Goals Check-in

Okay, so I thought today would be a good day to step back and see how the goals set for me in therapy are going in the past week.


1) Less Yelling.

I feel like I need some parameters around this goal, but I don't know what those might be.  That being said, I do feel like I didn't yell as much this week.  I did shout up the staircase a number of times (which drives C crazy), but until we get an intercom system that works better or I can turn my back on little ones downstairs to run up and down (ha, like that'll happen regularly), that's not likely to go down too much.  I count shouting and yelling separately for the sake of this goal.  But maybe the kids were better behaved this week, too, and required less yelling by me.  So maybe it wasn't anything I did differently.

2)  Get Organized.

A)  I started a notebook that I keep open on my desk to jot down things I remember or need to remember to do later so I don't have to remember them in my brain.

B) I worked on doing some of the smaller, less overwhelming tasks that can just get done quickly without having to prepare much.  For example, I typed up a new laundry room schedule for everyone to switch days since S will be unavailable on school days to do laundry pretty soon (so I switched her weekdays for H's weekends), which took about 20 minutes to do because I made it pretty.  I also hung four new educational posters in the homeschool room to ready it for the new school year -- this took like ten minutes.  I better tied up our Wisteria in the side yard as we continue to train it up the pergola, which took about 30 minutes and did require a trip to Lowe's for string, but it was a relaxing job.  (Bonus: I sat and enjoyed the evening breeze and a job done for a little while by myself so that counts towards goal #3.)

C) I pre-posted two blog posts that I knew I wanted to put up, but wasn't sure if I'd have time to type up later.  Basically, I used the time while I had it and then scheduled a later post time.  Time-management counts towards getting organized, I think.

3) More Me Time.

I mentioned the time relaxing in the bird garden watching the weather roll in and feeling the calming breeze of the evening.  I scheduled a night with my friend who is moving to Arizona next week (just two ladies on the town -- no kids!).  I attended three ME appointments with professionals without any tagalongs (I know this is stretching it, but I'm trying to make the best of it). I did some blogging and told interrupting kids to "talk to Daddy."  I didn't get a lot of sleep last night for some reason, so I came home from church and immediately went up to take a short rest in our bedroom with the door closed.

So not the best necessarily, but I don't think the point of this whole goal thing is to stress myself out trying to meet them.

I will say that the Teacher Appreciation Day was supposed to be some Me Time, but the girls wanted to come with me.   Since I know our weeks are full and it's not often I get time to go places with fewer kids, I allowed them to come along.  They did nothing wrong, but I don't know that I'll invite guests with me next year ... there's just something not quite the same about my favorite holiday when I have to spend the time being Mom, as well as Teacher.  But we still managed to have some nice Mama-Daughters time, even if it counts as a strike against meeting my Me Time goal.