Welcome 2012....

It's hard to believe that we are just 12 hours into the new year. Where did 2011 go? Yesterday I really didn't take time to reflect on 2011 or the happenings of the past, as Timon and Pumba say "you've got to put your past behind you". What wise words... my friends. If you think about it, you can't change the past but you can let it inspire your future.

Recently I was introduced to a challenge, well maybe a way to change your life in manageable chunks. It's called 3 in 30. Basically you look at the things you want to do and take them a step at a time. Kind of cool. And if you think about your goals as measurable then you know when you have met the goal. The other thing is that your goals need to be realistic. So I've been thinking about what I want to work on. I came up with some big categories: organization (downsizing); bad habits (soda pop and sweets) and work/home balance. So those aren't really goals... you can't measure them nor do they seem realistic. I am thinking of 3 in 30 as baby steps. In June I read an article that talked about aspartame being responsible for several illnesses. (google it, there is a lot out there) It kind of hit me hard. I was a HUGE diet coke drinker. Think almost 2L a day. And if I were really honest, I was over that most days. It was the calming item in my life. Stress eating me away... drink a diet coke. In a teacher training I was talking to a gal who had recently given up all soda because of migraines. Her doctor had read some of the same information that I had and was concerned that migraines might be linked to aspartame.

Light bulb moment for me... I noticed a pattern in my migraines... lots of stress equaled an attack. So to the dr I went. And he said "it can't hurt and probably would be the healthy choice to stop drinking diet coke." Knowing me he suggested that I use baby steps and set a goal of being soda free by July 1,2012. First step, be completely off diet coke- not craving it or missing it by Jan 1. Guess what- here I am diet coke free, only having one migraine attack since mid June, and I don't miss diet coke. But I still drink soda... Dr Pepper to be exact. Now comes the task of removing it from my life, and this is where the 3 in 30 is going to make this a reality. Step 1- (January item #1) no Dr Pepper after 3 pm!  Step 2- (Feb item) No Dr Pepper after noon. I hope that this is as easy as it would seem. This goal falls under the bad habits section of my big categories.

The next item that I want to tackle is my classroom. Well one area at a time (big category- organization). I am starting with my teaching table. I don't have a teacher desk because it would be covered in JUNK! But what happens is through out the day I tell the children to "put it on my table". Then the end of the day arrives and guess what... my table is covered! And I usually just make stacks and set them aside until later...well later never seems to come. So goal 2 is to spend 10-15 min each day keeping my table clean. This is going to happen in 2 steps. Step 1 is to check the table at lunch time, if there are stacks of student work, clip them and get them into the grade me bucket or into the paper passers bucket. 5 minutes at lunch should remove everything from the morning. Then at dismissal when the kids are checking their mailboxes, I need to check my table. This will give me an idea of what has accumulated during the afternoon. I really need to figure out where the problem starts so that I can stop it.

The home school balance is big, but I don't have it broken down into goals yet. I finish grad school this summer and I know that will be a HUGE help in the balance of things. But until then I need to start thinking about what I can do to bring balance to my life.

So short version of my goals:
1. no dr pepper after 3pm.
2. teaching table checked 2 a day for "piles"
3.don't have one yet... hope to by Friday.