The first month of the year has come and gone and I thought I would write an update about how I am doing with my goals thus far.
Exercise: My goal is to exercise at least once a week. I have been able to do that every week, except for one, which I knew would probably happen. Obviously, I'd like to get more movement than this, but with how busy we have been, I will settle for anything I can get!
Reading: So far I have read 3 fiction books and 3 e-books. I know that e-books are shorter but they have still been helpful. The 3 I have read have had to do with blogging, freezer cooking, and couponing. Since getting my Kindle, I have downloaded hundreds of free e-books so I definitely have plenty to choose from. The area I am lacking in the most with reading is reading music-related books, so I need to work on that.
Writing: I have done some writing every week except for one, which I expected to happen at least a few times this year. I am trying to keep up 3 blogs: this one, my music therapy blog (
www.evansvillemusictherapy.com) and my travel planning blog (
www.travelplanningguru.blogspot.com). You should check them out!
MT Business: One of my blog posts from the goal listed above was on my music therapy blog. I also have a 3-hour music and wellness workshop that I am teaching on Feb. 23 at St. Mary's Women's Wellness Center. This is a very shortened version of my 5 week course. Hopefully, enough people will sign up that I can actually do this workshop. I am also working on some additions to my business. I started one new piano student this week and have another new possible student who wants to try it out this week. If they both work out, that will be 2 new students in my studio, bringing my total up to 8 students. I also had a possible opportunity to take 2 clients under the Waiver program in Indiana (finally!), but after some careful thinking, I'm not entirely sure the amount of work and effort it would take to update all my policies to the state's standards (and maintain them) would be worth the outcome, especially when I don't have any intentions of building my practice solely around the Waiver. However, I do have a couple of other possible additions to my schedule, both temporary and permanent, but I will wait to update on those once I am more certain they will go through. I am keeping my fingers crossed!
House Projects: I haven't done much in this category in the month of January, unless I count getting Anya's "big girl" room and Baby Brother's room put together. I have gone through one of my drawers and have also managed to start a more comprehensive list of things that I would like to do around the house. Realistically, much of this probably won't happen until after the baby comes.
Finances: So far, we have been able to stay at or under budget for our eating out on the weekends and lunches during the week, which I'm pretty proud of! We are also slowly going through things to sell in the yard sale and have started doing some couponing. So far, we have gotten some great deals and I feel like I get better at it every week. As far as saving money every month, I haven't yet figured out how much money to transfer to savings for this month and exactly how I want to do it, but I still plan on figuring that out this week.
Misc:
I am still keeping up with the plan to read the Bible in the year, and I must say it is quite refreshing to read something I haven't read in a long time. I had forgotten about all the stuff that happened in the Old Testament. Very interesting!
We already have 8 meals frozen in the freezer for after Baby Brother gets here: Mac and Cheese with Broccoli and Chicken, Lasagna (with turkey), Spaghetti Squash Lasagna, Calzones, Chicken Pot Pie, Chicken Enchilada Soup, Broccoli Cheese Soup, and Potato Soup.
