Calendars and lists and schedules oh my!

A few weeks ago I was inspired by Cassie over at Back To Her Roots when she shared how she uses a cute little homemade PAPER calendar to help keep her on track for some of her fitness goals and Google Calendar to (micro)manage her day to day tasks. (I should note here that I've never met her, and hope she doesn't mind that I've taken her system and run with it.) Color Coding? Cute little pictures? Technology? How could I NOT be inspired and awed by her system. Especially since my motto is clearly

The N-Boy and I were already using Google Calendar, and I even had it set up to sync to my work calendar and Audrey the iphone. But one of my frustrations had been the lack of ability to color code different types of events. Cassie's solution to simply create different calendars for each category of event was brilliant! Not only is each category color coded, but I can also show or hide each calendar as I wish, so that if I only want to look at my workout schedule, I can!

It's still a work in progress, but I'm starting to feel a lot more organized and able to find a balance between all of the things I want to accomplish each day.

My other struggle lately has been avoiding the inclination to plop down in front of the TV or computer when I get home from work, so that the next thing I know it's past my bedtime, lunch isn't packed, dishes aren't done, and I haven't done anything except for make my way through four episodes of Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior on Netflix. [You'll be pleased to know that I've now finished the first season and have moved on to rewatching Dollhouse.]

I really liked Cassie's idea of also using a paper calendar where accomplishments can be physically checked off. So I used a blank printed calendar (from a app on my printer) and chose eight categories of things that I want to get done each day:

• Get up with my alarm
• Exercise (yoga, run, walk)
• Read at least 30 minutes
• Sew or quilt
• Do some kind of writing, blogging, or engaging in Social Media <---newest obsession! 
• Work on something for our Etsy shop, Prairie Sewn Companion
• Do Kelly's Daily Mission
• And Shine my Sink before I go to bed

Most of these tings take only a few minutes, and the ones that take longer are things that I genuinely WANT to do, but sometimes have a hard time getting the momentum to start. Enter-the happy chart-because sometimes grownups need gold stars, too.

So it's only day four, but so far so good. Now I just need ideas for what I get as a prize when I fill up my chart at the end of the week. Yes, this reminds me of a three year old earning stars for good behavior, but I'm ok with that.

So tell me, what should my prize at the end of the week be?