A Better Me

My Dad taught me that I shouldn't wait until the beginning of a new year to change bad habits or set goals in my life. "If you want to change something in your life just do it right then." Yep, my Dad is the best.

Yet, I still am not the best at changing some things as soon as I think about them. Some things are really easy to change, and sometimes fun to change, like the furniture arrangement in the kids bedrooms. Yep, this past week Mark and I moved about half of the furniture in our house because I decided I didn't like the girls in the same room. I am getting a little off topic. Maybe this will all be spelled out in my next post. Stay tuned...

So, now is a good a time as any to change some of the bad habits and increase the good ones too. It has been said that writing down your goals helps you achieve them. Here is a list of five things that I think will make me a better version of me, the one I really want to be, and probably a closer version of what I really should be.

1. I want to be better about reading scriptures with my children. Before, we have read the picture stories to them and they have loved it. They still get the good lessons from the stories and it has gotten them in the habit of sitting to listen to a book that isn't trucks or princesses. But I don't want my children to regret not reading the Book of Mormon as a family. We actually started this a few days ago and haven't missed a day yet. Some nights we have read a whole chapter but most nights I am sure we will only read half a page. It isn't about how many pages but the lessons we can learn as we go.

2. I want to be better at keeping a clean house. I love to be in a clean environment but I have always had an excuse as to why I am not cleaning. So, I am committing to doing 10 minutes of cleaning a day besides the normal dishes, straightening, etc that happens already. I made a chore chart for the kids a couple of years ago and I think it is time to dust that off and put them to work as well.

3. I want to be better at going to health check ups. Things like the dentist and regular health visits have not happened a lot the past couple of years (2 of my kids haven't seen a dentist ever). That really bugs me some days so I am just going to be better about making appointments. I already am off to a great start this year. Today I took Spencer to the eye doctor (since the school recommend I take him back in September). Yes, he does need glasses. And I am so glad that I just took him in.

4. I want to get back in shape. Exercise four days a week (Monday thru Thursday) for 45 minutes a day. I would like to start dancing again but to do that I first have to get in shape and practice. Along with that I have to quit eating like a teenager. A lot less sugar! A lot less sugar! That is my weakness. Sugar!

5. I want to be a crafty person again. I have set a time on my phone once a week for an hour to stop what I am doing and go play in my craft room. Spencer and Katherine love to have craft time and so would I. I am behind on my scrapbooking and I would really like to be caught up with all of my kids books by their birthdays (2 in September, 1 in December). I know I can do it as long as I do a couple of pages each week. I already did 2 for Spencer and 1 for Katherine.

There are lots of other things I want to improve but these five are the big ones right now. Maybe in a couple of weeks I can add a few more because these ones will be going so well. Until then...