Happy New Year ~ Goals for 2012!

I have so many goals for this year that I can't even begin to remember them all. I was talking to hubby the other day and said something about, "One of my goals next year is to..." and he just laughed. I think I say that every five minutes.


In general, I have a lot of the same goals that I have every year: eat healthier, lose a few pounds, tone up, stop yelling at the kids so much, be more patient, get organized, keep up with the laundry...the list goes on and on (and on)!

Parenting

More specifically -- and realistically -- I want to work on my parenting. I'm impatient, I admit it. My kids drive me to the brink.of.insanity more days than I want to admit. I've had the article The One-Week Fix for Bad Behavior from Parents magazine on my fridge for since it came out in October. It includes 7 ideas or steps for becoming a better parent and changing your kids undesirable behaviors. (I hate the term "bad behavior" because much of it is natural or learned, rather than just "bad.") While I remember to employ some of the ideas from time to time, I'm still working on the first: Don't React. {Ear plugs would be a huge help to block out the whining in this step!}

Food

On a more positive note... Hubs has agreed to try eating more vegetables this year! If you're a long time follower of the blog, you know that Hubs only ate meat and potatoes when I met him. He seriously had to have a big ol' hunk of meat with every dinner - and hopefully with breakfast and lunch too. Over the past ten years I've gotten him down to a small portion of meat with dinner a few times per week. He's also grown to tolerate a few veggies like asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, squash and zucchini.

This year, though, he's agreed to go all out and try whatever I want to make. This is a huge step for him - and a huge victory for me. I've stopped making so many meals that I love because of the veggie content, so I can't wait to break out a few old recipes. And, of course, it will be SO good for Hubby's health too!

One of my many goals for the year is to get back to eating more organic, local and sustainable foods. I've already signed back up for a weekly organic produce delivery service and have been trying things that are even new to me. (See my mushroom & kale hand pies!)

Our garden should help with this goal too, though we're no where near being able to grow or preserve enough to carry us through the winter. We do hope to build on the lessons learned over the last few years and be able to grow more for canning and preserving this season.

The delivery service we're using (Door to Door Organics) also just announced that they'll begin offering milk and eggs soon as well, which I'm very excited for. Now if I can just get the Hubs to spring for some local, grass fed / free range meats and chicken, I'll be in heaven!

Another food-related goal I couldn't brush aside any longer was learning to make bread! I picked up Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day from the library a few weeks back and have been making their most basic recipe. I need to buy my own copy so I can try some other types of bread but, until then, the basic boule is highly requested in our house. That's the loaf I made tonight (I forgot to score the top of this one, so it split open.) for Hubby's potluck breakfast at work tomorrow morning.

Last but not least in the food arena is learning how to use the pressure cooker I bought over a year ago. I've heard how amazing they are, but have just been too afraid to use it so far. It also has a pressure canning system with it, which will be great for some of the produce we grow and purchase at the farmers market.

Money

I've been working on reducing our monthly grocery bill, which has meant buying less processed foods - always a good thing! Our cupboards are still bursting at the seams though, so I'm challenging myself to "cook from the cupboards" this month, buying only fresh produce and dairy products. This should help reduce our grocery bill further for the month and pay off a few bills from Christmas.

We always tend to start new years off with a spending freeze. Last year we "compacted" from January through June. We're not really planning that this year, per se, but we are making a conscious effort to not spend money on anything we don't truly need. When you live on a teacher's salary and a part time job, you have to live simply...but I wouldn't have it any other way!