Keeping Up With...2020 Goals (July and August Recap)

I missed another month for a goals update so I'm combining July and August here. I actually had updated all of my goals, but didn't have time to write the recap paragraphs. My mom was here the first week in August so I was focused on spending time with her while she was here. We had a nice visit and I'm glad she was able to come during this crazy time. After she left I was trying to catch up on all of the stuff I ignored while she was here and also get ready for school to start. So my free time was just focused elsewhere and I didn't get to this post.

We have also been able to get out a lot more in the past month than we have the five months prior. The boys were loving Zoombeezi Bay this year so we made weekly trips up there for the whole month of August to make sure we maximized our season pass and our fun. We also got together with a few of the boys friends and have got out to dinner a few times. We've been busy trying to squeeze as much fun out of this weird time as we can. I was comforted when AJ commented the other day that we have done some really cool things this summer and that I did a great job of planning fun things despite the circumstances. That made it all worth it!

Now, on to my goals. I feel like I have two extremes with these goals, I'm either doing awesome or horrible. There is very little in between. Some of these goals I'm going to crush this year and others I won't be anywhere close to them. I'm not beating myself up over any of this, but I will definitely look at what I'm not focusing on and decide if it should be a goal for next year or not. During all of this COVID craziness I have realized what is important and what my time should be spent on. 

• Lose 25 20 pounds - Over these two months, I have lost 3 pounds which is my current total for the year. I have changed this goal multiple times this year from losing 50, down to 25 and now down to 20. This has been super hard for me because I have not been on a schedule so I am not exercising regularly and eating properly. I reset again in mid-August and my goal is to lose 1 pound each week for the rest of the year which would be 20 pounds.
• Exercise for 20 minutes every day - I exercised all 31 days each month, for a total of 226 days so far this year!! Some of the days were just walking with Adrian and Rocky, but every day I did something that got me moving and I'm proud of that! I've done really great with this since I refocused on this in mid-May and haven't missed walking with Rocky once since then.
• Finish 12 exercise related calendar challenges - I did the same challenge for July and August, I went thru the push ups and squats calendar each month & did all 31 days in each month. These challenges have been a great way for me to focus on strength training and get a few minutes of that each day every month. I have finished a challenge 7 of the 8 months so far this year and plan to finish up the year strong!
• Do 30 40 60 Bible Plans in the You Verse app - I finished 9 plans in July and another 9 in Aug.  In total, I have finished 41 so far this year which is over my revised goal for the year. I've adjusted it again to 60 plans. Next year I won't be picking a specific number, just making sure I read the Bible every day.
• Read "A Little God Time for Women" - I've read all 244 days so far this year, I'm on track to finish this goal by the end of the year.
• Read 20 books - I've finished 9 books so far this year.  In July I finished "Little Fires Everywhere," and in August I finished "Big Summer" and "City of Ember."  "Big Summer" and "Little Fires" were fantastic!! I read the second half of "Big Summer" in like 3 days. I love everything by Jennifer Weiner and this book was no exception! "City of Ember" was a suggestion from Daniel and it was pretty good, it got better as it went. We're reading the series together, he just finished book 2 out of 4 and I finished book 1.
• Read the 12 How to Train Your Dragon Books - I finished 8 books so far this year. I'm planning to read thru the last 4 quickly after I finish the two books that friends loaned me for September.
• Read "Feminine Mystique" - I read 13% in July and 3% in August have read 42% so far this year.
• Write 45 35 meal plan blogs - I did 6 posts over these two months, 21 blog posts so far this year. I will obviously not meet this original goal so I have revised it. This has not been a priority this year at all. I have been meal planning each week, but I haven't been making the time to write the blog posts which is OK with me. I've revised it to reflect if I did a post most weeks of the rest of the year, but I'm honestly not even sure if I can do that.
• Write 52 weekly summary blogs - I did 7 posts over these past 2 months and 31 blog posts so far this year. I'm a little behind on this goal and have 5 drafts with partial weeks to still publish this year. I'm finding myself with more quiet time to blog now that the kids are doing virtual school so I'm hoping that will help catch me up on those.
• Write 12 4 9 goal recap blogs - I've done 5 so far this year so this goal still looks doable, if I don't miss another month. I'm not making any promises!
• Pay off $5,000 of credit card debt - We paid off $650 this month, $2,450 so far this year.  We will probably fall short of this but considering we bought new sofas, 3 new laptops and I haven't been working since March I'm just happy we're still making progress on this goal.
• Renovate the boys' bedrooms kitchen - We got the paint bought to paint the kitchen but it has been so hot this month we haven't been able to paint. 
• Finish my daily to do list every night - I did this 25 days in July and pretty much all 31 days in August. A few of those days each month the tasks got pushed to the next day, but I didn't add anything new to my to do list in either of those months which is the goal. I'm actually making progess on the huge to do list that I have been working on for over a year so I'm happy about that too.
• Watch 50 movies - We've watched 45 movies so far this year, and we're sticking with two movie nights each week so we should crush this goal.  Our July movies were "My Spy," "Jungle Book," "Infinity War," "Antman and the Wasp," "National Lampoon's Vacation," "Captain Marvel" and "Avengers: Endgame." Our August movies were "Kung Fu Panda," "Karate Kid," "October Sky," "Hugo," "Scoob," "Trolls: World Tour," "Fe@rless" and "Spiderman: Far From Home."
• Go on 12 dates with Adrian - We've gone on 6 dates so far this year. This month we finally went to Cooper's Hawk for a tasting and our meal using our birthday coupons. We had a great time going out together without the kids.
• Sub 80 days in the schools - I've subbed 21.5 days so far since January.  Unfortunately this goal is on hold until schools reopen and my kids go back to in person school. Right now that is honestly looking like next year which is a huge financial hit for us, but the right decision for our family.
• Go to 6 Zumba jam sessions - I did 2 virtual jams so far this year plus a ton of mini jams. I'm hoping to do one virtual jam each month between now and the end of the year which will meet this goal, but I'm not sure I can make it happen.
• Clean out master bedroom - Done!!
• Play 1 game with Adrian each week - I have done this all 35 weeks so far! This has been great for us while we're staying home so much! And I'm learning a ton of new games and winning a lot too.
• Play Pandemic Legacy: Season 2 with Adrian once per month - We have played all 8 months so far. Once again, we nearly lost this month and thought we would, but we took a few chances and raced to the end and we won.
• Play Machi Koro Legacy with the boys - We have played 7 months so far and are having a great time playing this game as a family!! Zak won again this month and AJ is getting upset that he hasn't won at all this whole year.
• Have 6 nights out with friends - I've had 5 nights out so far. This month I did a 5K walk with a group of my girlfriends one morning which I'm counting in this and I also did an afternoon at Easton with my girlfriends where we did a wine tasting and lunch at Flip Side
• Go on an awesome family vacation to the Outerbanks - We have decided to cancel this trip due to the uncertain nature of travel right now. We debated about doing something else as a family but decided to just stay home for the summer instead. Adrian is taking a week off in July and we'll do a few day trips but that's all we have planned for the summer now.
• Do 100 fun family things (one thing each week during school & one thing per person each week over the summer) - We have done 61 fun things so far this year but obviously this is a little different right now.  We are still having fun, it's just a different kind of fun right now.  In July we did: Lights of Liberty, at home drive in movie, family board game night, Orange Leaf, hike at Quarry Park, family video game day, dog beach with Rocky, dinner with family, Big Bounce, Zoombeezi Bay (x2), milkshakes at Sonic, hike at Blendon Woods, ice cream at Smallcakes, donuts from Krispy Kreme and a birthday party with friends. In August we did: Zoombeezi Bay (x3), Alum Creek beach, ice cream at Sticky Fingers, peach picking, ice cream at Olde Mill Inn, family dinner (x2), drive in movie, ice cream at Dairy Hut (x2), dinner at Red Robin, at home drive in movie, scavenger hunt at Hannah Park, zoo trip, mini golfing at Magic Mountain, games at the church and bowling.
• Go on 2 family camping trips - Same as with vacation, we went back and forth and decided not to do this but instead save our money and energy for a few fun day trips and invest in one or two big vacations next year.
• Deep clean the whole house - Done!!  We only have the basement left, but that is on hold until we renovate the kitchen.