Oh yeah, February!

This entry is going to be quick and dirty.  As you can see, it's late, very late.  Since the second week of February, I have been working 6 days a week, and the only day available for downtime usually finds me catching up on undone housework so we can have clean clothes and our home can look moderately presentable if anyone comes through the door.

To February's recap:

Financial/Savings:

Going to call this a win.  Instead of specifying which weeks from the 52 Weeks Money Challenge I wanted to save during February (a tactic that did not work in January), my goal was simply to save from each paycheque.  I was able to mark off weeks 50-52, and week 9.

The flip side of this goal was to keep up the "No Spending" challenge, again for at least 90% of the days in the month.  I completed 27 of 29 for 93%, I splurged on a calling card to keep in touch with my Mom (I could have gotten the minimum value, but I didn't, so, splurge), and bought a 50/50 ticket at work on the two missed days.

Mental/Emotional:

Definite win.  I completed Levels 2-4 and started Level 5 of Headspace Pro, and was seriously reminded of why I shouldn't expect new meditation packs all the time when there are so many that I need to keep repeating because I haven't got the hang of them yet.  Sitting in silence forces me to sit with myself and the thoughts that run around in my head and shine a light into the dusty corners of my psyche.  It's quite challenging, and sometimes I came out of the sessions feeling wrung out from all the bringing myself back that I had to do, but it is so worth it. 29 days of 29 done, my running total stood at 427 days straight at the end of February.

Physical:

The biggest change I made for the month of February was switching my workouts back to mornings, and moving my wake up time back from 6:30 to 5:30 a.m.  Last year it was a real challenge to get my workouts done after dragging myself home from 9, 10, sometimes 11 hour work days, so I decided to get back to waking up at a time I have been used to since I was about 16 years old.  This move made all the difference, and I was able to workout every week day in the month, which I haven't done since...forever.  I have a hard time getting up in the dark, but knowing that when I come home there's nothing major left to do that day feels really good and keeps me on track.

And, that's it.  The long and short of February.  Long and short.  Haha.

"January! You start the year off fine..."

Yes, that's a line from "Calendar Girl" by Neil Sedaka.  Yes, I know some music from the 1960's.  Although I favour country music, my taste can sometimes be labeled eclectic (if you want to be nice).

So, wow, it's 2016.  It's already the middle of February, or rather, given this month's abbreviated existence (even in a Leap Year), it's already the second half of February.  Time to review January and see what happened there.

I do believe I have found "planner peace", so far as the organisation and set-up of my Bullet Journal is concerned.  I toyed with the idea of "One Journal to Rule Them All", but decided that I enjoy compartmentalization entirely too much to want to combine into a single book everything I do so far as planning and organising my life.  Well, it was either that or admit that I do so much planning and organising that the one book would have to be hardbound and at least the size of one of those massive quire books I used to buy for a forgotten purpose at a job many moons ago.

So, for 2016, I will continue to use a multi-book set-up: an actual pre-printed weekly/monthly planner from Mead (yes, I went cheap this year) for my daily to-dos and work hours, alongside my spiral notebook from 2014 which is still going strong (I am too cheap to start a new book for the new year) for my daily log notes, and an interactive journal I bought from Chapters-Indigo (the store in Canada where I could cheerfully go bankrupt) with daily prompts to encourage a year of self-exploration.

I set myself some fairly simple goals for January, and today I took a look back through my various books and calendars and my Habit Tracker (located in my Bullet Journal) and decided maybe they were loftier than I thought (ha!).  To recap:

Financial - Start saving again using the 52 Week Money Challenge.  For the last couple of years I have managed to make it to the middle of this challenge, only to quit once the weeks/amounts started really adding up.  This year, I decided to start from the other end, working my way down the amounts, to align my goal with my income, which is higher in the winter and early spring because of my seasonal employment.  Well, I was a little slow out of the gate in January, and saved just enough to cover weeks 1-8 ($36), instead of weeks 52 and 51 ($103) as was my goal.  I have to call this one a miss.

On the win side for Financial, though, was my goal to not spend any money for at least 90% of the month, or 28 days out of 31.  I managed exactly the 28 days.  By "spending" I refer to anything no related to our needs for food, shelter and automobile expenses.  I am not even counting clothing, because I have enough in my closet to suit my various seasonal needs, and more besides, so clothing went on the chopped side of the list when I made this goal.  Similarly, although the tin of Tazo tea (Awake English Breakfast, seriously good tea) would count as food, I have more than a few varieties of tea in the kitchen, I could have kept my money in my pocket, but I didn't, so that day went on the "spending" side of the equation.

Mental/Emotional - Definitely a win here, as I continue to meditate daily with Headspace.  January saw me through to day 398, as I completed a repeat of the Self-Esteem pack, worked through the new Generosity pack, and started repeating the Pro packs (less guidance from Andy, more silence, extremely challenging for a mind that needs no encouragement to get caught up and lost in thought).

Physical - This may be a win?  The goal here was to complete a minimum of 3 workouts per week, and I actually did my 5 scheduled workouts for 3 weeks out of 4.  The off week I managed 2 workouts, but am seriously bummed that I couldn't motivate myself enough to even get on my yoga mat for 20 minutes for the one day needed to make this a certain win.  I've made some changes to my schedule for February that should hopefully make this easier this month.  You'll just have to read more rambling next month to find out how I did.

The definite miss on the physical goals was to establish a habit of going to bed by 9:30.  Read strictly, my Fitbit sleep logs tell me I managed that exactly 3 nights out of 31.  Yep, 3.  If I read more into the spirit of the goal instead of the letter, and interpret it loosely to mean "get to bed before 10:00 p.m.", I still only managed that for 16 out of 31 nights (and some of those days are rather iffy, because really, not a few of them were like 9:57 p.m.).  Again, I decided a schedule change had to happen in February, so look for that goal to come around again.

Interests/Hobbies - Anyone who knows me, and quite a few who don't, knows I read for pleasure.  To that end, it might seem strange that I decided to track my reading days in my Habit Tracker, but I decided it might be worth tracking because lately I haven't done as much as I would like.  In December, I managed 14 of 31 days, in January I brought it up to 21.  That still leaves 10 days in the month when I didn't do the one thing I enjoy more than anything else.  That's 10 days I didn't make time for what I love to do.  What was I so busy doing I didn't make time for me that way?

I also set a goal to use the calligraphy supplies I received for Christmas every day to practice my lettering, with a goal to learning the Italics alphabet to at least a competent standard by the end of the year.  I managed 15 days out of the 31 in January, this even after realising that it only takes me 15 minutes to write the entire alphabet in miniscule (common, or small letters) and majuscule (capitals).  There's another pleasurable activity that I couldn't spare 1% of the day for.  So, some work is called for here to make sure I balance the increased work hours with downtime to rejuvenate.

Well, it's been snowing all day this Family Day, the rest of my family is reposed in front of the television, so I think it's time to go and hang with them again.

My Journal System for 2016

Encouraging myself to practice

Calligraphy supplies, courtesy of G

Downtime

November!

Dear November,

It's a good thing I kept those "Daily Download" notes in my Bullet Journal, otherwise, I would have a really hard time right now remembering what even happened in a month that seemed to speed by before I was ready for it to be here, let alone done!

So, what happened in November?

November marks the birth dates of some very important people in my life.  First up was G, in the first week of the month.  I girded up my loins for the idea, and booked us dinner at a restaurant in the town of Blind River, knowing I would have to drive at night for the occasion, something I have assiduously avoided whenever possible.  I am pleased to say, both the dinner and driving went smoothly, and we greatly enjoyed the experience.  I chose the experience to be my gift, instead of an item, as he's never eaten at that restaurant before.

In the second week of November, it was my younger brother's birthday, and Remembrance/Veterans' Day.  I was able to spend a half hour or so with him on Skype, in video messaging, and got the ten cent tour of his home and yard, to boot.  I loved every minute of it, moments like that call are what take the edge off how far away I live from my family.

In the fourth week of November, my youngest brother celebrated his birthday.  2015 has been a significant year for him, he has made great personal and professional strides, and he celebrated the day with thanksgiving in a way that touched my heart.  I love nothing more than seeing my loved ones succeed, and he is going for his success with a determination and focus I admire.

November also marked several changes.  First up, there was the end of Daylight Saving Time.  Hallelujah.  We all know how I feel about it, so I won't belabour how happy I am to be given the reprieve I wait all year for.  It was also time to get the tires on our vehicle switched from summer to winter tyres, and a semi-annual checkup, done with its usual speed and care.

November was a good month for my physical fitness goals: of 21 week days I missed a total of 4.  I began tracking my water intake in my BuJo, as I have noticed that I am struggling to drink even nominal amounts of water on a daily basis, even though we are at the time of year when the presence of heat indoors means one loses even more water through the skin.  I also decided to start getting up early again, and for November and December set myself the goal of making it out of bed before 6 a.m. at least 3 weekday mornings per week, and succeeded for November.

November brought some fun as well, in the form of a pen pal group forming out of the Bullet Journal Junkies Facebook group.  I received my first letter from a "pal" in southern Ontario, and mailed off a letter to a chosen pal in Australia.  I had great fun writing the letters: in this day and age of constant contact on social network platforms such as Facebook, it is surprising to realise that we really still don't know a person, and that methods such as letter writing can help us to learn about others.  I know, I know...I rail against DST as a relic of a bygone age, but I write letters on paper and send them via snail mail?  Yes.

There was light snow a couple of times in November, but the weather remained mild.  I did some serious praying to the weather gods as the end of the month loomed and our trip to southern Ontario hastened up my to-do list.  All I asked for was the mild weather to continue into the first weekend of December, so that my first long driving trip would not be complicated further by poor road conditions.  Obviously, we made it safely, as it's now past, but I'll share details in the post for December!

BuJo hack: I use the flags to stamp on, so no bleed through of the ink to the other side!

Studying.  Yes, our tree went up in November!

Supposedly, that's a people-only couch he's so relaxed on.