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Category: List of 21 for 2021

Sugar-Free Week

List of 21 for 2021 No Comments

So it’s time for my last (mostly) sugar-free week of the year.  At the beginning of the year when I was making my list of things, I added to do a sugar-free week each quarter. Not sure if I managed to do all 4 quarters.

However, during the course of the weekend I met the most unfriendly scale. You know scales speak in numbers. And the numbers this scale shouted at me. So very rude. SIGH.

In all seriousness, the number on the scale surpassed my warning number. Not a good thing. Turns out high levels of stress and stress eating plus (ahem) being a bit older means that number goes up faster.

Time to fix it. Seems a bit crazy to do a sugar-free challenge the first week of Advent but that’s what I’m doing. I went (mostly) vegan for 30 days one year the day after Halloween so I can do this.

However, in light of the season, I’m allowing myself one small treat each day. So, on Sunday, I did go ahead and get that peppermint latte, a tall (seriously, as much as I love Starbucks, why can’t we just do small, medium, and large? A tall is a small. Pro tip: if you just ask for a small, they’ll just give you a “tall”).

I’ll probably be referring to my sugar free Pinterest board a bit as well. Here’s my loosely conceived plan for my final sugar-free week of 2021.

Parameters of My (mostly) Sugar-Free Week

The reason I’m saying mostly here is because sugar is in everything it seems! And I’m not going to be so stringent as to worry over a gram here or there. Two grams of added sugar in a flour tortilla while annoying is not something I plan to stress over.  I have enough stress in my life lately.

  1. Consume only foods with a sugar content of less than 5 grams (exceptions made for fruits)
  2. Drink only water and tea. Exception made for 2-4 oz. tart cherry juice, no sugar added, each night (Helps with inflammation and sleep, look it up!)
  3. Allow myself one bite (square) of dark chocolate if an intense craving hits
  4. Also, allow myself one small treat a day (does not have to be food related but must be well-thought out and savored if a food/drink treat)  sugar-free

Yesterday and Sunday, went fairly well on the sugar-free try despite the days being a bit stressful. Today things are calmer and ironically, now is when I’m really wanting a junk food type treat. Just plan to stay busy with more Christmas decorating until that passes. Or I decide what kind of proper treat I’d like for the day.

Have you ever tried to go sugar-free or mostly sugar-free? How did that go for you? Any quick tips?

 

Reviewing 2021 List

List of 21 for 2021 No Comments

Except that in keeping with my word of the year (less), I only put 12 items on it total. And then, I revised it mid-January. I had to go back to my old post and grab my list as I’d forgotten a few of the items I put on there.

reviewing 2021 list

My (revised) List

  1. Read 72 books
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post
  3. Keep a kindness journal Focus on ways to be kind to my family
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes Try one in season new vegetable each week
  5. Eat dinner together at the table as a family Tuesday through Thursday
  6. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times)
  7. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day
  8. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here)
  9. Follow a nightly skincare regime
  10. Learn a craft
  11. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month
  12. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?)

Here was my update from back on January 15:

 

Reviewing 2021 list

  1. Read 72 books: I’m not worried about this at all though Goodreads says I’m a book behind on it.
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post: So far, so good on this one!
  3. Keep a kindness journal Focus on ways to be kind to my family: It’s been a say less, listen and appreciate more kind of week (mostly).
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes Try one in season new vegetable each week: We all (except J who fell asleep early) tried turnips. Mixed results.
  5. Eat dinner together at the table as a family Tuesday through Thursday: We ate together Monday-Thursday!
  6. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times): Still deciding.
  7. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day: I’ve done this weather permitting, today may not.
  8. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here): Not yet, thinking I’ll shoot for the last week of January.
  9. Follow a nightly skincare regime: I ordered from skincare products from Philosophy but they’re not here yet
  10. Learn a craft: Still deciding
  11. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month: I did create notebook for it.
  12. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?): Not started at all. Need to research.

Here’s where I’m at on this list for the midpoint of the year:

Isn’t it strange how we can lose focus in just a few short months?

  1. Read 72 books :  I’m 16 books ahead of schedule!
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post: I think I missed one or two but I’m doing my best to join in each week. 
  3. Keep a kindness journal Focus on ways to be kind to my family: Another doing my best kind of thing. Might need to refocus on this. 
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes Try one in season new vegetable each week.  AHEM. FAIL. Time to try again now that more vegetables are in season.

    Reviewing 2021 list
    Mushroom, either a chanterelle or the poison look alike. We left it.
  5. Eat dinner together at the table as a family Tuesday through Thursday:  Well, we tried. Hard with the crazy mixed up schedules of summer. Need to do better.
  6. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times): I’ve actually done okay with this one even maybe buying more than one special magazine accidentally/on purpose last quarter. Haven’t picked one for the summer yet. 
  7. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day: I do better with this when the weather cooperates. Need to focus on going for walks again though.
  8. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here): Time for another one of these for sure! My first one went okay and I think I did a second one? Not sure.
  9. Follow a nightly skincare regime: I was doing good with this except it sort of morphed into a morning skincare regime (fine as I was doing nothing before), then I ran out of stuff. Just ordered more facial cleanser as I did like it. Had to justify the expense with myself. Why is it hard to justify spending the money on things that make us happy and are good for us? Or it that just me?
  10. Learn a craft: Ha. HA! Ha. However, I am in the process of creating a garden journal so maybe I can check the creativity box with that one? And I did make a lot of progress on the butterfly garden.
  11. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month: Trying with this. Notice that it depends on how busy I am when the 25th rolls around each month. Did discover I enjoy iced hot chocolate. I have been at least sticking to treating myself to a hot chocolate (or cold) each 25th. And yes, I’ve done a little bit of early Christmas shopping.
  12. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?): I moved all the contents of my blog over to www.sonotorganized.wordpress.com. However, sadly the photos didn’t go through and the actual So Not Organized site is suspended or something. I need to call GoDaddy about it but haven’t really had the time or inclination to mess with it yet. Hoping I can figure it out though because I’m going to be so very sad if I lose all the pictures that went with the blog posts.

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Did you make a list or a word (I’ve not been doing great remembering my word either!) for 2021? How are you doing with them?

(And yes, I’m very much procrastinating another day of “basement camp“)

Last Friday in January

Chitchat List of 21 for 2021 2 Comments

We’ve (almost) made it to the end of January! At least, we’ve arrived at the end of the work week. Are you excited? I am. Seems like it’s been a long week. In typical fashion, I ended up working more days than I planned this week.

Tuesday, I was home. The rest of the days, however, I was at work for at least part of the day. The trend continues today as I am now working 10-5. Shouldn’t be a bad day, however.

Feeling Frumpy and a Bit Grumpy

Since I’ve been feeling a bit frumpy and grumpy this week, I’ve decided it’s time to tackle one of my 21 for 21 list items. A sugar-free challenge! Not excited but I know it’s time to do it.

So, the first week of February shall be my first sugar-free challenge week of 2021. My plan is for one of these each of the four quarters of the year. I figure the first week of February works well as it’s just before the Super bowl, my husband’s birthday, Fat Tuesday, and Valentine’s Day. February is a busy month with lots of dessert opportunities I don’t want to miss! I do love a good dessert!

Good Things This Week That Weren’t Dessert

Ha! Maybe I’ll make a list of sugar-free good news for next week, that might be fun. This week’s items included the following:

  1. A newer student who wouldn’t give me the time of day last Friday, asked for me to work with her on Monday morning. And suddenly, I was “her person” for the morning. Always, a heart warmer when that happens.
  2. My husband cooked dinner and cleaned the kitchen on Wednesday. That “and” is the best part of the previous sentence.
  3. A phone call from the school, an e-mail survey, and the sophomores might get to return to the high school for full-time in person next month. (We’re currently on a hybrid plan and it’s not working so well here). Probably the best news of the week. My 16 year old son is not as excited but this is a needs versus wants situation. I can’t wait as I know it will help.
  4. My amaryllis bud is showing green again. I was afraid I really bungled this around Christmas. Maybe I’ll get an Easter bloom?
  5. A rare (to us, not a rare bird) sighting on Monday!
  6. The sun is shining today brightly today and I’ll get to be outside soaking it up in a bit.

Other Random Bits

As I need to leave fairly soon, I’ll keep my random bits part a bit shorter. Want to know something funny? I already drove to work this morning. Had a bit of a panic this morning that I had the time wrong and so drove to make sure the teacher’s car was in the parking lot (logic being, if I needed to be there, I’d already be there if I was indeed mixed up on times). Ever do things like that? Or is it just me?

I was glad to come home and finish my coffee and work on this quick post for today.

Do you have big plans for tonight?

Nothing exciting going on here, plans involve the TV mostly. Going to make the family fend for themselves for dinner probably unless we do homemade pizzas. Then, watch Wandavision followed by one of my favorite Marvel movies in the timeline, Dr. Strange. Watched another of my favorites, Black Panther, last night.

It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I’ll probably do yet more TV watching or (should) read my book. I’ll admit I’m struggling with reading my current choice, Hamilton by Ron Chernow. It’s a lot easier to pay attention to the information in musical form. He’s barely in America, I’m only 7% into the book, so perhaps the pace quickens.

Mostly, the cat and I are just over here waiting for Spring to return.

 

My January Rudolph Day

List of 21 for 2021 Rudolph Day 2 Comments

I celebrated my first Rudolph day on Monday. Sort of. First, I worked but only until noon. Then, I went shopping.

Happy Rudolph Day to me! There are some places I shouldn’t go unsupervised. Bath and Body Works is one of them. Thankfully, for our budget, I seldom venture into the actual store.

Basically, between lunch, making dinner, and taking J to his lesson, I had only a small amount of time for whatever this Rudolph Day entailed. Made me a bit anxious until I remembered my word of the year (less). I did not have to do *all the things* after all.

After my shopping trip (where I bought a Valentine’s Day candle plus some new scents of shower gel/lotion to try), I had a cup of mint hot chocolate. I did add whipped cream to it for the sake of being fancy.

Looked around on line for Rudolph Day sites and ideas. It’s when I stumbled across the site with the falling snow I shared on Monday. And I properly cleaned out the storage tote I set aside for Rudolph Day things. Also, added a few small empty Christmas tins plus a belated gift from my hair dresser to it. Are gnomes considered Christmas? Or year-round? For now, he’ll be my Rudolph Day mascot.

Other than those things, I read my Christmas Island book during J’s lesson and kept on reading it after we returned home.

Don’t you love when books include the recipes talked about in the stories?

 

I did a little less with Rudolph Day than I expected but it was enough.

Mostly, I’m using the ideas from this site. It’s an older one but I prefer it to the updated site. If you celebrate Rudolph Day, how/what do you do to celebrate it?

Revising My List for 2021

2021 Word Of The Year List of 21 for 2021 4 Comments

Like many others, I chose a single word to focus on for 2021. My word is working well for me so far in the new year.

Teaching me or reminding me of important lessons. Keeping me from going overboard. Mostly, I’ve felt quite a bit less stressed this week.

Enjoyed a slow week (though really, thinking yesterday was Friday all day messed me up a bit). And worked on feeling a bit less guilt about saying no to work on this snowy day.

Spending more time focused on my plans for the day even if they are simple ones. Paying the bills, working on my blog, watching the birds, laundry, reading my book. Finally, making the potato soup for lunch with my son.  A plan that’s been in the works since mid-December.

However, last night I wasn’t feeling quite as relaxed. A fair amount of Little Red Hen syndrome going on with me. So, I stepped back and tried to figure out why I was really so upset and stressed. It hit me, my list of items for the year was too much.

But, Jean, you only put 11 items on the list! You already did less. Perhaps we can just revise the list, then?

Here’s the old list:

  1. Read 72 books
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post
  3. Keep a kindness journal
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes
  5. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times)
  6. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day
  7. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here)
  8. Follow a nightly skincare regime
  9. Learn a craft
  10. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month
  11. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?)

Doesn’t seem so bad really. Yet, a couple of those items were causing me a bit of undue stress. So, time for a revision.

Here’s  Revised list:

 

  1. Read 72 books
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post
  3. Keep a kindness journal Focus on ways to be kind to my family
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes Try one in season new vegetable each week
  5. Eat dinner together at the table as a family Tuesday through Thursday
  6. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times)
  7. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day
  8. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here)
  9. Follow a nightly skincare regime
  10. Learn a craft
  11. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month
  12. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?)

As you can see, I didn’t change much. And actually I’m adding an item. Here are my thoughts on the changes:

Why no kindness journal? I’m already a kind person, mostly. Frankly, it was stressing me out to try and remember writing my deeds down at the end of each day. And while I know it’s vague, it’s an area I need to improve. Always easy to be kind to strangers, not so much to share that kindness with the people who are constantly about in the same house.

The vegetable thing? A bit much, not that it’s not a worthy goal. Again, just the stress of it. Doesn’t mean I won’t expand the vegetables served with our meals, just that I’m not going to make myself crazy trying to do this with every single meal.

Review of the Rest of the Items

Here’s how it’s going with the other items:

  1. Read 72 books: I’m not worried about this at all though Goodreads says I’m a book behind on it.
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post: So far, so good on this one!
  3. Keep a kindness journal Focus on ways to be kind to my family: It’s been a say less, listen and appreciate more kind of week (mostly).
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes Try one in season new vegetable each week: We all (except J who fell asleep early) tried turnips. Mixed results.
  5. Eat dinner together at the table as a family Tuesday through Thursday: We ate together Monday-Thursday! 
  6. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times): Still deciding.
  7. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day: I’ve done this weather permitting, today may not.
  8. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here): Not yet, thinking I’ll shoot for the last week of January
  9. Follow a nightly skincare regime: I ordered from skincare products from Philosophy but they’re not here yet
  10. Learn a craft: Still deciding
  11. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month: I did create notebook for it.
  12. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?): Not started at all. Need to research.

Not a bad start at all, I don’t think.

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Are you off to a good start with your word or goals for this year?

 

 

 

List of 21 for 2021 Maybe

List of 21 for 2021 6 Comments

Wait. Let’s remember my word for 2021. Twenty-one things? Too many. I’m cutting my list in half (almost).

Here’s my list of 11 things I want to do in 2021

 

  1. Read 72 books
  2. Join in for every single Happy Homemaker Monday post
  3. Keep a kindness journal
  4. Serve a vegetable with every main meal in addition to/instead of potatoes
  5. Buy and savor a “fancy” (read expensive) magazine each quarter (so 4 times)
  6. Spend at least 5 minutes outside every day
  7. Observe one sugar free week each quarter (sensing a theme with the quarterly things here)
  8. Follow a nightly skincare regime
  9. Learn a craft
  10. Participate in Rudolph day on the 25th of each month
  11. Save and preserve my old blog, So Not Organized (maybe in book form or on a flash drive?)

Before I go into more detail about my items, let me just say that no, this is not everything I want to do in 2021. I could easily list 10 more items or 20 or probably even 30. However, I’m happy with the 11 I’m choosing for this year. At the end of the year, I hope I’ve done more than just these 11 things. If I haven’t, that’s okay. After all, my word for 2021 is less.

And since it’s still the Christmas season for a few more days (the Epiphany is January 6), I’m not planning on starting my list officially until next week. Giving myself a break (and an extra few days to eat cookies!).

And by focusing on less, I hope to do more. Do you have a list of things you’d like to do in 2021?

 

 

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