2010: How'd We Do?

Today I got a glorious gift from my husband: A day alone.  I’m fighting a cold (and losing) and the house is showing tomorrow, and I think he could see in my eyes that I was just about the throw the kids out the window (bless them).  I wanted a fresh start and some time to think and really wanted to clean the bathrooms without any little monkeys hanging on my legs.  So he took the kids out to my parents’ place for the day and I was left in glorious silence.  I scrubbed and scoured, swept and sorted, and spent four hours with my laptop writing and sipping peppermint tea.  Now that hasn’t happened since … well, since I had kids.

So I love fresh starts and I’m all geared up to figure out some New Year Resolutions, and even found a great post at Simple Mom for asking questions and helping establish healthy reasonable goals for 2011.

But first I thought we’d better head back to 2010.  My goal was a 1950s housewife.  Let’s give a quick look and see how we did. If you wrote resolutions, why don’t you go flip through your journal or search for the document or scrounge up the napkin you wrote them on from the bottom of your nightstand drawer. Let’s take a quick look at what worked, what didn’t, and why.  Here are mine, with comments:

1. Take kids grocery shopping with me. Yup!  I am pleased to say that my kids actually behave in grocery stores now. Hallelujah!

2. Eating dinner together. Mm… sometimes.  We’re getting better, but Jeff’s schedule can vary a lot so sometimes this isn’t realistic.  We do eat breakfast together, though, every morning and make that our special time to pray together and talk together.  I’m feeling like that’s the best option for us right now.  As the kids get older I do still want to make dinner together a goal, though.

3. Make the bed. Yes! I do make the bed! Woohoo! I know, that was a pathetic goal but at least it gave me a victory.

4. Have the house straightened up when Jeff gets home. Yes!  We have done this too. Not perfectly, but pretty much every day, and we’ve got a routine where the kids clean up from 4:30-5pm, then they get to watch a video from 5-5:30pm so I can make dinner in peace, then the kids and I eat at 5:30. The video is a perfect reward for doing all their cleaning, and Jeff comes home to a clean house, happy wife, and dinner. At least most days… 🙂

5. Praying together every morning. Well… we all four pray (Heidi prays in her heart, silently 😉 together at the table at breakfast, but Jeff and I haven’t been very consistent about praying together as a couple.  So, there’s growth and room to grow!  I think I’ll put this one again for next year.

6. Have a plan every day. Again, there’s been growth but certainly room to grow. I am definitely seeing our need for a bit more structure and routine. So that’s a main area to focus for 2011.  I’m still working on (Re)Learning to be Fun!

I’d love to hear what some of your goals were–either reached or unreached.  What worked? What didn’t? What were some of your victories? What did you learn??  I’d love to hear. And happy new year to you.