January Update on 2018 GOALS

As promised, here is the GOALS update I am aiming to share at the beginning of each new month. I won't bored you with every single detail, but an overall summary about how each goal is coming along. Updates will be in a color other than black. If there is no update in that area, I'll just skip it until there is progress in that area.
Without further ado,
Spiritual:

• Make a new habit of praying WITH Dan as often as he is willing. We only managed a time or two this month, but starting new habits is a challenge, and praying with each other requires us to be particularly vulnerable, so I'm looking forward to growth in this area as the year passes.
• Read the Bible every day. I did NOT do well in this area last month, but I'm committed to doing better this coming month. I have my 21 days devotional from church at my bedside ready to go for Monday.
• Make a prayer list and pray more often and more specifically. I don't have a written list yet, but I have been praying more.

 Health:

• Instead of specific numbers/servings/grams, etc. I am adopting a eat-to-live attitude instead of my usual live-to-eat policy. I'm trying to pack simple healthy lunches each day, get more veggies in than in the past, and make sure I get my water every day. By end of year, I want to be able to hike Dripping Springs, A Mountain and Aguirre Springs. That's it. I did really well on this challenge, especially since we were doing a Pantry Challenge this month. I packed simple lunches, drank tons of water and reminded myself often that I didn't need to acquiesce to every craving. It was too chilly and I was too ill for much of the month to do much hiking, but the forecast for the next week looks amazing!

Books:

• Read 52 books (or approximately one per week) hopefully along these lines
  
  • 6 marriage  2 In progress
  • 2 financial
  • 10 novels 1 In progress
  • 1 magazine subscription
  • 2 gov't 1 In progress
  • 3 history
  • 10 read-alouds with DT 1 In progress
  • 2 book club choices 1 In progress
  • 1 spanish
  • 10 Christian Living
  • 10 books that I had on my list from last year
    No wonder I'm always scatterbrained, I'm reading 6 books at a time! LOL!

Family:

• Start eating together at the table at least twice a week We managed about 1 meal per week, which is about 1 more per week than normal, so...progress
• Get away together for at least one long weekend and 4-one day trips I'm starting to plan a small weekend away for Dan's birthday later in February.
• DE-CLUTTER the whole house. I mean it. For reals. This month saw Dan, Derek and I all go through our drawers and closets, the spare bedroom closet and the linen closet all got an overhaul and we took 6 garbage bags of clothes/linens to the thrift store that we love.

Cultural/Social:

• Attend one cultural/social activity per month that's inexpensive or free~ Game Night does not count, no matter how much we love it This month I saw The Lesters in concert with Mom, went to a paper crafting event with Amanda, had lunch with Jody and Ruby, and toured the local art museum with DT.
• Attend 1-2 BIG events this year (Newsies, Lion King, TobyMac, etc)
• Participate in #NoPantsApril2018 and #100HappyDays 

Personal: 

• Wear Make Up 1-2 times per week Being ill and the weather bringing us high winds and crazy dust kinda blew wearing make up out of the water, so I only managed this once, but once is better than none. Progress.
• Slowly upgrade my wardrobe with an emphasis on high quality classics with a few trendy pieces thrown in for fun (Limit t-shirts with writing on them)
• Plan meals and cook 4 times per week, plus pack healthy lunches for DT and I at work Pantry Challenge month means I cooked every meal all month long. DT and I did well on packing healthy and tasty lunches and the guys helped by eating all the leftovers.

Financial:

• Get back on track once Dan gets a new job and stay current on the bills
• Save 50% of my monthly earnings to start and grow our emergency savings
• Tithe more generously (not just to the church, but to our community)
• Pay off Dan's Honda
• Put up a clothesline, repair the breakfast nook roof/ceiling, install raised garden beds in the back yard, get a coop and 4-6 chickens, and plant dwarf fruit trees along the rear fence line. (probably only 1-2 two of these will happen this year and that's OK) 

I know that despite my trying to be "reasonable" with my goal setting, I've set some pretty challenging goals. And that's not a bad thing. I will try to update once a month to see how I'm progressing.
Overall, I did better than I thought I was going to this month. I'm reading, I'm praying, I'm being social/cultured, I rocked Pantry Challenge, and the house is getting decluttered. Progress...in enough areas for me to be pleased. Take that, January!