February was a difficult month for working on my goals. We spent the first 11 days in Texas/New Mexico and then immediately came home and began working full-speed on our 30 Hour Famine for the youth group. That being said, I'm still pleased with how much I did accomplish in the month.
1.) Try 2 new recipes each month.
I successfully made two new recipes in February. The first was a spinach, sausage and tortilini soup. I thought it was REALLY yummy and I'll definitely be making it again. I bought the wrong kind of Italian sausage though (should have been links), so I'll correct that next time.
I also made Italian stuffed zucchini boats. They turned out pretty well, but didn't have as much flavor as we would have liked. I used ground turkey and thought I seasoned it a lot, but obviously it needed some more. Here's the progression so you can see the basic idea of how to make them.
I am really struggling with this one. I even set aside some time to work on this and am just stuck in the first chapter still. There is this one verse that I can't seem to get down, but I am bound and determined to get into chapter 2 in March!
3.) Pay off the Camry.
I made our regular and extra payment on the Camry and I love watching that balance drop so quickly. I am getting really excited to have that extra money when the car is paid off to go towards other things.
4.) Give away produce from my garden.
I did a little bit of research and planning for my garden this month and have just about nailed down what I'm going to plant. I'm trying to stick with vegetables and fruits that we really love and will eat in abundance. I'm looking forward to starting some seeds indoors next month!
5.) Complete 12 crafty projects.
I finished the craft I alluded to in January that was a gift for my friend, Kecia. I crocheted this baby blanket for her little girl, Harleigh, and love the way it turned out! It was really fun to be able to give this to Kecia in person while we were in Texas. Mailing gifts just doesn't have the same effect.
I also made another craft in February, but I'll talk more about it on goal #13.
This was particularly difficult since we spent half the month away from home and only had one weekend at home. (We spent that weekend doing laundry and recovering from our trip too, so we didn't get anything house-related done.) It was good to have a break though because we were able to save a chunk of money for some bigger projects we have planned for March. The curtain rods are still sitting in the guest bedroom because we need to know the length of our curtains before hanging them. We learned that lesson the hard way in our bedroom.
7.) Take a break from my iPhone.
I feel like I'm making good baby steps in this area. However, that has meant that I left my phone at work 3 times this past week alone! Thankfully I have remembered fairly quickly and been able to go back in and get it each time. Putting it on the iHome when I am at home has been really helpful. I've also made it a point to put it in my purse and put my purse out of reach when I'm out to dinner or hanging out with a group of people.
8.) Keep in touch with our Compassion-sponsored children.
I didn't do anything for this goal in February. It did kind of feel like I just wrote to our kids and didn't have much else to say, so I think writing every other month might be better/more realistic.
9.) Develop a deeper prayer relationship.
I finished reading Too Busy Not to Pray this month and I really enjoyed it! I highly recommend it if you're looking for a helpful guide with some really practical advice on praying.
10.) Play with Sky every day.
I'd give myself a 7/10 on this one. There is more sunlight in the evenings now which is really nice, but there were a lot of nights where we had events in the evening (prep work for 30 Hour Famine, high school swimming awards banquet, Small Groups, art event at the high school, etc.) so I didn't play with Sky on some of those nights where I just came home and went to bed. Ideally, I'd like for him to get some exercise with us every day, but I know there is not enough hours in the day to do everything I'd like, so I'll just continue to do my best to make it happen as often as possible.
11.) Clean, organize and purge one drawer, closet, or cabinet each month.
I cleaned out the cabinet under my bathroom sink and went through of all of our medicines. A lot of the medicine expired back when I was still in college, so I ended up getting rid of quite a bit of it. It was also a time I could be really grateful for our good health, because we really don't have to take very much medicine at this point in our life. Thank you, God!
12.) Spend time with and learn about people different than me.
I'm still working on Not Quite Adults and plan to finish reading it in March. The one night the Warming Center was open in February was during our 30 Hour Famine, so we didn't get to help there this month No, the irony is not lost on me that we slept outside in cardboard boxes while the homeless shelters were opening up because it was so cold outside. It was an authentic experience for sure! 30HF was a great opportunity to learn about people whose lives look SO very different than mine. It was humbling and challenging and encouraging all at the same time.
13.) Plan quality, creative time for Kory and I to be together.
For Valentine's Day, I made a Date Jar for Kory and I. You've probably seen them all over Pinterest, but just in case you haven't, it's a mason jar with date ideas written on popsicle sticks. You pull a stick out to see what date you'll be going on that night. They are color-coded so you can decide if you're staying in (no $), going out ($$), or spending a significant amount of money ($$$).
(Mine isn't very creative because I had 2 days to work on it and had to throw it together, but it still does the job.)
You definitely have to be spontaneous to enjoy a gift like this (which I don't think I am!) so we're still trying to put it to use. We were supposed to use it for Valentine's Day but Kory already had a specific movie and dinner place in mind, so we went with that. I'm hoping we'll give it a go in March and really do the idea we draw out.
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