I'm always amazed at how quickly the year passes by when December 31st arrives. This year especially - after having 324 days in April alone and yet the rest of the year seemed to fly by. First up, a quick recap of my December goals. Second, a look back at the goals I set for the year back in January. I know, you are thrilled, aren't you?
December:
December, quite honestly, was mostly consumed with school. The kids worked hard to finish almost all of their semester lessons by the time Christmas break started which meant that I was working with someone from 9:00-4:00 most days. Not much else got accomplished outside of that goal.
1. Scrapbooking - 1) Complete 1 page a day (so 31 pages total) 2) File all the photos I ordered last month and then order May and June photos 3) The Spines' Project - focus on the top shelf and make sure all albums are complete/order spines if needed 4) My niece's book. Not a single thing got done this month. Unless I decide to get out my scrapbooking stuff tonight, New Years Eve, and work on pages.
2. Reading - 1) Read my book club book 2) Just read, curled up on the corner of the couch with a blanket and a cup of hot chocolate!! Well, I read. I loved sneaking in some book reading during lunch or after school was done!
3. Cleaning - 1) Organize and declutter Nate's room 2) The kitchen is the focus - it's the last room of the house that i need to do a deeper cleanout. (Then I'll start over in January and dig deeper!) The kitchen didn't get touched. Once Christmas stuff comes out, it's really hard to deep clean. Nate and I did spend time in his room but it also got interrupted by Christmas décor since things get stored in there to make room in the living room for the tree.
4. Family - This month is focused on Nate's birthday and Christmas. Nate has asked me to make him a cake "like I used to" so I have to figure that out. All of this was accomplished :-)
5. Homeschool - Wrap up as many projects as we can and as many lessons as possible. This was also accomplished
6. - Holiday Plans - 1) Get our Christmas tree and decorate it 2)Make our gingerbread houses 3) Make and decorate Christmas Cookies 4) Go out and see Christmas lights This was all accomplished. We didn't actually cut out/decorate cookies but I did do a lot of Christmas cookie baking of various kinds so that counts!
Now, it is time to look back at the goals I set back in January.
1. Take the boys to fun places in Grand Rapids and get photos. (Fish ladder, the huge tire swing, the lion mural, the blue bridge, and more. I want to take advantage of our city while the boys are "this" age. So, this plan did not happened due to Covid. We stuck super close to home after March.
2. Scrapbooking goals. I'm learning to be more intentional with scrapbooking at home. It's been difficult to find scrapbook crops that I can actually attend so I have to make time to do what I love at home. I'd really like to finish 2014 (almost there). Then look at the other years and see where I'm at and work on the next year (I think it's 2016) while also working on 2020. It is hard to work on multiple years but I'd like to be current with this year while working on catching up the other years. I finished 2014. I also finished 2010. I worked on 2019 and I think I finished 2016 as well. I also printed a lot of photos and started working on ordered engraved spines for my other scrapbooks.
3. Reading. I want to focus more on reading. I had some issues with my contacts last year and found it very hard to read so, well, I didn't. That problem is now corrected so it's time to read again. My goal is to set a reading goal each month and try to accomplish that goal. I read a lot this year thanks to being at home. I wish I would have track my reading better but maybe that it is a good goal for 2021.
4. Cleaning I am working on creating a 20 day a month cleaning challenge for myself. It is based on the concept I did over a year ago where the group I'm part of set a goal to get rid of the number if items to match the date. It worked well for me - I don't tend to have hours to dedicate to a project but I can carve out 20 minutes or so around our school day.. This is one of those 80% goals - I feel like I did this 80% of the time and I did make it through every room in the house except the kitchen. I also spent some time in the basement working on organizing.
5. Family. Go see movies we want to see; do things we want to do; and enjoy time together. The boys are looking forward to playing flag football this year so I want to help that happen. Josh loves to run so I want to help him success at that by getting the right shoes and seeking out guidance from friends who are runners. Well, Covid. That's all.
6. The last "McMaster" niece graduates this year so I need to complete her graduation album by May. This is still sitting on my desk as I'm waiting for a few more letters. I guess that is what happens to the "last" one. HA!
7. Complete some simple projects around the house including replacing the difficult lightbulb above m sink, getting the seal for a piece on the sink (that I dropped down the drain a year or so ago HA!), and maybe even a new thermostat just to name a few items. We did not get a new thermostat but we did replace the seal on the sink :-)
8. Homeschool - I have some new ideas for our second semester including a "Monday Morning Meeting" were we can go over our week and also the goal of both boys working on their multiplication memorization. I also, as always, will need to decide what to do about the fall when it comes to the program we will use for homeschooling. There are two parts to this 1) 4th/5th grade - we did all I had planned and mentioned above. 2) 5th/6th grade - we've had two extra kids here since March doing school (during school time) which has altered our schedule quite a bit.
9. Learn how to make Macaroons. It doesn't seem like much but I love them and would just like to try my hand at making them. Ummm, nope. Going on the 2021 list!
10. Plan our "Holidays" - This includes Birthdays and traditional holidays. I need to update my my holiday journal and then start on plans for Valentine's Day :-) I feel like I accomplished this and did it well this year.
11. The Misc List - I tend to have a list of things that are just needed or need done - such as - Josh needs new dress pants, Nate needs a light jacket, I have two gifts we got Nate I need to return/replace, the boys need sleds, I need to hang up Nate's racetrack we moved to the basement, Darryl needs to help Nate make shelves for his TKD boards that he has broken, clean out the misc card in the bathroom. As you can see that list is long and I'm sure there more! Ok, here we go 1) No new dress pants were ever needed 2) Nate got a jacket 3) Gifts were returned 4) I still need to hang up Nate's racetrack 5) Darryl hung up the shelves 5) The cart was cleaned out.
12. Buy a "new" car. It might seem odd to add to the goals but, we kind of now this has to happen so, I guess, making it a goal is a good thing. Thanks again to covid, we never did buy a car - we didn't need to since we didn't go many places. Plus, not having a car payment is always a good thing!
13. Go camping at least once in the summer. Yes! We did this!
14. The basement - this is separate then the other cleaning goal. Last year I worked hard to make the basement need and basically organized. This year, it's time to go shelf by shelf, bin by bin, and really clean stuff out. This ongoing project did make progress this year - not as much as I'd like but I did get more shelving and the right size bins for the shelves. I cleaned out old bins and now need to just keep making progress.
15. The garage - the boys want to have a garage sale, I do not HA! So, no matter what the garage will get cleaned up and organized as stuff will either get sold that has been sitting out there for close to a year OR it will go to charity. Done!!!!
16. Music - The boys are continuing piano lessons. I would like to focus on "perfecting" one song a month on the piano and also having my next song for special music ready before it's time to sing :-) Music was a struggle this year - lessons were cancelled and I worked with them some. We have to hit this harder in 2021.
17. Take a photography class. There is a local photographer that does classes several times a year. I have a goal to sign up and take one this year. I took one from my friend several years ago and enjoyed it but have forgotten most of it - I'd like to learn to use my camera better. Covid. I did buy a book but need to actually use it now!
18. Plan some dates with Darryl. With my mom close by, it is easier to make this happen now.. We've done a few spur of the moment things and took a day out for our anniversary and a weekend away.
19. Spiritual - I'm a strong starter and a slow finisher when it comes to Bible Study Books. I have one picked out to start - I'm part of an accountability group so hopefully that will help :-) I have not changed my ways - I start strong and never finish HA!
20. Finances - I have some savings goals for this year as well as continuing to look for way to make a little extra income that fits well with our family life. I met my goals and feel like we ended the year well.
Looking back over these goals, I actually accomplished more then I thought I did and for that I am grateful. Writing year long goals is sometimes hard because there is no way to predict what might come along to alter the plan (Covid!) but, if you fail to plan guess what? You plan to fail! My mind is already working on my plans for 2021 and I'll be sharing those soon.
