New Year’s Resolutions 2018

Blog

• Blog at 6:30 am for an hour each weekday. I’m literally doing this right now and I’ve actually been doing it since November.  I really enjoy the quiet time to myself when no one else is awake.  I used to have time to myself in the evenings but my kids are getting older and it doesn’t seem to be quiet anymore…
• Review all the books I’ve read from 2016 to the present.  I’m almost 50 books behind.  I’ve thought long and hard about what I want and the truth is I love writing book reviews and I would be sad if I skipped one.  I know this is a tall order, but I’m going to work my hardest at it and see where I end up at the end of this year.
• Type up my Star Wars Reading Lists.  It’s my goal to read all the new canon novels.  There are reading lists on Goodreads and Wiki but I want to focus on just the novels.  Those lists include graphic novels, picture books, and activity books.

Reading

• Read Owlcrate book the month I get it.  I want to read more brand new books.
• Read book club book one month in advance.  I was in the habit of reading it the same month, but we had to move book club up a week and I was always scrambling to finish.  I don’t want to do that again this year so I’m reading one month ahead.  That means I’m reading two book club books in January.
• Read 50 books in a year. Hopefully I can stay on track this year.  I fell behind last year.
• Read 60 minutes a day.  Hitting this daily goal will help with my 50 books a year goal.  In the past, it just sort of happened.  Now I need to be aware of it because I have a lot more responsibilities than I used to.  It’s definitely doable, but I need to be making a conscious effort with it now.
• Read a Star Wars book every month.  I’m determined to own and read every single new Star Wars canon novel.  I’ll borrow the graphic novels if they interest me. I have to have limits because they produce a crazy amount of material.
• Work on my Classics Club reading challenge.  I haven’t done a reading challenge in a while, but the Classics Club is one I still want to do.  After I finish that, I want to work on the Rory Gilmore Challenge.

Personal

• Continue house projects.  We made a lot of progress last year but 3 of the rooms we worked on are about 80% done and I want to finish them all the way.  The rooms to finish are the music room, the living room and the master bedroom.  There’s some small projects to do in the kid’s bedrooms.
• Do the dishes 100% after every dinner.  I’ve already started doing this one and so far there is much whining from the kids, but it’s made a huge difference in the amount of stress I have cooking every day.  I have to cook from scratch to follow my diet to the point I’m even making sauces from scratch.  It’s a lot of dishes.
• Grow an herb garden.  Oh the many years I’ve tried and failed to do this one.  My husband grew stuff last year and it didn’t even die and I’m hoping he can help me grow one this year.
• Burn a candle in the kitchen or run the oil diffuser every day.  It makes the house so cozy when I do this.  Like the dishes, I’ve already started doing this one and I love it.

Physical

• Exercise with the Fitbit coach app or do yoga every day after breakfast around 10 am.  Play with kids after exercise until lunch.  I’m not sure when to shower yet….
• Learn and follow my new low FODAMP diet.  I already started this one in November, too.  With the two cookbooks that I bought, it’s actually pretty easy to follow now.  Well besides the huge amount of cooking.  I like cooking and I’m used to doing it, but I’m still adjusting to this.
• Adapt my Grid Diary app for my new diet and goals. Done. I journal in three apps every day to track my food, my IBS symptoms, and if I worked on my goals that day. I use mySymptoms, MyFitnessPal, and Grid Diary.  I simplified my Grid Diary and most of the boxes I just write yes if I did it.  Some of the boxes are: filled out food symptoms app, read 60 minutes, yoga/workout, blog, journal etc.  It takes about 20-30 minutes a day to do all that journaling in all three apps.  Not too bad considering I waste an hour a day on Facebook.

Family

• Plan more dates and kid outings.  Friday=date night.  Saturday morning/day do family chores, saturday evening=family or kid outings.
• Board games once a week.  It’s hard to do this one with a toddler but nap time on Sunday has been the perfect time so far.
• Baking once a week.  I can have treats, but there are so many things on my can’t eat list that unless I bake something, the only pre-made treat I can have is dark chocolate.  Which I like but even dark chocolate gets old every day.  Plus, I’ve found home baked treats make excellent bribes for all the dishes I’ve made the kids do.

Spritual

• Journal and read lesson on Sunday mornings. Still get up at 6:30 am to do this.  Sleep in on Saturdays.
• Do all 25 days of Light the World at Christmas. I really like the service project ideas during Christmas from Mormon.org.