Weekly Summer Link-Up: Why I Blog

I am linking up with Monica at I Heart Grade 3 for the second week of her Weekly Summer Link-Up. These are great because it gets us blogging, they are quick and easy to do, and it is fun reading about everyone's posts each week. She had an AMAZING turnout last week and I cannot wait to see who links up this week. 

This week the topic is "Why I Started Blogging." Like my Teachers Pay Teachers Store, I started my blog about four or five years ago and did not do anything with it until about four months ago. When I originally started it, I wanted to share ideas and tips on my classroom, however, now I am no longer in the classroom. I envision my blog being a way for me to share fun ideas that I did when I taught, things I do at home with my kiddos, and random tidbits about life and things I am passionate about. 

One thing that I absolutely love about blogging is connecting with other teachers, bloggers, and TpTers. There are so many amazingly talented women and men out there and it is just an honor to be working and learning right beside them. Linky parties and blog hops are awesome and a great way to get to know people too. I definitely recommend getting involved in a few. I have met some great blogger friends by doing that. It is very comforting to know that even though we are all competitors, we can work together and provide one another with support, advice, and encouragement. 

Since I have not been doing this for very long, I feel that everything is fairly new to me and I struggle with figuring out how to be a wife and work at home mom, juggle updating my store, creating  products, social media, and blogging. I have lots of ideas, but just struggle with finding the time. Like I mentioned last week, I plan to move to Word Press at some point in the near(ish) future and when I do that I will have a game plan for exactly what my blog will contain and look like. 

That is it for this week! I look forward to linking back up next week for "An Accomplishment I'm Proud Of."  Please don't forget that this Wednesday I am hosting "Winner Wednesday" on my blog. Click {here} to see my post from last month for more information. I hope everyone has a fantastic week.

Weekly Summer Link-Up: My Goals for the Summer

I am linking up with Monica at I Heart Grade 3 for this awesome summer linky. Every week there will be a different topic to blog about and this week is ‘My goals for the summer…’ I am looking forward to being a part of this every week. It will encourage me to post more than once (Five for Friday). Ha!

My to-do list is out. Of. Control. It is a little on the overwhelming side, but going through and organizing it for this post will hopefully help me get a better grasp on what I NEED to do and possibly prioritize things a little bit better.

UPDATE, UPDATE, UPDATE

I have updated several of my products, HOWEVER, there are still a lot of products to go. I want to have everything updated in the next couple of months so that my store is looking exactly how I would like before the new school year.

VEGAS

I cannot believe we have less than fifty days until Vegas. That is crazy. It was not long ago that it seemed in the distant future. Now it will be here before we know it. I have pretty much everything I need for Vegas purchased, except for clothes. I need to go shopping and buy some cute clothes because I am pretty sure yoga pants and tank tops will not be proper attire for the conference. I also need to finish getting donations and doing prep work for the Full-Time on TpT Vegas Meet-Up I am co-hosting. You can RSVP for this event by clicking {here}.

BLOG

I really want to get my blog moved over to WordPress. I am going to try and be patient and wait until after the TpT conference, but it is really hard to do that. Hopefully I can just focus all of my energy on updating my store until then so it can wait. I am hoping that once the new school year starts, I can come up with some better way to consistently blog. I have a ton of ideas on things I can blog about, but I am struggling to find the time.

CREATE NEW PRODUCTS

Like with blogging, I have a long list of new product ideas that I want to create. Once I get my store updated, I will try and start tackling this list. Creating new things is so much fun and I cannot wait to be able to focus my energy on this section.

FIND A HEALTHY BALANCE

I have only been doing TpT for about four months (since taking a four year break) and I am really struggling with trying to find a schedule that works best for me and my family. One of my goals this summer is to try and find a healthy balance of everything. Working from home is hard. I have not done a great job with juggling everything, and I hope to figure out something in the near future.

FAMILY TIME

I would love to create a schedule for my girls with activities that we can do throughout the summer. We still have music and swim, but school and other classes are off for the summer. I envision having a craft day, a field trip day, a water day, etc. I think that Molly would love this and it will keep all of us sane for the next couple of months. 

That is all I have for the moment. I am sure as soon as I press 'publish' I will think of three more things I can add to my list. :) Head back over to Monica's blog to check out what all the other teachers have for their summer goals. Check back next week for 'Why I started blogging.'