The Sensible Mom

10 Goals for the week

May 22, 2012 by Sandra 4 Comments

I didn’t get this posted on Monday, but since the older kids are playing with Legos and the baby is sleeping soundly in my arms (Yes, I can type, nurse, and cradle a baby at the same time. Skillz!), I thought I’d tackle this post. 🙂

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. ~~Continue reading through the book of Proverbs with the kids~~ – Done, although we only read Proverbs one day last week. We have been getting together regularly to pray before bed, though. I want to work on getting back to a regular evening Bible time as a family.

2. ~~Make homemade eye-makeup remover and deodorant with Breanna~~ – Done! Breanna did a great job of making both the homemade eye-makeup remover and the deodorant. I haven’t had a chance to try out the eye-makeup remover (since I haven’t been wearing much makeup lately), but I have been using the deodorant, and it’s been working great. I’ll post more on both of these DIY projects later.

Personal Goals:

3. Juice everyday this week – Almost, we missed juicing on Wednesday and Sunday.

4. Start reading the ebook, Tell Your Time (affiliate link) by Amy Lynn Andrews – I didn’t start this at all. I’ve been trying to finish up an important design project.

5. Start counting my calories again – I never made it an entire day of calorie counting, and I’m giving this goal up for now. I’ll try again when life feels a little less cluttered.

Home Management Goals:

6. ~~Finish organizing and unpacking the master bathroom~~ – Done! We can see the sink!

7. Unpack the 3-4 boxes upstairs and remove the clutter that has accumulated around my desk – I did unpack the boxes (whew!), but my desk is a clutter magnet…..bills, papers, coupons, notebooks, random items without homes….It would be embarrassing to show you what the floor around my desk looks like right now. I’ll spare you the pictures. 😉

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day and start my regular posting schedule – Not done. I’m working on it, though. I had Ruben get my large dry-erase calendar up on the wall and my dry-erase board, which should go a long way toward progress with our design business and blog posting.

9. FINISH client project – this is a BIG goal, because this is a big project – Not done, but lots of progress was made.

10. Create graphics for new topics I’ll be posting on – Not done….

And now for this week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals:

1. Start a regular family Bible time and keep reading through Proverbs

2. Spend more focused time with each child

Personal Goals:

3. Juice everyday this week

4. Start reading the ebook, Tell Your Time (affiliate link) by Amy Lynn Andrews

5. Get back on the treadmill

Home Management Goals:

6. Help the younger kids organize their bedroom

7. Clear the clutter from around my desk and clean up the floor area around my desk

Business Goals:

8. Post one blog post each day and start my regular posting schedule

9. Finish client project and return emails

10. Create graphics for new topics I’ll be posting on

What are your goals for the week?

Losing the Baby Fat Weight Loss Update

May 22, 2012 by Sandra 5 Comments

I lost 1 lb. last week! So that means I am currently at a weight of 207.5 lbs.

What have I been doing to work towards my goal?

I’ve been juicing. We juiced every day last week except for Wednesday (didn’t have enough produce to make our juices that morning) and Sunday. Ruben has been doing mini juice fasts for 1-3 days, and I’ve been simply drinking juice along with breakfast (typically organic oatmeal with or without cinnamon – no sugar) or lunch. I’ve also been drinking juice in the evenings, too, if there’s some still in the fridge. We always drink the juice on the same day that we make it.

I’ve not been counting my calories. I’ve started to count in the morning, and then I’ll just get too swamped or forget to keep track for the rest of the day. I think as long as I continue to lose weight little by little, I’m not going to count my calories. I do think that it was highly beneficial when I was counting, but we’re still working on getting into a good groove of how to do everyday family life, and we are STILL unpacking, so I’m going to let my goal of trying to count my calories wait for a slower season of life at the moment.

I’m also not exercising regularly – yet. I’m still trying to catch up on things I’m behind on, and I haven’t made it back onto the treadmill. I will though! I created schedules for the 4 oldest kids and myself, and I have scheduled exercise time. It just seems like whenever that time rolls around on the schedule, it isn’t a good time.

We did take a walk around the neighborhood last week, and that was fun! For a field trip, we are taking the kids to the Atlanta Zoo this week (we got 4 free passes from the local library), and we’re sure to get plenty of exercise there. We always do a lot of walking when we visit the zoo. We had season passes back in Illinois, and we’re thinking about taking the plunge and getting season passes for the Atlanta zoo, so that Ruben can take the kids once a week while I work. I’m still looking for balance when it comes to working from home. I haven’t found it, but we’re getting closer.

Anyway, enough chatter, here’s what my weight loss progress looks like:

Beginning weight: 220 lbs.

Current Weight: 207.5 lbs.

Goal Weight: 170 lbs.

# of total pounds I want to lose in 2012: 50lbs.

# of pounds to go until I reach my goal: 37.5 lbs.

Total # of pounds lost to date: 12.5 lbs.

On a side note, as of last Monday, I am 5 months postpartum, and I’ve lost all of my ‘fifth baby’ weight plus 6 extra pounds! I came out of the hospital weighing 248.5 lbs., and since I’ve been home, I’ve lost a total of 41 pounds! That’s hard to believe, but I am so thankful! I’m praising the Lord for every single pound lost.

How’s your weight loss progress this week?

Readingeggs.com – The Sensible Mom’s Review of a Great Homeschooling Resource

May 17, 2012 by Sandra 3 Comments

Have you ever come across a homeschooling resource….book, website, chart, anything…..that instantly clicked with your child?

It just worked.

Automatically.

They loved it.

Instantly.

I have never had that experience before until I was given the opportunity to receive a free 3-month trial subscription of the program, Reading Eggs. As a member of The Homeschool Lounge’s review team, I had the opportunity to try out this online program. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised. All 3 of our older kids, ages 11, 9, and 5, all loved it.

Why do my kids love it?

It’s like they’re playing a game, but they’re learning. They’re constantly learning, and this program is so well done, it keeps them interested and wanting to go on to the next level.

Why I love it?

It starts out with giving your child an assessment to see where they are at in terms of reading and spelling, and then based on the results of the assessment, your child starts the program on the appropriate level. There are 120 levels in all. After they finish those levels, they can go on to “Reading Eggspress” where they choose stories to read and are then quizzed on the material. Nathan and Breanna are both using Reading Eggspress and have enjoyed reading the stories. They often share what they’ve read about with me, and it sparks a conversation with my kids.

I also love the quality of this program. As a designer, I can appreciate well done graphics and effects. This program has both. I was very impressed by the high quality of the animation and characters in Reading Eggs. Very impressed. Because we’ve used other computer based programs in the past, and the graphics generally aren’t high quality and done well, which can take away from the program and make it less interesting.

I like that the developers of Reading Eggs are still working on the program to make it better and add more quality, educational content to it.

Who is Reading Eggs for?

This program is geared toward children 3-13 years old. I mentioned my older kids using the program. They’re 11,9, and 5yrs. old, but about a month ago, I started our youngest son, David, on the program, too. David is 3yrs. old, and after learning how to use the computer mouse pad, he’s been learning with the program, too.

When do we use Reading Eggs?

We’ve been using the program for almost 3 months now, and its become a regular part of our homeschooling routine for reading and spelling. When we first started using the program, it was hard to tear the kids away from it on the weekends.

If you don’t homeschool, would you still recommend Reading Eggs?

Yes! We use it for homeschooling, but it can be used to help your child learn the reading and spelling even if you don’t homeschool. It’s geared toward all children ages 3-13yrs. old. This would be a GREAT resource to help a child who is struggling in reading or spelling, too.

What do you need to use the Reading Eggs program?

You will need internet access. Unlike another computer based program that we’ve used called Switched-On Schoolhouse, which does not require internet access, Reading Eggs does.

Will we be purchasing the program after the free trial ends?

Resounding, “Yes!” I was able to find codes (internet search) to use for all the kids (except the baby) to try Reading Eggs (only 1 child got the free 3 month subscription provided my Reading Eggs) on a trial basis, and next week I will be purchasing 1yr. access to the program for Nathan, Breanna, Isaac, and David.

The bottom line?

This program works. How do I know? Nathan and Breanna are doing better in reading and spelling, and Isaac has grown in leaps and bounds in knowledge of letters, their sounds, and sounding out words. Go check it out and see for yourself. You can get a free trial for your child on their website.

Disclosure: I received a free 3 month trial of Reading Eggs in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. I would have totally recommended Reading Eggs anyway. It’s a great program!

Losing the Baby Fat Weight Loss Update

May 14, 2012 by Sandra 6 Comments

Well, like with most of my blog posts these days, I don’t have a lot of time to write, so I’m going to jump right in.

Since I last updated, I’ve lost another .5lbs! It’s not a huge loss, obviously, but it’s a loss. 🙂

I weighed in at 208.5 lbs. this morning.

I haven’t weighed this amount since shortly after I gave birth to Nathan, our firstborn. I had ballooned up to 252 lbs. (I started at around 155lbs.) during my pregnancy with Nathan, and got down to 192 lbs. after he was born. But then I stopped losing the pregnancy weight and started to see the scale go back up!

In the wrong direction.

I think I got to around 200-something and then started on Weight Watchers. I remember being 208 lbs. while on Weight Watchers. This was back in 2000.

12 years ago.

Wow.

I didn’t stick with Weight Watchers, and after losing around 10lbs. on the program, I quit. The weight loss also quit. No big surprise there.

Fast forward to May 14, 2012, and I am finally down to 208.5lbs. again! It’s been too long!

But I’ll take it.

And I’m going to keep on working to lose the rest of this weight.

We are juicing regularly, which I’m loving immensely. Today, I drank an entire 1lb. bag of carrots & an apple. Yum! It was soooo good. I also made fresh apple juice for Breanna, and I’m happy to see her requesting juice regularly. We still don’t have the entire family juicing, but we will…..little by little.

Anyway, here’s what my progress looks like:

Beginning weight: 220 lbs.

Current Weight: 208.5 lbs.

Goal Weight: 170 lbs.

# of total pounds I want to lose in 2012: 50lbs.

# of pounds to go until I reach my goal: 38.5 lbs.

Total # of pounds lost to date: 11.5 lbs.

Are you trying to lose weight this year? How is your progress going?

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