New Year's Resolutions

I love making new year's resolutions! My dad was always big on new year's resolutions and I think he rubbed off on me. A lot of times, I forget them after a few months, but I love reviewing the last year, and having another chance to start over and make positive changes in my life.

My mental list of new year's resolutions is very long this year, so I am cutting it down a bit to make it realistic.

1) Prioritize and stay on top of things better--I have felt like I am constantly forgetting things because I don't write them down or I don't check what I write down.  I want to do better at remembering things by writing them down and checking and prioritizing.  Often, I do things that are of a low priority before I do higher priority things which in turn makes me in panic mode trying to get those high priority things done in a shorter time.  One way I have already started doing this is by writing down things I need to do as I think of them on a to-do notepad and checking and updating it each day.  I also have been prioritizing the list by high, medium, and low.

2) Exercise at least 4 days a week--I have tried a few exercise programs this year.  We had a membership to the gym for awhile and I did that very irregularly.  When school started, my neighbor and I started walking each morning and then I would do Pilates afterwards.  Then, late fall, Eric and I started p90x.  While that only lasted for a few weeks for me due to aggravating a previous knee injury, there were a lot of things I liked about it.  I'd like to incorporate all of these into my exercise this year.  Last year I made a goal to lose weight and become more fit.  I am happy to say that I am about 8 pounds lighter at the beginning of this year, and have become more fit.  I would like to become even more fit and lose another 8 pounds.

3) Do regular piano lessons with the girls--I have been teaching my kids piano lessons for the past few years and I have not been regular with their lessons.  Alex's lessons have been almost non-existent the past year, but the girls have been on average about once a month instead of once a week.  I want to be better about that this year.  I am going to put Alex in piano lessons with someone else this month and see how that goes.  He still has a real interest in piano, it is just not working well with me trying to teach him.  The girls are responsive with me so it is me that needs to be more consistent.

4) De-clutter/de-junk and re-organize every room in the house and donate or sell things we no longer use.  I plan to do this one room at a time and even if it takes several months, I hope to make it through the whole house by summer break.  I have already started with my bedroom.