ILP for 2008

I'm trying to avoid the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing, but I still find myself making mental lists of all the things I want to accomplish in the next year. I try to banish these thoughts from my mind, but at the same time I wonder if I should just embrace them. Rather than thinking of them as "Resolutions" I'm going to consider them "Goals". I'm a goal driven person. I need goals. When I don't have goals, I find myself wandering about getting nothing done. I like to get things done. I love lists and I love crossing things off lists. I even add things that I've already done to lists just so I can cross them off.

For my job I have to write up an IEP for each student on my caseload every year. We review their progress and make goals for the next year. So, I figure I should write one for myself. Instead of an Individualized Education Plan, I need an Individualized LIFE Plan complete with goals for 2008 (not resolutions, thank you).

Strengths and progress towards previous goals:
I didn't have any solid resolutions last year, but I did have some things in mind. I wanted to keep my little itty baby alive and happy. Check. I wanted to stick to breastfeeding. Check. I wanted to stick to cloth diapering. Check. I wanted to be happy and sane when I went back to work. No Check. Oh well, I still think I did pretty good.

Goal 1 for 2008:
Start and maintain a blog. I figure this is a good way to articulate some goals for the year and hold myself accountable. I also need an outlet of some sort. A place where I can place all those random thoughts that run through me and get lost on their way out. Just by the fact that I'm writing this, it looks like I'm well on my way to Goal #1!

Goal 2 for 2008:
Take pictures again. I used to take pictures all the time. I have a 35mm SLR and I just pulled it out for the first time in years. I miss taking pictures with it. I miss the click, I miss the heaviness, I miss the product. It's like driving a stick shift again. I also used to work at a photo processing lab so all film and processing was done on the cheap. I don't have that anymore. I'm working to save some cash to buy myself a digital SLR. I don't need anything too fancy, so I'm considering a Nikon D40. I have a little box on our mantel labeled "SLR Camera Fund". It has $300 so far. Looks like another goal that I'm making progress towards!

Goal 3 for 2008:
Take a date night once a month. For the last nearly two years it has been all about baby, understandably so. I love it. I love immersing myself in my son. But a few months ago I started seeing the toll it was taking on my marriage. It's not like my husband isn't immersed as well, we're both neglecting the marriage. It was a total bummer to see the ugliness that festers when two people that love each other so much don't take the time to nurture each other. We actually went out on NYE and we had a blast. It was great for us. I would like to keep doing this once a month. It doesn't need to be an all nighter, dinner or even a drink will do.

Goal 4 for 2008:
Find a minimum of 3 opportunities a week to exercise for 30 minutes each time and do it!! I don't want the typical, get in shape crap. I'm pretty happy with my physical self, but I know I could move more than I do now. I hate gyms, I refuse to join one. I figure there are plenty of opportunities to exercise when I'm out and about with Joaquin. So I have to find them and do them, 3 times a week.

Goal 5 for 2008:
Organize this family. I'm a messy slob of a person. It was fine when it was just me, but now it's not just me. Now I find myself a partner in a leadership team to a family. This makes me the family leader at least half of the time. I'm OK with that, but I'm not OK with keeping things all organized and working like they should. Joaquin's room is a disaster. He doesn't actually sleep in it, so it has turned into a catch all for all the crap that doesn't have a home. It also stores all of his clothes and stuff that we actually need to get to on a daily basis. Our living room has turned into a toy room and not in a good way. Our kitchen cabinets are overflowing with who knows what. I can't even sit on our couch without a sippy cup or a toy of some sort ramming me up the behind. My excuse is that I work three days a week. Whatever. That's a sorry excuse in my opinion. I don't mind some mess here and there, I don't want a spotless crazy clean house. I would like to just walk in after a day of work or a day out and about with Joaquin, when he is usually sleeping in my arms ready to snuggle down for the rest of his nap, and not kick noisy car across our hardwood floors, as I silently curse to whatever hoping he doesn't wake up. That's all. So to do this, I have to go through and get rid of a bunch of stuff that we've managed to pack into this shoebox, get rid of it or pack it back away in a more organized fashion.

Goal 6 for 2008:
Set up a sewing corner and start sewing. Since Joaquin doesn't sleep in his room, I would like to steal a corner of his room for myself. If he has a corner of my room for his crib that is attached to my bed, I figure he can give this up for his dear mama. Dan got me a new sewing maching for Christmas, I just finished up a sewing class through the ECC and now I would like to put it all together and start sewing again! I have an older machine that I use, but I always have to pack it away and unpack it for each project. It totally takes the fun out! I want to be able to get a sewing hair up my ass at 9pm and just sew. Not find a space, clean things up, lug things out and then put it all back again. By then I'm over it and have no creative works of art to show for that sewing hair.

Goal 7 for 2008:
Make a family photo album for 2006, 2007 & 2008. I'm not a scrapbooker. Nor will I ever be. I just can't focus on something like that for that long of time. I can do computer stuff though. I made some super cool photo albums of Joaquin for the parents for Christmas using mypublisher.com. I want to make one for us, for each year including this year. Hopefully I can keep it going for future years and we'll have a photo album chronicling each year of our family.

Goal 8 for 2008:
Find a way to be a SAHM. I've promised myself that if we have anymore children I will have to be a SAHM. No way in hell am I doing this again. I told Dan I wanted a year off if we have another. In reality I want more like 5. I don't want to completely forget my job because I think I might like to go back to it later in life. But for now, if I'm raising a family I want to do just that. I'm over trying to raise other people's children. I want to raise my own.


Whew, that felt good! Of course there are more little things here and there that I would like to accomplish, but for now this will do.