March 14 in 2014

1. Eat {more} vegetables.

I did ok this month, but not great. I did try a new vegetable: parsnips. Our friend gave us some from his mom's garden and we used them in smoothies. I intended to roast them also, but I forgot and they were kind of rotten by the time I remembered.

I did have a significant victory in learning to like broccoli! We had it roasted twice and I had it in my yakisoba noodles several times. I feel like I can say with certainty that this vegetable moved out of the dislike category!

2. Learn to drive a stick shift (again).

Check! This happened in March! I would still like to get a little more practice, but I feel confident that I can do this now. There were a few stalling out moments, but it was when someone got behind me and I got so nervous with them waiting on me. To be fair, I was in parking lots the entire time (it was several that join together and I got up to second gear, so it was still good experience), and next time I hope to get some actual street practice. 

3. Read books.

I'm still working on The Signature of All Things. It's been very slow going for me, but not because it's bad writing. I really enjoy it and just need to take more time to read it, preferably NOT when I'm in bed and about to fall asleep.

4. Print and make albums with the pictures I take in the year.

Nothing happened here in March.

5. (Continue to) memorize the book of James.

I am not feeling good about this goal. I feel like I should have picked this goal or #10, but probably not both. I'm just not able to do them both well.

6. Crochet a blanket for Kory

Kory has now decided he doesn't want this blanket. It is understandable as we have quite a few already, and he feels like it would be too much work for me, considering he might not use it a lot.

So it looks like maybe I can turn my crocheting efforts towards baby items at this point.

7. Can 3 foods.

I have been looking through my canning cookbooks I got for Christmas to get some ideas. My current thoughts on what I might can include green beans, tomatoes, and possibly pickles.

8. Do puzzles.

We are getting SO close to finishing this giant! It's continuing to be pretty difficult at this point with so many of the pieces looking the same, but I have no doubt that April will be the month we finally finish this puzzle.

9. Make my blog prettier. 

Nothing this month, but I did get a comment last month with a great idea so I need to check out that website and see what I can do to spruce things up around here. 

10. Read through the entire Bible.

I'm still going, but it's a struggle. One of the main reasons is that I am so tired these days and reading puts me to sleep very quickly. I've tried reading while blow drying my hair, on my lunch break, right when I get home after work...so far, nothing is working really well. I'm giving myself grace and will continue reading when I can.

11. Eat more whole foods and, therefore, less processed foods. 

Hmm...I didn't do a lot of cooking in March. I have been SO exhausted in the evenings after work and Kory has been great about picking up the slack. I'm looking forward to the 2nd trimester energy boost I keep hearing about!

12. Get my braces off.

My most recent appointment brought good and bad news. It looks like I could get my braces off earlier than expected, but it means I have to wear rubber bands again. My new goal is to have my braces off before the baby arrives, so I'm still feeling positive about that happening.

13. Brush up on my Spanish.

I think I only worked on my Spanish one day this past month. I'm not too upset about that because I feel like it was a productive month anyway. Plus, I was really tired, and have lowered my expectations for myself a bit since discovering how worn out I am most days. 

14. Move out of our house.

Well, this is the 2nd biggest news in our lives these days. It's a long story, but we are keeping the house. We took it off the market in March and will continue living here. We do not plan to fix the foundation, but we do plan to do some repairs on the gutters/drainage situation and hopefully fix some of the seasonal settling we're experiencing.

We have a letter from a certified engineer stating that the home is structurally sound and all the damage was done in the first 10 years the home was built, which means it's not getting worse every year, like we originally thought. Finding out we were pregnant was a big part of making this decision. We started listing the things we wanted in a house...quiet neighborhood, big back yard, etc. It didn't take long to realize we already have that house! It's refreshing to not have to think about packing, selling, moving and buying a new house while I'm pregnant. I'm excited to be staying here as I really do love this house.

To someone on the outside, it might seem like we just went in circles for a year. To us, God did incredible work on our hearts and taught us trust and faith in very real and significant ways. The ways God grew us over the past year mean that this was not wasted time. Thanks again for your prayers and support as we dealt with this house situation. We feel like God led us to this house 2 years ago, and we're grateful He's allowing us to keep it now.

This goal will now transition to one I set last year and never really achieved because we found out about the foundation damage: Make our house feel like a home.

February 14 in 2014

1. Eat {more} vegetables.

This month was a huge success in the vegetable department! I have heard over and over that roasting vegetables is the way to go, but I finally had a conversation (via FB) with Alisa from Family Meal Blog that motivated me to actually try it. At her encouragement, I roasted cauliflower with olive oil, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and a tiny bit of sugar. I decided to roast some zucchini also because I knew I liked zucchini and if the cauliflower turned out gross, I'd have something to fall back on.

Well, of course, Alisa was right (we all should trust this gal when it comes to food!) and I LOVED the cauliflower and zucchini both. I roasted them at 400 for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges started browning. I actually had the vegetables as my meal that night because I was so focused on that project that I didn't really plan anything else. I did balance it out with some chips and dip though, so don't worry about me getting too healthy over here.

I also tried making Sweet Potato Fries for the first time this month. I put way too much oil on them, so even though I put some corn starch on as Alisa suggested, they were still way too soggy. I also didn't do a great job chopping them to be the same size, so the smaller ones got a little burned, but the thick and chunky ones were quite tasty. I definitely want to try these again!

2. Learn to drive a stick (again).

Not yet. Hopefully soon.

3. Read books.

I'm reading a really big book this month (500 pages) so it's kind of slow going for me. I'm really enjoying it, and it's not a difficult read at all. I just find myself falling asleep so easily when I read that I don't get very far before dozing off.

4. Print and make albums with the pictures I take in the year.

Nothing this month.

5. (Continue to) memorize the book of James.

You know what they say about the best of intentions... I had such a hard time keeping up on my daily Bible reading and that I got nothing accomplished here. The real solution is for me to watch less Netflix, so we'll see if I can make that happen in March.

6. Crochet a blanket for Kory

Nothing yet. 

7. Can 3 foods.

Still waiting for summer...though I'm getting more concerned that I might not have a garden (since I don't know where we'll be living), so I might have to can something from a local farmer's market if that is the case.

8. Do puzzles.

I'm still chipping away at this bad boy. It's going much slower now because SO many pieces look just alike. I wasn't feeling too great about my progress but then I looked at how much I had accomplished in January compared to now, and I'm feeling a little better about how it's coming together. I spent a lot of time working on it when Kory was gone to Guatemala for almost two full weeks.

January:

February:

9. Make my blog prettier. 

I don't really know what I want my blog to look like, which is part of my problem. I did get tired of it being so plain and white, so I added a cute background and updated a few font colors. I am not visually gifted at all, so I will probably need some outside help to get the blog to look really amazing, but the goal was "prettier", so I think I have accomplished that for now, at least.

10. Read through the entire Bible.

I didn't do so well in February. I feel like I spent the whole month playing catch up. About half-way through the month, I realized that it was real work to get through my reading each day and I wasn't really enjoying it at all. Job was quite a chore for me in January, and Exodus was proving to be the same in February. Rather than follow the "rules" of this plan perfectly, I jumped ahead many months to give myself some New Testament reading. My goal is to read the whole Bible in a year's time, so it doesn't really matter to me anymore if I do it in order, as long as I'm reading every day (well, 6 of 7 days a week) and have finished the whole thing come December 31, 2014. 

11. Eat more whole foods and, therefore, less processed foods. 

I had an epiphany recently that the best way to reach this goal was simply to cook from scratch. Duh! I know that might not be surprising to you at all, but it was a light bulb moment for me to realize that there were many things I didn't even know how to make from scratch, because I just always bought them in a can. This was the month to begin the learning. First up, I decided to make beans, as in good old pinto beans. I was going to do them in the crock pot, but then I got too impatient and just made them on the stove. I made a bean and cheese burrito with them and it was really good...homemade beans, hand-grated cheese, now I just need to learn how to make tortillas myself!


This has become one of my go-to foods lately: a Chipotle-inspired burrito bowl topped with Yumm! Sauce.

My favorite version includes chicken, rice/quinoa, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, cheese, avocados and Yumm! sauce. It's definitely a good way for me to get some more vegetables in my diet and eat healthy, whole foods. 

12. Get my braces off.

Another month and another good appointment at the orthodontist. He doesn't plan to have me wear rubber bands anymore (thank goodness!) and he said things are looking good to get them off in the not-too-distant-future. The only other excitement in this area is that they got a new mint green color for bands and I'm really digging it!

13. Brush up on my Spanish.

I'm up to Level 5 on DuoLingo. I have no idea how many levels there are, but since I'm still practicing sentences like, "I read books", I have a feeling there are a LOT of levels to go.

14. Move out of our house.

Well, February was kind of a frustrating month in this department. We had a lock box with the front door key for realtors and a sign up in our yard for weeks, but the house still wasn't for sale officially. We had to wait weeks for the engineer to write us a letter ensuring the house's structural integrity.

Finally, right at the end of the month the house went on the market. We had a great initial response with 7 house showings in 6 days. No offers made yet, but at least people are looking. We'll take that as a win for this month!

14 in 2014: January Update

Well, we're 1/12 of the way through 2014, and I'm pleased with my progress on these goals so far. I don't actually remember all of them, so this monthly check-in will be a good way to remind myself of what I'm trying to do this year.

1. Eat {more} vegetables.

It's safe to say I consumed more veggies in January than in December. I started drinking smoothies again, which is the easiest way for me to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet. I also made a veggie pizza one night, which looked far better than it tasted.

To be fair, it wasn't the vegetables fault...it was the bad crust. I tried a new kind of yeast and should have just stuck with what I knew worked. The real kicker for me this month was that I brought a salad to our monthly staff luncheon so we could have something healthy.

2. Learn to drive a stick (again).

No progress here this month, but it will come.

3. Read books.

I did really well on this goal in January. Granted, two of the books were started in late 2013, but I finished them in 2014, so they go on this month's list. Dear John was a re-read for me, as I was just wanting something really easy and thought-less to get me through a couple days of cold weather where I just wanted to be curled up on the couch. I forgot just how awfully sad it really is and bawled my way through the last 1/3 of it. It's awful. I mean it. Don't read it. But if you keep it on your bookshelf long enough, you'll forget and re-read it a couple years later and be saying all over again that it was the very last time. For real this time.

4. Print and make albums with the pictures I take in the year.

I needed some new pictures for my desk at work, so I printed several (5 I think?) from our Christmas trip to TX. They were all taken with my phone and so they aren't fantastic quality as prints. I've been thinking lately that I should probably either dig out my old camera or buy a new one and start using it to take pictures if I want some in print form. I am sometimes impressed with the quality of photos I can take on my phone, but it is just not great quality for printing. No matter how clear it is on my phone screen, the prints always come out just a little bit blurry.

5. (Continue to) memorize the book of James.

I didn't get any memorizing done in January. I'll try to work on that in February.

6. Crochet a blanket for Kory

I haven't started on the blanket yet. I need to get Kory to pick out the colors so I can get started and that just keeps getting pushed down the to-do list with other, more important things in our immediate future.

7. Can 3 foods.

This will be more of a summer/fall goal for me, so I'm feeling fine that nothing has been done on it yet.

8. Do puzzles.

I've been working a lot on the 2,000 piece puzzle that Kory got me for Christmas. I had no idea how big 2,000 pieces would be. It takes up pretty much the whole table, so I can't even get a lot of pieces out of the box because I'm out of space. It's really coming together though and I've enjoyed some relaxing evenings working on it.

9. Make my blog prettier. 

Not this month.

10. Read through the entire Bible.

This goal is probably my biggest success for this month, which I'm very happy to report. I've kept up with my daily Bible reading plan and am still going. I got behind for a few days, which I expected, but I caught up fairly easily. This is a chronological plan, so I started in Genesis and am now in Job. It's kind of weird for me because I expected Exodus to be next (I just forgot it was chronological), but I'm excited that I've found something I can stick with and enjoy.

11. Eat more whole foods and, therefore, less processed foods. 

This goal is really just about baby steps for us. I have started grating our own cheese instead of buying pre-shredded. It's a really easy step and saves us from eating the chemicals that they put in shredded cheese to keep it from clumping together. Plus, it's cheaper! I also stopped buying low-fat items like sour cream after learning they contain similar chemicals. After a significant amount of research, I've discovered that the full-fat dairy items are actually healthier for you, so I have cleared our fridge of all the low-fat groceries. We also had some really good coupons for organic meat and produce this month, so I was able to purchase that for the same price or cheaper than regular groceries.

12. Get my braces off.

We're on track to meet this goal. My orthodontist said I did a great job wearing the rubber bands (Woohoo! Glad to know the pain paid off!) and so he took them off this month. I might have to have them again later on, but I'm very grateful for the break. 

13. Brush up on my Spanish.

I did really well using the DuoLingo app early on in January, but haven't used it for a couple weeks now. I realized I kind of gave myself a hobby over-load with these goals, and there are just not enough hours in the day to do all of them all the time. I'm ok with that and I'll just try to focus on different goals in different months.

14. Move out of our house.

After almost a year of bad news about our house, God answered our prayers and gave us some really good news! We had a certified engineer come look at our house and he deemed it structurally sound and safe to sell. He will write us a letter stating that it is his professional opinion that all damage done to the foundation was done in the first 10 years the house was built and no further damage is being done. There will always be seasonal changes because of the rainfall and dry weather, but that is nothing too major. We're working with the realtor now and getting estimates for his charges as well as the engineer's so we can put it on the market soon. We hope to spend the next week cleaning things up and getting it ready to sell before Kory goes to Guatemala for 2 weeks. We are still cautious and know there could be a long road ahead, but we're very grateful to have some good options ahead!

14 in 2014

I haven't participated in many "blog series" over the course of my sporadic 5+ years of blogging (wow, I just realized it's been over 5 years!), but I really love Regina's yearly goals that she blogs about at Live Delightfully. As a fellow list-lover and goal-setter, this series speaks right to my heart. So, without further ado, here are my 14 goals for the year 2014.

1. Eat {more} vegetables.

I am not a huge fan of vegetables. However, I understand the necessary nutrition they provide, so I am trying to put more of them into my belly. I'm hoping to try some new veggies this year that I've never eaten as well as making an effort to actually consume some every day.

2. Learn to drive a stick (again).

I learned how to parallel park in 2013, (which wasn't officially a goal of mine). I just never learned how since it wasn't required in my driver's ed classes. Anytime I drive to Kory's office downtown, I have to parallel park and I got tired of circling the block looking for a space where I could pull in nose-first. Plus, there was a lot of teasing from Kory and I couldn't handle it anymore. How did I learn? Well, I just watched another driver do it one day and then tried it myself. I'm not perfect at it, but I think I'm pretty good for being self-taught.

Anyhow, the point of that tangent is to say that I did have to learn to drive a stick shift in high school, but I haven't done it in years and wouldn't feel confident doing it now. Our friends who are also our neighbors have two vehicles which require this skill, so the plan is for them to take Kory and I out and re-teach us both how to shift gears gracefully.

3. Read books.

Jon Acuff launched a new project in December called the Empty Shelf Challenge. The idea is that you take a picture of an empty book shelf and then continue to take pictures of that book shelf filling up all year as you place all the books you've read on the shelf. I love to read, but often find myself spending my spare time doing mindless Facebooking or TV watching, so I'm committing to read more books this year. (I didn't keep track of how many books I read in 2013 but I would guess about 6 or 7?)

4. Print and make albums with the pictures I take in the year.

I know I'm not alone when I say I haven't printed any pictures in a couple years. I take a ton of pictures on my phone and they get put on Facebook, maybe the blog, and then get stuck on the phone or computer for the rest of time. I was noticing at work the other day that my most recent pictures at my desk are from my wedding, 2.5 years ago! I always loved looking at picture albums when I would visit my grandparent's house and I would love to have keepsakes of our life now for future generations of our family. I really doubt my kids will want to scroll through my Facebook page to see pictures of what life used to be like in the good ole days...assuming we still have Facebook, which is another reason I want to put the pictures in some form that will last a bit longer. 

5. (Continue to) memorize the book of James. 

As I mentioned previously, I did memorize the first chapter of James in 2013. I'm going to continue working on this goal and add another chapter or two in 2014. It is my favorite book, but I learned most of it in the NIV growing up, so now memorizing it in the ESV version is proving to be quite a challenge. 

6. Crochet a blanket for Kory

Kory bought me a book of crochet projects in 2012 and asked me to make him the blanket on the front cover. I agreed to and forgot about it, so this goal is about following through with a commitment I made long ago. Kory gets to pick the colors, so I don't really know what this will look like when it's all said and done. 

7. Can 3 foods.

I got quite a bit of canning equipment for Christmas, so I want to put it to use and find a few foods (ideally that I've grown myself) and can them to be used at a later time. I don't actually know how to use all the equipment, so I guess I need to do some reading and learn what all the different parts do before I get too involved in the process.  

8. Do puzzles.

I really like to do puzzles. I think it's the sense of accomplishment along with the fun of watching the picture come together slowly to form something really beautiful. I often find myself feeling like I need to be productive and work on "important" things like cleaning the house or paying bills or whatever else might be nagging me...which is true, some of the time. However, I also believe I should be able to do puzzles for the simple fact that I enjoy it and find it relaxing. So, I really don't have to convince anyone but myself that it's ok, but I plan to complete several puzzles this year.

9. Make my blog prettier. 

Last year, I was really into simple looks. I liked having the clutter and extra stuff gone from the blog. Now, it looks sad and lonely and far too white. It's been a long time since I played around with blog backgrounds and templates and such, but I plan to do that in the near future, so I'll enjoy looking at my blog more...and hopefully that means I'll post a little more too.

10. Read through the entire Bible.

I don't even know how many times I've tried to read the Bible through in a year, and I have never successfully made it past January or February. This year, I'm doing a Chronological Bible Story reading plan on my phone and think it will go much better. I really love that it gives me a reminder each day to read and that it only schedules reading for 6 days a week so I always have a catch up day when I get behind.

11. Eat more whole foods and, therefore, less processed foods. 

I stumbled upon the blog 100 Days of Real Food a couple months ago and have been following her on FB ever since. I also have a friend who's been talking to me about organic and non-GMO foods and why she believes it's important to make smart food choices. I've been pretty overwhelmed with the whole topic because I know so little about it, but here are a couple posts that really got me thinking this was doable, even for me:

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/10-reasons-to-cut-out-processed-food/
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/02/real-food-tips-5-easy-changes-for-2013/

I like junk food. Quite a bit! I'm already working to eat more veggies, but this goes a little bit further into more cooking, less fast food and less pre-packed everything.  

12. Get my braces off.

Hey, 14 is a lot! I need an easy one. Plus, this does partly rely on me wearing my rubber bands and following orders so I can get them off on time. Target date is November 2014...ideally right before Thanksgiving!

13. Brush up on my Spanish.

Kory is going to Guatemala on a mission trip in February, so he's been trying to re-learn basic Spanish. He and I each downloaded an app called Duolingo to work on our Spanish on our iPhones. We can compete against each other to see who gets more points, so that's the real motivation to keep going at this point. There is a lot of trash talking going on (in broken Spanglish) in relation to this app.

14. Move out of our house.

2013 was the year of searching for options in relation to our home. Plain and simple, we found no workable options. Kory and I both believe 2014 will be the year that we leave this house. My feelings about that are very different from day to day. I don't know what our exit strategy will be exactly, but I do hope to celebrate Christmas 2014 in a home other than this one.

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Well, as you can see, I've got some pretty lofty goals for the year. It's always amazing to me how long a year feels in January and yet how very short it seems come December. I'll try again to update on a monthly basis to check in on my progress with these goals. Did you set any goals or make any resolutions for this year? I'd love to hear about them if you did.