Awww... What Happened, April???

So I feel like I've been (mostly) chugging through my monthly goals this year so it's not surprising that my streak would have to end at some point. Well, April is when everything fell apart.

1) Make Bible reading goal a priority.

This just didn't happen. I need to seriously decide if this is a goal I want to accomplish this year. I need to figure out why I want to do this.

I am going to set my Bible aside for all of May and take the pressure off. If I still want to accomplish this goal this year, I can do two readings a day from June to December and still finish this goal.

2) Get 10,000 steps a day (preferably outside) on my FitBit.

Having this goal be a measurable one (unlike in February when I vaguely stated that I "wanted to get outside more"), helped a lot. I could see every day whether I was going to accomplish my goal. Unlike when I first got my FitBit, being close to 10,000 steps didn't necessarily motivate me to go for a 10pm walk around the block, but at least I knew where I stood.

 

My stubbed toe didn't hold me back too much but I had intense lower back pain for about a week in April which didn't help my walking goal. Neither did all of our April rain. Yuck. I did find that I intentionally looked for opportunities to get outside and walk more so that felt good.

Overall, there were 12 days where I rocked my goal, and another 3 days where I got within 1,000 steps so that felt good.

3) Reduce the number of pictures on the iPad.

So my plan was to go through pictures while I sat with Rachel while she fell asleep at night. Due to various circumstances (my back, work stress, exhaustion), I didn't put Rachel to bed very much in April. So I didn't get very far on this goal. I think I still have about four years of pictures to go through. Ugh.

4) Try to give blood again.

Due to an ongoing health issue (which showed up in March and I'm still trying to get figured out), I discovered I can't give blood right now. So yes, another FAIL for April. I'm hoping this health issue will get sorted out by June and I can add this goal back in.

5) Set out weekly clothes for the kids each Sunday.

I think I set out clothes for the week twice. Then Sam had to stay home from school for a week, and only wore pjs, and my lower back caused me so much pain, I couldn't bend below my knees, which made doing laundry difficult. It was awesome. So yes, this was another FAIL.

6) Read Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay and The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.

I did get The New Jim Crow out of the library. However, due to stress and other factors, I reached for easy Nora Roberts comfort reads, instead of something from my growing pile of library books. Since The New Jim Crow is due back today, I won't get it read :(

Fortunately, I did get Bad Feminist through the inter library loan (ILL) program, so now I have to read it by May 18.

Sadly, our stupid provincial government cut a bunch of funding to libraries last month, and the libraries have had to make some hard decisions. The ILL program is one of the things on the chopping block. I'm really glad I ordered Bad Feminist before that decision was made. I'm thankful I live in a big city and have great access to library books. I am so sad for northern communities (most of which are First Nations) who will be adversely affected by these cuts -- the majority of their books come from ILLs.

7) Sort the spice drawer.

I think this is pretty much the only goal I can say I absolutely hit out of the park this month! On Good Friday morning, I got annoyed with my back, being stuck at home, the rain, and everything else, and attacked the drawer. Rachel and Dave got pulled into my cleaning.

 Left: Spice drawer, before; Right: Spice drawer, after

Rachel filling spice containers

8) Get outside and practice biking with the kids -- 20 minutes at least three times a week.

Thanks to the rain, we didn't get out biking three days a week. Thanks to miracles (honestly, I don't know how else to describe it!), both kids ended up learning to bike last week. YYYYAAAAYYYY!!! 

And now to check in on my yearly goals.

1) Complete a Project 365.
This project is still going strong and I am loving taking a daily photo.

My photo from April 7

2) Read through my whole Bible in one year. 

See Goal 1 above :(

3) Write more book reviews on the blog.

I had two books I wanted to review this month but didn't get posts written. I may still be able to write one of the posts. Overall, I didn't blog as much as I wanted to in April due to work stress, Sam being home for over a week, and my lower back (as you may have already heard). April was just a dud month :(

4) Read out loud to the kids more.

I don't think I read to the kids at all this month. I think I will start Harry Potter Book 2 with Rachel in May and that should help with this goal.

So now it's time to get out of my April sulk and focus on May goals. May is going to be all about resetting for the year and I will post those goals on Friday.