Thursday Thirteen… Already?!
January 21st, 2010 by Jen Hen under Thursday Thirteen. No Comments.
It’s Thursday and you all know what that means. It signals time for our weekly thirteen listing and my weekly indecisive freak out. You would not believe how anxious I feel when I’m just trying to come up with something to write for you guys. I guess I could finally go public with my list for the New Year. 2010, here’s what I’m going to do:
- QUIT SMOKING! Yep, that’s at the very top of my list, but I will almost put money on it being the last thing I accomplish. I’ve been working on a major reduction of cigarette inhalation, and it’s actually been going fairly well, all things considered.
- GET IN SHAPE! (And everytime I see that phrase I automatically attach “Girl”… like the Mary Lou Retton work out tapes and equipment from the 80′s. ) I have gotten physically lazy and it’s time to put a stop to that. I’ve actually done really well so far with the new year. I haven’t taken any elevators, except at the doctor’s office with Carter because I really wasn’t ready to carry his 40lbs on one side of me. My knees would have yelled. Anyway… yes, stairs five days a week and when nobody is around, I take them two at a time. I feeeeeeel the burn in my buttocks. I’ve also avoided soda all year, aside from one shared 7up at the Globetrotters two weeks ago. And I’ve been controlling my urges to gorge on sweet stuff.
- EAT FEWER SWEETS: Alright, I decided it deserved it’s own spot. Seriously, I was baking at least one thing weekly during November and December that was sweet, sugary, and bad for me and the rest of the household. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not eliminating sweets completely, but I find that the fewer I keep in the house the less tempted I am. And while X-man and I went to Culver’s last week, I ordered a small chocolate shake instead of the tempting medium or large. Sometimes one of the better things to do for a more controlled diet isn’t to all out eliminate things, but to keep control over your portion size.
- BE MORE PATIENT WITH THE KIDS: When I told DH this was one of my resolutions for the year he said, “You ARE patient with the kids.” To which I had to provide the rebutal: “On YOUR scale I’m ‘to’ patient. But trust me, I need to work on this.” Being patient does not mean the absense of discipline. It’s all about the tone and how crass you can be. I’ve been focusing on controling my temperament so that I don’t come across more harsh than is necessary.
- Reorganize the house: ALWAYS on my list of things to do, but it doesn’t get my attention as often as it really should. We have accumulated so much “stuff” and we don’t need it all. We really don’t even need half of it. So, slowly, but surely, I will be cleaning things out. Ideally I’ll be able to post the items on craigslist and sell them. Other things I will just automatically donate.
- Commit to Full Time student status this Fall: I’m very non-commital with this for a few different reasons. I have to much experience with “Murphy’s Law: Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, at the worst possible moment.” I am concerned that if I go full time, the need for me to work more will come up, or one of the kids will have something drastic happen and will need more availability out of me, or I’ll get overwhelmed and hurt my gpa again like I did in Spring of ’03. I really need to commit to full time so that I can complete my degree within the time frame I have outlined in my 5 year “plan” for life.
- Work on my study habits. Don’t groan at me. I know I typically have A’s and B’s in my classes. But trust me when I say there is room for improvement in my study habits and just imagine how much better my grades would be if I fixed those issues.
- Be more thrifty in my grocery budget: I slacked pretty hard core during the holidays. I need to get back to using coupons and sticking to a list. I buy healthier foods that way, and I control my grocery spending a lot better. I make a tentative list of meals for about three weeks at a time. It’s not something that I schedule and stick to strictly, but it helps me keep my thoughts more organized on the grocery items I know that I will need while maintaining variety in meal choices so the kids, DH, and I don’t get burned out on any one item. Also it helps me shuffle meals around so that I can set a goal for my weekly spending and stay within just a couple of dollars of that amount.
- Clip more coupons! Yes, this goes in with grocery shopping, but also with everyday necessities such as toothpaste, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc. Therefore, I’m cutting down on my needed budget for these items as well which saves me money overall that I can stash back for in-case-of-emergency or for vacation. Since we have a big vacation planned for this summer, saving is a big factor to cover the lost time working, as well as any of the activities that we have on our “must do” list.
- See the Atlantic. Yep. I’ll be 30 this year and I’ve never seen the Atlantic. I saw the Pacific for the first time when I was 26. I saw the Gulf for the first time when I was 28. I’m looking forward to spending some time on the Atlantic beaches this summer before I hit 30. It’s really just a silly little goal I have, but it’s one less thing to have on my bucket list in old age.
- More game nights with X-man: We used to have a real set routine with game nights, but life got pretty darn hectic and crazy a couple of years ago. While we’ve maintained some sort of routine, it’s not nearly as often as it should be. However, since December I have been paying a lot of attention to this detail. It’s one of the big things that means a lot to X-man in terms of time with me (and anyone else who plays with us).
- More structured time with Lil’ C: The kids really kind of run amuck on the weekends. X-man already has some basic guidelines for t.v. time and game time (however, I’m very lax on both these days). Lil’ C really needs more structure to his days. He has a great time at daycare and I’m sure that just the predictability of his days there helps. I’m not saying I’m going to put him on some strict schedule, just put a few things into his days that make things a bit more smooth flowing and less about television or video games.
- Last but not least: More quality time and conversation with DH. I am hoping that our scheduled vacation is going to be as relaxing as we want it to be. But I’m afraid I may have to throw any of his technological toys out into the ocean. (Cam: You’ve been forewarned. And you know I’ll do it.)
