Resolutions 2014

I think it's safe to say that I am a very goal oriented person.  I like goals.  I thrive on working towards them and feeling accomplished. So I like the idea of New Years resolutions.  I wanted to write down my goals for this year.  (Makes it more official.) 

1) Laundry
I manage to "stay on top of" my dishes.  And on any given day, you can usually see my carpet.  I even vacuum from time to time.  But folding laundry - my nemesis.
When we first moved to WA, I had a pretty good system going.  Once a week, I would wash and dry clothes all day long.  Then after the girls were in bed for the night, my love and I would watch a star trek episode and fold laundry.  Every week.  It was very efficient.
So that's one of my main goals for 2014.  I'm sick of always feeling "behind" on my housework cause there is ALWAYS unfolded laundry staring at me.  So Tuesdays are going to be my day.  I really think this is a goal I can achieve. 
However, it was quite the project first time around.  It took me 2 hours to just get "ready" to fold.  (NOT exaggerating.)  Ya gotta have a clean carpet to fold on.  Which means vacuuming.  Which means picking up toys, shoes, ext.  Once I got the area cleaned and preped, I went to get hangers and got caught up in completely reorganizing, sorting, and de-junking my closet.  And since I was on a roll, I gave my girls dresser drawers the same treatment.  But I think that these were key steps and significant contributors to the root of the problem.  I always put off folding laundry cause there was no where to put it cause the drawers were full of clothes that don't get worn. 
It was a lot of work but I'm actually looking forward to next Tuesday so I can feel proud of myself for getting it done 2 weeks in a row!  :)

2) 50 Push Ups
This a a goal I've taken a crack at before.  (And frankly will probably have to take a crack at again.)  But I'm okay with that. Cause this is the type of goal that even if un-atained, you still receive benefits from the attempt.  While working towards it I will be getting exercise, and that's good for everybody. 
Plan of action: Push ups every day.  Week 1: 1 push up every day.  Week 2: 2 push ups every day.  Week 3: 3 push ups every day and so on and so on.  In theory, by week 52, I should be able to do 50 push ups every day.  In theory.  But this is how I trained for my marathon.  Add on such a small amount every week that your body hardly notices the addition.  But if you keep at it for a long time, that little tiny addition adds up.

3) Study My Sign Language
I was a sign language studies major at ISU, but never graduated.  (Got married.)  But I continued to study on my own.  A LOT.  The year after Troy graduated, I chose not to go back to school myself so I could stay at home with my girls.  Instead, I spent money on new text books and videos, made myself a syllabus, and literally studied for hours every week.  But I was only able to keep that up for about a year.  Once I started homeschooling my girls, my own study time all but disappeared.
Over the past  3+ years I've studied a little here and there.  But nothing like I used to.  This saddens me greatly.  Learning a language is not like riding a bike.  Instead, if you don't use it, you loose it.  I start to cry when I think about "loosing" all the progress I made during those hours and hours and hours I put into it. 
On one I hand I think, "What's the point, why work so darn hard, you don't ever get to use it anyway?  WHY bother?  Why put HOURS into something you NEVER use?"  But then I imagine a day, be it years from now maybe, when I come across a person who needs someone who can sign.  I imagine the remorse I would feel knowing that I used to be able to talk to them, but no longer can.  Oh it would be awful. 
So once again I find myself reevaluating my schedules and routines, trying to figure out where I can squeeze it it.  Even if it's just a little.  So I don't forget EVERYTHING.  And I think I've come up with a plan:
I love facebook.  I love how it keeps me connected with my sisters and my aunts and my cousins.  I feel like I'm still a part of their lives even though we never get to see each other.  But I've decided to implement a new rule for myself.  Everyday before I can check facebook, I must first take a 25 question quiz on  www.aslpro.com 25 words a day, to jog my memory.  To keep those neurological pathways intact.  It's not much.  And it won't help my sentence structure, but it should help maintain my vocabulary. 

It's over a week into the new year at this point, and so far so good!  I don't plan on 100% success with my resolutions this year.  But hey, even if I am successful only 75%, or even 50% of the time, that's still GREAT!  Those successful days are still good days where positive things happened.