Missons Accomplished!

Two of the huge challenges I was working on in April are complete and I wanted to take a minute to write about them. They've been fantastic.

First is the 100-mile fitness challenge. My friend, Amanda, put together this challenge and it has been so fun.  It started in February and the goal was to accumulate 100 miles of fitness in the 3 months from February to April -- the way to calculate was:  1 mile of biking, swimming, running, walking, etc. = 1 mile...15 minutes of any other activity (yoga, Jillian, p90x, etc.) = 1 mile.
We reported to Amanda every Monday night and she added up our numbers and sent out an email detailing everyone's progress.  It was a great motivator on the days where I felt a little lazy in the exercise department.  We just finished up on Saturday and my final tally ended up being 148 miles!  Whew!  It's really cool to see it in cold hard numbers like that.  That's a lot of exercise in 3 months.  (There were some people in the challenge who came close to 300 miles!  Wow).  I added up the miles of all 22 of us who participated -- we clocked 2909 miles!  That's like going from San Francisco to New York City.  This was a great challenge to be involved in and I really appreciated Amanda's hard work every week getting the numbers out.  I'm looking forward to doing it again.

The second challenge I did was a 30 Day Organizing Challenge.  This was hosted by Michele, the Get Organized Wizard.  Every day of April, she posted a new 5 minute mission to complete.  Some of the missions took me a LOT longer than 5 minutes, but just knowing that I had a place to report my progress gave me to motivation to complete every single one.  As the final bonus mission today, she challenged us to take a minute and write about the successes we had.

Bonus Task: Acknowledge Your Accomplishments

Step 1: Get a pen and notebook, or open a new document on your computer.
Step 2: Write for 5 minutes about the gains you’ve made in your home over the past month. Include:

• The ways things look
• The time you save when looking for things
• Your feelings – perhaps clarity or freshness
• The influence on the kids
• The impression on your spouse
• Anything you’ve learned about yourself
• Any new habits you’re committing to.

Step 3: Make a note in your diary to re-read what you’ve written in a month’s time. It will remind you of your achievements and motivate you to maintain the benefits.
And you’re done!

I'm going to complete this mission on my blog so I have a tidy little archive of my success.

*The way things look -- I still have a few "treasure spots" that are an eye sore, but the improvement in the order of my home is tangible.  My craft room is stocked ONLY with things I love and use.  My jewelry containers are purged and filled with only things I love.  The entertainment hutch thing in my living room is orderly -- the karaoke machine has a home now, as does my exercise equipment (and that home is NOT in the corner where I've learned to just tune them out), my closet has only clothes I love in it, I only have things in my kitchen that I need and use regularly, and my linen/medicine closet only has medicines we use and linens we need.  It used to be really scary to open that door!  It's orderly, nice, and I actually know what I have now!
*I definitely save time looking for things now.  One of the tasks was to organize our car's glove box.  It's been crazy how many times I've benefited from knowing exactly what is in there now.  Some for every other little spot we've worked on.  I am not buying doubles of so many of the things I was before.  And my garbage can has been FULL the past few weeks!
*My feelings--- well, I'm relieved.  It's incredible to see those spots in my house that I have always been frustrated by but never thought I had time to tackle.  Just starting (and having someone give me permission to start) was so eye opening.  I have plenty of time to tackle these projects -- it's just choosing to do them.  Another thing I've gained from this is that I actually THINK about what I purchase and bring into my home more carefully.  I don't want the clutter to come back and I have learned that I do much better emotionally when my home is simple and only has a few things that I love very much in it.
*The influence this has had on my kids is maybe not as clear yet.  We'll see in the long run how this pans out.  Although I do hope they're learning from me that simplicity is happy.
*Stanton has loved this challenge!  Haha.  He's a guy who feels immediate peace when he comes home to a tidy home and the opposite when he doesn't.  He has loved seeing the changes that have been made and has helped me go through some of the challenges.  And he's been motivated to clean up some of his own treasure spots because of what I've done.
*I mentioned before that I've learned I love simplicity.  I read decorating blogs sometimes and fall into the trap that I need to like having a bunch of different decorating projects going on or change my decorations regularly, etc., to be happy/a good homemaker, etc.  I've come to realize that that may be the case for many, many people, but for me, I am much more happy and peaceful when I am surrounded by a few things I truly love or that really inspire me and that when the rest of the space is left to be just space, I can breathe more easily and handle the messes that every day life brings with a happier attitude.  Fewer surfaces to dust relieve me.  Fewer things to be broken give me peace.  A few inspiring pictures and pictures of my family bring me joy.  I don't like having spray painted rabbits, huge vases turned over on trinkets, and vinyl lettering everywhere.  I like simplicity.  Who knew??!!
*I've committed to myself that I will seriously consider every single thing that enters my home.  I will think about its value and what it will bring in terms of peace and happiness in my home and for my family.  Nothing is a great deal if it brings clutter to my home.  I've also committed to implementing the OCI-OGO way of living (One Comes In-One Goes Out).  I am not saying that I will trade one for one every single time something comes into my home (clothes for example) but when it comes to decorations, paper anything, and general "stuff," I will adopt this way of life.  And I will continue to go through my closet every few months (which I was already doing) and pass on the things that I don't love anymore to people who will love them.

I feel FREE!!  I am going to try to keep up with this -- maybe make a list of things I still need to go through and commit to spending 5 minutes every day keeping the junk at bay.
And I'm going to go set a calendar reminder to come back and read this post in one month so I can get back on track if I've fallen off the wagon.

One last thing I don't want to forget.  While I was writing this post, I hopped on Facebook and saw news that gave me chills.  Tonight, President Obama announced that after 10 years of searching, the mastermind and leader behind the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001, Osama bin Laden, was found and killed.  I am shocked.  I have to admit that I didn't really think this was ever going to happen.  I know this doesn't mean the end of the Taliban, but it certainly has to take the wind out of the sails of those who thought he was infallible.  This is a relief and hopefully brings peace to the many who lost family members directly due to his wickedness.
My gratitude to those who, unlike me, never gave up on the hope that we could find him.  Gratitude to President Obama, gratitude to those in the military working to serve our nation, gratitude to the CIA for their diligence.  Gratitude to Heavenly Father for providing a plan that ensures justice and mercy all of His children.