Mom's Plans learning to live a fulfilling life on less 2026-09-09T12:53:31Z https://www.momsplans.com/feed/atom/ Melissa <![CDATA[Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan {A Book Review}]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=27058 2026-09-09T12:53:31Z 2026-09-09T12:53:31Z This post contains affiliate links. Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is one of the best books I’ve read this year! This is a true account of Pino Lella’s life during the years of World War II in Italy.   About Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan The story opens with a girl-crazy […]

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]]> This post contains affiliate links. Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan is one of the best books I’ve read this year! This is a true account of Pino Lella’s life during the years of World War II in Italy.

A red sky filled with clouds. In the forefront, buildings stand in dark shadows.

 

About Beneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark Sullivan

The story opens with a girl-crazy teenage Pino asking a random woman he meets, Anna, for a date to the movies. Anna says yes, though his friends say it is mostly to get rid of him, which is true. She never shows up for their date.

However, Pino’s light-hearted days disappear as the Nazis take over Italy. Pino’s parents send him and his brother to the Alps to keep them safe. Little do they know, the work Pino soon embarks on there puts him right in harm’s way.

Later, his parents send for him because he is about to turn 18, so he must join the military. But they have a plan they think will keep him safe–join the Germans. Pino is opposed, but in the end, his parents win. Soon he is fighting for the other side and earning scorn from all of those outside a few family members who know and love him.

However, when he is home for a few weeks after an injury in battle, he happens to catch the eye of General Hans Leyers, one of the top Nazi commanders in Italy. Leyers recruits Pino as his personal driver, giving Pino the perfect opportunity to become a spy and work for the resistance.

My Thoughts on the Book

This story was so intriguing, and I found it hard to believe that it was based on a true story. However, as is my pet peeve, I wish that when authors write these types of books, they would stick to the true story as closely as they can. When they take liberties, even small liberties, with the story by condensing the timeline or combining characters as Sullivan says he did, I distrust the story because I’m always wondering what is true and what is fiction, which weakens the story a bit in my mind.

However, I also understand that by the time Pino tells his story, he was well into his 80s, and the events had happened 60+ years ago. Though the author did his research and interviewed others involved in the story, by the time Sullivan was working on the book, many had passed away.

While I loved the entire book, I found the epilogue, which explained what happened to Pino after the war, a bit depressing.

If you’re looking for a dramatic World War II story that takes place in a locale most WWII historical fiction does not, I highly recommend this book!

I give Beneath a Scarlet Sky 5 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[My Monthly Goals for September 2026]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=27087 2026-09-05T17:19:34Z 2026-09-05T17:19:34Z This post contains affiliate links. For the last few years, I haven’t hit my yearly goals. Not even close. I don’t know what happened; I used to achieve at least 75% of my yearly goals, but that hasn’t been the case in the last few years. I was talking to a friend about this, and […]

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]]> This post contains affiliate links. For the last few years, I haven’t hit my yearly goals. Not even close. I don’t know what happened; I used to achieve at least 75% of my yearly goals, but that hasn’t been the case in the last few years. I was talking to a friend about this, and she empathized and said 12 months is such a long time! Who knows what twists and turns will come during that time.

Picture of a calendar open to the month of September sitting on a desk next to a plant
Photo by Blessing Ri on Unsplash

I still want to set goals, but I don’t want to set myself up to be a failure. My friend suggested just setting weekly goals, but I decided to set my goals one month at a time and monitor the progress weekly. So, here are my monthly goals for September 2026:

  • Finish 3 books. I need to read two books, The Maidens and My Friends, for two book clubs I have at the end of the month. I also want to finish The Red Head of Auschwitz, which I’ve been reading for the last 6 weeks or so. (The content is raw, so I need to take frequent breaks.)
  • Read 300 pages in The Calamity Club. (This is for an October book club, but it’s such a large book, I broke it down to reading 10 pages a day. That will get me to 300 pages by the end of October.)
  • Clean one thing in my house for 22 of the 30 days in the month. I find cleaning the whole house overwhelming, but cleaning one thing? I can do that. (Obviously dishes are done multiple times a day, and laundry is done regularly.)
  • Take my daughter on three college tours. This is my goal, but it is entirely dependent on her schedule. She will be taking two college classes in person for Dual Enrollment and also working 20 hours a week, so we’ll try to accomplish this. Question–do you have an interest in reading a review of the colleges we visit? If so, I could write a blog post about that.
  • Go to the gym 15 times. The last two months of summer I slacked on going to the gym, so I have to pick this habit back up.
  • Walk 15 miles. I also slacked on this, so I will start slow as I pick the habit back up.
  • Do Tai Chi 10 times this month.
  • Write and publish eight blog posts this month. This will be a big stretch for me as my blog writing lately has slowed down significantly.

That’s it for the month. A gentle reintroduction to goal setting (and accomplishing) and starting to exercise again.

Do you set goals? If so, do you set yearly goals or shorter increments?

 

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[The End of Summer Is Coming!]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=27052 2026-08-11T10:58:31Z 2026-08-11T10:58:31Z Every summer here is crazy busy. It’s like we all try to fit in as much as possible in three little months because when winter hits, it’s hard to do much. Winter is the time to get work done and have quiet time to read. Summer, well, summer can be hard to catch your breath. […]

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]]> Every summer here is crazy busy. It’s like we all try to fit in as much as possible in three little months because when winter hits, it’s hard to do much. Winter is the time to get work done and have quiet time to read. Summer, well, summer can be hard to catch your breath.

A pair of sunglasses resting on the sand. A beach is beyond the sand pile.

I’ve been MIA on the blog because I’ve been busy showing up for life!

In the last five weeks:

  • I visited family in Michigan for four days,
  • I went back to Michigan two weeks later for a funeral and stayed 4 days. This trip was emotionally tolling thanks to the funeral, but I did have the opportunity to visit with family and friends I haven’t seen in a long time, which was nice.
  • One of our daughters and my husband went to a track meet so she could compete. It was 4 hours away, so they also camped and took a cave tour! They were gone three days.
  • I helped my daughter revise her college application letter and keep straight her many applications and the requirements for those.
  • I have been processing all the food that comes in our every-other-week CSA.

Those are the stand-out moments, but every day has been busy with regular life stuff–sports practices, doctor’s appointments, get-togethers with friends, etc.

Plus, I’ve been busy catching up on work from all of the days I was gone in July.

Summer is probably my second least favorite season in New York (spring is first because it just doesn’t exist–we go from mild winter straight into summer), but it’s almost over. In four short weeks, school will be back in session, and life will be at a more typical pace.

How has your summer been? Are you endlessly busy with lots of good life?

 

 

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn {A Book Review}]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=26972 2026-07-24T13:56:32Z 2026-07-24T13:56:32Z This post contains affiliate links. I don’t remember when I heard about The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. It may be because I have enjoyed some of her other books, such as The Alice Network. However, The Diamond Eye was a bit different, and it took me about 100 pages to really get into this […]

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]]> This post contains affiliate links. I don’t remember when I heard about The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn. It may be because I have enjoyed some of her other books, such as The Alice Network. However, The Diamond Eye was a bit different, and it took me about 100 pages to really get into this book.

Picture of a woman with her jacket billowing out behind her walking through a white, snow covered forest

About The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn

Mila is a 24-year-old graduate student with a 9-year-old son when the novel opens. It’s 1941, and she lives in the Soviet Union. She’s estranged from her pompous, arrogant, condescending husband, who won’t grant her a divorce. She takes shooting lessons so she can teach her son the skill later because she knows her husband never will.

However, when Germany invades her country, she immediately signs up to serve. After months of grunt work, the officers discover what an excellent shot she is, and she becomes a sniper for the military. She earns the title “Lady Death” because her official kill count climbs to 309.

Mila is sent on a tour to the United States to try to help convince the U.S. to help Russia with its war efforts against Germany.

My Thoughts on the Book

This story is based on a real woman, Mila Pavlichenko. I was fascinated to read about her. At first, the book was hard to get into because reading how calculated she had to be with her kills, how she had to turn off her emotions, was difficult. But soon I was hooked and couldn’t wait to read more.

I should mention there was also some romance in the book. Initially, I was irritated with the author–clearly this romance had to be fictional because who has time for that when on the front line? But, jokes on me. Mila did have a powerful romantic relationship when on the front in real life. Some truths are stranger than fiction.

In addition, she became friends with Eleanor Roosevelt during her U.S. tour, and the two remained lifelong friends in real life.

I give The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt like less is more. While most of the book is written based on Mila’s life, the author takes some liberties, especially at the end of the novel, which were unnecessary. I would have enjoyed the book more if those parts hadn’t been included.

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain {A Book Review}]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=27004 2026-07-12T14:14:57Z 2026-07-12T14:14:57Z This post contains affiliate links. A few years ago, I read The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain and loved it. So, I decided to give another one of her books a whirl, Necessary Lies, and I loved that one just as much! Lucky for me, she has written over 25 books, so there are many […]

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]]> This post contains affiliate links. A few years ago, I read The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain and loved it. So, I decided to give another one of her books a whirl, Necessary Lies, and I loved that one just as much! Lucky for me, she has written over 25 books, so there are many more for me to read!

A book cover with two young girls running through long green fields.

About Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain

Ivy Hart is a 15-year-old girl growing up in North Carolina in 1960. Ivy has had a rough life; she lives in poverty, and both of her parents are gone; she’s raised by her grandma, but it’s more like Ivy is the parent to her grandmother, who doesn’t take good care of her health. Add in Ivy’s 19-year-old mentally impaired sister, Mary Ella, and her young son, and Ivy has her hands full. The only bright spot in Ivy’s life is her boyfriend.

Meanwhile, Jane Forrester has taken her first job as a social worker, and Ivy’s family is on her caseload. One of Jane’s main jobs is to evaluate her clients and determine which ones are good candidates for North Carolina’s Eugenics program–women who had physical issues such as epilepsy or mild mental impairments–were considered good candidates. Ivy had epilepsy, and her sister was mentally impaired.

However, Jane continually irritates her co-workers and boss because she gets too emotionally invested in her clients’ lives, including Ivy’s. She wrestles with the decision to choose women and teens to be sterilized. As she looks at the Hart family and struggles with her decision, she is drawn into their lives and discovers secrets that must come to light.

My Thoughts on the Book

This book completely engaged me and kept me reading. I felt great sympathy for Ivy and her boyfriend. I also felt for Jane, struggling against the opinions of her co-workers and boss, though she clearly crossed the line and became much too enmeshed in her clients’ lives.

I give Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain 5 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.

 

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak {A Book Review}]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=26977 2026-07-03T11:20:53Z 2026-07-03T11:20:53Z This book contains affiliate links. I signed up for a new book club, and they’re going to discuss Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak. I had never heard of the book before, but I got it on audio and was riveted. I loved this book! About Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak The protagonist, Mallory, is 18 […]

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]]> This book contains affiliate links. I signed up for a new book club, and they’re going to discuss Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak. I had never heard of the book before, but I got it on audio and was riveted. I loved this book!

Black book cover with the words Hidden Pictures Jason Rekulak in red, and in the center, an image of the woods at night, with a car's headlights on spotlighting a man digging a hole.

About Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak

The protagonist, Mallory, is 18 months sober after a few years as a heavy drug user. She’s putting her life back together, so when her sponsor lets her know about a live-in nanny job, she’s eager to take it so she can move out of the halfway house she’s living in.

Lucky for Mallory, the family is lovely. Ted and Caroline are thoughtful employers, and their adorable son Teddy is five years old. Teddy is precocious, and he is always drawing pictures. While most of the pictures are basic child drawings of trees, etc., a few terrify Mallory. Those pictures are haunting–a woman being dragged through the forest or a woman being buried.

Mallory is concerned for Teddy and his mental welfare, but Caroline, a psychologist, is not worried. She says Teddy has an imaginary friend, Anya, and the drawings are related to her.

When Mallory finds out a woman was murdered on the property, she begins to wonder if something supernatural is happening in the house. Is the murdered woman’s spirit prompting Teddy to make the drawings? With the help of her new friend, Adrian, Mallory sets out to discover the truth. She is determined to help and protect Teddy, especially since his parents seem unable or unwilling to face the truth.

My Thoughts on the Book

I loved this book on audio, and I appreciated the many twists and turns the story had.

I wasn’t sure if the supernatural was real, but the author added enough details to make me feel like it could be. The twist at the end was completely unexpected, and a bit hard to believe, but I suspended my disbelief.

If you’re looking for a story that will keep you guessing, I recommend this one.

I give Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Mom’s Plans’ scale.

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[My 2026 Spring Cleaning To Do List: Update 3]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=26970 2026-06-22T10:41:14Z 2026-06-22T10:41:14Z Wow, I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the blog for nearly two weeks, but June has been a crazy month. My daughter is taking a 5 week college class, so two times a week, I’ve been driving two hours round trip to take her to class and sitting at the college doing […]

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]]> Wow, I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the blog for nearly two weeks, but June has been a crazy month. My daughter is taking a 5 week college class, so two times a week, I’ve been driving two hours round trip to take her to class and sitting at the college doing work for 4. 5 hours while I wait for her. Add in driving my younger daughter 1 hour round trip to her track practice twice a week, and I’m putting serious miles on my car–over 500 a week for the last two weeks! But class is over this week! Yay!

Still, we’re chugging along on the spring cleaning even though, at the rate I’m going on this spring cleaning to-do list, I’ll be lucky if it’s done by fall. However, I did make good progress in the last few weeks. Here’s the update:

Master Bedroom

  • Changing out winter bedding for spring bedding;
  • Wash winter bedding and put it away (It’s so thick, this will require a warm spring day, which may still be a few weeks out)
  • Clean windows
  • Dust bookshelves
  • Vacuum the entire bedroom (move furniture to get in typically unreached areas)
  • Bring out spring clothes & put away winter ones
  • Clean the closet
  • Buy & install room-darkening curtains.
    Picture of a white curtain where the brace for the curtain rod has publled away from the wall.
    BEFORE

    White curtain on a silver rodd with a spiral at the end.
    AFTER

Master Bathroom

  • Clean the window–All I have left to do to knock out the list for this room!
  • Change out the winter shower curtain & bath mat
  • Clean baseboards and heating vent (Cuddle Bug did this for us, thankfully!)
  • Sweep & mop bathroom
  • Deep clean the tub
  • Change the shower liner

Kitchen

  • Deep clean oven inside and out
  • Clean the refrigerator inside and out (I did half of this.)
  • Sweep and mop the floor
  • Wash all rugs
  • Wipe down cabinet fronts
  • Deep clean the dishwasher
  • Clean the toaster

Living Room

  • Clean the ceiling fan
  • Try to get the acrylic paint out of the carpet (Any suggestions for how to do this?)
  • Clean the windows and put the screens in
  • Vacuum the stairs

Household Maintenance

  • Call the counter company about the crack in the corner of our new(ish) counter
  • A cream and tan patterned kitchen counter with a crack in the corner
  • Call the window company about replacing our screen/storm door that is broken (This was suprisingly expensive to have done professionally, so we’re going to try to DIY it.)
  • Get estimates for having the house power-washed and get it done
  • Have the air conditioner maintained (I made an appointment, but they can’t come out until July.)
  • Change the heater filter
  • Repaint the front door

Car

  • Vacuum Car
  • Wash car mats
  • Install hatchback cover

Landscaping

  • Pull out two small bushes
  • Plant 2 rose bushes where the other bushes were (We pulled out two of the bushes, but the one bush that is still here was too large; we’ll work on that later. The rose bushes are protected by chicken wire because the bunnies will strip the rose bushes clean; it will take a few years before I see roses, I think.) A picture of a sidewalk, landscaping of rose bushes surrounded by wiring, and a porch.
  • Edge the sidewalks and driveway (We decided not to do this.)
  • Put down new wood chips in the landscaping because ours are mostly gone.

Whew. That’s our list, and it’s a big one with our time constraints, so we plan to chip away at it little by little and hopefully have it done by June.

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[A Day in My Life: The Kids Are Almost Grown (but Not Quite) Edition]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=26950 2026-06-10T14:38:56Z 2026-06-10T14:38:56Z I randomly decided to do a day in my life, and then, while I was looking back at previous ones I had done, my last one was almost on the same day three years ago! Life is a lot different from three years ago, but it’s still busy, especially since the day I chose for […]

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]]> I randomly decided to do a day in my life, and then, while I was looking back at previous ones I had done, my last one was almost on the same day three years ago! Life is a lot different from three years ago, but it’s still busy, especially since the day I chose for this day in the life was one of the busiest of the week. If I do another one three years from now, life will be completely different because I’ll probably be an empty nester by then!

6 am–Wake up. No need for an alarm, starting last year, I automatically wake up between 5 and 6 a.m. I don’t mind usually, but now that one of my daughters is regularly working until 10 or 10:30  and we have to go pick her up, I don’t get quite enough sleep. Sometimes I wish I could sleep a bit longer!

6 am–Scroll & read blogs, go downstairs to feed the cats their soft food.

A yellow cat and a gray striped cat curled together with their heads touching.

6:15 am take medicine, brush teeth

6:30 am do Tai Chi (I found this channel on YouTube that has Tai Chi for seniors. It’s only 7 minutes long, and it’s gentle enough for a beginner like me. I’m really enjoying it!)

A woman wearing a loose, black outfit doing Tai Chi

6:45 am–Make and eat breakfast. Today I have a two-egg omelet in a tortilla with cheese as well as an apple topped with plain yogurt, cinnamon, and walnuts.

7:15 am–Drive daughter to school. It’s the last week of school, and she’s so ready to be DONE!

7:30 am–Talk to husband, and fill in my planner and to-do list for the week

8 am–Work. The first thing I do for work is to check our social media accounts and take care of issues. That’s about all I can do this morning before I have to stop because I have an appointment at 9.

8:40 am–Get ready and drive to my appointment

9 am–In my appointment

9:45 am–Drive and get gas (The gas station that has gas 50 cents cheaper than anywhere else was 10 minutes out of my way, but it was worth it to save $5. I paid $3.92 per gallon versus the $4.49 to $4.59 everywhere else.) My daughter has been taking a 5-week speech class at a community college an hour away. We go two days a week, so for this month, I’m having to fill up my tank twice a week.

10:15 am–Get ready for my work meeting

10:30 am–Attend my work meeting

11:15 am–Cook lunch, eat lunch with PB & J Girl, do dishes. I ate a meal that I meal planned this week and love it. PB & J Girl ate a Mediterranean Bowl with chickpeas, veggies, Feta cheese, and a wrap.

A picture of several different meal prepped meals in individual servings

11:50 am–Drive to PB & J Girl’s appointment

12:30 pm–Read The Diamond Eye while she’s in her appointment

1:15 pm–Drive to ice cream shop & order ice cream (I was craving a mint shake!) PB & J Girl got a scoop of Panda Paws and Cannoli. It was a hot, humid day, and ice cream hit the spot!

1:30 pm–Drive to pick up my other daughter from school

2 pm–Wait in the pick-up line! If I come after 2, there’s no where to park, so I have to wait in the road, which I don’t like.

2:20 pm–Talk to her about school and her day

2:40 pm–Wash all of our bedroom windows inside and out, vacuum all of our blinds (so dusty!), take down the falling-down curtain rod and curtains, put in the new supports and put up the new curtain and room darkening curtains, vacuum where our desks were, put our desks back

Picture of a white curtain where the brace for the curtain rod has publled away from the wall.
The bedroom curtain before I started

5:30 pm–Cook dinner and clean the kitchen. Tonight, we had stuffed shells already prepared that I bought from Aldi. They were good, and everyone liked them.

6:15 pm–Eat dinner and talk to family. My husband barely ever has a bad day at work, but he had a bad day and talked about it for awhile.

6:40 pm–Drive daughter to work and drop her off. Her work shifts have been from about 6 to 7 until 10 at night. Not going to lie, I wish they were earlier. She used to have a 4 to 7 p.m. shift that I loved, but alas, now she’s always scheduled later in the day.

7 pm–Stop by Aldi to pick up a few fill-in groceries. Aldi has become my new favorite store! Tonight I picked up bananas, Greek yogurt, avocados for dinner tomorrow night, hummus, and grapes.

7:20 pm–Take a much-needed shower. It was super humid today, and I had to keep letting the warm air in while cleaning the windows, so I was really hot the whole time I was cleaning.

7:40 pm–Read my book, play Wordle, and scroll. One of my daughters introduced me to Wordle, and now I need to play it every day!

8:30 pm–Relax with my husband watching a show until our daughter comes in, and we talk to her about school/life.

9:40 pm–Talk more to my daughter while my husband goes to pick up our other daughter from work

10:15 pm–Talk to our other daughter who just got home from work and then go to bed at 10:30 pm!

That’s it. A very full day in the life with two kids that are mostly, but not quite, grown!

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[My 2026 Spring Cleaning To Do List: Update 2]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=26933 2026-06-04T10:52:59Z 2026-06-03T11:29:24Z Well, here we are on June 4th, and I’m still chugging along on my spring cleaning list. But, one of my goals for this week is to do two items off the list, so I thought I should show you where I’m at before next week. Here’s the update: Master Bedroom Changing out winter bedding […]

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]]> Well, here we are on June 4th, and I’m still chugging along on my spring cleaning list. But, one of my goals for this week is to do two items off the list, so I thought I should show you where I’m at before next week. Here’s the update:

Master Bedroom

  • Changing out winter bedding for spring bedding;
  • Wash winter bedding and put it away (It’s so thick, this will require a warm spring day, which may still be a few weeks out)
  • Clean windows
  • Dust bookshelves
  • Vacuum the entire bedroom (move furniture to get in typically unreached areas)
  • Bring out spring clothes & put away winter ones
  • Clean the closet
  • Buy & install room-darkening curtains (This is partially done. I bought and installed the room-darkening curtains, but they were too heavy for the curtain rod I had, so now I need to take them down, install a new curtain rod, and put them back up.)Picture of a white curtain where the brace for the curtain rod has publled away from the wall.

Master Bathroom

  • Clean the window–All I have left to do to knock out the list for this room!
  • Change out the winter shower curtain & bath mat
  • Clean baseboards and heating vent (Cuddle Bug did this for us, thankfully!)
  • Sweep & mop bathroom
  • Deep clean the tub
  • Change the shower liner

Kitchen

  • Deep clean oven inside and out
  • Clean the refrigerator inside and out (I did half of this.)
  • Sweep and mop the floor
  • Wash all rugs
  • Wipe down cabinet fronts
  • Deep clean the dishwasher
  • Clean the toaster

Living Room

  • Clean the ceiling fan
  • Try to get the acrylic paint out of the carpet (Any suggestions for how to do this?)
  • Clean the windows and put the screens in
  • Vacuum the stairs

Household Maintenance

  • Call the counter company about the crack in the corner of our new(ish) counter
  • A cream and tan patterned kitchen counter with a crack in the corner
  • Call the window company about replacing our screen/storm door that is broken
  • Get estimates for having the house power-washed and get it done
  • Have the air conditioner maintained
  • Change the heater filter
  • Repaint the front door

Car

  • Vacuum Car
  • Wash car mats
  • Install hatchback cover

Landscaping

  • Pull out two small bushes
  • Plant 2 rose bushes where the other bushes were (We pulled out two of the bushes, but the one bush that is still here was too large; we’ll work on that later. The rose bushes are protected by chicken wire because the bunnies will strip the rose bushes clean; it will take a few years before I see roses, I think.) A picture of a sidewalk, landscaping of rose bushes surrounded by wiring, and a porch.
  • Edge the sidewalks and driveway (We decided not to do this.)
  • Put down new wood chips in the landscaping because ours are mostly gone.

Whew. That’s our list, and it’s a big one with our time constraints, so we plan to chip away at it little by little and hopefully have it done by June.

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]]> 0 Melissa <![CDATA[My Goals for Week 35 and a Recap of the Last 8 Months]]> https://www.momsplans.com/?p=26931 2026-06-01T19:16:04Z 2026-06-02T10:15:47Z Only four more months left to accomplish my yearly goals! I’ll let you know how that’s going, but first, here are the goals I want to accomplish this week: My Goals for This Week (Week 35) Walk for 10 minutes 8 times this week Go to the gym 4x this week. Write up two book […]

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]]> Only four more months left to accomplish my yearly goals! I’ll let you know how that’s going, but first, here are the goals I want to accomplish this week:

Blond boy wearing a red cape and red eye mask flexing his arms to show his muscles

My Goals for This Week (Week 35)

  1. Walk for 10 minutes 8 times this week
  2. Go to the gym 4x this week.
  3. Write up two book reviews for the many books I’ve completed this year but haven’t written about.
  4. Study Japanese for 60 minutes this week.
  5. Climb 38 flights on the stair climber.
  6. Complete two items on my spring cleaning list.

A Recap of The First Seven Months’ Accomplishments

We’re almost at the 2/3rds mark for my goals! Here’s where things stand:

1.) Go to the gym regularly (4 to 5x a week) and increase all the weights I’m currently lifting over the next 12 months (Goal=200 times this year).  I went to the gym 8 times in May, 10 times in April, 13 times in March, 12 times in February, only 2 times in January (it was a crazy month!), 8 times in December, 11 times in November, and 16 times in October, so 80 times so far. (40% complete)

2.) Master the stair master and climb 100 flights of stairs. This was on pause for about five months when I injured my knee; I started the year at 6 flights of stairs, and I’ve worked my way up to 33 flights. (33% complete)

Photo of a Stair Master at Planet Fitness gym

3.) Eat 6 to 10 fruits and vegetables a day. This is hit or miss. I definitely have to focus on this more.

4.) Honor my body and all it does for me by learning and practicing intuitive eating. I found a nutritionist who specializes in intuitive eating and have seen her 7x. I am getting the hang of it, slowly but surely.

5.)Do yoga or Tai Chi regularly (Goal=150 times this year). I was failing, but lately I’ve been starting my morning with Tai Chi. Now, if I could get in the habit of doing yoga before bed, I might still complete this goal! I did Tai Chi 10 times in May, 1 time in February, 2 times in January, 5 times in December, and yoga 3 times in November for a total of 21 times (14% complete).

7.) Read 5 books about health/wellness. Oof, failing at this goal. I almost finished Glucose Revolution ,before I had to return it to the library. That’s it!

8.) Study Japanese, or read a book, or do some combination of both for 45 to 60 minutes a day. I’m slowly (very slowly) getting back into my Japanese study, but I’ve been reading up a storm. I finished these books in the last eight months:

Lovely War (review coming soon)
The German Wife (review coming soon)
When the World Fell Silent (review coming soon)
Heartwood,
The Man Who Fell from the Sky
The Housemaid,
The Runaway Sisters,
Yellow Crocus, (review coming soon)
I Can Fix This, (review coming soon)
Nobody’s Girl, (review coming soon)
Mustard Seed, (review coming soon)
Beyond Seven Forests,
The Shining, (review coming soon)
What the Silent Say, (review coming soon)
Homeschooled: A Memoir,
The Correspondent,
The Flower Sisters,
Book of Forbidden Words, (review coming soon)
Necessary Lies, (review coming soon)
The Emancipation of Veronica McAllister, (review coming soon)
Golden Poppies, (review coming soon)
The Changing Lives of Joe Hart, (review coming soon)
The Personal Librarian,
The Second Life of Mirielle West,

 

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