Family goals 2012 January

Family Plans for 2012

I plan to come through one time a month and strike through anything that has been completed and add plans to it as they arise. This is not complete but its ok since I will be updating it monthly. I also have a print off.

Spiritual/God:

·       Make more of an effort to try churches out so that we can choose one that we both feel is right for our family. (although at this time we have pretty much agreed to try out FWC more we still may want to look into others)

·       Add a prayer list to the chore chart area so the family can put prayer requests on it for family and friends.

·       Recently I have realized that should say family friends and Strangers. I do a lot of praying for people I don’t know. I realized this when I sent a prayer request for a person that people did not know and I did not get a response. I thought It strange but then realized that maybe most people only pray for people they know and that affect there own lives. 

·       My children pray at dinner and thank god for their day and dinner. They also have begun thanking him for their family when we pray at dinner as I wanted them to think about how blessed they are to have brothers and sisters, and to appreciate them even when they get in fights with them. I would like to see the kids start their day off praying for god to be with them for the day. Maybe to have a prayer after they get ready and are all in the living room at 7:20 waiting for the bus. (They are lucky as living next to the road we have them wait right in the living room.)

My Husband and Marriage:

·         Tell him something he did that I am thankful for every day!

·         Go on a marriage retreat through WWP (just waiting to find out when one is and get the details.)

·         Make an effort to plan more date nights here we actually get a sitter and go out somewhere other than shopping on the way back from a VA appointment.

Me: One thing I have heard read a lot about moms is that they put everyone else first. That is exactly what I have done.  I have made sure that kids make it to doctor appointments, school functions, birthday parties and everything else but I have failed to put any time into ME!  I moved in to this house to buy it so that Jim and I would have a home when he came back from Iraq that was all paid for; I gave up any and all time for me. His mother lived in the house still and did not move out until months later when she bought another home. Prior to moving here I had cookouts with friends on the weekends and friends visited. Once I moved here being that my MIL lived here my friends did not feel as comfortable to come here. At the same time I was so busy with getting things in order and taking care of kids that I just quit doing anything for myself.  I used to go get my hair trimmed one time a month and don’t even do that anymore as I started having my MIL trim my hair which I do not do anymore either.  I planned on starting curves and because I got sick did not start. So this year I plan on taking some me time and taking care of me.

·         Make my health checkups on time including my teeth. Not taking time for me is not good for the kids either in the long run.

·         Go get my hair trimmed regularly like I used to. (I took Matthew to get his hair cut and felt to guilty to see if Jim would be ok with waiting for me to get mine done too.)

·         Go shopping more by myself at good will and things. I love just looking around at the used stores. Even if it means buying items for the kids that they need while I am out it is at least getting me out of the house.

·         Don’t buy things you don’t need! You have enough junk.

·         Exercise more! Wipe or even vacuum the dust off the tread mill. LOL  

My children:

·         Continue  kids on their schedule and regular chores.

·         Make sure they get their pay day on a set day rather than when we get around to it in our free time.

·         Set aside days each month for the girls to have a Mommy Day and the boys to have a Daddy Day and vice versa.

·         Make sure we do not miss the Daddy daughter dance or Mommy son dance this year. So glad they fall on my day this time.

Time management: I have gotten away from making grocery lists, using coupons, and making a menu. This is something that helps to save on time in the week.

·         Make another list of family favorite meals as some have changed and I can’t find the old one.

·         Make a grocery list 1 time a month for shopping

·         Start using the couponmom.com to match coupons for sales again

·         Shop one time a month for meat and one time a month or so for laundry and household items.

Organizing:

·         Organize paper work better. Throw out papers that we do not need when they come in, rather than waiting until there is a box that is to be sorted later.  

·         Take pictures of more of the kids School papers so was can save them without saving a bunch of large papers and projects that can cause clutter.

·         Recycle with the kids: We are starting the Recycle Challenge to see if our family can eliminate the need for one of the trash services as we have 2.

·         Clean out the garage: This is a HUGE task because we have used it as storage. I had planned on having a garage sale but have slowly been donating and giving things away.  It is of no use to anyone if it sits long enough for mice to get to it.

·         Take the scrap metal that was in the side yard in so it is not in our yard.

·         Organize Jims Tool room downstairs.

·         Organize the books that are downstairs and sort ones that we do not want. There are hundreds of books and we had to remove the shelves they were on as they possibly contained lead paint.

·         Take in the unwanted items for the church yard sale that we can and donate the others to love.

House Repairs: Most of These repairs have been bid by a company and are set to begin this month or next. They should be complete before summer.  A Few of them are our responsibility.

·         Siding- I cannot wait to get the color samples so I can begin deciding. This is going to be the color we are stuck with and I am bad at making choices. We will be taking into consideration that Jims uncle told us that dark can fade in the sun and living by the high way we do not want it to be so light that it gets really dirty.

·         Heat ducts

·         Removal of a small amount of asbestos siding on the outside of the rear of our home by a certified removal specialist.

·         All plumbing is being Re-done  to meet codes

·         All heat ducts are being redone  to  meet codes

·         Outside and inside stair rails are being redone to meet codes.

·         New windows have been done already

·         New roof on the main house. The side and front roofs are complete already.

·         Soffit and fascia being redone as well as trimming in the windows properly

·         New counter, Dish washer and move the refrigerator over to make the kitchen area bigger and give us more counter space.

·         Install the remaining cupboards that are already bought but not yet installed.(us)

·         Install laminate flooring that has been waiting to be installed for 2 years now. (us)

·         Trim in the nursery and our rooms and finish the closets so they will be completely finished.

·         Completely finish the electrical to code.

·         Our fireplace that is in our utility room is being removed as it is falling away from the house. We could not find someone to repair it only to remove it. We are not to happy about this but the rules of the loan we are getting state that any health or safety issues have to be addressed as part of rehabilitating our house.  If getting all other repairs means we have to sacrifice the fireplace we are willing to do so.

·         There are too many items to list here right now but I will come back to finish it later after I find the Spec sheet for the bids.

·         Flooring in the Utility room as it is going to be a Dining room if it can be heated without costing a fortune. At this point it feels like you are outside in there and I am surprised the pipes don’t freeze on the Washer and Dryer.

Around the house: This is the spot for repairs and projects I want to accomplish that will not be contracted out to any construction company.

·         In our room I would like to put the other bed frame up that we have as the one we are using is very tall.

·         I want to use the Drawers from under the bed we are using now to make a sitting bench for the play room. I want it to be in an L shape. This way, we can move the T.V. over to another corner. This will provide drawers for toy storage and games as well as a comfy spot for the kids to sleep. They can also sit on them and watch T.V. or read.

·         Make the closet in the baby’s room into a media and book closet. We may need to put fresh drywall on the walls and then add shelves to it. It will also need a door to deter the babies from throwing the books off the shelves.

·         Fix the fence that is falling down outside.

·         Construct a frame around the washer and dryer to allow for the washer to be somewhat separate from the dining area even though it is right in the entrance.