update on those goals

This winter has been crazy it seems.  I am still trying desperately to find some balance in my life.  I had a bunch of goals that I set out for this year.  I'm doing OK with some, great with others and totally given up on others.  And I am OK with that.  It's all about priorities.  I can only do so much and I have a lot that is non-negotiable...like laundry and making dinner every night and helping kids with homework and working and sleeping.


So here's where I am with some of these things...


--get back to more consistent menu planning and making use of the food we have on hand


I've done really well with this one.  This is the first week since January that I didn't make a meal plan for the week.  I have really tried to look at our freezer and fridge as I planned meals and I've stuck to the plan even when I had second thoughts.  It really does make life easier to know what I am supposed to be doing in my kitchen.

--get back to making our bread, probably using more of the 5-minutes a day approach


This one has been good and bad.  I was doing great until a couple of weeks ago when I made a bread that was a flop.  (I now have a big canister of whole wheat bread crumbs!  lol)  I've been thinking all week that I should start some bread.  And I will...maybe today even.


--make our yogurt


I'm doing pretty well here.  I am having a hard time keeping up in fact.  The kids really like yogurt with banana and some chocolate chips as a snack or dessert.  I've been doing 4 pints at a time and I really need to step it up to 4 quarts.

--read the Bible in 90 days (our church is doing this and my Emma wants to do the kids' portion too)


This one has been totally abandoned.  I just couldn't do it.  It's not that I'm not interested in spiritual things or in being better at my devotion to God.  I just couldn't commit to that much reading every single day.  I guess I could have, but I chose other things as more important.  And I'm OK with that.

--spend more time knitting or blogging or reading for information and less time playing silly games on the computer


Good and bad...I am trying to spend my time better, but I find myself choosing to be lazy and unproductive and using facebook as a really good distraction.


--lose the 15 pounds that have crept on in the past 18 months


I've lost 5.  I'm good with that one too.

--do the Couch Potato to 5K program


It's still too cold and snowy.  Summer is coming...summer is coming...summer is coming.  I did get a yoga DVD and have been doing that the past couple of weeks.  I think I am actually finding my butt under all those peanut M&M's and carmel corn!  lol

--make breakfast for my kids


Doing this one really well.  I have found a couple of new things to put into our rotation and I plan to make some granola soon that they can use as cereal.  This one is really important to me because I want them to have a healthy breakfast and not just eat a processed cereal for breakfast.  It is also complicated by my working nights.  I get home from my current contract around 6:20, and the 2 oldest head out the door and hour or so later.  I have to have a plan for breakfast the night before.  That's where meal planning has been a lifesaver since I plan breakfasts, too.

--incorporate more homeopathy into our family


I've purchased a couple of things.  I want to do better, but it takes research and I've already admitted that I am highly distracted with this laptop!  lol  The one thing that has been great is callendula cream.  I got it because it's kind of an all around thing for skin.  I get cracks in my skin on my thumbs and index fingers especially...all that handwashing from baby care and cooking I guess.  Emma and Clay get chapped chins and faces.  The callendula has been great for both.

--eat more fruit


Definitely better.  I'm opting for a piece of fruit for snack as opposed to bread and butter.   Maybe that has something to do with my shrinking behind, too?

--try to salvage my kefir grains and get back to using kefir for soaking oats and flour for pancakes


Yes and no.  I was doing great until last week.  Now my grains are shoved in the fridge again.

--figure out my sewing machine enough to do simple mending


I haven't touched it!  But Trey has taken a family sciences class in middle school and he's used it!

--clean out closets and donate more of our excess


Always a work in progress...