Resolutions?

I like to plan for the new year.  But as a stay at home mom, its more important to look back on the year and see what I’ve done.  Otherwise the days just blend into years and I don’t think I’ve done anything.

What do I do last year?

Resolution-wise:

• Slowed down.  We opted to not be involved in as many things this year.  Man it helped.  I allowed November and December to be busy – but the rest of the year pretty much had room to breathe.
• Small things.
  • Decluttering the house – 1 room/month.  We got through all the rooms but the storage/workshop.  The most significant change was the kiddo rooms.  All their things have a place.   Little girl’s closet got a shelving system.
  • Small craft projects.
  • Small/short more frequent photo sessions with kiddos.
• Renew relationships?  Hard to measure.  Did OK at setting days to visit friends.   Started a date night with the kiddos – we take them each out on a date once a month (1 parent takes a kiddo, and the other parent takes the other kiddo).  Am reading the Bible now daily in an rss feed.
• Preschool – Little girl has some counting down and seems to love numbers.  She’s learning letters too.  Knows her colors.  I can’t take all the credit, since she’s in preschool.  But we’ve been working on it.
• Hobby improvement.  Last on the list, last priority.  Didn’t take up appliquéby choice – too many other hobbies.  Did sewing projects from patterns – daughter’s Easter dress and Hubby’s Tie.  Kiddo portraits have drastically improved.

Other areas:

• Have a money plan for the future and am working toward it WITH my husband.  Not dragging him along any more.
• Took Japanese lessons for several months.  Found I need speaking practice for it to stick better.  Had to stop for a while during the holiday season, since my brain was mush.  Thinking about resuming this spring or summer.
• Started losing weight and kept up an exercise routine longer than I ever have before.  Pretty consistent workouts since May.
• Tried making sour dough breads from absolute scratch.
• Started geocaching with friends.
• Made a year’s worth of jam (again).
• Got a new maple tree.  (I’ve wanted one for years!)
• Participated again this year in the fleece to shawl contest.
• Talked myself out of buying many more orchids.  I only have so much room.  If I have too many plants – they get neglected.
• Tried roasting my own coffee.  Fun but VERY messy.
• Made my own grocery sacks.
• Started an Etsy store.
• Started a kiddo date night once a month.

Borrowing questions (but picking and choosing them so the post doesn’t go on and on until next year) from Simple Mom’s post on reflecting over the last year.

What was the single best thing that happened this past year?

Hubby and I took Financial Peace University together.  I always felt like I was dragging him along regarding our finances.  Now we can plan together and have more of the same mindset.  We also have plans for our financial future.  What a great things those are!

What was the single most challenging thing that happened?

Hubby changed jobs in April and I learned to deal with him being on travel and to be thankful in more circumstances.  (I haven’t mastered the “all circumstances”!)

What were the best books you read this year?

• Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox
• Doodle-Stitching
• Quarter Share (read by author in podcast format)
• Wintersmith

What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?

Exercising consistently since May.

What was the most enjoyable area of managing your home?

Organizing each room in Org Junkies Organizing Roundup.  (I didn’t do the living room, but it didn’t need it.)

What was your most challenging area of home management?

Getting people (including me) to keep stuff put away.  (With out a pick up time each night the house quickly becomes a pit!)

What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?

Letting myself be too distracted by stuff on the internet.  (It’s worse than TV for me.)  Sob!

What was biggest thing you learned this past year?

How to better manage our finances!  (Next in line is better lighting for kiddo portraits.)

Create a phrase or statement that describes 2008 for you.

Learning patience and thankfulness.

(My own question) What phrase do you want to describe 2009.

Peace, focus and simplicity.

Resolutions for 2009:

• Get in better shape by dropping my weight to 150 pound and keeping up the Wii Fit routine.
• Photography:
  • Work on my lighting skills for photography.  Didn’t accomplish much in this area last year – other than getting 2 ways to use my flash well.  I want to go through the Strobist DVDs and am looking at what I can do to improve my lighting gear.    The kiddo portraits turned out great this year, but I can do better.
  • Tinker with HDR more.  I know how to get an HDR image, but I want to understand it better and to know how to get the best I can from multiple exposures.
• Make better lunches for my son.  The school lunches here are mostly junk.
• Find more things I can do with my family and build our relationship.  (More geocaching?  Play more games?  Cook with them?)
• Start a date night w/ hubby once a month (with funding for sitter and outing).
• Fund 3 months of $ for our emergency fund.  (More would be great.)

—

On other fronts:

Ordered yarn and pattern for some funk-tabulous fingerless gloves and a more powerful battery pack for my flash (investigating lighting options for my little studio).  My hands have been so horribly cold, unless I’ve recently exercized.  It really helps to have something on my wrists.  I hope the battery pack will significanly reduce the recycle time for my flash – it’s hard to get kiddos to stay still while waiting for it to recharge.  Photos need to be quick.