My word for the year...

is ORGANIZE. (If you don't want to read about this, you can skip this post!)

This word has so many implications for me. It's not just about having things in their places. It's about taking control of my world and making sense of it; it's about generating energy by making positive changes; it's about finding the good in my life and making that a priority. When I was brainstorming last night, I knew this was the right one for me when I felt a surge of excitement and energy; I actually wanted to start doing things. Through my journaling I realized that there are several key areas of my life I need to organize--

My home--by organizing my home I will find places for things, of course, which will make our lives run more smoothly, but by focusing on organizing, I will make my home more of a home. I will decorate it and make it feel like the place that feels warm and inviting and safe and invigorating. And, by completing these projects, I will release more positive energy. I always feel better when I do the things I dream about.

My teaching life--there is so much I can do to make this part of my life better. I can start by writing things down. Doing a little bit each day. Utilizing my time at school better. Making better plans. Collaborating more with my colleagues. Cleaning up my environment.

My life in general--I need to organize my time so I can fit in healthy eating, working out, creative pursuits, and so forth .

Last year, as I mentioned before, I made a journal as an action step toward focusing on my word of the year.

It's divided into sections for my health, my teaching, my scrapbooking, my decorating, etc. I decided I'm going to keep this journal because "doing" is a part of organizing. My action steps last night/today are:

I planned out our meals for the week(I try to do this more often than not). But I came up with a new system for helping me with this. I went to Home Depot today and bought a piece of sheet metal and some magnets and hung it on the inside of a cabinet with velcro strips. My recipes are going to be written on index cards (which I bought today) and hung on this "magnet board."

It helps me keep track of the food I planned for the week (I would sometimes forget what meals I planned and I would have to dig back through my cookbooks to find the recipes, sometimes not finding them, even if I remembered what I wanted cook). When I am done with the recipe for the week, I'm putting it in an index card box (which I also bought today). That way, I don't have to keep going back to my cookbooks. Eventually, all my favorite recipes will be located in one spot. It will take time to write all of these down, but it will be so worth it in the long run.

I also went to the grocery store and prepared food for the week. Like, I chopped up vegetables, put a salad together, made dinner for tomorrow night (Mondays are always my most busiest night of the week)

while cooking tonight's dinner. I was going to make snacks for the kids, but I need a few more ingredients.

I also oranized our food pantry (which is my POTD).

I got rid of crap, and excess, and now it's all orderly, and things are easy to find and are accessible.

I also cleaned out my email inbox.

I had over 1,000 messages in my inbox. I'm the worst when it comes to email. I rarely delete them even when I know they are garbage. I don't think I have ever had an empty inbox since starting email in 1999. It was freeing!!!! I made folders to keep the emails I want to keep and then just deleted the rest! Why I never thought to do that before, I'll never know.

I also did lots of laundry. That doesn't sound like anything earth shattering, but for the past month or so, I was only washing what absolutely needed to be washed and the rest of it just sat in piles--all over my bedroom. It will take some time to wash it all and put it away, but again, waht a great feeling it will be when it's all done.

I did some brainstorming for some units at school.

Before I go to bed tonight, I will have ironed my outfit (which I usually put off until the morning), organized my files, and planned out my classes and my time for tomorrow. I might even squeeze in a little scrapbooking.

I didn't grade one paper (which I told myself I was going to do over break), but I certainly gave myself much needed down time. I'm going back tomorrow rejuvenated and invigorated and on my way to a more organized life.