2010 Resolutions

I have got to be one of the worst at New Year's Resolutions.  Not only do I seem to make unattainable goals, I make them broad, generic and with no real plan on how to accomplish them.  My first inclination at curing this was to just simply not make any this year.  Problem solved!  However, deep down, I'm too list orientated to not at least come up with something.  So this is what I have so far, in absolutely no particular order, but at least they are attainable and most have some sort of plan on how to accomplish them.

1. Renew my concealed weapon permit. I pulled it out while riding to Savannah only to realize it has been expired for three years now.  If I wish to carry my .380, I really need to do so legally.

2. Do 30 minutes of cardio at least four times a week.  Just saying I'm going to get healthier has been too broad for me.  This gives me a definite goal.  Plus it is a weekly goal, so if I mess up one week, I can start new the next week.  Unlike year long goals where it takes you until the end of the year to realize you didn't quite make it.

3. Sign up, train for and finish a 5K race.  I don't have to run the whole thing, have a great finish time or anything like that.  I just want to do it, and not be the last person to cross the finish line.  So to this end I am planning on participating in the Atlanta Track Club's Women's 5K Run on March 27, 2010.

4. Have another couple over for dinner, at least five times, this year.  We are good about casual hang-outs, pizza delivered, rent a movie and just chill out.  But we never have sit down dinners.  Got some place mats, "real" napkins (my poor kids didn't even know there was such a thing as cloth napkins!) and am aiming at having a dinner every other month.  This will not only help with my hosting skills, but will teach the kids hospitality and hopefully expand their table manners.

5. Claim a new church home.  We have been visiting New Community since October and pretty much like it.  But still in that stage of saying "we are visiting."  If we are going to keep visiting there indefinitely, I'd like to make it a permanent decision.  Though this isn't entirely up to me.

6. Incorporate more family time.  We, as a family, got several new games for Christmas.  I'm not ready to declare any one particular day every single week as game night, but am thinking more along the lines of having two per month, with each one being on or around each child's date of birth, and that child getting to pick the snack and games we play.  So the 14th of each month would be LeAnne's, while the 26th of each month would be James Stephen's turn.

7. Continue to look for God speaking to me in the little things of everyday life.  I've been so caught up in the busyness of the holiday season that I haven't really taken the time to be quiet, watch and listen to what He might be teaching or showing me.

8. If I don't have the cash for something, I don't buy it.  This is kind of self explanatory. Which in reality, for the most part, is learning more of what is a need, versus what is a want.  Extreme emergencies aside, the credit cards are going to take a hiatus for a while.

9.  Put some money in savings each pay period.  I don't care if some weeks I can only put $5 in, baby steps are how most things start.

10. Continue to learn how to respond instead of react.  Ok, so this one is a bit more broad without a definite "thing" I can grasp or measure progress by.  But felt it was an important goal to continue to strive to do better in.

There are several other things I want to work on this year...some big, some small, some only for God and I to know about.  But at least these 10 are for the most part something concrete and doable that I can aim for.