Planner Routine, Cats and Candles

Today's topic for the #PlanWithMeChallenge is my planning routine.  Since I am the 'early' morning person at home, quiet time is hard to come by.  But my basic routine is...

• Let the dogs out to pee/poop (hey, no more walking them since we have a yard)
• Make a cup of coffee
• Do my "Morning Pages"

Then it's getting down to the 'nitty-gritty' of the day.

I have my journal, which if I have a longer thing I want to write about or if I feel the need to 'create' I will collage in it.  The black notebook is for my Morning Pages.  The purple, is actually by my bedside, and it's my gratitude journal which I have started writing in at night before bed.  Then my MAIN planner/journal.

Usually, between the Morning Pages and sitting down to use my main calendar, I have to refresh my coffee and change Lady K's diapers, turn on cartoons and fix a bottle.  If I am lucky, she is still asleep.

Then I open up my calendar and review email and Facebook, checking for anything I might need to add.  I look at my day to see what I have by way of work, taking others to school/work, or any events we might have coming up.  I check to see if I have listed any meal ideas for the day.  I review my 'to-do's' for the week to see what I might be able to get done that day or what I might have to add.

Then I look at my 'tracking chart' and note what I did the day before.  I will have to say, after looking at some other habit trackers, I will probably drop writing in actual steps taken and words written, I will probably just go to a check box for each habit.  There are a couple of habits I want to add to my list, so this will be refined before the first of the year.

Since this tracker is at the first of the month with my goals, I can double check my monthly goals to see where I stand and if there is anything I need to revise, migrate to a later date or can work on that day.

Then, if I have time, I will read posts on bloglovin.com.  I like having all my posts in one spot to go through.  I will have my planner/journal out while I read to make any notes I might want about the posts or any ideas which they might spark.

At night, before bed, I take a quick glance at my planner/journal to see if there is anything special about the next day and note down anything I need to remember or journal.

If I have to work in the morning, this is a sight I am liable to pass on my way to the library.  The first time I saw them I thought they were stuffed, they were so still.

How can your day not get off to a good start if you pass these handsome guys (or girls)?  And in one of my favorite shops to go into.  They 'disappear' during the day and only roam the store at night.

This is one of the candles I made.  I used a wooden wick on it and lit it to show Texter how the wooden wicks 'pop' and make fire noises.  Anyway, we have this issue with candles at the house.  It seems Lady K associates ALL candles with "Happy Birthday" and blows them all out.  So if I light a candle now, I have to be sure to put it up high so she can't see it or get to it, or it gets blown out.  Some days there is a lot of "Happy Birthday" going on!