A few random things on this Tuesday:
#1. I wrote a guest post!
On Sunday NGS published my guest post as part of her special 20th anniversary blog series. Every Sunday a guest blogger shares some sort of “20 Things” list of their choice.
Mine was, of course, 20 Things I’m Grateful For. I had so much fun writing this post!!!! Naturally, I kind of felt like it was an “assignment” and had to overkill it with too much time and effort. LOL!
But I love how it turned out. I’d say this is the closest I’ve ever done to an “All About Me” post. I mean, yes, it’s a gratitude list, but it’s more than that. Not only does it give some backstory about my interest in gratitude, but I also tried to open up about my life, who I am, my background, share some fun facts, etc.
Check it out for a great way to learn more about me! And while you’re at it, check out the past 16 weeks of other guest bloggers. 🙂
#2. Decluttering….slow progress
I’ve made some actual progress on some decluttering lately and it’s exciting! Pretty slow progress, but still.
You might recall a long time I mentioned that I sat down and made a list in Google Keep for every room in our house- things that I wanted to clean or declutter, or any nagging tasks pertaining to that area of the house. (e.g. We still need to order a glass insert for one of our new (in 2019!) kitchen cabinets…).
I left no stone unturned and listed EVERYTHING I could think of.
I created a special section in my Google Keep for all these lists, and I really like having them there! Having master lists to work through helps me wrap my head around it all, even if I guess I haven’t been taking much action. lol.
But, I have slowly been trying to pick up steam!! And it is very satisfying to check off a box.
This is part of the Kitchen list. (DC= “declutter”)
I also make sure to add the date I did it before checking it and moving it to the Completed section.
This is also bad, because it makes it very obvious when you last decluttered something in one room in February, and now it’s August. 😳 But let’s not focus on that minor detail.
(Also, I did make Ivan download Google Keep and then shared these lists with him. I know this might blow your mind, but funnily enough, he has not opened these lists again since that first day I sent them to him! 😆 It is on my list to go through these with him soon and delegate some things. 😉)
Here are all my lists:
- Back yard/outside
- Garage
- Big Storage room
- Small storage room
- Guest bedroom
- Boys bathroom
- Master bedroom + bathroom
- Ethan’s room
- Basement- rec room
- Laundry room
- Basement bathroom
- Asher’s room
- Kitchen
- Sunroom
- Living room
- Outside- front yard
- Hallway/ closets
I did one big kitchen junk drawer a couple weeks ago, and Sunday I finally took care of another:
#3. Another complaint about steps
Why is it so hard to get in 10,000 steps sometimes?! I swear, some days it seems like I do a little puttering around the house, and bam, I’m already at 8,000.
But then other days, like yesterday, it seems impossible!
- I walked Charlie in the morning before work (our longer loop) x30 minutes
- I walked Charlie after work (same longer loop) x30 minutes
Then after that, by ~6 pm, I was still only at like, 6,000 steps! And I mean, I walked like a full hour already during the day! That seems like a decent amount of walking? I guess in reality I was on calls alllll day and was butt-in-chair for the rest of the day. But jeez.
I even then went to the gym with Asher after dinner (upper body, so not a ton of walking, but still, I mean, I worked out…) and then was still only at maybe 8,000.
Annoyed, I leashed up Charlie and took him for yet another walk at 9 pm to finally get up to 10,000.
I guess this is a very real downside to my sedentary job, especially lately when I’ve been chained to video calls and can’t take as many random breaks. I haven’t had a chance to look into any treadmill or standing desk options, but I really need to. I hate so much baseline inactivity!
#4. Other weekend stuff
Saturday night Ivan and I went to a quinceanera.
Her dress was drop dead gorgeous!! She was like a real-live Holiday Special Barbie. So pretty.
It was quite the Mexican fiesta complete with a live banda and everything.
I (attempted) to dance a little but always feel quite ridiculous. I was one of maybe 2 people there who wasn’t Mexican, and I just felt silly because I frankly suck at dancing. But Ivan likes it, so I always try for at least a few songs. And I mostly fail, and I feel embarrassed, but I guess maybe I at least get brownie points from the crowd for being out there trying? I mean, I feel like I’m pretty obviously not Mexican. So why would I know how to dance to Latin music well, right??
On Sunday I baked something for the first time in long time. We had an excess of strawberries in the fridge, so I made some strawberry bars.
I’ve made these before (here is the recipe) and they always turn out yummy.
While I did this, I watched the Olympics, of course.
I also sat outside briefly with Charlie and started reading You Only Die Once, which came to me and was highly recommended from SHU! So far, enjoying it. Her casual, funny writing style keeps it nice and light. 🙂
That’s it for now. I have to drive Asher over to the high school pool now. Swim season is over, but he is volunteering all week helping out with some “free community swim lessons” his team is sponsoring.
He and the other older swimmers are paired up with younger kiddos who don’t know how to swim yet. The main coaches organize the lessons, but Asher is in the water, 1:1 with a child working with him. This is kind of geared toward under-privileged families that haven’t been able to put their kids in formal lessons, I think, so it’s a cool volunteer opportunity for Asher.
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for a workout with Asher last night. I hadn’t been to the gym with one of the boys for a while.
GRATEFUL KAE 
I just listened to SHU’s podcast this morning about You Only Die Once – I’m very interested in reading it.
I’m surprised at how often I’m hitting 10k steps since I started running again. All that I did was to swap 1.5 miles of treadmill walking for 2 miles of (mostly) running and BOOM I’m usually at 5k steps right after my workout/first dog outing of the day and usually hitting 10k by our after dinner dog walk. I really wouldn’t have thought that it would make that much difference.
I might just have to steal your list idea to get moving on all of the cleaning projects that I never seem to get started.
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Oh, for sure- on the (brief) times I’ve picked running back up, it makes it WAY easier to get enough steps in!! But I don’t think I actually want to really run… I’ve tried it twice in recent months and I’m just not sure it’s for me anymore!
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walking at home rarely gets me to 5000 steps, so I can relate. Fortunately I am running 5-6 days a week and now I’ll have to walk Lizzy to school in the morning which is about 30 min.
I’m intrigued by the book, will read the sample in the kindle.
15 years for girls is a big party in argentina too. I attended my BFF’s and it was sooooo much for a girl at that age, like a wedding! I enjoyed it as guest but can’t imagine throwing one for any of my girls.
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Yep, every quinceanera I’ve been to (which is quite a few now, over the years) is always basically exactly like a wedding! Which is crazy, because presumably at least some of these girls will ALSO have a wedding in the near-ish future (next ~10 years or so) too!
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Ooh, I’m so inspired by your decluttering list. I feel like I have so many things that just pop into my brain. Like I’ve had a bad habit of dumping recycling in this covered hamper in the bathroom, you know, the shampoo bottle you should rinse and remove the label off of, etc. And every once in awhile, I remember the existence of this and think I should do something about it. And I’ve got things to hang up, pictures to straighten with museum putty etc. I normally have a few days at home solo in October where I knock out all the things that have been bothering me, but that won’t happen this year.
I find it hard to get my steps on WFH days as well. We often cycle to school and have quite a small house so it’s not like I’m getting much exercise going to make myself a cup of tea. But on the days I’m in the city or on campus, I’m easily at 16k steps. My Garmin calculates active minutes (with 2x minutes for strenuous exercise) and I’ve found it a bit more helpful to focus on getting 60-75 of those a day rather than worrying too much about my overall step count.
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Exactly! These lists are soooooo helpful for when those things pop into my head- now I have a place to actually put them! I love it. Try it! I agree if you’re cycling regularly you shouldn’t need to worry about also hitting 10k steps, just because the watch doesn’t count cycling in the same way. But in my case, I’m definitely NOT cycling…. haha.
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We do not care for Lyles in our house. His arrogance is just TOO OVER THE TOP for us Midwesterners… I know he’s trying to be over the top but I don’t care for that level of cockiness/arrogance!
I should make a list of spaces to declutter in our house. I did that one year as part of the January Cure but this year’s January Cure was not great so I just gave up right off the bat when they wanted me to like make a vision board or something which is never going to happen. I did declutter one drawer last weekend but it is because I rifled through it last week when I was trying to find a valet car key for our Corolla. Phil wasn’t sure if he had one but if he did, it would have been in that drawer so I made a mess trying to quickly find it (and was unsuccessful) so I organized that drawer on Sunday. But there is more work to be done when it comes to decluttering!
Wow, that dress is gorgeous! I think you definitely get some bonus points for getting out on the dance floor! I think people look at us less than we think they do, though. They are too busy having fun!
I love your guest post on NGS’ blog!
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That’s how I feel like a majority of my decluttering happens- I suddenly becomes exasperated with an area and then it’s like, ok, let’s do this. But I do love the idea of approaching it more systematically… unfortunately I feel like I have so many other things in my life that I’m also trying to fit in systematically (like exercise, walking, etc.) and at some point well, there’s just not really enough time to do X things every single day. So the idea of “15 minutes of decluttering per day”, while it sounds nice in theory, just doesn’t always pan out for me.
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I really enjoyed getting to know you better on your guest post! I was amazed at how much of it was new information, despite having read your blog for a while now!!
Lyles is a good athlete but he’s too cocky and I hate that. It reminds me of some of the finance bros I used to work with and I hate that “better than” attitude. Don’t be a poor winner!!
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Agree!! Confidence is fine, but at some point it crosses from excitement/getting psyched up to just being rather obnoxious…
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The 1500 race!! It was so exciting. I am usually super unimpressed with running races (the athletes are so impressive and go so fast, but it’s boring visually), but I was so invested in it. I feel like between the US men’s gymnastics team and the male distance runners, it’s the year of adorable young men over achieving and I’m here for it.
That dress is so gorgeous!! I am curious how many people it took to get her in and out of it! I never feel bad about dancing. No one’s really paying that much attention to me and it’s fun. Let your bad dancing freak flag fly, I say!
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The funny thing at these quinceaneras is that they typically do several outfit changes! So like she wears the dress for the church service and the beginning of the party, and then she goes and changes into at least 2 other different outfits for some different choregraphed dance numbers…. and then she changes BACK into the big dress for the rest of the party, cake cutting, etc.
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10,000 steps/day is hard. When I run? No problem. When I cycle or do strength work? A struggle. At least you’re getting out with Charlie every day! 🙂
I loved your guest post on Engie’s post – I knew quite a bit about you but also learned a few more things. It was the perfect post for you to put together.
I am very inspired by your decluttering process. I am currently trying to get a few things decluttered myself. Does Ivan help much? I know you said you were trying to shift some stuff to him… but would he do it if you didn’t make the plan to execute?
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Thanks San! I really loved your guest post on her blog, too!
Ivan will help if I ask, but I do not think “projects” are really his strong suit. Just being honest. lol. He just does not see some of these things, I think! He is great about more routine things like laundry, regular cleaning, groceries, etc. So he does help a lot around the house, but some of those more invisible tasks (like the inside of a drawer…) I just think are not on his radar.
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Well I’m a little late in commenting, but now we can talk about Noah Lyles’ bronze medal in the 200- and he had Covid! I thought his post-race interview was very down-to-earth, not like his pre-race cockiness.
I was thinking about you this week because I got to walk my son’s roommate’s dog (the Charlie lookalike!) I loved it, but I was remembering your comments about not being able to pick up much speed while walking a dog- yes, they do like to stop a lot! That’s okay- I let Baxter stop and smell every single thing he wanted.
You should take a Latin dance class! I would also be terrible at it, but it would be fun to learn.
i loved your guest post so much, I based one of my own posts on it!
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I saw and loved your post inspired by mine earlier this week! I’m also just terribly behind on commenting this week (crazy workweek!) but I loved your Texas-style gratitude list!! And I also loved the Charlie shout-out/ Baxter comparison. So fun that you got a little taste of dog ownership there. 😉
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I’m a new reader to your blog and enjoyed your guest post. I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal/lists for years and was drawn to your blog name! I order the book on gratitude you recommended as soon as I read the sample.
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Yay! I hope you love the book. I am tempted to re-read it because it’s been a while now. Let me know what you think! It was such a light and uplifting read for me with so much good food for thought. Thanks for checking out my blog!! 😊😊
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I absolutely loved your guest post – what a wonderful assortment of things large and small and deep and fun to share that you are grateful for every single day! And it led me to NGS’s blog, too. I only read a handful of blogs but am enjoying “discovering” this one, too.
I find your decluttering goals so relatable! Thanks for keeping it real by mentioning things like still needing to order glass for a cabinet installed in 2019 and by showing your long lists (and your progress). This makes me feel better about my own start/stop/finish-much-later efforts and some long-overdue goals.
We finally remodeled our kitchen along with most of the main level in 2021/22. Since every cabinet got ripped out, every floor was replaced or refinished, it required a ton of decluttering. Being forced to sort and organize all our belongings on the main level (with a deadline, which is key for me!) was a blessing ultimately, but it required a ton of energy. Now seeing other things that I still want to repair or replace and certain other cluttered areas nags at me (lookin’ at you sitting room/office, basement storage room, and random piles of papers).
But in this stage of life, I will absolutely continue prioritizing getting Starbucks with my 15-year-old or going for a walk with my 18-year-old or working on a puzzle with my husband or caring for my mom or doing my NYT word games/reading blogs, etc. I like your method of breaking it all into tiny enough chunks that you can see it’s possible to fit some of those tasks into the corners of a very full life — seems as if your list makes it easier to see how doing a little here and a little there can eventually become significant progress.
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