For the last week and a half, I've been miserably sick. 

I thought it was a cold, maybe the flu, M said at one point that my cough sounded very bad and maybe I was getting pneumonia (I totally cried when he said that). So I finally went to the doctor because my ears were hurting. Turns out, I have dodged the flu another year but got my very first sinus infection. And it has been awful, but slowly getting better. 

For the last week and a half, I've downed at least a gallon of hot tea, probably several. 

This morning, I'm giving coffee a go. Boy have I missed coffee.

But, I didn't sit down to write this post to tell you about the icky sickness. 

I sat down to write about the things I'm going to do as soon as it passes, or some of the things now. 

It's a new year and though I don't really make resolutions (see this post), I do like this time of year as a reset. To take stock of how the previous year went and the lessons learned and to refocus for the coming year.

This might be a little more for me than for you, readers, just because if I put it out into cyberspace, I'm more likely to get it done. You readers help hold me accountable.

In the last week and a half, I've accomplished very little other than watching movies, tv, reading some magazines and sleeping. It's been driving me a little mad, not being able to do all the things I wanted to do over the holidays or my days out of the office, but the rest was probably exactly what I needed to recharge for the year. And I managed a few genius ideas while not being bombarded with distractions, tasks, interruptions and other nonsense from my typical daily grind.

All that said, here's my January goals. I'm linking up with Melyssa over at Nectar Collective again to help motivate me.

+ As soon as this sinus infection clears, get back to the gym. I'm shooting for running/working out at least 3 times a week. Hopefully, I'll get back into the habit of running/working out more often, but figured I'd start slow as I incorporate that back into my normal lifestyle. Although, I'm counting skating, so I should surpass this goal easily.

+ Finish Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl. I'll be honest, it's not my favorite read, but I'm about 3/4 finished and I'm tired of staring at it, knowing I'm not done. Then I can move on to the massive pile of "books to be read."

+ Work on chicken plan. We're planning to get more chickens this spring, but we need to work out how many, whether we want chicks or pullets, and if we want to start breeding our own (we do, but we're trying to avoid taking on more than we can chew too soon). 

+ Make progress on renovations. Any project will do. Any project counts. We're going to be renovating forever and I think it might always drive me a little bit nuts.

+ Make better use of my time. Instead of thinking/worrying/stressing about how much I have to do, JUST DO IT. A lot of projects are snowballing at the same time and it's good, so I'm going to have to force myself to be productive and efficient.

+ Get rink materials in order. I've got radio ads lined up, several special campaigns going, about to host a nonprofit day, and am recruiting more helpers, but I absolutely, positively need to make our new informational brochures, donor packets, etc. It's been on my list for awhile now, but it needs to get done this month. No more delay.

There are other bigger and smaller goals, but these are aimed at helping me knock them all out. And if I've learned anything from 2014, it's to stop making to-do lists so massive that they are unachievable and then beating myself up when they aren't finished. 

So, here goes the first full work week of 2015, when I can breathe again. Here goes nothing! 

Do you have January goals?

Now that we're finished with January, it's time to map out some goals for February with Melyssa at The Nectar Collective. 

I joined in her Weekly Wishes around Christmas and the weekly exercise has honestly been a great way to focus all my energies into specific tasks each week that build up to bigger goals. For the new year, she changed it up a bit with the first week of wishes being monthly goals to help drive those weekly goals. Plus, telling all of you lovely readers a handful of my weekly goals each week helps me stick to them!

But first, a recap of last week's wishes: getting some veggies started indoors, make a chicken supply list and calm the heck down. 

Turns out, we didn't quite need to start the onions yet, but we did make a spreadsheet of our seeds and planting information + a planting calendar. My mini herb garden is finally in pots this week and we'll see how they turn out. I'm planning a more robust herb garden outdoors once it warms up. 

Chicken planning included picking out the inspiration for our coop/greenhouse but I still need to gather up supplies. Chick pick-up will be the end of this month or early March so it's time to buckle down and get ready.

As for calming the heck down, I'd say I did alright with room for improvement. This week feels more calm, though it's early yet. 

Now for February's wishes.

+ Get the skating event squared away. Time to be no nonsense and knock it out. I'm running short on time, but have no doubt I can pull it off. 

+ Finish my travel freelance project and look for more freelance work.

+ Run as much as the weather allows. So far, that hasn't been much, so indoor workouts are getting folded into the mix. 

+ Work on the mudroom renovation. That project has been sidelined with everything else that's been going on, but I really do want to get a move on. I don't see a lot of sleep in my near future.

+ Chat with some other Montana bloggers to pull together some ideas and plans. I've got ideas kicking around, now to make them real. 

+ Map out the garden for warmer weather. We've got the seed plan, now we need a soil test and to figure out where to put everything. The garden is expanding over last year's attempt so that likely means we'll have to work more soil, come up with a watering/drainage system and a pest control method. Deer and rabbits are just waiting to feast on my veggies!

+ Road trip to pick up the baby chicks and manage to keep them alive. We've decided to up our chick count in case some of them are roosters. We've also got to get serious about designing and building the chicken coop and greenhouse. It's hard to do when it's so cold, but we can do the prep work now to be ready. Especially now that I've finally picked out the design concept I want. Things are getting real! 

What's in store for your February?

Last week's wishes were ambitious. Honestly, I didn't make much progress on anything other than just getting through the week. 

I didn't get far with Montana Bloggers, though I did get things going on SPJ, the journalism society. Our kick-off happy hour is tonight in Great Falls and there will be similar events in Missoula, Kalispell and Bozeman throughout the next week. It feels like things are really starting to come together on this front and that warms my heart and gets me motivating to keep building. 

Mudroom work didn't really happen either, though we did pick up more supplies for the project. Hopefully, we'll get started on that some time this week. Rink progress did happen, but not as much as I wanted to. It remains on the to-do list this week.

Running happened a few times, in between snow, high winds and plain ole cold. Having Alicia and Eileen as a cheering squad really is amazing. Running the 8K Shamrock Shuffle with these two lovely ladies is going to be a great day.

So this week, with Melyssa at The Nectar Collective, my wishes are continuations of last week plus a few more: 

+ Get onions and a few other veggies started indoors. They'll take the longest, so we need to get a move on. We bought $47 worth of seeds at the farm and ranch store last night. We still need to order the right varieties for cucumbers and a few other things. I'm determined to attempt some berries, so that requires a trip to the nursery. 

+ Make the supplies list for the baby chickens and get everything we need to prepare for their arrival. 

+ Calm the heck down and just accomplish what I can each day, then go home to cuddle with the puppies and M. Do I want to move mountains? Yes. But I can't do it in a day and being kind to myself while attempting to move those mountains is the only way they're actually going to move. 

I'm excited about all these things, I just need to remember to sleep and keep up with the day to day, like making lunch, doing dishes, taking care of the dogs and hanging up clothes. 

What are your wishes for the week? Do you find setting weekly goals works to move you closer to the big goals? How do you balance taking on everything while also maintaining a healthy level of self care?

I feel like I always say this, but the last week was hard. Work was nuts and made me snappy. Then my uncle passed away. And yet, when I look at my wishes from last week, I'm actually doing okay. Last week, my wishes were to get out for a run, work on chicken plans, nail down a date for the SPJ kickoff and get ahead on January.

As of this morning, I ran twice. The SPJ kickoff event is set for next week and M and I made progress on our chicken plans. Mostly, I sent him pictures of chicken coops I like and he started working on building plans. I didn't get that far ahead on the month, but I'm catching up.

This week got off to a more mellow start and this morning I picked up the floor tile for the mudroom. 

So for this week, my wishes are: 

+ Keep running. I'm joining Alicia and Eileen for the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in about two months and I love having them to motivate and encourage me, even from a distance. 

+ Get started on the mudroom renovation. We picked up the mortar in Billings earlier this month and now we have the tile so we can finally get started on actual work. 

+ Get organized with Montana Bloggers. I've got it going, now I need to mold it into something great. A few ideas are kicking around in my head and I just need to write them out and get a move on.

+ Keep the momentum on skating projects. So much progress has been made in the last week and I just want to keep it up and make it happen! 

That's probably enough to keep me busy for the next week and I better get to work. 

What are you working on this week?

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and is relaxing for the rest of the week. 

Recently, I discovered Melyssa's Weekly Wishes at the Nectar Collective. When I saw it, I thought, I need to join in! Well, there's no time like the present. 

Since I'm just getting started with this, I can't give you a report on how I did with last week's wishes. And I can tell you that the very thought of writing this post already has be thinking about my to-do list, all the things that need to get done, the big and small goals, and distilling all that down to just a few things that are reasonably doable in the next week.

That said, here's my wishes for the week. 

+ Develop an organizational system. My desk at work is a disaster. Stacks of papers about very serious topics are taking over my cube. Some of them I really do use over and over again, so I like to keep them accessible, but the clutter is starting to make me nuts. My desk at home got a bit cleaner this week, but I still have no system. I've never been one of those uber organized people, but I do love lists and I do need some kind of system to accomplish All.The.Things. I think I'm going to have to return to the days when the one item that was always with me was my planner. This might be one step that will help all the other things come together a little better.

+ Pick and purchase the floor tile for the mudroom. We've just about figured out the tile we want, but now it's a matter of figuring out the most economical place to purchase it from. Basically, if it's not at Home Depot, we'll pay a ton in shipping. Montana is beautiful, but it sometimes works against you in finding the materials you need at the best cost for a home renovation. The mudroom has been designed and is a one room project that I think I need to get moving on to feel like this home renovation isn't at a total standstill. I'm ready to get to work!

What are your goals for the week? Do you have an organizational system?