Monday, March 8, 2010

Happiness Project - Did I Win the Gold in February?


It's Happiness Monday!  I love My Happiness Project, where I decided to spend a year "finding" happiness with the help of Gretchen Rubin and her awesome book.  Check out her website for more information.  And buy the book!  It's never too late to start your own Happiness Project.  

Today I come clean about February.  Its ups, its downs, its successes and failures.  

Successes:
  1. I decluttered a lot of junk from this house.  Bookshelves, closets (4), art cupboards, puzzle/game drawers, the attic (completely cleared out to make way for the insulation installation this month), Husband's cupboard of "stuff we'd all forgotten about."  Every Monday of February, at least 2 extra bags of JUNK went out with the trash.  That made me feel gooooooood.
  2. My nagging task list - when I made it, it had 70 items.  On February 28th, it was down to 31 items, which rocks.  Plus I fixed my wedding ring, which I've been putting off for at least 5 years.  Seriously.
  3. Eating in.  We were supposed to do it 16 times in February and we did it 15 times.  
  4. Keeping a food diary and exercising - 24/28 days and 25/28 days, respectively.  And I lost a pound.  Not a lot of weight loss, but 10 pounds in 2 months is.
  5. Training the puppy.  She's doing awesome.  Really.  I only mutter about giving her away a couple of times a week now.  HUGE improvement.
Failures (or, if I'm positively framing, "areas of improvement"):
  1. Decluttering - I still have a lot of work to do.  I saved my "office" for the end and it's still a work in progress.  Plus I want to do things in the basement.  So decluttering has been bumped into March and has a weekend role around here.  
  2. Evening tidy up.  I found I don't really care about this.  The house isn't THAT messy in the evening, so why go around and make sure one dog toy is off the floor before bed?
  3. Going to bed.  FAIL.  ABORT.  SOMEBODY NEEDS AN INTERVENTION.  Really - what is my problem with this?  I only made it to bed at a reasonable hour (10:45 was the goal) 15 times in February.  And some nights it was really, really late.  I see the direct correlation with my mood and a good night's sleep, so why am I having such a hard time doing this?  I'm really asking, people.  Any help would be appreciated on tips to sticking to a reasonable bedtime.  Getting all my STUFF done during the day would help, I'm sure, and Youngest's newest plan to not nap in the afternoon is certainly throwing a wrench into that, but still.
And there you have it!  How did you do in February?  Did you try anything new?  Find success?  Did you fall off the resolution wagon?  My little notebook of accountability (I check things off nightly) really, really keeps me on task.  It's a tip from Gretchen.  I recommend it.

Remember that this month for me is "all about the kids," but you could make it about anything you want!


 
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