Goals

I’m going to jump right into my goal progress for last week. 🙂

Here’s how I did with my goals:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Make a new school plan for Breanna. We are adding in some new programs and removing some things. I didn’t get this done, but we started a very cool new program for reading and spelling for the kids, which they absolutely love. I can hardly believe it, this program has been an instant success. We even started our newest homeschooler, Isaac, on the program for kindergarten. He was pretty upset when he was told he couldn’t do school on the weekend. That’s how good this program is. We did end up letting him do school on Saturday. I can’t wait to share more about this program from Readingeggs.com with you in the next month or so.

2. Write in Nathan’s, Isaac’s, and David’s baby books. I did put a few pictures in Nathan’s book, but I didn’t get any writing done in it like I did for Isaac and David. I’m glad to be able to invest time in their books, because I know they’ll be treasured for a long time to come.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 3 days with my exercise band. I have failed in exercising as I should the last few weeks, because I’ve been busy with projects. See this week’s goals for how I plan to change this. 🙂

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. Done! I’m so happy to have finally finished this book! Now I need to go back through it and review and try out some of the things that were interesting or helpful for either this blog or my blog design website.

5. Wake up by 8:30am every morning. Done.

Home Management Goals:

6. Organize the bathroom shelves. Done.

7. Organize my desk. Done.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day. Sadly, no. Hoping for a better week, though!

9. Create graphics for a giveaway next month to be hosted on another website. I didn’t get to this, either, but I did download some images I may use for the graphics.

10. Rework my sidebars. Done! I’m enjoying the new looks of my sidebars and hoping to work on them a bit more as time allows.

And now for this week’s goals…

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Make a new school plan for Breanna.

2. Write in Nathan’s baby book.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 1 hour 7 days this week. I started this today, and for the next 7 days, by God’s grace, I want to spend 1 hour on the treadmill each day praying and reading the Bible as I walk. We have some pretty big decisions coming up, and I need to be praying…..a lot.

4. Catch up on my online graphic design class & take the quiz that’s been assigned plus complete the weekly discussion question.

5. Wake up by 8:30am every morning.

Home Management Goals:

6. Clean the bathroom floor.

7. Vacuum the whole house.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day.

9. Create graphics for a giveaway next month to be hosted on another website.

10. Work on the footer area for The Sensible Mom.

What are your goals for the week?

 

Last week was a good week. Although, it may not have been the best week goal-wise. We’ll see what I can cross off my list.

I was busy with a website design project last week that kept me sitting A LOT. I also did some redesigning here on The Sensible Mom that took time away from other things. It was worth it, though. I’m happy with my new blog design and glad I finally got a good start on it. I still have some work to do in my sidebars, and I’m hoping to get to that by the weekend.

I’m looking forward to sharing the website I’ve been working on, too, hopefully in the next couple of weeks.

Here’s how I did with last week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Cook with Nathan. Done. Nathan and I made the yummiest homemade brownies. I also ended up making pancakes and oatmeal cookies with David, who skipped his cooking day with me last week.

2. Write in Nathan’s, Isaac’s, and David’s baby books. I didn’t get to this.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 3 days with my exercise band. I did exercise last week, but I didn’t make my goal. I’m hoping this week will be better, and I’m off to a decent start with 15 minutes on the treadmill so far today.

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. I haven’t yet finished this book, but I made good progress. I have less than 100 pages left to go.

5. Wake up by 6:00am every morning. I didn’t make my 6:00am goal at all last week. I keep thinking if I can just set my alarm and push myself to wake up when it goes off, I can get up before the kids and not feel behind or overwhelmed the minute I step out of my bedroom. The reality is that most nights I don’t get to bed until at least 11:30pm and then I spend the night nursing the baby whenever she wakes up. To top that off, she is sick and was sick all last week. It seems that David caught a cold somewhere and it was passed to the baby. Elisabeth has been dealing with a stuffy nose, sneezing, coughing, and she’s spitting up more than usual for the last week. Poor girl. 🙁 I am extremely thankful, though, for the 7 weeks our family had sickness-free right after Elisabeth was born. At least now she’s a bit older at 2 months and has been handling her first cold pretty well.

Home Management Goals:

6. Organize the bathroom shelves. Didn’t get this done.

7. Clean the kitchen floor. Done.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day. Not quite, but each week that I post this goal, I’m progressing. 🙂

9. Implement regular Office Hours for both my business and blog time and start new client project. I am doing design and blog work at night after the kids go to bed, but last week I ended up also doing a good amount of it during the day with the kids around. My desk is in the living room, so I worked there while the kids played with LEGOs, did school, etc… I stopped and took breaks to do the everyday stuff like clean and cook meals.

10. Add more plugins for functionality to The Sensible Mom. Done. See my post on which plugins I added.

Now for this week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Make a new school plan for Breanna. We are adding in some new programs and removing some things.

2. Write in Nathan’s, Isaac’s, and David’s baby books.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 3 days with my exercise band.

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson.

5. Wake up by 8:30am every morning.

Home Management Goals:

6. Organize the bathroom shelves.

7. Organize my desk.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day.

9. Create graphics for a giveaway next month to be hosted on another website.

10. Rework my sidebars.

What are your goals for the week?

Last week went okay as far as my goals were concerned. I did take some time to pray and ask the Lord for help in seeing what needs to change in my life or be put on hold in order for me to have more productive days and not feel overwhelmed. Here are some things that the Lord has brought to mind…

:: I need to catch up on the reading, lectures, and videos for my two online classes, so after I finish reading my current book, WordPress Web Design for Dummies, I won’t be starting any new books until I’m caught up. I have 5 chapters to finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies.

:: I need to set a limit for the amount of time I spend on facebook. I’m not a huge facebook user, but I do enjoy spending around 30-45 minutes a day there scrolling through posts and clicking on articles I want to read or learning about deals I might need on diapers, food, etc… I spend the most time on facebook after the kids go to bed. I open it up and scroll quickly through the day’s posts, stopping and clicking on things I want to read. I follow a lot of blogs on facebook, so the time there scrolling through posts can quickly add up. To combat spending too much time on facebook, I’m going to use The Tiny Timer and limit myself to 25 minutes per day, total.

:: In order to be able to get more done during the day without feeling stressed, I’m going to start having Isaac and David watch one educational video per day for around 30-45 minutes. I’m going to start with the Leap Frog videos, which are amazing and have helped countless homeschooling kids learn the alphabet and letter sounds way faster than mom could teach them.

:: Start using a schedule again. I’m great at making schedules, but not so great at keeping them. I picked up my old schedule and went over it and made changes that I think will help structure our days better. I’m going to keep the schedule on my desk, so it’s always available for me to quickly glance at and see what’s next.

I think that if I’m able to accomplish these things, my days will be less stressful and I won’t feel so behind all the time. I’ll let you know how it goes. 🙂

Now for how I did with last week’s goals…

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Cook with David, our almost 3yr. old. I’m crossing this off my list, because even though I didn’t actually get this done, it’s not because I didn’t try. David and I were going to make homemade waffles together, and he decided that he didn’t want to help. So, yes, the child that almost always wants to help on everyone else’s cooking day with mom did not want to join me in the kitchen on his day. We’ll try again later this month.

2. Write in the children’s baby books. I had success writing in Elisabeth’s and Breanna’s books. I want to make writing in their books more of a priority, because it’s always fun to go back and read what they were doing at different ages and what their likes were. The kids also love reading their books, and I know they’ll treasure them even more as they get older.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 2 days with my exercise band. Last week was a pretty good week as far as exercise went. I was on the treadmill quite a bit and used the exercise band at least 2 days.

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. I made progress in this book, but I still have 5 chapters to go until I finish. There are 18 total chapters in this book, and the code-heavy chapters are taking me awhile to get through. Chapters 11 & 12 are particularly code-heavy.

5. Wake up by 8:00am every morning. No, I was not successful in this area. Elisabeth and I still haven’t quite found our groove, and we are still working on bed time and a regularly sleep schedule. Elisabeth will be 8 weeks old on Wednesday.

Home Management Goals:

6. Help the kids clean their closet. Done.

7. Put away my coupons, so that I actually have them ready when I need them. Done.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day. Not quite, but I definitely made progress. Having my posts planned helped, for sure.

9. Implement regular Office Hours for both my business and blog time, and send emails I didn’t get to last week. I guess I’m going to try the 9:30-11:30pm Office Hours this week. Again, I didn’t quite get this done perfectly, but I made progress. I got caught up on emails for about 1 day, but the Office Hours weren’t that successful. I’m shooting for 9-11pm this week.

10. Add more plugins for functionality to The Sensible Mom. I didn’t get to this at all, but it’ll stay on my list for this week.

And now for this week’s goals…

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Cook with Nathan.

2. Write in Nathan’s, Isaac’s, and David’s baby books.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 3 days with my exercise band.

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson.

5. Wake up by 6:00am every morning. This sounds impossible right now, but with the changes I made to my written schedule, I’m going to strive for a 6am wake up time.

Home Management Goals:

6. Organize the bathroom shelves.

7. Clean the kitchen floor.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day.

9. Implement regular Office Hours for both my business and blog time and start new client project.

10. Add more plugins for functionality to The Sensible Mom.

What are your goals for the week?

Over the last few days, as I looked over my goal list here, my to-do list on paper, and just plain looked around my home, I came to the realization that I have too many things that I’m trying to get done and not enough time in which to finish them all. Something has to change, and I honestly don’t know what it is yet. There’s meals, homeschooling, potty training, diaper changing, baths, online college classes, reading, blogging, running a design business, and on and on the list goes….

I was busy with blog projects last week (which I loved working on), but at the end of the week I had done almost nothing for my two online classes, which now puts me behind with school. Is it May yet?

I’m not sure what to do because I don’t feel like there is anything that I can completely give up for a long period of time. I feel stuck, but I know what I really need to do to get unstuck. I need to set some time aside and pray about what the Lord wants me to be doing right now and how I can better organize my days to get those things done in the most glorifying way possible. I need to pray, and that is what I will do this week.

Here’s what happened with last week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Come up with a family activity for us to do for our Family Day on Friday. Done. We took the kids to Culver’s for lunch on my birthday. I used two coupons, and we all ate for $26 (with dessert). Pretty good for a family of seven (baby girl was not a part of the eating, though). We wanted to avoid a $50 meal out at a sit-down restaurant.

2. Cook with Breanna and Isaac for our “cooking days” together. Done. I made quick homemade cinnamon rolls with Breanna, completely from scratch with a great recipe! And Isaac and I made our family’s favorite BIG chocolate chip cookies.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 2 days with my exercise band. Almost. I ended up walking for 2 days and worked out with the band twice as well.

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson. I wish! I’m hoping to finish this book this week.

5. Wake up by 5:30am every morning. I’m come to the realization that this isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Baby girl has been going to bed around 11-11:30pm for the night and that hinders my efforts to get up early. The last two days are showing some promise, though. Elisabeth has gone into a deep sleep a little earlier.

Home Management Goals:

6. Help Nathan and Breanna sort through their clothes and remove what doesn’t fit and can be donated. I’m also going to try to make up a couple of boxes for ThreadUp. Done, but I decided to forego the ThreadUP boxes and instead either donate the clothes or keep them as hand-me-downs in tightly sealed boxes.

7. Sew hole in Breanna’s pants since I didn’t get to this last week or the week before. Done.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day. I started well, but didn’t finish well on this one. Hoping this week will be better. I’ve planned my posts out. I just need to write them.

9. Implement regular Office Hours for both my business and blog time, and send emails I didn’t get to last week. Ha! Along with the realization that I won’t be getting up at 5:30am each morning because of baby girl’s sleep habits, I also need to rethink my Office Hours idea. I suppose if I take a look at things as they stand right now, the best time to have Office Hours would be from 9:30-11:30pm. Maybe I should try this? I did send most of the emails I needed to, but not all.

10. Create graphic I have in mind to use in future weekly posts. Done! I’m looking forward to sharing a new weekly feature with you soon.

This week’s goals…

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Cook with David, our almost 3yr. old.

2. Write in the children’s baby books.

Personal Goals:

3. Walk for 30 minutes 3 days this week and do strength training 2 days with my exercise band.

4. Finish reading WordPress Web Design for Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson.

5. Wake up by 8:00am every morning.

Home Management Goals:

6. Help the kids clean their closet.

7. Put away my coupons, so that I actually have them ready when I need them.

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day.

9. Implement regular Office Hours for both my business and blog time, and send emails I didn’t get to last week. I guess I’m going to try the 9:30-11:30pm Office Hours this week.

10. Add more plugins for functionality to The Sensible Mom.

What are your goals for the week?