Promises Made for March

 

Promises...Oh, how I struggle to keep those I make to myself!  So instead of making goals or focusing on only how I might work hard this month I am going to focus on keeping the promises I'll make for myself in March.  I am not going to lock myself into keeping every single one, but I'm going to focus on keeping as many as I can or at least making an attempt to start these things. That's my one goal for the month: make good on my own promises!

1:   I promise to neaten the back porch before pollen comes out in fullness.  It has been looking particularly bad because I'd been saving cardboard boxes for Samuel for his garden for the past 8 months.  I've offered them up, he's turned them down, and so I'm going to carry them to the dump.  That alone will help greatly.  Done

I'll straighten the shelving unit.  Done

Arrange the porch in a pleasing way, so that it invites sitting and enjoying the days ahead.  

2.  I promise to get the mess off the patio that I left last autumn. 

3.  I promise to think about how I want the porches and patio to look this year. I'm not going to decorate just yet.  I may gather a few items if I come across any that please me but I'm NOT putting anything out until end of pollen season which may be in mid-April or even later.

4.  I promise to continue to add to my workroom area.  I need a decent desk chair.  The old chair is pretty and pretty uncomfortable!  I need a wastebasket, a pencil holder, a tray to hold paper and books.  I'm still sure I want bookcases, a comfortable reading chair, and I'd like a worktable for crafting.  I'm finding I'm rather happy with Big Mama's old sewing machine as my writing table, so perhaps that will stay.  Bought a desk chair.

My goal is to do something every month towards making this room more fully mine.  And because of that... 

5.  I promise to test the leftover paint from the kitchen walls and paint a swatch on each of the walls in my workroom so I can determine if it's going to work in my space.  I think, given the difference in light, that it will and will not look the same as the kitchen.

And if I find it's too close a match, I'm pretty sure I can have it tinted at the store to be something different without it costing me much.

6.  I promise to go on four artists dates with myself.  That's one a week.  It's not necessarily a whole day.  It can be as little as two hours. I am supposed to do it alone, though.   Ideas: go to a bookstore, wander around an antique store, shop for my workroom at a home goods store, take myself out to lunch, go choose a lovely bunch of flowers and have a fancy coffee.  Wander around downtown in Perry or up in Thomaston...I have ideas!  I just need to follow through with doing any one of them.  Ugh!  This one is hard for me.

7.  I promise to start The Artist's Way again.  I'd meant to do it in February and I didn't.  It's something I obviously feel is important because it keeps popping up in my mind.  No more procrastination.  I have more to learn about myself in relation to my craft(s) and if I start now, I can finish the course by summer.  Started!

8.  I promise to work out a routine of self-care that is doable and make it a priority.  Shaving, tweezing, moisturizing, and a proper haircut (no more cut-rate place). except for the proper good haircut, yes to all the rest.

9.  I promise to have a good session in my closet using what I have to make up new outfits.  I am continuing to make good on my promise to buy nothing new except underthings and shoes.

10.  I promise to rest when I am truly tired.  Nothing is so important that I can't take half an hour to lie down and relax my body. Yes.

11.  I promise to write a few minutes every day without fail.  A paragraph here, an idea thrown onto paper there, will eventually evolve into something worthwhile.  A blank page rarely does.  I've written nearly every day, except those when we couldn't be home.

12.  I promise to seriously evaluate the supplements I take, the food I'm eating and the amount that I'm moving my body.  Supplements Done...I'll ask the doctor which he feels are most beneficial since they all appear to be good ones.

13.  I promise to pay off one credit card and make a substantial payment on the last card balance.  I'd hoped to be further along, but we've had medical bills here at the start of the New Year.  I'm very pleased with the progress I've made thus far though, and I'm breathing on that second card balance I'm so close.  No...but I made substantial payments.  And I cut the amount charged to the one card monthly by a great amount, too.

14.  I promise to read every day.  If it's only 20 minutes before bed, that's okay.  No...Turns out week Four of The Artist's Way requires a ban on reading.

15.  I promise to finish the first draft of my book.   Of course, this is tied into promise #11, but I do find I work well with a deadline. As of this moment (a bit past mid-month), I'm not sure I will manage the first draft, but I am at least back working at it.