Jim Cooks, Sometimes

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Sometimes Jim gets me and sometimes he doesn't. Isn't that the way of most relationships? Not always sunshine and rainbows but that's okay. I asked him on Saturday if he would commit to cooking dinner one night a week. He does the grocery shopping and so I thought it would help him understand the process better if he was doing some meal planning too. This gave me one day a week when I didn't have to think about and spend time preparing dinner. He could do this on any afternoon he wished after he watched his daily Judge Judy show. 

He made dinner on Sunday and last night too and then started to tell me what he has planned for the next few days. The problem is he tends to cook big and then has no plan for the leftovers. I need to help him change this since I hate to throw away food. Not only that, but he missed my point. I didn't want a "break" for a week and then he would quit, I wanted him to cook one day each week. So, this new to him habit is a work in progress and will need gentle, diplomatic nudging from me since, like most adults, he doesn't like being managed.

Getting this habit established will benefit both of us, I hope.

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

On a Monday

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Building habits can seem like such a simple thing, but sometimes it can be hard to keep routines going. This year all that I built into my day to get things done and stay healthy was tossed aside because of the needs of my mother. I was with her and at her house from mid February to mid June. 

One chore that was easy to keep going, even while caring for mom, was doing my personal laundry on Mondays and since today is Monday that is what I will do once I finish this post. While things are in the washer and dryer I will be catching up on retweets or is it reXing now? Does that make me a multitasker?

Since I've been home, I decided to blog daily. I don't always have grand ideas about what to write and I find myself going between random bits of life like books, making, or what I am watching or like today laundry and the occasional affiliate post. I just wanted this to work as an exercise in finding my own voice now that I am not constrained by the judgments from a very different and opinionated lady and using this blog to make note of my days.  I have been posting daily since June 16th and feeling pretty good about that.

I have also finished 2 weeks of daily yoga. Boy am I out of practice! I do feel better after doing something physical though and so I added this to my morning routine after I spend time on the computer each morning. So, laundry on Monday, blogging, reXing, and yoga fill my mornings and help me feel ready for whatever comes next.

Today I am asking you, do you have morning or evening routines that help frame the passage of time? I have found that without the necessities of kids and school schedules, they are all grown up, or Jim and his jobs, he has retired, I need to create my own systems to keep me from spending all day on the couch reading a book and letting everything else go.

Back with more again soon. 

Take care and stay cozy! 

Be a Better Blogger

Being a better or at least more consistent blogger is really just a small part of what is on my mind these days. However when it comes to blogging I have a plan. I am damn good at making plans by the way. I can get so lost in list making and organizing that I don't get anything done but that list is beautiful. I have had to stop making lists and just keep deadlines which I rarely have and appointments on a calendar and call it good. Procrastination encouraged by distraction is a problem for me.

Back to the plan. I have developed (and am proud of this) a daily habit of exercise and walking. I do this first thing in the morning after 1 and only 1 cup of a caffeinated drink, either coffee or tea. I turn on podcasts and start moving. After all, as I like to say, I am in training for old age. So when I finish this activity I drink some water and cool down a bit before I move on to having breakfast, a shower and get myself dressed. My plan is to start writing my blog posts during my cool down time. 

You see, my exercise time is great getting lost in random thoughts. Rather than being so random I can plan a post and then sit down and write while sipping my water. The reason I think this will work well is because I am building onto a already established routine. I have tried planning blogging for other times of day and it just doesn't work. I, and maybe you too, need a certain amount of alertness and concentration to write a post and those things are best for me in the morning. After a day of Etsy shop work, tweeting, housework, making meals, running errands and so on and so on the last thing I want to do is sit down to plan and write a blog post.

So if this works you will see me here or rather I will be talking to myself here more often. 

Dear reader if you would, and you are a blogger, let me know what works for you.

And now I am leaving you with my most viewed picture on Google maps. I am going to imagine he is watching to see that I do well in making the goal of more consistent blogging happen.

Back with more again soon. Take care and stay cozy!