I am working on Lara Casey’s 2017 Goal Setting Series. Here is my reflection of Part 1 of 5.

• Part 1: Getting Started (Steps 1-3)
  
• Part 2: Cultivate What Matters (Steps 4-6)
• Part 3: Say Yes, Say No, Choose a Word
• Part 4: Uncover Intentional Goals & Part 5: Make It Happen

Back in the summer of 2014, I started thinking about making goals in my life. It was a rather foreign concept at the time. I said back then:

I never gave much thought to having life goals before now. (Well, except for the huge goal of finding a good husband when I was still single. ;-)) Seriously, I always imagined “goals” as being grand, lofty things like starting a business or going back to school or writing a book or something. It seemed ridiculous to make those kind of goals when I was just trying to make it to the end of the day with my sanity and perhaps a clean load of laundry. Lately, I’ve definitely been surviving, not thriving. Then I read what Elizabeth Foss said here:

What do you want your life to look like? What do you see as your unique calling? These might be grand, lofty, complex things, like starting a ministry or taking a mission trip. But they might also be less grandiose, but deeply textured things like running a well-ordered home and opening your doors to your neighbors. Honestly, for right now, in this season, one of your primary goals might just be to get some sleep!

Elizabeth recommended Lara Casey’s Powersheets and I decided to give them a try. They were truly instrumental in helping me evaluate what is most important in my life and what I’d like to achieve. Lara showed me how to make big goals and break them down in manageable bits that reflected my season in life. It has been successful over the last two years, making improvements and progress in various area of my life.

However, when I completed the Powersheets, my youngest was still in diapers and I had little ones at home with me during the day. That season was different compared to now.  This is the first year that I have all my kids in school all day and while other commitments keep me busy, I have some flexibility and more time to pursue other things that I couldn’t with little ones under foot.

I was debating whether or not to order Lara’s powersheets again but I was hesitant to spend the money because I was trying to reign in my spending after the holidays. Well, God bless Lara because she offered a 5-day Goal Setting course on her blog. You can follow along with her powersheets or just use plain paper. I decided to take the course and use my new 2017 bullet journal.

Lara encourages us to share our progress with friends so we can be held accountable to each other. Since sharing these things with you helps me to plant them in my heart, as well as holds me accountable, I share some of the steps in Lara’s course and how I answered them.

Step 1: Evaluate How I Am Doing in Various Areas of my Life (on a scale of 1 – 10.)

I focused on the positive things but also mentioned the “needs work” areas that brought the ratings down.

Heath (6) – Progress made: I am few pounds lighter than last year and completed my summer 100 Miles in 100 Days challenge. Yay! Although, lately I have been slacking off, especially with the holidays. Too little walking and way too many sweets has made me feel less than healthy.

Friends (7) – I have made some wonderful connections with online friends, meeting many of them in person. So fun! However, I haven’t seen many of my nearby real life friends in ages! There is always an excuse or reason we’re busy but I crave some girl time. I am feeling the tug to make it happen.

Family (8) – I used this category is for extended family. I feel like we are keeping a good connection with each other, especially after starting a private FB group just for our family. In regards to my mom-in-law, my FIL’s death has brought us closer, although I could work on being a little more patient with her when our ideas on life clash, especially now that she needs more help attention as she gets older.

Wife (8) – I think our marriage is going strong and we are making sure we have alone time together. The main thing I want to work on is to continue to do a daily act of kindness for Brian. He always does so much for me, it is my way to say thank you and let him know I appreciate his love and friendship.

Mom (7) – It’s harder to be positive about this because there is always room for improvement as a mom, but I have good kids who are kind to others, relatively well behaved in public, love God and want to serve Him in their little ways. The areas that need work are having more one-on-one time with the kids, especially after school. They need my full attention for homework so I have make sure I have all my stuff done so I can focus on them. I’d also like better consistency in our family evening prayer.

Homemaking – (6) – Progress has been made over the years with better meals, some pockets of messiness cleaned up and a much better morning routine. (I haven’t been late for school once all year!!)  But there is still much more decluttering to do. Frankly, we just have too much stuff. There is also a list of house projects I’d like to start.

Finances (3) – Ugh. This is the area I need the most work on this year. On the positive side, I have given more to charity and we have saved some but I sorely need to update our budget and stop spending money on spur of the moment purchases. I’d like to be more intentional in my spending and stop contributing to the “too much stuff” problem.

Spiritual (7) – I have definitely read Scripture more this year than any other year, thanks to the Blessed Is She devotions. I’ve practiced trusting in God when nothing else made sense. My desire to pray for others has grown and there have been moments when I really felt connected to God. As for improvements, I need consistency. Morning prayer when the kids are at school is much easier but while they were home during vacation, I had such a tough time quieting myself before God. Plus my night exams have been spotty at best. So I’d like to work on consistency and giving God’s time with me top priority.

Blogging (6) – I’ve written less this year but I think I have made better connections with online friends. To be honest, I added this category but right now it is not a huge priority. I have no “plan” to grow the blog. I simply use it as a way to express my thoughts and stay connected with you. I don’t really care if it grows and it’s not a money maker so if I could post just once a week (maybe twice, if I’m feeling crazy,) I’d be happy.

Recreation (8) – Now that the kids are older it’s much easier to have pockets of time to myself so this area is fine (minus the above mentioned needed girl time.)

STEP 3A: What good things happened this year?

I made a page of highlights, including trying to look at the good in bad situations. My father-in-law died but he was surrounded by those he loved the last days of his life and passed away peacefully as his son read Scripture to him and prayed over him. Even with my mom getting cancer, the surgery was successful and she is well today. Those are both blessings.

Step 3B – What lessons did you learn in 2016?

• Life is short. Let go of the little stuff that bugs you.
• When you are at your weakest, God is at his strongest lifting you up.
• Family is everything.
• Close friends can become a second family.
• Enjoy the little blessings (and crazy kid moments) each day because they will be what matter most in the end.
• Even in the darkest moments, you can still find beauty or a smile if you search for it.

I’ll post Day 2 tomorrow. In the meantime, if you want to know more about making goals that fit your season in life – whether they be lofty or simple – I strongly recommend following the series. Lara is so positive, yet honest about her struggles, that you really feel like you have a friend who cares and wants to bring out the best in you. 🙂

Happy 2017 and see you back tomorrow!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

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When I was outside this morning there was a nip in the air, the wind was blowing and some leaves were starting to turn. It definitely feels like fall is approaching. I love this time of year to start fresh, even more so than January 1st. After the more care-free days of summer, it is time to get back on track and into school mode. That means it’s time for my Autumn Goals.

However, before we dive in I’ll review my summer goals. When I made them back in June, I knew there was a good chance a lot of it would not get done simply because it was, well, summer.

I was partially right. Some goals were completely ignored but some were accomplished so I’m chalking that up as a win. 😉

My main goals do not change but my mini-goals change depending on the two month interval and what projects I want to complete. So here is a summary of my progress and my mini goals for Sept/Oct 2016.

* * *

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

Summer Mini-Goals Reviewed

• 15 minutes of morning prayer. – Ohmygosh, I forgot how hard it was to pray with all the kids in the house. It required me getting up earlier than the boys but waking up early in summer seemed unnatural. 😉 Instead I tried to fit in prayer in the later morning after they were fed and playing on their own. Frankly it was hit and miss. Now that they are back in school I can resume my normal morning prayer time.
  
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – Again, hit and miss. Some days I did well but there were more days when I was praying and fell asleep. I don’t think praying in the horizontal position works for me!
• Monthly confession. – Done and done.
  

Sept/Oct Mini-Goals

• 15 minutes morning prayer – I’m going to keep working at it.
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – Continued goal. This time I’m going to do this before I get into bed.
• Add some spiritual reading to my week. – I have been reading a lot this summer and love a great novel but I have a huge stack of books by amazing Catholic women that would help me to grow spiritually. These books need my attention! (I’ll make a separate post about this stack of books.)

* * *

Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong, to nurture our friendship and spend time alone to reconnect.

Summer Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Coordinate schedules and plan date outing with Brian for June, July and August. – Accomplished.
  
• Daily act of kindness for Brian. – Hmm…this was so-so. One thing I noticed is that over the summer I often skipped my nightly bullet journal review, which included reviewing my goals for the day. Not refreshing my memory each night of what I was working on often meant completely forgetting all about it. As a result, weeks would go by before I realized I was no longer being intentional about my treatment of Brian.
  
• Treat Brian like my husband and not my 5th kid. – For the most part, I think I was better but could still use more practice! 

Sept/Oct Mini-Goals

• Daily act of kindness for Brian. – I want to keep up this practice until it becomes second nature. (Do you want to work on this with me? I have suggestions in this post – 25 Acts of Kindness for your Husband.)
• Praise Brian in front of the kids. – I am finding this especially important now that Bella is older and watches more closely how Brian and I interact with each other. I don’t want her to think it is normal for a wife to be bossy and treat her husband as less capable. Brian and I will often playfully tease each other but I don’t want it to come off as disrespectful or demeaning. My playful teasing has to be balanced with words of praise and thankfulness towards Brian. And if the teasing sounds snarky then its best that I just shut up.
• Encourage Brian to talk more while respecting the fact that he’s more quiet. – Brian is not a chit chatter and if I ask about his day I’ll often get a “fine” answer. Instead of rolling my eyes or complaining that I never get any details, I can ask a few questions about specific things to encourage him to tell me a little more. Then I’ll listen to what he says and remember things that are coming up to ask about it more in the future. I’ve started doing this and although he won’t go into a monologue any time soon, he has shared more, which has been good for both of us.

* * *

Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

Summer Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Have “no screens allowed” blocks of time during the day to make sure the kids (and mom) aren’t plugged in all summer. – We did fairly well, although there were some exceptionally crazy days when I allowed more Netflix than normal.
• Spend more time with the kids outside. – To be honest, this summer I helped Brian with some bookkeeping work for my inlaws and more often than not, I sent the kids out to play without me.
• Let the kids work on the scrapbooks and photo albums sitting in the closet. – Yeah, this project had to be shelved.

Sept/Oct Mini-Goals

• Return to family night prayers including a decade of the rosary. It was hit and miss during the summer months. We need our family prayer time.
• Use my free morning time to get all my work done so I can spend one-on-one time with the kids during homework time in the afternoon. No computer/phone use in the afternoon. – The helping kids with homework and getting dinner on the table part of the day is the most stressful for me. (Or maybe tied with getting us out the door on time.) All my attention has to be on these tasks at hand without distractions.
  

* * *

Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

Summer Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Make a reference meal list. – Started but not completed.
  
• Put all my printed recipes into a binder for easy reference.  Started but not completed.
  
• Continue A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge.  – I  actually did do a few things off my list as I am slowly trying to declutter and get rid of lot of our excess. 
• Pull out the Tahoe Trip binder and update any info for this year’s trip. – Done! 🙂
  

Sept/Oct Mini-Goals

• Finish my reference meal list.
• Make weekly meal plan. – Plan my weekly meals according to my schedule and make more use of my slow cooker, especially on the afternoons when we are booked with after school activities and speech therapy.
• Declutter boys’ room. – Finish boxing up the boys’ old toys, ask local friends if they want any of them, bring the rest to Salvation Army.

* * *

Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears and trying new things.

Summer Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Do a little something creative every day. – Maybe 50/50.
• Continue basics – water, vitamins and start the 100 Miles in 100 Days Challenge. – I did well and I completed my walking challenge – 100 miles in 100 days!! woohoo! I’ll write more about this in a separate post.
  
• Schedule a girls’ night out with the IRL friends I haven’t seen in ages! – I did get together with old friends once this summer but I need to make it more often!
  

Sept/Oct Mini-Goals

• Continue with the basics – water, vitamins, walk and sleep. – The hardest part right now is getting out of late-summer-night mode. I am not a morning person and having to get up early and get all the kids out of the house in time for school means that I need to get to bed earlier or I am a cranky, crazed zombie. So shooting for 7 hours of sleep is my goal. I’ll have to adjust my bedtime accordingly.
• Use my bullet journal daily. – Over the summer I was much more relaxed about using my bullet journal and didn’t need the intense To Do lists and schedules. But summer is over and my September (and soon October) calendar is packed so more than ever I need to stay on top of things! I live by the motto “write it down right now” or else it goes in one ear and out the other. I must do my daily review of my bullet journal to check over my schedule, figure out where I need to be and what items must be completed that day. Nightly reviews of my bullet journal and keeping it updated play a vital role in keeping things together. My goal is to keep using it and referring to it as needed.
• Spend one-on-one time with local friends. – I feel like lately God has been placing on my path friends who need a listening ear and a hug. As women, it is important that we have human connection with other women, whether it is to laugh or cry together. A part of me loves that and longs for that connection but the introverted part of me sometimes takes over and I just want to stay home and watch a movie. LOL. I want t make sure I am being a good friend and giving of myself to others when I can. Sometimes family life stops me but in this stage of life I do have a little more flexibility to be hospitable to my friends. So I want to work on spending time with friends (old and new) and hopefully hosting another Blessed Brunch before the end of the year. 🙂

What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month(s)? Do share!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

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Well, my last goals post was for March and April. So what happened to May?? Well, there has been so much drama lately with the passing of my father-in-law, the news that my mom has cancer and the 101 school activities on the calendar that I decided to skip May. Frankly, my only goal was to make it through each day with everyone in my house alive, fed and clothed. (Although the “clothed” was hit and miss as I was sniffing which dirty clothes items could be “freshened up” with a 5 minute spin with a dryer sheet because I was behind on laundry.) 😉 But the school year is winding down and less hectic summer days are on the horizon so I think I am ready to get back to my goals – Summer Edition. But first I’ll do the usual review of my previous (March and April) goals.

My main goals do not change but my mini-goals change depending on the two month interval and what projects I want to complete. So here is a summary of my progress and my mini goals for Summer 2016.

* * *

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

March/ April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• 15 minutes of morning prayer. – I want to work on the quality over the quantity. I’d rather have 5 minutes of a really thoughtful connection with God than 15 minutes of zoning out just so I can mark a check box. – My morning prayer has been going really well. I love using the Blessed Is She daily devotionals and since my mom got sick I started praying the rosary (almost) daily. It has been a huge help in turning my mind towards God and keeping me relatively sane.  (And speaking of Blessed Is She, I think today [June 1] it’s my turn to share today’s devotion.) 🙂
  
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – I think I need to rearrange my evening schedule to do my exam a little earlier in the evening. I keep trying to do “one more thing” until it’s so late I need to get to bed. So I’ll plan my night reflection before I start the “one more thing” game. – Honestly, this has not been going well. Still needs work.

Summer Mini-Goals

• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – I’m going to keep working at it.
• Monthly confession. – I got off track with this and I need to get to confession at least once a month. I can feel the difference when I don’t.

* * *

Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong, to nurture our friendship and spend time alone to reconnect.

March / April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Coordinate schedules and plan date outing with Brian for March and April. – This has been going well. Now that Bella can babysit we feel comfortable leaving for an hour or so to go out to lunch at least once a month.
• Daily act of kindness for Brian. – Brian’s workload will be heavy these next few months so I will try to do something each day to help lighten the load. – I’ll admit there are days when I forgot but I have been trying be intentional in doing an act of kindness or being extra supportive or affectionate. It truly makes a difference and I don’t want to stop this goal.
• Shut up and let it go. – I will also work on biting my tongue when he does a task differently than how I would do it. My way it not automatically the right way! – Hmmm, I don’t think I’d get an A but maybe a B- with room for improvement.

Summer Mini-Goals

I honestly don’t want to change these goals so I’m keeping them and just tweaking the last.

• Coordinate schedules and plan date outing with Brian for June, July and August.
• Daily act of kindness for Brian.
• Treat Brian like my husband and not my 5th kid. – Sometimes I find myself talking down to Brian like he is one of the little boys. I need to show him respect, even when we disagree.

* * *

Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

March/April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Use my free morning time to get all my stuff done so I can spend more one-on-one time with the kids during homework time in the afternoon. No computer/phone use in the afternoon. – Better but not great. This won’t be an issue again until Fall.
• Let the boys help in the kitchen more and be patient with them. – This was hard when I wanted to just get dinner done quickly and some days I had to be realistic and needed to cook alone to get dinner on the table as quickly as I could. But I made a conscious effort to set certain days aside when the boys could take turns helping me make dinner and they loved it.
• Continue with our family Lenten practices and nightly decade of the rosary. – For the most part, this has gone well.

Summer Mini-Goals

• Have “no screens allowed” blocks of time during the day to make sure the kids (and mom) aren’t plugged in all summer. – No explanation needed.
• Spend more time with the kids outside. – Whether it’s playing on the driveway, going to the park, walking along the beach, just getting outdoors and being/ playing with the kids.
• Let the kids work on the scrapbooks and photo albums sitting in the closet. Matthew still cries a little when he looks through the photo albums and scrap books (remember those??) and sees lots of baby photos of his siblings but none of him. I’ve got his baby photos and momentos in a box and blank albums/ scrapbooks waiting to be filled so I’ll let them put it together. It may not be perfect but at least it won’t be gathering dust in my closet and Matthew won’t feel like the forgotten child anymore. 😉

* * *

Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

March/April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Make a reference meal list. – Considering everything else going on in life, this was low on the list of To-Do’s and abandoned.
• Put all my printed recipes into a binder for easy reference. – Considering everything else going on in life, this was low on the list of To-Do’s and abandoned.
• Continue A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. – You know the drill… Considering everything else going on in life, this was low on the list of To-Do’s and abandoned. 

Summer Mini-Goals

Okay, this will be a Take 2 and I’ll try to get to these same goals over the summer. I still really want to do them and the timing is more realistic now.

• Make a reference meal list.
• Put all my printed recipes into a binder for easy reference.
• Continue A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. ** (I reserve the right to completely ignore the goal of catching up on housework if I prefer to go the beach or take the kids to see a movie instead. After all, it’s summer.)
• Pull out the Tahoe Trip binder and update any info for this year’s trip.

* * *

Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears and trying new things.

March/ April Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Do a little something creative every day. – Understandably, I had to put most of my creative activities on hold.
• Continued basics – water, vitamins, walk at least 20 minutes 5x a week and in bed by 11 on school nights. – Hmmm… Not bad but not great. Maybe a grade C.
  
• Eat a timely breakfast every morning. – I think for the most part, I have done better but still have days when I seriously forgot to eat breakfast until I was starving. So goes the terrible cycle.

Summer Mini – Goals

• Do a little something creative every day. – Let’s try this again.
• Continue basics – water, vitamins and start the 100 Miles in 100 Days Challenge.
  
• Schedule a girls’ night out with the IRL friends I haven’t seen in ages!

What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month(s)? Do share!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads,  Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

Can you believe March is here already! I can bemoan all the things I didn’t get done last month or I can get excited about a new fresh start. Let’s go with the new start, shall we. 😉 But before I get to  goals for March and April, I want to review over my goals for January and February. The past two months were busier than I anticipated and while I didn’t accomplish all I hoped for, there was progress so that’s a win!

My main goals do not change but my mini-goals change depending on the two month interval and what projects I want to complete. So here is a summary of my progress and my mini goals for March/ April 2016.

* * *

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

 Jan/Feb Mini-Goals Reviewed

• 15 minutes morning prayer. – I had a few dry spells but for the most part, I tried to make sure I had a morning prayer time. However, there were days I could have put greater effort into it.  I feel like I rushed through it just to get it over with. No bueno.
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – This was going well for awhile but the last week or so I’ve been fried at the end of the day and not in the mood for serious reflection. I need to make a change.

March/ April Mini-Goals

I’m going to keep at it until I get it down solid.

• 15 minutes of morning prayer. – I want to work on the quality over the quantity. I’d rather have 5 minutes of a really thoughtful connection with God than 15 minutes of zoning out just so I can mark a check box.
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – I think I need to rearrange my evening schedule to do my exam a little earlier in the evening. I keep trying to do “one more thing” until it’s so late I need to get to bed. So I’ll plan my night reflection before I start the “one more thing” game.

* * *

Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong, to nurture our friendship and spend time alone to reconnect.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Continue to plan weekly date nights and monthly out of the house dates. Step up the at home date nights so there is more one-on-one and not just passively watching a movie. – This has been going well. Now that Bella can babysit we feel comfortable leaving for an hour to go out to lunch at least once a month.
• Brian works so hard for us, do little things to make his day easier. (ie. Make his lunch or clean out his coffee machine or take out the trash – things that he would normally do.) – I didn’t consciously remember to do something for him every day but it was often that I tried to ease his load. He really appreciated it and I loved seeing the gratitude on his face (or in his kiss.) 🙂

 Mini-Goals

• Coordinate schedules and plan date outing with Brian for March and April.
• Daily act of kindness for Brian. – Brian’s workload will be heavy these next few months so I again will try to do something each day to help lighten the load.
• Shut up and let it go.  – I will also work on biting my tongue when he does a task differently than how I would do it. My way it not automatically the right way!

* * *

Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Use my free morning time to get all my stuff done so I can spend more one-on-one time with the kids during homework time in the afternoon. No computer/phone use in the afternoon. – Hmmm, if I’m honest I’d say it went well in Jan but failed in Feb. I think I need a redo on this one. Ugh.
• Work with Andrew as he prepares for his First Reconciliation next month. – This went great mostly because Brian wanted to do the bulk of the prep. I love a man that takes charge spiritually since it is usually left to the wife. 🙂 So together we both helped and Andrew did a fine job.
• More family time activities on the weekend. – We had a lot of rainy weekends so it was tough doing outdoor things but we always tried to have some fun activity together even if it was just movie and popcorn, so yeah this was pretty good.

 March/April Mini-Goals

• Use my free morning time to get all my stuff done so I can spend more one-on-one time with the kids during homework time in the afternoon. No computer/phone use in the afternoon.  – I need to keep working on this one.
• Let the boys help in the kitchen more and be patient with them. –  When I make dinner I like to get in there and get it done but Matthew often wants to “help” me cook. It’s been fun letting him stir spaghetti sauce or chop veggies for a salsa but now his older brothers have asked to have a turn helping me cook. Since we have a small kitchen and I have a small level of patience, I said that each night one boy could help me prepare the meal. Last night I wanted to zip through dinner but Andrew was eager to help. We made his favorite breakfast dinner and I showed him how to make the scrambled egg. It took a heck of a lot longer but he was so proud and so excited to tell Brian about it when he got home from work that I knew it was worth it. Not to mention that it will help them learn a skill they can use for the rest of their lives. (Future daughters-in-law, you’re welcome.) For Matthew, it was not easy to relinquish his throne as kitchen helper but he is home with me for his lunch and we make that together. Plus I let him take the “orders” at dinner and serve the plates so that has kept him happy. 😉
• Continue with our family Lenten practices and nightly decade of the rosary. – In the past we have done a lot more activities but this year all we could handle was our nightly prayer, marking the calendar and using the sacrifice beans. Sometime less is more.

* * *

Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals Reviewed

• I’ve been slacking on my meal planning and going to the store too often so back to weekly meal plans on Sunday. – Better but not great. I have been making a weekly plan for the most part but coming up with meals other than the usual handful of meals is like pulling teeth. I need help.
  
• Spend time on the weekends with Mystie’s Work the Plan course. – Total fail.
• Follow A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. – To the outsider, this was a fail but I’d rather look at it as a revised goal. There were weekly challenges and it literally took me a month to accomplish the week challenge. Soooo, I’m revising it and continuing it in the coning months.
  

 March/April Mini-Goals

• Make a reference meal list. – The other day I was trying to pick meals for the week and I kept drawing a blank so I asked the kids (we were driving in the car at the time) what were their favorite meals. Together we started remembering meals we’ve enjoyed but that I haven’t made in awhile. I need to sit down and right down all those meals in my bullet journal so when I am stumped with meal planing I have ideas ready for me.
• Put all my printed recipes into a binder for easy reference. – I have some well worn out printed recipes that I refer to often but they are either in a pile on the kitchen counter or shoved on a book shelf by my cookbooks. They are never where I need them when I need them. Now I already bought the cute recipe binder and the handy dividers and the pens to label the dividers but I haven’t actually sat down and done the work to put it together. (That is so Bobbi, it’s ridiculous. And I can hear my mom laughing.) So this month I will Get. It. Done.
• Continue A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. – However, I will change the weeks to months. Who care if by the time I finish it will be time for the 2017 challenge. A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do.

* * *Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears and trying new things.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Continued basics – water, vitamins, walk at least 20 minutes 5x a week and in bed by 11 on school nights. – Walking was poor. Water and vitamins better. Bed by 11… maybe graded a C+ with room for improvement.

• Turn off TV and spend 15 minutes reading before bed. I pledged on Goodreads to read 12 books in 2016 and I am following Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Reading Challenge for added fun.  – While I didn’t read much before bed, I do keep my books on my kindle (which is also on my phone) and I read during pockets of the day when I have a chance (like in the car line waiting to pick up kids in school or during the boyis’ speech therapy sessions.)  I also discovered the beauty of audio books so I was able to read during quiet moments but could continue the story while I was folding laundry or washing dishes. I’m happy to report that of my pledged 12 books this year, I just finished my 9th book last night. Yay! Some of the books I loved ( Lizzy and Jane & The Painter’s Daughter) and some disappointed me (I’m looking at you, Longbourne.) Next on the list is book #10 – All the Light We Cannot See.
• Do my evening recaps in my bullet journal and plan for the next day. – This has been going very well and less stuff is falling through the cracks.

March/ April Mini-Goals

Because of the busy days, I have been making sure to spend a little time each day doing something creative even if it is only for a couple minutes. Sometimes it is simply posting a photo on Instagram. Sometimes it is decorating my bullet journal or making a blog post or writing a letter. It is something that helps me unwind and makes me less stressful so I am more pleasant to my family. (You know the saying – If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.)

In January I practiced improving my doodling by drawing a tiny icon each day. (Well, more like drew 4 icons every 4 days because , you know, life happens.)

In February, as I mentioned in my previous post, I wrote a letter/card/postcard a day for the #incowrimo challenge and I practiced my writing in the #rockyourhandwriting challenge. I had to blog less, because I only have so much free time, but I loved doing it. So this month I will carry on with the habit…

• Do a little something creative every day.
• Continued basics – water, vitamins, walk at least 20 minutes 5x a week and in bed by 11 on school nights. – I recently got back into the habit of morning walks now that the weather is nicer so I want to follow through on that the next two months.
  
• Eat a timely breakfast every morning. – I’ve gotten into the bad habit of skipping breakfast or waiting way too late to eat it, especially on days when I am out the door with the kids at 7:30 and don’t return until later in the afternoon. I know this isn’t good so I want to work on correcting this bad habit. First thing I need to do is make a batch of my favorite granola. I never skip breakfast when that stuff is around. Or if I’m going to be gone all morning, I have to pack a sandwich or fruit and nuts to eat in the car after dropping off the kids at school.

What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month? Do share!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Periscope/Katch, GoodReads Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂

A new year is full of new possibilities so it was extra fun planning out my goals for January and February of 2016 but before I dive into that, I like to review over the goals of the last time interval – November and December.

My main goals do not change but my mini-goals change depending on the two month interval and what projects I want to complete. So here is a summary of my progress and my mini goals for January/ February 2016.

* * *

Main Goal #1: To always have God at the center of my life and to deepen my love for Him. I want his will to be my will and motivation.

Nov/Dec Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Continue with the 15 minutes of prayer in the morning using the Jesse Tree devotion for the first time this Advent. I won an Advent Devotional Book for Women from Jenny at The Littlest Way (Yay! Thanks, Jenny!) so I’ll be using that along with the beautiful new Advent cards from Blessed Is She. – Progress made but it did not go well during Christmas break. It was like I took a break from everything! Prayer was too often hit and miss.
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day. – About 50/50. Needs more work.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals

I’m going to keep at it until I get it down completely.

• 15 minutes morning prayer.
• Short exam and Act of Contrition at end of the day.

* * *

Main Goal #2: To be a loving and holy wife to Brian and to work at keeping our marriage strong, to nurture our friendship and spend time alone to reconnect.

Nov/ Dec Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Plan weekly date nights and monthly out of the house dates. Our lives are so centered around the kids and work that we really need to keep this up. It helps out so much I don’t want to it to let it slip away. – We did have our monthly outings but I think a little more effort needs to go into the stay at home dates so it’s more than just plopping on the couch and watching TV together.
• Continue to make a conscious effort to thank Brian more when he does something for me or the kids and not just take it for granted. – For the most part, yes.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals

• Continue to plan weekly date nights and monthly out of the house dates. Step up the at home date nights so there is more one-on-one and not just passively watching a movie.
• Brian works so hard for us, do little things to make his day easier. (ie. Make his lunch or clean out his coffee machine or take out the trash – things that he would normally do.)

* * *

Main Goal #3: To be a good mother that loves her kids and spends time with them and is not always “too busy.” I want to teach them about their faith and how to love and serve God in their young lives.

Nov/Dec Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Make an Advent Plan to help us keep our eyes on Christ and not get wrapped up in the materialism and busyness of the season. This year we will be doing the Jesse Tree for the first time and I will pick one (or two) of our other Advent Activities to do with the kids. – It wasn’t perfect but I did relatively well, all things considered.

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals

• Use my free morning time to get all my stuff done so I can spend more one-on-one time with the kids during homework time in the afternoon. No computer/phone use in the afternoon.
• Work with Andrew as he prepares for his First Reconciliation next month.
• More family time activities on the weekend.

* * *

Main Goal #4: To bring order into our home so I am not stressed out by the mess and chaos. When things are organized our family life runs smoother and there is more peace.

Nov/Dec Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Make a travel plan for our yearly Fall trip to Disneyland and visiting my family so I can enjoy the trip and be adequately organized. – Done! 🙂
• Make a Christmas plan and budget and stick to it so I am not overly stressed and over budget. – I made my plan and stress was greatly reduced. The budget was almost followed?? Okay, the truth is I went over but it was better than some years. So a kinda-win. 😉

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals

• I’ve been slacking on my meal planning and going to the store too often so back to weekly meal plans on Sunday.

• Spend time on the weekends with Mystie’s Work the Plan course.

The Complete Book of Home Organization: 200+ Tips and Projects by Toni Hammersley

• The mess in the house after the holidays has reached fever pitch so we need some serious decluttering and getting rid of things we no longer use. I am joining A Bowl Full of Lemon’s 2016 Home Organization 101 Challenge. Toni has all the info and printables available on her blog but she also has a cool new book (that is gorgeous to look through) with tips and more information to help you complete the challenge. I purchased a copy with an Amazon gift card I had and I can’t wait to dive in! It says we should have an accountability partner. Do you want to join me? I am going to talk about my progress on my Facebook Group RoL’s Operation Clean and Organize. 

* * *Main Goal #5 – To take care of myself physically, spiritually and mentally so I can be a happy and healthy wife, mother and friend. Taking care of myself mentally also means challenging myself to come out of my comfort zone and facing my fears and trying new things.

Nov/Dec Mini-Goals Reviewed

• Basics – water, vitamins, walk at least 20 minutes and in bed by 11 on school nights. – Water was good. Vitamins good until Christmas break. Slacked. Walking was no bueno, especially with all the rainy days. Bed by 11 was good on school days. Again, during vacation I was in bed well after midnight since I could sleep in a little. Now that January is here the party is over and back to business.
• Follow the plan! Don’t do what I FEEL like doing but get the priorities finished. This month’s motto – suck it up and get it done!…with a smile. 😉 – Now that I am using my bullet journal this has really helped with this goal!

Jan/Feb Mini-Goals

• Continued basics – water, vitamins, walk at least 20 minutes 5x a week and in bed by 11 on school nights.

• Turn off TV and spend 15 minutes reading before bed. I pledged on Goodreads to read 12 books in 2016. I am following Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Reading Challenge for added fun. Here are some books on my 2016 reading list. A couple of them are from last year’s list that I didn’t quite complete.
• Do my evening recaps in my bullet journal and plan for the next day.

What about you? What is the one thing that you really want to work on this month? Any thoughts about my goals? Are you doing a reading challenge? Do share!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Periscope/Katch, GoodReads Letterboxd, Spotify or Instagram. 😉

PPS – Disclaimer: “Revolution of Love.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.”

In other words, if you click on my affiliated links and make a purchase, I get a small compensation that goes towards keeping the blog online. Big hugs to those who click and help support the blog! xoxo 🙂