i cancelled my internet! I havent had internet since march and I'm just using it at public places.
I dont have even basic cable. and havent for lik 6 years. So this summer I'm going to have no internet or tv at my house and I'm going to focus more on real life.
This summer i want to get organized. get rid of things i dont need. start in indoor worm compost. save money. and read a lot about sex and sex education. take entrepreneurship workshops with the intention of starting my own business. graduate school... get a part time job. learn to keep my cool. and lots more.

I like summer goals! I'm going to be working at an awesome internship and I want to feel really successful there. I'd also like to teach Cae to swim and go camping. I will be moving to a bigger apartment in the same building, but I want to have it organized really nicely. I want to spend more time reading than I do online and get into a good parenting groove with my SO who is moving in this June. Also I want to learn how to track my cycle with the VERY eventual goal of using that for birth control. Me and hormonal birth control have had a very strained relationship and I would like to terminate it!

Well, I'm going to be training all summer to volunteer at our women's resource center (for domestic violence, sexual assault, it's a women's shelter,etc). I'm taking 12 credits(3 classes) the second summer semester and I'm thinking of taking 1 class(4 credits) the 1st half. I want to make some money to actually save.
I'n also going to do a garden. I want to get in shape and bike and work everyday. I also want to maybe do something creative- write or make some art- at the very least I'd like to read a lot. Maybe start a blog or start dancing. I don't know.
I also want to teach my 4 yr old- Makena how to swim.
I want to have time to make good food. And I want to organize my house, get rid of a lot of stuff. And I really want to travel some.

Momnipotent, do you have a recipe for homemade sunscreen? I never even considered that it would be something you could make.

My big goal for the summer is to treat the kids' vacation from school as if it were a homeschool semester. I want to see if homeschooling is something that I should be working towards or if I really am not oraganized, patient, and healthy enough to sustain it. So lesson plans, field trips, making learning fun, all that stuff.

My other goal is to make a family vacation happen. We've never had a real family vacation that wasn't around somebody else's schedule. It's just going to be a cabin at the lake a few hours away, but it should be fun.

Most of my huge goals will be coming after September, once all three of my kids are in school and I can go back to focusing on what I want to be doing.

These are some great goals mamas! Got me all inspired for the summer!

CanadianMamma, A friend sent me these recipes after we were talking about trying to get away from chemical sunscreens but how expensive it is. She hasn't tried them yet though herself, she got them from a friend too. So I heard about it from a friend of a friend on mine. LOL! Here they are.

Better Basic Sunblock Formula

a.. 2 1/2 ounces sesame oil
b.. 1 1/2 ounces of cocoa butter
c.. 1/2 ounce beeswax
d.. 4 ounces distilled water
e.. 2 tablespoons zinc oxide (available from herbalists such as Jean's Greens, 315-845/6500; you may also substitute titanium dioxide for zinc oxide, since it has similar properties)
f.. 25 drops grapefruit seed extract (as a preservative; available in health food stores)
Melt the oils and beeswax in a double-boiler over medium heat. Remove from the heat, add the water, and mix with an electric handheld mixer until thick and creamy. Add the zinc oxide and preservatives. Makes 1 cup.

Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Shelf Life: 6 months
Storage: Glass jar with screw top

Fridge Sunscreen

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil
1 Tablespoon Shea Butter
1/2 Teaspoon Jojoba Oil
1/2 Teaspoon Aloe Vera Gel
2 Teaspoons Titanium Dioxide

Mix all the oils and butters together then stir in the titanium dioxide. The mixture may become runny when you add the TD but it will set up overnight. Store in a tightly covered container. This has the consistency of butter at room temperature. Keep in the refrigerator during the summer months if your house is warm as the coconut oil will become liquid at around 75 degrees.

___________________________
"The words are being spoken now, are being written down; the taboos are being broken, the masks of motherhood are cracking through." Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born

The sunscreen sounds really awesome Momnipotent! We make our own lotion and some of my face care products at home.

As far as my goals for the summer:
-get organized!
-start back to school
-figure out where we are going to be located
-have girls swimming daily and outside
-READ more than just gossip magazines
-oh and did I mention get rid of clutter and CLEAN things?!

I have a bad habit of saving things but it is getting better

My summer goals:

-Organze my kids room
-Organize my room
-Read something besides school books!
-Start jogging again
-Pass my math class

I like reading y'all's goals! I've stolen some from you guys.

Mine:
- Garden/grow more veggies
- Organize my home really well so that it won't get messy as easily when the new baby comes (this includes getting rid of stuff)
- Regular pre-natal yoga
- Get my portfolio and resume ready for job applications
- Make/mend more clothing
- Write more
- Figure out the money/find work I can do over the summer and with the brand new baby
- Write letters with Finn
- Find a fun soccer league for preschoolers and sign Finn up
- Relax/enjoy pregnancy
- Cook more fun meals
- Spend plenty of QT time with Finn before the new baby comes

Oh I need this!

I want to:

Do my laundry more regularly
Get a 4.0 in summer school
Finish my trainings and start volunteering at out local Planned Parenthood Teen Clinic
Spend time outdoors
Swim as much as possible
Get a pole and learn how to pole dance for fitness
Get in shape
Ride my bike everyday (I already do this, but am worried that it will be harder in summer because kids summer camp is right across from my school but too far for all of us to bike together)
Camp
Move into my new house and get a garden
Fill up my gas tank only once every two weeks
Hike
Go to the beach
stop eating meat again

So I was thinking of this thread earlier, checked it, and realized I accomplished only a few of these goals. Niiice. Ahh well, I definitely did lots of other new things that I'm proud of, and that was mostly the point anyways.

I didn't acomplish the treat the summer like a homeschooling trial run goal at all. I ended up being so frazzled this summer that I barely had any downtime. I had a part time babysitting gig thrust in my lap and every Monday and Friday had between 6 and 7 kids in my home, so a lot of the summer was spent orgnaizing and trying to figure out how to accomplish anything while meating the needs of that many kids.

The vacation goal worked out and really well. We had an awesome time and everything went so well. I'm really happy that we were able to do that for the kids.

I did about 2/3rds of them. It's fun to check in with this thread, and see what I was thinking earlier this summer and where I'm at now.