Cloth Chronicles

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Master Chores Chart

Remember when I said one of my goals is to be more organized? Well, I let my Type A, Virgo personality out and came up with this Master Chores Chart. I've been using it for a couple weeks now and it's been working wonderfully.

Chores are divided up by room and then color coded by frequency. Pink = daily; blue = weekly; purple = bi-weekly/monthly. Every time I complete a task, I just put a check mark under the corresponding date's column. I keep this on our fridge so it is always visible - which gives me a little more motivation to get things done.

Feel free to print out the form for your own use. There are a couple blank rows at the bottom where you can add any other chores that may not be listed. I just ask if you download or share the chart, please leave a comment so I know if this is useful to anyone else. :)

Chores

Friday, December 31, 2010

Reflections

My wonderful husband gave me a laptop for my Christmas present so I've been spending some time transfering files and pictures from our old computer.This morning, I came across some pictures that I haven't seen in years.

Back in October 2005, the hubs and I were still newlyweds. We had just been married that June, so we were only 4 months into marital bliss. Both of us had given little thought to the future, we were having to much fun living in the now, in our own little world.

On October 4th, 2005, that world almost crumbled down around me. Hubs was helping out another farmer by driving a grain truck for him. Long story short, the truck ended up down a 30 foot drop into a canyon and rolled 2 and a half times. I don't even want to think how long my husband would've been down there if someone hadn't noticed the smoke from the highway.

Amazingly, he only ended up with a concussion, a broken wrist, and 20 some stitches in his head and leg. This was one of those extremely rare times when it was a good thing that he wasn't wearing his seat belt. If he had, he would've been crushed. With that said, he was also very lucky that he wasn't thrown from the truck. The thought that I could've been a widow with just a small chance of fate still sends chills up my spine.

I hope that our marriage would be just as healthy if my husband hadn't been in that accident, but I honestly believe that our marriage is so strong because it's so easy for us to think about what might've been. Sure, we don't always agree and we argue about some really stupid, and not so stupid, things and we've gone to bed angry many times. But, even in the most stressful times, we say "I love you" to each other many times a day and we are so extremely grateful for the life we have. If I ever need a reminder of why I should be thankful, I just need to look back at these pictures.

Be sure to like my Facebook Page to stay up to date. Starting Jan 1st, this blog will no longer be published to I Heart Fluff and all posts will be directed to The Cloth Chronicles.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

2011 Goals

While I'm not a fan of typical New Year's Resolutions, I do like to set goals for myself. Of course, just like most New Year's Resolutions, I don't always complete my goals. I'm hoping that by blogging about them this year, I will feel more accountable to actually follow through.

Goal #1: Take Control of our Finances~ While the Hubs and I do an okay job of living within our means and not depending too much on credit, we could still do much, much better. With the farm and now my Country Drawers store, we need to cut back on all of our 'miscellaneous' spending. You know, the $5 here for a pop and snacks and the $10 there for one more ~~piece of crap~~ junk item that we don't need.

I downloaded Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book for the Kindle app I have on my computer and we're going to try following that. We do need to tweak a couple of the steps to fit in with our businesses, but it looks completely doable.

Goal #2: Live Healthier ~ As far as I'm concerned, diet is a four letter word. Plus, I think I set myself up for failure once that word leaves my mouth. So, I am saying I need to eat healthier and exercise. No dieting for this family! Little man is sometimes the only one in our house that actually eats healthy. Hubs and I have a bad habit of grabbing some quick, processed food instead of actually sitting down and eating healthy meals. I really need to get back on the treadmill again too.

Goal #3: Get Organized ~Oy! This is a biggie for me. I've tried for years to get my act together. When I worked outside of home, I had no problem keeping my workspace organized at my job. At the end of the day, everything would be in its place and I would come in the morning to a neat and well-organized desk. Home was a different story. On the outside, I may look organized. Just don't take a look in my kitchen cupboards, closets, bedroom, or...God forbid...go in the basement.

Besides needing to be more physically organized, I also need to work on my time management. I am a terrible time waster. I have such a hard time focusing on one thing at a time that I just end up getting overwhelmed and end up doing some unnecessary time wasting, like watching TV or checking out Facebook.

Goal #4: Reconnect with Friends~ I used to be a pretty social person. I'd go out with friends at least once a week and you could always find me on the phone. When I got pregnant with little man, I felt so sick that I just didn't feel like hanging out and then towards the end of my pregnancy, I was just too tired. Then, of course, I was in new mom bliss once little man was born and wanted to spend all of my time with him.
Once I went back to work, I just didn't have time for friends between taking care of a little baby, working, and taking care of the house stuff. Then little man had some health issues and we just weren't able to leave the house for fear of him catching some virus or cold and making his health worse. The fact that we live in the middle of nowhere just made us even more isolated. Sure, little man got better, but by that time I was in full on WAHM mode and I had no idea where to find the time.

This year, I am making the time. I miss my friends and I just don't think FB conversations constitute real connections with friends that only live a few miles away.

Well, there you have it. My goals for 2011. Throughout the year, I will be revisiting them from time to time with progress reports.

What are your goals for 2011?