Motivated Moms

I'd like to bring your attention to Motivated Moms. Similar to "Fly Lady" but profoundly more effective for this family, Motivated Moms is a year-long home cleaning and organization system. Each week you have a new "sheet" that lists your every day tasks as well as special tasks to complete that day. Using their system I have been able to keep my house pretty clean with about 90 minutes worth of effort per day.
I, personally, function best with a physical checklist and get fantastic satisfaction from physically crossing things off my list rather than clicking a dot on my iphone.
If you're looking for a way to get and keep the house in nice condition check out the Motivated Moms.

Resolution watch:
Two days in and I'm doing great! I actually finished a quilt top yesterday. I need to get batting, backing and binding to finish it off, hopefully, tomorrow. Blog post with pictures will naturally follow.

And if you'd like to see the other pea to my pod, check out Follow Your Bliss, a new crafty blog by my crafty, quilty, funny, read-y, mommy doppleganger Megan. Please note: we did not know about each other's resolutions until after they'd been posted. Think there's a reason we get along so well?

New Year's Resolutions

I am one of the people who loves making New Year's Resolutions. There's something incredibly hopeful about the start of a new year. We turn to a new page. We get to try new things and everyone around us (or at least a lot of the people around us) is also trying new things. Gyms are full. Evening class enrollment is up. Churches see a bump in attendance.
It wears off by February, right?
I did fantastic on my 2010 resolutions.
I hope to be just as successful in 2011.
Here they are:

Complete two 5ks and one 10k.
I did finish one 5k in 2010. Race for the Cure. It was so much fun. I didn't train for it but ended up running the whole way thanks to my speed-walking friend Megan. This year I'd like to train and run them for real.

Finish 3 quilts
Quilting is such a fun hobby. I love every part of it. Quilts always make a wonderful gift. Unlike last year though, I have no projects on the back burner. I'll have to start from scratch on the 2011 quilts. Not a single square awaits me!

Sew from a pattern
Yes, I still do not sew from patterns. I buy them. Time to make good.

Read 12 books
Just one per month but hey, I'm a mom of two kids who has a lot of other goals. Don't judge me!)

Acquire and rehab (if necessary) a china hutch for the dining room.
Having one solves a lot of my storage issues. Plus I like the challenge.

Make a headboard for our bed
I've made them for the boys. Why not us?

Improve general decoration of the house
It still has that general "we're using our parents' old furniture" vibe. We need a rhyme and reason. I, unfortunately, have zero decorating eye. Hopefully I can figure something out.

Reach my goal weight
There it is. The biggie. I have a chunk of weight to lose. I'm with Weight Watchers now though and am totally motivated and committed. This is is the year that on 12/31 I will not be in the "overweight" category any more.

So there they are. None of them can really be "broken" so I'm set up for success.