So the Internet?  ZOMG, I love the Internet.  Really.  I’ve loved the Internet since I first got my hot little hands on it.  It was at my friend’s house.  We did horrible things in chat rooms that may or may not have resulted in an illicit phone call and lots of giggling.

Good things come from the Internet.  Big Daddy and the resulting plethora of girlies.  Friends.  Shopping.  Entertainment.  Groceries.  If left to my own devices, I could probably surf the Internet all day.  My favorite is when you get sucked into this worm hole of links where you keep clicking and keep finding things and being inspired.  It’s like…nearly spiritual.

But, I have three little kids and a dog and  two cats and a husband and a house and interests and pursuits that exist outside of the Internet and that, my friend, begins to create a problem.    THere is so much I need to do and so much I want to do and I SUCK at finding a balance between casual use of the Internet and OVERuse of the Internet.

In honesty, I do use the Internet for a lot of legitimate things.  I chat with Big Daddy while he’s at work and keep him apprised on the girls’ day. I connect with friends. I use it to menu plan.  I use it for inspiration.  I use it to blog, which I consider a creative outlet.  I really do use it for good, but after Bejeweled Blitz congratulates you on your ninety-seventh game in a row…well….you’re not using it for good anymore.

When I started thinking about the Habit Project, the first thign I knew I needed to tackle was my Internet….well…addiction.  Let’s call it what it is.  It’s the one biggest thing standing between where I am now and where I want to be.  THe problem is, how to handle the situation.  How do I scale back without completely shutting off (something I’m not willing or able to do) an how do I enforce whatever limits I set for myself?

I decided that I needed to lay out some ground rules.

1) The computer can be on and plugged in and up, but must remain at the kitchen table between the hours of 8 and 8.  I don’t like sitting there as much as I do in my big, squishy arm chair so I will spend less time on it by default

2) I may use the Internet as much as I like before 8 a.m. and after 8 p.m so long as I’ve met my obligations that must happen prior to 8 and after 8.  For instance, I need to make sure I’ve exercised before I take my Internet time.  I’m guilty of letting Baby Bee sleep on my lap while I surf at night, so her bedtime needs to be dealt with before I take my Internet time.  That will give me time to write blog posts, catch up on facebook, check my mom’s group, shop, menu plan,  be inspired, etc.

I’m hoping that at the end of my 21 days I’ve managed to strip away the activities that I do out of boredom and only keep the Internet activities that are meaningful to me (blogging, reading blogs, social networking, moms group, chatting with Big Daddy).

Honestly, this really stand to be the mot difficult of my 15 selected habits, but its success is critical to the other 14.

There is a general idea out there that it takes 21 days to make a habit.  Three weeks.  Three weeks to make something ingrained in your routine.  There are so many things I wish I did as a matter of habit and I wondered if I could take this year and turn it into a project to create better habits.

There are 17 opportunities (plus 8 days for screwing up) to create new habits in a year and I wondered if I could do it.  If I could create 17 habits that would me happier or healther or my life better or my family’s life better.

And so, in the shower on Christmas Eve Eve the Habit Project was born.

I think 17 habits might be too ambitious.  I think I’m going to shoot for 15 which gives me a little opportunity to screw up because everyone needs a little bit of screw up time built in to their life.

So, forget about resolutions.  Here is the list of habits I’m looking to attain in 2010

1) Reducing Internet time. I give this a 10 on the pain meter.

2) Daily Exercise -30 mintues a day for everyone over 3.  I think this will probably be an 8.  I hate exercisign.

3)Using my planer and calendar to stop being so spacey. I like using the planner and I like being organized.  I think this one will be kind of easy.  5

4)Drinking 8 glasses of water a day I really believe proper hydration is not only the key to good health, but also to weight loss.  I suck at keeping hydrated, but this is easy.  Probably a 3 on the pain meter.

5)Taking more time for personal hygiene I might have three kids, but I have time for better skin care and more hair brushing.  A pony tail isn’t the answer! Every day.

6) Picking up after myself IMMEDIATLEY I can’t be the only one who means to get something, but then leaves it lay and it therefore make a bigger mess OR you can’t find it?  Yeah.  Fixing that.

7) Logging all of our financial purchases We need to keep better control on our money.  If we’re going to be buying a new house this year and I want to go on vacations,  then someone has to stop buying starbucks and start watching the pennies

8)Carving out daily outside playtime for little people So guilty of not giving them unstructured time outside.  Not acceptable.

9)Daily crafty time I love being crafty so much, so I don’t know why finding time to do it has been so hard

10) Leaving off the t.v. I use it for noise and I’m not alone, but we spend too much time with it on.  Big Daddy got my laptop speakers for Chrsitmas, so more music and less t.v.

11)No more impulse purchases This kind of goes along with number 7.  I’m a sucker for a well placed impulse buy.  I think this one will actually be quite hard.

12)Putting away clean laundry immediately Because when you leave it sit around, it turns into a mess and means more laundry

13)Putting my towel back in the bathroom after use This one is for Big Daddy because the next morning when I’m towel-less? I take his.

14)Keeping reasonable hours This one is late in the year in hopes that our two little people will be sleeping through the night allowing me to go to bed earlier and get up earlier.  I need that morning time without the little people to be productive.

15)TBD

What do you think?  Could it be successful?  Stay tuned.  ;o)