Posted in 2006 Goals and Plans

Being the beginning of a new month I need to make a few reports for my own records.  So, if you will bear with me I am going to do some summaries of August and the summer...

Summer Reading Challenge

My goal for the summer reading challenge was to read one book a week.  Most of the books I read were for reviews that I had to finish and I did not come close to getting 12 books read.  Here is the list

*   He Talk Like a White Boy - Joseph C. Phillips
*   Confessions of a Supermom - Melanie Lynn Hauser
*   How to Be Your Own Publicist - Jessica Hatchigan
*   Lord, Please Meet Me in the Laundry Room - Barbara Curtis
*   What Christianity is All About - Alan Kent Scholes

I read in the Bible
*   The books of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians

I finished
*   The Prayer of Jesus by Ken Hemphill and
*   Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore

The Fall Reading List



I am planning to try to get to all of these books by the end of December.  I may  not make it but I will be trying.  I have three fiction books that I need to get read and have been putting them off.  I have to make myself read fiction because I have trouble just sitting and reading for the sake of reading.  I tend to be one that likes to just read to learn.  The fiction will be good for me...




















No Television Month

Nancy DeMoss at Revive Our Hearts sponsored a TV free month for the month of August.  We made our goals for this month and set our own family perimeters and this is how we did...

*   We watched only DVDs and videos from our Netflix account that were family friendly with the children. 
*   We noticed a change in behavior over the time that we had the television off.  The children were more creative and played better together when the TV was off consistently
*   I got more done around the home and now have no desire to watch the television during the day (which was almost never anyway). 
*   We read more books and spent more time in creative endeavors over the past 31 days.
*   We like the television being off and plan to do that much more now.

My Better Off Challenge Plan

I have been reading a book called Better Off:  Flipping the Switch on Technology

In doing so I have made a decision for the month of September to shut my computer off all but about 1 hour a day.  I am on it much too much and it stays on almost all day.  I will take my router card out and only use it, after checking e-mail and posting here, to work on typing school stuff such as homework and study guide information.  I am also going to bed earlier and getting up earlier to work and study before the children are up.  My hours have become a bit off over the past few weeks and I need to reign that in and get back to early rising.  We will also continue to have the television off except for planned movie watching as a family one or two nights a week (Fridays and Saturdays).  There are more goals I will probably make as I get closer to finishing the book but this is a start...

I won't be turning off my kitchen appliances or my laundry room equipment.  I will also not be turning off the sewing machine even though I do have a treadle sewing machine.  I will stick to my plug and sew mode.  I am of the opinion that they are our househelp of the 21st century and I won't be firing the help.  They help me do my job better and more efficiently and they are also an important part of my schooling right now.  The computer, television and radio are not as essential to my everyday work so they can go. 

Weight Loss Program

The plan I am on is basically a portion control plan and I have been eating mostly vegetarian and cutting sugar out of my diet.  I have lost 8 pounds in the last 31 days.  I feel better and my clothes fit better.  I will continue with this plan and step up my exercising from three days a week to five and jog on three of those days.  I will also be adding weight-lifting at least one day a week.  I also realize that my weight loss rate will probably slow down this next month because I have lost the initial water weight that I had.  I am following recipes from the Sonoma Diet and several cookbooks I have including some Rachael Ray recipes that are very healthy and loaded with nutritional value.

Food for Thought:  Do we really NEED to shop at Walmart and Sam's Club?

You can read more about Walmart's decision to become a "Rainbow" organization here...




That's all I've got...

Have an awesome weekend and I will see you Monday - maybe... Have a Happy Labor Day if I don't make it on and don't work too hard!!!  ;)