Friday, March 27, 2015

Baby Pregnancy Percentage Complete (blank) Chart

In case you, too, would like to print off a blank percentage accomplished chart and fill it in a little bit each week of your pregnancy, here you go! It's that same style chart as those fundraiser thermometer style charts we used to fill out in school as kids. I'm at about halfway through right now myself, so quite a bit of mine is already colored in. This chart also has fruit sizes for the various weeks.



Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Unplugged, From Day 1 Onward


Goal: In an effort to pursue a "less is more" lifestyle I am going to do what I call "unplugging." Others may call it "reducing electronics use," "reducing social media presence / dependence," "going dark," and/or "going off the grid," depending on how far they want to go. Basically, I noticed that I have been spending a lot of time using electronics, such as my smartphone, my TV, and my laptop, and it was too much time for me.

Day 1: I closed my email tab on Google Chrome during the day. This reduced the amount of time I spent checking for new emails and helped me stay focused. I found this to be a success.

Day 2: I turned off the TV while I was getting ready this morning. I thought it would help me to focus on getting ready on time, but it was largely a failure - I got out of the house at the same time I otherwise would have.

Day 3: I closed my email tabs and internet browser when I wasn't using them, which I think helped me stay on-task. Also, while carpooling home (in the passenger seat), I resisted the urge to use my phone for games. I'm not sure why, but this felt like the right thing to do.

Day 4: I turned off the TV while getting ready in the morning - this day, I think it helped.

Note: I have several friends and family members that do not have Facebook accounts and / or do not have smartphones, so why don't I just get rid of my smartphone and Facebook? First, these very people depend on other people to look up information in the here and now and tell them how their Facebook friends are doing, etc. If you depend on others to do the work for you, you may have a simpler life, but do they? Second, using a combination of my smartphone's camera and Facebook, I can share photos and pertinent updates with family and friends much more efficiently and faster than I could using any other means. Third, the cost of a smartphone and Facebook for me is negligible. Whether or not I get a data plan, because I am part of a T-Mobile family plan, the savings of me reverting to a flip-phone would be about $2 a month. Fourth, my smartphone has come to replace a lot of other devices in my life, such as: a wristwatch, an alarm clock, a GPS navigation system, a calendar, and a music player.