Resolution Update- March

March is so LONG. This month I had multiple medical appoints, had goals of feeling more under control, but then my aunt died and I feel like I was totally thrown off course, and was focused on just getting to spring break and not on anything else.

1. Put more money away towards retirement- I have a consistent plan for the year and feel good about it, I am not looking at my stocks this month though because I'm in this for the long haul, but America is currently starting shit in Iran and my portfolio is paying the price, which is a pretty standard issue these days.  

2. Travel More-  I traveled in February and can't book most of my summer things until April when National Park campgrounds open, so my goal this month was small local day trips.  You can see my blog on the day trips over the last month here: Exploring WA part 1

3. Don't cry over men.  Tears for men who surprised me in a good way but I had no capacity to process. Tears for the men who disappoint me. Tears because I continue to allow men who disappoint me to do it more than once. My godmother died this month. I stupidly reached out to my ex-husband to let him know. But the text didn't get delivered, because I'm blocked.  He has fully erased me and our marriage from his life. I can't do that. Those years mattered to me, his family matters to me, if anything happened to any of them I'd be sad, and I'd want to be told. But the care didn't go both ways while we were married, not sure why I'm surprised it wouldn't in our divorce, and it's just another example of me being hurt by a situation I put myself in. 

4. Find joy in my work again - I had a really good and positive IEP meeting to kick off the month and several more as the month continued. Having collaborative relationships with families is what moves the needle for kids and I really saw that this month. I got really good feedback from students so that helps too.  

March is also Info Dump month in the club that I run. Students get 30 minutes to present on topics that they love. So this month I learned about: HVAC systems, K-Pop, J-Pop, Batman, Dr. Who and Torchwood, Weird and Wild Animals, The Internet, A hat in time and Pseudoscience. In April I will present on my special interest- National Parks. 

5. Get rid of 500+ items 

    At the start of the year the goal was 300, after January I raised it to 500, and after February the goal is 500+. Setting any target greater than 500 feels like too much, but I also have had days that 500 feels too little. Now that March is over I don't feel like I need to do any more big purges, more so I need to limit what comes in AND part with things as it comes up throughout the year or are used up. 

It's also so much easier to keep a home with less things clean, so I know I'm not done with the work of reduction.

In January I gave away 42 items, threw away 61 items and used up 2 items for a total of : 105

In February I gave away 150 items, threw away 93 items and used up 22 items. I also took 62 items back to work. For a total of 327

Running total is 432 prior to March

March: 74 items

Gave away to friends/ charity:

39 pieces of Women's Clothing

1 Wig

12 Housewares

Threw Away:

1 Houseware 

3 piece of clothing

2 Bathroom products

Used up: My bestie has gifted me a lot of sheet masks this year for Christmas so I'm having fun using them along with using up all of my partially used products before I let myself add more to my home. 

Make up: 2

Skin Care: 11

Hair Care: 1

Samples: 2

6. Life long learning: 

Total Hours in March:   25.15    Total Lessons in March: 57

Running total: 117 Episodes over 64 hours (numbers from Feb) 

What I'm missing- More courses on types of music, specific instruments or more modern (yes I know copy right is a thing so you can't do super modern, but you could get us into the first quarter of the 20th century at least)

• America's State Parks- By National Geographic -  JAN: The man lecturing claims to be an expert but as someone whose been to a lot of these places, his pronunciation sounds like someone who has no idea what he's talking about as he is saying words phonetically that I promise you no local would every say that way.  They also don't include any MN state parks when talking about the Great lakes, which is nothing but a disappointment. Certainly good to learn about potential travel opportunities for my cross country drives, but has several short comings. Listened to 3 this month. FEB:8 more this month Made it through the ones that currently interest me- things along drives I will be doing this year. Got good ideas for trips I already have planned. I may circle back to the rest of them at some point, but for now I feel good about what I've learned and that I can actually use it in the next 12 months. March Update: Nothing
• The Geography of the National Parks- By National Geographic New for February. I am not doing these in order I am doing them based on upcoming trips, So I started with Joshua Tree and Death Valley and moved on to summer trips though I find it all very interesting.  There are 36 lectures in this series and I have currently done 7. March Update: I watched 11 this month. I appreciate that they discuss geography of similar national parks in both Canada and Mexico, reminding me of just how special this country is and cementing my goals of seeing more of America without feeling so much pressure to see what else is out there globally as we have so much here. 
• The Banjo: Music History and Heritage New in March.  5/5 I really enjoyed the banjo bits of American Musical Heritage so this was fun. Rhiannon Giddens is an incredible wealth of knowledge on the history of banjo from it's roots in Africa and a spectacular musician re-writing what American Banjo music is and should be. 10 lectures and 3 performances at the end. I instantly went to my music app and got some of her music downloaded
  
• World's Greatest Paintings New In March: There are 24 lectures in this series and I can already tell this will be a slow roll.  I have long been visiting and learning about the AP art curriculum thanks to my work bestie who teaches the class and in supporting her in creating rubrics and materials that are more accessible. Every year there is 1-2 AP scores that surprise me. This past year there was 1 in particular that got under my skin as it felt like a personal opinion and not an art critique. I want to better understand how people may be trained to explore great art and potentially by connection give meaningful thoughts when I talk to students about their work.  
  
• The History and Archaeology of the Bible 
  
•  Jan. really wanted to like this, I find the subject interesting, but the lecturer was not very exciting and I found myself falling asleep during most lectures and needing to go back an re-listen. I listened to 11 this month. FEB: I watched 1 this month and struggled to not fall asleep, so I focused on other topics more interesting to me this month. March update: I completed this series this month. Honestly 2.5/5 Some are interesting some is not. Some was an interesting perspective even if I don't agree with it, some I question.  If you have an interest in history of biblical times you may enjoy this. 
• Everyday Guide to Beer -  4/5 New for March History and style guide of beers. I love all styles of beer, some more than others and this was an interesting listening lecture. Sierra Nevada is not my favorite large scale brewery but if it's yours you'll get plenty of behind the scenes information from this series as well as that seems to be the partner for this project. 
  
• Great Solo Piano works I was feeling a need for Copland so I enjoyed a lesson on that this month.