18 Goals of 2018

 

Late to the party as always!

But my excuse is I have had lots of the children ill, and a 12 hour round trip to Hartlepool yesterday means I am telling you my goals for 2018, over a week into the year!

And the reason that I am telling you all is that the lovely Amy from The Smallest Of Things tagged me, so here are my goals for 2018…

Goals 1-6 About Me

1. Lose Weight!

From the outside I may not look that big, but for my 5ft 2″ frame I am much heavier than I would like to be, I am early 3 stone heavier than when I met my husband, I know that I have had seven children but even after number 6 I was still in a size 8/10, I blame the late night eating and the working from home (plus my love of biscuits!) I started before Christmas with So Shape Milkshakes and I lost 6lb in 2 weeks, but lots more in inches, but I fell off the wagon and stopped, so I am going to get back on, just as soon as all this Christmas food and Chocolate has disappeared!

2. Meal Plan

This sort of follows on from the first, I have invested in a few new cookery books and am determined to cook as many healthy, nutritious meals per week as possible and actually stick to the shopping list when I go to the supermarket. We get two large veg boxes delivered on a Friday evening, so I am going to try my best to try new recipes and not just use them in the Sunday Roast!

3. Read!

I used to love reading before I had the children and could spend hours engrossed in a book (probably why I haven’t really read much since the children were born, or they may have been forgotten about!) The only books I can recall reading in the last few years are the Twilight series and the Fifty Shades of Grey, but I would love to aim for at least one book per month, although maybe i’ll start that in February…

4. Go Out For Lunch occasionally.

Asa and I both work from home and we are our own bosses so we should be entitled to an extended lunch break every now and again, so I would love to actually make the effort to go out to lunch just the two of us, now that Viggo is in preschool four days, there really is no excuse! Although I may have to make a rule no children or work chat.

5. Get Fitter.

This also goes with number one, I am hoping now that we have Merrie who needs a walk every day that this will help in my goal to get fitter, I am not keen on going to a gym or an exercise class as I never seem to make the time, but a crazy puppy barking and yapping at your heels or toileting in the utility room, is enough to make anyone find the time for a dog walk!

6. Moisturise!

I very rarely wear make-up and I have NO beauty or skincare routine, but the one thing that my grandma always taught me is to moisturise, and she is 89 and has the skin of a 40 year old, so i’m hoping I have that gene! BUT I am always forgetting, I only remember when I am on a windy school run and my face feels like its cracking!

Goals 7-12 Family Goals

7. Holidays!

We are huge fans of staycations, I think the fact that Asa has worked in tourism all his life means that we are great advocates for holidays right here in the UK, so I would love to book at least a couple of weks during the years, or even a few short breaks, just to spend time as a family.

8. Get Out More

I think this is naturally starting to happen just by having Merrie, already this year we have been out to more places in January than we did in December, we live so close to the beach and the Broads, so there is always somewhere new to explore, but its quite an effort to get all of us up and out, so this is definitely one of my goals.

9. Spend As Much Quality Time Together as a family

Now that Xene is away, I feel it’s more important than ever to grab quality family time together, whether that be a family meal or a day out together, so i’d love to be able to record some lasting memories throughout 2017.

10. Ensure I get to spend some one on one time with each child.

As well as family time, its also nice to spend some time with each child individually, and trying to work out a way to do that. I attend most of my theatre reviews with Neva, so we do get some time together, but other than college runs or trips to the supermarket with whichever child wants to go, that’s about it, so i’d like to rectify that this year and work out some activities that Asa or I could do with each of the children.

11. Stop Being a Shouty, Grumpy Mum!

Easier said than done, as I know my mood is definitely affected when I have had a severe lack of sleep, and having a puppy that still wakes in the night, isn’t going to help. I just need to grab some extra zzzs when I can and take a long, deep breath when something starts to annoy me, especially if the problem isn’t that big a deal, so 2018, hopefully will be a year of ore chilling, less yelling, alternatively I may just start drinking alcohol…

12. Get homework and School Stuff Ready before the Morning it’s due.

Admittedly that is only half my job, as I am the one doing the ironing for school and the children are the ones who need to complete their homework, but I need to make sure that all their homework is done, before allowing them on their electronic devices.

Goals 13-18 Blogging Goals

13. Get Organised!

I have been blogging for over 6 years so you would think that I have everything organised and under control, but you are SO wrong, I have notebooks, diaries, scraps of paper all containing ‘important’ blog stuff but never all in an organised manner, my tax return is still outstanding (no panic, I still have a couple of weeks left to efile) My contacts list is all over the place and I haven’t even thought about scheduling!! So 2018 is when I would like to actually get a little bit better organisation, actually plan what and when I am going to post and not just post randomly, but considering it’s now 8th January and this post is supposed to be about goals before 2018 starts, not sure if this one will get achieved!

14. Take My Camera off Auto!

This seems to be quite a popular one in the blogging community, I bought my dslr two years ago and I am still lazily going to auto for every shot, so this is the year I move to Manual, although December still counts as 2018 right ?

15. Say NO!

I have decided this year I am going to consider very carefully every email that lands in my mailbox, and ask myself do I REALLY need the product, will it enhance my life or just sit on a shelf for months, do I have the time to put all the effort required for a low value product that would be quicker to purchase myself if I need if, even if the PR that is asking is wonderful, so 2018 is the year for actually saying NO to things.

16. Work With A Travel Company

I would love to collaborate with a travel company, particularly one that has amazing, dog friendly cottages in the UK, so I am going to make an extra special effort to increase all aspects of Big Family Little Adventures and Big Dog Little Adventures during 2018, to ensure all three sites have good readership, high DA and lots of lovely social media followers, plus lots of page views would be fabulous!

17. Join in linkys.

For the past few years I have started Project 365 in January – a photo a day for 365 days, however I have only ever got as far as April, before chaos takes over and I lose my way with it (I blame the 5 birthdays in April), so this year I am determined to complete the challenge. I have also linked up last week for the first time to Living Arrows, so I would like that to continue, I am also considering Little Loves, although I have yet to start that one yet!

And Finally…

18. Continue blogging

It can be quite difficult in the blogging world, there is always so much competition, and everyone seems to be getting recognition or winning awards, and sometimes I do wonder why I am doing it, because it takes up much more of my time than an ‘ordinary’ 9-5 job and you can’t always rely on the money element, but then I look back over the years and some of the experiences we have had and I am able to attend every school play, parents evening and even dentist appointment for each and every one of my children without having to beg for time off or work overtime to cover, and what other job can you answer your emails in your pyjamas!!

And there we have it, my 18 Goals for 2018, I am tagging Sarah over at Boo Roo and Tigger too, Sabina at Mummy Matters, Katie at Living Life Our Way Naomi at Me Becoming Mum Laura at Wafflemama Victoria at The Growing Mum Latoya at Pure Nourish and Clare at Freddies Mummy UK