~ Take a Woods Walk once per week (these are NOT to replace the walks I take on my own or while listening to audiobooks/podcasts. These are for nature and children and refreshment. Not necesssarily exercise.)
~ Finish Hillsdale College course on Paradise Lost
~ Re-do Dining Room already. SHEEEESH.
~ Continue the habit of exercising three times per week. (I am going to try to focus more on strength training this year... hopefully sneaking it in twice a week this year as often as possible...but still gonna count three times of WHATEVER a win. Habits are turning into lifestyle and that is progress I want to keep! At my age, mobility and strength will always be more important than being thin. So, continue I will.)
~ Group Letters, 1x per month
~ Read at least 2 adult books with the Middles
~ Read at least 4 chapter books with the Littles
~ Read 2 poetry books
~ Read at least 5 never-read books from my shelves
~ Try and fix my sleep problems this year. Research and implement strategies that will help me in this. (Can only get better at this point. Can't get any worse. Riiiiight????)
~ take supplements every day. Especially magnesium before bed!
~ Monthly budget meetings with the Mister
~ One date night per month with the Mister (NOT at the same time as the budget.)
~ Host games nights for teens (I'd love to have this once a month but I know that is probably too lofty of a goal. So, my goal for this year is at least four times.)
AND THE BIGGEST ONE...
~ Focus on Feeding My People Better
(It has taken me a few extra weeks to post this because I have been concerned with how this next one sounds. I don't want to seem snooty or uppity or judgy about food or food choices. I know there is a lot of baggage surrounding this topic so as you read on, remember. This is just my goal for my family and it is just my goal for this YEAR. And it is just a goal for my own KITCHEN... I am not the sort of person who is going to refuse to eat with gratitude what others put before me. So much can be said on this topic... but not today. Today, is just me trying to find a few changes I can implement in an effort to optimize what comes out of my own kitchen. )
I spent a lot of time eating differently than my family last year because I wasn't allowing myself the not-good-for-you foods that they were eating. Which means, they were eating a fair bit of not-great-for-you food. This year, I hope to change that.
What complicates things is that everyone in the family has different needs and temptations... some eat way too much, some eat way too little. Some need lots more protein. Some need lots more carbs. Some need to eat a lot less. Some need to gain some weight. It's a full time job to meet the needs and feed all these unique, hungry people. But there are a few things that will help everyone in the household.
We don't need to eat as many processed 'treats'. Candy. Chips. Cookies. I'm all about the treats... but I hope to offer more homemade treats, less artificial and processed. (I'm ashamed to say, rather than force myself to withstand the temptation of a homemade cookie-a near impossibility- I bought cookies for the family simply because they don't tempt me as much. Tragic and sad. And selfish. And MEAN of me!)
I would like to lessen our storebought convenience foods like storebought bread or dressings. (Notice I said lessen, not cut out entirely. Baby steps.)
And we could all benefit from more vegetables. (We already eat vegetables at every supper. But I'm going to try to increase that even more.)
Basically, more nutrition.
Equal parts ridiculous food prices and my own sheer laziness/overwhelm, this year I need to refocus on getting our food under budget again...and making it as nourishing and healthful as I can muster. And THAT means, more things made from scratch. And THAT means...a schedule.
I have noticed I am very much a 'what I feel like cooking' cook. I like variety, I like following my food whims. So scheduling a meal plan has always been hard for me. But, if I plan for it, I have more control over it. And more preparation time. And more intentionality.
So here is my plan:
Focus on:
~ a loose weekly meal framework (to lessen decision fatigue). Strategy, my friends. I need strategy. Within that framework, there is room for following my whims.
~ include more vegetables in our meals each day
~ make homemade snacks instead of buying them all. Also- less snacking. Also- more vegetable snacks.
~ Breads from scratch. I make a lot of bread products from scratch, but I still wind up buying sandwich bread for lunches. It is just so convenient! I have to admit, when I make three meals a day, it is nice to have a simple, convenient sandwich at lunch that children can make on their own. But also- storebought sandwich bread is pricey, tasteless, nutritionless and never seems to fill people up OR go bad (?!?!). So I am going to be working on making heartier breads each week. (And more creative lunches). I will not be making ALL of our breads, all the time. Just MORE of them. And for the sake of our Trim the Tree party rye bread dip, I want to learn to make rye bread. (To buy a nice rye loaf at the store is almost $10 now!!!) Also: try using einkorn flour. Also: experiment with sourdough.
~ Find excellent recipes for dressings and sauces and begin to make our own rather than buy them bottled.
Here is the 'loose framework' I intend to implement. I'll tweak it if it doesn't work well.
Food takes up a huge portion of my time already. This is by far the loftiest, most time-consuming goal of the year. It will, however, impact the health of everyone in this family and that makes it very worthwhile. And it will make Matt's hard-earned dollars stretch further, which will be very helpful too.
Here's to a productive (and delicious!) 2026.
Do you make any goals at the start of the year? If so- how are you doing?! I'd love to hear!
And- if you have any from-scratch dressings/condiment recipes you swear by... drop 'em in the comments and I'll love you forever.
The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.
Gilbert K. Chesterton
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