Goals for the Week: November 11 – 17

I’m a day late, but better late than never, right?  Here were my goals for last week and how I did on them:

~ Continue daily the Habit of the Month {November:  Spend intentional time with each of my family members}.
I am truly loving this — making a conscious effort to be fully present and enjoy the things that they enjoy.
~ Daily Bible reading – Bible study on the book of John.
Struggled a couple of days with the daily Bible reading.  
~ Plan date day with the family for Saturday.
We have one scheduled for this Saturday.  We’re going to a nearby town for one of their holiday festivals.
~ Have a mani/pedi makeover with C.  (I know I certainly need one!)
Done!  Mine are dark purple and hers are light pink with sparkles. 🙂
~ Read a few extra books with J each day.
He LOVES books.  And he’s just getting to the point where he likes to read them more than he likes to eat them. 🙂
~ Exercise about 350 fitness minutes (aerobic and strength training).
Done!
~ Work on a new craft project — related to this post.
I have started on it.  I’m hoping to get it finished by Thanksgiving.
~ Write out a few Christmas cards each day.
Done!  I’m well on my way to getting these done in a few weeks.
~ Plan a family picture (find photographer; set up appointment; plan wardrobe) for Christmas cards.
I have done everything but figure out the wardrobe.  Think my husband will mind if I pick out his clothes too?
~ Major detailed clean up of spare bedroom and bath.  (Getting ready for Thanksgiving!)
Done!  

And these are my goals for this week:

~ Continue daily the Habit of the Month {November:  Spend intentional time with each of my family members}.
~ Thanksgiving Bible study – Bible study on the book of John.
~ Date day with the family on Saturday.
~ Go for a nice, long walk with the kids to see the falling and changing leaves.
~ Read (or finish) one or more of the books I’m reading: {affiliate links} How to Blog for Profit and Pioneering Today: A Homemade Christmas.
~ Exercise about 350 fitness minutes (aerobic and strength training).
~ Work on craft project — related to this post.  
~ Write out a few Christmas cards each day.
~ Prepare the table linens for Thanksgiving.
~ Clean out the pantry.

Have you written down your goals for the week?

Goals for the Week: November 4 – 10

Ok, I got more than a little bit behind on posting my weekly goals.  That doesn’t mean I didn’t have any — I just didn’t make the time to post them.

But it’s a new month and I’m starting over.  New months are a good time to start over.  So are new weeks… or even new days.  🙂

Here are my new goals for the week:

~ Continue daily the Habit of the Month {November:  Spend intentional time with each of my family members}.
~ Daily Bible reading – Bible study on the book of John.
~ Plan date day with the family for Saturday.
~ Have a mani/pedi makeover with C.  (I know I certainly need one!)
~ Read a few extra books with J each day.
~ Exercise about 350 fitness minutes (aerobic and strength training).
~ Work on a new craft project — related to this post.  
~ Write out a few Christmas cards each day.
~ Plan a family picture (find photographer; set up appointment; plan wardrobe) for Christmas cards.
~ Major detailed clean up of spare bedroom and bath.  (Getting ready for Thanksgiving!)

Have you written down your goals for the week?

12 Habits for 2013 {October Recap}

January’s habit was:  Daily Bible study.
How I’m doing:  During my illness last month I sort of fell off the wagon on this habit.  I have started again but I didn’t do as well during October as I would have liked.

February’s habit was:  Exercise daily (even if it’s just 10 minutes).
How I’m doing:  I missed four days in October… not too bad.  You can read more about it here.

March’s habit was:  Drink 8 – 10 glasses of water daily.
How I’m doing:  While I was sick with strep I had a hard time wanting to swallow anything.  I didn’t hit my goal those days but I did before and have since.

April’s habit was:  Be early or on time for everything.
How I’m doing:  Not too shabby.  I can’t think of a time I was late for anything during October.  So either we did good or my memory is really bad… 😀

May’s habit was:  Less procrastinating, more doing!
How I’m doing:  I really think this will always be a struggle for me but I’ve been doing my best to keep it licked.

June’s habit was:  Plan and incorporate a morning routine.
How I’m doing:  My morning routine is getting easier.  I still have to tweak things occasionally but the general backbone seems to be working for me.

July’s habit was:  Plan and incorporate an evening routine.
How I’m doing:  The new dishwasher continues to help my evening routine tremendously.  We still get a bit off on occasion but it’s not hard to pick back up the next day.

August’s habit was:  Eat a healthier diet.
How I’m doing:  My weight loss challenges have helped me with this habit.  I haven’t even eaten any ice cream in over a month!  Crazy talk!

September’s habit was:  Get dressed to the shoes each day.
How I’m doing:  One of my easiest habits to really stick.  Even while I was sick I still got dressed to the shoes.

October’s habit was:  Declutter 15 minutes a day.
How I did:  Well… I’m making progress.  I did not declutter every day.  Not even every other day.  This “habit” has definitely not become a habit yet.  I will continue working on it though.  I’m not giving up yet!

November’s habit will be:  Spend intentional time with each of my family members.
My plan:  I do, of course, spend time with my family every day.  But do I spend time with my kids doing something they want to do?  Do I really listen to my husband when he tells me about his day?  My goal this month is to play more, listen better and engage each member of my family.  Every day.

November Fitness Challenge

source: freedigitalphotos.net

These were my goals for October:

~ 1,250 fitness minutes
~ Strength training:  30 mins, 4x week
~ 200 squats through the month
~ Zumba or another exercise DVD at least once per week

And this is how I did on them:

~  1,356 fitness minutes.  Woohoo!  Surpassed my goal!
~  I did not hit my ST goal.  I’d say I did about 30 mins, 2x per week.  I’ll have to refocus on that this month.
~  Cue the confetti!!  I finally hit a squats goal!!  I’m so proud of myself!
~  I have been lazy.  My cat knocked the Wii sensor on the floor behind the TV and I haven’t pulled everything out to get to it.  Yeah, I know.  Lame excuse.  So I didn’t reach this goal.  But I did hit my fitness minutes anyway, so I’m still pleased with my progress.

I surpassed two of the four goals.  Could have been better… could have been worse.  It was a really tough month for me (as I knew it would be) so I’m happy I was able to do the things I did.  I am very pleased to mention that I lost seven pounds and 1.5 inches in October.  Woohoo!  I’m doing a happy dance right now!

Goals for November

~ 1,500 fitness minutes
~ Strength training:  30 mins, 3x week
~ 250 squats through the month
~ Walk/jog at least 100 miles (of overall activity — not just fitness minutes)

And here we go!

Thanksgiving Bible Study

If you’ve read this blog for a while you know that I love the Good Morning Girls website.  They have such a great spirit and fully embrace their ministry of helping other women grow closer to God.  I have participated in a few of their Bible studies this year and I’m pleased to see that they are doing another one for Thanksgiving.

The study materials are free to GMG subscribers (click on the picture above for more information).  I love that the theme of the study is to focus our hearts on gratitude.  I have so much to be thankful for.  I am really looking forward to see what I learn during this Bible study!

And it’s not even two weeks long so it doesn’t take a lot of commitment.  It’ll even be over before Thanksgiving.

I’m in… are you?

Countdown to an Organized Christmas: Wrap Up

{If you’ve missed the previous posts in this series you can find them here.}

I can’t believe it’s already time to end this series!  The month has flown by and I hope you have had as much fun as I have getting started on an organized Christmas.  I have already begun “getting in the Christmas spirit” just from spending so much time planning things this month.  And I’m really looking forward to the season!

I’m nearly done buying my gifts — I at least know what I’m buying everyone (except my dad… he’s a hard nut to crack) and pretty soon I’ll be scheduling a gift wrapping session to take care of the ones I have already bought.  I’ve also started on my Christmas cards — a little late this year but it’s been a really busy month.  I’m sure if I take the time to do a few each day I’ll have them ready with plenty of time to spare.

I don’t tell you all of that to gloat — I tell you that to give you hope that you can do it too.  I want you to join me and reap the benefits of an organized Christmas holiday.  It’s wonderful to be able to savor the moment instead of rushing around trying to get things done.  I mean sure, I’ll have some rushing around to do too — it’s inevitable.  But if a bit of advanced planning and work will give me more time to play with my kids, read a book with them or make some gingerbread men… Well.  That’s not a hard choice, is it?

Because that’s what it’s all about.  Who cares about a lot of the other stuff?  Spending time with my family, making memories and sharing the love of Jesus — that’s what warms my heart.  And if we can’t do that at Christmastime when can we??

My prayer is that each one of you enjoy a wonderful, peaceful and joy filled holiday season.  And I hope this series will give you a bit of help to achieve those goals.  🙂

~~ From my happy home to yours ~~