Good-bye 2015... Hello 2016!

I have soooo many things I want to blog about. I know I am so far behind. (I'm not really a "blogger" per say... but I do have some fun things to update you on.) It was a super crazy December with the hubs spending most of it traveling, the normal craziness of Christmas parties/programs, and then family was here. So now it is time to play a little catch up. :)

I'm going to spend this post talking about how last year's goals panned out and where I'm headed this year. I know I'm skipping a lot that I will have to back track on... but honestly, the goals started for me today, and I am going to need some accountablitiy. So I'm putting it out there. :)

Last year's goals... I get a C. I completed 11/15.  I got really close to one, worked toward but not even close for another, and the other two... I just completely dropped the ball. So here they are and what I learned:

Goal recap for 2015

1.                 Get Established in a Church/Find a place to serve in the community- Serving in the community... still don't feel established at church. What I learned: I need to suck it up. Church is not going to be the same here as it was in MO. That doesn't mean it's bad, it means it is different. I need to just take the leap of faith and get plugged in.

2.                 No soda- Completed. I was really hoping when I tried soda again I would hate it... I don't. I had a vanilla coke from sonic on January 2nd... it was divine! What I learned: When I commit something to the Lord and not myself, I am much more likely to do it, regardless of how difficult it is for me. (And this was REALLY difficult for me)

3.                 Give up Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and all rated R movies- Completed. On January 2nd I also watched the Grey's episode where McDreamy died. I cried it out with Merideth, and then I was done. I had no desire to watch anymore. What I learned: I have a serious Netflix binge problem. The point to this goal last year was to not watch things I felt were putting my mind on a moral slippery slope. So I chose TV series that were rated PG or less... I still watched those, multiple seasons at a time. 

4.                 Weight loss of 25lbs- Well... I only have 30 lbs to go. :) What I learned: I stink at reaching weight loss goals. I have NEVER been able to complete one...ever... since I started making yearly goals in 2007.

5.                 Run 804 miles- I ran 225. What I learned: I didn't have a passion for running this year. I struggled through some health stuff, and then I just got lazy. Seriously... just lazy. Accountablity partners are HUGE... I didn't have one most of the year.

6.                 No clothing/shoes/accessory purchases for myself- Successfully completed (minus the replacing of sunglasses covered in poop in the Spring). This one was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be. I made a couple purchases for myself on January 2nd. It was not near as rewarding as I thought it would be. What I learned: There are very few things I NEED that I don't have. I WANT lots of things I don't need. I used to use retail therapy to make me feel better... I don't think I need that any more. 

7.                 Invite people into our home at least once a month- Completed in abundance. We had lots of people into our home this year, and I really loved it. What I learned: I no longer live in the mid-west. People are different on the east coast. I stopped waiting for people to invite us (the new people) over, and just started having people in our home... and it's great. I love hosting people in my home, but relized this year that I might not be the best hostess... something to work toward. 

8.                 Sell/Donate 2,015 items- Got rid of 2060 items this year. Only sold 2 things, donated the rest. What I learned: I have too much stuff. There were very few times (I can count on one hand) that I donated something that it hurt a little. Maybe something I wanted, but knew someone else needed it more... or just didn't want to give it away. I hope to continue to simplify this year.

 

9.                 Visit at least 10 DC attractions/museums Completed What I learned: There is a ton of stuff to do in DC... we have a lot yet to see/do.

10.            Read through the Bible completed... kind of. I got through this, but I did a lot of it on audio while running/walking or folding laundry. It wasn't how I wanted to do it, but it is done. What I learned: I need to do more than just read or listen to God's word. I need to go deeper on a more regular basis. 

11.            Pay of SallieMae (school loan) -done What I learned: We won't have school debt forever. We just have to focus and have a plan.

  

12.            Put $5000 extra in savings- yep. What I learned: Money stuff is hard, and especially with such a huge difference in cost of living compared to where we came from. Staying home with the kids is not a popular gig out here, and even if I feel attacked by it... a lot.... I can still do what you feel the Lord has called me to do and reach financial goals if it is His will.

13.            Have the whole house painted and functional- Close, but no cigar. All but one room. What I learned: My husband does a really good job painting. He saved us a ton of money doing it himself. I'm okay not completing this... it will eventually get done. There are a lot more things on the walls than last January, and it is starting to feel like home. 

14.            Weekly family devotionals and communion-nope. What I learned: I really stink at DOING things. I am much better at giving things up. I feel like if I miss a week or two of doing what the goal was, I just give up because I'm no longer reaching the goal. I need to work on this.

15.            Make a friend. I dare say, maybe even more than one! :) What I learned: Moving and starting over is hard. Being in your 30s and not out in the work force makes finding and making friends a lot harder than moving to a new place for college in your teens/20s. BUT... even though it is hard, and I really didn't want to (because I already have friends back in MO)... sometimes it is worth the effort. :)

This year I gave myself a 3 day indulgence grace period... just because I felt I gave up a lot last year. So I started today, January 4th.

As most years are for me... some of these goals I am really excited about, and some of them terrify me. I always start praying about my upcoming year's goals before Thanksgiving every year, and God always, ALWAYS puts something on my heart that I really need to work on that I have NO desire to try to do because it just seems impossible (refer to goal #2... yikes!).  One of my goals isn't measurable (goal #1)... which really bothers the special ed teacher in me. I need a way to say yes I did it, or no I didn't... but there are a lot of little things that I will have to change to make this happen... lots of small goals along the way... we shall see. So without further ado... 

Goals for 2016

1. Get Healthy

2. No Yelling 

3. Take brain tumor meds-

4. Pay of Cassie's Mohela ($10,000)

5. Journal through the Bible

6. Learn to do 3 new things

7. No TV series on Netflix

8. Run a marathon

9. Have $15,000 in the car fund

10. Read 12 Fiction books

11. Date my husband twice a month

12. Family vacation

13. Vacation with the Hubs

Please feel free to call me out or ask me how it's going. It should be an interesting year! I hope to dive a little deeper into these after I get caught up with some other blogposts... but I am excited for the challenge. 

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Best Birthday Present... EVER!!!

I'm loving the birthday countdown!!!

I created a group for people to post where and what they are doing for the 35 acts of kindness in 35 states for 35 days... Y'all.... this has got to be one of the BEST birthday presents... EVER!!!

There is so much horrible, not great stuff going on in this world and shoved in our faces daily. I am love, love, LOVING that everyday there are people making a conscious effort to do good things for other people all over the United States... and I get to hear about it. :) I love seeing all the creative ways and things people are coming up with to do their acts of kindness.

So here is where I'm at with the birthday countdown:

My acts of kindness are going strong! I've done one everyday... some planned, others not (I plan to write a blog about my experience at Operation Christmas Child Processing Plant tomorrow-very cool experience).

Sidebar:  I am really, really surprised that I have not seen a hitchhiker to pick up in 11 days!!! :) Hitchhikers are my weakness. It terrifies my husband, but I always feel like I need to pick them up. And to be honest, I am always scared as I pull over and ask if they need a ride, but so far, I've only had great experiences.

So far we have 16 states represented out of the 35. If you live in, or are traveling through a state not covered... feel free to jump on the Random Act of Kindness bandwagon and let me know what you did and where so I can mark it off my list! MD, MO, VA, FL, KS, OK, TX, OR, TN, IL, IN, SC, NV, AZ, IA, and WA.

Here are some pics from a few of the things I've been doing...

And there is a TON of happy stuff going on over in the 35 Days of Random Acts of Kindness page if you want to be added... just let me know. :)

Letters... I've only written 4 so far, but it was a pretty crazy week. I have some time set aside this week to write, so I am hoping to space it out and feel like each letter gets the attention it needs. I have my list of names... just checking them off. :)

Miles... for heaven sake... I don't know why I bother making exercise/weight loss/running goals for myself... I never complete them. So far I have 16.25 miles (I should have 38.5 already). I'm not sure if I will try to get an average of 3.5 miles a day... heck, I might be lucky just to get 35 miles in by the 35th day. I've had some friends walk with me (which I always forget to take a pic) and the dog and my hubs have joined on a couple runs. Anybody that wants to call or text me to guilt me into getting these done... do it. I'm so bad at this.

Prayer journal. I love this. I mostly love to look back when it's done to see how God works... but I'm keeping up with it. :)

This is a fun little birthday adventure... it's going to be a great year. :) If anyone has suggestions of things I should do or things you would like to see done... let me know! 24 more days to go!

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

Birthday Countdown! :)

It's 35 days until my 35th birthday... and for the first time in many (many, many) years I am excited for my birthday this year! I LOVE birthdays... just not my own. But this year is going to be different. I have some fun things planned leading up to the day, and I hope to take y'all on the adventure with me. Feel free to jump on to the Cassie Birthday Train and join me in any of my adventures.

Here is the game plan:

1.     Write and actually send out 35 hand written letters. I am sooo bad at this, but have been so encouraged by people that do this for me, and I LOVE to receive them... so time to share the birthday love.

2.    Run or walk 3.5 miles everyday.  I have some friends I walk with, and I like to run alone... so I am really hoping to accomplish this. It would get me 122.5 miles closer to that yearly total. ;)

3.    Keep a prayer journal for 35 days. I spend a lot of time in prayer, but the only time I kept a prayer journal was during the year of fasting... so I am going back to it to see what the Lord wants to show me.

4.   Do a Random Act of Kindness everyday leading up to my birthday! I am MOST excited about this one! I already have some fun things planned. Some on my own and some with the fam. It's going to be great!!! I also have 72 people that have pledged to do a RAK in those 35 days... so the goal is 35 states!!! If you want to jump in and do one... I'd love to hear what you did and where. Yeah for spreading the birthday love!!!

The girls made me a birthday chain tonight, and all I could think is "Wow. That is a lot of links." :)

It is going to be such a great year... I just know it.

Thanks for joining me on the journey!

41 days!?!?!?!?!?

Is it seriously 41 days until January 1?!?!? I posted a "memory" on Facebook of Family Pictures two years ago and it has a link to my blog on it. I thought, "Wow. I wonder how long it's been since I blogged?"

9 months. It's been 9 months.

And I believe in the last blogpost (AAALLLLL the way back if February) I said, "I'm going to try to blog more often to keep you guys up to date on my goals and Kriete happenings." Well... obviously I didn't do so hot with that. :) But... believe it or not, I have been working toward those 15 goals set all the way back in January (some a little harder than others... as you will see). So, with 41 days left of the year... here is an update on where I am... and (a little of) what I've learned about myself in the process. :)

Goals for 2015

1.                 Get Established in a Church/Find a place to serve in the community. I'm going to say Yes and No on this one.  We are attending a church that we enjoy, but we still don't really feel like we belong. We aren't really involved. But outside of church, I feel like I am finding my place at the kid's school. This is the first year of no one home... so I am finding lots of ways to volunteer in lots of different areas at school. I'm even subbing a bit.

2.                 No soda. I'm doing it, but I don't like it. I have not had one single sip of soda at all this year... but I still crave it. :( I kind of thought that would be gone 11 months in. 

3.                 Give up Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and all rated R movies. I've stuck with this one too, but I've got to say, there have been many, many times I've almost cheated. I mean… seriously… McDreamy DIED and I didn’t cave to see how that played out. ;) BUT... I've held true to the commitment. :)

4.                 Weight loss of 25lbs. LOL! No. Just… No. 

5.                 Run 804 miles. Ummm.... not even close. (Probably the reason #4 didn't happen... ya think?) Here's the thing... I have had some health issues this year, and... well.... yeah... not legit excuse. I didn't do it. At this point I have to run/walk (because I added walking) and average of 16 miles a day to accomplish this. So it's not happening. I'm at 189 miles (give or take a few... I didn't track all my runs). I ran a BRUTAL half marathon in May, but other than that... pretty slim pickins.

6.                 No clothing/shoes/accessory purchases for myself. I must say this one has been MUCH harder than I thought it would be. I really miss buying things for myself. CONFESSION: I did have one purchase this year. In March, I was helping a child in a public restroom and my (already broken) sunglasses fell into a toilet full of #2. I couldn't bring myself to put them back on my face. So after 2 weeks of squinting and headache from staring into the sun... I broke down and bought a $5 pair of shades and have been sporting them since. :)

7.                 Invite people into our home at least once a month. Every month except for August. And we have had, on average, 3 families/friends a month over... and neighborhood kids are always here. So I have no guilt about missing one month on this one. :)

8.                 Sell/Donate 2,015 items. 1,392 things sold or donated. 623 to go. Not going to lie... little nervous about this one. I might start counting "things I donate to the dump" ;)

9.                 Visit at least 10 DC attractions/museums. I've been to 8 new ones (ones I have never been to before), but 14 total. I feel good about getting 2 more in before January 1.

10.            Read through the Bible. I'm about 3/4 the way through. This one is not going how I wanted it to... at this point I just want to say I did it and make a better goal next year. I actually haven't "read" a lot of it. I do lots of "listening" to the Bible on audio while I fold laundry.

11.            Pay of SallieMae.  Yes

12.            Put $5000 extra in savings.  Yes

13.            Have the whole house painted and functional.  Two rooms still to paint. All the living spaces are functional, and actually getting some decor up in this house. It is a work in progress. :) The basement... that's another story. 

14.            Weekly family devotionals and communion. No. just no. I am really disappointed I did not put more effort into this. No excuses.

15.            Make a friend. Dare I say it... yes. I do believe I have a genuine friend or two in the state of Maryland. :)

           So I still have 41 days to get some stuff done. And next Tuesday (the 24th) is 35 days until my 35th birthday... and I have some fun stuff planned to maybe help get closer to some of these goals (and some other stuff that has nothing to do with these goals too :)). 

           BUT... here is what I have learned about myself so far this year: When it comes to giving things up, especially if I have prayed about it and I feel like it is something the Lord wants me to do, I do it. I don't like it. I usually complain about it. But I do it. I think it is because I feel like if I ever give in and do the "forbidden" thing (drink soda, watch the movie, purchase the t-shirt) then I have messed it up for the year. So I feel like I am better (though I really hate doing them) at giving things up. 

           I have also discovered I am a procrastinator. I am supposed to do something... I put it off thinking, "I have plenty of time" or "I can focus on that next month". This leaves me with the problem of 41 days left... 25 lbs to loose, 615 miles to run, and 623 items yet to donate. I'm not good at this. I know. Maybe it will be something I focus on next year... or maybe not. :)

           I have several fun things planned for the 35 days leading up to my birthday. I hope to blog about it... I am determined to have the second half of my 30's be better than the first half. :)

        Thanks for joining me on the journey!