Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Beginning of Year List!

I make lists: to do lists, shopping lists, pro and con lists, why I love Adam list (I made it a few months after we met), I even have a what I will do and not do with my children list that I made the summer after my junior year of high school (and I know exactly where it is).  Maybe this is part of the reason I have always looked forward to making a list of New Years's Resolutions.
I love the feeling of starting over, doing better, of the last year being past and a new one just beginning.  When I was younger my New Years's Resolutions were simpler:

     I will make straight A's.

     I will apply and be awarded enough scholarships to pay for the next school year.

     I will do my crunches every morning.

     and on and on..

I knew I could attain these.  It was all so much easier when I operated in world that consisted of - well - mainly me.  The only resolution I never managed to fullfill was to keep a diary - I have summer diaries, a study abroad diary, but not one that lasts - It occurred to me the other day that I have been writing this blog for over a year now and that that is the closest I have ever come to keeping a continuous record of my life.  Exciting!

The past few New Years came and went with out putting any of my goals on paper. Sure, I thought about it often, but it just is not quite as fullfilling as jotting them all down.  Part of the difficulty is that there no longer are concrete benchmarks to gauge "success" by. There are no report cards, no scholarships, no mornings by my self.  Every day is completely uncharted territory - a whole new adventure to itself.

This morning however, I am sipping my cup of coffee, relishing a few quiet moments and jotting down a few dreams and goals for the upcoming year.  (The quiet morning did not last long - in the mean time I have cooked breakfast, taken Sylvan to the potty and am frantically typing this up before I help Ivory make her bed and wash the dishes.)

1. Be more organized - what a broad and lofty goal - but this includes having less clutter, planning and carrying out activities with the kids, continuing my meal planning, and trying to be on time.

2. Feel better about me!  It is really hard to keep track of the mom in the stay-at-home-mom.  There are the kids, the dogs, the chickens, the house, the cooking, the laundry, the constant cleaning... oh yeah, and me - so - I resolve to pluck my eyebrows (that should be simple, right?) before I feel like I have to hide in my house and they make me grouchy.  I want to feel better in my body.  I have weighed the same since I was in high school, so that isn't really the issue. My appearance has never been about how I look, but about how I feel in my own skin.
and those crunches I mentioned - ones I have been doing since I was in high school - well they disappeared when I was pregnant with Sylvan and have just never managed to work their way back into my routine again.  The thing is - I need them.  My lower back has been reminding me for months that I need them.  So I will try to have them be a part of my morning again and the rest of the day will thank me. I will (try to) go to yoga twice a week.  I will drink more water (how can that be so hard?) and get outside more.

3. Commit more time to ceramics and The Clay Studio - start a business with Adam.

4. Document and build more sculpture and apply for a show by the end of the year..  scary. but I would like to at least get rejected once this year.

5. Work toward long term financial independence (sounds like an insane and possibly impossible goal for a family who has an annual income below $10,000) but we can do it.  I am reading Your Money and Your Life by Dominguez and Robin right now.  I am in the process of inventorying all our possessions and have started to track every penny, that is right - EVERY PENNY, that comes into and out of our life.  I even counted the change in the money jar ($12.13).  I am going to finally start the children bank accounts, not buy anything unless we really need it and if we really need something try to find it used or figure out a way to make it ourselves.

6. Garden - MORE! I want to plant Jerusalem Artichokes this year.  I have a pound and a half waiting in the bottom of our fridge.  More tomatoes, more winter squash, more onions, more garlic...  less containers (they sucked last year - some nutrient imbalance) and more kids digging in the dirt next to me.

7. Make a 5 year plan for home remodels. Have I mentioned Adam started to cut larch siding for our house?  It is beautiful (and local, sustainable and affordable).

8. Get outside. I know I mentioned it in the feel better about myself section, but we really do need to get out more - with the dogs, with the kids, alone and as a family.  Can there ever be too much?
Today I am instituting Walk in the Woods Wednesday for the kids and I.  Anyone want to join me?

9. Less screen time.  I heard on On The Media last weekend that the average American watchen 5.5 hours of cable a day.  We don't even have cable or a television and that number seems entirely implausible to me.  The only thing we have is internet, but I do feel like I don't use my internet time efficiently.  So, I resolve to keep the computer off more, in fact I want to schedule black out days through out the week, and hopefully that way I will also reduce the amount of time I am asked: "Mama, can I watch a movie?" and the amount of times I have to say: "No.  Please don't ask me again."  I say that so, so, so many times during a week.

10. I met Adam almost 10 years ago.  It will be exactly 10 years on August 12th.  Why I remember the date is a whole other story that I might share some day...   Sure, we will continue to have some of the same fights - over those damn dogs for example - but, I can live with those.  I feel fortunate to have married someone I can laugh with, have fun with, cuddle up next to and look forward to tomorrow with.  (oh and we did make some really nice looking, adorable, awesome babies - score!) I hope this year will be the best year of many best years to come.

on that note... I better get to my daily to do list: make beds, do dishes, run a few errands and try out our first of this year's Walk in the Woods Wednesday!

1 comment:

  1. Laudable goals, Heidi. I particularly like your thinking toward long-term goals and financial independence. And taking care of your SELF.

    Love to you,
    Grandma

    ReplyDelete

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