Getting Organized, Planning Knitting Projects, and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. Right now unfortunately I don't have any knitting I am working on. I still haven't found my pattern for the socks that was on the yarn sleeve. I have plans to knit my husband a scarf he asked for one. Today I looked up a pattern and ordered yarn for that project and hoping I have some progress to share with you next week! I also added a skein of yarn to knit myself a hat afterwards and want to knit Evan something after those two projects are complete. It has been slow around here lately and was just so cold this past week in Toronto. I have been busy with Evan playing, doing painting and colouring, and preparing his snacks and meals. It has been cold so mostly staying in with him lately and once it warms up a bit we can resume our outdoor walks. We went on one this past weekend it was so nice to go out as a family on a walk outside to the mall.

I have been continuing to read It Starts with us by Colleen Hoover and almost done. I have been enjoying reading about the character's lives and relationships continuing on from It Ends with Us. I have also been reading the Whole- Brain child by Daniel Siegel and Tina Bryson. It is so informative and there are some really good tips on working through issues with your child and encouraging them to communicate their thoughts and feelings. Something I want to learn about for when Evan is older and to help him work through emotional and tough times.

I have been feeling like decluttering lately and getting some new furniture and baskets to organize Evan's toys. I bought a big basket from Loblaws in their Life at Home collection. It is a good open rope basket we can throw his toys in to tidy up and he likes looking into it to find toys. I had a smaller one that is beside it in the photo and use it for stuffed animals now. He got a lot of toys for Christmas and also as his toy collection grows I just want to be ready to store them.

For my knitting I have been on the fence about getting a 3 tier cart. I think it would be perfect to store my yarn and knitting projects and knitting bags. There is one at Michaels and found one on Amazon. I will probably buy it soon. I have my knitting scattered everywhere right now it used to live mostly in the second bedroom that is now Evan's room. Now it is in bags and my knitting is in a few spots. I think a shelf would also be good. 

Photo source

Millie and Evan have been good. Evan is 14 months old tomorrow and he is so fun and so busy. He is a toddler now walking a lot and babbling.  He keeps us on our toes. Millie is busy too and wants to play a lot once Evan is down for bedtime and naptime.

I have been trying to work on my puzzle again and Millie keeps jumping up onto the table with me and attacking the pieces. I have decided to do the puzzle when she is napping or busy somewhere else. This puzzle I started when I was at the end of my pregnancy with Evan and I did the middle parts before the edges were done so the pieces just got everywhere and I have a roll up mat that doesn't keep the pieces together very well. So the other day I decided to take apart the middle pieces and just work on the edges. I should be in better shape with the puzzle soon and it will stay together better.

I hope you are doing well and thank you for visiting my blog today! What are you working on and reading this week?

Spring Organization - Friday Focus

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. This week I bought an under the sink organizer to hold more of those miscellaneous things that don't really have a home under the kitchen and powder room sinks. Today I put together the small storage unit I bought from Amazon and the brand is Simple Houseware. Millie was supervising me put it together.

It was easy to put together and then gave us more storage and organization under the downstairs bathroom sink. It was too wide for our upstairs bathroom so I will be buying a narrower one. We need the organization upstairs as well. 

The instructions are easy to follow and in the photo below all of these three pieces just snapped together.

Then the only thing you have to screw together is the top piece of the storage unit. Which was very easy and quick.

Millie liked this as is and didn't want the drawers to be added. It made a nice little house for her. 

I put it downstairs under our sink in our powder room to hold cleaning products in the bottom two drawers and then extra personal care products in the top drawer for now.

So far I am impressed by the quality and it is sturdy. I think this will come in handy for us to keep things more organized. I will probably by buying another one by the same brand if possible but narrower for the upstairs bathroom. This weekend I will be doing more Spring cleaning and organizing. It feels good to start cleaning up and throwing out things that we don't use and then organizing things we do use in a better way.

Have a great day!

Getting More Organized - Friday Focus

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. Happy Friday! Today we are in the first Friday of February and I wanted to focus on ways that I am working on getting more organized this year with my goals and to dos. Organization has never been my strong suit, but I am constantly trying to work on this goal and feeling like I am becoming more of an organized person. I have been using different methods and feeling a bit more on track lately and doing things daily I want to get done. Below are some tools that have been making getting organized and motivating me to get things done more fun and attainable.

Happy Planner - I have been using this planner for about four years now and really love using it. I found a routine that works for me best by finding a time on Sunday night where I can sit down with my planner and stickers and plan out my week. I then refer to it throughout the week to keep on track with my to dos and goals. I like how I can be creative and have fun with it with the stickers.

Bullet Journal - I have a bullet journal where I write down goals for each month starting January. I do a reflection at the end of the month and see which goals I accomplished. I started drawing out trackers and forget to use them. I want to get better with tracking my habits in the journal each day so I don't forget if I did them and I can hold myself accountable.

Using Google calendar - I schedule all kinds of things on this calendar and use my phone to view the calendar and check my lap top as well to see the weekly layout. I schedule blog posts now that I am posting 3 times each week and I also schedule when to start working on them. I like to put tasks in there as well that I would like to accomplish and like how it says mark as complete in the corner because I like checking things off.

Miracle Morning - I have talked about the Miracle Morning more lately because I am now on day 11 of the Miracle Morning program by Hal Elrod. It really does hold me more accountable to focus on myself right when I wake up. It helps me to make my mental, spiritual, and physical health a priority. I am working on this everyday to get more in tune with myself and live my best life. I can't wait to share with you how my 30 day challenge went at the end of this month and what I notice and what I have accomplished.  I am adding this following comment now as I had a comment and question below about the app. I am using the Miracle Morning app and I purchased it through Apple. I would say the app is worth the money because it holds me accountable to complete the savers daily. As I am doing the morning routine and savers, I check them off an it is satisfying to hear the little sound when it is checking them off. Once you do all the savers there is a congratulations message with confetti. Every day there is a video of someone's story using the app which is so inspiring. I like how to keeps track of how many days in a row you have done the savers. I also like how Hal Elrod will share a special message to you to encourage you at 10 days and I will see if he does again at 20. I love the app and hope that you enjoy it too if you do get it. It is part of my morning routine now and just adds to the special feeling of setting time aside each day for myself and my journey.

Brainstorming ideas - I usually spend some time each month brainstorming and going through a list of possible to dos to remind me of things. Then I write them all in a list in notes on my phone. After I have the list, then I put the thoughts down into my planner to then strategize how to make my thoughts and hopes a reality for the month. I have running list of things I want to do and when I have a thought I like to add to the list so I don't forget.

Thank you for visiting my blog! I know it seems like I have a lot on the go, but all of these strategies used together seem to work for me. I am still working on my combination of resources to work best for me to come up with the ideal solution to accomplish the tasks I want to. I feel like I am working towards creating a routine that I get more done and I would like to hold myself more accountable. What are some of your ways to keep you organized with to-dos and to keep you on track with goals? 

Have a great day!