Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Goals for This Week

   When there is a lot going on in life I sure find it helpful to my goals and lists of things that I need to get done down on paper. Not only is it fun to cross things off but I have also discovered that it really frees up my brain space so I don't feel overwhelmed and can think more creatively about the task at hand. When I have tons on my plate and I am trying to remember everything and think about getting everything done at once it feels like my brain basically goes on overload and starts to shut down (meaning I feel overwhelmed, a bit depressed and I just can't think as well).

   We are at a busy season of our lives (selling, building, homeschooling, homesteading, businesses, etc) and I am going to work at dutifully writing out lists so that Lord willing I can avoid that overwhelmed feeling that I just don't care for very much.

  Here are some of the goals that I have for this week: (And I certainly could have come up with a lot more but I am trying to be realistic. - I do however have a long term to-do list with a lot more on it)

Homeschooling Goals

  • Get the Achievement Tests done and sent off.
  • Get quilt squares done for the quilt I am making for pioneer day for our homeschool group.
  • Get our pioneer costumes ready.
Homesteading Goals


  • Plant seeds (we are getting a late start for our indoor seedlings but better late than never. We still have 5 or more weeks before it is garden planting time here. We did get quite a bit of this done yesterday.
  • Clean up garden area.
  • Prune bushes.
Homemaking Goals
  • Clean out kitchen cupboards.
  • Go through laundry room and organize and clean.
  • Touch up paint on front door.
Business Goals
  • Get wedding portfolios organized on my website.
  • Write quotes.
  • Add reviews/thank yous to my website.
Personal Growth Goals
  • Give two compliments every day. 
  • Work to develop a habit of praying immediately whenever I feel frustrated or impatient.
  • Find two ways to show respect for Ken.
Blogging Goals
  • Link to 5 blog parties this week.
  • Write 2 posts for repurposing series in May.
  • Share at least one post on both Pinterest and Facebook.
I wrote these out on paper yesterday morning but didn't manage to get them posted until now. Do you like to set goals and write out lists? What are your goals for this week?

4 comments:

Lydia said...

I really like your goal of giving two compliments a day. Why is it so easy to complain about someone, but so hard to give them a compliment? I need to work on that. You can check out my goals over on my blog! Hope you get a lot done this week!

HappyMommy said...

I enjoyed your post (as I always do) but have a question that is totally unrelated. :) I see that you keep bees and we are planning to start a hive in the next couple of weeks. My question is this: we don't have a large piece of property we have about an acre and a good portion of that acre is sloped...Our hive will be fairly close to our home and backyard where our kids play. This makes me a tad nervous.....How close to your home do you keep your bees? Do the bees fly away during the day or stick around in droves around your flowers/garden? Thanks for any comments/thoughts/advice you may have!

Abbi said...

Thanks so much ladies!

Happy Mommy, That is very neat that you are getting bees! We have found beekeeping to be very rewarding and I am so glad we got started in it. We are now able to take care of the majority of our sweetening needs from our two hives and we also have a lot that we give away (as our family and friends love to receive it!). Our garden has also done better since we got bees - especially the peppers and cucumbers.

To answer your questions - We have just slightly over an acre of land and have had no problems with the bees. We do have them right on the edge of our property but still they are only around 40-50 feet from the house and deck. We do have a fence around the hives (an electric one to keep away bears and skunks as they could be a problem) and it also keeps the kids at least 5 feet away from the hives. We have found that 5 feet to be plenty of space. We often go right up to the fence to watch them and as long you don't go right in the way of their flight path (out their doorway which should be facing south or southeast) then you can go right up next to them without trouble. At least that has been true with ours. If I do open up the boxes they will sometimes get a little riled but generally not bad. Only one time I got in their hive and was working with them and I think they had lost their queen and were feeling very grumpy and not only did they figure out a way to sting me through my gear but also went and found some of the kids who were playing a ways off in the woods and at least one of the kids got stung too. That was the only time we had that sort of issue.

Though their are thousands of bees coming and going we never have seen them in mass quantities anywhere except around their hive and the one time they swarmed on a tree in the woods. When they were swarming though they had no interest in anything besides finding a new home and staying together - they were not at all interested in stinging. I do find a few at a time on my catnip and borage but otherwise I think they spread out pretty good.

There are ways to have a fence close to their door so that they have to fly up and then would be over the heads of the kids that are playing and so wouldn't bother them.

I hope this helps!

HappyMommy said...

Abbi, thank you so much for your answer. It has helped a lot. Our bees are going to be about 25 feet away from our house and deck. We use our backyard A LOT on nice days so I want to make sure that the kids and I can play and work out there with the hives so close. Thank you again...I am really looking forward to honey and to learning more about bees!

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