Making evenings work

What are your evenings like? Ours go like this:

4:30pm: pick up A from daycare
4:45pm: arrive home; someone walks the dog
5:30pm: hopefully have dinner ready, depending on how much I've planned out
6:00pm: dishes and playing with A
6:30pm: A's bath
7:00pm: Storytime
7:30pm: A's (hopefully) asleep
7:45pm: curl up on the couch, watch old episodes of Being Erica or read a book. Tom goes downstairs, watches old episodes of Top Gear or works in his shop.

There's not much "wrong" with this schedule until we hit about 7:45/8 at night. Then suddenly we become couch potatoes - and separate couch potatoes at that! No fun Scrabble games, or interesting conversation....just a boring old couple too tired to do much else.

Last night I was angry going to bed, because I realized that in addition to sitting all day long at my desk job, I basically sat all evening long, and went to bed with a sore back and neck. I've never thought of myself as a couch potato until I had a child, and now I'm the queen potato!

So, today at work (yes, I am actually working as well, but must take a break from the monotony of spreadsheets), I have compiled a list of things that Tom and I could be doing in the evenings. Some are projects that we can work on together, while others are personal goals of ours that we should be attempting to achieve.

• Using our indoor bike trainer (Tom)
• Doing yoga (Misty)
• Creating a family budget
• Planning for our 2012 garden!
• Finishing our downstairs bathroom renovations
• Meal planning
• Work on a new website/blog for me!

What do your evenings look like? Any tips for ways to reconnect as a couple?

Intention

I had a chat with a very wise friend today, who reminded me that if I continually say "I can't do it," then clearly, I never WILL do it.

Some of you may find books like "The Secret" to be filled with a bunch of Oprah-like gobbly-gook, but it's interesting to observe that the people who truly believe in the power of intention tend to be happy and successful.

If you look back on your life, you are bound to remember people who had a hand in changing the direction in which you were headed. These could have been the "bad" people (an abhorrent co-worker, a loser boyfriend, or a friend who betrayed you), or the "good" people (an inspiring teacher, a mentor, or a business partner). Regardless of whether they were good or bad in your eyes, you learned a big lesson from them, and then moved on.

Without these serendipitous encounters, we wouldn't be the people we are today.

Which comes back to main point of books like "The Secret." In order to fulfill lifelong dreams, you must have both intention to do so, and the right people around you. You can pray, meditate, and visualize all you want, but if you've got some bum hitching a ride with you along the path of life, you're bound to get distracted and have a horrible crash. (And in case you're getting worried, I'm not alluding to my partner-in-life here - this could be anyone; co-workers, friends, partners/husbands, and even other family members.)

Personally, I think I'm doing a good job of surrounding myself with positive and compassionate people.

Where I'm falling short is in the "intention" department. The think, pray, feel and believe part of where my life is headed. Instead, I'm doing what is safe - financially and emotionally.

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One goal I have as we finish up the end of 2011 is to create a vision board - simply, a big piece of paper (well, you really need stronger cardboard) where you creatively lay out your life goals. These vision boards can be short or long-term. They can be focused on a particular area of your life (e.g. business) and can be as simple or complicated as you make them. I'm hoping my vision board will help me get over my fears and closer to my dreams.

What are your visions or dreams, and how do you make sure you get there?