Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Natalie 2015: Simplify and Streamline (revisited)

It's that time of year to revisit the Natalie 2015 theme and see what has been accomplished and what I can focus on for the rest of the year.  Each year, I like to post my goals on the blog(2008, 2013, 2014, 2015) but often times I don't revisit them until the new year comes around again...not this year!  Let's do this now so I still have time to focus on my theme and see what needs to be adjusted.  So no it's not halfway through the year but you know the start of the new school year always feels like some kind of start so we'll go with that. The original goals posted at the beginning of the year will be in italics...my response and updates will be next to them.

Crafting:
1. Organize my stash so that it's visually pleasing and not just stored away. I am currently in the process of culling my stash.  Instead of just making it pleasing to look at, I decided I wanted it stored in safe place but organized.  I also wanted to rid my stash of the filler yarn/fiber and only have stuff I love or plan to use.
2. SPIN MORE!  This is big.  I really want to give Pilar some love this year and spin spin spin!  It's been a while since I spun and I just need to get back to it. Major fail on this one...but I did just started spinning again and really am enjoying it like I always do.  It just goes back to having to store my wheel out of the way from little hands...and so it's out of sight and sometimes just feels like it would be too much effort to set up.  Planning a spinning OWL for the next term of the Harry Potter Knit/Crochet House Cup so that might help keep things going.
3. Take more classes. This coming year, I hope to take more workshops and crafting classes.  I want to learn more techniques but mostly I want to learn from those teaching. I haven't managed to take more classes yet....
4. Teach more classes. This got put on hold because of my surgery and life.  I am planning another class in Oct though at Stash - a place for yarn.
5. Travel to a fiber festival!!  This is huge!  I REALLY REALLY want to make it to a festival this year.  We have plans in the works but hope it works out as well as we are planning. A fiber festival isn't working out but I did sign up to attend my first ever knitting retreat Into the Wool Retreat at the beginning of next month in Tennessee!  I'm SO EXCITED!! I am working on a way to attend the Florida Fiber-in with my local knitting guild but as of right now I might only make it out to one day...which is totally better than no days.

Personal:
1. I'd like to simplify our home by purging all the things that are not used/played with or don't have a place in our home.  This especially goes for clothes that don't fit and trinkets that don't hold emotional attachments or have a place to live. This has been a big win so far. I still have a lot to do but I've also accomplished a ton!  I've already purged a LOT of just stuff from my bookshelves, kitchen, and new office area.  As I said, I'm still working on my stash and need to do another pass through my clothes and the girls clothes but I've done a lot already!  It feels great to have less stuff!  It's also much easier to keep things clean when everything has a place to go.  The kitchen is doing amazing because I visited the Homer Laughlin China Company factory store on our trip to OH and I got some amazing steals on a bunch of new stuff for my fiestaware stash!  I love this stuff and want more but have to purge if I bring stuff in.
2. I'd like to purge my wardrobe into a smaller one that only has clothes that I love and make me feel good. Sadly, I still have "maternity" clothes that get worn here and there.  They must all GO! Doing this and it feels good! I have purged my clothes down to only stuff I love.  I bought new clothes and got rid of everything that was maternity or didn't make me feel amazing when I put it on.
3. Make it through the construction that is about to begin on our home and really decorate our living room and rest of the house with pictures and more. Construction on the bathroom and roof are complete!  YAY and boy was that an experience.  I haven't tackled the living room or putting up many pictures yet but I'm getting there.  I have gotten some frames but need to print more pictures and buy more frames soon.


Parental:
1. Focus less on bedtime routine and more on enjoying the time with my girls.  NOT saying I'm going to get rid of bedtime routine but often at night I feel like it's this race to get them to bed before it becomes a meltdown battle of over tired girls.  This stresses me out and I end up not enjoying the time we have together as much.  I really would like to focus more on enjoying the time and less on racing through the time.  This has been an ongoing focus.  When my workday is stressful, I have to focus harder on giving myself and my girls grace but I've been doing good with being mindful of this time.
2. Start having dates with each of my children.  My girls love to be together but I also feel they need some alone time with me.  I would like to start having fun outings with just one of them at a time.  We'll see how this goes.   We have not been good about this because we don't get a lot of time together as a family due to our work schedules.  We tend to focus on family time together on weekend.  It's funny though because this weekend Special K and CGR are going to the Rays game with others and I'm getting to spend the afternoon with just Ria.

Relationships:
1. Schedule monthly date nights with my husband.  We are good about doing date nights but we often realize we haven't had one in a while and then plan one.  I would love to do this monthly in the new year. This has not been nearly consistent enough but we have managed to get some dates in there.
2. Focus more on what I'm bringing to my marriage than what I'm getting.  I feel this is such a better way to love and helps to curb the tit for tat mentality that can often cause grief.  Still focusing on this and it's been great!  Sometimes I get caught up but I refocus and it changes how I react to things.
3. Plan more time with my sisters.  We always love going to brunch together but do not do it often enough.  Downton Abbey is starting soon and we always watch that together on Sunday nights and it's nice to be with them.  Need to work on this for the rest of the year...we haven't been intentional enough with this.

And to finish off I would like to cut out the excess in our life and focus on the good and what truly matters.  Focus on our family and our home.  Give our journey to God and know that he has big plans for us and enjoy the ride that he takes us on.  All I can say to this is Amen!

How are you doing with your theme/resolutions you set for yourself this year?  Are you struggling with any and need to refocus?  Have any made a big impact in your life?

3 comments:

  1. Love, love, love this post.

    I am a list maker and I love to check things off but when it comes to my personal life, I let those goals slide. You've inspired me.

    We do one on ones with the boys. Since they're twins and share a bedroom it's really important to give them alone time with each parent. I think that's a great idea.

    I also love what you're doing with the purging, particularly your closet. Why have things you don't feel great in?

    Great work. Keep it up.

    You've inspired me to make a school year goal list with a mid-point check-in in January.

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    1. Hey Christina! Thanks for reading and commenting! Glad this inspired you! I love lists too but often don't revisit the important ones so working on changing that. Good luck with your school year goal list!

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  2. I love your goals. They are thoughtful and admirable. The bedtime rush always exhausted me when my children were young. Reading to them was a huge help. We live across the street from our library so we had many many new things to read all the time. IT think I liked it as much as the kids did.

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