January Goals 2013

Borrowed from The Every Girl

January Goals

The holidays are finally over and it is back to life as usual if that is possible in a week that has already had THREE Sundays in it! Do you know what I mean?!!! The guys went back to work today so now it feels like Monday but is in fact Wednesday! Maybe by next Monday I will have the days all sorted out again:)

I have been reading blog posts about Goal Setting in the New Year. I have tried the New Year's Resolutions and the yearly goals and can't seem to stay on track  till Valentine's Day! I say I'm ADD but most likely just have ADD tendencies--I have great ideas and can start projects but have poor follow through. As soon as I see in my mind what a project will look like finished I am off to the next one even if that one isn't actually finished! Have I mentioned the SIX unfinished  crocheted afghans in my craft room?!!! I think it was on last year's goal list but I am afraid to go look for fear of seeing all the other things I didn't do:(

Sooo, this year I am going to try monthly goals. No more than 10 in a month. And try to keep them reasonable. My goals for this month are...

1. Complete Carla's January No/Low Spend & Decluttering Challenge which means I will be removing 100 items from my home (throw away or give away) and I have limited myself to spending only $20 of this month's allowance. Hubby does the grocery shopping and takes care of the bills so I don't worry about that money (he is sooo good with money). I do however want to start saving some of my allowance and stamping income each month.
2. Bible Study for 30 minutes per day.
3. Write in my journal 3 x per week.
4. Exercise 30 minutes 3 x per week.
5. Make two of the sewing projects on my list and post on blog.
6. New Blog Header sooner than later!
7. New Thankful Thursday button!
8. Make Thank You cards and send for Christmas gifts received and to hubby's clients.
9. FINISH pair of socks I am knitting--both of them!
10. Complete and post my Design Team project for The Cupboard Trilogy Challenge for February.

Next month I want to start adding some of my unfinished projects to the list and see if I can get them done. Also REALLY want to start making Christmas and Birthday gifts so I don't save them all till the last minute.

Do you set goals for a year, month or ??? What are some of the goals you are setting for yourself?

Kat

New Year's Resolutions

As I was looking over my Resolutions for last year and deciding what to do this year, I was surprised that I did as well as I did. The success or failure of the resolutions probably lay with Resolution #10: Set goals for each resolution. Since I didn't do that one at all, my success was not as good as it should have been. So, let's see how I did:

1. Organize Craft Room--half done and will most likely have it done by March, 2012.
2. Get up at 5:00 am.--wondering if this one is really necessary since I am retired.
3. Exercise 5 x per week--did really good with this one for awhile but need to get back to it. 
4. Lose 30#--I lost 15# so should be able to lose the other 15 this year.
5. Read one non-fiction book per month--did this one in spades! Sometimes two non-fiction books a month.
6. Make all cards I give this year--very nearly aced this one. We did purchase Christmas cards. I look forward to making ALL my cards in 2012.
7. Become reacquainted with Flylady.net--well, let's just say we have a lot to do on our relationship!
8. Take more pictures--I am taking more pictures because of this blog and because of our new puppy. Looking forward to taking even more pictures in 2012:)
9. Paint, paper and tile kitchen--didn't happen:( Will see if I can muster the energy this year to get it done.
10. Set goals for each resolution--didn't happen.

For 2012 I am not going to have Resolutions, I am going to have Goals! That takes care of #10 right off the bat! So, for this year my Goals are:

1. Finish Craft Room
2. Finish UFOs (unfinished objects or projects). I could probably take care of next year's Christmas list right here!
3. Sew more
4. Make two baby blankets for Stitches from the Heart and two lap robes or prayer shawls for Hospice.
5. Lose 20 more pounds
6. Exercise 5 X week
7. Visit more--take time for friendly visits over tea or lunch
8. Send more snail mail! Especially to children:)
9. Definitely make more cards!
10. More Blog Posts. Last year I did 87 so would like to double that! That is only 14.5 blog posts per month. Let's see how I do!
11. Make or purchase two Christmas gifts and one birthday gift per month, wrap and tag them. This would make gift giving sooo much more fun and I do love to give gifts! My daughter reminded me to put them where I can find them:)

Okay, I will do an update on my resolutions in March to let you know how I'm doing. 

Have a great day and a wonderful week! Kat

Newest Knitting Project

One of my resolutions for 2011 was to knit a simple pair of fingerless mittens. I got to December 30 and had not even attempted to make a pair so decided to search Ravelry.com for a pattern and find a pair of size 6 double-pointed knitting needles in my stash (most of which was passed down to me from my Grandmother via my Mom). Well, I got my first mitten finished on January 1 but because I hate to check gauge and I knit loose, it was too big (see it's NOT a waste of time to check gauge). 

So I am calling this my practice mitten:) Off to my stash I went to find smaller needles--didn't have size 4 which I thought I needed so decided on size 5. The needles are so slick and the yarn is so soft I kept losing my stitches off the ends of the double-pointed needles so ended up using guards on the points to keep my stitches on. 


Yesterday my dear husband was out and about so I asked him to stop into a locally owned yarn shop in The Dalles called The Whole Ball of Yarn to purchase me some Bamboo knitting needles in sizes 4 and 5. Bamboo feels smooth but has a bit of tooth to it so the stitches don't slip off but it doesn't snag the yarn--helps keep the stitches from falling off. We'll see if I can get a pair knitted now.

The second picture shows how far I am with the first mitten knitted on size 5 needles--this one felt right when I tried it on. Beside the mitten is my new package of bamboo needles that I will be switching to on the next round. 


When I finish this pair of fingerless mittens, I think I will knit the second sock to a pair I started about 10 years ago. I have always been able to say I could knit "sock" but never been able to say I could knit socks! Who knows, maybe everybody on my list will get socks and fingerless mittens for Christmas next year!


That leads me to one of my "goals" for 2012--to make or purchase two Christmas gifts and one birthday gift every month. I also want to wrap them, tag them and put them where I can find them when I need them.


I will update you on how I did (or didn't do) with some of my 2011 resolutions (goals) in a future post. I also want to share more of my goals for 2012. Doesn't "goals" sound better than "resolutions"? 


Thanks for stopping by today. Kat