Accountability anyone...some realistic goals for 2005?
I wanted to start a thread to look back on...see how the activity level is... On plans or hopes for a New Year. Kinda seperate from everything else, and to look back on thru the year, and pull up next year to laugh, gasp or cry about. 
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Well I guess I should post mine.
This year is more changes in store. We are looking again at adopting again, which means moving (selling my dream home). That is all a big maybe stage.
More realistic hopes/goals.
*to lower my cholesteral thru exercise and fiber
*to begin some type of savings for the kidlets future
*to take at least one class for me
*(spiritual) work on my Martha attitude, really would like more of Mary's heart.
*to de-clutter more
*organize shed
*finish back patio or move
*begin Meals on Wheels again.
*sew more...this is a big one. I really miss sewing.
AnneP.
A child enters your home and makes so much noise you can hardly stand it--then departs, leaving the house so quiet you think you'll go mad. -Dr. J.A. Holmes
I had in mind to start a similar thread...
But mine is more about priorities in life, not specific goals for the year. I think I'll start a separate thread for that. My goal for this year is to get through the state standardized test with my 8yo DD!! LOL! I'll meet that goal in April, whatever the outcome. I'd also like to stay within budget while putting aside in an emergency savings fund (Freedom Account, for those who follow Mary Hunt).
We are all thinking alike!
I had been looking forward to taking some time today to reflect on accomplishments and goals. Never one to do things halfway, I brainstormed tons of big and little goals, then reviewed my important roles in life, then thought of what I wanted to do in each of those areas, then came up with a list of 25 goals related to those things. Then, so as not to make myself totally insane, I put a star by the 10 I really want to address.
So here they are:
1. Establish a regular prayer time for specific intentions
2. Exercise aerobically for 3 hrs./wk (right now I'm at 1-2 hrs.) and do stretching/strength exercise for 1 hr./wk)
3. Plan at least 1 special activity with DH and DD5 every month (separately).
4. Start a .Mac account to share digital photos, films, etc. more easily with family.
5. Organize 3 teas for friends.
6. Begin taking notes on screenplay idea involving certain French Enlightenment figure (this has been something I have thought about for years)
7. Stay in contact with old friends (2 in particular) on a regular basis. (E-mail with one at least 2x/mo., see the other at least every 2 mos.)
8. Participate in at least one DFL party activity (e.g., caucuses).
9. Start saving for private high school
10. Do informational interviews and web research on starting research-oriented business
I also did a quick assessment of what I need to acheive these goals. Top of the list: Adequate Sleep!!!
Shaun
Wow
Oh wow Shaun! I am really impressed! You treated that like your dissertation or something.
Mine are pretty lame compared to that, but here goes:
1. Exercise 5 days a week or so
2. Watch what I eat
3. Try to not let stress about the housework, etc. spoil my enjoyment of my family. I am a true SHE, (perfectionistic) in that regard.
4. Get together with my friends more! Which is difficult now that I am working, but I know still important.
Good luck everyone!
Andrea
Wow
You guys are good. After the totally lousy year we had, I've got some pretty practical goals in mind for 2005:
Run our local 10K in June
Live more in the moment and less in the future
Try (hard) to appreciate DS14's individuation process and give him more love, acceptance, and trust and less trying to control him
30 pounds lost by July 29th (this is very negotiable, I just want to be fit and healthy)
Have private time with DH at least once a week because he is my best friend and I never get to see him anymore
Remember that if I don't care properly for myself, I can't care properly for anyone else
There. That should do it.
We need to remember to bring this thread back up once a month or so, to remind us...
Peace friends,
-Jo
Hmmm...
Since I actually got the kids to bed semi-early, I came on here for once! Mine aren't that far thought out, but here goes:
- Get through the year, or at least to Caleb's first birthday, day by day...and try not to get overwhelmed in the process
- Have fun with DD2 and make sure some of it is just her and me
- Have more dates with DH (shouldn't be hard, more could be as little as 3 a year at this point!)
- Turn the TV off more often
- Enjoying the "now" and not looking back or ahead with longing
- Accepting, no, CHERISHING the things God has given me instead of taking them for granted and even wanting more; I have more than most and I should be happy just at that. I need to tune out the media with all it's "must-have's."
- Accept myself and my capabilities as a wife and mother. I know I'm probably not as bad as I think, but I fall into that trap way too much.
- Try not to get pregnant, AGAIN...(just in case there are those trying to get pregnant, I know how difficult it can be because my sister has been struggling for over 2 years now and I've had 2 suprise pregnancies during that time. I feel deeply for you and I understand you'd give anything to be in my shoes right now. But for me, on the other hand, 3 kids would just be more than I can handle right now, and for whatever reason, I have been blessed so far with children and I just don't need another one right now, though it would be loved just like the others if it did happen.)
- pray more and spend time reading the bible
Deb
My goals
1) Knit more for myself. Last year I must have knit two dozen things and I only got 3. And one of them I did the last two days of 2004 (a small merino scarf to pin under my coat collar). So for every thing I knit for other people I'm going to knit something for myself. And things for the house count as things for me.
2) Get more exercise. I need to walk more. I have a treadmill. I have no excuses. I even have my beloved books on tape. I just need to put on my current Aubrey/Maturin book and start walkin'. I'm following the recommendations of the local fibromyalgia research center and doing 3 minutes 3x/day, then 5 minutes after a week 3x, then 10 minutes 2x, then 15 minutes 2x. Wish me luck.
3) Limit the girls' TV. I've always been an anti-TV mom but I've had a lot of work to do lately and it's easy to slip into TVland if you're not careful.
4) Destash the yarn and fabric I don't really love and get the remainder organized so I can find things. Right now it's all scattered over three floors and the basement, where I'd like to keep it, is a wreck. I want it to be a fiber studio with my sewing machine, table loom and drum carder set up 24/7. So my goal is to have that done by summer.
5) Set a routine and stick to it with the girls. It's way past time and I'm tired of feeling guilty about it. This is the most ambitious of my goals because I have NEVER gotten myself into a routine. Ever. No matter how hard I've tried. So I'm just going to try to break it into baby steps and keep plugging and not listen to negative people tell me it's too late for my girls let alone me.
6) Be more spiritually observant, which means for me being much more attuned to the rhythms of nature. Which goes back to that whole routine thing...
Lynn Siprelle, Editor
My resolutions
I have continual self-improvement projects going on all year long, so I don't usually try to start anything new around New Years, I'm already making these kinds of resolutions all year long. That being said, two new resolutions of mine happened to coalece right before New Years, so I can call them New Years Resolutions if I want to.
The first is to buy, if I must buy something, from "green" and "blue" companies. Green companies are, of course, those who have sustainable environmental practices. It's admirable when companies would rather not pollute than make a bigger profit margin. Blue companies are those that do this too, as well as sound policies on worker's rights, fair trade practices, corporate transparency, DON'T have their stuff manufactured in other countries where they're not paying the people living wages, etc. (Many companies will, of course, be both blue and green so what, I wonder, would that color be?) I might as well patronize business that share my values and stop spending money at businesses that are actually hurting the environment and economy. Why didn't I do this sooner, I ask myself? I mean, I do shop at natural food stores, that's buying green and blue, but for the rest of the stuff, I just wasn't paying attention.
The second is to list the home improvements I want to do in the next few years, prioritize them, and make a plan of action for each one. A brief and incomplete list (hey it's a start)
This winter and spring:
Paint DD's room and bathroom
Bookshelves for the front room (make or buy unfinished)
Breakfast nook for the kitchen (buy unfinished)
New dining room table set and china cabinet
Cabinets and a new vanity for the "white" bathroom
Put up mirrors in the right spots and remove mirrors from the wrong spots in the house.
Put up the bedside shelves in the guest bedroom (wall shelves level with the bed with hula skirt skirting around the edges to match the Polynesian theme)
Remove the strange, unfinished storage shelving in my office, paint the walls, and get a workstation set up
Redesign the vegetable garden into a more efficient and non-muddy layout
Create an herb garden out of the quarter circle flower bed in the back yard (this means moving two rose bushes and a hydrangea bush)
Plant some roses that will produce usable rosehips
Shingle the shed in the back yard
Put up new privacy planting to replace the ones we cut down this winter because they were dying or choking the fruit trees
and so on...
______
May The Hair On Your Toes Never Fall Out
--Traditional Hobbit Blessing
So much to do, only a year to do it
To keep the house cleaner (this one is the same every year, isn't it?)
To ride the horses more (any riding at all is more)
To do at least 2 sewing projects a month
To lose 10 pounds and tone up a little (another every year one)
To have a terrific garden and actually keep up with it.
To keep up with the yard work and all the mowing around the place better
To read the Bible (never gotten past Exodus)
To read one book per month (The North and South Trilogy, All the Lord of the Rings books and the new Harry Potter when it comes out in July are on that list)
To learn to play my guitar and to get over my fear of singing with an audience (that is, besides my kids)
To dig some more out of credit card debt.
To potty train Chance (HA!!!)
To teach Chance to talk.
To teach Shelby to sew
To teach Ch'ree to read better
To be more attentive to my husband (ok that should probably be farther up on the list. But this is in no particular order anyway, just random thoughts)
To scrapbook more. ALOT more. Lots of scrapbooking!!!
To write my life story. I want to preserve all my childhood memories and thoughts. I want to type all this out in my computer with pictures (lots of pictures!!!) thoughout. This for me be pass down to my children and their children (until the day when Works format is obsolete and replaced by new technology and is then lost forever. LOL!)
To keep my truck clean. like, all trash out of the bed, toys books and mail/papers off the floor, vacuumed and outside washed, armorall-ed and smelling good kinda clean.
To quilt when I'm just sitting around watching TV. Watching less TV isn't what I'm after, but to be doing something with my hands while I am watching it.
And I'm not even mentioning most of the home improvement projects I have lined up. But I have lists upon lists all typed out in the computer somewhere, and shall tackle them as time and money permits. One is to dig up and replant some crepe myrtles. They are infront of DH's bathroom window, and I found them great when they covered it up with shade and flowers and hid the view from the outside in. DH on the other hand, found that he likes the view and started chopping them up, until he found a huge wasp nest, then left the job half done. So, I want to replant them somewhere where they can grow tall, and plant shrubs in their place. The other big thing on the list is to turn the garage into a family room. But that will take some money, about 1,500-2,000 I'm guessing.
Many, many things to do....
The Year of the Honey
This is the year I take care of me.
I will have regular haircuts, and colour my hair before I can see an inch of grey roots.
I will shave legs and pluck eyebrows regularly.
I will have a regular pampering session for facepacks, pedicure etc.
I will make room in my budget for clothes for myself. I am desperate for some new clothes.
I will get enough sleep.
I will lose some weight and exercise more.
I will make time to get together with my friends.
I am going to stop putting myself down, to other people and to myself.
I am going to HAVE MORE FUN!
Hope for Hope
My list is not all that long, but each point involves making a number of changes. Here goes.
-I will be a kinder gentler person. I'm already very kind, but not exactly gentle. Close friends and family are used to my direct, cut to the quick approach, and know my heart is in the right place. Strangers however are sometimes afraid of "in your face honesty". I need to remember to temper directness with a heaping helping of tact. I'll work on that.
-I will perform at least one act of kindness a day. Whether it be big or small, even if it's a mere phone call to someone I've not connected with in awhile, I will make the time to give of myself.
-I will open my home. Right now, living in the country, I don't really have people just drop in on me. Everyone phones before they make the drive and not many feel like making the drive. Once I'm living in the city again that could all change...I'll have to keep a company ready house
.
-I will treat myself better..with respect. I'm already very good at indulging myself, but that does not really mean I'm treating myself well. I will focus on health, fitness and personal care, like so many others here. There's *lots* of work to do on this one.
-I will work at returning e-mails in a timely fashion, maybe set up one day a week to respond to e-mails. I'm too embarrassed to discuss this point any further.
That's it for me. If I can accomplish these things I will be a happy camper at the end of 2005
.
finish my dang French paper
I hate writing so much, that's resolution enough!
Also probably I should figure out ways to hate it less.
I'd call the blue/ green combination "aqua."
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