In the Merry Month of May

Heart:

• put a ruthless end to computer drift: set blackout times for internet goofing around and stick to them faithfully <-- ai yi yi, this is hard for me
• root out the #1 cause of uncharitable thoughts, words, and deeds: barring circumstances like a sick child, be in bed by 10:30 each weeknight (11 on Fri/Sat) -- I'd say I managed it 90% of the time, and this was a tough one for me. Calling it done.
• stick to morning routine, every day
• ditto for evening <-- see update post
• work on mid-morning and mid-afternoon routines: stick to them 75% of the time <-- progress, hurray!
• teach Psalm 100 to boys
• pray the Pentecost novena with the family -- it was actually mostly just me, with the older boys joining in three or four times
• read Finding and Maintaining Peace -- it disappeared for a week (thanks, Stella) and it's not a book I want to race through

Head:

• grant application
• surprise guest lecture
• write exam questions
• conference poster
• IRB application
• begin article draft
• graduate (!!!)
• read borrowed books: Swimming with Scapulars, Switch, The Ever Breath

Hands:

• finish green socks for me
• finish a pair of kid socks
• draw up sample design
• get a veggie/herb garden planted
• get some annuals in along the east side of the house
• and the south side too
• weed and mulch the west bed
• figure out those north beds before the dandelions grow fangs and start attacking the postman
• five months' worth of pictures in an album

Home:

• declutter music room
• >declutter living room
• declutter our room <-- progress!
• look through Confessions of an Organized Homemaker for useful ideas

Hips:

• run 20 miles (or do the equivalent in other exercise if weather/aging joints make it impossible to run)
• resurrect The Vegetable Project: 5 servings of veggies and a gallon of cold water daily; no sugar with an exception for graduation day <-- see update post
• 15 mins of T-Tapp at least 10 times <-- not 10 but 7
• lose 6 pounds

Half-pints:

• finish Return of the King with Joe & Marty
• read Horse and His Boy to Joe and Pete
• finish Webelo requirements with Marty
• finish Parvuli Dei award <-- this thing goes on FOREVER
• exercise with Alex (5 times, we'll say)
• make a curtain for Joe's clubhouse <-- this should only take me about 20 more minutes. I just need to buckle down. A June project.

Comments

[Emily J]

Love your list and your way of organizing! Are you going to run 20 miles all at once or over a period of time? Good luck finishing up the scout requirements - wouldn't it be nice if boys would just be motivated to do it all on their own without prodding? Are your kids doing 4H too? I have fond memories of my highest 4H finish: Best of Show for a male rabbit. The catch: he was the only buck at the fair.

[rachel]

Wasn't it you who once accused a fellow blogger of bending the time-space continuum? I thought at the time it takes one to know one. I was right.

[Jody]

That's a lot!

I love the organizing theme, and plan to borrow some of those ideas.

Start list.
1. Borrow Jamie's list.

[Rob]

Wow, that's a list!

I have taken an approach to the "computer drift" problem that I think is interesting. I wrote a program that checks occasionally I'm actually using the computer (looking, say, for the screen saver, or whether the program with focus is a web browser). If I go over some threshold (right now it's one hour out of four), the program starts to randomly change the screen brightness. This is annoying, so it changes my calculation that piddling around forever on the computer is pleasant. So when I start to goof around again, it's no longer so much a guilty pleasure, but more of a guilty irritation.

[Rob]

Another thing that's annoying is unclosed HTML tags, oops, argh.

[Salome Ellen]

Now I know I'm old -- just reading the list made me tired........

[Jamie]

Emily, 20 miles in 20 days! I am a long way from being able to run 20 miles at once.

Rob, got you covered.