Goals for 2013

I've mentioned that I don't do the New Year's Resolution thing.  Perhaps I should resolve to, but I haven't, to date.

I have, however, felt challenged in the "goal-setting" arena, which, if you must quibble, sounds a lot like resolution.  Am I right?

Without further ado, I offer my hoped-for accomplishment, aka "Goals for 2013".  Knowing me, I will add to this list speedily and without thought to time.  I often pack more into a schedule than seems humanly possible.  I usually find out it isn't.

Here goes (after the further ado, apparently):

Home:

1. Be a better housekeeper, mainly in the kitchen, my center of cooking/baking mayhem
2. Complete the 20-foot circle I dug last year, making it into a paver patio with a fire pit
3. Finally finish refinishing the antique pantry cupboard I purchased for $3 five years ago -- for housing our DVD collection
4. Refinish the coffee table gleaned from the in-laws' basement
5. Finally paint the upstairs hall; the only area not repainted since moving here 11 years ago, and the smallest paintable surface in the place
6. Pluck up the courage to tear out the "brick" made by someone running a finger through drywall compound in rectangle patterns as a burning box for our defunct fireplace, and replace it with a stone façade

Family

1. Grow more patience
2. Lead rather than instruct -- do as I DO, not as I say
3. Allow our preteen and teen more freedom -- now that they have an iPod and cell phone, respectively, it's going to happen more
4. Cook every dinner at home, unless we decide on a special occasion for ordering/eating out
5. Proctor our children on cleaning/chores they don't wish to do

Finance

1. Save -- make it first priority, even if only five bucks a paycheck
2. Pay down the Home Improvement Loan
3. Craft the items I have on my list and get into those craft shows we keep talking about
4. Continue using credit only for emergencies
5. Continue paying off credit, in full, each month
6. Put a few dollars extra toward the mortgage

Writing

1. Blog/write daily, even if unpublished.  Schedule blog publication by writing at opportune times and letting it flow, rather than feeling pressure to shoehorn it into bits of free time
2. Work on devotional book
3. Begin the book of essays I said I'd write ... back in high school
4. Remember to send cards, which is big ... I never do.

Cooking

1. Plan menus for the week and stick to it -- should add less stress in time
2. Use the recipes I have clipped or pinned, rather than only collecting

Reading

1. Reread Now You're Speaking My Language (for Bible study purposes)
2. Lord of the Rings trilogy
3. Time for Truth - Os Guinness
4. Seven Traits of Highly Effective People
5. The 5000 Year Leap

Knitting

1. Learn to knit cables
2. Learn to knit mittens
3. Begin afghan
4. Start a sweater
5. Take a class at knit shop

Personal

1. Devotions first -- every day
2. Pray with the Hubster before bed
3. Play more
4. Don't make children wait for me so much
5. Take care of health -- eating/exercise
6. Find outreach activities and stop second-guessing my effectiveness.  Just DO IT!
7. Put together Bible Study on "respect" and possibly on "wifely roles"

That should do it for now, until I think of more ...


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