I used to be really good at jacks, that kids’ game where you scatter the little metal asterisks around, then toss the ball in the air and gather up the scattered pieces.
If only I had that skill when it comes to my routine. One thing out of place, and everything falls apart.
In other words, my life is a game of Jenga right now. And I’m not winning that game. I’m great at building the tower, but let just one piece get pushed out of place and it all comes crashing loudly down.
Does that mean my priorities are not in the right order? Or that I can’t focus unless they are?
I fought against lack of focus all day yesterday. My routine was off. Things I usually do in the morning weren’t going to get done until the afternoon, which is not my best time of day to concentrate. I had time in the afternoon, and I spent a good chunk of it trying to pay attention to what I was doing instead of peeking at my email inbox every two minutes.
Finally I turned on some music. I don’t normally listen to music when I work, but then again, I don’t normally try to work at 3 PM. So I went for the counterintuitive and cued up a playlist with not-too-loud, not-too-fast music. And I got some things done. Not as many things as I’d have liked to get done, but enough. The rest can wait until today.
And today, I hope to be playing jacks instead of Jenga.
This month I’m joining all the cool kids in the #Write31Days adventure! I didn’t pick a keyword or a theme, because just getting something written for all 31 days is challenge enough for me right now.
I’ve reviewed this planner before, and all the things I find super useful are still in it. There are four sections, and you can choose some or all of them: Calendar, Homeschool, Blogger and Household Management. To get the full package, choose the Whole Enchilada.
Being a Hybrid Girl when it comes to planning systems, I need to write things down–and rewrite them–and rearrange them–and I like things to look nice. So the ability to reprint a page after I’ve drawn circles and arrows and crossed things out is definitely a bonus.
This planner is made to be printed out and kept in a binder (or you could take it to an office-supply store and have it spiral bound). I don’t do that. I keep mine on my clipboards–one for family-related items and one for work stuff. I also have the two-page monthly spread printed smaller, on a single page (after I figured out how to do that) and I tacked the current month and the following month onto my office bulletin board.
A previous year’s meal plan calendar on my trusty clipboard. Make this planner work for you!
But that’s the cool thing about this planner. You can use it any way you like–whatever works for you. The 2-page weekly spread, for example, has 3 boxes per date, and a space for you to write in your own label. It can be “Home/Family/Work” or whatever you want it to be–and it can change from week to week. For example, I don’t homeschool, but the Lesson Plan pages from that bundle can be used in a ton of other ways. Be creative!
Even at the regular price, this downloadable planner is a steal at $18 for the Whole Enchilada ($7.50 for just the calendar and $5 per bundle) but today’s 50% off price can’t be beat! To get the discount, use the coupon code for each individual product – CALENDAR, HOUSEHOLD, HOMESCHOOL, BLOGGER, or ENCHILADA for all the files to get 50% off at the Catholic Sistas store.
I love the colorful touches on the planner this year–the page borders on some sections like the monthly menu planner look like they were done in watercolor. So pretty! (That reminds me, I need to make a planner note to purchase some color ink cartridges for my printer so I can have these pages in color. I had to use black and white for them right now, which is why I’m not showing you this year’s page in the photo above.)
Go ahead over to Catholic Sistas to see lots of photos of the planner pages and purchase your copy.
The cover, though–it’s a coloring page! How cool is that? Get out your markers or colored pencils and make your planner even prettier.
Want a sample? Download some free weekly pages here. Try it out! All you need to do in return is share information about the planner with a friend or via social media. Super easy!
Photo courtesy of CatholicSistas.com. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
The Fine Print I received a review copy of the “Whole Enchilada” version of the CTTY planner and no other compensation for this review. All opinions are my own.
Christmas Vacation is over, and I never even got to watch Christmas Vacation.
I also never got to Inbox Zero (or even close). Not for work email, and not for my personal email either.
I didn’t make the meal plan for the month, or the week, or even for tonight.
My desk is clean, though. It started out looking like this:
Yes, that’s my Corner Office right there. The Christmas tree is right behind me. There’s nowhere to go but up. Yesterday I took every single piece of paper off that desk–the clipboard, the notebook, the planner, and that entire organizing thingamabob, and decided whether that paper deserved desk space.
3 baskets of papers went out to the recycling bin. About 2 hours into the project, I was down to the last few items. There’s the basket I was using for recycling, on the right.
Cleaning my desk turned out to be a great way to brainstorm; I’d stop and write down some ideas for things I want to do/write/set up/organize. I set a few goals for my recipe blog.
And tomorrow is back to routine. Back to school for TheKid, though he has an endocrinology appointment in the afternoon, so he’ll only be there for half the day. Back to work for Hubs and me (for the morning).
I’m rested (mostly). My desk is clean, even if my inbox isn’t. I’m ready.
Last night TheKid had a rehearsal, which means that I got in at 9:30 after the Mom’s Taxi run. And then I sat down at my computer and decided to finish up some logo work for work. We’ve got a Virtual Progressive Dinner coming up and I wanted to make a special logo for each course.
So I created the last few logos and before I knew it, it was 11 PM (more than an hour after I like to get to sleep.)
I dreamed about working in Canva all.night.long.
When I went to wake up TheKid this morning, I told him about this, and he said to me, “You should have asked me what to dream about before you went to bed.”
“You can dream on demand?”
“Yeah. It’s easy.”
I don’t think I can do that. But I’m not going to be doing any graphic work or playing any word-puzzle games online before I go to sleep anymore, because when I do that kind of thing, it stays in my head all night. I’ll have to stick to reading novels after 9 PM.
Photo credit: ZanBeck (2013) via Flickr; modified in Canva by the author.
Tech Talk: Checking Things Off My Wunderlist. Tired of writing lists in your planner and on Post-It notes and scraps of paper that get lost or aren’t with you when you need them? Here’s my review of the Wunderlist app, which lets you go paperless with all your lists.
Meatless Friday Radio Feature with the Catholic Foodie. Our weekly Meatless Friday feature here at CatholicMom.com got a shoutout this week on contributor Jeff Young’s show on Real Life Radio, Around the Table with the Catholic Foodie. Listen in!
There’s been a lot of cooking this week over at Cook and Count!
