It's That Time of Year Again

Time for my annual post of New Year's Resolutions

I used an address from the last General Conference to help me in planning my resolutions this year. It was an address by Pres. Uchtdorf entitled "Of Things That Matter Most". It talks of the importance of focusing on the important basics. But, I couldn't stop myself there in making plans. So, my resolutions have been assigned high priority and lower priority standing this year. So, here they are:

2011 New Year's resolutions

Attitude

Do better at following the golden rule, especially to my family. Be more sensitive to needs of others and seek out opportunities to serve. Show greater love and respect for my spouse. Limit computer time. Be a consistent and proactive parent.

Daily Routine

Have meaningful personal prayers that focus on receiving the spirit. Spend time each day studying the gospel. Have unrushed family dinners and daily family gospel study. Consistently keep up with the laundry. Practice a daily cleaning routine. Exercise four times each week. Regularly practice tap and piano. Eat lunch with Cyrus. Read and do preschool with Cyrus. Follow through on chore checks. Eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day. Find personal reading time.

Weekly

Have Family Home Evening. Work on church calling work. Have a date with dh. Attend church. Study Eastern Cultures with kids

Monthly

Have individual dates or talks with children. Find time for quiet time for personal reflection. Review personal progress. Call and talk to extended family members. Sew.

Events

Monthly family fun day, trip to UT, 2 other family trips, quarterly visits to temple, romantic getaway for anniversary, do 14 days of Valentines for dh, participate in the Trek

Projects

Work on 72 hr kits and food storage, clean up and organize home, family history- create connections for children, service such as Sub for Santa, find ways for children to develop relationships with extended family.

Some of these I don't really need to improve on. For example, we go to church every week that we aren't sick. But, I include them to maintain focus on their importance. I organized them in a way that I hope will help me apply them in my life, including planning a schedule that will incorporate as many as possible into my daily and weekly routines. Because I truly believe in the power of routines. Official start time will be Sunday. I plan to post my daily schedules and my progress in keeping them. At least for the first week.

New Year's Resolutions- A Little Late

I can't believe it is almost February and I have yet to make my new year's resolutions! I'm usually great at MAKING them, not so good at ACCOMPLISHING them.

First a review of last years...

Successes:
-Teach kids a nature class.
-Take the kids swimming lots over the summer. (Well, the summer was too busy, but I did get them in swim lessons last fall and they greatly increased their swimming ability, which was the main goal anyways.)
-Learn more sign and teach Cyrus. (He knows and uses more sign than Elsie did. He is more language delayed, so he really could use even more.)
-Build food storage. (I did really good with this one. I have 174 cans worth of food that came in our stake bulk order this past week that I need to can. So, an ongoing project still.)
-Learn to bake better bread.
-Strive to stay on top of finances better.
-Redo kids rooms. (They got rearranged. One got painted.)
-Paint Kitchen. We also retiled, which wasn't a resolution but was a huge project, and painted the hall and retouched trim.
-Downsize and better organize house. (And it needs it again.)
-Be more diligent in my visiting teaching. (Better than last year. Still room for improvement.)
-Keep a Nature Journal. (Only for the first part of the year, though.)

Not so great
-The self education plan. (I somehow failed to manage to fit this activity in my life. It was too much, I got overwhelmed, and quit.)
-Stockings never got made.
-Family scripture study still eludes us.
-Elsie did not seem ready for preschool activities when we tried, so I dropped it.
-The Book of Mormon class didn't work out, either. One class a summer seems to be the most I can handle.
-Finish 72 hr kits. (Although I did keep them updated, they still need some stuff.)
-Can applesauce and apple butter, as well as the usual strawberry and raspberry jams. (The raspberries are still in my freezer, waiting to be made into jam. And I didn't get the apples or strawberries I had hoped for.)
-Paint 2 of the kid's rooms.


Okay and for 2009 I want to TRY to do:

RELIGIOUS
Learn how to do my new calling and try to do my best at it.
Do better in my personal scripture study. Keep up with the SS study plan.
Fully read the church magazines each month.

SPOUSE
Do the 14 days of Valentines for dh again.
Plan something fun for our anniversary.

KIDS
Help Emily earn her Faith in God Award.
Help Marvin get his Teacher Duty to God Award and advance in Scouts.
Teach Marvin to drive.
Retry preschool with Elsie.
Learn how to better help Maddy with her specific needs.
Wean and potty train Cyrus.
Find one and one time with each kid.

PROVIDENT LIVING
Continue to work on our year's supply.
Make the raspberry jam, finally.
Finish the 72 hr kits.
Restock freezer meals.
Pay off a significant portion of the student loans.
Plant everbearing strawberries.

HOUSE
Finish renovating the kitchen.
Finish redoing the kid's rooms.
Paint pantry closets.
Downsize and organize. Simplify my material environment.

OTHER
Blog more regularly. Make a blog book.
Train for and run a 5k.
Participate in Book Club.

Way too ambitious, as usual. It seems to be a tradition I can't break!

How're We Doing? Resolution Review

The year is now a quarter of the way over. So, I thought I'd review my progress on my "resolutions" for the year, as well as my March plans.

MARCH

Cyrus
Had his party. Did not do sleep training due to teething and double ear infections twice. And now he's been febrile and has a stuffy nose. Maybe latter this month? When he WAS well, he was sleeping much better, down to only one waking a night.

Elsie
We are doing reading time, but everything in her new routine is back to play by ear.

Girls
The month was crazy and we just stopped reading together in the evenings cold turkey. Which is too bad, we all really were enjoying it.

Marvin
Is full board into track again. He's doing pole vaulting! Practice is everyday till 5 or 5:30, and meets till 11, so there hasn't been much time to work on scouts.

Holiday Happenings
Check!

Garden Work
Peas are planted, but its been so cold, they haven't come up. They are germinating down in that cold soil, though. I checked! Pruned the butterfly bushes, raspberry canes and red twig dogwood. Tore out holly bush above ground level. Still need to get that stump out...And its been too wet to do any digging.

Make Spring Break Fun and Productive
Bwa ha ha ha! Maybe next year?


And my New Year's Resolutions:

Self Education Course:

Read 3 1/2 of 4 books for my online book clubs
Did some, but not all of the reading for gospel study and Education study
Relearned what I knew in sign before, started teaching Cyrus
Have done several drawings
Was very weak in completing any of the other things.

Parenting:
Family scripture study is still eluding me.

Provident Living
Reviewed and Updated Retirement Portfolio
Did Tax Returns
Turned in MSA receipts in a timely manner
Got clothing put in the 72 hr kits. They are almost done! I need to rotate the food out next week.

House Projects
Did a lot of downsizing: got rid of the baby stuff.
Touched up painted trim
Did some spring cleaning.

Church Service
Same old status quo. Did do a Primary Activity.

Nature Journal
I have 16 entries for the year so far, but no sketches for the month of March.

And I think I must have ADD sometimes. Because, lately I have made the goals of eating healthier and starting exercising again, too. I've exercised twice, but eaten a lot more fruits and veggies, but a lot of Easter candy and girl scout cookies, too. Can you become perfect through brief little spurts of activity?

At our RS birthday party, they read the story of a "perfect" woman, who managed to do everything she should be doing. It really brought home just how unrealistic it is to manage to do it all. So, how am I supposed to approach all this? I feel compelled to keep trying. And for the most part, I don't get discouraged when I don't succeed, because I know I will have some progress eventually. Although there are some things I'm not trying as hard at as others because I have had so little success at them.

Because it is unrealistic to do it all, is it crazy to keep trying to do so many things at once? Should I just let many important things fall by the wayside and really focus on just a few things? If so, what do I let go? Because it all does seem like important stuff, at least to me, if not to anyone else. Am I crazy for even thinking about this?

If you comment on this post, please don't tell me things like "you are doing great" or "wow, you got a lot done." Give me advice. Bless me with your thoughts on this! Please?

The Ultimate Planner

I consider myself a planner. I like to think ahead and plan for things. I'm also a great procrastinator, which often defeats all my great planning. But, I am realizing that our Heavenly Father is the greatest planner of all.

This morning I was pondering things in my life and some of the blessings my family and I have recently received. And I was amazed to realize the long, sometimes unexpected paths those blessings followed to come to fruition. Blessings I didn't even know were coming, because I only recently was let in on "the plan".

I know that Heavenly Father knows each of us better than we know ourselves. He knows what we need to grow and to be happy. And because he has perfect patience, he knows how to plan for that growth and happiness far, far in advance and then patiently watch as the time necessary passes. My plans focus on the next day, next week or month, maybe the next year. It is so hard for me to really think and plan for the long term.

Probably because I lack that patience. I don't want to wait. I want it all now! Do you know how your toddler will ask for something, and they have to wait just a minute first, and so they fall all apart? And you think, "What the heck kid, its coming already!"? Well, I wonder if He sometimes thinks that about me! Maybe that's why I wasn't allowed to know these blessings were coming. Kind of like being careful not to tell your child that Christmas or their birthday is coming too far in advance.

2008 New Year's Resolutions

Its that time of year again. I have been thinking about New Year's Resolutions since Christmas. We even had a very good Sharing Time on Sunday on making them that made me ponder them further. I can't seem to decide the best way to do them. Obviously, I don't want to make resolutions that are simply unattainable or that are no brainer easy. There would be no growth in that. But, where along the continuum of "realistic" does one aim? Do I make resolutions that I feel pretty confident about succeeding in, or do I aim higher, even intentionally making them challenging enough that it is unlikely they will all be achieved. There is an element of personal integrity involved. If I make a commitment to DO something and then fail to do it, don't I harm that integrity? But, is greater growth possible if one aims higher, even if one falls short? I have already demonstrated that I am not perfect in achieving my resolutions. But, I do know I stretch myself by having them. With that in mind, I am going to experiment with aiming high this year. Doing so may cause me to stretch further, or I may fall even farther short.

What I will Try to do this year.
(Notice I did not say Resolve- thereby avoiding the personal integrity issue.)


Greater focus on self education.
I found this group at the end of last year. It is a group of LDS women, mostly homeschoolers, who are concerned about their own education, as well as their children's. They create a curriculum for self-study each year. As a part of this course of study I will be working on:

Gospel Study
Participate in Monthly Book club/Literature Study
Learn the Monthly primary song and a hymn each month
Learn about Charlotte Mason teaching Philosophy
Learn to sign better, do sign with Cyrus
Learn to draw better
Practice Piano 6 days/week
Make quilted stockings for next Christmas

Parenting
Study Book of Mormon as a family by reading/listening/discussing at dinner time
Start preschool in the fall with Elsie
Teach kids a nature class and a Book of Mormon class over the summer
Take the kids swimming lots over the summer

Provident Living
Finish 72 hr kits
build food storage
Learn to bake better bread
Can applesauce and apple butter, as well as the usual strawberry and raspberry jams
Strive to stay on top of finances better

House Projects
Redo kids rooms and paint new murals
Paint Kitchen
Touch up paint trim
Downsize and better organize house

Church Service
Be more diligent in my visiting teaching. I have really done poorly in this.
Be a better leader in my Primary calling. This is where I have really applied myself time and diligence wise. But, I really am more of a follower than a leader and could use working on my leadership skills.

For Fun!
Keep a Nature Journal

For Christmas, DH got me a Nature Journal "Kit":







And a nice moleskin blank book to start my journal in. I will probably use my Christmas money to get a couple more field guides. I am so excited to to this!

Resolution Review

Just a quick review of my progress on my 2007 resolutions:

Spring clean and organize my house before the baby comes in March. I got a lot of this done, but not all. But, enough to be satisfied. Of course, that was months ago and it really needs to be done again!

After the baby comes, lose my pregnancy weight gain and get into good shape. The baby weight is gone. But, I could still improve on my physical fitness.

Read scriptures as a family more consistently and effectively. We are doing LOUSY in this area. Now that my son leaves at 6 am for early morning seminary, we no longer are eating together as a family for breakfast. Subsequently, we are no longer reading scriptures together. We tried reading with family prayer just before bed, but evenings are often crazy around here, little ones are tired and cranky, and I am too. I really need to think through how we can start this habit up again. Any suggestions?

Use my time more wisely. I could still do better in this, as well. I'm just not much of a routine person, but I know my days would flow better if I were. And I am so easily side tracked!

Help my daughters memorize the first 7 Articles of Faith. Actually, we did the first 10! We will probably continue working on the remainder.

Learn to decorate cakes. Emily and I took two classes together. It was quite fun, but I could still use practice. Since 2008 is the year of the birthday parties, opportunities are coming!

I have worked on my goals, but as usual there is more to be done. I'll be perfect someday. Just you wait!

Conference Notes

Ideas from General Conference that really touched me...


Golden- We can't do it along, but we can pray for help and we will recieve it.

Bednar- Becoming sanctified is not a result of working harder or having increased self-discipline, but rather through the atonement of Christ. It is done through slow, steady spiritual growth, not sporadic bursts.

Eyring- Ask each day, "How have I seen the hand of God touch my life or the lives of those in my family today?"

Beck - Be a mother that KNOWS. Create a climate of spiritual growth in the home. Point children towards the temple. The home is an MTC. Have children work alongside you during homemaking tasks. Growth occurs best in a home of order. PLAN for the future of your family. Simplify. Don't try to have it all. Preparing this generation is true influence and power.

Cook- We will be most effective in our callings when we focus on love, faith and prayer. I need to get a copy of the "Preach My Gospel" to use as a resource in our home.

Callister- The first opportunity for sharing testimonies should be in the home. We only need one witness to have a strong testimony, our own. Pray not to lose it.


Snow - Look for opportunities to serve- don't just say "call if you need anything". It is better to do many small, seemingly insignificant acts of service, than nothing at all. Our church calling does not let us off the hook from serving families, neighbors and community.

Oaks- Just because something is good, doesn't mean we should do it. Some choices are good, others are better, others are best. Pick the best. Super family activities are good, but not better than one on one time with a parent. Don't magnify the work, simplify it. In our callings what matters most is not frills and embellishments, but that individuals are administered to, uplifted and changed.

Possible Goals:

1. Spend less time on the internet. Make my "me" time truly restorative instead of vegetative. Spend my time doing the "best" choices.

2. Plan for opportunities for one on one time with each child.

3. Spend more of my time serving, even in little ways. Actively seek ways I can do this for my family, friends and neighbors.

4. Focus on love, faith, prayer and administering, uplifting and changing individuals in my calling.

5. Have a family testimony meeting for fhe one night.

6. Order a copy of "Preach My Gospel." Use it to make our home an MTC.

7. Streamline and simplify our home. Seek opportunities to have children work along side me during homemaking tasks. (Have a different child each night help me make dinner?)

8. Do better in my personal study and prayer. Study the role of the atonement in the process of sactification. Stop thinking I need to do it on my own, humble myself and ask for more divine help.

9. Focus daily on the blessings that the Lord has given me and my family. I have to still figure out exactly how to do this.

As usual, I went into conference feeling pretty good about things and came out realizing how far I have yet to go. But, feeling inspired to try to go there!

My 2007 New Year Resolutions

They say that one of the best ways to help yourself reach your goals is to make yourself more accountable by telling them to others. What more accountablity can you get than posting them for anyone to see on the internet! So, here are mine this year. My intention is to give regular updates on my progress. (So, if I don't mention them for awhile - call me on them, okay?)

Spring clean and organize my house before the baby comes in March. I have to determine whether the basement and garage count as part of the house. I have divided up the rest of the rooms of the house and will work on specific areas each week.

After the baby comes, lose my pregnancy weight gain and get into good shape. This one I won't have to work on for awhile, but I'll need to get a plan in place.

Read scriptures as a family more consistently and effectively. We've been working on listening to the Book of Mormon during breakfast, but sometimes miss it when the morning isn't going smoothly and we start breakfast a few minutes late. I want to work better on having smoother mornings, and at least once a week, use "Scripture Study for Latter Day Saint Families" to help us better understand and apply what we are listening to.

Use my time more wisely. This involves limiting my avoidance of getting done the things that really need to get done, because I find blogging, etc. more appealing. I already do less blog surfing and posting than I once did. But, I still need to practice more self control in jumping in and getting my to do list done, instead of looking for ways to put off getting started.

Help my daughters memorize the first 7 Articles of Faith. This is actually something we are working on with the whole primary and started at the end of last year. They have already passed off the first two and are excited about learning more.

Learn to decorate cakes. I've always just winged my cake decorating. But, Emily wanted to learn, and so now we are taking a cake decorating class together this month. This is my FUN goal!

So, there they are!

A Confession: I'm Not Perfect

I was recently reading the comments to a post written by Les, at Smart Mama. An anonymous commenter there made the statement:

"I guess I'm a bit skeptical of the blog world - at least the small portion that I've seen. All it seems like is a way of saying "look at all of the things I can do" or "look at my beautiful home (insert other words here)." Generally speaking, everyone just wants a pat on the back and a comment that they're doing a great job."

I thought about this, and I think to an extent this is true. My husband always says that the blogging world is a big mutual admiration society. Well, yeah, and it's great! Okay, we may show off a bit sometimes. But, one of the nice things about blogging is that it is a place to share yourself and hope someone notices and supports your efforts.

You just can't do some of this in real life. People think you are a huge bore if you constantly show them cute pictures of your kids (unless they are grandparents), or your latest projects and creations. But, in the bloggy world, it doesn't matter. If someone isn't interested in your latest scrapbook pages or doesn't really think your kids are all that cute, they can just visit someone else's blog.

Maybe we don't always share our failures, or weaknesses, or the cluttered corners of our homes or lives. But, generally we beat ourselves up enough about them. We don't need to expose them for further critique. Maybe that presents a limited view of who we really are. And maybe we need to be braver and share some of that side of ourselves more. And some bloggers are much better at this than I. But, really, a blog is the person's who writes it, and she (and he) should just share whatever they want!

But, just in case I have inadvertently duped someone into thinking I am a perfect person (Bwaha Ha Ha!), because I have failed to share my shortcomings, I will come out on a limb here and share a few.

I am not a gardening expert. I am an enthusiastic gardener who tries many things, but that only means that I've also failed at quite a few, as well. Take my garden this year. These are the things that I planted that failed, or that I failed to do with what I had planned:

Beets (Never got around to pickling any yet. They sit in a big bag on my counter feeling ignored.)
Beans (leaves completely eaten by rabbits, no beans.)
Bell Pepper (two tiny peppers that never got big enough to harvest)
Jalepeno Pepper (2 peppers)
Pickling Cucumber (Produced fine, but I never got around to pickling any.)
Sweet Cucumber (succumbed to verticullum wilt, as usual)
Roma Tomato (Died as seedlings)
Jelly Bean Hybrid Tomato (Died as seedlings)
Cabbage (Never got around to planting it.)
Scarlet marigold (very few germinated)
Red Salvia (stunted when seedlings, barely produced any flowers)
Vinca (died as seedlings)
Blue Morning Glory (only had a couple blooms before frost killed it. Plagued by aphids.)
Scarlet Morning Glory (never germinated)
Giant White Moonflower (never germinated)

Also, the daffodils I transplanted failed to bloom, two new perennial plants did not survive the winter, and all of my lilies I planted last fall emerged, turned brown and died. I've also never successfully grown an ear of corn, and have had my tomatoes and cucurbits completely die some years before producing at all.

My thumb is not as green as I would like. It is, however, a very enthusiastic yellow-brown!

I, also, am not great at scrapbooking, quilting, cross stitching, or knitting. I tried to crochet snowflake Christmas ornaments one year. The two lop-sided ones I managed to finish adorn my tree each year, keeping me appropriately humble.

I have severely scorched two pans making dinner since I started blogging. (No, it is NOT related!) My toddler spends half her life wearing only a diaper, and none of my babies have slept through the night before a year. My kitchen floor always seems to need to be mopped. I find housework boring. I haven't washed my windows in 2 1/2 years, unless you count spraying a few down with the hose. Sunday, my family had chocolate chip cookies and popcorn for dinner because I was too lazy to make anything else. And I didn't get the Book of Mormon read by the end of last year. Finally, my "to file" drawer has multiplied into a teetering pile of boxes on top of the filing cabinet.

And, no, these weren't the worst of the things I could have shared about myself.

Are you just shocked?

PS. I can't help but wonder if the anonymous commenter felt just a bit jealous when she made her comment. After all, Smart Mama is an extremely talented, well traveled and smart woman, with a beautiful home and children. Heck, I'm sometimes jealous of her! But, someone once said, "If you compare yourself to others, you will either end up bitter or proud." I think this is probably something we all need to remember, in the blog world, as well as in real life.

Works for Me Wednesday: Family Scripture Study

It's Wednesday! Today's Works for Me Wednesday is about studying the scriptures as a family. We used to be really consistent about reading the scriptures together as a family at bedtime. As the kids have gotten older and our evenings have filled with activities, our bedtimes became crazier and our family scripture study slackened way off. We've recently come up with a solution that seems to be working for us.

Our oldest has to leave for the bus at 6:45 am, so we have started having breakfast together at 6:30 am. While we usually like to visit during meals, we found we were all a bit cranky at breakfast. So, we do our scripture study then. At first I would read, while they ate. But, then we started listening to the scriptures being read for free on the internet here. It is working great, so far. Having someone else reading them allows me to have my hands busy pouring juice or cutting the baby's pancakes. (And I can eat, too!)And it is a great way to start our day! Works for Me!

Be sure to check out more Works for Me Wednesday ideas over at Shannon's blog.