February Look Back, March Look Ahead

Three posts in three days!? I’m as shocked as you are! Expect the unexpected in the big 2-6!

Now on to the third post (a monthly goal post no less! I’m on a roooooll!)

I still have not formally posted my 2026 goals! If I’m hoping to do that by the Spring Solstice I only have a few more weeks to get it done. But here is how February went, and what I hope to accomplish in March.

February Goals

These were the goals I wrote out in my January Look Back/February Look Ahead post.

• Have fun on the snow trip weekend (even though the snow is evidently not great) ✅
• Steam clean the downstairs (when I’m off and the kids are not, after the snow trip) ❌ (This did not happen, but I did clean the bathroom)
• Add a chore to each kid’s list and use the app consistently ❌❌❌ (Mega fail!)
• Write 2-3 blog posts a week, ideally on consistent days ✅ ❌ (Kind of?! I do think I was more consistent – mostly because of FJIGs posts, but I wasn’t 2-3x/wk consistent.)
• Respond to comments and/or comment on someone’s blog when they comment on mine ❌❌❌
• Continue Strong Glutes program 2-3x/week ✅ (This actually got hard as the workouts got longer and more challenging and I’m proud that I kept it up.)
• Do shoulder rehab exercises at least 3x/week ❌❌ (I kept stuff for this upstairs and I think that made it hard to execute. I’m going to figure out how to do it better in the downstairs space.)
• Slowly return to the dojo without aggravating my knee or shoulder ✅ My knee and shoulder never hurt when I’m at the dojo, but are usually sore for a few days afterward.)
• Weekend check-ins (on Thursdays) and weekly check-ins (on Sunday) with husband ❌❌ (We did some scattered check-ins but nothing consistent or especially effective.)
• Add February weeks to Tri2 planning document ✅ (I am so pleased I’ve kept this up! I’m beginning to believe I will have a comprehensive set of pacing documents for both 7th and 8th grade classes next year!)
• Sign the 15yo up for life guard training ✅ (We got the second-to-last spot! It starts on Easter Sunday, which I didn’t realize when I signed her up, but it’s definitely the best one for her schedule.)
• Decide on Hawaii trip for this summer ✅ (This was actually really hard and took a while…)
• Buy flights for Hawaii ✅ (…and then the minute we decided my husband got tickets.)
• Figure out dates for St. Louis and possibly buy those tickets too ✅ (This was also a really time consuming process, both deciding on the dates and finally pulling the trigger on flights. It’s so hard to spend $500+ on flights to St. Louis! Why are they so expensive?!)
• Start thinking about summer camps for the 12yo ❌ (Registration day is 3/21, and if we’re not ready by 10am on that Saturday, there will be no space left for anything.)

Reading / Watching

This is a new addition, but I don’t see myself writing more comprehensive posts about what I read, so I might as well list books in these monthly posts.

Books

• Listened to Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy
• Listened to Scythe, Niel Shusterman (listened to this while my son read it – a really great YA novel)
• Started listening to Nuestra Parte de la Noche, Mariana Enriquez (reread – my husband started it (in English) but he stalled out, so I stalled out on my reread)
• Started listening to My Friends, Frederik Blackman (I’m reading this very slowly with my daughter who is also reading it very slowly)
• Listened to La Red Púrpura, Carmen Mola
• Started reading The Elsewhere Express, Samantha Sotto Yambao
• Started listening to Alchemized (Spanish Version), SenLinYu (Ankara Cabeza Lázaro and Patricia Isabel Mora Pérez, translators)

Movies / TV

• Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (w/ family)
• Mission Impossible: Final Reckoning (w/ family)
• Sinners (rewatch w/ 15yo)
• Die My Love
• Gravity (w/ family)
• The War of the Worlds (w/ family)
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Season 2 (w/ family)
• The Night Manager, Season 2
• City of Shadows
• Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, Season 3
• Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Season 15

Connection

What went well:

The family spent a long weekend in the snow. The husband and I met for lunch downtown during my break and we watched Die My Love. The 15yo and I finished RHoSLC Season 3 and are watching the most current season of RHoBH. We’re spending a long time in the car together on Saturday! The 12yo let me help him with his cell project and we’ve been working on his current form for martial arts. I took him and his friend mini-golfing one weekend. My friends and I spent an afternoon playing pinball on February first and thank goodness, because we didn’t see each other the rest of the month.

What I’m still working on: I didn’t feel like the husband and I really connected once a week, though we did find some quality time here and there. I’m still struggling to follow a consistent blogging schedule and even more so with comment reciprocation. Also, I didn’t see my parents in any meaningful way this month.

Health/Wellness

What went well: I’ve continued to be on the bike a ton; I’m about to hit 100 cycle classes (a lot of my “bike” classes before were Bike Bootcamps, but now I’m doing more “Intervals & Arms” classes which are in a different category). I finished the Crushing Your Core program and have continued the Strong Glutes program (I did it at least twice a week all month, which was my goal!)

I hit “Gold” on the Peloton Pilates challenge, which means I completed 15 classes – and I didn’t even start until the second week of the month! I’m actually really proud of that one, because it was a late February goal and I am glad I attempted it and met it. {Actually I exceeded it, because I only hoped to hit “bronze” (5 classes) but then after that I went for “Silver” (10 classes) and ended up doing five more ten minute classes to hit “Gold” (the first five classes I did were all 30 minutes long and the second five were mostly 20 minutes long).} I’m really liking the Pilates classes; they are a great addition to my workout routine right now, with my busted knee and shoulder. Basically I’ve been doing Pilates and a Strong Glutes class on my “rest” days which means I worked out almost every day in February. I usually don’t do that so I’m pretty proud!

What I’m still working on: While I was really consistent with my Strong Glutes program, I fell off the shoulder rehab pretty quickly. Which is not good because my shoulder is still bothering me! My knee is too actually, so maybe it doesn’t even matter. Sigh. I am definitely still working on eating more fiber and drinking more water. And sleeping 6.5-7.5 hours a night is not happening.

Work

What went well: All the weeks of February have been added to my Tri2 planning doc. I administered, and scored the big 1B assessment. I recorded notes for each class every day for the two of the three weeks (who was absent, who was moved, etc). We voted on the theme of the yearbook.

What I’m still working on: I still have not added audio books to my free reading program, or started a yearbook master document. I haven’t gotten student page editors started on the yearbook.

Home

What went well: Erm… not much honestly. I did give each kid one more chore and helped them each do it a couple times. I did a big “bedding” clean downstairs and washed everything on our bed for the first time in… a long time (we’ll leave it at that). I got all the snow clothes out, and then packed back away (not a small feat!)

What I’m still working on: You will probably not be shocked to learn that I failed on my family roll out of the app. Every week I meant to sit everyone down and really talk about how I wanted us to utilize it and every week I failed to do that. I’m really hoping to manage it this month. I think it’s my best bet at actually getting the kids (and my husband!) to do more around the house.

Fun

What went well: The snow trip was fun, even though it was abbreviated. Black Chasm Cavern ended up being a real bright spot. We watched Percy Jackson Season 2 as a family, which was a nice palate cleanser after Stranger Things Season 4. We watched Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning and Final Reckoning and loved them both. And technically I did meet up with my friends once, on February 1^st.  The husband and I met for lunch once and went out to dinner once, which I will count as our “two date nights.”

What I’m still working on: I still am not scheduling 1-2 things to look forward to a week.

Planning/Recording

What went well: I feel like I really stalled out on Planning/Recording this month. But! We did manage ourselves relatively despite the husband being out of town the first week, and totally absorbed in work the last week of the month, an unexpected, week-long strike at our kids’ school district, and a winter storm messing with our snow trip. Also, I wrote a January goals post and managed a February goals post, which isn’t nothing! Also, I have used Google Tasks some, but not consistently.

What I’m still working on: The husband and I are not meeting regularly to look at the work week or weekends. I don’t have a reliable “task capture” system and I’m not checking in with my planner regularly at all. I did not do a financial review in January (and I don’t have a plan yet to do one). I don’t have a good system for actually using Google Tasks effectively yet. I am checking my planner consistently every morning.

March Goals

And here are some things I hope to accomplish in March (some of these are repeats, but I really do want to do them!)

• Enjoy myself – and learn something! – at the CALIE conference in Palm Springs
• Check the chore app daily and with the kids weekly
• Hold kids accountable for doing chores weekly (they are supposed to lose privileges on the weekends until chores are done)
• Add a chore to each kid’s list 1-2x a month
• Write 2-3 blog posts a week, ideally on consistent days
• Respond to comments and/or comment on someone’s blog when they comment on mine
• Do shoulder rehab exercises 1-2x/week
• Continue at the dojo without aggravating my knee or shoulder
• Weekend check-ins (on Thursdays) and weekly check-ins (on Sunday) with husband
• Daily planner check + Google Task update on week day mornings
• Add March weeks to Tri2 planning document
• Look into PADI certification for 15yo’s birthday
• Car rentals for Hawaii and St. Louis
• Find a couple Rec & Park camps for the 12yo and sign him up

Sorry if it’s boring to see the same stuff on here, but I didn’t hit a lot of these last time and I really want to keep trying!