4th Quarter Goals Update

I forgot to do a 3rd quarter update since I was in the middle of recovering from my second surgery at the time.  So, here's a recap for the entire year with a couple updated notes to cover the gap between July and December.

ORIGINAL GOALS FOR 2013

1. Get Hubs fundraised to 70% of budget - This has changed as he has stepped down from the ministry for which he needed to fundraise. Now he is looking for a full-time or part-time at night position to accompany his children's ministry position. Praying for this one! The update here is that he has found a full-time position that allows us to maximize our time with the kids, even if we have to be apart.  Still praying for the children's director position to become full-time but that is more of a long-term look right now.

2. Pay off credit card and NE - Ggy - Credit card was paid off a few months ago and then it got used again and is now paid off again. I am having a hard time cutting this one up for some reason. NE - Ggy will be on hold until Hubs gets into his new position. Then we can resume the baby steps. The credit card has been up and down again over the past few months with me being off work due to surgeries and Hubs not working, but he started working in November and we'll be on our way once again with Baby Step 2, so right now the credit card will be paid off inJanuary and Hubs' student loan in June.  Then, all we will have left is my student loan, which will be done (hopefully) in December.

3. Lose the last 15 pounds and maintain. Workout twice per week - I forgot how quickly time passes when you aren't paying attention. I thought I had plenty of time before summer to lose the last 15 since I lost the 45 so easily, thanks to breastfeeding. Well, since that slowed down and is now over as of Calah's birthday, I have gained about 10 back, and in the past two weeks, I lost 2, so now I have a total of 23 pounds to go. Still not too bad and I have been tracking my food for the past two weeks and it really seems to help with the motivation. We played volleyball this spring and we went to practice most weeks. Plus I walk 1-2 times/day at work for 15 minutes and everything I do at home is a workout (Read: 3 kids 5 & under are a lot of work). With the recent development of my hip problems, I hesitate to workout because I don't want to do any further damage. Once we figure out a game plan, I will feel a lot better about my level of activity. The last update was pre-surgery, so obviously things have changed with this one.  But, I stayed up on my foot (and then later, FEET) as much as I could stand (pun intended) and tried to stay active through both surgeries.  But, I have gained probably another 10 lbs, so I'm looking at approx 30 lbs to lose to get to my ideal weight.  Now that Hubs is working again, we can re-join a gym, and we plan to do so in the next week so that I can start working out during Christmas shutdown the last two weeks of December.

4. Meal-plan for the month ahead of time - I was doing SO WELL with this one until one day, I left my planner at home and it sat there for over a month. I am working on a plan to improve our grocery shopping/meal plan organization system so I will update this one once the system is in place and working. I found it easier to do one week at a time so that I can write out the shopping list and get supplies for just that week, so I started doing that this past week and already have every meal, including snacks, written out for next week along with my shopping list.

5. Get the house short sold and move to a bigger place to rent - Wow, was it really not that long ago that we were in this place mentally and emotionally, not to mention financially? I have talked a lot lately about how much our situation is the same as it has been for the past year but I just have so much more peace and feel content to stay in our home, as small as it is, and as old/breaking down as it is. Thank you Lord for perspective and always providing what we need not necessarily what we want lest we become totally self-absorbed.  Our contentment has continued in this area, but we do have some repairs that need to be done very soon as well as some small aesthetic things to do.  Eventually, we will need to do a bathroom overhaul as well.  I'm hoping that we can move in two years.

6. Live simpler. Purge items, organize. Work on one room at a time - We have done a lot in this area with Projectpalooza and I know you guys are still waiting for updates and photos on that. I will get there, I promise!!! We have donated a TON of old books, clothes, baby stuff, and even furniture in the past few months and are setting our focus on the garage next.  Every week, I am tackling a small pile, stack, or black hole in our home and have been purging and re-organizing things constantly.  Still a long way to go, but I feel like we're in an overall good place with this right now.  I just keep chipping away at the clutter and actually feel like I'm winning!

7. Build family emergency kits by 2/1/13 - Keep forgetting about this one but I think this will go along with our next project. Details to come later! We updated the fire extinguishers this year and replaced the carbon monoxide detector last week.  We have not put together any kits, though.  I feel like this one will need some other pre-work if we want to get them put together.

So, these are my 2013 updates.  Overall, I think we did fairly well with all the changes that came our way.  Time to brainstorm some new goals for 2014 and maybe carry a few from this year to next as well.

I'd love to hear some of your goals for this year! I need some inspiration!