Goal Planning Monday ~ Read, Review, Bake a Cake

Doodles about goals are from Homegrown Hospitality, Stephanie Ackerman is the owner of that site and it is her Doodle class that I did last year. I LOVE her stuff.

Hmmmm....   Godly goals. Not sure about the hell part but otherwise it is good advice. God is sure stretching my faith with this loooong trial we are in. I am trying to keep doing his will... daily.

I got more reading done last week. I got some doodling done. I broke down and cried a few times... ok more than a few. I didn't exercise. I didn't make my WW cake. 

BUT... I got back to first thing in the morning devotions... and I am LOVING it. It gives me so much comfort and I can handle my days so much better when I stay close to the Lord.

And... I doodled over the weekend...
And I enjoyed watching old Cosby Show reruns on dvd with my kids. We borrowed them from the library. It was fun to laugh with my kids.

This week I want to Read more... I am enjoying it sooo much. Get the review done that I need to do... and I wanted to get another R word but couldn't think of one so the last most important thing to get done is Bake.. then I can eat cake while I Read and Review.

,

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading(Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. I am starting Confessions of a Prayer Slacker for my next book. Prayer will be a focus this year as that is my word for 2013.  Done - and really enjoying my time as I said. I finished Confessions of a Prayer Slacker. I will get my review of it done soon. I am not going to be posting my reading reviews here on my blog. I will let you know what I finish reading but if you are interested further you can read my reviews on Goodreads... see my widget on my sidebar.
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Done - all caught up and I wrote some in my personal 1,000 gifts notebooks.
3. Finish reading Overwhelmed and get the review and giveaway posted on my blog. This is Spiritual (because it is a spiritual book) and reading and blog. I couldn't decide what section to post it in... so I posted it at the top. Partly Done - I finished reading the book and doing the study questions.... this week I will post the review and giveaway... a week late... but oh, well. I am doing what I can do and leaving the rest to God. 

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done - enjoying reading Henty to Christopher and Rachel. We are reading Held Fast for England. It was exciting from the very first chapter.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Not Done
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made... MUST DO! I know... I have said it so many times you are sick of seeing it. So am I and I want to eat the cake so I hope to get this done early this week. Not Done
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Done - no problem since no one linked up
2. Blog only what I want to blog about except for... Done - which was nothing but Goal Planning Monday because I didn't even get my review up...
3. A review and giveaway I have due this week. Partly Done - see note up in devotions section

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. Done and greatly enjoyed. See my Goodreads widget for the books I am currently reading.
2. Work on, maybe even finish, 2 digital scrapbook pages for my Creative Team 'job'. I have a school kit and I have not made time to work on it. I looked at the kit and it has some things missing. The scrapbook blog owner is going to send me the missing parts... then I want to do the pages and get them posted here on the blog. Not Done - waiting for my leader to send the missing pieces to the kit. Can't do anything 'til she does so I am taking this off my goal list. If she sends them this week I will do the pages. If not maybe I will just do some pages for myself from kits I already have.
3. Hang the crochet heart Rachel made me and the wooden box I decorated a while back. Not Done - need Jessica's help because I can't fit behind my desk standing up to reach the wall.

For this week that is 9 Done, 2 Partly Done, and 4 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading (Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. Prayer is my focus this year as that is my word for 2013. I will be starting a new book just for me to read. For now I am also reading "When God Breaks Your Heart: Choosing Hope in the Midst of Faith-Shattering Circumstances" to my hubby. 
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science!

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii.
   
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made TOMORROW!
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
2. Blog only what I want to blog about except for...
3. *A review and giveaway I had due last week and MUST get up.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. 
2. Work on a craft for myself: doodle, cross stitch, scrapbook, digital scrapbook... something.
3. Hang the crochet heart Rachel made me and the wooden box I decorated a while back. I need Jessica's help.

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Read, Read, Read

"Some men give up their designs when they have almost reached the goal; while others, on the contrary, obtain a victory by exerting, at the last moment, more vigorous efforts than before." Polybius

I don't want to quit just before I reach my goals. How about you?

I had a really, really bad week emotionally. I actually quit blogging one day and started back up the next. I knew I should not make that decision while I was so emotional... but I just could not help it. If you missed the excitement I did 2 posts and you can check them out.

Besides that I did pretty well this week. I still have some things that I wanted to get done and did not accomplish... like that cake... but I did make 2 cakes for the family instead. We ALL really enjoyed them... we are still enjoying them. I made them because my sister-in-law was coming for an overnight stay.

I have a review due this week and I have to read the books before I do it. I also have many books I am reading for school and personal reading so that is why I titled this post Read, Read, Read.

Participants... It is not a requirement to comment on each others blogs but it would be nice to encourage each other. Please try and come back and check who else links up and go comment on their blog post. And comment on mine as well, we ALL could use some building up and community. 

My top priorities are marked with a *

If you need directions on how to join in... see my GPM page up above.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading(Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. I am starting Confessions of a Prayer Slacker for my next book. Prayer will be a focus this year as that is my word for 2013.  Done
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Done

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Done - I exercise once.... I want to do more this week.
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made... MUST DO! I know... I have said it so many times you are sick of seeing it. So am I and I want to eat the cake so I hope to get this done early this week. Not Done
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Done
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed.  Not Done
3. Post Think Back Thursday.  Not Done
4. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday.   Not Done
5. Work on the week 2 post for the Not Back to School Blog Hop. Not Done
6. Work on the week 3 post for the Not Back to School Blog Hop. Not Done

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. Done - lots and lots... check out my Goodreads account
2. Save files to external drive.... time to get back to doing this and get it finished so I can set up a weekly schedule to keep up and not get so far behind that it takes WEEKS to back up my stuff.  Not Done
3. Doodle Done- I made a doodle for one of the friends of my daughters. I can't post it until I know she received it... I don't want to spoil the surprise... just in case she checks out my blog.
4. Work on, maybe even finish, 2 digital scrapbook pages for my Creative Team 'job'. I have a school kit and I have not made time to work on it. Not Done

For this week that is 10 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 8 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading(Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. I am starting Confessions of a Prayer Slacker for my next book. Prayer will be a focus this year as that is my word for 2013. 
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks.
3. Finish reading Overwhelmed and get the review and giveaway posted on my blog. This is Spiritual (because it is a spiritual book) and reading and blog. I couldn't decide what section to post it in... so I posted it at the top. 

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science!

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii.
   
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made... MUST DO! I know... I have said it so many times you are sick of seeing it. So am I and I want to eat the cake so I hope to get this done early this week.
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
2. Blog only what I want to blog about except for...
3. A review and giveaway I have due this week.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. 
2. Work on, maybe even finish, 2 digital scrapbook pages for my Creative Team 'job'. I have a school kit and I have not made time to work on it. I looked at the kit and it has some things missing. The scrapbook blog owner is going to send me the missing parts... then I want to do the pages and get them posted here on the blog.
3. Hang the crochet heart Rachel made me and the wooden box I decorated a while back.

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Blogging Break

I have been thinking things over about my blog.

I should not make decisions when I am soooooo emotional, and I know that, but I was just dreading coming home and getting Think Back Thursday ready for the next day.

I am tired of being fake. Pretending everything is good. I want to be real. Even if I am having many bad days in a row.

I want to blog what I want to blog and not feel like I HAVE to do certain things. 

I need to keep my blog going because I promised to be a Creative Team member for Digi Cyber Scraps and I need a place to share my digital scrapbooking pages that I do.

I feel like blogging is part of my life now and quitting completely makes me feel empty inside.

I like doing goals and will probably keep doing them so maybe I will keep doing Goal Planning Monday. I don't dread that like I do Think Back Thursday because it is not as much work... and I will keep doing goals even if I don't do Goal Planning Monday so I should just keep it up.

Think Back Thursday is becoming a drudgery. Looking for photos takes sooooo long. I am going to take a break from it. Maybe I will start it up again later as a monthly link up instead of weekly so I can still do it but not so often, or maybe I will just continue to skip it.

I have revealed my feelings and I feel better already.

So...

Goal Planning Monday will go up next Monday as planned as long as no one else has asked to take over hosting it.

Except for GPM, I will only post what I feel like posting.

Think Back Thursday is gone... for now at least.

If you stay and read my stuff good, if you get tired of my "whining" and being sad about this 9 year long trial in our lives, and decide to stop following me, that is fine. I am tired of not saying how I feel because I am afraid of what my readers think. I will be real.

When I am having a good day I will say so. When I am having a bad day, and crying my eyes out, I will say so.

If you leave me nasty comments about my negativity I will ignore them and delete them... so don't bother.

If you care about me you will care when I cry.

I want to read more.
I want to Doodle more.
I want to do Digital Scrapbooking more.
I still have 2 years of homeschooling and that takes time.

Those things I want to tell YOU about, too!!!

Ok.

I have devotions and then homeschooling to do today.

I'll see you when I see you,


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Hiatis

I am sorry.
I am going to take a leave of absence from my blog.
I do not know when, or if, I will come back to blogging.

This 9 year trial in our lives is taking a tole on me and blogging is not fun at all any more.
It is a chore.
I hate it most days.
Thinking of something to say.
Wondering if anyone cares what I write about.
Trying to post more on here or on Facebook to get people to read my blog.
Getting almost no comments.
Feeling like I have nothing of worth to share.
Not being able to be real because my real life is just sooooooo depressing that I can't tell anyone about it.

I am sorry for the 2-3 ladies that follow my Think Back Thursday linky.
I will not be posting tomorrow.
If you have your post all ready you are free to post it... but there will be no place to link up. Sorry.

I am sorry for the 2-3 ladies that do Goal Planning Monday.
I will not be posting on Monday.
I am sorry Katrina.
I agreed to take over Goal Planning Monday but I just can't do it.
If someone wants to take over Goal Planning Monday you can contact Katrina @ Mamamanuscripts
It will be up to her what she does with Goal Planning Monday. 

For now I am done.
I want to homeschool and then spend my time however I want without thinking I have to get this post... or that post ready. I came home today DREADING having to work on my Think Back Thursday post for tomorrow. Not looking forward to it like I should be.

I will still be on Facebook when I feel like it, though sometimes it is just HARD, seeing everyone's vacation photos and fun stuff they are doing.

I will still be reading your stuff. I will try to comment. I just will not be posting my own stuff on here.

So,
I am sorry.
I am done.
At least for now.
For awhile.
For a long while probably.

Thanks to those who have encouraged me over the years.
Thanks to those who have commented.
Thanks to those who have cared.
Thanks to those who have been faithful to join my linky's.

Goodbye....
for now.


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Think Back Thursday ~ Theme and Reminder

Tomorrow's Theme - August 15
Stream / River

Future Themes

August 22 - Path / Road

August 29 - Architecture

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Let's Try Again

"People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine." Brian Tracy

See, we are doing good!! We are setting clear, written goals.

Did I accomplish more last week because of my goals???

Unfortunately, I don't think so. I labeled last week craft week and I don't think I got any crafts done at all. I also didn't get my cake made. I am planning on making that cake this afternoon and I plan on working on a doodle project this evening because Rachel wants to mail a package tomorrow so I need to get it done if I want to include it.

Thus this week's title... I will try again to get my crafts and some saving of files to my external drive... as well as get that cake made.

I did get a LOT of reading done last week, unexpectedly, so that is good. I already had a great Monday morning, though I didn't get this post up early because I didn't prep it yesterday. I hope to have a MUCH better week this week.

I need to make sure the goals I write on here get handwritten in my notebook. I get LOTS more done if I do that and check my notebook DAILY to see what I SHOULD be doing.

My top priorities are marked with a *

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading(Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. I am starting Confessions of a Prayer Slacker for my next book. Prayer will be a focus this year as that is my word for 2013. Done - read a bunch of Confessions of a Prayer Slacker
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks. Done - all caught up to today's date.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher. Done - We are doing really well. Christopher asked that I read one more subject to him because he is doing so much reading these days. So I am now reading Historical Fiction. This will take more of my time, daily, but it will help with my yearly reading goal. For now I am reading more to him than he is reading on his own. Once we are done reading The Wise Woman aloud, however, we will be about even.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY. Done
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science! Done

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii. Done - only once but once is better than none.
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made... MUST DO! I know... I have said it so many times you are sick of seeing it. So am I and I want to eat the cake so I hope to get this done early this week. Not Done
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water. Done

Blog Goals  

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. Not Done
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed. Done
3. Post Think Back Thursday. Done
4. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday.  Done
5. Work on and post monthly reading post. Done
6. Work on week two's post for the Not Back to School Blog Hop. Not Done 

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. Done
2. Save files to external drive.... time to get back to doing this and get it finished so I can set up a weekly schedule to keep up and not get so far behind that it takes WEEKS to back up my stuff. Not Done
3. Doodle Not Done
4. Work on, maybe even finish, 2 digital scrapbook pages for my Creative Team 'job'. I have a school kit and I have not made time to work on it. Not Done

For this week that is 12 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 6 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals   

1. *Morning Devotions - including Bible reading(Proverbs), prayer, listening to music and reading a spiritual book. I am starting Confessions of a Prayer Slacker for my next book. Prayer will be a focus this year as that is my word for 2013. 
2. Participate in the Joy Dare in 2013. Writing down 3 things each day that are gifts from God, things to be thankful for totaling more than 1000 gifts in 2013.Write in my other 1,000 gifts notebooks.

Homeschool Goals

1. Do school with Christopher.
2. Grade and Record work done, DAILY.
3. Prep the next day's school, especially science!

Fitness Goals

1. I must get back to exercising this week. Working out on the Wii.
   
2. *Get my Weight Watchers dessert made... MUST DO! I know... I have said it so many times you are sick of seeing it. So am I and I want to eat the cake so I hope to get this done early this week.
3. Eat fruit and veggies and drink water.

Blog Goals  

1. Comment on everyone's blog that links up to the Goal Planning Monday linky. 
2. Post reminder and future themes for Think Back Thursday on Wed. 
3. Post Think Back Thursday. 
4. Comment on each person's post that links up for Think Back Thursday.  
5. Work on the week 2 post for the Not Back to School Blog Hop.
6. Work on the week 3 post for the Not Back to School Blog Hop.

Personal/Other Goals 

1. Read. 
2. Save files to external drive.... time to get back to doing this and get it finished so I can set up a weekly schedule to keep up and not get so far behind that it takes WEEKS to back up my stuff. 
3. Doodle
4. Work on, maybe even finish, 2 digital scrapbook pages for my Creative Team 'job'. I have a school kit and I have not made time to work on it.

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The Homeschool Mother's Journal - August 10

It has been a while since I have done one of these. I decided to do it since we started school 2 weeks ago and I like doing this link-up.

In my life this week…
I went with my husband on Wednesday to his physical therapy appointment so we could both go to a nutrition class they have once a month and suggest you take... only to find that the class is NEXT week. LOL At least I got a lot of reading done.

In our homeschool this week…
Do Wop boards for Friendly Chemistry, quitting a curriculum I won from a giveaway (at least until I contact the company and they get some things fixed) and ordering something else we can depend on, lots of reading, Bible together, The Wise Woman book by George MacDonald for Building Life Relationships. Today my son Christopher said that he was struggling with having so many classes where he was just reading. I offered to read one subject of his choice to him. He chose Historical Fiction. So today we started reading Path of the Pale Horse by Paul Fleischman. It's about the yellow fever epidemic in America just after the Revolutionary War. Reading to him will help me with my reading goals for the year as well.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…
it's ok to quit a curriculum that is causing you trouble... even if it is only the first week of school... and buy something you know will work for you. I was lucky that the thing that was not working was something free, but even if I paid for it I would have quit using it. I have a lot of things to talk to the company about, a new small homeschooling company, and I don't want to cause them troubles before I contact them... so I am keeping the name a secret for now. If I don't get the problems/concerns I have take care of I WILL let my reader know to avoid this curriculum.

I am inspired by…
people who can write spiritual blog posts. I have some thoughts and then I think I am not as good as... I don't want to write it because I may get flack because of it and I can't handle any more stress now... I think, maybe, the thoughts I had during my devotions are just for me.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…
going.no.where.
seeing.no.one.

My favorite thing this week was…
reading to Christopher this past week.

My kiddos favorite thing this week was… 
Home and Life Management... reading Boyhood and Beyond: Practical Wisdom for Becoming a Man

by Bob Schultz

What’s working/not working for us… 
the program we quit was not working... already talked about that. Everything else is going well.

Questions/thoughts I have…
When will our new English program come in... Windows to the World: An Introduction to Literary Analysis [Teacher/Student Combo] from IEW

Things I’m working on…
digital scrapbook pages,
doodling,
saving files to my external drive.

I’m reading…
Grow Old With Me by Melinda Evaul
and lots more... see my Goodreads widget on my sidebar for more books.

I’m cooking…
I HOPE to cook my WW Fat Free Chocolate Cake tomorrow

I’m praying for…
friends struggling in their marriages,
a young girl struggling with emotions over relationship troubles,
our future.

I'm grateful for...
the wonderful time I have had with my hubby lately, especially reading Quitting Church which I got free on my Kindle.

Something I am ogling or have my eye on…
Chemistry 101

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This quote has really challenged me this week. I posted it for my Goal Planning Monday linky post on Monday. Do I find a way or make excuses.... to often it is the latter.


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Think Back Thursday ~ Garden/Gardening

August 8 - Garden / Gardening

your garden or one you visited, flowers or vegetables

I am sharing our own garden this week. I have shared lots of other gardens before... favorites are Winterthur and Longwood.

We have not had many gardens of our own, but Rachel decided she wanted one and her dad obliged. She did a LOT of the work. We all reaped the benefits.

Digging the garden, getting it ready to plant
04-04-2009

 Yeah, Rachel dug the garden. I don't know if either of the boys helped her or not but if they did I didn't get a picture of them so there is no evidence Rachel had any help.

 The Garden is doing well with Rachel's care and attention. Nathan stood there so we could tell how tall everything was.
06-29-2009 

 

Something is eating our leaves.
Rachel did her best to figure out what to do to prevent bugs from destroying our crops.

 I don't remember what this is but it is sure pretty.

 Picking from the bounty God gives.

Our Gardener

Well, that's all I'm sharing today.

I wish we had planted a garden this year.
We sure could use the veggies.
Oh well, to late now.
Maybe next year.

Now it's your turn

Future Themes

August 15 - Stream / River

August 22 - Path / Road

August 29 - Architecture

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