Stone Soup for Five: Mindful Monday--Review and Plans

Mindful Monday--Review and Plans




Review of last week:

My top three goals were:
1.  Finish the camping laundry
(Done! Unpacked and put everything away where it goes too!)
2.  Work on plans for the homeschool 
(Worked quite a bit on ordering curriculum and the co-op plan.  Still lots to do, but making headway!)
3.  Food prep
(Made a double batch of pancakes and waffles, not many left though.)

As I was planning this week, I realized that my top three goals are not really my goals.  They are my top three to-do list items.  I need to keep it straight in my head that I am not my to-do list and my to-do list rarely takes me closer to accomplishing my goals.  Goals are the long term items I listed at the beginning of the year that I'm struggling to meet.

So I made a white board to keep my habits, to-do list, and goals front and center, and clearly defined.


The sticky notes at the bottom are my habits that I'm trying to work on.  The dots above the notes I'll erase as I do each habit during the day.

The list down the right side is the focus for the week.  Random, but recurring items that I want to get to.  These are the things that make a huge difference for me and make life and the house run smoothly.  They take me from being a fire-fighter (dealing with the urgent because I've let it stack up) to maintaining order (dealing with things before they become urgent).

The note cards are things I'm working on, like the FLYlady zone for the week and thoughts I'm mulling over from a book.  And the errands sticky note is where I'll jot down things I need to do as they come up in an effort not to be out of the house randomly during each day.  I'm trying to group my errands into one or two days so I have more time to focus on my goals and to-do list.

I'll let you know how it goes.  My hope is to have a mostly clear white board by the end of the week, erasing as I complete each item (the dots after each on the list, represent how many days I need to do that item).

My Top Three To-Dos for the week:
1. Clear the white board
2. Make an extra meal and freeze (one of my goals for the year is to do this weekly)
3. 3 days of running the Couch to 5k with the boys (goal for the year)


Meals for the week:
Breakfasts:  (Still need to make extras and freeze/refrigerate some.)  breakfast burritos, eggs, Instant oatmeal packs, cereal.

Lunches:  Sandwiches, left overs, and definitely want to make pizza rolls.

Dinners: Crockpot Lasagna, Chicken Salad, Fish tacos, Pesto pasta, homemade pizza, and turkey lettuce wraps.


Work Goals:
Fell down on this one last week, so most of it remains the same for this week:
1.  Get the Corinthians doodle and map videos filmed, edited, and uploaded.
2.  Finish and publish two blog posts.
3.  Start taking notes on 1 Timothy


What I'm reading:
Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin (This is a very convicting, but encouraging book.  About 1/3 of the way through and I keep thinking YES! YES!  We all need more Bible Literacy, and Jen is just nailing it!)

The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle  Fun read. I think the boys would have liked this as a read-aloud.  Maybe we'll do it later in the year.  It did have a few un-PC things in it, given the time it was written, but those make good discussion points.

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis.  This is a read-aloud we do together in the evenings.  Love all the Narnia books so far!

Nobody's Cuter than You by Melanie Shankle.  This has been on my blogger review list for way too long.  I've never read Melanie, but according to the reviews, she's going to be fun!  

What I'm studying in my Bible:
Still reading through 1 Timothy, but also working through the Journal and Doodle study through Ephesians.  (I'm on the Review and Reflect week).  I write them, but rarely have to time to fully go through them myself like so many of you do.  It's been fun!  If you're wanting to know more about how others are doing this, join the Journal and Doodle facebook group. (It's private, and I pre-screen everyone, so be sure to check your facebook inbox and others box for an email from me.)

Habits I am working on:
These are all on the white board this week!

Need accountability on:
1.  Daily setting GetColdTurkey.com so I can be in charge of my email/computer time, not have it be in charge of me.  (Still need to work on this, last week was better, but not consistent.)
2 . Knocking at least one item off our Summer Bucket List.  (Didn't do even one last week!)

How about you?  What do you do to keep your focus and stay on track?

6 comments:

  1. This is great Kari! I was thinking about you the other day as I was doing all my morning prep the night before. You are right, what a huge difference it makes in my mornings!

    Then I was thinking about you this morning as I just started couch to 5K and you are the first person that I heard about it from. I'm so not a runner so I really hope I can do it!

    We love Narnia here too! I just finished reading The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe to Ady and she is super excited to start Prince Caspian (also I was very surprised that when they first introduced Aslan she was already seeing ties to Jesus!)

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    1. I love that Ady is understanding things on that level! What a sweetie! I know, if I can get it together the night before, I feel that I'm already ahead before I even have my coffee! And you ROCK on the couch to 5k. I'm still HATING it, but we keep plugging along 3 days a week. Tomorrow at 6am we'll be on the road again. Keep me posted!

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  2. I love your white board set up. I just set up a new system in my bullet planner, and I think it's going to work for me. You are so right about remembering the difference between goals and to dos. I do have them both listed, but will try to be even more aware of the two types on my list.

    Thanks for recommending Women of the Word! I prefer books in my hands, but I wanted to dive in immediately, so I bought the kindle version and will read it on my trip.

    I'm hungry for a deeper study, and will be using yours. I'm actually working through your DIY Bible Journal (I'm working on 50 teacups lol), and will start one of your actual studies when I get back home. I'm really looking forward to it, and making time with God a huge priority even though we are moving in three weeks. I need time to rest in Him in the midst of chaos. :)

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    1. Audra, I'd love to see your Bullet journal set up. I still haven't found one that I completely love and will stick with yet. I'd also LOVE to see your teacups!

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  3. The White board is awesome! I would love to see a video of how you set it up and what all the dots mean? I am in the midst of trying to figure out how to use one planner for work, kids schedules and church life and am really stumped! When the planner is carried with me, the rest of the family can't view it. So some kind of white board system may work for home. Help! :)

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    1. I'll try to do a periscope or video of it, but basically I wipe a dot off if I do it that day, by the end of the week I want to have a clear whiteboard!

      And ya, for the Bullet journal, I carry that with me, then I keep a weekly/monthly planner open on my desk for the entire family. I have to write things twice sometimes, but it's still the only thing I can figure that works for me...

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