Happy New Years!!

Happy New Year to everyone who might read this!! I hope you all had a wonderful 2005, and may 2006 be as good or even better.

I can't say that 2005 was exceptionally good or bad for us. I do know that I hope for better this year!! I enjoy the start of a new year because it is a good reason to be motivated to start new good habits or maybe kill old bad habits (which is usually less likely). So as a rule I like to talk about the things I would like start doing. I also try not to expect anything to major, last year I wanted to get our finances in order, I am happy to report we are just about there. I also wanted to exercise more and I am unhappy to report that I never achieved this one. This year not only am I going to make a few "resolutions", but I am putting them on this blog for everyone to see. I hope at the end of the year I can look back and feel that I have done alright.

#1 My first goal this year is to get ahead. We worked our butt's off all year long to recover from a couple of huge financial set backs that we had the year before (our 7mo. old daughter in the hospital for a week). In 2006 I would like to get ahead, start putting into our retirement and the kids college funds again, do some work on our house that we wanted, start up our savings again, and make a couple good long term investments.

#2 My second goal will be to make some sort of career move. We are done (hopefully) making babies, and I have no desire to be a bartender for the rest of my life. This year I would like to get my realestate license. I would love to sell realestate, and substitute teach one day. I do not have enough credits to sub yet, and without the kids in school more I am not ready to commit to going back to school, so my goal this year is to just get my realestate license.

#3 Read more. Not really hard, but I will need to manage my time better. I would like to read to the kids and myself more. I love reading and do to the kids a lot, but I would like to read more to them because they love it, and I would like to read for my own pleasure more because over the last few years I have not made anytime for that.

#4 Take my kids somewhere new and fun. Last year we went Baltimore Inner Harbor and they had blast!! I would like to go somewhere else this year that they will enjoy and remember. I would like to take them somewhere new every year, and I hope when they get older they will enjoy having all the memories (and pictures) of all the fun places we went as a family over the years.

#5 This is my most challeging goal of the year...... to get my family and I more healthy. We are not unhealthy, but we could be a lot MORE healthy. I would like to try cooking new things and expanding our menu a bit, trying more fish, different veggies, more beans, and less meat based meals. I know this will make my husband somewhat sad but I never make red meat good anyway. I would like to workout out more regularly, whatever it may be; walking, jumping rope, doing a workout tape, I really don't care. I would just like to commit to doing it more consistently. Hopefully this will help me lose the extra 15lbs that I would like to lose by this summer, and help the kids to get out and be more active.

Well those are my "goals" for the year, and hopefully blogging them will help me keep them in mind for the year. I wish all you good luck with any goals you might have set for yourself.

May 2006 be a happy, healthy, and productive year for all of us!