Sunday, January 02, 2011

Resolved, 2011

I'm not even going to look back at what I wrote last year.  That would be one sure way to pop the optimism I've mustered for this new year.

As always, there are plenty of goals I have as we hand a new calendar on the wall.  This year, it's not simply inspired by the Earth's turning.  Instead, we have a few changes here--J. is starting daycare, my grad-school maternity leave is up--which are inspiring some new-leaf-turning.

My goals and their reasons:

Household: 
  • We will finish rearranging our house.  We've been moving furniture and going through our things to create space for everybody.  Currently J. and all of his stuff are in our bedroom.  We're about halfway through effecting the following: J.'s stuff into the third bedroom (plus switch some of E.'s furniture to J. and move other things into his room), office furniture (and A.'s workspace) into back of living room, M.'s stuff into corner of sunroom, all toys into boys' bedrooms.  After all that, I hope to get started on the garden.
  • We will be more organized during the school week.  Now that all of us will need to get out of the house in the morning, we absolutely must follow through on things like packing lunches the night before and picking out clothes.  I'm also going to return to meal-planning so we don't waste time every night debating what we feel like making or eating.
  • I will work on E.'s accepted foods.  We know better than to think this will be easy or quick, but I have a few ideas for this and a few more resources to consult.  The meal-planning and family dinners are part of this.  I will put a little bit of all we're eating on E.'s plate, in addition to his usual chicken nuggets or grilled cheese sandwich, not forcing him to eat any of it, but sort of desensitizing him.  We are also not above bribery.
Work/school:

  • I'm getting back on track for my PhD.  I will be taking as much advantage of J.'s time in daycare as I can to make sure I keep things rolling.  I expect to finish my comps in May or June, although the actual date of my exams will depend somewhat on my committee.
  • I will do my best to pick up another 1 or 2 sections of teaching for next year (i.e. the 2011-12 school year).  This will get me over the magical number that makes me eligible for insurance through the school district here and help us pump up our savings, all of which will give us some breathing room (and help us prepare for the eventuality in which A. goes down to part-time or returns to contract work).
I'll leave it at that for now.  I have some hopes for exercise, healthy eating, and the like, but I know better than to make the list too long.  If we can get the house in order, get me through comps, and manage to get everybody where they belong on a regular basis, we'll have achieved a real victory.

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