Happy Wednesday, friends! I woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat, and I was convinced the ‘rona had finally gotten to me. Thank goodness for those government-sponsored COVID-19 tests! I took one on Tuesday morning and it was clearly negative, which was a relief. Just your average, run-of-the-mill, off-brand virus, I guess!
I wasn’t as successful with my February goals as I was in January, but I still managed to knock off a good majority of them and I’m happy with my progress. Let’s review:
February Goals
1) Walk 1 mile every day (15/28). Well, I was more successful than not with this goal, but I could have done a lot better than I did. In general, I have enjoyed capping off my workday by shutting down my computer and going for a walk outside. The sun is just starting to set, it’s cool, and I usually use the time to send a Marco Polo video to Mikaela to catch her up on my life. I also cap off my workouts with a walk, so that’s an easy way to get in my mile. But then I also get lazy or it’s rainy or it’s too cold (<– I know, laugh all you want at me). But a habit usually takes a while to form, at least for me, so I’m just going to keep pushing myself to get outside and walk a mile until it feels like something I need to do.
2) Buy a coffee table. Complete! She’s a beauty and I love the way the coffee table ties my living room together.
3) Bring down my phone’s screen time average. Not complete. I’m still averaging about the same daily/weekly screen time as January. In fact, I think my screen time increased in February. Oops. But I have a plan for this in my March goals.
4) Review 2012 and 2013 blog posts and list out the posts, categories, and tags. Complete! I want to pat myself on the back for doing two month-long blogging breaks in 2012 and 2013. That helped speed up the process for me!
5) Clean my oven. Complete. I did this on Monday (nothing like waiting until the last second, huh?) and my oven looks so, so, so much better. I couldn’t get all of the grime off, but I get the majority of it off and that’s all I care about. (I used Easy-Off’s Fume Free oven cleaner, based on Nicole’s recommendation!)
6) Start Moby-Dick. Complete, but not in the way you think. I added Moby-Dick to the Serial app (where I read all my classics!) but I was so bored by the first few issues and then saw that it has a terrible Goodreads rating (3.5, which is astonishing for a classic!) so I’ve decided to scrap my plans to read Moby-Dick and am instead going to read Emma by Jane Austen. I haven’t liked a single Jane Austen book I’ve read (sorry, Austen-heads), but Emma seems to have been the inspiration for so many movies (Clueless, anyone?) so I think it may be one I actually end up liking! We’ll see.
7) Keep ice water near me at all times during my working hours. I was semi-successful with this goal, but not enough to consider it complete. I downloaded a habit tracker app and last week, I decided I needed “fill up water bottle” to be one of the habits I’m tracking. It’s truly insane that I have to do that, but hey, whatever it takes to help me drink more water and be goddamn hydrated throughout the day. If I have my water bottle near me, I’ll drink the water. It’s just the process of filling up my water bottle that I’m the most resistant to, it seems.
8) Research online mattress options. Complete! I reviewed 7 different mattress brands—Caspar, Helix, Tuft and Needle, Nectar, Tempur-Pedic, Purple, and Avocado—and my top choices right now are Caspar, Helix, and Tuft and Needle. They all have a 100-night trial period; Caspar and Helix will come and pick up the mattress after that trial period if it’s not working out while Tuft and Needle will help me arrange a place to donate the mattress. There are nearby stores that I can try out Caspar and Tuft and Needle mattresses, but Helix caught my eye because they have a mattress made for plus-sized individuals. In any event, I’m looking at easily spending $2,000+ for a new mattress (with a base) but I’ll likely wait for a good sale to bring that price down as much as possible.
9) Spend time every day on dating apps. Not complete. This was not a goal I should have made, ugh.
10) Reorganize my walk-in closet. Complete! I really needed to do this and I’m glad I did. My closet is usually pretty well-organized, but I was getting in the habit of just throwing things on the shelves with no rhyme or reason to the madness. I took everything off the shelves, figured out what to keep and what to toss, and then reorganized it all so that everything fits on the shelves in a much better way.
March Goals
1) Renew my passport. This was a goal I set for myself last year, and then I realized it’s quite expensive to renew your passport ($130). I didn’t plan on leaving the country anytime soon so I put it off. But since I’ll be in Canada in June, I need to renew my passport! There are a billion steps to this process and I’ve set them all out in my Todoist app, so I just need to start crossing things off!
2) Do a full-scale cleaning of my fridge and freezer. About once a year, I like to do a full-scale cleaning of my fridge and freezer. I’m forever tidying it up—throwing away old food and expired condiments—but I don’t do a full-scale cleaning where I take everything out, wipe down the shelves, and reorganize everything as often as I should. March seems like as good a time as any to do that.
3) Walk 1 mile every day. I’m going to keep this goal on my list until it becomes an ingrained habit.
4) Review 2014 and 2015 blog posts and list out the posts, categories, and tags. I’m just trucking along with this major goal.
5) Track my time for a week. Lisa recently did this exercise and I loved reading her synopsis of how she spends her time, and I’d love to do the same. It will be interesting to see how much time is devoted to things like work, exercise, reading, and blogging!
6) Fill up my water bottle every morning. This was a massive fail last month, although I started getting better about it near the end of the month and ended up drinking so much water! (I felt like I was peeing every 30 minutes, ugh.) I’m just going to keep this as a goal until it becomes ingrained in me, like the walking goal.
7) Deal with my weird leg pain. This is going to be hard to explain, so bear with me. For about 6 or so months now, I’ve had this weird thigh pain. It’s occurring on the side of my right thigh, and I’m not sure if it’s my IT band or another muscle that’s causing the pain. It only really causes me problems when I’m trying to cross my legs (like, it can be excruciatingly painful to lift my right foot to set it on my left thigh) and sometimes I’ll feel a throbbing pain in the area. Squats can be really difficult to do. Things like that. I don’t know what is causing this pain, but I need to figure it out. I’m debating if I want to see my doctor so she can refer me to a specialist, or if I want to just commit to a stretching/icing routine for a month to see if that provides any relief. But one way or another, I need to deal with this weird leg pain!
8) Commit to a 10pm bedtime. I’ve gotten into a really bad habit of staying up late and not crawling into bed until 11pm or later. I tell myself I’ll just sleep in until 8 or take a nap to counteract the effects of the late night, and then get frustrated with myself when I’m tired all day long. I used to be a stickler for my bedtime, but ever since working from home, I’ve veered away from that routine. I’d like to begin my routine at 8pm every night so that I can be in bed reading by 9 with lights out by 10. Let’s see if I can do it!
9) Keep track of my phone usage throughout the month. I want to do a deep dive into my phone usage this month to see how much time I’m spending on certain apps. How do my 6 hours of screen time break down? What apps do I spend the most time on? I want to take a close look at my screen time usage so I can set up time limits.
10) Start cutting down on the girls’ treats. Every time I take Lila to the vet, I’m worried they’re going to say something about her weight. At her appointment on Friday, she weighed in at 12.5 lbs, which means she gained a pound over the last year. (In contrast, Ellie is 9.5 lbs.) Of course, we are a fat-positive household with no diet talk allowed, but I do know I need to try to stem her, er, growth. Both girls are free-feeding and I really don’t think Lila is overeating (I give them 1 cup of food split between two bowls, and I’m often only filling up those bowls a few times a week), but I tend to overdo it in the snack department. On a good day, they’re getting 10 Temptations and 6 Greenies (32 calories) but sometimes I may give them an extra handful of Temptations or a Meaty Stick (about 9 calories). So that’s a good 40-50 calories in treats alone, when they should only be having 200 calories total per day. I just can’t say no to their sweet little faces, meowing at me for treats! Ugh. Anyway, I’m going to try to cut them down to 20 calories total between Temptations and Greenies with a Meaty Stick thrown in twice a week as an extra-special treat. Wish me luck!
Wow! This is so much great stuff!
At this point, I only do structured goals for the year, but I think in 2023, I might consider doing monthly (or at least quarterly) goals like this.
Passport renwals STRESS. ME. OUT. There are so many steps?!
And I hope you get to the bottom of your leg pain quickly and find a lasting solution!
I love my annual goals, but there is something really fun about making monthly goals, too. It also helps to break my bigger annual goals into smaller ones. 🙂
There are SOOOO many steps to passport renewals. Argh.
I had (have?) back pain that was sort of weird and unspecified and a few visits to a physical therapist gave me an idea of exactly what was causing the problem and how to fix it. I think it’s worth it to go see a professional, but I also know that it’s expensive and time-consuming.
I put down to track my time like Lisa for a quarter two goal, too! Now it’s going to look like I’m copying both of you. It’s such an interesting way to see if how you spend your time actually matches your priorities.
That’s great advice, NGS! I think I will probably make an appointment with my doctor so I can get a PT referral. It’s such a weird pain and I can’t figure out what it is or how to solve it, so it’s probably best to see a physical therapist to get a professional’s take on what’s going on.
So. Lila sent me a text that she read this and she is NOT happy about the last bullet. She thinks you should ween them off very slowly, over the course of 5 years. Just wanted to share what she said to me 😉
It sounds like you’re working on building the walk and water habits and that is great! I am lazy with my bottle too, ESP now that I have gate between me and the kitchen.
So. Are we going to see a closet reorg post? Because I love that stuff 😀
I would start with stretch and RICE for the leg too. I hope that helps and I am glad you are focusing on it this month.
I am not trying to flex, but we started a monthly cleaner last month and the first thing she did was clean our oven AND OMG it has not looked like that since we got it! Ha. Although, a bunch of the chemicals got on our pans in the drawer underneath so yeah…
Ha, a few times when I’ve looked at your stories and the post time I am like “why is she up?” no judgment at you, more at me for wanting to be asleep by 9:30 every night. I know. I am your coolest friend.
LILA!!! What a little sneak. I need to send you a Reel my mom sent me that I am positive came from Lila. Hehe.
I didn’t take any pictures of the closet reorganization! It wasn’t a very dramatic change, even though it felt dramatic to me, haha.
HAHAHA – I love that you’re like, “Why is she up?” when I’m posting Instagram Stories late. There are so many times when I’ve wanted to post a Story but it’s, like, 12:30am and I’m like “It’s too late to post. What will people think?!?!”
LOOK AT THAT SHINY OVEN! I’m glad that stuff worked for you, I think it’s magical.
You have reminded me that I really should do a deep clean of my fridge and freezer as well, and probably my closet. Hmm. Maybe this month I will do that!
So my dog Barkley, years ago, gained 10% of his body weight in a year, and did I ever get scolded by the vet! It turns out my son, who was feeding him his meals, was putting a little extra in every bowl. It resolved itself by cutting back to his regular portions. I confess now that he’s at the end of his life, I do give him a lot more treats, because why not?
I’ve been watching my phone usage and my number one is Spotify, as I listen to a lot of music and podcasts throughout the day. Number two is Instagram! I try to keep my overall usage low, but it’s hard some days!
It’s so shiny and CLEAN! I’m so proud of it, haha.
I, too, would not bother with worrying about a dog’s weight when he’s at the end of his life. At that point, just making sure they’re eating and enjoying what they eat is enough!
I really go back and forth on how much I use Instagram on any given day. Some days, I forget to open the app until the evening and other days I’m spending over an hour on there. It’s a trap!
First things first. When I was younger I read a lot of classics, and I did NOT like Moby Dick. So I totally support your decision to skip it! I do love Jane Austen though- I think you kind of have to get used to her style though. i’ll be interested to hear what you think of Emma- I’m due for a re-read of that one.
You’re right that it takes a while for habits to stick. A lot of people would decide they failed at their walking goal and give up on it. You’re wise to keep at it- and soon you won’t have to worry about it being too cold : )
I just did a deep-clean of my fridge and it was a nightmare (really? cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving???) I really need to do that more often!
Yes, I really don’t believe in the “it takes 30 days to build a habit” because that has never been true for me. It takes me a lot longer – maybe it’s just my stubborn nature, haha.
I’m not looking forward to that fridge deep clean, eeks. I haven’t done a really good clean in a long time!
Our cat is on the heavy side and we get comments at the vet about it. But she spends a good chunk of the year at my MIL’s and she is GENEROUS with the treats. Phil has asked her to cut back because we don’t want Oscar to become diabetic. That is the main risk the vet raises at her annual appointments.
So your hip pain kind of reminds me of my hip issues. If you can swing it, try to see a PT. They can do an assessment to figure out what is going on and give you specific exercises to work on. For me, my glutes weren’t firing so other muscles were over-compensating and then that impacted the rotation in my hips, etc etc. I did PT for 8 weeks, maybe longer? But I had a misshapen hip joint so I ended up having to have surgery. One thing to try in the mean time is things like glute bridges, clam shells, and scorpions. Basically focus on things that will strengthen your core. People tend to think of abs when they think of your core, but the hips/glutes are so important and if you have weaknesses, it can cause lots of pain!
I wish the screen time feature on the iPHone was more customizable. Like I wish I could exclude certain things, like talking on the phone. I have tried to play around with it but I can not figure it out! So I have kind of given up. Since I’m not on social media I am kind of cutting myself some slack and viewing my phone usage as “fine”. I end up texting more but overall I think it’s better than it could be or was in the past!
Ooh, that is very good advice about my leg pain! It’s been so hard to describe and I’ve tried googling the problem in so many different ways. I think it must be some sort of referred pain and that the real problem lies somewhere else (maybe my IT band?), but I’ll see about getting a referral to a PT to get it all figured out.
I’ve been thinking a lot of my phone usage, too, and it’s been interesting to look at my screen time habits and where I’m spending my time. I don’t know how I’ll use this info (like, yes, I spend an hour a day using Happy Color but it really does calm me down and bring me joy so who cares?!), but maybe seeing it all laid out will help.
You had a really great month! And love your goals for March — it will be so great to see how your mile-a-day plan compares to last month’s success!
My screen time is… bad. I do so well when I just LEAVE MY PHONE UPSTAIRS. But I have so many things that I do on my phone besides screen time that I feel like I’m constantly reaching for it when I remember to leave it alone. Sigh. I set screen time limits for myself for certain apps, and am CONSTANTLY hitting “15 more minutes,” which totally defeats the purpose. I am not sure how to beat this terrible habit, so looking forward to seeing how you do with it! Thanks for paving the way 😉
Ugh, being able to place screen time limits on apps is so nice but it’s rare for me to stop using an app when I reach my limit, haha. I’m just like “you can’t tell me what to do!!!” Maybe there’s a bit of a rebel in me after all.
Wow, you did a great job on your goals! Seriously. 15/28 days of walking is pretty dang good when you consider that you JUST started doing it! (Well, last month, and here it is 3/14 already, but still…)
YAY for the oven cleaning. Life changing, isn’t it? And also yay for the water. You’re improving bit by bit – that’s what is important!
I think a PT would be a great option for your leg issues – and echo Lisa in saying that it may be a muscle imbalance issue. Have you had a massage recently, though? That could either a) make things better or b) make things worse. I know, nothing like being definitive. Sorry!
And finally, I suspect you might not have been in the right headspace (yet) for the dating apps. Give it time. 🙂
Thanks for your kind words, friend! I always think I should be so much better at things than I end up being. Going for a walk every day isn’t HARD – it just takes 20 minutes of my day! – but it can be really difficult to summon the energy some days, even though I know it would make me feel better. But 15 days is better than 0 days!
I am sorry to hear about your leg pain. Have you been riding your bike regularly? Do you do stretches afterward? And do you incorporate any strength training at all? I think I’d try and stick to a good stretching/strength routine for a month and see if that improves things because it sounds like it could just be a weak core/muscle issue. Getting an assessment by a PT can’t hurt though.
I also read Lisa’s post about tracking her time and I was very intrigued to do that myself for a week and then report back. We usually think we know where our time goes, but I think really tracking it could be eye-opening. I know that I could definitely reign in the doom-scrolling.
I haven’t been riding as much lately (oof) and I usually don’t do any stretches after a Peloton ride. Typically, I’ll go for a short walk afterward. I could definitely be better about stretching!
I haven’t been riding as much lately (oof) and I usually don’t do any stretches after a Peloton ride. Typically, I’ll go for a short walk afterward. I could definitely be better about stretching!