The day after Christmas, Brian and I decided we were going to go to St. George for New Years. That meant I had 3 days to get ready for our trip. This means I just threw projects in a bag and didn't really have any plans for what we would do while we were down there.
As it turns out, I only brought half of some of the stuff I needed, so I ended up just doing a lot of cross-stitch. We had a lot of fun just hanging out with my sister and brother-in-law. We stayed up late and slept in late and played games and ate lots of good food.
On New Year's Eve we played some M&M Bowling and then went to see "Life As We Know It". I really loved it! Then we came home and played games until midnight. As per tradition, we toasted orange juice at midnight and did some kissin'!
On New Year's I went with my sister to Krumpet's and saw the cutest clock ever! I really really wanted it, but 1) it was $45, and 2) it was 2 feet wide. Where would I put it?! I just hope it will still be around when we move so I can get it then.
Brian had really wanted to go biking but it was really cold while we were down there. Not as cold as home, but still around 30 degrees. He did get one ride in and planned to go Monday morning before we drove home, but Sunday night it ended up snowing. Yes snowing. Only about 1 inch, but still. Kind of spoiled his plans.
We had a lot of fun and we happy to spend more time with Nat & Adam.
~~
Goals Review:
Last year I had a lot of lofty goals that I didn't quite get around to completing, but I thought I'd post a few that I did right here:
I read the Book of Mormon all the way through again. I participated in a challenge to read 10 pages a day starting November 8th, and we finished on December 31st. It was very cool and I'm glad I did it.
I exercised more last year than the year before. Doing the Hundred Push Up challenge really helped. I got out of the habit during the holidays but we're starting again this year. I will make it to 100 one day!
I made a goal to read 30 books in 2010. I ended up reading 54. Awesome! I'll admit that a lot of those were young adult novels, but I think that still counts. I love them!
~~
2011 Goals (A few of them anyway)
Read Book of Mormon with Brian: This will be accomplished fairly quickly. My family is reading the whole Book of Mormon together, before my brother leaves on his mission. That's 6 pages a day and we'll end March 30th.
Write a Book: I hesitate to put this out there, but I am going to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I read a book called "No Plot? No Problem!" which gives instructions on how to do that. I'm doing it in the month of January to start my year off right. I will finish a few days after the end of January though, as I am choosing not to write on Sundays.
Keep exercising. I'm going to keep up the Hundred Push Up challenge and just keep increasing the hardness. First do 100 girl push ups and then 100 regular push ups.
Read 75 books: I know this sounds like a crazy goal, but I think I can do it. But this means I need recommendations people!
See Brian graduate with a Masters: I know this is a gimme, but still, I'm very excited for this event.
Move out of the village: I don't know where we'll be going, but we will be going somewhere. I can't believe we've lived in the village for almost 4 years. It'll be a little strange to move out of this place, but we're ready for the adventure.
~~
Welcome 2011!
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Goals. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, March 2, 2009
New Month's Resolutions
I've decided that I don't like New Year's Resolutions. It makes it sound like if you fail at something you have to wait until next year to try again. So I decided to do New Month's Resolutions. It's a shorter time period to keep track of, it makes it easy to just get started again and doesn't seem so daunting. If I can do something for one month, then I can do it for another month right?
I'm not saying if I mess up in the first week I wait until the next month to try again though. I think you just need to keep trying, but once a month you can sit down and just regroup. See what things you could do different, what didn't work or what did.
I bring this up because since I got sick I have had a hard time getting back into a regular workout schedule. It makes it even harder that I am tired after I get home from work and then I make dinner and then I don't want to put the effort into working out.
So I decided to make a change. I got up at 6:00 this morning and did my workout. I'm hoping this helps in multiple ways. First, to get my workout in each day, second, to get me up earlier, and third, to get me to go to bed earlier. We'll see how it goes for this first month.
I'm not saying if I mess up in the first week I wait until the next month to try again though. I think you just need to keep trying, but once a month you can sit down and just regroup. See what things you could do different, what didn't work or what did.
I bring this up because since I got sick I have had a hard time getting back into a regular workout schedule. It makes it even harder that I am tired after I get home from work and then I make dinner and then I don't want to put the effort into working out.
So I decided to make a change. I got up at 6:00 this morning and did my workout. I'm hoping this helps in multiple ways. First, to get my workout in each day, second, to get me up earlier, and third, to get me to go to bed earlier. We'll see how it goes for this first month.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
For Natalie
As I said before, one of my goals is to actually cook dinner on a regular basis. Part of this goal is to try new recipes, preferably healthier recipes, so that we don't get stuck in a rut. I have a bad tendency to find something I like and then eat it over and over again until I'm so sick of it I never want it again. Also, I am so sick of eating sandwiches for lunch, so I figure having leftovers isn't that bad. The topmost reason is to save money. If I plan the meals, we spend less on groceries and eating out for dinners and lunches.
That being said, I have done really well this month. Not perfect. Sometimes the meals get switched nights, or we go out because something came up with friends, etc. But I think overall we've done good. Our grocery bill has gotten smaller each week and hopefully will continue to do so. I'd love to get our grocery budget for the month down to $100, or less. :)
Because I have a hard time finding new/different recipes/ideas of what to have for dinner, and because my sister has so graciously asked for it, I have decided to post my menu each week on here. I'll also update it after each new meal we try to give you our opinion of it if was good or not. If you would like a recipe just leave me a comment & I'll send it your way. If it's outstanding I might post it as a separate post with the recipe anyways. Or maybe I'll make it a weekly thing where I post a new recipe we like or an old recipe we love. :) Anyway, you get the idea.
Love ya Nat!
That being said, I have done really well this month. Not perfect. Sometimes the meals get switched nights, or we go out because something came up with friends, etc. But I think overall we've done good. Our grocery bill has gotten smaller each week and hopefully will continue to do so. I'd love to get our grocery budget for the month down to $100, or less. :)
Because I have a hard time finding new/different recipes/ideas of what to have for dinner, and because my sister has so graciously asked for it, I have decided to post my menu each week on here. I'll also update it after each new meal we try to give you our opinion of it if was good or not. If you would like a recipe just leave me a comment & I'll send it your way. If it's outstanding I might post it as a separate post with the recipe anyways. Or maybe I'll make it a weekly thing where I post a new recipe we like or an old recipe we love. :) Anyway, you get the idea.
Love ya Nat!
Monday, January 26, 2009
Uno on Crack, babysitting, etc.
In trying to be better about writing more often, I find it harder and harder to come up with interesting titles. So, that explains that. Moving on.
This weekend was a pretty good one. To begin with, it rained. Some may not see this as good, but I do. I love the rain. I love the rain more when it's hot outside, but I'll take it when it's cold outside and the rain means it's actually warmer. :) And it melts the snow.
Friday night we went out with some old friends of mine from Logan. I'm sad to say, I have no pictures. Owell. My friend Richard came down to Salt Lake because he was meeting his fiance (yay!) so they could spend time together since she lives in Provo right now. Of course, I insisted that we meet her. :) So we went to Chili's along with our friend Matt.
I totally loved her! I'm so happy that he's found someone so great. They're getting married in April in St. George. I don't know how she'll survive in Logan if she's from St. George, but I guess love is worth freezing your toes off everyday. :)
After dinner we went back to Matt's house and played Ultimate Uno. It's basically Uno on Crack. :) It's pretty fast moving and has lots of fun tricks to it. I loved it. And I tied Matt for winning the most times. Brian came in second and poor Richard didn't win once. :( But we had a good time. I hadn't seen him since my wedding reception so I was happy we got together.
Saturday we got a call early that Brian didn't have to go to work, so that was nice. He hasn't been feeling well this week, just sore all over. I think he's fighting getting a cold. And then he needed to catch up on the sleep he hasn't be getting. So he rested while I did laundry. We were then going to go to the store, but a lady I visit teach needed me to watch her kids for a few hours. She's sick too and just needed to get some rest. So we brought her two little boys over (1 1/2 and 5 months) and had fun with them. The 5-month-old slept most of the time and was content to watch his brother play the rest of the time. The 1 1/2 yr-old was energetic. :) Brian was mostly in charge of entertaining him. To do this he had him spin the tires on his bike and then showed him how to use the brake. Then he showed him how to let the air out of the tire. (It makes a cool noise and feeling when the air comes rushing out.) After only a couple of times pumping the tire back up, Brian soon came to regret that teaching. He left the tire flat after that. :) I told Brian that'll have to be something I teach our kids how to do. ;) Just kidding!
After their dad came to pick them up we did make a quick trip to the store to get groceries for the week. One of my goals is to be better at making dinner each night, and planning ahead. So I plan the meals Saturday morning and then we go shopping. Yesterday we spent only $40. I was pretty happy. I know I could probably do better, but I'm still working on it. This helps us not to eat out as much as well as gives us lunches for the days after.
Sunday it snowed! Boo! I was hoping to skip over the rest of winter and get to spring. Owell. In church the choir performed and I loved being able to actually sing instead of play the piano like always. (Did I mention I was released as choir pianist?)
After church I had a Stake Sunday School Training Meeting. It was so good! I took lots of notes and there was some really good discussion. I was even the first to ask a question during the discussion portion because no one else was stepping up. I enjoyed it.
After the meeting Brian went Home teaching, by himself, and then our home teachers came over. And then finally at 7:00 we got to have dinner. Brian was definitely "church-ed out". (He starts church at 10 because he has meetings before our 1:00 block.)
We ended our nice, mostly relaxing weekend with chocolate shakes. I love chocolate shakes! I know, snowing outside, but I'd eat ice cream anytime!
All in all, it was a good weekend. I hated to see it come to a close this morning.
This weekend was a pretty good one. To begin with, it rained. Some may not see this as good, but I do. I love the rain. I love the rain more when it's hot outside, but I'll take it when it's cold outside and the rain means it's actually warmer. :) And it melts the snow.
Friday night we went out with some old friends of mine from Logan. I'm sad to say, I have no pictures. Owell. My friend Richard came down to Salt Lake because he was meeting his fiance (yay!) so they could spend time together since she lives in Provo right now. Of course, I insisted that we meet her. :) So we went to Chili's along with our friend Matt.
I totally loved her! I'm so happy that he's found someone so great. They're getting married in April in St. George. I don't know how she'll survive in Logan if she's from St. George, but I guess love is worth freezing your toes off everyday. :)
After dinner we went back to Matt's house and played Ultimate Uno. It's basically Uno on Crack. :) It's pretty fast moving and has lots of fun tricks to it. I loved it. And I tied Matt for winning the most times. Brian came in second and poor Richard didn't win once. :( But we had a good time. I hadn't seen him since my wedding reception so I was happy we got together.
Saturday we got a call early that Brian didn't have to go to work, so that was nice. He hasn't been feeling well this week, just sore all over. I think he's fighting getting a cold. And then he needed to catch up on the sleep he hasn't be getting. So he rested while I did laundry. We were then going to go to the store, but a lady I visit teach needed me to watch her kids for a few hours. She's sick too and just needed to get some rest. So we brought her two little boys over (1 1/2 and 5 months) and had fun with them. The 5-month-old slept most of the time and was content to watch his brother play the rest of the time. The 1 1/2 yr-old was energetic. :) Brian was mostly in charge of entertaining him. To do this he had him spin the tires on his bike and then showed him how to use the brake. Then he showed him how to let the air out of the tire. (It makes a cool noise and feeling when the air comes rushing out.) After only a couple of times pumping the tire back up, Brian soon came to regret that teaching. He left the tire flat after that. :) I told Brian that'll have to be something I teach our kids how to do. ;) Just kidding!
After their dad came to pick them up we did make a quick trip to the store to get groceries for the week. One of my goals is to be better at making dinner each night, and planning ahead. So I plan the meals Saturday morning and then we go shopping. Yesterday we spent only $40. I was pretty happy. I know I could probably do better, but I'm still working on it. This helps us not to eat out as much as well as gives us lunches for the days after.
Sunday it snowed! Boo! I was hoping to skip over the rest of winter and get to spring. Owell. In church the choir performed and I loved being able to actually sing instead of play the piano like always. (Did I mention I was released as choir pianist?)
After church I had a Stake Sunday School Training Meeting. It was so good! I took lots of notes and there was some really good discussion. I was even the first to ask a question during the discussion portion because no one else was stepping up. I enjoyed it.
After the meeting Brian went Home teaching, by himself, and then our home teachers came over. And then finally at 7:00 we got to have dinner. Brian was definitely "church-ed out". (He starts church at 10 because he has meetings before our 1:00 block.)
We ended our nice, mostly relaxing weekend with chocolate shakes. I love chocolate shakes! I know, snowing outside, but I'd eat ice cream anytime!
All in all, it was a good weekend. I hated to see it come to a close this morning.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
I... am the Champion... my friend....
OK, I may be exaggerating a little bit, but I still feel pretty good about myself.
Last night I unlocked the last of the Wii strength training exercises and Yoga positions. This means I've been working out pretty consistently, as well as improving a little bit. This also means that in order to do a full hour of exercise I don't have to pad the time with balance games. :)
So last night I did a really good work out and twisted myself into yoga poses I never thought I'd be able to do, but I did! I'm definitely feeling the workouts now. I'm not as sore, but I'm much more aware of my core muscles than I ever was before. It's awesome!
So yeah, go me!
Last night I unlocked the last of the Wii strength training exercises and Yoga positions. This means I've been working out pretty consistently, as well as improving a little bit. This also means that in order to do a full hour of exercise I don't have to pad the time with balance games. :)
So last night I did a really good work out and twisted myself into yoga poses I never thought I'd be able to do, but I did! I'm definitely feeling the workouts now. I'm not as sore, but I'm much more aware of my core muscles than I ever was before. It's awesome!
So yeah, go me!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Our Long Weekend
Well we started off the weekend going to dinner with my parents and brother Friday night. My mom also informed me that Nat and her husband got 5 tickets to the Draper Temple Open House for Feb. 20th, so they're coming up from St. George that weekend, and we get to go with them. And Phil. :) I'm excited.
Saturday we had the fun opportunity to take our car into the shop once again. Yes, the very same car that we had to get a whole new engine for this last summer. The "check engine" light came on about a week before but he doesn't drive the car that much and didn't have time to take it in until this weekend. So we drove out to the mechanic that replaced the engine (on 27th S. & 27th W.) and he did a couple tests. I had also driven because we didn't know if we'd need to leave the car there. He finally reset the light and said it was the Catalytic Converter, and that the whole problem may be that it's just too cold, so it doesn't think it's working properly. I don't understand completely, but owell. He said drive it a few more days, if it turns on again we need to bring it back in for some more tests.
Shortly after getting home and then leaving again to go to the store, it turned on again.
The mechanic said it should be OK to drive as long as the light is not flashing. If it starts flashing we are to pull over immediately and get out of the car. How reassuring. I'm getting kind of sick of all the problems we've had with this car. My Jeep is older and sounds like it's falling apart and the only problem we've had with this is something to do with a belt and we fixed that ourselves. (Well my father-in-law did, for which I'm eternally grateful.) But I don't want to sell it because we still have a lot to pay off on it and I don't know if we'd get any profit on it. We'll figure it out though.
The one good thing on Saturday though was that Brian got a call from work saying he didn't have to come in. It's a bike shop. It's winter. They have 1 customer per 2 hours. So that was nice for us.
After taking the car in we went to help our friends Matt & Val move into their new/first home. Well, the car stuff took so long that we missed the moving part, but we did get a tour of their new house and then went to lunch with them at Zupa's. If you haven't been there, you should go. I love it!
Then we went home and did some grocery shopping and then Brian had to go into school to do Bishopric stuff and I did laundry. Exciting I know.
Sunday was my first time teaching for this year. I was pretty excited all week long because the lesson was about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. But then of course, come Sacrament Meeting, I was a nervous wreck. But I think the lesson went well. I had lots of comments from people and I love that! Then I know that I'm at least getting through to someone.
After church we went over to some friends' apartment and played games with them and another couple. We had a blast! I love to just get out of our apartment, and especially to hang out with other couples. I always want to invite people over, but I feel like our place isn't big enough for more than one other couple. I guess no one's is. :) But it was fun nonetheless.
Oh, I also got a book recommendation for Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. I've already reserved it at the library & I'm going to get it tonight. Anyone else read this? Any thoughts?
Yesterday, even though it was a day off from school and work, Brian still had to go into school for most of the day. I thought it would only be a few hours, but I forget how much they have to do sometimes, & Brian likes to stay ahead of things so he doesn't get more stressed later. So I spent most of the day folding laundry and watching Gilmore Girls, and cross-stitching. I know, I'm lazy. But I enjoyed my day off from work.
When Brian got home we did our Wii Fit workout. We haven't been perfect at it, but we've done pretty good. I'm not as sore afterwards as I used to be, so I count that as progress. :) I've also been able to up the reps on certain exercises so I think that counts for something too.
Then we went to Training Table for dinner. I know, all that hard work down the drain because of Ranch Burgers and Cheese Fries. They're too hard to resist though. :)
Then we came home, watched one TV show & went to bed. Ahh, the exciting life of the Glads.
This morning, Brian didn't have his first class, because the teacher believes that Inauguration Day should be a holiday as well. I happen to agree. Especially because I had to come into work and I can't get the speech to come up on my computer so I missed it. :( I'll have to watch it later.
That's all that's going on with us. Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!
Saturday we had the fun opportunity to take our car into the shop once again. Yes, the very same car that we had to get a whole new engine for this last summer. The "check engine" light came on about a week before but he doesn't drive the car that much and didn't have time to take it in until this weekend. So we drove out to the mechanic that replaced the engine (on 27th S. & 27th W.) and he did a couple tests. I had also driven because we didn't know if we'd need to leave the car there. He finally reset the light and said it was the Catalytic Converter, and that the whole problem may be that it's just too cold, so it doesn't think it's working properly. I don't understand completely, but owell. He said drive it a few more days, if it turns on again we need to bring it back in for some more tests.
Shortly after getting home and then leaving again to go to the store, it turned on again.
The mechanic said it should be OK to drive as long as the light is not flashing. If it starts flashing we are to pull over immediately and get out of the car. How reassuring. I'm getting kind of sick of all the problems we've had with this car. My Jeep is older and sounds like it's falling apart and the only problem we've had with this is something to do with a belt and we fixed that ourselves. (Well my father-in-law did, for which I'm eternally grateful.) But I don't want to sell it because we still have a lot to pay off on it and I don't know if we'd get any profit on it. We'll figure it out though.
The one good thing on Saturday though was that Brian got a call from work saying he didn't have to come in. It's a bike shop. It's winter. They have 1 customer per 2 hours. So that was nice for us.
After taking the car in we went to help our friends Matt & Val move into their new/first home. Well, the car stuff took so long that we missed the moving part, but we did get a tour of their new house and then went to lunch with them at Zupa's. If you haven't been there, you should go. I love it!
Then we went home and did some grocery shopping and then Brian had to go into school to do Bishopric stuff and I did laundry. Exciting I know.
Sunday was my first time teaching for this year. I was pretty excited all week long because the lesson was about Joseph Smith and the First Vision. But then of course, come Sacrament Meeting, I was a nervous wreck. But I think the lesson went well. I had lots of comments from people and I love that! Then I know that I'm at least getting through to someone.
After church we went over to some friends' apartment and played games with them and another couple. We had a blast! I love to just get out of our apartment, and especially to hang out with other couples. I always want to invite people over, but I feel like our place isn't big enough for more than one other couple. I guess no one's is. :) But it was fun nonetheless.
Oh, I also got a book recommendation for Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. I've already reserved it at the library & I'm going to get it tonight. Anyone else read this? Any thoughts?
Yesterday, even though it was a day off from school and work, Brian still had to go into school for most of the day. I thought it would only be a few hours, but I forget how much they have to do sometimes, & Brian likes to stay ahead of things so he doesn't get more stressed later. So I spent most of the day folding laundry and watching Gilmore Girls, and cross-stitching. I know, I'm lazy. But I enjoyed my day off from work.
When Brian got home we did our Wii Fit workout. We haven't been perfect at it, but we've done pretty good. I'm not as sore afterwards as I used to be, so I count that as progress. :) I've also been able to up the reps on certain exercises so I think that counts for something too.
Then we went to Training Table for dinner. I know, all that hard work down the drain because of Ranch Burgers and Cheese Fries. They're too hard to resist though. :)
Then we came home, watched one TV show & went to bed. Ahh, the exciting life of the Glads.
This morning, Brian didn't have his first class, because the teacher believes that Inauguration Day should be a holiday as well. I happen to agree. Especially because I had to come into work and I can't get the speech to come up on my computer so I missed it. :( I'll have to watch it later.
That's all that's going on with us. Hope everyone had a fabulous holiday weekend!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
My Goals for 2009
Read the Doctrine & Covenants with Brian. Along with being able to participate more in Gospel Doctrine, this will hopefully help me be more prepared for my own lessons.
Be more organized with my day. I find myself exhausted at the end of my work day, even when I haven't done much. I hope that by setting out an almost hour by hour schedule of what I should be doing, it'll keep me motivated to get more done.
Read the Book of Mormon. I want to do this for my own personal scripture study. In a recent conference talk we were reminded to not read the Book of Mormon every four years as it comes around in the church curriculum.
Read the Ensign each month. It's not that long of a magazine and the articles are really great.
Have a better attitude about my job. With the way the economy is, and with lots of people losing their jobs or not being able to find them, I need to be more grateful for the one I have. It's really flexible, my boss appreciates me, and it pays well enough to support our family while Brian is in school.
Get in shape. People might be inclined to think that just because I look skinny that I am in shape. Oh how wrong that is. I am so out of shape and get exhausted doing not very much. So I want to work hard at just getting healthier. Having the Wii Fit is already helping me with this goal.
Say morning & evening prayers. We tend to get in this rhythm of saying one or the other, but I want to try hard to do both every day.
Clean my house more often. It's only 450 sq. ft. for goodness sake! I should be able to clean the whole thing once a week. I've separated the things to be done into 6 different areas. I will tackle one area each night after work, so it doesn't seem like such a huge job to do all in one day.
Write something each day. Whether that means in my journal, on this blog, or actually writing something that might someday be published, I need to write!
Try to be kinder in thoughts, words, and deeds. I sometimes find myself being overly critical of those around me or even of myself. I need to remember that we are all children of God and should love each other as He loves us.
**I hesitate to write these down because I hate to fail at something, but I hate it even more when people know that I've failed. But maybe having it out there will help remind me to do better.
And I just need to remember, we don't have to be perfect, but we should be trying to do better each day.
Be more organized with my day. I find myself exhausted at the end of my work day, even when I haven't done much. I hope that by setting out an almost hour by hour schedule of what I should be doing, it'll keep me motivated to get more done.
Read the Book of Mormon. I want to do this for my own personal scripture study. In a recent conference talk we were reminded to not read the Book of Mormon every four years as it comes around in the church curriculum.
Read the Ensign each month. It's not that long of a magazine and the articles are really great.
Have a better attitude about my job. With the way the economy is, and with lots of people losing their jobs or not being able to find them, I need to be more grateful for the one I have. It's really flexible, my boss appreciates me, and it pays well enough to support our family while Brian is in school.
Get in shape. People might be inclined to think that just because I look skinny that I am in shape. Oh how wrong that is. I am so out of shape and get exhausted doing not very much. So I want to work hard at just getting healthier. Having the Wii Fit is already helping me with this goal.
Say morning & evening prayers. We tend to get in this rhythm of saying one or the other, but I want to try hard to do both every day.
Clean my house more often. It's only 450 sq. ft. for goodness sake! I should be able to clean the whole thing once a week. I've separated the things to be done into 6 different areas. I will tackle one area each night after work, so it doesn't seem like such a huge job to do all in one day.
Write something each day. Whether that means in my journal, on this blog, or actually writing something that might someday be published, I need to write!
Try to be kinder in thoughts, words, and deeds. I sometimes find myself being overly critical of those around me or even of myself. I need to remember that we are all children of God and should love each other as He loves us.
**I hesitate to write these down because I hate to fail at something, but I hate it even more when people know that I've failed. But maybe having it out there will help remind me to do better.
And I just need to remember, we don't have to be perfect, but we should be trying to do better each day.
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