Resolutions: Month Two

January's now over so it's time to look at how I'm doing and what successes and failures I had in this first month of 2010. And it's time to get started on my February goals. So let's see how I've done so far and what's in store this month :

Resolution #1 - Get Healthier.

I've kept my commitment to walk the dog 5 times a week even on the REALLY cold days, however I did skip one day when it was pouring rain. Who wants to walk in that? I've since come up with a good substitute of playing chase with Kona for 15 minutes on yucky days. That way we still both get some exercise. Cutting out soda has not been a problem. I drink sweet tea or lemonade if we're out, but mostly I have water. I think there was one time I was really craving a Coke (in the literal sense, not the southern anything-that-fizzes defintion of Coke). But it was no big deal to have something else. One night at Moe's the lemonade dispenser was broken and I didn't want caffeinated tea, so I had root beer. But once in 31 days is not so bad.

This month, in addition to not drinking soda, I'm going to start drinking more water. Now, I know they've changed their minds about the whole 8 glasses of water a day thing, but I know I feel better if I drink more water. And when I'm trying to get a certain amount of water in me, it's hard to have room for juice, soda or tea so it cuts down my sugar intake.

I'm also bumping my walking distance up to two miles and looking for a good stretching routine. Because when it comes to flexibility, I have none. So I thought I'd feel better if I started stretching every day and increasing my flexibility before I stepped up my workouts to anything that might make me sore.

Resolution #2 - Get Organized

I made my cleaning checklist and have been editing and revising it ever since. But I love it. I don't make myself do everything every day, but I do most things most days so I stay on top of things and our house is generally neater. And I feel like I'm providing a more relaxing environment for Jamie to come home to after long work days. I've also had no problem cutting out TV. I just don't turn it on, making it very easy not to watch it.

For the month of February, my goals are to continue with my cleaning checklist and to paint our hall bathroom which we're hoping to redecorate soon (and if I'm lucky, we'll be getting the floor retiled, but don't hold your breath).

Resolution #3 - Get Connected

Well this is perhaps my biggest under acheivment. I've made the birthday list as planned. However, 3 birthdays have now passed and I have 3 more in the next two days and I've sent exactly 0 cards. I have an excuse for one of those, as I'm going to be seeing the birthday boy this weekend ( hi Grandpa!) and wanted to give him his card then. The other 5, my only excuse is laziness. So if your birthday has passed recently and you haven't gotten a card from me, I swear it's coming! Soon. I hope. My other goal for the month of January was top secret and involved only my mom and sisters. And girls, you'll be getting an email soon. :) Oh and joining the small group. That's done.

For February, I'm going to start using email to stay more connected. I have an aversion to the phone and so outside of my mom and sister I don't talk to too many people on the phone. But I still need to stay connected and I'm always on the computer so my goal for this month is to start sending more emails to those I'm far away from.

And so begins 2010 Resolutions, part 2 of 12.

Work in Progress

One of my January goals under my "Get Organized" resolution was to create a cleaning schedule; one that could be printed, looked at often, kept up with and adjusted as needed. So here she is:


(click to view larger; if you actually care to see larger)

I'm sure there's a lot of room for improvement; things this relatively young housewife has neglected. You'll notice there's nothing in the "Annually" section, even though I know there are things that I should attend to on a yearly basis. Please, please offer suggestions as to things that should be added that I may have overlooked. I feel there's more that I'm forgetting, but my mind is tired of thinking about it!

Makeover

You like? I added a button to my sidebar if you're interested in checking out this super talented lady's site and all her cute backgrounds.

Also, please check out Shannon's blog (Our Growing Family) to see all the changes she's made. If only because it just took me 3 days to get my blog list updated to include hers at her new address. And I must feel that it was worth it.

Journeys and Destinations (Part 1)

The destination is what gives a journey its meaning. As someone who has made the trip between Georgia and New Jersey countless times, I think I can say that with confidence. Sure sometimes the trip is fun, but let's be honest - we wouldn't be in the car in the first place if it weren't for the destination. And when the trip is not fun (think 4 hours on I-95 south of DC going 15 miles an hour), it's the destination that makes it worth continuing.

If you don't know where you're going, you can't plan the trip. You need to know where you're going to know how long it's going to take, what you should pack, if you need to book a hotel room. And plane tickets would be really hard to buy if you didn't know where you were headed. Just try searching Expedia for flights from your local airport to nowhere in particular. You won't get any results.

The destination changes everything. The destination, really, defines the trip.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It's changed how I went about making New Year's resolutions this year. I love New Year's resolutions. I love to think that on December 31st at midnight my whole life becomes a blank slate again. Even though it doesn't. Even though I'm still the same person with all the same strengths and faults on January 1st as I was 24 hours earlier. There's just something promising about a brand new untarnished year. And so I usually make a resolution or two. Or ten. Thinking that I'm really going to change everything in the upcoming year and finally be who I want to be. It doesn't really happen. Yesterday I found my resolution list for 2009. I'd kept exactly 0 of them.

So this year, I decided to look at it a little differently. This year, I'm taking a trip. And so instead of just trying to say what I'll DO in 2010, I've really thought about who I want to BE by the end of the year. And I came up with three broad goals:
1. To get healthy (isn't that on everyone's resolution list?)
2. To get organized
3. To get connected

Now that I have these broad goals to know where I want to be, I can start planning the trip. With three broad goals in place, I started marking the stops along the journey with tasks for each month. For example - under my goal to get healthy - in January, I will walk 1 mile 5 times a week with Kona, cut out soda from my diet and start taking my vitamins every day. Very doable, right? My organizational goal for January - to create and start following a cleaning schedule and cut out daytime TV. Not too tough. And for getting connected? Make a list of family and friend birthdays and buy cards; and join a church small group (cheater alert - I already had that lined up before January 1st; it was a gimme).

Each month of my year has a different task within my 3 big goals. I'm gradually upping my workouts, adjusting my diet, organizing my home and schedule, and becoming more intentional in my relationships. I'm giving myself time to travel. I'm focusing on where I want to be instead of just what I want to do. And as Bob says, "I'm baby steppin! I'm doing the work!" I'll keep you updated at the end of each month to let you know how I'm doing.

Stay tuned for Part 2 :)