Sometimes the passage of time makes me sad, but this time of year, I love flipping the calendar to see a new month.One step closer to spring.

For the most part, I did pretty well on my January goals.  The laundry routine sis not happen on some days, but when it did, it greatly helped my stress in that area.  So now I know what I need to do there, but I need to be sure I remember to do it each day when I get home.  In general, I made time in the evenings to relax if at all possible, and it helped my stress load.  I managed to stay sane even though we were crazy busy, and that was in part due to my evening recharging, I think.

January was a somewhat stressful month, and February is pretty full, too.  It seems like all of my important or really demanding work deadlines fall in this first half of the semester.  I had to teach a workshop to a cohort of MBA students at one of our additional campuses in January.  It was completely out of my element – a 90 minute drive, teaching at night when I am normally at home in pajamas, talking to adult learners who were mostly older than me and have spent years in the corporate world.  But at the end of the day, I think it felt good to mark that one off the calendar and I did fairly well. The feedback was positive which made me feel good.

And now I am gearing up for an out-of-town conference next weekend – the first time I’ve left the kids for something like this.  Scott and I have traveled away before, and I went away a couple of times for girls’ nights.  But it is really strange to have a professional commitment like this that has me away.  Such a role reversal over here because Scott is usually the one gone for work!  I’m looking forward to learning more about Writing Center instruction and listening to my group of student presenters who I know will do great on their portion.  And I will sleep!  Alone!  In a huge hotel bed!  I am admittedly a little excited about that part.  Half the time here, I am in an out of sleep with kids climbing on me when they wake up and want to sleep next to me.

In the meantime, between that travel, a really heavy travel month for Scott, and a couple of kid birthday parties, February is shaping up to be madness.  My one and only goal for this month?  I need to finish Norah’s room.  We slapped a few things on the wall when we moved in, but it still doesn’t look like what I want it to, and her closet is a disaster organizationally speaking.  I am saying it aloud here so that I will be held accountable and get it done.  I’ll try to post pictures of the finished product in a few weeks, too.

So that is how my February is shaping up, and I hope yours is off to a good start. Thanks for reading!