GOALS

This post is long over due. I was waiting to post it when I was all caught up with my calendar of events posts, but I am still one month behind. Since that has happened and it has almost been four months since the new year. I will post it now. I don't like New Year's resolutions mainly because they always go by the wayside a month or 2 later. You can't help but think about resolutions during the month of January, because that is what everyone on TV and radio are talking about on the news, talk shows, etc. This year the main New Year's topics in January have been fitness (exercising, eating right, and losing weight) and finances (getting out of debt and what to do with your money, how to spend it, save it, and invest). In January I can't help but reflect on the previous year and plan for the upcoming year on things I want to accomplish. I don't know what the difference is between resolutions and goals but when I think of resolutions I think of it as only temporary and then forgotten. So I like to use the word goals because to me it is a more positive word.

So here is my list of things I want to make habits this year and the years to come. I have been thinking about what I want on my list throughout January and wrote my list in February so since it has been almost 2 months I will give a little update on how I am doing. And I will put my whole list down even the ones I still need work at.



I will start with the spiritual goals.

1. Read the Doctrine and Covenants. Since I am in Primary and can't go to gospel doctrine, I thought I would read what they are reading. I also have never read it cover to cover. I am currently on Section 54. My goal is to read from it everyday. I haven't found the perfect time to read so some days go unread. Lately, I have been reading before going to bed, but some days I forget.

2. Read the Ensign cover to cover. When Payton was in Pre K almost 5 years ago, I read the Ensign cover to cover. I had 20 minutes to kill in the carpool line so I thought why not read the Ensign. I had to be one of the first people in the carpool line so I could be home in time for Brenton and Connor's buses. I loved reading the stories and articles. But sadly when school got out the Ensign basically only got opened to read the visiting teaching message. I no longer had that time dedicated to reading it. So fast forward a few years and I have read February and have just finished the last page I had left in the March Ensign. I keep the Ensign in my purse so it is with me wherever I go and when I have some time to kill like on Wednesday the kids had dentist appointments I whipped that baby out and read while waiting. I mostly read it while waiting in the carpool line to pick up Talmage from Pre K. I try and leave the house early so I can have more time to read (usually 5-10 minutes). I need to start thinking now what I am going to do once school gets out since I don't think I will have lots of time to read on the road.

3. Attend the temple once a month. Since the temple is about 20 minutes from our house there is no excuse for Jon and I to attend the temple. This past year I didn't do to good at temple attendance. The main excuse was I didn't want to pay a babysitter (we pay our sitters $10 an hour since we have 6 kids). It would cost us $25-$30 just to go to the temple. I know I should have just paid a babysitter because I could use the blessings. Now that Brenton turned 12 in January (and we pay him $2 an hour) there are no excuses. Our ward has a temple day the first Friday of every month and that is our goal to attend it that day. That way if for some reason we can't go on that day we have lots of days left in the month to make it up. I am happy to say Jon and I have been to the temple in Feb. and March. Although March almost didn't happen. We were at the temple and I got my recommend scanned first and I headed to the changing rooms without waiting for Jon. I got changed and was waiting in the chapel for Jon. I usually beat him by a few minutes (one of the only times I can beat him at something). Well some other members from our ward were there and told me Jon was in the front of the temple they thought we had finished our session and he was waiting for me. I went to see what was up and last month when we went to the temple he got a new plastic cover for his recommend. Well this plastic cover had a made in China sticker on it and that sticker was covering the bar code to scan so the temple worker was taking the plastic cover off to scan the code and the sticker was partially stuck to his recommend and it pulled off some of the bar code and the code numbers at the bottom of the bar code so the worker could scan it or manually type in the numbers. So he was waiting for someone to look up his number. When we arrived to the temple, we had just missed the 6:30 pm session. Come to find out the temple worker that went back to get Jon's number got called to help someone else and then we he came back to the office forgot about Jon's recommend. I went back to the chapel and told him if he wasn't there for the 7:30 pm session (yes we missed the 7:00 pm session) we would just leave. He arrive 10 minutes before the 7:30 session. He was waiting for his recommend for 45 minutes. The 7:30 session had 2 people taking out their own endowments. We also had 4 Hispanic ladies with head phones to translate into Spanish. One of the ladies was sitting next to me and at times I could hear the Spanish louder than the English. That was mainly when she had to take off the head phones to put on the extra clothing and she was adjusting the volume. During the session, the lady who was taking out her own endowments had to go to the bathroom. So we had to wait till she came back. I kind of felt sorry for her how embarrassing. I am glad we went and stayed even with all the little hiccups. I just found out last Sunday that our temple (Atlanta) is going to be closed July 1st for 15-18 months. The closest next closest one I believe is 2 1/2 hours away in Birmingham, Alabama and it is a small temple. I hate that just when I am getting back on track and have cheap babysitting.

4. Year supply
With the whole economy going down and more natural disasters happening all over the world our ward has been really focusing on this. We had talks in Sacrament meeting on being spiritually, physically, and mentally self reliant. We had the whole month of March dedicated to this. We have had combined RS and Priesthood meetings about being prepared. Our visiting teaching message this month was to check with our families and talk with them about emergency preparedness. We also did a mock natural disaster and a member of the bishopric did a calling post to all the members to have them call the people they visit or home teach and then report to their visiting or home teacher supervisors. They also sent out an email to everyone saying the same thing. The bishopric planted 6 mock disasters at peoples house (which the ward didn't know about unless you were one who got called). Then at 8 pm the bishopric, RS, EQ and high priest group leader did a conference call to see how we did and where we needed improvement. Since Jon is the new EQ president he was in on the call and happily reported that we found everyone with damage even 2 more people who made up some damage. Jon didn't like the fact that some people weren't taking this serious and they would say they would have called their families and sent their report sooner if it was real. Anyway back to my goal on this I have divided the year supply goal into categories since year supply is a broad topic.

a. Three month supply of food. If you go to the church website http://www.providentliving.org/content/list/0,11664,7445-1,00.html , It says we should have a 3 month supply of food we eat everyday. I also added to this 3 months worth of bathroom supplies, cleaning supplies (including in this is the dish soap, laundry soap etc.) and whatever else we use on a daily basis. So this is what I did I wrote down 10 breakfast ideas, 9 lunch ideas, 15 dinner ideas and snack ideas. Then wrote down all the ingredients for these meals and multiplied the breakfasts by 9 (10 meals X 9 times we would eat that = 90 days (3 months) worth of breakfast), the lunches by 10, and the dinners by 6 (get the idea). So far I have purchased all the food for the breakfast and lunches and some of the bathroom supplies for three months. I need to finish up making my dinner and snack list. Also my 3 month supply of food I am not just using non perishable items. I am using my freezer for meat, cheese, butter, etc. The church web site says just make it for you eat everyday so going by that I am figuring we will have electricity maybe we will dip into this because of the economy and loss of jobs food prices way expensive. Where did we get the $$$$ to buy all this food (luckily I had some food already in storage so I went through that first and then made a list of things we didn't already have stored for instance I didn't have to buy any cereal or oats because I already had lots of boxes of cereal that I bought on sale and the oats I got from the cannery last year). Back to the $$. When we found out how much we were getting back in taxes (Jon takes 0 exemptions so they take the most taxes out every week as they can so we get the most back at tax time and then we have 6 kids so we get quite a bit back) and then divided it up. We put some in our emergency savings fund, some for food storage, and some for our playground Jon is building (more on that later). Sorry Disney you didn't make the cut. Maybe next year when our year supply is bigger.



b. Year supply of basic food. After we have our 3 month supply of food, I will be working more on this. Jon and I already did one trip to the cannery on Valentines day since our ward was going. This food is a year supply of basic survival food that will keep you alive. This is where your wheat, oats, rice, noodles, beans, etc. come into play. Here is the LDS church food food storage calculator http://www.providentliving.org/content/display/0,11666,7498-1-4070-1,00.html I am going to start with the basic survival food and then add to it. I liked this sites food storage calculator http://www.thefoodguys.com/foodcalc.htmlbecause it has fruit and veggies unlike other ones I have googled. Lately I have been on the lookout for some good food storage friendly recipes (ones that use only shelf food). I have found a few that we like and a few we don't like. I want to try them out first before buying large quantities of the ingredients and find out we hate it. My plan is to post the ones we like but who know when that will happen. This way if we like to food I will make sure we have ingredients to make it. Besides going to the cannery last month, Jon and I went to Sam's club and Walmart and bought a year supply of things that wouldn't expire so we could put it in our garage and forget about it. Things like toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash, shampoo, conditioner, razors you get the idea. We also bought vitamins, and medicine things that would expire and would need to be rotated but not for at least a year.



c. Power outage supplies. These are things like candles, flashlights, matches, batteries, and ways to cook food in case of no power (charcoal, propane etc). For this I am going to keep my eyes opened buy things as they are on sale or clearance. I just bought some candles at Walgreen's yesterday. They were on clearance 75% off. Yeah they were no Yankee Candles but hey I did smell them and only picked the ones that didn't give me a headache with first whiff and they will do just fine when the power is out.

d. I also plan on putting together a big first aid kit. I already have the container and a few things but need to make a list of everything I want in it and buy it as things are on sale.

I tell you this year supply goal is enough to keep me busy. My brain is starting to hurt by all the things I can think of with this year supply goal, but the greatest comfort is knowing I have food stored away for an emergency. It has been a big relief. Jon and my motto lately has been plan for the worst and hope for the best. Also, that scripture in D&C keeps coming to mind if ye are prepared ye shall not fear. This has been so true the more I buying things and store them away the better I feel (even if I buy one can of corn that week, hey it's progress).
Alright enough already I could blab all day long on this topic.

Now on to the other goals
1. Aerobic exercise 5 times a week and keep the strength training the same 3 times a week. Right now I jog on Tuesday and Thursdays and lift weights Mon., Wed., and Fri. I would also like to jog a little those days as well (not the whole 3 miles I do on Tues and Thurs but more like half that to start out with). Well I haven't changed my exercise routine yet, but hopefully things will change more.
2. I also need to work on having more patience. I do great while the kids are at school and it is just Hayden and me but some days as the day goes on my patience gets less and less until it seems like I am snapping at anyone who looks at me. I have to remind myself constantly to take a deep breath and just listen to what the kids have to say and not just snap at them even though I know someone did something to them and they should go to bed early or go in time out or they are telling me they are hungry right after I did the dishes that we ate dinner on 10 minutes ago.

So there you have it my goals and one long post.