2015: My New Years Resolutions

Another year has begun which means time for the inevitable list of resolutions. As I've mentioned in the past, when I make my resolutions, I try to set only goals that I feel are attainable. For instance, generally speaking, I would not resolve to completely do away with something, but rather to cut back or limit whatever that something may be. I think too often when we make resolutions we set the bar too high and get frustrated when we don't reach those goals and give them up entirely. By resolving to try to improve only, these goals are more attainable and less frustrating to achieve.

Here are a few goals I'd like to aim for in 2015:

Find a New Home. At the end of March, our lease on our current home will be up, and with our landlady eager to sell, that means we will most certainly have to be out by then. Our hope is that we are able to make a dream to become homeowners come true very soon. We have many great prospects already and truly are looking forward to doing the one thing the military never allowed- planting roots! If for whatever reason that doesn't pan out just yet, we still look forward to finding another suitable rental in the meantime.

Attempt A Garden...Again! To be honest, I hesitated to include this resolution...not because I don't still want to have a successful garden- I very much do- but because of the probable timing of our move, it may make it quite difficult to start this year. Still, we learned many value lessons last year that I hope to be able to put into practice sooner than later. This may not be the year we rock a huge vegetable garden, but I do hope we are able to manage at least a small herb garden or even tomato patch!

Find Kitchen Inspiration. When I was first learning to cook, I was always experimenting with new ideas and recipes I had found. In fact, for a little over a year, I never (or rarely) made the same meal twice. I didn't know how to make ANYTHING so naturally there were no tried and true favorites to fall back on. I found that I really loved trying new things out. But after awhile, life got busy, inspiration was lacking and I found myself going back to the same ol' dishes over and over again. Cooking became rather boring. This year I want to get back to that fun of trying new recipes and making cooking fun again. Oh, it won't be every night like it was back then but certainly more often than it is now!

Be More Organized. I do believe this is a goal I set every year, and I like to think that each year-little by little- I AM becoming more organized, but well...let's just say there is PLENTY of room for improvement. In my blog work, around my home, as Cub Scouts committee chair...I hope to continue to do better!

Practice Contentment. Honestly, generally speaking I'm a very content person. I don't need a lot of things. I don't care about fancy things for myself, I shop at thrift stores almost exclusively and really, truly don't need much. But still, on occasion when it comes to my children I find myself wishing I could give them more. I wish I could afford all the Legos in the world for my son or fun adventures like trips to Disney. Now, as we adjust to (at least temporarily) finding ourselves needing to downsize our budget, I know that being content is even MORE important and something I truly want to put effort into in the coming year. I need to remind myself that we have more than we NEED and my kids can still be happy and loved without having to give them grand things. The word of 2014 was most certainly 'change', but my word for 2015 will be 'content'.

Do you set New Years Resolutions? What are YOUR goals for 2015?