march monthly wishes (+ i could use some career advice right now)

happy monday everyone! its the first monday of the month, so that means its time for monthly wishes, which is when i reveal my "theme" for this month and the goals ive made relating to it. 

i started participating in weekly wishes a few months ago, and i really loved how talking about my small goals each week helped me to be a more productive and goal-oriented person. unfortunately, im a really good list-checker-offer and not a very good big picture thinker, so even though i was getting more stuff done, i wasnt necessarily seeing a noticeable improvement in our household as a whole. 

so i was really, REALLY happy when melyssa (who obviously must have been reading my mind) started doing monthly wishes. since january, every month I've picked a "theme", and picked a few larger goals to work on that month pertaining to the theme. so far, its been wonderful (though not entirely perfect, but well get to that in a minute when we review februarys goals). last month, though, instead of making the big monthly goals, and then separate smaller weekly goals (like i did in january), each week i simply talked about my progress on my monthly goals as i worked my way through them. for me, this was a really great way to take my larger goals and break them into more manageable steps and it really helped me stay focused since every week i was able to look back on my progress so far. 

so, long story short, thats how im handling my monthly wishes from now on. 

and before we start digging into marchs wishes, lets go back and take a look at februarys:

februarys theme was "clean", and my main focus was to purge and declutter so that we could do a deep clean of the apartment. i was maybe a little too ambitious in just how many different areas i wanted to organize (and james ended up working again, so i didnt end up having as much free time as id thought i would, but in a good way). heres what i wanted to clean:

1. the file box.

2. our closets. 

3. alices clothes and toys. 

4. files/pictures on the computer.

5. the kitchen. 

6. my craft supplies.

and that was really way too overambitious. 

really the only one i completed was my closet and alices things, BUT james made me a new workspace in the living room so my craft things are a lot better, just not perfect. and the kitchen and file box are actually very small projects that could be done in an evening sometime in the future. the only thing that i completely disregarded was the computer files and thats just because i just CANT do repetitive computer tasks (so, ill be working on this indefinitely). BUT! in general our habits regarding clutter ARE much better, and while we didnt get to do an all-day deep clean of the whole apartment, i have been putting a few more minutes into each days daily chores, and holy moly that makes a HUGE difference. 

so, februarys goals werent completed perfectly, but i can deal with that. 

now on to march. 

marchs theme is PREPARE. 

the reasoning behind this is because, in case you missed it, I'm going back to college and my first classes start at the end of this month. and there are a few things that need to be done before my classes start:

1. fill out/turn in my financial aid appeal form. after i filled out my fafsa i found out that were so poor that i qualify for all the financial aid, BUT since i already have a degree, i do have to go through an "appeal process" (it sounded really scary at first but the financial aid counselor treated it like it was no big deal and as long as i turn in the form on time ill get it). 

2. bring them my marriage license to change my name my paperwork and get a new student id. this is the same college i went to before i was married, so all my records are the same as from my first degree, and about half the stuff says meyers and half says patterson. apparently theres an office that can fix that. 

3. get a new student id. even if i still had my original student id (which i dont think i do), i was fifteen in that picture so i dont really think that counts as an acceptable photo id. 

4. research and purchase some new running shoes. the school im going to is literally two blocks away, and i am NOT buying a parking permit to park a half mile from my apartment for two hours at a time. also, the classes im taking are on the edge of the campus farthest from any parking, so the walk from the parking lot to my classes might actually be farther then the walk from the house to the classroom. but, walking to school and back twice a week isnt something i can really do in improper footwear. and ive literally never owned athletic shoes. so i have to find some that will work for me (that also arent hideous, i mean, fashion school) and try and find a good price on them. not really looking forward to this process. 

5. get a decent amount of beans/soups/etc. in the freezer. this semesters classes are at night, so i wont be home to cook every night. i actually already bought tons of dried beans so that james and alice can have burritos on my school nights, i just have to cook them. 

5. take alice to the zoo. ok, this one isnt entirely school related, but ive wanted to take alice to the zoo for like a year and a half and weve never had both the time and the money and i am DETERMINED to get us to the zoo on the next available saturday (which, hopefully will be before school starts)

and finally, 

6. decide what im going to do about my job at joanns. theoretically, ill be able to get a decent amount of financial aid and apply for scholarships and the combination would totally replace my (mostly inconsequential) income from joanns next semester. this semester i HAVE to take these one-unit classes and its making the financial aid situation weird and basically i have to keep working (or, poverty luxe can start bringing in a little more money and that would fix everything). 

and this is where i could use some input: i have a really complicated relationship with working at joanns. i really love my teaching position, BUT the hours are unpredictable (i only work if the class gets enough students) and scheduling/communication problems come up A LOT. my cut counter position is not my favorite, BUT since ive worked there management has been really great about keeping the scheduling consistent (because i have to keep other nights open for classes, i can only work fridays, and they just put me on every friday). both positions have their pros and cons but both of them require that i work at night, since i do not make enough money to pay for childcare. starting at the end of the month ill be at school two nights a week, so keeping both positions after school starts is somewhat unrealistic (i really can't be gone EVERY night). but because jamess job is really inconsistent (though it has picked up quite a bit recently), i feel like quitting outright wouldn't be wise, so that we still have something for when work inevitably slows down. and im not sure what would be best. (its REALLY too bad that the homeschool co op is only one day a week because i LOVE teaching those kids and wish that could be my only job). 

so  what do you think? i have about three weeks left to decide...

so those are my goals for the month, what are yours?