What is it?

Here's a new thing I am adding to my Blog...a "What is it" catagory. After a short while I will post another picture in answer to the first picture.

So how do you feel about Goal Setting?

What is it about goal setting that gets some people excited while others cringe just hearing the words? I suppose planners will mostly enjoy goal setting and 'go-with-the-flow' folks will not enjoy it as much but the whole idea of setting goals has become a hot topic. Schools hand out agendas to students to impliment the habit of setting goals. Businesses have business plans which are another term for goals.

When I get around to housework, I love to compile a list of what I want to accomplish and the times that I think it will take to finish each task. It's like a game of "Beat the Clock" and the minutes I can gain on each item are free time at the end. This is goal setting for the day. It lists specific measurable tasks and a set time when each item will be complete. It helps me so much with staying on task and staying focused until my list is complete. Then at the end of the time allotted for cleaning, I can look over my list and be grateful for what got accomplished. One thing I have learned is that at the end of the day, the time that I finished cleaning is really not important at all but rather, look at what was accomplished. What fulfillment that gives me! I love it.

In the same way when setting goals, remember that the time you plan on completing your task is not nearly as important as the completion of the task! My hubby, or Dad to my kids, feels that goals is truly a four letter word. He feels like a failure before he even begins. I think that happens from the timing becoming the focus rather than the tasks completed. The completed time can always be adjusted to accomodate your circumstances but the measurable task stays constant.

My goal for 2012 was to memorize one Bible verse each month. It is now April 2 and I can't recite the verse I started on in January. That doesn't mean I'm a failure, even though the pressure is building; I can still accomplish my goal but with different dates to each verse. Not that I want to give myself an out, but if at the end of the year I have only memorized 9 instead of the desired 12, I still will know 9 more verses than if I had never set the goal.

Aprons

After doing a quick inventory check of my kitchen I am satisfied that I have all the needed ingredients to make the banana bread recipe I just received from my daughter, but I am still in the casual suit I wore to my office job. Do I change into something wash and wear or don the apron I think I still have tucked away in a drawer? That got me thinking…

Where have all the aprons gone? Who still uses an apron these days? It used to be a symbol of the stay-at-home mom. Has our respect for clothing changed with those changes? We have more selection of clothing in our closets than ever before and the material we use has become easier to care for. There is more storing clothes on the floor or over chairs in my household than I would like to admit. The only aprons I remember seeing in stores are now for men when they BBQ.

When our children were young, I was given small aprons from a friend who’s children were older and I am amazed how many times we used them! At first I thought it was a cute idea but we would never need them but very quickly I realized their amazing value.

“Mom, can we bake cookies today?”

“Alright, you get the aprons and I’ll get the bowl.”

Just like with dress-up clothing, when donning an apron, they became pastry chefs. With the aprons their focus was baking and they could keep on task until the cookie dough was complete and the first batch was in the oven. The aprons could not leave the kitchen so the flour stayed contained to one room. Since the aprons were protecting their clothing I wonder if they understood that clothing needs to be cared for and protected.

Ok now I am getting this nostalgic feeling and I think I’ll buy myself another apron. I wonder if I’ll find one in the store…where do I begin to look?

When thinking about Scott and Caina thinking of moving to a house and Andrew contemplating buying a home this verse was rather exciting! Acts 17:26 "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live." (I added the italics.)

new beginnings

so this is me... just me and my thoughts