Weekly Goals: 11/4/12

What a week! I worked four evenings and we went trick-or-treating on my night off.  We made Halloween costumes and went to lessons and classes.  We also had school everyday and went shopping on Saturday.  Then, today I packed up all the food in my kitchen and removed the wallpaper border.  It was a busy week!

But, there are also a lot of things that I let slip this past week.  I lost sight of my priorities at times and made bad choices about my precious free moments. 

I'm in for another busy week ahead.  I'm working three evenings this week and I'm going to be working on my kitchen some more.  So, I'm really going to have to work at keeping my priorities straight and making good choices about my time. Like always, the things I need to improve on are marked with an * and my daily task that I am working to make a habit is marked in red (I think I may be ready for something new, soon!).

But first, I missed listing the thing I am thankful for yesterday (again), so I've added two more to the list:

I am thankful for:

1) A God who loved me, despite who I am, enough to give Everything for me. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8 

2) My husband who makes me laugh and works so hard for our family.  He is such a wonderful husband and father!

3) My kids.  I truly believe that my purpose in life is to be their mother.  They amaze me everyday!

4) My mom who gives everything for those she loves.  What would I do without her to help me?  She an amazing example of a servant's heart and putting love into action.

Spiritual Life

• *Read Bible daily.
• Part of making this happen will be afternoon quiet time for the kids and I. 
• *Be consistent in praying for requests on my list 
• Write in prayer journal and update regularly

Family life

• Have a daily afternoon quiet time and concentrated cleaning time
• Play a board game with the kids

Home life

• Finish all laundry on Monday.
• Start Sunday night
• Set timer and change over every hour
• Clean off counters every day
• Have 30 minutes of concentrated cleaning every afternoon
• Work on kitchen
• Finish taking shelves out
• Remove baseboard
• Patch holes in walls
• Tape off walls
• Paint

Church Life

• Attend church Wednesday 

Physical Life

• Contact friend about being accountability partners
• *Measure all foods to make sure I am eating the correct portion.
• *Track every bite I eat.
• *Lose at least 1 pound. 
• Drink at least two bottles (refillable bottles, not disposable!) of water/day. 
• Earn at least 15 activity points this week.
• Take vitamins every day
• Try to get to bed by 10:30 every night I don't work, 12:15 on days I do
• Put on makeup every day

Social Life

• Probably not much time for this

Financial life

• *Update budget software daily
• Do not overspend!
• Pay bills  

Mental life

• Continue working on blog  
• Teach

Homeschool Life

• Print out materials 

Work Life 

• Work on worksheets for Teachers Pay Teachers 
• Send unit study to Kathy for review
• Fix a few items on a math worksheet
• Work on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday

Weekly Goals: 10/21/12

This week is going to be a bit odd.  First of all, my Hubby is on vacation from work.  Having him around always throws me off a bit.  Not that I'm not glad he is here!  I just don't always get much done because I feel like I need to spend that precious time with him.  

Secondly, I have a funeral to attend on Tuesday.  A dear saint at our church passed away a few days ago and I am missing him dearly. 

Finally, I have to have a colonoscopy on Wednesday (Yikes!).  That means, right after the funeral on Tuesday, I have to start my prep.  So, the rest of Tuesday is going to be a bit of a wasted day.  

All-in-all, this week is probably not going to be anywhere near "normal." 

Week in Review: 10/14/12

I feel like I actually got most of what I wanted accomplished done this week.  My house is looking pretty good (I really need to clean my bedroom, though), we got through a whole unit in math in three days with the kids knowing the material well, and I got to spend some time with my family and friends.  But, there are still a few things I need to work on.  We had sickness make its way through our family again and I let that be an excuse to not do some things.  Here's how I did on my goals (results in blue):

Weekly Goals: 10/14/12

It seems like such a long time since I've posted my weekly goals.  I could give excuses, but honestly, I know that I should do it each week and I haven't.  I know from looking at the numbers on my Google dashboard that very few people actually read these posts.  But, that isn't the reason that I do it.  I write them for myself .  They help me organize everything that needs to be done and set my priorities.  They also provide me with accountability.  So, I am going to keep writing them and stop making excuses about why not to.

My daily task that I am trying to develop into a habit is in red below.  Things I need to improve on from last week are marked with an *.

Weekly Goals: 9/23/12

I feel like it has been so long since I have posted my weekly goals!  Life has just been so busy.  But, I have how much of a difference not writing out my goals and sharing them makes.  This week is certain to be another busy one with me working four evenings this week.  So, writing out my goals is more important than ever.

My daily task that I am trying to develop into a habit is in red below.  Things I need to improve on from last week are marked with an *.

Spiritual Life

• *Read Bible daily.
• Part of making this happen will be implementing  an afternoon quiet time for the kids and I. 
• Be consistent in praying for requests on my list 
• I have a new prayer journal that I am using to help with this.

Family life

• Start working with kids on implementing an afternoon quiet time
• I am planning to start Monday with 20 minutes and slowly increase that time.
• Take Sis to a doctor's appointment on Wednesday

Home life

• Finish all laundry on Monday.
• Start Sunday night
• Set timer and change over every hour
• Clean off counters every day
• Try very hard to clean as I go since I won't have much time for concentrated cleaning

Church Life

• Attend church Wednesday 
• Work at a local homeless mission in the thrift store

Physical Life

• Measure all foods to make sure I am eating the correct portion.  
• Track every bite I eat.
• Lose at least 1 pound. 
• Drink at least two bottles (refillable bottles, not disposable!) of water/day. 
• Earn at least 15 activity points this week.
• Try to get to bed by 10:30 every night I don't work, 12:15 on the nights I do.   
• Put on makeup every day

Social Life

• Yeah right

Financial life

• Update budget software daily
• Do not overspend!
• Pay bills  
• Create budget for October 
• Have budget meeting with DH

Mental life

• Continue working on blog  
• Teach

Homeschool Life

• Print out materials 

Work Life 

• Work on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday

Weekly Goals: 9/2/12

This is going to be a busy week!   The kids' birthday party is next Sunday and we are having it here at the house.  The hope is that it will be warm enough to swim.  If not, I'm not sure where we will fit everyone!  This week, I have lots to do to prepare.

My new daily task that I am trying to develop into a habit is in red below.  Things I need to improve on from last week are marked with an *.

Spiritual Life

• *Read Bible daily. 
• Be consistent in praying for requests on my list

Family life

• Lots of working together to prepare for the party.
• Take DS to his first Boy Scout meeting on Tuesday

Home life

• Finish all laundry on Monday.  
• Clean off counters every day
• Prepare for the party
• Make a cake
• Buy candy and toys for the pinata 
• Clean for the party:
• Family room
• Living room
• Kitchen
• Bathroom
• Hall
• Patio

Church Life

• Attend church Wednesday
• *Call and schedule meeting with Pastor about Harvest Fest

Physical Life

• Measure all foods to make sure I am eating the correct portion.  
• Track every bite I eat.
• Lose at least 1 pound. 
• Drink at least two bottles (refillable bottles, not disposable!) of water/day. 
• Earn at least 15 activity points this week.
• Go to the gym with my aunt on Monday
• Try to get to bed by 10:30 every night I don't work, 12:15 on the nights I do.   
• Put on makeup every day

Social Life

• I am going to the gym with my aunt on Monday.

Financial life

• Update budget software daily
• Do not overspend!
• Pay bills  

Mental life

• Continue working on blog  
• Teach

Homeschool Life

• Print out materials 
• Continue to work on adjusting our schedule to make it the best it can be

Work Life 

• Work on Tuesday and Thursday

Week in Review: 8/26/12

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that I made some big goal changes this past week.  First in my physical life, then in my home life.  These changes are to help me move toward my bigger goals of getting healthy and getting my home in order.  So, here is how I did:

Spiritual Life

• *Read Bible daily.  I read all but two nights.  I was able to have an extra long study time a couple of nights, with was nice.  I still struggle with finding time to read on the days that I work.
• Be consistent in praying for requests on my list.  Check!  Having prayer time during school helps with this, too.

Family life

• Not much time for anything this week.  Sadly, it is going to be a full week! Yeah, not much happened.  The kids and I did get to go out to lunch with my mom, sister, aunt, and cousin yesterday, though.  Poor Bub.  He was the only boy at a table with 6 women.

 

Home life

• Finish all laundry! Even though laundry day is officially on Monday, I am starting it today.  Between school and work, I wouldn't have time to finish it tomorrow.  I've been doing a load here and a load there all week.  I'll be glad to get back to having it all done on Monday this week.
• Clean kitchen  This seems to be on my list every week.  And it gets done every week.  But, it also gets messy again.  This is where I added my new task of cleaning off the counter daily.   I did really well on this until last night.  After my grocery shopping trip, I cleaned out the fridge and straightened my messy "pantry" (it looks much better, now!).  Sadly, by the time I finished all that, I just crashed on the couch.  But, I'm going to clean it up today and not give up just because I fell down.
• *Clean off my desk This is still a mess.  I seem to just move the clutter around.  I really need to find homes for things or get rid of them.
• *Wipe down bathroom daily Didn't happen.  But, this is getting taken off my list for next week.  I really am starting from scratch and just focusing on the kitchen counter.  I'm getting rid of the guilt and letting myself develop habits!
• Finish gathering everything for the yard sale on Saturday!  The yard sale got cancelled due to rain.  But, I still did some work to prepare for it in a couple of weeks.
• Take everything to my parents'
• Get tables
• Make signs
• Go to bank and get change
• Get permit from the city
• Post on Craig's List

 

Church Life

• Attend church Wednesday Check!
• *Call and schedule meeting with Pastor about Harvest Fest  I don't even want to talk about it.

Physical Life This is the other area where I made big changes.  I'm back on Weight Watchers, and really work on it.

• *Measure all foods to make sure I am eating the correct portion.  Check!
• *Track every bite I eat. Check!
• Lose at least 1 pound. Check!  I lost 4.9 lbs my first week.  You can see all of my results here.
• Try to get to bed by 10:30 every night I don't work, 12:15 on the nights I do.  I did pretty well on this.  One night might have been around 11:00, though.
• Drink at least two bottles (refillable bottles, not disposable!) of water/day. I did so-so on this.  Some days I did great.  But, other days I just plain forgot!
• Put on makeup every day  Check!
• *Stay more active throughout the day.  I know I won’t have time to actually exercise, but I can stay active!  Check!  I tracked my activity (things like vigorous cleaning) and I earned 11 activity points this week. 

Social Life

• No time for socializing, either! I was right.

Financial life

• Update budget software daily  Check!
• Do not overspend! Well, we had one little "emergency" come up that was unplanned.  It wasn't something that really need to come out of the emergency fund, but it came out of our blow money.  If it weren't for our kids birthday party next weekend, we would have waited and actually planned for it. 
• Pay bills  Check!
• Plan budget for next month and have a budget meeting with DH.  Check!
• Finish Yard Sale plans Check!

Mental life

• Continue working on blog  Check!  I finally figured out how to add badges and made a couple of updates last night.
• Teach Check!

Homeschool Life

• *Print out materials Check!
• Gather all materials for first-day science experiment  This was accidentally left on my list from the week before.
• Introduce the rest of our subjects. Check!

 

Work Life 

• Work on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. Check!

Starting From Scratch

I’ve mentioned several times that I am a horrible housekeeper. The picture of my kitchen “pantry” yesterday gives a little bit of a glimpse into the truth of that. But, that is just a tiny portion of my overwhelming clutter and disorganization problem.

When I think of my dream home, it looks a lot like the “after” houses on the show Designed to Sell. You know, ready for strangers to walk through, free of clutter, and very “fresh” looking. Except that in my dream home, I would have lots of family pictures everywhere.

The problem is, I’m a bit addicted to stuff. Not just any ole stuff. My stuff. The stuff that has memories and meaning. Or the stuff that might be useful someday. Oh, yeah. Someday. Maybe.

But, with school starting again, I know that I really need to do something about this. Just this week, I’m working three nights and going to church another night. That means that three nights this week, I will be going straight from teaching school to leaving for work. No time for cleaning all day. But, if there was less stuff to keep neat and I could keep up by cleaning as go, having less time for concentrated cleaning wouldn’t be as big of a deal.

I always have elaborate, detailed plans to do this. But, it never happens. Or at least not for long. I’ll do great for a few days keeping up with everything, only to have it crash and burn, leaving me feel like a failure.

So, I’m starting over. I’m getting rid of the lists. I’m throwing out the schedules. I’m taking a cue from Nony over at A Slob Comes Clean and starting with just one thing. One thing that must be done every. single. day. One thing that is non-negotiable.

Kitchen counter before...

For now, I’ll take care of everything else as I get to it (or not). But, I’m not going to make a list of routines a mile long that I’m never going to stick to. Instead, I’m going to develop a habit. Just one. Then, in a few weeks, when I have my first task down so that it seems like second nature, I’ll add something new. But, not until then.

So, I'm starting with cleaning off my kitchen counter every day. I only have one small counter, so it shouldn't be a huge deal.

I know that I won't be able to just plan to do this before bed. On days I work, I'm way too tired and on days I don't, I walk away from the kitchen to spend time with my hubby and never look back. So, if I'm going to be working, it needs to be done before I leave for work. I know it will likely be messy again when I get home because my husband will cook dinner. But, at least his mess won't just pile up on top of the mess that is already there. On evenings that I'm home, I will do it immediately after dinner.




I started today. Here is my counter before. This is actually pretty good compared to how it normally looks. I had to clean it off this morning so that I could get my griddle out and make pancakes. But, there are some dirty dishes that managed to make it as far as the counter, but not actually in the dishwasher (even though it is right there - you can kind of see in the bottom, right-hand corner). I also have the spray cleaner that I left out after wiping the counter down this morning. It just belongs under the sink, so why didn't I put it back? Oh, and the salad spinner with the red lid toward the back? I used that two days ago, but still haven't rinsed it out and put it away.

If I weren't intentionally choosing this as my new habit, it would have stayed like this. Then, when my husband was finished with dinner tonight, all those dishes would have joined in. Heaven only knows when it would finally get cleaned up. But, I can guarantee that it would have to be to the point where not a single thing more could fit on the counter before I'd finally just clean it.

Here is what it looked like less than 5 minutes later.  And, I also loaded the dishwasher and started it, cleaned out the sink, and actually cleaned the griddle and the salad shooter and put them away.

Kitchen counter after

Why do I put off doing these small jobs?! I think that part of it is because, in my mind, it isn't a small job. It is a HUGE job. After all, cleaning off the counter means doing dishes, pulling out cleaners and rags, moving things around, putting things where they really belong, and then putting the cleaner and rags away again. But, for now, I'm not going to worry about all that stuff. I'm just going to make sure my counter is cleared and wiped off. No big elaborate cleaning project. If I'm running short on time and there are dishes on the counter, I will just quickly put them in the dishwasher or even on the stove. I just want my counters clear. I'll worry about the stove later.

Weekly Goals: 8-26-12

Whew!  What a week I just had!  So many new beginnings.  First, we started school on Wednesday and then I made my big decision yesterday.  Now, I have some more new changes to make!

From the beginning, the reason for this blog has been as a tool to help me in my quest to become the woman that God would have me to be.  In every area of my life.  But, I haven't been very organized about it.  With so many different topics, the whole this has been very haphazard. 

Now, I don't really want to narrow my focus to just one subject, because I need to work on every area of my life, not just one.  But, I do want to be orderly in how I go about it.  So, I'm going to make some organizational changes.

My plan is to set up a schedule and focus on a different goal area and/or topic every day of the week.  Here is what it will look like:

Sunday: Spiritual Life/Church Life & Weekly Goals. 
I plan to do two separate posts - one for my Spiritual Life/Church Life and one for Weekly Goals.  I'm grouping Spiritual Life and Church Life together, not because they are the same thing, but because they are both subjects that I might not have things to share on every week.  Sometimes I have special things going on at church, but not always.  Plus, they do tend to overlap in many ways.

Monday: Menu Plan Monday
This will likely include some recipes, money saving tips, and my search for healthy, good tasting food to help me lose weight.

Tuesday: Home Life
On this day I'll focus on homemaking.

Wednesday: Homeschool Life
Lesson plans, school organization, and field trips will all be covered on Wednesdays.

Thursday: Family Life/Social Life
Once again, I'm pairing some categories together.  These are two other categories that tend to overlap.

Friday: Financial Life/Mental Life/Work Life
These are my final pair-ups.  So far, I having had much to share in the last two categories, so it seems fitting they would be paired up with something I have more to say about.

Saturday: Physical Life & Weekly Review
Once again, these will be two separate posts.  Saturdays will be the day that I post an update on my weight loss journey.  I will also do a quick review of my weekly goals.

So, there you have it.  My new blogging schedule.  If something important comes up, I'm flexible enough to post about it even if it isn't the regularly scheduled day.  But, for the most part I plan to stick with this.  I'll tweak it as needed.  My goal is really just to give more order to a blog full of various topics.

Now, on with this week's goals!  Like always, the goals with a * are ones that I need to work on from last week.

Spiritual Life

• *Read Bible daily. 
• Be consistent in praying for requests on my list

Family life

• Not much time for anything this week.  Sadly, it is going to be a full week!

 

Home life

• Finish all laundry! Even though laundry day is officially on Monday, I am starting it today.  Between school and work, I wouldn't have time to finish it tomorrow.
• Clean kitchen
• *Clean off my desk
• *Wipe down bathroom daily 
• Finish gathering everything for the yard sale on Saturday!
• Take everything to my parents'
• Get tables
• Make signs
• Go to bank and get change
• Get permit from the city
• Post on Craig's List

 

Church Life

• Attend church Wednesday
• *Call and schedule meeting with Pastor about Harvest Fest

Physical Life

• *Measure all foods to make sure I am eating the correct portion.  
• *Track every bite I eat.
• Lose at least 1 pound. 
• Try to get to bed by 10:30 every night I don't work, 12:15 on the nights I do.  
• Drink at least two bottles (refillable bottles, not disposable!) of water/day. 
• Put on makeup every day
• *Stay more active throughout the day.  I know I won’t have time to actually exercise, but I can stay active!

Social Life

• No time for socializing, either!

Financial life

• Update budget software daily
• Do not overspend!
• Pay bills  
• Plan budget for next month and have a budget meeting with DH. 
• Finish Yard Sale plans

Mental life

• Continue working on blog  
• Teach

Homeschool Life

• *Print out materials
• Gather all materials for first-day science experiment
• Introduce the rest of our subjects.

 

Work Life 

• Work on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.

Weekly Review: 8-19-12

Here's what my week looked like (results in blue):

Spiritual Life

• *Read Bible daily.  Planning ahead is going to become more important once school starts.  We do Bible lessons in school everyday, but I don’t want to neglect my own personal study time.  Once again, I didn't read everyday.  I did have a really good time of studying last night, though.
• Be consistent in praying for requests on my list  I think I'm doing pretty well on this one.  As stated, it is pretty ambiguous.  I may need to make this more concrete.

Family life

• Make rice krispy treats and brownies with the kids  We made brownies, but the rice krispy treats are going to be done this week.
• Take my cousin and his girlfriend who are visiting from Wisconsin to the zoo on Tuesday Check!  We had so much fun.  But, after 5 hours of walking up and down the hills of the Cincinnati Zoo, my legs were killing me!
• Make invitations for the kids’ birthday party and deliver them to our church friends Invitations are made and one was delivered.  The other kid wasn't their today.  So, it is in my purse to take again on Wednesday.

 

Home life

• *Finish all laundry! Check!
• Clean kitchen Check!
• *Clean off my desk  Half-done.  I just need to find a real home for some stuff.
• *Wipe down bathroom daily Didn't happen.  I did clean the bathroom, but I haven't wiped it down daily.
• *Vacuum steps I'm going to do this today, I promise.  I actually just got up and put some vacuum powder down.
• *Work more on playroom/schoolroom.  It needs to be ready by Wednesday! Check!  The room looked good!

 

Church Life

• Attend church Wednesday Check!
• *Call and schedule meeting with Pastor about Harvest Fest Didn't do this again.  I promise I'm not doing this intentionally.  I just always remember at really bad times.  Like as I'm going to bed.

Physical Life

My goals in this area changed a lot this week.  I posted yesterday that I signed back up for Weight Watchers Online.  So, that changes a lot of what I originally planned.

• Focus on portion sizes and not getting seconds (or thirds)  I didn't do so good with this until yesterday.  After my post yesterday, I started measuring my food and didn't get seconds.
• Lose at least 1 pound.  I did actually lose a pound since last week.  But, I had gained quite a bit before that.
• Try to get to bed by 10:30 every night I don't work, 12:15 on the nights I do.  Check!  The only sleep problems I had were Friday night/Saturday morning.  I had trouble falling asleep and then I woke up at 5:00 am and couldn't go back to sleep.  But, all the other days I felt much better and was able to get up and going like I needed too.
• Drink at least two bottles (refillable bottles, not disposable!) of water/day. I didn't do this every day. 
• Put on makeup every day Check!
• Stay more active throughout the day.  I know I won’t have time to actually exercise, but I can stay active! I did a pretty good job on this.  I already mentioned all my walking at the zoo.  I also had very little time to sit all week.

Social Life

• Other than the zoo trip with my cousin and his girlfriend, I’m not going to have much time for socializing this week! I did end up going shopping with my BFF yesterday, too.  We always have a good time.

Financial life

• *Update budget software daily  I did better on this.  I also got everything caught up and I'm back on track.
• *Do not overspend! I did better this week.
• Pay bills  Check!

Mental life

• Continue working on blog  Check!  I have actually made some blogging decisions that I will talk about in my next post.
• Teaching is going to provide the rest of my mental stimulation this week!  I always learn things when I’m teaching.  And it did.  I didn't have any time for much more than that!

Homeschool Life

• Finish planning the first month Check!
• Print out materials I have next week ready to go, but I want to get further ahead than that.
• Gather all materials for first-day science experiment Check!  If you didn't see it, be sure to check out our "Dancing Oobleck" experiment.
• Create or find an age-appropriate lesson plan I just came up with a short little lesson.  No papers or anything.  Just a description of sound waves and how they work.
• Make new workbox schedules (I’m trying something different this year) Check!
• First day of school! Check!  It went great, too!
• Help the kids get back into the swing of things and develop a routine Check!  They were excited to jump right back in!

 

Work Life

Work on Monday (I’m there now ;) ) Check!