2012 Goals

I think the idea of having New Years Resolutions is silly.  But goals?  That makes sense.  And yes, I myself am silly, since I guess resolutions and goals are essentially the same thing.

For some reason, I have decided to set some goals for myself this year.  And me being me, I am not just setting one.
1. Floss my teeth daily.  Yes, I am 30 something and still have terrible dental habits.
2. Read through the bible.  I am reading a bit from the NT, OT, Psalms and Proverbs each day.
3. Complete a sewing project each month.
4. Read 2 books a month.  I have gone through lists of books on other bloggers sites and picked out the books I want to read each month.  At least one of the books will be a "growth" type book, where I will focus on my relationship with myself, God, Bryan, or my children.
5. Exercise.  HA!  This one has yet to be touched. . .

Maybe it will help me keep with my goals if I post updates here on my little blog about my progress. . .

So far I have been flossing my teeth almost every night.
I have finished one book for January so far.  I read Glenn Beck's book "The Snow Angel."  It was a really good book, I couldn't put it down and read it in 3 days!  It is a tear jerker, a story really of redemption. 

Meal Planning

Part 3 in my home organization!

Cooking is fun!!!  As long as I don't have to think about "What's for dinner?" or "Man, I have to go to the grocery store, what am I going buy??"

To overcome those two hurdles, I started making menus.  Once again, I just make a simple spreadsheet with a menu item and the supplies that have to be purchased to make that meal.  Currently, I have 10 weeks of menus.  I keep them in page protectors since cooking is a messy job.

After the spreadsheet, I have copies of all of the recipes.

When I plan menus, I consider a couple things:
1. I vary my meats each week.  Who wants to eat chicken every day???
2. I include at least one quick and easy meal each week.
3. I include one "family favorite" each week.  (like meatloaf or spaghetti or tacos. . .)
4. I don't plan to eat things on specific days, but you should plan to eat things with fresh produce or bakery goods early in the week for obvious reasons.
5. If a meal takes more than 30 minutes or needs to be marinated, I make a note of that on the menu page.
6. I also try to balance the nutrition.  I love me some Pioneer Woman, but I am not a rancher so I don't need all of those calories, so I balance my butter recipes with healthy recipes.

To avoid overwhelming yourself, plan no more than 2 weeks in one shot.  If you would like a starting point, I would be more than happy to share my current plans.

You might also notice that I have only planned 5 meals for the week.  We usually have one left over night/ a night that we eat out/ or a night where we eat sandwiches or pasta or something super simple.

Eat them up

My Daily Grind

I guess this is a part 2 of my home organization post.  I get all of my chores done early in the morning, but really the list of chores is so short that you could accomplish the tasks at any time during the day, as long as it works for you!

As soon as I wake up, I make the bed.

Then I go into the bathroom and wipe down the mirrors, countertop, sinks and toilet.
      *I never really have to clean the shower because I keep a clean cloth in the shower that we use to wipe down the walls after every shower.*

Next I make coffee and look over my daily plan so I know what needs to be done and what meals I will be preparing for the day.

If the kids aren't up yet, I unload the dishwasher, have my coffee and read my bible reading for the day.
If they are up, I get them dressed and make breakfast.  Once the kids are dressed I start of load of laundry.

After breakfast, Jack starts on his school work (something that he can do on his own-Math) and I do my daily chore (washing sheets, towels, dusting, or cleaning the floors).

Some keys to my success:
Get to bed early so I can wake up early and get stuff done.

Clean before it looks an area needs to be cleaned.

Do 1 load of laundry every day.


Next up. . . Meal Planning

Christmas

Ahh, yes, you read that right.  As usual, I am a little behind in my blogging.  Better late than never, right??  The kids and I drove to Florida in mid-December to spend some time with my parents (while Bryan was working in Key West).  We had a very nice visit.  Bryan drove up and joined us about 4 days into our visit.  My sister and her husband flew down, my brother flew down, and my grandparents drove over to spend time with us all.  It was cray having so many people in one house, but it was nice to see everyone!

We went to a breakfast with Santa at my parents' church.  The boys got on Santa's lap without any problems.  Jack was funny.  He didn't want to tell Santa what he wanted at first because he said he already told Tan (his elf on the shelf) what he wanted.  Audrey refused to get close to Santa.  And Ayden just sat there like "whatever."

We went to the mall with my mom.  Jack just had to ride this train.  And of course, Audrey refused to get close to it.

My brother, Nick, with Ayden

 We spent a couple days at the beach.  The weather was great.  The kids had a blast playing in the sand and water!

Becky and Tom Ulmer

 Bryan and I spent an adult day at Epcot with the Ulmers.  It was nice to ride a couple rides, enjoy some shows, eat a dinner without little ones to feed, and walk through shops without worrying about little fingers!

Jack petting the sting rays

Playing in a hurricane tunnel

The little kids area

Shopping

Playing with an interactive sports exhibit

Lastly, the kids had their day too!  Bryan and I took the kids to a hands-on children's museum.  It was a nice little place with stuff for all of the kids.  Bryan and Jack spent a lot of time in the sports thing.

Homeschool Entrepreneur Fair

Jack, all set up and ready to go!

 In the beginning of December, our homeschool group hosted an entrepreneur fair.  The kids came up with ideas of what they could make and sell.  They had to stay at their booth and market their product and practice their speaking skills. 

Other families setting up

 Jack did really good explaining his product to people.  He made picture frames using old puzzle pieces and scrap cardboard boxes (all of my amazon boxes!) and a piece of ribbon to hang the frames. 

Jack's friend Adam.  He was a mobile joke booth.  Sooo cute!

Our little helper

The day was definitely a learning experience.  Jack spent more money than he made because he wanted to help his friends out and kept buying stuff from them.  But we got some Christmas gifts and I hope that Jack at least learned a lot in the process.

Planning. . . My Philosophy

I love being organized.  I have gone through periods of time where I have gotten out of my routine, and life just stinks!  I feel stressed, nothing seems to get done, and I am short with the children. 

I have 2 binders that I life by: My "Household Notebook" and my "Meal Planning Notebook."

Here I will introduce you to my Household Notebook.  This keeps me grounded and will allow for anyone to "fill in my position" if anything should happen to me.  The first page is the emergency information--great for babysitters to have access to.  I downloaded it from Organized Home (scroll down to "Emergency Information."

Next is my daily go-to section: Planning

My calendars are downloaded from Organized Home (scroll down to "Printable Calendars").  My Daily planners came from Desiring Virtue.  I use the blank planners and write all of my own stuff in.

Next up: Money and Finance

 This section will be great for Bryan if I come to an untimely end, since he really doesn't know what is going on in the house!  I created a budget with software that was on the mac.  All of the other documents are really simple spreadsheets.  The online acct info comes in handy since there are times when you have to create some wonky user name or password for an account.  My brain is limited to memorizing one, maybe two user name password combinations.  The utility directory is great for those of us that live in hurricane zones--I can just take this with me if we evacuate and I have our account numbers and contacts for the utility company.  It is also nice to have a spreadsheet with magazine subscription information like account numbers, customer service phone numbers, when the subscription ends, and who gave us the magazine.  In the vehicle records, I keep a record of insurance and registration.

Pheww, time for a simple one: Phone

You could also keep any phone chains that you belong to in here or playgroups, or school lists. . .

Another crazy Stephanie section: Home Management

There are so many mundane tasks that don't have to be done all that often, but who remembers to do them???  I found a 3 month rotating schedule that adds one small task to your list of chores for the day. Scroll down to "The Basic Household Cleaning List."


However, there are things that I do weekly:
Monday: Wash sheets
Tuesday: Wash towels
Wednesday: run errands/go grocery shopping
Thursday: Dust
Friday: mop and vacuum floors


For "Party Planners" I keep a list of ideas, to dos, people to invite, and thank you notes to send for the kids' birthday parties.
Vehicle Maintenance is pretty self explanatory. . .

Last but not least: Health and Fitness
I found blank medical records online that I printed off for everyone in the family.  These are great to take with you if you end of rushing anyone to the ER. (Although when Audie was taken to the ER the other day, I completely lost my head and forgot all about my binder!!!  How frustrating!)

And of course, if you were one of those people who is able to squeeze fitness into your life, you could get fitness goals/charts/idea in here.  It is one of my goals to get back into an exercise routine but I started having problems with my neck and there seems to always be a child up earlier than I expect.