A Patchwork Life

Goals: Personal and Family Life

03 Jan 2010 3 Comments

by Jackie in all about me, cooking, personal goals

Instead of resolutions, I like to make goals for the year– it feels more realistic, more concrete, and more achievable. I posted my blogging goals already, and now I have some personal ones, both large and small.

First: read at least one poem to my girls every night when we read. We read to the girls almost every night, except for Family Movie Night and in cases of sickness, travel, or other unexpected bumps in the road. We’ve read everything from picture books to all seven Harry Potter books, and we try to mix in nights where the girls read to us as well. We’ve just started The Hobbit, which may lead us into all the LOTR books, but I would also like to add poetry. I’ve read poems with them before, from Eric Carle’s Dragons, Dragons for example, and we got another similar book for Christmas called The Llama Who Had No Pajama, and after we finish that, I’d like to add to our poetry collection. The girls always enjoy it, and I do too.

Second: be more organized with money. My dear husband handles the finances, but this year I would like to be more actively involved in tracking our money. We’re going to use a Google Docs spreadsheet to help us achieve this. I’ve got debt-reduction goals and purchasing goals, ranging from an armchair for the piano room to getting started on replacing our ancient wooden windows. We are also starting a new allowance system with our girls, after much discussion and thought, involving the use of Money Savvy Pigs and a simple exchange– we’ll pay the five dollars each per week, if their room is clean, which includes laundry being put away.

Third: return to more cooking and baking, and attention to making healthy choices in food for the family. I did really well at this when the girls were younger and I was working less during the day, but as my daytime working hours have increased, I’ve gotten more hurried in my planning and cooking. This past year, with my shifting to full-time, the fall was not a good season for me as a healthy cook or baker. Too many hasty choices, too much delivery pizza, too little homemade snacks and meals. I’ve tried to turn this around over the winter break, and am feeling good about some cookbooks, old and new, that I think will help me achieve this. A sub-goal in this category is to be better prepared for the frantic craziness that will be the fall season as long as I’m even tangentially involved in the college essay process at my school.

Fourth: continue and increase being involved in my girls’ school and activities. Between my time with the Brownies, a few hours spent in each girls’ classroom helping with writing lessons, and work with the Environmental Club, even though the fall was chaotic, I feel good about the time spent in 2009 being involved at the girls’ school. This year, I want to continue all of those activities, but also renew my involvement with more PTA activities. I also want to remember to periodically bring in supplies for the classrooms, which completely fell off my list in the fall.