Resolution review: March

A progress report on my three resolutions for 2009:

Every day, I will clean for 15 minutes.
Another uneventfully successful month! Two things I have learned:

1. I love Method cleaning products. I know, I am totally late to this train, but I don’t have a convenient Target location, so I never bothered to try them. In January, however, I made the 30-minute trek to the nearest one and used part of a Christmas gift card for Method products. I do not exaggerate when I say that they might be the greatest factor in my cleaning success so far. Part of my hatred of cleaning stemmed from reeking of bleach and Lysol for the hours to follow, but no more! It’s silly and superficial that good-smelling products would make such a difference, but I think it’s like how some people are more organized when their office supplies are pretty. You know? Who cares if it works?
2. The vacuum is way too heavy for me to operate. Vacuuming is JG’s favorite chore, so he has always done it in the past, but I decided to take care of our bedroom for once. Um, no. It turned out to be the most back-breaking chore I attempted in the whole week. That night, I told JG that vacuuming is safely in his corner forevermore, amen.

Every week, I will write and send my grandmother a note.
For whatever reason, it was hard for me to figure out what to write in my grandma notes this month. Each week, I’d sit with a blank card in front of me, and I’d just tap my pen on my desk until something popped into my head. Regretfully, I think I mostly commented on the weather. Isn’t that awful? I wanted to write about the fun birthday things we did, but my grandmother didn’t acknowledge the day, so I felt strange bringing up the subject for fear that it would seem really passive-aggressive. In any case, I’m banking on the novelty of receiving snail mail to make up for my mundane weekly reports.

Every month, I will take at least a few hours just for myself.
I’ve realized that I feel guilty when I go to a part of the house by myself, but I don’t know exactly why. Am I being antisocial? Am I subconsciously mad at someone? So then I feel even more guilty because I don’t know why I feel guilty (thanks, Asian-New England upbringing), and I end up sitting with JG in the living room, seething over watching another basketball game when all I really want to do is go downstairs and read a book in peace and quiet.

This month, I finally shut off the crazy voices in my head and went off to read. It was freaking glorious. It made me remember that no one is going to bestow my “me time” on a silver platter with heavenly fanfare; sometimes, I just have to snatch it for myself, even if it seems grouchy or introverted. So maybe I’ll stay home instead of going to the gym, and I can spend the evening with a lovely read and a snack.  I’m much nicer afterward, and I’ve almost finished four books this month! Heck, yes.