B.S.C.

this and that

ahh...the first month of the year over already. 

where exactly did that the time go?

our little family had a good month. some new experiences and some really good family time.  i can't usually say that about january as eric is always so busy with work this time of year.  but he found a little balance (i said a LITTLE) and often made it home as the girls were going to bed so he was able to kiss them good night. 

and we had two really good get aways this month.  one in spokane and one on the river.  i love being east of the mountains.

personally, i felt like i really tuned into my one little word, focus. 

i focused on one thing at a time and was able to get some good time in with my girls, eric, maintaining the house, work, cooking, baking, crafting and exercising. without the hustle and bustle of the holidays, i was much more efficient this month. 

i worked on a couple of tiny, easy crafts this weekend

a felt garland and a pom pom garland for valentine's day

and i printed and framed a few 5 X 7 subway art signs to give away

i also started my project life last night.  this year, i'm not taking a picture a day.  just doing a month at a glance photo book.  much less demanding and WAY less time consuming.  

tonight annie created an exercise corner in her room

yes, it bothers me that it's not left to right but it still cracks me up.

she put two pillows below the sign. you have to understand how she explains it to me.  super fast like all in one breath while she's demonstrating. it went something like this 

"FIRSTYOURUNANDTHENYOUJUMPANDTHENYOUFALLASLEEPLIKETHIS (drop in a heap on the pillows n the floor)

and then gracie and i just look at each other, roll our eyes and giggle. A LOT.

and gracie likes to read to herself even after we've read together for roughly 30-40 minutes. fortunately she's pretty good about putting her book away when i tell her only 15 more minutes.  if she didn't, she'd never get up in the morning. 

i ran 75 miles this month.  it should have been more but we were gone a couple of weekends and i had some scheduling conflicts with my running days.  still i am glad to see that number on my nike +.

nighty-night.

one little word

i've been thinking a lot about my one little word for 2011.  last year's word was patience.  and i can't remember any of the years after that because i am terrible at putting my blog posts in categories, which makes it really hard to find posts about particular topics.  i'll start my resolution to categorize my blog posts...NOW.

anyway, i've thought about the following words:

family

cook

bake

run

craft

nothing super profound, except for maybe family.  but none of them really highlighted what i wanted to focus on.  i'd thought about balance because when  you put all those words together, it's all about balance.  but that didn't quite cut it either.  

sooooo when i took a good long look at what i needed to work on the word that kept popping into ming was

FOCUS

lightbulb moment.  i need to focus on those things and find a balance between them.  i've been analyzing the time that i spend with the girls and it's all -running them here and there, watching them in their activities, helping them with homework, making sure they eat their fruits and veggies.  we just don't spend enough play time together.  i am going to focus on finding the time to play and focus on them while we're playing.

crafting-  i need to find the motivation to do it.  a little something, every week.  it makes me happy when i do it. 

cooking-i'm so hyper focused on the calorie count of meals that i don't branch out and try new recipes if they don't come along with the nutritional information.  once a week, i'm cooking a meal that throws calorie count out of the window.  i know, i'm living dangerously here.

run-if i can run 3 to 4 times a week along with my cycle class and weights, then i won't freak out about splurging on meals. 

baking-  i just plain want to become a better baker.  a few times a month, i need to try new recipes and then not eat it all in one sitting.

so that's my word. we'll see how it goes.  for now, i'm shutting this computer down and i am going to focus on my mindless book.