Towards a New Year

Superman and I have the tradition of going to lunch together before New Years to talk about what we want from the new year and what we'd like to accomplish. We went this year on the 30th- he had an appointment with his doctor to see if he was cleared to return to work (he was, YAY!) so we had lunch before that since my sister graciously agreed to watch the boys for us.

It's not so much an "I'm going to totally remake myself this year" but a realistic, "I'd like to accomplish this or work towards a new habit" kind of thing. Let's just say we keep each other honest.

I won't share superman's personal goals here, but I'll share mine. My goals revolve around clearing out clutter, both in my home and my body. I don't need to lose any weight per se, but I do want to feel better, and I have had some problems with food allergies resurfacing that I haven't had in a long time. I need to take care of that, and it requires a pretty strict diet change.

1. Plant a garden this year and hopefully end up with edible produce. If not we'll at least have learned a lot about growing green things this year.

2. Eat at-home prepared meals only for a week. We've been working for the past several months to move away from pre-packaged foods and inbalanced meals, and this is the continuance of this goal. This will either take a lot of planning and prep or not much at all, depending on if we attempt this on a week I'm working or on a week that I don't teach.

3. Read 20 fiction books this year. I made it to 17 last year, I'd like to bump it a little bit this year.

4. Start Bible memory with Big Kid and build it into a habit. We'll be using the method I found on simplycharlottemason.com and starting with shorter verses. This is just as much for me as it is for him.

5. Keep my nightstand area completely clear for 30 days except for vitamins, Bible and 1 current book. This is something I am doing particularly because Superman really prefers that our bedroom be clutter free and the fact that my nightstand looks like a library/knitting factory doesn't meet his ideal. So I'm going to limit my knitting to my basket, and my books to the shelf, save the ones I will actually use that evening.

6. Keep/Toss/Donate 15 items each day for 30 days. I'm planning to start this soon, and continue straight through for 30 days, then move on to item 7.

7. Move systematically through the house to declutter and re-organize. The plan is to work 1 month at a time in each room and the goal is to get rid of the things that have not been needed or used in the last year. I did this in 2004 and I've had two kids since then, so the house definitely needs a reboot. The general rooms are in pretty good shape, but our master bedroom closet is still a stack of boxes since our move last April (including some maternity clothes I haven't needed in over 18 months) and our basement is a true disaster of boxes. Most things just need a re-organization- like the linen closet and the laundry room/pantry. The kitchen items were put into random cabinets when we moved in and I'd like to really organize them the way I'd like them to be to make them more functional for me.

8. Drink water. Make juice an occasional thing and soda a rare thing. Another health thing, but one I'm having severe problems with. I cannot have any soda in the house or I drink it all.

9. Move to using as many fresh ingredients as possible in our cooking. Another improvement on our current diets, and another step in a healthier direction.

10. Re-evaluate my goals every 3 months. This is just as important as the actual goals themselves. I need to stay on track, and check-ins are crucial to that point.