My Happiness Project - March

As you know, March kicked off the, for me, much beloved 40 Bags In 40 Days, which also makes March the perfect month for my happiness project goal to be Lighten Up. I mean for this to be both literal and figurative. Consequently, my steps to reach my goal this month are:

1. Let It Go: here's where the 40 Bags comes in. I have a plan for 40 different areas in my house to work on. I fell behind on but worked hard this weekend and have two rooms done. I've even gotten The Big Guy starting to sign on. A couple of bags of trash have gone out, a couple of bags worth of stuff has gone into recycling, a bag is ready to donate, and a bag of winter gear will go to a local homeless shelter later this week.

2. Take Time To Be Silly And Laugh - Time with friends and family always helps with this one and a trip to see my baby great-niece later this month will allow me to be ridiculously silly. I just got a new Nora Ephron book to read this month and that lady always made me laugh. Some funny movies will definitely be on the agenda!

3. Lose Some Mental Weight: Tackle A Nagging Task - Once I've gotten through a couple of major areas during 40 Days, I'll decide which task this is going to be. I've got a couple of things in mind, just need to decide what fits but is also realistic to pack into the month.

4. Dance - I used to dance around the house all of the time. I danced as I cooked. I turned on music and danced while I cleaned. I danced with the kids. I can't remember the last time I danced in my house. I'm going to dance again. It will likely be ugly but who cares?!

What would you do to lighten up in your life?

My Happiness Project - February Wrap Up

That little picture? For me, as February wrapped up, that silly little thing was a complete failure at my goal for the month for my happiness project. Focus.

Perhaps the thing I most need to work on these days. And yet, I could not make myself stick to any of the steps I set out for myself. I didn't put down my phone. I didn't walk away from the television. I didn't even do any research on meditation nor did I figure out how I was going to measure "stay on tasks." I couldn't even focus on books. It was a struggle to read every page even when I was enjoying the books.

I'm determined not to let that slide. Even as I move into March with a new goal, I'm not letting working on my focus slide entirely. I'm going to build on my little victories - we did leave the television off more often, we were more deliberate about what we watched. I found a 7-Day Electronics Detox that I may give a try in the coming weeks. And I'm still determined to learn how to meditate. I need it now more than ever. So I'm not letting February's failure steal my happiness.

Day of No Clutter!

Eve has a problem with clutter. Too much stuff and too easily acquired, it confronts her in every corner and on every surface in her house. When she pledges to tackle the worst offender, her horror of a "Hell Room," she anticipates finally being able to throw away all of the unnecessary things she can't bring herself to part with: her fifth-grade report card, dried-up art supplies, an old vinyl raincoat.

But what Eve discovers isn't just old CDs and outdated clothing, but a fierce desire within herself to hold on to her identity. Our things represent our memories, our history, a million tiny reference points in our lives. If we throw our stuff in the trash, where does that leave us? And if we don't...how do we know what's really important?

Everyone has their own Hell Room, and Eve's battle with her clutter, along with her eventual self-clarity, encourages everyone to dig into their past to declutter their future.

I requested Year of No Clutter a couple of months ago from Netgalley but have waited to read it until 40 Bags In 40 Days started because it's perfect timing, right?

I am the person most likely to declutter and purge in my house. But I am also the person responsible for most of the hoarding, too. I'm the keeper of everyone's identity, the person who can't let go of the tiny baby clothes, the kindergarten journals, the t-shirts from every team anyone has been part of, the baptism gifts. My closet is never overcrowded; my kitchen is cleaned out regularly to rid it of things I'm not using. But all of those memories? Those are my kryptonite. I can't wait to read this book and see if Schaub can help me let go of some of those things. After all, Mini-me not long ago told me he didn't really care about so many of the things that I had held onto ostensibly for him. If not for him, why am I still keeping them?

Year of No Clutter is available tomorrow, March 7 at all of your usual book outlets.

Sign up to receive a daily e-newsletter with tips, advice and videos from Eve Schaub on how to start conquering clutter this spring during the Week of No Clutter, March 7-14. Sign up now! Also, you can sign up to win a $100 gift card to The Container Store. You know I'm already signed up! http://books.sourcebooks.com/year-of-no-clutter/.

Life: It Goes On - March 5

Thank god, because last week is a week we're all ready to put behind us! A lot of drama and even more illness. I won't go into details; suffice to say that all three of us missed at least a day of work. Late Friday I finally found the energy to finally be disgusted by how messy my house was (and how badly I needed to shower) and then I knew I was rounding the corner. So glad it's warm enough again this weekend to throw open windows and air the place out!


This Week I'm:

Listening To: I'm finally able to listen to the news on NPR in my car without becoming so enraged that I'm a risk to other drivers so I'm trying to keep informed during some of my drive time. Otherwise, I started Lorrie Moore's A Gate At The Stairs and I'm really enjoying its "voice."

Watching: The new season of The Voice. I adore Gwen Stefani and I'm happy to have her back but I'm already getting real tired of the flirting and constant references to her relationship with Blake Shelton. Plus, what's the point in getting invested if it all plays out to having the country singer win again?

Reading: Nothing. Seriously. I have not been able to focus on reading at all this week. But I did get a box of books this week from Better World Books which was a bright spot in the week!

Making: Even less than I've been reading.

Planning: On getting caught up with 40 Bags In 40 Days. I had plotted out 40 separate spaces and didn't do anything on any of them for the first three days. I HATE falling off schedules!

Thinking About: How to beat Level 158 on Two Dots. Because that's about the only thing I've been able to focus on for days. Pathetic.

Enjoying: My friend's Oscar party last weekend. How about that ending?! Always a fun night and I'm proud to say that I took back my crown by guessing carefully researching and selecting the correct winners.

Feeling: Frustrated by so many wasted days.

Looking forward to: Energy. Please come back soon!

Question of the week: I've got nothing for you this week. That's how my mind is working just now.

Lit: Uniquely Portable Magic

Time to clean up all of the links I've been saving! As part of the 40 Bags In 40 Days project, we're "allowed" to include cleaning up computer things as part of the project so that's what I'm working on as I type this up. Now I just need to clean up all of the recipes, home organizing tips, and resistance posts!

From Off The Shelf, The New "O" Book Club: 12 Fiction Picks from President Obama - how I'm going to miss having a president who reads. I always loved when I found the President and I were reading the same thing! The New York Times had this great article about Obama's reading, why he chooses some of what he reads and how it impacts him. It really made me think about why I read what I read and how that might change depending on where I'm at in my life.

From Book Bub Blog, this list of The 22 Most Anticipated Book Club Reads Coming in 2017 had me leaving some open spots in my book clubs schedule for the year. I prefer to either read any book I add to the calendar or get a good amount of feedback from all of you about books I'm considering so I won't add any of the books just yet. Have you read any of these? Any you would recommend?

From Longreads comes a list of 10 Outstanding Short Stories to Read in 2017, with links to the stories. I have a tough time with short story collections but one story at a time might just work for me and there are certainly some well known authors on this list that deserve reading. What's your take on short stories?

At the end of every year, I scour the "best-of" lists of books, trying to decide which books I missed from that year absolutely need to be kept high on my TBR list. This list from Buzzfeed of The 24 Best Fiction Books of 2016 has a lot of the books I've really been keen to get to (as well as some I read and concurred with). How many of these have you read? Do you agree with them making the list?

I've made no bones about how I feel about our new president so it won't come as any surprise that I saved this list of 11 Books to Help Us Make It Through A Trump Presidency from Book Riot. I'm patting myself on the back for making it a 6 weeks but this isn't a spring, it's a marathon so I'm definitely going to be picking some of these up. Florinda of The 3 R's Blog also has had several recommendations including The Last Post-Election Reading List.

And, finally, this great interview with George Saunders, author of Lincoln In The Bardo, and Ron Charles from The Washington Post.