While the coffee kicks in

Taxes are done.

2010 was a light work year for me with only 5 months of full time employment. One of those months was my final month with a beloved long term nanny child. The other four months were spent trying to find a way to fit in a position that was an ill fit (understating). The children were lovely. It was a job I took for all the wrong reasons and against my own best judgement. My reason for dragging you through this history so that you can share my joy in the fact that I received a full tax refund. It is money I will be getting back from the government, not my former employers, yet it feels like final closure from a nanny job I never should have pursued.

Getting out for an hour long walk is unlikely today. The current temperature is -23c with an apparent windchill of -35c. I could bundle up and manage a fifteen to twenty minute walk.

What will happen today is some serious list making. A former charge and I used to follow this cleaning routine http://www.todaysparent.com/lifeasparent/article.jsp?content=20080215_135819_1760&page=1 . One plan for today is to write out a weekly guide that will work for me in this home. This home has been mine for almost a year now but for the first few months of living here I felt like tourist learning the culture of a new land. This place now feels completely like our home now and I'm finally ready to take some initiative around here. 

My empty coffee cup signals that it is time for me to get off my mascot butt and get busy.

Goals. Set 1

In an attempt to become well rounded in ways other than my physical shape I shall formally set out and attempt to meet five goals per week. Five per week might be a lofty aim but I am comfortable with aiming high and then adjusting as needed.

This week's Five

1. read one chapter per day of Home Comforts (Mendelson, 1999)
2. walk at least one hour per weekday
3. use the telephone and chat with a friend (calling my husband doesn't count)
4. write and mail three or four letters
5. work on my taxes

Today will be spent organizing the office and dealing with papers that piled up during the wedding planning months. Once my coffee kicks in I expect I'll be willing to bundle up and get out for a walk but at this point outside doesn't seem very inviting. Snow is blowing. My pajamas are comfy.

Hopefully, once I get the hang of writing, this blog will develop into something semi-interesting for readers. I make no promises though.


Mendelson, Cheryl. Home Comforts.  New York: Scribner, 1999

Starting out

I've been a wife for a month and four days now. So far it is exactly as I expected and this is most certainly a good thing.  My husband isn't much into social networking so the challenge will be for me to blog without giving away anything about our family or implicating him in any way.

This is my first go at being a wife and I am passionate about remaining, being and becoming the best wife I can be to my dearest friend, my husband.

For the time being life has afforded me the pleasure of being a homemaker. My waistline, and the fact that my comfy pants are no longer all that comfortable, is letting me know that I need to be doing more with my days.

The first official "something more" I will do is keep a blog. It might be a daily blog or it might be a weekly one but it will certainly be a blog that spans from now until our first wedding anniversary. I will earmark Sundays as the day for creating and sharing weekly goals. Saturdays will be for reflecting on how the previous week turned out.