2013 Pursuits

For the first time, in 2012, I wrote a list of pursuits. They were really goals for the year, and I didn't fair to poorly in pursuing toward them. So, here is a new list for 2013...

1. Kitchen Renovations--In 2012, I wanted to plan and save for kitchen renovations. Life happened and that goal was not realized. We did spend a lot of time in discussion and planning and dreaming of what we could do with our kitchen. Special thanks to the IKEA kitchen planner (dreamer). Our dishwasher started leaking in August onto our laminate wood floors. We have not been using much-in-need-of-a-replacement dishwasher. We have to replace the floor, so we plan to reign in our dreams and make some high impact changes to our kitchen for as little cost as possible...as soon as possible!

2. Live in Less Clutter--This will require help from all the members of the house. It will also require that I start saying "no" and try to lessen my over commitments  In reality, it probably means that I will just try to get up in the morning and attack some of the clutter before the day starts (like the piles of dirty dishes that are always on the counter even though I feel like I am washing dishes constantly)! We spend most of our weekends out of the house enjoying time together, and I really do not want to have to spend a day cleaning on the weekend. Lil' D is a really big helper, so maybe that will help! We have already started practicing cleaning up all the toys downstairs before going to bed.

3. Eating Out Less--It is always a goal to eat out less. I always have good intentions to make dinner at home, but something happens, like I have a conference call until 5pm and have to be at church at 6pm, or I have time to make dinner, but no groceries. In order for us to have dinner at our table instead of Panera, I need to work on meal planning. Also, I need to explore creative ways of getting to the grocery store...like at 6:30 in the morning. I would love to spend all day in the kitchen making homemade bread, hummus, baked goods, and chicken stock, but the reality is that I can do some of those things every once in awhile, but not regularly while I work full-time.