No.874: Plan With Me for December 2024

I’m trying something a little different for goal planning this school year.  My new motto: we are not machines, we don’t have infinite energy levels, we can only do so much!  Hopefully this new method will help me reduce my stress and prioritize the right things at the right times.

November was a doozy but instead of rehashing the bad, I’m choosing to focus on the many good parts of the month.  We had birthday celebrations and a high school graduate (and promising career possibilities for him too!) and mostly finished living room walls and a simple Thanksgiving and a car loan soooo close to being paid off!  We survived a very difficult month and I’m looking forward with hope to the next.

Onto the goals!  Let’s review November first:

FIVE TOP PRIORITIES

1. renew The Big White Farmhouse website for one more year (Continuing on for my fourteenth year and hoping to document the good, true & beautiful and inspire others to seek out the same.)
2. pray novena prayers for the holy souls in Purgatory (I used a prayer card I received from the Desert Nuns – beautiful.)
3. fix/replace our living room smoke detector (Purchased a replacement but it wasn’t the right model!)
4. prepare for November birthdays (We have a new 18-year-old and a new 14-year-old in the house.)
5. finish the majority of Christmas shopping (So close.  Just a few stocking stuffers to go.)

FIVE “WOULD BE GREAT TO DO” TASKS

1. debrief the 2024 growing season and jot down initial plans for 2025 (I completed this at the beginning of the month, but Fred’s death changed most of my plans.  I really have to pray about next steps.)
2. stay on top of woodchip distribution in the pig paddocks/barnyard
3. inventory Christmas wrapping paper stock (I used every last roll and had just enough for 2024!  Just bits and pieces leftover.)
4. make a recipe from my vintage cookbook
5. make beeswax candles

FIVE LITTLE STEPS TO GET AHEAD

1. debt reduction: earn $100+ to go toward the Car Loan Payoff Plan (Final amount earned: $123.33)
2. mother academia: make a dent in With Malice Toward None: A Life of Abraham Lincoln (This one is taking me forever to finish, but I’m enjoying it.)
3. home projects: survive the water mitigation/hardwood flooring situation! (Lots of delays this month and it’s still not done.  Always an adventure around here!)
4. hard times prep: read Just in Case: How to be Self-Sufficient when the Unexpected Happens by Kathy Harrison (In progress!)
5. farm: move Millie and Fred into the same paddock for the winter (For a few days anyway before disaster struck.  We’ll know in January if there are any baby piglets coming…)

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On to December!

FIVE TOP PRIORITIES

These tasks tend to have deadlines or really should be completed this month.

1. prep for a December birthday
2. use Dom Prosper Gueranger’s Liturgical Year book for Advent as my daily Advent Reading
3. thank our mail carrier
4. organize any remaining Christmas wrapping supplies (paper, ribbons, tags, etc.)
5. embrace this time of rest

FIVE “WOULD BE GREAT TO DO” TASKS

Examples of these tasks would be seasonal goals or things that just generally have less urgency.

1. set up the kids’ hot cocoa bar
2. start brainstorming school plans for January
3. research a source for better bulk compost
4. simmer down on my coffee consumption and wean down to a more reasonable level
5. bake a new Christmas cookie

FIVE LITTLE STEPS TO GET AHEAD

This area is for big, overwhelming goals that can be broken down into bite-sized, attainable steps.

1. debt reduction: earn $50+ to go toward the Car Loan Payoff Plan
2. mother academia: read Hamlet
3. home projects: survive the hardwood flooring repair
4. hard times prep: organize and inventory the pantry
5. farm: brainstorm a better way to water the piglets this winter