Today I decided to look back at my old blog posts with New Years resolutions/goals and see how often I actually accomplished them. It turned out I succeeded slightly more than half of the things I set out to accomplish. That’s pretty okay. It’s enough for me to keep making lists at the beginning of the year. Who am I kidding? I could probably fail 100% of the time and still make goals every January. I am a list addict through and through.

As I looked back at my lists though some of them made me proud because I DID donate my hair to Locks of Love in 2013 and in 2014 I managed to start reading more, a positive habit that I have continued ever since! Some of the unmet goals made me cringe like when I said I was going to start eating vegetables and take vitamins everyday or my plan to go on a cruise in 2015 (I got pregnant and had a baby instead).

I had to laugh out loud at the multiple attempts at more date nights. In 2016 I wrote “Every year I resolve to do one date a month with my husband. I say this every. single. year. and it’s never happened. Yet here we are married 15 years and going strong so I guess I can’t worry about it too much. Anyway, all that to say I think 10 is realistic.” Except it wasn’t. The thing is, our lives had been so crazy since having kids especially when you factor in co-sleeping and breastfeeding. It was really challenging to break away from my babies. We could never afford a sitter and we don’t have parents close by.

The good news is there have been some recent changes that have made our number of outings significantly higher.1. My dad retired and my parents moved to northern Kentucky so even though it’s another state it’s only 45 minutes away. 2. I am no longer breastfeeding. This means that not only can we get out more frequently we can actually do overnights!!! I can hear the hallelujah choir singing. It’s been 10 years since that was a possibility (not that it never happened in 10 years but it was rare).

I am pretty sure we will be able to reach the goal of one date a month this year, but I am not even putting it on the official list. That’s just a random side note.

As far as the list for 2019 I have narrowed it down to three things in order to stay focused.

1. Clean out the garage and sell $100 worth of stuff.

Our garage is packed full of clutter! I want to get rid of a bunch of stuff and organize it, but in order to make it a measurable goal I put the $100 thing in there which I will accomplish via craigslist or Facebook. It’s also like a little incentive.

2.  Learn more sign language.

I mentioned that I have learned quite a bit this year and I want to keep it coming. My main focus is numbers (past ten), finger spelling, and days and months.

3. Write a Book

This one makes me want to throw up a little bit, only because it’s a new year’s dream that I failed to fulfill in 2017. I am working on two books, and my memoir probably won’t happen for a couple more years. The one I plan to self publish this year is a surprise. I’ll keep you posted.

Not sure I’ll complete them, but I can try because

You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Shoot for the moon even if you miss you’ll land among the stars.

A champion is defined not by their wins but how they recover when they fail.

Let’s see… what other inspirational quotes can I think of to get me off the hook. Just kidding.

Happy new year everybody.