100 Small Things - Half Year Check-in

At the start of the year, I set out to complete 100 small things to help direct my focus towards living intentionally.  The list is one part practical (things that just plain need done around here) and one part hopeful (things that will help me be the kind of person I hope to be someday).

So it's half way through the year, and I've completed 19 tasks completely! Here are the new ones to add to my previously completed list at the quarter year check in.

#35 Plant a "garden" (June) - We didn't get to put in a full blown garden, but the kids and I worked together to plant zucchini (we are obsessed) and tend to the strawberry plant on the back patio flower box and we planted sunflowers in the front flower bed.  Then we were feeling really defeated when we found that some of our little sprouting zucchini plants had died and we speculated it had been the heavy rains that drowned them.  Only to find out that Daddy had sprayed them with round-up because we forgot to tell him we planted them in the flower box and he thought they were weeds.  Not kidding, I almost cried.  But we have a few persistent ones that are coming up late, so we should still get some this summer.  sheesh.

#13 Create books with the kids stories and drawings (May) - when I initially made this task at the start of the year, I was thinking it would be proper hard back books we'd order, but in desperation to fill some long afternoon hours, Grey and I made a folded paper book together about (no big surprise here) Bigfoot and now it's one of our most beloved books in our downstairs kid library.  Gemmi and I worked together with stickers to write a mini-book about a frog and butterfly.  I sort of love it even more now as a task.

#36 Participate in Screen Free Week 2015 (May) - I'm a full blown Screen Free Week fanatic, hah.  I'd like to incorporate Screen Free weekends in as a monthly staple, but we're not quite there yet.  Maybe a 100 small things task for 2016?  (Read about our full Screen Free Week 2015 here)

#18 Create individual Memory boxes for each family member (July) - this was a huge undertaking for Brandon and my memories.  We had two enormous bins of old stuff that I was dreading going through.  But during the rainy days that we had in June, I just would sit down in front of the bins and sift through the old cards, art projects, billions of stacks of pictures and filter through what was important to save and what could be tossed.  It was such a welcome walk through years past and I actually had fun pic-texting my family and friends old photos of us.

The Memory boxes now include a few old cards that were signed by our parents and grandparents, newspaper articles, a few old high school notes (some of which were written between Brandon and I - hysterical).  Old photos that have no digital duplicates, and other important keepsakes.  I filtered out blurry photos, lots of old clothes (they've gone into a bin that our kids as teenagers can look through if they want something 'vintage' of their parents - hahah).  All our stuff has been filtered down to one singular box (with room to spare!).  What a relief.  seriously.  huge relief.

#28 Dominican Republic family vacation (May) - it was awesome (read about it entirely here)

#76 Plant a tree on Earth Day (June, oops) - Well, we didn't do it on Earth Day, but we have planted a tree.  We received a tree as part of a gift that was sent from Brandon's work after my grandfather passed away.  Greyson has also been tending an oak sapling since last fall and it's growing beautifully.  So we technically are growing up two trees!

#56 Create a Hawaii trip book for the kids (June) - it only took me a few days, but I went through our Hawaii vacation pictures from 2009 to create a little travel book on Shutterfly for the kids.  Our new Dad & Mum visit Oahu, Hawaii books it the third in our travel book series to add to the kids' home library.  Others include:  Dad & Mum visit Thailand and Aunt Uch visits Scotland travel books.

#82 Get my hair done (May) - done finally after almost two years.  seriously.

#63 Scrub the kitchen table and chairs (May) - this is one of those practical items that just need done for so long now and I really just didn't feel like doing it.  The kids and their crummy, sticky hands do work everyday, three times a day, on our wooden table and chairs in the kitchen and they needed a serious scrub and polish.  Done!  One Sunday morning before church outside.  I was just feeling motivated and jumped in and tackled it.  hooray and thank goodness!

#70 Convince Brandon to get rid of some clothes (April) - as part of our months long process of preparing for a giant yard sale.  I think I wore him down with my tireless nagging (hahhaha, worst wife ever).  He's not the only one that needs to get rid of clothes, I did too!  He just needs convinced, where I'm happy to pitch into giveaway/sale piles.

#73 Run in a 5k (May) - my baby sis and I ran in the Johnstown Path of the Flood 5K in May together.  I'm hoping to sign up for another 5k in the fall too!


Working towards completion of these projects:



#6 Read 12 books (at least two classics):  I've read 6 books, one of which was a classic and I'm currently reading book number 7!  Need inspiration to keep reading?  Our Inspired Readers book club will be starting a new book in August - so if you think you're interested in reading along (next month we'll be switching it up to reading a novel!) - check out our facebook group and request an add!  We'd be happy to have you join our community!

#10 Get rid of 50 things:  'things' really mean categories of items, so I've gone through 14 categories of items so far of the fifty (things include: adult clothes, kids' toys, kids' books, adult books, coats from our front closet, scrapbook supplies, old photos, etc)

#9 Grandma and Kid trip to the city:  we are in the final planning stages and have the date set for later this month!  We are headed to Baltimore, MD this year!

#34 Pour patio out front & side:  concrete has been almost completely busted out (I even took hold of sledgehammer and pounded out some of the pillars! #beastmode) and we hope to frame and pour within the month!

#80 Re-read a Tree Grows in the Brooklyn:  re-reading now and it makes me so full and happy

#12 Host 'art gallery' opening for the kids:  we are doing an 'art month' right now - family & friends, look for your invitations to a super exclusive art show to come later this month! hahhaha.

#19 Finish 2014 Yearbook:  ugh.  always working towards this and it's always weighing on me.  I must finish this or I'm going to drive myself crazy.

#54 Watch 15 TED talks:  I've added two more TED talks to my list since April check in, bringing my total up to five:
Inspiring a Life of Immersion:  Jacqueline Novogratz
How to Build Your Creative Confidence:  David Kelley

#4 Get to 'The End' of one novel:  holy moly, this has me super amped up with creativity and  my mind is barely containing all the ideas.  seriously, I feel like this thing must.get.out.of.me.  and B is really supportive and I'm super hopeful.  fingers crossed.  just get to the end, tabitha.  the end.

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I'm feeling pretty inspired and hopeful about my list at the halfway mark.  I don't know that I'll get all 100 things completed, but if I can reach half of the list - I'll be pleased.  My 100 small things list doesn't feel like it weighs me down, rather I use it when I need inspiration and feel like I'm stuck in the everyday muck of life with three small kids.