2015 Goals

Whew...it's been a minute since I posted on this sweet little blog, huh?  I feel like so much happened in the last half of 2014, and some catch-up posts are definitely in order, but I want to start with one of my favorite parts of this blog--the goal-setting/accountability piece!

In 2014, I was at that point of coming out of the newborn fog and I really wanted to make some things happen.  The last few years were a whirlwind for our little family--we moved in with my parents the summer before Kinley started Kindergarten, we built our house, and then we had 2 babies in less than two years.  Enter lots of just "making it."  I knew that I could just keep "making it" and things would probably be ok, but I didn't want to spin my wheels through the next 18 years or so.  I felt a call to live this life intentionally--for myself and for my people.  It was at this point that I was introduced (via clicking around in blogland!) to Lara Casey and her PowerSheets.  I can honestly say that these things work!  I ordered my first set last year, and although health issues (hello, Satan!) derailed my progress for much of the year, I know that I did at least move forward in some areas, because I have those beautiful worksheets (and a few blog posts!) as proof.

As 2015 began, I knew that my brain was in a better place and I was ready to begin again.  I am not in the same place that I was at the beginning of 2014.  I am a bit beyond just "making it" as a mom of three, but as a creature of habit, routine, and order, I am sometimes so afraid that I will continue to work all week, grocery shop on Friday nights, do laundry all day on Saturday, and go to church on Sunday, and then wake up one day when I'm 80 and realize that life was just a series of routines and I missed out on so much of God's great big, amazing world.  (One big part of the PowerSheets is "beginning with the end in mind," or thinking about what you want life to look like when you're 80.)  I ordered my new PowerSheets, and followed Lara's lead of praying through goals in January rather than rushing into "resolutions" on January 1 after a hectic holiday season.  I adopted February 1 as the beginning of my new year and felt ready for the challenge!

Disclaimer--I fully realize that I am quite the nerd and love planning and making lists and checking off boxes.  I also know that things like this work for my brain but may not work for everybody.  However, I can honestly say that reaching intentionally set goals is such a feeling of satisfaction that I would encourage you to find something--anything--that works for you!

So, without anymore explanations or disclaimers, here are my goals for 2015:

2015 Goals

1.  Love Jesus--Obviously I love Jesus already, but everything kind of fell into a love category, so here goes.  This one includes daily quiet times, setting a routine for Bible Study, getting up EARLY to spend time with Jesus, and attending conferences/worship experiences/whatever that will push me outside my comfort zone.
2.  Love my people--Again, I obviously love my people, but this means loving them well.  Knowing their love language and speaking it, spending one-on-one time with my babies, date nights with my man, having screenless family fun time, and taking care of them mentally, physically, and emotionally.
3.  Love me--This includes little things that affect my health like going to the dentist, establishing self-care routines (like taking my makeup off and washing my face EVERY NIGHT), eating healthier and finding some type of exercise that makes me happy, learning more about my essential oils and how to use them, and then other things that "sharpen my saw"--reading, gardening, spending more time with my friends--just doing the things that fire me up and keep me going.
4.  Love our home--Organizing our photos, having a system in place for our paper, doing some upkeep, landscaping the front yard, decorating my boys' room...these are just a few things included in my plans for this year.
5.  Love less--Continue to budget and use our envelope system so that we can give more, simplify our STUFF, intentionally pay off some things in 2015.
6.  Love others--Send a random handwritten card to someone each month, be a better friend, find my area of ministry and do it.
7.  Love adventure--Have at least one experience each month that takes me outside my comfort zone, whether it's a place, a food, or an event.  Travel to new places as much as possible--close by or far away.  Variety is the spice of life!

The really cool thing about PowerSheets is that, once you discover your goals for the year, they help you break those down into monthly goals, and then break those down into weekly goals, and then break those down into daily goals.  Yep, that's a lot of lists and a lot of boxes to check off, but I'm telling you--it makes me happy!

February Goals:

1.  Begin the She Reads Truth Lent study.
2.  Plan (at least!) one Screenless Family Fun Time
3.  Date night
4.  Read one fiction and one non-fiction book
5.  Collect Clean Eating ideas
6.  Make dentist appointment
7.  Get all pictures together in one place
8.  Clean out the boys' closet and gather ideas for their room
9.  Budget our extra funds for the upcoming months with Zeke
10.  Some type of ministry opportunity

Weekly Goals:

1.  Stay in budget
2.  One longer Quiet Time with Bible Journaling (more on this later!)
3.  Exercise 3 times per week
4.  Blog 3 times per week (oops!)
5.  Read
6.  One-on-one time with each kiddo

Daily Goals:

1.  Quiet Time: Get up early!
2.  Take off makeup and wash face EVERY. NIGHT.
3.  Do something small for Zeke (February is a stinky month for my man...so this month my "love others" is all about him!)

So...in a couple of weeks I will update February and post my March goals.  I know we've all heard it before, but writing it down makes all the difference in the world--it is much more likely to happen--and I'm pretty sure putting it on the blog counts twice!

I am interested to know:  What are your goals?  How do you set them and track them?  Please share...Inquiring minds want to know!

Summer Bucket List

I love lists.  The first step is admitting it, right?  And I love my babies, and I love summertime, and I love making a plan to be intentional in the summer.  So a Summer Bucket List just pretty much makes me happy.  I am finally posting ours!  We created it on June 1--almost a month ago.  The shortest summer ever waits for no one, so it is time to get busy!

1.  READ
2.  LEARN (The boys are already 5 steps ahead in the goals I had set for them in this area.  Their little brains are amazing right now!)
3.  Catch lightning bugs
4.  Build a sand castle
5.  Go to a baseball game
6.  Watch fireworks
7.  BBQ with friends
8.  Go to Chuck E. Cheese
9.  Go to a movie
10.  Go to Greene Street Market in Huntsville--it was AMAZING--this should now say "go BACK!"
11.  Point Mallard
12.  Hartselle pool
13.  Look for shells
14.  Hunt crabs--this one was amazingly easy this year due to some kind people who had gotten in the water by the rocks, found hermit crabs, put them in a bucket, and shared them with my curious kiddos.  People from North Alabama simply do NOT get into water around big rocks.
15.  Play putt-putt--this one gets half of a cross-off due to only completing 9 holes with two little boys at the beach.  Do-over for the (highly competitive) girly is due, perhaps?  And oh yeah--if you see Zeke or Kinley, ask them who hit the hole-in-one on the hardest hole we played! Hint--it wasn't either of them...just call me Tiger.
16.  Bonfire with K's friends
17.  Backyard movie night
18.  Go to a museum
19.  Go to a concert
20.  Paint/art day
21.  LOVE--MUST. LOVE. PEOPLE.

Obviously there are a few that we *had* to do while we were at the beach, but there is a lot left to pack in to our July.  Bring on the fun!

May Goal check-in and June Goals

May turned out to be super busy.  Busier than I had planned for!  So, just go ahead and plan on extending grace, because here is the recap for last month along with how I did:

May Goals

1.  Create a summer bucket list with my family.  Done...and several things already crossed off!  Look for the list coming next week!
2.  Date night with my hubby.  Sort of...we went to a company dinner at the beach so we weren't totally alone but we were childless.  Never mind that it actually took place in June--remember what I said about grace!
3.  Read 1 F/1 NF book.  I didn't finish the fiction book, but I did finish Seven by Jen Hatmaker.  Again: WRECKED ME.
4.  Make dentist appointments.  Not done!  Told you so!
5.  Playroom.  We got a lot accomplished--we went from toys covering the floor to toys organized in baskets and bookshelves put together and put in the room.  We ordered baskets and are waiting on them to come in to finish our project, so it goes on the list again for June!
6.  Stick to budget.  Let's not even discuss this one.  This is one of those areas where Satan seeks to destroy me.  It will definitely go on the list again for June.
7.  Paint outside doors.  Moving this one on down the list for June too!

June has already started off on a crazy note.  Our first full week was spent at the beach, we came home to one day of work for mom (I know, right?  A teacher?  Working in the summer?!), a planned business trip for mom and dad (which got cancelled), and several weeknight activities our first "official" week of summer, and next week is VBS!  This month is definitely going to have to be a slow month for crossing things off the list, but after all, isn't that what summer is for?!  Here is the June list:

June Goals

1.  Cross some items off of the summer bucket list.  And post the list on the good ol' blog!
2.  Date night with my hubby.  Again...alone!
3.  Read 1 F/1 NF book.  I just started Love Does by Bob Goff, I'm planning to reread Seven, and I have a Barnes and Noble gift card just waiting to add some fiction to my list!
4.  Make dentist appointments.  Enough said.
5.  Playroom.  I am planning on getting this room completely finished this month.  Come on IKEA, ship those baskets!  Maybe I'll even share before and afters!
6.  Stick to budget.  This is my first bite of the elephant but being home in the summer makes it even harder.  Lunch out?  Sure!  Those windows need curtains!  My drawers need cute organizers!  My mantle needs decorations!  Cue Target and Amazon!  Now you know why I said I am planning to reread Seven!
7.  Paint outside doors.  Maybe I can find a day that it isn't raining and isn't too hot to make this happen this month!
8.  Freezer Cooking session.  Because I love using my kitchen when I have time, because school will start back, sooner rather than later, and because I am on a mission to feed this brood some healthy, yummy food on those busy school nights when cooking sounds like a chore.
9.  Make a (short!) list of summer projects.  There are always a few things that need to be done before school starts back--things that need to be reorganized after being thrown around during the school year.  I am hoping to get some of these done in the short weeks ahead!

I know it's already halfway through June, which doesn't bode well for this list and really does bother the OCD part of me.  BUT this list actually does make me think about what needs to be done, so I'm putting it out there again!  What are your plans for this month??

April Goal Check-in and May Goals

So, a few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about setting goals and being intentional with this life that I've been given.  I have had this thought since, oh, Decemberish, but in typical crazy Terry life fashion, I didn't actually start with making goals until the month of April.  So, here is the recap for last month along with how I did:

April Goals

1.  Update blog.  DONE!  I am loving my new blog design and the fact that I started blogging again (even if it isn't quite every day!).
2.  Prayerfully design a schedule for one-on-one time with my kiddos.  Oops.  Not quite there on this one.
3.  Date night with my hubby.  Sort of accomplished?  We went to a Chamber of Commerce dinner for ULA without the kiddos...does that count?!
4.  Make dentist appointments.  I. HATE. THE. DENTIST.  This is probably one that will roll on down the to-do lists for the next couple of months...I'll procrastinate as long as possible, I'm afraid!
5.  Read 1 F/1 NF book.  Sort of accomplished!  I read TWO fiction books and started THREE nonfiction books...but the best part?  I read!  Yay me...and I'm figuring out how to do it a little at a time, instead of being consumed by the book I'm reading and hiding in the bathroom to finish it.
6.  Make project lists for each room in our house.  DONE!
7.  Playroom.  Started!
8.  Yard Sale--Get ready for May 3.  DONE--and successful!
9.  Analyze and create budget.  DONE!
10.  Discuss budget and envelope system with Zeke.  DONE!


One thing that I learned in April was that I set a few too many goals...I got a LOT accomplished last month, but I always felt like I was running out of time.  May is such a busy month for us that I pared the list down quite a bit!  Here are my May goals:

May Goals

1.  Create a summer bucket list with my family.  We did this last year and loved it!  I have seen some cute ideas online too--the one I'm especially loving is a bulletin board with index cards listing the bucket list items.  They took pictures and used them to replace the index card as they completed each item, so at the end of the summer, they had an awesome bulletin board with pictures of their super fun summer!  And if you need ideas or are interested in joining a Summer Bucket List challenge, click here!
2.  Date night with my hubby.  Goal for this month:  just us!
3.  Read 1 F/1 NF book.  Disclaimer:  I am going to claim the second half of the three NF books that I am reading as one NF book. 
4.  Make dentist appointments.  Told you so!
5.  Playroom.
6.  Stick to budget.  Yikes!
7.  Paint outside doors.  This will be a fun project--watch for updates!  I am ready to add some personality to our little home!


There it is!  I'm excited and hopeful that having this list each month will keep me moving forward.  And I'm looking forward to tackling this list in May...which is good since we are 8 days in! 
What about you?  What are you up to this month?