It’s been a little while since we had one of these, so here are 10 things I’d like to get accomplished (I’ll probably give myself 1.5 weeks to get these done.)

1. Write up a master account/password financial list.

Not to be all morbid and whatnot, but if something bad ever happens to me, I want Mr. FG to be able to access all of our accounts.  I’m the one that takes care of bill-paying right now, so I need to compile all that information in one place.

2. Sell my broken camera lens on Ebay.

My beloved 50mm 1.4 lens gave up the ghost, and repair was going to be slow and expensive (it wasn’t going to be back from the shop in time for Miss Callie’s birth, and I really, really, REALLY wanted it for that!  Taking pictures in dark hospital rooms is nigh onto impossible with my one other lens.)

I had some money that I was saving up for a new lens (I wanted a 35mm or 85mm), but I decided to just use that money to buy a new 50mm (this time I purchased a Canon Lens Hood to help protect the focus mechanism, since it seems to be a fairly common problem with this lens.)  The good news is that even broken 50mm lenses do sell on Ebay (sometimes for a surprising amount!), so I’m going to list mine to recoup some of the cost of the new one.

3. Update Quicken.

Yeah.  Still don’t trust myself to do that without a list!

4. Start on our tax return.

As I shared with you, I use Turbo Tax for this (love it!), and even though we don’t have all of our tax papers yet, I can at least start on my small business taxes, since I own all of those records.

5. Combine two credit card accounts for easier online access.

See that first goal up there?  As a part of that project, I’ve been trying to simplify my financial work (it’s not going to hurt me to have simpler tasks either!).  Anyway, there are two credit cards I want to keep, but one is under Mr. FG’s name and one is under mine (though we both have access to both accounts).  This means there are separate logins for each card.  I want to simplify and end up with just one log-in, but that means we both need to get on the phone to make this happen.

6. Finish editing a photo session, burn the CD, and deliver it.

They’re first birthday pictures for this little one.  Isn’t she adorable??

7. Plan and schedule music and musicians for February

Organizing all of that is my job at church, and I want to get it done soon.

8. Launch Lisey’s secret project (which will then not be a secret)

We just need to do a few other things, and then we’ll be ready to share it with you!

9. Plan my 14 Days of Valentines for this year.

I’ve shared about this tradition of mine before.  It’s really fun if you’ve got a spouse who likes to get gifts, but it does require some advance planning.  And since I’ve only got a week before February hits, I need to get on this!

10. Exercise 4 days a week.

I had a weird cold/flu thing recently and that sort of got me off of my routine.

Ok!  I’ll be back in a week and a half to report on how I did.

_________________________

Today’s 365 post: Check out what I found in a kitchen cabinet!

Joshua’s 365 post: Wanna guess??

Amazon links are my affiliate links.

Actually, we’ll do the update first.

1. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

Nope.  Maybe we’ll get it done in time for January?  We did discuss what we plan to do with our extra money in December, though, so we’re not just floating along entirely without a plan!

2. Read my Bible every day.

Nope, not every day.  I have been good about going for walks in the morning, and I pray while I do that.  But I just need to get my rear out of bed a little earlier so I can read before I go for a walk (I’d listen to an audio version of the Bible while I walk, but then I’d run out of time to pray!)

3. Update Quicken.

Done.  Oh yes.  I felt like putting it off, but because it was on my list, I got it taken care of. Behold, the power of the public to-do list!

4. Organize kitchen cabinets.

Nope.  I did take before pictures…does that count for anything?

5. Get half of a Christmas present made.

I’m almost halfway done, so I’m going to cross that off.

6. Make a list of presents that need to be made/bought.

Yup, did that!  And we only need to get a present for one more person before we’re done.

7. Clean up my laundry room.

Yes, indeedy!  And if you faithfully read here, you already know that because you saw the before and after pictures!

8. Cancel my gym membership.

Sort of. You have to go to the gym to cancel it, and when I went in, they offered to give me discounts so that Mr. FG and I could both keep our memberships for the price of Mr. FG’s membership alone.  I’m a little fuzzy on why exactly they would do that, but I agreed.  I still think I’m going to go in next month and cancel for real, though, because I am just not getting to the gym these days.

One upside of this is that when I do cancel, Mr. FG’s membership will still be at the reduced price, so we’ll be saving even more.

9. On a related note, walk four days this week.

I’ve been doing well with this!  Setting my clothes and shoes out the night before helps a lot.  Then I just have to wake up, put my contacts in, throw my clothes on, and head out the door.

10. Give Sonia a haircut.

I did!  And I think her hair looks a lot happier now.

So, I got 7/10 things done…not too shabby.

Here are 10 things I’d like to get done over the next two weeks.

1. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

I’m not sure how realistic this is given how close Christmas is, but we do need to get it done!

2. Read my Bible every day.

I’m going to have Mr. FG set the alarm early enough for me to get in a bit of reading before my morning walk.

3. Organize kitchen cabinets.

Gotta have some Afters to go with my Befores!

4. Make cut-out frosted sugar cookies with the kids.

We do this every December, and they just love it.

Hmm.  Looking at that pictures reminds me that I should check on the status of the redhots at our house.  I may need to buy some.

Or, um, a lot.

5. Make Pfeffernusse.

Mr. FG requested these.

6. Help the kids finish buying/making presents for each other.

They’ve got a good start on this, but I need to figure out who still needs to get a present for someone.  It’s a little complicated to organize this with four children and it must really get crazy with more than that!

7. Update Quicken.

I don’t trust myself enough to take this off the list just yet.

8.  Finish the Christmas present I started making.

Considering Christmas is in the next two weeks, I’d better get this done, list or not list!

9. Bake bread to give to neighbors.

I’m not sure what recipe I’m going to make this year.  Maybe cherry danishes if I’m feeling extra motivated.

10. Make a detailed schedule/plan for next week.

Between now and the day after Christmas, I’m doing a photo shoot, we’re visiting a nursing home twice, going to a Christmas concert at church, hosting a women’s Christmas party here, having my in-laws over, visiting Mr. FG’s aunt, and visiting my family.  And some of these events involve cooking/baking for me.

I think this is going to be manageable, but only if I am organized and prepared.

Thank goodness we’re not doing any schoolwork next week!

How’s your schedule looking at this busy time of year?

__________________________________

Today’s 365 post: Our adventures in Narnia are over.

Joshua’s 365 post: ???

Before we get to that, I wanted to tell you that I’m extending the $1.99 sale on my ebook for one more day.  That’s because I made a blooper when I created the HALFOFF coupon code, so it wasn’t working for a while yesterday.  It’s all fixed now, though, and I wanted to make sure that you all had a chance to take advantage of it.

My last goal post ended up being two weeks’ worth of goals, which actually worked out fine, because even after two weeks, I still only got 8/10 done.

1. Finish editing photos from my shoot with the W family.

Done. These are due to be picked up tomorrow.

(I decided to use a silly outtake for the cover this time.)

VERY happy to have this done, because I was feeling dreadfully guilty about how long it had taken me.

2. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

Heh. For someone who blogs about money, I’ve been surprisingly lax about getting this done. But December is a new month, so maybe we’ll get around to it!

3. Post Cook’s Illustrated cookbook giveaway.

Done! And you guys have until Wednesday morning to enter, so hurry on over and do that before it’s too late.

4. Fill Operation Christmas Child box.

Done. And delivered!

5. Update Quicken (every week is my new goal!)

Oh yes! I got this done, and I’m embarrassed to say how easy it is if it’s only been a week since the last time.  Ahem.

 6. Prime and paint the living room/dining room.

Done. Photos to come soon (you can see the new color in the photo above, actually. Isn’t it marvy–fab?)

7. Finish scheduling/planning our December church music and musicians.

Done.

8. Read my Bible every night.

This is still not quite working for me…I have such a hard time remembering to do it unless it’s right away in the morning.  So, maybe I’ll try reading before I go for a walk in the morning.

9. List two items on Ebay or Craig’s list

I did! I actually listed 4 items.  Go me!! They haven’t sold yet since I listed them at the end of the week, but at least I made my goal of getting them listed.

10.Freecycle or donate items that can’t be sold.

Yup!  I listed a number of things, and the pile of junk by my downstairs slider is steadily shrinking.  Shweet.

____________________

So, here’s my new list of goals (well, two of them are from last week, so they’re not really new.)

1. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

I’m gonna get this done if for no other reason than that I’m tired of seeing it on my list!

2. Read my Bible every day.

As I mentioned above, I’m shooting for mornings now.

3. Update Quicken.

This every week thing is working out quite nicely for me, so I’m going to keep putting this on my list.

4. Organize kitchen cabinets.

They’re kind of a disaster…they’re sort of full, and they’re definitely disorganized.  So disorganized that when I come home from the grocery store, I have to just kind of shove food into the cabinets willy-nilly, wherever it fits.

This is not making me happy.

5. Get half of a Christmas present made.

It’s not safe to tell you what this is, because a shocking percentage of my gift recipients read my blog. 

6. Make a list of presents that need to be made/bought.

I have sort of a mental list, but the paper sort would be preferable.

7. Clean up my laundry room.

Like my office, this is a room that I have trouble maintaining. I let it get super cluttered, and then I clean it up, and before I know it, it’s all cluttered again. I hate not being able to walk properly in there, though, so I want to get it cleaned up. Again.

8. Cancel my gym membership.

Mr. FG’s new schedule has not been remotely conducive to me getting to the gym, but it has helped me to get outside and go for walks, since he’s home when it’s daylight (his old schedule brought him home not too long before it got dark in the winter.)

So, until Joshua is old enough to stay home with the girls, it seems to be sensible to cut the gym membership (once Joshua can stay home with the girls, I can go to the gym without being dependent on Mr. FG’s work schedule).  I’ll just walk and do other exercises here at home for now.

9. On a related note, walk four days this week.

Must. Get. Booty. Out. Of. Bed.

Promptly.

10. Give Sonia a haircut.

Sonia’s hair definitely looks best when it’s on the shorter end of things, and it’s way less tangly that way too.  She knows this, and she’s been asking me to cut her hair for a good week or two now.  I just haven’t gotten around to it.  But I’m sure I will, now that I shared this with you!

You know what’s interesting?  I sometimes think these goal posts are just going to be entirely off the frugality topic, but a lot of my goals each week end up being frugality-related without me even trying.

For example, I’m going to cut Sonia’s hair, discuss a budget with Mr. FG, cancel a gym membership, update my financial records, plan my Christmas shopping, and work on making a gift.

This frugal thing is in my bones. 

_____________________

Today’s 365 post: Saving Seeds

Joshua’s 365 post: Stockings!

Last week, I posted 10 things I was hoping to get done last week, and I’m here with the promised update today!

1. Paint new sample color on my living room wall

I did this, and decided that the new color was too light while still being too blue.  Sigh.

It doesn’t look horrible in this picture, but trust me…it’s almost baby blue, and I loathe it. Blech.

I like the look of the darker blues, but my living room is on the north side of the house, so that room is just not bright enough to handle a dark color.

But!

The good news is that I FINALLY found the appropriate shade, and I lurve it.  However, only that one wall is painted (I got another sample jar), so I want to wait until I’m done painting to show you.

2. Finish editing photos from my shoot with the W family.

Nope. I planned to do them the night that my kids got my computer infected with a fake anti-virus bug.

Earlier in the week, though, I did finish all the pictures I’ve taken of my niece, Adriana, since she was born, and I got them onto a CD for my sister-in-law.  That’s been bugging me for a long time, so I’m delighted to have it finished.

3. Finish money report for November.

Done!

4. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

We did sort of start to talk about this, but then we had one of those, um, relational bumps over it.  We planned to regroup and talk about it on Saturday night, but I didn’t have the numbers put together well enough and we had other stuff to talk over anyway.

So, I’m going to only halfway cross this off.

5. Update Quicken.

Done. And due to the bump Mr. FG and I had when discussing our budget, I am freshly motivated to keep more detailed records so that I can produce more helpful reports.

6. Post review/giveaway for Cook’s Illustrated’s new cookbook.

Fail.

7. Get Sonia started with piano lessons.

Done!  And she’s so delighted.

8. Try having computer-less mornings.

This has been going fairly well.  I haven’t gone completely without checking my email, but I’ve spent minimal time on the computer, and it’s been making our mornings go better.

9. Make a blog plan for November.

Yup!  I got this done.   I even got some December planning done.

10. Figure out a new time for Bible reading.

I’ve decided to do this at night before bed.  In order for me to do it consistently, I need to do it at a time of day that is predictable.  For instance, 2:30 pm would never work, because I might be doing any number of different things at 2:30.  But late at night, I’m always home, the kids are always in bed, and so I think I’ll be able to regularly carve out the time for reading my Bible.

______________________________________

7.5 out of 10 isn’t too bad!  I definitely got more done than I would have without publicly sharing my list.

So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to put another 10 items out here for the coming week.

1. Finish editing photos from my shoot with the W family.

Must. Get. This. Done.

2. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

Armed with numbers and a hashed-out-and-resolved conflict, we’re going to give this another go!

3. Post Cook’s Illustrated cookbook giveaway.

Know what my hold-up has been?  I have permission to give away a chocolate chip cookie recipe in my giveaway post, and I want to make the recipe so I can take a picture before I do the giveaway.

So, I need to get in the kitchen.

4. Fill Operation Christmas Child box.

These are due on Sunday, so this HAS to be done this week.

5. Update Quicken (every week is my new goal!)

I’m hoping if I do it every single week, it won’t be such a big task, and I’ll be less likely to put it off.

6. Prime and paint the living room/dining room.

Super excited about this! I’d probably do it even if I didn’t put it on my goal list.

7. Finish scheduling/planning our December church music and musicians.

I don’t actually HAVE to have this done right now, but I feel better if I get it done in advance.

8. Read my Bible every night.

Hopefully my new plan will work out!

9. List two items on Ebay or Craig’s list

Last week, we sold my camera body, a fish tank and stand, and a piece of guitar equipment, so I’m newly motivated to get some clutter out and cash in!

10.Freecycle or donate items that can’t be sold.

Along with a pile of to-sell items, there’s a pile of donate items.  I need to try freecycling them, and whatever can’t be freecycled is going to Goodwill.

_________________________________
Today’s 365 post: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…

Joshua’s 365 post: What have I been doing?

Before we get to that, I wanted to tell you that last night, I realized that in yesterday’s Q&A post, I should have asked you guys to chime in with your advice about dealing with negative comments. I know a number of you have blogs of your own, and I’m sure you have some good thoughts to share. So, if you didn’t already, add your voice to the comments!

(I was going to say something right here like, “on to the topic at hand!” but really, since this is a random post, that paragraph above should feel right at home.)

I recently received 3 free bags of Oberto jerky to sample…one bag of beef, one bag of BBQ pork, and one bag of teriyaki turkey jerky.

I go back and forth with how I feel about beef jerky.  Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I think it’s right on par with shoe leather.  But, my kids love jerky, and since it’s not sugary or refined, I don’t mind if they eat it.

The Oberto jerky ingredients are pleasingly simple and real, which makes for a happy me.  And it’s tasty…my kids and I managed to eat all 3 bags in short order.  Our favorite variety was definitely the turkey jerky.  It seemed a bit more tender, and the mildly sweet teriyaki flavor was so good.

__________________________________

I recently helped my friend Elizabeth, of Ready, Set, Simplify., switch her blog from WordPress.com to a self-hosted blog.  That all went smoothly, but her subscription service before was through WordPress.com and we were unable to export the list of email subscribers to her new subscription service.

So, if you were one of her subscribers, hop on over to her blog and get re-signed up! (the sign-up box is on the right-hand side…just scroll down a bit.)

And if you weren’t one of her subscribers, you could always become one…Elizabeth posts about her journey to simplify and declutter her life (and sometimes, I show up on her blog!)

___________________________________

MoneySavingMom often posts a list of 10 goals for the week, and I thought I’d give that a try myself.

1. Paint new sample color on my living room wall

I already stopped at the store and picked up another sampler..I just need to roll it onto the wall!)

2. Finish editing photos from my shoot with the W family.

I want to get them done and delivered.

3. Finish money report for November.

I’m a little late getting it done because I was waiting to see what Mr. FG’s new paycheck amount was after taxes.

4. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

As I mentioned before, he got a raise with his promotion, and we need to sit down and talk about exactly where the extra money will go.

5. Update Quicken.

Yes.  I am still not terribly fabulous at this.

6. Post review/giveaway for Cook’s Illustrated’s new cookbook.

I know you guys are anxious for me to get that done!

7. Get Sonia started with piano lessons.

The poor girl has been anxiously waiting for me to do this since September, and I have not made the time for it.  So, I’m publicly committing to getting this done. Hold me to it!

8. Try having computer-less mornings.

I’ve been trying to get all my blog posts done and scheduled at night, so there’s not really a reason for me to hop on in the morning.  Plus, there are all sorts of reasons for me NOT to hop on (like, I have to cook dinner, exercise, shower, do family worship with Mr. FG and the kids among a zillion other things).

And there’s always the fact that hopping on to check email can speedily turn into 15-20 minutes.

9. Make a blog plan for November.

I never stick to these entirely, but having a month’s worth of ideas planned out does help to make blogging easier.

10. Figure out a new time for Bible reading.

I used to do this early in the morning, but since our schedule has changed, that’s not working so well.  I’m still getting prayer time in (I do that while I go for a walk in the mornings) but I want to work Bible reading back in too.  I think maybe I’ll do that at night before Mr. FG comes home or something.

Next week, I’ll let you know how things went with my goals.

____________________________________

Today’s 365 post: Stick Men

Joshua’s 365 post: An Orchestra Trio

I gotta say, I’m pretty pleased with my progress.  I must remember to publicly declare my goals more often because it really seems to get me in gear.

Declutter…

-the linen closet
-Lisey and Sonia’s room
-the office (ack!)
-the laundry room

Ok, so, the decluttering didn’t go sooo great.  I’m thinking I’ll tackle the office today.

School Prep

-figure out what curriculum I’m using for everyone
-order the curriculum I need
-finish filling out our registration form (we’re using a new umbrella group, which is basically an alternative way of reporting to the county homeschool office)

I’m super pleased to be all done with my school prep tasks.  Yay!

Finances

-write a money email for August
-catch up on Quicken

Ebook

(I’m writing one about ways to reuse, repurpose, and refresh old clothes)

-finish writing it (lots of odds and ends need to be done)

I didn’t finish this goal, but I’m getting close!  I made a list of 12 tasks that needed to be done in order for the book to be finished, and I’m down to 5.
-send it off to be edited

Clearly, I can’t do this until I’m finished writing it. 

-make a cover or hire someone to do it for me

I made my own!  And just to make sure it was ok, I sent it off to my friend who designed all my graphics, and she approved (and suggested we add my logo in).  Whaddya think?

I’ll back back with some 365 photo links later today…I need to go eat breakfast and then unload my camera. 

Okee-doke!  Here’s mine, and Joshua’s will be up shortly.

Today’s 365 post: Ice Cream Cranking

It’s August.

How did that happen??  When I was a kid, summers seemed almost endless, and now they seem to fly by in the blink of an eye.

Boo.

It’s not that I’m particularly in love with the weather (I’m kind of over the whole 100+ degrees thing right now)…it’s the fewer-responsibilities schedule that I love about summer, and I’m sad that’s going to be over soon.

During the school year, I always think of things I’d like to do, and I mentally file those things away by telling myself that I’ll get them done in the summer.

I have gotten some of those things done, but not as many as I’d like to.

And some of those things are kind of pressing, (like, say, getting ready for our school year.

So, for the rest of this week, and maybe next week too, I’m going to pull back a little bit here on the blog in order to help myself cross a few things off of my to-do list.  My 365 blog will continue on as usual (those posts are super easy and fun!), but the posts I do here may be a little simpler than usual.  And I may miss a day here and there, so don’t worry that something horrible has happened to me if I don’t post. 

Because I do a more rockin’ job of accomplishing things when I make my goals public, here’s what I want to get done:

Declutter…

-the linen closet
-Lisey and Sonia’s room
-the office (ack!)
-the laundry room

School Prep

-figure out what curriculum I’m using for everyone
-order the curriculum I need
-finish filling out our registration form (we’re using a new umbrella group, which is basically an alternative way of reporting to the county homeschool office)

Finances

-write a money email for August
-catch up on Quicken

Ebook (I’m writing one about ways to reuse, repurpose, and refresh old clothes)

-finish writing it (lots of odds and ends need to be done)
-send it off to be edited
-make a cover or hire someone to do it for me

I can get all that done this week, right??

Ok, that might be slightly ambitious, but I find that when I write ambitious to-do lists, I do get more accomplished than if I write a basic list or don’t write a list at all.  Aim high, I say.

So, are you feeling the end of summer panic too?   What’s on your get-done-before-summer-is-over list?

______________________________________

Today’s 365 post: I found this in the compost bin.

Joshua’s 365 post: Hallo, peoples!

I know it’s Wednesday, but I don’t have a baking recipe photographed and ready to share.  So instead, I’m going to do a goal update.

January Goals

I had 4 goals for January (you can read more about them if you want).

1. Make Crackers

I get partial credit here.  I made one batch of graham crackers, but that was it.  I really wanted to try a bunch of different cracker recipes and get this process down pat, but it didn’t happen.  I can put some of the blame for that on the black plague that took us down for part of the month, but the rest of the blame can be put on me. 

The graham crackers that I made were pretty good, but I can see that cracker baking is going to take some practice.  Knowing how thin to roll the dough and how long to bake the crackers (so they’re crispy but not burnt) is something that seems to require an eye of experience.

I didn’t learn how to bake great bread overnight, though, so I’m willing to keep at this.

So, instead of learning to bake another thing from my list for the year, I’m going to keep working on crackers this month.  If I find any really fabulous recipes, I will be sure to share them in Wednesday Baking posts.

2. Fix the cracked drywall

I don’t even get partial credit here.  I didn’t touch that corner!

I did, however, talk to my very home-project-savvy older brother, and he suggested scraping out the cracked and chipped material and using caulk instead of spackle to fix the corner (a reader suggested that too, if I recall correctly).

This was very happy news for me because I would so much rather deal with caulk than with spackle.  Yay!  So, now we just need to get ourselves some caulk and we’ll be in business.

3. Set up a new college and retirement savings plan

I did great with this!  I set up a college savings account through ING Direct for each of the kids and I also set up automatic deposits for their accounts each month.  Right now we’re not able to put a ton of money in each month, but something is better than nothing, I say.

I also set up a retirement account through ING, and I’ve got automatic deposits going into that account too.

I’m so pleased to have this done because I’ve been meaning to do it forever!  And I’m so grateful that we’re at a point where we are able to funnel more money towards these goals.

4. A little selling

I didn’t do well with this, but Mr. FG did!  He and my brother listed a bunch of laptops on Ebay (they fix up broken ones and sell them), and Mr. FG also sold a propane heater of ours.

Joshua and I did list some of his Transformer toys on Craig’sList but we had no bites.

February Goals

1. Make more crackers

I want to makes graham crackers again, try a wheat cracker recipe, and make a cinnamon oatmeal cracker recipe that I made a while back.

2. Fix the drywall

For real this time!

3. Finish up our taxes

I use TurboTax, which I love to pieces. Looking at actual tax documents makes me feel uber-confused, but Turbo Tax makes it so easy! I can even manage to do my self-employment taxes without a problem.

I’ve got our return started, but I’m still waiting on a few documents to show up, and I need to pull together the rest of my self-employment records.  I want to get this finished and filed before February is up.

4. Sell some stuff

Even though Mr. FG did so well with this, I still want to contribute by selling more of our un-needed items.  There’s a small pile of stuff taking up precious real estate in our under-the-steps closet, and I want it gone!  If you’ve got some Ebay/Craig’s List tips for me, leave ‘em in the comments.  I need help, apparently.

_________________________

Hopefully February will be a more healthy month for me than January was, and I can have a happy report for you at the beginning of March.

disclosure

Today’s 365 post: Aren’t my shoes cute??

This photo IS relevant...read on!

This year, I think I’m going to do something a little bit different goal-wise.  Instead of choosing some “work-on-this-all-year” goals, I’m going to choose some specific goals for each particular month.

I think this might be fun, and maybe it will help me to get some smaller things accomplished…things I’ve been putting off for a while.

1. A little kitchen-something

When I was sick this past week, I kept the couch warm for hours on end and I spent part of that time thinking of 12 baking/kitchen related things I want to try this year.  So, each month there will be a new something-or-other that I want to learn how to make.

This month’s something or other?  Crackers. Long, long ago (ok, it was only 2.5 years ago) when I started this blog, I mentioned that I wanted to get into a cracker-making groove, but apparently, I lost my motivation somewhere along the way.

Is it possible to make a good, inexpensive homemade cracker?  Will I find that cracker making is tedious and annoying?  Who knows?  But I intend to find out this month.

Because store-bought crackers (which my children lurvity-lurve) are sort of expensive and are not usually filled with fabulous ingredients.

2. A little home-something

Here’s another thing I’ve been putting off…some drywall-fixing. There are two places in our dining room that need to be fixed, and I’ve been putting that off for a long time, mostly because I loathe the mess that spackle sanding makes.

But I also loathe the enormous crack in our dining room wall that shows up whenever the weather gets cold (in the summer it miraculously closes and you can’t even tell it’s there!).  And the ceiling seam that we never fixed when we moved in 5 years ago is also getting a little bit old.

Mr. FG and I have halfheartedly slapped some spackle on it and sanded a bit, but it needs more attention than that.  And since Mr. FG is going to start studying for another IT certification, I think I should probably tackle this job myself.  Because I certainly can’t study for an IT certification!

So, I’m committing to taking care of that this month, and since I’m making a public declaration about it, I feel optimistic about the odds of me actually getting this done.

3. A little money-something.

This month, Mr. FG and I want to set up a new college and retirement savings plan. We have been contributing to his retirement fund over the years, and we have a bit of a college fund going for the kids, but it’s not as much as we’d like it to be.

Over the last year, we put pretty much all of our extra money into our van fund, but since the van fund isn’t super-duper urgent (I think my van will last for a while longer, considering it’s a Toyota!), we want to diversify our savings a little bit more this year.

4. A little selling

I have a couple of things sitting around the house that I need to sell…some toys, a reptile tank, some clothes, and a few other things.  For a frugal person, I am remarkably horrible at getting around to selling stuff on Craig’s List or Ebay, but I’d like to change that this month.

I think that’s good for now.  I could think of more things, but I want to keep this manageable so that I have some hope of success!

If you all have any cracker-making or stuff-selling tips for me, advise away. 

Today’s 365 post: Our game as of late

I pretty much fell off the wagon with goal updates in the latter part of this past year. In fact, my last one was in August. Whoops.

I felt like I should write an update even though the year is now officially over, so here I am.  I still need to ponder how exactly I’m going to approach next year’s goals, and depending on how that goes, I might post about that later today or maybe tomorrow.

Or maybe not until Monday.

How’s that for specificity?*

*specificity is my most favorite word in the whole entire world simply because it is so much fun to say**.  I purposely use it as much as is humanly possible.  It’s so bad that when our pastor used it in a sermon, my children all looked over at me and grinned.

**reciprocity is a close second.  But it is harder to find appropriate places to use it in a sentence.

1. Eat non-cereal breakfast 4 days a week and eat more fruit at breakfast

I fell off of the wagon with this some during the month of December, but I wasn’t a complete failure….we ate more cereal than usual, but our breakfasts weren’t 100% cereal (to be clear, I don’t consider a Caramel Monkey Bread breakfast to be a triumph.  Delicious?  Yes. Healthy?  Um, no.)

We have been eating quite a bit of fruit in the way of clementines, grapfruits, and bananas.  There’s definitely not as much wonderful fruit available at this time of year, though…how I miss the peaches of summer!

2. Save for a replacement van.

I have a really happy update here. My goal was to get 30% of my goal saved (I thought that might be a reach), but I’m happy to say that my van fund is now sitting at 35% complete! Yay!

Depending on how things go this year, it’s possible that my account will be fully funded by the end of 2011, which would be super-duper fabulous.

3. Buy more organic, local food.

I’m doing pretty well here…I bought a quarter of a cow from a local farm and I also bought several pounds of breakfast sausage from them. I’ve been buying unpackaged local chicken at the local organic store too.

Local produce is sort of a problem these days because farmer’s markets and produce stands are closed and it’s certainly to cold to grow anything in my back yard. We are still eating some homegrown and local produce that I froze, and we still have plenty of freezer jam, which I made with local fruits.

4. Keep Quicken updated once a week.

I can’t say that I’ve managed to do this once a week, but I can tell you that my Quicken files are all updated as of right now, and that’s better than the usual.

I’m pretty sure this goal is going to have to stay on my goal list for the third year in a row, which is good for my humility levels.

Ok!  So, stay tuned for my new goal list which is coming….sometime.

P.S. I am feeling much, much, much better today.  Still coughing, and my head hurts when I bend over, but mercy of mercies, the achiness is gone.  Woohoo!

P.P.S. Did you not even know that I was sick?  Well, you must not be keeping up with me on Facebook or Twitter.  I share important* information like the state of my health at those places.

*by which I mean, “not important”

Today’s 365 post: Sonia’s Turtle (s)