One Bite at a Time: Together {Weeks 12-13 giveaway closed}

Well, now…HAPPY NEW YEAR Friends!

I’ve never been one for New Year’s Resolutions…I don’t really like to set myself up for failure on purpose.

Besides, I’m a constant work in progress…I make mini-resolutions throughout the year as I go. They ebb and flow and I mess up and I fall short, but I’ve learned that grace covers it all. I want my kids to see that in me. I want them to learn that it’s not about perfection…but it’s also not okay to stay stagnant and not stretch yourself. You always gotta keep trying.

When I saw Tsh’s ebook last year, I knew it was just the ticket for an imperfect, non-resolution keeping, I don’t want to have to buy 9,000 new things in the name of Simplifying, kind of gal.

One task a week? Done. Sign me up.

An opportunity to connect with readers and have some accountability…and see how others fared? Love it.

The way this “works” (you know, because it’s all really official and fancy) is that we each work on one task/project per week in the book. Then, once a month I tell you how I did, what worked, what didn’t and you tell me how you did (in the comments or even with a blog post of your own). In theory we get through 4 tasks per month. (Here’s all the older posts.)

Notice I said “in theory”. Remember how I proclaimed my love of grace? This is where it comes in handy.

Well, you see, Life doesn’t always like to make way for bite sized self help kind of stuffs. Sometimes Life is survival mode. “Did we all make it alive today? Yes? My job here is done.”

Last month was Christmas and all of that hub bub, all five of us took turns having the stomach flu, and we got to ride in an ambulance.

So, I’ll just be honest and tell you right now that I only got through 2 tasks last month. It just wasn’t in the cards. Lo siento. (I’m really excited to try Task 15 though!) We should be good to go in the foreseeable future though.

Week 12: Clean Your Kitchen As You Cook

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Loving this. Totally doing this. It’s been awesome. There always seems to be this extra ten minutes or so before dinner is completely ready so I’ve been using that time to clean up and get stuff put away. I’m doing pretty good at this.

Plus, a side benefit is that dinner feels more peaceful when we eat in a clean kitchen. Not sitting at a table across from a sink overflowing with dirty dishes and a counter with shards of shredded cheese all over it.

This is good.

But you want to know what little “problem” I’ve had?

I’ve found that when dinner is done, and we’ve cleared the table, I don’t feel like doing the dishes…again.

I mean, I JUST did them like 15 minutes ago! Literally. Besides, it’s only a few plates and cups, right? I’ll just leave them for morning and load them when I do the breakfast dishes…

Boo.

Because when morning comes, it’s annoying to walk into a not clean kitchen. And those “few plates and cups” are now covered in a hardened mess of nasty that needs a pressure washer to get the food hunks off of it.

You would think I had learned my lesson by now. Notsomuch.

Week 12: Plan Weekly Meetings With Your Spouse

This one is a little bit on the hard side for us.

Because it doesn’t feel natural…it’s almost “awkward” to be all formal and have a meeting…you know, with the person you see every day for hours at a time. Scheduling a meeting sounds really official. And we’re not official kind of people. We’re goofy, silly, teasing kind of people. I’m pretty sure Andy would raise an eyebrow and totally laugh if I said we needed to schedule a meeting every week. It’s just not our style. Is that weird?

But the truth is that we DO go over our calendars on a very regular basis. I pull out my pretty, colorful Erin Condren planner and my pink pen, and he pulls out his oh-so-practical and digital iPhone calendar and we go over what we have going on that week. I make squiggles and sunbursts, he types in Arial.

Between his travel schedule and all the appointments I have to keep for the kids, we really need to know what’s going on with the other. I need to know in advance if he’ll be in another country when Jill has a doctor’s appointment. After all, am I lugging all three kids with me or do I try to find someone I can drop them off with? Does he need me to have all the laundry done and dry cleaning picked up by a certain day because he’s going to a conference? Will he be home for dinner on Thursday or should I make something on Wednesday that will have leftovers for me and the kids? I want to go to coffee with Joy on Tuesday, does that work?

Right now we go over our schedules for the week on Monday mornings over breakfast and coffee. The kids are usually in the other room watching cartoons (yes, I am that mom…hate me) so it’s fairly uninterrupted. Not 100%. But I’m okay with that. That’s our life. And it’s more of our personality.

But do you see what I just did? Tsh’s ebook isn’t about rigidity and doing everything exactly like she does. I think it’s more of a series of goals and things that, in some way, you should be doing. You can tweak it and fiddle with it in a way that works for you and your family. Do I do it exactly like Tsh suggests? Nope, but I’m still doing it aren’t I?

I love that. It makes it so much more manageable.

Are you playing along with us One Bite at a Time? How did you do last month?

Not yet? With the fresh start of a new year, it’s a perfect time to join us! The beauty of the way the book is laid out is that you don’t have to do it in any kind of order…you can start right alongside us on Week 14!

Do you WANT to play along? How about if I giveaway THREE of Tsh’s ebooks?!

Just leave me a comment in this post telling me what one thing you want to do better on this year? It doesn’t have to be a specific task covered in the ebook, just anything you keep telling yourself you need to work on. I’ll pull the winners on Saturday, January 7th.

Want to buy the book now and not wait? Use code HAPPYNEWYEAR and get the ebook for only $4!!!!

{affiliate links used.}

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jeannett

I'm a mom to four. A wife to one. I believe in story. I love telling you about mine and would love to hear yours. There's really no sense in wasting our suffering and not sharing in each other's joy. We're all in this together...even if it doesn't always feel like it.