The Sensible Mom

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?