Goals for week beginning 11/25/2012

Here are my goals for this week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 6
 *  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Finish memorizing Psalm 145:1-5
*  Read 2 chapters in How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas
*  Finish a Thanksgiving themed craft project
*  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 5, the living room
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the couples' retreat from October
*  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 5 -- DONE!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- DONE!
*  Review Psalm 100  -- DONE!
*  Read 2 chapters in How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground -- DONE!
*  Limit sugar -- didn't manage this
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times -- exercised twice.  Better than nothing, though.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas -- did okay with this
*  Finish a Thanksgiving themed craft project -- DONE with a candle mat, but am trying to finish a second one for a set of two
*  Keep up a good water intake  -- did pretty well with this
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 4, the bedrooms -- DONE!
*  Dust living room -- DONE!
*  Host Thanksgiving dinner for friends -- DONE!
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews -- not done
*  Post about the couples' retreat from October -- not done
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

I am truly encouraged as I see all that I accomplished last week.  However, as always, I hope for a more productive week ahead!

Goals for week beginning 11/18/2012

Somehow the week is already slipping away!

Here are my goals for this week:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 5
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Review Psalm 100
*  Read 2 chapters in How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas
*  Finish a Thanksgiving themed craft project
*  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 4, the bedrooms
*  Dust living room
*  Host Thanksgiving dinner for friends
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the couples' retreat from October
*  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 -- didn't get to this
*  Work on and possibly finish Sunday School lesson 5 -- worked on but did not finish
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- DONE!
*  Memorize Psalm 145:1-5 -- still didn't get verse 5
*  Read 2 chapters in How to Build Your Home on Holy Ground -- DONE!
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times -- didn't exercise once.  Got some walking in, however.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for Christmas -- did okay with this
*  Keep up a good water intake -- could do better with this
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- not as regularly as I hoped
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms -- DONE!
*  Do some Zone 2 missions I didn't get to last week -- DONE!
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews -- not done
*  Post about the couples' retreat from October -- not done
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

This week has already gone much better than last.  I'm thankful!

Goals for week beginning 10/21/2012

Okay, so here are my goals for this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 4
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Memorize Psalm 145:1-5
*  Limit sugar
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays; send 2 packages out on Saturday
*  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 4, the bedrooms
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September
*  Make basil butter
*  Clean up the garden
*  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 -- didn't get to this
*  Get a good start on Sunday School lesson 3 -- DONE!  Finished it!
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- DONE!
*  Limit sugar  -- not too much
*  Exercise 5 or 6 times -- managed 3 times, plus a hike
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas -- not too much
*  Keep up a good water intake -- did okay with this
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- managed this most nights
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- only posted a few times
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for  Zone 3, the bathrooms -- plus one extra room (I am choosing the home office) -- did okay with this; not the best
*  Do some kitchen missions I didn't get to last week -- did some of these
* Do some serious preparing for Christmas gifting and crafting -- not as much as I'd hoped
*  Write some TripAdvisor reviews -- DONE! 
*  Post about the ladies' retreat from September -- hopefully I'll do it this week ...
*  Make basil butter --not done
*  Clean up the garden -- mostly done but not finished
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!


And, if you noticed my new "back on track" challenge, you will know I am even more serious than usual about the goals for this week.  I'll keep you posted!

Goals for this week

Scanned from a favorite note card

Our visiting family leaves early tomorrow morning, so I will be attempting to get back to some sort of normalcy in my goal setting.  Here are my hopes for the rest of this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Add some information to Sunday School lesson 2
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays and Christmas
*  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
* Do some serious planning and preparing for Christmas gifting and crafting
*  Replace all of our clothes in the drawers and closets (we had moved them to make room for our guests to unpack their own things)
*  Harvest basil before we get a frost and make basil butter and/or pesto
*  Clean up the garden
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


And here's how last week went:


*  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 this.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible -- did okay with this.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories -- DONE!

And as for my specific goals:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- not done
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- not done
*  Limit sugar -- so-so
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays -- not done, although I did manage to make a mini super hero cape!
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible -- got quite a bit of exercise just with our activities this past week
*  Keep up a good water intake -- so-so
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- not done
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat -- not done
*  Harvest basil; make pesto and basil butter -- not done
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

I am encouraged that for the general, most important goals I set for my time during this visit, I did manage to achieve them.  As you can imagine, though,  I'm hoping for a more productive week this week and am also hoping to be busy enough not to miss our family too much as they head back to Nevada.   It's been a wonderful visit and many terrific memories have been made, but we all need now to get back to our regular lives and continue seeking to live each day to God's glory and praise.

Goals for the week

Better late than never, I guess.  Life has been exceedingly busy with our  house guests.  There is just not time to get to the computer and post much of anything.  We spent the entire day on Monday at the ocean.  Very beautiful, but our camera battery has died and Mr. T has had no time to even think about it (it goes without saying that I haven't had time either), so we will be relying on others' photos.  When I get some, I will post a few!

Anyway, as for my goals, they remain:

*  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!

And 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 pretty well with this.
*  Keep up with basic homemaking needs so all will be comfortable and as orderly as possible -- did pretty well with this.
*  Make lots of unforgettable memories -- DONE!

And as for my specific goals:
*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study -- not done
*  Make 2 pages for "What Do I Know About My God"?  notebook -- not done
*  Limit sugar -- did okay with this, not the greatest
*  Keep up with crafting goals for birthdays -- not done
*  Exercise or walk as often as possible -- not done
*  Keep up a good water intake -- not the greatest
*  Get to bed by 9:30 or 10 pm each night -- DONE!
*  Post here about the ladies' retreat -- not done
*  Harvest basil; make pesto and basil butter -- not done
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE on most days.

I am thankful that my general goals are getting accomplished and that I have managed a couple of my specific goals.  I'm attempting to be realistic with them!

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!

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 8/26/2012

Newfound Lake from Little Sugarloaf

Another busy week!  It wasn't as busy as the weeks preceding it, but still there was plenty to do.  I am very pleased to have spent the time I wanted to in the category of my schedule that has to do with pursuing spiritual growth.  It seems sort of cold-blooded to put spiritual growth on my schedule -- but I know myself.  If I don't make a plan for pursuing spiritual growth, and carve out time for the important activities that will help bring that growth about, it just won't happen.  So, with no apologies to myself or anyone else, I will continue to schedule in important things like Bible reading, Bible study, reading growth-promoting Christian books, prayer, and adding to my prayer journal.

Here are my goals for this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Finish Sunday School lesson 12
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for UFOs and Christmas, plus maybe a dress for a granddaughter
*  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 4, the bedrooms and Zone 5, the living room
*  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  -- Not quite finished but spent lots of time on it, so I'm calling it DONE!
*  Limit sugar -- managed only a couple of days of this.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for UFOs and Christmas, plus maybe a dress for a granddaughter -- didn't accomplish all I would like to.
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times -- yes!  6 times!  DONE!
*  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 -- not as much as I hoped to.
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 3, the bathrooms and Zone 4, the bedrooms -- I can call Zone 3 DONE! (if one is ever really done with cleaning) but accomplished nothing in Zone 4.
*  Do better at staying in touch with friends and faraway family -- DONE!
* Add 2 pages to prayer journal -- DONE!
*  Weed garden -- not done.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!


I am very thankful for all that I got done in the past week, but as always, I hope to be more productive in this coming week!

Goals for week beginning 7/29/2012

How about a nice glass of iced tea for a summer day?

Another week ... and almost August!  How the weeks of summer are flying by!  Here are my tentative goals for this week:

*  Spend time in 1 Samuel Bible study
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for UFOs and Christmas, plus maybe a dress for a granddaughter
*  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 5, the living room (for the first part of the week) and then Zone 1, the front porch, entry and dining room
*  Do better at staying in touch with friends and faraway family
* Add 2 pages to prayer journal
*  Weed garden and move 2 plants
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

Here's how last week went:

*  Try to finish Sunday School lesson 11 --DONE!
*  Limit sugar -- didn't do too well with this
*  Keep up with crafting goals for UFOs and Christmas, plus a dress for a granddaughter -- nope
*  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 most nights, so DONE!
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 4, the bedroom -- did some work here, but not all I planned
*  Do better at staying in touch with friends -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Bible study/adding to prayer journal -- nope; concentrated on my Sunday School lesson
*  Weed garden -- managed to work on this 4 days out of 7, but it still needs a LOT of work
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

So all in all it was a fairly good week.  A lot got done, but I often tend to beat myself up about what didn't get done rather than being happy about what was accomplished.  I'm thankful for how much more is getting done as I faithfully set goals and try to schedule my time!

Weekly goals for week beginning 6/3/2012

Image from Photos Public Domain

 Another week -- and, as often happens,  I'm late putting up my goals for this week:

*  Work on study of Sunday School lesson 10
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 2, the kitchen
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.

And here's how I did with last week's goals:

*  Add to the last part of Sunday School lesson 8 to make it useable for this Sunday  -- DONE!
 *  Finish study of Sunday School lesson 9  --DONE!
*  Limit sugar -- didn't do as well with this as I would have liked to.
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food -- did okay with this, but again not as much as I would have liked.
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times --DONE!
*  Keep up a good water intake  -- did fairly well with this.
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night -- didn't quite get there every night.  It was more like 10 pm most nights.
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- not as regularly as I hoped.
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 5, the living room/Zone 1, the porch/entry/dining area -- DONE!
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do -- DONE!

Not too bad, really.  I'm definitely encouraged to see how weekly and daily scheduling is making a huge difference in how much I get done.

Small steps to spiritual growth

For some time now -- months, at least, but more likely years -- I have been wanting to do more toward daily spiritual growth.  Yes, I have a good quiet time with God each day.  I read through the Bible on a more or less yearly basis, journal about what I read, and memorize Scripture.  I spend quality time in prayer.  I spend hours each week preparing for the ladies' Sunday School class I teach.  Yet there is so much more I want to do and learn! 

I enjoy Bible study, whether with a study book or on my own, and I also like to read books on spiritual topics that will help me grow.  I want to add to my prayer journal on a regular basis, too.  And I do all of these things, but sporadically.  For example, all of the work I put into my Sunday School lesson often means I can't do much with any other Bible study in a given week.  So I might only pick up the study I'm working on now and then -- while on vacation, for example.  I have really been pondering how I might fit in more of these growth-promoting activities.

The answer came as I began once again to implement a daily and weekly time schedule.

I have my weekly schedule page divided into four categories -- spiritual; home/family; ministry; and health.  This week as I began to fill in my weekly schedule on Sunday evening, a thought struck me.  Why not incorporate some of these things I wanted to do into the various days of the week, according of course to how busy each day looked?  Some of these activities obviously take less time than others.

So my week looked like this:  Monday -- read chapter in Essential Virtues; Tuesday -- work on inductive Bible study; Wednesday -- make 1 new prayer journal page (this one was in the spiritual blessings category); Thursday -- make 1 new prayer journal page (this one was in the character flaws/sin issues category); Friday -- read 1 chapter in Essential Virtues; Saturday -- work on inductive Bible study.

And so each day as I make the daily schedule, I plug in the spiritual growth activity for that day.  And it is working!  I can't tell you how encouraged I am by this simple plan!

Weekly goals for week beginning 5/13/2012

Photo by Photos Public Domain

Here are my goals for the week:

*  Continue study of Sunday School lesson 9
*  Limit sugar
*  Keep up with crafting goals for some small gifts and some felt food
*  Exercise 5 to 6 times
*  Keep up a good water intake
*  Get to bed by 9:30 pm each night
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 3, the bathroom.
*  Make a daily time schedule for the things I need to do.


And here's how things went with last week's goals:
 
*  Begin study of Sunday School lesson 9 -- DONE!
*  Limit sugar (I'm off to a bad start with this one already) -- did well some days, not so well on others.
*  Keep up with crafting goals (which I have yet to set) -- aim at nothing, you'll hit it every time; I did.
*  Exercise 4 to 5 times -- Nope, not even once.
*  Keep up a good water intake  -- did well most days.
*  Get to bed by 10 pm each night -- think I managed this every night but two.
*  Post regularly in one or both of my blogs -- DONE!
*  Keep up with Kelly's Missions for Zone 2, the kitchen  -- DONE! 


As you no doubt saw in my previous post, I've figured out what some of my problem was.  I was setting good goals, yes, but failing to schedule them.  I've made a schedule for this week and am working off a time schedule for today and it is already making a huge difference!

Thinking about goals and accomplishing more of them

In the past couple of days I have been taking a closer look at my goals and thinking about why I don't get more done each week.  A couple of incidents have given me a clue. 

First of all, I have a scrapbook type journal which I've been trying to get back to writing in regularly. 

One of my scrapbook  journals (I'm on my second book by now.)

Many months tend to go by between my times of journaling there.  (I have another journal which I use during my quiet time.) This scrapbook journal is where I am apt to jot down menus, lists, incidents from my day, special events, etc.  And lately I just haven't had time to do it.  But I've recently picked it up again, and as I did so I've noticed how much I used to get accomplished in a day.   It made me wonder what changed in my life in the past couple of years, because actually I was much busier (and far more stressed) back then than I am now, and I still got quite a bit done. 

Secondly, I was saying to Mr. T just yesterday how upset I was with myself for not getting certain things done (exercise was the specific issue right then, but there are others) day after day.   I reminded him that when I was the busiest with eldercare responsibilities, I refused to miss a day of exercise no matter what because I knew I needed to take care of myself first in order to be a help to others.  But yet now that the eldercare load has lightened, I will get in my own way of taking proper care of myself.  His common-sense reply was that if I wanted to exercise daily, I needed to schedule in a time for it and follow through.

And with those two occurrences, after some hours of all this percolating around in my brain, the light bulb went on.  Scheduling.  That's the answer. 

Back in those ultra-busy, exceedingly stressful days, I kept a weekly calendar of all that I needed to do in a given week.

(An older weekly schedule; I have revamped it a good deal.)

And I would make a to-do list each day, scheduling the events of the day in half-hour increments into the most likely time slot for each one.  In one of Elizabeth George's books, she compares this to flower arranging.  You can just cram flowers into a vase every which way, and they will look okay.  Or you can carefully arrange them flower by flower, and they can potentially (in any hands but mine) look stunning.  In the same way, you can just cram events into your schedule as they occur to you, in no particular order, and it may work okay.  Or, you can carefully place the events into your schedule where they will fit most effectively, and your day will be much more productive and fulfilling.  This is a brilliant thought, and I know it works!

But for some reason, I got away from it.  I don't know why, but I do know this:  I'm getting back to it.  And yes, I've exercised today, as well as accomplishing a lot of other things!  I am so thankful that the Lord showed me where my problem was and has helped me begin to solve it.