i'm motivated | nappanee photographer

as the sun tries to pull itself out from under another dreary indiana winter, i find myself motivated to do many things.

my house is unusually clean right now.
i am so thinking spring clean... my walls are yearning to be dust mopped☺

my hard drive is almost full... again.

there's going to be a lot of sorting, deleting, and then deleting some more.
it must be done!

picture frames, oh... they are calling my name.

i feel a project coming on & it involves spray paint.

i'm just itching to get started.

and... i can safely say the most exciting purchase i made last week was a package of new clothes pins & a clothes pin bag to hang on the line.

i am sooo ready!

being that this is a relatively new year, i'm still trying to figure out my goals, but i think it's all just sort of falling in line.

{well, some of it anyways}

the whole meal planning thing... grrrr!
i was so organized last year, but i've let it slide.
i'm being lazy and it's not flowing very smoothly these days, but i'm about to wrangle it up.

and i'm still searching for a nutritious hot cereal option that #4 can stomach.

recently we tried a new recipe. maybe someone at your house will love it.
it's a rice pudding of sorts.

check out the recipe here.

so, are you motivated?
do you have some goals in the works?
what are your success stories?

i love a good list.
a list of goals is even better.
and achieving those goals... now that's the best.

i love being able to look back & know that there is proof - i've lived some of my life with intention.

2010 goals update #1

well, if you read my goals post back in january, you know about just a few things i'm working on.
i thought i'd give an update, just for accountability's sake, mind you.

i am laughing more. really.
we've watched this movie a couple of times in the past several weeks.

everyone loves it & has their favorite lines.


and, i'm singing & dancing around the house quite a bit. this is striking fear into the hearts of the younguns. the name "aunt jill" is brought up over & over when i do this... whyever would that be?

we're making fun of just about anything we can, even a few things i really shouldn't mention. suffice it to say "we're laughing with you, not at you" has been stated more than once.

this past weekend we broke out a new game.

this game is truly 'good for a few laughs'. you get to read cards with crazy questions like "would you rather eat a hair sandwich or an earwax omelet" and you have to choose, then the other players guess what you chose & so on & so forth....

one of the questions posed to my husband was "would you rather have to sleep in a bed with a full cup of cracker crumbs & a full cup of sand poured inside, or have to walk around all day, everyday, with grape jelly in your shoes?" to which my 10 year old says "that's easy, i do that (the sleep in bed with sand part) pretty much every day all summer long!"

so true, so true.... we had a good laugh over that one.

now, about hanging pictures. i'm trying. i really am. i framed one, purchased a mat for another frame & they're all lying around here someplace, but i'm trying to gather a few other pictures to hang in groups. so far, nothing's on the walls, but i'm making progress.

and more art. i have an art project in the works for this week. we will be studying the work of wassily kandinsky.

i have tried several different approaches to projects & one of my favorites it to take a master/classic and work around their style. hopefully i will have photos to post here showing all of our masterpieces.

as for the vacation...

still working on that one☺

and i have realized that if i'm going to do better & be better, i need to pick one or two specifics & hit them hard. it's too vague to just try to be better & almost overwhelming. so this goal in itself has a whole set of mini goals that need to be put down on paper.

i'll keep you posted....

this new year...

i am loving this new year.

as much as i was not ready for the holidays when they began, i am more than ready for this new year. right about now, i am all about chances to make things fresh, new, better.

last night we had a discussion with our boys about the new year & setting goals.
somehow the whole conversation sounded like some sort of dreaded punishment we were bestowing upon them. that was totally NOT what i intended, but it had that general feel. i tried to impress upon them that setting goals is a good thing & it's great to have that feeling of accomplishment.

they really weren't impressed. but still, we are asking them to come up with 3-5, realistic, do-able goals by the end of the week.

so, what are your goals this year?

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usually, i have a list and keep it pretty short & simple. it's catagorized & everything. i like it that way because life has so many catagories, doesn't it? usually it's something like personal, family, homeschooling & other (home, hobbies, work, etc).

this year, i am flooded with things that need to be done & it's hard to narrow it down.

first, more laughter. laugh with my family, my friends, myself. i don't do this enough & i don't know why. i'm too serious & i know it. laughing is good for you & i need to come up with a way to do it more. enuff said.

secondly, hang pictures. i want to get off my hump about hanging things on the walls. i really don't even want to talk about it because it's so dull....but suffice it to say that we have lived here 4 1/2 years and there's almost nothing on the walls, pictures or otherwise. it's starting to get on my nerves.

...and curtains. i should really start thinking about curtains, but i'm not sure that's going to make it into this years goals. i envsion the big boy moving out before curtains get put up in his room. but here, i'm rambling...

third, a vacation. and i don't mean camping☺. we are talking sunny beaches here. i think this is going to be my favorite goal to achieve and i'm soooo looking forward to it. *this is a joint goal between the man & myself. i like those goals. they're happy goals ☺

fourth, do art. in school, i have severely slacked about art projects. and you would think i'd be all over it, but i just don't want to take the time to fit it in. but i've promised myself that this winter, we'll be all about art. so i'm getting my stuff out this week. it's GOT to be done!

fifth, do better & be better. i want to be a better wife & mom. do better, living each day with it's own little "on purpose" set of goals. there's so much i could toss into this pot, but i don't want to bore the masses. i just know that if i do the same, i'll be the same & i'll get the same results. i want things to be different, and that means i have to do & be different. this one's going to take the most work & it's probably not going to be finished this year, but i've got to start now.

oh... and fear not, there will be lots more knitting too.....

above photo courtesy of the big boy☺