10 10s in 2010

"We are not called to do great things, but small things with great love."
~Mother Theresa

So I'm taking a different approach on goals for the year this year. Last year I opted for simple, because I more or less flopped on my list from 2008. (Well, ok, I did most of it, but not the scrapbooking.)
SO, this year here's something new:
10 goals in each of 10 areas for 2010. (Posted on Jan 10, because I'm a sucker for numbers like that.)
That's not quite as huge as it sounds, because really each area is a goal, and then the 10 within it are sortof the mini-steps. Furthermore there is some overlapping between goals (ie, some of the mini-steps fall into more than one of the bigger goals, so there's not really quite 100 of them). Just keep reading, hopefully it will make sense.
Please note that there is no significance whatsoever to the order in which these are written. (Is that something like when my dad used to draw a map to a place and then write in big letters in the corner "no scale"?!)


1--Keeping My Home

1. Create (and then stick to) a housekeeping system
2. Try out at least one new recipe each month (this is what keeps the doldrums out of my kitchen)
3. Serve balanced meals (with a protein, a vegetable, and a starch/carb) at least most nights
4. Grind my own wheat flour
5. Make bread all year (2 months down and so far so good!!)
6. Build up my food storage--at least 3m worth of all non-perishable items
7. Learn about gardening in Alaska--what foods grow well, when/how to plant and harvest, etc
8. Have a garden
9. Can/freeze produce in season
10. Participate in the butchering and/or preservation of a moose that Hubby shoots (that's one of his goals for the year!

2--Read Books (ideally including the following specific titles)

1. To Kill A Mockingbird
2. A Christmas Carol
3. something by a local author
4. a biography or memoir (I just read Alan Alda's, of all random people...and it was engrossing!)
5. *Going Rogue by Sarah Palin (mostly for cultural literacy)
6. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (Time top 10)
7. Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis et al (about Bertrand Russell) (Time top 10)
8. Beauty by Robin McKinley
9. Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith (Time top 10)
10. Icy Sparks
11. (alternate) Fablehaven

3--Improve Financial Stability

1. Pay off (at least) one account
2. Keep current with tithing (unfortunately some months this has been hard for us, and then catching up on our tight budget is even harder)
3. Live within our means, always considering wants vs needs, and making the modest choice even with the latter.
4. Use coupons and shop sales at the grocery store
5. Use our tax returns and PFD's wisely (for food storage/debt, not playing!)
6. Build up our food storage
7. Build up my year's supply (the non food stuff, like toilet paper and toothpaste and laundry soap) to 3-6months worth
8. Do not buy any new diaper/etc fabric
9. Sew items to sell using the fabric I have
10. Actively market my etsy shops

4--Be More Present with my Family

1. Read more books to my kids (I've been doing better with this through this last fall, and hope to continue it)
2. Acquire a couple of new children's books in order to do #1 without losing my mind ☺
3. Cuddle my kids every day
4. Include the kids in the housekeeping schedule (give them assignments)
5. Stay OFF the internet one day a week (generally Tuesday)
6. Be a good example for the kids by limiting my screen time on other days (haven't settled the specifics of that)
7. Say "just a minute" less often
8. Play with my kids, not just work near them
9. Have a monthly 'date' with each family member
10. Go to bed at the same time as my Hubby (so we can have pillow talk and cuddle time)

5--Create

1. Create (sew or knit) at least 6 things per month, for my family or my shop
2. Introduce a new product (or two or three) in my shop(s) this year.
3. Allow myself the thought-outlet of blogging frequently ☺
4. Finish Wolf's sweater
5. Knit something for myself (I have no idea what yet)
6. Use up existing stash rather than buying new materials
7. Try out at least one new recipe each month
8. Learn how to make shampoo/conditioner (ideally by doing so...it depends on how hard it is to come by ingredients)
9. Make handmade gifts for my family/friends (not necessarily to the exclusion of purchased items)
10. Help my children make things

6--Focus Inward

1. Be more active (I'd like to go walking, though in winter in Alaska with two little ones and no where to walk indoors this is a challenge...)
2. Work on my poor ignored abdominals...crunches or pilates or something
3. Get outside more often
4. Read more fiction (see list above!)
5. Read my scriptures
6. Pray more (an ongoing challenge for me unfortunately)
7. Get the local breastfeeding support group on it's feet. (There isn't one, so I took it upon myself to make one. The social support helps me so much and I believe in the cause)
8. Sing more
9. Take time to be still and quiet
10. Check in on these goals at least quarterly to monitor my progress (I'll post those here on the blog)

7--Focus Outward

1. Do my visiting teaching every month
2. Become a Big Sister with Big Brothers/Big Sisters...it's something I've wanted to do for a long time, I just am not sure how it will go with a newborn...
3. Build up the local breastfeeding support group.
4. Fulfill my church calling (I am the coordinator over the Relief Society meetings formerly referred to as "Home, Family, and Personal Enrichment meetings")
5. "Pay It Forward" whenever I can (in whatever ways I can)
6. Look specifically for opportunities to PIF/send out good karma
7. Shop locally or handmade whenever possible.
8. Feed the local missionaries each month
9. Teach a friend how to do something new (a lady at church has asked about learning to make a babywearing pouch and another has asked about cloth diapers)
10. Teach my kids how to do new things (Wolf has expressed interest in knitting and trying the sewing machine, Bear is learning to put away the silverware from the dishwasher)

8--Learn

1. Read a parenting book
2. Read a marriage/relationship book
3. Read a political book
4. Read a nutrition or health book
5. Read a biography or teachings of a latter day prophet or apostle
6. Read my scriptures
7. Learn new knitting techniques (starting with increases from opposite sides)
8. Learn how to make shampoo and/or conditioner
9. Try out at least one new recipe each month
10. Seek to find/recognize the sacred in all aspects of life, and the connections between truths ("spiritual" and otherwise)

9--Blog

1. Write a series of posts about The Family proclamation
2. Finish the final post in my "motherhood" series
3. Finish the birth-related posts that are sitting in my drafts folder
4. Research and write more posts on specific vaccinations
5. Write reviews of the books I have read but haven't written about yet: Hold On To Your Kids, The Omnivore's Dilemma, Raising Your Spirited Child
6. Write reviews of books I read this year
7. Post more regularly on my cooking blog
8. Post more regularly on my family scrapbook blog (it's private, for keeping extended family updated mostly)
9. Fill in gaps by posting older stuff on the family scrapbook blog too
10. Leave comments on my friends' blogs ☺

10--Celebrate

1. Celebrate the earth cycle holidays (equinoxes, solstices). I have some ideas about what I want to do, but would love to hear ideas.
2. Finally start our long-planned family tradition of having an authentic medieval meal (ie, big meat, candlelight, no utensils) once a year. I can't decide between Michaelmas and Spring Equinox--thoughts?
3. Establish a new family tradition for Jesus' Birthday (April 6--I'll write about it when we get there)
4. Have a family pizza night at least twice a month (we are currently doing about 3x), and invite someone to join us.
5. Have a family or couples game night at least once a month
6. Go to playgroup and mom's support (breastfeeding) group and RS meetings and thus rejuvenate myself often
7. Visit some major sites of my own state (this will be our third summer since moving here, but we've never really traveled IN state!) We're looking at Denali NP and Fairbanks at least.
8. Play music in the home/car, and sing more
9. Get outside often and breathe deeply
10. Do my best to live deeply and suck the marrow out of life

Spelling Stories

Each week Wolf has a list of spelling words. As part of his homework he's supposed to either write a sentence for each word, or a story using all the words. He usually opts for the sentences, because trying to make a coherent story out of a list of random words is daunting, but a couple of times I've looked at his list of words and seen story just begging to get out, so I've helped him make a story with them. They are awfully cute and I thought they should be preserved. (When I told him I'd like to copy the stories to share he got quite excited.) ☺
Keeping in mind that these are written for/by a 9 year old boy, enjoy!
(spelling words are italicized)




Orion and I went on a trip by ourselves. You have to understand our background. Orion always gets homesick whenever we go to an airport, so I thought this time we could go by railroad. I was just putting on my seatbelt when Orion barfed everywhere. I had never seen anything like it. He barfed everything he had eaten since breakfast. Meanwhile I already knew we would go home by afternoon. That night as we sat by my fireplace, we talked about the ninety-nine places we want to go Maybe next time we will go on motorcycles and then Orion will be all right. It's a good thing our trips are all make-believe, otherwise I might not go with him again; that barf was really bad!

The End

(The teacher wrote back that this was "the best spelling word story [he] had ever read!")

Don't you think they should make electric jackets? It would work like an electric blanket.

I made the mistake of bringing up this peculiar topic with my friend Fred. Fred didn't hear me, he was too busy telling me about his tropical trip. He told me an aquatic story that made me sick to my stomach.

He was at a public beach with his pet squirrel when he decided to go surfing. He went to his dad's truck to get a surfboard but the only one left was crooked. He decided to go anyway. He went out on the water but the wobbly board made his back ache so he decided to lay down on the board and look at fish.. He saw a beautiful speckled one swim next to him and then sink again. He didn't stop to question why, he struck out after it. Unfortunately something else had decided to track that fish too. Fred saw the shark just in time to avoid attack. the shark bit the speckled fish in half and Fred swam away very fast.

I'll stay home with my electric jacket thank you!

The End

Friday Feel Up

Get your new year off on the right foot, er, breast--do your self exam!

Life With Children

Bear: Hey Mommy! Don't take my picture, just get Eagle

Mom: Okay

Eagle: He's still touching me!!!

Mom: Honey can you move ove...

Bear: HI!!!!!

Mom: [moves the baby to another room]

Eagle: [smiles]

[audience sighs...]

And if you're dying to see pictures of Bear at the same age (so you can compare and then argue about whether they look the same or not...) here's Bear at 5 weeks. (Unfortunately I don't have anything digital of Wolf that young...)

2009 in Review

A couple of my friends have done this sort of thing, and I find it fascinating.
Take the first most interesting sentence of each post, find the best one (or few) from each month, and post them together as a synopsis of my year. ☺(For your browsing ease, I have linked each post...enjoy!)

January
At one point, my sweet innocent son explained to someone "this is the plain eggnog, and that one is for alcoholics."

Square miles on Chichagof: about 2000
People on Chichagof: 1100
Freakin Huge Bears on Chichagof: 1600
Now see, don't you feel educated?!

Well, the little-Bear-who-is-not-so-little has just come and stuck yet another body part into my face so that I can kiss it better.

The other night Hubby and I were talking, and the subject turned to a particular relative of ours whom I'll call Marge (because that is not her name). ☺

He looked at me very seriously. "No peepee door," he agreed, pointing.

February
I know I’m supposed to leave comments about how cute the kids are…but sometimes I just can’t, because some kids are not cute.

I can make his favorite dinner and wear his favorite color and get the kids to bed early, but unless I actually say "hey baby, I'm feelin frisky tonight" then I can't take it personally if he settles in with his book.

I am 27 23.

Wolf spent most of his time climbing the piles of snow at the edges of the field (where the plows pile it up) and then 'skydiving' off them onto the field.
Bear mostly wandered around picking up chunks of snow and sucking on them.

When a 2 year old has an 8 year old brother, he gets a head start on learning about stuff like super powers and bazookas.

March
I'm going to read the entire book. (And if I one day suddenly stop blogging, you may assume that I died from the experience.)

Hubby made the excellent point that if someone is too dumb to be able to read the directions and understand that one line means no and two lines means yes, well, they’ve got no business having kids.

I feel lousy this afternoon. And a little bit nauseous.
Yay!!!

April
I just don't like the idea of public nudity, even when I'm dead.

May
This is my life, how could I be content with mediocrity?

June
As a child, I had a lovely mental picture of Heavenly Father. He was huge, and He sat on a big white throne nestled in puffy clouds. There were birds and flowers and angels and books all around him.

July
Long ago, before much of anyone bothered with things like bathing or changing their clothing, everybody stank a bit.

All you lower 48-ers, eat your hearts out. ☺

I was awakened by him standing over the edge of my bed, peering into my face at close range. "Mommy," he explained, "you have a nuggert, I'm gonna get it for you," and without further ado he stuck his finger into my nose

August
Unfortunately, this has led to the not-infrequent recurrence of what happened today: we collect a large pile of stuff that needs to be packed, and then Hubby turns serenely to me and says "you can get that all in, right?" and goes on his way...

The short version of it all is that I believe (and have heard quite a few birth stories which vindicate the belief) that most women get the labor they expect. It may not be the labor they planned for, it may not be the labor they wanted, but at least to some degree it was probably the one that they expected.

September
Remember diapers are to catch poop, not to win beauty contests; it's ok if they look a little funny.

The real irony is, if either one of us was going to be a handcuff-myself-to-a-tree sort of activist, it probably would have been me.

October
I am only one, but I AM one.
I cannot do everything, but I CAN do SOMEthing.
And if I am too lazy or selfish to do the things that I can do, well, shame on me. And if I take some small pride in doing the small things I can do, well, I think that's probably healthy.

Imagine the impact we might have on our culture's concept of birth if little children of both sexes grew up comfortable with birthing! Imagine if not only the future mothers, but also the future fathers, and the future doctors, midwives, and nurses all had witnessed a birth (or several) prior to adulthood

November
In other words, for many women, giving birth is the one time in her life when she is being true to what she is--when she is actually doing something as nature intended--and that can be a powerful (and empowering) experience. It is her chance to be a WOMAN rather than another androgynous clone.

Don't expect to have time to grab stuff if your house catches on fire, you will probably have to just run as you are (so don't sleep in your underwear!!).

I'm tired, I'm sore, I'm cranky, and it's entirely possible that I'm losing my mental acuity at least a little bit (remember how I keep waking up confused at still being pregnant? Yeah, that...)

December
I'm not saying that great gifts cannot be purchased items, just that the greatness of a gift is not correlated to its cost.

Whoops

I just scheduled (or tried to schedule) a post, and then it posted instead of scheduling...whoops, forgot to set the date. So I pulled it, and I'll post it in a week or so (which is when I actually want it to post). ☺

"Birth is not merely a means to an end..."

"Birth is not merely a means to an end,
it is an event that changes a family and is imprinted on a woman's life forever.
♥
The memories of their children's births are among the most vivid memories a woman will ever have.
♥
Get any group of women together and ask them about their birth experiences, and you will hear of joy, pain, sorrow, triumph, and a myriad of other strong and powerful emotions."


~Andrea Lythgoe, doula and childbirth educator
(from her website, posted with her permission)

Baby Smiles

7 weeks old
Somebody has a new skill!

Kids Do the Darndest Things

Today's kiddo moment is from the archives so to speak...I wasn't blogging yet when Wolf was doing goofy toddler/preschooler things, but he was as amusing as Bear has ever been (even though he hasn't gotten as much print space), so this post is devoted to him.

When Wolf was about 4, there was some kind of disturbance up the street that involved a police car being parked in front of the house for an hour or so. Wolf was fascinated of course (he was in the "I want to be a policeman when I grow up" stage). He and daddy stood outside for a while and looked over at the car and talked about how police officers help keep us safe. A little later that evening as Wolf was saying his prayers at bedtime, I heard the following from his room:
"Thank you for policemen, for keeping us safe, and for helping us...BJOOOOO! BJOOOO! BJOOOO!"
[yes, he was making shooting noises mid-prayer!]
Daddy had been sitting with him as he prayed, and he told me afterward that it was all he could do to not laugh out loud...but thankfully he kept his cool and Wolf went on to finish his prayer without realizing just how much he'd entertained his parents.

Comment Issues

A long time ago I disabled anonymous comments on this blog because I find it annoying for someone to say something without telling who they are...I mean either own up to your comment or keep your mouth shut, you know? However not everyone has a google account, so some people (nice people) who wanted to comment were unable to do so. So a couple of weeks ago I switched the setting to allow anonymous comments, but just added a note saying that if you use that setting please indicate who you are.
I have never seen so much spam in my life. Fully half the comments I have gotten in the last two weeks has been spam (some of it isn't even in English, good grief!). No way is this going to continue.
So I have essentially two options: return to the "no anonymous comments" setting, or activate the word verification. Now I really hate word verification--I just think it's a pain--so I've never had it and never wanted to have it...however maybe it's the lesser of two evils in this case. I don't know. What do you think?