The First 30 Days
I’ve been thinking and thinking and thinking about this 30 Day business, and I’ve decided on what my first 30 Day Challenges (yes plural – I’m an over achiever) are going to be.
I have commitment issues when it comes to projects like this. It’s not that I’m afraid to take on the project; it’s that I want to make sure that I’m taking on the right project. If I’m going to be investing my time, money and energy into something, I want to know I’m making the right investment. Once I’ve committed to something, I’m in it 100%. I will work on that project until it’s as close to perfect as I can make it. Even if it turns out to be a total disaster I will love it just the same.
During my adolescence, it took me more than two years to pick out a color to paint my room. I went through phases where I wanted something green, then something ocean, then something yellow, then something purple. It was such a big commitment, I wanted to make sure that I picked the right color. In the end my room ended up a tangerine orange color. It was very extreme and very bright, but I loved it and it looked good with the wood floor and the eclectic decorations that littered my room. My family must not have hated it because that room is still bright freakin’ orange.
Now that it has been confirmed (for the 163rd time) that I’m a total whack job, here are my challenges for the next 30 days.
Well first, a little back ground on how I came to my decisions.
If Deuce follows in the footsteps of his or her older sibling, Deuce will be here in a month. ONE MONTH. YIKES. This means, I only have one month left to get the house ready, get all of the baby stuff ready, enjoy being a family of three, cross things off of the to-do list and as AuntieJill reminded me rest. I knew that a challenge that involved much physical effort would be a total waste because there are days that my pregnant butt just isn’t up for much more than the couch. I knew a challenge that required a lot of mental stress or concentration wouldn’t work because my pregnant brain is as good as drunk at times. I knew that I needed to find something that I could do in a short amount of time from the comfort of my rump. Knowing this, I decided that I would take on three small(ish) challenges.
But first, here are some challenges that didn’t make the cut.
At first, I really wanted one of my challenges to be to make something new in the kitchen every day. Being in the kitchen is something that I deeply love, and I know that once Deuce arrives, I don’t have the opportunity to make much of anything in the kitchen for awhile. I thought that making something new (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack whatever) for 30 days would be a great gift to myself. I also thought it would be a great gift to my family since they’ll be living off of frozen pizza and nachos once Deuce is born. Then I thought about how much energy being in the kitchen can take, and the fact that some days my pregnant self doesn’t want to look at my kitchen. SoOoOo that challenge has been put on my list for future 30 day challenges.
I thought about writing my book over the course of the next 30 days, but that requires a lot of concentration and creativity. Since my drunken pregnant brain can hardle handle writing posts that are the least bit coherent, I knew that had to be put on my list of future challenges as well.
For a brief period of time, I considered cleaning my house for the next 30 days. I mean REALLY cleaning my house. You know, the kind where you wash each individual slat on the blinds, wipe the baseboards down with vinegar and scrub the plumbing fixtures with a toothbrush. Then I thought about spending my summer and the last month of my pregnancy smelling of vinegar and plucking dust bunnies out of my eyelashes and crossed that off the list. I’m not sure when or IF that challenge will be taken on anytime in the near or distant future. Perhaps that could be a February project when leaving the house is a miserable chore?
So what challenges did I decide on?
Challenge 1 – For the next 30 days I’m going to read and comment on 10 new-to-me blogs a day. This was suggested by the husband. This will allow me to learn from other bloggers writing styles, designs, marketing and so on. By commenting on blogs, other readers may make their way over to my blog. Plus, I enjoy reading. Bonus, I can do this from the comfort of my couch while watching crappy TV and eating chocolates.
Challenge 2 – For the next 30 days I’m going to spend between 15 and 30 minutes working in the office. This challenge occurred to me when I was laying in bed last night freaking out about all of the phone calls and bills I had to take care of. Home office organization, keeping up with papers, files, receipts, phone calls and other responsibilities of that nature has been a weakness for our family since it’s inception. A TLC reality show would have a field day with our office. You would think the fact that Steve works out of our home, would make the office and administrative responsibilities a priority for us, but for whatever reason it is something that we consistently fail at. It costs us way too much time and money and creates a lot of unneeded anxiety and stress. My goal over the next 30 days is to change that. I will spend between 15 and 30 minutes in the office everyday for the next 30 days chipping away at the disaster. I will go through every piece of paper in the office, make the phone calls I’ve been avoiding, throw away as much crap as possible, creating a filing system that will put TLC to shame, put as many bills as possible on auto-pay, take care of emails that have gotten buried and so on. My hope, my wish, my dream is that when this is done my hard working husband will have a clean and peaceful place to work in and that I will not have anxiety attacks when it comes to family administrative duties. I had to put a daily time limit on this project because I know myself well enough to know that I can get caught up in something and before I know it the whole day is gone; that is the last way I want to spend my summer. Bonus, I can do this from the comfort of my office chair or the carpeted office floor.
Challenge 3 – For the next 30 days I’m going to do something for myself everyday. I came up with this challenge because I totally stink at doing kind things for myself, and I know that when Deuce arrives I’m not going to have time to shower much less paint my toes. Believe it or not, this challenge makes me the most nervous. I have never been good at taking time out for myself. I have always been an overachieving, overextending, OCD, perfectionist freak. Since I’m on the cusp of becoming a sleep deprived, smelly Mommy of two, I figured now is the time to master the much needed art of self spoiling. Whether it’s reading a magazine, taking a shower (without Moanna), buying myself flowers, blowing bubbles, watching a girly movie, lighting a candle, taking a walk, eating something amazing, putting on lotion, coloring, dressing up… I will do something fun and loving for me everyday. Bonus, it’s self spoiling.
See, they’re all pretty easy challenges. Nothing too deep or strenuous. I also made sure to balance my challenges. One challenge to work on and improve my blog, one challenge that will benefit the whole family and one challenge for myself.
It’s 9:00PM on day 1, and I have completed all three challenges for the day. I found, read and commented on 10 new-to-me blogs. It took me about half an hour, and I came across two hilarious blogs. In the office today, I called and scheduled a plumber and pest control to come to the house, called to get a dish replaced that we broke months ago, called a retail store to get a refund process that was weeks overdue, threw away a few things, paid some bills and went through the receipts that were piling up in my purse. Confession, I spent way more than 30 minutes in the office today; it was more like three hours. First, I had to search forever to find the phone number for pest control, second Monday is my usual office day, third I told you I had to set a timer for this project or my entire life would be swallowed by it. While Moanna played with her sidewalk chalk, I sat on the steps handing Moanna the colors of chalk she needed, and finished reading a magazine. Not exactly the best way to spend time spoiling myself, but as I mentioned earlier this challenge is going to be a learning experience for me.
Day 1 – check
29 days to go…
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