All my blogger friends are making New Year's Resolutions and I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon and give it a go. So here we are:
1. I have to begin my resolutions by resolving to actually be resolute. In plain English, I've got to actually DO the things I put down here...or at least pretend to. In the past I've made grand plans to lose weight, manage my finances better, be a better person, give up chocolate (oh, wait, that was for Lent...) and yet I never seem to stick to the plan. So step one--STICK TO THE PLAN. (I am shoving fistfulls of magic bars in my mouth as I type this in hopes of clearing out the pantry so that resolution 2 has a fighting chance...mmmmm...in a chocolate coma now...)
2. Lose weight. I think this one is on everyone's list. Except maybe Mary Kate Olsen's. It's been six months since I squirted out baby number two so I can no longer use the "oh I just had a baby" excuse. Plus I didn't really ever gain that much with Alex, so basically I am still working on major pounds from baby number one, which was over three years ago. How sad. But I am committed. I am already on a good run, so now if I could just shake twenty eight more pounds I'd actually LIKE who I see when I look in the mirror. And I might be able to avoid having quadruple bypass at the age of forty. That would be a plus.
3. Eat In. For too long we have relied on "Old McDonald's" (as Luc calls the golden arches) and other various local restaurants to feed our family. I want to put a halt to that. It is no longer a treat to eat out--it has become the norm, and that is bad. Bad for my checkbook, bad for resolution number two, and bad for our quality family time. Plus, I am a recipe pack rat--I have stacks of cool sounding dishes that I would really ENJOY cooking, but in the end I always let convienece dictate our meals. But no more! Starting in '09 we are eating at home except for special occasions (or nights when I burn the dinner...)
4. Reduce the debt. Not the national debt--that's Obama's problem. Me, I just want to open a bill and not cringe in horror at the bottom line. In order to achieve this goal I am going to have to do something very drastic....ban myself from Target and Hobby Lobby. Oh the humanity!! I'm also going to create a budget and stick to it. I'd rather eat nails than budget myself. Really rusty, pointy nails. Grrrrrr....
5. Be a better wife. mom. sister. daughter. christian. person. friend. pet owner (just saw "Marley and Me"--cried buckets) Not a tall order or anything is it? But I've been SO bogged down in work and the overwhelming pressure of being a mother to two lately that I feel as though I haven't been very good at being ME. The me I know and love has fun--sure she is cynical and pithy at times, but that's just me too. Always has been, always will be. So I want to get back to being a loving wife, a happy, fun mom, the sister who doesn't always call asking for a favor, the daughter who isn't always whining about her problems, a christian who gives back, a friend to whoever needs me, and a pet owner who actually pets her dogs. (I know, sad, right?)
So there it is. Five things I resolve to TRY this year. I know this woman who started a blog resolving to use her crock pot every day for an entire year. If she managed to scrub the crust out of her crockpot for 365 days, I can put all my effort into achieving these five goals. (If you are interested in her website, visit it here: http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
5 comments:
oprah says that it only takes 10 minutes more to make a meal at home instead of getting fast food.
of course, that assumes everything is already at your house and there are no grocery store visits.
you have to be organized with it; i've had to learn how since i changed jobs in 07.
you keep a list of the stuff you normally buy, divided by type or isle in the store. then make a list of about 15-20 easy meals you could stand to rotate for 2 weeks.
then you make a little chart wiith the days of the week, and pick however many meals you need to make in those 2 weeks, and asign them to a day. circle/highlight the items you need to cook those meals on the list you created earlier, and add items you don't normally buy (spices, extracts, etc).
get everything you need for those meals in one trip. of course, you will have to go back to the store for a mini trip for milk, salad, fresh things in 1 week.
you can always rotate your meals around if you don't want spaghetti on tuesday, cause you should have the stuff for meatloaf if you want that instead.
and don't buy snacky stuff! we only keep cheesy crackers for nate, or cereal...
sorry if i ranted, but i speak to the fact that if you organize, and buy precut veggies, you can cook at home all the time.
ps. thanks for sharing the crock pot lady...she rocks! i want to make crock pot french toast now!
thanks for the tips! Will be giving this a go soon...
And don't you love the crockpot lady??? I have tried a couple recipes of hers already and liked them. Crockpot meals are GREAT timesavers.
One of the things I always love about our conversations is your incredibly pragmatic and realistic view of life. You never pull any punches, which is refreshing in this world of platitudes. That said, Woman, your list wears me out! Maybe you can try doing one small change a week or something, or creating a plan that begins with small steps and leads to big changes. The key I think is to be more realistic in terms of what you can actually accomplish, and avoid falling into the well-I-screwed-this-up-so-I-might-as-well-just-say-screw-it-all trap. I am one hundred percent positive you can do anything you set your mind to, but change is hard and you listed a lot of big changes there. Sure, they all relate, but if it was easy you would be doing it already.
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