I can’t get motivated lately. The weather has been so cold. It’s either freezing cold, snowing, icing / sleeting , or raining. Not much to get excited about, unless you are a penguin or a polar bear.
I’ve been thinking lately that I need a new plan. I need some new goals that I can get excited about. I need a new direction. I did so well with setting goals last winter and it was a great transition into spring. But this winter, so far, all I am accomplishing is blah, blah, blah… I need to be able to see where I am headed…
A NEW PLAN FOR A NEW YEAR
I have set 10 goals for myself.
Goal #1 Set up a daily & weekly planner to organize my day and keep track of my progress.
I am hopeful I will get to review a new product for moms that is a daily planner. It has a place for scripture study, chores, meal planning, and other stuff. I think this will greatly help me get motivated. If I don’t get chosen to do that review, then I will search on the internet to find a free planner of similar motivation.
Goal #2 Set up manageable weight loss goals through
a) nutrition
b) activity
c) establish clear goals with easy to implement steps to achieve the goals.
d) take self portrait pictures and measurements and record my progress
Goal # 3 Read my bible daily for inspiration, motivation, conversation with my Lord, and peace. I find my inner self is more joyful, purposeful, and peaceful when I start the day spending time with the Lord.
Goal #4 Plan the garden and CSA project.
I am seriously looking at offering a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) this year. In a CSA, folks in your community can buy a share of your garden harvest for a fee. They usually make a commitment for the season, or for three or four months. Then each week they can stop by the garden and pick up a box filled with their share of the harvest.
Goal #5 Get the kids involved in the local 4 H program. Sign ups begin in January here and are only open for a few weeks. We want to get them signed up and pick out what projects they will work on to display in the country fair in June this summer. The kids have expressed interest in raising rabbits, chickens, turkeys, goats, cows, fish, garden, and Lego and robotics. It is a tall order to fill, so I need to get the ball rolling and find out how to go about getting all of this done, what resources we will need, and see if there are free resources available. If you hear of anyone giving away these kinds of things or equipment to care for them, please let me know.
Goal #6 Paint the kitchen.
The kitchen is absolutely UGLY! It is a weird yellow, combined with a leftover creosote smoky film from someone’s kerosine heater in the past. The light in the center of the kitchen only works part of the time and is a large rectangle florescent light from the 1970s. There is no exhaust for the stove either. There is not enough cabinets and no room for table and chairs. You cannot open the stove door or refrigerator door without bumping your but on the table. There is also no counter near the stove so cooking is very frustrating as there is no area to prep food, or set it aside while you are cooking. I have to use one side of the stove for food prep many times. I dread using the kitchen! It needs a major overhaul. The cabinet under the sink has suffered from years of leaks and it is rotted out. There is no insulation in the kitchen so you are either freezing in the winter, or boiling in the summer. But not much I can do about that at this time. I would feel so much better about the kitchen if I could paint it and put up some shelves for plants around the windows. I don’t know how cheaply we could do it for, I will have to watch for paint to go on a big sale, but I would love to do some kind of tan walls with red accents. The kitchen is very small, and it has oak looking cabinets and white appliances. I think a barn red accent would look very pretty in contrast. I desperately need a dishwasher too. There are eight people to cook for and we need a dishwasher to cut down on the amount of daily washing by hand.
Goal #7 Find a grass fed raw milk source.
We miss drinking fresh milk daily. I also want to make cheese, yogurt, and milk kefir. So I am on the hunt for a good source. . There is a dairy about an hour north of where I live that offers dairy herd shares and we are going to check them out. We need fresh milk for our kids. It is a life giving nutrient dense food and offers many immunological and digestive benefits.
Goal #8 Start Kombucha brew.
I’ve brewed kombucha many times in the past. But I have not had a brew going since moving to Indiana last summer. I sure miss drinking kombucha and it is too expensive to buy regularly at the store. So I want to get back to brewing my own again.
Goal #9 SING
I love to sing and I enjoy writing songs. But I have not spent a lot of time singing since we moved to NC in 2008. I used to sing in church and just about anywhere there was opportunity. For the past few years, I have only sang for my kids. But this summer I felt such a longing to sing again. The joy of singing and song writing returned as I spent time walking the property and praising the Lord with a new song each day. I have also desired to return to music theatre at some point as it is something I realy enjoy doing too. And then I also learned my neighbor’s son is a recording artist and may have a new project in the works in the near future. I would love to sing back up for a music recording project. I also hope to return to singing on a praise and worship team in church too. Though I enjoy singing from the pew, I have also really missed being a part of a praise team.
Goal #10 Live with purpose.
This is the most important goal for me this year. I want to live with purpose in every area of my life. I
want everything in my life to have significant meaning or I want to weed it out and simplify. If it isn’t important and beneficial then it needs to go. I will be taking a close look at my relationships and building them up, prioritize my goals, simplify my possessions, and how I spend my time. I want to purge the boxes of storage out of the house too. I feel overrun with boxes at the moment. We don’t have a garage or place for storage so I have boxes in a couple of rooms in the house. But I want to remedy this as soon as the weather improves. I want to pull out the boxes into the yard and if I have a place to put something unboxed, then bring it back in and place it where it goes. If not, then send it on to the goodwill, or perhaps if I can pull it off, then host a yard sale. I could sure use the extra cash from a yard sale in a lot of ways. I hope I will be able to look back at 2014 and feel that I did a good job at prioritizing what is important in my life this year.
want everything in my life to have significant meaning or I want to weed it out and simplify. If it isn’t important and beneficial then it needs to go. I will be taking a close look at my relationships and building them up, prioritize my goals, simplify my possessions, and how I spend my time. I want to purge the boxes of storage out of the house too. I feel overrun with boxes at the moment. We don’t have a garage or place for storage so I have boxes in a couple of rooms in the house. But I want to remedy this as soon as the weather improves. I want to pull out the boxes into the yard and if I have a place to put something unboxed, then bring it back in and place it where it goes. If not, then send it on to the goodwill, or perhaps if I can pull it off, then host a yard sale. I could sure use the extra cash from a yard sale in a lot of ways. I hope I will be able to look back at 2014 and feel that I did a good job at prioritizing what is important in my life this year.
What are your goals for 2014?
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Raising Homemakers