Making a List and Checking It Twice

Okay.  So Christmas is over, but around the New Year, we all start making new lists.  To-do lists.  Book lists. Grocery lists.  School lists.  Resolutions lists? 

I stopped making resolutions because resolutions seemed doomed to fail.  Instead, I like goals. The word goal indicates that I'm working toward something, even if I don't quite get there.  

Today I'm looking back on some of the goals I made at the the beginning of 2013.  Most I completed.  Some I didn't and a few I'm still working on.  Next Wednesday, I'll post a fresh list of goals for 2014. 

Goals For 2013 (in semi-particular order):

• Print 10-15 baby pictures of Alaine to include in her photo album  Thanks to a great Walgreens deal, I accomplished this early in the year.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Attempt some of the ideas on my Winter Pinterest Board (a few pictures of my projects here)
  
  
• Work on the walls
  
  1. Have the 3 boys paint pieces of abstract art for their bedroom wall
  
  
  
  
  2. Make a large photo poster for our living room wall
  
  
  
  
  
  3. Update some of our  frames with more current photos
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Finish moving our books from boxes to shelves
  
  
  
  
  
• Learn to change the oil in van...and maybe the wiper blades, too  Never learned how to do either one, but I'll be rolling this goal over into 2014. I did learn to operate a chainsaw.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Potty train Alaine I hadn't intended to work on this until spring, but some things in life don't wait! I shared a few details here. I shared in that same post that the only problem we were having was that we were not able to night train at the same time as day train like we had done with our first four kids.  I need not have worried.  Within another week or so, Alaine asked to start wearing undies at night, too, and she hasn't looked back!  For the first time in over ten years, we stopped buying diapers. 
  
  
  
  
• Spring clean the house using this plan  I scrapped this altogether because I found myself cleaning things just to check them off a list and feeling guilty if I missed a day.  Instead, I stuck to my regular light cleaning routine and did more heavy duty cleaning if we were expecting company.
  
  
• Run a 5K!  I ran a 2 mile race as a warm-up and then I complete 4 other 5Ks here, here, here and here!
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
  
• Work with the kids on responsibility and finishing tasks to completion This is still a work in progress, but once we formulated a plan, the kids began to take more responsibility for their own work, plus they learned a lot of new skills-- laundry, changing light bulbs, washing the car, taking out the trash-- in the process!  
  
  

• Compile the kids' portfolios for their school records Compiling the portfolios was easier this time as I kept up with our records all year long.  We had a bunch of friends (5 moms, 10 kids) over to review everyone's portfolios for our umbrella school... and then I breathed a sigh of relief.
  
• Finish the e-book I'm writing by the first week of June You can still access my free reading guide for families here.  Good reading doesn't need to stop when summer is over!
  
  
  
  
  
• Plan our 2013-2014 school year  I shared my curriculum choices here, here, and here.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Give The Dress  a radical new design for fall I did it!  I remade The Dress in April and I redesigned it once again in September, but I also started to face the reality that I'm tired of that dress now.
  
  
  
  

  
  
  
  
• Finish the preparation for my October blog series, 31 Days, 31 Printables  Click on button below to access the entire series.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Do a  push-up (I've never had the upper body strength to do even 1!) and hold a plank for 60 seconds I still can't do a push-up, but I took the 30 Day Plank Challenge in November.  I got stuck on Day 22 (holding a plank for 180 seconds), but I try again every few days and I'm almost there.  A 160 second plank still far surpasses my goal! 
  
  
  
• Have a date night with Brian (at home or out) once a month  Whether we were able to go out or had to improvise at home, we had more than 12 dates in 2013!
  

• Continue to find ways to welcome people into our home  We had guests over at least a couple of times a month.  That included birthday parties, dinner guests, play dates, an Easter egg dyeing event, 2 Survivor viewing parties, a Mother's Day dinner, school review group, a Thanksgiving party, a New Years' Eve game night, and a before-Christmas visit from these 2 cuties.
  
  
  
  
  

Do you set goals at the start of a  new year?  Do you write them down or keep them informally?  Next Wednesday, I'll share my goal list for 2014!