Goal Getting: February 10-16

Ah, another week. I love the start of a new week when we can make a new, fresh, unspoiled to do list and then make a mess out of it.

Monday Motivation

A lot of my goals for this year include building a foundation and growing from that. Health has been an ongoing goal for years, but this year it needs to be at the forefront, because what is at the foundation of your life if not your health. And to meet this health goal, I need to move from where I am. What is more important to me...remaining healthy or the cookie from Chicken Salad Chick?

This Week's Spread

This week, I used another kit from Fabulously Planned to honor Valentine's Day. I am finally settling into my hourly planner. I struggle with not having uniformity across each day, but then, each day is not uniform.

Goals for the Week
1. Go to Mass
2. Call the Insurance about the Roof (TOP)
3. Read at least one book
4. Start a Prayer Notebook
5. Eat at the table 3 times
6. Have 2 Game Nights
7. Blog 3x
8. Disney Blog 1x
9. Start Filming YouTube again
10. Sugar/Gluten Free 5/7 Days
11. Facebook Posts
12. Organize Social Media Assets

What is your top goal this week?

Last Week was Weird!

October 19-21 I was in Indiana visiting my best friend. We went to a Tauren Wells concert, which was so inspiring. I spent the weekend just fitting into the life of my friend, I watched her paint, made dinner with her, went to church with her, watched football with her family and then we went to the concert. We had so much time to chat, laugh, cry, worship and rejoice.

I left Monday morning at like 5 AM. Tuesday, Chris left for a work trip at 3 AM. Wednesday, I got up at 4:30 to take a friend to the airport. Thursday was the first morning I felt like I was fully rested and Friday, I finally felt like myself.

While Chris was gone, I caught up on ironing, cleaned out the guest closet and the laundry room, did all kinds of social things and delved into Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas!

Ok, usually, I resist until the day before Thanksgiving...however, it is the 10th anniversary and this year just feels exciting.

Chris has been stressed at work and needs a break, so we are heading to Gatlinburg Thursday to relax in a mountain view cabin. I am looking forward to picking up some apple butter at Apple Barn and just RELAXING with Chris.

This Week's Spread

This Week's Goals

1. Read a lot

2. Crochet a lot

3. Relax a lot

4. Track down final cabinets for Carol's kitchen

Kitchen Renovation
So, this kitchen reno was supposed to be finished. Cue the eye roll. Now, we are pushing Thanksgiving. THANKSGIVING. When I am going to be serving 13 people out of her kitchen. It's ok. I'm not stressed at all. Ok, that's a bit of a lie. But the paint looks less blue since we installed the floor and the cabinets!

Weekly Motivation

Burn this into my brain after Thursday...I'm seriously looking forward to wine, fires, hot tubs, popcorn and hiking.

What are you planning to do for Halloween?

79 Days Until 2020!

Over the weekend, I drove up to Marion, IL to spend an evening one-on-one with one of my best friends. We had lunch, checked into the hotel, chatted, relaxed in a hot tub, napped, drank a lot of wine, ordered Chinese food, moisturized and connected. It was insanely relaxing and grounded me.

Heading into this week, things are going to be busy. I have a lot of things to accomplish on my 19 for 2019 list, Thanksgiving prep that needs to be done and my mother-in-law's kitchen remodel is in full swing.

This Week's Motivation

Last week, I listened to the audiobook version of Amy Poehler's "Yes, Please!" and this quote knocked me off my feet. Why do we take on other people's chaos? She was telling a story about how someone else screwed something up and instead of offering ways to fix it that would be easy for the other person, she stayed silent and let the other person think about possible fixes. This is definitely something I need to employ!

First half of the week

I'm only sharing Monday-Wednesday this week because I honestly haven't planned Thursday and Friday yet.

Goals

1. Create and Order 2 Photo Books
2. Find an Area Rug for the Living Room
3. Bake something Paleo
4. Teach Ellie a Trick
5. Thanksgiving Prep
6. Order Christmas Cards
7. Read 3 Books
8. Work on Baby Registry

It's a big list, but I want to knock as much stuff off my list before the holidays as I can!

What is your biggest goal this week?

I need to figure this out - Week of September 23

Hello!

Its been over a month and I suck.

I do need to figure out how to get this done in real life. I'm kind of considering ordering an hourly planner with the rest of 2019 in it so I can get better at blocking out my days so I can get stuff done.

I'm a big procrastinator.

Ok, anyway.

Motivation for the Week

Over the past few months, I have been struggling with the juxtaposition of how people perceive me and who I really am. I'm not sure what is holding me back from letting the world know me, but I am trying to be confident and let myself out.

Goals for the Week

Look. At this point, I am just going to let myself coast through the rest of this week and then pick it back on up on Monday, which is basically October 1. I do have a few goals though.

1. Travel Agency Facebook Posts (2 weeks)
2. Stick to Food Rules
3. See Downtown Abbey movie
4. See Hustlers movie
5. Clean
6. Sell the stupid treadmill
7. Set up Powersheets
8. Set up October Planner.

First Half of Planner

Going Forward

I think this week I am going to shoot for one more post and then move to three posts a week going forward.

So, how have you been? What are you most proud of in the past month?

Unmotivated Motivation

I was so low energy and unmotivated last week...it was ridiculous. A lot of the time, I am either un-motivated OR low energy...very rarely am I both unmotivated and low energy. This week, I am still feeling it, but its mid-way through the month and we need to kick it in gear.

So, fake it till you make it...right?

Planner spread

Goals for the Week

1. Costco*
2. Order glasses*
3. Finish Facts of Life Binder
4. Get HVAC Quotes*
5. Bake a pie
6. Prep Baby Clothes*
7. Make and Order a Photo Book
8. Run a Facebook Ad*
9. Blog Daily*
10. Watch Webinar Replays*
11. Add Travel Agent Vendors*
12. Finish City of Girls*

Wow. A lot of non-negotiables this week...I better get my mojo back!

Quote of the Week

I need to paste this to my forehead this week. While last week feels like a wash, I need to remember it wasn't. I did a lot of piddling...do you piddle? That means you wander around and do all these little tasks that will never make a to do list, but need to be done. I piddled several days away and the result of the things I finished is amazing!

This week, though, I need to handle a lot more big picture things.

Ok, what are you up to this week? Do you fake it until you make it?

I have no idea what happened last week

I spent the week just fluttering. Things were so crazy and Chris dropped a work schedule change on me and I was just an exhausted, fluttering mess.

Anyway, the past is the past. Everyone survived and most stuff got done.

Planner Spread of the Week

Goals

This is a light list this week. I am leaving on Thursday morning to head home to help my mom throw a 30th birthday party for my little brother. Basically, I just can't get a lot going this week.

1. Travel Tips October posts
2. Send a form to our credit union
3. Order lightbulbs
4. Post daily
5. Digital Organizing
6. Read

Motivational Quote of the Week

Yes. It's back.

Now you...how did last week go? Also, what TV show are you watching right now?

Here comes August!

I love the end of the month and the beginning of a new one!

I get so much joy from looking over the last month and seeing what I have accomplished and thinking about the things I could have done better and then planning the month ahead.

For us, August is a great big ? .

Tomorrow, we find out if/when my mother-in-law will have surgery to correct her carotid stenosis. We are still trying to decide if it makes good financial sense to go on vacation in September. So, I am budgeting and planning and trying to keep us on a strict budget so we can go to South Dakota.

Planner Spread of the Week

Goals
1. Plan Sanibel Island trip
2. Cut Stickers
3. Facebook Posts for August 12-18 and August 19-25 *
4. Costco Trip...major trip *
5. Pick up necklace at Kay Jewelers *
6. Plan Ben's Birthday Party *
7. Travel Tips posts for October

Motivation for the Week

A major focus for me this month (and the rest of the year) is going to be getting myself back on track. I need to eat in a way that makes me feel good, I need to move as much as possible to get myself fit...I just want to conquer this lifelong issue. I can do this.

What are your goals this week?

It's a New Week!

Well, last week did not go as planned, but I'm giving myself some grace. I spent a lot of time cuddling Ellie, cleaning up her messes (she has a UTI) and relaxing. Actually, I was glancing at my tending list and it wasn't as bad of a week as it felt, but if I had just stepped it up a tiny bit...

Grace. Right. Grace. Ok, it's a new week.

Planner Spread of the Week

This Week's Goals

1. Work on Ellie's new trick
2. Travel Tips with Jennie September posts
3. Catch up on ironing*
4. Purge the living room
5. Schedule outings with Kathy and Linda*
6. Facebook posts August 5-11*
7. Plan Sanibel Island
8. Design Stickers

As usual, the starred items are the non-negotiable goals, but I really want to get the others done too! It is totally possible this week too. There is not a ton going on except the bathroom remodel and a lunch that I forgot to add to my planner.

Motivational Quote of the Week

I have a feeling this will probably be the quote of the week for the next few weeks...

This week, things seem pretty calm, but when things seem pretty calm, those are the weeks that usually end in chaos. And next week, we find out if and when my mother-in-law needs surgery that will require her to recuperate at our house.

Updates

So, I wrote this post this morning and then took a nap because I couldn't sleep through the night and ended up awake at 3 AM and napping from 6:30-7:15. Since then, I have finished my ironing, most of the laundry and scheduled my outing with Kathy.

Hopefully this week goes better...

Last week was rough. I always underestimate how much my mother-in-law exhausts me. We joke she is an "energy vampire" because she always seems to get more energized when we are around and we end up falling asleep at like 6:00 after a day at her house.

Anyway...this is a new week.

Monday Motivation

"Lord, Prepare me for what I am praying for."

I believe I used this earlier this summer, but it is very pressing on my mind. With the adoption "waiting" in full force, I need to work on being prepared to be a parent. It's still really surreal to think of myself as a parent in a real way. For years I have shut down that dream and held it down with everything I have and now....its so much more of a possibility and my brain and my heart are at war with each other.

One is always happy...the other is always cautious. And it switches. It's really a crazy thing. One part of myself is always holding back to try to protect myself. So praying for preparation is probably the only thing that will turn this around.

Planner Spread of the Week

I left Tuesday and Wednesday mostly blank because my bathroom remodel is starting one of those days and I want to mark it, so I will fill that in when I know the plan. Later this week, we are going to Maumee Bay State Park Lodge for a family reunion!

Goals for the Week

* Facebook posts for the weeks of July 8-14, July 15-21 and July 22-28*
* August Blog posts for Travel Tips with Jennie
* Work on Ellie's trick
* Read 2 books
* Finish planning our South Dakota trip
* Plan that shopping trip with Kathy*
* Create a photo book
* Bake and decorate Abby's birthday cake**
* Run a Facebook ad**
* Order Tile**
* Pick up Vanity and Necklace**

You might notice that A LOT of those goals are leftover from last week. They really, really must happen this week.

How did your week go last week? What is your biggest goal of this week?

A New Start-Happy July

Happy July!

I’ve been writing here for over a year now and, while I love sharing, I want to share better. I want to make it more genuine and more useful. I love being a housewife, but I think that as a modern housewife, I can learn from other housewives and maybe I can share my successes and struggles in a way that is valuable to the greater housewife community.

Today, that starts.

I don’t want to make promises about what each day will hold and I don’t want to make promises that there will be a post every single day, even though that is my goal. But I do want to make a practice of sharing a lot of things about how I get through the day, week and month. So I will be sharing my planners, my meal plans, grocery hauls, motivational quotes, my renewed health goal and so much more.

So, here we go….

Monday’s Motivation

“You have spent enough time at war with yourself.”

I can definitely relate to this. It makes me think of all of the negative things I think about myself and my world. I’m generally a pretty happy person, but that does not make me immune to negative self-talk. And I imagine that, like me, your negative self-talk has a familiar rhythm. Every time I allow myself to get negative, I think about the same things…my weight and mistakes I have made.

Brene Brown said “Talk to yourself like you would to someone you love.”  If I love myself, I need to stop the negative way to speak to myself about my weight and my mistakes. I need to own them and put them away.

Do you engage in negative self-talk? How do you get out of that spiral?

This Week’s Goals

Create and schedule posts for July 8-14 and July 15-21. *

Work on a new trick with Ellie

Read 2 books

Order Bathroom Flooring and Tile *

Sign up for Baptism Class

Start 30 Day Fitness Challenge *

Create blog posts for Travel Tips with Jennie for August

Work on South Dakota Plans

Schedule shopping day with Kathy

Plan Ben’s Birthday Party *

Have a good long weekend with Chris *

That is a lot. Especially with a holiday and Chris being home for 5 straight days between the holiday and working from home.

A couple of the goals are really fun! A few of them will only take 10 minutes. A couple of them are easy, but will take a significant amount of time. And one or two of them are just plain hard. The ones with the * are non-negotiables…they must happen this week.

When you are making your goals for the week, do you try to give yourself a mix of easy and hard goals?

Planner Time-Before the week starts

How are you celebrating the 4^th of July? Do you have annual traditions or do you just go with the flow?

Happy July Friends!

Motivational Monday: Good Things

I have been struggling. My biggest, hardest project of the year is at a standstill and as I am writing this, I am two days past my personal deadline and am waiting to hear if the paperwork will satisfy the agency. If it does satisfy them, we move on. If not...

So for about 10 days I have been a ball of stress, with it manifesting in sleeplessness, stomach issues and just general crabbiness.

Late last week, my husband said "It will all be ok in the end. If its not ok, its not the end." Honestly, that, and a friend joining me in some outrage, pulled me out of the funk I was in. Since Thursday, I have been sleeping much better and my stomach is sorting itself out.

I have to remember that good things are going to happen...and I'm just going to leave it there.

How do you cope when you are struggling?

Motivational Monday: Carpe Diem

One of the most transformational movies of my life was the Dead Poet's Society. The message of carpe diem...seize the day is a message I have tried to live by. Every day, I try to enjoy the small moments, learn as much as I can and be the best wife/daughter/sister/friend that I can be.

Is there a movie that had a message that you have carried with you for a long time? Tell me about it below!

Motivational Monday: True Love

"True love isn't found, it's built."

After 12 years of marriage, I can attest to this. Love is built on the ups and the downs, the good and the bad. It is so easy to love someone you have never had a fight with, but after living with someone and caring for that person for years...you love them, even when their breathing drives you crazy.

Motivational Monday: Smile

I'm just not going to say much about this. I think smiling is a way to make the world a better, happier place and I know that smiling makes me feel better. That's it. Happy Monday!

Motivational Monday: You Can

You Can.

Just a friendly reminder on this Monday morning.

Motivational Monday: Forget to Check Your Phone

You have seen it. People at a restaurant. People at a concert. People at a theme park. All on their phones. Now, some people are working at those events and need to be uploading to social media for work, but the majority are just scrolling Instagram or Snapchat.

If you find yourself being one of those people...take note of your situation. Are you at a restaurant you have been at 90 times? Are you at a concert you don't particularly want to be at but it was the "it" thing to do? Are you just insecure about what to do when you are waiting for something?

Change your situation. Go to a new restaurant. Choose activities that excite you. Look around, for goodness sake. There is so much to see in the world. Be the weirdo not looking at your phone, its ok. I promise.

Find an activity that draws you in so much that you don't even think about picking up your phone...its amazing...I promise.

Motivational Monday: Be the Girl

We all follow those women on Instagram who are just living their best life. They travel, they have beautiful homes, perfectly un-coiffed children, a handsome husband and the best set of girlfriends.

The only difference between those women and you (myself included in that you) is that they just went for it. They put in the hard work and the many hours. They struggled and they sweated. And after a while...they made it. Because they just went for it.

I've been following a lot of those women and listening to their backstories. They are all basically the same.

Here are the highlights:

1. They worked an uninspiring 9-5 job.
2. They followed their passion from 5-midnight and on weekends.
3. At some point, their passion became financially viable and they were able to quit their 9-5 job.
4. They hit some major stumbling block and began to doubt themselves.
5. Then, it all came together.

I'm currently on step #2...where are you?

Motivational Monday: You don't have to be perfect

Perfection is boring.

Also. Nobody is perfect.

Ok, cliches aside...

We all put off life changes until the time is right. I will get married when I have a good job. I will have a baby when my finances are in order. I will get a family photo taken when I lose 10 pounds. We are forever waiting to reach some inner standard of perfection before we think we can reach for our dreams.

But here it is. You are already amazing. The people around you can see it. The world can see it...you just can't see it. No one cares if your hair isn't perfect or if you have 10 pounds to lose. You are amazing...but you aren't perfect.

And to be honest, perfection is boring. One of my favorite lifestyle bloggers shares a lot of her craziness on Instagram and it is the only reason I follow her. I don't particularly love her style and I don't have the finances to travel the way she travels. Her blog is incredibly polished and I don't love the image of perfection that it displays. But I love her recipes and I love her candor on Instagram.

So stop thinking that you have to reach perfection because you are already amazing!

Motivational Monday: Prepare Me

We all have something on our hearts that we are praying for. Something unspoken, something incredibly important, something potentially life-changing.

I came across this prayer not too long ago and it struck me as extremely important to add into my intentions. So many times, we are praying so fervently for something...a new job, a new friend, a new spouse, a baby, a new house...but we forget to prepare ourselves for the new thing.

All life changes require preparation of some sort, but I think preparation of the mind and spirit are the most important because a good mental and emotional state can make any change positive.

So, this week, remember to pray for preparation for the life change we are praying for.

Motivational Monday: Create the Life You Want to Wake Up To

There is nothing worse than waking up to a life you feel stuck in or a life that is living you, instead of you living your life.

If you are waking up to a life that feels like a runaway train you didn't want to be on, think of one thing you can change to make it a bit better. It can be something simple. Do you hate the tone of your alarm clock? Change it. Do you wish you had a better shampoo? Go find a new one. Does it annoy you that your drawer is cluttered? Declutter it.

Now, take the feeling that gave you...a feeling of accomplishment and happiness (I'm guessing) and apply it to a different problem...maybe a more difficult problem.

Rinse and repeat. Create the life you want by making small changes. Keep going. The life you want is out there.