Currently... October 2021

Whew... I hope your September was less stressful than my September.  What a wild and crazy month that turned out to be!  It hasn't been all bad, but I can definitely say that I am ready to put the month behind us and move on to October.  Hopefully, this one will be a little calmer.

The good news is that all of my mother's pathology reports came back negative for cancer!  Praise God!!  She is recovering well from her surgery. Although maybe not as quickly as she would like - it's definitely a process.  So, it's about as good of an outcome as we could have hoped for.  BIG sigh of relief!

I always view October as sort of the unofficial start to the holiday season in our house.  Our celebrations begin when the Man of the House has his birthday this month. (The Big 5-0 this year!) Then my birthday is the first of November.  Our anniversary is the 21st of November.  And then the real holiday season begins.  

Working On: September and early October are busy times in my Etsy shop for the little "character" hats I create.  This year the teddy bear hats, tiger hats, and R2D2 hats have been quite popular.  So, that's pretty much been the focus right now. 

Celebrating:  As I mentioned above - the Man of the House turns 50 this month. (He probably doesn't appreciate me pointing that out so many times in one blog post.) So next weekend will be all about celebrating him!

Wanting/Needing: Ideas for healthy protein-rich breakfasts and lunches that are quick and simple to prepare. Dinners, I can do - no problem.  But I don't like having to do a lot of work to prepare my breakfast or lunch.  As a result, I will often skip meals and end up doing a lot of snacking late in the day to make up for it -  or I grab something that is not very good for me.   

Eating:  Too much candy corn.  This is the only time of year I eat the stuff.  And by the middle to end of this month, I'll probably be sick of it.  I know a lot of you don't like candy corn.  That's ok.  More for me! 

Loving: The weather took a turn toward cooler temperatures just as Autumn officially started.  And I couldn't be happier about that.  Chilly mornings. Comfortable afternoons.  The leaves just starting to change.  Pumpkin cream cold brew back at the coffee shops.  It all reminds me why this is my favorite season!

Thinking About:  How some things happen and why they happen the way they do. Check back on Monday for more of my thoughts about that. 

Goals for October:

• Celebrate the Man of the House's birthday
• Read one self-help or inspirational book
• Do some sort of exercise (walk, weight, yoga, etc) every day
• Select inspirational quotes for first quarter Sunday posts
• Brainstorm January post ideas
• Create 1 - 2 valentine gift sets for Etsy shop
• Plan1 - 2 blog posts during January for the shop blog 

What are your plans and goals for October?

Planning for the Week (and Month) Ahead

I can't believe that it's already the end of September.  This month went by so quickly!

The leaves are starting to change into their fall colors here.  Which feels weird, since we're still having temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s.  It looks like autumn, but still feels like summer.  This led me to wonder how the leaves know that it's time to change color when the weather doesn't feel like it should be happening.  Thanks to the internet, I now know that it has to do not only with the temperatures but also the amount of sunlight as the days begin to shorten.  I feel like I probably should have known that (and probably did learn it in school at some point, but just forgot).

Sundays are my day to think about my weekly goals.  It's a nice way to prepare for the week and wrap my brain around what needs to be done in the days ahead.  Since yesterday was so close to the end of the month, I also took time to look at my schedule for the month and focus my monthly goals.

Last week was a mixed bag of results...

1. Ship at least one order ✔ Two orders, actually.  Thankyouverymuch.
2. Complete order for Winnie the Pooh hat ✔
3. Prep my gratitude posts for October ✔
4.  Drink 80 oz of water everyday - Nope.  Not even close.  I think I made it over 64 ounces only two days last week.  I don't know why I struggled so much with this one.  I think part of it was that I didn't drink my usual 16 ounces as soon as I get out of bed in the morning. 
5. Go to bed by 9:30 PM - I did pretty well with going to bed by 9:30.  Unfortunately, my system was not used to this and I usually didn't fall asleep until 10:30 or 11:00
6. And get up at 6:00 AM ✔

Goals for the week of September 10 - October 6...

1.  Find a dress for my daughter's wedding
2.  Write something for the blog everyday
3.  Ship one order for Etsy shop
4.  15 minutes of cleaning and organizing each day in my office

Goals for the month of October...

1. Lose 5 pounds - Meaning I must behave myself at birthday and wedding celebrations
2. Receive 15 new orders for Etsy shop
3.  Write 15 blog posts for November
4.  Regular posting on business accounts for Pinterest and Instagram stories
5.  Find dress for wedding - I know, I didn't leave myself a lot of time for this.  But I also wanted to give myself time to lose what weight I could with Weight Watchers before I bought the dress.
6.  Read articles or listen to podcasts daily to develop knowledge - I have a bad habit of saving articles about personal or business development to my bookmarks or Pinterest and never actually reading them.  They don't do me much good that way.
7.  Write something for the blog everyday - this doesn't mean I'll be posting every day.  I just want to develop a better habit for writing daily.  Whether it's an actual post, a rough draft, or even just an outline for an idea.

It's going to be a busy month between the Man of the House's birthday and our daughter's wedding (which also means family visiting from out of town).  But by breaking each of my goals down into weekly and daily tasks, I should be able to accomplish everything on my list. 

What are your goals for this week?  What's on your To Do list?  Do you have monthly goals for October?  Share them in the comments!