Ah, yes, it’s that time again. Time for resolutions. Or in my case, a self-evaluation and a new list of habits and goals to work on. And when I say “list” of course I mean “LIST.” Or “really-long-and-incredibly-ambitious-list.” Because as I mentioned last year I’m pretty good at making lists. And the way I see it, when you’re good at something you should stick with it, right? ; )

I can’t believe a whole year has passed already since I made the last big list. I ran out of time for some of them but overall I did pretty well, I think. I’m going to leave the 2011 List page up for another week or so and then I’m going to take it down and replace it with the 2012 List. If you’re curious, hop on over there real quick and check out the kinds of things I did (and didn’t do) in 2011. Some of my favorites were:

  • Establishing a morning routine. I learned that the secret to getting up early is to JUST DO IT. Just make yourself get out of bed. Even if you end up falling asleep in your chair 15 minutes later that’s the way to start. I also learned that the way to become a morning person and enjoy the morning is to get up A REALLY LONG TIME before the kids do so that you’re all the way awake, coffeed up, and prayed up when they start getting up and needing things from you. ; )
  • Developing a bed time/story time routine. OH MY GOODNESS, Y’ALL. It’s amazing how beneficial a good bedtime routine can be. For a long while this year we had the Best. Bedtime Routine. Ever. We got out of the habit for reasons not worth mentioning but we’re getting back into it now, because through doing that we learned how helpful and good it is for our family.
  • Finding a good church for us and going to church with James.
  • Painting.
  • Canning.
  • Reading more books. (On my Kindle, too! Woohoo!)
So what’s on the To Do list for this year? Well, a little more of the same, and some new things, too. When I wrote out habits that I want to work on and goals I want to accomplish I sat down and thought through each area of my life. My word for this year being “Transformation,” I want to let God’s Word transform my heart and mind and change me from the inside out. I also want to get serious about taking care of myself and getting healthy, too. This was my main focus as I set about making my 2012 List:
  1. Bring back the good habits we did for a while and got out of. (Right now we’re pretty much out of habit on everything. Silly holidays.) My morning quiet time, our morning routine, 20 Minute Clean-Ups, bedtime/storytime routine.
  2. Finish reading the bible all the way through.
  3. Finish reading ALL THE BOOKS I started reading and then put down in 2011. I’m sure there’s at least 6, maybe more. I’ll make a list.
  4. Memorize at least 30 new bible verses.
  5. Fill up my prayer and thankful journals and have to buy new ones.
  6. Daily track my food/calories with FatSecret (I behave better when I have to write my food down.)
  7. Add increasing amount of exercise to my day (nothing concrete yet, I need a plan.)
  8. Lose enough weight to be able to wear my wedding ring comfortably again. Followed by “Lose at least 50 pounds.” Yup, I said it. I went there.
  9. Get dental insurance or discount card and start working on repairing my teeth.
  10. Start a Date Night tradition? Every other month to start? (Ok, this is MY idea, have to run that by Hubs, unless I want to go off on dates by myself.. hm…that could work, too..) =p
  11. Start a small garden in the Spring.
  12. Grow and can our own tomato products from start to finish.
  13. Fix up a better place for chickens and get more chickens in the Spring.
  14. Turn our family centered Sunday evenings into more intentional Family Game/Movie nights.
  15. MOVE out of this house! (On the list again!) Once we move, have friends and family over regularly.
  16. (After we get out of this house and into the bigger one, build – with help – a custom “large family” dining table and benches.)
  17. Travel to TN to visit family (and while there visit/meet Jeni!)
  18. Practice guitar and learn, feel comfortable with, 3 new chords.
  19. Repeat – Finish taxes before April 1st, preferably before the end of February!
  20. Repeat – Take some nice family photos, it’s been too long.
  21. Repeat – Organize and USE the home management binder OR retire and repurpose it. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. And things left over from the 2011 list:
  22. Organize digital photos, choose some to print and hang or scrapbook.
  23. Organize printed photos and make at least one scrapbook (I already have the scrapbook!)
  24. Hang chosen photos and expand my photo collage on the wall.
  25. Finish writing/filing recipes into new recipe binder.
  26. Fix Princess’ blog so that she can access it again and blog again.
Not as long a list as last time but that’s just as well, some of these are going to take lots of work!  I have a lot of changing to do. My word for the year and the picture I posted with it came out of my desire for where I want to go in 2012. I want God to change my heart, my habits, and make me a better wife/mom/person, for His glory. But *I* can’t do it, I need *HIM* to help me get it done.
What do YOU hope for 2012? Where do you want to see yourself at the end of the next 12 months?
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Amber

Hey, y’all! I’m Amber and I wear many hats. I drink a ton of coffee and I’m constantly sweeping crumbs off the floor. After 20+ years of homeschooling, we are starting over at preschool with our fourth, Lil Miss Mouse. She keeps us young and she’s the main reason for my excessive coffee consumption. Drink up!