October- Goals and the No Spend Year

We are nearing the end of the year and I can say that I am happy (for the most part) with the progress of my goals.  Only 2 more months left to go!  

#1-  Complete a No-Spend Year.

I bought something on my "Banned" list with my birthday money.  I bought myself winter boots.  I had banned shoes on my no-spend year list.  I took my daughter to daycare wearing my current boots in the snow.  By the time I made it to work, my socks were soaked and my toes were cold.  I feel strongly that I need to put my the health of my feet first so the other boots are hitting the trash.  I ordered quality boots that will last me many years.  I live in Canada and winter came early this year.  Our temperatures go as low as -40 degrees Celcius (-40 Fahenheit) and I am not risking my toes.  I knew that my boots were starting to leak last year so I am not sure why I didn't put it on my approved spending list.

#2-  Establish a Self-Care Routine

Let's talk about this.  I really thought that I was doing well with this goal and I was.  Life threw more than one curve ball at me in October.  I had a huge deadline at work, a major fundraiser for the local daycare (I am on the committee), pregnancy related nausea/dizziness/headaches/fatigue and I was working a LOT due to my co-worker being on vacation.  It all added up to one large meltdown where I was bawling an hour before the fundraiser was set to begin.  I have looked back at my busy month and I am not sure what I could have done differently.  Most of the curve balls were out of my control, besides the fact that I didn't take a sick day when I was feeling awful.  In hindsight, that wasn't practicing good self care.  I have been reading an interesting book by Gretchen Rubin called The Four Tendancies.  I am an upholder with obliger tendencies, which means that I am good at meeting both inner and outer expectations.  It also means that sometimes I work too hard to meet outer expectations and I occasionally experience burnout because of this.  I find my work to be a heavy expectation at times.  My work involves the health of my clients (I am a lab and x-ray tech in a small town) and I find it really hard to call in sick when I am ill because I know that my clients are often dealing with much worse situations.  I need to start putting my health first, especially in this last month and a half of my pregnancy so I am working to set up some clear boundaries this month.  The first boundary is working out well and my co-worker was able to lighten my schedule substantially which has already made a tremendous difference in my well-being. 

#3-  Say Yes to Family Time

This has been going well.  I am finding the "rules" that we set earlier in the year are working really well for our family and are surprisingly easy to follow.

#4-  Start school in September.

This is being postponed until after Baby's arrival.

#5-  Learn more about traditional prayers and incorporate them into my prayer life.

I am still working on figuring out how to make a habit of incorporating these tradtional prayers.

#6-  Establish a routine for the blog and stick to the blog's vision.

Ummmm..... yeah.  So that burnout that I mentioned above?  Well, that lead to a really bad blogging month.  I have worked to circumvent that this month with better planning and a lighter load at my job.  

October was a good month of learning for me.  I hope to apply what I have learned for a successful November.  How are your goals going?

High Five For Friday- 03.11.17

Another week has already flown by!  I can hardly believe that it is November.  It was a fairly busy week with a few sleepless nights and one killer migraine.  Ick.  I am feeling better today and hope that this will hold out for the next few days.  I have a big work project coming up and I need to be at my best for the next few days.

I am linking up with Becky, Tif, Katie, and Della to share 5 highlights from my week.  Make sure to check them out and all the other great bloggers linking up for H54F!

1.)  I had 5 (!) wonderful days off from work.  It was very much needed.  I spent time catching up on housework, sleeping, and getting ready for the coming week.  My brother and his girlfriend moved over the weekend and we stopped by for a quick visit and a housewarming gift.  I was no help at all with the move because of my bump, so I figured I should at least bring them some goodies.

2.)  On Monday I had a good visit with my best friend from school.  Our kids played fairly well together and it was nice to catch up with her!

3.)  Tuesday was Halloween.  It snowed all day long.  It was super pretty, but it put me in the mood for Christmas, not Halloween!  Ha ha!  Miss. E and I went out and built a snowman and enjoyed the snow.  We were still outside when the trick-or-treaters began to arrive!  Miss. E enjoyed handing out candy with me and trick-or-treating with her Dad.  It took convincing to get her in a 'costume'.  Inside the house she was a ballerina (thanks to her play clothes) and when she went out she was a princess.  It can be hard to get a costume over a snowsuit, but we did our best.  

4.)  This week has been quite productive at work and I am hoping that today is the same!  My work project ends Monday.  I hope I can relax a little after that.

5.)  I have made my freezer meal grocery list for when the baby comes.  I have all of my meal prep days planned.  It makes me feel better to know that a plan is in place so that we will have some meals on hand after the baby comes!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Life Update at 32 Weeks

Hello friends!  After having a successful month of blogging in September, it seems that I am not going to do well with my blog this month.  I do love spending time writing and connecting with my fellow bloggers but I have been struggling in the last few weeks.

A heavy work schedule coupled with me not feeling well has made for a rough few weeks.  I have felt exhausted and overwhelmed.  My last pregnancy was relatively easy.  I had only a few small issues to deal with and I seemed to maintain my energy up until near the end of my pregnancy.  This pregnancy has been very different.  I have had a lot of nausea (thankfully it doesn't result in actually getting sick!), headaches, dizziness and fatigue.  I really don't like taking things off my plate (something I clearly need to work on) so I have mostly just been powering through.  It came to a head last weekend when I just burst into tears and had a mini meltdown an hour before a fundraising event that I was helping organize.  Unfortunately, something's got to give.  I have focused this week on sleeping when I am tired, going to bed early and just saying no to pretty much everything that comes my way. 

I am lucky to have a very supportive Hubby who has been making meals all week, doing laundry and taking care of Miss. E.  I haven't had to do anything this week except go to work and come home.  It has really helped and I am feeling much better.  I have made the decision to take time to rest when I need it.  Growing a tiny human being is hard work and my body has been begging me to slow down.  It may mean that this blog suffers, that Hubby has to pick up the slack and that I might (gasp!) have to take a sick day from work.  I am determined to start paying attention to what my body needs because I can not keep functioning like this.  I also know that these last few weeks are precious and that I should enjoy resting when I can because that will all change with a newborn in the house!

The last few weeks have been quite the lesson in self care.  I really thought I was doing so well with that!  I guess I am still learning.  Thanks for listening.  Have a peaceful weekend!

High Five For Friday- 13.10.17

How is it that we are nearly halfway through October.  Wow.  I need the rest of the month to go in slow motion so that I can finish a few projects at work.  Yikes!  I am linking up with Tif, Katie, Della and Becky to share 5 highlights from my week.  I was a terrible photographer and didn't take any pictures this week.

1.)  I attended a baptism last Saturday as a Godmother.  This is the first time I have ever been asked to be a Godmother so I was very excited.  Afterwards, our friends had us over for a delicious turkey dinner.  Yum!  It was a fun day.

2.)  On Sunday we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.  It was a lot of fun.  My Mom made a delicious meal and I so enjoyed visiting with everyone.  Miss. E thinks we are all pretty boring with wanting to sit and talk.  Ha ha.  We had a fabulous time!

3.)  On Monday (actual Thanksgiving) I basically did housework and froze beets.  It was great to get things done.  I was exhausted and had a migraine by the end of the day so I headed to bed early. 

4.)  By Wednesday, my headache was finally gone.  Wooo! It was a doozy.  It was nice to have a productive day at work.

5.)  I had my 30 week appointment yesterday and everyone is doing fine.  I learned that baby is laying in an awkward position  (across my belly, right under my ribs) so that explains the side pains and heartburn.  Ha ha.  I am hoping that the little one gets their head down in time!  We did maternity pictures last night and I am so looking forward to getting those back.  Our photographer always does such a wonderful job!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  Happy Friday!

Master Menu and Meal Formula

I have been working on a Master Menu.  I have also been working on a menu "formula".  The good thing is that my family and I have sort of fallen into a pattern with our meals.  It's nice because neither my husband or my daughter seem to get sick of our recurring meal schedule. 

Some people make their formula specific to the day of the week.  My work schedule varies far too much for me to do that so I only really have Sunday set as a specific type of meal.  All the other days are sorted out according to what we have going on that week.  Here is what I came up with for my menu "formula":

Sunday:  I always try to make a nice meal on Sunday.  This is usually a roast beef dinner, roast chicken, lasagna, or a ham.

Monday:  Sunday leftover meal.  The amount of meat that we get from a roast, chicken or ham is always way too much for my family of 3.  I like to use the leftover meat in a "new" way on Monday night.

The rest of the week is split up into a pasta night, a chicken night, a salmon night, a red meat meal and one easy meal.

I am going to share the meals on my Master Menu.  Honestly, I just trade out side dishes most of the time and call it a new meal.  I am that boring.  Whatever gets you through the work night suppers, right?

Chicken, Salmon or Pork Chops with:

• rice
• perogies
• potatoes
• salad

Lasagna or Lasagna Roll-Ups

Pasta and Sauce (Meat Sauce, vegetable sauce, or meatballs)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs (Hubby's specialty)

Stir Fry (chicken, pork or shrimp)

Roast Beef

Beef on a Bun

Pizza

Chili

Roast Chicken

Breakfast Supper (Pancakes and eggs)

All together my master menu has 25 meals.  I do my best to match up what is on sale that week, what we have on hand and what we have planned that week.  I always do my big meal for Sunday supper, as I often have lots of time after church on Sunday to spend time in the kitchen.  Work night meals tend to be easier meals, as I don't always have a lot of time or energy those evenings.

Do you have a Master Menu?  Do you follow a menu formula?  I would love to hear all about it!

High Five For Friday- 05.10.17

Hello October!  I love the crisp mornings that this week has had and I have also enjoyed the warm afternoons.  I am linking up with Tif, Katie, Becky and Della to share my five highlights from the past week.

1.)  My Grandma turned 90 this past weekend!  We had a great time celebrating her birthday.  She seemed to enjoy her day.  It was nice to catch up with Aunts, Uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in a while. 

2.)  On Sunday, Hubby took me on a romantic date for our 7th anniversary (which was actually Monday).  We had a lovely afternoon at my favourite place (the lake), complete with lasagna (!) and cake.  It was such a nice date!

(I can't believe it's been 7 years!)

3.)  I have been participating in The Nester's #cozyfallhome daily photo prompts on Instagram.  It has been a lot of fun.  To see what I have been posting check out my Instagram account (@peacefulsimplelifeblog).

4.)  Miss. E has been so imaginative lately and she is really cracking me up.  I feel so blessed to get to watch her play and grow.  It is a lot of fun!

5.)  I have been feeling a lot better this week.  Thank goodness! 

I hope you all had a great week!  Have a fabulous weekend!  (Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends!)

September- Goals and The No Spend Year

Another month is under our belts.  September really seemed to fly by for us.  We had so much going on with family events, birthdays and meetings that it seemed that the month was over before it started.  I did pretty good with my goals this month and I am happy with my progress.  Here is a look at my September:

1.)  Complete a No-Spend Year

This is still going well!  I am happy with all that I am learning with this challenge.  My parents gave me birthday money for my 30th birthday and I did spend a portion of that money.  Our coffee maker broke down about 4 months ago and I have been using my French press ever since.  The only thing with the press was that I really didn't like the coffee.  It just wasn't as good as the brewed coffee that I was used to enjoying.  With the upcoming arrival of Baby #2, I figured that it would be wise to invest in a new coffee maker now.  I bought a decent coffee maker that has a timer setting, 5 year warranty and the 2 hour shut off feature.  I am extremely happy with my purchase and I am glad that I delayed it for as long as I did.  It was a good reminder that not everything needs to be replaced right now.  Sometimes delaying a purchase helps you figure out if you really need to replace an item in your home. 

2.)  Establish a Self-Care Routine

This goal is still going well.  Even with my busy schedule this past month, I managed to keep on top of my self-care.  It is super important and I think it has really led me to have a better quality of life. 

3.)  Say Yes To Family Time

I am really doing well with this.  I think this goal has taught me how to balance different demands in my life.  We had a busy month with different events and meetings but we were still able to carve out some great quality family time with just the 3 of us.  It was a good month!

4.)  Start School in September.  

This goal is on hold until the New Year.

5.)  Learn more about traditional prayers and incorporate them into my prayer life.

This goal was better this month.  I am still trying to set it up so that I have more of a routine to attach the more traditional prayers to.  I am still working on how to go about this.

6.)  Establish a routine for the blog and stick to the blog's vision.

I had my best month since March.  Wooo!  I seem to have figured out how to stick to my blogging routine.  I posted twice a week, except for last week when I was feeling quite under the weather.  I am still working on establishing a routine for my blog, but I am seeing progress.  I am happy with my progress and I hope to continue on this path!

It was a great month!  How are your goals going?  I would love to hear about it!