Checking In

It is a warm and muggy Sunday afternoon here in Texas. When I came in from church the truck's thermometer read somewhere in the mid-50's. It is raining - a slow constant drizzle - which makes it seem like it should be much colder outside than it is.

Jim is loving this weather. He doesn't like the cold. Me? Not so much. I enjoy cold weather and think that it SHOULD be cold in January. I was really enjoying the cold front last week when I had to pull out the winter coat and the GLOVES!!! Unfortunately, it only lasted four days before the current conditions moved back in for another week or more. I know that there are many people who would love to be experiencing our weather right about now. To you I say, "Let's trade places!" LOL!

Jim has taken off for the deer stand. It is the last day of the season so he was willing to don the raingear and head out for a late afternoon hunt. Will is in his room playing his new XBox 360. I can hear him talking to someone and that usually means him and Brian are online together. Bri is out with Josh, who just got home on Wednesday. Football is muted on the television. (I couldn't find anything else that I wanted to watch. And even though I want to know who wins, I get tired of listening to it by the second game.)

So, I decided I would jump on my laptop between loads of laundry and check in with all of you.

The 2011 goals are coming along...some better than others.

So far I am on track with my Spiritual Health focus for January. I attended worship service with Meagan again this morning. (On time today, thank you very much!) While I was there I joined a mid-week Women's Bible study that begins this Wednesday.

I was struggling between joining this one and attending Beth Moore's James study at Houston's First Baptist. I love Beth...and the book of James holds a very tender place in my heart...but I get home so very, very late from that class. Plus, I don't know anyone else who attends, so it is very easy for me to drop out after a couple of classes.

I will not know anyone at this Bible study either, but as there will not be a couple of thousand people attending...I am hoping it will give me a sense of accountability to make it every week. The study is "Living Your Life As A Beautiful Offering" by Angela Thomas. It is a 6-week study based on the Sermon on the Mount. Surely I can stick it out for 6 weeks, right?

Last week's focus in One Year to an Organized Life was 'Creating Schedules and Routines'. I split my day into three time slots that needed work: Morning, Evening (Arrive Home) and Nightly. I made out my list of routines and have pretty much stuck with it (aside from a few minor tweaks).

As for my the '15 minute project' goal, here are the things I accomplished last week:

• Sunday - Gathered clothes hangers to take to dry cleaners (we had a LOT) and loaded all dry cleaning/hangers in truck.
• Monday - Unpacked all the luggage from Arkansas trip; put away all the miscellaneous Christmas gifts; wrapped gift that needed to be mailed.
• Tuesday - Spent the evening taking Will to dinner to celebrate his 16th birthday
• Wednesday - Started sorting through the worst room in my house (the home office). This room has become the 'stash and go' place for nearly every member of my family. I spent the time sorting and storing the giftwrap and trim left over from Christmas.
• Thursday - Returned to the home office to sort through a large basket of 'Important' papers and gathered unused picture frames.
• Friday - Cleared the sitting room mantle and deocorated it for winter.
• Saturday - Sorted and packed away the Fall/Thanksgiving decor, hung winter lights on deck, cleaned out my (overflowing) coffee cup cabinet, and reorganized the china (moving all to a top shelf so I could reach my casserole dishes without the aid of a ladder).

I would give myself an 80 on the meal plan part of my goals. I did really well until the weekend. The same goes for making my reminder lists. For some reason, Saturdays and Sundays fall off the radar for those things. But, I'm working on it. And being aware of the problem is the first step to finding the solution, right?

Well, enough about me.

How are you spending your Sunday afternoon? Anything exciting happen this weekend?