Teri Parris Ford's Blog

Summer Project 8 (week 8) in Rochester, Minnesota

We bought a house! We closed on our first stand alone home on Monday. We started saving nearly 4 years ago so that Jim would no longer have to rent a place but instead contribute to a second family home. Our condo in Madison has served us well and will continue to be my main residence during the school year until I retire which won't be for a few more years. We picked up the U-box I had in storage for the past year on Tuesday and unloaded all the stuff I took from my mom's house-- all the kitchen and bedroom supplies we need, a dining room set and a ton of Longaberger baskets. We did a big Costco run, and got a lawn mower from Menards. Jim and I are having a lot of fun setting it all up and making plans for home improvements (painting, new flooring, patio, garden beds, etc) but most of it will need to wait. 

Summer Project 6 (week 6) in Virginia

 

As my second week in Norfolk comes to end, I am gearing up for a few busy weeks coming up. I finished up the HVAC cover project (see below) this week and did a bit of patching and painting around her fireplace. While every visit I have in Virginia is very much like a vacation since I make sure to spend time on the beach, Jessi also makes sure to give me a list of things to do around the house, which is very much a labor of love. The HVAC project kept me problem solving as I wanted to avoid using lumber since it was expensive and in short supply at Home Depot. The white vinyl was a bit too floppy so I ended up using PVC piping to prop up the back end of the box. I'm hoping it's good enough. Jessi likes it and that's what matters most. 

I drive home on Friday (7/23), spend a weekend at home catching up on swimming and doing hot yoga and then it is back to Michigan for week 7 and up to Minnesota for week 8. 

 

Summer Project 2 (Week 2)

I made my first t-shirt quilt about 8 years ago after Jessi graduated. Since then I've done several more (here's a picture of Monika's) and each one is very different and quite unique. My approach to a t-shirt quilt is somewhat organic -- I am not looking for perfection. I'm inspired by a crazy quilt my grandma Parris made when I was a little girl using scraps from old clothes. Anyway, a while ago I noticed that Josh had unloaded a pile of old t-shirts on a shelf near my stuff. I took it home and set the pile a side. Year after year, I think Josh would only wear school shirts once, on the day they were handed out and we were all made to wear them for a photo and then he would set them aside. Eventually he would either ask me if I wanted them or I would see them cast out of his office near my stuff and take them. I finally realized I almost had enough for a quilt. I ended up short about 6 shirts, so I filled in some space with blank t-shirt bits. I have no idea if Josh will like it but they are all his t-shirts! I used a grey fleece backing, so it's very warm for the winter.

Other than sewing, I went to yoga everyday. I got new brakes for my Yukon and I've been re-watching Downton Abby. It's been a very relaxing summer break so far!

Summer Project 1 (Week 1)

I eased into summer mode this week with a small project to transform my stairs from carpet covered to wood. Eventually I'll be replacing all the floors upstairs but Jim would like me to wait until he moves out and with Monika moving in in the fall, I'll wait to have her here to help. But with him working at Ft. McCoy this week, I decided to use the time to accomplish something. I spent one day removing the carpet and cleaning the steps. I went to Menards to figure out what my options were. I knew that replacing the steps (which was what I did to the basement steps) would be difficult without help. Menards had oak kits made to cover steps that were a lot cheaper (since they were so much thinner) which was just what I needed. I used a Gorilla glue adhesive with a couple of flooring nails to secure the steps and topped the wood off with a clear poly coat. I had originally thought about painting the risers white and staining the tops (like I did with Jessi's stairs) but decided to hold off since I'm still not sure what flooring I'm going to go with upstairs. The whole project cost less than $500. Replacing my basement steps with pine several years ago cost nearly twice that.

The whole project did not take as much time as I expected and offered me plenty of time for yoga and swimming this week. Luckily the weather cooled off a bit so I could turn off the air conditioner while Jim was gone. I am hoping to accomplish 1 project each week this summer (10 total). We'll see how that plan goes.

 

Close to complete!

I woke up early and got to work. I finished staining the other half of the stairs and then went to go work out at Anytime Fitness. After my work out I was able to sand the stairs down some and then got to work on the basement landing. I added a 4 inch baseboard on either side. Once finished, I started hanging artwork in the hall salon style. I arranged things tighter so I could fit more art work in and even had a bit of space for some future artwork. It is a little over the top, but I like it. Tomorrow morning I should be able to finish with a top polyurethane coat and be finally done!

Monika made corn chowder for lunch which was delicious and then we all (me, Monika and Erika) went to the pool around dinner time. It was nice to finally sit and enjoy some holiday time. I came home, called Jim and went for a dogwalk while chatting. Monika went out to see a movie with a friend and Erika went out to dinner with Kelly.

Labor Day Weekend

I spent the day working and I got quite a bit done. I finished painting the hallway and started staining the stairs. I could not finish the stain on the stairs because I needed to use the stairs. Tomorrow I will stain the other half. I finished staining the landing going upstairs. I was hoping the stain would show more wood grain, so I'm going to buy sand paper tomorrow to pull out some color for the basement stairs. I also have to finish the bottom bit of floor. I got all of the baseboards finished finally and I'm pretty happy with how it all looks.

I stopped for a coffee break with Melissa mid morning, who was in town for an appointment. I also picked up my CSA veggies, cleaned out the fridge and made green bean casserole for lunch with real green beans. It was pretty mild today, so no temptation to get to the pool, but I'm hoping it will be warm enough for a pool visit tomorrow with Monika. Monika was gone all day playing rugby in Detroit. She got back late this evening and finished off my casserole. 

Cutting In

Today was a volunteer work day. I'm not sure if it's a paid day, but I had to work regardless. I went in early, 6:45am-- so that I could leave by noon for a yoga class. The week has been so mild, so the pool has not been a big temptation. I took the girls swim team photo at 7am and then got to work with paperwork, orders, class set up, etc. I will have students on Tuesday which gives me plenty of time to plan the time with them over the weekend. 

After yoga, I started cutting in the hall and staining the steps. The stain is a bit too light but maybe once it has a poly top coat it will darken up. I had to go into work to meet a student to work on the newspaper at 6pm, so I stopped to get a shower in. The goal for the holiday weekend: finish staining the new stairs, finish painting the hallway, finish all the baseboards, wash my bed sheets, and prep for Freshman on Tuesday! 

The Details

I had a few gaps in that showed after putting the baseboards up. I purchased a fancy molding to add another 1/2 inch of space to cover the gaps and then I painted over my nails (the photo is before painting). I added duct tape to my couch arms so that they wouldn't look so bad. I'm going to hold off on the new couch purchase. I think I'm going to need to buy a new dryer pretty soon. That last few loads I've done haven't had any heat to them. Boy, it's always something! I got a new TV stand and unhooked the computer to set up in the basement with a normal monitor. I'm working on putting together a gym set up down there and it'll be nice to have a computer to watch exercises. 

I took Balt for a long walk and went to workout at Anytime Fitness. Monika and I made stuffed poblano peppers for lunch and watched a movie on HBO while I was building the new TV stand. I'm back to work tomorrow. It'll be an easy day but as the week progresses, it'll get busier!

A Little More

I ran out of flooring today. So I got as much done as I could. Now I have to go find more laminate at another store out of town tomorrow in order to finish. I meeting up with someone in the morning to hire to help me finish the stairs and baseboards next week. Once it's all done, I'm going to want a new couch, but since I know the cats will ruin it, I will refrain. 

I also got new internet today. Two guys from Spectrum came and had to rewire the condo for cable. They set up the modem and router for me as well so now we have fast internet I hope. I need to cancel my other service and return equipment now that it is all set up so I won't be paying for two. 

I'm always surprised how sore I am after working on home improvement projects. It doesn't seem like exercise but at the end of the day I'm exhausted and things hurt. I hammered my hand a couple of times, hit my foot and have a sore rump for bending over so much. I'll be happy to get back to teaching next week so I can rest!

Frustrated

I started working on the floors last night but I knew I wouldn't be able to work today since I had meetings at school all day. I needed a few items to help with installation but when I got home this evening it still wasn't locking into place properly. I didn't make any more progress this evening but I'll get to it tomorrow morning and hope things come together better.  

I decided to get Spectrum internet because we've had so much trouble with our internet for years and we were finally told there was no way to get it any better with the service we had and that we'd be happier with cable. I never wanted cable before but it ends up being cheaper, or so I thought. Of course they shipped the modem but then informed I needed a router (another $5 month). After picking one up, it still wasn't working so now someone is coming on Thursday to see what the issue is... in the mean time I'm still paying for the slow service, because we can't live one day without any internet. I'm guessing I'll be paying two companies for internet for a week or two.

Organic Vegetables

On Saturdays I pick up my CSA box of organic vegetables. Now that Monika is working at an organic farm, she's bringing home organic vegetables as well. She set a composting system--that's the big black barrel in the photo. It was on our deck, dripping black goop (from coffee grounds maybe) and attracting a lot of fruit flies and other weird bugs. I cut some more of the junipers to make room for a raised garden bed and keep the compost behind it. I also wanted a bench. I did a bunch of research last night on building raised garden beds  and found out it is best to set them up in the fall so they settle in and are ready in the spring to grow vegetables. I'm going to try to get some autumn lettuce growing now that I have it set up. It was surprisingly easy but not that cheap. The lumber needed to be untreated and high quality. I ended up with cedar which smells so good, especially after getting wet. I spent about $150 just on the wood. I purchased dirt, a retractable saw to cut the junipers (that was what Geof used), a drill bit and deck screws. I borrowed the chop saw from work. The whole project took about 4 hours but I spent over an hour shopping and another cleaning up after.

The only big project I have left are my floors. The guy that was supposed to help me put me off a week and then called today to tell me he can't help until next month. I'm left trying to figure out if I just do it alone, hire someone else or wait till next month!

Small Projects first

It was a wonderful Saturday for getting work done-- not too hot, cloudy but no rain. Not only did I get the bench set up in the garage but I got the alkaline water filter my dad had purchased and used set up as well. I loaded up the car with stuff for Goodwill. I picked up my CSA veggies and went to a yoga class. I made an amazing green salsa with some of my veggies- fresh tomatillos, cilantro, onions and one jalapeno. It tasted so good!! Monika made a lentil soup which was also delicious. While the soup was cooling we went to the pool for relaxation and a couple laps. Once back home we enjoyed Monika's soup and watched The Favorite on HBO. I then spent the early evening adding the last two stones to my back deck that I started last month. I finished drenched in sweat so I finished the evening soaking my feet in a cool bath before bed. It was a great day!

Home Improvement Week starts Tonite

I went to PD all day and as soon as it was over, I drove down the street to meet up with Monika at a pizza place I had read great reviews on. She had been bugging me about getting pizza and I wanted to try this new place. I made sure not to eat lunch so I would be extra hungry and really splurged on an amazing meal. I then popped over to work to pick up some stuff from the newspaper editors and made my way to Menards. I spent $600 on new flooring, stuff to make a new work bench in my garage, and a glass shelf to hang in my kitchen for coffee cups (which looks great!). Here's a list of things I'd like to accomplish this week:

• New shelf in kitchen (done)
• New flooring for the living room
• New baseboards
• Replace Stair flooring to basement
• Replace Stair flooring to upstairs
• Patch rip in paint in Kitchen
• Add patio stones in back deck
• Trim yard bushes (buy new hedger?)
• Create raised bed in back yard
• Create work bench with shelf in garage
• Set up new water filtration system
• Clean and reorganize office at work

Another Project!

At the end of the school year, Geof came over for lunch and I showed him my plans for the back deck. He offered to help and I could not pass up his assistance, knowing that it would get done so much better with him and his equipment. He brought a saw to help cut out the roots and some sand to help set the stones. We worked from 9:30am until well after noon. I had made plans to meet with Joe for lunch, so he came over to check out our progress and say hit to Geof. Jill popped over too. It was so fun having so many friends come by. I had hoped to connect with Josh today as well, but I ended up spending the evening with Monika since I won't see her until August. 

I cleaned out the Yukon, and got gas. I started packing for my trip but will finish in the morning. It was a very productive day!!

The Garage

The girls promised they would help me clean the garage but neither were available until late afternoon. I spent my morning enjoying baking breakfast cookies, working on my computer and cleaning. I watched some HBO at lunch time with Monika and then once Erika was home, we got to work! It's not done yet but we got a lot done. The girls sorted shoes and got rid of a huge trash bag that I took to St. Vincent's. Erika talked me into getting rid of 2 old wooden shelves we had since they had mold on them and sent me to Costco for 3 new sets! She wanted a new shelf for her glass gear, which I am hoping will all go down to the basement this winter. 

Cold Day 2

We got word that we'll have tomorrow off as well. That's a full week off due to snow and cold! It's the winter break I didn't get over Christmas due to traveling. I spent the day sewing Monika's t-shirt quilt together. I went outside twice for Balt. The first time I did not put his boots on since I assumed he'd be quick. It took about a minute for him to feel the pain on his toes and we ran back inside. It was negative 25. By 2pm it was about negative 10. I put Balt's boots on this time so he could run a bit and boy did he! He was gleeful to get out and run around. He really loves the cold and snow.

While out the second time, I warmed up the truck and went to the fabric store to pick up black fleece for the back of the quilt. Tomorrow I will finish it! It took me months to get the last one I did done.

Cold Day 1

The day was pretty mild, if you ask me. I could not believe we had the day off but I'm sure the school district had it's reasons for keeping all the kids home. Other than yoga and a dog walk, I needed a project to work on, so I got Monika's t shirts out of a trash-bag she gave me last fall and started cutting them up for a t shirt quilt. I got them all sized and ironed on fusing. I will get my sewing machine out tomorrow. I might have two more days off!

I had long conversations with my brother, this afternoon and my husband, this evening. I chatted a bit with Erika. I purchased her a new coat from Costco because her zipper broke on hers. It came with perfect timing!

Spring Break: Day 1

So today was just like most of my Saturdays except I started a list of things to accomplish this week. My big project for the week is to replace my tub. I attempted to replace it several years ago with no luck (tub returned). I'm hoping I have more success this time around. I did not get a tub that needed electricity this time-- no heated jets. Just a regular tub to soak in. I was able to get the tub home but not the surround stuff for the walls as it was too wide to fit into my truck. I'm going to need to get some rope and get it home on the roof, but I'm going to wait until Monday when there is less traffic. 

I took Balt for his dogwalk, got coffee, baked a loaf of bread today and went to hot yoga. I made a big fire this afternoon and watched a lot of nothing. I spent over an hour just looking and watching previews, then just turned on the tv to catch the news. 

Half of them work!

All four of my appliances are installed but the electrical upgrade for the microwave needs a real electrician that will come on Friday and the fridge needs water fed to it which will happen on Monday. So close!! The dishwasher got a trial run but the oven needed to thaw out before being able to be turned on. The fridge door handle has a big dent which needs to be replaced soon.  I can't wait until I can just enjoy my kitchen-- drink filtered water with ice, microwave leftovers, bake cookies and throw all the dishes into the dishwasher!

My school is going pretty nicely, luckily. All of my extra time has been spent dealing with my kitchen!

I have appliances

My appliances were delivered this morning but the guys who delivered were supposed to install my fridge and oven, but I was not informed of this information, so I told Erika (who worked from home today so that I could go to work) to tell them to leave the appliances in the garage for the install people to come, who I was told would come in the afternoon. This afternoon a man came to install the dishwasher and microwave-- both need electrical upgrades in my condo so neither are working. When I called about who was coming to install the fridge and oven, I was then told the guys who delivered were supposed to but of course did not volunteer that information when they were told to drop everything off in the garage. I'm sure they were happy to in and out so fast. To add to my problems, my oven is 1/4" too wide for my space. To say it was a frustrating day, is an understatement, but I survived and am closer to the end of this project. I spent the evening finishing up the floors in the dining room.

Tomorrow Ron, my handyman, is coming in to do the electrical upgrades, pull off my small counter to shave off 1/4 inch and prep the fridge box with water feeding tubes. Costco ordered the delivery guys to return but they won't be back until tomorrow night. In the meantime I need a few days off before getting back into it with the floors. My fingers are all very sore from the work and baseboards can wait until the weekend. Monika comes home next Monday night and the goal is to be all done by then. Boy, am I cutting it close! 

More Floor

After a pretty regular Monday, I came right home and got to work on the floors. The goal was to make sure I finished the kitchen and get as much of the dinning room done as I could. I got a bit more than half but I need to buy at least one more box of boards to finish the job as well baseboards. There's a lot of detail work to do too, which takes time. There were moments of frustration and the same finger smashed with a hammer, only in a different place. Still, it's looking pretty spectacular and I just can't wait until it's all done! I'm so close.

Floors

The day started pretty relaxing but after coffee sipping, news watching, a short dogwalk, hot yoga and going out to lunch, I got started on my kitchen floors. I got about 3/4 of the way done but want to also finish the dining room. After smashing my finger with a hammer, I decided it was getting late and I needed a break. My appliances get delivered on Tuesday, so I'll need to just make sure I get the kitchen done tomorrow night. I'll get to the baseboards next weekend and hopefully be completely done. 

 

Kitchen work

I worked all day on the kitchen-- from 6am to 8pm, with only a couple of breaks to walk Balt and eat.  I had to go to Menards twice which gave me a bit of a break as well. I cleaned the garage, which was a big mess with piles of cardboard and saw dust. I was glad to have a blower to get the most of the saw dust out. I had to paint both the pantry, shelves (photo) and the fridge box. I ran out of orange paint and needed to pick up another quart. I decided to add tile to my counter back splash and that took some time (and money). 

I ended the day exhausted with my back in desparate need of yoga. I'm already planning on being at the 5:30 hot tomorrow night with Dr. Ruddy.

I finally washed dishes!

Several years ago my mom asked my dad to buy her a new sink. He got her a faucet instead. The box never got opened until Thanksgiving weekend. My mom gave me the faucet for my new kitchen and it looks great with my new sink. Ron came in today to finish things up so I let him work and ran errands. I did some grocery shopping but without an oven, there's very little I need. I'm very eager to get to baking again, hopefully soon. 

After Ron left, I got to putting vinyl on all the shelves and putting dishes away. I'd like to get rid of stuff I don't use/need to lighten the load. There's still so much to do!!

Balt is 49 in dog years!

At some point this next year, Balt will become older than me! It is hard for me to believe but as I see the continuing grey gather around his muzzle, I know it's true. He's survived cancer and in order to schedule a tooth extraction this week, we had a blood work up done and he continues to be cancer free. We certainly are lucky to have him in our lives!

While lots of folks in America were enjoying an extra hour of sleep, my animals woke me up at 4am. I got up and started organizing my week. By 7am, we were out running errands. I purchased paint finally and started prepping to paint. I went to yoga, had lunch with Erika and then got to work. I'm going to need to do at least another coat, most likely two more to get a true color without the blotches of my previous yellow with orange rag-roll. I decided to go with a very light blue eggshell ceiling and top edge with a semi-gloss true orange for the walls. I wanted warmth and boy, I got it. I'm wondering if I should lighted it up with a glazing effect? The cabinets will be lighter, so that should help.

And so it begins...

Today was kind of a typical Saturday. I got up at 5am, watched some news and then took Balt for a long walk. He really likes going to the school. I'm sure because so much food is left around the campus!? I did a quick grocery run and then make pumpkin scones before going to hot yoga at 11am. I came home and made soup for lunch and then started cleaning out my kitchen cabinets and unscrewing them to prep them for removal. On Friday, Ron, the guy I hired to install my new cabinets will come to remove everything I haven't been able to. The more I can do, the less I will have to pay him to do. I got three fully done, three more to go (and four more drawers). I also started removing the wall paper and I'm struggling to decide on what color to paint the kitchen. My peach plan ended up looking awful-- too much like flesh tone. It made me think of Silence of the Lambs. Monika says teal, I'm thinking lettuce colored, but I've had so much warmth in there (bright yellow with rolled orange over), that I'm afraid to change it to a cool color. I also have to decide on a my counter tops-- butcher block wood or tile or what? Anyway, it's all beginning to really happen!

I ended my day with a fire and the first episode of Stranger Things, season 2. I had design work to do, bills to pay and other computer work to do as well, so I wanted to make sure I got most of the stuff on my long list of things to do done! Yearbook t-shirts are ready to be ordered on Monday (see below).

Weekend Work

Over the summer, while I was away, my cats started peeing on the stairway landing. Eventually Erika just put a sandbox on the corner they were peeing on. Once I got home and saw the soaked carpet, I ripped it out and began to drench the wood below with different cleaning supplies. I had a throw carpet on it for the last couple of months and finally decided it was time to do something. I had hoped to hire someone to re-do all the floors but for now, this will do. As I prepped the corner, I could still the smell the urine and doused the wood with pure bleach, scrubbed it and then left a fan blowing to dry it out. After doing a few errands and a hot yoga class, I added more bleach and started prepping the job, cutting wood, etc. I only purchased one case of laminate to match my old living room floors. I eventually would like to redo all the floors with real wood but that will have to wait until after I do my kitchen (priorities!). I ended up with one plank but two fronts, that I decided to paint instead. I ran out of 1/4 round but that will be an easy pick up for next weekend. For now I'm done! And yes, the cat box goes back in the corner-- I don't want to take any risks!

The Bagster

Today was a busy day! We had 3 men from the Men's Tabernacle Ministry come to finish taking down the stairs and to cut down the oleanders on the side of our house. My mom had purchased a "Bagster" which is a dumpster in a bag-- simple to set up and strong enough to hold up to 3,300 lb of debris or waste. I ended up having to run to Lowe's to buy a second one. I also ran to the library today to unload an 11th truckload of books from my mom's library-- mostly self help books. After taking down all the stairs completely, we came to find the corner of the house behind the stairs has wood rot. We will need to hire a construction person to fix the problem quickly. My mom knew the corner leaked when it rained and that my dad had tried to fix with various methods but it looks like his fixes only made things worse. At times the projects seem unending and a bit overwhelming, but I remind myself that we have accomplished a lot and we will eventually get everything done. We hired a "pool-guy" today who will come in weekly to take care of the pool for my mom. We've decided to wait until summer to get new fencing put in, but my brother will start on a new retaining wall after I've left.

It was wonderful to jump in the pool after the work was done and cleaned up. I met up with my brother-in-law for dinner to catch up. It had been quite a while since I had talked with him and it was very nice to connect again. The evening cooled off and it was a perfect night for a walk around downtown Newhall. I very much enjoyed the night out, 

Another Hot Summer Day

The sun doesn't rise until after 6AM so I haven't been getting out quite as early this week.   Still, the mornings are quite glorious and usually stay in the 70s until late morning. I've been able to trick Balt in to going up some milder hills by taking different routes.  This morning my mom and I got out to run errands by 9 AM and were home by noon. My brother was waiting for me and then the two of us went on a mission to purchase  plumbing supplies for a backyard project. The handles on the backyard hose and watering system needed to be exchanged so that they were easier for my mother to turn.  When she told me she was going to call a plumber, I asked my brother if that was something we could tackle and he assured me it was easy enough for us to do. We spent nearly $80 in new fixtures but got the job done well (See below).  The rest of the late afternoon was spent lounging and dipping into the pool to cool off and then lounging again. When the temps get over 100, it's really hard to be productive. It got to 105 today!

November Challenges

Here it is. Thanksgiving is just 3 weeks away and I can't wait to be with my family all together again. October has been a bit on the lonely side. I'm missing having family close by. At least the weather has been wonderful. Balt and I started our morning with a long walk in the sunshine. It was a mellow day, paying bills, cleaning house, and doing some writing.

November is write a novel month and I've been challenged once again to get back to writing mine, but the truth is, I'm not ready to stick my head into that project. I'm still trying to wrap my head around my own world and the life I'm living. I managed to get to 26 yoga classes last month for my 30 day yoga challenge, which Erika encouraged me to change into a 5 day a week yoga practice for the winter and I've stepped up to that. I have loved going into the yoga studio, not only to practice my own yoga but often to see Erika at work and occasionally practice next to her. I'm still tweeting daily quotes on happiness which has been a nice project. I'm 40 tweets into my #50daysofhappyposts.

So, am I up for another 30 day challenge? I'm not so sure. Instead of writing a novel in one month, I thought about writing 30 essays instead of one 50,000-word novel. I would try to write each essay with about 1500 words (in order to match the novel challenge). They would be about meaningful topics I have been thinking about lately, but every day this month?? I'm not so sure I can make that happen. I thought I'd get a head start and I managed to get one started last week-- just one and just started. And if I count this as an essay, I'm only about 300 words in. It's a lot of time spent, not just writing, but hashing out what I'm writing about, or editing some older writings. 

There's a Ted Talk by Matt Cutts on 30 Day Challenges that I listened to a couple of years ago and I got hooked into the idea that it was good for me. In 2012 I made it a New Year's resolution-- to have a 30 day challenge every month for the year. I got to April, maybe. I kicked it off with a 30 day yoga challenge that I only got to 20 before having to start again in February. I challenged myself that month to give up Facebook, but ended up using Twitter to fill the void. I'd like to think giving up something for 30 days is a lot easier than adding something into your life, unless it's sugar. Giving up sugar for any amount of time is a tough one, because it's in so much of the food most people eat. Once you do it, though, it can be life changing.  If you google 30 day challenges you'll find millions of sites, mostly fitness related challenges but there are articles everywhere about these challenges with ideas of what to do, and what to give up.

As for the 30-day yoga challenge, I've tried it 3 times and have yet to get in 30 straight days of practice, which brings me to the sticky part of this whole idea. Difficult challenges set me up for failure. Interestingly, I believe that the Catholics invented the 30 day challenge, only they called it Lent and it was for 40 days. What I really like about Lent and the idea of giving up something for a long period of time is that the church gave people Sundays off and a couple of other days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday that I'm not clear on. Anyway, I think I have to go into a 30 day challenge knowing I'm going to need a day off here or there. Of course, there is the idea of doubling up to make missed days, which I have had to do with my #50daysofhappyposts. The yoga studio I belong to (and Erika works at) encourages seasonal challenges called Personal Revolutions, and allows doubling up to make up missed days. It's still a great challenge and I love that there's a bit of flexibility built in, especially for something that is so physical. 

So am I in for 30 days of essay writing? I'm still not sure and it's day one. I've got a lot on my plate and a lot on my mind. Not everything I'm thinking about is ready to be fully explored in an essay and I'm telling you, 1500 words is a lot to explore. (I'm only a bit over 750 now in this fully in depth discussion of whether I need another 30 day challenge in my life). I have encouragement though. Both Melissa and Josh keep bugging me to get back to writing. For various reasons, I've had to set it aside and just deal with life. Part of me feels setting aside time each day and writing in depth may actually help me deal with some of what life has thrown at me. On my list of things to discuss this month; women at work, college tuition, the love of a dog, family, adversity, giving, sleep, synchronicity, generations, girl power, and rejection. Throw in the fact that I have parent teacher conferences, I'm traveling later this month, seeing my mom, and cooking Thanksgiving dinner in California; I've got a lot going on, either to write about or to keep me from writing. Either way, I'm looking at a busy month.

At the root of the 30-day challenge, I believe, is to improve ourselves, to create new habits, give up bad ones and just become a better person. If you listen to the Ted Talk, Matt's last point is that small changes equalled sustainable changes. In other words, a difficult 30 day challenge will end and on day 31 will most likely revert back to life before the challenge. My wish to write a novel will not come true if I spend the next 30 days writing it because I know it will be a piece of crap, but I'd be further along. My wish to be a better writer in order to someday write a novel was what got me writing my blog every night. It has become a sustained habit because I have flexibility with it and it isn't so big of a challenge. Writing a 1500 word essay every night for 30 days is no easy task and won't necessarily make me a better a writer. And the truth is, I'm not sure my blog readers (my mom) really want to wade through such long posts while missing out on my daily happenings.Granted, there's not a lot of excitement happening on a daily basis to write about. 

If you have read this far, you've gotten through 1125 words and I'm done writing about 30 day challenges for tonight. I have a feeling that is going to be my problem this month. I don't want to spend a lot of time rambling or ranting in order to catch up to a word count. That's where flexibility is needed. What I'm saying is I'm not guaranteeing an essay every night and I certainly won't inflict 1500 words needlessly.