Tag Archives: GOALS

So Far So Good

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Happy Friday! I knew I would be updating my 3 in 30 goals today. First of all it’s only day 5 of this month so I can’t have fallen too far off the wagon yet. This is the easiest week to update because I’m still motivated and think I can do this! I’ve never been much of one to really set goals for myself and then strive to reach them. I’ve always been kind of satisfied with the status quo. But I have to say that when I am laying down feeling lazy (which honestly is most of the time) I think to myself how I don’t wanna let the 3 in 30 gang down by slacking off on my goals. Then I usually get up and throw in that load of laundry. Seriously! That’s what I think. Sometimes I even say it out loud because who DOESN’T talk to themselves.

So the laundry goal has been going well. I even spent yesterday evening putting away all the laundry from the week. Of course there is more to do today. How does that stuff NEVER end? It’s a mystery!

The kids are still gone out of town so there is no soccer yet. But Monday we will hit the ground running and not stop for….well, a LONG time! I’m going to enjoy the next 3 days of quiet and stillness before the soccer mom dash begins with the kids’ sports physicals on Monday.

Ron and I kicked off our date/study night this Wednesday. We are taking this semester off of going to Bible Study at church on Wednesday nights. Michael can drive he and Lauren. Ron and I are going to stay home and do our own together Bible study. We went this past Wednesday evening and chose our study and bought our books. Ron will be out of town this coming Wednesday night. So we will officially begin the following Wednesday night. We have chosen Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. Have any of you read this book or done the study? I’m looking forward to this bonding time with the hubs!

So, it gives me great joy to report a positive 3 in 30 update this week. Off to link it up! Come join us. It’s not too late to set 3 goals to complete in the month of August.

Laundry, Soccer and the Bible

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As we learned in Friday’s 3 in 30 update entry July was pretty much a bust! But I’m stoked and ready for August. First of all I’m stoked for August because the kids go back to school. That means no more traveling and no more whining about being bored. Yes teenagers still whine. And it is even more annoying…ok, that might be stretching it a bit…but it IS annoying. Both of my children will be seniors this year. So my August goals mainly focus on them. I can’t believe that this time next year we will be getting them ready to head off to their chosen colleges. I certainly am NOT old enough to have children this old. In my mind they are still in elementary school and I am still going to their classes a couple of times a week to volunteer. Oh well, I’m sure the next 365 days will be full of my own whining about this topic. Today’s purpose is to set goals for myself for August. So on with the goals!

I know you will all be surprised by my first goal – especially if you are a regular at 3 in 30. As a matter of fact you can probably repeat it with me. Are you ready?

1. Do at least one load of laundry a day. Why do I cringe every time I type the word “laundry”? All I really want out of life is to be like Meghan at The Tuckers Take Tennessee. I don’t even really need to LOVE doing laundry like she does. I’d settle for a mild level of tolerance. As it is now I despise it. I remember the days when I didn’t mind it at all. In fact I remember the days when I actually enjoyed it. When we lived in Joelton our laundry room was downstairs along with our homeschool classroom. I felt like such a housewife spending every morning downstairs teaching my children and keeping the laundry going. Anyway, I’m gonna get depressed if I keep focusing on laundry. I really want to hire Meghan to come to my house every day and do my laundry for me.

 

2. Since this is the kids’ last year of school that means it is their last year of playing soccer unless they play in college. What is my day to day life gonna be like with soccer? Focus Pam Focus!!! My goal for August is to go to every game whether I am dying or not. I would like to go to every practice too but I know that may not always be a possibility. But I don’t want to lose a single second of cheering on my kids. Soccer has been a part of my life since the kids were 5 and 6. That is approximately twenty-two soccer seasons times two children – FORTY FOUR SOCCER SEASONS. The end of this school year will be the end of that. Oh my word! Now I’m getting depressed. Thankfully Lauren is planning to go to Lipscomb University here in Nashville. So I can go over there to watch her play and cheer her on. Michael is planning to go to Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville. That’s about an hour away. So, I can even take a road trip over there to see him play if he chooses to do so. But as for August I will be at every single game and as many practices as I can get to. The same will go for the spring when Michael plays his last season as well.

Lauren at the Lipscomb soccer field

3. Bible study with Ron. Ron and I are planning on renewing our vows next June. Prior to that event we are gonna do our own “premarital” post marital counseling/study each Wednesday night here at home. If you are a regular reader of my blog you know that we have had our share of struggles in the past – doesn’t everyone – and have sought out counseling a number of times. This time we are gonna do a couple’s Bible study together and reinforce all we’ve heard and learned in the last 24 1/2 years of marriage. He has been on the look out for the right study for us. One study we are considerig is by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs called Love & Respect. The homework looks pretty intense. So, that is where my 3 in 30 goal comes in. I’ve found that unless I’m teaching I have a tendency to get behind on Bible Study homework. So my goal will be to find a study schedule that will work for me and plug myself into it.

Ok – there you have it! Now someone hold my feet to the fire and make sure I stay on track. Failure with these goals is not an option. These are investments into the future of my family. Ok, except for the laundry……………….UGH!!

If you need to set a goal for anything come to the 3 in 30 Challenge site and link up. Great means of support over there. And we encourage one another via Twitter as well.

Once Upon A July I Went Crazy

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What a month June has been! Whew! It has gone by so fast. But then all of our summers are always so busy. My household calendar  is very colorful for July. See:

July

Each color is for a different person. If I tried to tell you the order of events for the remaining days of the summer it would make your head spin. July always makes me crazy. Honestly, each summer I am surprised that I live through July and see August appear.

And that brings me to my July 3 in 30 goals. My June worked out just right. I have stayed on top of the laundry (meaning we haven’t been chased out of the bedroom by a mutant pile of dirty clothes), I have decluttered everything I wanted to declutter and I have organized my office and made room for my Advocare business. While we did not end up have the yard sale in Ohio like planned I am still pleased to have gone through everything in this house and have it all boxed/bagged up. We are planning to have a garage sale here later in the summer.

Now, on with July! I have been thinking about what goals to set for July. As you can see from my calendar, July is crazy busy. For that reason I am gonna set some lighter goals. So here we go:

1. Laundry….oh the laundry. It is my nemesis but I will not abandon it. I will stay on top of it if it kills me. And some days I hope it would just so I didn’t have to fight it anymore. But that is looking doubtful at this point so it will remain on my list. I want to do at least ONE load of laundry EVERY day. Even though I dread it every day I have noticed when I do complete a load from start to finish makes me feel better about myself. My fibromyalgia keeps me from being able to do housework every day. So accomplishing a load of laundry helps me feel less like a failure to my family.

2. Lose 5 pounds. Yes, you read that right. I’ve used a lot of blog space in the past talking about how I’m gonna lose weight. blah blah blah But I have discovered that participating in the 3 in 30 program I find myself staying motivated to meet those goals. I know that others are struggling to meet theirs and the encouragement helps. So I am putting myself out there to meet this goal.

3. Spend time with the Lord every day. Why is it that this is such a hard thing to commit to? I know I’m not the only one who has a hard time with this. It’s easy to get distracted and move this to the bottom of the list. So I am making it part of my goals. I will spend time in the Word and in prayer each day.

I think these goals will be easy to keep up with while living my crazy July. Do you have some things you need to get done but keep putting off? You should come check the 3 in 30 challenge. It really is helpful and the support is awesome! I’m heading there now to link up and visit some blogs.

Big Plans Mean A Lot Of Hard Labor

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I have been thinking for over a week about my June goals for 3 in 30. I must say that the thought of completing these goals is very exciting to me. I can picture them complete and that picture makes me smile. I may need someone to follow me around all day every day and tell me repeatedly “get busy, Pam”. I know that I will be making excuse after excuse for not doing them. But they desperately need to be done.

1. As always, my first goal is to keep myself caught up on laundry by doing at least one load a day. This is cotinually one of my daily goals. I have yet to make it through an entire month successfully making this one of my habits. I hope this is the month that this changes. One of these months I am gonna be able to write my 3 in 30 goals and this NOT being on the list because it will no longer have to be something that I have to force myself to do. I dream of the day that it is just part of my regular routine like taking my medicine. Until then this goal will be #1 on my list. SIGH

2. I received a card in the mail from a local charity that will co me to your home and pick up anything you would like to donate to them. So my goal for the month of June is to go through my closet/drawers and the rubbermaid containers in the garage and fill up bags of items to donate. The kids have huge piles of clothes in their rooms that have been waiting to be donated somewhere. This is the month that they GO! As the month goes on and as I get more organized I will work out a system for completing this goal. But for right now the general idea of cleaning out and donating is my goal.

3. During the month of May I became a Distributor for Advocare. I need to organize my business starting with cleaning out the homeschool paperwork (we have not homeschooled in 4 years) from my shelves and filing cabinets and make room for my new business. This will include cleaning up my study and desk. I hope to include selling my piano as well since it is part of the clutter in my study.

So as you can see I will be very busy in June. I will also be gone to Ohio for a week of that month. So, I better get going! Where to begin!

Let’s Do This Thing

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Well, the month of May has kind of puttered out with my 3 in 30 goals. As is typical for me I start strong but by the end of a goal I’m usually barely hanging on. So that seems the be the case for May as well. My goals were to do at least one load of laundry a day, meet a friend for something social at least once a week and to do some research on ways to transition my blog into a way to eventually make some money. I have touched on each of those throughout the month. So, I can’t say the month was a complete bust. But I have not been as successful as I had hoped I would be.

The laundry is my nemesis. If my life were a movie then the laundry would be the arch enemy. I have set my goal each month to be very reachable. I believe you shouldn’t set a goal too big because it would only be overwhelming and easier to give up. At least that’s the case for me. So I set easy reachable goals. At this point any kind of a plan or a hint at any kind of a schedule is an improvement for me. So while other participant’s goals may be more demanding mine are just right for me – which is kind of the point anyway.

I began 3 in 30 in February. I have participated each month except for April. Each month I have had one goal consistently the entire time – to do at least one load of laundry a day. I have not, however, yet accomplished that goal. I have managed to get laundry done each week. But my idea is that, by doing one load every day, I will eliminate the huge piles of laundry who appear to be months waiting to attack. This is a work in progress – sometimes it’s a work in REgress though. That will continue to be one of my goals until it is part of my every day existence just like breathing.

My other two goals for May were to get out once a week to meet with a friend and to begin researching way to improve my blog so that I can move into making blogging a money making venture. I must say that I have given the blog situation a lot of brain time this month. I have improved my blog by working to make it less cluttered looking. It is a continuous work in progress though. And it is no where near the money making stage yet. But the goal was to doing the research. I have done that. There is more to do. But I now have a thought process in the works.

As for meeting a friend each week, that hasn’t quite worked out as well as I had hoped. It wasn’t a flop but it didn’t quite happen as I had envisioned. I intend to continue working toward this goal because it’s one that I really need. A woman really needs to have emotional connections with other women. I’ve learned just how important that is. I’ve also learned how important it is for them to have relationships with a friend outside of their home. Being a wife and mom 24/7 is very fulfilling but it can also be very lonely. If you add in a chronic illness into that equation the loneliness is something of a different deeper level. What makes it even worse for me is that I am naturally a loner. I am an only child. So, for most of my life I have been alone. I have had friends over the years. I have even had a friend who I felt was close enough to me to call my “best friend”. However, friendships change and evolve as time goes by. That is a natural thing. It’s been that way for hundreds of years. That’s why it’s so important to have a number of friends. No person is an island. It’s not healthy for anyone to be alone. So I have been working hard emotionally and mentally to expand my friends “pool”. I must admit that I am enjoying it actually. Reaching out to others can be difficult because of the fear of rejection. But it’s worth the effort. That’s where I am right now.

I have already been working on my June goals. I have them in my mind. Here’s hoping June will be the biggest 3 in 30 success I have experienced to date. Here’s hoping the same for you as well. If you do not participate now I recommend visiting the 3 in 30 site and consider joining in. It gives you something to focus on – something that will help you reach a goal. Let’s do this thing! Let’s do this thing TOGETHER!

Live In The Joy Of The Moment

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As I write this week’s 3 in 30 entry I am sitting outside at my patio table enjoying the light breeze, the perfect sun, the happy birds and the peacefulness in my spirit. I’m just not convinced it gets better. The least of my concerns right now is the laundry waiting for me upstairs, how to make money or getting dressed to go out to meet someone. Those were my goals for this month. I don’t know if that is really what I should be writing in a 3 in 30 update post. But that’s what I’m feeling.

I think it’s perfectly fine to lay life and responsibilities aside every now and then and just enjoy the perfect moments you come up on occassionally. As women there appears to be something on our plate 24/7.  We could never sleep and we still wouldn’t get it all done. So every now and then I embrace that and encourage myself to just soak in the moment. We don’t give ourselves permission to do much of that. Why is that? I know if I press on and worry more about the task then I discover that I miss the joy in the moment. That’s not what God intended for us.

The laundry is still gonna be there, the dishes aren’t going anywhere, the kids schoolwork doesn’t have to be done right this second… so what’s the rush? And even if you work outside the home in an office setting your paperwork will still be there in 10 minutes if you step outside to listen to the birds sing. Think how much happier you will be in your spirit if you accept the little blessings God sends us along the way. He created all of nature…he set the number of hours in the day…he created the children/family/friends that you love…overlooking all of that CAN’T possibly make Him happy. I picture him (cause I’m a visual learner) standing in front of us saying “WAIT! Do you hear those birds singing? Isn’t that beautiful? I created them and their song to speak peace to your spirit. PLEASE stop long enough to hear them.”

So don’t be discouraged if you didn’t live up to your expectations you put on yourself for this week. If you heard one chirp of a bird or tilted your head to the sky and felt the sun on your face then you have accomplished something great. You have accepted God’s gift into your heart. And you didn’t even know THAT was on your list, did you?

A Multitude of Blessings

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This is week three of my participation in Multitudes Monday. My goal is to reach 1000 things that I am thankful for. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna share them all this month. So far, I have shared 20 total. I seem to be sharing 10 each Monday. But from what I understand there isn’t a set number that you must share. I also haven’t gotten Ann VosKamp’s book yet – which I certainly want to do as I have heard how life changing it has been in so many people’s lives. We all need some lifechanging moments in our lives. Ok – on with my week for this week. Share yours too! It stretches you!

21. This may sound really odd for someone like me to say. But I am thankful for my health. I’m not so much thankful for the poor health that I deal with every day. I mean that I am thankful that the things that are wrong with me are not fatal or deadly. I have irritation of fatigue and pain but, even when I think I would like to die to get out of it’s grip, I know I won’t. I will be around for my family for a long time.

22. The joy and happiness I hear coming from upstairs where my children are playing XBox together – NOT arguing. They are laughing together and getting along. It is music to my ears.

23. I am grateful that Ron celebrated another birthday this past week. Ok, I admit it gives me pleasure a month and 2 days after MY birthday he catches up with me. But mostly I am thankful that he is still around. I can’t imagine what my life would be like without him. I used to seriously waste precious time worrying about something bad happening to him. But now I focus on just being thankful instead of worrying. A grateful heart accomplishes something. Worrying does not!

24. I had a good enough day today to cook Ron’s birthday dinner. His favorite meal is a Japanese meal that is a LOT of work. It wiped me out but I made it through. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. And even if they didn’t they wouldn’t dare tell me otherwise!

25. I’m grateful for a good doctor who is willing to try whatever he thinks might help me with managing my pain. He has gone to bat for me with my insurance company and in less than 2 weeks I will be getting botox injections for my headaches. A good doctor is hard to find. One you get along with is even harder to find. But one who will fight for you is priceless.

26. I was featured on the 3 in 30 site as their featured participant for the week. I’m so thrilled. 3 in 30 has really changed me. I have hopes of bigger changes ahead because of it. If you need motivation in setting goals for yourself and then accountability in keeping you focused then 3 in 30 is your answer. This is an honor for me. The encouragement is just what I need to keep me focused.

27. I have been invited to go upstairs and join the fun with my family. So this week’s list gets cut short. My family is calling. That makes me blessed indeed!