The Obligatory Post On Goals For The New Year

This post feels especially obligatory since I met so very, very few of my goals for 2010.  I don't want to say that the year wasn't productive, because I think it was very productive.  It just didn't play out in many ways that reflected my original goals. Here are some recaps of 2010 and new goals:

Family/Home: 

              1.)  2010 was a big year for our girls.  We helped the Lone Star Girl pick a new high school and chose an elementary school for the Lone Star Baby.  Both girls got settled successfully into new schools and activities and are doing very well, but it was a big transition for our family and adjusting to our new schedules took up most of our time and energy.  The Lone Star Girl earned her Silver Award in Girl Scouts, volunteered at the library in the summer while swimming summer league, was a Counselor-In-Training at Girl Scout camp in the summer, started high school, got very serious about her grades, joined the high school swim team,  helped fight Las Brisas and helped with the gubernatorial campaign, was in a high school play and started working on her Gold Award requirements for Girl Scouts.  The Lone Star Baby graduated from the school she had attended since the age of 18 months, took swimming lessons in the summer, started a new school in the fall in first grade, started violin lessons, started having real homework, had a great fall soccer season, completed her Daisy Flower Garden Journey in Girl Scouts, and is working on her Between Earth and Sky Journey in Girl Scouts.  Both girls continue to learn and grow in First Day School as well.  Goal number one is to keep carving out time and energy to support them in their education and other activities and just in whatever they need.  I feel we did a good job of that in 2010, but it is always our biggest job.  2.)  Have more fun with the husband - Lone Star Pa and I did carve out five evenings a week together one week in the summer when the Lone Star Girl was at camp and the Lone Star Baby was at Vacation Bible School, and we had a lovely afternoon walk on Wednesday, but we still aren't very good at fitting in the "us" time.  I am going to try to get us out alone together at least once a month in 2011, which is rather ambitious - we'll see if we can manage it.  3.) More organizing this summer - I didn't get to any organizing last summer but I did re-organize the Lone Star Baby's room a few days ago.  Hopefully, another room (like ours?) can be got to this summer.

Community:


1.) We continued to work very hard in 2010 to fight Las Brisas so that our children and the children of this community can remain well.  That work continues and still has to take precedence over other goals a lot of the time. 2.) We also worked very hard on the fall elections, although we were very unsuccessful and they went badly.  We had to try, though, and we will keep trying.  Next stop - City Council elections.

Health and Fitness:


           1.)  I lost no weight.  I suck.  In addition to exercise time being hard to come by, the truth is that my days are pretty (very) stressful and I require energy to get through them.  So far, it seems like I don't lose weight unless I am going far enough to feel pretty hungry and that makes me feel weak and low-energy.  I just can't face my days feeling that way.  I will be 40 in September and I really need to lose 49 pounds before menopause which I expect is right around the corner, but it is hard for me to imagine managing my job and doing that at the same time.  I am going to try harder.  2.) Spend more time with friends - this really didn't make it to the top of the list, either and I really need to do it.  I need to rebuild the support system I lost when the families with kids in my Quaker Meeting moved away and I just haven't managed it.  It is important for survival from a mental health perspective, though.

Work:


       I'm sticking with the serenity thing.  Its challenge is constant.


Writing:


         1.)  It is SO embarrassing, but I still haven't finished Baby Moon.  This time last year, I had already finished all the essays and only needed to do the resources chapter and the introduction!  I have finished the resources chapter but have not yet finished the introduction, so that goal, and the goal of revising it and getting a proposal together, remain.  So embarrassing.  2.)  Also embarrassing, although I sent out submissions and got accepted in some markets I have already been published in and have some hope that some of my submissions that are still out there will be picked up by at least one of the new markets, I did not get poetry or articles or essays accepted for publication in 3 new markets in 2010, so that goal remains as well.  3.)  I did not complete a draft of a poetry book last summer, another of my goals, but I feel much more on the road to that goal, now.  In exciting writing-goal news, one of my poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2010, and that has really revitalized my poetry energy.

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How did you do in 2010?  What are your goals for 2011?