throw). - Yes, you read that right.  I want to teach the kids to catch and throw this year.  They are nearly eight-and-a-half and seven, respectively, and it is high time they learn this skill.  Even if they don't end up playing any sports where these skills are valued, it still would be nice to know that I could toss something to them and have them actually catch it.  We were able to formally practice one day last month, so I'm hoping that this month we can start in earnest.

Gotta hit the ground running for March!