End of April review 2022

[sweetpumkinpye]

I cannot believe how quickly April went by.

What worked for me this month?

CHRISTMAS/Holidays

• Continued with plans for Christmas and holidays for the next few months. With the speed that the year is going I am pleased that I am getting organised so early.
• Continued buying ingredients for baking and for meals around Christmas. Really sorted out the freezers/fridge stockpiles and pantry. Looked through events towards the end of the year and made many notes in the planner. Will look at these plans again in early August and September and see how I am traveling. I always tend to over cater so know that I will be OK
• Continued looking for stocking fillers as I like to get these out of the way early. Did some shopping with DD and got her a few things. Overall quite pleased with how the gift closet is looking at this stage.
• Easter was delightful. We went right outside the box and had a really great weekend. Good Friday DD, DSIL, DH and I went for a picnic to our botanic gardens, they then came back to our house where we had a pizza bar set up and we made our own pizzas. We sat and watch a movie and it was a really nice day.

Sunday morning we had my extended family here for Easter Morning brunch. We did a variety of Hot Cross buns, Juice, Cafe au lait and a fresh fruit platter with chocolate dipping sauce. In no way was this diet friendly but it was such fun.

Sunday night we went to my Mum's for a roast pork dinner with all the trimmings. We exchanged Easter gifts which were different than previous years and over all had a wonderful weekend.

ANZAC Day was a great day for us. Woke up at 5.00am, went to our neighbours for Dawn service and breakfast and just relaxed and reflected for the rest of the day. I was very pleased with how the holidays for April went.


PERSONALLY

• This year I would like to try to connect with those who mean a lot to me. With people being busy I have taken to writing reminders in my diary to contact people. I don't want to miss connecting with the people who mean a lot to me.... We spent a lot of time together with our family and friends in April.
• Mum and I got together a few times, made some plans (she is a great planner) and started some major decluttering of her home.
• Did not catch up with DS as much as I would have liked, he is busy in his new job and settling in well
• Continued Winter prep. This month I worked on the dining room, bathrooms, sun room and the spare room.
• I rejoined DrillDance as a judge and have started some online learning to continue with that.
• Continued meal planning and my 5 chores a week. This is so beneficial to me.

What did not work for me?

• Weight control/exercise/diet.
• I put on again over April, too much snacking, eating incorrectly and lack of exercise are the reasons. I know what I need to do, just have to do it. Will keep at it as it is so worth it.
• Finances. Money was a little easier this month. DH and I got our tax refunds which always help lighten the load. The government also removed 20c off the cost of petrol so that helped. Last month I readjusted my budget so that what is left over after my main shop I can then use for a top up at another supermarket the following week. This means I can have the same amount in the budget but spread it over the whole fortnight. I continued with this and it is working well.
• I worked extra again through April and this will continue into May. Staff holidays and COVID shortages have affected the workplace.
• Procrastination Nothing changed here but I do want to get things started with selling things. I did however decide on my major project for the Winter, I will be sorting through my family history research and tidying it all up.

As we head into May I am quite pleased with how things are going. Still a lot of year ahead of me but am pleased that the goals I set for myself in January are working so far.

 

[Holiday_Mom]

Wow! April was a blur for me!

What worked?

• Having freezer meals to work with while taking classes. Dinner needs to be simple and quick right now. Juggling work and school and home life is difficult for me.
• Keeping a calendar keeps me on target and focused with the household.
• Letting go of expectations of myself was freeing. I was so busy with work and school that decorating for Easter didn't happen until dh decorated the day before Easter. I actually think he liked being creative and I did not saw anything negative about how he decorated differently than I do. Nope! Done is better than what I did which was nothing.
• Doing school every day as often as I can helped with the stress of doubling up on busy nights and weekends.

What didn't work?

• I was chosen to be secretary of a board. The work that was supposed to go out earlier in April didn't get put out on time. However, there isn't too much that I could do about because of my current schedule. I need to communicate how things are on the home front.
• I didn't drink enough water everyday. I pretty much lived in the office for work and school. I forgot to drink water through out the day.
• I didn't move my body as much either. I was pretty much glued to the chair. I had an alarm on my watch that goes off every hour to remind to move but I totally didn't pay attention to it. I have four months of this routine so I need to come up with a better plan.
• I didn't take enough time out for me. I'm going to plan a mid week two hour break to watch something relaxing on tv.

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Wow! April was a blur for me!

Mary, same here. I found some weeks I really did not get my full 7 days worth!
Am hoping that moving into May and June things settle and I get back onto an even keel.
It is a reminder that the year is flying past isn't it?

 

[Holiday_Mom]

Mary, same here. I found some weeks I really did not get my full 7 days worth!
Am hoping that moving into May and June things settle and I get back onto an even keel.
It is a reminder that the year is flying past isn't it?

It is! And doing this reflection reminded me that since starting class, I've not been doing my weekly what worked/didn't work reflection. My life is consumed with doing school so there isn't the "free time" to do that. I'm doing some reflection and evaluation this week. I've got 16 more weeks. I need to figure out how to get that back in there. That time helps me to process so things to get out of hand.