The Day After and a New Year

Okay then. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, whether you had to work or not, I hope you had a chance to spend time with friends and loved ones.  I did absolutely nothing except cook for the rest of the week.  My schedule is getting full and I've decided to make some changes.  I'm still working on being nicer to me and have decided that my time will be directed more to all that I want to do.  I'm stepping my game up several notches and moving full steam ahead on all things creative.  I don't know if I had an epiphany or what but my eyes have been open to the way I've done business.  No more.

What I am also doing is giving up one thing each month for the rest of the year.  It's a personal challenge I got from Zen Habits by Leo Babauta and I thought I'd give it a try.  It's A Year of Living Without, going a whole month giving up one thing I do regularly.  At the end of the month I will evaluate whether I enjoyed giving the thing up, whether it was worth leaving it out of my life, or do I need to put it back in.  The next month I'll give up something else.  It's an experiment to simplify one's life, finding out what's necessary and possibly making room for other cool things in my life. It's really nice because I can change my list as the year progresses if I find other things I want to give up.  At the end of the month, I will post what I've learned.  Leo is also doing the challenge which is cool.  I was debating on showing my whole list but I guess I'll do it in case you want to try to give up something in your world.  I'll start off with the first three months.

1. July - Give up TV.  Since I only have local channels that shouldn't be that difficult  But it also includes Netflix, You Tube and other video entertainment.  I've cut myself a little slack by being able to watch DVDs that I like because I work better with background noise.  I'll also be listening to a lot more music.  That's just how I roll.  I will replace it with reading more books.  We'll see how many I can finish by the end of the month.

2. August - No longer sitting longer than 30 minutes at a time.  Get up for 15 minutes and do something else. Replacement habit is to stretch more.

3. September - No dairy, that includes eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt.  Replace with more fruits and veggies.

Other things I will be doing as I move forward on this journey will be:

• Again, be nicer to me.
• Get Map Hunter II rough draft done
• Re-do my wardrobe (which is in seriously bad shape after losing lots of weight)
• Take more pictures of me
• Get going on my new Halloween pieces.
• Finish my second pair of socks
• Get that quilt top done 

That's it for right now.  Always a gazillion things to do and so little time.  Maybe I can change that around this month. Stay tuned.