Goals Moving Forward

Every new year we put a lot of pressure on ourselves (most of us anyhow) to do better, be better, look better and I'm no different.  I find it so easy to see all the places I'm lacking and start making promises to fix them.

I'm not sure that I want to make resolutions this year.  It feels a bit daunting.  Somehow, calling the things I want to do "resolutions" makes me wonder if I'll reach the finish line.  Is there a finish line with resolutions?  I suppose they should be ongoing things.  I don't really know.

I think I'll just have goals.  Things that would be nice to see happen, but my world won't fall apart if they don't.  I might even have a lot of goals, but that's okay, because nothing is going to go wrong if I don't reach them.  Goals don't expire in a year, they can go on (unless, of course, there's a time limit, haha) and on.

Here we go, goals that I'll be starting now and continuing til I see fit.

365 days of fitness.  This sounds like a bigger deal than it is.  I'm going to make it a goal of mine to get some sort of activity that will help me and my family stay fit for just 10 minutes a day.  It can be planned (like a hike or a run), it can be unplanned (an impromptu game of tag at the park), it can be boring (jumping jacks and sit ups) or it can be a blast (color me rad {did this over the summer with my son, what a good time!}).  I don't expect huge changes at 10 minutes a day, but it will keep all of us thinking about our health and fitness and that can't be bad.  And if I miss a day?  So what.  I get to try again tomorrow.

Photo a day challenge.  This one is inspired by fat mum slims blog and photo challenge.  The hubs and kids got me a camera for Christmas 2011 and it hasn't gotten nearly the use it should.  I figure with this challenge I may just learn to use my camera more and how to use all its neat little functions.  It'll likely be a slow process (the learning) but that's okay.  I love that the photo challenge has prompts on what subject to take pictures of, this takes the burdon off of me, which is good, because I'd probably wind up taking pictures of the same things over and over.  Again, if I miss a day?  No big deal, the world doesn't come screeching to a halt because I haven't taken a photograph.  I will be posting my pics here.  Maybe daily, maybe weekly.  I suppose it depends on the kind of time and motivation I have.

Making thrifting a reasonable part of my life.  I don't want to get into the habit of shopping just to shop but when it comes to thrifting, that's exactly what I did last year.  Sure, it didn't break the bank, but I think, moving forward, I'd like to thrift with more purpose.  I need to organize less than I did when I began this blog, but my personal style hasn't really gotten much better, so thrifting is still a great way to work on that.  I am still looking for things for my apartment as well, so I'll keep updating as those things get found.  :)

Cooking at home 6 days a week.  This isn't that much of a challenge, really.  I normally do it and plan to continue to do so, I'm putting it here because from November through the years end, we ate out a lot.  It was mostly due to the move, the holidays and being frazzled, but it's all done now and I think it's important to get back to normal.  Or whatever normal is around here.

Read a book a month.  This is a very small (almost lame, it's so small) goal.  I have always been a reader, I love it, I preach it to my kids, but for some reason I haven't been doing nearly enough of it.  So, I'm going to try to make it a goal to read one book a month (at least) this year.  Get back to doing something I love.  It'll make me happy and that bodes well for the fam.  :)

That's it.  Nothing earth shattering, nothing scary, just a few goals to make my life more enjoyable.  So what about you?  Any personal goals, resolutions and promises to fill?

Meatless Meals to Save ?

A while ago the hubs and I watched a Ted Talk that had to do with going meatless during the week. We talked about it a few times, wondered if it was something we could do, wanted to do, etc.

Last night, after discussing a few things, our current situation, our future (his military retirement is so close!), money and our health, the idea of being meatless during the week came up again. We've decided to give it a whirl. We'll aim for 5 meatless dinners a week (I'm not ready to do 5 meatless days, I'm already struggling with menu planning, tyvm!) and if we miss our mark, no big deal, we just try again.

Part of the reason is that meat can get expensive, another part is we'd like to eat better overall (we eat pretty healthily most of the time, but we've noticed an eating out trend recently.. not very thrifty!). I have some concerns though...mostly one. How do I make creative, tasty meals that are not one gigantic carb-fest? I'm not interested in meat replacements either. Once in a while would be okay, I suppose, but really those can be as pricy as the meat. I was searching the web for meals that moved me and I found some. Lots, actually, but so many had such a high concentration of carbs that I felt a bit worried. Should I not worry? I mean, I can just make sure breakfast and lunch are lower in carbs and higher in proteins I guess.

My only other concern is that my 10 year old isn't a huge fan of beans and I found lots of great recipes that take advantage of beans. I mean, he likes some beans, but I can't see him being thrilled about beans 5 nights a week. ;)

If you have any recipes, tips, tricks, hints or general ideas on this, I'm all ears!