Here at the FIX we learn how to evaluate our lives. We keep a monthly summary of what we're doing, what our plans are and how we're doing on any given day. The FIX allows us to see and create balance in our lives. It takes some work because we ask that you evaluate your life and then jump into FIXing the areas that need some attention.

For inquiring minds... The FIX doesn't stand for anything specific, just that we are FIXing our lives by bringing them into balance.

To evaluate our lives, we start by using what we call our wheely thing or charty thing, or some assemblance of those words.

· Draw a circle, slice the circle into pie segments, each section represents each element of your life. Most of us have about 12-15 sections. (Your sections may be fewer, and defined as you choose!)

For example:

Career
Health
Spiritual
Environment
Education
Fun/Leisure
Finances
Family
Friends
Significant Other
Pets
Children
Becoming Me
Big Goals
Hobbies
Community
Time Management

· Take some time and define what it means to be 'successful' for YOU in each area/section you've chosen. That helps to make a better & more concrete evaluation of what your life really looks like.

For Example: success in one person's health area might look like: "I cook balanced meals including lots of fresh veggies, drink lots of water, take my supplements, exercise and relax. I'm not overweight and enjoy outdoor adventures." For someone in the midst of a hightened medical situation, success in the health area probably will look radically different.

· Then on a scale of 1 to 10 or high-medium-low or great-good-ok-bad-awful, determine and chart how satisfied you are with each area and how close are you to what you think is 'ideal' for you. (You get to choose whether 10 is best or worst!)

· On your circle, the number or term you determine is bad, is in the center - the good number is on the outside. You might want to show the numbers in between as well. For evaluating, the better an area of your life is, the closer you make it to the outside of the chart. And the worse a section of your life is, the closer it is to the center. The purpose is that when your chart is finished, you can see where you have a 'flat tire' in life i.e. where the chart dips into the middle.

· To actually chart each area, put a dot at the good or bad level you've determined for each section. Then draw an arc from one inside edge of each slice, up to the dot, then back down to the other outside edge of the slice. You might want to color the arc just to keep things interesting.

When you get the chart complete, it is a picture of where your life is and how its working. From there you can set goals to make things better in the areas where you aren't doing so well. And continue to maintain the areas that are doing pretty good.

Good planning will make this year so much more enjoyable. So good luck, I can't wait to see where we all go from here!

I'm back from a much needed vacation. We didn't go anywhere, we just stayed at home and caught up on some projects.

Completing these projects got them off of my project list, procrastination list, and will help with time management.

#1. Took out the shower doors around the bath tub. I couldn't keep them free of mold or soap scum. Taking them out and the "crud" left behind was gross, but now the bathroom is shining.

#2. Washed the cars with the kids. That was fun and they got to play in the water.

#3. Washed the exterior windows. "I can see clearly now..."

#4. Tried to go to a u pick strawberry patch. After a two and a half hour drive, one way, they were picked out. We were very disappointed.

#5. Shampooed the carpets.

#6. Cleaned the oven and the stove.

#7. Put a border around the front garden and laid down fabric and put more dirt in the area. It looks really nice.

So environment needs a little more work, but it's really picked up. I did deep clean the bathroom and the living room. The dining room is almost done. DS and I worked on his bedroom.

Yesterday was DS's birthday. We'll celebrate with family over the weekend.

The weather has been so wild, lately.

I hope you all post and update of your progress.

Posted an update on the old thread...

Today, things were out of whack... there was an accident with one of our ducks, she was damaged too badly to survive, and we enlisted the help of a friend to humanely put her down. Not Fun. But, as soon as she was in the arms of the friend, she calmed down immediately, and was very peaceful and relaxed, so I know we made a good choice. Sad day for all, though.

So, we spent the morning tending to Pippa, mid-day saying goodbye, and the afternoon/evening sort of cocooning here at home. DS is still up at Scout camp, and we'll tell him at the end of the week (he's going to take it really hard, poor kid, and I don't want to do that to him in front of the "guys".)

This evening, I did get some needed tidying done in the house, and through the day, I got a bit more embroidery done on an important sewing project.

Tomorrow, DH has his big doc appointment to evaluate his shoulder; next week we'll get to know the direction they want to go with physical therapy. It will be nice to get an actual evaluation of progress! I'll go with him to the appointment (which, I suppose, is *today* now. )

Once he heads back up to Scout camp after, I do have orders to ship and bill, and some site work to do, taking breaks to sew. I need to call my friend about working on my hands (carpal tunnel); may just ask her over for dinner to get some lovely chatting time in, too.

DD-14 is officially 14; her actual birthday was fun (Tuesday), but today was a rough one. She's exhausted, but will be okay. DD-5 is coping pretty well (the birds are her pets); DD-2.5 hasn't much of a clue, so she'll be fine soon.

Finances: I did manage to make the bank deposit, and the bills that need paying can be done over the phone and on-line, so that will take a few minutes tomorrow. I really do love the convenience of on-line payments! It saves me *so* much time and gas!

I'd have to say things are fairly balanced, with a few hot spots... need to make some time to reorganize the little girls' wardrobes (shoes!) and sew some new things for them, as well as a new Sunday dress for DD-14 (Vintage Vogue 50s sundress that is going to be so cute on her!). She'll call a friend tomorrow to see if there's a dance Saturday; if there is, that could radically alter my Friday plans, as I'll want to get the dress done by then.

DD-14 is turning into a very organized young lady, which is fun to watch... she's all prepped for her week at camp (in two weeks), and is going to cook a special pancake breakfast (applesauce cranberry, her own recipe from scratch!) for all the girls in her group one of the mornings, so she's even prepared a grocery list with cost estimates, and has a plan for pre-packing her ingredients to speed breakfast prep that day. I may not be as good as I'd like to be with staying organized, but it sure is neat to see her pick up on concepts and run with them. I'm doing *something* well, I guess!

So sorry to hear about your duck. It's a hard thing to do to let go of a loved one; however it's something that we must all learn to do eventually, no matter how hard it is. You'll be in my thoughts and prayers for healing.

_________________
Things were going so well this week until I hit a road block. I'm hoping to work through it, but I really want to play ostrich and just bury my head and "forgeddabout it!"

I hope everyone is doing well and can post when they can. Take Care!

Elizabeth: Sorry to hear about the duck. Happy belated birthday to your DD-14.

Striving: Knowing you, you will have that road block eliminated in no time.

****************

It is HOT! Our temps. are in the triple digits, ranging from 101F to 105F this week. Usually we have "dry heat", but, this time, it is rather humid, as well. Factor in an un-air conditioned house (fans help, but they simply circulate the hot air) and the days become uncomfortably warm and staying cool takes priority. Lots of iced water, salads and sandwiches for meals, and ice cream to cool down from the inside! At least, that's my excuse - I'll grab at any excuse to eat ice cream!

Environment: I am on the 2nd week of staying with my cleaning schedule. As a result, surprise, surprise, the environment is being maintained!

Yesterday's schedule called for dusting the house and I was tempted to slack off due to the heat. But after I watered the garden and washed the 3 sets of windows in the front of the house (nothing like playing with water on a hot day to cool off!), I decided to at least give the furniture a "lick and a promise" and did a quick dusting, late in the evening, when the house had cooled off a bit (around 10:45 p.m.) I wasn't very thorough, but that was OK - with the doors and windows closed for most of the day to keep the heat out, the house wasn't too dusty to begin with. Afterwards, I rewarded myself with a nice cool shower and a bowl of ice cream with fresh peaches from the tree.

DD: Received her AP test scores - inspite of having a 102F fever during 3 of her 7 tests (just before her bronchitis diagnosis), she received a 5 on 4 of her tests and a 4 on the other 3. She'll be getting college credits for all 7 of this year's APs.

She's enjoying her summer - this being the first time I've allowed her to "hang out" with her friends, without parental supervision (she's still expected to tell me who she's going with, where, what time she expects to be back and she is required to keep her cell phone on so I can call her if needed and, if she is later than expected, she has to call me and let me know). She went to one of the malls, yesterday, with 2 of her friends (but before she went, she wrote out the details for me - name and address of the mall, phone number, etc.) On her return home, she had stopped at an ethnic grocery store and bought a few delicacies such as taro cake, red bean ice cream, and melon and lychee flavored drinks.

Pets: Dancer, Mittens and little Shadow - although Shadow doesn't know yet that s/he has pet status.

Family: Exchanging e-mails with some of my cousins.

Friends: Called a friend to wish her for her b'day, yesterday. Keeping up with an e-mail correspondence with another friend.

Neighbors: Called and spoke to my next door neighbor, yesterday.

Community: On call for jury duty! Went in for awhile, yesterday, and was assigned to a pool of potential jurors for a case starting in 2 weeks' time. Which works out nicely, timing wise, for me (see Career spoke below!)

Career: I've an end of July due date for a project I've been working on for a while now. I was wondering how I would meet work obligations with jury duty (which had been postponed by 6 months, already, due to work obligations), but, now, it seems like things will work out fine. It brings my deadline forward by a few days, but I should still be able to meet the project due date.

Health: Trying to keep cool during the heat wave. Lots of water to stay hydrated.

Finances: Doing OK. I'll be getting ready to set up DD's college related expenses account for her, over the summer. Still not quite sure how I am going to do it - set up a separate account/budget for her or integrate it into my own budget. I am leaning towards having 2 separate budgets.

Time Management: I think I am doing OK. Getting the important things done. Making time for both work and fun.

Becoming Me: Sigh - there's still too much of me!

Bless, Hopefully during this heat wave you won't have any limitations on water. I physically couldn't do it. It's too bad that jury duty can't start this week. I'm assuming they have air conditioning.

Bless, you should be able to enjoy ice cream and icy cold drinks without any worries. Enjoy your cold showers and find ways to stay hydrated and cool. I heard that at 100 degrees you need a quart of water an hour. THAT's a lot of cold delicious drinks!

FAMILY/FUN: We are preparing for DS's family party. We are planning on swimming, however a thunderstorm is being predicted. So we have an alternate plan of bowling that people should be able to enjoy between our ages of 2 to 72.

Sunday DS is leaving for scout camp for a week. He's very apprehensive and we can't figure out why. He's been away from the family for this long before. He thinks he's going to be bored. What I think this means is that he'll be out of his comfort zone. I know that he'll have a good time once he gets there and attends.

I'm being a mean "Mom" and while hearing his excuses, he's still going. Change is hard for him, but I'm "striving" to get him to facilitate the changes.

DH and I are going park exploring with DD while DS is gone. We hope to go swimming as well and enjoy the splash parks, too.

ENVIRONMENT: I'm feeling a little bit better and will hopefully hit the hot spots this evening. People aren't coming before Saturday so that helps.

FRIENDS: Our neighbor is having her little boy today, so next week, I'll need to bring our gift over and cuddle the little tyke. I get my babyfix! DH will be so happy!

Striving--may I suggest that just to be sure you consider exploring whether he's experienced bullying or inappropriate contact in a situation that might involve someone who is supposed to attend or in a similar situation.

hopefully that's not the case but the unexpected apprehension could be a signal of such things--giving the opening for the conversation can help but, of course, doesn't guarantee he'll disclose if that is in fact the case.

EC:
So sorry about your little duck. How sad. Is your child okay with it now? I hate when pets die! Breaks my heart.

~~~~~~~~~
Not much to report. Been busy running here and there, but keeping up with the house and routines. It has been terribly hot here, as with other areas of the nation, and am taking things easy during this time. I do work in the morning when my energy level is high, and then do little quiet things in the afternoon. This week I am working on cards as gifts for my aunts. Hopefully I can get them completed each week.
Hoping to sew next week, will be home more often.

Thanks KT's Mom for the heads up. DH attends every meeting and camp out with him and hasn't seen any inappropriate activity. However, it's something every parent needs to be reminded of. DS has always been leary of "new" situations, but once immersed fully enjoys himself.

Main goal for today spruce up environment in a couple of the rooms.