Category: Vision

summer at home.

7/3/2023

Today was my LAST day of work for the 2022-2023 school year.

I am officially on summer break.

And while I will definitely need to stop by the school at some point over the next four weeks, I am looking forward to a RESET throughout the month of July.

I will admit...our July is PACKED.

It just kind of happened.

Softball is over for the younger two girls, so we'll have a few days off right now, before our youngest heads off to church camp Thursday & Friday.

Saturday, our oldest has a softball tournament out of town.

Sunday, we get a day at home, before the older two girls and I head off to Christ in Youth Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska for five days.

We'll come home for a day before Vacation Bible School kicks off on Sunday, the 16th.

It sounds crazy, but after VBS, I'll have ONE WEEK off until I go back to school. One week.

At the end of my last week off, we're going to take a little surprise road trip to wrap up our summer fun!

Even in this busy summer, we had set some goals for ourselves.

We are going to make time for fun

We have some day trips planned over the next few weeks. We purchased the girls "Pogo Passes" for Christmas and we have a free ticket per family member to several local Kansas City attractions.

We already used the Zoo ticket for Mattie Moo's birthday a few weeks ago. Here are a few of the other places we plan to visit.

Besides our intentional family outings, we also have a plan to get some things finished around the house.

We are going to knock out some home projects.

The girls and I decided in late-May that this would be the summer that we marked some of our items off of the ol' "procrastination list".

We have had a few things on the list for the entire six years we've lived here. Things like "paint the stairwell" and "hang Mattie's ceiling fan" keep getting moved farther and farther down the task list.

Well, that will not be the case when I go back to work on August 1st.

We have a plan and we are sticking to it!

So far, we've marked several of these "to do" items off of the list.

I painted the basement stairwell one afternoon and I will be painting the upstairs stairwell tomorrow.

We finally moved a huge pile of welding materials away from the front of the barn and down to the concrete pad with the rest of Mr. Farmhouse's stash.

The hammocks we bought late last summer have finally replaced the frayed ones that were under the Rustic Rooster.

The rest of the list includes things like painting the barn, powerwashing & restaining the deck, adding slats to the bottom of the porch, removing the doors of the coat closet and painting/wallpapering it, and possibly the biggest undertaking -- getting the basement completely clean.

I know it sounds crazy to try to fit so many things into four short weeks, but I feel like I have REALLY let things go at the house over the last six months.

So while we are prioritizing fun and relaxation, we're also going to work hard to mark some things off of our list to help us feel more in control walking into the 2023-2024 school year.

I. Can't. Wait.

Trying to get our lives together here at the farmhouse,
Hannah

❤️🏡❤️

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zone work.

1/8/2019

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This week, as part of the Farmhouse654 12-week Challenge, we are looking at our habits and routines.

We have chosen a few areas of our lives where it would be helpful to have a routine written down so we can follow it for the next month and make it a habit.

I finally feel like I am to that point with my Morning Routine.

I wake up and start my favorite coffee in the Keurig.

I make my bed,
do my quiet time,
start a load of laundry,
shower,
& get ready for my day...

A morning routine...without even thinking about it! Wow!

I'm currently working to get my bedtime routine just as automatic.

Two of the big pieces of my bedtime routine include laying everything out for the next day AND doing a "quick pickup" of the house, where all five of us set a 15-minute timer and do just what it sounds like...PICK UP!

This really has helped the house to not get too out of control lately.

Farmhouse654 12-Week Challenge

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This is a group to track our progress over the first twelve weeks of 2019 and share our successes for the Farmhouse654 12-Week Challenge!

These daily routines are so important to help keep the house manageable.

And when I started following the FlyLady 10-15 years ago, I learned how important cleaning zones in our homes can be too for those "deep-cleaning" tasks.

The basic concept is for you to divide your home into various zones.

I used to try and make sure I was getting through every single zone every single month.

However, starting this next week, I think I'll put my house on an eight-week zone rotation.

Front Porch, Living Room, Deck
Kitchen & Mud Room
Dining Room & Laundry Room
Downstairs Bathroom & Mattie's Room
Our Bedroom & Office
Older Girls' Bedrooms Upstairs
Upstairs Bathroom & Playroom
Outside the House & Basement

Today, and for the rest of this week, I'll be focusing on deep-cleaning the front porch, the living room, and our deck.

I make a list of tasks to get these three areas "all spiffied up" and I work on that list for 15-30 minutes a day (depending on each night's activities).

Here is my list for this week. ⬆️

As I am working through my list for this week, I'm thinking about my zone for next week (kitchen & mud room) and things that need to be finished in those rooms.

I just work to get what I can finished each evening and try to finish up on Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon.

Zone work isn't meant to be stressful.

It's just a way to get some of those deep-cleaning tasks (that we often neglect) finished every eight weeks. If you get to the end of the week and a few tasks aren't complete, just move on and get those tasks finished on the next round.

So...your task for today is to divide your home into zones.

You can decide how many.

You can decide what types of tasks to put on your zone lists.

The important part is to start to develop some habits for deep-cleaning a little at a time, instead of just constantly being stuck in the cycle of having a BIG cleaning day every few weeks.

Working my zones at the farmhouse this morning!

❤️?❤️

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vision.

1/1/2019

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Well, friends.

We made it.

2019.

It sounds crazy to say that. I just keep thinking, "Wasn't 1996 like a few years ago?"

Anyway, for so many of us, waking up on January 1st brings a renewed sense of motivation and excitement for what can happen in this fresh new year.

Over 2018, I read several books to work towards becoming the best version of myself that I can be.

Almost every single one of them spoke in the beginning about the importance of having a vision for your life.

A very specific, tailored-to-you,
intentional, joy-filled vision.

One that is full of high hopes and big dreams.

One that will require hard work and focused energy.

One that is easily accessible when someone needs to regroup and start again (it happens!).

"Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others." ~ Jonathan Swift

Your vision has to be yours alone.

Picture the life you want and decide TODAY to take steps to get there.

I'm hosting a "Twelve-Week Challenge" group here on the blog and over on Facebook.

Part of the Week 1 Challenge includes a packet of worksheets to go through and focus on the vision we have for our lives ten years from now, by the end of 2019, and over the next twelve weeks.

I went through yesterday and wrote out my own vision and identified some attainable goals that I could complete by the end of the twelve-week challenge.

Along with that vision, I identified ONE HABIT that I want to commit to for January -- completing one load of laundry from start to finish each day.

The struggle is real, folks. Mount Washmore has made its appearance on our laundry room floor (uh, and bathroom floors and couch and, and, and...)

So that's my one non-negotiable daily habit.

However, I have some other habits that will definitely help our days run more smoothly, so I have listed nine other daily habits that I would like to track each day.

I love using a habit-tracker for things like this, so I created one on Google Docs to track my progress.

You can view MY January habit-tracker HERE and follow along, if you'd like.

If you would like a printable BLANK copy of my habit-tracker, click the image below.

Or if you'd rather edit your own habit tracker on Google Docs, I've shared a blank copy for you HERE.

In the past, I've done a paper/pencil version in my bullet journal, but to be honest, I didn't stick with the tracking part.

The digital tracker works for me, as I can access and update it from my phone, computer, or iPad.

I know that tracking daily habits seems ridiculous to some people, but since I started this practice, I cannot tell you how much it has helped me to stay on top of things at home and work!

So...are you ready to join me over the next twelve weeks in building consistent habits and routines that will give us some peace and joy as we work towards making our visions come to life? Let's do it then!

Don't forget to join the Facebook group if you didn't already! ➡️

Happy 2019 from the farmhouse, friends!

❤️?❤️

Farmhouse654 12-Week Challenge

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This is a group to track our progress over the first twelve weeks of 2019 and share our successes for the Farmhouse654 12-Week Challenge!

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summer at home.

zone work.

vision.

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