New Years and January Currently

It's hard to believe it's already 2013...and we return back to school in a few days!  Yikes!  My "to do" list didn't quite work out as well as I thought....

This year for New Year's, my friend gave me a really cool idea to do with my kids (think she found it on Pinterest).  Normally, our New Years consists of myself and my two kids and we sing, dance, party, and have snack food and sparkling cider (it's my son's favorite holiday, he tells me!).  My husband, who is a drummer in a swing band, is normally at a gig.  This year was the first he was able to join us - so I have to admit, I toned down my craziness.  What is it about having other adults around that just makes us less silly?

Anyway, back to the idea.  My two kiddos and I sat down and filled in activities on slips of paper and placed them in balloons, blew them up, then labelled them with each hour.  So, on that hour, we had to pop that balloon and do the activity!  It was fun with what they came up with!  My son is heavily into "Minecraft" so we had a "class" on everything Minecraft!  My daughter had us drinking hot chocolate, playing with "Jingle" (which she used her money to buy after Christmas half price), and playing "Just Dance."  I put in a few things for playing games as well as doing some new year's exercise - 2012 (2 pushups, 0 running, 1 sit up, 2 jumping jacks, etc.) and 2013!  We also were told to bake cookies, get snacks ready, and put on our pjs!

 I thought it would be fun to do something similar on the 100th day of school!  However, I probably would come up with the strips but still place them randomly in the balloons.  What a fun way to celebrate that special day!  My kids, who are 6 and 12, thought it was the best idea EVER, so I figure my 2nd graders will eat it up!

So, on to January Currently, where I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy Fourth Grade!

 

Most of it is self-explanatory.  However, my OLW for the year is "organized!" (with exclamation mark!).  It goes along with my "need" about putting my life in order.  Now, normally, I AM an organized person (or at least try to be). However, there are areas that need tweaking!

My husband and I have decided to get rid of our debt that was having us live paycheck to paycheck (and then we'd get ahead and boom! something would happen that would wipe us out again!).  So, we're now doing the "Dave Ramsey" program.  If you haven't heard of him, you should definitely check him out!  A lot of what he says is common sense and I honestly did years ago - pre kids, pre husband.  

However, we should be debt free (minus the mortgage and car payment) in two years!  We started this in December and have already paid off two credit cards (you start with the lowest balance)!  I'm too embarrassed to mention how much we are in CC debt, but it's a lot!  There's been a lot of things that have happened this past 5 years to "justify", but it's time for it to go.  Leave.  Adios.  The other great thing about it is there is a kids program that now my two are learning about saving, spending, and making good economic choices.  Bonus!

Another reason for "organized" is both the appearance of my house and classroom.  I'm starting out the year with my desk looking like this:

If you saw my earlier post, my desk did NOT look like that!  Granted, there will *always* be something in my wire basket there (what teacher doesn't have a "to do" basket???), but right now, it's mostly holding pattern strips and activities for my next math unit!  (Check out the trash can!  I need to go thru and recycle my paper - but it was much easier and more satisfying to just "toss" at the moment!).  

My biggest problem is that I just don't have time to clear it off each day and things pile up, get lost, etc.  If I can get my classroom in order, I'm hoping to spread it over to my house (too embarrassed to post pics of that!).  We're working on it, though, especially with the new chores the kids have to help out!

I won't even mention how I need to get my body organized!  Hah - nice way of saying I need to lose weight!  Time organization - as in time to get back on Zumba! :)

So, what is your OLW for the year?