Goals for this week

Cover of The New Hampshire Troubadour, September 1950

 We have a houseful of visiting family and so my goals have become more simple and basic for the time they are here:

*  Have a meaningful daily quiet time each day.
*  Continue to plan carefully, yet remain flexible.
*  Eat healthfully and get enough sleep.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories!

Having said that, here are some specific goals I'd like to accomplish this week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat
*  Harvest basil; make pesto and basil butter
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

Here's how last week went as far as general goals:

*  Have a meaningful daily quiet time each day -- DONE!
 *  Continue to plan carefully, yet remain flexible -- DONE!
 *  Eat healthfully and get enough sleep -- did okay with the sleeping part, not so well with the eating part.
 *  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible -- did okay with this, but it's hard to clean a floor covered with children or a bathroom in constant use.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories -- DONE!

And for specific goals:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study-- DONE!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- nope
*  Limit sugar -- nope
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays -- did a bit of crafting on vacation
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible -- nope
*  Keep up a good water intake -- not as well as I might have
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- nope
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat -- nope
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 4, the bedrooms -- nope
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family mini-vacation this weekend -- DONE!
*  Harvest veggies; make pesto and basil butter -- harvested the veggies but not the basil yet
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- not done.

So obviously I would like to get into a better groove this week, but we will see.  More company is arriving tomorrow night and we have a busy weekend planned.  I will be doing well to keep up with just cooking and maintaining some level of order and cleanliness!  Got to keep that memory-making goal in mind every day!

Goals for week beginning 9/16/2012

Bend in the road, Pittsburg, NH

The next few weeks I need to keep my goals very flexible, as we will have a house full of visiting family, and we have many fun things planned for the time together.  Although we have planned carefully, other opportunities and challenges are sure to arise during the three weeks.  I would say that my main goals during the time will be these:

*  Have a meaningful daily quiet time each day.
*  Continue to plan carefully, yet remain flexible.
*  Eat healthfully and get enough sleep.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories!

Having said that, here are some specific goals I'd like to accomplish this week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 4, the bedrooms
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family mini-vacation this weekend
*  Harvest veggies; make pesto and basil butter
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.



And here is how last week went:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- nope.
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 1 for new study -- DONE!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- nope.
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays -- did  okay with this.
 *  Make an ironing board cover (or buy one if I can find one to fit the over-the-door ironing board I have; I was assuming I wouldn't be able to find one) -- DONE!  (I bought one but am not thrilled with it, so will eventually be making one.)
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times -- nope; felt awful due to a cold, exercised once.
*  Keep up a good water intake  -- DONE!
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs-- managed 3 times for my regular blog and 1 time for my Christmas blog.
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms and stash-and-dash room -- nope.
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family's visit in mid-September -- DONE!
*  Clean several closets; free up some drawer space in dressers and some cabinet and linen closet space --  mostly DONE!
*  Weed garden and keep up with harvesting vegetables and herbs -- pretty much DONE!
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!


Our family arrives tomorrow, so I'm off to get into a very busy day!

A glance at our garden

Part of one edge of our garden

I don't think I've posted much about our garden this summer.  It's not much of a garden, but we have had some good eating from it and should have a bit more.  We planted zucchini, tomatoes -- both regular tomatoes and cherry tomatoes -- green beans, lettuce, mustard greens (an experiment from a freebie pack of seeds), basil, and winter squash.

The zucchini hasn't done much.  Only one plant came up.  Most of the fruits were afflicted with blossom end rot, but we did get a few good zucchinis from it.  The winter squash has been about the same.  We had planted a variety -- a seed mixture that included several types of winter squash.  Only two plants came up (the chipmunks ate most of the seeds before they had a chance to sprout), and it looks as if we will have one mature squash from each plant.

The basil did great.  I planted a kind called boxwood basil with tiny leaves.  The selling point was that the leaves don't need chopping before use.   True, but one also must get all of those tiny leaves off the tiny little branches before using.  Not bad if you just want a few tablespoons, but rather time-consuming if you want to make pesto or a sauce.  I have made one batch of pesto and frozen it in 4 little zip-top bags.  I hope to make at least one more batch and also some basil butter.

The tomatoes produced well but recently developed late blight, so I have pulled up the plants.

A few cherry tomatoes gleaming in a stainless steel bowl

The green beans (Blue Lake bush type) did okay, but I think next year we will go to pole beans.  We didn't get a lot of green beans, but we have enjoyed them at several different meals.

The mustard greens did well, but went to seed quickly. 

The mustard flowers made a cute little bouquet.

 No matter, they were an experiment that cost us nothing.  We found them tasty in salads and stir-fries.  There are still plenty out there, so I hope to cook and freeze a few.

 And the lettuce (Black-Seeded Simpson) did best of all.  It never got bitter or tough and is still going strong.  I need to get out there and harvest more before we get a frost.
 

We always plant marigolds in and around our garden to help with pests.

I received a little potted petunia at church for Mother's Day.  Planted it at the garden's edge where it did well.  I ended up moving it to the side of the garden as it was being overtaken by a zucchini plant.

Close-up of a blossom.  It survived the move and even did better in the second location.

An even closer look at this pretty blossom.

 So that is our simple garden report for summer 2012.  Hoping for a better yield in 2013, but thankful for the veggies we have enjoyed from our little garden!

A little bit vintage

I don't have a lot of free time today, but thought I would quickly share pictures of the curtains I made a couple of weeks ago.  For some time I have been wanting to make some curtains (just for the lower half of the windows) for the two dining room windows that look out on our porch. 

One day I was glancing at some vintage fabric from my mother's stash.  I had been wanting to use it in some way but hadn't figured out just how.  As I looked at it this time, something just clicked.  Quite obviously it was (or appeared to be) kitchen-curtain material, crisp white with green designs which resemble venetian blinds and green flowerpots containing red geraniums.  Perfect for our kitchen/dining area which is abundant in those colors.

So I did some measuring and whipped up some simple curtains.  There wasn't quite enough fabric to make them the right length, so I did some more measuring and added a white band across the bottom of each curtain.  The white band just called out for a line of green rickrack across the center, so of course I added some!

A completed curtain

A little closer look; sorry it is blurry

Close-up of the flower pot/venetian blind design!

And there is my simple vintage curtain project!

Goals for week beginning 9/9/2012

(Photo by Prairie Flower Farm)

Last week was pretty much a total loss as far as my goals went.  There is still so much to do before our family arrives a week from tomorrow.  Here's what I'm hoping to do this week.

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 1 for new study
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays
 *  Make an ironing board cover (or buy one if I can find one to fit the over-the-door ironing board I have; I was assuming I wouldn't be able to find one)
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms and stash-and-dash room
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family's visit in mid-September
*  Clean several closets; free up some drawer space in dressers and some cabinet and linen closet space
*  Weed garden and keep up with harvesting vegetables and herbs
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


And here is the sad truth about last week:


*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- DONE!
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 1 for new study -- not finished but close to DONE!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- didn't happen.
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas, plus maybe a dress for a granddaughter -- got some crafting done but not as much as I'd have liked.
*  Make an ironing board cover -- nope.
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times -- only managed once.  Pathetic.
*  Keep up a good water intake  - DONE!
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- did okay with this.
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs  -- posted once, in one blog.  Sad.
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 2, the kitchen -- nope.
*  Decorate for fall -- DONE!
*  Do better at staying in touch with friends and faraway family -- did pretty well with this.
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family's visit in mid-September -- did okay with this.
*  Clean several closets; free up some drawer space in dressers -- nope.  You know the sort of house project where everything you have to do hinges on getting something else done first?  That's what this is, and it hasn't happened.  But it has to happen this week.
*  Weed garden and keep up with harvesting vegetables and herbs  -- kept up with harvesting but not weeding.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

It goes without saying that I'm hoping for a more productive week starting today.  If you happen to think of it, please do pray for me that the necessary will be accomplished.  I had a busy and tiring weekend and now feel that I'm coming down with a cold, so my energy level isn't what I'd like it to be.

Goals for week beginning 9/2/2012

The New Hampshire Troubadour cover for September 1947

 How the weeks are flying by!  I simply cannot believe that is now September!  Back many months ago when our daughter, son-in-law and four little ones told us about their planned visit for September, it seemed a long way off.  Loads of time to plan and prepare.  I've been working at planning pretty seriously for the last 4-6 weeks, but a lot of the actual preparation needed to be done much closer to the time.  Now it's coming close ... they'll be here 2 weeks from tomorrow!  I'm thrilled for their sakes (and ours too) that they are coming at a prettier, more hospitable time of year for our area.  (They usually have come in the winter.)  There will be more to see and do and more outdoor playtime for the kiddos.  I will try and keep up with posting some while they're here so you can see what we're up to.  Meanwhile ....

Here are my goals for the week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 1 for new study
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas, plus maybe a dress for a granddaughter
*  Make an ironing board cover
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 2, the kitchen
*  Decorate for fall
*  Do better at staying in touch with friends and faraway family
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family's visit in mid-September
*  Clean several closets; free up some drawer space in dressers
*  Weed garden and keep up with harvesting vegetables and herbs
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


And here's how last week went:


*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- DONE!
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 12 - DONE!
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with the beginning of the week, not so well toward the end.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for UFOs and Christmas, plus maybe a dress for a granddaughter -- well, I worked on a birthday gift and made curtains for the dining room, so crafting got done -- just not what I planned!
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times -- DONE!
*  Keep up a good water intake -- DONE!
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- managed this maybe half the time.
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs  --- nope.  Posted once in each blog.  Sad.
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 4, the bedrooms and Zone 5, the living room -- didn't really keep up with these, but did get some things done in Zone 4.
*  Do better at staying in touch with friends and faraway family -- didn't do as much as I'd hoped.
* Do some serious planning and preparing for our family's visit in mid-September -- planning done, preparing not so much.
*  Clean several closets; free up some drawer space in dressers -- not done.
*  Weed garden and keep up with harvesting vegetables and herbs -- harvesting done, weeding not.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!


As always, I hope for a productive week.  Realistically, though, I'll be at a ladies' retreat over the weekend, so my week will be shorter than usually.  However, I pray that the weekend will be a spiritual "shot in the arm" and that much will be accomplished in the lives of all of us who will be blessed to attend.