Did you have yourself a merry little Christmas? We had a nice but low-key day. My biggest gift, literally, was the baby elephant my mom gave me. How fun is that!? Her name is Esampu (the elephant, not my mom), and no, I can’t bring her to live in my backyard, but I will be getting updates on her all year long through the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Orphan’s Project.

According to studies, folks tend to mentally switch gears the day after Christmas (that’s today!) from holiday mode to goal-planning for the new year, but I’ve been thinking about my goals for some time now. This year I splurged on a custom planner from Plum Paper; it has a goal setting section at the beginning of every month, and I opted for extra note pages in each month so I can plan my workouts, homeschool and work goals, and so on.

Yes, I admit I purposely coordinated my fun little lemon planner with my desk. My “office” in our new house is just a corner of my bedroom but the desk is still the same as in my old office.

I can’t report yet on actually using my new Plum Paper planner, but I can tell you that when I accidentally ORDERED THE WRONG YEAR, their customer service was wonderful about helping me. I didn’t realize my mistake until I sat down to admire my pretty new planner and realized the days of the week weren’t lining up with my online calendar. {face palm}

Some days I wonder what is wrong with my brain. Then I remember: children.

2018 broad goals

Smaller, specific goals are more effective, but I’m still in the process of wrangling the bigger, broader ones into bite size pieces. Time spent planning HOW to accomplish goals is even more important than the time spent coming up with those goals. That’s the stage I’m in now.

Homeschool

Considering all the changes my schedule has undergone since summer with adding work outside the home, I feel like we’re doing darn well with homeschooling — but I have a few tweaks I’d like to make. At this point Kathryn just needs overseeing, but I’d like to make some changes for Jem and I’m recruiting her to help me.

Blog

In 2018, I’m not going to worry about a particular number of posts each month but I’ll continue writing about homeschooling, adoption, mom life, fitness, and all the topics you expect here.

Household

We’ve been in this house two years now, so it’s time to start gussying up outside: plant a few more trees, create flower gardens, paint the shutters a fresh color, gussy up the screened porch, and get a new mailbox since ours has been run over and set back up a few times! (Not our fault: it was all construction folks for houses next door and across the street!)

I’m looking at daily routines to make sure things don’t fall through the cracks. Little things like remembering to trim the dogs’ toenails or clean the shower before it gets scary, and bigger to-dos like scheduling an orthodontic consultation for Scout.

I’d also like to do better on meal planning for the family, as well as for my own meal prep since I need to eat a bit differently than the rest of the family most days due to my workouts and my sensitivities. (See the end of this post for a resource to help with this.)

Personal fitness

My personal fitness goals often tie in with my work goals, so I have to manage my rest/recovery so this 44-year-old body can keep up with everything I want it to do. Some days I write it all out and think YAY, I CAN DO THE THINGS, and other days I look at what I’ve written and think, THERE IS NO WAY this old woman can keep up with all that. I’m still figuring out what’s realistic.

Work

I plan to continue personal training and my current group fitness classes, but I’m also hoping to add more classes and/or training groups this year, as well as nutrition coaching AND online distance coaching for a limited number of clients. I’m excited about it all!

What’s on your goal list for the year ahead?

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »