Mini-Van Mom: 2015 Resolutions

We had a massive, swirling thunderstorm here last night. Most of the night, lightning and thunder boomed and roared, and the sound of hail hitting the house woke me up several times. We slept with the weather radio on alert status - and were so glad that the only alerts we received were for flash flood warnings, and nothing more severe.

I woke up at one point to find the cat curled up under my arm, as close to me as he could possibly get. I'm sure he wasn't scared - he was just reassuring me that everything was fine!

Unfortunately, the news this morning was filled with stories of houses that were struck by lightning last night - several of them burned to the ground. I didn't hear of any injuries or deaths in those fires, but the loss of a home is heartbreaking. I feel for everyone who is affected.

Resolutions-
At the beginning of the year, I made a list of resolutions for the new year. At the beginning of each month, I review my resolutions for the year, as well as the progress I have made towards keeping those goals!

I find it interesting to see how I am doing on meeting my goals, and making this list public keeps me honest and on track.

Without further ado, here we go!

1) Exercise More/ Walk 500 Miles
My knee is finally better, and I am slowly beginning to walk greater distances and get more exercise. FINALLY. Slowly, slowly, and oh, does it feel good to move again! On Saturday, I issued myself a challenge to walk 500 miles between June 1 and December 31. I'm hoping that somebody out there who reads this will join me! You can see Saturday's post here: http://mini-van-mom.blogspot.com/2015/05/walk-1000-miles-in-2015.html.

2) Lose 10 pounds
So, for the two months since I hurt my knee, I haven't been able to move, and I've been afraid to weigh myself. I stepped on the scale this morning, and it turns out..... I weigh exactly what I did in April. I am amazed, considering that I haven't been moving much - if at all - over the last 8 weeks. I guess only eating green stuff that was healthy for me made a difference!

3) Remodel the Hall Bathroom
Ugh. I need to just light a match and set fire to that bathroom. Too bad it's attached to the rest of the house.

4) Finish Oldest Child's Quilt
Graduation party is over, so I'm back to quilting again. I hope to have this finished by the end of July. Ten blocks left to quilt, the outside border left to go, and then I need to finish the edges. I'm shooting for a July 31 completion date!

~~5) Clean and Organize the Family Room in the Basement.~~
Who thought it could be done? BTW, I still haven't finished the big messy room in the basement, but at least the family room is clean!

6) Cut Back on the Time I Spend on Social Media.
Fail, fail, fail. I'm struggling with this one.

7) Read 75 books this year.
Making excellent progress! I have read 31 books. I haven't reviewed the last few books, as they are a continuation of a series. I reviewed one book in the series, and I don't think I need to review every book, because if you enjoy one book in the series, you're going to enjoy more of them. I'm currently working my way through a book that I hope to review later this week. It's a crime thriller - and I don't often read that genre.

8) Get out of debt.
We are working on this. Just paid cash to fix a car, so we didn't add to the debt load. We're getting ready to pay tuition for 2 kids this fall - even when you take out the amount of scholarships they've earned, we still have a substantial chunk of change we're going to owe. At this point in time, we're thinking we might change this goal to "Don't go into MORE debt". We'll see.

9) Spend More Time With My Family
This will most likely be the last summer all of my kids are home for the entire summer. Believe me when I tell you I plan to enjoy every single moment of it.

10) 365 Grateful
You can find me on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/librarynut/

11) Replace the car that was totaled.
This ties in with #8... those tuition payments are looming..... I'm holding off on purchasing anything until we make the tuition payments.

12) I will maintain my friendships.
This one is a great joy! I love connecting with my friends!
(I just wish I hadn't had to write it down in order to make it a priority.)

13) I will have more adventures.
Orioles Game. College Graduation. Learning to run a class in Adobe Connect.

14) Craft More
I accomplished several things this month!

Daughter's Scrapbook, based upon the story "Oh! The Places You'll Go!" by Dr. Seuss.

Dr. Seuss, I am not. Classy stick figure there, isn't it?

This adorable cactus garden. I found the directions to make it here: http://www.polkadotchair.com/2015/03/diy-coke-can-succulent-planter.html/

I think the garden turned out splendidly! OK, except for that tiny little can in the very front. That one is just too small for anything to grow. Overall, it was REALLY FUN to make this!

I made this beautiful blanket from scraps of yarn for Project Linus