Category: goals

It’s July!!! And I’m feeling much recharged after my littles have been in day camp for the past 3 1/2 weeks. lol. I’ll be honest, I’m a much better mother when I have a bit of a break from my kids! And today is Kate’s birthday! She’s officially 12!!! I can’t believe I have a 12 year old. And I’m so excited because she’s getting her first vaccine today! I cannot wait for the twins to be able to get vaccinated as well and then I can stop worrying so much. So June goals…

1. Hexie Blocks. Done! I actually got 2 blocks done. 🙂
2. Pinwheels. Well, I didn’t finish them, but I did finish a big batch. I think I only need to do 20 more.
3. Scrapping. Honestly, not much done here.
4. Project Life. I was more successful here. 🙂 I got 3 weeks of June done and I finished March!
5. Bee Yourself. Yes! I got the sushi block done and I’m really pleased with it. 🙂 I also redid the avocado seeds and I’m much happier with them now.
6. Habit Tracker. Not so much. :/ But it was fun to play with for a week. 🙂
7. Windchime Quilt. Nada.
8. Clean Art Room. ::sigh:: I had such high hopes for this goal and then I didn’t do a darn thing.
9. Field Trip Time! I didn’t really plan field trips, but I did schedule approximately 4 million appointments for July. lol. RaptorDad and I discussed taking a little road trip, but I think we’re going to wait until next summer when the kids are all vaccinated. I do think we’re going to do a little day trip or two though.
10. Advent Calendar. Whoops. lol.

July Goals!

1. Hexie Blocks. I’d love to get another 2 blocks done this month.
2. Pinwheels. Dare I say it? I’d really love to finish these this month.
3. Scrapping. Is there even a point in setting a goal here? I’m sure my inspiration will return at some point. Maybe I’ll set a super simple goal of doing 4 pages: 1 a week.
4. Project Life. I’m trying to do Project Life in real time again. So maybe my goal will me to keep current with June and July?
5. Bee Yourself. I’m so happy that I’m making progress on this quilt! I’d love to get another few blocks done, maybe the AEK block? And then keep working on the flags?
6. Stickers. I’ve gotten obsessed with stickers! And I’d like to try my hand at designing a few.
7. Art Room. Oh boy. It’s a huge mess in here. I think I want to pick a small section and work on cleaning out/ reorganizing it. Maybe the corner with the closet…
8. Adventure Time! I’d love to plan 2 fun day trips with the kids in July? We have a ton of appointments, but I think we can do 2. 🙂
9. School Prep. I need to order all the things! Uniforms, backpacks, shoes, locker decorations…
10. Master Bathroom Closet. Oh boy. I’d really love to get my house all organized, but I need to take some baby steps. I think I’ll try to work on the master bathroom closet this month. Wish me luck!

We made it y’all! There were points this spring when I wasn’t sure I would survive my time as a learning coach, but I am pleased to report that all 3 of my children made it through. With good grades even! It’s been less than a week and I’m already starting to forget the hards parts in favor of remembering the sweet moments. Stockholm syndrome? Perhaps. But I’ll take it. lol.

That said, I did get into a bit of a funk last month and ended up reading a bunch of junky romance novels instead of doing anything crafty. I love reading, but I have noticed that my overall mood is better when I spend at least some time being creative each day. I’m experimenting with a habit tracker this month and one of the things I’m tracking is if I do anything creative. I think it will be interesting to look at at the end of the month.

We also made the huge decision to let the twins go to a 3 week *in person* camp at their school. The school is offering it to help get the kids catch up on their academics since so many of them were distance learning this year. I’m nervous about letting them go, but the covid levels in our part of Texas are actually super low right now and I’m fairly certain that most, if not all, of the adults involved will be vaccinated. Also, their school did a great job with their covid protocols this past year. There were very few cases at the school and there did not appear to be any community spread within the school. That said, we will be watching the numbers closely!

Since the kids will be spending 3 weeks at camp, and then another week at Mobile Loaves and Fishes camp (more on that later I’m sure) I’m going to set some more ambitious goals for this month. Honestly, I’m giddy at the thought of having so much free time! I think RaptorDad and I might even go on a lunch date! But first, let’s look at my pitiful progress last month.

1. Hexie Block. I worked on this, but did not finish.
2. Butterfly Effect Quilt. I got all of the papers cut and organized and even made the first butterfly. But y’all, this pattern is so teeny tiny and the pieces are super fiddly. I put it away for a bit because I was unhappy with how the first butterfly ended up. I’ve since learned a new method for EPP, the flat backstitch, and I’m cautiously optimistic that it will work better.
3. Pinwheels. I made some progress on this one, but not as much as I would have liked. I’m up to a grand total of 74 pinwheels out of 120. And I’ve got the next batch of 26 to the 1/2 square triangle stage.
4. Low Volume Log Cabin. No progress, but I’ve been thinking about how I want to piece the back. Need to decide on that.
5. Bee Yourself Quilt. This was my one win. I designed a new hexie flower petal block and made 4 of them. I love it so much that I’m considering making a whole quilt out of them. lol.
6. Ice Cream Soda. Well, I did manage to get round 4 finished, but very little else got done.
7. Windchime Quilt. Same here. Part of the problem is that we’ve had a ridiculously rainy May. Usually I work on my EPP while the kids are playing at various parks, but we’ve been stuck at home lately.
8. Scrapping. I got a single layout done.
9. Project Life. Nada.
10. Summer Homeschool Schedule. Not so much a schedule since we’ve got a single week before camp, but I did order our workbooks and we’re doing a page or 2 a day. Mia does more because she loves workbooks so much. Xander begrudgingly does a page a day, but once he sits down he has fun. Kate’s working on some math, which she doesn’t love, but which I think will help her a lot when it comes time for Algebra next year.

June Goals!

1. Hexie Block. I would like to finish 2 blocks this month.
2. Pinwheels. I’d love to finish these this month! And I think it’s possible.
3. Scrapping. This is going to be one of my big goals for the month. Honestly, I’d love to edit, print, and scrap all of 2021 so far. It’s a big goal, but I think with my new plan of doing fewer layouts it’s possible.
4. Project Life. I’d also love to get March 2021 and April 2021 done.
5. Bee Yourself. I’d like to design and prep another block. Maybe the clamshell block? Or the bookshelf block? Sushi block? Not sure yet, but I think getting one more done is doable.
6. Habit Tracker. I’m interested to track my habits and see how it correlates to my mood. I suspect that spending more time being creative will lead to a boost in mood, but we’ll see?
7. Windchime Quilt. I’d like to finish block number 12 and get that row added to the quilt.
8. Clean Art Room. I would like to do a big clean out of the art room. I feel like it’s time to clear out the ghosts of projects past. lol. There are some old projects that I’m just never going to finish and I think it’s time to let them go. It would also be super nice to have the stuff that I actually do use more organized!
9. Field Trip Time! We didn’t manage to make it to a state park in May. We did discover some cool new play grounds though! Still, I’d like to plan a few day trips for the summer. These will likely be happening in July just because of camp, but I want to get them on the books so to speak.
10. Advent Calendar. I’d love to spend some time on this this month!

Hopefully this marks the start of my final month as a virtual learning coach! Yay!!! So let’s see how we did in April.

1. Hexies. Done!
2. Caterpillar Quilt. Done! Oh my gosh, this has been on my list for months, but I finally finished the center. Now I jut have to do 4 bazillion pinwheels for the border.
3. Project Life. I didn’t do anything for this.
4. Scrapbook. This either. ::sigh:: Like I didn’t scrap a single layout.
5. Monthly Kid Adventure. We went on several adventures this month! We went out to Muleshoe Recreational Area and took bluebonnet pics. We went to the zoo. And we got our state park for the month: Buscher State Park. 🙂
6. Seasonal Celebration. We played an epic April Fool’s prank on Kate. We dyed Easter eggs. So much fun!
7. Bluebonnet Pictures. Done! Not the best we’ve ever gotten, which is a bummer because we drove all the way out to Muleshoe, but we had fun. Should have gone a week or two earlier.
8. 60 Degree Diamond Quilt. Done! I can’t believe I actually finished this one. It should come as no surprise that I was finally motivated to finish it so that I could start a new quilt. lol. More on that later.
9. GoPro Video. I didn’t get anything edited, but we had a ton of fun playing with the camera and taking videos. 🙂
10. Twins Turn 6! We got them a trampoline! So needless to say, they were thrilled.

May Goals

1. Hexie Block. I really want to keep this momentum going.
2. Butterfly Effect Quilt. I’m starting a new EPP quilt! It’s gorgeous and it’s got a gazillion teeny tiny pieces. I’d love to get the paper pieces all cut, labeled, and organized. I’d also love to get the first ring of butterflies done.
3. Pinwheels. I would also love to get all of the pinwheels done. I think I have 50 done? I need 120 total.
4. Low Volume Log Cabin. This is another surprise finish from last month. I’d like to piece the back and get it all basted so I can stick it in a drawer and put off quilting it for a year. lol.
5. Bee Yourself Quilt. This was nowhere on my list for last month, but I pulled it out and started working on the flag blocks. I’d love to keep making progress on this!
6. Ice Cream Soda. I am almost done with the last block for round 4! I’d love to get the grey joining pieces on rounds 2-4 and prep round 5.
7. Windchime Quilt. lol. I guess I’m aiming to make progress on all of the quilts. I have everything prepped for block number 12. I’d love to get that block finished.
8. Scrapping. Sigh. I’d like to get anything done. Maybe I should set aside a day to work on printing editing photos.
9. Project Life. If I could finish March 2021 that would be great.
10. Summer Homeschool Schedule. I’m thinking of a lose daily/ weekly schedule?

We made it to December! Yay! And how was November? Let’s see…

1. 30 scrapbook pages. Well, I didn’t get that done, but I did get 12 pages done! Most of them Project Life so I’m counting that as a win.
2. Scrap every day. I didn’t accomplish this either, but I did scrap for 9/30 days which was pretty fabulous.
3. November 2019 project life. Done!
4. October 2020 project life. Done!
5. December daily prep. Well, I ordered a kit, does that count? lol. I’m 99% sure I want to make my own travelers notebook so we’ll see how that works out. I might give up on that once I dive in tomorrow.
6. Butterfly embroidery. I’ll be honest, I didn’t even look at this.
7. Caterpillar embroidery. This either. ::sigh::
8. Advent calendar. Well, I pulled it out and worked on it for exactly 1 day. Then I realized that 2020 is not the year for this. I have high hopes for 2021 though!
9. Order Christmas cards. nope. I really need to get that done today or tomorrow. We even have great pictures this year!
10. Quilt diamond quilt. I actually made a lot of progress on this, though I didn’t finish it. The center is all quilted and I’m working on the border.

I know it seems like I got almost nothing accomplished in November, (which is partially true lol) but I did spend quite a bit of time figuring out how to design, cut, and ship acrylic ornaments! Maybe I’ll write a blog post about that later this week. 🙂

December Goals.

1. December 2019 Project Life. I only have 3 more spreads to do and the whole dang book will be done.
2. November 2020 Project Life. ::sigh:: I’m falling behind on this, but once I wrap up 2019 I think it will be easier to keep up with.
3. December Daily. I’m not putting pressure on myself to finish this project in December. But I do want to be intentional about taking a photo and writing down a story for each day.
4. Activity Advent Calendar. I need to sit down today and plan out the activities for the month. It’s going to look a bit different since we can’t go anywhere so I’ll need to get a bit creative. I’m thinking weekly movie nights for sure. lol.
5. Christmas Cards. I need to order, address, and mail my Christmas cards.
6. Plan out 20x21in2021 goals and give some thought to how I want to document my progress.
7. Bind Christmas Quilt. I cheated and got it quilted by a long armer! 😀 Now I just need to cut the binding and get it bound and labeled.
8. Finish (Hand) Quilting Diamond Quilt. I’m actually nearing the end on this and would be thrilled to have it finished before the end of the year!
9. Change out Design Wall. Currently, I have my Bee Yourself quilt up there and I’m about out of mojo on that one. Time to change it up and make progress on something else, perhaps the poor neglected caterpillars and butterflies?
10. Finish Hexie Block Number 33! I’m toying with the idea of setting a year long goal to finish the hexagon top. Not sure if I’ll go with that or not, but either way I want to finish up this block. 🙂

I’ve written about this before, but every November RaptorDad participates in NaNoWriMo. This entails him writing a 50k word novel in 30 days. It’s actually super cool and this will be the 12th year he’s done it. Every year I toy with doing my own NaNoCraftMo where I do something crafty each day and every year I give up. lol. But this year will be different! Maybe. hahahaha.

That said, I am going to set 2 complimentary goals. The first is that I want to have finished 30 scrapbook layouts by the end of the month. That’s basically 1 a day, but I’m going to let it be an average to give myself some flexibility which I think will really help me not to give up if I miss a day. The second is that I will do at least 1 scrappy thing a day. That could be as simple as printing one photo or as complex as finishing a layout or 2. The thought process is that I will at least sit down at the scrap table every day and hope that will translate into getting loads of stuff done.

And as I’m typing this I’m wondering if I should go crazy and try to finish 60 layouts in a month? 2 a day seems doable, but 60 in a month seems insane. Probably I should stick to 30. lol.

And since I’m setting goals anyway, figured it would be a good time to set them for the whole month. Let’s check in with September first.

1. September 2020 Project Life. Done!
2. November 2019 Project Life. Halfway. I got 2 of the 4 layouts done.
3. 5 Old Layouts. I got 3 done.
4. Halloween Costumes. I did not have my stuff together enough to make costumes this year, but we ended up ordering costumes for the twins and they were thrilled.
5. NaNoCraftMo Plan. Well, I’m coming up with it today and not during October, but I’m still counting it as a win!
6. Advent Calendar. Whoops.
7. Design and Complete Teal Fruit Block. Nope. But I did start a new quilt. lol. More on that later.
8. Fall Break Plans. Yes! We went to a little cabin in the Hill Country and had a lovely time.
9. 4 Blocks for Bee Yourself. Yes! I actually got 5 done. 🙂
10. Deep Clean 1 Area a Day. Well, I only got 6 areas cleaned not 31, but that’s 6 more than I had done in September!

Here are the Bee Yourself blocks for the month. 🙂

Overall I’m super pleased with the progress on this quilt!

November Goals.

1. 30 Scrapbook Pages
2. Scrap Every Day
3. November 2019 Project Life
4. October 2020 Project Life
5. December Daily Prep
6. Butterfly Embroidery
7. Caterpillar Embroidery
8. Work on Advent Calendar
9. Order Christmas Cards
10. Quilt Diamond Quilt

I love October! It’s the first month where it’s cool enough to start enjoying the outdoors here in Texas. And I get to decorate for Halloween! Pumpkin crafts!

How did I do in September?

1. Staff Development. I made some serious progress this month! I’ve got 60 hours done, 90 to go.
2. Project Life. Well, I caught up on August, but I haven’t done anything for September. lol. Hoping to make some serious progress this weekend. 🙂
3. Scrapbook. I’m caught up with the covid pages! Still have a massive gap to chip away at, but I’ll get there eventually.
4. Caterpillar Quilt. Well I got 1 1/2 caterpillars done. Then I just had to put it away and work on something else.
5. Butterfly Quilt. Got all of the applique and 9 patches done! Next stop, embroidery.
6. Bind and Label Pixilated Heart Quilt. Done! And I am so happy with it!
7. Journal with Kate. ::sigh:: I need to do better with this.
8. Drink more water. I did better! I didn’t track it, but hey.
9. 10k Steps a Day. Nope. lol. But I did start tracking my food again and it’s making a big difference.
10. Maintain Sanity. Hanging on by a thread. lol.

Goals for October!

1. September 2020 Project Life.
2. November 2019 Project Life.
3. 5 Old Scrapbook Layouts.
4. Halloween Costumes.
5. NaNoCraftMo Plan. Blog?
6. Check Progress on Advent Calendar. Make a plan to finish.
7. Design and Complete Teal Fruit Block.
8. Fall Break Plans.
9. 4 Blocks for Bee Yourself (formerly Texas Forever) Quilt.
10. Deep Clean 1 Area a Day!

Barely, but we made it. lol. And we’ve made it through 3 weeks of virtual schooling. It’s been, um, an adventure. Maybe I should make that a separate blog post. lol.

Let’s take a look at the August goals.

1. Project Life. Well. I did manage to finish July Project Life, but I’ve only managed to get 1/2 of August done. I’m hoping to put some time in on this this weekend.
2. Scrapbooking. Same as Project Life. I managed to finish July, but I’ve done very little on August. I did make some background pages though, so I’m hoping that I’ll be able to finish August quickly once I start.
3. 10K steps a day. hahahahahahahaha. I did good for about a week before I gave up.
4. Caterpillar Quilt. Sort of a situation of 2 steps forward, 1 step back. I did get the grapes done, and I even managed to trim down and assemble all but the last row. But, well, more about this in the butterfly quilt update.
5. I got all of the embroidery done, trimmed down all of the blocks and got them all sewn together. Then I started really looking at it and it’s much closer to a square than a bed shape. lol. So I did some more sketches and decided to add some more rows. I’ll do a post with pics this week, but the Reader’s Digest version is that I still have a long way to go. lol.
6. Montessori Trays. Since Mis is my main consumer of the trays and she’s also got calls pretty much all day, I’ve decided to hold off for now. I might make up some new trays once a month, but not every week.
7. Virtual school systems. We’re getting there. I ordered How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and I’m planning to work through this book with Xander while Mia is on her extra calls. I’ve also got a pretty good spot set up to hold all of their supplies and stuff.
8. Quilt Pixilated Heart Quilt. Done! And I got the binding done! (Read: my grandmother made the binding for me. lol.) I even got the binding sewn on, but now I’m stuck on how to connect the two ends. lol.
9. Weekly Adventure. Does taking Mia for a Covid test count? ::sigh:: She’s having minor surgery and had to have a Covid test before hand. As for fun adventures, we did try school outside one day with mixed results. We were able to access the free city wifi, but the landscaping crew arrived right after us and it was loud. Then Kate ran out of battery for her laptop. Still, it was a good experience and we learned a lot! We will for sure try it again, especially if it every ends up cooling down around here.
10. Maintain Sanity. hahahahahahaha.

September Goals?

1. I decided to dust off my staff development spreadsheet and see where I stood. Um, it’s not good. I have something like 120 hours left to earn by March. ::sigh:: So this month, I’d like to try to earn 30 hours.
2. Project Life. Sounds like a broken record, but I’d like to complete August and keep up with September.
3. Scrapbook. See Project Life. lol.
4. Caterpillar Quilt. I’d like to applique the navy caterpillars and figure out a plan for the teal and navy fruit.
5. Butterfly Quilt. I’d like to applique the butterflies and finish up the 9 patches.
6. Bind and Label Pixilated Heart. I’m so close!
7. Journal with Kate. Kate and I decided to start a Bible Journaling project, but we only made it 2 days. lol. I’d like to make this a daily activity with her.
8. Drink more water. I want to start tracking this again.
9. 10 k steps a day. lol.
10. Maintain Sanity.