Reflecting on Q1 2009

Can you believe it’s April and we’ve already gone through a quarter of 2009? My year so far has been productive…

This year I committed to reading through the Bible (with the help of "the Preacher's" devotional blog.)  As of today, we’ve finished the first eight books of the Bible and we’re currently enjoying 1 Samuel.  I am pretty proud of myself for staying on task and being more dedicated in spending time in His Word.  What a blessing it’s been!

I’ve also committed to being more intentional in my prayer life.  How often do we say… “we just need to pray about it” and then not spend time in focused prayer about “it”? How many times do we tell people “I’ll pray for you” with good intentions and then walk off and forget to pray?  I’m really working on being truly purposeful when I pray.

Someone who I am in constant prayer for is Baby Stellan and his family… please continue to remember them in your prayers. And if you haven’t seen this post about Stellan's Name Gallery, I encourage you to read it… it’s just so moving to me.

Another area of focus has been our family finances and budget during the first quarter of 2009.  I keep all my info on Quicken, and it’s easy to get behind on entering daily transactions.  So, I’ve been trying really hard to keep it caught up … which makes paying bills and balancing checkbooks much less time consuming.  I’ll continue to focus on this as well as trying to stay well within my budget parameters in the coming quarter.

Also, since January… I’ve been enjoying so many of my favorite reality TV shows.  ‘24’ (which I so wish was ‘48’); “American Idol”; “Amazing Race”; and a little bit of “Survivor” (I’m not a die-hard Survivor fan).  ‘24’ has me sleeping a little less at night – Just HOW is Jack going to get out of this situation??  On Idol, I’m still rootin’ for Kris and Danny, but I gotta say that our Arkansas boy, Kris, has totally become my front runner.  The boy can sing. (I’ve also gotta tell you that I picked Carrie Underwood and David Cook from Hollywood week of their respective years.  Just saying. Go Kris.)  I’m still liking the mom and son team on “Amazing Race” – momma got HOT this week – and gave us a scare!!  And I don’t have any favorites on “Survivor” because I just haven’t gotten that into it YET.

As for fitness… I’ve been working on that for years, but so far this year I’m down 7 1/2 pounds and will start with my second 12-week “challenge” next Monday. (See my fitness journal if you want to see my progress) I have no trouble staying committed to exercise, but it takes a large effort to stay on track in the area of eating for me.  Most people that know me, know that I am very strong in the area of willpower, but I’m at the point in my life that it takes a whole lot of effort to be able to lose any amount of weight. Oh, the joys of aging. Message to self – keep on keeping on. 

And speaking of fitness…

Jodi’s daughter, Jessica just started blogging.  Jess works at a running store where they specialize in doing gait analysis and helping customers find just the right shoe fit for their sport.  I’ve bought all my running shoes there for the past several years.  If you are serious about working out – especially cardio – you need to make sure you have proper shoes! I’m a big believer.  Jess is also a runner and is training to run a marathon.  Crazy, I know!  Her blog has some really interesting insight into running.  Stop by and check her out… and if you know some other serious runners who blog… give her some recommendations.

As for the second quarter of 2009 …

I am planning to better organize how/when I clean house. I cannot seem to find a plan that works for me.  Any recommendations? Do y’all clean a room a day? Do a task a day? Talk to me people… especially you “cleanies”.