So it’s my third week linking up with Nectar Collective’s Weekly Wishes.

Anyone good with the maths wondering how my title counting works?

***Click here!***

So far I’ve managed to get five more views on this lonely post through blatant pushy advertising and click bait via these Weekly Wishes posts.

Let’s BREAK TEN VIEWS this week!

But getting back on point: Weekly Wishes invites you to hold yourself to account each week on your goals. You “report back” on your previous goals and state your new ones.

Melyssa, our host, lets us link up all week, but notes that most people do so on Monday. I’m finding I’m good with a mid-week check-in. It seems to be (sort of working) for me.

First? Last week’s recap:

Goal #1: Prepare my daughter’s school lunch the night before. Done! A+ consistency. They say two weeks makes a habit. Doesn’t quite feel that way yet because it still pretty much sucks and I have to force myself to do it. But wow am I ever happy the next morning that I did.

Goal #2: Write at least two blog posts this week on this blog. Also done! I did three. Feeling reconnected to blogland after a bit of a bloggy funk, so this is of the good.

Goal #3: Write that second Ottawa Mommy Club Article I was supposed to do two weeks ago. And, again, if that goes well, do my blog post submission for the International Bloggers Association which I’ve been putting off for a while. Half done. OMC article yes. IBA submission no.

Goal #4: Go to the gym at least once; no alcohol at home; bring lunch to work at least twice. Two-thirds done! Gym and lunch. I like wine. Life got hectic. I accept defeat here. But the wine was really good. I even have a somewhat enabling Pinterest Board. I will ignore it when I get back on track. But currently? I heart it.

Goal #5: Continue to action and clear out my personal email inbox. Beyond Done! A++. I was at 232 messages when I posted the goal. I’m currently at 90. Non-professional life feels back in control.

Goal #6: Clear through children’s clothing. Fail. Never got there. Bag is still in laundry room. Carry forward.

Goal #7: Donating a crib. Fail. Didn’t get around to looking into this.

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So that’s where I’m at. Here are the goals for this week.

Goal #1

Keep up on preparing lunch the night before. Remembering that I wrote it here and would be held to account actually made me do it a few times last week, so AGAIN!

Goal #2

Write at least two blog posts. This, as before, counts. One of the others should be “R” in my Musical A to Z series. Again, I’ve done the research, so I just need to craft the post.

Goal #3

I committed to two OMC Articles a month, so I aim to submit my second September one next week. I have a plan… It will be awesome. And, again, IBA. Really.

Goal #4

Same as last week: Gym once; bring lunch twice; no alcohol at home. I’m toying with signing up for a 10K in October. Don’t hold me to it yet.  This is sort of like the trial balloon.

Goal #5

Carry forward: Sort kiddy clothes.

Goal #6

Carry forward: Call, figure out about donating crib.

Goal #7

Bedtime reading. Here’s a biggy. I’m going to get through Volume 1 of the Children’s Bible with my 4-year-old. I figure this combines a few goals. A) Reading B) Time together and C) Religious education. I posted a while back about raising our kids Catholic. We have the 12 Volumes of the Children’s Bible from when I was a kid, and my eldest has shown interest in religion, so I thought I’d try what – among other things – is a pretty amazing story.

We’ve done two nights reading so far and, I think, she’s interested. And I love her questions – which might be fodder for a whole separate post. Among other things so far? Apparently, based on illustration, she’s convinced that on Day 5 God created the Sea Monster, and she equally wonders why we had to create a woman all over again in Eden when she was RIGHT there in the picture on Day Six. I’m a little leery about explaining where Cain’s wife from the spontaneous land of Nod comes from if she’s paying attention and I get quizzed – because that’s up next.

But all those literacy things I hope to do with books? Asking why they took the apple, asking why the serpent was “bad” – was he? – and why did he do what he did (Answer: apparently, he’s like Swiper – and oooh, they both start with an “s”), asking why they were thrown out, asking why they wore no clothing until they did, asking if we could look at the garden picture again… all those questions are everything I want from a reading experience with my kids. Don’t know yet if she’ll lose steam (I remember as a child I honestly did with the series), but until she does? It’s a great bedtime activity.

For anyone wondering? Volume One will next take us through Cain and Abel; Noah and the Ark; Tower of Babel; Abram; and ends with Isaac and Rebekah. I figure that’s pre-school do-able in a week.

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So there are my goals for this week. Other than that, I almost feel I need to also say I stayed afloat navigating all the other random flotsam and jetsam of dual-earner working-parent life. In no particular order:

• I booked and got out the invites for my soon-to-be five-year old’s birthday.
• I paid my bills (cue Destiny Child’s vibe without angry lack of man support angst because we’re in the two-working parent whirlwind together).
• I grocery shopped (on the way home from work; with two preschoolers just picked up from daycare after a long day; props to all three of us for keeping it together).
• I worked overtime. Friday night and Saturday day. With kids. Go Netflix.
• I booked my car in for warranty covered repairs. Finally. Because it isn’t about the money. Or the non-urgent auto issue. It’s about NOT. HAVING. A CAR. Let’s all walk home from daycare! It will be an hour-long adventure this coming Thursday! I think I’ve got it sorted. You’ll know next week if that went sideways.
• Made all the afterschool activities last week: swimming, gymnastics and hip hop. On time. With snacks. Oh yeah.
• In a rare and random moment of downtime when I thought I might eat then nap on Saturday and my brother and cousin showed up with a bookcase to deliver (because they’re moving out West and I’ll miss them terribly and they thoughtfully considered me before Salvation Army) I managed to morph into appropriately thankful (because I am) and clear a space in our house to store it until my youngest outgrows the change table and we can replace it with a bookcase. Which I appreciate. For the record. In case I looked put out when you showed up and GIFTED us a bookcase. Just saying.

I ended with music last week, so I thought I’d end the same again. This works for me this week:

Until next time!