The best part of this trip was that all 3 kids were able to go with us! We had a great car trip, spent a lot of time telling stories and laughing, and we explored new places together. With the kids growing up, graduating from college, and getting jobs, I just don't know how many more big vacations like this we're going to get. They are something to treasure!
My 2016 Resolutions:
1) Remodel the Hall Bathroom
Silly girl. Third year in a row this has been on my list. I'm still not certain this is going to happen this year. Our kitchen became a priority this year, and now that we've started it, we need to finish the final touches so that it's not coming back to haunt me in a couple of years!
You can follow the tale of kitchen woes here:Kitchen Woes
We Have Running Water in the Kitchen
Progress
Progeress of One Kind and Another
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
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:
My goal for the year was to lose a total of three inches. That took longer than I thought it would! Eight months to lose three inches. I'm happy to see those inches come off! For now, I am content. Those were 3 very hard inches to lose!
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!
c) Go Down at Least One Clothing Size.
Not just one size, I'm down 2 sizes now! Funny story here - I did not buy new shorts at the beginning of the summer. I figured I was safe, since most of them are elastic waist pants, I didn't worry. Elastic stretches both ways, right? A week or so ago, I put my cell phone in my pocket. The weight of my phone was enough to cause a wardrobe malfunction. Good thing I was still at home, right? Did you know - those drawstrings in pants don't actually go all the way around? They're just decorative. I'm now wearing capris all of the time. I have two pairs that are only one size too big on me. It's a great feeling!
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! We went from too wet to super hot with no transition in between. This is going to be an epic fail.
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 will be a wash. Another epic fail. If I ever do put in an outdoor kitchen, I'm going to make certain I have a propane or gas stove so that I can pressure can - and I'll be able to do it outside and keep the heat out of the house.
5) Daughter's Quilt
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. Even better, I'm now keeping a hard copy
journal with me when I go.I get to visibly see my progress every time I work out. It's an excellent motivator!
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.
I really didn't do that much this month. Starting a new job, going on vacation, moving kids into dorm rooms and apartments - yeah - that took up a good chunk of the month. I did get two small bags of stuff to the Thrift Shop this month. I dropped the bags, containing 46 things off yesterday.
I sent 46 things to the thrift shop.
Total number of items out of the house this month: 46
Items out so far this year: 1764.
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.
Niagara Falls! We spent time on both the Canadian and U.S. side of the Falls. I loved Niagara State Park. If you ever have time to go, make a point of heading to the state park and walking the perimeter trail around the island. It is absolutely gorgeous!
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
I'm chugging along on this! I've been using Shutterfly, which has a powerful tool for digital scrapbooking. I've then been holding onto the albums until they offer a deal on pricing, and then I order the books. I love Shutterfly! (In the interest of Full Disclosure, they are one of my Affiliate Links, but I was using them LONG before I even began blogging.)
I'm glad I have the opportunity to catch up on my scrapbooking. When we went to a digital camera, and then I began compiling the kids' albums for graduation and their elementary and middle school memory albums, and my in-law's 50th wedding anniversary album, I fell well behind on the family albums. As I'm working on 2009 now, I'm discovering why that's such a bad idea. I don't necessarily remember who all of the people in the pictures were, and I don't always remember what we were doing at the time.
Lesson Learned: Finish albums within 6 months of the event - whether it be an anniversary, vacation, or family year.
13) Walk or Bike a portion of at least 6 Rail Trails
 |
| A Lime Kiln on the NCR Trail. |
1) NCR Rail Trail
14) Pay off
The big debt is gone. It's nice to have one monkey off my back!
The payments on the smaller debt have accelerated. My goal is to have this paid off by December, but it very well might be Feb. or March of 2017 due to the extenuating circumstances we've had this year.
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 post 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! Call your mother sometime. She'd really like to hear from you!)
How are you doing on your goals this year?
No comments:
Post a Comment