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| Just look at that Oregano grow! At least something is thriving! |
So, way back in January, I set this very optimistic set of goals of things that I wanted to accomplish this month. Funny, funny girl. With the way life is happening to us this year, I don't thing we're going to make any forward progress on anything else anytime soon.
Anyway, here is my very optimistic look at what I thought I could accomplish this year:
1) Remodel the Hall Bathroom.
Yeah, I thought this was going to happen this year, but then THIS happened this week: One step forward, two steps back.
2) Improve My Health
Looking beyond the numbers on the scale, I am going after the big picture numbers that add up to an overall look at my body chemistry and how my body is functioning as a system. This led me to three separate categories:
a) Lose Inches Off My Waist
My goal for this year is 3 inches. Still not at 3, but I have lost over 2! HOORAY!
YES!! 120/60! No lecture from the doctor this year, instead I got a hearty "Keep up the good work!"
This time last year, my blood pressure was at 140/80. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!
For me, this is pretty phenomenal!
3) Restart my Vegetable Garden
This spring has been so wet, everything that I put into the ground was drowned. For now, this is just not going to happen. My herb pot is a success, though!
4) Learn to Pressure Can
SO, we have a glass top stove. Pressure canners do not work on a glass top stove because they can't consistently keep the temperature up high enough. This one might very well be a wash.
5) Daughter's Quilt
Oh, yeah, the quilt. I need to get back to that.
The kids did this for me when they were all home the weekend after Mother's Day. Thanks guys!
4 or 5 days every week.
Originally, the goal was to clean out 23 things a month. Then I changed it to 23 things a week. For the entire 52 weeks of the year, that would have required me to get rid of 1196 things for the year. I met that goal in May. Good thing the house is cleaner! It means we had room to shift stuff over to other places when we had to tarp off the kitchen!
Items out of the House this month: 47
Items out so far this year: 1320
Thank God I did this, both in February and in March. It has literally saved our asses as things continue to break and fall apart at an alarming rate. I originally found this challenge on the Frugal, Debt Free Life Blog. Bless your heart, Lydia. Because of this challenge, we have not yet gone down the rabbit hole of massive credit card debt with the huge expenses we've had in 2016: 1 abscessed tooth requiring a root canal. 1 crown for said tooth. The van needing huge repairs not once but TWICE, (once for the a/c, once because it just stopped working late at night when husband was on his way home from choir practice.), AND 1 leaking, moldy mess under the kitchen sink. No idea how that much is going to run, but I am really glad that we have construction and rebuilding experience from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity over the years. That will help cut down on some of our expenses.
10) Visit one Place on My Bucket List
Phase One: Completed (We know where we're going.)
Phase Two: Finished
(Everyone will be capable of going. Vacations have been requested and approved by everyone.)
Phase Three: We were going to make reservations at hotels, but with the way this summer is going, we might very well have to camp....
I worked to hard to get those certifications to just let them lapse! It's never fun to take classes, but it's even LESS fun to have to retake all of the classes for a certificate you let lapse. (Or worse - to retake a mandatory test. I'm thinking of the Praxis exams. I took the NTE's back in the 80's. I'm not sure how well I'd do on the Praxis exams if I were to have to take them now. Especially since it's been more years than I want to admit since I've sat in on college classes.)
12) Scrapbooking
I need to catch up. I know I had years that I didn't do this. I went through all of the albums and found the years that I have not yet finished. These are the years I am in search of:
2006
2009
2010
13) Walk or Bike a portion of at least 6 Rail Trails
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| A Lime Kiln on the NCR Trail. |
The challenge has begun! The first trail has been explored.
Note to self: take more water next time - twice the amount you'll think you need, carry one bottle with you, keep extra in the car for when you get back. Those trails are not as shaded as the woodland trails in the State Parks.
Now that the rain has stopped, we need to get back to this. I also need to get away from the onslaught of crap that is going on in our house.
The NCR Trail
14) Pay off
The big debt is gone. It's nice to have one monkey off my back! Before I go to work on the smaller debt, I desperately need to rebuild the emergency savings account. If you remember, it was depleted over the course of a dental emergency and a car repair. We had wisdom teeth removed last week, and it was nice to be able to pay for that and still have money left in the emergency savings account. Seriously people, if you don't have an emergency savings account with at least $1000 put aside, don't wait another day. Do it NOW. Just do it. Don't make excuses. Doing the NoSpenduary Challenge is a great way to start. I know it's inconvenient, but it's summer. Public Libraries are open, with free programming available for children, and there are concerts and free movies in parks and community areas everywhere. This is a great time to take a break from spending and find out just how creative you can be while keeping your kids entertained.
I nicely fixed up the recipe tab so that it is easy to find recipes that I've posted on here before. For me, this is my online recipe book. Some of the recipes are my own. Some, I posted direct links to other sites. You might or might not choose to use it, but I use it on a pretty regular basis, and I've found out that one of the boys does, too. He likes the fact that most of what I've listed is food he already loves and that everything is fairly easy to make and budget conscious. (Hey Kiddo! Glad you stopped by for a while!)
How are you doing on your resolutions this year?
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