Deployment Goals Revisited

Way back in February of last year I came up with a list of deployment goals.  I revisited them once before here but since deployment will be coming to an end soon, I figured it would be time to revisit those goals.


1. Read at least 12 books. This accounts to at least one book a month. Shouldn't be too hard but we'll see what happens with my course load. I also want to try to integrate some self-help type books into that mix as well...   COMPLETED.  I don't know how many I've actually read but it's been way more than 12.  Since Christmas alone I've already read 6 books.  


2. Complete at least 4-5 classes towards my graduate degree. So far I've completed three and I just enrolled in my fourth. If I complete 4-5 next year, I'll be more than half way done my degree.  ALMOST COMPLETED.  I am half way done with my master's degree but I took this semester off.  I figured with homecoming and family vacations coming up I wouldn't want to worry about school.  


3. Take a picture a day. My ultimate goal with these pictures would be to email one picture a day to SF.  FAIL.  I was really good at first about taking pictures all the time.  My camera was attached to me.  But that only lasted about 2 months.  I do send my husband a nightly photo of me - does that count??  

4. Lose 10 pounds. This has been an ongoing goal. We'll see how it goes.  FAIL.  If my goal was to gain 10 pounds, I'd be good.  However, I've gotten back to the gym and have already started losing weight.  Maybe I'll still be able to lose 10 before he comes home but then I'll still have another 10 to lose.

5. Send B (ako Girl) to Operation Purple Camp. While the locations of the camps have not yet been released - I would love to be able to send her for a week. I'm also not sure of the age limits either but if G (ako Boy 1) meets the age limits I would consider sending him as well.  FAIL.  We sent the application within hours of registration opening and she was not accepted.  I still do this day have no idea why.  I've tried emailing and calling them several times and I have never gotten a response.  This is one program that I've been highly disappointed in.  I wanted to be in love with it like everyone else - I guess that just wasn't in our cards.  

6. Plan at least 6 outings/day trips during the summer with the kids. I don't plan on the older two being in summer camp at the CYS all summer because I want to be able to do things with them too. I'm thinking they'll be in camp at CYS for four or five of the eight weeks...  COMPLETED.  While I know I don't remember all things that we did over the summer - we did do a lot.  We did many day trips to different places in the area that we had never been to as well as many days spent at the pool.  

7. Pay off as many bills as possible. I'd love to be debt free, except for the mortgage and one truck payment if at all possible - but those goals maybe set too high, especially since I'm not sure how much "extra" money we'll be getting.  ALMOST COMPLETE.  It looks like it's gonna happen after all.  By the time my husband gets home we should only have a mortgage payment and a cadet loan!  We are so excited about this.

8. Finish at least one home improvement project. God knows there are MANY that are not complete! I'm not sure which one I want to tackle yet though.  COMPLETE?  I've done a lot around the house.  Have I finished the drywall or baseboards that I'm sure I was referencing in this, no.  But I've done plenty else to say/feel that I've completed this one.  Everything else can wait until the professionals come in.

9. Decide on paint color for the kitchen and PAINT it! This goes along with goal #8 but this will be a new project not a half finished project waiting to be completed.  COMPLETE.  Not only did I paint the kitchen but I also got all new decor and a new dining room table and buffet.  Months later, and I still love it.

10. Visit my parents WV Place at least three times. I know that doesn't sound like many times but it would be way more than I've gotten there in the past few years.  NOT QUITE.  I've been twice.  Maybe I'll be able to get one more visit in during spring break with the kids?  We'll have to see about this one.  And my kids have all been a handful of times too without me - does that count?

11. Going skiing/snowboarding with my brother and sister at least once. We had so much fun the last time we went. Maybe this time we could make a whole weekend out of it.  FAIL.  Although this isn't my fault.  The whole surgery thing kinda screwed me up.

12. De-clutter! I'm tired of all the useless crap we have around the house. It's time to get rid of it and what better time to do it when there is no one that can object.  COMPLETE and still working on it.  I have donated a ton of stuff so far this year.  And I just sold almost $300 worth of stuff on E-bay.  And I'm planning a yard sale in March so I've been saving all of my normal donations for that.  I think I've done an awesome job of this so far.  Although I'm sure I'll still find even more.


So there you have it.  If you ask me, I've done a pretty good job on most of these.  Some of them failed because of reasons that I couldn't control, so I don't feel bad about those.  Some of them failed just because life got in the way.  Such is my life though.  

Update On Goals

So way back in the beginning, when I started posting again, I came up with a list of deployment goals. Since deployment has officially begun and he was at the mob site for two months prior to that, I figured it was time to revisit those goals.

1. Read at least 12 books. I'm already on track for this. I'm not really sure why I set the goal so low though. I've read the following so far:

An Ocean Between Us
Separated By Duty, United in Love
Chicken Soup for the Military Wife's Soul
BrainPower, Game Plan

And I'm currently reading:

My Sister's Keeper
The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half

We'll see if I keep up with this pace since school starts again soon. I'd love to have recommendations if you've read anything good lately.

2. Complete at least 4-5 classes towards my graduate degree. I finished my spring class and I've registered for 2 classes for this summer. (Yes, I do know I'm crazy!!) Still hoping to only have 3 or 4 left when he comes home.

3. Take a picture a day. I have actually been doing this. Not in the way I originally intended though. (Although I have gotten really good at bringing my camera and taking pictures almost every where we go.) One of the things I do, is take a picture a day of me with my phone and either text it to him (when he was in the states) or email it to him at least once a day. He says it makes his day to see my face when he gets them.

4. Lose 10 pounds. While I haven't actually lost 10 pounds yet, I have been working on it. There is a group of us at work that is doing the biggest loser. I was hoping the cash prize would help to motivate me...and it does if I'm alone. The second I have people over the diet is forgotten! But I've also started by at the YMCA again since we have the free membership during deployment.

5. Send B (ako Girl) to Operation Purple Camp. Unfortunately, this won't be happening. I received an email in the beginning of May that stated that she was placed on the wait list. I still don't know what criteria they think she didn't meet because I know I registered her 5 minutes after registration opened. I've emailed them twice and still have gotten no response. I'm disappointed....

6. Plan at least 6 outings/day trips during the summer with the kids. This is still in the plans. I'm working on details already for some of them. I'm sure I'll post them as they happen.

7. Pay off as many bills as possible. This has been started too. Even with no "extra" money coming in yet, we've been able to save and start putting money towards bills. We also got rid of my Explorer since we have no need for two trucks and two payments when there is only one of me. The extra money from that all goes towards paying off bills! Yahoo!

8. Finish at least one home improvement project. I'm still hoping for this to come true. I think I'll need to enlist the help of some friends/family though.

9. Decide on paint color for the kitchen and PAINT it! The color has been decided. Now it's actually just finding the time to do it. Hopefully over the summer!

10. Visit my parents WV Place at least three times. This is in the works as well. Our first visit will be over the long memorial day weekend. We're all excited!

11. Going skiing/snowboarding with my brother and sister at least once. This hasn't even been mentioned anywhere but here, but in my defense, my sister is still half-way around the world!

12. De-clutter! This has begun as well. I sold a bunch of stuff on Ebay and made over $100 in the process. I've also thrown away and given away umpteen bags of stuff as well. This is an on-going project though and I need to get the kids out of the house to really have a go at their rooms.

So there you have it, an update on my goals. So far, I'm even fairly impressed with myself. I'm beginning to think maybe I didn't set hard enough goals!

Did you set goals for yourself? Or are you going to?

2010 Deployment Goals

I've been thinking about what goals I want to set for myself for this upcoming deployment. I've had a ton of ideas cross my head but the longer I think of them, the more unrealistic some of them seem. The last thing I need during deployment are self-imposed unrealistic goals hanging over my head and I'm not about to intentionally set myself up for failure. So here is my list thus far:

1. Read at least 12 books. This accounts to at least one book a month. Shouldn't be too hard but we'll see what happens with my course load. I also want to try to integrate some self-help type books into that mix as well...

2. Complete at least 4-5 classes towards my graduate degree. So far I've completed three and I just enrolled in my fourth. If I complete 4-5 next year, I'll be more than half way done my degree.

3. Take a picture a day. My ultimate goal with these pictures would be to email one picture a day to SF.

4. Lose 10 pounds. This has been an ongoing goal and I'm trying to techniques that I talked here. We'll see how it goes.

5. Send B (ako Girl) to Operation Purple Camp. While the locations of the camps have not yet been released - I would love to be able to send her for a week. I'm also not sure of the age limits either but if G (ako Boy 1) meets the age limits I would consider sending him as well.

6. Plan at least 6 outings/day trips during the summer with the kids. I don't plan on the older two being in summer camp at the CYS all summer because I want to be able to do things with them too. I'm thinking they'll be in camp at CYS for four or five of the eight weeks...

7. Pay off as many bills as possible. I'd love to be debt free, except for the mortgage and one truck payment if at all possible - but those goals maybe set too high, especially since I'm not sure how much "extra" money we'll be getting.

8. Finish at least one home improvement project. God knows there are MANY that are not complete! I'm not sure which one I want to tackle yet though.

9. Decide on paint color for the kitchen and PAINT it! This goes along with goal #8 but this will be a new project not a half finished project waiting to be completed.

10. Visit my parents WV Place at least three times. I know that doesn't sound like many times but it would be way more than I've gotten there in the past few years.

11. Going skiing/snowboarding with my brother and sister at least once. We had so much fun the last time we went. Maybe this time we could make a whole weekend out of it.

12. De-clutter! I'm tired of all the useless crap we have around the house. It's time to get rid of it and what better time to do it when there is no one that can object.

I've had these twelve goals written for quite some time now and have been meaning to add to them. As you can see, that hasn't happened and has delayed my posting of them. I can't even think of any that I was planning on adding so, if and when they come back to me, I'll add them.

In the meantime, if you have any good ideas or goals that you've had for previous deployments that I haven't listed, please let me know.

Goals Are Coming

I promise. They are coming.

Every time I log in, I work on them a little bit and then get distracted (ie. ooh, look a sale. another text message. Damn Facebook!).

I was hoping to have them done by now but I keep seeming to come up with new ones, delete old ones and rework some. I never knew creating goals like this would be so difficult.

Maybe it's not ... maybe it's just me.

At It Again

I'm enjoying a nice relaxing evening at home alone (well if the kids in bed count as being alone) for one more night while SF is gone....... Okay, who am I kidding! The 30 Day Shred is far from relaxing!

Yes, if you are wondering - I'm trying to lose weight again. This is one of my deployment goals (I know I still haven't posted them) and I'm starting a little early, hoping to get a jump start on it.

I know it's been a few weeks since I've been to the gym, but this routine kicked my ass! And at only 25 minutes, it was definitely worth it. And to think, I thought I was in decent shape..... I really don't feel like getting into all the logistics of the workout right now though- maybe another day.

However, if you don't hear any more about this, ask me. Hold me accountable because I'm determined to lose these final pounds this time. After all that is the whole point of posting goals...right?