Friday, February 6, 2009

For Just One Week

To learn more about For Just One Week click here.




Ok, I keep hearing some of you say "I want to try this but I'm just not ready." Or, "I'm going to do this but I need to figure out what goal I want to tackle first." To those of you who are saying this I have a challenge for you.

1. Start small. Even something as little as giving your child a hug everyday, or saying, "I'm beautiful," in the mirror everyday, or snuggling with your husband for 1 minute everyday will make an awesome difference in your week.
2. Don't think too hard about your goal. It is just for one week, not a month, a year, or a lifetime. It can be a silly, simple, or down right crazy goal. If you can't think of a goal ask one of your kids for ideas because it isn't so much about the goal but about the accomplishment.

This leads me to an observation I've been making about this For Just One Week thing. I had a mental list of goals I wanted to do and had the thought of putting them in some kind of order so I would know which ones to work on next. A pretty neat thing has been happening, though. I have found that some (many) of the other goals I wanted to work on are just happening on their own. For example, I have been brushing and flossing my teeth every night before bed, I turned the TV off for this whole last week, one week I exercised everyday, and I have been eating better and have even lost five pounds since starting this. I don't know why this is happening but I love it. It has shown me that all that matters is that I stay in the mind frame of accomplishing small things on a daily basis. After all, it is through small things that great things come to pass.

And on to the weekly report:

I don't think I have written this consistently in my journal since I was 14 years old. And I had a huge wake up call to the sorry state of my handwriting. Not the way it looks, just my ability to do it. I write lists all the time and take occasional notes, but that is pretty much it. I found that to write by hand for such long periods (10 minutes) really hurts! Isn't that sad? And I realized that my writers bump (you know the one where the pencil rests on your finger) is almost non existent. I used to take great pride in my gargantuan bump. But I did it. Every day this week I wrote in my journal and read my scriptures. Yay!

I also got dressed and put on makeup every day this week. Most of you are probably doing this all the time and might think it a silly goal, but for me it was huge. HUGE! I can't tell you how nice it was not to worry that someone might stop by at 2pm and catch my in my jammies without a bra on (so gross!).

The Valentine goal taught me a lesson, much like my old goal of taking the kids somewhere fun everyday. It is not a good idea to try to do the same thing everyday with your kids. They get tired of it, or you get tired of it, or it just can't happen. It was different when I was homeschooling and we had the time to do these things, but now that the kids are in public school we just don't have much time for big things like this everyday. But... BUT, I'm still glad I set this goal because we actually made some Valentines and have some more in the works and that is more than I've ever been able to do for Valentine's Day. EVER. So it was a good thing.
.

And for this next week:

I will use my sewing machine for at least 10 minutes everyday.

I will deep clean one area of my home every day. Monday-family room. Tuesday-backyard. Wednesday-mud room. Thursday-the shed. Friday-living room. And Saturday- the office.

And to help me accomplish these Herculean feats of domesticity I will not turn on my computer except between the hours of 12 and 3, and only if I've done a 3 subject homeschool day with Monster Man.

Now, are you going to take my challenge? Start small, start simple, and if you don't feel better about yourself after one week feel free to stick your tongue out at me.

What will you do? Write a post about your weekly goal(s) and share it here. Please make sure to link to your individual post and not just your regular blog url. Thanks!


6 comments:

Ally said...

I'm in. I've been wanting to for weeks, just haven't gotten organized yet. But I'm ready to go now.

Thanks for doing this. I think you're brilliant! ;-)

Laura's Linoleum said...

Highway Hunter
(Marilyn Robertson)

Cho: Don't you cry, baby. Daddy'll be home soon
He's out on the road lookin' for a toad or
Part of a fresh raccoon
He'll make you a possum sandwich or maybe a rabbit snack
So don't you worry, baby, Daddy'll be right back

Now times are rough and you can't get enough,
Sometimes you're full of fear
Money and love and even stars above
Are gettin' dimmer every year.
But when it comes to eatin'
You'll always be in clover
Just head out for the highway.
And see what's been run over.

Now we never have to worry
Coz there's always a fresh supply
Of wild deer and frog and family dog
All running out on the highway to die,
No need to let them lie there,
Ground in by the wheels --
You can have a fur wrap and a feather cap
And a couple of good hot meals.

So let's all hear it for Detroit
Keep rolling out them cars.
We'll stock our shelves with moose and elk
And Siamese cat preserved in jars,
Pickled porcupine peppers,
Smoked chihuahua meat --
The more we build those highways,
The more we'll have to eat.

Ice Cream said...

Hee hee,
thanks, Laura, for sending that to me. It brought back many memories and is just as funny as I remember. Now if only I could get an audio of you, Vic, and Rachel singing it together it would be perfect. =)

Packer Family said...

Ok I'm back in:) The hardest part for me is writing the goal down:) I almost made that my goal:)

Lara said...

That's what I have found with my habits. When I'm in improvement mode I do better with everything and I feel like superwoman!

Unknown said...

ack! I need a reminder to do this. I have actually taken down my blog time so that's one goal accomplished. I need to set an actual specific goal and take part in this next week!

oh, and I tend to do the stay in my pj's and not put on makeup thing too. just like you i am afraid someone will come knocking and catch me in my yuckiness.