Please note that I managed to cross off EVERY SINGLE ITEM on my list! Just the fact that the list is sitting there next to my computer keeps me so much more accountable. When the computer is being touchy or slow, I get up and do something. Ingenious, Huh?
Hope I can keep this up. I might actually be ready for Christmas this year!
Last Week's Goals.... Week of September 24th
Make copies of Bible Study Stuff. Finally got this done! Now to actually start the Bible Study with the kids next week!
Write Gene a Love Note.
Check four things off the Fall Bucket List. Johnny Appleseed Day Celebration with apple food at every meal, Johnny Appleseed videos on YouTube and a trip to the apple orchard. We had hot spiced apple cider. The kids didn't care for it. I drank a half gallon by myself. We made a fall wreath. Cute, with glittery spiders. And I got the porch decorated for fall with the help of my oldest minion.
Check in with kids on school work every day. I need to make this a habit. I think that the kids were a lot more diligent about actually finishing everything when they knew I was going to check each evening rather than at the end of the week.
Personal:
Read The Five Love Languages of Teenagers. I finished this book while exercising this week. Excellent sugestions. now I need to figure out the kids' love languages.
Exercise four times. I actually rode the exercise bike five mornings this week.
Lose four pounds. I lost enough that I was a half pound lower than my lowest weight when I went to the doctor on Thursday.
Pedicure. Who knew that painting spider webs on my toenails would be such a pain in the patootie? I redid them three times and I am still not so happy with the results.
Fall decorations on the porch. The cats seem to think that I put the hay bales out there just for them!
Get out Abby's winter clothes. They are out of storage. The process of trying on everything and getting it hung up takes a while. There aren't enough hangers to hang it all up until more of the summer stuff can get put away. It will have to be a work in progress.
Make daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning check lists. Done. I like it. I think that just having one list on a clipboard rather than three or four will make it easier to see what needs accomplished.
Switch my clothes to winter. What a mess! I got rid of a bunch of stuff that is just too big and sloppy looking. Woot! I hope all of the jeans I have will fit. I didn't try anything on; I just stuck it in the drawer. The bonus of it all was that I cleaned up my closet a bit and went through my Christmas Gift/Project tote and rediscovered a few things that I intended to do last year and can finish pretty quickly this year if I get on the ball.
Make laundry soap. Done. I love the smell of Fels-Naptha! I have my own recipe that is a combination of lots of other people's powdered soap recipes.
Track all spending for the week. I kept track and I was apalled. Apparently every time I leave the house I spend a great deal of money.
Write six blog posts. I wrote five posts. I am calling it a success!
Cross stitch for at least three hours. I worked on this for about five hours at the beginning of the week. I need to get it finished so I can figure out about framing it!
Start a Christmas Gift List.
Crochet borders on nine squares. I also got a couple of solid squares finished!
Christmas gift budget. I even made an excel spreadsheet to keep track. Now I am going to have to make it a goal to keep it updated.
School:
Post about interest in high school breakfast club. No responses. How dissapointing. I think Marshall and his one buddy will just start meeting for breakfast once a week on their own!
Co-op lesson. Not my turn! How nice is that?
Green items have been forwarded from last week's list. Blue items are ongoing until they are finished or become a habit.
On to next week.
There are only 85 days until Christmas. This is my favorite time of the year!
Weekly Goals .... Week of October 1st
Family:
- Start Bible study with kids.
- Write Gene a love note.
- Check two things off the bucket list.
Personal:
- Exercise four times (two on the treadmill).
- Lose four pounds.
- Three blog posts.
Homemaking:
- Organize sewing basket.
- Complete living room list.
- Put out Halloween decorations.
Finances:
- Make spending spreadsheet and update.
- Keep Christmas budget spreadsheet current.
- Menu plan around grocery deals.
Holiday:
- Nine squares completed and assembled.
- Complete cross stitch.
- Finish one gift.
School:
- Lesson for co-op on elections.
- Check in with kids' school every day.
Green items have been forwarded from last week's list. Blue items are ongoing until they are finished or become a habit.
Here's to keeping the momentum going!
Not so much progress on my list this week. Apparently this was my week to make excuses about why I couldn't get anything done. Ughhh! Now I need to accomplish even more this week.
Family:
Homemaking:
- Fall decorations on the porch. Nope. Went shopping for mums and was apalled at the prices. I will have another go at it this week.
Put away Abby's summery summer clothes. One giant tote of stuff is put away. Still need to get out the winter stuff and go through it. As cold as it has been I think I could put away the capris too.
- Make daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning check lists. I sort of made a handwritten copy, but I want to make a printable copy.
Catch up on cutting coupons. Done! I had two weeks worth. Now just to keep up with it. I am making this an item on my weekly to do list.
- Write three blog posts. Just one post. I have been having issues with my photo editor running on this slow old computer.
Christmas Prep:
Fancy up the Fall Bucket List. So cute! I will be posting a quick tutorial for it soon.
Figure out the afghan pattern I am going to use and at least get started. I did decide on a plan. I haven't actually started, but I am calling this a success.
Cross stitch for at least three hours. Barely worked for three hours. Still so far to go.
- Start a Christmas Gift List. Nope!
So much that didn't get done. We did have a great field trip on Friday to the Ohio Statehouse with the Homeschool Co-op with dinner out, thrift store shopping for zombie costumes, and frozen yougurt! There were several visits with my oldest son and an emergency waterfall creation for my niece's science class project so I thought I had some good excuses!
I have decided that anything that doesn't get finished from the week before gets added to the list along with goals for this week rather than just forwarding things forever. My list may be a hundred items long soon if I don't get on the ball.
Here goes!
Weekly Goals .... Week of September 24th
- Make copies of Bible Study Stuff.
- Write Gene a Love Note.
- Check four things off the Fall Bucket List.
- Check in with kids on school work every day.
Personal:
- Read The Five Love Languages of Teenagers.
- Exercise four times.
- Lose four pounds.
- Pedicure
- Fall decorations on the porch.
- Get out Abby's winter clothes.
- Make daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning check lists.
- Switch my clothes to winter.
- Make laundry soap.
- Track all spending for the week.
- Write six blog posts.
- Cross stitch for at least three hours.
- Start a Christmas Gift List.
- Crochet borders on nine squares.
- Christmas gift budget.
School:
- Post about interest in high school breakfast club.
- Co-op lesson.
Green items have been forwarded from last week's list. Blue items are ongoing until they are finished or become a habit.
Lots of work to do! No excuses this week!
Looking back at my blog, one of the things that I had on my "list" was LOSE WEIGHT.
I did have my lap band surgery on November 17th. It went very well and I am pleased with the results.
I have lost 40 pounds as of today. Seven weeks since the surgery and two weeks of very restricted diet before. That is almost 4 and a half pounds a week. During Christmas and Thanksgiving. SWEET!
Nope, I am not posting any fab before and after pics 'cause we are definately not "after."
Maybe just sort of barely started, actually.
Lap Band was a big decision for me. I really felt for years that with God's help I could lose the weight. But as my diabetes got worse and I felt more and more tired, I finally realized that maybe God was telling me that Lap Band was the help that I was looking for.
It hasn't been easy, but it has changed my relationship with food. Eating is just something I do now {at least most of the time} and not entertainment or comfort. I hope that with God's help I can completely change the destructive relationship that I had with food into a simple "Eating to Live" attitude.
