15 in 2015 Update

It's been a while since I did an update on my 15 in 2015 goals for the year. I feel pretty good about my progress so far, especially considering that I forgot about these goals for a few months...oops! :)

1. Write at least 2 blog posts per month. 

Not exactly. BUT this is post #16 in 8 months, so it averages out, right?

2. Read 5 books.

Check!

1. American Sniper by Chris Kyle
2. So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore by Jake Colsen
3. His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
4. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
5. Interrupted by Jen Hatmaker

3. Eat more whole foods.

We've done better than last year overall. My motivation comes in waves and largely depends on my energy and motivation to cook.

4. Spend less time on my phone.

This really depends on the day. Lately, I've made a "rule" that I can only be on my phone (specifically, social media) first thing in the morning when I wake up and then at night after Peter is in bed. It's going pretty well, but it's hard to break the habit of picking up my phone when I'm bored or avoiding work.


5. Find creative ways to save and/or earn money for our family.

A few months ago, I started watching a little girl one day a week while her mom (a dear friend) works at our church. She's 11 months older than Peter and it's given me a glimpse into how fun and completely exhausting it is to have two babies close together.

6. Keep up with my One Line A Day journal.

Success. I'm up-to-date on this one.

7. Purge our home of 300 unnecessary items. 

I quit counting at 500 items, but I've donated/sold 5 trash bags full of stuff since then. I'm on a purging binge right now and am getting rid of SO much unnecessary junk in our house. It's kind of addicting actually.

8. Spend time outside.

Well, we've had the hottest summer on record this year, so that hasn't helped much. I was running in the Spring/early Summer so that helped. We've definitely spent some time outside swimming, picking fruit, laying in the hammock, and going for walks, but we still spent more time indoors than I would like. Once I'm outside, I always enjoy it, but sometimes I have a hard time motivating myself to actually get out the door.

9. Learn how to use our new camera. 

I would say this is mostly a fail. I still haven't read the manual and I am not that much better than I was in January. I have practiced taking photos a fair amount this year, but I don't know much more about technique or lighting or anything to help me take better pictures. Thankfully I have a cute subject, so that makes up for my lack of knowledge/skill.

10. Run a 5k.

Check! I did the Run for Ohm in June. I haven't really run at all since then, but that's beside the point. I don't remember what my time was (slow! 38 minutes maybe?), but my goal was still met.

11. Complete 6 crafty/house/Pinterest projects.

I've made four projects so far. The first two were for my niece, Lucy.

I sewed a set of tea bags to use at a (pretend) tea party. This was, of course, a find on Pinterest that I made my own.

The Merenesses are really into drawing (and good at it! let's hope Peter got Kory's artistic skills and not mine). I made this little drawing pad/crayon roll for Lucy to use at church or in the car (or anywhere else she wants).

The next item I made was for my dad for Father's Day. He loved it and the message couldn't be more true!  

These twine-wrapped jars were pretty simple to make. I also wrapped a few in burlap. I'm using most of them to grew herbs in and the others are currently holding flowers left over from a baby shower I hosted a couple weeks ago.

12. Try 12 new recipes.

I should have kept track of this better. I know I've tried several new recipes, but I can't remember what they were. One that I do remember was Pork Carnitas from Alisa at Family Meal Blog. They are SO delicious and seriously easy. I'm talking "put salt on the meat and put it in the oven and then eat it" easy. You've gotta try it!

13. Lose 20 pounds.

So it would help if I actually remembered what I weighed when I made this goal. haha I'm pretty sure I am down 10 pounds since then, which means I have about 10 pounds left until I'm at my pre-baby weight.

14. Organize and file our stacks of paperwork.

Winning! This is one area where I'm succeeding big time. I've actually combined this goal and the one to get rid of 300 items and am organizing our entire house...and I do mean EVERYthing. The only paperwork I have left is keepsakes/greeting cards and that's going to take a while to sort through.

http://koryandmandymereness.blogspot.com/2015/03/junk-drawer.html

The bags on the right are papers I'm getting rid of and the file box contains the only papers we're keeping.

15. Plant a garden.

Check! This year I've grown zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers (lemon and regular), jalapeños, broccoli, and cauliflower.