For me, it seems like my birthday is a start of a new year. I feel like I've been given another year to make a difference and need to set some goals. There is a place I want to be in a year from now so instead of starting on January 1st maybe it makes more sense to start on my birthday.
1. I'd like to read some books. I have a stack of books that I've been wanting to read for about 10 years HA! I used to be really good at setting my books goals and reading them and then, along came digital books and I'm not so good at that anymore. I find that I need non-fiction books in paperback so I can make notes, re-read, and start over - something I struggle to do in digital format.
My plan is to read down my list and have my two books for each month in hand by the first of each month (some I already own and some I don't)
So here's my list for the year - 24 titles. (2 books a month in case you needed help with the "new math" haha)
1. Listen, Love, Repeat
2. Wait and See
3. Uninvited
4. 5 Habits of Women who don't give up
5. Unglued
6. Taming the To Do List
7. The Mended Heart
8. What Happens When Women Walk in Faith
9. Keep it Shut
10. Am I messing up my kids?
11. Living So That
12. Breaking Busy: How to find Peace and Purpose in a World of Cracy
13. Choose Joy
14. Girl Meets Change
15. Hoodwinked
16. Own your Life
17. Raising Grateful Kids in an Entitled World
18. Simply Tuesday
19. Steadfast Love
20. The Fringe Hours
21. The Mingling of Souls
22. Women of the Word
23. Parenting: 14 Gospel Prinicples that can Radically Change your Family
24. In This Hosue we Giggle
2) Scrapbooking - I've finally back in my groove. Attending crops, budgeting to get caught up, and, well, trying to catch up. I'm currently working through 2014 and 2015. I don't usually do two years at once but I accidently ordered photos from each year (I had Jan-March of 2014 but thought, later I was 2015 so I ordered April-June of 2015 - oops!). I've also started ordering pages from 2011 that are completed but I never ordered digitally. Yes, that's three years I'm working on now HA! So here's my basic goals for the next year.
1. Complete my nephews grad book by June 1st.
2. Complete all of 2014 and 2015 completely - all pages in scrapbooks; any memorabilia on pages and in the book; page protected and completed.
3. Go through all of my old scrapbooks and hopefully have them all completed - I say hopefully because I know I'm missing page protectors and I'm not sure if I can fit all of that in the budget throughout the year but I'm going to try.
4. Update the family albums with the boys year by year photos, sport photos ect.
5. I'd really like to have 2016 also done within this next year so that I will only be technically one full year "behind".
6. Order one month of the digital pages each month AND order enough pages to put them into an album each month - this might be a stretch on the budget so, it might be order digital pages one month and scrapbook pages for this project the next month.
7. Since this involves photos: Print photos of each of our animals we've had since getting married and frame them; hang them in the bathroom alcove/hallway - I project I've wanted to do for a long time.
8. Get professional family photos take THIS summer. It's been a few years and it is time.
3) Bible Study - I have a Bible Study book to do on Psalms. Psalms is a very long book so for now, that is my goal. When I finish this, I will pick something new at that point
4) The House. I have some very specific goals for the house this coming year. Sure there are things we'd like such as a new dishwasher, replacing the garage door, replacing the house doors but, those are some bigger ticket items. Instead I just have somethings to accomplish.
1. Paint the living room. We've been able to replace our entertainment center and get some new lights. So now we want to finish the update by painting and putting up some new artwork. I also have a shelf to order for the scrapbooks (which in turn frees up storage space in the playroom!)
2) Replace the carpet and organize the playroom. When our dog was so sick near the end of her life, the carpet in the playroom took a beating. Not to mention it is already about 18 years old and . .. pink. It's a tiny room so the cost is minor. I also need to organize again and make that room more usable.
3) Update the boys room -just some simple organizing, changing out some artwork and creating some display shelves for their TDK belts and other sport trophies. Once the playroom is done, I'm going to finish up some organizing in their rooms. I kind of know what shelving I want to use in their room so they each have a very specific space.
4) The basement. My goal is to finally clean the space out. A couple of shelves, a couple of bins, and a huge trash pile should take care of it ;-) We've talked to the boys already about the "playroom" downstairs and that we are going to turn it more into a Lego Space. A space for the bins of legos that they use for fun, Some shelves for storage (there should be extras left from cleaning out what we already have) and a table for building. This will clear up space in their bedroom for their favorite complete projects.
5. Family - If we don't plan family events, they don't happen.
1) Camping - we currently have two dates on the calendar and are hoping to get one more in before summer is gone.
2) An anniversary get away - Darryl and I are hoping, planning and saving for a three day get away in August for our Anniversary. Nothing big, just a few days away.
3) I have a few other things on my radar - A trip to Mackinaw, A trip to Chicago, a Short getaway over spring break in 2018 like we did this year (we combined it with our annual trip to celebrate when we got engaged). A trip to a hotel with a waterpark would be fun as well as a vacation somewhere new and fun!
4) The boys are getting older so some of it is just trying to be intentional and look for things that they would enjoy. Going to Zoos, a Christmas Concert, Birthday plans etc.
6. School.
1) Online schooling is great but I still have to plan. I want to work our schedule better so that we have more breathing room around holidays and also giving me at least one day a week to accomplish things I need to around the house
2. Summer review - we are focusing on a few key things. One, handwriting. Two, Keyboarding. Three, Math and Four, Reading. We are wrapping up school right now and I plan to give the boys a few weeks off before giving them a summer schedule. It will be very simple (because I don't like summer school either!) Just 20 minutes a day is my goal and then reading 2-3 days a week.
I'm sure I'll add some more to my list as I go along but for now this is a good start.
