March - Complete

Part way through March, I finally got around to setting some goals for myself. I kept it simple and easy – so that I would be sure to end the month with a sense of achievement. I planned to finish, organize, set up and decorate the playroom, organize the Tupperware cupboard, reorganize the kids books, specifically focusing on setting up a little book nook in Eva’s room for her paper back picture books (aka the books I don’t want the baby to destroy) and be intentional about crafting with Eva.

So, how did I do?

I achieved all my goals. The very first day. By 9 am.

APRIL FOOLS. (That’s for you, Jackie)

This month I really sucked. I did none of these things. Not one.

The playroom still isn’t finished (not entirely my fault, but a lot my fault).

The Tupperware cupboard is in shambles.

The books? As far as I got there was to put the paperback books in the cupboard of Evalyn’s night stand so they aren’t easily accessible to the baby. And well, the problem is, they aren’t easily accessible to Eva, either. Although she knows they are there and will go get a few to read together when I remind her, kids are visual and often when their toys/books are out of sight, they are out of mind too. So, I still need to work on setting something up that allows her to have quick and easy access to these books.

The crafting with Eva is the only area where I had remote success. And I guess that’s okay, because really that’s the most important part. The first couple weeks, when she wasn’t at preschool because of the flu and March break, I did very good at setting aside morning nap times to spend with her doing fun activities. But when she went back to school and our weeks were flying by at the normal busy pace I didn’t do so well. This one is a constant work in progress!

So, now, instead of flippantly throwing some April goals out on the table I want to take this week to really think. To look at my schedule for the month and evaluate what is going on around me before deciding what I hope to accomplish. Otherwise, I’ll end up feeling like a loser at the end of this month, too.

Hopefully I’ll be back next week with some real, attainable, hopes for the month of April.

For now, what’s your favourite April Fools joke?

February Review. March plans.

So. February is over. March is well underway. I guess it’s time to look back and see how I did with the goals I set myself for February and figure out what I hope to accomplish this month.

So, let’s see. In February I planned to:

1. Reorganize pantry/food cupboards. Done.

2. Clean Fridge. Done. I must say, Evan actually did most of this job after an unfortunate incident where something leaked in the fridge. He spent a good hour or so on Friday night cleaning it up for me.

3. Finish 2012 Family Photobook. It’s done and ordered. I’m anxiously waiting for it to arrive.

4. Set up playroom. No comment. The playroom has been at a standstill for a good while. Evan ended up spending most of his evenings and weekends for a few weeks working on a kitchen renovation at our church, so this got pushed to the back burner. Hopefully this month!

5. Blog House Tour. I showed you the dining room and living room, but that’s as far as I got. It’s a start, anyway.

6. Decorate sofa table. Well, apparently shopping for home decor with two kids in tow is not that amazing or easy. Who knew? Who would like to go shopping on my behalf and pick some up beautiful pieces for this area? I’ll even let you pay with your very own money.

So, 50% success rate. Could be worse.

I’m going pretty easy on myself this month. For one, the month is one third of the way done. We also spent a week down and out with the flu and recovering from that and have some busy plans through this month … so those are my excuses

1. Playroom – hopefully Evan can get the final touches done on the room so I can work on organizing it and setting it up. Right now, my dresser looks like the dollar store threw up on it because it’s where I’ve been housing all of our craft supplies and the toy area in the living room is more than over run.

2. Organize the tupperware cupboard - Is this a job or what! How does it get so messy so fast?

3. Kids books – reorganize book slings, set up a “big kid” book station in Eva’s room. What is your favourite type of book set up in a kid’s room?

4. Craft with Eva – I am setting a goal to be more intentional about spending Gwen’s morning nap doing some one-on-one crafts and activities with Eva. This doesn’t always come easy to me because I find it’s so easy to send her for independent play (which is definitely beneficial – not saying she shouldn’t do this) while I do housework. I notice her days and her behavior is so much better if I just take some time during that quiet time and spend focused on her, doing a structured activity. We’ve been having fun with some spring crafts and so I am excited to pull some more ideas from my preschool days out.

There. That’s it. Told you I was taking it easy on myself this month.

well, hello, march

To be honest, I expected the month of March to start in a crazy way. This past weekend, the husband was heading to ChiTown for a big ol’ boys weekend, so I knew it would be four days of straight up cray cray while I ruled the roost at home. What I didn’t expect was for it to be quite as cray cray as it’s been.

Friday started out pretty awesome. My girlfriend and her little guy had been here for a sleepover and we had a blast. Then they left. It was naptime and things went down hill. I’ll spare the gory details but, Eva’s nap didn’t go well and it had to do with potty issues. The end. We ended up managing a decent nap and I thought all was well.

However, after that, things got weirder and weirder as she started refusing to pee and screaming and clawing at me when I tried to make her go. It got worse and worse. She spent the afternoon crying and telling me her bum hurt. By 5pm, I figured she had a UTI and it was time to head in to the ER. Thankfully, the Aunties were coming for dinner so M came with me and L stayed with Gwennie. We managed a record ER trip, there and back in an hour, including the 15 minute drive each way. And, by the grace of God, we were able to get a sample at the hospital. And only 3/4 of it ended on my lap and Eva’s pants. Anyhow, it amazingly came out negative for infection but we expected her to get worse overnight. She did not! She woke up the next morning fever free and feeling fine, able to pee again. I assume everything was related to the initial nap incident.

The rest of the weekend went by okay, except that Gwen didn’t nap longer than 45 minutes and was up 5-8 times each night, until Sunday afternoon when I started to feel iffy. I was willing it away, telling myself it was just in my head. But by the time Evan got home around 9pm, there was no denying it. I had the flu. I was able to sleep but woke up at 3am when it hit me with a vengeance. And it all went downhill from there. Again, I’ll spare the nasty details but it was bad. And when my poor Gwennie woke up at 6:45 it didn’t take long to figure out she had the bug too. Thankfully, Evan was able to stay home with us. Not sure what I would have done without him as I didn’t even have enough strength to hold the baby.

Our saving grace is that this bug has been quick. It’s vicious, but doesn’t last long and Gwen and I are on the road to recuperation. Unfortunately, the Daddy-io came down with it last night and is struggling today. Evalyn is the only one left standing so I’m walking on eggshells waiting for that ticking time bomb to go off. I am praying fervently that God will spare her from this.

Add in to this some other, ahem, issues of the female variety, the fact that I washed all my clothes in hot water and shrunk my jeans and that I got a nosebleed that was reminiscent of the red sea, and I am starting to say, “Okay, March, what gives?” The start of the month has been a little different than planned. I haven’t yet had a chance to review how February went and set any goals for this month, think about Gwen’s 8 month update or dig myself out from the mounds and mounds of pukey laundry. All in time, all in time.

I know the saying “In like a lion, out like a lamb” is supposed to refer to the weather, but I’m hoping it also holds true for the way this month goes for our family.

Here’s to a calmer remainder of the month!

January Goal Review – February Goals

So apparently I need to ease myself back into this whole public monthly goal setting thing. Because, well, I did not do so great this month. I blame Pretty Little Liars. I got hooked. So hooked. As in, I watched every single episode in less than three weeks. I’m now finally caught up so life can resume as normal. Also, you are all now free to post spoilers without ruining my life. (Immalookingat YOU!)

In my defense, however, for every goal on this list I did not complete, I did get some other things around the house done that I had not intended... I (finally) unpacked the remaining boxes from the basement, got out more every day decor and reorganized our bathroom cupboards. So that counts, right?! RIGHT!?

Put away and ORGANIZE Christmas – done and dusted. Everything was purged, reorganized and put away during the first week of January. I win.

Select photo book photos: I rocked this one as well. Along with picking all the photos, I got them uploaded to Shutterfly as well. That there is half the battle. I find the actual making of the book to be super quick and easy. So much so that I finished uploading my pics yesterday, started the book last night and am already up to Gwen’s birth.

Blog about our holidays, Gwen’s 6 month update and two house before/afters: Here’s where things got dicey. I didn’t blog about the holidays. I decided to forego it and just include my blurbs in the photo book. I did get Gwen’s 6monther done and posted one home reno post (our entryway). I failed at getting a second one posted. I was going to post about the $5 and 5 minute bathroom reorganization but, well, who wants to see pics of lady products and my toothbrush?

Organize and purge toys:  I can only say this was half accomplished. I did get rid of a lot. And I started organization. The girls got organizational stuff for Christmas. This is what I have set up so far …

Evan’s working on the playroom so that will be a big job this month.

Deliver donation pile to Goodwill: Fail. Triple fail fail. There are 2 garbage bags and one large box sitting on the pool table downstairs waiting to go. That darn pool table!

So … on to this month:

1. Reorganize pantry/food cupboards. Seeing as we’ve lived in our home less than 6 months, this really shouldn’t need to be done but seriously, I cannot believe how quickly these areas get overrun! Plus, now that I’m in my groove in my new home and I have a second little person who is eating and has food to be stored, I can better decide where things should go.

2. Clean Fridge. All I will say is yuck. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

3. Finish 2012 Family Photobook. Really, as I said before, the biggest task is done. The pictures are selected, organized and uploaded. I started actually assembling the book last night and completed up until June 2012. This should definitely be attainable. What’s best is that my motivation is that I will get to eat Chipotle when it’s done and ordered and I go pick it up.

4. Set up playroom. Throughout January Ev has been hard at work. He’s replaced the floor and has been building permanent shelving and storage. If you follow me on IG you will have probably seen some of the progress. Soon he’ll be done his portion and it will be my turn to take the reins. Here is where the super crazy toy organization will happen. I also have some ideas for wall art, craft storage and a small office space.

5. Blog House Tour. The truth is, I’ve sucked at before/after photos. Mostly, because there are no afters yet. Everything is still a work in progress. So, I’m planning to showcasing our house in a Before and NOW series. Showing you what it was and how far it’s come – despite the remaining imperfections and lack of final products.

6. Decorate sofa table. In our apartment, I had a nice sofa table set up in the kitchen that housed my cookbooks, decorative platters and recipe box. Now, it’s in the living room and is sitting fairly empty. I have many ideas in my head. As always. So we shall see how it goes.

That sounds like enough for now. Stay tuned. And cross your fingers I don’t get sucked into any new shows.

this month, i will (or at least, i will try to)…

Hi again. It’s me. I’m back. From a big long vacation*. In total, we were gone for 11 nights over the holidays. It was a break from reality and although it was filled with much sickness and little sleep and although we were all quite ready to be in the comforts of our own home, it was nice. Really nice. More on that later, of course.

We’ve entered a new year. 2013. And, for me,  a new year always comes with a sense of hope, motivation, planning and goals. Surprisingly, I’m not much of a resolutioner. I don’t like them. I’m not sure why. Perhaps because I feel like they are too broad. Too big. Too scary. I’m not one to say “I wan to be healthier this year” or “I want to be a better wife and mom” or “I want to learn a new skill”. I mean, all of those things are fabulous and great things to aim for – but they just don’t do it for me. I am, however, a very goal oriented person. I set goals. I write lists. I cross things off lists. I evaluate my accomplishments. I guess I just do it on a much smaller scale than the whole new year’s resolution thing brings to mind.

With all of this being said, I’ve decided – instead of writing about resolutions – to resurrect something I used to do here on this blog all the time. My monthly goals. I used to sit down at the beginning of each month and write out a list of things I hoped to accomplish that month and then at the end of the month I’d sit down again and evaluate how far I got. It helped keep me motivated and on track. And it was also eye opening and helped me learn how much I could push myself. How much was too much. How much was not enough. So, I think I’ll give it a go once again.

So, this month I will:

Put away and ORGANIZE Christmas: at this point about 80% of my Christmas decor is taken down. The tree came down on Christmas day before we left. Hello, I’m not crazy enough to leave for 11 days with a real live Christmas tree in my house. I’ll be cleaning up pine needles for fifty five months as it is. Since we got home yesterday morning, I’ve gradually gathered up most of the rest of the decor. The problem is, it’s all sprawled out across the pool table downstairs. The full, unfinished basement is both my best friend and my worst enemy. It’s awesome that I don’t have to be sitting on top of all the disorganization but it’s also dangerous. Don’t want to deal with this today? BASEMENT. Don’t want to sort through this pile of toys? BASEMENT. Don’t want to put my decorations away? BASEMENT. You get the idea. So, I will get my decorations not only taken down, but organized and put back into place on the shelves downstairs. Last year when I packed them up I was pregnant and nauseous and exhausted. I knew I would be in a new home the next time I saw them and did not do a stellar job organizing it all at that point. So, this time? I am going through it all and purging stuff I no longer want.

Select photo book photos: I recently finished Gwen’s birth book and so next on the agenda is a 2012 family book. I was hoping to get a good chunk of this done while we were away and I didn’t have housework looming over my head but that didn’t happen. My laptop bit the dust for good at the end of December and so all of my photos were stuck at home on my external HD rather than on my laptop. I was totally kicking myself for not having an online storage backup! So, this month I will at least get the photos selected and organized.

Blog about our holidays, Gwen’s 6 month update and two house before/afters: I know writing about our holidays could very easily get skipped over since the festivities from the days leading up to Christmas already seem a lifetime away but this here blog is a scrapbook of our life for my kids to see someday so I do want to go back and write about it. Even if it bores you all to death. Also, my Gwennie turned six months a few days ago (!!!!). Don’t think I forgot. I’ve just got to snap some pics and then her update will be ready to go. I’ve also got so many houses pictures to share. So, two posts devoted to house before/afters is on the list for this month.

Organize and purge toys:  I’ve already picked through and started a pile (downstairs, on the pool table, are we surprised?) of things to donate. My aim is for every toy in, one goes out. So, after the Christmas we just had? I guess that means approximately 895438599804358 toys are going out.

Deliver donation pile to Goodwill: There is another pile on the pool table (I’m telling you, it’s a bad situation) of random things that I’ve tossed down here and there to be donated. So, by the time I have the toys sorted through, I will have a good chunk of stuff to send to Goodwill. The goal here is to actually deliver it. Instead of just making a bigger pile. Sidenote: Remember how I made about 456 trips to Goodwill in the months leading up to our move? And donated something like 16 garbage bags and 11 boxes? HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THERE IS MORE STUFF TO GET RID OF?

I have a few more ideas of things I’d like to add to the list as goals, but let’s face it, we’re already one week in to the month and I’m not about to get too crazy here. I think that this is enough to deal with as it is and I don’t want to have to hang my head in complete shame at the end of the month when I come back to report.

What’s on your ‘to-do’ list this month?

*Does the word vacation even exist when you have small children in tow?

This Month I Will…

*go on a date with my husband*

*get a babysitter and have someone other than hubby or I put Eva to bed (see above)*

*get out and walk on days that are Spring-ish*

*spend less money*

*sweep more often*

*take my baby swimming at least two more times*

*make E’s lunch for him more often*

*read the book of Ephesians*

*clean out our closets*

I will. I will. I will.

August Review and September Goals

August's goals and plans were pretty narrow in focus. We spent the better part of our month getting the last of the preparations in order for baby to arrive. Here's the recap:

1. Finish getting baby's room ready.

Check out the two part nursery reveal here and here.

2. Buy, wash, and organize baby's cloth diapers.

Everything about our cloth diapering plans can be found here.

3. Finish gathering and organizing birth supplies for home birth.

There are three boxes and a bag that have been sitting in our bedroom for a number of weeks. Two of the boxes contain sheets, towels, and blankets. One is holding all of the baby's things. And the bag is from the midwife clinic that contains all of the supplies they will need when they are here. We are all set!

4. Pack mine and baby's hospital bag so we are prepared to transfer to hospital if necessary.

Bags are packed - aside from my toiletries which will just be added at the last minute.

5. Finish stocking the freezer with food for post baby days.

I don't think I will have to cook until Christmas!

6. Celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary.

We celebrated our anniversary with a yummy dinner out at Red Lobster.

7. Can pickled beets with my mom.

We did beets, peaches and bbq onion sauce! Also, the Fabulous Dude and I got really eager near the end of the month and ended up canning 26 pints of homemade salsa and 14 quarts of diced tomatoes, too!

8. Celebrate my mom's birthday (which, yes, was way back in June - but this will be the first time she's been able to come visit since then).

My mom was here for 4 days and we had a great visit together. It was so wonderful to spend that time with her before the baby arrives.

9. Attend my second baby shower.

What a wonderful evening! Read about it here.

10. Put my feet up, relax, rest and enjoy the last few weeks of my pregnancy!

I have been napping when I can and trying to do all of the things that I won't be able to do quite so easily once I have an infant in my arms. I have a feeling the next few weeks will involve a lot more relaxing and resting!

September Goals

1. Birth a baby.

The end.

July Review and August Plans aka THE LAST MONTH BEFORE I HAVE A BABY

First things first, be sure to enter my giveaway! You have until Friday.

Ladies (and gents??), I cannot believe that we have entered August - the last full month before I become a Mama!!

Let's check out what took place in July ...

1. Visit with our friend's from Ohio.

They came up to visit during the first weekend in July. We had a blast with them and had a lovely get together with a bunch of our friends. Click here to read about it.

2. Visit the in-laws.

We just went this past weekend.

3. Replace carpet in baby's room (um, this is actually not on my list. Hint, hint, FD).

Yay! Carpet was replaced last Thursday night - it looks great! Thanks Dad and FD!

4. Set up baby's room - arrange furniture and start adding all the finishing touches.

The furniture is in there but not fully assembled and arranged. We decided to paint one wall after all, so that should get done tonight and tomorrow night and then I can get moving with the rest of the stuff.

5. Condense and purge scrapbooking/crafting/board game cabinet. This is going to be a daunting task. I keep thinking about doing it and finding a reason why I should wait just a bit longer. Yesterday I opened it, took a look at it for about 5 minutes, closed it, and walked away. IT.MUST.GET.DONE.

Yay! Done.

6. Send FD away on a boy's fishing trip and spend some girl time with my mom and sisters.

We all had a great week together. While the boys fished, the girls cooked, ate, shopped, played, and celebrated Little H's birthday.

7. Attend my baby shower.

Thanks so much to my Mom and Sisters for hosting such a great shower for me!

8. Get a hair cut (can't tell you how badly I need this one).

Got my hair cut the same weekend as my shower. Just a little freshening up pre-babe.

9. Organize freezers and freeze cherries for the winter.

The freezers got somewhat organized but I totally dropped the ball on freezing cherries. I literally blinked and missed cherry season. Other than eating them fresh, a few batches of muffins and some delicious ice cream, I didn't do anything with them this year. Sadness.

10. Begin harvesting and preserving veggies from the garden.

I have been picking veggies like crazy but nothing that's been preserved so far. My MIL and I canned peaches and BBQ Onion sauce this weekend, but that wasn't with stuff from my garden.

Even though it wasn't on my original list - I can't forget to mention one of the most exciting things that happened this month - Shaina and Jenny came to visit!

August Goals

I'm sorry to say but this month's goals are a wee bit narrow in focus. I'll trust that you can all understand why :)

1. Finish getting baby's room ready.

2. Buy, wash, and organize baby's cloth diapers.

3. Finish gathering and organizing birth supplies for home birth.

4. Pack mine and baby's hospital bag so we are prepared to transfer to hospital if necessary.

5. Finish stocking the freezer with food for post baby days.

6. Celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary.

7. Can pickled beets with my mom.

8. Celebrate my mom's birthday (which, yes, was way back in June - but this will be the first time she's been able to come visit since then).

9. Attend my second baby shower.

10. Put my feet up, relax, rest and enjoy the last few weeks of my pregnancy!

June Review and July Goals

I cannot.cannot.cannot believe that another month has come and gone! Yesterday was Canada Day and I celebrated by doing - well, the same thing I do most days. The Dude was working so it didn't feel much like a holiday, except that all the stores were closed and the farm was packed with people picking cherries.

Let's take a look and see what happened in June...

1. Defend (and hopefully pass) thesis.

Done! My thesis defense went super well and I was so grateful for all the prayers and support from each of you.

2. Complete all final touch ups, revisions, and paperwork for school. Apply to graduate! Woo hoo (although I don't actually get to attend my graduation ceremony, boo hoo).

I had to do some minor revisions to my conclusion after my defense so I got them done the very next day and printed my copies and handed them in early last week. I have applied to graduate in October and it looks like it's all set. The only thing I have yet to do is figure out if there are any forms I need to submit to the scholarship agencies to let them know I have completed my program.

3. Complete childbirth classes.

We completed our childbirth classes earlier in June. We both felt that they were very beneficial and we learned a lot about labour, childbirth and caring for a newborn. The countdown is on!

4. Welcome a new member to our extended family (any day now, Kris).

This was actually completed in May, but I had written and scheduled my June post the day before. Baby A was born on May 30th, making Little H the cutest big brother on the block!

5. Travel north for the annual Vine family reunion.

I got home on Tuesday night and had a great time. Check it out here! While I was up there, my cousins' wife took some awesome maternity photos for me.

6. Begin "pre-baby" projects - coming soon!

I have started purging and reorganizing our home to make room for baby. You can check out all the projects I have on the go on my sidebar. The big one - redo the nursery, has yet to be done!

7. Stand up in Caley's wedding!! Whoo hoo!

Caley's wedding was so beautiful and such a blast. If you didn't get a chance, check out the pics and recap here.

8. Finish current Beth Moore bible study.

The study finished up last week but I wasn't able to attend the last class as I was just getting home from my sister's. The next one will likely start up in the fall so we'll see if I can get involved with it, depending on when the baby makes his entry into the world.

June was a big month for us. Other than what is listed here, there were many other happenings that took place ... We took a short weekend getaway together after my thesis defense, I met SnoWhite, the garden is growing, we have some new baby chicks, and the FD left his previous job and is now self-employed as a sub-contractor doing a variety of renovations! It was busy, it was stressful, it was chaotic and it went by quickly. Here's hoping for a bit of a rest during the month of July.

So what's on the schedule for this month ....

1. Visit with our friend's from Ohio.

2. Visit the in-laws.

3. Replace carpet in baby's room (um, this is actually not on my list. Hint, hint, FD).

4. Set up baby's room - arrange furniture and start adding all the finishing touches.

5. Condense and purge scrapbooking/crafting/board game cabinet. This is going to be a daunting task. I keep thinking about doing it and finding a reason why I should wait just a bit longer. Yesterday I opened it, took a look at it for about 5 minutes, closed it, and walked away. IT.MUST.GET.DONE.

6. Send FD away on a boy's fishing trip and spend some girl time with my mom and sisters.

7. Attend my baby shower.

8. Get a hair cut (can't tell you how badly I need this one).

9. Organize freezers and freeze cherries for the winter.

10. Begin harvesting and preserving veggies from the garden.

May Review and June Plans

Here's what went down in May...

1. Send thesis to external examiner. Set defense date. Prepare and practice for defense presentation.

Done, done, and done. Well the last one is currently still in progress.

2. Plant the rest of the garden.

Garden is planted and growing. Check out this year's first two updates here and here.

3. Host a wedding shower.

Done.

4. Watch the SERIES FINALE of LOST!

Um, yeah!

5. Decide if/when/where we are going take prenatal classes.

Prenatal classes are booked and we will be starting them tomorrow. More to come about this soon.

6. Attend a good friend's wedding.

Done. Apparently I didn't blog about this. Let's just say, the Dude was "that guy" at the wedding. You know the guy that no body at the wedding knows (he had only met the bride twice before the wedding) who makes a fool of himself on the dance floor and has a dance off showdown with the Bride's 90 year old grandma - yup, that's my hubby.

7. Attend a friend's personal shower.

Done.

8. Exercise at least 3 times per week.

I'm still doing yoga once a week and walking on a (mostly) daily basis. The yoga class will be done in a few weeks so I need to decide if I'm going to take another class to carry me through the third tri or if I'm going to try something else. Thoughts?

What's planned for June?

1. Defend (and hopefully pass) thesis.

2. Complete all final touch ups, revisions, and paperwork for school. Apply to graduate! Woo hoo (although I don't actually get to attend my graduation ceremony, boo hoo).

3. Complete childbirth classes.

4. Welcome a new member to our extended family (any day now, Kris).

5. Travel north for the annual Vine family reunion.

6. Begin "pre-baby" projects - coming soon!

7. Stand up in Caley's wedding!! Whoo hoo!

8. Finish current Beth Moore bible study.

April Goal Review and May Goals

It's hard to believe it's that time again ... I think I say that every month ... but here we are, at the beginning of a new month.

April Goal Review

1. School goals: Tidy up thesis based on advisor's feedback, send first draft to committee. Begin planning and preparing for defense. Mark final presentation, final checkpoint, and major assignment. Complete all TAing duties.

Done,done, and done! All of my TAing duties are officially done. My thesis has been approved by my advisor and all committee members. My edits are done and my final draft is ready to go. I am in the process of securing an external examiner and setting a date for defense.

2. Faith Goals: Begin a new Beth Moore bible study with women at church. Continue keeping up with the text project.

I have had the opportunity to complete the first few weeks of the "Beloved Disciple" series with Beth Moore. I have been so encouraged and uplifted by spending two hours a week with some of the most wise, God fearing women I have ever met. It is wonderful! I have almost completed 1 Corinthians with the text project and will be moving on to the book of Mark soon.

3. Fitness Goals: Begin a yoga class. I am really pumped about this one! Continue briskly walking at least 3 times per week.

I am loving my yoga class. The instructor is fabulous and although it's not specifically a prenatal class, she just recently had a baby of her own so she helps me to modify some of the poses if necessary to accommodate my changing body. I have been walking almost every day.

4. Plan/attend three wedding/baby showers for friends.

Done, done (didn't blog about the shower for Jacob and Becky), and done!

5. Get the garden worked, potentially start planting some things depending on the weather. *This is definitely more of a FD goal ... I serve as more of a supervisory role in terms of the garden. At least until it's time to harvest. Then I get in there like crazy.

The garden is worked. Potatoes are in and strawberries are in! The rest will be planted throughout the month of May. I will start taking some garden pictures and tracking our progress this month.

6. Do some spring cleaning: wash windows (which isn't hard since our basement apartment only has one patio door for a window), scrub all floors thoroughly, organize FD's closet, start purging in the spare room (i.e. baby's room).

I did do some major spring cleaning in preparation for the shower I hosted here, but I didn't do much in the baby's room. After my defense is done, that will be my task. But, windows, doors, baseboards, walls, ceilings etc., were all washed and cleaned!

7. See our little one at our 20 week ultrasound!

You betcha!

8. Celebrate Easter with my family.

We had a great weekend with my family. You can read about it here.

Goals for May:

1. Send thesis to external examiner. Set defense date. Prepare and practice for defense presentation.

2. Plant the rest of the garden.

3. Host a wedding shower.

4. Watch the SERIES FINALE of LOST!

5. Decide if/when/where we are going take prenatal classes.

6. Attend a good friend's wedding.

7. Attend a friend's personal shower.

8. Exercise at least 3 times per week.

March Goal Review and April Goals

March has been a wonderful month. We've had some really great weather! The newness and the freshness of Spring is so rejuvenating! It reminds me that the Lord's mercies are new every morning.

Let's see how I did with my goals throughout the month of March:

1. School goals: Finalize discussion chapter, begin conclusion chapter, mark 3 presentations, mark student's second assignment, complete and finalize thesis reference page (for someone as organized as I normally am - I have done a horrible job keeping my reference page up to date as I have worked my way through writing the chapters of my thesis. This is going to be a messy, messy job.)

I have come to realize that there is nothing like the impending arrival of a baby to get me moving and get me motivated to get things done. I have completed all of these goals and more. In fact, an entire draft of my thesis is in the hands of my advisor as we speak. Hopefully, she will have the edits and feedback ready for me by the end of the week. Getting my first draft completed allowed me to submit a "first draft form" which will result in a significant tuition decrease for the summer term. I am well on my way to defending and being outta there by July.

2. Finish the book of Acts and begin the book of Romans through the Text Project to stay up to date with my through the new testament in a year goal.

I am done the book of Acts and have finished the first few chapters of Romans. I love being in the word every single day!

3. Welcome a new niece or nephew into our lives ... any day now!

Baby B was born on March 21st, 2010! We haven't had a chance to meet her yet, but will be very soon.

4. Spend a weekend with my mom, sister, SIL, and many girlfriends from church being uplifted at the Beth Moore conference.

We did and we had a wonderful time. Check it out here.

5. Begin preparations and planning for our 2010 garden.

We didn't actually sit down and plan out how many of each plant we're going to plant and how we are going to lay out the garden but we have started talking about what we're going to do the same and differently than last year. And, we have our seed potatoes so we're all set and ready to plant them soon.

April Goals

1. School goals: Tidy up thesis based on advisor's feedback, send first draft to committee. Begin planning and preparing for defense. Mark final presentation, final checkpoint, and major assignment. Complete all TAing duties.

2. Faith Goals: Begin a new Beth Moore bible study with women at church. Continue keeping up with the text project.

3. Fitness Goals: Begin a yoga class. I am really pumped about this one! Continue briskly walking at least 3 times per week.

4. Plan/attend three wedding/baby showers for friends.

5. Get the garden worked, potential start planting some things depending on the weather. *This is definitely more of a FD goal ... I serve as more of a supervisory role in terms of the garden. At least until it's time to harvest. Then I get in there like crazy.

6. Do some spring cleaning: wash windows (which isn't hard since our basement apartment only has one patio door for a window), scrub all floors thoroughly, organize FD's closet, start purging in the spare room (i.e. baby's room).

7. See our little one at our 20 week ultrasound!

8. Celebrate Easter with my family.

What have you got going on for the month of April?

February Goal Review and March Goals

Welcome, March! Please bring Spring with you. Thank you.

February was a big month here in our household! Now it's time to go back and see how I did with my goals amidst the excitement of telling all our loved ones that we're on our way to becoming parents.

1. School goals: Mark my student's first assignment in a timely fashion (i.e. within one week). Mark their presentations within 24 hours of seeing them. Complete analysis and begin writing discussion chapter. Mark midterms. Wow, busy month!

First assignment has been marked, recorded and handing back. Presentations are marked and results given. My analysis is complete and a draft of my discussion chapter will be e-mailed to my advisor this afternoon. Midterms were marked over reading week (last week). I will record their marks and give them back to the Prof. to hand back to students later this week.

2. Travel to Ohio to stand up in our dear friend's wedding. And do some other super fun exciting stuff while we're there. ;) ....you'll have to wait and see what we've got planned.

We sure did! Check out this post to see a recap on the wedding weekend which also included A SUPER FANTASTICAL BLOGGY MEET UP WITH SHAINA AND JENNY!

3. Get back on track with menu planning. And not only planning, but menu plan following. January has been weird. And crazy. And my menu plan following and organized grocery shopping has suffered as a result.

I have done pretty good with this this month. I haven't been posting my menu plans as I normally do but I have been making them and trying to stick with them. The reason I got off track in January was because in the early weeks of my pregnancy, cooking was the absolute least appealing activity. That, combined with the tired factor, and I was not in the mood to whip up any amazing meals. I have gotten back into the swing of meal planning, organized shopping and cooking, although our meals have been more subdued than normal.

4. Spend a weekend with Little H while his parents go on vacation.

We had a great time!

5. Continue to exercise at least 3 times per week (usually more).
Hmm ... well ... ugh. Okay, so major fail. The weather has been my excuse. I like to be outside. Snowy weather does not bode well for that. So, therefore, my exercising has suffered. I will get back on track in March!

6. Complete bathroom renovation (I will be posting more about this soon).
Done, done, done. Although this really should not have been on my goal list as I did basically nothing, except watch. The Fabulous Dude did an amazing job with it! Check it out here.

7. BEGIN WATCHING SEASON 6 OF LOST! WOOT WOOT!

I have been watching each episode with my friend, T. She moved last Friday, though, so starting tomorrow, the dude and I will be watching at home. I am so excited that we seem to finally be getting some answers ... kind of?

8. Organize our bedroom closets and dresser drawers.

Wow. The last time I thought about this goal was probably on February 1st when I wrote it. I definitely did not do this. Except I did clean out and rearrange E's tshirt drawer. At this point, I think I will probably wait to do the complete overhaul until when I need to revamp my wardrobe and swap out my regular clothes for maternity wear.

What's up For March:

1. School goals: Finalize discussion chapter, begin conclusion chapter, mark 3 presentations, mark student's second assignment, complete and finalize thesis reference page (for someone as organized as I normally am - I have done a horrible job keeping my reference page up to date as I have worked my way through writing the chapters of my thesis. This is going to be a messy, messy job.)

2. Finish the book of Acts and begin the book of Romans through the Text Project to stay up to date with my through the new testament in a year goal.

3. Welcome a new niece or nephew into our lives ... any day now!

4. Spend a weekend with my mom, sister, SIL, and many girlfriends from church being uplifted at the Beth Moore conference.

5. Begin preparations and planning for our 2010 garden.

What have you got going on in the month of March?

January Goal Review and February Goals

As always, the time has come to review last month's goals and set up some goals for this month.

The January goals:

1. Lose 5-10 pounds. I know this goal is utterly and completely cliche. In fact, voicing that this goal is cliche is cliche. BUT - I obviously ate a ridiculous amount over the past few weeks and the extent of my physical activity was walking from the couch to the fridge. I am in a wedding in February so I need to tone up a bit so that I can squeeze myself into the dress and feel good doing it. For the sake of being specific about how I will achieve this goal: absolutely no pop (except on New Year's Day and FD's birthday), no evening snacking on junk (if I must have a snack after dinner, I will eat fruit or something else healthy), work out at least three times per week for 30 minutes (it's about time to drag my stat bike out of hiding).

Well, well, well. It is somewhat difficult to measure the success of this goal since I don't even own a scale. So, instead of reporting on the "lost 5-10 pounds" portion of the goal - I will report on the other aspects of the goal.

Absolutely no pop - I did pretty well. I did have a ginger ale when we went out for dinner for FD's birthday - but that was okay since I had said I would allow myself one that night. And I also had two sips of pop at Grandma's birthday party. That was an accident though, it was in the punch and I drank a bit before I realized what it was. Then, we spent this past weekend at the FD's sister's house in Michigan, and they had Diet Cherry Coke, and try as I might, I could not resist. So I caved on Saturday and had a glass. Regardless, I feel proud of myself for curbing the reliance on caffeinated cola for sure. I don't even miss it that much.

No evening snack on junk - I did pretty good on this except on the weekends. Seriously, I can't resist sometimes.

Work out at least three times per week for 30 minutes - yup, I did it. And I have a little chart on the fridge to prove it!

2. Celebrate the fabulous dude's birthday.

We sure did. We enjoyed dinner out with my parent's the day before his birthday and then spent a quiet evening together on his actual birthday. This weekend, his nieces had a lovely birthday party all planned for him!

3. Learn the names of all of my new students.

Nada. After I set this goal, I realized because of scheduling problems with the course I am TAing, I did not even meet my first set of students until January 27th and my second set until the 28th. I think I deserve a few extra weeks to practice.

4. Complete introduction and methodology chapters.

Done. Chapters 1-3 are sent to my advisor and are currently in the process of being edited.

5. Visit the FD's sister and her family.

We spent this past weekend with them. I'm hoping to get a little post written about it sometime this week.

6. Rewatch Lost Season 5 with Evan and Logi. We always do a LOST marathon in January and watch the previous season before starting the next. In fact, the FD didn't get to watch much of last season because of hockey, so it will be new for him.

You better believe it. Two weekends ago, we headed to E&L's and bunkered down on their couch to watch the entire 5th season. My excitement for Tuesday, February 2nd tripled!

7. Use my new Kitchenaid stand mixer at least twice a week!

I don't think I used it at all last week, but I definitely used it more than twice some other weeks, so I am sure that makes up for it.

February Goals:

1. School goals: Mark my student's first assignment in a timely fashion (i.e. within one week). Mark their presentations within 24 hours of seeing them. Complete analysis and begin writing discussion chapter. Mark midterms. Wow, busy month!

2. Travel to Ohio to stand up in our dear friend's wedding. And do some other super fun exciting stuff while we're there. ;) ....you'll have to wait and see what we've got planned.

3. Get back on track with menu planning. And not only planning, but menu plan following. January has been weird. And crazy. And my menu plan following and organized grocery shopping has suffered as a result.

4. Spend a weekend with Little H while his parents go on vacation.

5. Continue to exercise at least 3 times per week (usually more).

6. Complete bathroom renovation (I will be posting more about this soon).

7. BEGIN WATCHING SEASON 6 OF LOST! WOOT WOOT!

8. Organize our bedroom closets and dresser drawers.

What does February have in store for you?

December Goal Review and January Goals

Happy New Year! Welcome, 2010.

As in the past, I'll start by recapping my monthly goals:

1. Finish all my grading by December 9th. Yes, I actually just looked at the calendar and realized it was December 9th when I finished. The marking was laborious and tedious, but I survived! And I've only had two e-mails with complaints about grades.

2. Conduct at least one focus group and transcribe it by December 18th. My goal is for my Christmas holidays to start on December 18th. I want to put away school on that day and not look at it again until the New Year. I did one better on this goal! I conducted and transcribed both of my focus groups and was done before Evan's family Christmas on the 11th! This means I am done my data collection. Whoo hoo. That is a huge weight off my shoulders!

3. Survive Christmas - this includes, celebrating/hosting Christmas with the in-laws in two weeks, hosting and attending a few other parties, heading home to my parents house on the 20th to help Mom get ready and then spending time with my family between Christmas Eve-Boxing Day. Yes! We survived and thrived during the holiday season and were constantly reminded of how blessed we are. See the answer below for a recap of all of the Christmas festivities that we participated in.

4. Completely inundate my blog with Christmas material so you all know exactly how much of a Crazy Christmas person I am. I will let you be the judge on how well I achieved this goal. I wrote about our Christmas decorations, a special memory, my baking, a countdown, our stocking traditions, a recap of FD's family Christmas, a recap of our own Christmas, a few random dozen lists that had Christmas questions in them, a few thoughts about Mary's reaction to her role as Christ's mother, the sadness that was our Christmas tree, my Christmas gift come true, a recap of my family Christmas, as well as some of our favourite Christmas recipes over at Lucy's Kitchen!

January Goals

1. Lose 5-10 pounds. I know this goal is utterly and completely cliche. In fact, voicing that this goal is cliche is cliche. BUT - I obviously ate a ridiculous amount over the past few weeks and the extent of my physical activity was walking from the couch to the fridge. I am in a wedding in February so I need to tone up a bit so that I can squeeze myself into the dress and feel good doing it. For the sake of being specific about how I will achieve this goal: absolutely no pop (except on New Year's Day and FD's birthday), no evening snacking on junk (if I must have a snack after dinner, I will eat fruit or something else healthy), work out at least three times per week for 30 minutes (it's about time to drag my stat bike out of hiding).

2. Celebrate the fabulous dude's birthday.

3. Learn the names of all of my new students.

4. Complete introduction and methodology chapters.

5. Visit the FD's sister and her family.

6. Rewatch Lost Season 5 with Evan and Logi. We always do a LOST marathon in January and watch the previous season before starting the next. In fact, the FD didn't get to watch much of last season because of hockey, so it will be new for him.

7. Use my new Kitchenaid stand mixer at least twice a week!

What have you got planned for the first month of 2010?

November Goal Review and December Goals

I'm a few days early on my monthly goal review, but I figured we're close enough to the end of November (can you believe that?) to be safe.

1. Get the bulk of the Christmas shopping done. For the sake of objective goal setting, I am going to say, get 75% of my shopping done. It should be possible because we have schedule a shopping day in Toronto with my family! Yes - I am nearly done my shopping. I just have a few little things to buy. I should actually be done by tonight, hopefully.

2. Secure participants, schedule focus groups, conduct focus groups and transcribe. Um, this is clearly way too ambitious. But we'll see. I have gathered participants and am working on scheduling. It is proving to be quite difficult. These girls are busy! So, I haven't been able to get any focus groups done and of course, that means no transcription. I'm still hopeful to get at least one, perhaps two, done before the holidays. Please pray for that.

3. Finish the Love Dare .... or should I just give up on it? Remember when I only got three days of it done all through October, putting me to Day 15? Well, I'm still on Day 15. Apparently The Love Dare is not getting the attention it deserves. I've decided to put it away and pull it out in the New Year sometime.

4. Make a homemade Christmas gift for the FD's family name draw. Yupper! I may show it to you in a few weeks, but at this point I can't because the person who is going to receive it may or may not read this blog.

5. Clean and organize the freezer to make room for the new meat from hunting season (assuming the FD gets a deer, of course). Yes - I have spent the month trying to eat up as much food from the freezer as possible to have it reorganized. We will be filling it with meat on Sunday.

6. Complete theory chapter ... or drop out of school. My theory chapter is finally complete and has been sent to my adviser as of yesterday. I was totally not serious about dropping out of school, but somedays ... oh ... somedays.

7. Visit the in-laws. We're heading there this weekend.

8. Begin counting down to Christmas :D I actually have two count downs! 14 days until Christmas with my in-laws and 29 days until Christmas day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

December Goals - my goals for this month are short and sweet.

1. Finish all my grading by December 9th.

2. Conduct at least one focus group and transcribe it by December 18th. My goal is for my Christmas holidays to start on December 18th. I want to put away school on that day and not look at it again until the New Year.

3. Survive Christmas - this includes, celebrating/hosting Christmas with the in-laws in two weeks, hosting and attending a few other parties, heading home to my parents house on the 20th to help Mom get ready and then spending time with my family between Christmas Eve-Boxing Day.

4. Completely inundate my blog with Christmas material so you all know exactly how much of a Crazy Christmas person I am.

December is a crazy month for us all! What goals do you have?

November Goals

Check out the last post if you want to see what I got up to in October. November will be a busy month for us. The FD will be gone for 8 days (starting yesterday). By the time we see each other again, the month will be well underway!

1. Get the bulk of the Christmas shopping done. For the sake of objective goal setting, I am going to say, get 75% of my shopping done. It should be possible because we have schedule a shopping day in Toronto with my family!

2. Secure participants, schedule focus groups, conduct focus groups and transcribe. Um, this is clearly way too ambitious. But we'll see.

3. Finish the Love Dare .... or should I just give up on it?

4. Make a homemade Christmas gift for the FD's family name draw.

5. Clean and organize the freezer to make room for the new meat from hunting season (assuming the FD gets a deer, of course)

6. Complete theory chapter ... or drop out of school.

7. Visit the in-laws.

8. Begin counting down to Christmas :D

What's going on in your life this month?

October Goal Review

Happy Halloween! I am out of town (actually out of the country) right now visiting my sister in law and her family and meeting the newest addition to our family, Baby C.

That is what my scheduled post was supposed to say. However, I am actually not out of the country visiting my new nephew. I started to get sick on Wednesday so I decided not to go. Then, I started to get better on Thursday, so I decided to go. Then, on Thursday evening I found out that someone close to me had been in close contact with H1N1 and was exhibiting symptoms herself so I felt that I should not go visit the new babe. I am still not really sick (although not feeling 100%), so I am hoping that I have been able to evade the illness. Either way, I didn't want to risk going there and being around young children ... especially a new born baby.

The FD was supposed to leave last night for a week of hunting but was sweet and decided to stay home until this morning so I didn't have to be by myself for quite so long. We had a nice little date last night.

So, I'm going to head home to visit my parents today and come back either Sunday or Monday. I don't really care for staying home by myself ... especially since FD took Nika with him. It gets a wee bit quiet and lonely.

On September first, I decided to start keeping track of monthly goals on my blog as a way of keeping myself motivated and accountable. At the end of the month, I did a review of how the goals went and I found that I did pretty good at keeping up with my goals.

We've now come to the end of October so it's time to see how I did with this month's list of goals. Unfortunately, October was not as productive as September.

1. Complete Christmas savings and get a good start on Christmas shopping. Christmas saving is done. Getting a good start on Christmas shopping is not done. I only bought two small gifts all month. I will be getting serious about the Christmas shopping in the coming weeks. I am NOT a last minute kind of gal.

2. Switch out summer clothes for fall/winter clothes. I got this done but it really wasn't a very hard job since most of my clothes stay out and all it is is a matter of unloading on rubbermaid bin into FD's closet and putting his shorts and t-shirts away.

3. Celebrate Thanksgiving with both of our families (remember, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October). Yup - we had a lovely weekend spent with our families.

4. Get ethics approval, secure participants and arrange focus group dates. This whole process is taking way longer than I ever anticipated and is causing some serious grief! I finally got approval last week and have now started to secure participants.

5. Tidy up lit review, complete introduction and theory chapters. Lit review is good. The intro is still weak. The theory chapter - well, let's just not go there.

6. Complete the Love Dare. Ha! In my September review I stated that I was on day 12 of 40 at the end of the month. I am now on day 15. Apparently I did not achieve this goal.

7. Make and can applesauce and apple butter. Yup - we did it.

8. Continue making soup each week. Yes - this month we had French Onion Soup, Minestrone Soup, Cabbage Soup, Chicken and Dumpling Soup and End of the Garden Vegetable Soup

9. Continue and improve cash grocery shopping budget. I did pretty good this month, although our party last week threw me off a little bit (i.e. I used my debit card at the grocery store a few times). I'm ready to start fresh and get back on track starting tomorrow.

10. Proctor and mark midterms. Blech - yes. Done and done.

How was your October?

October Goals

My goal setting and tracking went really well for September. Thanks for all the feedback and encouragement yesterday. It really helps me get things accomplished knowing that I've written it down and told some people about it. Even though I know none of you would hunt me down and send me to my room if I didn't get them accomplished (or would you..), this really gives me a sense of accountability. October is a fun month and I am excited to get some things accomplished!

1. Complete Christmas savings and get a good start on Christmas shopping. I'm combining these two since the first part was actually a September goal that didn't quite get achieved.

2. Switch out summer clothes for fall/winter clothes. Most of my clothes stay out year round because I have a big dresser. But I need to get out my winter PJs because I'm starting to get chilly at night. And my boots. My sweet, precious boots (perhaps someday I'll admit to you all how many I own....) Also, FD's clothes need to be switched because I put his seasonal work clothes away on the off season. After the chilly week we've just had, I know it's time!

3. Celebrate Thanksgiving with both of our families (remember, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October)

4. Get ethics approval, secure participants and arrange focus group dates.

5. Tidy up lit review, complete introduction and theory chapters.

6. Complete the Love Dare.

7. Make and can applesauce and apple butter.

8. Continue making soup each week.

9. Continue and improve cash grocery shopping budget.

10. Proctor and mark midterms.

Let's see how the month goes.

Happy October, everyone!

September Goals in Review

You may remember at the beginning of month I sat down and wrote out some of my goals for September. It's hard to believe that we've already come to the end of the month! It feels like I blinked and it was gone. This month was busy and full of excitement.

So, here is a review of how my goal setting, planning and achieving went this month. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount that I was thinking about these goals as the month progressed. I guess by making them public gives me a sense of accountability. Because, well, obviously you would all be tremendously disappointed in me if I didn't achieve them.

1. Celebrate my birthday. Well, obviously, this goal was achieved. I celebrated with a hair cut, a weekend at the lake and a lovely pineapple welcome sign!

2. Prepare for my BFF's homecoming after her year-long adventure in Scotland. You betcha! She arrived home on September 17th. I went with her mom to the airport to pick the girls up. I made millionaire shortbread to take to her and we've been having fun ever since. I've been shopping more times in the past two weeks than I had the whole time she was gone. We've gone for ice cream, out for dinner for a friend's birthday, had a campfire, watched the season premier of Grey's while eating crepes and celebrated her birthday. After two weeks back in Canada, she and her sister are getting ready to move to their new city of residence but at least she'll only be an hour away now as opposed to across the ocean.

3. Submit ethics application for my thesis. Done. The application was submitted on September 11th. I received notice on the 15th that it was reviewed and sent for expedited review and I am now just waiting to get clearance so I can start focus groups.

4. Complete a draft of the first three chapters of my thesis. Umm, done? Kind of. I definitely have a solid draft of my lit review done. It is pretty close to being a final draft. I have a draft of my methodology section done but there is only so much I can write before actually completing the research so I know I will have to make major adjustments as I go. I also have something that might appear to be a draft for an introduction although it still needs a lot of work. I'm currently working on my theoretical framework chapter which is causing me some intense grief. But, I'm chugging away.

5. Make a new soup recipe each week. So far so good! For the month of September the soup recipes I made were: pea soup, roasted red pepper soup, sweet potato soup and cream of celery soup (which there is no recipe for - on purpose). This week I made end of the garden soup but the recipe isn't posted yet. I have been enjoying my homemade soup oh so much! Our favourite was definitely the sweet potato soup. If you like creamy soups, you should really try it.

6. Save enough money in the designated savings account to cover Christmas expenses. This goal was not achieved but I kind of have a really good excuse. Or as good as an excuse can possibly be. My contract didn't start until a week later than I had anticipated so I have had one less pay check so far than I had accounted for. If you read my post about Christmas budgeting you'll know that I had designated my first two paychecks to go towards this account. Once my next paycheck comes in (next Friday) we'll be good to go.

7. Get a new hair cut. Yup. See #1.

8. Start (or I guess I should say re-start) The Love Dare. I finally got myself motivated to re-start the book somewhere in the middle of the month. I'm currently on Day 12 of 40. I have to admit, I haven't been awesome at doing it every single day but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I find I would rather make sure that I do the dare with some thought rather than just trying to get through the book. So, on a day when the dare says "Call your husband throughout the day" and we are both home because it's a Saturday, I save that dare for sometime later in the week. I also joined a Beth Moore women's bible study at my church so I have been focusing a lot of my time there. I am still hoping to get the Love Dare done in October and I am learning some great lessons from it.

9. Complete all canning/freezing/preserving with the produce from the garden. I have done quite a lot of preserving and am proud of it! We figured that I have canned somewhere between 200-250 jars this year. Our cellar is now full of bbq onion sauce, diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, salsa, red pepper relish, zucchini marmalade, plum butter, pickled beets and dill pickles. The freezer is full of freezer jam, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, zucchini and beans. The only thing I haven't done yet is applesauce and apple butter which will come in a few weeks once I get a hold of a big bushel of apples. This is a new part of my life this year and I am so enjoying it!

10. Decorate the house for autumn. Done! I am enjoying my fall decorations and have added a few more since the last post so I just might have to show you some more. We still need to get a few more mums and pumpkins for the patio.

All in all, it was a great month! Now on to thinking about October goals...