Goals for 2012

It's that time again - time for my yearly goals!  Not quite the same as resolutions, but things I want to work on/think about/do this year, and that I want down in writing so I can come back to them later.  In no particular order, here they are:

Professional Goals

This year my goal is to update my resume.  I think there’s a fair chance I may want to re-enter the workforce at some point, so this is probably a good idea.  I haven’t updated my resume since I started working at the Y, so my jobs there aren’t included at present.  It would probably be a good idea to get them on paper before I forget the details.

Another goal I have is to look into a small business opportunity that has come available, and to make a decision about it one way or the other.  Details to follow.

And finally, this year I want to do some serious thinking about what my professional goals are for the future – do I want to go back into the workforce and work for someone?  Do I want to work on building up some clients for freelance work?  Do I want to keep sewing?  Do I want to start that small business?  What will help me contribute to my family financially without taking me away from my family?

Schooling for Norah

One of my goals for 2012 is to work with Norah this year on letters and numbers.  I bought a preschool age letter workbook which I plan to begin working with her on after Michelle’s wedding.  She is already asking me, “Mommy, what letter does (fill in the word) start with?”, and starting to identify some letter sounds, so I think we should go for it. 

Another of my goals for 2012 is to figure out about preschool for Norah for the coming year.  She turns 3 on the 16^th of this month, and believe it or not, 3 is now considered preschool age.  Srsly.  I don’t know if she will go to preschool this year or if we will wait another year, or if we will homeschool and I’ll need to make decisions about when to begin curriculum, but I think it is important that I start thinking about and figuring those things out this year.
 

2012 Reading Challenge

My personal reading challenge for 2012 is to read 10,000 pages.  As with the past 2 years, I plan to track what books I read this year.  I also have a few specific books I want to make sure I get to:

·         11/22/63 by Stephen King

·         Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (I’ve had this on loan from Jason since shortly after Norah was born.  Erm, sorry, Jason)

·         One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey

·         Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell

·         The Awakening by Kate Chopin

·         Harry Potter – I want to read the first book of this series and see if I like it.  If I do, I’ll probably read the rest of them

·         The new Dark Tower Book – rumor has it there’s a new one coming out this year.  I’m sooooo excited about this.  I heart the Dark Tower books.

My Blog

My blog got reeeeeally neglected in 2011.  I blogged, like, not at all.  It’s hard to write when you have a toddler that doesn’t nap and you’re pregnant and exhausted most of the year.  But writing is so good for my soul, so I want to get into the habit again.  My goal is to blog once a month this year, even if it’s something little, like pics of things I sewed or a cute story about the kids.
 

Housekeeping

My first housekeeping goal for the year is to get back to/stick with the cleaning schedule I started in 2011.  It isn’t much, but if I commit to cleaning a room each day, the house really does look much nicer and requires much less from me in deep cleaning.  I started back with it this week, and I want to stick with it for the year.

My second housekeeping goal for the year is to declutter, declutter, declutter!  I decluttered a lot last year, but there is still a lot around the house.  Specifically, I want to clean out all of my kitchen drawers, declutter the pantry, and go through the rest of Daniel’s stuff that was in his office before that room got turned into a bedroom.  At the end of the year I also want to get rid of any clothes that don’t fit me anymore – if I don’t lose weight in the next year I’m guessing I never will (or by the time I will, those clothes will be out of style anyways).  Any other decluttering is a bonus.

Picture Perfect

I would like to try to do a better job of keeping up with photos.  I have a hard time making sure I get them printed and up in frames, and as a result, in my house it appears that time stopped when Norah was about 2 months old.  This summer and fall I would like to set aside some time specifically to work on scrapbooks/photo albums/picture frames/photo storage, etc. (scrapbooking party, anyone?)


Those all sound pretty do-able to me, so hopefully I'll be able to report back at the end of the year that I actually did them.  We'll see.  But for now, I have them down somewhere, which helps me stay more accountable to them. 


All for now!