March Goals

Most of you know me by now. I love new months. Little, fresh beginnings that come every 28-31 days. This whole baby thing has thrown me off my game. My routine consists of getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, going to work, coming home exhausted from work, producing a lame excuse for dinner, and then crawling into bed around 7:30pm. It's boring and it's gotta change. 

So, I let myself finish out the month of February in the rut, while quietly making a list of goals for March. Attainable, realistic, smart, simple goals. Not the usual  "I am going to accomplish an insane amount of stuff" goal list that could make even the most productive and driven person in the world roll their eyes. Those days have past. I want to make goals and lists now that follow in the path of my passions, my growth as a future mother, a loving wife, and a giving person of my time and efforts. Granted, not every month is going to showcase that wishlist, but I had to start somewhere. 

Where am I starting? Good question. I will be dusting off some items that have been ignored lately....

1) Spend time in the kitchen. 

     Since moving into our little house, I have been ignoring time in the kitchen. It's probably my least favorite room right now. Guilty. As grateful as I am that we found this house, and I am (just) starting to appreciate it- even with all that still needs to be done- my kitchen is just not a happy place. I don't have any counter space. I have one workable space, and most of the time that is cluttered with dirty dishes because we don't have a dishwasher, or counter space. Am I whining alittle bit right now? Yes. Am I a brat? Yes. Is it decorated cute? Of course. Should I get over the fact that I have a kitchen without counter space and a dishwasher? Yes. I should have gotten over that sooner rather than later. But I wanted you to get inside my head for a minute and realize what I am struggling with. Okay, now get out of my head. Moving forward, I am going to be a better person and enjoy the gift of a kitchen I have. 

Just yesterday, I woke up from a lazy-crabby-no-good-frame of mind and realized it was time to utilize the wonderful kitchen gadgets that have been collecting dust. I am the proud, and sometimes forgetful, owner of FOUR crockpots. I fired each one of those suckers up yesterday, with minimal prep time, and watched 4+ meals come together for this coming week. Brilliant! 

How will I be held accountable of this goal? 

I am going to do what I used to; at the beginning of each week, I will be sharing my menu plan. I started a menu planner for the fridge, and when I follow that plan- I get a gold star. Elementary, my dear. 

2) Get off the internet! 

      I admit that most days, I am pretty darn exhausted. The mere thought of being productive puts me to sleep. It sucks. I need to get over it. Nothing is going to get done if I just lay around playing on Pinterest and watching Netflix. Those things in moderation are fine, and I will probably continue to use them to put me back to sleep when I wake up between 2:00am-3:00am each morning. Guilty. However, they should not be my sole form of entertainment during every waking hour. 

How will I be held accountable for this goal? 

I am going to temporarily delete my facebook page this weekend, remove the app from my phone, bust out my cookbooks instead of searching pinterest for recipes, limit my computer time to only updating this pathetic blog, and use all that wasted time more wisely. Being creative with my brain and hands gives me such a rush- more of that needs to be happening in my days. Going outside and breathing fresh air and moving my rapidly growing hips and legs- that is what needs to happen. Sitting down for a nicely planned meal with my husband at the dinner table- should be what each evening looks like, not us sitting in the front of the tv not talking to each other. 

3) Read. Read. Read. Read. 

      By abandoning the glowing screens in my house, I want to pick up the books that I keep bringing home from the library. And. Not. Reading. Talk about embarrassing. Each book gets a 3 week vacation to my house to be read. I want to actually start reading them. Before they have to go back. 

How will I be held accountable to this goal? 

Currently, sitting upon my nightstand, is the book pictured above- Mud Season. It is due back on March 12th. I have already had it for almost 2 weeks. Blegh. I am going to read this book, do a little report on it, and then return it and get another. Ideally, every 3 weeks I should be sharing a book report with you! 

4) Stick. To. The. Budget. 

       Our monthly budget is small. Unexpectedly, it just became smaller. (grrrr)  Now, one could freak out and get all stressed, but I am trying not to do that. True, we have a child on the way, my unpaid maternity leave quickly approaching, and bills that still need to be paid on a routine basis, but I believe that all our needs will and can be met. Will it be rough? Yes. Will that rough time pass? Lord help us, hopefully. All the more reason to spend some more time in the kitchen, stop eating out so much due to laziness, spend more quality time together, learn to sew, curb our need for material things, plant a garden, and whip this adjusted budget into shape. 

How will I be kept accountable? 

I am not going to flash  numbers at you all. Because, well, that's pretty darn personal and I am not sure that's something I want plastered on the internet. I will share bits and pieces with you- the ones that go hand in hand with my other goals. For example: 

• My budget for groceries each week will be $80- so when I share my menu with you, I could also share what I spent at the grocery store. Bamm. 
• I don't want to lose our "date night" category- so when I share our date nights, you will get to see what kind of creativity (or lack thereof) came out of a $20 date night budget. 
• Savings Jar- I started us out on the 52 Week Savings challenge that I saw on the web. I really want to do my best to keep this going. I will update you on that status occasionally. 
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There ya have it. 4 goals for March. And it all starts.......NOW!