I Resolve 2011

I've been debating posting a list of goals I have for the year, mainly because I've only had an informal list floating around in my head.

1. Go to the temple once a month, even if that means going by myself.
2. Go on a date with Matt once a month, be it to the Temple or elsewhere.
3. Chill out and don't stress about Nursery or Preschool so much. Prepare well, yes, but be more concerned about the kids having positive interactions and experiences than about looking like "the perfect and awesome teacher who's accomplished so much" when their parents come and pick them up. I shouldn't make it about me; it should be about them.
4. Plan ahead

There are other things I know I need to improve on, but this is what I'm focusing on right now.

I resolve

There are 52 weeks in a year. I figured, rather than make a few gigantic goals I hope to achieve (but later forget about), I'd do a goal per week. In no particular order. On Sundays I can look at the list and choose one for the week. I'm starting late, so I'm only putting 49. We'll see how this goes! Oh, and some of these I hope to do waaaayyyy more than once in the year, but I'm putting them on here anyway!

1. Do something nice for someone else
2. Go jogging 4 days during the week
3. Attend the Temple
4. Play a structured game with Dean
5. Go to a museum
6. Go to a professional production (Wicked or Phantom!)
7. Catch up on my blog book and print out 2008
8. Catch up on blog book and print out 2009
9. Have 100% visiting teaching for the month
10. Update 72 hour kit
11. Track our budget
12. Run in a scheduled race (Snowflake's 24th of July 10K? February half marathon?)
13. Build up our 3 month food storage
14. Eat all veggie and fruit servings every day in the week. No skimping!
15. Read my scriptures every day
16. Read the Sunday School and RS lesson before Sunday
17. Up to date on photo books (through blurb)
18. Enjoy a nice hot bubble bath (or a really long, hot shower by myself without kids in the room)
19. Do a Montessori activity with Dean
20. Go on a fun date other than the movies
21. Host a Girls Night Out
22. Get a massage or a pedicure
23. Put everything away immediately when finished within a 24 hour period
24. Meal plan for the week
25. Say only positive things (in a positive voice) for a day
26. Go on a Road Trip
27. Play racquetball with Matt
28. Plant a garden
29. Try to get to know more about my ancestors
30. Eat only what we have stored in the house for a week
31. Hang all pictures that need to be hung!
32. Make something with wood (a shelf for the bathroom maybe?)
33. Clean out closet and get rid of clothes I never wear
34. Read the whole ensign in a week
35. Get good family pictures taken
36. Read a fun book
37. Read a biography or autobiography of someone awesome
38. Volunteer in the community
39. Watch a movie with Dean
40. Have friends over for a dinner party
41. Get an ancestral family name temple ready
42. Do baptism for said person
43. Do endowment session for said person
44. Do sealing for said person
45. Schedule one on one time with each of my wonderful kids
46. Make fabric Christmas tree ornaments
47. Try a new food that I've never had before
48. Make a fabric alphabet set
49. Make an item of clothing

Working on regrets

I (like most of you, I'm sure) have the image of "the perfect me" in my head that often seems just out of reach. I need improvement in so many areas it's hard to know where to begin to make changes, so often I just do nothing more than I'm already doing. Last week in church someone suggested we take 1 goal and work on it exclusively for a shorter period of time like a day or a week. I really started thinking about this today.

Since coming home with Walt I've felt like an escalating broken record with Dean. Part of it is because he's having a hard time adjusting, "Please don't touch him. Get off of him. It's NOT NICE TO POKE HIM IN THE EYE! What did I just say? LEAVE HIM ALONE! For the love!!! If you do that once more you're going into time out. That's it!" But some of it comes because he's just at that stage where he feels compelled to get into everything. "Get out of Dad's desk. Please don't open his drawers. Don't play with his stuff. I said DON'T TOUCH HIS STUFF! You can't eat his candy. You CAN'T EAT HIS CANDY!" He's figured out how to pull a chair to the counter and climb on up. Looks like I'm going to have to start locking up my knife block. I feel like I yell a whole lot more than I used to and I don't like it one bit. That needs some attention.

Another struggle I've run into is family meals. My family ate 2-3 meals together every day growing up. I think it's super important. There are lots of benefits to it. Despite my feelings on the subject, we don't eat meals together as a family at the table. At all. Well, Dean and I eat breakfast together in the morning, but Matt's never ready to eat before he goes to work, so he takes a yogurt or something with him. I rarely eat with Dean at lunch for some reason. And then dinner. Ugh. Don't even get me started. Ok, I'm started already so I might as well finish. Dean has an early bed time, 7. That means we start his bed routine at 6:30. That means if we were to eat dinner together it should be between 5:30-6. When I teach piano I'm usually not finished teaching till 5:30, but it doesn't really matter since Matt's not ready to eat that early anyway. So I generally end up slapping something together for Dean, getting him ready for bed, then making our meal. Nearly every night Matt and I eat in our computer room, doing our own thing in front of our own computers, barely interacting. Sometimes I wonder how this came about, though I know full well how it did. (After talking about it with Matt, we've decided to try and institute an earlier family meal time at the table.)

Then there are health related regrets. While I consider myself a generally healthy person, I definitely have my days where I don't drink enough water, eat too much sugar or snacks, don't eat enough lunch, don't eat enough veggies, etc.

And we can't forget how I fall short of personal and spiritual goals. I don't study my scriptures that often and even struggle to read them sometimes. Prayers could use some attention. We used to be really good at FHE, but that's fallen by the wayside. I'd like to waste less time in the evening at my computer and either read or get more projects done.

Ack. As I write this all down it feels like my list of "NEEDS IMPROVEMENT" is longer than I originally believed.

So, I think I shall try a goal a week. Focus on 1 thing specifically that week. For example, this week I will try to have dinner made and on the table by 6 at the latest. Next week maybe it will be no yelling or harsh words, regardless of how ornery or disobeient Dean is. One thing at a time and hopefully some things will stick.

Wish me luck.

My uncanny gift

You know, I have this gift of offending people unintentionally. I have a tendency to say what I'm thinking, be very passionate, and not take offense very easily. All of those things combine every so often (i.e. far too frequently) and I end up saying something that others might perceive as mean, lackadaisical, offhanded, rude, controversial, and yes, offensive. In my mind I would not take offense to what is coming out of my mouth, but the passion with which I say them, and the words that I use sometimes seem harsh and abrasive. Matt has more than once called this gift to my attention. Sometimes I know in the back of my mind that people might take offense, but I say things anyway thinking that people just need to get over it [whatever it may be] and lighten up. (And I really do think that that is the case sometimes.) Sometimes I am totally clueless to my lack of sensitivity and am shocked when I'm called out on it. The truth of the matter is that I probably ought to stop and think more. Bridle my tongue more maybe. While it might be surprising, I do actually sensor some of what I say and write. I don't want to just use my open personality as an excuse for rudeness, saying, "Well, that's me, take me or leave me." But I also don't want to have a major personality overhaul because mostly, I really like who I am. Somehow, though, I need to find a better balance of openness and sensitivity.

So, in short, I'm honestly sorry if I offended anyone with my graphic language, my passion, my openness of information (way TMI for some, I know), or my sometimes shocking and abrasive nature both on my blog and in real life. I am aware of it and am working on it.

Evaluation of Resolution

One of my resolutions was to do 1 month of menu planning and evaluate at the end of the month. My goal with this was to lessen stress at meal times, cut down the number of late meals by prepping earlier, and to go to the grocery store only once or twice a week (hopefully resulting in spending less money).

I originally thought I'd do a menu for the whole month in one sit down, but I quickly found that was not going to work for me. So, I ended up making a fairly comprehensive list of items we eat pretty regularly, or at least enjoy eating. The list really helped me in planning meals for the week. Most of the time I planned on Monday during Dean's nap and went shopping after he woke up.

My master list: (Sorry it's messed up, I had to transfer it over to paint to turn the table into a picture. Click on it to get a readable view.)



I was able to keep my shopping to 1-2 trips per week which is fairly amazing for me. It also did help lessen stress over meals, especially when I didn't particularly feel like thinking about food. We ate out a little less. By the weekends I normally am burned out thinking about food so we end up getting at least one meal out, usually just taco bell or something. I don't know if it really saved me money, but it probably did. The first two weeks I felt like I spent a lot (but it's kinda hard to tell when you have diapers and other non-food junk mixed in), so the third week I did a "make only what you have" menu. I think I spent about $10 that week on milk and produce I didn't have. I'd make a menu for the week and shop for that specific menu. I did end up trading around meals within the week, but I did pretty well at sticking to the items on the menu. When I changed the menu in real life, I changed it on the print out so I could see what seemed to work from day to day for us, and so I could have an accurate picture or what we really do eat.

January's Menu:

Ring in the New

2009 already?

We were the lamest people for New Year's Eve. Matt watched Dog the Bounty Hunter (LAME), I started Anne of Windy Poplars, and Dean slept. But the New Year came all the same.

Dean and I caught colds in Snowflake, so we've been coughing up a storm. I knew he was cutting his top and bottom molars on one side, but I just found out today he is also cutting the top and bottom molars on the other side too! 4 molars at once. That could explain all the howling last night before bed. I just thought he was having a hard time readjusting to our house and time zone. He's also had diarrhea and a horrible rash. I think it must be from the teething, though it's never happened before. Poor kid. I was going to start weaning for good today, but I just can't when he's sick on both ends!!

I kicked off the New Year this morning with a rigorous cleaning of my living room and kitchen. Too bad things don't stay squeaky clean more than a couple hours!!

I don't think I set New Year's Resolutions last year, but I think I ought to give it a go this year.

1. Don't leave the dishes undone more than 1 night a week. (I've been pretty good about this, but I can feel my desire to slack off after my nice long vacation.) Also, mop, dust and vacuum more frequently.
   
2. Try menu planning once again. At least for 1 month and then evaluate the effectiveness. I'm going to try to plan the whole month and stick to it. I hate having to think up a new menu every week. I also hate sticking to a menu, but it really does take a lot of stress off me if I can do it.
3. Figure out a good time of day to exercise and stick to it. I'm going for 5 days a week. This will probably require a new video or two. I started out this pregnancy about 10-15 lbs. lighter than when I got pregnant with Dean (the lightest I've been my entire adult life I think! Nursing worked wonders for me.) and I want to stay healthy throughout it!! It makes for a much easier recovery.
   
4. Figure out how to work more veggies into Dean's diet. Once his molars are completely in it should be a little easier...hopefully.
5. Try and at least put some effort into keeping track of our budget. I usually just try and pretend we don't have money, but I know I've gotten a little more spendy than I used to be. I can do better. Especially in the food category. I need to get into better habits before I cut back my piano students this fall!

Dreams and Goals

Well, really, there are so many things I'd love to do. These are a few that have been cropping up recently.

The Now
My friend Laura issued an exercise challenge and I took her up on it. I committed to 75 miles in 5 weeks. Really it shouldn't be too hard so long as I get myself on a regular schedule. It's only 3 miles a day, 5 days a week. It's good to have a set goal, though, so I can hold myself accountable.

Get organized and declutter! I've started on this one already, and really, it's an ongoing process that will be a goal the rest of my life. I don't know if I'll ever really achieve true organization, but so long as I'm working toward it, we shouldn't be too bogged down by stuff. Just today I took 3 garbage bags, a box, and a random assortment of items clothes, house hold items, etc. to Goodwill. It is nice to have my front closet again.

Figure out how the heck I'm going to make piano work! The schools here already started and ended later than I liked, but they pushed them back even MORE this year! The elementary kids don't start until 8:45 and the High School doesn't start until 9:15!! The way they have it set up, there's no way kids can get here before 4:30. It's going to push my lesson right up to Dean's bedtime, so I don't know how we'll keep him happy, fed, entertained, etc. Matt will help, but if I'm visible or audible, Dean is not happy with Matt taking care of him, especially when he's tired. Since our house is so small, I don't know how we'll work around that.

The near
Figure out a good weaning timetable. I don't think I'll go cold turkey, but around 12 months I'll gradually cut out day feedings and then within a few months I'll cut the night and morning feedings.

I'm not sure if next May qualifies as near, but I'm starting to plan our every-other-anniversary-trip already. (Our previous trips included Guatemala in 2005 and NY in 2007.) We would really like to go to Scotland. Matt's from Scottish descent and the countryside is AMAZING over there (or so I've heard). We fear this tradition will be harder and harder to do after we have more kids, so we'd like to go there while it's still relatively easy. We're trying to figure out if we'd take or leave Dean. Right now I'm leaning toward leaving him. He'll be 18 months. It freaks me out to even think about being separated from him for a week, but I think he'd have a rough go at the whole jet lag thing, and possibly ruin the trip for everyone. We'd have to enlist a grandma or two to come hang out with him while we're gone. Anyone have tips on places to go or things to see over there?

We need to buy a storage shed. A nice looking one so it would help eventual resale and not junk up our back yard. Probably something in Cedar around 8X8 or 8X10. It seems like it's going to be a bit of a hassle. We have to get permits and stuff from the city and our HOA. Any recommendations for good vendors?

Continue to hunt for real living room furniture. What we have is comfortable but horribly ugly and mismatched. We're not in such a hurry that we will buy something we'll regret, but it's crazy hard to find something we like enough to throw down $1-2000 on.

Switch out all our door knobs and ceiling fixtures for brushed nickle rather than the bright brass junk the builders use. We've already switched out some of both, but need to have uniformity throughout the house.

The Far: Alas, this may never come to be
Oh how lovely it would be to have wood floors in the living room/kitchen and new carpet everywhere else!

Non-Formica counter tops that won't stain...maybe some nice shiny stone counter top.

New faucets. I despise the ones we have (though I'm grateful we have something...yes, something is better than nothing!).