JJ Heller - Thanksgiving Song (Official Lyric Video)

Our weekly snapshot

 Here’s a look back at our week. 

We had a great Thanksgiving day (even if the Lions lost!) 

Weekly Menu --- Here comes . . . the holidays!

 We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and now it is the full holiday "swing".  We even got winter weather this week to bring in that feeling of Christmas.  (I could do without the slick roads though!)  Here's the plan for the coming week.  

Friday - As is our tradition, we will head back to my mom's for a dinner of leftovers!  

Saturday - Fish and Chips (fries) 

Sunday - pork roast, stuffing, and green beans 

Monday - pulled pork tacos

Tuesday - my brother and sister-in-law are in town

Wednesday - Chicken noodle soup

Thursday - hamburger stroganoff and noodles 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Matthew West - Gobble Gobble (Official Video)

Since it is Thanksgiving Week -- This song must be shared! 

Our weekly snapshot

 Here’s a look back at our week! 

Our animals enjoying a snooze on a quiet Saturday. 

Joshua and Nate had a great weekend at Elite Retreat.  

Weekly Menu - Just like that it is Thanksgiving

 It is time for Thanksgiving.  It is hard to believe that we are at this time of year already!  I love as all the Christmas lights start to appear and everything just seems so festive! I have a few carry overs from last week as 1) the guys had pizza at youth group on Wednesday so I didn't have to feed them 2) Two whole pizzas were sent home with us on Wednesday so guess what we ate on Thursday night for dinner??? LOL  and 3) Darryl and I then had the Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup on Friday since the guys were off to a birthday Party!   

Friday - Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup 

Saturday - Dinner at my mom's

Sunday  -Chili and Fritos 

Monday - Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Tuesday - Shrimp and Grits

Wednesday- Beef tips and noodles 

Thursday - Thanksgiving! 

November Goals

 Yes, it is a little late in the month to be posting these here but the good news is that I had them written at the start of November and have been working on some of them. I really post them here because I enjoy looking back at them in future years to see 1) What I accomplished and 2) To remind of things that need to be revisited. Any way, here's the list! (Sorry for the weird spacing and such - I copied it from a word document and it doesn't "paste" in quite the same) 

November Goals

Uncompleted Goals from August, September and October

1.     Scrapbooking Goals

a.    2025 – Complete February, March, April, May, June, July, August and September

b.    2011 – Complete April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December

c.    Make a list of the 50 states not visited in the album and find pictures for the ones we have visited.

d.    2 months of memorabilia – put in albums or have ready to go in albums.

2.    Flylady

a.    August Routine – Swish and Swipe

3

4l Living Room and Dining Room Deep Cleaning

a.    Wipe down the walls, dust everything, wash insides of windows

5.    Clean out the garage

6.    Fall clean-up of the yard

7.    Finish fixing the lawnmower

8.    Hang things in Josh’s room

9.    Fix the board on Nate’s bed

10.  Call Spectrum to change our bill

11.  Daily Devotions and Prayer Journal

12.  Co-Op

a.    Clean out my SR files and narrow it down to just want I need.

b.    Work on Secretary Procedures

13.  Piano

a.    Work on It is Well with my Soul for offertory

b.    Pick an easier song to work on for November

c.    Pick a Christmas song for December

14.  Clean the Outsides of the Windows

15.  Memorize Verses for June, July, August, and September. And October (101-1001)

17.  Move Dad Koll’s piano (this won't happen until spring at this point) 

18.  Fix and/or Sell the Pop-up

19.  Repaint all the things in the house white (that are white)

20. Read Non-Fiction books (June, July, August, September, October)

November Goals

1.     Accomplish as many of the “old” goals as possible

2.    Decorate for Christmas

a.    Outside

b.    Inside

3.    Scrapbooking Goals

a.    2025 – Complete October

b.    2017 – Complete January, February, March, April and May

c.    Memorabilia – Continue sorting and putting in albums. When this is done, begin work on updating Heritage Albums

d.    Scrapbooking Date Goals

                                          i.    November 9^th – Virtural Weekend (but only really free on Sunday)

                                        ii.    November 14-16 – Kids are at a retreat so I have lots of time hopefully

                                       iii.    November 21-23

                                       iv.    November 28-30 – Hoping to have my own at home “retreat” since it is Thanksgiving weekend (Meaning, just enjoying scrapbooking on the holiday weekend)

4.    Cleaning Goals

a.    Basement – Continue with the overall basement cleanout.  30 minutes a day (Usually Mondays, Tuesdays, and sometimes Thursdays).  Have my guys help carry up donations and trash on Tuesdays.

b.    Flylady

                                          i.    Continue with routines (making the bed, Swish and Swipe, Monday Morning Reset, 15 minutes nightly put away, and a Friday home blessing hour

                                        ii.    November goal is Laundry – more about setting up a better routine with doing certain items each day verses multiple loads all in one day.

c.    Deep Cleaning/Decluttering Room – Bathroom

5.    Holiday Decorating

a.    Take down the outside Halloween Décor

b.    Put up the outside Christmas Décor

c.    Decorate inside for Christmas

6.    Date with Darryl

7.    Enjoy a Family Fun Day (A new goal to do this monthly) 

8.    Do Prayer journal and devos

9.    Co-Op

a.    Begin working on class ideas for next semester

10.  Plan Nate’s 16^th birthday Party at Chuck-E-Cheese

a.    Pick a date and reserve when possible

b.    Create invites for him

11.  Write and Update my resume

12.  Fix the Grinch calendar (order new ribbon) and have all items for the pockets by November 30^th

13.  Memorize November’s verse

14.  Read one non-fiction book this month

15.  Goal is to have 50% of my Christmas shopping done by December 1^st.  Also need to plan money for Josh and Nate to shop plus stockings

16

The Stand - Jaime Jamgochian

Weekly Snapshot

Here's a look back at our week! 

Last Saturday was our Co-Op's Drama Club producation of "Knock Knock".  Nate had one of the two leads.  It was such a great play and Nate did just amazing.  

Our first snow arrived early!  Sunday morning we woke up to snow  and it snow throughout the day.  Don't worry though, it warmed up by Monday and melted it all.  

Wednesday night the guys had youth group and played some fun games.  Nothing better than stacking Oreos on your friends face LOL 

A lot of people were posting their photos of the Northern Lights but this is all I saw.  It was still a beautiful cloudless sky but just without all of the beautiful color! 

Nate is preparing to test for his second black belt.  He had to show some forms to his teacher on Thursday.  I'm in awe of how far he has come in the last few years.  

Finally, we took the guys to Elite Retreat on Friday.  I snuck a photo of them working together to shut Nate's suitcase.  (He recently bought a nice suitcase from a local thrift shop for $4.00.  He likes carrying one back to camp with everything from his clothes to his blanket inside) 

They let me get a good photo of them before we left!  Elite Retreat is a camp that is invitation only - something you earn when you attend summer camp.  Their summer counselor can recommend them, which he did, and the weekend is designed for the campers who want to dig deeper into God's word and grow in their spiritual walk.  It is more intense and they teems build relationships with each other as well as with the counselors.  I'm so thankful that they both have an opportunity to attend.  

 

Weekly Menu - My kids social life is better than mine.

 My guys are off to "Elite Retreat" this weekend which is an invitation only retreat that they earned at summer camp.  Darryl and I will have a quiet weekend at home.  Maybe we will go see if a movie if anything good is out and for sure get dinner! 

Friday - We are getting Pizza for lunch so dinner will just be simple - Whatever each person wants before we head out to take the guys to camp (So probably Mac and Cheese, Chicken Tenders, etc)  

Saturday - The guys are gone.  Dinner and date day for Darryl and I

Sunday - We pick the guys up early afternoon.  Darryl and I will head out from church to catch their last chapel.  They will be starving (camp food is questionable HA!) so I'm sure we will swing through a drive thru on the way home. 

Monday - No more eating out!  (No!vrmber!) we do have a busy evening though.  On nights like this my go to is Tacos.  Everyone can “heat and eat!”

Tuesday - Chicken and Dumplings!  Our menu shifted last week so this is a carry over

Wednesday - Youth Group.  My guys have been hungry before youth group since we eat lunch early due to piano and it’s usually just pb and j.  Chicken Noodle Soup it will be (made from the leftover chicken and dumplings) 

Thursday - beef tips and noodles and green beans 

Recap of October Goals

 So, this list of my October Goals is not the same as the list I posted at the beginning of October.  I had created one in my post and then reworked it completely on a different document and never replaced the original list.  I doubt any of you would have even noticed if I hadn't said anything HA!  I started out strong this month - I think that the boys and I are finally getting into a good routine daily and weekly.  We did have two really full weeks that messed up that routine some but then I got right back into it!  Whew!  

Here's a look at what I got done: (Also I copied this from a word document so it came over funny)

October Goals

Uncompleted Goals from August and September

1.     Scrapbooking Goals

a.    2025 – Complete February, March, April, May and June

b.    2011 – Complete April, May, June, July, August, and September

c.    Make a list of the 50 states not visited in the album and find pictures for the ones we have visited.

d.    2 months of memorabilia – put in albums or have ready to go in albums.

2.    Flylady

a.    August Routine – Swish and Swipe

3.    Master Bedroom

a.    Fix the drawers on the dresser (even if we need to empty it and move it out to work on it.

4.    Finish fixing the lawnmower

5.    Hang things in Josh’s room

6.    Fix the board on Nate’s bed

7.    Call Spectrum to change our bill

8.    Daily Devotions and Prayer Journal - I did much better with this in October as I work on this habit.  I did the twice weekly devos in my accountability group and also started a devotional on October 20th about making your home a haven that I've been a part of since it started about 10 years ago. 

9.    Co-Op

a.    Clean out my SR files and narrow it down to just want I need. I have made progress on this.  I will continue to work on it and also plan to get a drive to save everything on. 

10.  Piano

a.    Work on It is Well with my Soul for offertory. 

11.  Clean the Outsides of the Windows

12.  Sell the Terrain - We have made progress on this - we got it to start and are in the process of getting it out of the driveway

13.  Organize the TV stand Cords - Done (Thanks Nate!) 

14.  Memorize Verses for June, July, August, and September. (101-1001)

15.  Purchase Concert Tickets for Maranatha in December

16.  Research the Will Options given my friends - I did this and have read through various options (thanks to Dave Ramsey) and we plan to come pack to this in March when we get some tax money back. 

17.  Move Dad Koll’s piano

18.  Fix and/or Sell the Pop-up

19.  Repaint all the things in the house white (that are white)

20. Read Non-Fiction books (June, July, August, September)

 

October Goals

1.     Accomplish as many of the “old” goals as possible

2.    Decorate for Fall – inside and outside - The outside got decorated but, due to cleaning the basement, I didn't bring the indoor stuff up. 

3.    Scrapbooking Goals

a.    2025 – Complete July, August, and September

b.    2011 – Complete October, November and December

c.    Make sure the 2011 Memorabilia is in the album!

d.    Scrapbooking Date Goals:

                                          i.    October 3-5 (around Nate’s TKD Tournament) - there was no time! 

                                        ii.    October 10-12 (Virtual Crop Weekend) - There was no time! 

                                       iii.    October 17-19 – as much as possible

                                       iv.    October 26

4.    Cleaning Goals

a.    Basement – Continue with the overall basement cleanout.  30 minutes on any day that has the time (Usually Mondays, Tuesdays, and sometimes Thursdays) - I have made HUGE progress on this.  Josh and Nate usually carry stuff upstairs for me on Tuesday that needs to go in the trash or be donated.  We've moved a lot of stuff. 

b.    Clean and Organize the Laundry Room

                                          i.    Empty shelves, organize what is there, mop the floor and then seal the floor again.

c.    Flylady

                                          i.    Try to do weekly room cleaning - While this didn't happen every day I did tackle things 2-3 times a week. 

                                        ii.    October Routine – Do a Monday Morning Reset, a 15 minute night time put away,  and a Friday Home Blessing Hour. (This is really not as much as it seems)

1.     Monday Morning Reset – Taking the time to go through all the rooms and put everything away and reset for the week. Done every week! 

2.    Home Blessing Hour – Normally this is on Friday but with Co-Op it might happen on Saturday.  It is just taking an hour to dust, vacuum, and mop. 

3.    The 15 minutes at night is mainly to make sure the sink is empty, run the dishwasher, wipe down the sink, and wipe down the counter and stove. 

d.    Deep Cleaning/Decluttering Room – Living Room and Dining Room

                                          i.    Wipe Down the Walls

                                        ii.    Wash Curtains

                                       iii.    Clean and shorten the blinds in the dining room

                                       iv.    Clean the insides of all the windows

                                         v.    Dust everything – every Knick knack and photo

                                       vi.    Go through all the blankets, clean out the ones we never use, and wash them all - Done

                                      vii.    Steam clean the carpets - Done

5.    Clean Out the garage

a.    Empty every shelf, go through every bin, and then reorganize it so it is easy to get to things.

6.    Do the Fall Clean-up of the yard

a.    Cut down all of the weeds and pour stump killer in the big ones so they don’t come back

b.    Get rid of junk

c.    Maybe start removing parts of the swing set

7.    Date with Darryl

8.    Enjoy a Family Fun Day (My new goal of doing one a month) - Done (Josh's birthday day)

9.    Do prayer Journal and Devos - As I stated above - I am doing better with this

10.  Co-Op

a.    Make sure my joyful lessons are ready - Done

b.    Begin working on secretary procedures

11.  Piano Solos

a.    Work on It is Well with my Soul

b.    Pick an easy song for November

c.    Pick a couple of simple Christmas specials

12.  Plan Nate’s 16^th Party at Chuck-E-Cheese

13.  Nate – Basketball lines – if he is still interested

14.  Memorize a verse for October

15.  Read a non-fiction book

16.  Find a soup, crock-pot or appetizer recipe that will be a “make again” - I have found crock-pot recipes.  

17.  Look Ahead

a.    Research Camping ideas for next summer

b.    Make sure December plans for our 25^th year are in place

1October Plans:

a.    Get pumpkins and carve them as a family

b.    Go to a Tuesday Movie if anything good is showing

c.    Boulder Ridge??? - Nope

d.    Nate: Lakewood Band Senior Night - Done

e.    Decade’s Field Trip - this was cancelled as the museum is closed due to the shut down 

f.    Josh’s birthday Day - Done