Always reaching for the stars...

I'm taking one of my friend Shannon's ideas. I hope we are all trying to do our very best all the time. But I know sometimes, I get complacent, comfortable, and I need to stretch. So here's how I'm going to keep myself stretching for the next few years... It's called "101 goals in 1001 days." That's pretty self-explanatory. So I'm going to post my goals here, and you readers can keep me accountable! It's been really hard to come up with 101, but "76 goals in 1001 days" doesn't look as good!

1. Complete a kindergarten homeschool curriculum.
2. Write in my journal every day for at least a month.
3. Toss, give away or sell half of the stuff in my storage unit.
4. Get my 3 month food storage.
5. Become a Star Consultant.
6. Read through the entire Book of Mormon again.
7. Pay off my WF credit card.
8. Be more active in the next election than I've ever been.
9. Read a new book a week for 3 months.
10. Practice piano for 15 minutes every day for a fortnight.
11. Learn to waltz.
12. Complete a 1st grade homeschool curriculum.
13. Learn the first verse of every song in the Children's Songbook.
14. Lose at least 15 pounds before I get pregnant again.
15. Gain no more than 25 pounds with the next pregnancy.
16. Lose that weight within the first year of that baby's life.
17. Go to Seminar 2010.
18. Go to the temple 5 days in a row.
19. Go to the temple once a week for a month.
20. Connect with my family tree on New Family Search.
21. Grow a vegetable from seed to edible end.
22. Pay off car loan.
23. Pay off all credit cards. Then chop them. Or burn them. Oh, that sounds fun...
24. Learn to crochet.
25. Make a dress for myself.
26-28. Teach all my children to read. (Except if another baby is born, that baby is exempt.)
29. Learn to make a souffle'.

===================================================================

This is a post I started over 2 years ago.  I couldn't think of 76 goals, even, much less 101. However, I have accomplished some of these things! I copied the list below, and crossed out the ones I did.

1. Complete a kindergarten homeschool curriculum.
2. Write in my journal every day for at least a month. I've written a lot more often, at least.
3. Toss, give away or sell half of the stuff in my storage unit.
4. Get my 3 month food storage. Thanks, Mom and Dad!
5. Become a Star Consultant. I was, for one quarter!
6. Read through the entire Book of Mormon again. Still working on it. But I've read it every day, one chapter, for the last 2 months!
7. Pay off my WF credit card.
8. Be more active in the next election than I've ever been. Election hasn't happened, but I've become much more vocal about my political views. What, you don't know what they are? I said I was better, not perfect! Feel free to ask or engage in debate with me. :)
9. Read a new book a week for 3 months.
10. Practice piano for 15 minutes every day for a fortnight.
11. Learn to waltz.
12. Complete a 1st grade homeschool curriculum.
13. Learn the first verse of every song in the Children's Songbook.
14. Lose at least 15 pounds before I get pregnant again. Actually it was at least 30!
15. Gain no more than 25 pounds with the next pregnancy. Unrealistic goal... but I didn't gain more than 35, and lost most of it within the first 6 months after. See below.
16. Lose that weight within the first year of that baby's life.
17. Go to Seminar 2010. Life happened. Oh well.
18. Go to the temple 5 days in a row. Forgot about this one!
19. Go to the temple once a week for a month. I can do this one!!! I live super close to a temple again.
20. Connect with my family tree on New Family Search. I at least logged in.
21. Grow a vegetable from seed to edible end.
22. Pay off car loan. Getting it repossessed counts, right? I still had to pay off what they couldn't get back from the sale...
23. Pay off all credit cards. Then chop them. Or burn them. Oh, that sounds fun... I did it. Then I got one more. Will fix!
24. Learn to crochet.
25. Make a dress for myself.
26-28. Teach all my children to read. (Except if another baby is born, that baby is exempt.) She's not far behind, though!
29. Learn to make a souffle'. Oh, yeah! I'm confident in my abilities.

So, as you can see, I did pretty well! I may try to do this again. I probably won't come up with 101 again, unless perhaps I detail completing each course for the nursing program... We'll see.  But setting goals is important! And even though I wrote this and pretty much forgot it for two years, writing it down had enough impact to have most stick in my head and get done, even though it wasn't conscious complete-the-list actions.

Your turn! The classic time for setting goals is coming up... why not start now?  If you get to 101, let me know! I might borrow some ideas from your list!!

Arienne

Goodbye, Sucker!

Okay, I have been a horrible, no-good, lazy bum of a blogger for the last few months. But it's only because I have been the exact opposite in my real life. More updates on that later. That said, I just had to blog about this!

You know that feeling you get when you've lost something? Something really important? Something so important you can't imagine how life will go on without it? Remember that panicky, short-of-breath feeling as you imagine the horrors that will ensue if you don't find it? Yup. That was me tonight.

Why? We couldn't find a pacifier at bedtime.

Most parents of little ones can tell you the importance of pacifiers. They're miracle workers, really. They give you 5 extra minutes to get food ready, shut off the crying that happens for unknown reasons, and enable you to be by yourself for 3 minutes to use the bathroom.

But eventually, you have to get rid of them.

There are "nice" ways to do it.  There's the pacifier fairy, who takes old pacifiers, recycles them somehow and gives them to new babies who "really need them."  There's having "the talk;" you know, pacifiers are for babies, and you're a big kid now, it's time to move on. Or sometimes you just have to bribe them.

Or sometimes you just lose the last one, and there is no other option.

Bring on the panic.

This is not the first time I've done it this way. With my first girl, who has now successfully made it to 8 sans pacifier, this was how we did it too. One major difference? She was a whole year older.  Baby L is just 1 year old! She probably wouldn't understand the concept of Paci Fairy, "the talk" is useless, and you could bribe her, but she probably wouldn't make the connection.  (Although I have to say, I'm fairly certain she's one of the smartest babies ever, as her list of accomplishments thus far include: saying "tut tut" to which I have to reply, "Looks like rain;" saying "ma-nah ma-nah" and then giggling; and rushing for the bathroom the minute I make eye contact with her, laughing maniacally all the way. So if any baby would understand, it would be her.) So what do you do?

Let her cry a little.

Oh, how I dreaded it. I had one child (4-T) on the couch already asleep, and one more wishing she could go to bed too.  I was SURE, absolutely POSITIVE, she would be crying for at least an hour.  Oh, the tears, the agony, the suffering!  But she was so tired... So I put her to bed, and proceeded to go over the house as with a fine-tooth comb, looking in every nook, cranny, bucket, and drawer, likely or unlikely. I told myself, if I find it before she stops crying, I'll give it to her. If she stops crying before I find it, she'll just be done. And of course, what happened?

She cried.

For 5 minutes. MAYBE.

All 4 children are now in bed, sound asleep.

It's entirely possible that a mid-night awakening could be more drama for me.

Then again, maybe not.

And thus we learn that pacifiers are not essential to bedtime, like we tell ourselves. Nope. Our babies are amazing, and part of being a good parent, is learning when to let go and let them be amazing.

Good night, sweetie. You're amazing. I love you. -Mom