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Thursday, April 2, 2009

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…

Read the Bible

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.

stellanprayers

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.

Finances

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.

TV

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.

Scale

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…

Jessica

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 …

Organizing the house room by room

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”.

13 comments:

Kelley said...

Jacquie, it sounds like you are doing great with all of your goals. To the cleaning thing, I try to clean on Thursday nights in the summer so I don't have to waste the weekend cleaning. But most the of the time I have to clean on Saturday mornings. I clean all of the bathrooms first. I have to start with bathrooms because it is my least favorite thing to clean.
We really live in our house. So it takes forever just to pick up. Then I clean one end of the house and make my way to the other. I dust every week. I clean one room at a time.

Kyla @ The Simpsons said...

J, I love that you included your reality tv shows in your year up to date. Totally my kind of girl :)
Haha

Kelly said...

I made a schedule for myself where I do all the dusting on Monday& Fridays,vacuum and mop on tues and sat, clean the kitchen well on wed (with wipe downs after each meal), and bathrooms on thursday.
Of course it all depends on naps whether i get it all done. I constantly pick up the house.
It helps to break it down to one task or one room a day and then you don't have to spend hours on the weekend doing it all.

His Doorkeeper said...

Here's my schedule: When the dust bunnies are taking over the house, I sweep/vaccuum. When you can't put another dish in the sink, I empty the dishwasher and refill. When the kitchen island is so full of mail and clutter, I move the pile to my office until time allows sorting. Just keep moving piles of clutter until one day you forget what that pile contains and just throw it all out!!!!

Oh, the schedule of spring cleaning.......wait till fall!!!
har har har

Kayla said...

The other day I was just thinking, wow we're already a quater into the year!!
Haha Judy's comment cracked me up!

At my apartment, I don't even touch the living room or the kitchen, so that only leaves my room and bathroom. I don't have a schedule. Just when it gets messy! At K's I pretty much clean something up when he's busy with something so I'm not just sitting there. I've been trying to make Sunday's the cleaning day there so I don't nap. I still somehow manage to work that nap in hehe.

The Graves Gang said...

With 6 kids still at home -- the good 'ole "Chore Chart" sure comes in handy!!!

Becky said...

Sounds like you are right on track for the Q.

I clean my entire house all in one day. Now remember my schedule is probably different from most peeps because of my job. I work different days of the week, so I don't clean on any particular day. However, I NEVER clean on the weekends, no way, no how!!! When I used to have a normal 8 - 5 job, 5 days a week, I designated Thursday night as clean house night. I always dust everyroom, clean bathrooms next, vacuum and lastly I sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Nikki said...

I like to read the fly lady. You can find her at theflylady.com. My sister put me on to her. I can stay on task I just clean way to deep to often so I don't get a lot done at one time. She will give you suggestions on how to stay on track and get more done.

petrii said...

Jacquie,
Where do I even begin? I am so proud of you girl!! The way you tackle your goals girl is inspirational!!!

7 1/2 lbs, gone ~~ budget, on task ~~ and I'm most proud of you for your Scripture reading. That is just awesome. Keep up the good work girl. I wish I had some really great advice for cleaning house, normally I would, but right now I'm a keepmyheadabovewater(dirty dishes)kind of cleaner =)

Love you friend, dawn

PS I am checking out theflylady.com!!

MiMi said...

I so enjoyed reading your reflections and you have challenged me in some areas of my own. You are doing so good and I only wish I would tackle MY goals as well as you do yours!

Thanks for challenging me!

Lauren said...

I TOTALLY can relate to you on the prayer aspect Jacquie! I needed to read that today. MISSED you too, my friend!! :o)

Heather said...

Yay for Kris!!! Sounds like you are doing amazingly well in all areas! I just finished studying 1 Samuel (which I LOVE) and am now mainly in 2 Samuel.
Hope you're having a great weekend!

Leigh Ann said...

I love this post. So many things you wrote are things I'm thinking! I'm so proud of you and your fitness regime. You are motivating me! Stellan's name gallery gets me, too! There is just something so beautiful about it. Okay, I just told Derek last night I HAVE to get some sort of cleaning schedule. I don't know if it is having two small children, but I cannot for the life of me stay on top of it and I'm constantly running around picking up stuff and cleaning! It's driving me crazy. Soooo, if you figure this out, PLEASE let me in on it! Hope you had a great weekend, Jacquie!