This is the first time I’m going to do a Nine Things Tuesday, Plus One, rather than a full-on Ten Things. I was inspired by Ms. Karen of Chookaloonks. If you’ve not been by to visit her, please go; she’s a whiz with a camera and writes beautifully, to boot.
Here, then, are nine things I want to accomplish in 2009. They’re not resolutions, per se (I’ve decided that resolutions don’t really work for me) but, rather, they’re goals – things toward which I aspire, things I wish for myself in the coming year.
1. I want to spend more time with my family. I have the happiest marriage of anyone I know, but I still don’t feel as though I get to spend enough focused time with my husband. Punkin’ Pie is dashing fast and headlong into puberty, and she’s going to need me around a lot more than she thinks she does. Beanie is just a joy, and I like being with her. I don’t get to see my sister nearly enough to satisfy me. My family is, and always has been, my primary focus. I intend to bring that up a notch this year.
2. I want to see more of my friends. The only person with whom I get to spend any appreciable time right now is O’Mama and while I’m certainly not complaining, I’m really starting to miss Bowyer and Tonks. I’d like to see Kizz more than once or twice a year. I get to see JRH even less than that. I might like to try to spend time with Amy, and I keep missing my friend Joanne. I hate that I only see Emily in passing – she works at L.U. and I’m going to try to catch her for lunch at least once a month. I have a standing promise to meet with a former student from TCC and the Goddess of the Front Desk, too – both of our lunch dates were foiled by weather. I know that a lot of my problems with getting together with the people I care about is scheduling – theirs and mine – but I want to try to overcome that in 2009. I might also like to try to meet a couple of blogger friends, but I’m not putting any expectation on this goal – if it happens, it happens.
3. I want to spend time with Gerry and Honey. Mr. Chili was talking about this the other day, actually – we had such a wonderful time with the TwoBlueDays over Labor Day, and they really have become a part of our family. We’re hoping to maybe hide out in Florida for a few days in the dead of winter, and we’re further hoping to coordinate some focused time with the TBD clan (besides, I can’t wait to meet Babycakes and her mom!).
4. I want to get – or at least, actively seek – a permanent teaching position. It doesn’t have to be all full-time and tenured, but I would like to wiggle myself into an English department at a college or university where I am regularly thown a class or two every semester. Now that TCC is closing and this will likely be my last term there, I want to find a similar position in another school.
5. I want/need to organize all of my professional development stuff. I’ve got a bunch of certificates and hours floating around for both my English teaching and my yoga teaching certifications, and I’m going to need to put those in some sort of order so that, when it comes time to renew my licenses, I’ll not only know how many hours I have (and, thus, how many I may need to complete the requirements), but I’ll also have it all in one place.
6. I want to schedule more down-time for myself. One of my 108 in 2008 was to put aside one do-nothing day a month. I didn’t even come close to that goal last year. I need to set aside some time to just be, and not fill up every free moment I have with errands and housekeeping and such. I hate that I can look up and discover that entire months have passed by.
7. I want to reinforce some good habits and establish a couple of others. I was getting really good at flossing and rinsing, but I let that go a month or two ago. I’m getting better at the daily vitamin. I’m teaching more yoga classes and, as such, am able to stay in my practice, but I’d like to try to get in a little solo-meditation time (it’s hard to really sink into a meditation when I’m leading the class because I have to be mindful of the clock). I’ve managed to drastically reduce my soda intake, and would like to continue to improve my diet. I’m not putting a huge amount of pressure on myself for these things – I think I’m pretty okay where I am – I just want to be aware of making good choices when they present themselves.
8. I want to spend more time with my adopted family. I adore my grandparents and recognize that my time with them may be more limited than with some of the other people in my life (they’re getting old, you know). I got to spend a fair bit of time with my mother last year, though most of that time was in cars back and forth to and from doctors’ appointments, and I want better than that. I had a weekly visit with my grandparents that I’d like to take back up again. Since my mom lives literally right down the road from the grandparents, I can probably combine the visits and only have to make one trip out.
9. I’d like to cook at home more. The Chili family spent a LOT of money in restaurants last year – I don’t know exactly how much, but I know it was too much. We’ve had a few really lovely family dinners in the dining room last year, and I’m hoping to reinforce that tradition this year. I love to cook, I love the time together (and I think it’s important for the girls) and I’d like to save a little more money this coming year. Part of this goal, though, involves pre-planning, and that’s not always something I’m good at, especially when it comes to meals (what if I plan chicken for Monday night and no one’s in the mood for it?!). I’ll keep working at it, though, and hopefully get us down to only one or two meals out a month.
10. My last item on this list is a general wish for continued and greater self-awareness, energy to be a source of compassion and kindness to everyone around me (especially those to whom I find it difficult to extend compassion and kindness), passion for the work that I do, and patience for times when I can’t exert “enough” influence over my surroundings. I want to live in the knowledge that I’m good enough where I am, but that I can always be better. I want to offer all that I can to all who will take it, to back away when I cannot be useful (or when my presence is not welcomed), and to know when I need to ask for help and support for my own self. I wish for the presence of mind and spirit to keep becoming the best me I can.
Happy Tuesday, Everyone!
That’s a lovely list, whatever you call them, they all accomplish the same thing.
“I want better than that.” Sometimes car time and doctor’s appointment time is the best kind of time. Like meal prep time or bath time with kids. It seems like a chore but it’s so ordinary that it helps other things come out if you let them. (Says the lover of car trips.)
“Cooking at home more” was a goal of mine last year or maybe just getting more organized about cooking at home is a better way to put it. You’d think it would be stifling to plan a menu in advance but I found it to be the opposite. Now I usually plan two months at a time – although I haven’t had a chance to do it for January and February, yet! When you get it on paper, it’s easier to avoid having chicken three times in a row or meatloaf every other week because that’s the only thing you can think of. You just have to remember that it’s only a plan. If you don’t feel like chicken on Wednesday then swap it out with an item from another day. Think of it as a rough draft. By the end of the month my menus were always marked up. Another thing I learned the hard way was to schedule at least a couple of left over nights or you end up burnt out on cooking and you have tons of leftovers that don’t get used. One of the best things about the menu was being able to make just one trip to the grocery store per week – it starts to add up every time you “run in” for one thing and buy five other things that you suddenly “need”. (I always review the menu with the family before I head to the grocery store to cut down on changes, too.) The thing that I had to get through my head was that the goal was not to come up with the perfect menu that we rigidly stuck to; the goal was to eat healthier meals cooked at home.
I just wish the results for de-junking my house had been as good as the results of the menu planning! Apparently I haven’t found the secret to that, yet!
Good luck!
Kizz, I’m not saying that I didn’t LIKE time in the car with Mom, but the trips were usually to either chemo or radiation appointments, and there’s a lot of stress, both before and after, that goes with those. I’m looking forward to non-stressful visits – also, I want to get the girls over there more often; Mom perks up when the babies are around, even if they’re not really paying any attention to her.
Lea, your success heartens me. I’m going to try to put together a month’s worth of meals – I don’t know if I’m ready to schedule a whole quarter yet! – and see how it goes. I like the idea of swapping out; I think part of my resistance comes from not wanting to make something that no one’s in the mood for. As for the leftover night, we have one of those every week, anyway – the night before trash day when the fridge gets cleaned out; we call it “scrounging for dinner,” and no one seems to object, so it stays in the routine!
Meet me this year!
Seriously, I will be very sad if we don’t make it to New England this fall. It was a goal of ours even before I got to know you.
Also, I have been focusing on being more “domestic” and I’ve cooked more in the past few months than in the past few years combined. I will send you some of my recipes in case it helps with your planning and variety.
You have some wonderful and ambitious goals. I too would like to spend more time with friends, family and myself.
I need to cook at home more. It just seems when dinner rolls around I am tired.
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