2013 Goals

Whew! Another year has tumbled by and as I reflect back on the year I can tell you that it was a year of growth and change.  With my degree in hand, I searched for new employment opportunities and landed at Second Harvest Heartland.  I learned to bake like no one's business, technology has helped me to become more organized and I've even found time to read a few books.  Please note, I didn't say textbooks!

Now looking forward it's time to come up with goals for 2013.  I've found that when I make goals with realistic expectations and attach a timeline I do pretty well.  I love to learn but can find a day pass by without notice and miss out on opportunities to learn.

Sara's 2013 Goals:

2013 will be the year of my sewing machine.  A few years back I got a sewing machine from my mom.  So far it's really never been used... I think my mom has used it, a friend from work and my mother in law, but I haven't touched the darn thing other than to transport it to work for friend to use!  So I'm dusting it off and starting from scratch. It is my goal that at the end of 2013 I will have four completed sewing projects, one for every quarter. 

I've been thinking about a new fitness goal for this year.  I would like to do a 10 mile race but I don't know if I can count on my knee to hold out.  If I say I want to work out three times a week, the goal will not have an end result and I will fail miserably. This year for Christmas, using gift cards I bought myself a FitBit. So my fitness goal for the year will be to register 10,000 steps on my FitBit daily! And if I can get my knee to agree I'll run a 10 miler too!

This year I will can!  I've made Strawberry Freezer Jam before with my friend Anne but that is as close to canning as I've come.  I won't promise that I will do a lot of canning, but I want to learn and I want to put up at least one thing this year. 

I will also try one new thing in the garden.  Every year my garden is the same: tomatoes, peppers, basil, oregano, tarragon, rosemary, cucumbers.  This year there will be something new.  Should I try carrots? Peas?  Help!

Goals for Jackson:

I would like for Jackson to lean the basics of playing an instrument.  Be it drums, piano or guitar, I don't really mind but my goal for him this year would be to start a music lesson.

Jackson really enjoys being crafty, reading books, playing on the iPad and computer.  I would like to see Jackson be a little more active this year.  Trips to the park, bike rides, running and playing games outside will be in order once the weather is above freezing.  It's healthy to have a balance of both active sports and creative thinking.  He is a strong reader and creative thinker, I just want him to explore activities as well.

This year I would also like Jackson to start thinking about ways he can give back to the community.  Volunteers at Second Harvest need to be 8 years or older but I'd like to find something similar for him to get involved in.  He's not ready for a commitment in volunteering but I would like for him to experience it at least once this year. 

Goals for Addie:

No more whining!  Oh Addie has entered the whine phase of life.  Jackson's whine phase was pretty short-lived but I babysat for a child who whined for the better part of a year.  He was a great kid but the whining got on my nerves.  This year we will work on Addie to be better about using her words to get the things that she wants. 

Addie is such an active kid, she loves playing and being outside.  This year we need to work with her on getting ready for a preschool curriculum.  She knows some of her letter and a few numbers so for the first half of the year we'll work on her upper and lower case letters and numbers.  And she will be working to write her name.

Addie also needs to start earning her keep!  I kid, I kid!  But we will work at giving her a chore that she can start being responsible for.  I think she'd be willing to help put more laundry away so we'll start there.

Goals for the house:

Once again we will try to produce less waste.  Our garbage bin is full every week, we throw away food, plastic wrapping, broken toys on a regular basis!  We need to start by aiming to eat our food leftovers instead of going out to eat only to toss away food from our fridge that has gotten old.

I think we'd be better at creating less waste if we also worked to own less.  I'd like to spend some time this year getting rid of things.  Martini glasses that I've never used!  Our endless supply of toys that rarely get played with and the clothes that are cluttering up our drawers.  I feel crowded in this house because really, we just have too much stuff!

I'd like to create an emergency fund.  In order to do this we need to be better at saving our hard-earned cash.  One of the greatest ways for us to save is to limit our dining out experiences.  I enjoy cooking but often find myself wanting to go out to dinner instead because it's easier. We need to be thoughtful about our spending and consider spending freezes to get us back in line.

Okay 2013, bring it on!  We are ready for the challenge.