Weekly Menu

 The next two weeks are my self imposed relaxing weeks before the rush of the school year.  My guys aren't quite as excited about these weeks but I like keeping it simple.  I'm sure things will come up and we might go bowling again.  We shall see!

Friday - Beef Drip and Fries (Basically a beef drip is a style of French dip) 

Saturday - Dinner at my mom's

Sunday -our church has a meet and greet with a youth intern and I’ve heard there might be pizza.  If not we will just grab Little Caesers

Monday - Broccoli Cheese Noodle Soup, Ham, and Rolls

Tuesday - summer beef stew and biscuits

Wednesday - Amish Breakfast Casserole, Fruit Salad, and Overnight Cinnamon Bread

Thursday - Brown Sugar Glazed Pork Loin, Crash Potatoes, and Green Beans

August Goals

 Every year in August I find it a little hard to write a list of goals.  August is my month to breath before school starts (I know I will mention this in several posts in August I am sure!)  So, instead of writing out a long list of goals I'm focusing on some key things that must be done before September.  Anything beyond that is just icing on the goal cake HA! 

1. I created a list of 31 drawers, cupboards, and small spaces that I want to declutter and organize throughout the month of August.  The goal is to finish all 31.  Most of them are 5-10 minute jobs.  
2. List, sell, and then donate any unsold Homeschool Books we are done with.  I'm hoping to make a little money to help cover the cost of the rest of Josh's books for 11th grade.  
3. Clean off the TV stand, move it from the wall and work on the craziness of cords.  Nate told me he would help with that job.  
4. Wash the outsides of the main windows - Josh told me he would do that (Plus is the only one that can go high up on the ladder without fear of dying LOL) 
5. Plan weeks 1-3 of Joyful - for real.  I need to pick out our verses, plan activities, and prep all of my bags 
6. Steam clean the carpets - Dining Room, Living Room, Bedrooms
7. Continue with the basement clean out - just 15 minutes a day
8. Replace the board on Nate's bed. 
9. Josh's room - just keep helping him plug away on the last pieces 
10. Work on "It is Well with my Soul"
11. Date with Darryl
12. Read at least 6 books with one non-fiction.  I still need to read a non-fiction book for June and July. 
13. Memorize 1 verse for August (and June and July) 
14. Review my 101-1001 goals so I can tackle more of those items. 
15. Review my 2025 Goals and see what I need to accomplish. 
16. In my menus I have plans to try two new recipes - I would like to utilize my cookbooks I own and try two new options from one or more of my books. 
17. Order July Photos
18. Scrapbook - I really need to schedule my scrapbook days and then stick to it- once I get moving I generally keep moving; it is just making the effort to do it!  So, my goal for August is to Finish January-March of 2025; then to Finish 3 months of 2011 photos.  (I'm not really that far behind - someone I skipped over 2011 when I was moving through years) 
19. Make Christmas list plans for both guys and slowly start picking up some things. 
20. Plan a family activity for this quarter (July-September). 
21. Attend planned activities - Teen Brunch, FunTyme Meet-up, at least one more time with Kids Bowl Free, a Worship on the Waterfront Concert, and maybe a movie if there is anything good out there to see! 
22. Write my blog posts for upcoming weeks. Ideally I'd like to have them written through the end of September (yes, I do most of them in advance) and then stay on top of the weekly ones such as our Weekly Snapshot and then any related to my Joyful Co-Op class. 
23. Follow the Fly-lady plan for August with the 15 minute daily challenges for cleaning and/or decluttering.  
24. Lay out plans for the rest of the year - retreats, known field trips, family days, etc.  Calendar planning is my "thing" :-) 
25. As always - complete at least 1/2 of these goals.  

Geesh, I did not think I would have 25 items this month - but somehow, I do!  Lets go August! 

Chris Tomlin, Ben Fielding - The First Hymn (Official Lyric Video)

Our Weekly Snapshot

 Here's a quick glance back at our week.  My pictures loaded from end of the week to beginning of week so we shall go backwards through the week HA! 

Joshua and Nate spent the week at my mom's - we call it "Nana Camp".  They invited me over for lunch and to play "Ioniaopoly".  Josh ended up winning because he had the most money when we needed to stop playing.  

Nate start a program this week called Centershot.  It is an archery program where they learn all the archery skills and also have a Bible study.  He ha wanted to do this for year but it was always on a night he couldn't attend . .. until this year!  

Our sweet Harley :-)  He's pretty sassy actually but we sure adore him. 

Darryl and I celebrated our 24th anniversary on Monday of this past week.  Darryl unexpectedly had the day off work as we had to take his work vehicle (our Escape) in for warranty work.  So we enjoyed a day at home until it was time to go pick up the car; then we went out to dinner after running that errand. 

Then, to start the week - Joshua and Nate had a bonfire with friends.  They spent part of the time down the road at a park.  I'm thankful for their great group of friends.  

It was a super busy week actually.  Nate and I are both also going to physical therapy so, between the two of us we end up going 4-5 days a week.  He has a sports injury in a muscle in his back and I'm dealing with a old injury in my ankle from college that decided come back to haunt me about 6 months ago HA!  

Weekly Menu

 Welcome to my favorite post of the week HA!  Well, it is my most consistent that's for sure.  I find menu planning relaxing and rewarding because it is something fairly easy to control.  Even when I make changes, it is because I have control over what is cooked.  I know, weird.  That's ok.  I recently organized my recipes alphabetically (again, weird, I know) and am working on cooking my way through them to see what we actually like and what I can clear out.  It has also allowed me to plan weeks ahead.  Now, I'm the first one to tell you that meal planning is like lesson planning - nothing stays the same.  So even though I might plan through the end of September I fully know that things will come up, recipes will get moved or not made at all, and we may eat out a few times that aren't planned and that is all ok!  The planning helps me keep an eye out for sales for future meals to help keep the grocery budget in line.  The boys come back from Nana camp this weekend and, while we still have a busy week before we hit my self imposed "slow two weeks before school starts" weeks, I am back to menu sincere meal planning.  :-)

Here's the plan for the upcoming week:

Friday -My plan is chili dogs, corn, and potato salad

Saturday - It is time to "pick up the kids!" HA!  So, dinner at Nana's 

Sunday - Keeping it simple today - Shredded Chicken Tacos

Monday - Choir starts back tonight so we eat in shifts.  I'm going to throw a premade lasagna in the oven along with breadsticks

Tuesday - chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn

Wednesday - Roasted Pork Shoulder, Sour Cream Rice, and Asparagus

Thursday - Dill Shrimp Pasta with Cheesecake Factory Bread

Recap of July Goals

 July was a long, hot, humid month.  It was also busy.  As I'm writing this I thought - "Wow, this is the first day all month we have had nothing to do" and then I realized it was August . . .HA!  My teens have a pretty busy social life, which I think is great and the way it should be when you are in your mid-teens.  Friends, Church, Family - all great things to be involved with.  Here's a look back at what I did -- and did not -- accomplish in July: 

Here are my goals for July! 

1. Declutter the basement.  I have made steady progress on this and am continuing with my goal of basically going through one bin/box/bag/shelf a day - but when I start with one I usually end up going through several depending on how much time I have available.  I don't have a set goal in mind of where I want to be on this project by the end of July - I just want to continue on with progress. Still a work in progress - but progress is the key word :-)  

2. Scrapbook - If you read by 101 in 1001 days goals you know I have quite a bit of scrapbooking to get done.  Based on what I specifically want done this year - I have a few goals for July.  1) Finish two total months in 2011 2) Finish January and February of 2025 3) Get all of the memorabilia in an album if completed or ready to go in albums not completed. I had high hopes for this with my guys gone but apparently my motivation was also gone HA! 

3.  Finish up the last things in Josh's room - he and I have already talked about this and what needs to be done and plan to do it the week Nate is at camp.  Really, we have 2-3 hours total of work to do so it isn't much.  He and I did make progress on this but there is still more to do.  I think he has less motivation to do then I do so that makes it not happen very quickly. 

4.  Fix a board in Nate's bed - this is really Darryl's item BUT it goes on my list LOL  It's not a hard task - just have to find a board, cut it to size and screw it in!  (We've done this before) Nope :-)  

5. Figure out Google Workspace (Nate is helping me with this so hopefully he can figure it out HA!).  Then, once I can actually access it, I need to upload all of our co-op documents to our workspace for others to access.  Nope.  My excuse is that we have to get Nate's computer fixed to really do this LOL.

6.  Clean out all of the co-op documents on my computer. Nope 

7. Nate has asked to paint basketball lines in the driveway so I do have a goal of helping him accomplish this project - my part comes more in the motivation and buying the paint - - his part comes in painting what he wants! He and talked about this and, with it so hot and humid it was not the time to paint.  He's planning to work on it in September. 

8. Sell our unused homeschool books (or attempt to sell).  Nope. 

9. Deep clean the living room.  This will also include figuring out and organizing the "cord" situation behind the TV and in other areas of the living room.  This is about half done.  Lots of cleaning but still need to deal with organizing cords and such 

10. Re-learn/Master "It is Well with my Soul" piano arrangement. I found the book and put it on the piano, does that count? 

11. Memorize a scripture verse (part of my 101/10001 is to learn one verse a month) Nope

12. Read at least 6 books including at least one non-fiction (part of my 101/1001) I read a lot of books but not a non-fiction book.  I need to find some really good ones to read. 

13. Repaint everything that is white in my house (trim/doors).  This is on the list because we have some painting to do in Josh's room that includes, well, white paint.  I figured that if I have it out, we might as well use it! Man, I had some big dreams HA! 

14. Steam clean the dining room rug.  I did not do this when I deep cleaned the dining room as I wanted to wait until I was doing the Living Room carpet anyway.  This will get done this month! Oh my goodness, no. 

15. Deep clean my truck - I usually do this during Worship camp but it didn't get done.  Hopefully this month!  YES YES YES!!  I also deep cleaned our newer vehicle to get it ready for Darryl to drive for UBER so that counts twice! 

16.  Plan and Prep at least 4 of my Joyful classes. No.  I tried.  I just am not feeling it yet though.  I have zero inspiration on what to do this fall. 

17. Clean out my jewelry.  Nope

18. Wash the kitchen rugs.  Nope

19. Deep clean/organize the garage - this might sit on my goals list until fall but just in case we get a surprisingly cool few days in July, I'll add it.  Nope

20. Complete the Flylady room cleaning each week. Nope

21. Go on a date with Darryl. Yes! 

22. Finish up Joshua's transcripts and plan for the fall (11th grade!) This is about 50% done.  

23. Find time to have a bonfire or two - with hot dogs and smore's!  I laughed at this one - it was so incredibly hot and humid.  

24. Once the living room is done, deep clean the bathroom. Yes!  A lot of work was done in that room this month.  Is it perfect.  No.  But I consider this a win! 

25.  Complete at least 1/2 of these goals!  (This is always my favorite goal LOL ) Not even close. 

Andrew Ripp - Breakdown (Official Lyric Video)