heartofdakota.com

Thank You so much for sharing my excitement last week as I prepared to go away for my annual planning retreat! It was wonderful I had Heart of Dakota Manuels all over the place! (understanding smile )





I have two blog entries that share my goals, schedules and simply pictures!

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MamaMary/551550/ (Goals)

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MamaMary/551314/ (General Pictures)

When are you gals starting your school year?

Hi Sweet Jen,

I saw your question about the tabs on my comment section but cannot find your e-mail (disorganized)

I bought those at CVS. But I think you definitely could get them anywhere. They are RE-STICKABLE tabs. So I move them as we go along. I laughed at your index card comment, as I have done that too!

Mary I enjoyed looking at your blogs. I do the tab thing to. It really helps. You did tweak my brain though with the tabs on top. That never occurred to me as an option. But now I have another dimension to add tabs.

I am disappointed. I expected to see fuzzy pink slippers and PJs in the girls get away not dead lizards! But I guess we all have our own idea of cozy! Glad you had fun and thanks for sharing your schedule and everything.

Oh, Mary, that looks so wonderful! I am racking (or is that wracking??) my brain for a place that I can do that with my girlfriends. What a gift! If you don't mind my asking - I checked out your blog entries and saw about the dinner time ideas - can you PM me with your ideas for how to get supper on the table every night? I don't want to hijack this thread and make it completely OT, but I'm telling ya - for an Over the Top Olive - I can't for the life of me get that area of my life under any consistent schedule!! It drives me crazy and brings me to my knees regularly. I don't like cooking AT ALL. It is a weakness that I know God wants to use in my life to teach me more about selflessness and dependence on Him, but I am a reeeeaaaaally slow learner in this area. And if anyone else wants to PM me with their ideas - I'll take 'em!! I need all the help I can get!

Tiffini wrote:Oh, Mary, that looks so wonderful! I am racking (or is that wracking??) my brain for a place that I can do that with my girlfriends. What a gift! If you don't mind my asking - I checked out your blog entries and saw about the dinner time ideas - can you PM me with your ideas for how to get supper on the table every night? I don't want to hijack this thread and make it completely OT, but I'm telling ya - for an Over the Top Olive - I can't for the life of me get that area of my life under any consistent schedule!! It drives me crazy and brings me to my knees regularly. I don't like cooking AT ALL. It is a weakness that I know God wants to use in my life to teach me more about selflessness and dependence on Him, but I am a reeeeaaaaally slow learner in this area. And if anyone else wants to PM me with their ideas - I'll take 'em!! I need all the help I can get!

Slight hijack Two words on the cooking...Bulk Cooking. That is the only way I can consistently get meals on the table every night. That's what works for me and there are all kinds of ways you can do it. But to have most of it or all of it prepared really helps a ton. I cook for one to two months over a couple of days and the rest of the month is just pulling things out. When I do that it is on the table. When I do not it will be on the table but it will be some kind of homemade convenience type food. You know open a can.

One thing I wanted to say to you that may not be true for you or not because I am not an Olive Is I can follow a schedule like Mary's only if the actual times are removed. I have to have it in time blocks but not the actual time of the day. It is some weird control issue or disorganizational thing. I just can't do it. But I do sometimes set the timer to remind me of things. So not everyone works best with written times but better with general time blocks and more of a flow of the day. Not sure if that would help for you though since I am not the Olive type.

Mary,

I loved your pictures and goals. How truly blessed you are to be able to get away with women of like mind and plan, plan, PLAN! But we are even more blessed to have you come back and share with all of us!!!God bless this next year for you and your family.

One note: I remember a handful of times that my family had candles on the table but I do recall they were so special. And we had our "nice" plates that came out at the same time. Granted we used these mainly for holidays. Now I am assuming you have nice cloth napkins for special meals but if not...I have a great way to fold napkins to make them look pretty for meals. It certainly kept us kids busy and out of mom's hair while she cooked.

water2wine wrote: I am disappointed. I expected to see fuzzy pink slippers and PJs in the girls get away not dead lizards!

I had a pedicure before I went does that count?!

MamaMary wrote: I had a pedicure before I went does that count?!

Absolutely! And I have to admit the lizard was cozier than the dead mouse I found in my garage! Plus no girl time

I'm glad you had fun. And your organizing book looks great. Almost have me sold. I like that you can skip writing in the times if you wanted. It hink I need to just make that one page though and laminate it. It can go next to the chore chart. Only problem is my son will hold me to every letter of the plan if he sees it. But then I guess the point is to actually follow it.

Tiffini wrote:can you PM me with your ideas for how to get supper on the table every night? I don't want to hijack this thread and make it completely OT, but I'm telling ya - for an Over the Top Olive - I can't for the life of me get that area of my life under any consistent schedule!!

Hi Tiffini,

I don't mind answering here I love Brenda's idea. My friend gave me a great tip this weekend. She said that everyday at lunch time she totally preps dinner. If she's boiling rice she will measure out the water and put it in the pan and set it on the stove. She'll measure out the rice and put it in a bowl with a lid already measured out. If she has to make a salad, or cut veggies, marinate meat she does all of that during their lunch hour. I am planning on doing this.

What I currently do is make sure that the first thing I do in the morning is pull out my frozen meat that needs to be thawed. I stumble out of my bedroom, make my coffee, pull out the frozen meat, grab my bible and that is my routine.

I am also more consistent when I know for sure at breakfast what I'm making for dinner that night. I found if I waited till the middle of the day to figure it out, it was too late.

I also double up on casserole type dinners and freeze them. If I'm making spaghetti or Lasagna I just make a big batch.

I am getting ready to start weight watchers on Thursday of this week and I know it will be a big learning curve. I LOVE to cook and I never measure (except when baking) and the whole point of WW is to learn how to be more thoughtful and precise about what your putting in your mouth. So It will slow me down to measure at first, but I know that if I make myself push through the learning curve it will become easier and easier. (at least that's what I keep telling myself, )

I hope this helps and that you get lots of wonderful idea's!

MamaMary...
after looking at your pictures this morning I went to buy the "stickies" for my manual and now everything is so organized I was on my way to being YOU!

And then I read your Goals for 2008/2009 and realize I have a long way to go. Thank you for sharing them. I realize now that I need to be much more intentional about everything I choose to do.

Oh! and the quote from Leviticus was perfect. I needed to read that.
You are an inspiration.

Did you find out what the heart palpitations were all about? Praying for you. I pray that it is only stress. Been there!
Dorla

Jessi wrote:I am assuming you have nice cloth napkins for special meals but if not...I have a great way to fold napkins to make them look pretty for meals. It certainly kept us kids busy and out of mom's hair while she cooked.

I do NOT but I am off to buy some this week! I would love to hear how you fold them! Share.., Share!

BTW, thank you for your encouraging words! (((Warm Appreciative Hugs)))

Dorla wrote:MamaMary...
after looking at your pictures this morning I went to buy the "stickies" for my manual and now everything is so organized

Did you find out what the heart palpitations were all about? Praying for you. I pray that it is only stress. Been there!
Dorla

Dorla, you are so funny! Believe me, you don't want to be me. You'll never find clean clothes, laundry is the bane of my existance

Aren't those stickies the BEST!?!? I think Carrie should sell them. They go PERFECTLY with our manuels

I went all the way to the doctors to find out, they needed to re-schedule me until tomorrow at 3:30. I cannot wait to find out what's going on. I am feeling better, PTL! Thank YOU for asking. You are such a sweetie!

Mary,

This is OT, but I just wanted to encourage you on your weight watcher endeavor. It is the best thing I ever did, as I lost 48 lbs.....then I got pregnant, and gained it back . However, I am trying to get back, just having problems getting to my meetings, and so I am struggling. The measuring thing becomes second nature pretty quick, I think. In fact, even when I am not eating right, I can usually look at my food and know how many points I am eating.

As always your inspire me. I do appreciate all you have to share about your homeschooling experiences, as I feel like I need all the wisdom I can get. thanks for always including us in your life.

Maybe we can share our weight loss journeys together too!

What a wonderful idea, looks like a wonderful time for fellowship w/ other moms! I love the sticky tabs you use w/ the HOD manuals, I just added those to my Wal-Mart list!

MamaMary wrote:Hi Sweet Jen,

I saw your question about the tabs on my comment section but cannot find your e-mail (disorganized)

I bought those at CVS. But I think you definitely could get them anywhere. They are RE-STICKABLE tabs. So I move them as we go along. I laughed at your index card comment, as I have done that too!

Thanks so much for the reply! I was just going to check back on your blog for the answer, but am glad you tracked me down here. I love your blog!

On a totally unrelated note--I've been going through homeschoolblogger trying to track down other HODies, but it seems an impossible task. I've seen some people put their websites in their sig lines, but it would be great to have one sticky post somewhere on the HOD forum where people could put a link to their homeschool blogs. I have a blog--but it is not homeschool related--I'm a avid knitter and that's what my blog is about. Since I'm just starting with HOD, though, and have 12 years ahead of me hsing our youngest, I may have to start one of my own.

Thanks again for the reply!