Mid Year Resolutions, 2010

Resolve. What a word... Yeah, I guess I'm not one for jumping on trendy bandwagons and doing things like making resolutions at the end of the year to work on in the new year. Heck, I was too busy crafting up a storm for my Handmade Christmas. But I think as we move through Lent, it's a good time to look at getting into better habits for the sake of my family. I actually wrote this before Lent started, so it's about time I get moving on it...

I was really inspired by the three-branched approach to Lent of Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving. I've done a lot of fasting Lents, giving up chocolate, pop, even my beloved Parmesan cheese (I eat the heck out of it on popcorn.) This year, I wanted to incorporate a bit of all three. For the fasting part, I am giving up microwave popcorn. I'd all but quit eating it several months ago, then I got sucked back in. I am about to start research for a post on food additives, and heaven knows there's a lot of "stuff" added to microwave popcorn. Popcorn is actually a pretty healthy snack that I really love, and I need to learn how to enjoy it without all the junk again.

My method of almsgiving this year is the 40 Bags in 40 Days decluttering challenge. I've already Freecycled some stuff, and given a number of things away. Lots more to come!

The prayer part is a bit more sticky. My theory is that I need to do a LOT of work to overcome the sin of sloth and focus on caring for my home and family, which I am blessed to have as my primary job. I'd also like to tie in the way my own body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and I need to care for it as such.

Last year, I got inspired, and wrote some Mid-Year Resolutions. They didn't work out so well, to be honest. To refresh my memory, they were:

1) Eat a good breakfast every day.
2) Cut down on eating between meals by eating *healthier* meals. Make healthier snacks when we need them.
3) Plan out a menu and shop for groceries less frequently.
4) Walk over to the farm (Goose in a borrowed jogging stroller thanks to Hubs's sweet cousin - our farm is about a mile from our house) to feed the kitties at least 4 times a week.
5) Go to bed earlier and get up earlier.
6) Lose about 25-30 pounds. I added this as an afterthought - I was hoping that if I was successful with the above, this would have fallen into place on its own.

I succeeded in the following:
1) Gave up cereal for breakfast and ate oatmeal most days.

Don't get too excited, it was instant. Ouch.

Hubs gave me a nice nudge toward healthier eating with a Christmas gift of a Nutrimill. I was pretty surprised (thank you, dear!) and was really expecting a dehydrator, so it was a double surprise. [Much thanks is due to Laura at Heavenly Homemakers for her posts on Should You Buy a Grain Mill? (and the money saving aspects of it) as well as part two, Which One Is Best and Where to Buy a Mill.]

The bummer thing is that I can't bring myself to pay money for wheat that is the same thing as what we have sitting in the bins, and we've not yet figured out a good way to clean it, so I haven't used it yet. That's OK. I've been busy working on my other Lenten resolution, a decluttering challenge to get rid of 40 Bags in 40 Days.

So while all the above resolutions still apply (except for walking to the farm, I'll be giving up custody of the jogging stroller to another of Hubs's cousins), here's what I've been thinking about lately.

1) Stop making excuses. When I read about someone who has a clean house, who works hard at exercising, who does better at making food from scratch, who does (insert X here) better than I do, I tend to think that their house is easier to keep than mine. That her back doesn't hurt like mine (or her neck doesn't crunch like mine). That she lives closer to better grocery stores. And the excuses go on and on. The truth is, we all have our crosses to bear, and mine is a lot lighter than that of many others.

2) Quit reading about "it" and do it! "It" is a lot of things. Improving my prayer life, improving my housekeeping schedule, exercise routines, organizing recipes. Along those lines, I'm due for another weeding out session in my Google Reader. I read a lot of blogs that I love, but I need to live my life, not yours! The way I add to my reader is by visiting a blog a few times (to the point that it's a bit familiar, I know I've been there before) and if I've really enjoyed the posts - or if I've linked to several of them in my Reading The Whole Internet posts - it goes in the reader.

But periodically, I try to evaluate the blogs I'm reading. I ask myself "does this bless me? How?" I'm thinking for Lent, I need to narrow down to the ones that truly, truly help me in these resolutions and not just provide enjoyment. (I'll admit, I'll keep a blog or two like Stuff On My Cat that don't take much time to read and REALLY make me happy. And they make Goose happy, too...)

3) Make better use of my Home Management Binder. About two years ago, I was inspired and worked up a very pretty and thorough HMB, using sources such as Bethany at Happy to Be Called Mommy (see her main binder post here, and you can pull more posts out here), Large Family Logistics (check out the sidebar - the blog has since moved here), and Home Ec 101. It has sat on my counter for two years, pretty much untouched. I have the tool, now I need to USE it! Since it's been sitting for so long, I'd like to tweak it and then post it here.

4) Get to bed on time. I tend to want a few hours to dink around after Goose goes to bed, and if it isn't until 8:30 (as it is when she takes a good nap), then that really pushes my bedtime back. I also find myself wandering kind of aimlessly around the interwebs at that hour, and I don't know that does anybody any good. I'm thinking I need a much more concerted effort to pick a time (say 10 o'clock) to start getting ready for bed, and then just wind down and go. to. bed. We'll see how that goes.

It seems like I had a few more ideas in mind, but I think they could be lumped under these broad strokes anyway. Hopefully I'll do better than I did last year! You can see a lot more Lenten resolutions over at Kitchen Stewardship.

Mid-Year Resolutions

I've never really been one for making new year resolutions . . . not sure if I just don't see the point, or what. Perhaps it's because I don't have anyone to keep me terribly accountable - and that might be where you guys come in! If I have to admit to the whole world (read: the half dozen or so of you) that I've been slacking, perhaps that will give me better motivation.

Before I go on, let me show you what spurred these ponderings. Laura at Heavenly Homemakers is doing a challenge to eat more fruits and vegetables. (She has an adorable button that is giving me some html troubles.) I think I had just started reading her blog this time last year when she did a similar challenge and thought "hmmm..." then went on my merry way.

Not this year.

Here are the things that I would like to accomplish over the summer and build into long-term habit:
1) Eat a good breakfast every day.
2) Cut down on eating between meals by eating *healthier* meals. Make healthier snacks when we need them.
3) Plan out a menu and shop for groceries less frequently.
4) Walk over to the farm (Goose in a borrowed jogging stroller thanks to Hubs's sweet cousin) to feed the kitties at least 4 times a week.
5) Go to bed earlier and get up earlier.
6) Lose about 25-30 pounds. I add this as an afterthought - I'm hoping that if I'm successful with the above, this will fall into place on its own.

You know how everything ties up into a big snarl sometimes? If I got more sleep, I'd wake up more rested and not be so cranky about making breakfast vs. pouring a bowl of cereal and popping a pop tart. If I ate a better breakfast, I'd be more in the mood for a walk rather than staying home to eat a snack. If I got some exercise, I'd sleep better. And on it goes.

Menu planning has been a struggle for me. Since I'm so picky, I don't have a lot of meals that I *really* like. And I don't want to wear out the handful I have that I do like. In typical two-year-old fashion, Goose has a narrow, random, and ever-changing list of items she will eat. I try not to cater to her whims and she can eat it or go without, although I may allow a snack later. I probably don't stick to that as much as I should . . . she actually dropped off the bottom of the growth chart for a while and although her doctor and I weren't worried, I didn't like it very much.

The final struggle is that I don't know what meals Hubs will be able to be here for, and what meals he wants us to bring him something. And sometimes he comes home late and is not hungry at all! If it rains, he'll almost certainly be home - unless they're working cattle and then he'll be late and covered in mud and other substances to boot. See how that makes it a bit difficult to plan?

For the past several years, I have been amassing a huge recipe collection. I had it sorted by category in index card boxes, but it wasn't working very well. A bit before Goose was born, I began trying to put them into a spreadsheet so I could do some sort of searching (i.e. I want a recipe for soup that uses ham and broccoli) but that didn't seemt to be working, either. And then I had a baby and that was the end of that.

I've been putting in a bit of time here and there on it again - the main difference is that this time, I'm pulling out the ones I know I won't make. For one, I've learned more about Hubs's tastes over five years of marriage and something that I thought he might like I now know that it won't impress him much. This reorganizing is helping remind me what I have and would like to try, and clearing out the rest so I can find what's left.

Side note, Amy at The Finer Things has a good system. When she finds a recipe she'd like to try, she plugs it into her next menu rotation RIGHT THEN. I like that idea a lot!

Another thing that has been nagging at me like a toothache is food addiction. Jennifer at Conversion Diary has posted about her struggles with food a number of times. She came up with something called The Saint Diet and has cut out sugar and flour. To be honest, that blows my mind. I love my cinnamon rolls and bread and chocolate and cookies and I could go on forever. To be realistic, when I did the yeast elimination diet that cut those out, my excess weight fell off. So, it boils down to whether I want to be healthy or whether I want to eat what I want. I know which one would be best, but am I ready to commit? I think it's about time I do. Wish me luck - and I'm off to re-read those posts of Jennifer's and then get to work on the recipe sorting.