5 Specific Goals for January 2017 Challenge
Happy Friday friends!
We’re almost a week into the New Year, and I’m thinking about what I want to get accomplished this winter. I’ve never been one for making New Year’s resolutions. How about you?
I tend not to do it mostly because mine seemed to always be kind of general, like exercise more or eat healthier etc, and I’m a girl who needs to deal in specifics.
I try to do those things anyway… try is the operative word here. lol.
Also, I’ve always been one who enjoys living in the moment and planning out my goals for the whole year has never really worked for me.
So I’ve decided to challenge myself to try something new by breaking down my goals into smaller slices of time.
I’ve chosen a specific list of 5 goals in no particular order, and I’ll explain why I chose each one. Then I’ll share how I did when the end of the month rolls around.
If I don’t fail miserably this month I may do this every month for the whole year.
Yikes! No pressure. lol.
So here goes everything. 🙂
My Goals for January 2017 are:
Paint my Kitchen Cupboards, Walls, Trim, and Ceiling.
Why? Because my kitchen has been screaming for a makeover for about 2 years now and I can’t turn a deaf ear or a blind eye to it any longer.
It’s been the same historic colour scheme for about 9 years now, and it’s seriously losing its patience with me because I keep putting it off. Historic colours tend to have gray undertones, and I’m really really really really really (I’m not sure that’s even enough reallys) feeling the need to lighten and brighten.
Here’s the vintage mixer that I found at a thrift store last fall. It was love at first sight, and it instantly became my kitchen makeover inspiration. I’ll be sharing some before shots of the kitchen soon.
Write One New Poem and Share it on the Blog
Why? Those of you who have been long time readers know that I write poetry, and even though I’m not one to live a crazy busy life sometimes I forget to do the things that I know bring me peace. I’ve shared a few of my poems in the past, but being the introvert that I am I tend to shy away from doing that. This will be a good challenge for me to put my self out there again.
Give the Living Room China Cabinet a Makeover
Why? John and I have decided it’s time to downsize our Christmas Village. We keep it out all year and this huge china cabinet is important real estate in an old house that doesn’t have much built in storage. I’ll be using it to display some of my own treasures as well as some etsy things that we can safely enjoy looking at until they sell. I’m so excited!
My craft studio is just too small to be both a creative space and etsy storage space. We’ll be saving our favourite pieces from the village and setting them up in a smaller china cabinet to enjoy next Christmas.
And yes that is a cat, Salty, you see sleeping up there. He likes to have his crunchy snacks up there too. What can I say?… we love our cats. 🙂 The second bed is for Pixie, who sleeps up there sometimes too. You can see pics of our feline family in my blog sidebar.
Try One New Soup Recipe
Why? It’s so easy to get stuck in the rut of making the same things over and over, and even though I make them because I love them I think it’s good to try something new once in a while. I love making cream soups in the winter and my faves are cream of broccoli, and cream of asparagus. I’d like to try a new veggie. Any suggestions? I’m pretty open except for brussel sprouts. Is there even such a thing as brussel sprout cream soup? It certainly wouldn’t surprise me, but this girl’s taste buds won’t be finding out.
Make One Snow Angel a Week.
Why? It’ll help to keep me thinking and feeling young, and remind me of how much fun winter was for me when I was a child…Â and it still can be fun if the 55-year-old me lets it be. It’s really that simple, but sometimes the simplest things are the hardest to actually do. Sounds crazy, but for me it’s so true.
I wrote about this a few years back in “I Found Her On One Frigid Morn” when I made the snow angel below. It’ll be good to be out in the snow to do  something other than shovel it or drive in it.
So there you have it… my 5 specific goals for January 2017 written down for all to see. I’ve even written them on a chalkboard in my craft studio.
You know how it is… out of sight… out of mind.
Want to join in? I’d totally love the company. 🙂
Just pick five specific goals for yourself, and we’ll see how we each did at the end of the month.
Wish me luck! And if you’re joining in I wish you luck too!
Thanks so much for reading and until next time…
keep on keepin’ on!
XOX
Tuula, great goals! I can’t wait to see what you do with your kitchen and china cabinet. I’m not much on resolutions either, but I keep a prayer journal and every year, I create a list of goals and prayer requests. It’s always encouraging to look back at the prior year’s list and the answered prayers and goals I’ve met. Snow angels–I can’t make any here but yesterday I was able to live vicariously through my grandson when my daughter posted video of him filling their yard with them. He was having such fun! Happy weekend 😉
Aww.. what fun that must have been to watch your grandson making snow angels. It was one of our favourite things to do when I was a child. I’m looking forward to making one or two myself this weekend. 🙂 It seems quite strange to me that I’ve never written my goals down before, and I’m hoping that doing that and working in smaller time frames will help me to get more things accomplished and have a bit of fun too. I’m glad to know that you found it encouraging to look at past lists. I’m hoping I’ll feel the same.
For your soup inspiration, I would like to suggest that you try an awesome soup that I had at a German restaurant in Portland, OR a few years back. I have made it at home with their recipe as well, and it’s excellent. How about trying Dill Pickle Soup? Also, I am inspired by your goals for January and will enjoy hearing about your results. Happy New Year 🙂
Wow! Dill pickle soup? I never would have thought there even was such a thing. My hubby loves dill pickles so that might be something he’d really enjoy. Thanks so much for reading along. 🙂 I’ll be sharing as I accomplish each one, and I hope to have full positive results by the end of the month.
Hi,
My name is Carol.
I signed up to get your e-mail’s awhile back and I love to read what you have to say. You sound so much like me. My daughter and I also do alot of crafting and redoing. We love Home Talk and all the people here.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much Carol! It’s so nice to hear from you. How wonderful that you and your daughter do projects together. That’s so awesome! I love Hometalk too, but haven’t posted there in a while. I really should start again. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
I love your china cabinet and your village! I’ve never seen one displayed like that and it’s just so perfect! You said you’d be keeping your faves in a smaller cabinet….you aren’t getting rid of that one, are you! As for your goals….! Wow. For me, the painting of the kitchen would take me all month! The poem (can’t wait!), soup, and snow angel would fit into that. But the china cabinet too? You are Wonder Woman for sure if you accomplish all 5!! But I really like this idea! So…..here are mine……
1. Finish all the sewing that needs to be done for a wedding on the 27th. That includes: putting new sleeves in the wedding dress and hemming it up (except for the train), making a burlap and lace ruffled tablecloth for the cake table and making 3 panel drapes to hang behind…….something! Not sure what that is.
2. My brain is so full of that, I can’t think of anything else!
So maybe I’ll have only one goal to start with! Dona
Hey Dona, it sounds to me like you’ve got enough going on with number 1. That’s plenty! Thanks for playing along. 🙂 The large china cabinet is definitely staying put, but it’s getting a total makeover. I’ll be painting the kitchen first though because it’s a much bigger job, and I like to do bigger jobs first. I have to admit that I’m a pretty fast painter. I can’t even remember how many rooms I’ve redone over the years, but it’s quite few. I really do love to paint so it doesn’t even feel like work to me. Good luck with your goal(s). I know you’ll get it all done in time.
Lofty goals indeed! I never make them so as not to be disappointed when I don’t follow through.
I have never seen the poems before. So I read your Snow Angel poem for the first time today. It was very heartwarming! Thank you for being brave enough to share such a personal thought. You are my new hero for being so brave, talented, and beautiful in heart, soul. Thank you for sharing because you do make a difference if even for one person today… me. Best, Judy
Thank you so much Judy! You have given me a great gift by letting me know that my poem meant something to you. That is all I ever hope for, and it makes me feel just a little bit braver about sharing more in the future. 🙂 I know what you mean about goal disappointment. That happens to me when I have too many. I’m trying to be much more selective in what I do rather than being all over the place. I’m hoping making my goals by the month will help me stay focused. We’ll see if it works.
You are ambitious! Not sure I can even come up with 5 goals……living day to day right now! I am excited to see your kitchen done in my two favorite colors. I am done doing makeovers for now but I love the idea of trying a new soup and making a snow angel. I do have one huge goal to clean out and reorganize all of my Etsy inventory. It is stored in different places all over the house and there have been times it takes a while to find something that sold. We’ll see if I get through that this month. Ready, set, go!
Wow, I kind of envy you AnnMarie… being done doing makeovers. I don’t know if that day will ever come for me because my taste seems to change, and I do love to paint so it’s not all bad. I know exactly what you mean about your etsy inventory. It can be so hard to keep it organized. My huge china cabinet will be a big help for me. I don’t see any reason why I can’t enjoy my thrifted treasures until they sell. It can be sort of like a revolving gallery. The kitchen will be so much fun to do. I had to wait all through the holidays to start and now the time to get it done is finally here. I wish us both luck. Now let’s get to it! 🙂
Excellent list and ambitious too. So far I only have two main goals for January. 1. Empty my antique mall booth with sales and pack remainder. 2. Drive to my daughter’s new apartment in Delray Flordia and help her get it set up and organized. Goal one not so much fun but goal two is a pleasure. sb
I was sorry to read that you booth wasn’t working for you any longer. I’ve often thought about trying that someday, but I do enjoy selling on etsy for now. I’m sure goal two will make up for goal one. I think it’s so wonderful that you’re helping you daughter set up her new apartment. 🙂 Enjoy!
Good luck on your January goals, Tuula! I had to chuckle when I read them because my first thought was “Oh my! Pass the Geritol, please!” You have 5 goals for January, and I have THREE goals for 2017 in its entirety. I will say that my 3 goals do involve weekly and monthly goals in order to accomplish the year end ones. Here’s to both of us meeting our goals! *clink*
lol. You’re too funny. I just might need some Geritol myself. 🙂 It sounds like you’re breaking your goals down too, but just in a different way than I am. For me I’ve decided not to even look at the big goals this year. I’m hoping that by looking at the monthly ones only the yearly ones will take care of themselves without me even thinking about them. We’ll see if it works. Only time will tell. Here’s to both of us definitely meeting out goals! *clink* 🙂
Hi Tuula, I think it’s a great idea to be very specific with goals and to plan only for one month. I can’t wait to see your finished kitchen and I look forward to your poems. Snow angels are wonderful but I can’t expect to make one. We had snow on Friday night but it was just less than 0.5″ and temperatures are supposed to come up again soon. I don’t complain though since I’m not such a big snow fan.
I plan to try some new recipes also. I’ve made my first sourdough over the last 5 days and it’s now ready to be used. You asked for a creamy soup. I can recommend this one:
http://www.closetcooking.com/2015/04/ham-and-potato-corn-chowder.html
It’s one of my favorite soup recipes ever.
I loved seeing your cats in the sidebar. 🙂 They are all so sweet!
Have a great weekend!
xo Julia
Thanks Julia! I should have put Our Feline Bosses as the heading for the cats instead of Our Feline Family. lol. We do love them. I decided a few years ago that I had to learn to love the snow again because it’s here for 4-5 months of the year, but I often need to remind myself. Honestly, if I didn’t have to drive in it I’d love it all the more. I’ve never made sourdough. Don’t even know what it is really. Maybe you’ll share it on your blog and I can see exactly what it is. Thanks so much for the soup recipe link. It looks delicious! I’ve pinned it so I have it at hand. I love potatoes, corn, and ham so it sounds like a winner to me. 🙂
I told myself that if we got the snow that was predicted in southeastern NC, I would make a snow angel and send it to my mom and daughter. I’m 60 going on 25 sometimes! The weather folks have been threatening it for the last week. The library was shut down in anticipation of the storm that never came. So, if and when it gets here, I will make a snow angel!
I have decided that I will start blogging again. It will be a new blog, because some much has happened in the last year and a half since I wrote something on the old blog. I have plenty to share, and the old blog was just too different to start that up again.
Best wishes to you in the new year. I hope your plan go according to plan or, if not, something better took its place! Take care…
Hi Fonda. We have no shortage of snow here, but that’s nothing new here. I made my first snow angel this season today and it felt great. So much silly fun! Congrats on coming back to blogging and good luck with it in the new year. All the best to you. 🙂