April Resolution Review

I'm a week late with this post, but April was a whirlwind for me, and I'm just now catching up.

I set some goals at the beginning of the year, so I thought I'd give a quick monthly update on my progress in April. 


Reading: 

• Goal - 18 Books and more than a year of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home back issues (and yes, I've let the subscriptions to those magazines expire).
• April Progress - Read 2 books (9 books of 18 total), and none of the  magazines (so still at 10 magazines of 38 total). 

The books I read were:

• Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
• Dandelion Hunter:  Foraging the Urban Wilderness by Rebecca Lerner

Crafting:

• Goal - 12 completed projects, preferably one a month, with one being a quilted item and another being knit socks.
• April Progress - Quilted a table runner for my dresser ( 4 projects of 12 total)

So, I finally quilted something.  So many people (I'd venture to say they're mostly women) say quilting is their hobby of choice, so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about and learn a new skill.  I enjoyed the process, but I didn't love it.  On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being a crafty project I hate, like mending clothing, and 10 being a project I love, like crocheting an afghan, I give quilting about a 6. 

I chose colors that coordinated with our bedroom, and I think selecting the fabric was the best part of the process.  I also enjoyed doing the machine quilting, which in this case was simple diagonal lines.  Cutting and piecing the top was okay, as was sewing on the binding.  The part I didn't like was, that as careful as I felt I was being, there were still glaring mistakes.  I've read that it's to be expected with a first quilt.  I chose to leave the mistakes in, because I just didn't have the patience to rework any of them.  That is the main reason I may not quilt anything else.  Then again, maybe I will.  It will probably depend on the type of project and my mood.

All that said, here it is.  It's a simple hourglass pattern, without border, but with binding I cut myself.  I did all of it on the machine.  If anyone is interested, here is the pattern, and here is the websites I used to teach myself the basics of quilting, and how to get the diagonal lines straight.

Gardening: 

• Goal - Organized planning, leading to an organized garden.
• April Progress - We completed our spring planting sometime early in April, but I don't recall taking time to fill in what we did in my garden organizer.  I really need to do that before I forget entirely.
  
  And I'll just be blunt.  Three mornings of frost in late April sucks.  Snow (yes, snow) during the first week of May sucks more.  So far, everything has survived, with the help of tarps and upended buckets for cloches, but growth has been very slow for this time of year.
  

Diet/Nutrition:

• Goal - To switch over to less harmful types of sweeteners and/or reduce sugars in our foods.  To grow more of our food in our backyard.
• April Progress - We switched away from buying granulated white sugar in March and were able to stick to that decision in April.  No other changes were made.

Fitness:

• Goal - To join a local yoga class better flexibility, balance and overall health.
• April Progress - Again I say, gardening is great exercise!  Reach high for the tarps, carry them to the garden, spread them out, haul firewood to hold them in place, wait out frost and snow, then reverse.  Repeat approximately once a week, well past last average frost date.

Finances:

• Goal - To pay off our RV.
• April Progress - Shane continues to work out of town several times a month, so we are continuing to pay extra each month toward the loan principal.  A noticeable dent in the balance is being made.

March Resolution Review

It's hard to believe that a quarter of the year has already passed.  Time just flies for me lately!

I set some goals at the beginning of the year, so I thought I'd give a quick monthly update on my progress in March. 


Reading: 

• Goal - 18 Books and more than a year of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home back issues (and yes, I've let the subscriptions to those magazines expire).
• March Progress - Read 2 books (7 books of 18 total), and 4 of the  magazines (10 magazines of 38 total). 

The books I read were:

• Jewel by Bret Lott
• The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

Crafting:

• Goal - 12 completed projects, preferably one a month, with one being a quilted item and another being knit socks.
• March Progress - Started and completed the second toe-up knitted sock, completing the pair.  I also crocheted a couple of much needed pot holders using this pattern. ( 3 projects of 12 total)

The socks are far from perfect, but functional and very comfortable.  I love how they match, but aren't identical.  I really enjoyed knitting them and I'm sure I'll knit more in the future.

Gardening: 

• Goal - Organized planning, leading to an organized garden.
• March Progress - We finally bought a new printer and I was finally able to print pages from the garden planner I mentioned in earlier posts.  I love it; it's a very functional and attractive planner to use.
  
  We have begun planting and so far have potatoes and two new gooseberries bushes in the ground.  I transplanted 76 strawberry plants into a new pyramid, the garlic we planted last fall is coming up, as are the perennial asparagus and rhubarb.  We had big plans to continue planting early crops, but last weekend we were hit with our third mega-snowstorm in two months, so planting will have to wait a little longer.

Diet/Nutrition:

• Goal - To switch over to less harmful types of sweeteners and/or reduce sugars in our foods.  To grow more of our food in our backyard.
• March Progress - I have decided that the only way for me to do this is to just do it!  Despite the cost difference between plain granulated sugar and organic cane juice crystals, I used up the last bag of white sugar and I've vowed to eliminate it from sugar from our shopping list entirely.  I consider cane juice crystals the next step up on the sweetener hierarchy.  Not the best choice, but a better one.  We also continue to use local honey, molasses (local when possible), Sucanat and real maple syrup as sweeteners, but not with any regularity.

Fitness:

• Goal - To join a local yoga class better flexibility, balance and overall health.
• March Progress - I still haven't made any effort to find a different class, but with gardening starting up, I'm not to worried.  Gardening is great exercise!

Finances:

• Goal - To pay off our RV.
• March Progress - Shane has been working out of town a lot lately.  He's been getting both a per diem allowance (there is usually a little left over after expenses) and at least a couple of hours of overtime on almost every check lately.   That has helped me to continue to pay extra on each RV payment.  I don't think I'll reach the goal of having it completely paid off this year, but the balance will be reduced considerably.

January Resolution Review

I set some goals at the beginning of the year, so I thought I'd give a quick monthly update on my progress.


Reading: 

• Goal - 18 Books and more than a year of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home back issues (and yes, I've let the subscriptions to those magazines expire).
• January Progress - Read 3 books (3 of 18), but just one of the  magazines (1 of 38). 

The books I read were:

• Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!: The Beatles, Beatlemania, and the Music that Changed the World by Bob Spitz
• The Asperkid's (Secret) Book of Social Rules: The Handbook of Not-So-Obvious Social Guidelines for Tweens and Teens with Asperger Syndrome by Jennifer Cook O'Toole
• The Unschooling Handbook:  How to Use the Whole World As Your Child's Classroom by Mary Griffith.

Crafting:

• Goal - 12 completed projects, preferably one a month, with one being a quilted item and another being knit socks.
• January Progress - Finished a pair of fingerless mittens. (1 of 12)

I finished these crocheted fingerless mittens.  I had started them back in the summer on a camping trip, but lost the pattern on the same trip.  Fortunately, I was able to find it online, and was able to complete the pair. 

I also knitted a small afghan/blanket for our cat Bob, who was moved from outside to our basement in December.  He likes to sleep on dirty laundry, specifically sweaters, so I decided to make him something of his own.  It isn't much to look at, but it used up some of my yarn stash, and was good knitting practice for me.


Gardening: 

• Goal - Organized planning, leading to an organized garden.
• January Progress - Did germination testing on the seeds we already have on hand.  Printed garden organizer I purchased from Northwest Edible Life and recorded seed tests and a few other things.  Read about gardening.  Thought about gardening.

Diet/Nutrition:

• Goal - To switch over to less harmful types of sweeteners and/or reduce sugars in our foods.  To grow more of our food in our backyard.
• January Progress - Shane has switched entirely to local honey as the sweetener in his coffee.  I only sweeten coffee occasionally, but when I do, I've been using Sucanat.  I have not yet found a sweetener I like in my tea other than white sugar, so I'm working on reducing the amount.  Little other progress has been made on this front.

Fitness:

• Goal - To join a local yoga class better flexibility, balance and overall health.
• January Progress - Something came up and I was unable to join.  I plan to look for another class or a different activity to meet this goal.
• I've started looking at bicycles.  I'm getting a good idea about what I want and don't want in a bike.  Basically, I'd like a big ol' cruiser bike with a big, well-padded seat, and handlebars I don't have to lean over, but with multiple speeds.  If I can't find what I want, Shane says he can (and will) Frankenstein custom build one for me. 

Finances:

• Goal - To pay off our RV.
• January Progress - None.  I have filed our tax returns already, and should be getting refunds, but those funds are earmarked for tires for Shane's truck, tires for the RV, and a large chunk of savings for next winter when holidays and bad weather shrink Shane's paycheck considerably.  Very little, if any, funds will go toward the RV balance.  On the other hand, we just completed a No Spend/Reduced Spending month and were able to save quite a bit of money to put toward savings.

Shedding the "All or Nothing" Mentality

I think a lot of us who aspire to the frugal lifestyle sometimes get caught up in the idea that our efforts have to be all or nothing.

This applies equally to those of us who are trying to eat "clean" and keep our homes and gardens as chemical-free as possible. We begin to think that anything less than perfection is a compromise. We let perfect get in the way of good, and best get in the way of better.

Well, let me tell you, I'm not perfect, you aren't perfect, and neither is anyone else.

• So far this month, I've baked several loaves of homemade bread, ground my own wheat, and even made homemade flour tortillas and saltine crackers.  But I've also bought bread, tortillas, and crackers, and used store-bought white flour.
  
• I've dried clothes on my drying racks, but I've also used my dryer.
  
• I bought farm eggs and local honey, but I forgot my jugs when I went for raw milk and rather than drive back out to the farm, I bought big-dairy milk at the store.
  
• I try to consolidate errands as much as I can to save gas, but I warm the truck up on cold mornings.
  
• We harvest rainwater for our gardens to conserve water and save money, but I take a deep, hot bath whenever I want one.
  
• We make our own bath soap, laundry soap and toothpaste, but still use Dawn for dishes and commercial deodorant (for now, anyway).

We have given up striving for best and perfect.  But we do try to make better choices and execute better practices, and will continue to try to improve.  We don't let the idea of perfection stop us in our tracks.

That's good enough for us.

You Say You Want A Resolution?

Well, you know...

I prefer goals.  Goals, to me, imply moving forward toward something in a positive light.  Resolutions just seem a little heavy and negative:  this is something that's wrong with me that I'm going to try to fix.   Who needs that?  I certainly don't.

Anyway...I set just two goals last year.  The first was to read 26 books, one every two weeks.  The year before I read twice that many, so I thought 26 would be a breeze.  I barely made it.

My other goal was to do a craft project each month.  Forced leisure, if you will.  I ended up completing just six projects.  What happened?  Mostly, I have this hangup about needing to have all my housework done before I take time to craft.  I also have this thing about being on the Internet too often and for too long.  Basically, I just didn't make crafting a priority, although I enjoy it very much when I do make time for it.

Taken as a pair, I failed rather miserably at the goals I set last year.  So, this year I think I'll add even more.  Seems like backwards logic, but I tend to work better under pressure.

Reading:  I truly LOVE reading and will do it with or without a goal.  However, I enjoy tracking what I read on Goodreads, so I'll give it a number.  Instead of one every two weeks for a total of 26, this year I'll say three every two months for a total of 18. 

In addition, I have a year's worth of Mother Earth News and Hobby Farm Home magazines that I didn't make time to read when the issues arrived.  There's good stuff in those magazines, and I'm finally gonna read 'em, by golly!

Crafting:  I've been using our RV as a sewing/crafting studio, which is working well.  I like being able to leave my project out when I'm done for the day without fear of spilled food or crazy cats ruining it.  I'll stick with one project each month for a total of 12.  I'll go one further with this and get down to specifics.  One of the projects I want to complete is a pair of hand-knitted socks.  I also want to try my hand at quilting something, even if it's just a small table runner.  Wish me luck!

Gardening:  We've been flying by the seat of our pants long enough -- organization is the goal this year.  I purchased the downloadable garden planner and journal from Northwest Edible Life and I'm gonna get this thing squared away.  If you haven't seen this planner, take a look.  One affordable download lets you print a well-designed, fully customizable garden planner for the rest of your life!  That's a bargain at any price.  This goal isn't quantifiable, but I WILL get my garden plans in order this year.

Nutrition/Diet:  We're working toward a SOLE food diet around here, and I believe the best way to change my families eating habits is to make changes gradually.  When we eat at home, we eat pork and fish from within 100 miles. We consume eggs, honey, raw milk, and venison, all from within our county. We grow a lot of our own veggies and berries in our backyard. We eat what we believe are the good fats (butter, olive oil, coconut oil, lard) and I bake mostly with whole wheat flour that I grind myself. 

Sugar is still an issue for us; this year I want to get us completely switched over to the "good" (which really only means "less bad") sweeteners.   I want to find a source for local, free-range chicken, and I'd also like for even more of the foods we eat to come from our own backyard, which also ties in with our gardening goals.

Fitness:  Exercise and I have long history of not getting along.  In general, unless exercise can help me get something else done - like hanging laundry or planting potatoes - I don't want anything to do with it.  This month, though, I'm going to try something new; I'll be joining a Beginners' Yoga class in a setting I think I will enjoy.  My goal is more flexibility, better balance, and better health over all.

Finances:  I sure would like to pay off our RV this year.  I'm not sure if that can happen or not, especially now that we must update the wiring in our home, but it's a goal well worth effort.

In addition, there are those other goals -- to be a better parent, to get more exercise, to laugh more, to be more kind, to learn more, to enjoy life more fully -- but I hope all of us strive for those kinds of goal, all year round.

Now it's your turn.  Do you have any goals or resolutions this year?  Share them (or link back to your blog post) in the comments.