March Level 10 Goal UPDATES 2024

March has been incredible! I am having so much fun!

As I was pondering yesterday I asked myself WHY anyone would want to do the Level 10 life. It is definitely time-consuming and challenging, and I wake up very early to get it all done. When I first started it felt rather robotic and tense trying to get it all in. And I was tired. But now that I have been in the flow for a few months I realize that, yes, I have become very productive, efficient, and focused. But the real reward is how much FUN I am having. My days are getting easier and easier and I am living a life of joy and happiness! I can’t wait to wake up in the mornings and get started. I feel giddiness as I go about my day from one fun activity to another. The WHY? To live the life of your dreams and to be filled with joy as you find your days filled with fun activities that you look forward to.

I have had two pivotal changes this month that have completely changed how I do things.

First off, I went back to using an app that I was using back in 2020. It’s called the TO DO app. This is a free app that I use on my iPhone. There are lots of organizing apps out there, so if this doesn’t work for you and your phone, I would recommend finding one that does.

I absolutely live by this app. One of my favorite features is to program in what my “Monday” looks like. I put the date on the top. Each week it is super easy to change the date and uncheck the steps which causes them all to be reloaded fresh again. This has been such an efficient way to plan my days and weeks. It is very easy to add an action step or to eliminate one. And I love that it’s very easy to adjust the order of what items are on my list and when I do them. I LOVE this app! And it’s FREE! I would highly recommend downloading it and giving it a try. There was a small learning curve when I started using it years ago. I watched YouTube videos until I felt comfortable that it was working as needed. Every morning after breakfast I sit and write down what I am doing for the next day, including what I will be eating for each meal and my snacks. Using this app has drastically cut down the time I spend planning. I no longer have to write down everything for my day. I just go to my app and plan accordingly. This has taken my morning plan time down from about 45 minutes to an hour, down to about 10 minutes or less.

Secondly, as I was planning I was feeling frustrated not sure how to get in everything on my Level 10 goals and To Do list. There honestly did not seem to be enough time in the day. As I was lamenting to Molly (my wife), she gave me the second most profound change in my month. “Why don’t you get up when I do?” “You mean at 4:15 am? I am retired!” Now I actually do like to get up early, but 4:15??? YES, 4:15! AM! When the alarm clock goes off we both jump out of bed and make the bed together right then and there. Molly has truly inspired me. With her eyes still closed she stumbles onto the exercise bike and starts her morning routine before even having her first cup of morning coffee. And heck, if she can do it so can I! It is astonishing how much you can get done in a day! I did find that my lazy mornings in bed scrolling Facebook are no longer conducive to being a Level 10 Tenner! I make sure my day counts towards living a life on purpose! Going into April, one of my goals will be to include an hour or more downtime each day. I want to continue to be productive but I do find that I need a little more time to relax.

And lastly, bedtime comes pretty early for us. Molly no longer is the only one yawning at 7:30 pm. Sleep is crucially important to both of us, so we make sure we get the sleep we need.

Heres the updates on how I did this month:

1-Health: lose 4.8 pounds. Weigh 167. Figure out what foods I love best that fit into my calorie plan and eat more of those. Repetition may be a good thing. I find that I really love my morning smoothies, fruit for snacks, and Lundberg brown rice cakes with peanut butter and fresh berries on top. Drink 64 oz of water a day. Take multivitamins. (Just ordered “Ritual”)

Results: Stayed on track all month. Current weight 166.4 Total pounds lost since new year 14.6 Total pounds lost in March 5.4 Very happy with results!

Halfway through the month, I was still at 170. I think I had a psychological block about getting lower. I knew I had to get serious if I was still going to make my goal of 167. That night I skipped dinner which was actually pretty easy. I had enjoyed a big lunch and afternoon snack. The rest of the week I was much more careful with my portion sizes and tried to monitor how hungry I was. I tried not to go under 1,000 calories for too many days since I was doing so much exercise. For the month I skipped dinner probably 2-3 times and sure enough my weight started going down again. For the most part, I eat between 1200-1300 calories a day. I am 5’4″, 67 years old and that is a calorie range that works best for me at this time.

Overall I am feeling energized and find myself eager to start the day, often waking at 3:30 and getting up ready for a fun-filled day.

Smoothies are still my preferred breakfast.

Red twizzlers have been replaced with preferred treat-Jelly Bellies

2-Exercise: 60-minute walks 5 X a week. Stationary bike ride 15 minutes 5 X a week. 2 outdoor bike rides with Molly. 1 hike. Also add home weight program 2 X a week, abs 3 X a week, and Adriene YouTube yoga daily. link

Results:

Performed yoga every day-Yes, with Adriene’s YouTube yoga. My friend Hannah and I are accountability buddies and text each other throughout the day as we check off exercises and other tasks on our level 10 goals. It’s pretty exciting to be exchanging texts before 8 am with so much that we have already accomplished before breakfast.

lifted weights-yes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Started with 1 set of 8 (13 at-home exercises) and progressed to 3 X 8 sets/reps.

Tamilee Webb Abs of Steel-yes did Monday and Wednesday and Fridays the whole month

Stationary bike-Yes at least 15 minutes 5 X a week in the morning.

Hike-yes did a 3 mile hike on Mint Springs 1 hour. (there was a very steep hill)

Walking 60 minutes-yes 5 X a week listening to audio books. With my walking, I was driving to the Greenway trail on the river and doing the loop twice. But now I am walking there from home which includes hills that I was originally avoiding. Most people are familiar with using earbuds, but this is still pretty new technology for me. I LOVE these earbuds that I ordered on Amazon.

Biking-Yes 2 times did the Grotto trail with Molly.

3-Home: Finish organizing main floor-pantry, guest room, bathroom, kitchen, and mudroom. Think about Spring herb garden

Results:

Yes completely cleaned and organized all of the first floor. Potted some herbs.

One of my goals is to buy less groceries and eat less. Our fridge is usually crammed to the max. It has been really fun to see it so user-friendly. We know everything that’s in it, and we eat it!

Our handyman built these shelves for me. I had it organized when we first moved here in August, but it needed some revamping. Again, a new goal is to use what we have and not buy so much extra product.

4-Income: Post all my crochet baby items and Autumn doll on Etsy link

Results:

Posted Sweet Rose Bunny on my Etsy store along with some additional baby items

Still no income coming in yet but I have met up with a crochet group to network options others may have had success with.

5-Love: Hike and picnic with Molly. And opera date on March 9th

Results:

No picnic yet, but we did do the hike with Hannah and enjoyed very delicious cocktails!

Opera-Yes! La Forza Del Destino we enjoyed it quite a bit. This is the second opera that we have seen at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville. It broadcasts live from the Met and is very exciting!

6-Money: Track spending, stay on plan, and reduce expenses. (We just ordered fire sticks and canceled cable)

Results:

Yes tracked every penny spent. What a huge difference from previous months. We ended up with almost an extra $1000 surplus each month after switching out cable to fire sticks and drastically cutting discretionary spending. I think I had 2 tiny Amazon deliveries this month vs. past daily deliveries. The really crazy thing about this project is how much fun we are having. We are calling it “Joyously Frugal”. To start the month we decided to go one week without ordering our usual large supply of weekly groceries. We scoured the freezer, fridge and pantry and made do with what we had. It was an interesting experiment.

7-Family: Take over crockpot beef roast dinner and trimmings. Including chocolate mint cupcakes. (I will post photos end of March)

Results:

On Thursday evening, the kids picked up a seared pot roast and a bag of cut-up veggies to place in their crockpot for Friday morning. On Friday after work, they stopped by to pick up an amazing loaf of sourdough bread from our favorite bakery, a stick of butter, a bottle of apple cider, a large dish of steamed broccoli covered in melted cheddar cheese, and mint chocolate cupcakes. My goal was to have them walk into a home that smelled wonderful and had all the fixings for a Friday family meal ready to go.

And–fun surprise!–our son Brandon and his wife and 3 big pups drove up from Alabama to join us for Easter. I was in charge of dessert. I made these mini strawberry shortcakes!

Recipe: Strawberry Shortcakes

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I used small 1″ biscuit cutters.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour (I like King Arthur)

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 stick of unsalted butter (1/2 cup) cold and cut into small pieces

1 cup of milk (I use soy milk) with 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar added to it. Let it sit for a few minutes. (This is the equivalent of buttermilk, which you can also use, skip the vinegar)

2 pounds of strawberries

32 oz of heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons of good vanilla (I like Watkins put vanilla)

1 cup Sugar divided

strawberries for garnish choose smaller pretty ones that you can cut in half

Directions:

Mix all the dry ingredients. Add the butter and cut it into the flour mixture till it forms pea-sized nuggets. I sometimes use a hand-held pastry blender for this, or you can do it like I do and cut it in with your fingers.

Pour the milk into the flour and mix until it just comes together. Pour onto a work surface. Lightly knead. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out biscuits. This recipe makes 10 regular or 18 mini’s. Brush the tops with a little water. Sprinkle on sugar.

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden on top. Place on cooling rack.

I used 2 large boxes of strawberries. Clean, take the top off, and slice into a bowl. And about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of sugar. Mix it in and let it sit in your fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Place your mixing bowl in the fridge while your making the biscuits. After finishing with the strawberries, get out your cold bowl. Place whipping cream into your mixer. Let it start out with a slow whip for the first few minutes. When it just starts coming together into soft whip, add about 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla.

To assemble:

Slice biscuit, pour strawberries on to the bottom half, top with whip cream, and a few more strawberries. Put the top on. Add another dollop of whip and garnish with 1/2 a strawberry. Enjoy!

8-Social: Set a date for assessment testing for Lula Mae. Escape room with Amy (Molly’s sister) and Jeff. Seems everyone really enjoys them but this will be our first.

Results:

The most exciting news!!! Lula Mae had her test and she passed with flying colors! There were three dogs there and were pretty sure Lula Mae did the best! She definitely knows when she is being asked to perform and she did a stellar job. We will be getting our certificate and official heart tag for her collar the the end of March. We will be visiting a nearby hospice facility starting in April.

Visit an escape room: We had a blast! We solved the mystery! The theme was Edgar Allen Poe, rated the hardest to attempt. 3 out of 4 of us had never done it before. We were given hints but it was still very challenging. We finished with 2 minutes to spare! We had a nice lunch afterward at a Turkish restaurant for lamb Kebobs and grilled halloumi cheese. It’s always a joy for us to head out to Amy and Jeff’s country home. Lula Mae loves running wild in their enormous backyard with a pond. It’s where we got married 7 1/2 years ago. I sat on the deck practicing my Italian on Duolingo enjoying the view, the sunshine, and watching Lula Mae run wild.

9-Spiritual: Meditate daily. Do miracle morning daily. Finish Seth Speaks.

Results: Yes finished the book and did meditation daily, listened to Abraham Hicks daily and performed my Miracle Morning every day. (More details about MM in upcoming post)

10-Creative: Crochet the flower blanket pattern that I am designing.

Start writing 90-day novel. My favorite astrologer Jessica Logan from years ago told me I would be a successful writer some day. Maybe now is the time?

Results:

Flower progress on my Fairy Flower Blanket

Started writing my novel using concepts in the book. It has really been a fun exercise.

Sewed a bunny (See Sweet Rose Bunny listed under income)

11-Fun: Play ping pong. One of my and Molly’s favorite activities.

Results:

Molly and I had so much fun at a local venue. We went on a Thursday after she got off work and got there about 6:15. Our first time there and we were impressed how nice it is. Bottles is the name of the venue and it’s here local in Waynesboro. It cost $2 to get in and we had access to the ping pong table and pool table. The tables were set up outside and they did have firepits. With our sweaters and fierce volleys in ping pong, we managed to stay warm. We will definitely be going back.

12-Education: Stay number one on the Duolingo leader board. Grazie Mille! Keep learning to blog. Post 4 blog posts.

Results:

I have had so much fun doing at least an hour of Duolingo every day learning Italian! I had some fierce competition on Duolingo so I didn’t finish first the whole month but I did advance to the Amethyst level with a very strong score finishing in 1st place in the Amethyst challenge.

Blogging-This has been a huge learning curve for me. I increased my time from 7 hours a week to 15 hours a week. Writing, editing, researching, taking photos, and dedicating myself to watching tutorials and learning more about techniques. Blog posts in March-6

Looking forward to seeing your goals, comments, and achievements!

Grab your PDF To Do weekly Level 10 action plan here. Both with categories and blanks