2017 is almost over. I’ll be honest. It wasn’t one of my best years.
There were a lot of unexpected expenses. This year we had to replace the washing machine, the refrigerator, and the dishwasher. We also purchased a new MacBook to replace my old machine that was unable to type the letter l. I continued to use it over a year after the problem started, but finally decided it was time to get a new computer.
In March, my 90 year old father-in-law was taken to the hospital where he spent several weeks, followed by several months in a nursing home. He was able to go back to his home at the end of August, but his declining health has added a lot of stress and work for my husband and me. We are thankfully not responsible for providing his care, just overseeing that and their finances.
The additional work, the extra expenses, plus impending pay cuts in addition to our regular life managing the schedules of 4 kids at home, homeschooling, cooking, cleaning, laundry, working part time, and volunteering have been exhausting. Plus all the stress has made it difficult to get enough sleep. So much of this year has been pure survival.
Homeschool
Even though it was a year of survival, we still have accomplished some things in our homeschool.
- We joined a co-op with my youngest 2 children. That has been a great source of structure and accountability for our homeschool this fall.
- My oldest daughter has completed one semester dual enrolled at community college. She completed college applications and was accepted into all 4 colleges she applied.
- My middle son has learned a lot about using the computer for daily tasks. We set up an email account and I’ve emailed him assignments and links to give him practice.
Spiritual
I have risen early most mornings to spend time reading my Bible and getting a peaceful start to my day. I am hooked on the Professor Horner reading plan and my ESV Journaling Bible.(This is an affiliate link. I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price if you purchase.) I hesitate to recommend a Bible reading plan, but this one has been such a help to me that I want to share. I also love this Bible and Staedtler fineliners for marking key words.
Organizing
My house, though far from spotless, is mostly cleanish. I have good systems in place for keeping up with the laundry, the dishes, and the basic cleaning. I have been consistently keeping a Bullet Journal for a year and a half. I hope to share more about how I do it and how I combine Bullet Journaling with on-line apps to keep things running smoothly.
There are some big areas that I want to improve this year.
Exercise
Yes, I know that’s on everyone’s list. I also know that I don’t have a plan yet and that by not having a plan, I am destined to fail. So I am publicly saying that I need to make a plan to exercise and then follow through with the plan.
Blogging
I have essentially taken a break from blogging this year. I did post a few times in January during the Virtual Curriculum Fair. I will be participating in that again. It has been renamed and revamped with new post topics. I’m looking forward to jump starting my blogging this year with those new topics.
I also have some reviews that I have scheduled. I am pondering and have been pondering a shift in focus for my blog. What I haven’t decided is if I want to shift this blog to a focus on organization or if I want to start a new organization blog.
Those are my areas for improvement this year. I won’t even call them goals yet because they aren’t specific. I will be making more concrete achievable goals.
How has your 2017 been?