Last week, at long last, I introduced Finding Joy (check it out to read more about my motivation and what it’s all about).  The Twitter-ized version is that I am going to try to work on various areas of my life that I think will bring more joy into my life and help me to be more intentional about the way I am living.

Today, I’m going to share about some of the things I’m going to be working on.  I’m not going to be working all the time on all of them, but they’re just areas that I am working on and will check in about.

Faith Life

Any list like this would seem incomplete without striving to work toward a stronger faith life.  I’m starting out simply with trying to pray more.  I talk to God a lot throughout the day, but I know that I don’t spend enough one-on-one, purposeful time with Him.

My work on this during the past week has been less than stellar, since we had a busy week with time out of town and a couple of days of traveling.  It was nice to spend time with family though, and it always makes me feel like I’m a little closer to God when I’m with my family.  It’s like I’m just where He intends me to be.

Goal: Find at least one time each day to sit in purposeful prayer.  Not matter what amount of time it is.  I just must find that intentional time.

Health and Fitness

This is a really big need for me.  Since the beginning of May, I have lost 11 pounds.  But, half of that was in one week on a very, very low carb, very restricted diet that I did for three and a half weeks.  I finally realized that not only did it not seem sustainable to me, but it also was making each day feel like it was about 72 hours long.  (Oh, and then the extreme cost of it wasn’t nice either.)

So, on the upside, I have not gained back.  Yeah!  I would love to keep losing though.  (This is where I admit that I had some double stuffed Golden Oreos while I was writing this post.  What the heck?)

I have been beating myself up a long time about the weight stuff and have given up clothes buying because I didn’t feel like I should buy things until I lost weight (and I was at the point where I had very few things in my closet).  Just about a week ago though, I went clothes shopping.  I bought things that fit well and looked cute (and weren’t all black or brown).  I have had so many compliments in a short amount of time (especially people noticing weight loss that is probably partially just from well fitting clothes).

Goal: Exercise for at least 20 minutes on at least five days.  Eat more veggies!

Homemaking

I’m not afraid to invite someone over right now, so it’s not like it’s dirty.  But, it needs a serious cleaning.  This is one of those areas that I often lack in.  But, here’s the thing — I always notice that I feel like I’m in a better mood just after we clean the house.

On a different note, I have been on a serious menu planning rut.  We are deciding each night what to make that night (or we go get it from out).

Goals: Do a thorough house cleaning.  Plan our dinners for one week. (I can’t believe I used to manage to do a whole month with no problem.  What has happened since then?)

Time Management and Organization

We’re just going to leave this blank for now.  Although, Eric and I did have some great discussions about time management while driving on our trip.

One quick thing I’ve been trying, however, is that when I sit down to my email, I’m trying to do it when I have some time to actually answer emails.  Plus, I have been trying to deal with many emails as they come in, though I haven’t tackled all of what was already sitting in my inbox.  (This idea was in the Simple Blogging ebook.)

Goal: Will set a category specific goal later.

Creative Endeavors

Haven’t had time to work on art projects, though I did list a few new things in my Etsy shop.  (Though, of course, that doesn’t feel like a very creative thing to do.)

Goal: Pick one night each week to have as an Art Night.  Try to not work on any computer related tasks, unless they are creative endeavors instead of blogging or social endeavors.

Little Ways I Sought Out or Encouraged Joy This Week

• Let the kids test out whether the Robosapian could walk on the treadmill.  Hilarity ensues.
• Indulged the children in their quest to try out “big block” gum.  We then drove down a two lane state highway and spent time blowing bubbles.  We were sure to cheer for extra good bubbles.
• Had a Connect Four tournament right before bedtime one night.  Noah beat everyone.  He won $1.25 that I offered up as a prize.
• Molly and I got all gussied up for a trip to Walmart.  She wore a (faux) pearl necklace, and I wore a bracelet set that I got when I was clothes shopping

As promised to Carol last week in the comments, I am going to put a link up to this post, because she wanted to join in too.  I’m going to post Finding Joy each Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  So, even though I’m going to post this series just for me, if you want to work on intentionally finding joy or seeking out more joy, feel free to join in and link up.  (You can write up your post however you want.  You can follow my format, just type up a few things you did to add more joy to your life, or share it in whatever way you want.)  But, if it’s just me, that’s okay too!

Disclosure Policy

Finding Joy :: Week 1 is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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1. Finding Joy :: An Introduction I have thought quite a lot about starting another blog. ...

Some recent additions to Just a Tiny Owl:

This is the first piece Eat Your Veggies in a series of photographs in a new category in my shop called “Life Through My Phone.”  Yeah, that’s right.  This is iPhone photography, baby.

This is actually the second time that I’m listing this particular piece – The Love of Knowledge is a Kind of Madness.  I already had it listed as an 8×8 print, but now this is a 10×10 print.  (I still have the original painting of this, which is just 6×6.  I haven’t listed it in the store yet, but I’m planning on doing it.  It will be $20 for the original 6×6 on canvas, plus extra for shipping.  So, if anyone wants it before I list it, drop me a line.)

Maple Tree Tapping is from when we went to see a maple tree be tapped and then watch how maple syrup is made.  We bought maple syrup that day that was so fresh that the bottle was still warm!  Yum!

I have more pieces that I will be adding soon.  Some of it is just a matter of a few finishing touches on some pieces, or even just working on the photographs of paintings.  I’m thinking about adding an “art night” to my week, where I step away from any computer related tasks and just hang out in my craft room and work on stuff.  You know, or maybe I’ll just hang out in my craft room and listen to music.  Who knows!

New Additions to The Shop is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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1. Why I Like to Shop on Etsy {Top 10 Reasons} It’s no secret that I love to sell on Etsy....

Our week has been just crazy this past week. We officially started school, and it seemed that every day offered up some obligation.

Sure, of course I did things off of the computer this week. One week, I counted making cookies and rice krispie treats as my creation for the week, but that was deliberate. Those were things I had been putting off and I took time away from an evening that I could have wasted time.

Likewise, this week, I make muffins and brownies, but it was because I had to. That was just part of my busy week, not something that I wanted to do. So, as far as I’m concerned, that didn’t count.

So, this looks like it is the “I’ve Got Nothing” week. I’m hoping to do better next week.

Create More Monday: The "I’ve Got Nothing" Edition is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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I have been away from the computer all day long, so I’m going to post about my Create More Monday later in the day on Monday. If you want to join in, you can too (here are the guidelines).

Believe it or not, I spent the whole day actually creating! I’ll share more about it later.

Create More Monday — Coming Soon… is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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The Winners of the Around Homeschooling Zine Are:

Amy from Cheeky Cocoa Beans

Lisa from Cheerios Underfoot

Katherine from Relishing Life

Sarah from Prayerful Driven Life

The Winner of Amazing Grace for Survivors is:

Lynsey from The Non-Domestic Goddess

Congrats to all of the winners!

Contest Winners! is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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My tackle this week was to finally just settle on a new blog design and go with it. But, that also meant copying widget information and the like.

Well…there was that, but then there was the fact that when I got it up, I thought, “Maybe I don’t really like this.” But, instead of giving up, I just started tweaking the HTML.

And, now, several hours of work later, I like how it looks and I think I am pretty much done fixing it up. I’m also tired of looking through coding! (Imagine my dismay with the fact that I am also planning to do a total makeover at Catholic Mothers Online. I do have the template all picked out though, and I think it won’t be quite as much tweaking – praise God!)

I have to admit — this is one tackle that I am glad to have finally done, after months of putting it off!

Be sure to check out Tackle It Tuesday and I am Blissfully Domestic this week!

I’m Tired of Tweaking Coding is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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I still need to do some work on the header, as well as adding back all of my widgets, but I have to go to work for a few hours now! Augh! (Darn work getting in the way of my blogging. Ha!)

Hopefully I’ll have the blog all fixed up before I go to bed tonight! (But, trust me, it’s better than it was about 30 minutes ago.)

I’ve Made Some Changes is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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If you pop by today and the blog looks bad, please know that I am playing around with things. I hope that it will look fine by tonight!

Working on my Blog is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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Yeah, I know…I am woefully behind on this!

Using Random.org for winner selection, here are the winners…

$25 Amazon.com Gift Card: Lauren from Bridge the Gap

Messie No More book: Noodles and Nuggets

Bloggy Giveaway Winners is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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Sorry that I didn’t do the drawing for the iPod Shufle last night! But, now that I have some free time this afternoon, I counted up comments on the original post, as well as emails with the secret code.

I was planning to count through the comments first, and then onto the emails. (So, for instance, the first email was number 65, following the last post on the original posting, which was number 64.)

Anyway, random.org gave me number 27, which was….

Kellie from And She Can’t Even Cook!

Congratulations, Kellie! If, for whatever reason, Kellie decides she doesn’t want the iPod or if she doesn’t contact me in about a week, I will go to random.org again for a new number.

Thanks to all those who participated!

iPod Shuffle Winner! is a post from: Many Little Blessings

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