Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams

I’ve been thinking a lot about this over the last few days, and while it’s hard in some ways because things are very open ended at the moment, there are a lot of things I can specify now what my goals are.

One thing I found with last years goals was that it was hard to focus on so many things all the time. To keep them in mind. I tried to read them as much as possible, but in about September I decided that perhaps it would have been better to simply choose a couple of things to focus on each month.

When I sat down today to seriously think about my goals for the coming year I came up with 24 categories I wanted to set goals in. Woops - I think that kind of defeats the purpose a little bit. Those 24 were very specific projects. I thought perhaps I should try and put them in categories, and these were the one’s I came up with: Blogs, Craft, Social, Work, Kids, Home, Me.

I’ve slotted each of my specific projects into each category. Maybe instead of year-long goals (given the uncertain nature of the coming year) monthly goals might be the way to go? With some over-arching goals to work towards (similar to last year - eg. maintain credit average at uni).

What’s your strategy for goal stetting?

For the record, these are my categories and sub-projects:

Blogs: Kin’s Home, Kin’s Money, a new blog, Aussie Bloggers

Craft: Knitting, Sewing, Cross-stitch, Cards, Jewellery making

Social: Lions, Youth of the Year, ABA group

Work:Uni, Tupperware, Jobs

Kids: School, Daycare, Dancing, Gymnastics

Home: Scanning photos, Decluttering, Gardening

Me: Exercise, Health

Let’s hope it’s better than 2008.

Not that 2008 was particularly bad. Just that 2009 could surely do better.

Right now anyway, it stretches out before us, free of preconceptions and past failures. A clean slate. A blank page, ready to be written.

What will I write on the page this year?

To be honest I haven’t thought about it much. I know there are so many things I want to happen this year.

I want to keep studying and getting reasonable marks.
I want to learn to sew enough to make M&M’s uniforms.
I want to finish the cross stitch I started 4 years ago.
I want to scan the 10! boxes of photos I have in the garage and burn them all to DVD’s.
I want to ease my way back into the workforce in the industry of my dreams.
I want to lose the 10kg I’ve put on since having Miss Moo.

But mostly I want a clean, uncluttered home filled with happy, healthy people.

The reality is I have no idea if I’ll achieve any of those things. Life has thrown a huge challenge our way which has left me feeling like I have no idea how I’ll achieve any of those things. In some ways it’s exciting. In other ways it’s scary. We have so many opportunities before us, it’s hard to know which way to go. I had this same problem just over two years ago, and I did it. I made the right choice. I just hope I make the right choice this time.

While I have articulated my dreams for 2009, I can’t go much beyond that because of the curve ball life has thrown our way, I have no idea if we’ll even be in this house in 8 weeks time. If I will need to postpone my study to deal with everything.

I can’t even tell you what I hope will happen next week, despite the fact I have decided to temporarily resurrect my Tupperware career to see if there’s a possibility there.

But despite the unkown, the blank page of 2009 stretches before us, stories waiting to be told. Experiences waiting to be shared.

What will 2009 bring for you?

Source: freefoto.com

I am now one step closer to completing my Austswim course I started back in August. I had a list of 8 things I needed to do to complete this course, and my self-imposed deadline of 19th of October wooshed by a couple of weeks ago. But I am still plodding towards it, and since I can’t teach until next year, there’s no real sense of urgency.

1. Get a blue card. Have sent off the paperwork - now to wait for it to arrive
2. Find someone to supervise my exams. DONE!
3. Sit the exams. Done last week and passed with flying colours. 79% for one, and 85% for the other. I needed 60% to pass.
4. Do a first aid course.
5. Organise 10 hours of training at one pool. Organised, and done 2.5 hours. Only 7.5 hours to go
6. Organise 10 hours of training at another pool.
7. 6 Lesson plans. Done 3 - 3 to go.
8. Get a photo and complete the application form.

So now all I need to do is a first aid course, finish off my hours, do 3 lesson plans and send off the paperwork. This is something that’s kind of been put on the backburner, so it’s nice to see that I’m finally getting somewhere with it. The exams were quite stressful because I hadn’t studied and wasn’t sure of the answers, but it seems common sense won the day, which is great.

So I guess my next step is the first aid course. Or at least CPR.

This is the last poast updating how I’m going with achieving my Goals for 2008

Here are the links for the first six posts

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four
Part five
Part six

The last part of my goals related to my blogging:

Blog

1. Build the readership of Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams to a level of 100 subscribers
2. Investigate a niche idea for a new blog
3. Start a new blog in the niche

Hmm, part one isn’t going so well actually. I’ve barely increased from the beginning of the year at all. I am looking at a few ways of increasing this and if you have any ideas - I’m all ears . Part two is complete - I’ve found a bit of information about the niche I’m looking at, and am confident it will be a success (nothing like self-confidence to set oneself up for failure)

Part three will be happening very soon. And if you haven’t yet, check out my logo design competition and possibly win 12 months free advertising for your site if yours is the winning logo chosen.

Here we are, nearly at the end of reviewing how I’m going with my Goals for 2008

If you’ve missed the first five parts, here are the links

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four
Part five

Today I’m checking up on my house goals for 2008

House

1. Find an appropriate rental in The Big Smoke and settle for the rest of the year
2. Setup and maintain new routines around the newest family member
3. Start sorting through the 8!!! boxes of photos I’ve inherited and preserve them appropriately.

Once again the benchmark has changed. We found an appropriate rental here, and haven’t moved. I plan on staying put for at least 12 months, preferably longer. I’ve finally set up my new routines around Miss Moo, and that seems to be working out pretty well.

As for number 3, well. I’ve only just got to the point of packing our boxes away appropriately in the garage so I can fit more crap stuff in from the in-laws. Maybe when I have a break from uni I’ll make a start on a box and see how it goes. There’s plenty of time yet - the year isn’t even half over yet .

Join me on Sunday for the final part of my goals checkup - my blog.

Since I was away on Sunday, and didn’t get round to doing it before I went away, here is part five of my update on my Goals for 2008

Part one
Part two
Part three
Part four

And really there’s no excuse for not writing this post. These were my Tupperware goals for the year:

Tupperware

1. Rejoin Tupperware in The Big Smoke, after settling in.
2. Build to a point that I am comfortable with (at this point one party every two weeks)
3. Break my record during Record Breaker Week

The reason there should be no excuse is that I have decided to quit Tupperware. The reason I started selling Tupperware was  because I didn’t have any, and I wanted some. I did quite well out of selling Tupperware, I have over $5000RRP worth of Tupperware in my kitchen, and every piece I could possiby need or want. And I made enough money last year in one week to fully cover Christmas, plus I won some fabulous prizes.

I guess what I’m saying is, that Tupperware has served its purpose for me. I feel I’ve got a lot out of it, more than just Tupperware too. I’ve made some awesome friends, learnt a lot about myself, about selling (both products and myself) and customer service.

I’ll be sad to leave Tupperware. Apart from the amazing products (which adorn my kitchen), the business model is fantastic, and they’re a fun bunch of people to hang around. If a little crazy, which probably explains why I fit in so well.

I guess again it’s about priorities shifting through the year, although to be honest, it wasn’t until I sat down to do these posts that I realised that I really had got all I wanted from it, and that it was time for me to stop. Realistically I could still do parties during breaks from uni, but there are other things that have a higher priority on my time now, and I wouldn’t be doing myself or Tupperware any favours by keeping going when my heart wasn’t in it.

So there you go, only two more categories to go. I’ll be back tomorrow with an update on my House goals.

Part four of my update on my Goals for 2008

Part one
Part two
Part three
Today I’m checking out how I’m getting on with my personal goals for the year.

Personal

1. Once settled in The Big Smoke, and my body is recovered, join a gym or pool and begin to regain some level of fitness
2. Reconnect with friends and family in the Big Smoke,
3. Find a local group and start rebuilding a social circle around an interest group (theatre, ballroom dancing or some such hobby)

Well, we’re not settled in the Big Smoke, but my body is recovered and I have started Swimming Training. That seems to be working out well. As for part two, well we haven’t moved, so the modified goal is to make more friends here.

I don’t know about part 3. I am doing some socialising and swimming could be considered a hobby. I tried a mother’s group but that didn’t work out. I have enjoyed the Australian Breastfeeding Association meetings I’ve been to. I have also joined the Lions club, after 5 years of behind the scenes help. The main reactions I was greeted with were “It’s about time” and “what, aren’t you already a member?”.

So I think I’m doing quite well with these goals for the year as well. Join me on Sunday as I revisit my Tupperware goals for 2008

Here we go for round three of my update on my Goals for 2008

Part one
Part two

Today I’m going back to my family goals I set at the begining of this year.

Family

1. Enrol the girls in swimming lessons, dancing lessons and music lessons.
2. To save for and take a family holiday for a week towards the end of the year. I’m thinking Byron Bay would be nice
3. To take at least two weekend camping trips, either with Hubby’s sister, or my cousins.

Well, this is looking good actually. I have enrolled the girls in swimming and dancing lessons. Music lessons I’m still working on. It’s a bit hard since we haven’t moved (isn’t that always the way?). I am still on the lookout for things for them to do. Little Athletics is on the cards for M&M, as is Drama next year.

Our family holiday keeps chopping and changing. We have decided to spend Christmas with my family, so that will probably be a couple of weeks away. What we might do is find somewhere nice between here and there for a holiday and stop for a few days on the way back. I have so far put away $500 for this trip, but the way petrol prices are going that’s nowhere near enough. Hopefully some of our tax refund will be able to go towards it, and I should be able to put at least another $500 towards it as the year goes on.

As for the camping trips. Again, as we haven’t moved this is a slightly modified goal. We’re in planning with some friends for a long weekend away near the end of June. In fact Saturday night we had a planning session and started making lists (cause y’all know how much I love lists) of what we want to take, need to buy, who needs to bring what, and what we’re going to do. Depending on the success of this trip, we are in the early stages (ie thinking about it) of planning a camping holiday on one of the islands. Using our boat to ferry all our stuff across to the island and spending a couple of days over there. I hope it happens, I’m really looking forward to these trips.

So it seems I’m doing really well in this department. Hopefully we can keep it up for the rest of the year.

Here we go for round two of my update on my Goals for 2008 - part one can be found here.

Today I’m going to be updating y’all on my University goals *gulp*. Here goes:

University

1. To schedule specific time for study, and use it appropriately.
2. Maintain a minimum of credit average.
3. Transfer to a university closer to (our new) home.

Well, let’s see now. Part one. Umm, no. In my defense, so far this year we haven’t really had a chance to settle into our new home, let alone get any sort of routine happening. I am working on it though. It is hard this year as I LOVE one subject and hate the other. So guess which one I spend all my time on? That’s right, the one I love. I really need to work on that. Over the next few weeks I will be posting more about my routines, and settling into our new house and routines properly. Things have just been all over the place, and I need a quiet few days to settle things down and get it all organised.

Part two, well. I’m not sure how I’m going to go there to be honest. I am confident of at least one credit, but for the other subject, I really will just be happy with a pass. Maybe if I do really well in one subject it will balance out and I’ll still achieve a credit average for the semester.

As for part 3, well.  Having decided that we will be here for at least a year, and thinking about the career’s I’d like to choose post-study, Hubby and I have decided that I will finish my degree off at my current university. That doesn’t stop me studying elsewhere (I can choose subjects from other universities that count towards my degree, so when we are closer to a campus I’ll be able to do them there), but for the type of work I want to do, the current university is probably the best option for me.

Isn’t it exciting how goals can change through the year - our priorities change and we can change direction completely. And as I like to say - it’s hard to change direction when you don’t know where you’re going in the first place .

Come back on Sunday for part 3 of my goals update - I’ll be checking up on my Family goals for 2008.

Since the first third of 2008 is gone, I thought now would be a good time to go back over my Goals for 2008 and see where I’m up to with them. I had 7 categories, so over the next three weeks on Sunday’s and Wednesday’s I’ll post with a look in each category and let you know where I’m up to, what’s changed and what I’m going to do about it. Starting today with the Financial category:

Financial

1. To manage our money according to the spending plan we have worked out.
2. To discuss our financial situation with a financial planner, and have a financial plan drawn up.
3. Act on the financial plan.

Well, part one is the hardest, but I am doing quite well with that. Hubby changing jobs has made things a bit harder, and we’re still sorting the spending plan out with all the changes that have come with it. Out of ten I’d give myself about a 7 for success on this one. I’m going to need to knuckle down for the rest of the year and pay more attention to what we’re spending.

Part two gets a big tick, as we saw a financial planner in January, and another one in March. At least I can mark one off the list.

Part three, however, is where we’ve come unstuck. We are still debating which way to go, and watching the property market in the suburb/s we plan on living in when we eventually move to the Big Smoke. Maybe when the semester is over I’ll have a little more time to do some investigations.

So there you have it, an update on how I’m going with my financial goals for 2008. Check back on Wednesday to see how I’m going with my study goals - eeek!