life Planners

5 on a Friday: Mixed Bag Edition

August 19, 2022

1- Several of you forwarded me Emily Oster‘s newsletter — this week’s topic was toddler/preschooler sleep! How timely!!

Her main points were that the evidence shows having a routine helps, as does avoiding screens a few hours before bedtime.

I am happy to report that the past 2 nights have been far better than anything I’ve experienced around here in a long time. Whether that is school-related fatigue or due to sticking to our routine, I can’t say. We also DID avoid screens this week — I have decided we are taking a break from screen time Monday through Thursday for the time being. I guess we will see how things work going forward.

I REALLY do feel more hopeful though!

2- On a lighter note – my friend K sent me this brilliant New Yorker piece – “A Few Math Problems for Mothers“. My favorite is the second one, lol.

3- Currently reading: The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. A LOT of traumas. One after another. It’s a book club pick so I am determined to finish. BUT if infidelity and trauma are not your thing, maybe avoid.

Bookshop link here

4- Newly refreshed Full Focus Planner! I’m super excited for this and planning to planner-hop into this gorgeous green book in September. They definitely made some improvements, particularly to the planning sections between the daily pages.

I am a Full Focus affiliate, so if you’d like to use my code for 10% off, go through this link and use SARAH10 in the coupon section! Coupon should apply to their courses and other offerings as well.

EVERGREEN for the win.

5- Run/workout report: I decided to repeat the Total Strength with Andy 2 since I liked it so much, and I’m combining that with running 4x/week. My running speed seems to be gradually improving — I’m using the Runner’s Connect program (currently geared to 5K training and theoretically I am doing a 5K in September)! Then some longer term race / running goals but we’ll save those for a future post.

Happy Friday everyone . . . it’s been a week!

9 Comments

  • Reply Marcia Francois August 19, 2022 at 8:12 am

    I loved that book so much! So, so much. It will end up in my top 10 fiction of the year.

    It was also a book club read and we have never hotly debated/ discussed things as we did for that book club in nearly 6 years!

    Enjoy it šŸ˜‰

    • Reply KGC August 19, 2022 at 10:05 am

      I just read The Paper Palace and never have I wanted to be in a book club more so that I can discuss (debate) this book! Really loved it and still pondering my thoughts on the end.

      • Reply Marcia Francois August 22, 2022 at 7:20 am

        It was indeed a fabulous discussion. Everything was discussed (everything!) and when the quietest member spoke solid for ages on her feelings, then it was a very highly discussable book šŸ™‚

  • Reply Sam August 19, 2022 at 9:00 am

    Thanks for the Emily Oster rec and all the sleep related encouragement. We just moved two weeks ago, and my three-year-old has really been struggling with sleep in our new home. It was helpful (and hopeful) to remember that consistency is key and that sticking to a plan will help eventually.

  • Reply Erin August 19, 2022 at 10:45 am

    To provide a counterpoint to others, I have never hated a book more than The Paper Palace šŸ˜› I do think you either love or hate it! What that book DID help me with is figuring out what I DON’T like in fiction (namely – excessive trauma that doesn’t feel realistic, when EVERY CHARACTER is evil or at the very best morally gray, and a few other things I won’t mention that would be potential spoilers).

    • Reply CZ August 20, 2022 at 7:23 am

      I’m with you –I also hated the Paper Palace. I thought all the characters were awful, especially the main character.

  • Reply Alyce August 19, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    Loved/hated the math problems. Was a nice chuckle. I’m curious to know more about the changes to the Full Focus planner – I can’t tell from their website what’s different. Maybe you could share better photos, if you have the interest/bandwidth?

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger August 19, 2022 at 4:40 pm

      Yes!!! I will as Iā€™m having fun filling it out šŸ™‚

  • Reply coco August 19, 2022 at 9:12 pm

    glad to hear that the coaching program is helping you to improve. same here. I feel getting stronger! šŸ™‚

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