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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

2013 Goals in Review

In December 2012 I wrote a list of 100 goals for 2013. The reason I chose 100 goals was because it was my 100th post and I thought it sounded like a good idea. I knew when I wrote it that I would not get all of them done. I knew that, but it is still a little discouraging to see how much I didn't get done. But I also know that one main reason that I didn't get things done is because I got pregnant. When I wrote this list I didn't know that I was pregnant. I wrote this in early December and found out on Christmas day that I was pregnant. So the entire year that I had to fulfill the list I was either pregnant or had a newborn. That definitely changes your ability to get things done. It is also interesting to see the goals that are no longer goals for me anymore, that are no longer even on my radar for goal setting, or that I find silly. Anyways, if you are still interested (and I assume you are or you wouldn't have read this far) here are my 100 2013 goals and how I did at accomplishing them. I will be posting my 2014 goals soon, and trust me there will not be 100 of them :).



Long Term
1.      Pay Off House (working on it, and doing well, thanks to God)
2.      Save up and either add on to current house or buy a new house with cash (this will have to wait until we get the house paid off I think)
3.      Have good relationships (this is doing pretty good for the most part :) )
4.      Have more children (we had #2 this year, so doing fine :) )
5.      Serve the community and world (I don't feel like I am doing enough, but I do a little)
6.      Continue as a Stay at Home Mom (check, so far)
7.      Home school our children (still planning to)
8.      Be Organized (I am trying to get together a household binder, but this one is slow going, organization is hard for me)
9.      Have book(s) published (not yet, maybe one day)
10.  Express myself through Art (not as much as I'd like, but I did get my craft area organized, that's the first step, the second step is find time to)
11.  Travel (we went on 1 vacation last year, any others were not possible because of having baby 2)
12.  Be more positive (I think I am doing better)
13.  Have better posture (not doing great, but occasionally remember)
14.  Be healthy (working on it)

Personal
15.  Go to bed by 11 pm (didn't do well on this one. I have a hard time because frequently if I go to bed at 11 I wont fall asleep for an hour or two, so I feel like I might as well be up working)
16.  Get up by 9 am (Doing better at this, the boys usually wake me up between 8 and 9, on the few occasions that they let me I happily sleep past 9)
17.  Only check email during email time (I haven't yet established an email time, so not happening so far, but in the spirit of the goal, I am doing better at not wasting as much time on email, it helps that I started unsubscribing from emails I don't really need to be getting)
18.  Think about (and adjust) my posture twice a day (didn't do well at all)
19.  Write down one good thing someone else did every day (I totally forgot about this goal)
20.  Listen to WBCL's midmorning program one day a week (did well on this for a while, but not any more. I used to listen when I was working in the kitchen or around the house but for some reason it is not streamable on my ipad and it would be a pain to turn on my laptop just to listen, so this one has fallen off my list)
21.  Enter at least 20 sweepstakes per week (I stopped doing this because I didn't have time, maybe I will start again later if I find it worth it again, there are many  things more important right now)
22.  Make a To Do List (Did about average on this)
23.  Make my own laundry detergent (still hasn't happened yet, but I have all the ingredients)
24.  Try at least 1 pin per month (I haven't kept track of this, but I do try new recipes fairly regularly)
25.  Make schedule cards or personal binder (didnt get it made, still hoping to)
26.  Find out how to publish a children's book (haven't had time to work on this)
27.  Attempt to get the Children's books I have written published (same)
28.  Write 1 more Children's book (nope)
29.  Learn how to publish ebook (I have read a little, but not enough)
30.  Write 1 ebook (thought of ideas, but nothing written yet)
31.  Read 2 books on parenting toddlers (umm, I don't remember if I have read toddler books, I have read several on random child/teen issues/ parenting)
32.  Read at least 1 relationship book (I am pretty sure that I have done this)
33.  Read at least 1 spiritual book (Also pretty sure I have done this, I don't keep track of everything I read because I read tons of books)
34.  Clean up email so I don't spend so much time in it (have been working on this, seems like no matter how many I unsubscribe from there is always more, but it is way better)

Family
35.  Do devotions as a family after supper every day (we kinda fell away from this, we need to get started again)
36.  Go to at least 1 Moms and Munchkins event every month (unfortunately Mom and Munchkins is no longer happening :( )
37.  Go on at least 1 family vacation (we took a weekend away :) )
38.  Go away for the weekend at least 4 times (We went on 1, the others didn't happen because of the pregnancy, most of Mr. Random's pto was used for after  the delivery and Christmas, and about half of the weekends this year we couldn't go away because it was too close to the delivery or we had a newborn)
39.  Paint the back room in the basement (Mr. Random did that several months ago)

Marriage
40.  Have 2 date nights per month (I would say we did this about 2/3 of the time)
41.  Go on at least one vacation without Little Man (This didn't happen, but we are planning to go in February)
42.  Go on a marriage retreat (didn't happen)
43.  Read one book together with Mr. Random (this didn't happen)
44.  Do The Husband Project (didnt happen this year, maybe next)
45.  Go to at least 3 ballroom dances (We did a dance at our church talent show, but other than that, no)

Children
46.  Spend 15 minutes a day just playing with Little Man (I do play with him probably more than 15 min a day, but not in one chunk of time like I was wanting to yet)
47.  Read at least 1 book to Little Man every day (If he brings me a book I read it to him, but I haven't been offering to read to him. This means that some days we read the same book 30 times and others we don't read any.)
48.  Have Little Man try 1 new food every week (having him try more than that some weeks, and he is doing a lot better at branching out to new foods!)
49.  Have at least one photo day per month (I do not even remember what I meant by this, but I do take pics and videos of both of them regularly)
50.  Have one Mother/Son date night every other month with Little Man (haven't started this yet but we are hoping to srt this soon, we meant to start a few months ao, but with the busyness of the holidays and sickness it hasn't happened yet)
51.  Let Mr. Random go on one Father/Son date night every other month with Little Man (same)
52.  Write down Little Man’s new schedule (check)
53.  Begin preschool with Little Man (I have started reading to him more and he "helps" me with cooking and such so he has been learning a lot of new stuff. I would like to find a curriculum for 2 year olds for next year, so if you know of one let me know)
54.  Find information on home school groups for preschoolers (haven't yet, but I should)

Extended Family/Friends
55.  Get together with each side of the family at least once a month (most months we did, some months didn't because of different people being out of town, but we did as much as we could)
56.  Get together with aunts to scrapbook once a month (that fell apart because of busy schedules, I would love to start again this year, we'll see)
57.  Have people over 1-2 times a month (we didn't do get on this, but did some)
58.  Visit my Sister at least twice (We didn't, hoping to this year)

Spiritual
59.  Do my devotions 4 days a week (I did pretty good at the beginning of the year, but I have had a really hard time getting back into it since little man 2 was born, hopefully with the holidays past and Little Man 2 a little older I can get back into it)
60.  Go on time to BSF (what is on time, really?, obviously didn't do well on this)
61.  Finish this year's BSF lessons (I got about half of them done so far I think)
62.  Sign up for BSF for next year (check for signing up for this year, I will have to wait untill the end of this year (goes by school year) to sign up for next year)
63.  Continue being involved in family group (check!)

Serving
64.  Write at least 1 note of encouragement every month (I forgot this one, so I didn't get it done)
65.  Take in a Foster Child (this one stopped being a possibility when we found out we were expecting again. With the first pregnancy I was put on couch rest at the end, and the second time I was on semi-couch rest at the beginning. We knew that if I couldn't take care of myself and our child we shouldn't take on someone else's child, we will see if God leads that way again, it is up to him)
66.  Volunteer outside of the home at least once (I didn't have the opportunity to do this. I have volunteered for our church community several times, but I was hoping to do something more)

Health
67.  Maintain my weight through the holidays (I don't remember for sure, but I think I did pretty well on this even though I was pregnant :) )
68.  Exercise at least 3 times a week (I did not get this done very often)
69.  Fill out the Calorie Counter every day (I stopped doing this while I was pregnant, I havent started again because we are headed toward Paleo and we have no need to count calories with that)
70.  Lose 10 pounds in 2 months (This one and the next one stopped being goals the minute I found out I was pregnant)
71.  Lose 50 pounds in 1 year

Financial
72.  Work on budget 2 days every month (I did pretty well on this, I am a few months behind right now because of Holiday craziness but I did pretty well on this most of the year)
73.  Calculate how much extra we need to pay on the house to have it paid off in 3 years (I am not sure if three years will happen because the new tax codes hit us hard, but we are on a good track to get it paid off in 6 years or less)
74.  Go through the Dave Ramsey course again (Mr. Random didn't think it was necessary this year since we did it the year before)
75.  Pray and talk to other leaders about teaching a Dave Ramsey course (haven't started this process yet)
76.  Get the house on a mortgage from the bank (check!)
77.  Give generously as God prompts
78.  Continue to tithe 10% of gross income
79.  Continue to put at least 5% of income in Blessings fund
80.  Build up to 15% of our income going into our retirement funds (we are holding steady at this point)
81.  Continue to pay extra on the house
82.  Save up and pay cash for a new air conditioner when it goes out (working on saving up)
83.  Save up and go on a big vacation next year or the year after (didn't happen last year, maybe this year)

Blogging
84.  Write 2-3 posts per week (I think I am averaged 1-2)
85.  Apply at least 1 of the Six Sister’s ways to grow my blog every week (didn't get this done)
86.  Write posts at least 1 week in advance (My weekly Sunday post is written in advance, other posts I sometimes get scheduled in advance)
87.  Plan out posts at least 1 weeks in advance (didn't happen)
88.  Host a biweekly linky party (I decided to cancel it because it was not getting enough traffic to be worth my time)
89.  Contact 1 company a month about sponsoring my blog (didn't happen)
90.  Post 1 Let's Talk post a month (I posted a few)
91.  Post at least 1 recipe per month (didn't do well on this)
92.  Post 1 Swagbucks post a month (didn't do well on this either)
93.  Post at least 1 product review per month (I posted some)
94.  Write 1 guest post every other month (didn't happen)
95.  Post a giveaway at least every other month (I had a couple :))
96.  Host a big linky/giveaway party for my 1 year blogiversary (I did, and it was great! although a lot of work :))
97.  Make a Blog Binder (didn't happen, I need to start working on it again)
98.  Read the Six Sister's 10 ways to grow your blog book (haven't read any in several months)
99.  Find some sponsors for/Save up and go to a blog conference this year or next (Didn't happen last year, maybe in a couple years)
100.                      Grow my blog to at least 200 pageviews per day (I got over that for a while, but with baby and holiday business my posts have fallen off and so have my pageviews)


Well there you have it, obviously I got nowhere near doing them all, but it was good to review, it gives me ideas as to what I need to focus on next year.

Did you made any goals this year? How are you doing with them?

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