The Trouble with January

The trouble with January is that it follows December, which had plenty of blog worthy material. January is both a let down and a relief. I love Christmas and we keep our schedule moderate during that time. We don't have parties all the time, just a few, and a half dozen school programs, but Christmas eve, Christmas and the weekend were all rushed. Hence January is a nice calm month. Because of year round schedule, the kids were out til the 11th and have off Monday, so it's been nice to have some extra time to enjoy their new toys.

January is also a time for a new start. This part of January I like. I have "plans" this year. Plus I have plans for my plans, at least in my head. I decided not to call the resolutions, because those are soon forgotten. I may be splitting hairs here, but for me it's psychology. My plans are to continue on my diet, get organized, read the Bible through, and stick to a budget.

The diet restart has gotten off to a slow start, but I think I am finally back on track. Limited sugar and carbs (as in almost none), low fat, in short - rabbit food. I am hoping to use the Wii fit for my exercise program until I can get out and walk when it warms up.

I am feeling much more successful in the organizing part. I have spent some time purging around here but trying to become a "minimalist" is not working for me. For those who aren't familiar with that, here's my working definition: people who throw away anything they haven't touched in 3 days. Those folks aren't usually sentimental either so they don't keep all the junk their kids do. I am learning, however, to be really selective here, because junk times 4 is just crazy. I feel like we are busting at the seams in this house and that should not be. Even though there are 6 of us who live here, we have a decent amount of space. I have read Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's book though (they have 19 kids, so I put a lot of stock in their advice) and they made a good point. Her philosophy is that you need as much storage space as you do living space. So my "plan" for this is for Donnie to build a storage building. He We have hemmed and hawed long enough. Hence every time I have to dig something from our tiny attic, I have to repent for what I said when I banged my head on the rafters. So my plan is to clean out and encourage stongly urge demand to have a storage building. I have been promised the top floor and I am already dreaming of how I would like to organize it. (Does this mean I need counseling?)

As far as my Bible reading I am up to Genesis 40 something. Pretty cool stuff. I have never read the whole book of Genesis much less the whole Bible. Another cool thing that I knew but never really thought about is this. My friend Kevin is one of our pastors and he spoke Sunday. When he speaks, I get IT. He has a wonderfully simple way of explaining the very complex. Sunday he pointed out that every story in the Bible points to Jesus. Yes, that includes the Old Testament. Every. Story. Plus I am fascinated by the Isrealites, so I have enjoyed my reading thus far.

For budgeting help we bought Quicken and so far I like it. I have had to enter my data manually which is a pain, but it tells us where we spent our money. I know how much I spent on groceries, what percentage of our income my house payment is, and how much I spent at Walmart (I may not like that one before this is all said and done. It might get me in trouble). Anyway, it's very cool.

So there ya have it, my plans for the year. I am sure there are a ton more I should have, but if I get these accomplished, hopefully other things will fall into place too.