It Finally Came!

There is nothing like opening your front door to a long awaited package. Yesterday was like Christmas for the Osborn household, at least for me anyway. I had been waiting and waiting and my package with my Life Planner from erin condren finally came!


Let me give you some background information:

First, I love all things office and school supplies, binders, and new planners. I loved back to school time because I could justify buying new notebooks, and my favorite pens and markers. This is probably one of the reasons why I loved being a teacher so much- fresh, new supplies. And there is nothing that I love more than getting a new planner. I'm a paper-planner girl. I know some people love to stay organized with e-calendars on their phones or gadgets, but apart from my Kindle I am not a gadget girl. I love to write things down, and then cross them off. I have been told that I can check things off too on an e-calendar, but to me it's not the same. Every year I spend a great deal of time perusing the office supply store looking for the perfect calendar planner for the year. Call me a nerd, but I can spend hours in an office supply store and a book store. (While I love my Kindle, I will also be a forever book lover!) There is something so wonderful about being able to physically hold something.

I had a calendar for this year, but to be honest I have been so unorganized due to the first trimester pregnancy symptoms. This past spring once I started to feel better, I knew I had to get my act together with a second kid coming. I used to be so organized. My classroom had labels for everything, yet lately my house had become a disorganized, clutter-filled pit. So through Pinterest and a few blogs that I follow regularly, I began looking for ways to get my house and life back together. And then I stumbled upon Erin Condren's website by the way of another blogger proclaiming great love for something called a Life Planner. I checked it out and I was also in love! I even told Brett about it and showed him the website, as if he would even be remotely interested but he appeased me as I went on and on about how great this planner looked.

Since it was only April, and the 2012-2013 calendars wouldn't be available to order until June, I had to wait. I'm not going to lie, there were many days when I would check on the website to see if the planners were available yet. I was making myself crazy, and I kept talking to Brett about it. Then my husband, in all of his wonderful wisdom, pointed out that I might be coveting a physical object and I should probably get my heart in check. Ouch, but convicting. He also told me that if I really wanted one, I should be saving up my discretionary spending money. So I began praying (to help focus my mind and heart on eternal things), and saving  my money. When the planners did go on sale, I had enough money saved up (honestly the planners are not exactly cheap and I did feel a little foolish spending my money on something that would only last 18 months, but I don't spend my money on a lot of other things, and I had saved my money so I could purchase this.) So I ordered it, and the waiting began.

 Waiting, and waiting, it seemed to take forever, they personalize their planners, laminate the covers and are assembled my hand so even though it was a long wait, I knew I was getting a quality product.

So the planner finally came yesterday, and I absolutly love it. I felt like a kid waiting for Christmas morning. So much anticipation, and it was totally worth it. Here are a few pictures of my new Life Planner:

Here is the package with the planner, samples, a coupon off my next order, and colorful ball point pens.

Laminated personalized cover, and laminated montly tabs.

Month-at-a-glance page, which also include side notes for goals and to-do lists. Also in the back of the planner there are lots of colorful stickers to highligh special events!

Week-at-a-glance pages which are divided into morning, afternoon, and evening sections for better record keeping.

Thanks for putting up with my crazy rambling about love for a planner, but I wanted to share my enthusuasim and pass this on in case anyone else is as crazy as I am!

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Long Days, Short Years

I recently read the following quote:

The days are long, but the years are short.

How true they are! Some days at home can feel so long. Silas has never been a very good nap taker (I can only hope for a better sleeper the second time around!), so some days when he fights me to nap he can be rather difficult. I call him Sir Fuss-A-Lot, and fuss a lot he does! I find myself looking at the clock a lot those days thinking about how many more hours until Brett comes home.

Even though some days feel REALLY long, I'm always amazed by the end of the week thinking, "It's Friday already? Yesterday was just Monday!" Time is going by quickly. I look at Silas and can not believe that in a few days he will be seventeen months old! And in about two months he won't be my little baby anymore because I'll have a new baby and he'll be the big brother.

I have really been trying to focus on spending my time with Silas in a more positive light. Yes, some days will continue to feel long and he will continue to act challenging. But this season will only last for such a short time and I don't want to look back and realized that I wasted it away.

His shirt says Little Mess Maker which describes him to a T!

In my journal most days, I have been trying to write down at least three memories from the day, sort of like a gratitude journal only all about my time with Silas. It makes me realize just how much I do enjoy staying home with him each day and how blessed that I am able to do that.

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2012 Goals Revisited

Back at the beginning of the year I created a list of goals. To be honest, some goals have fallen by the way side (mainly due to the pregnancy), but I have been really intentional in some areas too. I wanted to re-visit where I have put my main focus on.

Spiritual
  • read through the Bible in a year- I have been very diligient about this, and am up to date on my readings!
  • Pray more - I have been trying to daily pray. A few months back I read A Praying Life by Paul Miller, and have been working on making prayer cards.
  • Memorize the Book of Colossians- this has fallen by the way side. Maybe next year :)
Marriage
  • pray for Brett everyday- I have been really trying to be pretty consistent about this. Plus I have also noticed that the more I pray for him, the less I am to focus on negative qualities (as if that should be a new realization!)
  • go on at least two dates, away from the house, a month- we have been really good about this!
  • pray and read the Bible together every night- this is one habit that we have gotten out of the habit of doing, mainly because we have started going to bed at different times. I will say while we haven't been really good about reading the Bible together, we do pray together most nights.
  • spend time together every night talking about our day, and just enjoying being around each other- every night at dinner we re-cap our day and talk about what's been going on. I have also been watching A LOT of baseball in the evenings with Brett trying my hardest to be interested in his long time love.
Parenting
  • pray for Silas everyday- trying to be consistent with this
  • read aloud from his children's Bible everyday- most days we do this, but to be honest I really need to be better about this.
  • pray with Silas everyday- I am ashamed to say that I don't do this, so this area needs some work!
  • read aloud stories everyday- Oh yes, we read Silas' favorite books over and over again on a daily basis! (Is is wrong that I'm tempted to hide a few of his books? :))
  • be more consistent with a daily routine and discipline- we pretty much have a weekly routine down, but to be honest it depends on my energy level on how consistent I am with discipline.
  • begin planning, organizing, and implementing early learning at home resources and strategies- it's still on my list of things to do, just haven't done so yet.
  • plan one weekly outing together and/or as a family- does running to Target count? :)
  • •create a Motherhood Mission Statement- again, it's still on my list of things to do, just haven't done so yet.
Health
  • continue to work off baby weight- Obviously not happening!!
  • walk at least three times a week- before it became hotter than anything around here, we were faithfully going on daily walks.
  • go to the gym at least three times a week- most weeks it is a miracle if I get there twice.
  • begin introducing more real foods and eliminate more processed foods from our diet- this is an on going adventure.

Home Keeping
  • follow our daily routine more consistently- starting in June I really got disciplined in this area.
  • keep the house picked up- I hate clutter, so I have been really good about this.
  • follow a weekly and monthly chores plan- only in June have I really been doing this, the nesting phase has kicked in!
  • learn to cook more real food options- with the execption of a few things, I pretty much cook from scratch most nights.
  • continue to learn about and incorporate more natural cleaning methods- I just made a homemade window cleaner today!
Personal
  • read at least four books a month, including at least one fiction book- I have been reading like crazy this year! I forgot how much I love to read. I have pinned all the books I have read on my Pinterest page. Later I will blog about my favorite books that I have read this year.
  • tackle my list of projects, hoping to accomplish at least two a month- I've only done a few things that I had planned.
  • stay up to date on photos and memory books for Silas and the family- I have been really good about this. I just finished Silas' baby book and organized his keepsake box. Plus I have been uploading photos to Shutterfly and making a photo book about every three months.
  • Cut back on our TV viewing- I have hardly watched any TV over the past few months, except for baseball :) In fact I even approached Brett about canceling our cable, but he is not quite on the same page yet.
  • Limit my Internet time to one morning session and one evening session- FAILED, especially since my Kindle Fire connects to the internet.
  • blog more consistently- I'm laughing at myself for this one!

Ministry/Relationships
  • Continue to serve one Sunday a month in the church nursery- we love this, but with Baby Girl Osborn arriving in September we will only be doing this through August. Hopefully we have an opportunity to do this again next year as things calm down a bit.
  • look out for opportunities to serve in my church or community at least once a month- I've been pretty good about this. We've had a baby boom at church this year, so I have made a lot of meals!
  • being more diligent at preserving friendships, both local and long distance- could use more work :)
  • continue to be apart of my weekly Bible study at church- this ended in May will resume in September.
  • work on loving and communicating better with some difficult family members- on going, but this is an area where I really struggle with keeping a pure mind. Satan knows this is an easy target for me.
Financial

  • continue to tithe to our church and support our current missionaries and ministries- on going\
  • adapt a Cash Only spending plan- somewhat there, but not entirely.
  • continue to pay off debt- making huge gains!
  • save to pay with cash a new washer and dryer- done!
  • aim to help supplement our income by subbing at least four times a month- I subbed a lot this spring which really helped, and it's my goal to continue to sub again starting around the holidays.
  • continue to meet with my husband once a week to go over our finances and plan for goals- faithfully meet once a week :) So thankful to be married to a banker!
It's funny because as I was writing this out I realized I had been making a lot of head way on some of my goals this year!

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