Saturday, January 3, 2015

2015 = Blank calendar = a year worth of potential

There is something about a new week or a new month that inspires me to do something different.  "This is the week I start getting up early for some quiet time"  "Next month I'm going to get back to clean eating"  "Its Monday and I have a chance to not snap at the kids this week"....but a new year? It is 12 months, 52 weeks, and 365 days to become a better version of myself.  To improve. To grow.  Or I can use those 12 months, 52 weeks, and 365 days to become a bitter version of myself. To diminish. To stagnate.  Clearly there is a "right" answer.

A blank calender is one of my favorite Christmas time purchases and I always get mine while we're gift shopping for the kids.  I love to look at all the ones with pretty pictures (Foreign landscapes and architecture), Bible verses, quotes, and animals doing stupid things.  But I never end up with one.  I get one with BIG squares.....and lines, lines are So important.  There are a lot of us and it takes a lot to keep me from missing things (often).  All those blank boxes with unfilled lines (although January is filling up fast) are full of potential.  Will we keep them blank and do nothing?  hardly....but will we do things that are worth writing down?  Worth making a note of?  I hope to make 2015 noteworthy!

In the spirit of embracing the potential in 2015, I am setting some goals.  I've picked 12 and they are in no particular order.  Just one for each month of the calendar (cause things like that make me feel happy).  As I/we achieve these, I will mark them in my special section (the calendar I use has a bullet point checklist for each month) in the month I feel successful.

1. Improve physical fitness with strength training and stretching  (Starting Bikini Body Mommy again on Jan 5th)
2. Continue to "eat clean" after a time of detox from holiday junk food (I'm eating a frozen snickers bar as I type this-sigh)
3. Get debt free!  (This is a HUGE goal for us!)
4. Remodel the kitchen!!  (Oh please let this happen!  PLEASE!)
5. Break wood in taikwando.  (still have to work through 2 more belts before I get a chance to try.)
6. Daily Bible study both alone and with the kids.
7. Improve my calm parenting skills and be a happier mom.  (class starts at the end of January-Woot Woot)
8. Continue to declutter the house (think I'll try this calendar)
9. Have a booth at one craft show with knit and sewn items....with a friend or two.
10. Keep track of menu plans and good recipes so I can remember them and don't have to reinvent the stinkin wheel every month.
11.  Less facebook and more facetime (actually real life facetime-not facetime on the ipad-HA!) This one will be harder than I 'd like to admit and I need to make it more concrete....but I gotta work it out.
12. re-implement and actually use a weekly cleaning schedule.


Clearly there is a lot on this list!  And they all won't be accomplished at the turn of the calendar page.  But setting goals in order to become better and move forward is the only way to become better and move forward.

It is clearly not Jan 1....I didn't get this done in time.  And my eating clean hasn't gone well so far this year Jan 1 = Casey's pizza  Jan 2 = Buffalo Wild Wings  Jan 3 = Amish buffet (I did order off the menu and didn't get the buffet but I also ate a BIG piece of coconut pie) and Jan 4 = Monicals pizza.

But the menu planning is off to a killer start and I've gotten the groceries to actually do better now.  I also tried a menu item at Bdubs that will be easy to recreate and make better and better for me at home....so I'll call that meal research!  HA!  A budget has been made through march and we are on track.  And the decluttering continues with the above mentioned calendar (I loved starting my household binder-yes I'm a dork).

Instead of focusing on the "failures" (but also not denying them), I am going to focus on my potential to have a wonderful and successful 2015!!!!  :D  Lets get this party started!!!!!



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