Goals

There is Hope on the Other Side of Failure

by jen.

Hot air balloons, San Diego, California (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ok, I know I said I wasn’t posting this week. But the end of Lent is nearly here. And I’ve failed miserably. Not only did I fail in doing most of my Lent Resolutions, I’ve failed in my general February and March goals, too.

My February goals were to say a daily rosary, exercise frequently, and be consistent in my discipline. I said a daily rosary about 1/3 of February and hardly at all in March. I didn’t exercise much in February due to a THREE WEEK crud that wiped me out, BUT I started running again in March and am on week 2 of my Ease into 5k plan. After Easter I will add weights/abs to it. I don’t want to go nuts and get sick like I always do . And consistency? FAIL.

My March goals were to read the Magnificat morning devotions daily, give hubby my full attention, and stick to my housekeeping schedule. I read my Magnificat about 1/2 the time–enough that I justified renewing my subscription. I’ve done okay about giving hubby my full attention — most of the time. I’ve also done okay in sticking to my housekeeping schedule which is pretty fast and loose at this point. The hardest part for me is always the kitchen– I. Hate. Doing. Dishes. I’ve told you why I hate doing dishes, right? Twenty years later and it’s no better.

But there is hope in failure. If I hadn’t made my goals, I wouldn’t be any further ahead. In fact, I’d probably be going backward. And while I haven’t achieved perfection, I have made forward progress. I aim for God first and while I don’t always make it, I’m closer. Lucifer’s getting nervous & he’s nipping at my heels . My honey is turning more into a close second and I’m working on night-weaning (mostly for me but there are benefits for him, too ;D). And I’m spending more time with the kids and less on the computer — even though my posts are more frequent, God has been blessing my efforts with inspiration, productive naptime writing on my iPhone and evening pockets of time. Overall, my failures are still a turn in the right direction.

There is still a week left to offer sacrifices for God. I’d rather have small failures on the right road than large successes on the wrong one. How about you?

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New Year, New List

Jan 1st, 2011

by jen.

2 comments

: Image by Great Beyond via Flickr

Last year, I made a 101 in 1001 list. I don’t know what I was thinking making what is essentially a three year plan when I’m not done having babies. Babies always throw off the game plan as you adjust to their needs & personalities.

Anyway, I decided to go to more of what Heather calls a “big fat list.” It’s less of a list of resolutions and more of a list of what I need to do or want to do in the next year. Many of them are the same but my projects are much different. And there are a lot fewer of them!

Spiritual

spend time with God daily. I’d like to do a morning offering, grace at every meal, the Angeleus 3 times a day, evening prayers and also read the daily readings. I do much of this already, but not consistently.
Pray the rosary more frequently. I’d LIKE to do all 15 mysteries a day, but I’m going to aim for at least a Rosary a week. Which is more than what I’m doing.
Pray for husband & children more frequently. Currently I do this…well, not often at all.
Go to daily mass. I’d like to go weekly, but I’m aiming for 1-2x/month.
Keep holy the sabbath. Not just to go to church, but to truly make it a sabbath.
Do Eucharistic adoration at least monthly.
Go to confession monthly.
Do some daily spiritual reading — even if it’s only 5 or 10 minutes.
Get a spiritual director. Yeah, I still want to do this.
Celebrate everyone’s Name Days (or Patron Saint).

Health/Beauty

Take my vitamins & nutritional supplements more regularly.
Exercise 5 of every 7 days.
Eat fruit/veggies as my snacks.
Sweets & pop are S-day treats (Saturday/Sunday/Special Days)
Brush & Floss multiple times a day
Wash face and moisturize 2x/day
Wear makeup & jewelry regularly
Stretch regularly
Revisit & reexamine life for priorities quarterly.
Go to Dr.’s regularly (dentist, eye, annual, etc)

Husband

Date every two weeks minimum even if it’s just a movie downstairs without girls.
Touch more.
Kiss hello, goodbye & goodnight.
Never say bad things about him to others.
Tell him what I appreciate about him regularly.

Parenting/Children

Do a better job of teaching about God.
Resume teaching basics.
Read aloud daily.
Play outside daily.
Quiet time daily.
Become effective disciplinarian.
Be consistent!
Have a routine!
Play with them
Get into a bedtime routine, including prayer.
Have dates with Lil’ Bit.

Character & Relationships

Limit computer time.
Limit tv & movie time for ALL!
foster gratitude
Call parents regularly.
Keep in regular contact with brother & sister in law.
Do frequent random act of kindness.
foster friendships with one or two women.
entertain more – dinner & parties, both.
find fun family activities to do on a regular basis.
Give more, give gladly! Or at least offer it up .

Financial & Provider

Stick to the budget!!
Work the Dave Ramsey plan.
Find small ways to add income (mystery shop, surveys, craigslist, ebay, contests, etc.)
Find ways to lower expenses.
follow home maintenance routine.
keep up with paperwork.
sell the house!!!

Projects

Take more pictures (365 Project) & movies.
blog regularly.
simplify & minimize

I’d love to know what you hold near & dear…Leave me a comment with a link if you’ve blogged or just share your ideas! Happy new year!

This post is linked to New Year’s Linkies at Sprittibee‘s, 5 Minutes for Mom, and Success…Your Way.

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101 in 1001 Update

Jun 18th, 2010

by jen.

2 comments

I meant to post this while I was away on vacation, but well, let’s just say I actually *gasp* enjoyed my vacation!

Here was my original 101 in 1001 list at the beginning of Advent (about 6 months ago):

Spiritual
1. Do a morning offering daily. – doing poorly
2. Read the readings daily. – ditto
3. Pray the rosary daily. – ditto
4. Pray the chaplet daily. – ditto. thinking of replacing with Angelus.

5. Pray for husband & child(ren) daily. – ditto

6. Go to daily mass once a week. – nope
7. Keep holy the sabbath. – not to shabby; missed twice I think.
8. Create a new saint day or church holiday tradition every month. – haven’t done that either.
9. Do Eucharistic adoration at least monthly.   – started this month & I like it!
10. Go to confession monthly. – pretty close; I usually screw up in that time, so I kind of have to!
11. Read 1 catholic book a month.   – I’m pretty sure I have.
12. Get a spiritual director.   – still working on — we switched parish’s and I think my new priest will probably be good about it.
13. Work on the virtues-1 per month, revolving.   – haven’t started.
14. Read backlog of catholic books & other bible studies before buying any more new ones*.    – does asking DH to buy me one for my birthday count as me buying one?
15. Read 2 works by great theologans. – 1 down – True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
16. Listen to all 10 years of Catholic Answers on my iPod. – almost through 1/2 of the Scott Hahn episodes.

Health/Beauty
17. Take my vitamins daily. Multi, calcium, stresstabs & fish oil. – I should be since I’m preggo, but sadly no. I was doing awesome until the morning sickness set in.
18. Exercise daily. -hahaha
19. Eat 5 fruit/veggies day. – hahaha
20. Floss daily.   – good intentions, right?
21. Wash face nightly.   – nope
22. Wear makeup & jewelry. – yes, actually. Wearing a watch that looks like a bracelet is a HUGE help.
23. Increase flexability/stretch daily.   – really need to start now!
24. Revisit & reexamine life for priorities quarterly. – I guess this is it.
25. Go to Dr.’s regularly (dentist, eye, annual, etc). – yep

Husband
26. Date every two weeks minimum. – not really but doing better now that MIL is picking the munchkin up…
27. MYOB
28. Touch daily. – bad this week, better overall
29. Kiss nightly. – ditto
30. Relax at night. Duh. – better
31. Flirt! – again bad lately, better overall
32. Write a love note once a week. – not even started; can texts count?
33. Support al’s work & help. – does helping him find a replacement help ?
34. Come up with date night ideas & put in e-book form. – not even started
35. Go on a couples retreat. – not anytime soon!

Child(ren)
36. Read daily. – yep
37. Play outside daily. – now that it’s nice out, yep.
38. Quiet time daily. – usually
39. Teach. – slacker
40. Crafts weekly. – hates crafty/coloring stuff. Unless it involves stickers.
41. Try something new weekly. – nope
42. Become effective disciplinarian. – with grandma having Dagny for days at a time? I don’t stand a chance!
43. Create a new secular tradion every month. – sometimes

Character
44. LIMIT CPT TIME! – getting better; that’s why you haven’t seen me as much!
45. Give 5 ‘i saw this and thought of you gifts’ – none yet
46. Send out one mailed card or note a week. – nope
47. Call parents weekly. – mostly
48. Keep in regular contact with grandparents, brothers, aunts/uncles, etc. – not really.
49. Do a random act of kindness monthly. – done once
50. Make a routine & stick to it M-F. – hahahahahhaahhaah

Financial
51. Stick to the budget!!   – not so much
52. Replenish emergency fund. – working on it
53. Begin investing 15% into retirement.   – when EF is done
54. Start college fund. – when EF is done
55. Build sinking funds for other goals. – working on
56. Replace Quicken. – DONE
57. Save $10 for each goal completed. Use it to go on vacation. – we already went on vacation .
58. Buy 3 of every 4 books used.   – if swapping & reviewing books counts , we’re good.
59. Find small ways to add income. – selling stuff on CraigsList to get TV room re-established. We missed hockey!
60. Actively seek out needed or wanted items used or swap. – I check but I don’t want to wait 12 months for something we need soon — like bed rails for munchkin.

Projects
61. Organize & backup computer files. – humph. 1 of 3 hard drives is probably dead as we speak; need to pay bucko bucks to get data back since it’s the business computer and I have been unable to get things done down there since I got preggo again.
62. Take more pictures & movies (weekly/monthly). – wish I had
63. Create photo wall in dining room. – will inventory frames and pictures and get prints made as soon as tv room & office are cleaned up (and computer is functional again)
64. Read every childrens picture book in library. NOT!   Library changed late fees to $0.10 per book per day.   40 books for 7 days = cheaper to BUY books!
65. Start a garden.   – we did! I have tomato plants, onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce.   and I still have to plant the cantelope, pumpkin, and squash.
66. Plant a fruit tree. – not yet.   next year.
67. Eat & buy more locally. – yep, drinking local milk & eating farm eggs. and we got a local cow that is FAB!
68. Get a freezer. – DONE!
69. Finish & do emergency preparedness stuff – complete 1 thing a month. – not started
70. Reuse, reuse, reuse & repurpose. – yep.
71. Sell the stuff that didn’t sell at yard sale. – working through that right now.
72. Learn to sew. – not yet
73. Make my own pantyliners. – still in progress
74. Make more wipes. – have plenty
75. Make rendezvous clothes on wish list. – not started
76. Make Dagny & I matching fleece capes. – not started
77. Recreate the yellow flower quilt for king bed. -not started
78. Make an apron. – not started
79. Make family Halloween costumes – funny.   I’ll be 8-3/4 mos preggo on Halloween.
80. Make a wool cloak for rendezvous. – not started
81. Finish hemming Bones’ pants.   – 3.5 pr left
82. Have 5 craft parties.   – none yet
83. Make a gingerbread house.   – not yet
84. Throw a party each quarter.   – nope; preggo and felt icky. will have one soon
85. Go to a Red Wings game. – lets hope!
86. Go bowling x times. – I didn’t pick a goal but we’ve gone with Dagny twice.
87. Decorate the house for every season. – i guess I don’t really decorate in summer. Huh.
88. Do archery weekly in summer(s). Started last week.
89. Rendezvous once a year minimum. – it’s not looking good.
90. Become comfortable with my handgun. – maybe at the end.
91. Go on vacation. – we just got back from Disney World. Whoo-ho0!
92. Attend a women’s or blogging conference.   – did in Advent; doing another in July.
93. Have someone over for dinner at least every other month.   – need to start.
94. Go to Disney.   – two birds with one stone!
95. Respond to blog comments.   – fell off the wagon at blog party. need to catch up.
96. Interact with other bloggers regularly. – sigh
97. Bake something new once a month.   – or not.
98. Create a plan to grow my blog with minimal work.   – or none?
99. Get domain. – did a while ago, I think.
100. Use new template w/my new header.   – done
101. Eliminate the Unnecessary!!! – working at this every day!

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101 in 1001 Update

Dec 30th, 2009

by jen.

No comments yet

Image by koalazymonkey via Flickr

Well, I’ve done better than I thought and worse than I’d hoped. I always think I can do more than I’m capable of doing at once. I did, however, make some progress.

3. Pray the rosary daily. — Luckily, DH came back from a silent retreat and added a family Rosary into our schedule. Yeah! That’s a prayer answered!

6. Go to daily mass once a week.

8. Create a new saint day or church holiday tradition every month. – This month we did a Jesse Tree. Next year, I hope we can do the WHOLE thing. We just put the ornaments on this year. Lil Bit is still kind of young.

9. Do Eucharistic adoration at least monthly. – retreat
10. Go to confession monthly. – retreat

11. Read 1 catholic book a month. – read Holiness for Housewives.

12. Get a spiritual director. – not done, but I’ve called.

25. Go to Dr.’s regularly (dentist, eye, annual, etc) – got my teeth cleaned (and repaired) this month.

33. Support DH’s work & help.

44. LIMIT CPT TIME!

51. Stick to the budget!!

56. Replace Quicken.

58. Buy 3 of every 4 books used.
59. Find small ways to add income.

61. Organize & backup computer files. – in progress

64. Read every children’s picture book in library. – started b’s in pb.

87. Decorate the house for every season.

92. Attend a women’s or blogging conference.

93. Have someone over for dinner at least every other month.

95. Respond to blog comments.

99. Get domain.

101. Eliminate the Unnecessary!!! – in progress

I guess I did more than I thought. The daily ones, are the hardest, though.

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Getting Unstuck – 101 goals in 1001 days

Nov 27th, 2009

by jen.

1 comment

Image by koalazymonkey via Flickr

I’ve been inspired by several bloggers who have been sharing their progress on goals in the common format of 101 goals in 1001 days. I’ve been floundering in not enough busyness and spending too much idle time or time on wrong priorities. Add that to the fact that a new liturgical year starts Sunday and I don’t seem to be any better than I was this time last year. And that the main message of the readings a few weeks back was that we are not guaranteed a tomorrow so we should always do our best today! I need a little structure for that.

So without further ado, here is MY 101 goals in 1001 days list to be completed by Sunday, August 26, 2012.

101 things in 1001 days

Spiritual
1. Do a morning offering daily.
2. Read the readings daily.
3. Pray the rosary daily.
4. Pray the chaplet daily.
5. Pray for husband & child(ren) daily.
6. Go to daily mass once a week.
7. Keep holy the sabbath.
8. Create a new saint day or church holiday tradition every month.
9. Do Eucharistic adoration at least monthly.
10. Go to confession monthly.
11. Read 1 catholic book a month.
12. Get a spiritual director.
13. Work on the virtues-1 per month, revolving.
14. Read backlog of catholic books & other bible studies before buying any more new ones*.
15. Read 2 works by great theologans.
16. Listen to all 10 years of Catholic Answers on my iPod.

Health/Beauty
17. Take my vitamins daily. Multi, calcium, stresstabs & fish oil.
18. Exercise daily.
19. Eat 5 fruit/veggies day.
20. Floss daily.
21. Wash face nightly.
22. Wear makeup & jewelry.
23. Increase flexability/stretch daily.
24. Revisit & reexamine life for priorities quarterly.
25. Go to Dr.’s regularly (dentist, eye, annual, etc).

Husband
26. Date every two weeks minimum.
27. MYOB
28. Touch daily.
29. Kiss nightly.
30. Relax at night. Duh.
31. Flirt!
32. Write a love note once a week.
33. Support al’s work & help.
34. Come up with date night ideas & put in e-book form.
35. Go on a couples retreat.

Child(ren)
36. Read daily.
37. Play outside daily.
38. Quiet time daily.
39. Teach.
40. Crafts weekly.
41. Try something new weekly.
42. Become effective disciplinarian.
43. Create a new secular tradion every month.

Character
44. LIMIT CPT TIME!
45. Give 5 ‘i saw this and thought of you gifts’
46. Send out one mailed card or note a week.
47. Call parents weekly.
48. Keep in regular contact with grandparents, brothers, aunts/uncles, etc.
49. Do a random act of kindness monthly.
50. Make a routine & stick to it M-F.

Financial
51. Stick to the budget!!
52. Replenish emergency fund.
53. Begin investing 15% into retirement.
54. Start college fund.
55. Build sinking funds for other goals.
56. Replace Quicken.
57. Save $10 for each goal completed. Use it to go on vacation.
58. Buy 3 of every 4 books used.
59. Find small ways to add income.
60. Actively seek out needed or wanted items used or swap.

Projects
61. Organize & backup computer files.
62. Take more pictures & movies (weekly/monthly).
63. Create photo wall in dining room.
64. Read every childrens picture book in library.
65. Start a garden.
66. Plant a fruit tree.
67. Eat & buy more locally
68. Get a freezer.
69. Finish & do emergency preparedness stuff – complete 1 thing a month.
70. Reuse, reuse, reuse & repurpose.
71. Sell the stuff that didn’t sell at yard sale.
72. Learn to sew.
73. Make my own pantyliners.
74. Make more wipes.
75. Make rendezvous clothes on wish list.
76. Make Dagny & I matching fleece capes.
77. Recreate the yellow flower quilt for king bed.
78. Make an apron.
79. Make family Halloween costumes
80. Make a wool cloak for rendezvous.
81. Finish hemming Bones’ pants.
82. Have 5 craft parties.
83. Make a gingerbread house.
84. Throw a party each quarter.
85. Go to a Red Wings game.
86. Go bowling x times.
87. Decorate the house for every season.
88. Do archery weekly in summer(s)
89. Rendezvous once a year minimum
90. Become comfortable with my handgun.
91. Go on vacation.
92. Attend a women’s or blogging conference.
93. Have someone over for dinner at least every other month.
94. Go to Disney.
95. Respond to blog comments.
96. Interact with other bloggers regularly.
97. Bake something new once a month.
98. Create a plan to grow my blog with minimal work.
99. Get domain.
100. Use new template w/my new header.
101. Eliminate the Unnecessary!!!