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Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
January is a time for evaluating and tweaking. I’m not so much for making grand New Year’s resolutions, but I do think the New Year is a good time to take stock and see what things need adjusting. I saw this post format on A Gentle Defiance, and I liked the idea of thinking through what I’d like to continue from the previous year (it’s important to acknowledge successes), and what things I wish would have been better.
What Worked
Adding a little more to my proverbial plate.
When my kids were little, it was all I could do to take care of them and my home. I found myself overwhelmed and stressed with too many outside commitments, and I came to the realization that I needed to ruthlessly cut them out. It was the best thing I could have done for my own mental state and my family in that stage of life, and I regret nothing. However, over the last couple years I found myself with more space to take on new projects - and as I’ve added more work to my metaphorical plate, it hasn’t seemed overwhelming, but motivating. Overall, my being ready to take on a little bit more has meant more meaningful community and experiences for myself and the kids. I think it’s so important to know your limits - and that involves knowing when to cut back as well as knowing when to add things in.
Waking up early.
This year I bumped my wake-up time back another hour, and I’ve been more consistent than ever in having quiet coffee and reading time before my kids wake up. It’s been a game changer for me in providing time for meaningful Bible study and letting me get through some tougher books. It is definitely something that I will be continuing in 2025.
Changing our homeschool history curriculum.
This school year I decided to jump into a Charlotte Mason style with both feet, especially when it comes to teaching history, geography, and literature to my kids. I am by no means a purist, but I have always loved the idea of teaching history through living books, as opposed to textbooks. With my oldest starting 8th grade, this seemed like the year to figure out if this style of education was for us, and it has been a rousing success so far! I will give a more complete opinion once we have finished the school year, but we are doing this curriculum (with some adaptations), and everyone is enjoying it.
Being more aware of how I’m spending our money.
I wrote last year about starting a short no-buy project, and even though I don’t feel it was a total success, it kicked off a full year of being more conscious of my spending. I watched Youtube channels about no-buy journeys and no-buy advice, I am slowly reading books about contentment and shopping habits, and I’ve set various limits on my shopping and spending from month to month. Developing better habits isn’t a one-year project but something I’ll need to continually tweak. Just keeping these topics in mind has changed the way I think about the things I buy, and it’s been positive. I’m excited to keep working on this and hope to write more in 2025.
Figuring out my own style again.
I’ve always enjoyed clothes and taken enjoyment out of developing my style, but after taking a nearly 8 year break from normal clothes when I was pregnant and postpartum, I started floundering when it came to shopping and getting dressed. Somewhere along the way my style had become merely buying whatever I thought looked good on someone else - I had lost my own sense of style. I spent this year sorting through my closet and cleared out many things that don’t make me feel my best, considering what makes a certain outfit or item of clothing feel like “me”. Putting the effort into this has helped me avoid buying trendy items or being influenced to buy things because I saw it on social media. This process is just starting for me, but I’m more excited about my closet and more satisfied with my purchases since trying to figure this out.
Satisfaction in the kitchen and learning new things.
This year I was much more consistent in my bread-baking. I bake bread in a bread machine with fresh ground grains, and it took me years to perfect the recipe for my particular altitude. I made bread nearly bi-weekly for much of the year, and it is wonderful to be using a skill I’ve worked on for so long to benefit my family.
The new thing I learned was how to water-bath can - as in preserving food. I have a generous friend from our church who took me under her wing this last summer and taught me how to safely can at home. I’m thankful to her for giving me the courage to try something new! On her recommendation I’ve read the safety guidelines from this book, and I’ve made and canned blueberry jam, apple pie in-a-jar, apple butter, and candied jalapeños. Hearing the pop of the safety lid on my jars is so satisfying.
What Didn’t Work
My reading was all over the place.
I found myself in a reading rut multiple times this year, and it’s going to take some evaluating to figure out exactly way. I read barely anything in the first quarter of 2024, and I was disappointed in my progress in the books I was reading. I suspect I was trying to read too many “stiff” books at once. Stiff books are challenging books, and I learned from personal experience that reading all challenging books means that when I am lacking the mental energy for that kind of book I just won’t read at all. Karen Andreola recommends having one “stiff” book, one moderately easy book, and one novel going at a time, and I think this balance is something I’d like to incorporate into my reading life in 2025.
I lacked the consistency to complete projects, especially in the summer.
My goal for the summer was to organize the ridiculous stack of papers stuffed into my nightstand shelf, and to print photos from previous years and get them into albums. I did neither of those things, and it was out of pure laziness. I need to figure out a way to consistently work on these multi-part projects in a manageable way. My current pattern is to spend one or two exhaustingly tedious days trying to complete everything at once, not finishing, and then avoiding continuing that project for months because the last time I worked on it was so tiring.
I didn’t save enough money.
In 2024 my focus was on being more aware of my spending habits, but toward the end of the year I decided to translate that into also saving more money. I have done much better at designating money for savings in the last couple months, but I could have helped the family out with various expenses if that had been a focus for more of my year. So in 2025, I am intentionally saving for some very specific things, and doing that will help me not only with shopping habits, but will bring more tangible benefits to my family as well.
I wasn’t consistent enough with vitamins and drinking water.
There are a few supplements that I need to be taking, per my doctor, but my consistency leaves something to be desired. I also have a tendency to reach for the coffee pot more than my water bottle, and I’d like to be better about hydrating in 2025.
Wasting too much time consuming media.
I often find myself turning on a Youtube video or a podcast “just while I clean the kitchen”, and before I know it I’ve wasted a couple hours fiddling around the house while I listen. That time could be used reading, or learning to crochet, or writing here. And don’t even get me started on scrolling on Instagram - I’m much better at controlling my consumption of social media than in the past, but there is still much improvement to be had. My goal is to spend more time creatively producing, and to have that outweigh time spent consuming this year.
As I look at this list, I’m excited to see what 2025 will bring. I hope this will be a year of more meaningful reading, getting myself organized, managing money more wisely, and enjoying my time with loved ones and friends. And I hope the same for you!
Leave me a comment!
What is one thing that worked for you last year, and one thing that needs to change?
"I wish we had a house this huge!" I hear that little declaration off to my right. I'm typing this on Saturday, and my two little girls are creating a Calico Critter mansion. They can stay occupied with Calico Critters for hours, and I'm so glad because I have always thought Calico Critters were adorable, but I couldn't get any of the girls into them until the last year or so.
There is also screeching and yelling coming from down the hall as the boys play some sort of game in their room, but we're going to ignore that. My oldest daughter is writing letters downstairs, and my sweet husband is just about to make me one of his signature lattes (he's really good at lattes).
We have an unexpected weekend at home due to an injury, and I woke up this morning with a million projects running through my head. A whole free weekend! How should I spend it? I'm nearly stress paralyzed with decision fatigue already, and it's not even 10 o'clock.
High on the list was to write a blog post or two, so I thought, why not write one about all the projects I have in my queue? It'll get it out of my brain, and may be interesting to read I suppose, so here we go.
1. Blogging. I have so many posts in my head that I want to get out, but it's been such a difficult season to find time to do anything for myself, so I unfortunately can't guarantee all of these will get written. But here are a few posts that I hope to write...someday.
-How To Sing The Psalms With Your Kids (And Why You Should)
-I Decided To Start a No-Buy Project - Here's Why
-A Masterlist Of Reformation Day Resources
-Fall Picture Books We're Loving
Those are the big posts I keep wanting to find time to work on, and then there are just the general update posts, like this one. It's alot to carry around in my brain, I tell you.
(Also, tell me which one of those sounds the most interesting, and I'll work on it first.)
2. The family newspaper. I'm not sure I've mentioned this, but over the summer I had the kids start writing a family newspaper, and we actually mailed out two issues to family and friends! It's been really fun, and we've gotten alot of good feedback. We are two months behind now on sending out the next issue (reluctant writers and printer issues), so I would love to get that mailed today.
3. Pumpkin polymer clay earrings. I got into making polymer clay earring this summer - nothing too fancy, just cute little shapes that my girls find particularly fun. It's so satisfying to make something for them and then see their little eyes light up with excitement! I got a pumpkin cutter a few weeks ago, and I've been dying to try it out, but making those clay earrings takes quite a bit of time.
4. Letter-writing. I made a letter writing goal at the beginning of the year, and I didn't do too terribly until the summer hit. Nobody's been getting any letters from me since. I so enjoy sending a receiving letters - it makes me feel more connected to my friends than anything else, including social media. If someone puts something online, it's going out to a bunch of people at once, it's not special; if you receive a personal letter from someone, then they thought about you in particular, and valued your friendship enough to carve out time to connect with you. I love that feeling myself, and I love the idea of giving that thought-about feeling to someone else.
5. Reading. I always carve out some time for reading, but I started several books related to the Reformation and autumn, and I'd really like to finish them before the end of the month! Here are a few I'm hoping to get through this month:
-Martin Luther by Eric Metaxes
-Why The Reformation Still Matters by Tim Chester and Michael Reeves
-Still Protesting: Why The Reformation Still Matters by D. G. Hart
-Luther In Love by Douglas Bond
-Giant Pumpkin Sweet by Melanie Heuiser Hill
As you can see, all of these will be less relevant to the season in a month's time, so I better get moving.
6. Bake a pumpkin pie. We went to a pumpkin patch and corn maze last weekend, and the kids each got to pick out a pumpkin...and unfortunately, a couple of them are already looking a little ripe! I need to start baking asap so we don't waste our pumpkins. I'm thinking of making a pumpkin pie, because why not, and I'm also contemplating pumpkin soup. Other pumpkin recipe suggestions welcome.
7. Develop a birthday card system. We have several family and friends birthdays coming up, and every time I remember that it's someone's birthday, I wish I had taken time to develop a system for sending out birthday cards. I am thinking of doing a little card file system, and I can just sit down at the start of each month and write out all the cards at once. It's so nice to receive a card in the mail (see letter-writing point), and I just wish I could be more organized about birthdays!
8. Research my family tree on ancestry.com. Devoting more time to this has been a goal of mine for a while, and I can honestly say I've been a big failure when it comes to accomplishing this! It takes quite a bit of time to do the family tree research right, even with ancestry.com, and I really need a set time each day to make progress.
Seeing all that typed out, I realize if I really want to accomplish any of it, I better get myself organized and just carve out the time to get it all done! That's what I'll be doing straightaway with the rest of my day.
What's on your autumn to-do list?
Let's not even talk about getting ready for Christmas...I don't have space in my head for that yet.
January is a time for fresh starts and making plans, but that's not how I've been feeling lately. I've been feeling more like hunkering down than exploring, and more like keeping on than making plans.
But Derek and I had a rare date a few weeks ago - we went to see Little Women: The Musical with friends, and it was so fun. On the drive to the play we finally fit in our yearly "What do we have to look forward to this year" talk, and after Derek told me several of his wonderful goals, he asked me what I wanted to do this year. And I found myself a bit stuck, because of the aforementioned funk I've been in.
However, after some prompting, he did get me to start thinking about some goals I could set, even just fun ones, and I came up with a little list. Since then I've thought of several more things I'd like to accomplish, but I'm going to try something different this year and NOT overdo it on my goals. Instead I've chosen just three weekly goals I'd like to work on as we start 2023, and maybe if these three become rather ingrained, I will move on to adding more later.
1. Write one letter a week.
I've made a goal a couple years in a row now to write more letters, but other goals keep taking priority. I'd like to change that this year. I think letter-writing is quite a time-honored thing, and it shouldn't be lost. Letter-writing is a way to send encouragement to those who may need it, to connect personally even over a distance. It's meaningful in a way that online interactions aren't, because writing a letter takes more thought and effort. I've also been reading about different figures in church history this past year, and it strikes me how many of them made an impact through personal letters - some of them containing so much wisdom that they are still read by people today. And letters are a way to record a moment in history too - that's how we know alot of the details from history, because someone wrote to someone else about it in a letter. There is a rich tradition there, and there is nothing quite like opening your mailbox and seeing a personal letter, is there? So I really do want to prioritize letters this year.
2. Work on my family tree one afternoon a week.
Derek's mom has done an amazing amount of research into their family tree - she has her ancestry traced back to the 1000s. She made a generous offer to help us pay for an ancestry.com account so that I can fill in my branch of the family tree, and I want to make working on that a priority this year. Even if I only get an hour to work on it, I'd like to spend time researching at least one afternoon a week. My struggle has actually been that when I sit down to work on my tree, time seems to go by in a blink. The challenge will likely be to not get sucked into my research and forget to make dinner!
3. Paint or draw something once a week.
When I was a child, I took painting lessons, and produced several paintings that I still have to this day. They aren't too bad either, if I do say so myself. I recently took a couple of them out of storage and hung them up in my house, and seeing them hanging there on the wall stirred in me that urge to try to develop my artistic ability more. I don't feel a strong ownership of those paintings because I had so much help with them, but I know I'm not untalented in that area, and I could improve with practice. I won't be doing full oil paintings as I did back then (too much of a mess with kids running around), but I would like to at the least practice drawing something weekly. I also have a whole online watercolor course that I would like to complete this year. My goal is going to be to paint or draw once a week, just to make it manageable, but I'm hoping I'll become more comfortable with drawing and painting and end up practicing more than that. But saying once a week takes the pressure off. I can definitely manage once a week.
What are your goals for the New Year?
Confession: I am currently recovering from a MAJOR reading rut.
Fortunately, the New Year is a great time to come out of a reading rut - there are so many fun reading challenges that start in January, and I am refocusing what I want out of my reading life and setting some reading goals for the New Year. Let's forget about what's behind and press on, yes?
My Reading Goals
In 2022 I would like to have more discipline in my reading, particularly in practicing self-control and not starting so many books at once. I am not going to make myself start and finish one book at a time, because I have found that is a good way to get myself into a reading rut (because if I'm not enjoying the book, I won't read at all), but I also get myself into ruts when I start too many books at once (decision fatigue). I think that generally, having around 3-4 books going at once would be a good balance - a nonfiction and fiction on audio, and a nonfiction and fiction in physical format.
My other goals involve diving deeper into history topics I am interested in, reading books that will be edifying in serving my family, and not wasting my time on books that are not working for me. I would also like to start to whittle down my unread bookshelf by reading more of the books that I already own.
With those goals in mind, I chose one primary reading challenge, and a possibly secondary challenge to attempt in 2022!
5x5 Reading Challenge
I am part of the Schole Sisters group on Mighty Networks, and I occasionally listen to the podcast. Last January I heard about the 5x5 challenge, so this will be my second attempt at completing it. The idea is to pick five categories for your reading, and then read five books within each of those categories over the course of the year, for a total of 25 books.
I love the idea of this because I have set my own personal study projects in the past anyway, and it's amazing how much you learn when you decide to intentionally read several books on the same topic. However, this challenge was also intimidating for me last year, because I filled in my categories with meatier books - and then when my brain was just tired, or I was having an emotional week (as happened often last year), I just couldn't handle heavy, serious reading. I am going to attempt to keep some of my book picks easier this year, so I don't lose steam.
Here are my categories and tentative picks so far - I will fill in the rest of my books as I go.
World War One - Yes, I am still reading about World War One! I read hardly any WW1 books last year, so I wanted to continue this category and get to some of the books I never finished.
-Dead Wake by Erik Larson - A story about the sinking of the Lusitania, a tragedy which contributed to American interest in possible involvement in WW1.
-The Myth Of The Great War by John Mosier - This one looks interesting because of his semi-controversial idea that the war was mismanaged, and it was a good thing the Americans came in and ended it. I'm curious to see how he supports his arguments.
-The Guns Of August by Barbara Tuchman - Everyone says this one is a must read.
-A World Undone by G. J. Meyer - A WW1 book that I never finished because it's such a heavy read, but it's also the best play-by-play of WW1 I've found.
-The Unknowns by Patrick K. O'Donnel - A book about the men that were pallbearers for the "Unknown Soldier".
Winston Churchill - I think Churchill is a really fascinating character, and I've become particularly interested in leaders who were under-appreciated in their time, but whose contributions to history are seen more clearly in retrospect. Churchill is one of those.
-Darkest Hour by Anthony McCarton - The movie was so good, why not try the book?
-The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson - Larson writes such great nonfiction, I knew I had to read this one.
-The Great Republic by Winston Churchill - This is a history of America written by Churchill himself, which I thought would be an interesting angle on this category.
-Never Give In! The Best Of Winston Churchill's Speeches - This is a book which will probably be read in snatches throughout the course of the year.
-Churchill and Orwell by Thomas E. Ricks - A side-by-side biography of these two contemporaries.
Homemaking - I'm excited about this category for encouragement to make our home a happy and peaceful place.
-The Life-Giving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarkson - Confession: I tried to read this book years ago, and I couldn't get through it. I know everyone loves it so much, but I have a very hard time getting through Sarah Clarkson's writing! Sally is okay, but Sarah...it's hard to explain. I am going to attempt it again though.
-For The Family's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay - I've heard good things.
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Other picks to be determined.
Classics - I have an ongoing quest to read classics that I've never read. There are just so many classic books, aren't there?
-The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck - I loved East Of Eden, I'm curious if I'll like The Grapes Of Wrath (I feel like alot of people don't).
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I have no other solid picks for this category, I'll just fill them in as the mood strikes me.
Biographies - I've toyed with whether to keep this category to biographies in general, or missionary biographies in particular - I think I'll just see how my reading year shapes up. For now, it's a general category.
- A Chance To Die by Elisabeth Elliot - A biography of Amy Carmichael. I already started this one, and it's so well done. I can't wait to finish it!
-Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - This one has been on my list for a while.
-The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt - Very curious to read this one - Teddy Roosevelt was such an interesting president.
-As Always, Julia by Joan Reardon - This is somewhat biographical - it's about the letters Julia Child wrote to her lifelong penpal, Avis.
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Other book possibilities to be determined.
I'm really hoping I can finish the challenge this year! Typically I read 45-60 books each year, so including these 25 books shouldn't be a problem, but I have always had troubles with "to-be-read" lists. I'm a chronic mood reader, but the idea is to develop some discipline and be intentional with my reading. I will try to post occasional updates on how my challenge is going!
My Secondary Challenge, And A Fiction TBR
The other reading challenge I am toying with attempting is the G3 reading challenge. I just came across this one last week, and I liked the categories, some of which would overlap with my 5x5 challenge anyway. So while I'm not picking specific books for this challenge, it's in the back of my mind.
Of course I have a ton of Christian Living/devotional books on my TBR shelf, and I expect to read several in 2022, but I won't list those here since I am not picking those based on any sort of category.
And just for fun, these are some of the fiction books I hope to get to this year! Most of these are books that have been on my shelf for a while, and they need to get read!
Finish the Wingfeather Saga.
Finish the Penderwick Series.
Have you read any of these books? Are you doing any reading challenges in 2022?
If I'm actually going to post every day for 31 days, the weekends are going to have to be something easy. I thought I would do monthly and weekly goals each Saturday. October is one of my favorite months, but it also seems to be one of the busiest. Our family has a lot going on this month, and this will also keep me organized!
This Month:
Personal -
Write 1 letter each week.
Organize photos into albums.
Start printing 2021 photos.
Homeschool -
Have the kids write 1 letter each week.
Do a Reformation Day study with the kids.
Christmas -
Clean out the toys before Christmas.
Buy Christmas presents.
Order Christmas card photos.
Fall Fun -
Make an apple pie with the kids.
Go to a corn maze as a family.
Finish reading Jane Eyre with friends.
Household -
Create a meal plan for the month.
Decorate for fall.
Hang new photos on the wall.
Finish cutting and stacking firewood with Derek.
(Derek and my dad fixing the chainsaw when we went to cut firewood last weekend.)This Week:
Go to pumpkin patch with friends.
Go on a fall hike.
Mail letters to friends.
Start a fall nature study with the kids.
Read Liane Moriarty's new book.
A lot of my goals this month revolve around getting ready for Christmas, and printing and organizing photos.
I've been working for the last month on getting caught up on printing photos, and it's a long, slow process. I've taken literally thousands of photos every year since my kids were born, and even though I have a system now, a lot of my older photos are pretty unorganized. So it's a matter of sorting them on my computer, picking out the good ones, and then narrowing it down to about 600 photos per year so they'll fit into albums. It's harder than it sounds! Then, once the photos arrive, it takes quite a bit of time to sort them chronologically and get them into the albums. I also would like to get our family photo canvases updated for our walls - thankfully Walmart has really reasonably priced photo products, so it's just a matter of getting them ordered.
I have also been hearing from multiple sources how it would be a good idea to prepare early for Christmas this year, so my mind is already turning to December. I'll probably write more about this over the course of the month.
The rest is mostly fun stuff, to me at least - reading goals, fun things I want to do with the kids during the fall, and letter-writing, which is another personal habit I am attempting to resurrect this fall.
I've never been great at goal-setting or goal-meeting, but as I said, this month is actually pretty busy, and maybe having it all written down will help keep me focused. We'll see how it goes!
This year I am hoping to do a monthly recap of what I'm reading, to be posted before the 15th of each month (at least that's my goal). I haven't been tracking my books in Goodreads for a while, instead I had been writing notes about my books in my bullet journal, with intentions of sharing on my blog each season. However, last year at the beginning of each quarter I'd find myself a little overwhelmed at the thought of writing about that many books, and I'd procrastinate and never share. I am trying to be more organized about my reading in 2021, and part of that will be recording and sharing my books each month with all of you!
So, the first installment of my little series will actually look back on what I read in December. Last year was not a great reading year for me, since I was too distracted by the news to keep on track with my reading. In December I course-corrected a bit and finished a few books!
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Catching Christmas by Terri Blackstock - I read this on audio, and I have to say the audio was great. The story is about a grumpy taxi driver who is roped into driving around an older lady with dementia who is trying to set up her granddaughter. There is obviously a light bit of romance. It's also Christian fiction, so there was a message about the taxi driver coming back to his faith, but it was pretty subtle. The driver was meant to remind you of a character like Luke in Gilmore Girls, and I have to say I enjoyed it! I love me a good grumpy character. Content Note: Clean.
A Marriage Carol by Chris Fabry - This book is not my usual style, but I was in a Christmas-y mood and decided to give it a try. A couple is on their way to get a divorce, but they get in a car accident and the wife finds herself at a mysterious cabin exploring Christmases past, present, and future. I don't usually enjoy reading books about people having marriage problems (I just find it depressing), but this one was cute overall, with a sweet ending. Content Note: One reference to a honeymoon activity, ahem, but overall clean.
Last Christmas In Paris by Hazel Gaynor - Listened to this on audio as well, and it was so wonderful. Probably my favorite book from December. This is an epistolary novel, in which a British girl writes letters to her brother and childhood friend as they head to the front lines of World War One, and the childhood friend writes back...and love blossoms, though neither one knows because of lost letters and other drama. I loved it so much, and it had the added bonus of being a World War 1 book, which fits with my personal study project! Content Note: Mild cursing.
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien - This was a re-read for me, one that I've been working on for months but finally finished in December. The last quarter of the book is always the best, and I flew through it once the storyline switched back to Frodo and Sam.
Red Queen by Vivtoria Aveyard - Interesting fantasy/dystopian book, in which society is divided into those who have red blood, and those who have silver blood accompanied by super-powers...until a red girl mysteriously discovers powers of her own. Of course there is the obligatory love triangle. I really enjoyed this book, but weirdly I also disliked the main character. I thought she was judgmental and a little whiny - she almost felt entitled, which was ironic since I think the silvers were supposed to be the entitled ones. I'll probably try the next book because this one was quick-paced with an interesting plot, but I'm not sure if I'll like how it turns out. Content Note: A lot of violence, some kissing.
Deceived No More by Doreen Virtue - A great testimony book written by a women who was previously a best-selling New Age author, before Jesus saved her out of the New Age. I find New Age testimonies really fascinating, and I thought the author did a great job of rooting this entire book in Scripture and pointing the reader back to Christ and what He has done to save us. I loved it!
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl - I read this one aloud to the kids. I had never read it before, and is so often the case, the book is much better than the movie! A few rude names throughout, but since I was reading it to the kids I just committed those. Good morals in this book about not cheating, not being rude and spoiled, etc. My kids loved the book, and begged me to read another chapter every time I put it down. That's how you know it's a winner!
Raising Men, Not Boys by Mike Fabarez - I am very picky about the parenting books I read and recommend. I don't like many modern parenting books, because they seem to me to be an endless list of to-do's that leave me feeling like I'll never be an adequate parent. This book offered practical parenting suggestions, but in a way that was based upon biblical parenting principles. The book focused on the gospel and leading your kids to Christ, and then covered bigger concepts like a good work ethic, good money skills, discipline, etc. It wasn't so much about a list of things to do as about refocusing as a parent, and I appreciate that. I got a lot of good ideas from this book that don't feel burdensome, and I already have plans to implement some of it in the new year.
That's it for my December reads, and I'm already hard at work reading for January, so hopefully I'll have another good list to give you in a few weeks!
Did you read anything good in December?
At the beginning of this year, I was really trying to make monthly (or at least semi-monthly) goals. I did pretty well until about March, and then...well, you know. It's time to try to get back into goal-keeping mode, and I am looking forward to having something to work toward for the last few months this year! These are my goals for August and September (I find I do better if I give myself goals every two months, instead of every month).
Finish Our Summer To-Do List
I wrote here about all the fun stuff I hoped to do with the kids this summer - we've done about half of the things on the list, and I think we could probably cross off at least ten more items before the end of August! I'll post a final list update of everything we did in a couple weeks, but I'd like to squeeze as much as possible before we start school.
Finish All My Half-Read Books
These are the books I am currently halfway through:
-Lord Edgeware Dies by Agatha Christie
-The Underground History Of American Education by John Taylor Gatto
-The Last Of The Doughboys by Richard Rubin (Kindle only $3!)
-The Bright Side Of Going Dark by Kelly Harms
-Lovely War by Julie Berry
-This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
-Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb
-Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
-The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
-The Book Of Signs by David Jeremiah
It looks like alot, but since I'm halfway through all of those, it's really equal to about five books. I'm tired of having so many books going at once, and I'd really like to close these books up before diving into some fall-ish mood reading.
Workout At Least Four Times A Week
As I mentioned in my post the other day, this is my first year in eight years to draw a deer tag. I know if I don't try to get in better shape I'm going to be wheezing my way up the mountains during hunting season. I want to put my best effort in since I haven't been hunting in so long - I want it to be as pleasant of an experience as possible, and I want to get something! My goal is to workout at least four times a week, and especially my legs, so hopefully I won't slow Derek down too much.
Sort And Print This Year's Photos + Print One Year's Worth Of Past Photos
Something I've had on my goal list for the past several years is to finally print all the pictures from the kids' baby years, and put them in albums. This is something I've been terrible about ever since Gwen was born. I'd like to go through the next year in my backlog (I think it's 2014), narrow it down to the 200 (or so) best photos, and get them printed up before the end of September. (We'll worry about getting them into albums later.)
I'd also like to get this current year's photos sorted and printed up until this point. Last year for Christmas I printed up the best pictures of each kid, put them in a little brag book album from Walmart, and put them in their stockings for Christmas. They loved it. They loved having a book full of memories and photos of themselves and our family from the previous year. I want to do it again this year, and I don't want to leave it to the last minute because it is quite alot of work. So I'm going to start on that early.
Finish Christmas Shopping
Derek brought up a really good point - we may want to accomplish our Christmas shopping early this year. Who knows how things will go in the months leading up to election day, if there will be more shutdowns, or if the mail service will suffer more delays than it already has. I don't want to order things in November (as I usually do), and run the risk of anything interfering with packages arriving on time. So I'm attempting to finish ALL our Christmas shopping by October 1st. This year has been stressful enough that I'm also liking the idea of having a very non-stressful Christmas because I got everything organized early!
Did your goals for the year get de-railed like mine did?
March is upon us, which means it is time for me to check in with my 2020 goals! Making goals for a couple months at a time (January/February), as opposed to monthly goals, ended up working out really well over the last couple months. It gave me a little more wiggle room to catch up when life got a little crazy, so I think I'm going to do that again and make goals for March and April together. I'll write a check-in at the end of May.
But anyway, how did my January and February goals go?
-Start the day hugging each kid, and hug Derek when he gets home. (Did pretty well at this - I didn't succeed at starting every day with a hug, but there were more hugs in general!)
-Send snail mail.
-Participate in the Read Your Bookshelf challenge.
I was pretty happy overall - focusing on a few small goals in specific areas was great because I never got too overwhelmed or behind, and I did succeed at mostly every goal I made.
As I've been looking ahead, I'm glad to have a few specific things to work on during what is arguably the dreariest time of year in the mountains. March and April are usually interspersed random snow days and muddy days in between, and as a consequence, Spring never been my favorite time of year. One of my dear friends moved up into the mountains several years ago, and she said she finally understood why I hated spring, ha! But writing this out, I'm looking forward to trying to accomplish a few things instead of letting the momentum get buried with all the spring snow and mud.
(Spring looks kind of pretty in this photo though, doesn't it?)
I'm thinking I might have added too many things to my list for this next two-month period, but we'll see how it goes! Here are more specific updates and thoughts for my goal areas, and the things I'd like to focus on for the next period:
Spiritual
Overall Goal: Memorize Hebrews, and spend more time in prayer each day.
Update: I did successfully memorize Hebrews 5, but I want to spend a little time reviewing it over the next couple weeks and then move on to memorize Hebrews 6. I did create some prayer pages in my journal, but I'd like to figure out more specific items to pray for each member of my family.
Little Steps Goal: Memorize Hebrews 6 before May, and be more specific and thoughtful in my prayers for each family member by coming up with a prayer list for each person.
Marriage And Motherhood
Overall Goal: Be a happier and more thankful wife and mother.
Update: Last month I did get much more intentional about doling out the hugs, though I didn't always catch every kid every morning. But I did my best, and I think the kids and Derek appreciated my attempt to start our day on a better note!
Next Little Steps Goal: Over the next two months, I'd like to make a written list of specific ways I am thankful for each kid and Derek (and perhaps write them a note telling them what I come up with). I also want to re-read Happiness Is A Serious Problem by Dennis Prager. I read it several years ago, and remember it being thought-provoking and helpful!
Social
Overall Goal: Spend less time on social media, and spend more time investing in and encouraging my real-life friends (including family).
Update: I think I've been pretty successful at staying off social media so far this year - so much so that I think I'm going to have to tip the balance the other way again! I haven't been sharing enough of our day-to-day photos on Instagram, and I don't want to drop off too much on that because I still want those photos and memories for our Instagram photo book. I wasn't 100% happy with my snail mail attempt last month, so I'd like to try that goal again.
Next Little Steps Goal: Write a letter to a friend, have my sister over for poetry tea time with the kids, and plan a joint birthday party for the boys.
Financial
Overall Goal: Save $1000.
Update: I saved the $100 I had hoped for, and also got paid for a couple of my freelance articles, so I squirreled that money away too!
Next Little Steps Goal: Save $100 in March and $100 in April.
Reading
Overall Goal: Read more books I own.
Update: I did finish two books I already owned as part of Chantel's Read Your Bookshelf Challenge. The two I finished were And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie and Ember Falls by S. D. Smith (part of the Green Ember series, so I'm sort of counting it for the read-a-book-with-a-color-in-the-title challenge). I enjoyed them both, and enjoyed crossing them off my list! I have also decided that for this goal area, I'd specifically like to focus on reading the physical and audio books I own. I have a bunch of ebooks I haven't read, but I would like to focus on physical books to clear space on my bookshelf, and audiobooks are a no-brainer since I listen to them while I'm doing chores.
Next Little Steps Goal: Read at least one book from my physical shelf (I'm thinking The Lake House by Kate Morton, so I can cross off the March prompt in the Read Your Bookshelf Challenge), and one audiobook (I'm thinking The Accidental President by A. J. Baime). I also have to read Adopted For Life: The Priority Of Adoption For Christian Families And Churches by Russel Moore, because the challenge prompt for April is "the book that has been on your unread shelf the longest".
So here is the full list for March and April!
-Memorize Hebrews 6
-Make a specific prayer list for each family member
-Read Happiness Is A Serious Problem by Dennis Prager
-Make a gratitude list for each family member
-Write a letter
-Have my sister over for poetry tea time
-Plan the boys' birthday party
-Save $100 in March
-Save $100 in April
-Read one physical book from my unread shelf
-Read one audiobook from my unread shelf
-Read Adopted For Life by Russel Moore
How are your 2020 goals going so far?
Over the past week I've been seriously thinking over how I want to handle goals in 2020, and I think I need a way to more frequently check in with myself on my goals.
Last year I made very specific, measurable goals that I wanted to accomplish by the end of 2019. Specific and measurable is good, right? Except that I was thinking too far in advance, and my goals, though measurable, were still too big. My end goals became a little overwhelming to me, and when they started to seem unattainable, I just gave up.
This year I decided to make overarching goals for the year, but I'm going to try to make "little step" goals for each month (or two) that will move toward those overarching goals. Does that make sense? I'm hoping to write a post each month about how I did and share it on the blog for some accountability as well - if I write about it, I'm more likely to feel like I can't give up on it!
I decided on four categories this year, spiritual, marriage and motherhood, social, and financial. I did not include health and blog categories as I did last year, mainly for simplicity's sake. It's easier to focus more intently on less categories. I also feel like I don't do too shabby at keeping up on this blog and my health anyway, so I'm skipping making goals in those areas for this year.
Spiritual
Overall Goals: Memorize Hebrews, and spend more time in prayer each day.
Little Steps: Memorize Hebrews chapter 5, and start a prayer page in my journal.
There isn't much to explain here. If I want to actually memorize Hebrews this year, I need to just buckle down and do it. Last year I spent alot of time reviewing and solidifying verses, but this year I want to focus on the initial effort of getting them into my head. I may not know them as well as I'd like, but once they are in there tentatively, it's easier to solidify them later.
I also have a Bible study bullet journal, which I use only irregularly when something stands out to me in my quiet time. I'd like to make it a more useful tool for my prayer time. So over the next month I need to figure out a way to set it up to track the things I want to pray for.
Marriage And Motherhood
Overall Goals: Be a happier and more thankful wife and mother.
Little Step: Start the day with hugging each kid, and greet Derek immediately with a hug when he gets home.
This goal makes me sound a little pathetic, but between getting the kids up and dressed, making beds, doing my own hair and makeup, making breakfast, getting started on school...sometimes I forget to take a minute to look into each of their sweet faces, and give them a hug and "good morning" before all the craziness starts. I'd like to change that. For Derek, he usually gets home right about the time when my nerves are frayed from all the chaos of the day. I don't always greet him properly either, so that needs to change as well.
Social
Overall Goals: Spend less time on social media, and spend more time investing in and encouraging my real-life friends (including family).
Little Steps: Clean out my friend list on Facebook, and send some snail mail.
I'm cheating a little with this one, because I actually already cleaned out my Facebook friends list, and I am hoping to write more about that process next week. Stay tuned for that! My other goal is to send out some good old-fashioned snail mail. I used to be pretty good at letter-writing, but I probably only send out one letter a year now. I'd like to write at least one longer letter to one of my dear long-distance friends, and at least one short note of encouragement to someone. I think it's a pity how much snail mail has declined, because I know the joy of receiving something in the mail that isn't an advertisement or a bill.
Financial
Overall Goals: Save $1000.
Little Steps: Save $100 in February.
That's fairly straightforward, isn't it? I have a secret project in the works that I need some money to accomplish, so I need to really buckle down and save a little more successfully this year. Last year I saved only about half my goal, so if I can catch myself up to where I originally wanted to be at the end of 2020, so much the better!
Reading
Overall Goal: Read more books that I own but haven't read.
Little Steps: Participate in the Read Your Bookshelf project!
This one is more just for fun, but I also do have a ridiculous amount of books which I haven't read. Chantel at An Intentional Life created this fun themed challenge to get us reading our unread books, and I'm going to try to participate each month! In January I have to read a book with a color in its title (I'm gong to read "The White Cottage Mystery" or "Greenglass House"), and February is supposed to be a book that is also a movie (I want to read "The Princess Bride"!).
There we go! My goals for 2020, and my little steps for the month of February. I'm giving myself the extra two weeks in January as freebies, to help me get into the swing of things. The plan is to check in with myself at the end of February and report how I'm doing on the blog (you guys are basically my accountability group, ha!).
What is your main goal for 2020?
Last year was the first year in...well, maybe ever?...that I actually set goals for the year. I have tended to avoid making resolutions because I have always been sure that I would fail at them anyway, but last year I decided to give it a go. Let's see how I did on my resolutions, shall we?
2019 Goals:
-Spiritual: Memorize the book of Hebrews. I did not do well at this. Before 2019 I had memorized through Hebrews chapter 4, but it had become pretty fuzzy. In 2019, I basically really solidified Hebrews 1-4 in my memory, and that was it. I didn't memorize a single verse of chapter 5. Fail.
-Marriage: Write Derek one note per month. Yeah, I didn't do this at all. Fail.
-Motherhood: Document my children better. I had a specific goal of taking one picture of each kid per week, and writing down one thing about them. I did not do any of that, but I do think I succeeded at the more vague overall goal of documenting the kids better. I shared cute things the kids did and said more often on the blog and on Instagram. In addition, I printed a ton of photos in 2019, which is something I haven't been consistent about before. Semi-Success.
-Health: Go sugar free one week per month. I actually did this! I didn't record whether I did it every month, but I did sugar-free weeks frequently, and I felt great every time I did. Success!
-Reading: Participate in the unread shelf project. I did this, but not as much as I wanted to. I did sort through my unread shelves, got rid of a ton of books I'm no longer interested in, and read a stack of the books I already had. I have a ton more to go though, so it's still in progress. Semi-Success.
-Blog: Try some posting routines. I was semi-consistent with themed posts, like my "Stuff I Like" posts, and "The Wednesday Five" which I started in the fall. Success.
-Financial: Save $1000. I was not as consistent with this as I wanted. I was using a weekly saving chart, which I think would have worked well if I used a weekly budget, but I don't. I work with a monthly budget, often do my grocery shopping monthly, etc. Since the saving schedule was weekly and my budget was monthly, I often forgot to hold aside the money I wanted to save. I only ended up saving about half of the $1000. Semi-Success.
I thought this was going to be a travesty when I sat down to write this post, but I am so relieved to see that I only out-and-out failed in two areas! Being successful or semi-successful at 70% of my goals is good enough for me. Even though I didn't check in with my written goals as often as I probably should have, I did find that just having these goals tucked in the back of my mind helped me make more progress than if I had made no specific goals at all.
So, will I make goals again this year? Yes, I think I will. Stay tuned next week for those!
How did you do at your 2019 goals?
When I set my reading goals for this year, I only had one goal. I told myself I wouldn't buy any books this year - I would only read the books from my unread shelf.
I only have one word for how it's going: ha!
In my defense, I've bought almost all my new books with a gift card I had, so technically I am counting them as gift books and still attempting to limit the amount of books I buy. I have not, however, been limiting library books very well, so my totals are not very satisfying this quarter.
Books I Read: 16
Books I Bought: 10 (ugh!)
Books Off My Unread Shelf: 5
I lost ground.
However, checking in here reminds me that I really need to get back to reading just the books I own, so I'm going to try!
Without further ado, here's what I've read so far in 2019. You can click the links to read more thorough reviews on Goodreads.
Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Calahan - I am glad I read it, because it is interesting to know more about C.S. Lewis and his wife, but it didn't exactly endear Joy Davidman to my heart. Also, too much quivering for my taste.
Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson - Enjoyed the book recommendations in this book, and decided I will not read another book by Sarah Clarkson if I can help it. I just don't want to know what I'll do if I read about how she studied at Oxford one more time.
The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery - This book really can't be described by any word better than "delightful". I loved it. It was outlandish, it made me laugh, it made me love Montgomery more. If you like broody classics, this is not one.
Three Wishes by Lianne Moriarty - Moriarty's books are like really fattening candy - not good for you, a little embarrassing, but great as an occasional mindless stress-reliever. That's about how I felt about this one. It's not my favorite of hers, but I needed something light.
Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown - I liked the hero, I'm glad I read it, I'm a little embarrassed to have enjoyed it so much, and I wouldn't really recommend it. How's that for an opinion? It was just very violent and crude. Very.
A Man Called One by Fredrik Backman - I wouldn't necessarily say I think it deserved the level of hype it received, but it was alright. I typically like grump-character-finds-true-friendship stories, so I enjoyed it.
Micro by Michael Crighton - If it weren't for some briefly described and unnecessary nudity toward the end, I'd give this an unreserved thumbs up. It's like a fusion of Jurassic Park and Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, and read exactly like an action movie would if it were really a book.
Dead End In Norvelt by Jack Gantos - Not a huge fan. I did enjoy the quirky humor, but I wanted more from this book. I think some opportunities to touch on some really meaningful themes were missed. Also, way too much ridiculous political opining for a kids book.
The Giver by Louis Lowry - Badly miscategorized as a middle-grade novel, in my opinion. But I thought it was great, reading as an adult. I don't think kids, even teenagers, would get nearly as much out of this as an adult would.
Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt - I loved it so much, go read it right now! I'm a huge Schmidt fan. If you need an entry point to good middle grade books, you should read something by Schmidt (except not Orbiting Jupiter, because I think that one is pretty sad - start with his more quirky, fun books first).
Voyage With The Vikings (Imagination Station #1) - I read this to the kids for fun, and it is the first read-aloud we've read so far where my oldest was actually begging me to read another chapter. Wyatt has read the next book in the series now, all by himself, so if you need something that will get your kid into chapter books, this may be a place to start. Wyatt is such a science kid, it was fun to see him getting excited about history-related topics for once!
The Radium Girls by Kate Moore - Derek and I read half of this together on vacation last year, and then he tapped out, so I finally got around to finishing it by myself. If you don't like medical dramas, you might not like this one, but I am all about medical and courtroom stories, so this was right up my ally. The history and personal stories of these girls were so tragic and fascinating.
The Big Disconnect by Catherine Steiner-Adair - I picked this up for inspiration on reining in my social media habits - it worked. But I only really liked this first half of the book. The second half would be helpful to naive parents of teenagers, but was just disturbing to me as someone who is neither a parent of teenagers nor naive.
America's First Daughter by Stephenie Dray - This was my book club's recent pick, and it was quite good overall. It made an amazing audiobook on 1.5x speed. I HATED the main character's casual thought of using abortifacient herbs though, and wonder if the author was making this up (about a historical figure, no less) to make a modern pro-abortion point. Which if she was, that actually makes me angry.
My goals for the next three months:
Read more books on my unread shelf!
Read more books that will make it in my "Top Books Of 2019" list. I want a nice long list of strong books to recommend to you at the end of the year - the only ones from this quarter that I see making the cut would be The Blue Castle, Radium Girls, and Pay Attention, Carter Jones.
What are your favorite books from the year so far?
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