Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Yearly Goals 2012 ~ July was ok


July was a little better emotionally for me. I am handling the pressures of our trial a little better than I was in June. God is good and He is my hope. I will trust in Him.


Now on with the update...

The main goal is in bold and under that are the smaller steps to reaching those goals.
  • Main Goal
    • The updates will be here
      • or here.. in purple.
The positive steps I have made with my goals this month have a smiling smiley face Happy Smileys in front, the goals that I still have to work on have a sad face Free Icons in front. Some are not really sad but that is the best contrast I could make between completed and not completed. The color thing was getting to complicated and I love smileys so I am sticking with them.  

Personal Goals:
Spiritual  
  • Have personal devotions daily. First thing in the morning. I will read a book of the Bible (more in depth), read a Godly Christian book, take notes in a journal, listen to Christian music daily, and pray.
    • Happy Smileys  I have been reading How People Change for my daily devotions and there is a study guide also.
  • Read Godly books. Some will be for my devotions, some for Ladies Bible Study and some for Sunday School.   
    • Read as much as possible of the books I got for our Sunday School study. How People Change and How People Change Study Guide: How Christ Changes Us by His Grace. Our Sunday school is on to other topics. I never completed the book and am concentrating on this for devotions until I get it done.
      • Happy Smileys  I completed study guide lesson 12 goes with ch 10 of the book. Then I read
        UnEmployed Faith
        ch. 11 of the book and completed lesson 13 of the study guide, which goes with it. Today I finished reading ch 12 of the book, so for August I will start study guide lesson 14.  I am doing well on this and making good progress. I don't want to rush it because I want to learn and reap the many benefits the Lord has for me as I work through this.
    • Read Promises PromisesHappy Smileys I'm on page 18 of 203.
    • Read UnEmployed Faith, by Rosann Cunningham  Happy Smileys I'm 35 % done already and I just got it on Friday, thanks to a friend who bought it for me, and it has been an encouragement already.
Health and Fitness 
  • Exercise more, more often and consistently. I would like to be much more fit by the end of 2012
    • Start by using the Wii at least 3 days a week for 15 minutes and increase from there.
      • Free Icons  almost 1/2 of the year gone and not much progress here.  I do want to do better, but with the stress I have been under, giving in to temptations and skipping my workouts I am not doing better. I want to be more fit. I am just having a difficult time accomplishing it. I went to start exercising this morning, on my Wii, and the batteries have died. I don't know when I will get more batteries and my hubby does not want me walking in our neighborhood. I may have to just get on the elliptical walker, which I do not like, or think something else up.
  • Eat better and drink water. I hope by doing this and the exercising above I will be able to loose weight in 2012 AND keep it off! I want to finish strong and not gain back the weight I loose at the beginning of the year like I did this year.
    • Drink 48-64 oz of water a day Happy Smileys  I have been doing ok on this.
    • Eat more fruit and veggies throughout the day. Free Icons Doing terrible on this. I do get veggies at dinner most nights but not much. We have NO fruit or fresh veggies in the house. We have been eating a lot of bread.
    • Keep track of everything I eat in a food journal. Free Icons  Not doing well with this. God has provided for our May and June bills and we are struggling to continue to trust him for our daily bread... both the green kind and the eating kind. The cupboards and fridge are empty except for a little bit of milk and some bread we just got from the nursery school across the way. They are affiliated with a church and every once in a while they put bread/bagels/rolls out on a table for people to take for free. We just got some this morning which is great because we were out of bread. We are praying for God's provision, vision and the future of our family.
Educational
  • Read some books/magazines to expand my own education.
    • Some will be the spiritual books I already told you about. Happy Smileys  (See Spiritual)
    • Some will be about homeschooling.  Happy Smileys  I was reading The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling. I stopped reading, see this post for my review of the book: @ http://debbiesdigest.blogspot.com/2012/05/ultimate-guide-to-homeschooling-by.html
      • I will start a new homeschool book soon. I have a new one or 2 on my Kindle that I got for free. Exploring the World Around You: A Look at Nature from Tropics to Tundra
    • Some will be books I read to the boys for school... I learn a lot also... more than I ever learned when I was in school. Happy Smileys We started reading Exploring the World Around You: A Look at Nature from Tropics to Tundra for Science. We will be starting to read some books for History today as well. We had been watching some Drive Thru History videos the first week of school for History.
    • I may read a history book or 2 just for my own educational interest as well. Free Icons After I finish reading With Wolfe in Canada I want to start this. I was hoping to finish reading With Wolfe in Canada in July but I did not do it. I need to make time to read a little each day so I get it finished.
    • I also have a health and fitness book or 2 that I want to read.
      • Happy Smileys I  finished reading Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure in March. I don't have another fitness book I want to read right now, but that is ok since the goal was only to read 1 or 2 health and fitness books this year.

Personal/Leisure
  • Spend one afternoon at least every other week doing scrapbooking.
    • Happy Smileys  I don't think I did any scrapbooking in July. I was busy getting ready for school. Hopefully August will be better, after the Olympics are over.
  • Read some books for pleasure. 
    • Happy Smileys  Check out how I did on reading in July, just below this post.
  • Continue blogging and remember it is supposed to be for fun and for the records for my family.
    • Write more consistently on my blog at least 3 posts a week.
      • I want to join back in on some meme's that are favorites... see my Memes tab at the top.  Happy Smileys Done.
      • I want to write some posts each month that are not linked to a meme. I want them to be interesting and informational for my readers.  Free Icons  Not Done. I bought Blog Write Party I need some new ideas and I hope this will help. I just need to make time to write the things I have on my heart.
  • Get back to meal planning because meals are more varied and we will have the ingredients shopped for ahead of time. This is a personal goal. If the family joins me that is fine if not I will still do it.
    • Plan meals. Free Icons July was terrible for meal planning. Some days no one even cooked dinner and we all just fended for ourselves. Having Ramen Noodle Soup or Peanut Butter and Jelly or something like that. A few night we had really good meals, my hubby has been pitching in this month so things were better but we really haven't planned meals, we just cook what we can figure out depending on what we have.
  • I have a few projects for our home that I want to accomplish. I would like to do a few of the projects for the home that I have saved on Pinterest.  Free Icons Nope... not yet. I had hoped to get one done over the summer. I must be crazy to think I have more time because it is summer break from school. I had no time to work on this. I did get the word Hope, that I had colored and cut out, put up on my wall. I also hung the plaque about hope that my daughter Rachel bought me.
Homeschool Goals:
  • Continue being consistent on recording daily in our school log. Happy Smileys  We are back to school and I recorded all the work from the days we have done so far.
  • Be consistent with reviewing the boys daily assigned work and making sure they complete everything assigned to them and then put the stuff away in the folders/notebooks where it belongs. Happy Smileys  Done.
  • Check periodically on the boys hours for school.Happy Smileys  Done. I checked how many hours credit Christopher has for Computer class and he needs more so he is working to finish that.
  • Complete Nathan's Sr. Year. Complete his transcript. Have his graduation ceremony. Next school year, which starts in July 2012 I will only have one student! That will be weird and I am sure we will have to make adjustments. Happy Smileys  Done! Nathan completed his schoolwork 20 minutes before the guests were supposed to arrive. We signed his diploma and then presented him with it. Then we were ready for the party, it was a big success.
Family/Relationship Goals:
  • Spend more time with my dear husband
    • Set up a dinner in our bedroom just for us to spend the evening like I did a couple times before... in order to do this I must clean up my bedroom first. Free Icons Not done. We could do a dinner in our bedroom, just he and I, but we haven't. I had planned to do one for our anniversary in July. We did dinner in the living room while watching a movie instead. I wanted to do it in our bedroom and make it special but he wanted to just sit in front of the t.v. so that is what we did. Since we did it in the living room I can't really count it for having dinner in our bedroom. But...
    • Set up a date night/afternoon soon. Happy Smileys I can count it as time with my hubby... so I am! We were all alone in the living room and had a good evening chilling, holding hands, and watching movies. I think we watched 2 movies, though I can't tell you the titles.
  • Spend time once a week with one of my kids, just mom and one of the kids doing whatever the child wants to do. Usually a combo of eating, talking and playing board games, computer games, or on the Wii.
    • Start with my youngest and schedule it on the calendar so I can keep track of who is next for their turn. Goal is one child a week and then a week off. Sometimes the kids don't have time or won't make time to spend with me. Sometimes I will skip that child and go on to the others. Sometimes I will just wait until the next week. Perfection in scheduling is not the goal. The goal is to spend time having fun with my kids. Happy Smileys We played monopoly. I was going to do it just Christopher and I but he invited the other kids to play. We played it over 2 days and didn't exactly finish. We just set a time, before my daughter had to go to therapy, and when the time was up we added up our assets. Jessica won.
Happy Smileys  18 Done

Free Icons 8 Not Done

If you made/make/want to set goals and link up, just choose the size you want and copy the code from the little box beneath it. Past the code in your blog post at the top then write your goals. Tell you friends to click the button at the top of your post so others know how to join us if they want to.

At the bottom of the post I will provide a linky so you can join up and I can see your goals and how you are doing. If no one joins me that is fine too. I am doing this mostly for myself.


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Reading Challenge ~ July's Book

Reading Challenge 2012


My goal for reading this year was to read 52 books or more in 2012. That is one book a week. I am proud that I am doing so well. I am currently reading 10 books. One left over from school from last year, some for personal reading, some for devotions and now that we are homeschooling again I have books I am reading to Christopher. Some will be finished in a few days, some will be finished in a few weeks, some will not be finished until the end of the year. I really wanted to finish reading With Wolfe in Canada by G.A. Henty. I also want to just read more in August because I didn't even meet my goal of one book a week in July, though I am ahead of schedule overall, so that saved me from being behind now. That should not be a problem as school has started back up and so I am reading aloud to Christopher for History, Science, and Historical Fiction.
 I love reading!
You can explore so much of our past and present and gain so much knowledge and encouragement! Also, reading is and can be Fun!

Read A Book Today!

Each month for the Reading Challenge we are supposed to do an update and link up. This month I read....

Rare Earth
Bunn, Davis
368 pages

Date started reading - Jul 03, 2012
Date finished - Jul 19, 2012

This book was given to me so that I could review it on my blog. I enjoyed it immensely and as soon as I finished it I gave it to my daughter for her to read. You can read my full review here if you wish... Rare Earth - a review


The Price of Fame (Tales from Grace Chapel Inn, #14)
Aarsen, Carolyne
304 pages

Date started reading - Jul 20, 2012
Date finished - Jul 30, 2012

I just love these books. In this "episode" a movie company wants to make a movie in Acorn Hill. Should the town allow this. Is is a good thing or a bad thing for the town in the long run. Is Randall here for another reason? The Howard sisters strive to reach out to this young man. Did God bring him to their inn for a larger purpose, something personal in Randall's life that needs attention? What will fame bring the people and the town? Extra business? A chance to be in a movie? Or are there secrets no one is telling them that make this a bad idea? What will be "The Price of Fame" for Acorn Hill? Read the book and find out. 

Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway Slave Taking Liberty: The Story of Oney Judge, George Washington's Runaway Slave
Rinaldi, Ann
didn't like it it was ok liked it really liked it it was amazing (my current rating)
Date started reading - Jul 23, 2012 
Date finished - Jul 31, 2012

This book is excellent. I read it aloud to my son Christopher for school. It gives you a good overview of George Washington and Mt. Vernon as well as the trials of slavery and the problem Washington had with wanting to free them yet having to please both the North and the South to keep the newly founded country together. It also gives you a view of what it was like to be a slave, even to a generous and kind family like the Washington's. This is definitely historical fiction as the characters are true living people and the events of the book really took place. The specific daily events are typical of things that would have happened and things that were taken from the diaries of General Washington. The dialogue and some of the characters were made up.

This book would be good for everyone with children grade 4th and up for read aloud, especially for homeschoolers. If reading on their own then probably a grade or 2 above that.


This series was recommended to my by the Holman family when they purchased the first book in the series for me as a gift when they visited us last summer.

That is 3 books for July. That is sad. Good thing I am already ahead of schedule. That makes 37/52 books for the year. I am 7 books ahead of schedule!

Here are the previous updates if you are interested:
Reading Challenge ~ January Update
Reading Challenge ~ February Update
Reading Challenge ~ March Update
Reading Challenge ~ April Update
Reading Challenge ~ May Update
Reading Challenge ~ How I did in June


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