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?

Welcome 2013! (And How I Got Here)

Happy New Year!  I bet today there are all sorts of blog posts from folks who had started blogging but got sidetracked away from it during the year (like me!).  I'm not making it a resolution to blog more, but I am going to try to be more on top of it.  

Obviously, the move in November threw me right off track.  It was a struggle in a few ways and so simple in many others.  As we left the house we'd lived in for the last 3 and a half years we worried endlessly about all the things we assumed we'd have to pay for.  Having heard numerous times that the management company was very unforgiving we couldn't help wonder what would be considered normal wear and tear, would we have to pay full price for the carpet replacement (which was certain to be needed in 2 rooms), even though the blinds were ancient when we moved in, would they try and hit us with that charge as well?  It was nerve wracking.  

I'm happy to report that after 4 days of exhausting (over)cleaning (my guys hated how much of a task master I was) we got charged....zero.  Our move out was amazing.  The final walk through took minutes, we turned over our keys and boom.  It was all done.  It's strange, you know, I've never walked away from a place we've lived and still lived in the same city.  When I got to pick Deac up from school (right across the street from the old place) I see it, with new cars in the driveway.  It's kind of trippy.  :)

As for the new place?  It's fantastic.  We lost a TON of space.  We had a little over 1600 square feet in the old house, plus a garage and a gigantic back yard.  Now we're in a 1000 square foot apartment, with a little patio.  You know what I found out?  Decluttering is not so hard when you have no choice but to decide what is worth keeping.  We wound up having 2 yard sales.  The first was a success and the second got me 30 bucks and I wound up giving the rest away.  It was a good deal really, someone hauled off all of my unwanted stuff in a matter of minutes.  That "free" sign is a bit of a miracle worker.  The movers came and packed and moved us and by the time everything was in the new place (boxed) we realized we hadn't gotten rid of enough.  Not wanting to pay for a big storage space we committed to paring down even more.  This was a little harder, since I felt I'd already gotten rid of everything I could.  Guess what, though?  We did it.  Well.  We have very little clutter, very little we don't need here.  Losing the storage space was hard, but we got creative.  

I'd like to say that moving forward I'm going to (for sure) have cute projects to work on, but it's uncertain for now.  The hubs is on terminal leave (wow!  so hard to believe his military career is done) and will be looking for full time work soon and I will have to start looking for something part time as well.  2013 is both scary and full of promise.  I do have a few goals in mind, though, so I'll be here, typing away, updating, decluttering (if it becomes an issue), thrifting, reviewing and planning.  

Welcome 2013!