Resolutions-how's it going for January?

Admitting is the first step...

On December 31, 2010 I made a list of goals and posted them on my blog. Now that January is coming to an end, I think it is a good idea to see how I'm doing. We recently made a major life changing decision, that will change some of these goals or eliminate them, so I will explain those as I come to them.

My first area of resolution was my home. My number one goal in that area was to change my attitude. I am still a work in progress in that area. With God's help, I will become the wife and mother He wants me to be. Next, was to institute a cleaning schedule. I really haven't done this at all. We have had a lot of snow days in January and when it is snowing and pretty outside and all the world stops to enjoy it, I do too. I just want to snuggle under a throw, build a fire, and veg. I also have had some really bad back problems this month. So I was out of commission for everything for a while. I haven't done a good job of getting my daughter to help with the housework either. We did some major decluttering in December but I haven't gotten back into the swing of that yet, but it's coming. Again, back problems have attributed to this not getting done. Husband has been working in the basement bathroom and entry from the garage. He is nearly done with the painting and tile work. He has purchased a new light to go in the bathroom and a new toilet. We are bringing the old one up to our master bath as it is a bone color and everything in our master bath is bone and the stores don't stock that color any longer. So I have given him an A in this area for getting this done. We haven't done anything in the master bathroom except some cleaning and throwing out of old products into the garbage. I haven't purged any books of late to take to McKays but I will. Hubby has photographed some items to sell on e-bay but I don't think he has posted them yet. I am going to list my dining room suite on Craig's list for sale, but haven't done that yet. Because of my back, I didn't get to my master bedroom closet this month but will soon. We will get to painting the porch and deck lamps when we start on the outside work of the home. I didn't even list outside work on my goals for my home. We need to do some major power washing of the walkway, driveway, house and deck and then stain the deck. Our fence should probably be power washed as well. We will be having a landscaper do some work this spring to get our home more appealing. Why? We finally came to a decision. The biggest update to this section of my goals is that we have made the decision to sell our home. To some, this may seem very sad. But for us, really, it is something we have wanted to do for a while, for various reasons, but now, financially, it is a necessity. We will have a home inspection as soon as hubby gets his honey-do list done and we will list the home with our friend, a Realtor, as soon as we have gotten it ready to view. My husband thinks we can do this in four months. That would be wonderful, but I'm not holding my breath. lol Please pray for us to have the strength to do all these things so that we may get top dollar for our home in these struggling economic times.

My next section in my goals for 2011 is Family. Nothing much has changed here. We have continued to eat in the den in front of the T.V. Maybe it is because there are only three of us that we find this so comfortable, I don't know, but least we are eating together. But we should really sit at the table together and dine at least once a day and do our family devotions. We have read the bible together a lot this month. Our church has challenged us to read through it this year and we have really enjoyed listening to it on my laptop as we all read along on our i-pads and i-pods, etc. The healthy eating got away from me again this month but I am back to trying to incorporate more veggies and fruit, less processed foods, and since we have decided to sell the home, eat out of our pantry and freezer and use up the food we all ready have. I am really enjoying this challenge of eating from what we have and have made out weeks of menus to incorporate our existing larder in to my menu plans. Can you tell I love to plan? Making bread is not going to happen. With all the work needed to get done here to sell the home, I will not have time to make homemade bread for my family or for that matter, plant a garden. That will have to wait for our new home. There are a number of repairs that need to be done and that we have put on hold due to unemployment, but now we have to bite the bullet, pull the money out and pay to have these things done in order to sell our home. We will recoup the expense upon the sale of the home.

Homeschooling is plugging along. Daughter is still attempting to get caught up. But I think all homeschooling families struggle with this. I would just like for her to finish her sixth grade work so she can have a break this summer before starting her 7th grade work. Please pray that she would have a desire to learn and enjoy her schoolwork.

The last part is my personal goals. I haven't done well in this area either, but am still striving to stick to them. I have had more consistent time in God's word and prayer and I did read a novel in January and am reading some other Christian living type books before retiring at night. I haven't been getting to bed earlier or rising earlier. I function so much better when I do. I get a big F in that area. Scrapbooking will have to wait until the new home but I will be streamlining my craft room and making it look nice for home viewing. I just haven't had time to get back to my crocheting either.

Since we will be getting the house ready for sale, we will also be renting a storage unit to put our things in. This means we need to think about every item and decide if we really want it or need it. This is a good thing. We have way too much stuff. Once the house sells, our plan is to move into my mother-in-law's home while we look for another home to buy with the cash from the sell of this one. It will be wonderful to not have a house payment, or at the very least, a very small one. Another good thing about living with her, is we will be able to take our time to find the right home for us and take our time getting our things out of storage and all neat and organized into our new home. Not having to move things in all in one day like we did here.

Hubby is continuing to apply for jobs and we are praying that this will be the year he gets permanent employment in the job that the Lord wants him to have. We will be celebrating our 13th anniversary next month. Even though we are not superstitious in the least, we are saying we are going to celebrate our lucky 13th. Pray with us, won't you, as we strive to do what God desires of us as husband and wife and parents. Pray for us to have the strength and energy to do all these things that need to be done. Pray for us to make the right decisions.

I will post an update again at the end of February. I hope you are taking the time to review your resolutions as well and not letting them fall by the wayside. Take a look at them and see how you are doing as well.

Pam