AMANDA'S BASKETS: January 10: Daily Routines

Monday, January 10, 2022

January 10: Daily Routines

This picture was taken at the house after the snow storm. When I went out to shovel a pathway and clean off SnowWhite, it was perfectly calm. No wind. No noise. And the snow was light as a feather...although there wasn't a whole lot of it...just a few inches. But very beautiful!

We are changing themes this week from setting goals to daily routines. As it happens so often, I heard something Sunday morning that speaks to the new goal so aptly.

As you wake up in the morning, every decision you make creates your day!
What are you going to wear?
What are you going to eat?
What are you going to do?

These decisions create your day!

And each morning

you have the opportunity to create another day!

What are you grateful for?

What do you want to accomplish today?

What would you like to have more time for?

All of us have daily routines, even those of us who are retired or semi-retired. What we need to think about is this: Are these daily routines helpful? Are they done only out of habit? Are some things simply wasting time or worse yet, taking time away from what you want to spend time on? Things like taking too much time deciding what to wear. Or spending way too much time on social media or checking your email?

This week is a good time to take a look at your daily routines...even for those who go to work...and decide on what you want to keep, what you need to keep, what you would like to make time for, what you would like to spend less time doing.

A good way to begin is to take inventory of all that you do each day and about how much time you spend doing it. Before you go to sleep tonight, briefly write down what you did and the time involved.

Our craft this week will focus on journaling. Journaling can be almost anything from writing for a specific time, to drawing pictures, to naming something you are grateful for to an accounting of you day...or even simply the weather!

Find something you would like to journal in...or set up a place on your electronic device like your smart phone or iPad.

Talk with you tomorrow...

(Covid vaccines saves lives!)

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?