September is the Other January - August 31-September 6, 2020 - Life Planner - Goals

 Gretchen Rubin said it best...September is the other January. I haven't been in school for *ahem* years, but every year, this feels like a new start. Fall is coming, the holidays are around the corner and it feels like a blank slate is ahead for the season.

Planner Spread

My kit this week is the sushi kit from Cricket Paper Co. I got the regular kit and the glitter add on. The colors and the design are a huge departure from my normal aesthetic, but I love it because I miss sushi desperately. I added some Planner Kate script stickers to round out the week.

Goals for the Week

I have a lot I want to accomplish this week. 

* Week's Facebook Posts
* Update Nixplay and Family Album
* Save $250
* Train Ellie 3 times
* Read Pray Like Mary
* Pray The Queen's Secret
* Set Card and Gift Reminders in my Phone
* Find Family Photographer
* Send out Birth Announcements
* Focus Hour with Chris
* Weekly Blog Posts

Powersheets

Are you reaching for goals this week or are you planning a quiet week?

Foundation Check In - August 2020

 2020 has not been the year any of us were expecting, but I think Foundation was a good word to focus on for the year. 

My main goal with Foundation was to focus on my marriage and faith. Thankfully, those are two things I can focus on this year. In regards to my faith, I have an almost daily prayer habit now and have been re-learning prayers I learned in grade school. I have also been praying novenas and the rosary. I end my prayer time with a list of things I am praying over and then I do a Litany of Saints, asking them to pray for us. I don't love the devotional I am using this year, but I think I will finish it out and get a new one in January like I usually do.

In regards to my marriage, we are so much closer than ever. Considering we are living a lifestyle similar to pioneers of the 1800s, where we literally only see each other for days on end, its a good thing we are best friends! We haven't found our footing since adding a newborn to our family, but I think that is normal. We basically share newborn care duties, house care duties, watch TV and sleep. We have talked about starting to do a game after he goes to bed, so hopefully in the coming weeks we can make that happen.

Some of my outer goals under the Foundation heading were to

1. Build a community, which has been so much more difficult due to Covid. But, I am making time to do virtual happy hours and things like that with different groups of friends. I also started in a new Bible study in February and I love that group of women and hope we can become a bit tighter as the years go on. 

2. Spruce up the house, which has been a bit of a success. Sebastian's room is almost done, except for painting and trim. Next up is Chris's office, which needs a new desk and curtains...and eventually a sofa bed for our guests. Hopefully by the end of the year, we can replace our bed and nightstands. We realized that with our current family configuration, a queen sized bed just won't cut it. Later, if Sebastian is scared by a storm, I want him to be able to climb into bed with us and the three of us, plus Ellie, will be a tight squeeze in a queen sized bed. 

3. Finances, which has gone pretty well. We have paid off our credit cards, paid almost all of the adoption expenses, and started saving for a new car. My contributions to that cause are nil, because of Covid, but I hope that I can ramp up and get some travelers in 2021.

How is your word of the year going? Did you pick something that is workable through this pandemic? 

You Are Enough - August 17-23 - Life Planner - Goals

 

What woman doesn't struggle with the thought that they could do or be more? Single women, married women, moms, not moms...we all struggle with the nagging feeling that we could be better, do better, look better, sound better...

As a new mom, I'm struggling with figuring out my life. I am a stay at home mom, primarily, but I am also a part time travel agent and a semi-caregiver to my mother in law. Right now, Sebastian is 11 weeks old and I am loving all that I do for him...even the screaming when I stop feeding him to burp him...ok...that is a lot to handle...but I love that I get to handle it.

What I am struggling with is cleaning, travel agenting, and caregiving. 

I keep telling myself that it will get easier. That soon I will be able to get some stuff done while he is awake, but for now, I am trying to squeeze everything in as quickly as I can when my husband is free to help with him and when he is napping.

Chris is on "vacation" this week. So, we each get 3 or 4 "focus hours" each day to work on things we need to get done. I'm seriously hoping to catch up on cleaning and travel agenting and caregiving during my focus hours this week. 

LifePlanner Spread

This week's kit is from xomamaplans on Etsy and Instagram. I am sticking with the Top 3 strategy in the half box at the top of each day and the general to-dos listed below.

Powersheets

Weekly Goals

In addition to my Powersheets Weekly goals, I am planning to hang the photos in Sebastian's room, clean the house well and hopefully, start working on my September Facebook posts to get back into the swing of things work-wise.

I also want to start thinking about my September Powersheets if I have time toward the end of the week, read a book and buy the damn desk already.

Weekly Words

Check In

How are you doing? Really? Are you struggling with feeling inadequate lately? Are you struggling with anything in particular this week?

August 2020 Goals

 

This month is all about family and home. We are settling in to our new life as a family of 3 and I need to put a bit more focus on our foundation.

Monthly

1. Plan - Execute - Send Thank Yous Sebastian's Baptism.

This is mostly a life to do.

2. Save $1000

Our savings took a giant hit the past few months, so we need to start socking away money for a new HVAC system.

3. Read Pray Like Mary

This covers both my faith goal and a 20 for 2020 goal. 

4. Buy a Desk

Chris will be working from home indefinitely and needs a better deal. Especially since his old desk broke during the carpet installation.

5. Declutter and Settle Nursery

This is pretty self explanatory. The nursery is a bit wild and just needs some organization.

6. Declutter and Settle House

The house is in a state of flux with all the new baby stuff. We need to get rid of some stuff we want to sell and some donations. Once that is done, it will be easier to give everything a home. 

7. September Facebook Posts and

8. October Facebook Posts

I need to get back into the swing of things with my travel agency.

Weekly Goals

1. Blog 

This is mostly for me and to keep myself accountable.

2. Disney Blog

Again, I need to get back to work on my travel agency.

3. Read 1 Book

I don't have a lot of energy or focus to read since Sebastian was born.

4. Focus Hour with Chris

I need to spend a focused hour with Chris every week. 

5. Train Ellie 3 times

It's been hard for Ellie while we've been in this newborn stage. She has been doing well, but I want to give her some focused time because I enjoy it and she needs it.

Daily Goals

1. No Dairy

Dairy is not my friend. I do better not eating it. I have more energy, feel better overall and do not have stomach issues when I avoid Dairy.

2. Park with Ellie

I love this time of day. Taking her to the park to give her some one on one time is important. It also gives me some quiet to basically zone out, listen to nature and recenter before I start my day.

3. 5 Bottles of Water 

I got a 24 oz camelbak water bottle after we came home with Sebastian because its easier to carry around and I need to drink 5 of those each day to stay well hydrated.

I Kept a Secret

It was hard to blog this spring because I was keeping a big secret.

We had matched with a birth mother at the end of February and were not so patiently awaiting the birth of our son. I was terrified I would jinx us if too many people knew, so I kept it to a minimal number of people.

At the end of May, the birth mother asked me if I would be her only support person in the hospital, because due to the Covid-19 hospital restrictions, she could only have one person. I was nervous and excited and instantly became a ball of anxiety.

We got word that she was scheduled to be induced on May 30, so we decided to go down on May 25 so we would be local if she went into labor earlier than that.

On May 28, we met her for pizza. Chris got to meet her and we had a really nice evening with her. Then, on May 30, I met her at the hospital and we settled in for a long stay. They didn't start the induction medicine until midnight and then things were just rough. Labor didn't progress well. Even after they broke her water on June 1 at 10 AM, she still didn't dilate past 5 centimeters.

By 10 PM on June 1, the birth mother spiked a fever and the baby was struggling through each contraction, so they started talking to her about a C-section. It was an emotional and overwhelming night, but she eventually agreed to do the C-section and our beautiful, big son was born after 2 AM on June 2.

Because she had a C-section, we decided to get separate hospital rooms and I spent the next 2 1/2 days taking care of this new, scary, cuddly, beautiful, little boy.

On June 4, my husband picked us up from the hospital and we met with the social worker to finish our paperwork and then took Bash "home" to our AirBnB.

We returned home on Father's Day and have been settling into life as a family of 3 (plus Ellie) since then.

I hated keeping this secret. It was so hard to write when I couldn't be authentic and share what was going on with me. So, here we are...Bash is almost 2 months old and I am figuring out how to keep a clean house and do things I like to do, like post on Instagram and here on the blog and work with my travel agency business, while doting on this little gift.

20 for 2020 Check-In

Well. 20 for 2020 is not going well. 😂😂

Let's catch up.

1. Get a King-Sized Bed
This is still on the table. Probably for the Fall.

2. Update the Office
We have started this. We bought new carpet and then the pandemic locked us down. The carpet has been installed, but we didn't get to shop for furniture, so in the next few weeks, we are going to order a desk and a sofa bed.

3. Update the Bedroom
This is also still on the table. Probably for the Fall.

4. Remodel the Kitchen or Replace the HVAC
We are putting money back for one of these projects.

5. Work Toward Goal Weight
This is going surprisingly well considering I have been eating a bunch more sugar than I used to.

6. $0 Credit Card Debt and 6 Month Emergency Fund
We are enticingly close to paying off the last of our credit card debt. We also have about 3 months of expenses in an emergency fund, so this is going pretty well! With the pandemic, we decided to keep money in savings instead of paying off the card just in case my husband gets furloughed.

7. Read 67 Books
I should be further along in his goal. If I read 8 books by the end of June, I will be on track. I am currently at 26 1/2.

8. More Romance
Thank you Pandemic ;)

9. 1 Second a Day App
I am doing very well with this!

10. Take Trips (Mom-Tiff-Erin-Chris)
Cancelled due to the pandemic.

11. Memory Keeping Project
This was a stunner. I finished it in like March or the very beginning of April. I will say this was my pie in the sky, never going to happen goal. Weird, right?

12. Get a Facial
Probably cancelled due to the pandemic.

13. Go to Disney on Ice
Cancelled due to the pandemic.

14. Go to a TPAC show
Cancelled due to the pandemic.

15. See the Nutcracker Ballet
Cancelled due to the pandemic.

16. Train Ellie
We have made some amazing progress! Its so crazy to see how much has changed in the 8 trillion days of this lockdown.

17. $100,000 Travel Agency Sales
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 Cancelled due to the pandemic.

18. Post to YouTube 2x/week
Postponed due to the pandemic.

19. Blog 3x/week
Adjusted to 2x/week and doing my best!!!

20. Disney Blog 1x/week
Doing my best!

How are your 2020 goals going? Did you cancel any due to the pandemic?

May Goals

May is going to be a weird month. I'm just going to leave it there.

I tried to go light on myself, and hopefully this is pretty light, but who knows.

Chris is working from home until at least June 7, so we have another month of this, which is fine. Its growing on me. But lunches are hard.

My May Monthly Goals are pretty easy I think. I'm knocking 4 of them out this week, so hopefully the others are just as easy.

I literally just needed to slow this down a bit. The weekly tasks have been a bit oppressive in the past couple of months.

The only one sweet per day during self-isolation is going to be the hardest goal of all.

What do you anticipate your hardest goal being this month?