Goals for the New Year

I did not really come up with any resolutions for the year. I never keep them, so this year I have set some goals. Maybe if it isn't called a resolution I will be better about reaching my "goals". Here is what has been going on around our house since the new year started.

My first goal is to clean out and organize every nook of our house. Crazy, I know, but we can do this. Justin is totally on board with the idea. In fact, he was the one to come up with our game plan. So far, it is going really well. We started in the laundry room and are working our way through the downstairs room by room. Then we will move upstairs. We have finished the laundry room, kitchen, and dining room - every drawer, cabinet, and closet downstairs is now beautifully clean and organized. LOVE IT! I am also done with Lucy's room. Her closet has had all of the small and summery clothes/shoes removed and categorized in plastic bins with labels. I am a little embarrassed by the amount of clothes and shoes the girl has. We definitely went overboard. Hopefully some day the clothes will be reused by either a sister or a family member's daughter. I also dug out all of the infant toys that she has no interest in any longer. Her room is looking great. Our room is pretty much a disaster area. It is going to take some time. The worst room that I have now been dragging my feet on for months and months is our guest room. It has turned into the catch all room and everything has just been getting thrown in there for quite some time. I have to tell our guests to just dig around until they find the bed! :) Really, it is bad. Justin has 3 sets of drums in there. THREE! The closet is huge and can't hold one more thing. The little office that is attached to the room has crap piled up basically to the ceiling. My passport is lost in the black hole somewhere in the office. Yikes! I am overwhelmed just thinking about that room. The good news is, Justin and I are very good about getting rid of stuff - either throwing away or giving away. Neither of us are pack rats, so a major purge is about to occur. And I love that. I don't want things cluttering up the house that no one uses or even remembers that we have. Once everything is cleaned out, I will deep clean the whole house. It is going to feel so good to be done with this goal.

My next goal is to start cooking. We eat out almost every meal. Disgusting and expensive, I know. I cooked tonight. King Ranch casserole, salad, and rolls. Justin said it was delicious and it was nice to have a home cooked meal. In connection with this goal, is just being smarter about money and things that we buy. Justin and I are both impulse buyers. If we get the urge to have something, we generally go out and buy it. This needs to stop. We need to save more and spend less. This is going to be the hardest goal for us. We have some bad spending habits, but we can do it!

I would like to start exercising again. I would like to be toned and healthy again. I think that the only way I can really do this is to start jogging. Lucy can come with me and it is free. I HATE exercising, so I will have to get in the right mindset to get this going. I am the type who will work out really hard for about 2 months. I will go almost every day and push myself really hard. But once I break my routine (like getting sick or going out of town), I never get back on track and then I am just done. I won't work out again for years. It has been almost 2 years since the last time I worked out. Terrible. I can do this, and I can continue doing it long term for the health benefits.

And finally, I am working on being more patient and really thinking before I say something. I am really bad about getting VERY easily frustrated or annoyed and then being rude about everything. I know when I am doing it and wish that I would not be hot headed, but it is hard to control sometimes. I want to treat people the way I expect to be treated. I hope to be a better wife and mother in every way.

So there it is. I have made myself accountable by putting it out there. I hope I can do it. I am really going to try my hardest.

And because you know I would not post without pictures of Lucy, here she is on her new slide that Santa brought. It was 75 degrees here today. The weather around here has been so crazy. It was freezing this week, and then 75 and sunny today.