January Resolutions

I don't do New Year's resolutions. I've never really done them, because I would like to believe that I see a problem and start working on a change at the first sign. Here lately, it seems as though my problems are getting a bit more overwhelming. With that said, I'm going to do MONTHYLY resolutions. I think baby steps are the way to go. After all, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. So here are my goals for January 2010.

• Say no to sodas!! - I've battled my addiction to carbonated beverages for years, and when I was pregnant with Lady M, I not only gave them up, I gave up CAFFEINE all together. Since I'm struggling so much with making that scale number go down even the slightest, I'm taking one little step at a time to change my habits.  
• Watch less TV.  I never used to have that problem, but we had gone without cable or satellite TV for two and a half years. In November, I crunched the numbers and realized that we could get cable, phone and faster internet for the same price as what I had been paying for phone and internet. So I gave in and signed up. Now I find myself constantly stuck on Channels 55 and 61 (HGTV and Style- but only when Clean House is on). I'm telling you what, TV is addictive!!
• Blog about more interesting things!! Sometimes I read back over my own blogs and say, what was I thinking when I wrote that??? I used to write some really neat, funny or thought provoking stuff, but to read my more recent stuff, you'd think my brain had fallen out!! I'm gonna give it my best at trying to be a little more enticing...
• Be more active. That one can be tough considering I'm in the first trimester of pregnancy number 6 for me. My hormones are making me so tired all the time, and it's all I can do to get out of bed some mornings, but like it or not, I need to be in better shape!! Up until my last pregnancy, I was walking every day for a few miles, but it was late summer and my allergies were making me asthmatic, so I quit. And even after I miscarried, I didn't start walking again... I have NO excuse!! So I will try to start out small, and either get a treadmill, or pick a warmer day to walk starting this coming week.
• Be more diligent about growing my faith. I have such a desire to deepen my relationship with God through Christ, but sometimes, I get so busy with the silly stuff that I let my quiet time diminish into something more like 30 seconds of the day. No wonder I find myself with all this stinkin' thinkin'. I have to manage my time more wisely for the important things!!
• Stop the clutter! Boss and I have spent the last few days doing a HUGE cleaning of our house. We have more house than we need, and sometimes those extra spaces get filled full of that junk you meant to haul off 2 years ago, but just didn't get around to it. As of 2 hours ago, we've gotten rid of 12 lawn & leaf bags full of clothes, toys, and other stuff to donate to charity, 2 chairs, one Gazelle exerciser, one queen poster headboard & footboard, a kids snoopy table and chairs, a doll house, a Barbie mall, 3 porcelain tea sets, a sewing machine, a rocking recliner and footstool, a train table, a dollhouse bookshelf, and approximately 56289347489 little giblets of toys in our bonus room. So I already have a great start to this month's goals!!
• Comment on more blogs!! This one is HUGE for me. I read a LOT of blogs, but sometimes I think I've left comments for people, and I just didn't. I know a lot of my blogger friends probably think I never stop in to read their stuff, but I do! It's just that I can be easily called away from this screento take a toddler to the potty, or answer a question about long division, or make a juice cup, or break up a quarrel... you get the point. But I am going to do better! My goal is at least 3 blog comments a day.
• Send out at least 3 cards this month. I buy greeting cards. I buy them a LOT. I have boxes and boxes of cards (organized neatly at least) that I buy when I am in a mood and need some cheering up. When I find funny cards, whether they're birthday, get well, whatever, I get them. The problem is, I forget to mail them. I will buy cards with specific people in mind, but I totally forget to put them in the mail. So I'm going to make myself get better at snail mail correspondence.
• Make a remodeling plan. My husband and I bought our house right when we were married, and we jumped at the first opportunity for a good deal. We ended up getting a 4 bdrm/3 full bath house with a kitchen, living room, den, laundry room and bonus room on 2 acres. It was a foreclosure, and such a bargain. But we moved in in April of 2005, both working full time, and I had major surgery in June 2005, and all our plans to paint and redecorate and update,etc, fell by the wayside. Now we are finally getting to a place where we can look at things and realistically say, let's start doing this or that. I hate debt, and we will NOT take out loans for anything, so this will take very careful planning... starting with the den and living rooms....
• Spend more "alone time" with my kids individually. I love spending time with my kids. Miss Priss gets individual time with Mommy while Lady M is at gymnastics, but Lady M pretty much never has one on one time with me. Since we homeschool, Miss Priss is here, and Lady M is here, and I am here almost all the time. If I go somewhere, I take the kids with me. If I need to get something done on my own, I usually call my mom or my mother in law to watch both of the girls. It's just easier. I need to work on carving out some special time for Lady M and I to be able to do things together without Miss Priss though, so we can keep our relationship in good standing. After all, she's 8 going on 18!!

There you have it. I'm adding this to my navigation bar up there under the header, and I'm going to mark my progress as I go by editing this blog. Then I'll post new goals for February. I'm not giving myself a specific number of goals each month, since some will be more intense than others. My number one priority at this point is to try to carry this baby FULL TERM!! That would be the best goal to achieve all year!