Motivation Monday: My Goals from time period ending July 17th

So I'm a week late writing this post... so much for motivation, huh? 

Actually, I did very well on the goals I had set for the two weeks ending July 17.  Here they are from my post of July 4th:

1. Finish reading one of my family history books that I have started.
2. Put the Harrell research I have done (and which is currently spread across my desk) in order, fill out family group sheets and research logs, scan documents related to the Harrells, and enter information found into my software program.
3. Find and scan some documents that are missing from a surname notebook I was scanning from during ScanFest.
4. Scan and stitch three very long pictures I have of my mother's days at summer camp and her high school graduation.  
5. Plan two trips:  

• The first for September during which my mother and I will drive "The Journey Through Hallowed Ground" corridor (in reverse) from Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson near Charlottesville, Virginia, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with several Civil War and other historical sites in between.
• The second trip will be in October when I will join a friend in North Carolina, and we will drive on up to research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for a couple of days.  I am in charge of the lodging arrangements, but more importantly, I have got to "get my ducks in a row" as to exactly what I need to research there!  I need to go prepared.

So here's how I ended up:

1.  I did NOT finish reading the book.  I swear every time I start reading it, I fall asleep.  Not that I think my family is boring, but the book is a little dry with all the names and dates.  I'm still slogging my way through it; I think I only have a couple of chapters left.
2. Not only did I get the Harrell research organized, scanned, and entered into Family Tree Maker, but I also did the Odom research the same way and fixed a fancy notebook to file the information in!
3. Done.
4. There were several more than three pictures, it turns out, but I did get them all scanned and stitched with my Flip-Pal.  Some of the pictures took 21 individual scans!
5. The trip from Charlottesville, Virginia to Gettysburg is planned with hotel accommodations made.  When it is closer to time, I will also book tours, etc.  Since a lot of the places we are going to visit are federal parks, Mom and I are keeping an eye on the government budget situation.  Our trip will be a bust if the federal government shuts down, along with the historical battlefields! AND... The motel is booked for the trip to NARA in D.C.  I have time before I need to plan the actual research I'm going to do.

I also got my scrapbooking room cleaned up.  I haven't been in there since, but it's clean!

So I had to go light on my goals for the next two week period ending July 31, since I am going to the beach for 5 days the end of this week.  There are only two... and I haven't even started on them!

1. Read another genealogy book that I recently purchased:  Trace Your Roots with DNA:  Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and Ann Turner.
2. Follow up on 23andme matches I received through my DNA testing.  

 I have a feeling these items are going to make it on the next goal list!

Motivation Monday: My Genealogy Goals

It has occurred to me lately that if I had a full-time job, I would probably get a lot more genealogy and scrapbooking done.  Let me explain.  I'm a homemaker.  That has been my job title for the past four-and-a-half years.  I'm happy with my position.  However, you would think that I have plenty of time to get lots of genealogy research and scrapbooking done.  Not so.  Oh, I have plenty of time at my disposal, but I do not manage my time well.  I think if I had a full-time job outside the home, I would be more organized, productive, and motivated to get things done.  Having less time would make me more efficient.

Since I do not wish to get a job (and probably could not in the current state of the economy), I have been looking for ways to get motivated.  Several weeks ago, I saw where bloggers Jenny Lanctot of Are my Roots Showing? and Laura of It's All Relative had formed a Genealogy Success Team.  I thought this was a good idea and wished I had gotten in on it. 

I have a "local" genealogy friend that I compare research stories with and travel to conferences and seminars with.  So I asked her if she would be interested in forming our own "Genealogy Success Team."  She was, but our schedules have been such that we haven't been able to get together to make our first weeks' list of goals.

The other night I was Skyping with another genealogy friend, and during the course of our conversation, I told her about the Team and setting goals.  She was very interested so we proceeded to make our lists of goals right then and there.  (Who says I can't have two teams - or two lists of goals??  Or that my local friend can't just jump in when she's able?)  We are going to work on a bi-weekly schedule, so I have set the following goals to complete by Sunday, July 17th:

1. Finish reading one of my family history books that I have started.
2. Put the Harrell research I have done (and which is currently spread across my desk) in order, fill out family group sheets and research logs, scan documents related to the Harrells, and enter information found into my software program.
3. Find and scan some documents that are missing from a surname notebook I was scanning from during ScanFest.
4. Scan and stitch three very long pictures I have of my mother's days at summer camp and her high school graduation.  
5. Plan two trips:  

• The first for September during which my mother and I will drive "The Journey Through Hallowed Ground" corridor (in reverse) from Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson near Charlottesville, Virginia, to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with several Civil War and other historical sites in between.
• The second trip will be in October when I will join a friend in North Carolina, and we will drive on up to research at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. for a couple of days.  I am in charge of the lodging arrangements, but more importantly, I have got to "get my ducks in a row" as to exactly what I need to research there!  I need to go prepared.

I also made a goal with a scrapbooking friend to clean up our respective scrap rooms well enough that someone could actually sit down and crop, if they wished, by this Friday, July 8th.  So far, I have only spent 15 minutes in that room, so I have some work to do this week.

Gotta go get busy!