My 33rd Year

So here are the new goals for my 33rd year of life.  I decided to settle into fewer larger goals instead of lots of smaller goals this time to prevent forgetting what I'm trying to do, or feeling overwhelmed by too many things to accomplish.

1- Redecorate Girls' bedrooms.

When we moved into our new house Kate finally got her own bedroom.  After years of all three sharing a room (at their own request) we split them up a bit.  Kate's room is almost always perfectly clean!  Lizzie and Sabrina still have been sharing a room which mostly works well.  They like being together, but when it comes time to clean there is the perpetual cry of "this isn't my mess!".  So we're working towards a shift in our house where the playroom will be dissolved into smaller areas and Kate will move to a different room so Lizzie and Sabrina will have their own separate bedrooms.  We'll see how it goes.  Once they're all separate, though, I want to get their rooms looking nice.  Curtains, bedding, paint, etc. will help their rooms become more individualized and special. Hopefully this new sense of ownership for them all will help them take better care of their things.  And besides, it'll be pretty :)  Since we're in our OWN home now, I can settle into more permanent things!  Time to take advantage of that.

2- Read all of The Book of Mormon

I love The Book of Mormon.  I believe it it a true history of things that happened many hundred years ago and that teach us about how to be happy, how to live, and how to do what the Lord wants us to do.  It is a true, important book of scripture.  I'm just not great at reading it as often as I know I should.  I am shooting to read more than just the Book of Mormon by also studying the Doctrine and Covenants / Pearl of Great Price as well as the Bible.  I know searching all of the scriptures will help me be a better grounded, more faithful person.

3- Complete another year of scrapbooks / get another blog book printed

The hardest part of this is actually setting aside the money to get these books printed.  It's time for this to be a priority somehow.  The girls LOVE to sit and flip through books I have had printed and photo books.  I want them to be able to appreciate the photos and stories of years past, even now while they're young.  

4- Make a donation through Kiva  

I've always been interested in the microfinancing where a relatively small donation from me can help do a great deal of good for someone trying to improve themselves.  Time to get around to taking part!

5- Make a new temple dress and attend the temple regularly

I have a dress 75% of the way done that I just need to find and finish.  By the time school starts again next year in the fall it will be easier time-wise to make it to the temple regularly (all 3 girls will be in school all day then).  It's a bad excuse to not go regularly now when I have the temple so close by! 

6- Do “daily” (goal of 6 days/week) physical activity of any sort (yoga, water aerobics, walking, stationary bike, etc.)

I know that regular physical activity will help my body feel better.  I also know that losing weigh would only be beneficial also.  I'm going to focus first on getting moving.  It is HARD to get moving when everything hurts.  Especially when doing the wrong thing can start the pain up.  I'd rather revel in a low-pain day by not moving.  Being active will lead to more low pain or perhaps pain free days, even if I have to battle through some pain to get there in the first place.  Just have to start slow and be careful.

7- Recover photos and get ALL backed up (find what happened to the “lost years”)

I think I had all my photos on my old laptop.  I thought I had them available in other formats too, but now I cannot find them!  I know there are lots of things I'm missing and it kinda freaks me out.  Okay, I"ll be honest -- it REALLY freaks me out!  I need to do whatever it's going to take to recover those pictures.  (Anyone with skills of resurrecting hard-drives from dead computers want some cookies?!)

8- Update family's Emergency Preparedness

I have room for storing good preparation.  I have the knowledge of how we need to be prepared.  I just have to DO IT!  It would be a real shame to be stuck without things we need all because I never got around to it.  

9- Make and use freezer meals to provide more easy, healthy meals for hard days.

I have gotten "into" making freezer meals.  It's wonderful!  We have been good about getting batches of ingredients when they are on sale then putting them into meals.  With two extra upright freezers it would be a shame to not put that to good use.  There are so many things I can make to have meals prepped so we get a hot healthy meal at the end of a day instead of cereal or sandwiches because I'm overwhelmed or in too much pain.  The other night I was tired and hurting so we "had to settle" for meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and fresh out of the oven baguette.  Boo hoo, right?  I spent about 5 minutes standing in the kitchen and had no extra guilt to carry around!  I even set up a group on Facebook to help keep me motivated and gather ideas and recipes from others too.  (If you're on FB and interested -- join us!)

10- Make birthday photo “cards” for BOTH families

For a couple of years now I've been posting a photo of the "birthday person" for each person in my family on their birthday.  It's been a really good way for me to remember each of my nieces, nephews, siblings (including in-laws), etc..  Also, they enjoy it :)  I love them all so much!
My husband's family... it's been hard to get it done.  I don't take as many pictures at things because they all live locally, so I don't have the same sort of pictures to draw from.  Also, my family is all involved in an online group so I send one email and it goes to everyone.  Pictures are all saved on an online group so anyone can see them.  It's all good!  It's so hard to get them out to the other family, though.  

So here's the deal: I've set up a Google group.  I will post a birthday picture for each family member on (or as close as possible to) their birthday.  If you Southern family members want to take part, join up.  If not, I'll be posting them for myself.  Email me for info for how to join.