Intentional Summer: Grow

Well, well!  Long time no post. 😄  I can't believe I haven't written anything here since September!  It's so hard to find uninterrupted time at the computer..."uninterrupted" being the KEY word, of course!

Today is June 1st, and as I've been making some goals and plans for the summer, I thought it would be good to write about them here as a form of accountability and also so I could go back and remind myself of them.

To be honest, I've been feeling pretty scattered over the past few months as we navigate Covid-19 (oh how I hate that word!!!) stay-home orders and a feeling of uncertainty in our world.  My hope is in Jesus, but that doesn't mean that upheaval doesn't affect us or cause us some anxious moments...though I do believe He has a good plan for us through it all!  Now that we've finally reached the summer months and life is starting to feel a bit more normal, I realized it was time to begin again to focus on building good habits and getting into some better routines.  A podcast I listened to on Saturday confirmed this to me and gave me the idea of focusing on being intentional with my time this summer...so, here we go!

This morning in the shower I was thinking about my word of the year, and...would you believe it...I have NO idea what my word of the year even is/was.  I know I had picked one!  A good one!  But it completely escapes my brain at the moment.  I might be able to figure it out from some journaling back in January, or if my mom remembers...hi, Mom?  I think we talked about it?!  That just shows you how much I've NOT been thinking about goals or words of the year over the past few months, ha!  Anyhow.  The shower is a good place for thinking, and even though I couldn't remember my word of the year, I decided that for the summer I would focus on the word "GROW" and use it as an acrostic.  All of these are areas I desire growth in:

God
Relationships
Organization
Work

For the "God" area...this includes my daily quiet time: Bible reading and prayer, and some journaling.  Also hopefully reading a few books to help with my spiritual growth.  More on what I'm hoping to read, later.  For Bible reading I am once again following along with the Same Page Summer and reading through the New Testament.

Relationships includes my family and friends...I really want to enjoy my kids, spend time with my parents, carve out moments with just Jim, invite friends over for playdates and visits and meals, write notes and send texts to encourage others, etc.  Basically just investing in people, the best I can...I've been thinking about how much I want to be a better encourager, and I hope to do that over the next few months.

Organization is a constant struggle for me...and while I don't expect to get my entire life organized in three months, my goal is to tackle some particular areas of my life/home and try to get a handle on them.  One is meal planning.  I go through phases of doing so well with that, and other times I'm totally flying by the seat of my pants!  Meal prep goes so much smoother when I have a plan, so that's one area to organize.  I'd also like to organize all of my kitchen cabinets so they're more functional, and bedroom drawers and closets could use a good sort-out too.

Work...I think overall this is going to be more of a "working" summer and less of a "playing" summer, though I certainly hope to find periods of rest every week.  Jim is quite busy with carpentry, the kids and I planted a garden and more flowers,  we hope to make great strides on our house addition, we'll be helping my parents as we have time, fixing up the cottage next door, plus there is the daily work of the home, and my own need for physical working-out!  So, lots of work...but all good things!

Now...wouldn't it be funny if my word of the year was "grow?!" 😄

March Habits and Goals

So, since I didn't get a February post up about habits and goals...let's make sure it happens in March! ;) 

For a recap, last month I decided to focus on drinking water for a personal healthy habit.  I was shooting for 72 oz of water per day, and I did really well for about half the month.  I found a good water tracker app for my phone and kept up with the water goals well...as long as I remembered to record stuff in the app.  It kept me motivated, knowing I only had so much left to go each day.  Then...I slacked off, kept forgetting to record my water intake, and basically bombed the second half of the month.  Sometimes I'd get to lunchtime and realize I hadn't had a drop of water yet that day...nothing to drink other than coffee.  Oops!  So I think I need to refocus on this goal in March, and I'm going to kick it up a notch by making exercise more of a priority, too.  I did fairly well in January (isn't that the way it goes with starting a new year?!), but in February I only recorded 4 runs on the treadmill, and no other specific exercise.  No wonder my jeans have been a little tighter... :(

I have a personal goal this year of running/walking (combined) 200 miles.  So far I'm up to 24 miles (including today), which isn't bad, but isn't as far as I could be, for sure.  In March I'm setting a goal of 20 miles, and would love to do even more than that.  I also want to get back to doing my workout DVDs a couple times a week, as I see better results in muscle definition when I use those.  Summer's coming, which means short sleeve/sleeveless weather, and I'd kinda like my upper arms to not be so jiggly!!

Another goal I have set for myself is to read 40 books this year.  Last year I started using the Goodreads app, which was really fun and motivating for me.  I decided to track not just the books I read for myself, but the chapter books we read together for school, too.  I set a goal of 30 books last year, and ended up reading about 35, which was encouraging!  Granted, the majority of them were read-alouds for school, but I think about 1/4-1/3 of them were personal reads.  So far this year I'm up to 8 books total, 4 in each of the first 2 months.  I'm excited about that, and glad to be doing better with making books a priority again!  (More about what I'm reading in a future post...)

In February I also realized I still need lots of work in building that waking-up-early habit, as well as making my daily quiet time a habit!  The past few months have been rough with lack of sleep (that seems soooo much harder to deal with, the older I get!) and I struggled to get up before the kids, many days.  So that's one of my goals again for March...getting myself up by 6-6:30 each day (earlier is better, but this is a good start), so I can have that time in the Word, and hopefully exercise before the kids get up too.  It makes my whole day so much smoother if I can be ready for the day and not put off exercise or devotions till after school, because then it usually doesn't happen.  Now that Ari is starting to get back to sleeping better again, and it's getting light out earlier, I think this should be easier.

As far as goals/habits for my home (word of the year!)...the main thing I want to zero in on this month is menu planning.  I have been terrible at that over the fall and winter, and I know life would flow much more smoothly if I had a good plan every week.  I also want to utilize my crockpot more on the days we are out of the house a lot, or need to leave the house early for church.  I've also really gotten away from using my Happy Planner, except for school, and I want to get back to that.  Just last week I missed an important deadline because while I'd written it down in my planner I forgot to, you know, actually LOOK at the planner that day!  (Thankfully it all worked out okay...but it could have been a problem!)

So, to condense it all...here are my March goals:

• Wake up by 6-6:30 every weekday (today was a flop because my phone died in the night so my alarm didn't go off...oops!)
• Drink at least 72 oz of water every day
• Run/walk 20 miles and incorporate exercise DVDs twice a week
• Finish 4 books
• Make a menu plan every week
• Make a to-do list in my planner daily (and check said list!)

I think that will give me plenty to work on this month!  How about you?  Do you have specific goals for this month?

A fresh start...

First of all, happy new year!!

Second of all...to the maybe three people who might still check my poor, neglected blog, hello!  Obviously my grandiose plans of regular posting went out the window (again) once we started back to school in the fall.  Maybe someday I will come to accept that I simply cannot do all. the. things! ;)  In the meantime...here we are at the start of a new year, and of course that brings with it new goals and plans of how I will (maybe?) make time to post little snippets now and then.  I miss it. 

I've been working on goals for this year, but only in my head so far.  Tomorrow I hope to make time to sit down with pen and paper, and actually write some down.  And then, copy them here to make them "public" (again, to the handful of readers who may be here, ha!). 

Our new year is off to a good start.  Today we did a bunch of post-holiday/pre-having-company housecleaning!  Jim even dragged the big ladder inside and vacuumed the ceiling fans and beams and other dusty spots around the walls/ceilings for me...what a HUGE blessing that was!!  It's been bugging me for a while, but I can't reach our high ceilings without a ladder, so it's one of those things we only get to once a year (or less).  So even though the *whole* house isn't completely sparkling, just looking up at those dust-free fans makes me smile!

In the afternoon we had friends over for a playdate/supper, and it was nice to catch up with them.  Even though we live in the same town, we don't get to visit often due to our different work/school schedules, so I was glad this time opened up.  It was a nice way to start 2018!

Over the past month, I participated in a photo-a-day challenge on Instagram, which was so much fun.  I actually *completed* the challenge, too, which kind of surprised me and made me think that maybe, just maybe, I could be successful at regular posting on my blog again, somehow.  (Although it's a lot faster to throw up a quick picture and post on IG or FB than to take time to write something with a little more substance.  Ah, the love-hate relationship with social media!!)  Anyway, we'll see what happens, but for now I'm just happy I had a few minutes to chatter here.  I hope your new year is off to a good start!

Habits, Homeschool Planning, and Good Books

Wow, it seems like much longer than just over one week ago since I last posted!  I'm happy to say that I'm feeling less overwhelmed with things now, and have been able to mull over some things and actually have time to write some stuff down on paper (the way I process things best).  I thought it would be fun to share a bit in a post, in the hopes that it may help someone else, too!

First of all, a dear older friend of mine took time out of her busy life to sit down with me and talk through some strategies and ideas for the coming school year.  We discussed ways to streamline things like laundry, schoolwork, meal planning, blogging, etc, and it was really helpful.  But what she encouraged me to focus on was what I wanted to happen in the 30 minutes before we start school each day.   And that would be....everyone needs to have breakfast, complete their chicken chores (which only takes a few minutes, usually), be dressed and ready for the day.  I'd also want to have a load of laundry started, dishes loaded in the dishwasher or sink, and a plan for supper that night.  Obviously, I want to be up and ready myself long before then, but this is a place to focus my attention of what needs to happen before we jump into school.  After that, we will focus on the rest of our morning...the school things we can do together (which is a lot of stuff, this year, as I am changing some things), a short break, and then more schoolwork till lunch.

Just a day after that brainstorming session, a Kindle freebie popped up in my FB feed, and I immediately went and snapped it up. It's a little book called Life Management for the Busy Homeschooling Mother.   And let me tell you, if you are a homeschooling mom and struggle with the life management part like I do, you NEED to get this book.  Seriously...go right over there and grab it!!!  As of this posting, it's still free for Kindle (and you can read Kindle books on other devices, too.)

I'm only a little way into it so far, but what I've read makes so much sense to me and is exactly what I need at this moment.  One thing I've struggled with, with other home/life management books, is that many of the authors are not homeschooling moms.  They have those 8 or so hours during the day while their kids are at school to accomplish daily chores and grocery shopping, etc. (unless they work outside the home, of course.)  This lady is a homeschooling mom of six, and she gets it!  The whole first section is all about the importance of building habits, and then she goes into the whole morning routine thing.  Now, you may not find anything "new" or "earth-shattering" in this little book, BUT it may be just the boost you need to help you build some good habits.  One thing I have especially struggled with since having Ari is getting to bed way too late (because she was not a great sleeper for so long), which was "easy" for me in some ways since I'm naturally wired to be a night owl.  However, it's really become apparent that to get our homeschool days off to a good start, I need to become less of a night owl and more of an early bird. ;)  My days run so much smoother when I am up and ready for the day before the kids!  So, Habit #1 for me is going to have to be getting up early and starting my day off on a good note.  I  may need lots of coffee to accomplish this...we shall see. ;)

I hope to post more another day about my plans for the coming school year.  There are some things we're continuing from last year, math books that we haven't finished yet, etc.  There are also a few new things we'll be trying, and this year I am FINALLY going to get my act together and use the Brave Writer program as our guide for language arts (for all of the big kids).  I've watched a bunch of videos, listened to podcasts, even attended a summer "camp" seminar with helpful info, and I'm excited.  I think we can do it this year, and make it fun!  We dabbled in it before, but I was trying to do too many other language arts programs along with it.  This year we are ditching most of those (aside from a little extra grammar for Josiah, who hasn't had as much as Sam and Julia) and focusing solely on the BW program.  

And finally, here are a few other good book recommendations...  One book I got last year was Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace, by Sarah Mackenzie.  

LOVE this one!!  I will note that she writes from a Catholic point of view, but other than a few quotes from people past or present, there is no Catholic theology in the book.  It is a hugely helpful, encouraging, soul-filling little book and well worth the investment.  I plan on it being a yearly read prior to beginning a new school year.  Or even a mid-school year read!

{On a similar note, Sarah Beals at Joy-filled Days has a wonderful post about planning for fall...she references Teaching from Rest, as well.  I've met Sarah in real life and she is a Godly woman who has a true gift for mentoring younger moms through her blog!  If you're not already reading there, check it out...I think you'll be encouraged!}

I'm also slowly working my way through For the Children's Sake, by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.  So far I'm loving it, though I haven't had time to read far yet (too many books, not enough time!).  

Over the past few years, I've come to realize that I lean much more Charlotte Mason-ish than classical in my homeschooling philosophies, and I believe this book will be really helpful as I continue to work out what my goals and desires are for my children's education.  It's hit me this summer as I plan, that Sam is going into 8th grade, and after that (gulp!) I'll only have four more years of school with him.  So I really want/need to solidify my goals for how and what to teach.  

Another great little book I finished just this week was a birthday gift, Treasuring Christ When Your Hands are Full, by Gloria Furman.  This is not a homeschooling book, but a wonderful resource for pointing moms back to the Gospel and our need for it in our day-to-day living.

Yes, my birthday was in early April and I just finished it. ;)  But not because it was hard to read...I just took my time!  There were so many good nuggets of truth in this book, and I look forward to reading more by this author!

Finally, a "bonus" which isn't a book...but I can't say enough good things about Pam Barnhill's Plan Your Year homeschool planning kit.  If you use a complete open-and-go curriculum that is already all scheduled for you, then you probably don't need this system (and that's great)!  But if you're like me and you're using several different things and trying to figure out how to make all the pieces fit together into one schedule, trying to keep track of which resources you're getting from different companies, etc....I'd highly recommend it.  I bought it several years ago when it was a bit cheaper, but the great thing about Plan Your Year is that you get lifetime access to the materials when you purchase.  Every year Pam updates the calendars for the new school year, and she often adds new forms for various other things, so there is a bunch of useful stuff to choose from!   Besides school planning forms, there are also some household forms and other stuff just for moms, and all of it is so pretty.  Plus, it's not just the forms...there is a whole planning guide ebook that you can print out to walk you through how to plan your school year.  I'm working my way through Step 7 right now, and I've found it really helpful.  Anyway, just wanted to share...I know most of you guys probably already have your plans made and ready to go, but maybe someone out there would find this useful, so I wanted to talk about it a bit! :)

Time to plan

I'm having the hardest time with feeling scattered, unfocused and distracted lately!  While I would definitely not say I'm living in survival mode anymore (thank you, Jesus!!), I'm not thriving as I would like.  I'm well aware this is a "me" problem and I can't blame it on anyone else, but I've been trying to figure out why I seem to be struggling so much more than I used to.  There are several conclusions I've come to, but one thing is that the last time I had a toddler, I only had to homeschool (and think about/plan school for) one older child.  Big difference, right there.  While we've taken most of the summer off from school, it is never far from my mind, as I work on planning for next year, and it gets more challenging as the kids get older.

Another thing (brutal honesty here) is that I get way too sidetracked by social media and that can become a huge time-waster for me.  I know I'm not the only person who struggles with this, but all the same, I think it may be time for another Facebook fast!

I also get sidetracked in general very easily.  Whether it's a kid interruption, or noticing another chore that needs my attention (and thus forgetting to finish the chore I was already working on), I tend to lose focus and get distracted from my purpose.

And here's the thing: there are all kinds of time management tools and classes and seminars, etc. available online, but then I run into the problem of actually finding uninterrupted time to read the articles and attend the classes.  I am struggling with finding time to sit down (in a quiet place) and make a good game plan for school, for the same reason.  But....it's time.  Time to figure out a good way to plan a time to...PLAN!

Here are some things I need to focus on planning:

• Menus (weekly or biweekly)
• School terms and a yearly big picture
• Habits (for health and fitness, housekeeping, etc.)
• Chores and routines for the kids

On the plus side, I'm happy to say that my Happy Planner is still being used weekly, and almost daily, and I'm still finding that super helpful for the daily to-do's.  It's just the broader scope of things that I'm having more trouble with.  And while I've greatly enjoyed the flexibility and downtime of the summer, the part of me that loves and craves routine is looking forward to the fall and having more of a schedule.  But we still need to fit in a bit more adventure to our summer before it's over!

Anyway, please bear with me on this very rambling, thinking out loud post.  Sometimes it helps me to get things out of my head and onto "paper" (or screen), and this need of finding time to plan has been much on my mind lately.  I'd love to hear any tips you may have on planning, staying focused, organizing kids' chores, etc!  And I hope to put up a more interesting post in the next few days. 😊

Popping in...

The problem with setting goals (at least blogging goals) is that I feel super guilty when I don't meet them.  Yeah, like that little goal of posting here once a week...you know, the one that lasted for about 6 weeks, and then I didn't post anything from the beginning of March until now?  And then I feel like I'm so far "behind," and there are so many things I missed...Sam's birthday and our Ohio trip and VBS at church and, and, and... Then it's hard for me to jump in and just post SOMETHING!  But anyway, here I am...popping in to say hi to anyone who might still have my poor neglected blog in their newsfeed somewhere. :)  I'm not even going to recap the past few months right now, I'm just going to ramble a bit for a few minutes and see what happens.

It's chilly here today, in the low 60s.  This is pretty rare for July!  We've had a pretty rainy/cool summer so far, with just the occasional day or two of hot, muggy weather.  I can't say I mind the cooler weather, though it would be nice to see the sun a little bit more often. ;)

And I also want to know WHY summer goes by so crazy fast?!  June didn't seem too bad, but July is flying by like it's out of control.  I have/had so many things on my to-do list for this summer, and there are still lots of them I haven't had time to tackle yet.

I'm sure everyone is eager for some kid pics, so we'll start with Miss Ari:

 This girl cracks me up so much sometimes!  One day she was tired and decided to lie down on the couch with her...blender?!  I posted this on Facebook with the caption, "What? Doesn't every girl snuggle with her blender when she gets sleepy?"

Another day this happened while I was vacuuming...she actually took a pretty long nap like this! 

Ari is now 2 years and 8 months old.  (Just another example of how time goes by crazy fast.) Everybody tells you the days are long but the years are short, and it's all too true!  She is becoming such a big girl these days.  I had two goals for her for the summer: get her potty trained and get her weaned (yes, she was still nursing once a day...longest I've ever gone with any of the kids!).  Well, I'm happy to say we have tackled both and accomplished both, before the end of the summer!!!  Yay, Ari!!  Oh, she still has the occasional little oopsie in her undies, and I still put a diaper on her at nights, but she usually wakes up dry.  I'm so proud of her.  It feels so good to have her at a more independent stage, and it also feels SO GOOD to finally be getting a full night's sleep almost every night!!!

The big kids are all having a good summer too.  I had planned to keep them going with some schoolwork, but that lasted until almost the end of June and then we took a break.  It's all good...we'll just jump back in where we left off in a few subjects and start fresh in others.  They did their CAT (academic testing) the last week in June and that went pretty well.  It's nice to be taking a break from school for a bit, although I am already in planning mode and have that on my mind a lot.  I will have an 8th grader this coming year, which means high school is looming, and THAT makes me a bit nervous!!  Here are a few random pics from this summer:

I got my hair cut in June, and later that week I bought a flat iron to play around with.  It's been fun to straighten my hair on occasion, and I can also make curls with it!  I like playing with curls on Julia...so pretty! :)

 When we got back from Ohio in mid-May, the bugs had just come out and they were BAD.  Julia was not impressed!  One weekend we worked on the flower garden and got it looking beautiful for summer.  My bleeding hearts were gorgeous this year!

 A little collage from one Sunday in May.  I received the beautiful bouquet from my secret sister at church!  Also, this was my first time doing a bun in Ari's hair...she and Julia loved having matching hairstyles. :)

 We got new chicks after we got back from Ohio.  Ordered 18, they sent 20, and 1 died, so we ended up with 19.  We had them in the house for a couple weeks till they got too big and stinky, and the kids had fun with that!

 Julia and Josiah each ordered 4 chicks of their own (different breeds)...Julia brought some of hers in her room to snuggle a few times.  I think she wished they would stay little longer!  

 We had a lot of rain/flooding in our area the weekend of July 4th.  We dressed up for the holiday for church that Sunday and got a few pics in front of the flooded river.  Down there where the flagpole is, there is a little amphitheater where the college does outdoor plays sometimes, and it was pretty full of water.  The church kids had actually been playing games down by the flagpole at VBS the week before!

 Less shadowed pic, but the sun was in their eyes!

 Family selfie

With that I will stop for now, because I have a kitchen in great need of some attention!  I'll try to post again soon.  Oh, it's felt so good to sit down and chatter a bit!  I hope all of you are having a wonderful summer so far!!

Reading Plans for a New Year

Hello again!  Here we go with my second post in 2017...yay! :)  I thought today would be a good time to talk about reading goals and plans for this year.  While I really love to read, I'll admit that lately I have done a lot more book "collecting" than actual reading.  (cough*thriftbooks*cough)  Well, I DO read a lot with the kids...our Sonlight curriculum is centered around reading, so if you count that, I have read quite a few books over the past year.  But I didn't keep track of my own personal reading, and felt like I didn't end up consuming nearly as many books as I'd have liked.  I did have a really bad cold/flu in the summer and zipped through probably half a dozen books during those 2 or so weeks that I was out of commission...but I don't have the time to binge-read like that very often!

Anyway, on to some thoughts about books and goals.  First of all, I'm setting myself a pretty manageable goal of reading two books a month.  I feel like I could end up reading more than that, but I wanted to keep my goal moderate so I wouldn't feel overwhelmed by it.  For January, my two books are:

• Made for More, by Hannah Anderson
  
  
• How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind, by Dana White

I am really enjoying both of these.  I received Made for More for Christmas (along with Hannah's other book, Humble Roots), and I was able to snag How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind when it was on sale for Kindle early last week, for $1.99.  Love it when I can get something that's already on my wishlist for a super deal, and having it on Kindle is great because it doesn't add another book to our already full-to-bursting shelves.  Win-win!

As I've been thinking about reading goals for the year as a whole, I had considered following along with the reading challenge from Modern Mrs. Darcy, but now I think I've decided to do my own thing and read what I'm in the mood for...although just for fun, I'm going to see what might overlap with some of the categories on the reading challenge list.  Who knows, I might just end up reading a lot of things that qualify, anyway!  

Two areas that I want to really focus in on this year in my book choices are "home" and "education."  So while I'll read just for fun too, I want to make sure to include books in each of these themes.  This month's "home" choice is obvious :), but some of the others I want to read through the year are The Life Giving Home, Keeping House: the Litany of Everyday Life, I Used to Be So Organized, and Heart and Home.  In the theme of education, I haven't looked over all of what I already own yet, but I know for sure that Teaching From Rest and For the Children's Sake will be on this list.  

I've also been thinking lately of how much I enjoy re-reading old favorite books, but you know...there are SO MANY new books (i.e. books that I've bought, but not read), that sometimes I feel guilty taking time to read something that I've already read multiple times.  However...I've decided I'm going to banish that guilty feeling and hang out with some of those "old friends" again.  I've been seeing this idea of finding a "literary mentor" floating around in a couple of the bookish Facebook groups I'm in, and yesterday someone mentioned how they had taken a year and read through a bunch of LM Montgomery's books.  Perfect!!!  This resonated with me and I've decided to add my LMM favorites to my list for the year.  I'm not setting a specific goal of how many I want to read through, but I definitely want to revisit all of the Anne series, the Pat of Silver Bush series, Jane of Lantern Hill, and The Blue Castle.  I think I may read Jane to the kids, but the others will all just be personal reads for me to enjoy by myself.  I'd also like to get a biography of LMM and read that as part of my "Year of Montgomery."

Aside from the biography, I already own all of the books mentioned above, so I don't anticipate having to spend a bunch of money to fuel my reading habit this year.  Plus there's always the library...and freebies/cheapies on Kindle!  So here's to a wonderful year of "improving my mind by extensive reading" (to loosely quote Mr. Darcy).  Every day that I can (and when I'm not taking that time to write a blog post :)), I hope to grab a cup of tea and read for twenty minutes.  

What are you all reading these days?  Any reading plans for 2017?

January Ramblings

Well hello, blogging world!  Long time no post!  I've started out to write here several times over the past few months, and each time I got sidetracked before I had time to finish and actually post what I had written.  By the time I remembered and got back to it, the things I had written were no longer relevant in the context of the season.  It was (is!) a little frustrating to me that I am apparently so disorganized that I can't even get a thoughtful blog post written, and I've let 4 whole months go by with nary a word here in my little space.  I miss it.

So, one of my goals for 2017 is to post here once a week.  I'm going to try to actually carve out time for either a family-related post, random thoughts, something that's been a blessing to me, goals...or whatever comes to mind on that particular day.  I really love the fact that for over 10 years, I've kept a pretty decent record (at least up till more recent years) of our life here on our back road.  I just can't bear the thought of shutting down the blog or posting so infrequently, because I know one day I'll be kicking myself that there are such big gaps in our "history."  This is the only journal I keep at present, and looking back on memories here is such fun.  Maybe some weeks I'll manage to post more than once, but I figure if I can put up 52 posts a year, I'll be happy...and it'll be so much better than what I've done lately!

So here we go...some January ramblings.  (I do hope to put up another post in a few days with some pictures and thoughts from December, so I can record our Christmas memories and activities in one place, too.)

January Goals and my Word for the Year

It's been a very long time since I set specific goals for a year or even a month.  This year I honestly haven't had time yet to set many goals, but I did choose a few, as well as my "one word" for 2017.  I will start with that...my word is "Thrive."  I thought over several words such as "purpose" and "discipline" (both with the same idea, I guess) but then the word "thrive" came to me and I knew it was just right for this year.  You see, the past two years since Ari was born, I've pretty much felt like I was in survival mode.  I'm not blaming this completely on Miss Ari, and I hope it's abundantly clear on my blog and in real life, just how much of a blessing that little girl is to our family!!!  She's a sweet and precious gift from God, and we all can't imagine life without her now, even though she was not in *our* plans!  BUT...just being honest here...she's a lot of work.  She's our high-maintenance child, and it was definitely a change to go back to little sleep, working around naptimes, juggling school for older kids who still need a lot of Mom's time, paying bills, taking care of the home, etc.  We did a lot of "coasting" over the past two years and I let a lot of things go because a) I was so tired and b) I wasn't managing my time well (partly because of being so tired, partly because I'm a time-waster by nature...oh my, did I just admit that?!).  Anyway.  I know that some things need to change this year, and the word "thrive" hits the nail on the head for what I want my year to be like.  I want to thrive in the area of managing my home and taking care of my family, in my personal walk with God and prayer life, in my friendships with others, and in my health and fitness.  I want my kids to thrive too, in the rest of their school year.  This doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be going overboard trying to do "all the things" as I know that will just lead to burnout and more exhaustion...but it means that I'll be making a conscious effort to improve the way I manage my time (and theirs), determining what things to say yes or no to, and using tools that will strengthen me spiritually.  (More on those hopefully at a later date!)  I know that some of you can relate (and some MUCH more than I can, because you have larger families!) that it is so different to have both older kids and toddlers or babies.  In some ways it is easier...because the big kids can all take care of themselves for the most part, and they're a big help with the little one(s).  But in other ways, it makes Mom so much more stretched, I think.  I'm running the big kids around to activities (not a lot, but a few) while trying to make sure Ari still gets my time and attention (and naps), and homeschooling takes up a lot of our time.  It's so much different from when I was 34 and had a 6, 4, and 2 year old...at that point we only had one kid in school and it took maybe 2 hours start to finish.  I was doing things like baking all our bread, always keeping goodies on hand, etc. and now I find it hard to fit those extra things in.  (I know I need to train the big kids to help with the baking and stuff like that, but sometimes it seems impossible to even fit that in!  We will get there, I think...it just takes time.)

Boy, I really went on and on about that, didn't I?! :D  Thanks for listening to my rambles, whoever is still out there reading.  As for my other January goals, they are fairly simple:

• Read 2 books
• Lose 5 lbs (gotta get back to losing that baby weight, since my baby is actually a toddler now!!)
• Have a daily quiet time
• Blog 4 times
• Use my new planner daily (I got a Happy Planner--yay!  So far I LOVE it.)
• Drink 3 quarts of water daily
• Exercise 20 times

And I think that I'll wrap this post up so I can actually, you know, get it posted before I get distracted!! :)  Happy New Year everyone, and may you THRIVE this year too!

The "New" New Year . . . February Goals

{Icy snow hanging off our roof}

Here we are at the start of another month, already.  **deep breath**  I've missed setting goals here, and I decided it's time to get back to that!  It remains to be seen how well I will actually do at accomplishing those goals, but I need to try. :)  I was listening to a podcast recently where they mentioned the term "the 'new' new year" in regards to fitness.  The "first" new year is January 1st, when everyone is gung-ho to jump into a new fitness plan, sign up for a gym membership, start a diet, etc.  The "new" new year is later on, when most of the people have already fizzled out on their resolutions and there are just a few left who are ready to keep giving it their best.  Well, I decided to make February the "new" new year for myself. :)  I didn't set any goals in January, other than some fitness goals as part of an accountability group I was doing.  I did okay, though not perfect, at reaching those goals (the biggest one being to walk 20 miles on my treadmill).  Now it's a new month, another fresh start, and not just for fitness but for goals in general.  So here are my goals for February:

• Be more consistent with my daily quiet time
• Keep up with using The Confident Mom planner 
• Blog 2-3 times a week
• Post 3 book reviews on the blog
• Read/finish 2-3 books
• Sew a jumper for Julia
• Complete weeks 18-21 of school
• Read/finish 3 books
• Clean/declutter office
• Begin decluttering master bedroom
• Follow fitness challenge/accountability group with friends on Facebook

And here are my specific fitness goals for the above challenge (which is actually running for about 8 weeks, so these will run over into March):

• Go through the 30 Day Shred
• Walk 15 miles on the treadmill
• Follow Trim Healthy Mama eating plan (by the way, if you've ever considered getting this book, it is currently under $30 on Amazon...a good deal since it retails at $35!)
• Drink 3 qts. of water per day
• Take vitamins daily
• Only weigh in at beginning and end of challenge, but take measurements weekly

After I had already decided on the title of this post, I was browsing through my blog reader and discovered Joy's post titled "February is the New January."  I guess I'm not the only one thinking along these lines! :)  

We stayed up late-ish last night to watch the Superbowl online, even though we are far from being devoted fans and pretty much the only thing I understand about football is that the teams are each trying to get the ball into their endzone.  (To me it basically looks like a bunch of big guys trying to kill each other.)  It was a fun game to watch, though, especially since it ended happily for the Patriots. :)  

{Jim, Ari and I watching the Superbowl--Ari wasn't too impressed ;) }

Today we're back to a regular work week for Jim, and another school week for the rest of us.  After this week we will officially have 18 weeks under our belts, although we're a little bit ahead in a few subjects.  Today I was running behind (I overslept after being up too late last night) so we got off to a late start with everything.  We ended up only doing a few school subjects, so I could take more time to plan for the rest of our week, and make copies that we needed for the next month.  Besides, it's snowing and has been all day, which means most of the local schools are getting a snow day anyway . . . so I kicked my big kids out the door to play.  And I am enjoying the peace and quiet while Ari naps. :)  But now, I'd better get this posted while I have the chance!  Then on to tackle some housework and laundry.  

January Update and February Goals

Well, January just flew by like a blur, and I have to admit to a little discouragement when I looked back and saw how few goals I completed this month! :(  We were dealing with off-and-on sickness for the entire month, finishing up with me being the sickie for the last week and a half.  (Thankfully I am feeling almost back to normal now!)  Anyway, some of my goals like exercise and getting up early completely went out the window because of that.  I'm hoping this month will be better.  Here is what my list for January looked like: 

• Get up between 6-7 am on weekdays for quiet time, using the I Will Look Up devotional (free for Kindle today only, if you're interested!)--Nope, I haven't gotten up early for the past week and a half. :(
• Work on my Trim Healthy Me challenge, exercising 3x/week and eating healthy--Not done.  I have been doing fairly well with eating healthy, but exercise hasn't happened for the past 2 weeks.  I have mostly avoided sugar, so at least I'm doing okay with that part. :)
• Lose 5 lbs!--Not done--I lost about 4.5, though, so I am good with that!  
• Read and review Pilgrimage, and The Guardian--Finished The Guardian, but not Pilgrimage yet
• Go on a date with Jim--Nope. :(
• Teach the kids piano every Friday--Um, this?  WHEN will I ever remember to put it on my schedule??! :(
• Declutter entry closets and hutch--No, this didn't happen--at least not by me.  Jim did do some straightening and reorganizing in the entry closets, which was really nice!  And I decluttered/reorganized the under-sink cabinets in our bathroom, so at least a little decluttering happened around here. :)
• Host Mom's group--No, I ended up not doing this because of being sick.
• Have friends over for dinner--YES!!  FINALLY I can check something off!! :)  We had family over one evening, and friends over another evening.  
• Blog 8-12 times and respond to comments :)--Oh, so close.  I only blogged 7 times but I did (eventually) post and respond to all the comments!
• Track our spending for the month--Nope, but I don't think we did too bad with this.  At least there was still a little money left at the end of the month. :)  Gotta be a lot more diligent with that, this month.
• List at least 5 things for sale online--DONE!  We actually were able to sell 7 items, which was a blessing.

Okay, I'm determined not to let the lack of accomplishment in January get me down at the start of this month!  Tomorrow is always a new day. :)   Most of my goals for Feb. are going to be the same or similar, but I'm going to be tweaking a few things.  

• Get up between 6-7 am on weekdays for quiet time, using the current Good Morning Girls study, "Intentionally Focused"
• Follow along with Money Saving Mom's "12 Months to a Healthier You" challenge (modified)
• Exercise 3 times a week
• Lose 2-3 lbs.
• Finish reading Pilgrimage, and The Protector
• Go on a date, continue with our in-home movie dates :)
• Begin piano lessons with the kids
• Complete office renovation (more on that in a future post!)
• Declutter master bedroom
• Host Moms' group
• Have friends over for dinner or a playdate
• Blog 8-12 times and respond to comments
• Track monthly spending, and stick to a very tight grocery budget ($100 or less)
• List at least 5 things for sale online
• Take a Facebook fast for the month (starting 02/02/14)

I think that's plenty to keep me busy for a short month. :)  Hopefully by the end of it, I'll be able to have a few more goals actually checked off!

January Goals

Now that I've posted my somewhat general year-long goals, it's time to narrow them down a little bit and post some more specific goals for this month.  I plan to (hopefully!) post weekly goals each Monday, as well, breaking down those monthly goals into even smaller baby steps.  But for this week, I'm just going to post the monthly ones.  So, here we go:

• Get up between 6-7 am on weekdays for quiet time, using the I Will Look Up devotional (free for Kindle today only, if you're interested!)
• Work on my Trim Healthy Me challenge, exercising 3x/week and eating healthy
• Lose 5 lbs!
• Read and review Pilgrimage, and The Guardian
• Go on a date with Jim
• Teach the kids piano every Friday
• Declutter entry closets and hutch
• Host Mom's group
• Have friends over for dinner
• Blog 8-12 times and respond to comments :)
• Track our spending for the month
• List at least 5 things for sale online

I think this will give me plenty to work on for January!  And now, to get my year off to a really good start . . . I'm heading to bed early, for a change!

New goals and one word for 2014

Happy New Year!  I'm pretty sure I say this every year, but I really love the feeling of a fresh start when January 1st rolls around.  I spent some time today mapping out my goals for 2014, and also reviewing my goals from last year.  Although I'm not going to take time to go back and update with how I did on every single goal I set last year, I will say that as usual, I hit some and missed some. :)  One big goal that I did accomplish though, was reading through my Bible in a year.  This is the first time I've ever reached that goal (as far as I remember), and the plan I used took me once through the Old Testament, and twice through the New Testament and Psalms.  I'm very glad I did it; it was a really neat way to get an overview of God's word!  At the same time, I'm not planning to do so again this year; instead I want to focus more on specific topics/passages/book studies, so I'll try to keep you posted on how that goes!

I also wanted to choose "one word" to focus on in 2014.  Last year, I ended up going with two words: intention and worship.  I feel like I failed in many areas, not keeping those themes in mind as much as I should have, but looking back I feel like 2013 was one of the best years we've had as a family, and much of that was because we intentionally made time to do special things.  So I guess intention was there more than it seemed. :)  Worship was there too, just not in my focus as much as it could have/should have been.  Anyway.  Earlier this week I was mulling over what one word to pick for this year, and I felt God impressing the word "love" on my heart.  Like I Corinthians 13 says, if I do everything "right" but without love, it isn't profitable.  If I keep a perfectly organized and clean home (ha!) and don't love on my family, it's pointless.  If I serve a friend in need but do it out of duty and not love, shame on me!  So this year I'm asking God to give me more of His love, so I can pour that love out to others in tangible ways.  There are many other words that came to mind, words I thought about choosing . . . words like "prayer," and "gratitude," and "joy," and "contentment" . . . but I kept coming back to love, and that's where I believe I need to land for this year.  Side note: I was thrilled to find the free "one word" blog button above and instructions on how to adapt it with my own word here at Only a Breath!!

Without further ado, here are my goals for the new year.  Some of these are the same or similar to last year's, but I've made a shorter list this time around, so hopefully I'll stay more focused and not fizzle out on goal-setting partway through the year, which is what usually happens. :)

Personal:

• Be consistent with daily quiet times
• Exercise regularly and make healthy choices
• Reach my new goal weight 
• Read at least 2 books per month
• Spend time in creative pursuits (sewing/crafting/baking) and learn some new things

Marriage:

• Go on one date per month
• Go on one or two overnight getaways--hopefully March and October
• Focus on how I can serve and encourage Jim daily
• Read together 

Family:

• Go on several fun family trips/outings
• Consistently teach the kids piano lessons 
• Spend one-on-one time with the kids often

Homemaking:

• Declutter one room/space every month
• Involve the kids in daily chores

Ministry/Hospitality/Encouragement

• Begin hosting a monthly moms' group
• Have friends over once a month
• Continue serving in church ministries (piano and Sunday school)

Blogging: 

• Post 2-3 times per week
• Respond to every comment and be a better encourager to the friends who visit my site

Financial: 

• Demonstrate a life & philosophy of giving for our children
• Stick to a budget
• Give to specific needs as God puts it on our hearts

There you have it! :)  Today or tomorrow I plan to post my specific goals for this month, as well as a tentative reading list for this year.  I hope your new year is off to a beautiful start!

Time for a new challenge!

Okay ladies, it's almost the beginning of a new year . . . and you know what that means, right?! ;)  Yep, it means that I'm all fired up to give myself some new challenges and set some new goals.  Even though Jan 1 isn't till Wednesday, I wanted to give you a heads-up about my healthy living challenge that I'm going to be starting that day.  I'm calling it the "Trim Healthy Me" challenge, because I'm planning to try and follow the principles from the book Trim Healthy Mama as closely as possible.  Now, this particular challenge is a personal one . . . however, if any of you want to join in for the accountability, you are MORE than welcome.  I love the encouragement that comes with numbers! :)  If you want to do your own personal challenge, there is no need to follow the same thing I'm doing, but I'd love it if you want to post a comment with your own goals!

Here is what my own challenge is going to look like:

• It will last for 6 weeks, starting Jan. 1, 2014.
• I plan to do a sugar detox during this time.  NO refined sugar, white or brown.  My sweetener of choice will be xylitol, but I recently ran out of it and haven't gotten more yet, so in the meantime I am giving myself a little grace and plan to use coconut sugar for coffee, and raw honey for tea. :)
• I will be trying to follow the basic principles laid out in THM, but again, I will give myself a little wiggle room with this.  Especially for suppers.  A lot depends on our food budget for the month. :)  So I will plan to stick to the eating plan at least for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and do the best I can with suppers.  
• I will have a goal of drinking 3 bottles of water every day.  I have gotten away from this lately, but I feel so much better when I am properly hydrated!
• I will exercise at least 3 times a week.  At this point I'm planning to work my way through the C25K or C210K on the treadmill, but I may change that up now and then with other kinds of exercise.  I know 5 days/week would be better, but I'm starting small so I can ease myself back into it, since I have gotten away from exercise over the past couple months, too!

So this is the basic framework for my challenge!  Over the past month, I have gained 4-5 lbs after maintaining within a couple pounds of my original goal weight for the past year.  My jeans are fitting a little snugger and I feel icky after eating too much holiday junk, so I know it is time for a CHANGE! :) I'm very much looking forward to how much better I will feel in 6 weeks!  I want to rebuild these healthy habits, and I'll plan to (hopefully) post about my progress along the way.

If you'd like to come up with your own challenge but need some inspiration, here are a few sites to check out: 

• 40 day fitness challenge from Smartter Each Day
• 8 week weight loss/get healthy challenge with free printables from Six Sisters' Stuff (I've done this one a couple times, and it is great!)
• Sugar Detox Challenge (this is an ebook for Kindle, available for $2.99)
• 42 Days to Fit (another Kindle ebook with a 6 week challenge, available for $4.99)
• Crystal at Money Saving Mom also just mentioned that she will be blogging the 12 Months to a Healthier You challenge; she'll post more about it in 2 days, so I'll try to remember to update this post then with the link!  UPDATE: Here's the link!

I started this post earlier, then helped Jim shovel the deck.  I have decided that if we have a lot of snow this winter (which seems like it will be the case, judging from how much we've got so far!), I'll definitely get some extra workouts with shoveling.  Whew!  And it's so cold out that I think that burned off some extra calories, too. :)

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links. :)

Goals for August

I haven't been doing so well with goal-setting for the past month or more, but now that summer is starting to wind down and I'm thinking ahead to the fall (and hopefully a more organized school year!) I'm hoping to get back into the swing of goal-setting.  So today I got out my handy notebook and started making lists.  It feels good to get back into the habit!  Here are my goals for this month:

• Keep up with daily Bible reading (I am still on track with this--yay!!  Furthest I've ever gotten in a "through the Bible in a year" program)
• Order and organize school curriculum and other materials
• Register kids under our umbrella school
• Take one family camping trip/visit Plimoth Plantation (end of August)
• Have friends over
• Read at least 2 books
• Post 3-4 book reviews on blog
• Run 3-4 times a week
• Finish 1-2 sewing projects
• Continue our Friday adventures
• Take a social media fast again
• Celebrate our 14th anniversary(!!)
• Do some deep cleaning every week

I also wanted to update on how my "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" challenge went in July.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to accomplish my goal of running every single day.  :(  I started having some issues with a pulling/burning feeling where the mesh was placed in my hernia surgery, and Jim felt I should take a break from running to see if that made a difference (which it did), so I only got in 22 days of exercise instead of the 31 I had hoped for.  But 22 days is a lot better than none, so I was happy with that!  I had hoped to walk/run at least 50 miles for the month, and I ended up with 41.25 miles.  Thirty of those were running miles, which was even more exciting, as that does average about a mile run per day for the month (if I had run every day :)).  

For August, I want to be careful not to overdo it with the exercise, so hopefully I won't have the issues again.  My plan is to run 3-4 times a week, taking rest days in between.  I might throw in some 30 Day Shred workouts here and there as well, if I feel like it.  I could definitely use some tummy toning again . . . :) 

I have SO many other things to blog about from this summer.  I'm hoping to do some much-needed catching up in this little space over the coming month before we jump back into school!

Weekly Goals: 07/15/13 (and fitness challenge update :))

The delinquent blogger strikes again!  :)  Somehow there just aren't enough hours in the day . . . but on the plus side, I've been getting lots of cleaning and organizing done in the house, reading some good books, taking the kids on adventures, spending time with friends and family, and just generally enjoying our summer.  More about that in another post, hopefully tomorrow!  I did set goals last week, but forgot to post them.  This week I was determined to remember. :)

• Plan menu for the next week or two (I've totally been "winging it" lately, which doesn't work so well when it's hot and I don't feel like making anything . . . time to make a plan!!)
• Keep up with daily Bible reading
• Record 3-5 blessings every day
• Blog 3-5 times
• Run at least a mile every day
• Take kids on one fun outing/adventure
• Finish 2 skirts
• Do basic home cleaning/upkeep
• Send my in-laws' anniversary card ON TIME :)

The running every day challenge is going really well!  After tomorrow, I will be over halfway through the month, and so far I've made it on the treadmill every day.  Last week I was able to run 1.5 miles and walk .5 miles every day.  In the two days so far this week, I've run 1.75 miles and walked .5 miles each day.  I'm not sure that I will make my goal of running 3.2 miles at least once by the end of the month, but at least I am seeing my distance increase a little bit each week.  I'm closing in on 30 miles of running/walking so far.  I was hoping to do at least 50 miles for the month, so I'm well on my way!  Pretty exciting. :)  While I still can't say I really love running, I do love how it makes me feel.  I definitely seem to have more energy day-to-day, and I know it would be even better if I got to bed earlier . . . which hasn't been happening much this summer!  I haven't lost much weight, less than a pound so far this month, but I haven't been very careful about eating less or counting calories, so I'm not too surprised.  I figured this month I would focus on exercise and next month I will plan to add in some more food parameters. :)  

Hoping to post more soon with a random update and pictures, a couple book reviews, etc!  

Social media experiment update #1

I promised an update on this, so I wanted to make sure to actually post one!  My first week of the experiment went really well.  I stuck to my goal of no Facebook/Feedly until Friday, and I only checked Pinterest and blogs at night.  I kept a running list of how much I got done on Mon-Thurs. and thought it might be fun to share that here.  I'm not sure that I got a ton more than normal accomplished, but part of that was because of the time taken with achievement tests and finishing up the rest of school.  This week won't be an accurate comparison, either (although I am still mostly sticking with the same plan) because I haven't been accomplishing much due to being sick, and the things I will be doing toward the end of the week will be different than normal because of our trip.  Anyway, here's what last week looked like.  These are just random lists of things that got done each day, in no particular order:

• Monday: Exercised, Bible reading done, finished a chapter in Educating the Wholehearted Child, 1 load laundry done start to finish (put away), blogging done, school and testing done, quick trip to Walmart, Medicaid app. done, stayed up too late on Pinterest :)
• Tuesday: Exercised, Bible reading done, got all dishes washed, started jean skirt for Julia, bread made, sliced and put away, iced tea made, 1 load laundry done start to finish, another load folded and put away, 1 chapter read in Choosing Gratitude, school and testing done, table set before supper (usually I'm doing this as soon as supper is ready!), got to bed between 10-10:30, so better than Monday!
• Wednesday: Exercised, Bible reading done, finished testing, worked on jean skirt, sorted recycling, went to dump and library, wrote emails, made iced tea, made mayo, washed almost all dishes, went to bed at a decent time (can't remember when).
• Thursday: Bible reading done, 1 chapter read in Choosing Gratitude, finished couch time books for school, finished Julia's skirt, started work on body pillow case, practiced piano, sent emails, grilled chicken, made rice, got everyone ready for church, went to church.

Then Friday came . . . we were done with school and Sam had just come down with the cold . . . we pretty much crashed, and I spent way too much time on the computer.  But I could see some definite progress over last week, and I am happy about that!  It was nice to see that the world of social media went right on turning without me (as I knew it would, of course ;)), and I'm looking forward to taking lots more time away from the computer over the summer.  

For more inspiration, I really liked this post from Trina Holden, and also this one from Holley Gerth at (in)courage.  

On a completely unrelated note, our first chickie hatched last night or today, but unfortunately something was wrong with it and it died.  :(  We were all sad about that, but we didn't even find it till it was already dead, so there was no time to get attached to it or anything.  We'll see if the other one hatches and survives or not . . . 

Image credit

Weekly Goals 06/11/13

I'm a little late getting these posted, but I wanted to update on my progress from last week and share my (very few) goals for this week.  Here's how last week went:

• Keep up with daily Bible reading--Almost done (caught up on last week's today)
• Read 2 chapters of Choosing Gratitude--DONE!
• Complete week 36 of school, plus academic testing--DONE!!! :)
• Exercise 5-6 times--Not quite, only got 4 times, sadly!
• Get up by 6:30 am every weekday--Accomplished this every day except Friday
• Drink 3 bottles of water, 5-6 days--Nope, only got 2-3 days, I think
• Renew Medicaid application for kids--DONE!
• Plant the garden--Didn't happen till Sun/Mon, but it is DONE now! :)

Here are my new goals for this week:

• Rest and recover from a cold that hit the kids and me over the weekend
• Pack and bake stuff for our trip to Ohio (leaving Fri. or Sat.)
• Try to drink a decent amount of tea/water every day (this is always hard for me when I am sick!)
• Leave the house semi-clean, if possible :)

My exercise schedule has completely gone out the window since getting sick.  I'm sad about that, but I'll get back on track after our vacation.  I've kind of just been in survival mode this week, which is frustrating, but I'm resting in the fact that God knows best and He must have known I needed a little downtime, even though I feel like I have a million and one things to do before Friday.  Thankfully today has been better, except for a bad headache and a bit of a cough for most of the day.  

I've been reading the book Choosing Gratitude, and I have to say it's really helped me to focus on things to be grateful for about being sick, instead of complaining all the time.  So I made a mental list of things I'm thankful for and decided to post it here. :)

1. I'm thankful that this is the first time any of us has been sick since November!!!!!  That is a really big deal, and a huge blessing.
2. I'm thankful the cold didn't hit until we had finished our last week of school.
3. And that it hit before our vacation!
4. I'm thankful I still got to enjoy a date with my hubby on Sunday night, even though my head was totally stuffed up and I couldn't taste much of the yummy Chili's food. :)
5. I'm thankful for time to rest and relax and get lots of reading done!
6. I'm thankful for lemon zinger tea with honey. :)
7. And for a husband who doesn't mind meals that are simple and boring when I don't feel like cooking.
8. And for a 9 year old who was a big help to me in making soup tonight!
9. I'm thankful that I felt well enough to get the garden planted on Monday, before it started raining.
10. I'm thankful for steady, soaking rain today, watering those seeds. :)  (Okay, that doesn't have to do with being sick, but I thought I'd throw it in there anyway!)

I probably won't be able to blog while we're on vacation, but I hope to get a few posts up before we leave, if I have time.  If not, I'll be back sometime toward the end of the month. :)

Weekly Goals: 06/03/13

Today is a lot cooler (yay!) and I ran 2.25 miles again this morning (second time ever!) and walked .75 miles, for a total of 3 miles . . . very happy about that. :)  I technically completed the C25K program last week, although I have not yet actually run 3.2 miles.  Completing the program means either running 3.2 miles or running for 30 minutes, and I accomplished the latter. :)  Working my way up to the former, though!  Today's workout of walking/running 3 miles took me about 42 minutes, which didn't seem too bad.  I am excited to see my endurance growing.

Anyway . . . enough about that.  Here are my goals for this week:

• Keep up with daily Bible reading
• Read 2 chapters of Choosing Gratitude
• Complete week 36 of school, plus academic testing
• Exercise 5-6 times
• Get up by 6:30 am every weekday
• Drink 3 bottles of water, 5-6 days
• Renew Medicaid application for kids
• Plant the garden

We are working our way through CATs (California Achievement Tests) today.  Phew!  This is possibly my least favorite part of homeschooling.  It's funny because as a kid, I really enjoyed taking the CAT.  But as a mom, it stresses me out.  The whole timer thing, and seeing my kids get wrong answers . . . and they (especially Sam) don't do well with the timer, either . . . Every year I think about switching to an untimed test and maybe one of these years, I will.  I do like the CAT because it is fairly quick and easy, though.  This year we are doing the online version, which is exactly the same as the 1970 paper version, just done online instead.  I thought it might be more fun for them . . . but I'm not sure.  Julia has issues with controlling the mouse and keeps clicking on the wrong side of it.  Sam does better with the mouse, but he just doesn't like testing in general.  I know I just need to RELAX and remember that the test results are not really an accurate gauge of how much my kids know.  I KNOW THIS, but I still get stressed out!!  And in NH, we don't even have to report these results anymore, so I don't know why I get uptight about it!!  We have to test (or have the kids evaluated) but the results don't even have to go to the school system . . . so really, this should be a fun thing, right? :)  Anyway, Julia is finished with half of hers, and we will do the rest tomorrow.  Sam is done with about a third of his.  We may spread the rest of his over the next two days.  I will just be glad to have it done . . . and when this week is done, we will be finished with this school year.  Yay!!!!!!!!  We are all looking forward to the break.  And crazy me already starting filling up my cart at Sonlight with next year's curriculum. :D  Next year we will be starting American history and I am really looking forward to that!!  Although I have to say that I learned a lot over our 2 year study of world history, and really enjoyed it, too.  Sonlight makes history fun! :)

Well, this was supposed to be a goals post and turned into a homeschooling post.  Oops, sorry about that. :)  I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!

Experiments in social media

Okay, so I am a little scared to post this, to be honest.  Mostly scared that I will fail and not follow through with my plan!  But I figure I have a better chance of success if I "put it out there" for some accountability.  So here's the thing: I struggle with balancing my online time, plain and simple.  And I check Facebook waaaaay too much.  It's so easy to get sucked into the swirling vortex of social media and before I know it, the day is flying by and I wonder why I didn't get much done!  I want to form some new habits over this summer.  More intentional time with the kids, more reading time, more housework time (okay, maybe I don't *want* to do that, but it is a need! :)), more time grabbing onto life and not wondering where it went.  So I'm trying an experiment.  For now, I'm going to take this experiment just a week at a time.  I don't want to start out with a big, huge goal for the whole summer and then beat myself up when I fail in the first week or something.

So here is the plan:

• No Facebook or Feedly (my new substitute for Google Reader, which I like a lot better!) until Friday.  Get it?  They all start with "F"--so it's easy to remember. :)
• Pinterest may only be checked once a day--after the kids are in bed, or before they are awake.
• Money Saving Mom (one of my favorite blogs) may be checked once a day, same with any personal friends' blogs--especially the friend who is due to have a baby soon. :)

I think this is enough to concentrate on for the first week.  Next week, I may add in parameters for email time, etc., and after that comes our vacation, which will probably be a whole different plan.  The main thing is, I'm going to focus on taking control of my social media time this summer.  I will let you know the results of my first experiment week after it's over. :)

**I still plan to post in my own blog this week--hopefully more than normal, since I will not be wasting time on Facebook or browsing everyone else's blogs. :)