RaptorMama

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.

I can’t believe that it’s already August. This summer has seemed to fly by and crawl by all at the same time. July update time!

1. Windchime block number 8. Not only did I get 8 done, I also got 9 done! And then I liked the way it looked so much that I decided to trim down and sew together the 9 blocks and call it good. 🙂 I still need to add the applique flowers at the intersections, but I’m super thrilled with the progress I made!

2. Hexagons. I didn’t finish 4 more blocks, but I did finish 1. Progress not perfection.

3. Keep current on Project Life. ::sigh:: I fell behind on this one, but I plan to catch up today. I did close up the 2020 gap though, so now I’m just need to finish up the past few months of 2019 and I will be totally caught up!

4. Keep current on scrapbook. Well, I fell behind on this one as well, but I did order the year 11 binders so I’m cautiously optimistic that I can get back on track this week.

5. I didn’t end up ordering the print package, but I did work a bit more on editing. While I was doing Feb 2020 Project Life, I went ahead and edited the pics I want to scrap and added them to my Print Order Folder.

6. Get rid of crap! I actually took a trunk load of toys and clothes to Goodwill! I was so sad to be getting rid of the babies’ doll house, but I finally had to admit that they didn’t ever play with it anymore.

7. Homeschool plans. We did K is for Kite, L is for Lava, M is for Moon, and N is for Nocturnal Animals. Mia has really been enjoying the Montessori trays!

8. Order school stuff. Done! Turns out that they actually don’t need uniforms for the first few weeks of school while everyone is distance learning, but I know we’ll need them eventually so I went ahead and ordered them.

9. Swim. This one hasn’t happened so much. We need to air the pool back up, but with RaptorDad’s broken finger that just hasn’t happened.

10. Maintain Sanity. Jury is still out!

August Goals:

1. Project Life. Do July 2020 and then stay current with August 2020.
2. Scrapbooking. Do July 2020 and then stay current with August 2020. lol.
3. 10K steps a day. I’m writing this on the 2nd and I already failed yesterday, but I want to start trying to get 10K steps a day again. It’s hard because here on the surface of the sun it’s way too hot to walk outside, but I’m going to try to get the steps in anyway.
4. Caterpillar Quilt. I finally got the olives done! Now I just need to do the grape block and then 2 more blue blocks. I really want to finish these blocks this month.
5. Butterfly Quilt. I need to get the embroidery done once and for all!
6. Montessori Trays. I really want to keep making these.
7. Virtual School systems. The kids officially start school on the 10th, and my the end of the month I’d like to have a good schedule/ organizational strategy in place.
8. Quilt Pixilated Heart quilt. I finally got this bad boy basted! Now I just need to figure out how to put on the walking foot and actually quilt it.
9. Weekly adventure. I want to make time for at least one weekly adventure with the kids.
10. Maintain sanity. Keeping this one around a bit longer. lol.

And my beautiful first born turned 11 on July first! Is seems like she was born just yesterday so it’s kind of blowing my mind that she will be in middle school next year. It’s also kind of blowing my mind that we will be doing 6th grade and kindergarten x2 at home next year! ::sigh:: Homeschool tips welcome?

Let’s take a look at the June goals.

1. Glow forge. I didn’t get the name puzzles cut out, but I did cut out lots of other fun things! Lots of fun acrylic keychains! I’m kind of addicted to the acrylic. <3

2. Keep current on Project Life. Well, I still need to do last week, but this week isn’t over yet so I’m still calling this a win!

3. September/ October Project Life. Nope.

4. EPP Diamonds. I got one border sewn on so that’s something. Then I got bored with that so I sorted my hexies into blocks for round 3!

5. Scrap May 2020 and June 2020. May is done! And all I have left to do for June is the calendar. Hoping to get that done by the end of the weekend. 🙂

6. Homeschool plans. This has been going surprisingly well! We’ve had a few times where we’ve skipped a day, but overall it’s going really well. The past 2 weeks, I’ve even added in 4 Montessori trays a week. The first week the twins weren’t too sure what to make of it, but this week they’ve been a huge hit! Especially with Mia. Might need a whole blog post for this one. 🙂

7. Caterpillar Quilt. I didn’t get the olives done, but I did get the limes done!

8. Low volume quilt. I got 3 more blocks done bringing the total to 6! I think I probably need 24? Unsure.

9. Track food each day. I did really good for the first half of the month and then I fell off the wagon hard. Between my anniversary, Kate’s birthday, and RaptorDad breaking his finger, there’s been a lot of special occasion treats and comfort foods. Need to try to find the motivation to get back on track.

10. Maintain sanity. Hmm.. I’d give myself about a 6.5 out of 10? I wouldn’t say that I’m looking forward to virtual school next year, but I think it is 100% the right decision for our family and I’m incredibly grateful that we are in a position to be able to do it with minimal disruptions to our lives. And I’m just glad that we’ve made a decision.

Other fun things I got done: 2 1/2 hexie blocks and 1 1/2 windchime blocks! Also, 8 Montessori trays! And a giant bag of trash out of the art room to clear space for Kate to have a desk in here. She has her own desk in her room, but this way we can work on projects together.

Goals for July?

1. Windchime Block number 8. I’m toying with the idea of making this a smaller wall hanging that is only 4×4 instead of the larger 5×5. That would mean that I’m almost halfway done!
2. Hexagons. I’d like to finish 4 more blocks. One is almost done, and then 3 more. I think it’s possible? Maybe?
3. Keep current on Project Life. This is my favorite goal. 🙂 I’d also like to do at least 2 catch up layouts?
4. Keep current on Scrapbook. This is working so well! I love working on this each weekend.
5. Edit prints for scrapbook catch up. I’m pretty sure that my favorite print shop will be having a 4th of July sale, so I’d like to have 200 prints ready to order. I’m not sure how many months that translates into, but I currently have 65 prints ready to go which represent November and December of 2018 and January 2019. I’m not going to try to print pics for the whole gap because that would be 1. super intimidating 2. super expensive, but their print packages come in sets of 200 and I think I can probably do that. I’m hoping so slowly chip away at this so that by the time quarantine is over and our lives go back to normal I’ll have the gaps closed and have good systems in place to avoid getting overwhelmed and behind again. Current systems are working perfectly, so I just need to close that gap!
6. Get rid of more crap! I am so overwhelmed by the amount of crap that I have! I think I need to be realistic about letting some projects go so that I have more space for the things I actually want to work on. Also, I need to let go of so many of the twins’ toys! They have tons of toys that they don’t play with anymore, but I don’t want to let them go because *I* think they are cool toys. Newsflash! Just because I think the wooden doll house is awesome does not mean that they do!
7. Homeschool plans. We did G is for Giraffe, H is for Heart, I is for Island, and J is for Jalapeno! We didn’t do much of anything for H is for Heart which is ironic because I actually have a ton of Valentine’s Day Montessori stuff already made up! But the other weeks were great. Now trying to decide on K. Koala? Kangaroo? Kabob?
8. Order school stuff. I think Kate needs a monogramed uniform shirt even though we’re doing distance learning? Not sure. Probably need to get a few polos for Xander too if they have kinder zoom calls?
9. Backyard swim at least once a week!
10. Maintain sanity.