2014 New Year's Resolutions

Sigh... didn't we *just* make New Year's resolutions?  It seriously feels like just yesterday that I started regularly writing on this blog and came up with my 2013 resolutions.  Before I had children, time never seemed to fly by the way that it has since my kids were born.  Hubby and I were just talking about this yesterday that it has been 9 months since our eldest daughter moved out of her mother's house.  Seriously, when he mentioned that it had been that long, I almost fell over.  Time just flies by out of control. 

I will recap my 2013 goals in another post, but let's just sum it up by saying that I learned a lot about setting realistic goals and expectations for yourself when you have small children.  I am going to categorize them into three different areas similar to last year.  I will try to update once a month or so on my progress. 

2014 New Year's Resolutions

• Personal
• Post one blog everyday.
• This was on my list last year.  I really am happy with posting blogs.  I love sharing recipes and I love corresponding with other people who blog.  This year I crossed an awesome un-written goal off my list of 10k views on this blog.  That was amazing and felt awesome!  Without stressing myself out too much, I would like to make a more formal schedule of what kind of blog is going to be posted on what day.  I might try to plan that out and see what happens.   
• Go on more dates with my husband. 
• I don't know any married couples with children that feel like they spend enough quality time with their partners.  I know that I don't.  I want to change this for the better this year.  I love my husband and would like to spend more alone time with him continuing to build our relationship.   
• Start going on 'dates' with my kids, i.e. manicures with Grace, play-dates with Isabella, etc. 
• Rarely, do I go anywhere with only one child.  Normally, I have at least 2, if not all 3 kids with me and I am usually doing something that would be boring to them, like grocery shopping, shopping at Target, etc.  I would like to change this and go on at least one date per month with the kids.  I am going to try to do this in combination with Corry because it's important for them to spend alone time with their father as well. 
• Home
• Do 52 'Pinterest projects' for the year.
• I tried to do this last year and failed miserably.  I am determined to accomplish this during the year.  I really like Pinterest for crafty type things and recipes.  I will definitely be able to accomplish this if I put my mind to it.  The original idea is to do one per week to make this more easy to complete.   
• Stock freezer with prepared meals once per month.
• We did an awesome job of making freezer meals and eating out of the freezer this year.  I want to continue this during the year.  I like doing the big monthly meals, but, honestly, it is easier if I just double or triple recipes that I am making for dinner or on the weekends.  I like doubling recipes that I put in the crockpot, because usually I can just put those in freezer bags, freeze them flat and they are good to go.  Super easy to thaw and heat up for easy dinners. 
• Do 12 'preps' for the year. 
• Most of Americans need to store more water, food, and supplies.  I want to get better at this during the year.  We were barely decent at something like this last year, so I would love to get better at this during the year.   
• Health
• Drink more water. 
• Last year, my resolution was to stop drinking sodas.  As much as I would like to stop drinking sodas, I have more belief that I would be able to drink more water than stop drinking a soda.  I keep reading different ideas about how much water a person should really consume.  I am going to shoot for at least the recommended 64 ounces, but I would like to shoot for half of my body weight in ounces of water. 
• Do some form of exercise 5 days per week. 
• I would like to go on walks after work at least 5 days per week, and I think that I am also going to try to walk at least 30 minutes per day at work on lunch.  I am going to try to bring my lunch most days to work which allows more free time on my lunch hour that would normally have been spent driving to get food, eating there, and driving back.  This should totally feasible. 
• Take all medications and vitamins regularly.
• I only take 2 prescription medications - both for my thyroid.. well, my lack of thyroid actually.  I don't know why it is so hard for me to remember to take these medications.  It's got to be a mental block for some reason.  I was never a big fan of taking medicine when I was growing up, so when I had my thyroid out and was told I was going to have to take a medication every day, I knew this was not going to turn out well.  I know for a fact that I feel SO much better when I take it regularly, so I just need to buckle down.  I was told at my last doctor's appointment that I had a relatively severe Vitamin D deficiency, so I have recently started taking my pre-natal vitamins again (no, not pregnant... I just have like 8 full containers laying around my house), Vitamin D pills and Iron pills.  It's easy for me to remember this regimen when I am at work, but when I am home it's more difficult for some reason.  I am determined to get better about this.   

What are your resolutions for this year? 

Non-resolutions

So I am sure that everyone has experienced this... December 15-ish, if not before, you start to get nervous thinking about your "resolutions" for the following year.  Almost everyone will include at least one about "Exercise more" or "Lose x amount of weight".  Most people do really well in January, possibly on into February.  Gym memberships *and* attendance at said gym are up, I can imagine, like 100 fold in the beginning of the year.  Then slowly you start to get busy.  You start to make excuses like you are too tired after work.  You are too tired before work.  You forgot your gym clothes.  You took the stairs twice today and that should count as exercise.  The next time you think about it a month has gone by, then two months, and then all of a sudden you can't even remember when you saw the inside of the gym yet.  You are not alone.  You are certainly not the only one who fails at resolutions and goals that they make at the beginning of the year. 

Why is it that we fail at goals, wishes and wants for ourselves that we are SO passionate about at one time during the year?  Why is it that at the beginning of the year we have so much faith in ourselves and our abilities that we are willing to stake our future year's worth of happiness on the smallest statements?  It seems as if we are doomed to fail if we claim those statements as goals that we are interested in achieving.  It's like we, as humans, need our subconscious to trick us into achieving these goals by not putting them out there in the open.  That, perhaps, we need something like subliminal advertising to help us out with these resolutions as most people during the year will not keep even one of their resolutions.  I know that, in the past, most of the time by May I would have forgotten what any of my resolutions were from the beginning of the year. 

This year I decided that I wasn't going to participate in this "tradition" of making a decision at the beginning of the year that I was going to fail at throughout the year.  Instead, I am reviewing my life now, in February, for little things that I would like to either change or start doing that are manageable, because let's be reasonable... I have a husband... I have 4 children, 2 of which live with me full time and are under 2... I have a full time job that I love enough to want to spend more than 40 hours at... I don't have time for "change the world" type resolutions. 

However, I *do* have time for the following resolutions:

1. Have more patience today than I did yesterday
2. Utilize the parts of Once a Month Cooking that work for our family
3. Write a blog post everyday for at least 30 days
4. Become a better money saver

I am going to attempt to start #3 today.  I will utilize one blog post each to explain the four and their importance and significance to me in my life today.