Blessings From Home

A Few of my New Year Goals

I thought I'd share a few of my New Year Goals with you as I've seen so many have already done. I won't go through every one of my goals, just the most important ones to me.

~Grow closer in my walk with the Lord. This is something that I'm sure is on every Christian's list. We should be always striving for that closer walk with our Lord, not just on Sunday morning, but in our everday lives. Simple things like giving Him your first moments in the morning, talking with Him throughout your day, handing over your problems so that He can help you deal with them, and being ever thankful to Him for all the blessings that He bestows upon us. I would also like to be a little more active in church. I don't want to be so involved that I don't have time for my family, but I think we have time to be a little more active.

~Lose weight. I'm at my highest weight currently, and quite honestly, I'm miserable. My joints ache, I'm winded easily, all of my clothes are becoming too tight. I don't do fad diets. I know they don't work, or if they do, it is short lived. So my plan for now, as well as my husbands is to quit doing two things...1. No more soda, at all (ouch) and 2. no more eating out, except for special occasions (another ouch). I'm quite sure that if we quit doing those 2 things along with maybe drinking a bit more water, and a little more exercise, then the weight loss shouldn't be that hard. I don't feel like I should limit myself in wether I eat carbs or not, or taking away my sweets. I think that just sabotages me from the beginning. I do know that I need to watch how much of these things I eat, but that just comes down to portion size and not taking that second (or third) helping of mashed potatos.

~Find a house. This is something that is still up in the air. I'm all for waiting on the Lord's timing, but right now, our landlord is talking about raising the rent and we're already gasping for air as it is. So right now, we have a few choices...we find a rent house with a much cheaper rent, or we find a permanent house in which my husband's parents would help us to buy. The 2nd option looks ideal, but I don't want to rush into anything, just to realize it was a bad choice. So for now, I'm just praying about this situation and the Lord's guidance and direction.

~Simplify. Now this one has a broad spectrum in that there are so many things in my life I want to simplify. A few off the top of my head are getting rid of as much clutter as we can, cutting our wardrobe down to the bear neccesities, spending money on needs and limiting wants, and just all around leading a simpler, less complicated life.

~Grow where I am planted. I long so much for the life of a homesteader. The life that means a lot more work, but a lot more satisfaction. I've learned this year that no matter where I'm at wether it be in the middle of the city, or in the middle of the country that as long as I'm trying to do what I can to be more self sufficient and lead that simpler life, even if it's just growing a couple of tomato plants in some pots in the backyard....I am a homesteader. I hope to continue that goal of being a homesteader wherever the Lord sees fit to plant my family and I.

~Save money. For me, this means cutting back on groceries, cutting back on spending, and finding other little ways to save and/or make money. I faulter easily on my grocery budget, so I am going to be trying some new things to see if it helps me at the checkout lane. I'll talk about that later on.

A few other goals that I won't go into as much details are...

~Be a better helpmeet to my husband.

~Bring my oldest daughter home to be homeschooled after this school year is over.

~Be more diligent and organized in my homeschooling with the children.

~Be more diligent and organized in my daily household duties.

~Make and/or spend as little as possible on all gifts throughout the year.

~Take more pictures of the family.

~Teach myself to play the piano.

~Learn as much as possible about ways to be more self sufficient.

~Learn to make soap.

~Switch to cloth over paper wherever possible.

I know there is so much more that I want to accomplish in the coming year, but I think this is a good start. What are some of your goals? Leave me a note so I can go check out your new years goals!

Blessings,

Sara

Untitled Comment

{ 01:25, Saturday, December 29, 2007 } { Posted by maa }

Hi Sara,
You can teach yourself piano. No costly lessons are needed, just a good instuction book and lots of practice,every day. Alfred's adult all in one course is a great book to learn by, it is easy to understand. Any one who can read can follow the simple instuctions in these Alfred books.
I might have an extra one that I will give to you for FREE. I have to make sure that I still have it and let me know if you are going to use it. Hey! we could work out a deal here, I will give you the book and you will have to report to me in your progress as I am going to start that same book myself. We can be piano partners.Belle plays the piano and can teach the piano, she can be your online piano teacher. I think the practice gets done if we have someone to report to.
Going to cloth has saved us a lot of money. I had trouble getting out of the paper towel habit, but I did it
I do buy a cheap pack of napkins twice a year for draining meat on. We like bacon and it really needs to be drained on paper. I had tried cloth towels for that but the grease wouldn't wash out of the towels. I thought about using rags made from our old clothing to use for the meat to drain on and then throw them away. It would work out ok, I think.

with weight loss, I think you should try to eat whatever you want but eat only small portions. Drink a soft drink if you are having a craving for it but don't drink the whole can just enough to make you content.
The Special K cereal diet works very well. I know many who have lost a lot of weight on that diet and they kept it off.
I love to eat out at Cracker Barrell. I have been going twice a week. We all order off the kids meals and the total bill is $18.06 for a group of four.We get a free drink and biscuits with the kids meal so we always get filled up, enjoy the time there, and just relax.So giving up eating out would be hard for me to do right now.
I wish you lots of good luck on all your goals.
maa'smom

Oh, wow!

{ 12:08, Saturday, December 29, 2007 } { Posted by FarmWife }

Those are mighty big, heapin' spoonful of goals! The key to losing weight, I've discovered, is to stop eating. No fad diets for me, either. My DH lost 20 pounds and I've kept the 10 off that I lost a few years ago by doing this:
I don't cook anymore. Really.
Seriously, I make dozens of bean burritos at a time, or a huge batch of spaghetti, or Taco soup, or baked beans, etc. Then we eat that as a nice meal. THEN....I scoop the leftovers into 1-cup Ziplock plastic containers (as in PRE-measured! No second helpings available). Pop them in the freezer. Then it's "freezer meal" night at our house about 3 days (or more) out of 7. We try to sit down together, but since the last 2 (or 1) at home has a job and youth group and college and....well, we just grab a container, choose a piece of fruit, pour some milk, and that's our supper.
I can't believe the difference it makes not having "sit-down" meat and potatoes meals.