In the past few years I’ve come to the understanding that goals in life are really important. Without goals, we just sort of float along, often times unhappy, questioning ourselves constantly. I struggle frequently with the “why?” of various tasks and activities, which kills my motivation and desire to complete pretty much anything.

So when I saw on another blog a “30 by 30″ list, I was inspired. Basically, it’s a list of 30 goals to complete by the time you turn 30. For younger folks, it’s not much, but I recently turned 26 – giving me about three and a half years until I reach the milestone. Not too short, but not too long. I’ve spent time over the past week or so working out what my list would include, and finally filled slot #30 this morning. Some of the goals are somewhat ambitious, others are simple, but all will help me grow as a person in the various facets of my life.

I hope to periodically post updates about the different items on the list as I work through it, but for a more up-to-date snapshot, I’ll have my list posted here so you can swing by and see how I’m doing. I also plan on printing my list and posting it on my bulletin board, and maybe doing a page for it in my art journal.

Are you doing a 30 by 30 challenge, or any other personal challenges? I’d love to hear about them!

Sorry I’ve not posted in awhile, we’re knee deep in the logistical nightmare of our move. My husband will be leaving on Sunday to report at his new base, while we hang out here indefinitely until a house on base is vacated. So needless to say, things are busy and stressful.

I’m sure you may be wondering what I’ve been up to. Or not, but that’s okay too. So, here is a brief run-down of what I’ve been doing lately:

• I baked cookies! From scratch! I used this recipe from Bakingdom, and they were so good! I’ll write a full post on them with more photos soon.

• Knitted a seed stitch scarf in blue camoflauge-style verigated yarn, that was promptly claimed by my husband. Which is a big deal, because he’s not a scarf person, and because it’s pretty much the end of cold weather here.

• Working diligently to finish my cross stitch phone case. The case itself is white, and I’m doing up a pattern of pink and purple stripes. Can’t wait to finish it, my phone’s been unprotected since I started. Whoops…

• During down time, I’ve been working away on my Fallout 3 game. One of the things I want to do is finish the long RPG games we own, which of course is a long process, but Fallout 3 has been one that I never made it very far in, so I recently started up a new game and have been slowly working my way through it.

• We hit up the thrift store yesterday, and I walked away having spent $90 and with two HUGE bags of things for the kids. I hope to do a post to show what I got sometime soon. Oh, and elsewhere we scored four pairs of new shoes for the three kids who needed them for less than $25!

• Our kitten rescue has had two vet checks and is doing quite well. The vet confirmed at the first one that she is definitely a she, and so has been named Artemis. She had fleas and probably worms, so we did deworming for her and got a round of flea treatment for all the animals. Second check she appeared to be flea-free, and the evidence of worms has gone way down. We opted for a second round of flea treatment, just to be safe, and she got her second deworming. She had her shots each time too. And, she almost doubled her weight between the two appointments [a month apart], which is amazing. She’s super happy, friendly, cuddly, and adventurous, and so far has been a great addition to the house.

• We finished off the second season of The Walking Dead [I'm kind of 'eh' about the season, but the finale was pretty good], and watched the first season of Game of Thrones, which was AWESOME! I can’t wait to read the books, which I will, once I get through the other ones I’m partway into…

• And lastly, we took the kids to the park for the first time this year. They had a blast, even if it was colder and windier than we expected. I hope to make outside time and park trips much more regular this year, now that they’re a bit older and somewhat easier to wrangle on my own.

So that pretty much sums up the past few weeks. The majority of my life is pretty basic and predictable, but sometimes cool and/or fun stuff happens. Once my husband heads off and the dust settles, I’ll get back into a regular posting schedule, I promise!

Things have been beyond hectic here lately. We’ve known we would be moving for awhile, but we were under the impression our move would take us closer to our home town and not be for several months. Sadly, that didn’t go through, and we found out on Monday that we are in fact moving to Alberta – from New Brunswick. Needless to say, we are extremely stressed, and my husband and I are both racing to sort out the logistics of it from our respective locations.

So you’ll have to be forgiving if posts are few and far between. I will keep trying to at least keep you updated on what’s happening, and share some great blog posts and articles I come across from my RSS feed and elsewhere.

Anyway, here are some great articles I’ve read recently:

Ways to Save Money on Groceries [Gail Vaz-Oxlade]
Warning: You Have Entered the Burnout Zone [Stepcase Lifehack]
3 Steps to Choosing the Right Paint Color [The Colortopia Blog]
Getting the most out of your storage closets [Unclutterer]
How to Beat Writer’s Block the Hard Way [Stepcase Lifehack]
What Drops Off Your List [Gail Vaz-Oxlade]
How to Develop a Distinct Writing Style as a Blogger [We Blog Better]
Creating a wardrobe that works for you [Simple Mom]
Knowing your strengths and weaknesses to improve your uncluttering and organizing projects [Unclutterer]
The Ultimate Get Out of Debt Plan [Stepcase Lifehack]

And a bonus for you: Cat vs Human, a hilarious online comic about owning cats. You’re welcome.

I realize a lot of my link love goes to the same set of blogs right now, which is just a case of a limited RSS feed and not enough time to sift through links from other sources. Have some blog recommendations for me? Drop me an email or comment!

I just wanted to wish you a quick Happy Valentine’s Day! I realize not everyone celebrates it, let alone likes it, but I think that it’s a nice day to remember our loved ones, whether you’re single or attached. We don’t celebrate it much here, but my husband did propose to me on our first Valentine’s together, so it does have some sentimental value.

We do have one tradition, that I started when I was still a young single mom. I started buying a stuffed toy for my oldest daughter, and it was her first or second that ultimately became her lovey, which she still keeps faithfully and I expect will last until it falls apart completely or gets a nice home on a shelf. I’ve continued that one with our younger kids, so each year they get a stuffed Valentine’s-themed toy, generally small and inexpensive but they love them.

And this year, I was a nice [and maybe a little crazy!] mom and bought them some heart-shaped jelly candies and baked some chocolate chip cookies, so they’re loaded on sugar. I’m not doing anything else special – the two most important adults to me are both too far away to do anything with – but that’s okay. We don’t put much stock in a single day for love, and I know we’ll make up for it in the future when we can be together.

I hope that you have an amazing day, whether you’re single or attached, celebrate it or not!

It’s amazing how busy you can be without even realizing it. This weeks has been kind of nuts, with about a dozen different projects going on. I’ve been working diligently on a mixed media art project, my Artist’s Way assignments, and a still very much secret novel. Plus trying to keep my house somewhere around a category 2 hurricane level of cleanliness, rather than catastrophic level 5. Two failed attempts at weekend leave for my husband have left me a little downtrodden as well, so I will freely admit it was hard to find things to love this week – but positivity is really important when getting through long separations, so I did it anyway.

1. This print – Totally silly, but I would love to have it hanging in my living room, it would go perfectly with out old school Dawn of the Dead movie poster.

2. Great Valentine’s Day printables – great roundup of adorable Valentine’s printables, which I would be all over if I celebrated it or had slightly older children to use them with.

3. A dependable pay cheque – I don’t work, as you already know I’m sure. So we’re living on one income, which can be really tough. Thank goodness it’s always dependable. My husband can’t just go into work one day and find out he’s been laid off, nor can his pay go down without previous warning – and it always comes on the same days each month. With the economy struggling and jobs hard to come by, this makes our day to day life SO much easier. We may not have a lot of money, but at least we know it will be there when we expect it, which is one less thing I need to have on my laundry list of worries.

4. Our new kitten – We weren’t expecting to get another cat, not after being forced to re-home one of our older cats after events beyond our control. But a couple of nights ago, our oldest daughter found a litter outside, in the snow, with no sign of the mother. There were at least three that we know of – one died, one was nearly dead and taken to the SPCA, and the one we took in who was cold and scared but seems fine otherwise. We’re pretty sure it’s a girl, a fluffy little tortoiseshell with quite the personality. I’ll post more later on, but considering I spent $45 today to buy her good food and a vitamin supplement [and that's before we've even taken her for a vet check!], she must be well loved already.

5. IKEA Expedit shelves – I’m a sucker for IKEA, and the Expedit shelves are one of my very favorite items. We don’t own any yet, but I plan on getting some in the future to replace our current bookshelves, and for craft/office storage when I can finally have a separate room for that. I love all the different options for add-ons and customizations for the shelves themselves, and they’re so versatile they’ll work for pretty much anything you need. I envision an accent wall with one or two of these, surrounded by wall-hung photos and art.

I hope you’ve all had a great week!

Yes, I do. She is pretty much the greatest voice on money I’ve come across, and she’s Canadian to boot. I own and have read Debt-Free Forever, and while I can’t say I’ve stuck to the program perfectly [I haven't, though I really should] I still love it and have based a lot of our financial planning on it. I’ve had her blog in my RSS reader for ages, and while I can’t always keep up with the posts, as they are rather long and require a fair bit of focus, I do love to read it. Her advice is sound, she provides good explanations for why she takes the position she does, and she tends not to sugarcoat what she says. I would love to grab a copy of It’s Your Money one day, and once our debt is taken care of and we’re focusing on long-term life goals, Never Too Late.

I love Gail’s advice most because she also struggled with money. She’s been through a lot in life, and had to make some tough choices to make sure she and her family could get by. All of that experience, to me, says she’s in a better position to help others, more so than rich folks who have never struggled trying to dictate to others how it ‘should’ be done. She gives a good framework, but leaves it up to you to decide just what you need to do. For example, when trying to make a budget that balances, she’ll tell you frankly that you need to cut unnecessary expenses – and if you want to keep something [cable, anyone?] that you have to take away from somewhere else. Money is finite, but you need to make it work best for you, not for anyone else.

If you’re struggling with your finances, or have questions about investing, saving, debt, or anything else related to money, you should really check her out. Her website is here, which will give you everything you need to know about her, and her blog is here.

Here are a few of her blog posts I’ve loved recently:

Eating Cheap
Make Do Month
Smile and The World Smiles with You
Retailer Tricks

As a stay-at-home mom, I do an awful lot of what would be classified as housekeeping. Having done it for four and a half years now, I’ve also found a lot of great tools and tricks to make things easier on me, since I’m anything but a natural at it. So, I thought I’d share a few of of the things I’ve found with you.

Tool number one? Baby wipes. I’m not even joking. While I do have babies still in diapers, these things don’t just get used for diaper changing. They’re perfect for wiping hands and faces [including mine!], cleaning up spills, getting rid of fingerprints or errant crayon marks on windows and walls, and pretty much any other cleaning job you can think of. I use them all the time, for everything, and I plan  in keeping some around long after my kids are out of diapers.

Now, here are some great articles I’ve come across recently:

50 (more) Ways to Leave Your Clutter [Be More With Less]
52 Weeks: #49 Say no to scattered and unfocused organizing [Organizing Junkie]
On the Importance of Knowing What You Want to Accomplish [Becoming Minimalist]
8 Reasons Why Students Should Blog [ProBlogger]
10 Containers to Reuse or Recycle for Craft Supplies [Organizing Your Way]
52 Weeks: #43 Prioritize Your Daily Top 3 To-Dos [Organizing Junkie]

1. My new keyboard! I finally got the keyboard on my laptop replaced, so I can type freely again without wanting to break things. Now let’s hope my kids don’t decide to start ripping keys off again.

2. My art journal – I’ve been doing a lot more creative work lately, and my art journal is where most of it goes. It’s a mix of drawings and collage/paper additions, and though I’ve only gotten a few pages done, it will continue to be filled with artistic practice as I get my artistic side flowing again.

3. This coffee mug – I have one just like it, and I love it! Mine is purple with white dots and white silicone pieces, so cute. I don’t travel with it, but it takes me ages to drink my coffee, so it keeps it warm for me til I’m done. It’s also super easy to clean, which a huge step up from my old one.

4. This poster – I’m hoping to do a bartending course after we move, and I would love to frame this for our dining or living room.

5. Flowy line drawings – Like this or this. Love how they flow and move, but are so simple.

Expect more regular posts now that I have a fully functional keyboard again. Hope you all had a fabulous week, and that you have a great weekend!

I can say with certainty that there’s one thing you can do to boost your productivity – and it won’t cost you a dime!

What is that thing, you ask? Here it is: find the time of day you’re most active and focused, and use it!

I know it seems simple, but it’s amazing how many people don’t take advantage of their most energetic, focused time period, and instead try to cram stuff in when they’re tired and dragging. Personally, early morning is my best time, so that’s when I do my chores and as much work as I can. I know that most days, I’m exhausted by lunch, so by getting as many important things done early means if I lag later in the day, I’ve still been productive.

Now, this might not work perfectly for folks who, say, work a traditional 9-5, or are completely at the whim of their employers [military folks, for one!] But there are still ways to make it work. Is early morning better for you? Start work  little earlier and use that time to complete projects, then handle email and less pressing matters later. Late at night? See if you can do some work from home and use that time to complete independent projects.

I’ve embraced this mindset, and it has worked very well for me. Why not see if you can work more into your prime energy period, and loosen up when you’re less focused.

Now, here are a few interesting links I’ve come across this weekend:

Productivity Toolkit 101: Five Free Tools To Get Productive Right NOW! [Organizing Your Way]
The Organizing PROCESS Is Your Force… Use It [Organizing Junkie]
Un-dull Your Blog Posts: Four Fiction Techniques to Try [ProBlogger]
‘Cause You Can Get Better At Anything You Want [Becoming Minimalist]
Making Mondays Work for You [Freelance Folder]

You know, I only just realized that it’s Friday the 13th. Good thing I’m not particularly superstitious, or I could be in trouble. But hey, they day’s been good to me so far [it's payday!] so I’m not going to knock it. I will have to keep an eye on my kids though, you never know how it might affect them…

On that note, here are 5 things I’m loving this week!

1. Martha Stewart’s Home Office collection for Staples – I’m a sucker for office supplies, but especially cute and/or pretty ones, and these are exactly that. It’s a good thing I’ve put myself on an unnecessary buying diet, and that my birthday money is pretty much accounted for, or I’d be in some trouble. Though, apparently they’re not available on the Canadian Staples website, so I guess my bank account is safe, for now. I especially love the labels and notebooks, they’re lovely.

2. My morning and evening quiet time – I have about a half hour in the morning before my oldest gets up, and about an hour and a half before the little three are up. So I get up, make coffee, step outside for a cigarette [bad smoker, bad!], pour my coffee, do my morning pages writing, then either knit, work on blog posts, read my RSS feeds, or randomly surf the internet and wake up. In the evenings, I’ve been playing a lot of video games [Skyrim on the PS3, if you're interested], but also knitting and more random internet time. I value the little bit of child-free time I get, so I make a point of trying to do work during the rest of the day, so I can take full advantage of the peace to do things I can’t when the kids are about.

3. Star Wars: The Old Republic – I’ll admit, I’m an RPG junkie, and MMOs are pretty much the best ones out there. This is a new release, having only come out at Christmas time. Alex preordered it for me, but I haven’t been able to really get into it until a couple days ago, since it was running really badly. But, I figured things out, and now I can play and am enjoying it immensely. The best part? Because I play it on my laptop, I can play while the kids are up!

4. McDonald’s Deluxe Angus burgers – I realize that fast food is awful for you, but dang, these things are good!

5. Netflix – Have I said recently how much I love Netflix? There’s a ton of great kids shows on it, so many we cancelled our cable awhile back because once we got our PS3 and could stream it on the TV, there was no need for it. There’s also a lot of great adult shows and movies, and new stuff is being added all the time. Here in Canada, we pay $8/month for streaming access, and it’s worth every penny.

I hope you have an amazing weekend!