🍓 Amazing science videos, a Workflowy update, Free menu planning forms, Strawberry Cake Recipe
Intentional Inspirations Newsletter - 7/16/23
It has been a few weeks since I have been able to sit down and write a newsletter to you! This summer is flying by. While I was hoping it would be a little less busy, it has been a good summer so far and for that I am thankful.
The flowers in the picture above are from my parent’s back yard. They have turned their front and back yard into a flower garden. They are so pretty! My two daughters and I had a tea party with my mom yesterday, and afterwards they took us out to see the flowers and let the girls cut a jar full to take home. God’s creation is so amazing!
Below I have some fun things for you — I share a little update on how it is going using Workflowy, some amazing science videos and resources, the link to download some menu planning forms, and a yummy Strawberry Cake recipe. So scroll on down and check those out!
Before I close, I wanted to mention again about a unique work from home opportunity that I am giving a try. I created a Band group where I am sharing updates on how it is going. It is not a “get rich quick” kind of thing, but if you are willing to do a little work and be patient, it may provide a little extra income to help with expenses. You can join the Band group here to follow along with me.
Praying each of you have a blessed day! God is good!
Our kids came home one night after youth group and shared about this really neat science video they watched in youth group that night. They found it on Youtube and shared it with all of us. It was so good! It was a video by Dr. Jason Lisle at Biblical Science Institute. So I went and found their website and their Rumble channel where you can view all their videos. If you go to their website, they have quite a few amazing creation science resources. The videos would be great to add to your homeschool science studies! Enjoy!
Workflowy Update
Since it has been a while since I shared about beginning to use Workflowy again, I thought I’d give a little update. As I use it more I am adjusting and changing things to make it my own. Above is a screenshot of my homepage. I have it in “Board” view so it is nicely organized across the screen. I love this! I’ll briefly explain each of the sections:
TIMELINE: This is a timeline with each day’s date having its own bullet. That way I can put upcoming events, to do’s, etc., under the appropriate day. The items for the current day are moved over under the TODAY section, then that date is deleted under the TIMELINE.
TODAY: At the top of my TODAY section I have a section for my habits. Right now I am tracking the water I drink, taking my vitamins, and exercise. It is just a good reminder at the top to remind myself to keep these a priority each day. Then under the Habits section, I have sections for Morning, Afternoon, and Evening. This is how I loosely organize my day. Each evening I will sit down and look at the items in the Timeline for the next day and move them over to Today under the proper time of day. This helps me plan out the next day and prepares me the night before for what needs to be accomplished the following day. Some of these items stay on Today, so I mark them complete when I complete them, then at the end of the day I “uncomplete” them so they are ready for the next day. Items that are weekly, monthly type to do’s are moved over to the Timeline to the next date that to do needs to be done.
CAPTURE: This section has some different things. One thing I will use this section for is for any major project I am working on. In Workflowy you can “mirror” an item so while I may have a project detailed out under my REFERENCE section under one of those topics, it is mirrored under CAPTURE so I can easily find it and check things off as I get them done. Another use for this section is to house my “Closed Backlog”. Basically this is a short list of maybe 5-8 items that I want to accomplish. These are top priority things that need to be done before anything else right now. I choose the items, then pick a “reward” for myself after completing them all. Once I decide on the items, I will “close” this backlog so that NOTHING else can be added. The goal of this practice is to motivate you to work on these items when you can, knowing that you have a reward waiting when you get it all done. You then save those backlogs when completed as a way to celebrate all you have accomplished. The last use for this Capture section is to have a place to jot down something that I don’t have a place for. This could be a random task that you remembered needed to be done, something you want to research, a Bible verse you really like, etc. You can even use this section to journal what happened throughout the day. Then at the end of the day you can put all those entries together and save them under the day’s date in another location.
REFERENCE: The last section is where I have a place for every area of my life. Every task I do, every project, etc. should fit into one of these categories. This is where you can just house information on different things, put to do items that are not time sensitive, etc. Then you can go to this Reference section when you are creating a new Closed Backlog to see what items you want to include. You can also use this Reference section to add things to your Timeline. Maybe there are activities with the kids you want to plan, so you decide to put something on the Timeline. I will show you below what I am using my Learning & Spiritual section for!
I wanted to show you what I created for some of my cleaning tasks. I have written about Loop Scheduling before, so I thought I would use this concept in Workflowy. I created a very basic list of cleaning tasks that need to be done every week or so and created a loop. This Cleaning Loop will stay in the Afternoon area of my Today section. Once I complete the cleaning task at the top of the list, I move it to the bottom. Then the next day I do the task at the top, move it to the bottom, and so forth. If my day gets busy and I don’t have time to do a cleaning task that day, it will sit there and be ready for the next day. I am considering doing my homeschool planning on Workflowy, and if I do I may use some loop scheduling for that as well. I’ll share another time if I decide to do that.
Above is a screenshot of my LEARNING & SPIRITUAL topic under my REFERENCE section. This will expand as I add more things, but for now I have a place to keep some Bible study notes, notes on books I am reading, a place to house some “how to do” instructions that I don’t want to forget, and a place to keep books that I have on Workflowy. There are authors that actually write their books in Workflowy and then sell access to them, so you actually read them in Workflowy. It is really kind of neat because if they have any updates to the book, they update it on their end and it automatically updates it in your Workflowy account. I have a few books here and I just needed a place to put them so I can find them easily. So I decided to put them under my LEARNING & SPIRITUAL topic.
Have I convinced you to give Workflowy a try yet? If you like making lists or just need somewhere to do a brain dump and get it organized, Workflowy may be for you!
I’d love to hear some feedback on how you guys are using Workflowy, if you decide to give it a try. Or if you are an experienced Workflowy user, please share in the comments your experience and how you are using it! I would love to hear your ideas and learn new ways to use this amazing tool!
UPDATE!! Videos through Lesson 6 has been added to this post!
Check out this new post on my website! Pastor Dean Good is the brother of an online friend, and he began a series over the summer that you won’t want to miss! This post has all the details, as well as the series notes to download! There is no better time that now to dig into God’s Word to know and understand what it says!
Download these free menu planning forms! I provide several different border options to give a variety. Enjoy!
Check out this yummy single-serve Strawberry Cake! It is sugar-free, gluten-free, and low fat! Enjoy!
Just a quick reminder that you can find all my weekly newsletters archived over on Substack here. Feel free to click on over and browse through past newsletters and posts. If your Inbox gets overloaded, you can always just go to my Substack page to find them.
Praying for each of you, that you are finding your rest, your hope, your strength, in Jesus alone!
Take care. Don't fear. Trust God!
Blessings,
Sheri
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