Goals seems more attainable to me than resolutions. Goals have objectives that can help you achieve the end result, resolutions seem more like promises not to do something. So I am setting goals for the next year, some are blog related and some are more personal...so here goes.
* Develop a plan for blogging. Most days what you read is something that I thought about 4 minutes before and decided to write about it. I am a pretty organized person and would like to plan and organize the blog better so I can quit blogging so much just by the seat of my pants.
* Become more organized in my overall life. I am not just talking about knowing where whatever item we are looking for is or eliminating the clutter. I want to *plan* and organize our lives better. Those who know me well know that I am a planner but I want to get better at it. I want to plan out our dinner menus for at least 2 weeks, preferably a month so I can know what I need and stop the last minute (expensive) store trips.
* Staying with dinner theme, I want to get more creative. I want to try new things and feed my family new dishes. I am very picky but want to broaden our horizons on the dinner front. So if anyone has a food blog that may help in this area feel free to share it. But, it has to be budget friendly too, I can't spend $25 just to make dinner and since we are limited in our shopping options you have to be able to get everything from Wal-Mart.
* Sticking with food again, I want to lower our grocery bill a bit more, I'd like to get down to $275 per month for groceries. I plan to plant a garden this Spring/Summer to help lower costs.
* Since I frequently play "the drug store game" I'd like to start sharing more of the things I get for free or cheap. Donating bath and body products to the mission or churches to distribute.
* I want to do something (sans children) with my husband once a month. It could be as simple as lunch and perusing Lowe's (yah, I enjoy Lowe's) or dinner...nothing fancy. Just a meal where no one spills juice and the only food cut up is our own. In the summer we may go to the lake alone or on a scenic drive, just something We get so busy in our day to day lives that we sometimes forget to make time for each other. We are trying to be great parents to the 2 beautiful kids we have created that we forget to nurture the relationship that created those great kids. By the way, in order to make this goal possible I am now accepting free babysitting services...just kiddin'...sorta.
* Try to plan at least one family outing per month that is something new or different for our kids. A new museum, a trip to our State Capital, a train ride, trip to the fire station....ect. Something we can all do together that doesn't involve ipods, Nintendo DS or any other electronic device. Hopefully this will allow us to spend more time together and expose our munchkins to new things.
* Send at least one hand written note to someone every month, to someone for something. Whether just a note to a child hood friend or a thank you or I'm thinking of you for someone.
* Re-do both of my kiddos rooms for less than $300 each. Our 7 year old has declared that she is too old for the Princess room she has had for the last 5 years. She wants a Paris themed room, we have started looking at options today. She needs a room that serves her better too, with a desk and reading area. Our 4 year old is dying for a Princess room. I plan several DIY projects in each room to help lower the total cost and we can recycle some of the older ones things for the younger ones room. Feel free to share any ideas that may work in either child's room : )
* Learn how to say NO! I love helping out and volunteering but I need to decide what is important to me and commit to those activities and say no to those that are not as important to me at this time. Currently, I serve as PTSO President, volunteer at my kids school (a lot), coach a soccer team, serve on the Board of Directors for our soccer league, serve as a 4-H club leader, assist as a religious education teacher at our church, attend the meetings and assist when needed for the ladies group at our church....and a few other things. Between all of that, being a wife and mom I find myself way too stressed sometimes!
* Teach at least 50 people how to coupon. Couponing has drastically changed our lives and I want to teach others how to change their lives and bank account through couponing!
* This last one is difficult for me, it is extremly
Thankfully for me, my mom never even considered the new way to "take care of it" and made many sacrifices to raise me as a single mom. My mother and father never spoke again, when I was 2 she met and later married the man I called Dad, my step-father. But, there has always been this feeling of angst in me and a desire to know my father. Now that I have kids it is not only a desire to know him and possibly have him know them but also the medical side of things, I only know 3/4 of our kids medical history. Our oldest has a seizure disorder and I wonder if that came from my father? Or is cancer common in his family? heart disease? diabetes? There is the emotional aspect of just wanting to know who you are and where you came from. The scary part is the possibility of being rejected (again), will he want to talk to me, meet me, introduce me to his older children? Has he wondered who I have become over the last 31 years or have I never crossed his mind...I need these questions answered or at least I need to try to get them answered. This is something I've wanted to do for a while, my husband has always been very supportive even though he doesn't really understand since he *knows* his parents. I just need to get the courage the start this journey so putting it out there will hopefully help me start this journey.
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