Next Year Goals

Well, I have not been very good about writing down my thoughts and that darn menu plan.  I still menu plan as always, but I’ve decided I will not put it on my blog – it does not seem necessary to me after all.

Lots has been swirling around in my head and I not been too focused.  I could blame it on the hussle of the Christmas season, but I won't.  That is too easy.  It is not Christmas and all that goes with it.  It is simply my thinking lots of things and not taking the time to write it down.  But that will be changing with the New Year.

Chief and I have come up with an idea for our family for 2010… not really New Year’s resolutions, but more of goals we are striving to work on this year (so I guess you could say they are resolutions, sort of). The girls seemed excited about it and Lizard immediately came up with a few for herself.  I am still formulating mine but the big ones I have are:

Read the entire bible by January 1, 2011
My small group of women from our church who get together once a month for a Girl’s Night Out are going to do it together with a "girls weekend at the beach" for those that complete it as the reward – how fun is that?  Click here for the schedule I am going to follow.  Chief is going to do it with me too!  I have never read the entire bible, only bits and pieces based on the bible study I am doing at the time or from sermons.  I am really looking forward to the lessons God is going to show me through this.  Thank you Jennifer L. for encouraging us all to do it.

Lose 35 pounds by September 1, 2010
I am going to take the “Move More, Eat Less” approach… with “real GOD made” food as the focus and eating less sugar, eating more fruits and veggies and more protein and eating smaller portion sizes as my guide. I do not want to follow some rigid “diet” – I just want to eat healthy at least 80% of the time.  I am going to loose about 5 pounds a month which is about right – nice and slow!

Launch photography business by March 1, 2010
I have done three official photo shoots for friends (oh what fun it was!) and feel I am ready to put myself out there as a beginning photographer for hire.  I need to develop my website, get the legalities in order and begin to advertise.  It will be so fun to see what happens with this!

Some other ideas swirling around up there are… keeping to a regular blogging schedule, more topical writing on the blog, developing a regular chore schedule for the kids (I have done them in the past, but they always seems to fall by the wayside), following the Ramsey plan for our family better and lots more. There are both big and small goals in the works, but all ones I want to work on incorporating into our Goal Plan.

So… I’d better start reading my bible so I stay on task with my first goal… 2010 here I come!

Menu Plan, Week of December 7, 2009

I have been menu planning dinners for well over a year, but I am now going to post my menus.  I am hoping by doing this I can plan out our lunches and breakfasts too... we will see how it goes.

Weekly breakfasts - cereal, waffles, yogurt, eggs
Weekly lunches - sandwiches, bagels and cream cheese, salads, apples, cucumbers

Monday - Tuna noodle casserole and salad
Tuesday - Pineapple Pepperjack Chicken and salad
Wednesday - Eat out
Thursday - Slow cooker beef stroganoff, rolls and salad
Friday - Left-overs and then off to a girls night out dessert (taking raspberry brownies triffle - YUM)

There you have it - my first official cyber menu plan!

Love Your Man

Can I just say, I love my man...Chief?  Cause I do.  We are undergoing change, but I am more in love with Chief than ever.  We are in this together and that is a very comforting place to be.

Get out Murphy

If you follow Dave Ramsey, you know he says if you are not prepared, Murphy moves in. Well, we are prepared to a certain extent, but Murphy has moved in on us. New tires for the car (Thank you Lord for allowing the blow out on the freeway with all the kids in the car to happen on a clear - non-raining day), new spring for the garage door, car acting up and Chief's job getting worse and worse.

I see change ahead of us - me going back to work, new jobs, open to moving where a job may lead Chief, change for the kids... I am in a moment of complete panic right now, but yesterday I was very peaceful and calm about everything.

I think God is trying to show me how to rely on him in everything. My first reaction is not to go to God, not to pray. That is changing for me in a real way. Funny, when I go to Him first, I am calm and know everything will work out the way it is suppose to. It really isn't funny or a ironic -it is real faith and I am finally learning. Took me long enough, huh God.

Brrrrr

Okay, it is cold here!  It is only mid-October and the heater has already been running since September and I have broken out the socks, PJ pants and long sleeve t-shirts to sleep in already (sexy, I know!).  I usually don't do that until January or so.  I haven't heard the official prediciton for the winter, but it sure seems like we are in for it again this year.

But I love this time of year - to me it is a fresh start (just like spring).  The colors are incredible - God made for sure.  So I will take the cold along with the beauty that comes with the changing of the season. 

A Mixed Bag of Thoughts

I have been working on my projects and it still feels good.  Ottoman painted – check.  Boards cut, sanded AND painted and ready for the decorative expressions – check.  Glass block decorated for a Christmas gift – check.  Top of fridge cleaned – check (ohhh, so gross – need to do that one more often).  Kids clothes sorted and ready for the consignment store drop off – check…Lots to still do (it is never ending), but I have been trying to make a concerted effort to stop wasting time (like on the computer) and do something productive.  Wahooo!

I spent some time last week out practicing with my camera in the manual mode.  I definitely have a big learning curve, but it’s fun to see the results when you tweak something here and there.  I am going to photograph a friend’s family soon as a way to kick off my business – we are just trying to nail down a date.

Oh and I found a great Melissa & Doug fire truck floor puzzle for Little Man at a garage sale for $2. He loves it and I love the deal I got!

I was watching SuperNanny the other day and the mom on the show said something profound to me.  She said she has stopped looking at her kids as a “chore” and has been enjoying just being their mom.  I have not been able to stop thinking about that statement.  I think I have been guilty of thinking of my kids as a chore at times.  What a horrible revelation to me.  I love my kids beyond words and want nothing but the best for them and I have not been giving them my best.

I have been taking more time to play with Little Man during the day – that is after all why I am home and why we make the sacrifices we do.  I have stopped and just hugged my kids more than normal.  I have made an effort to just enjoy watching Soccer Girl (my 4th grader) play soccer instead of getting frustrated that I have to wrangle Little Man all the time.  I have let Lizard just play without demanding she do things on my timetable as much.  It is has been fun.

My kids are amazing to me – a mixed bag of emotions, energy, ideas, aggravation, eye rolling, foot stomping, love, giggles – just amazing.  I want them to know they are amazing.

Getting Things in Oder

I am in a "my life is unorganized" funk... and when that happens I start purging "stuff" from my life. I think of all these projects I need to get done (and often they are not big ones) but don't take action. I don't know if it is Fall or what, but I have been slowly just tackling one little project at a time... like cleaning out the medicine basket and throwing away the stuff that is so out of date it is pre-kids (and I even found one bottle that dated back to pre-marriage - good heavens!). And you know what, it took only about 30 minutes and it felt good! I just started spray painting the footstool I found at an antique store.

I think "staying home with kids" can often feel like you aren't accomplishing anything. At least for me it does. Don't get me wrong, I know how lucky I am and I get the big picture ...I am there when they get home and hear first how school was; I am there in the morning when Lizard (my 1st grader) tears up and tells me she does not want me to leave her at school; I get the out-of-the-blue neck crushing hugs from Little Man... but in the day to day stuff of life, I often don't feel like I accomplish much.

So, my goal is to just do something on my never- ending list every day. Accomplishing something tangible each day will help me to see the intangibles of being there for my kids.

Fresh Starts

The girls started school today - 4th grade and 1st grade!  That just amazes me.  It is so cliche to say "it goes so fast" but man it sure does.  I was thinking last night how so much of this summer was spent breaking up arguments, cleaning, running errands and all the stuff that in the grand scheme of life, does not matter much.  We never did have our Silly String fight in the backyard (I should surprise them this weekend).  Last night I wanted to hug them and never let go.  But, I have to - a little bit at time, one school year at a time. 

I am needing a fresh start too - in parenting, life... oh, in lots of areas.  I am starting a new bible study tomorrow - we are studying the book of Acts...Looking at our talents and using them.  It is funny how God works.  Chief (my hubby) and I have talked about me starting to do some photography on the side and seeing what happens with it.  And, I am actually starting to take some steps to actually get that moving.  It takes a lot for me to step out of my comfort zone and starting a business requires that.  So I think this bible study is very timely for me.  I love taking a photo of my kids that really captures them in that moment ... but am I ready to do that for others? 

After giving a friend some pictures I had taken of our kids together and some of just her kids, she showed her oldest daughter.  After looking through the pictures, her daughter asked her "now, who took these pictures Mom?"  When she told her that I had, her daughter said "these are really good, she should do this as a job."  Perhaps, maybe I should.

Stocking the freezer

There is something wonderful and comforting about stocking my freezer.  I just finished a batch of mini-blueberry muffins and a batch of mini-banana nut muffins to grab on busy mornings.  Is that weird to feel that way?

A Rough Day

This afternoon was rough - Little Man was throwing cars, pulling hair, biting, disobedient and violent (well, as violent as a two year old can be!).  He can be exhausting.  He is a funny blend of such a gentle heart and crazy all-out "my-way or the highway" personality.  But the night ended well - he snuggled and babbled sweetly as we rocked in the rocking chair'; return true;" style="border-bottom: 3px double; text-decoration: none;">rocking chair.  That does my mommy heart good after a day like today.

Jumping In!

I am jumping into the blogging world. I enjoy reading so many blogs I thought it was time to start my own. I plan to blog about our family - to have a place to capture our daily life. Time is flying by and so many things I thought I would remember, I simply don't. Hopefully this will be a place to capture those little moments that mean so much and really make up what my family means to me.