Given the utter lack of new Living Behind the Curve material, the near-lack of fresh recipes at Catch the Spoon, and a new project on our plate (plus school, work, and our other ventures), it will probably come as no surprise to you, dear readers, that Mer and I are doggone burnt out. The extent of our overload came to a head about two months ago when, due to two torn tendons in my ankle, I became suddenly much less mobile (and unable to drive). Over the course of the positively dreadful week immediately following my injury, we cut our losses, paid someone to do our laundry, and talked to each other like we haven’t talked in a long time. (We also took a desperately-needed vacation day to sleep.)

It turns out that in the name of bettering ourselves through furthering our education, we completely lost sight of the things that are really important to us. We have been so focused on getting through the day and getting things done for school that we lost touch with each other, our goals, and our dreams. That stops now.

I like lists, and so in classic LBtC style, here are the eleven ways we’ll be getting ourselves, and our dreams, back on track. (Anyone remember 11 Things? Anyone? Sara?)

1. Take the summer off.
This decision had been made a few weeks ago, but it has taken on a new level of importance. Taking a break from school will give us the time we need to spend collating our feces, as it were.

2. Re-evaluate school.
We’ll be taking a good hard look at why we’re in school, and how that meshes with our goals. I am in it to prove to myself that I can do it - nothing more. That $25,000 piece of paper, when it’s all said and done, will be the fulfillment of a promise I made to myself when I dropped out of college the first time around, 11 years ago. Is that enough of a reason to push myself through it at a breakneck pace, taking on oodles of debt in the process? I’m not so sure anymore. Taking a class at a time (as opposed to my current full-time load), only as I can pay cash for them, may be a much better way to go. Mer has her own questions to answer - I’ll let her address those here if/when she so chooses.

3. Re-focus on spending.
Or, more accurately, re-focus on _not_ spending. This semester, our spending has gotten completely out-of-hand. We haven’t taken on any additional debt, mind you, but we’re not doing a whole lot of saving, either. Once the semester is done (4 weeks and counting!), there will be much less take-out and many less convenience items, and much more fresh food. (Even our SRSLY habits have fallen by the wayside.)

4. Put more time into our side projects.
More podcasts. More recipes. More tips on living fabulously. More jewelry crafts. More consulting. We started these things because we truly love them, and we enjoy spending time on them - we need to get back to that.

5. Sunshine daydream!
This is mostly for me - I get high on sunshine. No, really. I am a happier, more well-balanced person the more sunshine I get and the more time I spend outside. It’s the dirty tree-hugging goddess-worshiping hippie in me, I suppose, but it’s a part of life that I am desperately missing. The remedy? Well, for starters, my brother (a former landscaper) was kind enough to install a slate patio for us a few weekends ago. That gives me a place to chill outside with a good book and a cup of tea, and seems to be good for our creative juices - a re-branding package and site redesign was born out there.

6. Build positive income
This ties in closely to #4 above. We plan to put time into the things that we truly enjoy, and see if we can make money doing them. It’s all speculation at this point - we don’t want to make the kind of time commitment to our side jobs that we currently have to school, because that rather defeats the point. Instead, we’ll do what we like, and see if anything comes of it. (Need a website? Wanna buy a watch?)

7. Continue laying the foundation
We’ve come a long way from where we started, when Dykewaddery (our original concept) and Living Behind the Curve were born. The remainder of our credit card debt is now paid, Mer’s car (only ~2500 to go!) and the no-payments no-interest bed debt (~1900) will be next, and then there’s a whole lot of saving to look forward to.

8. Work on physical health
This is another one mostly for me. I love my elliptical machine and pilates exercises, but wrestling with crutches everyday for 5 weeks showed me that it’s just not enough. I’ve done some research into the exercise component of the Hacker Diet, and I’m planning to start those routines now that I am finally able to stand evenly on both feet. :)  We also have a Wii Fit on the way, something we’ve been planning for.  Wii Sports has done a lot of good for both of us, and I hope that the Wii Fit lives up to that standard.

9. Learn to count
Because really, an eleven things post without a number 9, which is how this post almost went live, isn’t exactly an eleven things post, now is it? Oh, you wanted actual content? Okay. Sing more. Music makes me happy, and I have Wii karaoke. Pbth.

10. Redefine the future
We’ve known for some time now what we wanted for the future, in general terms. What we’re discovering is that the future is a lot closer, and a lot easier to obtain, than we once thought. In the coming months and years, we’ll redefine and focus in on what that really means. Right now, it’s forests and land and bare feet and self-sufficiency. Over time, we’ll narrow that down to a time zone, a state, a decade, a year. The path to our dreams and intellectual freedom is hazy, but it’s in front of us. It’s tangible. It’s time for the haze to clear.

11. Spend time together.
Hands down, this is the most important item on this list, and frankly the most important item period. Our time together is awesome and precious and fun. When we’re together, we laugh and giggle and plan and dream and talk and intellectualize and process and snuggle and love. It’s what makes us who we are and what we are. Writing that now, it’s impossible to believe that we let that slip away in the name of “too busy” or “homework due”. Screw that. *This* is what’s important, and we’re idiots for thinking otherwise.

Things are, of course, a bit more complicated than that. But, 18 months or so after starting this journey, and almost precisely a year after this site was born, it’s good to see that we’ve made progress. Life is still freaking awesome, and getting better every minute. Next comes awesomer.

Your obligatory Dani fluff post for the month of May has been brought to you by Ancient Civilizations in World History, the Taming of the Shrew, and the letters P, F, and B (for procrastination, final exams, and burnout, doncha know.)