Goals Update March 2021

I’m still working away at my goals for the year! I’ve had some times where I’ve felt less focused, but overall, I’m making my usual small but steady progress.

Here is my progress for the month of March.

Career:

Goal: Begin working outside the home in the summer or fall of 2021.

I’m still pondering work options. I’d love to be a professional organizer. 🙂 We are contemplating moving my going to work further into the future depending on how much help my dad and mom need healthwise in the coming months.

Family:

Goal: Visit out-of-town family every other month.

I’m planning a visit to my mom’s for Mother’s Day. She is doing much better and is able to get around the house pretty well. My older daughter has been down to visit us several times, which I enjoyed very much.

Spiritual:

Goal: Memorize two Bible verses per month.

Bible verses for March:

Proverbs 6:6-8 and Isaiah 58:11.

My sticky note method is working well. 🙂 I’ve posted them on the inside of our back door, since I go in and out that door (or let the dogs in and out) many times a day.

Financial:

Goal: Increase savings, decrease debt by $200-$300 per month and better manage grocery/household spending.

I’m happy to report that our finances improved in March! We are now at 84% of our savings goal. We’ll have some large expenses in April, so we may go backwards for a month or so, but that’s okay. We also decreased our debt by $345.87.

I could have done a better job on grocery/household spending during March. We had more meals out than we would normally. I’m going to work on improving in that area during April. Our problem is that when we are in the middle of a project, we will often get takeout when we go to town for supplies. I’m going to try to plan ahead better to avoid this.

Social:

Goal: Call or message a friend at least once per week.

I was rather hermit-like during March. I think I visited with a friend only twice.

Physical:

Goal: Schedule/attend medical appointments, maintain weight and follow eating guidelines.

No medical appointments during March. I’ve maintained my weight and have mostly eaten well. I had a few treats. 🙂

I’m hoping to improve my stamina. I’ve noticed when I’m working outside (shoveling soil, etc.) I get pretty out of breath. I’ll be doing lots of yard work and walking now that the weather is nice, so maybe that will help me get in better shape after the winter.

Intellectual:

Goal: Write 1-2 blog posts per week and work on photography skills.

I wrote three blog posts during March, so I didn’t quite meet my goal for that.

If I’m going to improve my photography skills, I’m going to have to be more intentional. Grampy and I never seem to find the time for him to show me how to use the manual settings on the camera. I am (on my own) trying to learn to frame my shots better and pay more attention to angles and shadows and such.

Gardening:

Goal: Amend soil, build raised beds and keep size of garden manageable.

If I don’t get raised beds built before it’s time to plant, I can plant in my kiddie pool gardens. We are planning to make some changes in the layout of the kitchen garden area to accommodate a small swimming pool for the grandkids to play in.

Marriage:

Goal: Go on drives together, exploring the area and taking photos.

I’m sure this will happen in April! Grampy and I are having lots of fun doing projects together, but it will be nice to have a break and do something different.

Home:

Goal: Finish the multitude of unfinished projects around our home.

Grampy and I are so easily distracted while we are working on projects. Here’s an example: We are trying to finish the kitchen makeover, but the weather has gotten nicer, so now we’re tempted to jump into big outdoor projects. And that will leave the kitchen uncompleted for who knows how long! Some projects are important from a safety standpoint, like the rail for the back porch, so we will do that.

I LOVE to be outside this time of year. It’s hard for me to stay working indoors when the sun is warm and the garden is calling. I’m so happy with the progress on our kitchen, though. The mornings are still very chilly, so I’ll work indoors then and spend time outside in the afternoon.

Progress on my Word for the Year: FINISH

Work in the kitchen continues… In March we:

• Painted and sealed the beadboard backsplash and trim
• Decluttered baking supplies and spices
• Made Mason jar spice storage jars
• Painted inside of drawers to right of stove and installed shelf liner
• Put up the perfect shelf to hold our tea mugs
• Put up a hook to hang the teapot up and out of the way
• Sanded, restained and sealed our tea storage container

I didn’t make as much progress as I’d hoped, but we still got some things done. Hopefully April will be a more productive month as far as work in the kitchen goes.