A Look Into Our Notebooks – Week 52 of 2020

Can you believe that we’ve finished the last full week of 2020?! This year will have a prominent place in the history books for so many reasons. And despite it all, 2020 has certainly been a year of blogging for me! I’ve managed to show up every Monday this year (except for 3 – one in January and 2 in March) and share a snapshot of my notebook from the week before. The purpose? To be mindful about how I’m using my time. Each week I take a measure of how I’m utilizing my time in order to meet my overarching goals and values.

Like many people, last week was all a kerfluffle for me. Much of my time was spent preparing for the holiday and the second half of the week was spent in recovery mode. I’m still finding bits of wrapping paper in strange places! Everyone has been home so it’s been harder to sneak away with an audiobook or a small handwork project. And by the end of the day, I’m totally beat and have found myself watching a lot more TV than usual. All of this is okay — I have had a phenomenal year and am totally fine with this downtime.

GREEN | Writing Time
My journaling streak has continued – today is day 277. I’m nearly finished with my current notebook which I started in late June. I’ll have 4 blank pages at the end of the notebook when the month ends, but I’m planning to start a fresh book on January 1st. No need to dwell on 2020 any longer than necessary! I’ve also worked a bit on my blog every day, which feels good.

PURPLE | Blackberry Bluff School
Only one day of homeschooling activities this week, but the kids have helped me a lot around the house and that all counts towards life lessons, right? I wasn’t planning to do school this week anyway, so that one day was icing on the cake.

BLUE | Outside Time
We managed some time outside this week despite how cold it’s been. I finally have good winter coats for all 3 kids, which makes getting outside easier. Colton grew out of his so I’d been putting him in Bryce’s to go to his center everyday, which left Bryce at home without a coat. But we ordered a new one for Bryce and it showed up on Christmas Eve – about two weeks earlier than LL Bean predicted after we ordered it. And I finally dug out my own winter coat, which keeps me much warmer than the fleece that I had been wearing. So, along with the giant box of hot chocolate that we bought, I think we’re ready to embrace the hygge life this winter. I absolutely want to get out this season, despite my tendency to burrow into the house and live like a mouse. Wish us luck!

ORANGE & PINK | Reading (Orange =audiobooks; pink = everything else)
I only spent a smidge of time reading a physical book, but I found much more time for audiobooks earlier in the week. I’ve finished 108 books this year as of today – my best reading year ever – so I’m not too concerned about taking a book break for a week or two!

YELLOW | Stitching Time
I didn’t capitalize on a ton of stitching time this week and I only worked on my handsewn quilt when I did. I plan to share my progress with you on Wednesday. It’s not much, but it’s a few more hexies sewn on! And I’ve had a really good year stitching, so once again – it’s okay to take a little break during the holidays.

OTHER TRACKING
Exercise
oops. None for 2 weeks in a row. While there are benefits to getting on the exercise bike early in the morning, I’ve gotten so used to using this time for journaling and blogging… and that’s been a hard habit to break. I think I’m going to work on using our afternoon quiet time (around 12:30 or 1) as my time to exercise. I’ll experiment for a few weeks and see if it’s working.

Water
A good week for water! I ordered a new water bottle that’s light pink and so pretty. It’s easier to clean than my other one and perfect for dropping in a bag of peppermint tea or a few lemon wedges to make my water a bit more refreshing.

Weather
This is one of my favorite things to track. I use a little picture to document the type of weather (clouds, sun, rain, snow, the basics because I’m horrible at drawing) and the low/high temps for the day. I also document the weather in my 5 Year Journal so that I’ll be able to compare the weather throughout the years. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to share pictures of my 5 year notebook because I get a lot of questions about it, but it’s sort of hard for me. I think I might have to be brave and do a video(!).

Covid Cases
I started tracking the covid case numbers for our state. I’ve been putting that in the top gray bar beside the days of the week. It’s morbid, but so interesting to look back on. I’m also including those numbers in my 5 year notebook each day.

And I think that’s it in my notebook this week. I’m planning to be back tomorrow with our last One Little Word linkup of 2020. If you’ve recently written a post about your own notebooks, please leave a link in the comments. I’d love the inspiration!