34 for 34

When the new year came around, I began to think of all the things I needed to get done this year and I actually put off making resolutions because there were too many and it was stressing me out.  But then it was stressing me out because I was thinking about them all the time and they became this big, jumbled mess in my brain.  I needed to sit down and really organize my goals for this year.  So I decided to make my birthday countdown my resolutions/goals for the year.  It became 34 goals for when I'm 34!

It took me a while to find my theme for the year, but I think I found it.  It is from Luke 2:52. "Increase in wisdom and stature, in favour with God and man."  I think it goes well with all I'm trying to accomplish this year.

So here is the list:

#1 - Find curtains for my living room and actually hang them up!
#2 - Paint my house (inside and out)
#3 - Refinish our kitchen table
#4 - Sew my t-shirt quilt
#5 - Travel to some place I have never been before
#6 - Lose 34 pounds
#7 - Earn my Honor Bee
#8 - Get health insurance!
#9 - Read 40 books!
#10 - Be more social by using social media more effectively. I want to write on my blog at least once a month, add friends on Goodreads, and update my Facebook status more often and not just read about everyone else!
#11 - Clean, organize and declutter our office (also known as our house dump!)  
#12 - Go to California. And maybe Utah. And maybe also Boise.
#13 - Teach something in the fall. Right now I'm campaigning for early-morning seminary, but I'm also thinking of going back to school and I will probably have to TA some class for funding. If those don't pan out, then I should sub every once in a while.
#14 - Go to a wedding in London, Ohio!   
#15 - Use up my huge supply of lotions, body washes, shampoos, conditioners, soaps, floss, mouthwash, candles, shaving creams, socks, sunscreens, and lip balms so that when we move in a year and a half, I won't be carting a million bottles of stuff around with me!
#16 - More pedicures.
#17 - Go to an Illini sporting event!
#18 - Frame my map of Europe already!
#19 - Celebrate Tom's 34th birthday with a bang! 
#20 - Win something on the radio! Easy Peasy!
#21 - Demolish the eyesore planter in our front yard. Maybe ask some young men to come help out with that!
#22 - Evacuate the glorified birdhouse and make it a garage again!
#23 - Perform a musical number in sacrament meeting. Maybe a piano solo this year.  
#24 - Get some family pictures taken.
#25 - Start the Pirate Rooster FB page to stay in better contact with Anderson relatives!
#26 - Go to the dentist. It has been a long time!
#27 - Go to Lake Michigan.
#28 - Put together my mission scrapbook.
#29 - Remodel the bathroom.
#30 - Do a little yard landscaping. Like some rocks in the flower bed under our front windows. Maybe some flowers around the tree. Cut back more forest from our fence. Try to keep the annoying trees from growing at all this year.
#31 - Try at least 12 new recipes this year. I think about one a month is an achievable goal for someone who really doesn't like cooking!
#32 - Send more thank you notes. 
#33 - Go to the movies for free! Twice! And Shelly wants me to add some movie days at her house this year, so I think I can squeeze those in too.
#34 - Do everything in my power to get pregnant this year!
           
So how am I doing so far?  Well, I've read 8 books.  I went to California already and we go to the wedding in Ohio this weekend.  We have a very good start on the decluttering of the office.  We have shredded and recycled A LOT of papers we had saved since we were first married!  We are learning what is ok to throw away and what we need to keep.  I have used up some lotions, conditioners, shampoos, scrubs, hand soaps, floss, and I am tossing my socks with holes in them!  Today in my decluttering I realized just how many notebooks/pads of paper we have, so I'm adding that to my use-up list! 

I have tried one new recipe so far and that was making fried rice!  I know, I know.  Fried rice?  That is so easy!  But for me who doesn't really like cooking, it was new.  And I did a good job!  We always have leftover rice so I'm thinking this will become a new staple.  In fact I have some rice in the fridge right now.  I'm thinking this will be dinner tomorrow night!

I did send out some thank you notes after my birthday.  And we have already gone to see one movie for free.  We saw "Oz the Great and Powerful' and we liked it.  And I'm actually posting on my blog for the 2nd time this year!  

So I think I'm off to a good start.  We'll see if I can keep this up!