Goals

It seems so cliche to write down New Years Resolutions.
I've never actually done it before (that I can remember).
I always figured that people that have New Years Resolutions are bound to fail.
This year just feels different for me for some reason. I feel like it's a brand new start, and a fresh year to reinvent myself and my life. I have a good feeling about this year, and I hope it goes well.
I don't have any high, unrealistic hopes for magically transforming myself or my body this year.
I have some (hopefully) attainable goals that I hope to achieve before this time next year.
I want to keep myself accountable, and by having them here I can easily refer back to them. Although, I am considering writing them down in my awesome planner that I have started for this year. That will make it easier for me to see them and refer back to them.

Here they are:

• Read the entire Bible front to back. (I actually started the "Read the Bible in 90 days" back in December and hope to finish that in the next 2 months.)
• Be a better steward of our money the Lord has entrusted us with. (I've laid out a budget for this year, and I hope to stick to it every month)
• Document this year in a scrapbook (I've started Project Life for this year and have already gotten the first week, including a special insert of our anniversary trip, documented)
• Finish Paul's baby book (I can't believe there is only 4 more months to go before he is a year old!!)
• Make smarter food choices (I'm not going to set myself up for failure by following some strict diet that will only last me a week. I want to make better choices everyday for my overall health and for my children so they will be making healthy choices in food as well.)
• Lose 25 lbs. (This is my only goal that I am hesitant to write down. I need to lose a significant amount more than that. But, I know that if I could lose 25 lbs by this time next year, I would feel a lot better about myself.)
• Do a load of laundry at least once every other day (This includes putting away. I can wash and dry clothes every day. But I always wait until it's a mountain full of laundry to put away before I fold anything. This leads to being overwhelmed and it gets put on the back burner. In fact, today I have a mountain of clothes I need to fold....)
• Go on a date with my husband at least once a month (It's easy to let our relationship as a couple fall by the wayside when we are so busy with raising Children. I do not want us to end up like the couples who raise their children and sit across from the table at one another and see a stranger. I married my best friend and I have to always remember that we need time ALONE. I would really like to have a date night once a week, but for right now I am setting a more reachable goal for myself in an attempt to avoid failure.)
• Go to bed with a clean kitchen (I won't say how often, because I know that it won't be all the time. But I want to make a more conscious effort to clean the kitchen and pick up the toys from the living room BEFORE I go to bed. I find that my day just goes better if I enjoy a cup of coffee in a clean kitchen)
• Make up my bed every day (During the week, I normally make the bed everyday. This also helps to make my day smoother and helps me be motivated to clean the house. I rarely, if ever, make up the bed on the weekends. I usually don't do much of any housework on the weekends in order to spend time with my hubby when he is home. I want to start making up the bed every day and being motivated to keep a more tidy house.)
• Be more hospitable (I want to invite more people over to our home to share a meal, dessert, or coffee. I just want to be more hospitable, and my husband wants us to have more people over as well.)
• Stay at home often (This helps with our budget big time. I know that when I drive around a lot it costs us a huge chunk of change in gas money. Not including the fact that when I drive places, I tend to spend more money whether it be on fast food, or just shopping. If I stay home, I save money and my sanity)
• Organize at least one thing a month (I've got a list of areas of the house that need organizing, and that need new methods of organizing. I hope to complete one task every month. I also hope to blog about this with before and after pictures.)
• Utilize my planner (I wrote in my planner every day, only missing a few, for last year. It is so neat to be able to go back and see what we were doing last year and all the little details. I ordered me a personalized planner to use for this year and I hope to use it as well as I did last year, and even better. I am a list maker, and it's great for listing weekly goals and such.)
• Journal about life (I have been better about blogging the last few months. I hope to continue this trend. It's so neat for me personally to go back and read my old posts. I purchased a five-year journal from Amazon and I hope to use that to record life everyday, along with my scrapbook. I started the boys a journal about 6 months ago, and I hope to write in it at least a few times this year. It will be something that I will hopefully be able to keep up and give to them when they move away from home.)
• Maintain a tidy home (I want to be better about picking things up off the floor than I have in the past. I tend to let toys pile up till I can't stand it anymore. Or clothes.... laundry anyone?)

This all reminds me that I've got a mountain of laundry awaiting me and boys that are both napping. So, I'm off.
Till next time,
Me